Pastor Paul Chappell: The Deity of Jesus Christ

why don't we stand together for the reading of god's word today from john chapter 1. we're going to read verses 1 through 4 as well as verse number 14. in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god the same was in the beginning with god all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men verse 14 and the word was made 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 let us pray our father we come before you this morning to thank and praise you for your provision for god you so loved this world that you gave your only begotten son and we're here today to worship and to praise the lord jesus christ and so i ask that you would help us in this message to learn to avoid any confusion regarding who christ is and to put him high above all other thoughts all other idols or things that could come in the way may you have first place in our lives we ask in jesus name amen you may be seated the lord jesus christ on one day took his disciples to a place called caesarea philippi this particular place is in the modern day golan heights which our president recently recognized with israel as a part of their sacred territory in this area of caesarea philippi there is a rock wall it is a large wall where the romans had placed some of their gods and they would have had the god of zeus or perhaps some of the other idols in these shelves and it was a place that we might refer to as pagan or polytheistic in nature and jesus in matthew 6 13 asked these disciples a very poignant question here at caesarea philippi and he said to them whom do men say that i am whom do men say that i am and peter who didn't always get it right on that day got it right and he said lord thou art the christ the son of the living god the word christ means the anointed one and in saying this he said you are the promised messiah you are the one that came to be our savior now many today will allow you to say that jesus is a prophet or that he's a good man or a moral teacher others would say that jesus christ was maybe a legendary person and of course some say that jesus christ is an imposter that he was not the anointed one at all c.s lewis in his book mere christianity wrote you must make your choice either this was and is the son of god or else a madman or something worse you can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him lord and god but let us not come with a patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher he has not left that open to us either he is an imposter or he is as he claimed the very son of god years ago larry king was interviewed on his 40th anniversary debut into media he was being interviewed by brian gumbel and brian gumbel asked him this question he said if you were to interview god what would be the question that you would ask of him and larry king said i would ask him do you have a son even though larry king claims to be an agnostic he understands the most important question that you could possibly get an answer to relates to the identity of the lord jesus christ and frankly if you would study it out there is an answer to be found for even when jesus was baptized in the river jordan there was a voice from heaven the voice of god which declared this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and for me if god would declare jesus christ to be his son then that settles it in my heart the apostle john wrote with the intention of setting the record straight regarding christ in john 20 and 31 he wrote that ye might believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that believing he might have life through his name in fact the central focus of the entire bible is on this subject of jesus christ and his redemptive plan john wolverd the great theologian from dallas seminary wrote from genesis to revelation jesus christ is the most important theme of the bible and almost every page is related in some way either to his person or to his work and so this morning we're going to take these few moments that we have together and we're going to see three facets of the person and work of the lord jesus christ we want to avoid the confusion that abounds in this world about who he really is and why he really came i want you to notice in our text this morning first of all the revelation of jesus christ the revelation of jesus christ the bible says in verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god here we learn that christ is eternal god the word here in the beginning word is the greek word lagos and it speaks of the living word it speaks of the person of the lord jesus christ and it tells us here of his relation to eternity you notice in verse 1 in the beginning was the word the opening statement places the word jesus christ in the context of time and the verb indicates that in the beginning was the word and the verb was indicates christ's existence before time began time began when god created heaven and earth so jesus christ is eternal because he preexisted time and only god is eternal therefore jesus christ who pre-existed time is god in fact every attribute of deity can be ascribed to jesus christ he is all-knowing he is eternal he is all-powerful and in john 1 we see his eternality surely this was spoken of in isaiah 43 and 10. ye are my witnesses saith the lord and my servant whom i have chosen that ye may know and believe in me and understand that i am he before me there was no god formed neither shall there be after me in fact jesus said in john 8 and verse 58 before abraham was i am jesus christ is eternal god and we see not only that he is eternal in his nature but also that he was in relation to god the father notice in verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with god here we see a wonderful phrase here we see a separate person from the father that is christ the son but it says he is with god that is as though two people are face to face with one another and john here is describing jesus as the divine originator of all things the causation of all things that exist the pre-existent one who was face to face equal with god the father and so he is eternal god in relation to god christ the eternal god was also then manifest to us as a human race in the flesh we notice that in verse 14 it says and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth now what an amazing miraculous thought and we celebrate this at the christmas season do we not the word became flesh deity wrapped in humanity this is the personage of jesus christ philippians 2 and 6 describes it this way that jesus was in the form of god that he thought it not robbery to be equal with god but he made himself of no reputation and took upon in the form of servants and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross and so jesus christ who is eternal god took the form of a man deity wrapped in humanity god dwelling amongst us you see god is not some remote aloof untouchable being but god manifested himself to us he struggled through our struggles he walked on our streets he felt our pain so that we might call out to him and this was a physical manifestation christ literally coming to this world and may i say it was a prophesied manifestation the bible says in isaiah 7 and 14 therefore the lord himself shall give you a sign behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and thou shalt call his name emmanuel which being interpreted is god with us 700 years before jesus came it was prophesied that he would come it was prophesied how he would be born it was prophesied where he would be born and his name tells us who he is he is god with us concerning the messiah the old testament has given us some 60 major prophecies concerning his person and his coming jesus fulfilled every one of those predictions and this accomplishment frankly is beyond comprehension the mathematical probability of jesus fulfilling just eight of these 60 major prophecies is one times 10 to the 17th power to grasp the enormity of of this statement dr peter stoner provided a picture for our understanding he said if you could picture the entire state of texas being covered with silver dollars two feet deep one coin being marked and the entire sea of silver dollars then being mixed and a blindfolded man being instructed to walk as far as he wanted to walk but he must pick the coin with the mark on his very first try the chances of that occurring are the same as jesus fulfilling just eight of the sixty major prophecies and to think jesus fulfilled every prophecy the probability of jesus not being the messiah is mathematically impossible according to the prophecy christ came in a physical manifestation he came with a prophetic manifestation and jesus christ was a perfect manifestation of god the bible says in hebrews 4 and 15 for we have not in high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin if you remember anything about jesus christ remember that he is perfect and without sin many may deny his deity and many may denigrate his person but jesus christ is not the sinner we are the fallen sinners he is the perfect son of god and in recent days we have learned how that churches who have been so affected by the culture and not by the bible have been trying to bring jesus down and down to man but my friend jesus christ must not be brought down low and personified as a sinner or as one who condones sin in order that men might come to him no jesus christ must be high and lifted up as the perfectly sinless son of god we see religion gone amok in this century as they are trying somehow even to portray jesus as a sinner recently the church in iceland came out with an ad showing a picture of jesus christ with a beard yet personified as a woman showing jesus as a woman under the rainbow to say that lbgq and all the rest can come because jesus christ is just like them may i say this morning that jesus christ is not just like us may i say this morning that he is not condoning of the rainbow lifestyle may i say that when a church in their attempt to be woke in their attempt to be politically correct tries to bring jesus down and portray him even as a woman that that is heresy that is blasphemy and that we need to come back in this nation to the view of isaiah who when he saw god he saw him high and lifted up and he said woe is me for i am undone and i am a man of unclean lips and until this country sees god high and lifted up and ourselves as sinners repenting and turning to god we will never be saved and we will never have revival trying to bring god down to man in the sense of personifying him as a sinner oh yes he came down to us in the flesh he was born of the virgin but he never ceased being the perfectly sinless son of god he is perfect in his attributes and in his deity even pontius pilate said i find no fault in him and so the revelation of christ is the revelation of the perfectly sinless eternal and powerful son of god but notice secondly this morning the redemption of christ oh we see who is jesus he is the eternal god but why did he come you see he came to bring salvation salvation is not revealed nor received by man's initiative salvation began with god moving toward us and the bible says in first john 4 9 in this was manifested the love of god toward us because that god sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him herein is love not that we love god but that he loved us and send his son to be the propitiation for our sin and the word propitiation means the covering and god knew that we need a covering for our sin for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god and so jesus christ came to be a sacrifice for our sin the bible says in luke 19 and 10 the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost that's the purpose in his coming to seek after me and to seek after you this is why he came he had a purpose in mind when he came and not only do we see his purpose in the scripture but we see his payment for the bible says but god commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us the blood that was shed became a covering for our sin his purpose was salvation his payment was his death and then i see his promise jesus promises to all who turn to him for salvation he says i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the father except by me neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name given under heaven given amongst men whereby you must be saved don't be fooled by this idea of polytheism or this idea that all roads lead to the same place or that going to heaven is like going to the antelope valley mall pick your road go whatever route you want to take and then you'll get there eventually no my friend straight is the way and narrow is the gate that leadeth unto salvation and that way is the cross of jesus christ jesus christ is the way and so we see concerning his redemption that he made a wonderful sacrifice on the cross so that our sins might be covered oh but it didn't stop there for he had said before he went to the cross of calvary tear down this temple and in three days i'll raise it up again even as jonah was in the whale's belly for three days and came up he said i will come up again i want to just declare to you this morning that our savior is superior in every way because he is the risen savior oh i'm thankful today that we serve a resurrected christ i believe this morning there will come a day in every one of our lives when we too will believe in the resurrection and we can experience the resurrection i heard about a young boy he went to his boss at work and he said sir i'd like to have the day off tomorrow for my grandmother's funeral his boss said well understand take all the time you need the next day after that he came back to work and his boss came up to him and he said son he said do you believe in the resurrection the young man said oh yes sir yes sir he said you know that's really interesting because after you left work the other day your grandmother came by looking for you now friend you may not believe in the resurrection right now but you may as well start because it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment every person here will stand before god henry morris said the bodily resurrection of jesus christ from the dead is the crowning proof of christianity if the resurrection did not take place then christianity is a false religion if it did take place then christ is god and the christian faith is absolute truth and just think about it just think about the fact that jesus was placed in that garden tomb of joseph of arimathea and that this tomb was a guarded tomb pontius pilate said have a watch make sure as you can and so they made the sepulcher shure and they sealed the stone and they set a watch it was a guarded tomb they said we're not going to let anybody steal his body out of here we're not going to let those prophecies come true and so a large stone was placed over it and a roman guard watched by this tomb of the lord jesus christ but thank god the guarded tomb became an empty tomb because on the third day just as he had prophesied up from the grave he arose and when those first women went to the tomb on that first easter morning that angel that stood by said come and see a place where the lord lay in other words he's not here anymore but he has risen as he said and the bible says in first corinthians 15 and 5 and that he was seen of cephas and then of the twelve and after that he was seen above 500 at once of whom the greater part remain unto this present but some are fallen asleep and after that he was seen of james and then of all the apostles and last of all he was seen of me also as one which is born of due time do you understand that more than 1500 people personally saw the lord jesus christ do you understand that they touched him do you understand that they ate with him they saw his uh his glorified body come through the walls and into their homes and they saw him as he ascended up to heaven to be with the father we serve a risen savior this morning my friend the story is told of a man in africa who turned from islam to trust jesus christ as his savior he had been told that god had no son and that jesus christ was merely a teacher but he came to the place of realization that god had a son and that jesus is christ the anointed and and some of his friends said why did you become a christian and he said well it's something like this suppose you were walking down the road and you came to a fork in the road on one side there was a dead man and on the other side there was a living man which way would you go i'm glad that we're following the living son of god today i'm thankful today that he is a resurrected savior the revelation of christ is that he is eternal god and the resurrection of christ proving that he is an eternal god but notice not only his revelation and his redemption but i want to simply remind you this morning of a reunion that's coming with jesus christ the reunion with christ you see there is hope in his coming oh we have such hope in it i'm so thankful today that jesus is not merely an historical figure but that we can look forward to seeing him again sometimes we refer to that day as the rapture of the church or the catching away of the believers and the day when we will see him face to face sometimes it's referred to as the blessed hope and i want you to turn in your bible over to john 14 for a moment and i want you to see what jesus said regarding his coming again in john 14 in verse 1 jesus said to his disciples let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there ye may be also what beautiful words what a wonderful promise jesus said i go to prepare a place for you and if i go to prepare a place for you i will come again that where i am there you may be also oh so many people get so worried about things on this earth and their job and their house and how things are going in the economy and they say today i'll buy this and do that and tomorrow i'll go here and i'll do that and sometimes we fail to live with eternity and mind but if you are saved this morning the bible said that jesus christ is coming again for you the bible speaks of it in first thessalonians 4 and 16 where we are told that the lord jesus christ himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord wherefore comfort one another with these words oh i'm simply saying to you today that this eternal savior this sacrificial savior is a soon soon-coming savior and he is coming for his bride the church the believers who have trusted in him and not only will he come for us as the bible says looking for that blessed hope of our great savior and that glorious god in our great savior the lord jesus christ not only do we look for him as a church but then the bible speaks of the second coming that's the time at the end of the tribulation when jesus will come and establish his throne and when we will rule and reign with him for one thousand years and the bible speaks of it in revelation 19 and verse 11 and i saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of god and the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine lemon linen white and clean you understand that the late night talk show host may take his name in vain you understand that the professor in the secular college may make fun of jesus christ and try to put him down on the lower shelf with all of the false gods but at the second coming of jesus christ every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that jesus christ is lord and he's not coming the second time as a little baby in the manger he's coming on a white horse with his vesture dipped in blood meaning he's coming at that which some referred to as the battle of armageddon he's coming to bring judgment upon a world that rejected him friend turn to christ and trust him while you can and you too will find hope in the coming of the lord jesus christ there's an inscription in the dome of our capitol in washington d.c very few people have ever seen it the inscription says one far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves one far-off divine event toward which the whole of creation moves a man was on a tour of the capitol and he said to the guide what is that inscription and the guide said i believe it refers to the second coming of jesus christ when the dome of our capital was erected some god-fearing official ordered that inscription to be etched into the dome of our seat of government believing that its truth was of national concern believing that every decision made in that capital should be with the mindset that one day we will see god and we will give an account to god and that all of creation is moving not toward the peace that the united nations will never bring but that all of this creation is moving toward the day when jesus christ will come again and for me as a believer and for you as a believer that doesn't bring fear to our hearts it brings hope for our hearts it is the blessed hope of every believer the hope of his coming but there's another hope that is offered and as you consider this reunion with christ not only is there the hope of seeing him but there is the hope of being with him for all of eternity friend if you died today do you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you will spend eternity with jesus christ i ask people that question quite often i like to ask that question do you know if you died today that you'd spend eternity in heaven say that with me do you know if you died today that you'd spend eternity in heaven say it again do you know ask somebody that question this week and you'll hear what i hear they say well i hope so i hope i'd go to heaven i think so i think i'd go to heaven and i always delight in opening the bible to first john chapter 5 and verse 11 and i enjoy telling them that they don't have to just hope that they're going to heaven they can know that they're going to heaven for the bible says and this is the record that god has given to us eternal life and this life is in his son he that has the son has life and he that has not the son of god has not life these things have i written unto you that believe on the name of the son of god that you may know that you have everlasting life and that you may believe on his name my friend you can leave this building this morning knowing that jesus christ is your hope and knowing that you have a home in heaven for all of eternity and i don't know how many descriptives to give to you and i cannot take the time to read every verse to you but i want you to understand no matter what your need no matter who you are no matter what your occupation jesus christ is still the answer to the artist this morning he is the altogether lovely one and to the architect he is the chief cornerstone and to the astronomer he is the bright and morning star and to the angler he is the fisher of men and to the baker he is the living bread and to the banker he is the hidden treasure and to the biologists he is the life and to the builder he is the sure foundation and the capitalist he is unsearchable riches and to the carpenter he is the door and to the christian he is the son of the living god the savior the redeemer of the world to the drifter he is the anchor to the doctor he is the great physician to the editor he is good tidings of great joy to the educator he is the great teacher to the farmer he's the sower of the word and the harvest to the friendless he is the friend that sticketh closer than a brother to the florist he's the rose of sharon and the lily of the valley to the geologist he is the rock of ages to the horticulturalists he is the true vine to the judge he is the righteous judge to the juror he is the faithful witness to the jeweler he is the pearl of great price to the lawyer he is the great advocate to the lonely maiden he is her betrothed to the mother he is the lovely son to the mariner he is the great polar star to the needy he is the source of our supply to the outcast he is the friend of sinners to the philosopher he is the wisdom of god to the photographer he is the perfect likeness to the pilgrim he is the way to the potter he is the vessel of honor to the preacher he is the word of god and to the sculptor he is the living stone to the servant he is the good master to the sinner he is the lamb of god which taketh away the sin of the world to the student he is the incarnate truth to the theologian he's the author and finisher of our faith to the thirsty he is the water of life to the toiler he is the giver of rest to the unclean he is the fountain of cleansing to the widow he is the righteous judge to the weary he is rest for your soul i'm saying it doesn't matter who you are where you've been where you work jesus christ is still the answer and if you do not know him turn to christ today and trust him as your savior because jesus christ has promised that he is the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except by him these things have i written unto you that believe on the name of the son of god that you may know that you have everlasting life who is jesus why he's the revelation of god why did he come he came to redeem us back to god well will we ever see him again very soon my friend will be face to face with him if you have trusted him as your personal savior

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 1,198

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Keywords: preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus, Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster Baptist, Pastor Paul Chappell, Paul Chappell, deity, John 1

Id: EhjVAqKvl7g

Length: 32min 43sec (1963 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 28 2020