Divine Worship Directed to Christ
Pastor Martin brings in a fifth group of witnesses to Christ's deity: the fact that divine worship is directed to Him and received by Him without rebuke. Beginning with the strict monotheism of the Old Testament and Peter's and Paul's refusal to receive worship, he traces how calling on Christ's name, being baptized into His name, looking to Him for grace, and the worship of heaven itself all demonstrate that Christ is truly God. The sermon closes with searching questions: Is this the Christ you worship? And a lament over the cheap, flippant "Jesus" of much modern preaching.
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A full transcript is available on the tab. 114 paragraphs, roughly 55 minutes.
Review of Christ's Deity
We return again this morning to an exercise which ought to bring great delight to the heart of every child of God, that is a reverent, believing contemplation of the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In this present series of studies entitled, Here We Stand, we've arrived at that place where all of our attention is riveted upon the central figure in the salvation set forth in the Word of God, that figure, of course, being the person of Christ. Eventually, we hope to study the scriptures that deal with our Lord's person and work along three avenues of thought,
the mystery of his person, the majesty of his offices, and the efficacy of his work. We are presently concerned with the mystery of his person. The salvation set forth in the work of Christ is utterly dependent upon the nature and constitution of the person of Christ. And there will be no believing maintenance of the biblical teaching concerning his work.
unless there is the maintenance of the biblical teaching concerning his person. And as we have contemplated the mystery of his person, I have set before you week after week, I hope not ad nauseum, that is, to the place where you feel sick of it. I hope it's to the place where you are firmly grounded in the truth that the three irreducible elements of the biblical doctrine of the person of Christ are One, He is truly God. Two, He is truly man.
Three, He is one person in two natures forever. For some weeks we have been studying the Scriptures which explicitly declare the Godhood of Jesus Christ. Thus far, we've brought in four groups of witnesses, all of which testify convincingly to the true and essential deity of Jesus Christ our Savior. The first group of witnesses, and I hope you who've been here can anticipate me now.
You ought to be going over this in your own mind. If you can't, either you've been asleep or you need to do some work on training your memory to think and to retain. The first group of witnesses, those texts in which he is called God. The second group, those texts in which he is seen either possessing or exercising the distinguishing characteristics of God.
The third group of witnesses, those texts in which he is seen performing the works which only God can perform. and then the last group we considered, those passages in which he has given the names and the titles of God. We looked at two of them, Son of Man and Son of God. I had intended to preach this morning on the third title, Lord.
But after many, many hours of study and examination, I came up short last night feeling I simply could not preach on that title. I could have given a two-hour theological lecture, but that's not a 45 or 50-minute sermon. And so I have decided to leave that for now and to move this morning to the fifth and final group of witnesses to the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that group of witnesses are those passages in which all of the expressions of divine worship are directed to and received by Jesus Christ.
How do we know that He is God? Not only do we know His Godhood on the basis of these first four groups of witnesses to which I have already alluded, but we know that Jesus Christ is God because there are many portions in the Word of God, both in the Old and the New Testaments, where divine worship is directed to and received by Jesus Christ. So that He is either God, the legitimate object of that worship, or he is unworthy of the least of our respect and admiration because he is guilty of gross blasphemy and stands at the head of a cult of idolatry. Now let me explain first of all the significance of this group of witnesses.
Old Testament Strict Monotheism
Having done so, I shall attempt to expound some of the key aspects of this witness and then conclude with some practical application. To understand something of the tremendous force of this witness to the Godhood of Christ, we must understand, first of all, that the Bible is a book which, from Genesis to Revelation, sets forth the strictest form of monotheism. That is, the fact that there is one God only. from Genesis to Revelation, monotheism is the great, the overriding, the continual declaration of the Scriptures. In fact, one theologian has gone so far as to say that the Bible was given
to rescue the world from idolatry. That is, the worship of many gods. The first commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before or besides me. In other words, that which God enjoins upon the consciences of all of his creatures is that there is but one true and living God, and that God alone is to be worshipped, venerated, honored, and served as God.
So throughout the Old Testament, God speaks of his jealousy for that worship. Jehovah is my name, I will not give my glory to another, neither my praise unto graven images. When the apostle would explain the judgments of God upon heathendom in Romans 1, he says the essential criticism, the fundamental indictment is this, they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. So if we are to understand something of the force of this fifth group of witnesses to the deity of Christ, we must bring to our present self-consciousness this dominant note of biblical revelation.
There is but one true and living God, and that God alone is to be the recipient of religious worship and homage. Coupled with that, we must remind ourselves that whenever in Scripture a man or an angel was worshipped, the men or angels thus worshipped, if they had any love to the one true God, violently rejected that worship.
Apostolic Refusal of Worship — Peter, Paul, Angels
I remind you of a couple of instances of this nature. In the tenth chapter of Acts, we have the record of the coming of an apostle into the household of a group of Gentiles. And when Peter comes to the household of Cornelius, we read in Acts chapter 10 and verse 25, And when it came to pass that Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter raised him up saying, Stand up, I myself also am a man.
When there was anything that bordered on religious veneration or homage, Peter as a man who loved the one true and living God recoiled with holy violence from the very suggestion that religious homage should be paid to him. He says, stand upon your feet. I'm but a man. Don't treat me as though I were a god.
We find the same thing in Acts 14 with regard to Paul and his companion. In this chapter, we read Acts chapter 14, verse 13, And the priest of Jupiter, whose temple was before the city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the multitudes. but when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it they rent their garments I'm sorry I want verse 10 when they have performed the miracle and then verse 11 when the multitude saw what Paul had done they lifted up their voice saying in the speech of the local dialect the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men and they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercury because he was the chief priest and now then they would do sacrifice
and what do they do? verse 15 they say Sirs, why do ye these things? Why do you come to offer sacrifices to us as though we were gods? We also are men of like passions with you. These holy men refused to receive anything that bordered on religious veneration. What is true of holy men is true of holy angels. I remind you of the incident recorded in Revelation chapter 19, verses 9 and 10. Revelation 19, verses 9 and 10.
The angel speaking to John says, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are true words of God. And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not? I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. Now, do you see the point that I'm making?
When we bring in this fifth group of witnesses to the deity of Christ, those passages in which Jesus Christ has worship not only directed to him, but he receives that worship. Either our Lord is not even a holy man, or even in the status of a holy angel, or he is indeed God worthy of that religious veneration and homage. For the Bible that teaches the strictest monotheism gives us examples of holy men and holy angels who, when any attempted to worship them, utterly, flatly rejected all expressions of worship as being utterly inconsistent with the maintenance of a true monotheism.
There is but one God, therefore there is but one true object of religious homage and veneration, and it is that God. Therefore, if Christ is not that God, he then is not good. Having set the stage, as it were, for the significance of the witness, now let me expound the evidence. All of the fundamental expressions of divine worship are directed to and received by Jesus Christ.
Calling on Christ's Name for Salvation
Let's start with the most elementary. Calling upon his name for saving mercy. The little phrase, to call upon God, or to call upon His name, is in the language of Scripture a description of the exercise of the highest form of religious trust and expectation. To call upon the deity is to express the highest forms of religious trust and expectation.
This is precisely how it is used in Isaiah 55 verses 7 and 8. Those well-known verses in this chapter of Isaiah's prophecy so full of rich gospel truth. Isaiah 55 verses 7 and 8. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.
Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Here Jehovah is to be sought in a way of pardoning mercy.
Jehovah is to be the object of the actings of repentance and faith. Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts, that's repentance. let him return unto our God, that's faith. So this calling upon Jehovah is an expression of the highest form of religious trust and expectation. It is calling upon Jehovah for saving mercy.
It is an act of worship, may I say it reverently, the first act of worship that is acceptable from a sinner. The act of worship expressed when having come to the end of himself and by the mighty and secret influences of the Spirit having been brought to a disposition where there is a desire to be done with sin and every false idol and a willingness and disposition to embrace the true and the living God, there is this calling upon him, this high act of religious expressions of trust and expectation. Well then it is precisely that language which is used with reference to our Lord Himself.
In the well-known gospel text Romans chapter 10 and verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And who is the Lord in this passage? The term Lord is used sometimes of God in general.
Sometimes it is used of the Father. But in this passage there is no question as to the identity of this Lord. For we read in verse 9, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
But the Scripture says, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all. What Lord? That Lord identified with Jesus of Nazareth, and God is rich to all that call upon Him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If Jesus is not God, then the very act which the apostle says issues in salvation will issue in damnation for it would be an exercise of idolatry. Do you see the force of that? The scripture says all liars and fornicators and adulterers and all idolaters shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Revelation 21.8 if then Jesus Christ is not God if he is not in his essence identified with the one true and living God the one proper object of worship then to call upon him which as we have seen means to direct to him
the highest form of religious trust and expectation for divine mercy this would be nothing short of a blasphemous act of idolatry rather than a gracious expression of a renewed heart, the first actings of regenerating grace. Hence the command to call upon Him and the promise of salvation to all who thus call upon Him is a powerful witness to the fact that the one upon whom we call is indeed God. Now we move to the second in this last group of witnesses, When a sinner has called and received mercy, what is his first external duty?
Baptism into the Name of Christ
Well, the Bible makes it clear. His first external duty is to be an open confessor of Christ in the way appointed by Christ. And that way is the way of baptism. Our Lord himself, as the one who has plenary authority in the administration of his church, said, All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth Going therefore make disciples of all the nations Baptizing them When they have been made disciples The first external act of obedience is baptism Then he says teach them all the other acts of obedience External and internal Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you So having called the first and fundamental act of external obedience
is that of baptized, to be baptized. Now notice what our Lord says about baptism in this passage in Matthew 28. He says that they are to be baptized into the name of. And here you have a simple declaration of the fundamental significance of baptism.
To be baptized into the name of someone is to be incorporated into the number of his followers. It is to be formally identified with his headship and leadership. 1 Corinthians 10 says that the nation of Israel was baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. That is, when they passed through the Red Sea as on dry ground, with the Shekinah glory above them, that became, as it were, the baptistry in which the nation was formally incorporated into this relationship with Moses.
They were formally identified with the leadership and headship of Moses. That's the fundamental significance of baptism, to be incorporated into this relationship to the leader. Now then, having called upon the name of the Lord, the Lord calls upon us to declare outwardly what has happened inwardly. And when we do, we are told in this passage that we are baptized, we are incorporated into formal identification with the name of the God who is what?
Into the name, singular. Not into the names, but the name, singular, into the name of the God who is Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now our Lord has given this direction. He has said that the first formal act of external obedience performed by a disciple is formally to take upon Himself the name of the God who exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now what does this tell us? It tells us that in the formal declaration of discipleship, every disciple declares without any tongue in cheek that the God whom He now loves and serves is the God who exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His God is not only the Father who sits upon the throne, the Spirit who dwells within, but the Son who is His Savior and His Sovereign. Now again, if Jesus Christ is not God, then He has initiated a cult in which idolatry is not only introduced in the first formal expressions calling on the name of the Lord,
but in the formal declaration of identity. He has led into the world and perpetrated the cult of idolatry that makes every other form of idolatry look like child's play. Either that conclusion or the proper conclusion Christ is God Fully conscious of his co-equality with the Father and the Spirit As a sharer in the one essence of the Godhood And therefore if he is not God He is not good Now consider the third in this last group of witnesses to Christ's deity Jesus Christ receives all of the acts of worship and veneration
due only to the one true and living God. We find it initially calling upon Him in the first formal act of external obedience being identified with the one true God in baptism. But then thirdly, in the continual expectation of needed grace from Him. For no sooner is a person made a disciple then he realizes that he stands in constant and great need of grace.
Looking to Christ for Grace
If he is to keep the commandments of Christ he needs perpetual supplies of grace from Christ. For this Lord into whose leadership he has been incorporated formally and visibly in baptism demands that he be perfect as his Father in heaven is perfect. He demands that he be holy not only in external deeds but in the very thoughts and intents of the heart. that he deal not only with external lechery, but internal lust.
Not only with external violence, but internal hate. And so a true disciple is conscious just as much as when he first called for pardoning grace and mercy and a turning away of the wrath of God. He's conscious that he stands in need of continual supplies of grace if he's to please his Lord. Now from whom is he to expect that grace?
Well, you say, from God. God alone can give internal grace to make a man holy. God alone can give the grace needed to keep a man in the way of discipleship and obedience. That's true.
And yet the Scripture tells us we are to look for that grace to none other than Jesus Christ Himself. I remind you of the words of that apostolic prayer and benediction in 2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 13 The apostle in verse 11 gives some more practical directives. Finally, brethren, farewell.
Be perfected. Come to maturity. Be comforted. Know the peculiar consolations of the gospel upon your heart.
Be of the same mind. Have your thinking so regulated by God that you think the same thoughts about God and yourselves and the world and truth. Live in peace. Have all jealousy and bitterness and rancor and suspicion and envy subdued by the grace of God.
Those are big commands. We read them as they're just sort of shot off in a little P.S. by the apostle, but those are great commands.
Now where are we to have grace to obey such commands? His final word is verse 14. the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Here Jesus Christ is set before us as the conscious object from which we expect the grace needed to fulfill our biblical duties and responsibilities. Therefore, the people of God are described in this first letter to the Corinthians by a very unique word of description.
And yet it was not unique to them because Paul universalizes that. Look at 1 Corinthians 1, verses 1 and 2. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth. Now he's going to describe that church? What is the peculiar makeup of the true called out people of God? Even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours. He describes the people of God not only as those who called
once when they entered into the orbit of union with Christ in their own life history, but he describes them with a present participle, those who continually call upon the Lord. That's the mark of the people of God. They continually call upon Him for all needed grace, for all the duties and responsibilities laid upon them in the Word of God. Hence it should not surprise us to hear our Lord say in the familiar words of John 14 in verse 1, Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.
That is, every element of religious trust that you direct to the Father, Jesus said it is not only legitimate, this is an imperative. Jesus said it is imperative that you direct the same quality and degree of religious trust to me. Ye believe in God, and all that's bound up in true faith in the true God, he says, believe also in me. 1 Corinthians 15, 19 speaks of hoping in Christ.
You see all of these actings of religious homage and worship and trust all of those dispositions of the soul which it is idolatry to direct to any other being but God are encouraged in the direction of Jesus Christ, forcing upon us the conclusion that Jesus Christ is indeed God. If He were not God, how could He be such a supply of grace as to meet all the needs of all of His people in every place, at all times and in all circumstances. My friends, that's a task that would bring an angel to frustration if he attempted it for half an hour.
Be he the most exalted angel, be he above the archangel Michael, be he ten million degrees exalted above the highest angel of God, he would be weary to frustration in half an hour. with the millions of the people of God in all places calling upon God for all the grace needed, for all of their duties. And yet our Lord is able, well able, to hear every such call and to respond with such grace as is needed because He is God.
Disciples Worshiping the Risen Christ
Then we bring in the fourth of this last group of witnesses, all of the actings of worship, veneration and honor are seen given to Jesus Christ not only the initial act calling upon him the continual acts of looking to him that confession of him in the first external act of obedience but all the actings of worship veneration and honor are seen given to our Lord we read in Matthew chapter 28 that after the resurrection of our Lord and his last appearance
before ascending back into the presence of his Father verse 16 that the eleven disciples went into Galilee unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted. Now notice, when Cornelius would worship Peter, Peter is quick to say, Don't do it! I'm but a man! When these pagans would worship Paul and his companion, they said, Don't do it! I'm but a man!
Or we are but men! But here the Scriptures in a very simple and unadorned narrative say that when they appeared at the place appointed, they worshipped him, and our Lord received that worship, either He is God or He does not rise to the moral virtue of even an apostle, let alone an angel. We find a similar reference in Luke chapter 24. And this is interesting because the import seems to be that the worship that they directed to Him just prior to His ascension, They continued to direct to him after his ascension.
Verse 50 of Luke 24. And he led them out until they were over against Bethany. And he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
And they worshipped him. There was no voice from heaven saying, See thou do it not. I am but God's first created being. I am but the Michael archangel.
I am but a little guy. No, no. They worshipped him. And as you read the passage, it seems that everything that our Lord did was calculated to draw forth the very worshipping posture from his own.
Heavenly Worship of the Lamb
Well, what is the posture he now has? Well, you say he's in heaven. As to his physical glorified body, he's in heaven. Well, what goes on in heaven where he is?
Well, God's pulled back the veil and given us a picture. Let's look at that picture in chapter 4 of the book of the Revelation. Chapter 4 of the book of the Revelation.
Verse 1, After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven. And my friends, that's not John being caught up in a preview of the rapture. anyone who can find that there has to first of all put it there God is going to give him a picture of what goes on in the realm where we cannot see with the naked human eye a door is opened in heaven and he is invited to come up hither and he will be shown certain things and the first things he sees is a throne and there is one sitting upon that throne and notice what happens to every creature in proximity to that throne Verse 9, And when the living creature shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth forever and ever, glory, honor, thanks, the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art thou our Lord and our God, to receive glory, honor, and power.
What is rendered to the one who is on the throne? According to verse 9, glory, honor, thanks. Verse 11, glory, honor, power. What is this?
This is man's paltry effort to put into verbal symbols the outpouring of all that intense worship, veneration, and honor that is due to the divine being. We can't give to God power. He has all power. But in worship we ascribe to Him all power, all honor, all might, all dominion.
Here are the creatures in their paltry efforts somehow to express that worship and veneration that is in their hearts. Well, as we turn to chapter 5, we find an interesting thing. Verse 9, they sing a new song, saying, Concerning the Lamb that has triumphed, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals, for thou wast slain and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and made us then to be unto our God a kingdom and priest, and they reign upon the earth. And I saw and heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand
and thousands of thousands, saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain To receive what? The power and the riches and the wisdom and the might And honor and glory and blessing And every created thing which is in the heaven and on the earth And under the earth and on the sea You see John fishing as it were for words He is saying every rational moral creature In the realm above and the realm beneath All of it joins in this chorus saying, unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. In the same degree, with no lessening of intensity, with no paring off of all the vigor of the veneration and honor.
unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the dominion forever and forever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped. Oh, my dear people, if Jesus Christ is not God, Heaven has been turned into a sanctuary of universal idolatry.
Do you see it?
If Jesus Christ is not God, Heaven has been turned into a sanctuary of universal idolatry. For everything in heaven and earth and beneath the earth is rendering to the Lamb every expression of veneration, honor, and worship that is due to the one God. Oh, bless God for so eloquent a testimony to the fact that our Savior is indeed God. and no amount of the clever manipulation of a few texts in the hands of the Russellites
will ever erase from the conviction of a true child of God that his Savior is indeed God. Well, what does all of this say to us? We've looked at the witnesses. Strict monotheism in the Bible.
Application: What Kind of Christ Do You Worship?
no virtuous creature ever received anything that bordered on religious homage and veneration. Yet we see Jesus Christ, the object of the first actings of that veneration from a penitent sinner, we call upon Him, the first formal expression of obedience externally, we are incorporated into His name along with that of the Father and of the Spirit. We continually look to Him for supplies of grace, and we gladly join with the chorus of those about the throne ascribing honor and praise and worship and blessing. Well, what's all to say to us?
Well, let me suggest that it ought to be, first of all, a very solid basis for self-examination and secondly, a basis for very practical direction. It ought to form the basis of honest self-examination. In what way? Well, in this way.
Whenever the Holy Spirit savingly reveals Christ to the heart of a sinner, he always reveals him according to truth. He's the Spirit of truth. He cannot tell a lie. So when the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to a sinner through the Word, how does he reveal Christ?
Or perhaps I should say, what kind of a Christ does the Spirit reveal? Well, He'll always reveal the only Christ that is. He will reveal a Christ who, in the plentitude of His glory, as true God as well as man, is the one who is to be called upon for salvation. He's mighty to save.
He'll reveal Him as one who's worthy to be confessed in that external ordinance of baptism. He'll reveal Him as the One who is the worthy object of all of our hopes and desires for needed grace. He'll reveal Him as the One who is worthy to be worshipped, venerated, and honored as God. And if that's so, my friend, you see how this forms a basis of self-examination.
I press the question very closely to your conscience this morning. What is Jesus Christ to you?
Is He this Christ? That we've seen this morning? Is he the Christ. That has been set before you this morning?
Who is your Jesus? Who is your Christ? Is he this Christ?
Is he? Or is he some Christ who is not quite God? Not quite worthy. Of being called upon for all needed grace.
Not quite worthy of being formally confessed. in the ordinance that He Himself has demanded, and to which He has added His own word, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord.
What has been your reaction to the exaltation of Christ this morning? Have you found this tedious?
Have you wished there was something a little more practical in the preaching this morning? Have you been a little bit restless?
Or has your heart said, O Lord, O Lord, give me to see some new dimension of the glory of my Savior? My friend, listen.
If Jesus Christ has not been revealed to your heart as this Christ, you better cry to God that He would be merciful to you and give you to behold Him in His glory now before you shrink from that glory in the last day. For all men are going to behold Him in His true glory someday. For every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So I say this setting forth of Christ as truly God forms the basis of self but more especially it forms the basis of some practical direction First of all, for our private devotional exercises.
When you get alone with God to pray and read your Bible, do you hold loving, intimate, personal communion with the Lord Jesus?
Do you actually, verbally, whether you pray out loud, audibly, or whether you just pray by the actings of your mind, do you hold conscious communion with the Lord Jesus? Do you do what we find pictured in Revelation 5? Do you prostrate your heart in His presence and say with those creatures in the heaven, upon the earth, and beneath the earth, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Blessing and glory and honor be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb.
How long has it been, child of God, since you have poured out in the secret place all of those mingled actings of true religious veneration and homage and praise and worship at the feet of your blessed Lord? Could it be that's the reason why He seems so distant at times? That you do not hold conscious, loving communion with Him in the secret place. This contains a word of practical direction, not only for our private devotional exercises, but for our public worship.
Personal Communion with Christ
Now you've often heard in this place that the general pattern of worship is worship brought to God the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. And that's true. Jesus said, no man comes to the Father but by me. Ephesians 2.19 says, by one Spirit we have access through Christ unto the Father.
and without in any way backing off from the many statements that have been made to that effect, for they are biblical concepts, there is nothing in Scripture that says Jesus Christ is not to be in its place or in His place the proper object of our worship. And the old confessions are clear to articulate that He with the Father and the Spirit is to be worshipped and adored. And there are prayers recorded as directed to Jesus Christ. We looked at 1 Corinthians 1-2.
With all in every place that call upon the Lord.
We find Stephen in the last prayer that he prayed before entering the presence of God. Praying directly to Christ in Acts 7-59. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. You see, there was much more consolation in the thought.
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. It is the man Christ Jesus, the incarnate Word, who passed through the experience of death. The Father has never tasted death. The Son tasted death.
And there are certain situations in which the reality of the sympathy of the One who is true God and man makes it more natural for us to direct our prayers to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why we try frequently to sing hymns of praise directed to Christ as well as psalms and hymns directed to the Father. Our public worship should reflect our deepest conviction that Jesus Christ as God is worthy of every expression of religious veneration, honor, and worship. And then thirdly, this contains a very practical direction for our proclamation of the gospel.
Lament Over Cheap Portrayals of Jesus
What kind of a Jesus do we proclaim?
And I tell you after what I've listened to this past week of what some of our young people have been subjected to,
and then what one of our pastors was subjected to when speaking at a college age group, oh how desperately does this note need to be sounded. Can you believe that people would think they are honoring Christ by plunking away on their guitars and singing, Jesus is a peach of a Savior and I'm bananas about Him?
You say, you're kidding, Pastor. No, I'm not kidding.
Jesus is a peach of a Savior and I'm bananas about Him. if you were given an audience with President Gerald Ford and you were pleased with what you saw and heard would you have the audacity to slap him on the back and say Jerry you're a peach of a guy you'd say you're kidding you think I'd what you would say is Mr. President I've deeply appreciated the time you've spent with me and I want you to know I've been impressed with your warmth with your genuine humanness etc Whatever expressions of thanks you gave, they would be couched in language befitting the presence of a common citizen standing before the highest executive of the country.
Shall Jesus Christ receive less? Jesus is a peach of a Savior. It's blasphemous. if Jesus Christ is God will men dare stand for 20 and 25 minutes and cajole tender little consciences with the snapping of the finger and the pressure of an adult personality upon a pliable young person's personality to get them to walk an aisle and sign a card who is that Jesus?
I don't know Him I don't know him Jesus proclaimed in the biblical gospel Is the Jesus whom Peter preached on Pentecost God has made him Lord and Christ When they heard this They were pricked in their hearts And they cried out What shall we do? No cajoling no tickling their fancy no manipulation with psychological pressure to get them to somehow vote Jesus into office I'm convinced more and more that's another religion
and another gospel and another savior oh you who are impenitent this morning it's our joy to say that this Christ who is God and we've looked, as it were, at the brightest beams of His glory, is the Christ who was immolated upon the Roman cross. A Christ who, though rich for our sakes, became poor, went into the awful baptism of Gethsemane and Golgotha, tasted the wrath of God against sin. And we do not with any reservation say, say this Savior is freely and fully offered to the neediest of sinners. But oh, listen,
if God gives you to see your sin and to see the glory of this incarnate God who tasted hell for sinners, you'll not need to be cajoled and tickled into raising a hand or walking an aisle, you'll cry out of agony of soul, Son of David, have mercy upon me, God be merciful to me, the sinner. It will be our joy to assure you that coming in repentance and faith, He will never turn you away. Oh, may God return to His church the proclamation of this Jesus. I don't mean to be caustic, but it must be said.
That Jesus preached in most evangelistic preaching isn't worthy of an ounce of homage.
If he can't even elicit respectful language, how can he ever elicit homage and worth it? May God grant that we as a people should be marked by ever-increasing evangelistic fervor and zeal and passion for the souls of men. But then may the day never come when the Christ whom we proclaim is anything other than this glorious Christ. Jesus Christ is God.
Concluding Call and Prayer
we've brought in the five groups of witnesses they've given their testimony and I'm not overstating it when I say I have been selective in simply giving you specimen samples of the biblical witness to the deity of Christ there's only one way to rid the Bible of that full testimony and that's to rewrite the book from Genesis to Revelation and we didn't look at the angel of Jehovah that's a whole rich vein we could have spent weeks in that That strange personage in whom the name of Jehovah is found, who did receive worship, who did receive sacrifice, who did speak in the first person as Jehovah. That was our blessed Lord before He assumed a true and permanent humanity.
And it's the one Christ from Genesis to Revelation. And remember, He is contemplated in this series as the Redeemer of His people. Oh, if you do not know Him as your own, may you call upon Him. May you find Him to be what He's promised to be to every needy sinner.
And may we as the people of God continually look to Him, continually call upon Him, continually live in intimate communion with Him. And may we carry with us the fragrance of the likeness of Christ in every situation in which we're called upon to live and to labor. For His glory. God willing next week.
We will begin to look at the biblical testimony. To the second great aspect of the doctrine of Christ person. He is truly man. And may the Lord fill us.
With great expectation. And with that spiritual sensitivity. That will respond in homage to love. In homage in love.
Not only to the one who is our God and Savior. But to that one. The man Christ Jesus. who has taken upon himself not the nature of angels but the seed of Abraham that in all things he might be a faithful and merciful high priest.
Let us pray.
Our Father, we confess this morning that when we are enabled to see, as it were, but the edges of your ways, there is kindled within our hearts a longing to join that great multitude about the throne, that vast company in heaven and earth and beneath the earth, who behold that glory without all of the limitations that are now upon us. we confess without embarrassment that we love you, Lord Jesus. We worship you, Lord Jesus. We look to you, Lord Jesus,
that you would give to us all of the grace that we need to walk so as to please you. And oh, blessed Lord, we confess our grief that your glory is tarnished by the cheap, tawdry presentation of yourself in so much so-called gospel preaching and gospel music. Oh, Lord, come to vindicate your glory in our generation. Oh, Lord, don't allow this generation to sink into hell, thinking it's on its way to heaven because it's tipped its hat to some maudlin, sentimental projection of men's ideas.
Oh, by the Spirit through the Word, come again, Lord Jesus, in all of your glory and reveal yourself to needy sinners.
Hear the cry that we cannot frame this morning and seal to our hearts your own blessed word.
Amen.
Thank you.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
The heavenly worship scene where identical praise is rendered to the Father and to the Lamb
Calling on the name of the Lord for salvation — and that Lord is Jesus
The disciples worshiping the risen Christ and being commanded to baptize into His name