Latest / CCC West Covina / May I Present Jesus (Part 3)
Transcript
- 0:02Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, that
- 0:04we might be able to equip you to understand how you might be the
- 0:09offensive one in your battle against those forces that are
- 0:14unseen. It's important to understand
- 0:17what the Bible says about Jesus Christ.
- 0:20I mean he after all, he is the the author of the Scriptures.
- 0:23That he is a theme of the scriptures.
- 0:25He's the subject of the scriptures.
- 0:27We must understand who He truly is and we are studying John's
- 0:34gospel. And John's gospel is all about
- 0:38declaring and describing the deity of Christ our Lord.
- 0:45John has taken one verse, one phrase from one verse in the Old
- 0:50Testament and expanded on that phrase.
- 0:55That verse is found in Isaiah chapter 35.
- 1:00Isaiah chapter 35, the prophet is giving hope to Israel, and he
- 1:08tells them in verse #2 of chapter 35 that one day they
- 1:14will see the glory of the Lord. They will see His Majesty on
- 1:19display. And then in verse #3 he says,
- 1:24when you do, you'll be encouraged.
- 1:29Those who are exhausted will be encouraged, and those who are
- 1:32feeble will be strengthened. So when you see the glory of the
- 1:37Lord, encouragement comes to those who are exhausted, to
- 1:43those who need strength. It comes because you see the
- 1:48glory of the Lord. And then he says this in verse
- 1:52#4 say to those with anxious hearts, do you have an anxious
- 1:58heart this morning, a troublesome heart, one that's
- 2:02always worried and uncertain. Say to those with anxious heart,
- 2:10take courage, fear not. Behold your God will come.
- 2:21And that's the phrase that John has taken.
- 2:25Behold your God in order to describe and declare to us the
- 2:33deity of Jesus Christ. He says, behold, your God will
- 2:38come with vengeance. The recompense of God will come,
- 2:41but he will save you. Our God is a Savior.
- 2:52That's who He is. He is the only Savior.
- 2:57There is no other one. It's so it's imperative that you
- 3:01know who He is. And the first 5 verses of John's
- 3:08gospel equip you to defend, to declare, and to describe the
- 3:22deity of Jesus Christ our Lord unlike any other portion of
- 3:29Scripture in the Bible. So we are taking our time in
- 3:35going through the 1st 5 verses. In fact, we're taking one verse
- 3:40a week. And I kind of calculated that
- 3:44out. If we continue doing one verse a
- 3:46week through 21 chapters, which contains 879 verses, it will
- 3:51take us 17 years to get through John's gospel.
- 3:57That is if we preach on it every single day or every single week
- 4:02of the year. 52 * a year without ever taking a break.
- 4:08Well, you know as well as I know it's we're not going to take one
- 4:12verse every single week, but the first five are very important.
- 4:16If you were with us in our study of the book of Genesis, we spent
- 4:18four weeks on in the beginning, in the beginning, God, four
- 4:25weeks because it sets the tone for everything in the
- 4:29Scriptures. You needed to understand that
- 4:33one phrase. Well, here we are breaking apart
- 4:37first John, or excuse me, John 1 verses one to five that you
- 4:40might come to grips with the the understanding of the true
- 4:44identity of the Christ. Because you see, that's, that's
- 4:47the ultimate question, right? Who, who is Jesus?
- 4:53That's the only question that ever matters.
- 4:56That's why two weeks ago we took you to the first day of the
- 5:02Passion Week of Christ, that triumphal entry day on Monday,
- 5:09where the Greeks came and asked a question, Sir, we wish to see
- 5:13Jesus because that's what matters.
- 5:18And then on Wednesday of that week, that Passion Week, we took
- 5:23you there last week, after Christ had been asked all kinds
- 5:27of questions, he then turns the table on the religious
- 5:29establishment and asked them a question.
- 5:32Whose son is the Christ? Is he son of man?
- 5:40Is he son of God? Is he son of David?
- 5:44He asked them that question. Well, this morning, by by way of
- 5:50introduction, I want to take you to Friday of Passion Week in the
- 5:57wee hours of the morning, sometime between 12:00 AM and
- 6:033:00 AM. It happens at that time because
- 6:08the cock would crow at 3:00 AM in the morning, and Peter's
- 6:14going to have to deny the Lord three times before that happens.
- 6:20So sometime in the wee early hours of what we commonly call
- 6:26Good Friday, Christ has been taken captive.
- 6:33They came and took him from the Garden of Gethsemane and they
- 6:37took him to go through 4 trials. The first one was it was with
- 6:44Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of
- 6:47Caiaphas. They took him there first
- 6:50because Caiaphas had to gather all of the Sanhedrin around in
- 6:55his house. After he left Anna's Anna's
- 7:00house, he went to the House of Caiaphas and he was there that
- 7:08he might be put on trial. And of course was an illegal
- 7:14trial because they were not to try anyone at night.
- 7:17And the whole purpose of the Sanhedrin was not to take a
- 7:20life, but to save a life. But they weren't interested in
- 7:26saving the life of Jesus. They wanted to get rid of Jesus.
- 7:34So in Matthew's gospel, the 26th chapter, we see in verse #58
- 7:42that Peter follows from a distance.
- 7:49That that's a sermon in and of itself.
- 7:52Because you never to follow Jesus from a distance.
- 7:55You're to follow him up close and be as near to him as
- 7:59possible. But Peter follows from a
- 8:03distance and that is the beginning of his downfall in his
- 8:07denial of the Lord Jesus. He's, he's in the courtyard of
- 8:12the House of Caiaphas. And those of you who have been
- 8:14to Israel with me, you, you understand the setting and you
- 8:17understand where the house is. And in conjunction with the
- 8:20Kidron Valley and the, the, the Garden of Gethsemane and you
- 8:24understand the courthouse set up.
- 8:26And Peter was able to see the trial happening within the House
- 8:30of Caiaphas. And so they bring in some
- 8:36witnesses that they might bring a charge against the Christ.
- 8:41But the witnesses are inconsistent.
- 8:44The witnesses misunderstand all that that Jesus had done and all
- 8:50that Jesus had said. But in in the midst of all of
- 8:53the false accusation, Jesus sits there majestically, completely
- 9:00silent. He, he stands there in all of
- 9:05his integrity, all of his veracity, all of his dignity,
- 9:10all of his humility, and never says a word.
- 9:18Because you see, when you're innocent, you have nothing to
- 9:20defend. And he was completely innocent
- 9:24of all charges. So Caiaphas will speak, and
- 9:32Caiaphas says in verse #62 The high priest stood up and it said
- 9:39to him, Do you not answer? What is it that these men are
- 9:44testifying against you? But Jesus kept silence, and all
- 9:52that did was goad Caiaphas. All that did was infuriate
- 10:01Caiaphas, you see, because when you don't defend yourself,
- 10:06people are furious. They, they, they are looking for
- 10:10all kinds of ways to accuse you of wrongdoing.
- 10:13But Peter tells us that when he was reviled, he said nothing.
- 10:23He could say that because he was there.
- 10:25He watched it, He knew exactly how his Lord would respond, and
- 10:31that's how he did. But Jesus kept silent.
- 10:40By this time Caiaphas is so infuriated that these are the
- 10:47words he speaks in verse #63 He says, I adjure you, I charge you
- 11:01underoath by the living God, that you tell us whether you are
- 11:09the Christ, the Son of God. Now that statement right there
- 11:16tells you something. It tells you that the Jewish
- 11:20nation believed that the Messiah would actually be the Son of
- 11:28God, that the Messiah would be equal in position to the God of
- 11:37the universe. People always ask to Does a
- 11:41Jewish nation believe in the divinity of the Messiah?
- 11:44Caiaphas did. Are you the Christ?
- 11:50Are you the Son of God to which Jesus said to him you have said
- 11:59it? I like Mark's account.
- 12:04Mark says all Jesus said was I. Am those two Greek words a go a
- 12:14me that John uses 8 different times in his gospel to prove
- 12:21that Jesus Christ is the God who spoke to Moses from the burning
- 12:27Bush in Exodus chapter 3. Jesus says I am.
- 12:34Nevertheless, Jesus says, I tell you hereafter you will see
- 12:42Caiaphas, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand
- 12:48of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
- 12:56Jesus takes 2 messianic passages from the Old Testament, one from
- 13:03Psalm 10 verse #1 the one he used just two days earlier on
- 13:09Wednesday of that week with the religious establishment.
- 13:12A lot of them were there in the House of Caiaphas.
- 13:16So he uses Psalm 110 verse #1 and Daniel Chapter 7 verse #13
- 13:21both. Every Jew understood to be
- 13:24Messianic, that the Son of man would come in clouds of great
- 13:29glory, because Daniel and his vision saw saw one like a son of
- 13:34man. And yet it was God who was
- 13:37coming in great glory, and He will sit at the right hand of
- 13:43power, the right-handed judgement from Psalm 110, a
- 13:49position of equality with the true and living God.
- 13:55You asked me if I am the Christ. You asked me if I'm the Messiah.
- 14:01You asked me if I am the Son of God.
- 14:05I got news for you, Caiaphas. One day you will see me judging
- 14:11you, not you judging me. Incredible statement.
- 14:22To which verse 65 the high priest tore his robes and said
- 14:28he has blasphemed. What further need do we have a
- 14:32witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the
- 14:35blasphemy. What do you think the answer he
- 14:41deserves death. Then they spat in his face and
- 14:47beat him with their fists, and others slapped him and said
- 14:51prophecy to us, you Messiah, who is the one who hits you.
- 14:57Do you know that all those who reject Christ as Messiah, the
- 15:09Son of God, actually spit in the face of Jesus?
- 15:16They slap him, they mock him because they refuse to believe
- 15:23the obvious. You see, they were in a quandary
- 15:28because they had already attributed everything that Jesus
- 15:31did to Satan. They they had already attributed
- 15:35all of his miraculous work to Him being of Beelzebull.
- 15:44They were copying a rock and a hard place.
- 15:48And so here Jesus comes to them and tells them exactly who he is
- 15:56and exactly what he will do. So John says in his gospel, many
- 16:07other signs did Jesus do, but these are written that you might
- 16:10believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of
- 16:19God. This is why John writes his
- 16:23gospel. Behold your God, stand in awe.
- 16:27This is your God. You must see him as he is
- 16:33accurately described, as he is accurately seen in the gospel.
- 16:44And so John shows to us and says, behold #1 his eternality.
- 16:53Behold #2 his personality, behold #3 his deity, behold #4
- 17:00his vitality, and behold #5 his invincibility.
- 17:07And that's the outline, the five point outline of the 1st 5
- 17:11verses of John's Gospel. John chapter 1.
- 17:18So as we go through this and open up to what the word of God
- 17:21says and I, I, I will do all I can with all of my power and
- 17:27with all the ways I can say it to describe to you and declare
- 17:32to you the deity of Jesus Christ our Lord.
- 17:35But in all of that, I will never ever be able to convince you.
- 17:41I cannot do that. Only only the God of heaven can
- 17:48do that. I can't.
- 17:53I'm good. I'm just not that good.
- 17:57You see, only God can do that. That's why when Peter describes
- 18:01Christ as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, Jesus said
- 18:08flesh and blood man did not reveal that to you, but my
- 18:13Father in heaven, he revealed it to you.
- 18:17See, Peter understood the identity of the Messiah because
- 18:21the Father revealed it to him. And the only way you're going to
- 18:26believe what John says is that the Father reveals it to you.
- 18:35Now the reason I preach it is because faith cometh by hearing
- 18:39and hearing by a word about the Christ.
- 18:42Romans 10/17 right and God works in conjunction with the word of
- 18:49God. How shall they hear without a
- 18:52preacher, right? So Paul says in Romans chapter
- 18:55chapter 10. And how beautiful are the feet
- 18:58of those who who bring the good news.
- 19:02And so we have to preach the truth.
- 19:04We have to put it out there so people can hear it.
- 19:10But I cannot convince you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
- 19:17God. But these things were written so
- 19:21that you might believe, and God will use his word to impact your
- 19:28life. That's why Paul would say I am
- 19:29not ashamed of the gospel, for the gospel is the power of God
- 19:34unto salvation. To the Jew 1st, and also to the
- 19:37Greek, the power of salvation is the gospel.
- 19:40It's, it's not my ingenuity, it's not my illustrations, it's
- 19:44not my alliteration, it's none of those kind kinds of things.
- 19:49It is the word of the living God working in conjunction with God
- 19:54Himself to bring conviction to your soul.
- 19:59So my job is just simply to take you to the Scriptures, open the
- 20:05sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and show you
- 20:08how your senses can be sharpened and how they can be tuned to
- 20:14know the truth about Jesus Christ our Lord.
- 20:22So John says, behold your God. John, chapter one verse #1.
- 20:29In the beginning was continuously the word, the
- 20:35eternality of the sun and the word was continuously with God
- 20:44or face to face with God. So the eternal word was face to
- 20:50face with the eternal God, helping you understand the try
- 20:55you nature of God. I mean the word Trinity.
- 20:57I know it's not in the Bible. We probably shouldn't even use
- 21:00that word. The best word to use is try
- 21:03unity. It's better than Trinity.
- 21:07Try unity. One God manifested himself in
- 21:11three distinct persons, and here John introduces us to two of
- 21:16them. Because the word, that which is
- 21:20eternal, was face to face with the eternal God.
- 21:28And then he says, and the Word was God.
- 21:36So you move from his eternality to his personality to his deity.
- 21:46Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say the Word was a
- 21:50God. Although the New World
- 21:52translation, the Jehovah's Witness translation, inserts the
- 21:56indefinite article there, there is no indefinite article in the
- 22:01original language. So it's just something says the
- 22:05word was God. Notice it doesn't say that the
- 22:09word was the God. Now that would be true, but
- 22:17that's not what John says, which is so important to understand
- 22:22the word was God. When the definite article is not
- 22:27used before the noun, it describes the essence, the
- 22:33substance, the quality and nature.
- 22:38In other words, the word in essence, the word by nature.
- 22:43The word in substance is God. In fact, the original language
- 22:52says God was the Word. So we read it.
- 22:57The word was God, but the original says God was the word.
- 23:02Explain to us the fact that this word verse 14 would become flesh
- 23:08and dwell among us. The in fleshman of the word, the
- 23:12incarnation of the word, Christ becoming man.
- 23:20The Word was God, very God of very God.
- 23:29Not a God, not the God, simply God.
- 23:38Jesus was not simply the revealer of God, but God himself
- 23:44revealed. Did you get that Jesus didn't
- 23:49come just to reveal God, but he actually was God revealed in the
- 23:55flesh, the deity of Christ and full equality of Christ with the
- 24:03Father is the one non negotiable element of Christian faith.
- 24:14This is non negotiable. This is not up for debate.
- 24:20This is absolute truth. The word was God.
- 24:28And John of course will go into great detail explaining to us to
- 24:34those IM statements to hearing the words of Thomas when he says
- 24:40in John chapter 20, my Lord and my God in Christ never said, oh,
- 24:48she got it wrong. No, because He was right.
- 24:54Absolutely right. In fact, just let me arm you
- 24:58with some verses that will help you understand, because when you
- 25:01talk about the deity of Christ, you must understand it in four
- 25:05ways, OK? The deity of Christ is revealed
- 25:10in His name, reaffirmed in His attributes, reinforced by His
- 25:15works, and ratified when He is worshipped.
- 25:19You must understand that it's a very simple way of understanding
- 25:23how to explain the deity of Christ, that Christ is actually
- 25:26God in the flesh. Why is this important?
- 25:31Isaiah told you. For the feeble you will be
- 25:35encouraged. For the weak you will be
- 25:39strengthened. Why?
- 25:42Because you will see the majestic glory of the Lord.
- 25:45So behold your God for when you see Him for who He is,
- 25:50everything changes. Everything does.
- 25:55Because everything about your life is related to one person,
- 26:01the Lord Jesus Christ. Once you know Him, once you
- 26:05understand Him, once you come to believe in Him, everything else
- 26:08changes. Any other change outside of that
- 26:14knowledge, outside of that encounter, is a superficial kind
- 26:19of change and will not last. Maybe a week or two or three or
- 26:244, but it will not last. True change happens when you are
- 26:30in Christ. For if any man be in Christ, he
- 26:33is a brand new creation. Old things are passed away.
- 26:36Behold, all things have become new.
- 26:40Everything is about the identity of Christ.
- 26:44That's why John is so so keen on these first 5 verses by way of
- 26:51introduction that you might understand the true nature of
- 26:56the Messiah. Notice the Bible says these
- 27:01words in Philippians 2, that Jesus existed in the form of God
- 27:08equal with God. Colossians 2.
- 27:12Verse #9 Paul says, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells
- 27:19in bodily form. In Romans 95 Paul refers to
- 27:26Christ as God blessed forever, and he was one.
- 27:32Verse #8 The Father says to the Son, your throne, O God, is
- 27:41forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter
- 27:45of His Kingdom. Peter in second Peter chapter 1
- 27:58says this. And mark this down.
- 28:03Simon Peter, a bond servant and the apostle of Jesus Christ to
- 28:07those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the
- 28:12righteousness of the God and Savior Jesus Christ.
- 28:23That same phrase is used in Titus chapter 2 verse #13 and
- 28:30there is a rule in Greek grammar that's used over 250 times in
- 28:36the New Testament and it's always the same.
- 28:40It never varies and here is the rule when the definite article
- 28:46the precedes the first noun and not the second noun, and they
- 28:54are separated with the conjunction and the two are
- 28:59always equal without exception in the New Testament.
- 29:06So whoever God is the God, that God is the Savior, and that
- 29:14Savior is Jesus Christ. It's irrefutable in the New
- 29:22Testament. And so you can go through
- 29:26different passages of the Old Testament.
- 29:30I won't take you to all of them, I'll take you to one of them.
- 29:33But in First Corinthians 2 verses 78, Paul's First
- 29:39Corinthians 278, Paul says you crucified the Lord of glory.
- 29:44Well who's the Lord of glory? Psalm 24/7 and 10 tells us that
- 29:50the Lord of glory is the Lord of hosts who is the King of glory.
- 29:55And Psalm 24 is a messianic Psalm.
- 29:58So when Paul is speaking to those in Corinth, he is saying
- 30:01that the Jews crucified the Lord of glory.
- 30:06The Bible says in in Acts 3 verse 14 and 15 Peter says, but
- 30:14you denied the Holy One and the just and asked for a murderer to
- 30:19be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life whom God
- 30:24raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
- 30:30So Peter calls Jesus the Holy One.
- 30:33Isaiah chapter 48 verse #17 says thus says the Lord your
- 30:39Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
- 30:43I am the Lord your God. So you see the deity of Christ
- 30:49is revealed in His name in Zechariah chapter.
- 30:55I'm sorry, Jeremiah 23 verse #6 Jeremiah prophesied that the
- 31:00Messiah would be called the Lord Yahweh of righteousness.
- 31:08So whoever the Messiah is, he is the Lord of righteousness.
- 31:16But, but there's one verse in the Old Testament that I love to
- 31:20hang my hat on because it's so powerful.
- 31:24It's found in Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah 44 verse #6 And if you're
- 31:36talking to a Jew, if you're talking to a a Jehovah's
- 31:40Witness, if you're talking to a Mormon, if you're talking to a
- 31:44Muslim, if you're talking to a Hindu, I don't care who you're
- 31:49talking to, take him to Isaiah 44 verse #6 because the Bible
- 31:56says thus says the Lord. Remember when Lord is all in
- 32:01caps it's it's yave over 6000 times.
- 32:06It's used in the Old Testament. It speaks of the Lord who spoke
- 32:10to Moses from the burning Bush. It's the name of God that the
- 32:13Jews refuse to pronounce. So he says.
- 32:19Thus says the Lord Yahweh, the King of Israel and his Redeemer,
- 32:26the Lord of hosts. If you're talking to a Mormon,
- 32:32they will tell you that the first Lord is Yava and the
- 32:36second Lord is Adonai because it refers to an earthly Lord.
- 32:40And it is true that Adonai can refer to an earthly Lord, but it
- 32:47doesn't mean it only refers to earthly Lord.
- 32:51But the problem is the second Lord is not Adonai, it's Yava.
- 33:02So you have two Yava's, you have two Lords.
- 33:07How can you have two Lords? How can you have a Lord who is
- 33:11the king, A king of of glory or the king of Israel, and another
- 33:21Lord who is Yabe Savio? Well, the Jews got around that
- 33:29after the death of Christ, of course.
- 33:33So in the Jewish Old Testament they translate it this way.
- 33:38Thus says the Lord Yahweh, the King of Israel, and their
- 33:46Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. But you see, grammatically you
- 33:52cannot do that. They should know that because
- 33:57you can't take a third person singular pronoun, and it's
- 34:02translated there. It's his, it's irrevocable, it's
- 34:12irreplaceable. It's very clear.
- 34:17The Lord is the King of Israel and He has the Redeemer, and
- 34:23that Redeemer is Yahweh Sabiath, the Lord of hosts.
- 34:29That's who He is. If you turn over to Isaiah 47,
- 34:37it says this in verse #4 our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.
- 34:42That's true. The Lord of armies, Yabe
- 34:45Sabeoth, is the Redeemer. Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts,
- 34:51is His name, the Holy One of Israel.
- 34:57So whoever the Redeemer is, he's the Lord of hosts, and the Lord
- 35:02of hosts is the Holy One of Israel.
- 35:05And we read to you earlier in the book of Isaiah that the Holy
- 35:09One of Israel is the Lord God of Israel.
- 35:12And then over in Isaiah 54 verse #5 it says these words for your
- 35:21husband, Isaiah, speaking to Israel.
- 35:24Your husband is your maker, your fashioner, whose name is Yabe
- 35:32Sabaya, the Lord of hosts, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of
- 35:37Israel, who is called the God of all the earth.
- 35:44So the Redeemer is the Lord of hosts.
- 35:48The Lord of hosts is the Holy One of Israel.
- 35:53The Holy One of Israel is your God.
- 35:57Again exemplifying and explaining the deity of Christ,
- 36:03that the Redeemer, the Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.
- 36:10God's Messiah is the Lord of armies.
- 36:17He is your Savior. There are so many verses, but
- 36:27when you want to explain the deity of Christ, you must
- 36:31explain the fact that His deity is revealed in His name.
- 36:35His name is His character, His nature.
- 36:39It's reaffirmed in His attributes.
- 36:41As. God is on the present, Jesus is
- 36:42on the present. As God was omnipotent, Jesus is
- 36:46omnipotent. As God is omniscient, so Jesus
- 36:50is omniscient. As the God of Israel is called
- 36:58Yabe Sabeoth, so his his his Redeemer called Yabe Sabeoth,
- 37:05the Lord of hosts. So the deity of Christ is not
- 37:10just revealed in his name, it's reaffirmed in his attributes.
- 37:15It's ratified when he is worshipped.
- 37:17And he made it very clear Jesus did that.
- 37:19No one should worship God, but no one should worship him but
- 37:24but God alone I should be. In Matthew chapter 4 he talks
- 37:28about the fact that you should only worship God alone.
- 37:31And yet Jesus received worship indicating that he is God in the
- 37:37flesh. But but #4 the deity of Christ
- 37:39is is reinforced by his his works.
- 37:46And that leads us to the next point.
- 37:49Not only is He seen in His eternality, and not only is He
- 37:56seen in His personality, His deity, but His activity or His
- 38:06creativity. What's the next verse say All
- 38:12things came into being through Him, the Father.
- 38:21Listen carefully. Was the architect of creation.
- 38:27Jesus was the agent of creation. You must understand that verse
- 38:3910 of John One says he was in the world and the world was made
- 38:48through him and the world did not know him.
- 38:54So Jesus is the agent of creation.
- 38:59If he brings all things into existence, that means he existed
- 39:04before all things came into existence, declaring his
- 39:10eternality that he existed before all things.
- 39:16That's why Colossus 115 It says he is the image of the invisible
- 39:20God, the first born or the preeminent one of all creation.
- 39:24For by him all things were created both in the heavens and
- 39:29on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or dominions or
- 39:32rulers or authorities, all things have been created through
- 39:36him and for Him. So in order to create all
- 39:40things, to bring all things into existence, you had to exist
- 39:46before all those things came into existence.
- 39:49Speaking of His eternality and He created all things, the Bible
- 39:58also says in First Corinthians chapter 8 verse #6.
- 40:05There is but one God the Father, from whom are all things, and we
- 40:10exist for Him, and 1 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,
- 40:16and we exist through Him. Same thing.
- 40:21The Father was the architect behind creation, and Jesus was
- 40:27the agent by which creation came into existence.
- 40:32All things came into being through Him.
- 40:39This speaks of His activity, his creativity.
- 40:44In other words, He is the Creator.
- 40:49Now, why is that important? Because that is the first
- 40:53doctrine of the Bible. In the beginning.
- 40:58God, what's the next word? Created.
- 41:06That's how God introduces himself to the world in the
- 41:10beginning. God not loved in the beginning,
- 41:16God not mercy, although he's all that in the beginning.
- 41:22God and His grace. Although he is graceful, the
- 41:30very first way that God introduces Himself is as
- 41:35Creator, designer, the fashioner of everything.
- 41:44So the Bible says in Psalm 19 verse #1 The heavens are telling
- 41:55of the glory of God. The heavens, when the sun rises,
- 42:02when the sun shines, when the sun sets, it is declaring to you
- 42:10the glory of God. It is showing you the presence
- 42:15of God. If there is a design, there is a
- 42:19designer. If there's a creation, there is
- 42:21a Creator, and their expanses, declaring the work of His hands.
- 42:34day-to-day pours forth speech. day-to-day, from sunrise to
- 42:44sunset, day after day after day, the heavens continue to pour
- 42:51forth speech. They continue to speak and night
- 42:59to night reveals knowledge. This is why the world hates God.
- 43:16This is why the world is so against God, because the Bible
- 43:24says very clearly that which is known about God is evident
- 43:31within them, Romans 119 because God made it evident to them.
- 43:39In other words, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
- 43:43all unrighteousness, because men suppress the truth.
- 43:49What's the truth? There is a Creator and you see
- 43:54what you see because the Lord who's the Creator allowed you to
- 43:57see his creation. And day-to-day there is a speech
- 44:01that is taking place in the ears of everybody whoever existed
- 44:08that screams. There is a God screams it.
- 44:16For since the creation of the world, verse 20 of Romans one,
- 44:19his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature
- 44:22have been clearly seen. Not vaguely seen, not partially
- 44:28seen, clearly seen being understood.
- 44:33That or excuse me, being understood through what has been
- 44:37made so that they are without excuse.
- 44:39For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or
- 44:43give thanks. But they became feudal in their
- 44:46speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
- 44:49Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the
- 44:55glory of the incorruptible God for an image of the in the form
- 44:58of corruptible man and the birds, and the four footed
- 45:02animals and the crawling creatures.
- 45:06The world hates the Creator, but This is why God introduced
- 45:15himself this way. Why is there an evolution
- 45:21creation debate? It's really not a debate, it's a
- 45:24closed deal. But they debated anyway, right?
- 45:28Because they refused to believe in a creator.
- 45:34Why do you think abortion is as bad as it is?
- 45:39Because those people who kill their babies deny the Creator.
- 45:45That's why. See that which is born in you,
- 45:51That's what conception is. We think the birth of the baby
- 45:55is when the baby comes out. Oh no, that's wrong.
- 45:59For the Bible says in Matthew chapter one that which is born
- 46:03in you is the Son of God. At conception was the birth of
- 46:12the child or this the child that was that was born at conception.
- 46:21That's why the Bible says that which is born in you when you
- 46:25conceive, that is the birth. You just happen to see the
- 46:28results of the birth nine months later.
- 46:32But the birth happens at conception.
- 46:37But you see, they refuse to acknowledge God as God and so
- 46:43they feel like they can kill their unborn babies because they
- 46:49don't recognize that they are truly born babies and that God
- 46:53had fashioned them in the womb. Psalm 139 and all their days
- 46:58were ordained before there was even yet one of them.
- 47:01Because God is the Creator, the Maker, the fashioner of
- 47:04everything. He is fashioning that child in
- 47:06the womb and that abortion is the way it is because of Romans
- 47:11chapter one. They suppress the truth.
- 47:13They know there's a Creator and they know.
- 47:16Don't you think for one one minute that a woman who aborts
- 47:20her child does not know that God created that child in her womb?
- 47:26Because Romans one says that she suppresses the truth, she knows
- 47:32the truth and she will not subject herself to that truth.
- 47:39Why do you think there's a transgender issue?
- 47:43Male and female created he then have you not read that?
- 47:47So Jesus says, have you not read male and female created he?
- 47:52Then there's no debate about transgenderism.
- 47:58But because all those people who claim that know the truth, they
- 48:04suppress the truth. They deny the truth because they
- 48:10do not want to be held accountable to the creator of
- 48:15the world. But don't ever think that all
- 48:21those unbelieving pagans out there who do not want to submit
- 48:26to Christ do not know what they are doing.
- 48:29They know exactly what they are doing because Romans one tells
- 48:34us, Psalm 19 tells us. And that's why John says because
- 48:43of him, all things came into existence.
- 48:46He's the creator. This is his creativity, this is
- 48:50his activity. This is who the Son of God is.
- 48:53Behold your God. He says in the beginning God
- 49:01created the heavens and the earth.
- 49:09Why? Why is this important?
- 49:14Because once you understand God as the Creator and Maker and
- 49:19fashioner of your life, you will submit to Him as Lord and King
- 49:27and follow Him. The Bible is so clear on all
- 49:34these issues and John says, behold your God, understand his
- 49:43eternality, understand he's a person, his personality.
- 49:53Understand that that that he his deity, his God in the flesh,
- 50:02understand his creativity, his activity, that he is the creator
- 50:06of all things. And then he says these words in
- 50:14John 1, which are so very, very important.
- 50:21In him was the life and the life was the light of men.
- 50:31And by the way, which he will ultimately say that this light
- 50:38enlightens every man who comes into the world, every unbeliever
- 50:46has been enlightened by this light who is life.
- 50:57And we'll pick that up next week.
- 50:58Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for
- 51:01today. It is so important that we
- 51:05understand who you are. You've allowed us to spend time
- 51:13in the Word of God, stretching our minds, taking us through
- 51:19various scriptures to understand the true identity of the
- 51:24Messiah. We, we are a blessed people.
- 51:32My my prayer, Father, is that you would open the hearts and
- 51:35minds of all who are here, and they would, they would see you
- 51:40for who you are, and they would follow you and serve you and
- 51:45understand you. They would embrace the Messiah,
- 51:51the Christ, the Son of God. So, Lord, we thank you for our
- 51:58time. There's one here who does not
- 52:01know you. May today be the day of their
- 52:03salvation. They may walk with Christ, the
- 52:06true life, the true light, the true Lord, the true Lion, the
- 52:11true Lamb, the true Liberator of life.
- 52:18Until you come again. Lord, we thank you in Jesus
- 52:20name, Amen.