THE LIVING WORD TRANSCRIPT
Program Air Date – 6-14-09
LESSON TITLE: “WHO IS GOD?: GOD THE SON”
WELCOME
“This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it,” Psalms 118:24! Oh, how true these words should be to every follower of God! This is a great day! We should be rejoicing! We must be glad! WHY - We are blessed servants of God able to assemble before His throne on this, the Lord’s Day!
I am glad you are with us this morning and thank God you have made the right decision to give this time to your Creator. I look forward to our time spent together today as we sing praises to the Almighty and as we study from His matchless Word! This morning, I know we will all be edified through our time spent together. So let’s all do our part to make this time profitable before God, and furthermore may we use it as a great encouragement one to another!
At this time, let’s approach our Father’s throne in prayer:
(PRAYER)
Well, it is time to join in our first song of the morning. Our first hymn of the day helps us to focus on the perfect example which Christ left for us all. So, won’t you participate with the congregation at this time as we sing together, “Footprints Of Jesus?”
(SONG # 1)
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS
When was the last time you were afraid? Did you know that fear is a healthy part of the Christian life? However, let me clarify that we are not talking about an uncontrollable, unfounded or irrational fear, but rather a fear based on love, power and respect. We find many verses in God’s Word which help us to see the importance of a healthy fear. One such verse is found in Hebrews 10:31. There it says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” You see here faith is based on God’s power and awesomeness. Brethren and friends we must never forget the power and might of our God.
Another writer that helps us with this topic is Solomon. What was it that he said as a summation of life, near the end of all things? Read with me from Ecclesiastes 12:13, were it says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.” You see the all of man is centered around knowing and obeying God. And why, because God alone is God - He is all powerful - He must be our everything.
Finally, let’s consider why fear is so necessary. Hear with me the words of God in Genesis 22:12, there God proclaims to Abraham, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Do you see here why fear is so important and necessary to a child of God? It is that healthy fear that makes us do what our God asks and that causes us to achieve true obedience before our creator. So what about it, do your fear God as you should and thus do that which is pleasing in His sight?
In just a few minutes it will be time to begin our main study of the day. Our topic of study is still focused on, “Who Is God?” Our specific study of the morning is entitled, “God the Son.” So please stay with us and after our next song, we will be lead in this study from God’s Word.
As far as our guest speaker, we are happy to have brother Brent Green with us again. Brother Brent is the minister for the Carthage Church of Christ in Carthage Missouri. We are glad he is with us and we look forward to our study together in just a few minutes. Now let’s join together in our next song of the day. The name of this hymn, “Give Me The Bible.”
(SONG # 2)
LESSON
By Brent Green
Good morning! We appreciate your presence this morning on the television and considering again the things from God’s Word.
There in Acts chapter 17 as Paul approaches the Athenians as he rises to the top of Aeropagus looking at the different shrines that they had there, he sees an altar to an unknown god. There in Acts chapter 17 verse 23, he says, “Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, him, I proclaim to you.” So Paul gives them a great necessity or gives us the reason for the necessity of knowing who we worship and who we are to serve in this life. And so we need an understanding of who God is so that we can serve Him and worship Him properly. Well just as we in a broad sense talk about needing to understand God and the Father as we are most likely talking about, we also have a great necessity of understanding who Jesus is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God so that as the King James terms it there in Acts chapter 17, we do not worship ignorantly. We do not worship with a lack of knowledge and understanding properly who Jesus Christ is and how He fits into the Godhead and how we so often speak of it.
So the book of John is really the key text that we can go to to see the presentation of Jesus as God. Even at the end of the book of John’s writing, we see the reason given that John gives for recording even the miracles and the great wonders that Jesus Christ did while He was alive here on this earth. John chapter 20 there in verse 30 says, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” So John says, “The reason I am writing is so that you can believe that Jesus Christ existed, that He is real, that He is the Son of God and that believing you therefore can have spiritual life. So there is the importance of understanding who Jesus is that we might have that everlasting life that Jesus Christ truly is God and He is that Son of God which James portrays Him as throughout his writings. John really is writing to an audience who is the world, to set out to prove that Jesus Christ is God.
Many even in Jesus’ day doubted this fact and would not accept Him as such, did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God and did not accept the fact that in being the Son of God He was God, and still today many still doubt that. Many still fail to accept the fact that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and therefore is the Son of God. Some simply say, “Well He was just a good man.” He lived on this earth and we cannot deny the fact that He lived historically. Other historic writers record that evidence, so they cannot deny that Jesus existed, but they say, “Well, He is just a good man but He was not God.” Others will go maybe even a step further and say that, “Jesus Christ was divine, but still not deity.” Well what does John show us within his writings? We need to understand who God is and who Jesus Christ is as part of the Godhead. Jesus Christ is God. He is equal to God, both in nature and in power and in authority.
So as we turn in our Bibles, I would like you to turn with me to John chapter 5. We see John set out to prove the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. To set the occasion here in John chapter 5, it is actually just after the events as a man was waiting by a pool named Bethesda. As the waters were thought to have a healing power, as the waters were stirred, as it says in the scripture by an angel, an individual could walk into the water and as they would rise out they would be cured. Well there was a certain man who as he approached the water, he couldn’t make it in time and someone would always beat him out. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath Day. Jews didn’t like that fact because Jesus healed and they considered that to be work even though it was not. It was the power of God being demonstrated, and it just happened to be on that holy Sabbath Day. So Jesus heals this man and finally the man comes to those Pharisees and those who many times thought to attack Jesus, who ultimately would lead Jesus to the cross. They ask him, “Who healed you?” He says, “Jesus healed me.” So after these events transpire, I want you to see Jesus in the words that He says. Beginning there in verse 16 of John 5. It says, “For this reason,” the reason being Jesus healed on the Sabbath, “For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him because He had done things on the Sabbath.”
But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
You see, the Jews, many of them or most of them, never accepted the fact that Jesus Christ was that Messiah. But I want you to see what they said. In accusing Jesus Christ, in rebuking Him, and persecuting Him, they were mad because He in their eyes had broke the Sabbath, but also called Himself the Son of God and in calling Himself the Son of God, what did the Jews understand that to mean? That He was equal with God. Now they never did, most of them never did accept the fact that He was the Messiah, the coming One, but from the Old Testament, the Law of Moses, from all those teachings those prophets who prophesied of this coming Savior that would come to the world, what did they understand in all those things? That this one who had come to be the Son of God, born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, born in a manger, who lived in Nazareth, who preached throughout Canaan and Galilee, they understood that this One who would be the Son of God was God Himself in the flesh and so they understood that for one to call Himself the Son of God, therefore He would be equal with God. So they understood what that meant, but even today many still deny the fact that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh who came and dwelt among us years ago. Jesus Christ truly is equal with God by His very nature.
That’s why verses 17 and 18 point out to us here that He is His Father’s Son, and that because He is the Son of God, He is God Himself. Jesus was equal with God in His very nature. But not only that, but Jesus was equal with God by His very nature in the fact that He had the same form and the same essence of God.
I want you to consider with me another passage, Philippians chapter 2, not only does John throughout all his writings give us the great arguments with the fact that Jesus is God, but Paul also in writing to Christians encourages them and reminds them to remember that Jesus came in the flesh, came as the Son of God and in so had the same form and essence of God. Philippians chapter 2 beginning there in verse 5, Paul says, “Let this mind be in you which also is in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” He says, “Have the same mind which was in Christ Jesus.” Jesus who? Who came in the form of God and in doing so, did not consider that robbery. If you are God, is it robbery to make that claim to be God? NO! Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to this earth. He lived the life. He lived a perfect life. He died on the cross and He rose that third day. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh came to us to reveal His New Testament, to reveal His Will for mankind and therefore it was not robbery for Him to make that claim because He was the very Son of God and therefore God Himself.
2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, another similar passage where here Jesus is acknowledge to be one who had come in the image of God, the express image of the Father in heaven. Jesus Christ Himself!
Turn with me also as we again turn back to the book of John. Not only is Jesus considered to be equal with God in form and in essence, but also as we consider John chapter 1, also a premier text for understanding the Godhead and understanding the relationship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 1 in verse 1, it says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Well what is that Word? Well it is that logical expression of God, the revelation of God to mankind.
Well, see also how the Bible describes this world which it just talked about. John chapter 1 verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.” Who is this Word that John is talking about? Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ who came and dwelt among us. God who took on the form of flesh and we beheld His glory. Those first eyewitnesses of the New Testament beheld Jesus Christ, God and His glory here on this earth. That’s why when we go back up to verse 1 it says, “This Word was (what?)…” “This Word was God.” You see, by His very nature, Jesus Christ is God. It is not that Jesus Christ was just a good man. It was not that Jesus Christ was a perfect man. It is not that as some would say, “He is divine.” Rather, Jesus Christ is Deity. You see, some will take John chapter 1 and verse 1 here and even pervert the original language and even try to twist the words as we have in our translations to say that, “Well, this verse doesn’t say that the Word was God, but really it should say that the Word was divine.” Well, you see that is not the Word as others would look at this intently as those Greek scholars, those that would study these original languages. What do they come to the conclusion as? Why do we have in translation after translation that the Word was God? Because that is the word used there, that Jesus Christ is God.
Through Jesus we have seen God as He lived here on the earth and revealed Himself to mankind. You see, other writers themselves also refer to the fact that Jesus Christ is God.
Romans chapter 9, another occasion where Paul encourages Christians or actually encourages those Christians there in Rome and the surrounding regions to remember who they were serving. Remember who died for you and remember now why you were continuing to live a faithful life for God who you serve. Romans chapter 9 verse 5, “Hear the words,” it says, “of whom are the Father’s and from whom according to the flesh Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God.” And amidst his exhortation here to encourage these Christians in other matters, he refers to Jesus Christ and what did he say about Him? “This Christ who was over all, and Jesus Christ who is the eternally blessed God.” You see, Jesus Christ is God. There is no separation here. There is not multiple gods that we serve within Christianity. God has revealed Himself to mankind, and we understand God the way He has revealed Himself to us in His Word. Through His Word, we see that Jesus Christ is God, God that came in the flesh and dwelt among us.
Also we see in other passages, Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 where it says, “Jesus Christ who is in the image of the invisible God.” Jesus Christ the mirror image, the shear image of God the Father in heaven.
Also that great proclamation given to us recorded by John but given rather by Thomas. John chapter 20 verse 28, as Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples and other individuals after His resurrection and many were happy to see that Jesus Christ was not contained in the tomb and death, but that He overcame death. As He appeared to His disciples, Thomas was not with them the first time, but as Jesus appeared to them a second time, Thomas said, “I want to see the holes in your hands. I want to see the piercing in your side. I want to know that it is really you. Show me the evidence, Jesus. I want to know that this is you and it is not a fraud. I want to know that this is the Son of God.” Jesus showed him His hands. He showed him His side. As Thomas touched those, what was his declaration? “My Lord and my God.” Thomas understood that not only was Jesus his Master, not only was Jesus the One whom he was to be serving, but Jesus Christ was God. There was no doubt in his mind. You see many of these disciples carried on that same tradition, that Jewish heritage and they understood what it meant for someone to claim to be the Son of God. Jesus Christ was just that. The Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, our Lord and our God.
You see, there is no need to be deceit. Many will say today that Jesus Christ was a good man, that He was divine and many will publish many great materials that seem to be very fancy, a great color publication that seems to be supported by doctors and theologians and seem to have all the great evidence, but when we step outside of God’s Word, you see many will go to great lengths to disprove what the Bible teaches merely to hold up and push their own beliefs. But what must we do as Christians? Turn to that Word of God, that Holy Scripture which is able to make us complete that God has furnished us unto every good work. You see, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and when we turn to the scripture, that is what we see.
Go back to John 5 for just a moment. Not only does Jesus declare or as we see the declaration given to us in the scripture that Jesus is equal with equal and that He is God by His very nature. That is what the Jews understood him to be saying. But as you continue on, verses 19-23 show us also that Jesus had the same power that God had. Jesus said, “God has given me certain powers that I should perform these miracles here on this earth and that you will be judged also by the words that I speak because God has given them to me.”
Also in those same verses, as we continue on in that same chapter, verses 25-30 we see that Jesus was equal with God in authority. Jesus in power and authority, and by His very nature, there is no claim outside of what the gospel has given to us, but the fact is that Jesus Christ is that Son of God. If those arguments weren’t enough, Jesus says, “I testify myself. John the Baptizer testifies of Me. God testifies of Me. My works testify of Me that I am who I claim to be, the very Son of God.”
Why do we need to understand this point so clearly? Who do we serve? Who do we worship? Who are we living for? Whose name do we take in this life? We wear the name Christian. We must understand who Christ is so that we can serve Him properly. Many of us go out wondering, “Well who is our Master? Who should I serve?” Jesus Christ is our Master. He is our Lord. He is God. There is no doubt from the scripture, from the presentation, the evidence before us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and therefore Jesus Christ is God.
(SONG # 3 - “He Leadeth Me!”)
CLOSING COMMENTS
Let me thank you again for choosing to be with us today. I hope our time together has been an encouragement and blessing to us all. We invite you to join us every First day of the week, at 7:30, as we commit ourselves to this time of Worship before God!
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How great it is to know that God the Son gave Himself for our sakes. My we always accept and realize that God is the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.
(Program closing)