A Jewish father sent his son to Israel for a year to experience his heritage. A year later the boy returns home and he told his father: "O Father, thank you for sending me to the land of our Fathers. It was wonderful, and I learned so much… but, I have to confess that while in Israel I converted to Christianity."
The Jewish father is heart-broken and cries out "What have I done?" And he goes to his best friend for advice. And his friend said: "You know, it is amazing that you should come to me. "I too sent my son to Israel and… he returned a Christian."
So they went to their Rabbi and their Rabbi replied: "It is amazing that you should come to me, for I too sent my son to Israel… and HE returned a Christian. What is happening to our sons? Brothers, we must take this to the Lord,"
And they fell to their knees in prayer and began to wail and pour out their hearts to God. And as they prayed, the heavens opened and a mighty voice thundered down, "You know, it’s amazing that you should come to Me. I, too, sent My Son to Israel..."
GOD HAD A SON! That’s what Psalm 2:7 tells us: "You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” God had a Son… and His name is Jesus. “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten … SON.” Psalm 2:7 is a prophecy about who Jesus was going to be and that phrase was repeated several times in the New Testament.
For example, in Acts 13:33 Paul preached at synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia. And, after having spoken of Jesus’ death/burial/resurrection) Paul said “We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us - their children - by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm (Ps. 2:7) ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’”
And Hebrews 1:5 compares Jesus to the angels and says: “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’”?
These are some of the Scriptures that point out that Jesus was Son of God. In Matthew 3:17 - when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River “A voice from heaven and said, ‘This is MY BELOVED SON, with whom I am well pleased.’” In John 1:34: John the Baptist declared – “I have seen and have borne witness that this (Jesus) is the Son of God.” And later, when Jesus asked disciples who they believed He was, Peter replied: “You are the Christ, THE SON of the living God.” Matthew 16:16
Now how did Peter know that? Well, “Jesus answered him ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’” In other words: Peter didn’t come up with that all on his own. It was the father who revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Son of God!
(PAUSE) Now, that’s interesting, but why should I care? What difference would it make to me that Jesus was the Son of God? Well, the Apostle John tells us it makes a great deal of difference.
1 John 2:23 says, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.” In other words – if you DENY that Jesus is the Son of God you’re gonna be on the outside looking in. If you deny the son you’re basically telling the Father to take a hike. You’re saying you’re not interested in what he has to offer (i.e. Jesus).
In 1 John 5:5 we’re told “Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” So, in other words - if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God you will have power from God INSIDE you, and you will be able to handle anything world throws at you - because Jesus IS the Son of God!
And then 1 John 5:12 says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life.” Your very salvation (eternal life) hinges on believing that Jesus is the Son of God.
So, what is this all about? Why is so important that we believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Well, the term “SON OF GOD” was a code phrase for – Jesus being God in the flesh. You see, before Jesus was crucified, He was brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin. And the High Priest said to Jesus, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, THE SON OF GOD!” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now YOU HAVE HEARD HIS BLASPHEMY! Matthew 26:63-65
But what did Jesus say that angered the High Priest so much? What had He said that was blasphemous? Well later, when the Chief Priests demanded that Jesus be crucified, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself THE SON OF GOD." John 19:6-7
You see, the High Priest regarded – Jesus calling Himself the Son of God - as blasphemy, because when Jesus called Himself the Son of God He was to claiming to be - of the same nature as God. In fact He was claiming TO BE God!
And that would have been blasphemy … if it WEREN’T true.
But Hebrews 1:3 says it IS true – “The Son (that’s Jesus) is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.” In other words: Jesus was GOD IN THE FLESH!
Now, there are people who have a problem with that. They have a problem with Jesus being the Son of God, or with Him being God in the flesh. So they’ll refuse to accept that that’s who He was and they’ll “redefine” Jesus. Cults like the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons teach that Jesus wasn’t really God (like we think of God).
The Jehovah Witnesses try to tell us that – not only was Jesus NOT God in the flesh… but that he was actually an angel named “Michael”. (https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/archangel-michael/) (PAUSE)
Now the Mormons go one step further. According to the Los Angeles Times “Mormon theology says that Jesus and Satan are both sons of God. In fact, an official church website explains that, Jesus was Lucifer’s older brother.’” (https://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-mormonqa16dec16-story.html) So basically, Mormons describe Jesus as being like Satan… essentially putting Him in the same category as an angel. Though that’s not what they’ll say they’ve done.
But Hebrews says: that’s not true. Jesus never was an angel, let alone the “older brother of Lucifer”. Hebrews 1:4-6 tells us Jesus has “… become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’ from Ps 2:7)? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’” So, the term “Son of God” was never used of angels. In fact, Hebrews says angels were created to worship Jesus! Jesus was NOT an angel, and He was NOT a mere man… He was the SON OF GOD.
In fact, that’s part of the “confession” we ask people to repeat before they’re baptized into Christ, or as they’re joining the congregation here. Say it with me: “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Now, that’s NOT just a mantra; it’s not a magical phrase. You’re not just saying that “I believe that Jesus is the son of God”. You are declaring that Jesus IS God. And that’s a core belief of your Christianity. It’s a statement you build your life around.
ILLUS: Outside on our marquee are these words: “The Church of Christ at Logansport.” And for some people, that’s just a so many words. It’s the name on a building. It’s the name of the group of believers that we belong to, etc. But if you believe that, you’ve missed the point! When you say you say that this is a Church Of Christ - your 1st thought should be: This is a church THAT BELONGS to Christ. It’s Christ’s Church! The building belongs to Him; the people belong to Him; the Elders/Staff/Sunday School teachers – we all belong to Him.
And when you say “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God” you’re declaring that He has the right to own you and all that you have. But, to say that Jesus is the SON OF GOD. And so it is also a statement that declares Jesus came to die for you!!!!
If you look through the Gospels you’ll find that Jesus almost always called Himself “The Son of MAN!!!” But in other places He’s called “The Son of God!!” They are both titles describing WHO Jesus was.
The term “Son of Man” tells us Jesus was born of a mortal woman. And the title points to His birth in Bethlehem by – Mary. And so that term (Son of Man) described Jesus as being partly HUMAN.
But the phrase “Son of God” tells us that Jesus was ALSO God in the flesh. In Luke 1:35 it says “The angel answered (Mary), 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born (Jesus) will be called the Son of God.’”
So Jesus was both HUMAN (Son of Man) and GOD (Son of God). And the reason that’s important – is that Jesus couldn’t have died for our sins if those two things were not true. The Bible is very clear that you and I deserve to die for our sins. All the sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed to the fact - that our sins condemned us to death. In fact, Romans 6:23 tells us “the wages of sin is DEATH.”
The Old Testament taught that the price for our sin was either OUR death, or the death of a substitute - something that would die in our place. And so – all the sheep and goats and cattle were offered every year - their blood was shed to cover sins.
The problem was, the sheep and goats and cattle didn’t really volunteer for this. They didn’t willingly give their blood to cover the sins. Their sacrifice was like a “stop-gap” measure until a better sacrifice could be made. And that better sacrifice was going to be a volunteer. That better sacrifice was Jesus which Hebrews 12:2 tells is “… Jesus, (is) the founder and perfecter of our faith, (and) for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame….”
Jesus VOLUNTEERED to die for us.
But if Jesus had been just a mere man, He could have volunteered all day long and it wouldn’t have mattered, because God had decreed that an acceptable sacrifice had to be a perfect sacrifice. But the Bible tells us that none of us mere mortals are perfect. We’ve all sinned. We’re all stained with shame and guilt. Thus, we couldn’t die for others because we would need someone to die for us 1st.
BUT… GOD COULD DIE FOR US! And IF Jesus were the SON OF GOD - well He’d be the perfect sacrifice. And He could be our perfect sacrifice and cover our sins. Because, by definition God can’t sin. Thus, only the Son of God would be the perfect sacrifice.
But if Jesus had only been the Son of God… well, there’d be a problem with that too. Because - by definition - GOD CAN’T DIE! So, Jesus (as THE SON OF GOD) offered Himself as a perfec¬t sacrifice for us. And Jesus (as THE SON OF MAN) became human so that He could physically die for us. That’s why Jesus was both SON OF MAN and SON OF GOD.
Philippians 2:6-8 tells us: “though (Jesus) was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (like you and me). And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
CLOSE: Now, there are a lot of people who reject the idea that they need Jesus to die for them. They think that they’re good enough (just as they are) to please God. But the bible tells us that’s not true. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None of self-righteous deeds could ever make any difference to a Holy God.
A preacher was telling about the time he was asked by a non-Christian: “If I don’t believe like you do - am I going to hell? And the preacher replied: Well, can I ask you a couple of questions? The other man said that that would be alright.
1. "Do you believe that people who commit moral crimes ought to be punished? In other words, when people do bad things, should they pay for them?" And the non-Christian replied: “Well… since I’m a prosecuting attorney - yeah.” And so the Christian replied “I agree with you. I believe that people who do wrong things should not get away with them.”
2. Have you ever done wrong things? And the attorney admitted “Yeah, I guess I have.” And the Christian said “I agree with you on that too. We all know we’ve done bad things.” So, we both agree that people who do bad things should be punished, and we both agree that WE BOTH have done bad things. Do you know what I call that? Bad news. This is not a good picture for us.
Then the preacher continued: “What the Bible is telling us is – that we’re on trial. And the judge is about to lower the gavel on the two of us in the dock. We both know we’re guilty and we both know we’re going to get what we deserve. But then, at that point, the judge pauses and says: “By the way, are either of you interested in a pardon at this point?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqumyDo2sc8)
So would we want a pardon from God? Well, yeah! And that’s what God did for us. He offered us a pardon. In 1 Timothy 2:4 we’re told that (God) desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” In other words: God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. And so He tells us – I will offer you a pardon – If you’ll just accept it.
“God so loved you that He gave my only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
