Jesus Christ Is God

Transcript

GR 367
7/13/1980
Jesus Christ Is God
John 8:56-59
Gil Rugh

John’s Gospel and the 8th chapter in your Bibles. John’s Gospel and the 8th chapter. We've looked through this chapter and I just want to make some comments on the closing verses in our study together today, and focus attention for the bulk of our time on what I believe is the most important issue in the Scripture, most important issue theologically, most important issue religiously and that is the subject of the person of Jesus Christ. We want to look at particularly what the Scriptures say about the deity of Jesus Christ. I am convinced that the teaching of Scripture is that Jesus Christ is God. Furthermore, the teaching of Scripture is that unless a person acknowledges and believes in the deity of Jesus Christ, recognizes who He is there can be no salvation. So regardless of what a person says or does, if they reject the deity of Jesus Christ the Scriptures say they are destined to spend eternity in hell. So this issue becomes the crucial, foundational issue for every other. Doesn’t mean there are not errors, there are not heresies in other areas of theology and biblical studies. But it does mean that this is the foundational truth upon which everything else is built.

In John chapter 8, Jesus has drawn the conversation to focus on Himself very clearly and the point now being made is a declaration of who He is. And it will climax on the note that He is the eternal God and the Jews will reject that testimony and desire to execute Him on the spot. This deity has already been seen in a number of ways. In our study last time we looked at verse 51, where Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." One of the clear evidences of the deity of Jesus Christ in Scripture is the fact that He claims for Himself one of which is to give and sustain life. Now here He makes the awesome claim that if a person keeps His word he shall never see death. Now that’s a tremendous statement, to claim to be such a powerful person that simply to acknowledge My word, to believe it, to submit yourself to it will mean that you never will see death. Now we know that the Scripture says that the Word of God is alive and powerful. Furthermore, it says that the new birth takes place through the living and abiding word of God. And what Jesus in effect is claiming is that His word is the Word of God. And you note He makes it very personal. If you keep My word, you will never die. We noted He is primarily talking here about spiritual life and spiritual death. That relationship with God that a person enters into the moment he trusts Jesus Christ as Savior, the One who died for Him, cleansed from sin and brought into a personal relationship with God which goes on endlessly through eternity. That also has ramifications for physical life. The choir was singing about that this morning, where we shall be changed and death has been conquered and we look forward to receiving glorified bodies suitable for God's presence in eternity because of the finished work of Christ. An awesome claim. My word is of such power that if you will keep it, rely upon it, you'll never die. The Jews are awed by such a claim. They are still within the confines of the physical, and they say, You're making yourself out to be greater than Abraham and the prophets for they died. So not only was their word not powerful enough to keep people alive, they themselves died. But Jesus Christ claims to have power over death for all who will respond to Him.

Now Jesus emphasizes that the glory that He has comes from His Father that He doesn't glorify Himself but His Father glorifies Him, in verses 54 and 55. And they don't know His Father even though at the end of verse 54 they claim 'He is our God.' It is important to note how mistaken we can be, that people can be so earnest and so dedicated and so sincere and so committed and so convinced that God is their God and be wrong. And that's what Jesus says in verse 55. "You have not come to know Him." You say you have come to know Him. You say He’s your God, but you don’t know Him. And if I said I didn’t know Him, I’d be a liar like you, because you’re a liar. You claim to know Him and you really don’t. But I really know Him and I keep His word.

Then in verse 56, He picks up on Abraham again. The Jews keep coming back to Abraham, they keep cycling back to Abraham. To them the major part of their life, the major determining factor for eternity was we’re descendants of Abraham. We’ve noted how much this is like people today whose major point, the foundation stone, in causing them to think they're going to heaven is that they are descendants of someone, that they belong to a certain group, they are members of a certain religious body. The Jews thought being Jews guaranteed eternity. And that's no different today. Different protestant groups think because they are members of this particular protestant group that guarantees heaven. Or because I'm Roman Catholic that guarantees heaven. The Jews thought because they were Jews that guaranteed heaven. Doesn't have anything to do with getting to heaven. Nothing.

Now Jesus cycles back to Abraham. You keep bringing up Abraham, but you’re not anything like Abraham. The tremendous thing about Abraham was his spiritual character. All you can claim is a physical link, but you don't have anything of the character of Abraham, the spiritual life of Abraham.

Note verse 56. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it and was glad." Again, the Jews are awed. Abraham rejoiced to see My day, he saw it and was glad. Now the claim that Abraham saw Christ's day, the Jews take it to claim that Christ was present in Abraham’s day. And Jesus picks up on that point. That is true, as we'll see in just a moment. But what did it mean? What did Jesus have in mind when He said Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was glad? Turn over to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 where many of the outstanding Old Testament saints are presented to us as examples of men of faith, women of faith. There are two possibilities. He could be talking about the fact that Abraham anticipated the time when Messiah would come, and his life was lived in the fact that there was something beyond this life. There was something more important. Ultimately there was coming One who would rule over a city of which Abraham wanted to be part, and he lived in light of that. Verse 10 we're told, in Hebrews 11, "He was looking (referring to Abraham) for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." He was satisfied to live as a stranger, to live as someone who didn't belong on this earth because he was looking for a city that God would construct. We know the Scripture is clear that he was looking for the New Jerusalem, that city which would be ruled over by Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the King of the earth. So Jesus may have that in view. Abraham lived in light of this and this was the joy of his life. And that is stressed here in Hebrews chapter 11.

There is also a particular incident in Abraham's life that may be referred to. Down in verse 17. "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, 'In Isaac your descendants shall be called.' He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which also he received him back as a type." There came a point where Abraham was commanded by God to make a sacrifice of his son Isaac. When Abraham did that, in effect he receive Isaac back; and he had a foretaste of the days of Messiah. And particularly when God would provide for Himself a sacrifice that would atone for sins forever. Go back to Genesis 22 where that account is recorded.

Genesis 22. You're familiar with the account that Abraham, after waiting so many years, finally has a son in his old age, a man of about one hundred And now he is told to go and offer that son as a sacrifice. They go, taking all the preparations and things necessary to the appointed place of sacrifice, except an animal to offer. And Isaac asks him on the way, in verse 7. "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, (in Genesis 22:8)’God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together." And here you see something of Abraham's glimpse into what God is going to do. He will be the one who will provide the offering for Himself. He knows what God has said. He knows what God intends for him to do, but he is convinced that God ultimately has His plan to make the provision for Himself. That doesn’t mean Abraham doesn’t plan on going through with the sacrifice. And as they get to the place, he binds Isaac on the altar. Verse 10, "He stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, ’Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ’Here I am.’ And he said, ’Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is to this day, ’In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.’ Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven." So you see that Abraham titled the place Jehovah-jirah, the Lord will provide. Had a fore glimpse and could rejoice in the fact that it would be the provision of God that would take care of sin. Not the provision that he would make of his son, but the provision God would make ultimately of His Son. And this may be what is in view as Jesus speaks on this occasion. And it’s a very interesting occasion because it is a time when Abraham confronts Jesus Christ. So he very literally saw His day but he is confronted with Jesus Christ Himself.

As many of you are familiar, in verse 11, "The angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, and said, ’Abraham, Abraham!’ Do not stretch out your hand against your son.’" The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is none other than Jesus Christ. That is the manifestation of Jesus Christ before His birth at Bethlehem. And we don't have time to study that this morning. The word 'angel' simply means messenger. He's not of the same essence or nature of what we think of spirit beings as messengers. But the word 'angel' is a broad term. It is used of human beings, it's used of spirit beings, and it’s used of Jesus Christ as THE ANGEL of Jehovah in the Old Testament. He is the messenger of God to man in the Old Testament up until the incarnation. So it's awesome. He is the One who intervenes to prevent Abraham from sacrificing his son, and He is ultimately the One who will take the place of Isaac in the fullest meaning, to die to bear the sins of mankind.

Back to John chapter 8. The Jews pick up on this claim of Abraham rejoicing in the day of Christ, and they recognize Christ is young. Abraham lived 2,000 years before Christ. And they said, You're not yet fifty years old, have you seen Abraham? Then that awesome response of Christ in verse 58. "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." And even these unbelieving Jews now understand the claim that Christ is making, that before Abraham ever came into existence, I AM. I AM the timeless God, I AM the eternal Jehovah and they take up stones to kill Him because they understand what He is saying now. And if He is not what He claims, He deserves to be stoned. He's a blasphemer. Here He makes a clear declaration that He is deity. And if He is not, He deserves to be stoned to death. The problem is the Jews did not examine their Scriptures and examine Him in light of their Scriptures to determine whether His claim was valid or not. So they are in the awesome position of making attempts to execute the eternal God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament.

Back to Exodus chapter 3 for the background of this again. I simply want to spend the rest of our time examining what the Old Testament says about the deity of Jesus Christ. And basically what we're going to do is allow the Scripture to speak for itself. We're going to be looking at certain passages in the Old Testament and see how they are applied to Christ in the New Testament. I think it will be clear that it is not possible to believe in the Bible as the Word of God, in the inspiration of the Scriptures, and not acknowledge the deity of Jesus Christ. It is everywhere in the Scriptures.
One of the problems when you confront someone who claims to believe the Bible but denies the deity of Jesus Christ is to know where in the world do I begin?
The Scriptures are saturated with the testimony of the deity of Jesus Christ.
We're just going to look at some isolated examples. But the quote of Christ, "Before Abraham was born, I AM" goes back to Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus chapter 3, verse 13. "Then Moses said to God, 'Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them? Awesome, what do you mean what is His name? But Moses wants to know, How shall I identify You to them? And God said to Moses,'"I AM WHO I AM;' and thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" You see what Jesus does in John 8. He simply takes that title to Himself. Before Abraham was born I AM. I AM the timeless God that was talked about in Exodus 3. That's the point that is made to Moses. You tell the sons of Israel that the only God there is has sent you. The timeless, eternal God. You don't have to mark Him out from this god and this god and this god. I am God and there is no other. It's another way of saying the same thing, I AM the only God, the timeless One, the one who inhabits eternity. Note how He further identifies Himself in verse 15 "And God said furthermore to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations."' So you see what He has said to the Jews in John 8? I AM. I AM the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob! The Jews are overwhelmed that here stands one in their midst whose claiming to be the eternal, timeless God; but instead of examining carefully what the Scripture says to determine whether what He said was true or not, examine what He said and did in light of what the Old Testament says, they simply react and desire to stone Him. They should have known from the Old Testament that the Messiah would be none other than God Himself. You note, there are several titles for deity here. The name I AM in verse 14. Then in verse 15 He takes the title, The Lord. That’s Jehovah, and you have it translated in your Bible LORD, that's a translation of Jehovah, or YHWH. We're familiar with it as Jehovah. The God, GOD, is the translation of Elohim. We'll also see Lord (small o, small r, small d) that's the translation of Adoni. You can find that all out by reading the introductory notes in your Bible and they will tell you how they translated that. And we'll refer to it as we go along.

What I want to do is just look at some of the references in the Old Testament which refer to Jehovah and also Elohim and Adoni to refer to God that are applied to Christ in the New Testament. And it'll be just a sampling particularly going to center on the name Jehovah as there are those who claim to be Jehovah's Witnesses who deny the deity of Jesus Christ. And what we're going to see is the Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ. And the Jews just can't handle that in John chapter 8.

I've taken quite a few of these from the Book of Isaiah. Turn over to the Book of Isaiah. And again, we're just going to take a sampling because the evidence is so overwhelming in Scripture.

Isaiah chapter 6. Perhaps we should look at chapter 9 first just so we can see a direct prophecy that Messiah would be God. In Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government shall rest upon His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, (or Father of eternity)." Now here they were told that the coming Messiah, the One who would be born to rule as verse 7 talks about would be the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity. The Jews should have been expecting that the One who comes claiming to be Messiah should also claim to be deity. Because Isaiah prophesied that He would be the Mighty God, the Eternal Father. If He is the Eternal Father, then He is the I AM, the timeless One. That’s what Isaiah 14 says. It was prophesied that a virgin would conceive, bear a son and His name would be called Emmanuel, meaning God with us. So in Matthew chapter 1, verses 22 and 23 at the birth of Christ, He is named Emmanuel by the angel. Why? It is God with us, God in the flesh. The Jews were unwilling to consider the evidence.

Look in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1. "In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple." Lord there is the translation from Adoni. You see it's in small letters, capitol ’L’ small ’ord’. The Seraphim are there, and in verse 3—"One called out to another and said, ’Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts," Jehovah Sabbaoth, "..the whole earth is full of His glory.” Verse 5, "Then I said, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, (Jehovah) the Lord of hosts.”’ Isaiah said, I have been in the presence of Jehovah. This awesome scene with the Seraphim crying out concerning His holiness. Then you come over to John chapter 12.

This is the only example I've taken from later in John. There are a number I could have gone to but I want to save them until we get there in our study. But in John chapter 12, verses 38-40, John under the inspiration of Scripture, quotes from Isaiah chapter 6. And then in verse 41 he says that in Isaiah 6 Isaiah was writing about Jesus Christ. "These things Isaiah wrote because he saw His glory and spoke of Him. Nevertheless, many of the rulers believed in Him," talking about Jesus Christ. That awesome scene when Isaiah saw Jehovah Sabbaoth. John under the inspiration of the Spirit of God says, I saw Jesus Christ. He is Jehovah Sabbaoth, the Lord of hosts.

Back in Isaiah, and don’t lose your place in Isaiah because we’ve got about ten passages to look at! Isaiah chapter 40. You may want to just jot these references down and in their New Testament because you ought to be able to take people to the Scripture and show them without doubt the deity of Christ and the way that I think is profitable a handle with those we come in contact with quite a bit who deny the deity of Jesus Christ yet claim to believe the Bible is simply to start them through and read them a passage of Scripture. Read them another passage of Scripture, read them the other, the other, the other. When it’s all said and done if they don’t believe what the Word of God says, close the door and don't talk to them. The Scripture is clear.

Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3. "A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.™ Clear the way for Jehovah in the wilderness, make smooth a highway for our God.

You come over to Mark chapter 1, verse 3. And here we have quoted in verse 2, "As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ’Behold, I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straights.’’"
And what did John do? Prepared the way for whom? For Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Jehovah who is coming that John is preparing the way for. You’ll find as you study the Old Testament that Jehovah of the Old Testament is Lord in the New Testament. And Jesus is called ’Lord’ multitudes of times, and that becomes equivalent to the Jehovah of the Old Testament.

Look in Isaiah 40, verse 28. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable." Here the emphasis is on the everlasting God, the Lord. He's the creator of the ends of the earth, and yet in John chapter 1, verse 3, we are told that all things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. Now Isaiah says that the everlasting God, the Lord, Jehovah, is the creator of all things. John chapter 1 says that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things, meaning Jesus Christ is the everlasting God, the Jehovah who has created everything.

Look in Isaiah 41, verse 4. "Who has performed and accomplished it. Calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He."

Look at chapter 44 of Isaiah, verse 6. "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts (Lord of Sabbaoth): I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me." In other words, I am the Eternal One. There is no other God. The same thing as Exodus chapter 3. I AM There is no other God.

Look at Isaiah 48, verse 12. "Listen to me, 0 Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last." You note there are three passages where God says, I am the first and I am the last.

Now go over to the Book of Revelation chapter 1, verse 17. John has been confronted with the resurrected, glorified Christ, and note what he says. "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, 'Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last."' You see waht Jesus Christ claims. I am the first and the last; but Jehovah claimed He was the first and the last. There is no one else. The answer to that is that Jesus Christ is Jehovah. He is the first and the last.

Chapter 2, verse 8 of Revelation. "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
'The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this...'" Who is the one who has died and come to life? Jesus Christ. He says, I'm the first and the last.

Look in Revelation 22, verse 13. "I am the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." I'm the first and the last. What's the conclusion? Either He was making a claim that was blasphemy or Jesus Christ must be Himself deity, identified with Jehovah Himself.

Isaiah 43:11. This is an important section here because it makes clear that there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ. "I, even I, am the Lord; there is no savior besides Me." You note that. There is no Savior besides Him. No one can turn to anyone else for salvation, for forgiveness of sins but to God Himself.

Look at Isaiah 45, verse 22. "Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." In other words, if you are to experience salvation, you must receive that salvation from God. That's the ruination of all works systems. I must get salvation from God, not from myself. I must receive salvation from what God does, not from what I do. I must turn to Him for salvation, not turn to myself for salvation. Yet when I try to do good works to be saved, try to be religious to be saved, I am turning to me. Or I turn to my church for salvation. God says, You must turn to Me. Now come over to John chapter 4, verse 42. "...and they were saying to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.'" Who is the Savior of the world? Well, Isaiah said it is God and no one else. And now here in John we're told that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. The natural conclusion is that He is God.

Jump over to Psalms. We’ll have to leave the others in Isaiah go. Just in case you run into somebody who doesn't like Isaiah! It's good to have another passage at your fingertips. Psalm chapter 68, verse 18. Talked in verse 17 about the chariots of God being myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness. "You have ascended on high, You have led captive your captives; you have received gifts among men, even among the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell there." And many of you recognize that passage. It is applied to Jesus Christ in Ephesians 4:8. In Ephesians 4:8 we’re told, "He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men." And yet back in Psalm 68:18 we’re told we’re talking about the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim ; and Ephesians 4:8 says that’s Jesus Christ. Jehovah Elohim. That’s either terrible blasphemy or an amazing truth.

Look in Psalm 102 verse 12. "But You, 0 Lord, (You Jehovah) you abide forever; and Your name to all generations." Skip over to verse 25. "Of old You did found the earth; and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You will endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end." In other words, He is the I AM, the Eternal One.

Hebrews chapter 1. Here we’re talking about Jesus Christ. And in verse 5 we’re told that He is addressing the Son. "You are My Son, today I have begotten You." Skip down then to verse 10. "You, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; they will become old as a garment, and as a mantle You will roll them up; as a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, Your years will not come to an end." Now Psalm 102 had addressed that to Jehovah. It was talking about Jehovah when it said that. Hebrews chapter 1 says it is talking about Jesus Christ. You see why I say if you believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures you must believe in the deity of Jesus Christ? Because the only way to reject this truth is either to deny the validity of the New Testament as the Jews do, or to deny the validity of the Old Testament. And the liberals are satisfied to deny the validity of it all, and set themselves up as the authority and they'll tell us what it's really like and they have no message at all to reveal.

One other Old Testament passage. The Book of Joel. (I thought you needed a challenge.) Joel chapter 2. A tremendous passage because it again stresses that only those who turn to Jesus Christ will experience salvation. Some see the New Testament as narrow, but it's no more narrow than the Old Testament. Anyone who is saved must turn to the one, true living God in the Old Testament and anyone who is to be saved in the New Testament must turn to the one, true living God as manifested in the Son, Jesus Christ. Joel 2:32, "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered," on the name of Jehovah will be saved. Now at least twice in the New Testament that is applied to Christ. Acts chapter 2 by Peter on the Day of Pentecost. In Acts chapter 22, verse 21, Peter says, "And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Then he goes on to make the point that you must believe in Jesus of Nazareth.

Over in Romans chapter 10, verse 13, the same point is made as he talks about faith in Jesus Christ. In the gospel faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. And in verse 13, "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." So Joel 2:32 says you must call upon the name of Jehovah. That's quoted by Peter and it's quoted by Paul in the New Testament. Both saying that means you must call upon the name of Jesus Christ. You see why the Jews were overwhelmed? They had to either believe in the deity of Jesus Christ or they had to reject Him. The tragedy today is that people still don't understand as much as the Jews did 2,000 years ago. Because they think they can believe in Jesus Christ and reject His deity. At least the Jews knew that I must either acknowledge Him as God or I must execute Him. We poor fools going around today thinking they can believe in Jesus Christ and deny His deity! That's an impossibility. At least we ought to credit the Jews with understanding the issue. Either He is deity, or He is the greatest of blasphemers and deserves execution. There is no middle ground such as being a good man. To take that which is ascribed to God alone and apply it to this man is blasphemy unless this man is the God who is being talked about in the Old Testament.

Now that's just a sampling of verses I've selected from the Old Testament, and then I've selected about ten from the New Testament. Then we have all the attributes of Jesus Christ to consider and we see His deity because all the attributes of deity are ascribed to Him. Now obviously we're not going to get it all done today, much to your relief I'm sure! There are a number of places in the New Testament where Jesus Christ is pointedly called God. I tied it to the Old Testament because of the connection that the Jews should have seen. And we ought to be familiar with what the Old Testament says and how it is fulfilled in Christ as the One who is Jehovah. But there are numerous passages—John 1:1, the word was God; John 1:18, He is the only begotten God; John 20:28, Thomas addresses Him as my Lord and my God. Some will say that was an emotional exclamation, but it is unacceptable. In the Book of Revelation, John in the emotion of the moment falls down and worships and" angel and he is immediately rebuked! And told not to do it. And yet if Jesus tolerated Thomas' worshipping Him as God when He wasn't, He didn't show the wisdom of an angel. 1 John 5:20 identifies Him as God as well. And Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8, He is called God from the Old Testament in that series of all Old Testament quotes—Thy throne, 0 God, is established forever. They said, That's talking about Jesus Christ. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 1, they have a faith the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's how He can be our Savior—He is our God. If Jesus Christ is not God, He is not Savior because the Old Testament is abundantly clear. God says, I am the Savior and there is no other Savior! But we can proclaim Jesus Christ as Savior because He is God. So Peter is clear. It's the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Titus chapter 2, verse 13 gives the hope of the believer. We are looking for the blessed hope, even the appearing of the great God who is our Savior,
Jesus Christ. That's what we're looking for—the appearing of the One who is the great God. Now all this narrows down to that basic point. Who is Jesus Christ? The Bibles says that He is God, and because He is God who became a man so that He might pay the penalty for man's sin, we can receive eternal salvation by believing in Him. If Jesus Christ were just a man, there could be no salvation. Millions of men have died. Thousands of men were crucified by the Romans. But there is only salvation in believing in one man, Jesus Christ. The reason being, He was not only man but He was God. He was the Eternal God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, who took upon Himself humanity so that He could secure the redemption that mankind needed for forgiveness of sin.

Don't be confused. I'm not saying Jesus Christ is the Father. There is one God, eternally existing in three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is deity, the Son is deity, the Holy Spirit is deity. We're simply zeroing in on one person because this is where all the questions seem to resolve. Who is Jesus Christ? He is the Eternal God. He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. So when we come to John chapter 8 and the response of the Jews at the end of that chapter, they picked up stones to stone Him. It's one of two possible responses, and we ought to see it at least as clearly as the Scripture presents it. As clearly as these unbelieving Jews saw it. He is either who He claimed to be, or He is a man deserving execution. They chose the road of execution. They determined they would not believe, and in doing so they rejected any hope of salvation because you remember what John 8:24 said? Jesus spoke and said, unless you believe that I AM..." Unless you believe that I am the eternal God, that I am the Jehovah of the Old Testament, you shall die in your sins. There is no hope for salvation for a person who rejects the deity of Jesus Christ. There is no hope for salvation any more than there was in the Old Testament. Any hope for salvation for those who deny the reality of the one, true living God, no matter what else they did they were destined to condemnation. And today for those who do not come to recognize and believe that Jesus is the Eternal God, there is no hope of salvation. Now the natural follow-through, and I have yet to meet a person who recognizes and acknowledges the deity of Jesus Christ but does not come to submit to Him for their salvation, to believe in His death and resurrection as the payment for the penalty of sin. But what makes His death and even His resurrection of such tremendous importance? It’s the fact that it was the Eternal God who died there. You know, that's awesome. That here these people are face to face with the Eternal God. It's no wonder that it overwhelmed them. But in being overwhelmed they ought to have bowed down and submitted to Him. It's overwhelming to me that God became a man and walked this earth, was crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for my sins. That's overwhelming! But what it does is drive me to bow down before Him and acknowledge Him as the great God that He is, to submit myself to Him for the salvation that only is found in Him, to rely upon Him as my Savior because there is salvation in no other. Let's pray together.

Father, how we count it a privilege this morning to spend this time in considering Your eternal Word, that Word which is a revelation of Your eternal self. Lord, to be awed by the reality of the fact that Jesus Christ, Your Son, became a man, that One who inhabits eternity, the One before whom all the beings of heaven ascribe honor and holiness and glory, became a man that He might take man's place on the cross. That He might die, bearing man's sin in His body on the tree. That we, by believing in Him, might experience forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Lord, I pray for those who may be here this morning who have been confronted with the reality of the person of Jesus Christ, that they might come to recognize who He is. Lord, in the overwhelming person to see that One who is the Savior and believe in Him.