OPEN: St. John’s University is apparently known for being a theological school where intellectualism is highly regarded. Someone wrote the following graffiti on one of the walls there:
Jesus said unto them: “Who do you say that I am?”
And they replied: “You are the escha-tological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationships.”
And Jesus said: “What?”
APPLY: Whoever wrote that graffiti – they were basically complaining about some of the names and expressions that men had invented to try to define who Jesus was.
Now… I can understand how hard it would be for men to come up with ONE specific definition for who Jesus is. After all, Billy Sunday once noted: “There are 256 names in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express.”
I. But there was one time when Jesus asked His disciples to give a name that would sum up ALL that He was.
Jesus asked them: “Who do others said that I am”… and they replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." (Matthew 16:14)
But then Jesus said: “Who do YOU say that I am?” and ever faithful Peter responded: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16)
Now, that was not a just a good answer… that was a great answer. Jesus literally slapped Peter on the back and exclaimed:
”Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:17-18)
There are some who mistakenly believe that Jesus was saying that Peter was to be the foundation of His church. But of course, that couldn’t be true because Paul wrote: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Besides, Jesus was using a form of “word play” with Peter’s name. Peter (in the Greek) is also translated “little stone”… but the word Jesus used to describe the foundation upon which He’d build His church was a Greek word for a “huge boulder.” So, in essence, Jesus was telling Peter “you are a small stone, but upon this huge rock of your confession I’m going to build my church.”
The definition Peter gave of Jesus was the one that GOD wanted us to embrace. Jesus told him that he hadn’t arrived at this conclusion because he’d heard from someone else, but because he’d received it God Himself.
This profession of Peter’s has been so significant that many churches (such as ours) ask people to repeat that phrase when they are baptized into Christ or when they express a desire to become a member here.
Repeat after me: “I believe (echo) that Jesus is the Christ (echo) the Son of the Living God (echo)”
We’ve heard this phrase so often that we might be inclined to dismiss it as a religious creed that we can simply recite and then ignore. But there is actually a powerful meaning within those few words.
One man broke that simple confession down into its separate parts and came up with this:
* When I say "I believe . . . in God” I’m declaring that I’m not an atheist, who says God doesn’t exist and I’m not an agnostic, who says, "I don’t know if God exists."
* When I say "I believe . . . in a Living God” I’m saying that:
I’m not an idolater, that worships images made of wood, stone or gold.
I’m not a worshipper of dead ancestors (Buddha, Confucius, Taoism, Shintoism).
I’m not a nature worshipper (Hindu).
* When I say "I believe . . . in THE living God, I’m declaring that I’m not a polytheist, who says there are many gods.
* When I say "I believe. . . in the Son of God, I stating that I’m:
Not a pantheist, that says, "all is God" (Sikhism).
Not a deist, that thinks God created the world and never involved Himself in its problems.
Not a uniformist, who believes that all things continue as they were in the beginning.
Not a modernist, who denies the virgin birth.
* When I say “I believe . . . in the Christ, that mean’s:
I’m not an unbelieving Jew, who denies Jesus as the Messiah.
I’m not a futurist, who yet looks for a Messiah.
I’m not a follower of the Baha’i or Mohammedan cults that think Jesus is only one of God’s many witnesses.
* When I say “I believe . . . in Jesus” I’m saying that I DON’T INTEND to follow:
Buddha
Or Confucius
Or Mohammed
Or Reverend Moon
Or Satan
* When I say “I” believe, I’m declaring that this is a personal faith. It wasn’t inherited from my parents, and it wasn’t forced upon me. It’s my own belief.
That’s powerful stuff! And it tells us that those few words of Peter’s “Good Confession” mean far more than many of have even begun to suspect.
II. In addition, this “good confession” is one of - major dividing lines between Christians and cults
Jesus is THE son of God. There is NO OTHER “Son of God”
Not only did Jesus’ disciples acknowledge this…
· But the Father declared: "This is MY beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" Matthew 17:5
· Even the demonic powers acknowledged Jesus as THE son of God. Mark 3:11 tells us Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are THE Son of God.”
No other individual in all of Scripture shares this title with Jesus. And John 3:18 declares: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”
Jesus is God’s ONE AND ONLY Son… there are no others.
But Cults have a real problem with that.
Mormons, for example, accept the idea that Jesus is divine. They believe that Jesus is literally God’s son – but they don’t believe He was unique. In Mormon theology, they also believe that you and I can become divine. They teach that you and I can become gods in our own right… equal to and perhaps greater than Jesus… and even greater than the Father Himself. By such a heretical teaching (that was hinted at by Satan in the Garden when he told Eve that eating of the fruit would make her “like God.” - Genesis 3:5) Jesus WOULD NOT BE the ONE AND ONLY son of God… He would simply be one of many deities and sons of God.
By contrast Jehovah Witnesses totally reject the idea that Jesus was divine. They say that Jesus was an angel… a created being. To them Jesus was not an eternal being… he had been created in the beginning
ILLUS: The story’s told of a preacher who met a member of this cult that. This Jehovah Witness believed that he had arrived at a foolproof argument against the divinity of Christ. He said “You say that Jesus Christ is coequal with the eternal Father, but He cannot be, for no son is ever as old as the one who has begotten him.”
That was a pretty good argument… no father ever has a son that’s as old as he is.
The minister thought for a moment and then replied, “You yourself have just called God the eternal Father. Don’t you realize that God can only be the eternal Father if He has an eternal Son? If you would rethink your position in the light of the Scriptures, you would see that eternal Fatherhood demands eternal Sonship!”
Now there are some who would believe that I’m “picking on” the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. And you know what… they’d be right. That’s my job to help expose heresy so that you won’t be drawn in by those who teach it.
ILLUS: A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with one of our new members who asked me if I’d ever read the Book of Mormon. He told me that some Mormon missionaries who’d shared with him much of what they believed about Joseph Smith. When I asked him if they’d explained what they believed about their divinity. “No,” he replied. And of course THEY WOULDN’T! They wouldn’t DARE share that piece of heresy with my friend. He’d know them right away for the false teachers they are.
Such heresy as what the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses teach about Jesus could rob you of your salvation. The Apostle John went so far as to say that “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.” (2 John 1:10-11). In other words: DON’T LET THESE PEOPLE INTO YOUR HOME!
Thus… it’s good theology to recognize that Jesus IS the Christ the Son of the living God.
III. But, that’s not only good theology… it’s critical to fully understanding what Jesus did when He came to earth.
When the angel Gabriel announced that Jesus was going to be born to Mary he declared “they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1:23
Jesus was “God with us”
Jesus HAD TO BE God with us because no mortal man could have done what Jesus did for us.
1. If Jesus had NOT God… then He couldn’t have died for our sins.
The Old Testament Law called for a “perfect” sacrifice for sins. This sacrifice could have NO defect or impurity. The priests literally cut the sacrificial lambs open and examined the inner organs, and if there was even a spot on the liver or the kidneys that sacrifice was rejected and the offerer had to go and find another animal to bring before God.
God was teaching us in the Old Testament that the ultimate sacrifice for sins had to be pure and undefiled. If any mortal MAN were to have died for our sins he would have had to be sinless. But Scripture tells us “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
How many of you in this audience have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? (everyone raised their hands) That’s absolutely right. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Thus, none of us… in fact, no mere mortal man or woman would be pure enough, sinless enough to have offered themselves on our behalf. The blood required for the sacrifice had to be God’s own Son’s. . Only the blood of Jesus – God’s only son – was pure enough to cover our sins. As 1 John 1:7 tells us “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin”
2. Secondly, if Jesus hadn’t been God then John 3:16 means nothing to us
Remember John 3:16 Repeat it with me: “For God so loved the world…”
If Jesus wasn’t THE Son of God… that make no sense. If Jesus was just some created being – like you and me – then God really gave nothing.
ILLUS: A woman and her husband interrupted their vacation to go to a dentist. The wife said "I want a tooth pulled, and I don’t want Novocain because I’m in a big hurry. Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we’ll be on our way."
The dentist was quite impressed." You’re certainly a courageous woman. Which tooth is it?"
The woman turned to her husband and said, "Honey, show him your tooth."
That woman wasn’t courageous!
That woman wasn’t going to suffer when the tooth was extracted!
Literally, she had nothing invested in what was about to take place.
But John 3:16 tells us God gave of Himself… God suffered for us.
It cost God something for us to be purchased and cleansed by His blood.
GOD CHOSE THE THORN TO THE POWER Poem
Hard it is, very hard, to travel up the slow and
stony road to Calvary, to redeem mankind;
Far better to make but one resplendent miracle,
Lean through the cloud, lift the right hand of power
And with a sudden lightning smite the world perfect.
Yet this was not God’s way. Who had the power,
But set it by, choosing the cross, the thorn,
The sorrowful sounds.
Something there is, perhaps that power destroys in
Passing, something supreme.
To whose great value in the eyes of God that cross, that
thorn, and those five wounds bear witness.
Or, as Philippians tells us:
Christ Jesus… being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
SERMONS IN THE “MEETING JESUS” SERIES
The Son Of God - Matthew 16:13-16:20
Knowing Who You’re Looking At - John 12:20-12:36
Whose In Charge Here? - Colossians 1:10-1:20
WWJD In Worship - Luke 4:14-4:21
How Jesus Ministered - Matthew 11:1-11:6
