Apostolic Testimony to the Deity of Christ, Part 2

Introduction and Review of the Simple Statement

0:02 There are few questions which introduce us to more weighty issues than does this question, Who is Jesus Christ?

0:17 Who is Jesus Christ? And it is just this question, with all of its weighty issues surrounding it, that is presently occupying our minds as we work through a series of studies that I have entitled, Here We Stand. For the benefit of those of you visiting with us, the intent of this series of studies is one of giving a broad overview of the main pivots of biblical teaching concerning everything from the nature of Scripture to the work and life and ministry of the Church and the great salvation of God in Christ. And my concern in doing this is to give, as it were, a manifesto of what we gladly confess as a people of God, concerning our understanding of the Word of God. Now in this series, entitled Here We Stand, we are presently concerned with the third great area, the salvation we receive and proclaim, having considered the objects of this salvation, sinners, creatures made in the image of God and accountable to God, but fallen in Adam. And, Ruined by sin, sinners upon whom God has set His free and sovereign electing love,

1:40 our attention is now directed to the central person or figure in this salvation. Who is it that effects the salvation that has as its object guilty sinners? And certainly even a very cursory reading of the Word of God will set forth the principle that Jesus Christ is the central figure in this mighty work of God's saving sinful men. And so we're considering for some weeks this central figure under three major categories, the mystery of His person, the majesty of His offices, and the efficacy of His work. We are presently concerned with the first of those categories, the mystery. The mystery of His person. And the Scripture makes it abundantly clear that having and believing clearly concerning Christ or having clear views and believing rightly concerning Christ is a matter of tremendous importance.

2:47 According to John 20, 30, and 31, the salvation of every sinner is dependent upon having right views of Christ. According to Matthew 16, the church is built on the proper confession of who Christ is. And then the preservation and proclamation of the gospel, according to Romans 1, 1-4, depends upon right views of Christ. And one of the most telling tests of any professed work of the Spirit, according to 1 John 4, 1-2, is its doctrine of Christ.

3:20 And so the question, as I began, who is Jesus Christ, is a very vital question. It brings within its orbit such tremendous, tremendously important issues as the building of the church of Christ, the salvation of every individual soul within the body of Christ, the proper proclamation of the gospel of Christ, and the acid test of the presence of the Spirit of Christ. What I've attempted to do thus far, as we consider the mystery of His person, is to give a simple statement of the doctrine. When we take all of the biblical materials and sift them out and sort them out and try to read them out, and reduce them to their lowest common denominator, what can we say concerning the person of Christ? And the answer to that question is given most profoundly, as well as simply in the shorter catechism, who is the Redeemer of God's elect? And the answer is the only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be both God and man, in two distinct natures, in one person, forever. And so a simple statement of the doctrine must involve those three fundamental categories of understanding.

4:43 Jesus Christ is truly God. All that can be predicated of God can rightly be predicated of Jesus Christ. The second fundamental category is He is truly man. All that constitutes man, man, sin excepted, Jesus Christ was and is.

5:05 And thirdly, there is but one person, the God-man, in two distinct natures, forever joined in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a simple statement of the doctrine. Every heresy that has ever plagued the church with reference to this doctrine has been marked by a failure to grasp one or more of those fundamental facets of the biblical teaching. Either there's been a denial of His true Godhead, or a denial of His true manhood, or a denial of the two distinct natures, or a denial of the unity of the person, or a denial that He is this glorious God-man in two distinct natures in one person, forever. Some change occurred after His ascension into heaven. And all of the great Christological heresies, can be found wanting in one of these three points. And so, at the expense of making you feel a bit uncomfortable and say, well, is He insulting our intelligence?

6:09 He's hammering home those points over and over and over and over and over and over again. I desire that as a people you grasp that. If someone should walk up to you in the middle of 8th Avenue and 42nd Street and say, who is Jesus Christ? Can you give me a statement of the biblical teaching?

6:27 I hope you'll be able to say, He is truly God, He is truly man, and the God and the man are to be found in two distinct natures in one person, forever. And you will have answered, well. And I hope you'll answer better than you drew maps of Palestine in the previous hour. All right, then we began last week to consider, having looked at a simple statement of the doctrine, the biblical basis of this doctrine.

6:53 Where did the framers of the Confession ever come up with such a concept that so transcends the power of the human mind fully to grasp, truly God, truly man? One person, two distinct natures joined forever. What Scriptures forced this confession upon the people of God? Well, we're looking at the Scriptures.

7:17 And we are presently concerned with the Scriptures that teach us that He is truly God. And we're going to look eventually at five lines of evidence. We're only looking at the first. We've brought the first witness to the stand from Scripture to assert that Jesus Christ is God.

7:34 And that is the collection of texts in which He is called God in such a way as it can mean nothing less than a full ascription of deity. Last week, we looked at three. John 1.1, John 20.28, Romans 9.5.

7:50 I only mentioned the references. We come now to the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh witness in which Jesus Christ is called God in such a way as can bear no other meaning than that He is truly God in the fullest sense of that word. Our fourth text is Philippians chapter 2 and verse 6. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 6.

8:22 Just a word now about the context. The Apostle Paul is concerned to give an exhortation, an exhortation to unity to the people of God at Philippi. He says in verse 2 that if they will obey his injunction and exhortation, it will make his joy full. Now what does he long for them to know in their relationship to each other?

8:47 Make full my joy, Philippians 2.2, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. That's the positive. The negative?

9:00 Doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but rather in lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself. He's giving an exhortation to the people of God to the end that their corporate life will be marked by the absence of self-assertiveness. Every man saying, I'm going to do my own thing and I'm going to stand for my own rights. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Witness 4: Philippians 2:6 — The Form of God

9:30 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but let each of you defer to his brother. Let each of you defer to his sister. Now to enforce that exhortation, an exhortation which had as its intent to lay upon the consciences of the people of God at Philippi this grace of self-effacement, to enforce that, he turns to the Lord Jesus and says, have this mind. Verse 5, have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

10:09 In other words, the apostle says, if you can but imbibe something of the perspective and disposition which characterizes your Lord, then you will be able rightly to relate to one another. You will manifest this absence of self-assertiveness, self-assertiveness. You will manifest the grace of looking each upon the things of one another. Now, it's in that setting that he describes the Lord in verse 6, who existing in the form of God, who existing in the form of God.

10:55 Now, the word the apostle uses, form, means the specific character. If I bring before you a piece of metal in the form of a sword, and I say this metal now has the form of a sword, what I mean is that it is appearing in the specific character of a sword. That piece of metal coming or being presented to you in the form of a sword has all of the essential characteristics of sword-ness, if I may say so. That piece of metal coming or being presented to you in the form of a sword has all of the essential characteristics of sword-ness, if I may say so.

11:32 That piece of metal coming or being presented to you in the form of a sword has all of the essential characteristics of sword-ness, if I may say so. The steel is hardened steel. It has been molded or hammered into a specific shape with a sharp end. It has a sharp edge.

11:44 It has a handle. It has a hilt in front of the handle. It has everything that constitutes a sword, a sword. Now, that's what the word morphe, form, means, so that the apostle Paul is not simply stating that Jesus was the Lord of all things.

12:03 is God in the abstract, but he says who existing in the form of God, that is, existing with all of the full plentitude of what constitutes God, God, Jesus Christ was and is. Who existing in the morphe, the form of God. You say, well, isn't that pressing a little bit too much into the meaning of the word? No, just from a linguistic standpoint it means that, and in this very context it obviously means that. Look further down in the passage. But made himself of no reputation, verse 7, taking the morphe, the form of a servant. Everything that constitutes a servant, a servant, Jesus Christ became. Now, when you read through the Gospels, there is nothing that is true of a servant. There is nothing that constitutes a slave, a servant, that Jesus Christ does not manifest. He says, I speak not mine own

13:12 words, but the words of him that sent me. I don't do my own works, but the works of him that sent me. I do always the things that please my Father. You see, coming in the morphe, the form of a servant, Jesus Christ manifested all the essential characteristics of a true servant. And as surely as he manifested every true characteristic of servant, he manifested servanthood. He did so as the one who in himself had all of the essential characteristics of God. Who existing in the form of God. Now the apostle says, here's the wonder. Who existing

13:57 in the form of God, and now I paraphrase it, but it's an accurate paraphrase, did not consider his being equal with God a thing to be selfish. He initially retained, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant. But listen, the one who took the form of the servant did not cease to be essentially what he had been from eternity in the form of God. He humbled himself by taking. He took something he never had in the pre-incarnate state, that is, the form of a servant. The eternal word who was with God and was God in the language of John 1-1 had not assumed the form of a servant until the incarnation. And in assuming the form of a servant in the incarnation, he did not cease to be what he had ever been, God himself. And the apostle could not use language which more clearly asserted the essential deity of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

15:17 That's witness number four. The mystery of his person. Who is he? He is God. How do we know he's God? Because he is called God in language that can bear no other meaning than that all that is true of God is true of Christ. Now let's bring in the fifth witness from Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. The context of this chapter is enunciated very clearly in verse 1 of chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. Speak thou the things which befall thee.

15:54 In other words, he's to give some instruction concerning the kind of living that is consonant with true doctrine. He does not want the doctrine negated or neutralized by the sloppy lives of the people of God. And so he gives specific directions to old men, to young men, to the man of God himself. And he's concerned about this because, as he says in verse 10, that men are not the same as they are.

16:25 Men may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Why? For, here's the rationale behind all of this instruction. Paul, why are you so concerned that the people of God live in such a way as is consistent with their doctrine? Why are you concerned that they adorn the doctrine of God in all things by practical godliness, old lady godliness, and young women godliness, and old man godliness, and young man godliness, and all of the details involved in that kind of living? Why are you so concerned that the people of God live in this kind of godliness? He says, for, this is the reason why I'm concerned, for the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. He says, I must instruct you in practical godliness because that's the end for which the grace of God has been manifested.

17:24 That's an integral part of the whole scheme of grace. Grace is manifested to teach us how and to give us power to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil world. And then he goes on to say, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Why is the end of the grace of God to make us whole? Why is the end of the grace of God to make us whole? Why is the end of the grace of God to make us holy? Because that was the end for which the Son of God died upon the cross. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works. So you see, the apostle conceives of the death of Christ as that which secured not just the escape of the people of God from the pains of hell to come, but he envisions the death of Christ as that which will secure the people of God from a present course of ungodliness and worldliness. Now

18:36 it's in that context of directing the people of God to holiness that he answers a very, very profound question. How can we who are natively sinful and who even as the redeemed ones have remaining corruption within, what hope is there that the likes of the people of God and the likes of you and me will be able to be holy? Ah, my friend, the answer is in the nature of your Savior. Who is the one who has been constituted the Savior of sinners? And Paul then in that context gives this wonderful description of the person of the Savior. Look at it now, verse 13, looking for the blessed hope in appearing of the glory of the great God and the ASV. It is terrible in its translation here. The great God and our Savior, as though it's the appearing of the great God the Father, and in addition to this, the Savior Jesus Christ.

19:41 No, the marginal reading, letter number three, of our great God and Savior is the only tenable translation from the standpoint of the original. A man by the name of Granville Sharp articulated a very fundamental rule of Greek grammar, and it goes like this. If you have two nouns of the same case and gender joined with a conjunction, the article, that is the thee, preceding the first noun, binds the two together, so that the two nouns refer to the same person. Now what do you have then? In the original you have the great God and Savior of us, Jesus Christ. The article, comes before the word great. The great God and Savior of us, Jesus Christ. The great God and Savior are both genitives. Same gender, same case. The great God and Savior, and the

Witness 5: Titus 2:13 — Our Great God and Savior

20:49 noun Jesus Christ then refers to both. It is the kind of structure, which if that's gone over your head, some of you have taken a little Greek, you'll catch it. Notice how simply it is set forth in parallel passages. 2 Peter, chapter 1. Look at it for a moment.

21:07 2 Peter, chapter 1. 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 11.

21:15 For thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom. Now here's a parallel structure. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The only difference being here, Peter uses the word Lord instead of God. Now they didn't say, of our Lord and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. No, no. They let the article apply to both. Our Lord and Savior, who is to be identified as Jesus Christ. You have the same thing in chapter 3 and verse 18 of 2 Peter. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now apparently they had some problem with letting it be what it obviously is. An ascription of full deity.

22:08 To Jesus Christ using the word God. Now when we think biblically, as we'll see God willing next week, the word God, theos, and the word Lord, kurios, used in this type of context are almost synonyms. And if you're going to have problem using theos, you ought to have problem using kurios as well. No, no. The apostle has no problem whatsoever. The same one who wrote Romans 9, 5, telling us that Jesus Christ is God. Over all, blessed forever, pointing the people of God to the only one who is able to cause them to be holy. The only one who is able to preserve them until his final manifestation. And he describes him as our great God and Savior, who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Now

23:07 I'm fully aware that if you've had any first-hand dealings with the Jehovah's Witnesses, you seen them dance a jig around the passage, but dancing a jig around it doesn't change the words of the Holy Ghost. And our Savior, the one whom we trust to deliver us from sin, the one whom we look to to give us power to be holy and to deny ungodliness, child of God, take encouragement. He is nothing less than God! This is why He is well able to fulfill all of the intentions of His death.

23:41 namely to redeem us from all iniquity, purify to Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works, the success of that salvation rests not upon the impotence of the sinner, but upon the omnipotence of the Savior who is God. And now turn to the book of Hebrews, please, for the sixth witness.

24:05 Who is Jesus Christ? He is truly God. How do we know it? Because He is called God in contexts which allow nothing less than the full ascription of deity to be given to that name.

24:22 The book of Hebrews, of course, has as its great theme the superiority of Christ. That theme is opened up in the first words, God having of old times spoken unto the fathers and the prophets by diverse portions and in diverse manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. His theme is introduced in the opening words. He bypasses all greetings and normal salutations, and He goes right to the heart of His theme.

24:57 He says, My theme is God's final word in Jesus Christ. And now He's going to show us how Christ is greater than every other thing, and it's been revealed in those diverse portions and diverse manners in the previous revelation. And He first of all starts by saying, He's greater than the angels, verse 5, for unto which of the angels said He at any time? And His first sub-argument is greater than the angels because He is called the begotten Son of God, which title is given to no angel.

25:36 Then He goes on and says, secondly, in verse 6, The angels are commanded to worship Him, so He must be greater than the angels. And when He bringeth the firstborn into the world, He saith, and let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels, He saith, who maketh His angels winds and His ministers a flame of fire. But, here's argument number three, but of the Son, He saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.

26:05 Jesus Christ is greater than the angels. Why? He has that peculiar name, begotten Son, which is given to no angel. Because He has made the object of the angels' worship, He is greater than they.

26:19 Thirdly, because He is addressed as God by God. This is a quotation, of course, from the Old Testament. And though the language in the Old Testament is somewhat obscure and the Hebrew exegesis is difficult, the Holy Spirit, who is the inspired interpreter of the Word, caused the penman of this epistle, the writer to Hebrews, to write in Greek that has absolutely no question as to its proper exegesis. There is no question as to syntax and grammar and the meaning of words.

26:55 Thy throne, O God! And to whom is this addressed? It is addressed to the Son. But of the Son, He saith, thy throne, O God.

27:07 And for those of you who know a little Greek, the nominative is used as evocative. We would translate it literally if that were not so. Thy throne, thee God. But it is used as evocative.

27:17 Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Now, you see, if Christ is simply one, albeit the highest of the angels,

27:28 then the whole argument in this passage breaks down. He is out to prove He is greater than any angel. Therefore, He Himself is no angel of any rank or of any form. And the little God of the Jehovah's Witness is nothing but another angel.

27:48 The God who is lesser than Jehovah, the God who is not Jehovah, incarnate, is no God. He is an idol.

27:58 And if you worship Him, you break the second commandment. And every Jehovah's Witness lives in perpetual, perpetual violation of the second commandment if he gives any worship to Jesus Christ. For Jehovah says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And yet, that same Jehovah is the one whom we worship as Jesus of Nazareth.

Witness 6: Hebrews 1:8 — Thy Throne, O God

28:22 All right, Witness number 7. 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5.

28:32 John is bringing his epistle to a conclusion.

28:40 And he says in verse 18, We know whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not. That is, he does not practice sin. He does not commit himself to a course of sin. Whoever is born of God, as he has been taught, teaching us in the epistle, is committed to a course of righteousness, not perfectly, but purposely.

29:00 He that was begotten of God keepeth himself. There's human responsibility. He worketh in us both to will and to do, not apart from our willing and doing, but he works in our wills.

29:14 He that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and the evil one toucheth him not. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. And we know that the Son of God, God is come, and hath given us an understanding, and we know him that is true, that is God the Father. And we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ.

29:39 This is the true God and eternal life. My little children, guard yourselves from idols.

29:53 Now, the precise question in the exegesis of this passage, is this. To whom does the little word this refer? This is the true God. Does it refer back to the obvious reference to God the Father?

30:10 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, that we know him that is true, that is the true and living God. Does it refer back then to the Father? Or does it refer to its most immediate and decedent? And we are in him, that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ.

30:32 This is the true God and eternal life. Well, from a grammatical standpoint, it could be one or the other. But from a contextual standpoint, I think the answer is very obvious. In this very epistle, John has used a peculiar description of the Lord Jesus in the first chapter.

30:51 Let's look at it. First John, chapter 1.

30:56 That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, and that which we have seen with our eyes. That's not God the Father. He has no body.

31:08 But God the Son, the incarnate Word, did. That which we beheld in our hands, handled concerning the Word of life. And the life was manifested, and we've seen it and bear witness and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. And who was that?

Witness 7: 1 John 5:20 — The True God and Eternal Life

31:31 Eternal life, who was with the Father and was manifested. It was Jesus of Nazareth. And John says this epistle concerns Him who is introduced to us in the beginning of the epistle under this peculiar title of eternal life. And he concludes the epistle with taking us right back to where He began.

31:52 The whole theme of the book is eternal life. What are the manifestations of that life? How may we know that we have that life? How can we be certain if someone does not, have that life?

32:02 Well, He had come in chapter 5 to tell us that this life is in His Son and He that hath the Son hath life. And Jesus Christ is so central to the gift of eternal life that John begins with the statement this is the life. And he concludes then with a similar statement. This one, Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, is also the true God and eternal life.

32:31 My little children, guard yourselves from idols. That is, to give worship to anyone other than the God manifested in Jesus Christ is to worship an idol. And to worship Jesus Christ as anything less than God is to worship an idol.

32:50 And so I've brought the seven witnesses to the stand. What do we do with those witnesses? There is but one thing to do to say that their witness is unanimous. Their witness is conclusive.

33:02 That when we consider them a mystery of the person of Jesus of Nazareth, we are forced to confess with the biblical writers that He is first of all very God of very God. He is in the language of Colossians chapter 2.

33:21 And this I think is the most wonderful summary statement of all of these seven witnesses if we put them all together and we try to constitute their individual emphases into one, cohesive, simple declaration, it is this. Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8. Take heed, lest there shall be any one that make it spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

34:06 And the apostle uses a word that is found only here in the New Testament. And we could translate it without doing any violence to the language in him dwells all the fullness of deity bodily. So that when we contemplate Jesus Christ of Nazareth, we are contemplating the one in whose humanity dwelt. Not a part, not a measure, the highest, the highest degree of, but the fullness of the Godhead.

34:40 That's who Jesus Christ is. In him is the fullness of the Godhead, not mystically, not ethereally, not spiritually, not in the spirit of Christ alone, but in his whole human nature. In that which makes him Jesus of Nazareth dwells the fullness of the Godhead. Well, you say the teaching of the Word of God, seems clear, but why do you get so excited about it?

35:16 What difference does it make? Oh, it makes all the difference in the world. In these closing moments, let me bring home some exhortation to your consciences.

35:25 I speak to you who sit among us, strangers to that life which is eternal. You are not in Christ, in a vital union from the human side, by faith, from the divine perspective, by the indwelling of the Spirit. What difference does it make that Jesus Christ is God? What difference does it make that Jesus Christ is God?

35:44 What difference does it make that Jesus Christ is God? What difference does it make Oh, listen, my friend, it makes all the difference in the world because the One who invites you to Himself and to partake of His salvation is nothing less than God. He's able to do everything that He promises in His invitation. When He says, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest, that's the voice of omnipotence that speaks.

36:11 As God, He will give rest. If He were a mere man for Him to claim to be able to give rest to every sin-weary sinner who would ever cast Himself upon Him would be absolute foolishness. It would be the ravings of a demented man unworthy of our respect. Think of the burdens that weigh down sinful men and women, boys and girls, around the world today.

36:39 Wherever the Gospel is preached, think of the burdens that bow them down. Think of the challenges and the chains that bind them. Think of the cords that enwrap them. Think of the Biblical picture of what the sinner is, dead and blind and deaf and impotent, and yet Christ says, Come, and I will give you rest.

37:02 Oh, it makes all the difference in the world that the Savior who invites us is God, able to do all He's promised. He says, Believe Me, and I will give pardon. Eat of Me, and I will give life. Drink of Me, as we studied in the adult class this morning, and I will quench your thirst.

Summary in Colossians 2:9

37:21 Who can be all of these things to all of the sinners to whom He comes wherever the Gospel is preached? None but the Savior who is God incarnate.

37:34 Not only is the One who invites you God able to do what He's promised, but He's God able to fulfill all of His threats to those who remain impenitent. It is not a fellow human being who says, If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. It is not a fellow human being who says, The hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth, some to the resurrection of life and some to the resurrection of damnation. It is no mere fellow of yours who says, As many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not this and that? And then will I profess unto them, Depart from me, I never knew you. It is no mere fellow of yours who sits upon the throne of glory as described in Matthew 25, who will gather the nations and say to those on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed. O my unconverted friend, man, woman, boy or girl, hear me this morning.

38:45 It makes all the difference in the world that Jesus Christ is God. Not only is it pledged that he's able to do all that he promises in the overtures of the gospel, he's able to fulfill all of the horrendous threats that are in the gospel.

39:04 It is as God,

39:08 with the fullness of his authority and power, that those threats will be carried out. And then it is of tremendous difference to you who are unconverted because the one who calls you to follow him is God. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, nothing less than supreme religious affection.

Application to the Unconverted: Promises and Threats

39:28 The whole idea of the Savior, Lord, controversy, oh, that whole thing would fall if we just contemplate who is the one who calls men into attachment to himself in the gospel. He's God. And we're to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We're to have no other gods before him.

39:46 That's why when Jesus called sinners, he never gave the impression there were two stages of becoming his. Luke 14 says, In turning he saw the great multitudes and said, If any man come to me and hate not father, mother, brother, sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Who speaks? It's God who speaks, saying, I will brook no rival to my affection.

40:14 And all this cheap huckstering off of Jesus,

40:18 it's tantamount to blasphemy.

40:22 Tantamount to blasphemy. No, no, my sinner friend. Why does Christ say, Coming for wrath you must come in the total abandonment of supreme religious affection to Christ because he's God. And if he demanded anything less, he'd be violating the very law which he himself gave.

40:44 That God must be loved with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength.

40:50 Well, people of God, does it make any difference to you and to me that Jesus is God? Oh, it ought to make all the difference in the world. That's why we can come and in our worship, just as easily direct hymns and prayers to the Son as to the Father. I'm fully aware that the overall perspective of the Scriptures is that the Father is the primary terminus of our worship.

41:17 I'm fully conscious of that, that we come to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. Yes, I'm fully conscious of that. But I'm also conscious that there are incidents in the Scriptures where Jesus Christ himself is worshipped. And that's why we have no problem with singing hymns that address to Jesus Christ words that are nothing other than blasphemy if he is not God.

41:43 And oh, dear people, if he's God, then oh, how our worship ought to reflect that conviction that we ought to come before the second person of the Godhead with all of the due preparation and reverence and awe that is likewise the rightful portion of the first and the third persons of the Godhead. And child of God, Jesus Christ is God not only to elicit proper worship from you, but above all to be a bulwark of strength to your faith. Faith grows not by looking at itself. The quickest way to shrivel whatever faith you have is to look at it.

42:22 True faith is a very modest thing. When you look at it, it blushes and recedes.

42:28 Faith grows by gazing upon its object,

42:33 not upon itself, and the problem with some of you is you spend too much time looking at your meager faith and all the while you're looking at it, it's shriveling.

42:44 And then you get so concerned that it's shriveling, you look at it closer and it shrivels some more.

42:52 The Father says, this is my beloved Son. Hear Him.

Application to the People of God: Worship, Faith, Affection

43:00 It's your gaze upon the Lamb of God.

43:06 And it makes all the difference in the world that our Savior is God because it's in the contemplation of all of the almightiness that is inherently His as God. That strengthens faith. We'll see that the reality of His manhood also is a great strength to faith, but that must wait another line of thought. This morning, focus upon the fact that your Savior is God.

43:31 What pledge do you have that you shall be redeemed from all iniquity? That you shall be presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy? Oh, my friend, if there's to be any intelligent confidence, it must rest not in anything, anything in you, but wholly upon the might and the power and the faithfulness of the Redeemer Himself.

43:56 And then, dear child of God, if Jesus is God, it should not only be a prod to worship Him aright, an encouragement to faith, but oh, what an encouragement jealously to guard the heart from any rival of the affection that belongs rightly to Him. Jesus Christ is God. And there, wherefore He is to be enthroned in your heart, in that place of supreme religious homage and affection that is to be shared with none other, even the deepest of human ties, father, mother, brother, sister, wife, husband, no, no, in the deep recesses of the heart where God Himself is to be enthroned and enshrined, the present burning conviction of the full essential Deity of Jesus Christ will be an incentive to guard the heart from the intrusion of any idol. And you see, this becomes very practical then, doesn't it? Because there are times when our own ambitions, our own passions, and our own lust would dictate what we do with our hands, our eyes, our time, our energies. But King Jesus, who is God, sitting upon the throne of the heart, speaking from the throne at the right hand

45:23 of the Father through the Word, He says, pluck out right eyes, cut off right hands, deny yourself, take up a cross. Well, is He going to be regarded as God? Are we going to yield affection to base passion and lust when they speak? Or to the incarnate God who speaks from the right hand of the Father through the Word and the Spirit to our hearts and to our consciences?

45:55 Know the religion of the Word of God, the religion of the New Testament, the religion of the people of God in all ages, has been the religion that confesses with no qualification, with no equivocation, with no reservation, Jesus Christ is God. And true religion always makes that confession from the posture that we contemplated last Lord's Day, the posture of Thomas, who falling upon his face at the feet of the saints, when the Savior says, My Lord and my God. My friend, do you have true religion? The quickest way to answer that question is to face the second question. Who is Jesus Christ to you? That's it. Who is Jesus Christ to you?

46:57 Is He your Lord, your God, the One upon whom you rest for pardon and acceptance with the Father, the One to whom you look for the beginning, middle and end of your whole salvation? That's biblical religion. Anything less than that is sham. And the Day of Judgment will consume it.

47:20 Would to God that it would be consumed by the Word this morning, that leaving the rags of whatever you have as a substitute, you may be found in Christ. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, we do worship You this morning. We worship and praise You.

47:54 We praise You that though being in the form of God, You are willing to assume and take to Yourself the form of a servant. Without in any way being divested of all that is Yours and was Yours from all eternity as God, we marvel that You would take to Yourself a true humanity and to be joined to that humanity forever. O Lord, the mystery of it baffles us. It drives us back by its light, and yet we confess it draws us near by its alluring and penetrating attraction.

48:38 For we recognize, blessed Lord Jesus, that You came to where we were, that we might be brought to where You are. Oh, we love You and worship You this morning, and we do long for the day when with the very eyes that we've looked upon one another this morning, we shall see You as You are. O Lord, what will it be to look upon You for the first time, to behold You in all the splendor and glory of Your true and eternal person as the God-man. We thank You that we behold You by faith now, and we pray that some who sit here this morning who've never beheld any glory in Your face may even this day be wooed and be won, and be found prostrate before You in faith and in love. We pray that You will hasten the day when the mouths of heretics will be stopped, when the peddlers of blasphemy will no longer be able to seduce and to ensnare the innocent and the foolish. Have mercy upon every wing of the professing Christian church that denies Your full and essential deal with humanity. Lord, O rescue many of them.

50:05 Rescue many of them. We pray for those who have nothing but a human Jesus, the figure of kindness and gentleness, who preach a Jesus who has no power to save from sin, no power to prepare men for the day of judgment. O God, break our hearts with the realization that even this morning many sit in so-called houses of worship, and hear nothing but pious platitudes about a human Jesus. Will You not again move, even in our own generation, and raise up an army of men who know You and who love You, and who will in the power and demonstration of the Spirit preach the Jesus of the Bible? O God, hear our cry this morning. We thank You for such a Savior. Now may the benediction and blessing of His own presence rest upon us and abide with us as we leave this place.

Closing Appeal: Who Is Jesus Christ to You?

51:11 Hear our cry, because we make our plea conscious that our only access to You is in the merit of the One whose name we have sought to extol this morning, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.