CARRY ON MY FAITHFUL SON DON’T STOP BELIEVING IN JESUS
Romans 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
INTRODUCTION: Powerful statement. It is just as relevant today as it was when Paul penned these words. Friends, there are cults, liberal evangelicals, and professing Christians that deny the deity of Christ. They neglect the teaching of the Bible. These people fail to realize that if you have a sinful Christ, He couldn’t die for the world’s sins. Biblical authority is essential, and the Bible has much to say about Jesus, the faithful Son. The Bible is our foundation for belief and behavior, so we listen to what it says.
Our series is called Don’t Stop Believing. It’s about our church’s fundamental teachings that we share with conservative groups like the National Evangelical Association, the A/G, and other bona fide Christian communities. Today, we are discussing the doctrine of Christ.
Why? Without Jesus Christ, there would be no Christianity. Jesus is the center and the circumference of our faith as Christians. Buddha can be removed from Buddhism. Confucius can be removed from Confucianism. Muhammed can be removed from Islam. All three would remain. But if you take Christ out of Christianity, Christianity ceases. Christianity is Jesus Christ. Jesus carries us on His shoulders. Without Christ, we have no Christian faith. Christ is both the center and the circumference of historic Christianity.
Now, we will look at what the Bible tells us about Jesus. We will look first at the person of Christ: who Jesus is. And then, we will look at the work of Christ: what Jesus did, what he is doing now, and what he will yet do in the future.
- FAITH-FUL GOD
Friends, Jesus is entirely God, and God is God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three are equally God, including Jesus. This is a cardinal Christian truth, supported by John 1:1-2: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Jesus Christ is eternally and entirely God.
John Chapter One gives us a clear picture of the Doctrine of Christ, the Logos. In the beginning was the Word is a continual action of past tense in Greek. We could translate this as, in the beginning, the Word (Jesus) continually existed. Jesus is eternal and preexistent.
Next, the Word was with God. “With” is in the Greek imperfect tense. It means together, like Jesus was face to face with God. That’s cool! Then there’s the Word was God. The word “Word” is a reference to Jesus. A literal rendition of the Greek would be that God was the Word. John is making a direct statement that Jesus is God.
“In Greek the word for word is “logos,” or “spoken word.” God speaks or has “logosed” us to communicate to us through Christ the Living Word, with Scripture serving as the written Word.
God’s intrinsic nature is eternal. He has always been and will always be the one who carries on the revelation of God and man. When we declare that we believe in Christ’s deity, we affirm that Jesus is God, always has been, and always will be. Revelation 1:8 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty, empowered by God to carry on the work of the Father.
- FAITH-FUL SON
The most important question you can ever answer is: “Who is Jesus Christ?” How has He impacted mankind? Jesus’ footprint on history is indisputable. Calendars divide the history of man into before and after the birth of Jesus.
So, who is He? How has He impacted cultures, nations, and history for two thousand years? Almost everyone who looks at His life would agree that Jesus was a good man and an influential teacher; some would even say he was one of God’s prophets. That’s all true, partially. Jesus is all that and then some. Jesus is more than a teacher or prophet. Jesus is fully God and fully man.
Colossians 1:15 says He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. and Colossians 2:9 says that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Empowered by God to carry on the work of the Son.
Our website says, “Jesus is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. He was born to a virgin and carried out many miraculous actions during his life. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on the cross. After three days, he arose from the dead to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to heaven and will return to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
Or as the National Association of Evangelicals puts it, “We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His return in power and glory.”
The Bible’s teaching about Jesus Christ is the core, central message of Scripture. The Bible is about Jesus in its essence. The Old Testament looks forward to Jesus. The New Testament exists to show us God kept His word and sent Jesus. Jesus is fundamental to Christianity, Scripture, and history. If you think about it, it’s all about Jesus. Shall I carry on?
- FAITH-FUL MAN (the incarnation)
In John 1:1, the Lord shows us Jesus’ deity, THE WORD WAS GOD. In the 14th verse, we see Jesus’ humanity: THE WORD BECAME FLESH. Jesus is God in human form. He came as a man to reveal the Father to us.
How do we know John is talking about Jesus? John 1:14 says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John Chapter One is, without a doubt, talking about Jesus. Verse 14 describes Christ’s Incarnation or birth. Jesus has always been God, but not always human. John says that he became flesh. He became a man in time and history. The theological word that describes this is “incarnation.” Carne means flesh. God in flesh, incarnation. Dwelt among us means Jesus pitched His tent and lived in our neighborhood. Empowered by God to carry on the work of the Kingdom.
As God, Jesus existed before Bethlehem. As a man, existence happened because of Bethlehem. In John 6:38 Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven.” John 8:58 says, Before Abraham was, I AM. When Jewish authorities asked Jesus, Who do You make Yourself out to be? Jesus answered, “Ego Eimi,” or “I AM,” just like at the burning bush to Moses. God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” That’s Yahweh’s name. I AM the Covenant-keeping God.
Whenever Jesus used “I AM,” as a phrase like, I am the door, or I am the way, the truth, and the life, or, I am the living water, or, I am the bread of life, or, I am the resurrection and the life, Jesus was proclaiming a new covenant with us, and equality with Yahweh God. As God, Jesus existed before Bethlehem.
How did this happen? How does God become man? I’m glad you asked. Scripture tells us in Matthew 1:18 That the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Mary was a virgin when she conceived without a human sperm donor and gave birth to Jesus.
Jesus’ birth was natural; His conception was supernatural. This is not the Catholic immaculate conception teaching, which says Mary doesn’t have a sinful nature. Mary conceived supernaturally by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus has a divine nature, remaining God with a human nature. We call this the Hypostatic Union. Two natures, one person, Jesus Christ.
The virgin birth is an essential doctrine. We can’t remove the virgin birth and His humanity from the doctrine of Christ and have Christianity remain intact. Remove them, and Christianity collapses. It is heretical to deny the virgin birth of Christ. It is heretical to deny the Incarnation of God. They are the most extraordinary miracles conceivable. Yet many people see them as inconceivable.
Besides divine conception, Jesus grew and developed physically like all human babies. Jesus’s birth was like all human births, except for the heralding of angels and the centuries of fulfilled prophecies. God could have done it another way. Adam and Eve were created as human adults. But He didn’t. Jesus was sent, obeyed, suffered, and showed us a better way.
From conception forward, Jesus lived a human life. He developed in the womb, was born a baby, and grew into manhood. Jesus was completely human, just like us, except we are not God like Jesus is. Jesus wasn’t part God and part man. He was 100% both. Philippians 2:6 says, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. The NIV says Jesus is “in very nature, God.” That’s the incarnational miracle. This is Jesus. And without understanding who Jesus is, it’s impossible to understand what Jesus did.
Some heretics have taught that Jesus didn’t have a human body. To them, Jesus was like Casper, a friendly phanrosis. Some Gnostics taught that Jesus wouldn’t leave footprints when he walked on the beach. Friends, it is heretical to deny Jesus’ full humanity. It is heretical to deny Jesus’ full deity. He is fully God and fully man in one person.
As a man, Jesus became hungry, thirsty, and weary. Jesus was compassionate. Jesus wept. He was an actual human being who had human emotions. Jesus slept, so go on, take a nap. And Jesus physically died. Jesus was born to die voluntarily.
The work of Christ (what Jesus did). So, now, let’s look at Christ’s work and what Jesus did. The work of Christ is inseparably tied to the person of Christ. Hebrews 1:3 says this about Jesus, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Our statement of faith says Jesus lived a perfect, sinless, obedient life. Jesus asked the Jews in John 8:46,Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? Would you be comfortable publicly asking that question? Probably not. It wouldn’t take much to convict us of our guilt of sin. Why? Because we carry on as wayward sons in need of a savior. Not Jesus. No one could bring a valid charge against Jesus.
Why is Jesus’ perfect, sinless life important? Only a sinless person could pay the penalty for someone else’s sin. Listen to Hebrews 7:26-27 speak about our great, high priest Jesus: For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
No one can pay for another person’s sin. You would have to die for your sins first. Only a sinless savior, Jesus, could die for our sins.
Jesus worked miracles to demonstrate that he came from God, and Jesus’ miracles involved a range of areas. Healing, casting out demons, controlling storms, walking on water, increasing food and drink, and raising people from the dead, Jesus did it all. And He empowers us to do the same.
Jesus’ miracles were part of his public ministry. There were a lot of witnesses who started believing in Him. In Acts 2:22, Peter said Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know.
Jesus told us His miracles prove he came from God. In John 10:37-38 Jesus told His doubters: If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. John 14:11 says, Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me or believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. And that’s not where it ends. Jesus commissioned us, His church, to carry on His miraculous works in Matthew 28!
Jesus died on the cross to pay the cost of sin. Jesus atoned for our sins vicariously. Vicarious means “in place of,” and “atone” means “to remove wrath or anger.” Jesus died in our place. We sinned, and God sent Jesus to be our vicarious substitute. Atoning is like being negligent with an anniversary, birthday, or Valentine’s and forgetting. You atone by buying more flowers, a more expensive restaurant, etc. Atoning is costly. Jesus atoned for our negligence.
1 Peter 3:18 says: for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, died in the place of lost, rebellious sinners. The Father sent the Son to appease His wrath that was induced by sin.
Jesus paid our penalty on the cross, removing God’s wrath that was directed toward us. God’s justice has been satisfied. Salvation has been provided for everyone who trusts in Jesus’ atoning work. Jesus had to be a man to die, and Jesus had to be God to pay for our sins.
And Jesus victoriously rose from the dead, conquering sin, and death.
Jesus did not stay dead. He rose again. A resurrected and glorified body is no longer subject to death. Here’s why the resurrection is essential. The resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God. Romans 1:4 says that Jesus was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. And the resurrection has personal benefits. Romans 6:5 says: For if we have been united in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. We have a glorified, resurrected body waiting for us.
Jesus ascended into heaven and will come again! Jesus appeared to his disciples over forty days after His resurrection. Jesus then met his disciples on a Galilean mountain, issued final instructions, and visibly ascended into heaven while they watched, and that’s not all. Jesus will return in great glory and power. The book of Acts 1:9-11 tells us: Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.
Jesus Christ will personally return in the same way he ascended. He will come back. Visibly. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Our statement of faith only says Jesus will return without specific details other than we are waiting for Jesus’ imminent return. Everyone may not agree on the tribulation or the millennium, but we must agree that Jesus ascended and is coming again. We say, “He’s coming, I’m going!”
CONCLUSION: Reject Jesus, reject God. The virgin birth unites the undiminished deity with the undiminished humanity in one person, with two natures.
Regarding Jesus, He is either God or He’s not. Some people think they’re becoming a god. It’s a delusion. The opposite is true. God became a man. Anything less is not orthodox Christianity. Every false religion denies one or the other. Jesus preexisted, is eternal, is human, and is God Incarnate.
We said earlier that one of the most important questions you can ever answer is: “Who is Jesus Christ?” Jesus is more than just a good man, teacher, or prophet. He is the eternal Son of God who became fully man without ceasing to be fully God.
Can we also ask, “What did Jesus do?” Jesus did what He could only do because of who He is. Death on the cross. Rising from the dead victorious and ascending into heaven, coming again. Soon. He worked miracles, proving that he was sent from God. He works miracles through us to prove that He sent us on His behalf.
A third thing to ask yourself is, “What will you do with Jesus?” God calls people everywhere to turn from their sins and to put their faith in his Son. Jesus is the Son of God. He died for you. Will you put your faith and trust in him?