This morning, we are going to continue our study of the Articles of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene. We will focus our attention on the second article, which is:
Jesus Christ
Here is the description of this 2nd tenet of our faith:
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one Person, very God and very man, the God-man. We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and took again His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in intercession for us.
Once again, this Article is one that few people visiting our church would find a place of disagreement. However, I want to take a closer look at it so that, if someone were to ask you specific questions about Jesus Christ, you would be able to point them to specific scriptures that give evidence to His divinity and His nature and can show them why we believe what we believe.
I am reminded of a conversation that my wife once had with a co-worker, that happened to be Jewish. It was during the Christmas season. The woman, who is still a good friend of Paula’s, said “what is the big deal about Jesus. It’s not like He was God or something.”
You see, there are people in and around all of us that, for one reason or another, have chosen not to take a closer look into the life and person of Jesus Christ. They have likely heard something about Him, but have never truly understood the Gospel’s message.
First of all, let’s look at the eternal Divinity of Jesus Christ. In John 1:1-3, John the Beloved says:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.
When John says ‘Word’ with a capital, he is speaking about the Word of God incarnate (made flesh), which is Jesus Christ our Lord. When time was created, Jesus was already there. He was God and He was an active participant in all of creation. So He is eternal.
In answer to people like Jehovah’s Witness’ that try to say that Jesus never said that He was God, Jesus told the Pharisees is John 10 “I and the Father are One.” Someone might attempt to say that He wasn’t saying that He was God, however the Pharisees knew that that was exactly what He was saying because they began picking up stones to kill Him. Jesus was proclaiming His deity and His inseparable connection with God, all in one statement.
In John 8, the Pharisees are angry that Jesus is setting Himself up to be greater than Abraham, whom they have venerated nearly to the level of God. Jesus then tells them “truly I tell you, before Abram was, I Am.” Once again, they attempted to stone Him to death, but He left them. Why did this infuriate them? Because I Am is the Name of God, Yahweh, which He told to Moses at the Burning Bush.
There are those that have questioned the validity of the virgin birth because it is too miraculous for them. However, the Word of God is quite clear on the subject. Matthew 1:20 says:
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
The angel Gabriel was given a specific message from God to give to Joseph. That message was that Mary had not been cheating on Joseph but that the Child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. If you believe that the Bible is the very word of God, then there can be no quibbling that Jesus is God and is man, the God-man.
Of course, the most central belief of Christianity is that Jesus died for our sins. Most of us know John 3:16 by heart:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
I also love how Paul puts it in Colossians 1:13-14
He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1 John 2:2 says:
…and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
We cannot do enough good to earn our way into heaven. It is only through the blood of Christ that our sins can be forgiven and we can stand before God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
The other aspect of this Article that some people who do not believe in the miraculous nature of God have a difficult time with is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus rose from the dead. The way in which it occurred is discussed in detail in the Gospels. Luke relates the speech by Peter in Acts 2 and in verses 31-32, Peter, quoting Psalm 16, says:
Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’ This Jesus, God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was seen many times following the Resurrection, prior to His Ascension into Heaven. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us in Corinthians that Jesus was seen by over 500 people on one occasion.
In our Bible studies, we have been studying in the OT and we have looked at the office of the priesthood. We have looked at the sacrifices that the priests offered up to God for the sins of the people. Essentially, they were to intercede with God on behalf of the people. The writer of Hebrews says it beautifully (Hebrews 7:23-25):
Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
That one verse sums up quite a lot of the content of this Article of Faith. The Apostle Paul states it well in Romans 8:34
Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
Only Jesus can intercede with God on our account because only He was found to be the worthy sacrifice for our sins.
There are many more verses that corroborate this second Article of Faith.
We believe in Christ the Son, just as the song we sung earlier states. Many religions believe in a god, but that will not be enough to give them eternal life. Many people believe in God and believe in Heaven. If asked how they get into heaven, they will most often answer that they have to be a good person. Unfortunately, there will be many ‘good people’ in Hell because you can’t be good enough to get into Heaven.
Paul tells us in the book of Romans that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and goes on to tell us what the cost of falling short is. “The wages of sin is death.”
Jesus said “I am the way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through me.” It doesn’t matter how much good you do in this world. The world could pronounce you to be the next Mother Teresa, but if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you will not see Heaven.
That is a harsh but true statement, but let me give you an incredibly wonderful opposing statement: It doesn’t matter how much evil you have done. It doesn’t matter what crimes you have committed. It doesn’t matter that you have hurt those that you love. If you are willing to lay it all down at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to forgive you of all of those things and ask Him to come into your life, He will do it and eternal life will be yours.
1 John 1:9 says:
If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
All it takes is honesty with the One that can’t be lied to. He loves you. He has seen everything that you have ever done and He still loves you. If you have never done this, you need to do it today. You have no idea how much time you have left. Don’t let Satan tell you to think about it some more. Make the decision to follow Christ this very morning.
I know that most of you here in this house of worship have likely already done that, but what is your relationship like with Him? Are you truly following Him or did you really just want ‘fire insurance?’ If that were what Jesus wanted from you and for you, God should just strike us all dead after we accept Him because the rest of our existence here is pointless.
But that’s not what Jesus wants for us. He wants us and urges each and every one of us to become more like Him tomorrow than we are today. Paul said (Philippians 1:6):
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
God wants to work on, in , and through you to complete that work in your life that only began when you accepted Jesus as your Savior. Abundant life. That’s what He wants from you. The only way to do that is to surrender control to Him…
(Prayer)
*All scriptures in NRSV unless otherwise stated.
