The Son

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Transcript:

If you have your little pink and gray booklets that I handed out a few weeks ago, if you’ll take them out, we’re going to look at those tonight briefly, and we’re also going to be in Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16, and if you don’t have one of the booklets, there are a few still out there in the front, actually more than a few. But tonight we’re going to talk about what we believe about Jesus Christ, about God the Son. We talked recently, I shared with you what we believe about God, and then we’ve been taking each member of the Godhead.

We talked about God the Father the last Sunday night that we had services here, and tonight we’re going to talk about the Son. And each member of the Godhead, they are co-equal, they are co-eternal. One is just as much God as the other two, but they each have a distinct role that they play. And I’ve likened it a little bit to a family.

Now there are some people that believe the Godhead is a family instead of a trinity. I don’t buy that. But in the sense of having distinct roles, it’s a little bit like a family in that regard.

You know, Charla and I are equal in the side of God but within the family we play different roles. She is the, well I won’t get into describing the roles. That could come back to haunt me.

But the members of the Godhead are not a family in that sense because they are one God, but they’re three distinct persons, and each of those persons, they share a will, they share an essence, but they have their own individual roles. And so tonight we’re talking about who the Son is. And this, just like when we talked about who God is in general, when we talked about who the Father is, we are just barely scratching the surface.

Because one of the apostles wrote, I believe it was John, that if they had written down everything that Jesus did and said and taught, that the world itself could not contain all the books that would need to be written. So there’s no way that we could discuss everything to do with Jesus Christ tonight or in a lifetime. But we’re going to look a little bit at some of the highlights, some of the basics.

So what we believe, according to the Baptist faith and message is this. Christ is the eternal Son of God. In his incarnation as Jesus Christ, he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

By the way, this starts on page 8, if you were not sure. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon himself human nature with its demands and necessities, and identifying himself completely with mankind, yet without sin. He honored the divine law by his personal obedience, and in his substitutionary death on the cross, he made provision for the redemption of men from sin.

He was raised from the dead with a glorified body, and appeared to his disciples as the person who was with them before the crucifixion. He ascended into heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where he is the one mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose person is affected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate his redemptive mission.

He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord. And I doubt there’s anything in there that’s particularly shocking to you all. There may be some words in there that we wonder about because we don’t use that terminology all the time.

But this is basically the message that you have heard from the pulpit of this church as long as I’ve been here, and presumably from the pastors who came before me, that we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and always has been. Now, there are some evangelicals who believe or have believed that Jesus became the Son during the incarnation. I don’t understand that view, but it doesn’t make them a heretic for believing that.

That’s just not what we believe. I can give you an example. He doesn’t believe it anymore, apparently, but John MacArthur, not exactly a heretic, but at one point taught that Jesus was not the eternal son.

Again, I don’t know where he comes up with that, and apparently he’s changed his mind, but some people believe that. We believe that Jesus has always been the son of God, even before he came to earth. We believe that Mary was a virgin at the time he was conceived, and he was conceived through the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit.

And I know for a lot of people, they wonder, well, how does that even work? How is that possible? If you start from the premise that God can do anything, that’s really not that difficult.

If God was able by supernatural power to create the entire universe with just his words, then creating a body, I won’t say he created Jesus, but creating a body for God the Son to inhabit was not all that much of a stretch. We believe that he perfectly revealed and did the will of God. We talked about that a lot through the book of Hebrews, that he taught us exactly what God is like and what God wants, and he did it perfectly.

We talked about how he is sinless. We talked about how he is God by nature and always has been, always will be. He has never stopped being God, but during his time on earth, he took on himself, in addition, a fully human nature.

So it’s not that he combined them, and how does that work? Fully God, fully man, how do they work together? He had one and he took on another in addition.

That he, the demands and necessities of himself completely with mankind yet without sin. Again, he was sinless. He honored the divine law by his personal obedience.

Everything that Jesus did honored God and honored his law. And he died on the cross. Substitutionary death means he died in our place on the cross.

He died for us. He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He is personally and solely responsible for paying the price for our sin.

And we need to be very clear on that. I’m sure this group is here tonight, but that’s something that we as a church always need to be clear when we’re proclaiming the gospel to the world, that we believe Jesus Christ died as the one and only person who was able to pay for the price of sin in full. Nobody else could do it.

That’s what we believe about Jesus. We believe that he was raised from the dead with a glorified body, and he appeared to his disciples as the person who was with them before his crucifixion. Some of what I’m going to talk about tonight sort of parallels what I’ve been working on for the first seven months of this year as my master’s thesis on answering the question, who is Jesus, from the perspective of several different religions.

And even the text we’re going to look at tonight is sort of where I started from in writing that. But one of the things that I’ve learned is that different religions have different answers to the issue of the resurrection. Some of them deny that it ever happened.

Some affirm that it happened, but they say, oh, there was a mistake. There was misunderstanding. People didn’t understand what was going on.

And some religions will say that Jesus came back in a different body. He came back in a spiritual body, and he was just able to take whatever form he wanted to convince the disciples at the time. He did this.

He did that. We believe that God raised him up, the same person, the same body. It was a glorified body.

I don’t know how all that works. I don’t understand the mechanics of it on a molecular level. But we believe that the same body that was crucified was raised glorified.

Again, how that works, I don’t understand. But if I had to understand everything about God before I could believe, if I had to understand everything before I could believe anything, I wouldn’t believe anything. Especially when it comes to matters of God’s providence.

But again, if you start from the premise that God can do anything, really what’s too difficult to believe that he did? So we believe that Jesus appeared in the same body that he was crucified in. He ascended to heaven where he’s now exalted at the right hand of God where he’s the one mediator, fully God, fully man.

He’s up there right now. I don’t know if we want to say heaven is strictly up, but he’s in heaven right now, and he’s interceding on our behalf with God the Father. He redeems us.

He makes peace between us and God. He reconciles us, and it says he will return in power and glory to judge the world and consummate his redemptive mission. There are religions that believe that his return will be a mysterious thing.

There are some religions that teach that he’s already returned and we just don’t see it. Well, that’s kind of a letdown. All that he did and all the promises and prophecies that were made, and now we’re just told it’s invisible and it’s spiritual. Now, we believe, based on the Bible, that Jesus Christ will return in a visible way.

He will return himself, and he will return in such a way that every knee, eventually will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, that there will be no mistaking his return. And it says at the end here, he now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord. Okay, so that’s in a nutshell what we believe about Jesus.

And what we believe about Jesus is not just a secondary issue. And I’ve heard over the years, I’ve heard people say, you know, it doesn’t matter what we believe. They don’t want to talk about doctrine.

And I’ve heard this in churches that I’ve pastored. We shouldn’t focus on doctrine. It doesn’t matter what somebody believes as long as they love Jesus.

And my question to that always is, what Jesus do they love? And usually I get blank stares when I ask that question. There is more than one Jesus.

There’s the Jesus of the Bible. There’s the Jesus portrayed in the Book of Mormon. There’s the Jesus portrayed in the Watchtower.

There’s the Jesus in the Quran. There’s the Jesus of Buddhism. And I won’t say that these were each individuals that walked the earth.

There was one historical Jesus. But ours are not all the same. What we think about what he did, how we understand what he did, how we understand who he was, it’s all fundamentally different.

And even the question of who is this Jesus that you love is a doctrinal question. And it’s a doctrinal question of supreme importance. If we get that wrong, it doesn’t matter what else we might get right, if we get that wrong.

And one of the reasons I know that it matters so immensely who he is, is because Jesus himself asked his followers to answer that question. If you haven’t already, turn with me to Matthew chapter 16. We’re going to look at a few verses here, starting in verse 13.

It says, when Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? So he turns to his followers, he turns to the twelve, and he says, around town, who do people say I am? And they were quick to answer this one because everybody had an opinion.

And when we’re not being put on the spot, we, you know, we’re pretty forthcoming with information sometimes. Verse 14, and they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias or Elijah, and some Jeremiah, Sir Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. So there was no end to the possibility.

Everybody thought Jesus was somebody else. They thought he was one of these prophets of the Old Testament return. They thought he was John the Baptist. They pretty much agreed that he was a prophet or he was a religious teacher, but they hadn’t really identified exactly who he is.

Now, Jesus didn’t just leave it there and let them off the hook. Because it’s one thing to say, what does everybody else think? But it’s another thing entirely to nail it down for yourself and say, but what do you think?

We can sit around and talk about other people and their ideas all day long, but what really matters for you is what you think about Jesus, how you understand Jesus. And so he asks them the question. I always think of it as him cross-examining them.

Okay, that’s fine. They all think I’m Jeremiah or Elijah or John the Baptist or some other prophet. That’s great.

Then he looks at them and he leans in and says, essentially take responsibility for yourself. What do you think? He says, but whom say ye that I am?

So he says, okay, but who do you say that I am? Now you’ll notice in verse 14, it says, and they said. I kind of imagine all the disciples talking over each other.

Like when you ask, when you’re teaching a class of small children and somebody says something about their puppy dog or their kitty cat. And then they all want to talk about their puppy dog or their kitty cat. I mean, they’re all just talking over each other.

Everybody’s got an answer. Everybody’s got a story to tell. Then you start asking this class of preschoolers about trigonometry or calculus, and suddenly they have no answer.

That’s what I see going on here. Because in verse 14, they said they all speak up. They’ve all got an answer.

And verse 16, it says Simon Peter answered. And we don’t know this from the text. This is just Jared’s imagination.

but I’ve always imagined it to be that they just kind of sat there for a second, puzzled, looked at each other like who’s going to say something. Like y’all do occasionally on Wednesday nights when I ask a question, and I have to tell you, it’s not a trick question. They just kind of looked at each other because maybe they hadn’t thought about it.

I don’t think that’s the reason, though. I imagine they’ve spent all this time with this man who teaches such astounding things and does these miracles. I’m sure there were a lot of late night discussions about, who is he?

I mean, yeah, we’ve walked with him, we know him, but who is he really? Some of them might have thought he was God, but they were afraid to answer it. Because, I mean, how would you like to be the one to say, yeah, you’re God?

And he says, what, are you crazy? Have you missed everything? They don’t want to be the one embarrassed.

So I’ve always imagined that they sit around there and they kind of cast glances at one another. They’re afraid to answer. And finally, Peter, who’s the big mouth in the group.

I like Peter because I feel like sometimes I’m the one who says things first and things later, and Peter did that a lot. But in this case, Peter gets it right. Peter’s the one that finally speaks up and answers for the group.

And verse 16 says, And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And we read over that, and we think, okay, well, that’s interesting, because we take it for granted he’s God’s Son. He’s the Christ, of course.

He’s Jesus Christ. It’s in his name. And we sort of take all this for granted. But you’ve got to put yourselves in their position and understand what they were really saying, what Peter was really confessing here.

And by the way, Jesus tells him he’s getting it right because he says in verse 17, Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. So what he’s actually said here, First of all, let’s start with calling him the Christ. That’s not part of his name. It took me a few years to realize that that’s not part of his name.

And I did have a kid in junior high ask me, what’s his middle name? What do you mean, what’s his middle name? And he said, well, his first name’s Jesus.

His last name’s Christ. He said, my dad says Jesus H. He said, so I’ve always wondered what the middle name is. No, that’s not how it works.

It’s his title. It’s a title, and it’s a very specific title, because the Greek word Christos, which is what is there in the original text, is the translation of the Hebrew word Messiah. And they both mean the same thing, that they were God’s anointed one.

And he says here, we read it in the English text, that thou art the Christ. And that’s exactly what it teaches in the Greek, too. That’s not a mistake. I looked at that again, because I got kind of curious.

And I’m not a Greek expert, not a Greek scholar yet, but now that I’ve taken a few hours, I know some basic things, and I looked at this again, and it’s got the word the there, indicating one. And I say that because there are some religions, there are even some religions that call themselves Christian. I don’t want to name any names, Christian science, but they’re out there that say, some of you caught that, that say that his Christhood was a role that he took on, and that it’s a spirit that indwelled him and that it’s something that’s available to all of us.

We can all tap into the Christ spirit. There are some branches of Hinduism that teach the same thing. There are some parts of the new age movement that teach the same thing that we can be partakers of this Christ spirit, this anointing in the same way that Jesus was.

That’s not what he’s saying here at all. He’s saying not that he’s a Christ, but he’s the Christ. There is a Messiah and he is that Messiah. He is the one.

So when Peter identifies him as the Christ, he’s saying you are the one that God has sent. You are the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies. You’re the one who’s going to save Israel.

And folks, these are important things for us to understand because this confession is at, this is the most basic point of Christianity. Again, if we don’t get this right, it’s not Christianity. This is not unique Southern Baptist doctrine.

I know we’re going through the Baptist faith and message and learning Southern Baptist doctrine, but this is not unique to the Southern Baptists. If you don’t get this, it’s not Christianity. We believe that he’s the Messiah.

This is one of two things that’s at the very core of what we believe about Jesus and what we must believe about Jesus. He is the Messiah. When Peter said, thou art the Christ, he’s not calling him by name.

He is saying, he is identifying Jesus with all the promises of the Old Testament and saying that he’s the fulfillment. He’s the Savior. He’s the Messiah.

He’s the anointed one of God. But he also says that he’s the son of the living God. And we, again, we take for granted that he’s the son of God.

But for Peter to say this was nearly revolutionary talk. Because in Judaism, God doesn’t have a son. God has sons in the sense that the people of Israel are all God’s children.

But again, like so many religions that teach he’s the son of God, but not in a unique way. Mormonism teaches that he’s one of the sons of God, that he’s one of the begotten sons of God. Many, many religions hold to that view.

This says in Greek, he is the son, the son, not a son, the son. He is the Son of God in a unique way. So he’s not, in the Jewish sense, the Son of God, the way all of Israel is the Son of God, but he is the Son.

And as I said, God in Judaism doesn’t have a Son. In their understanding, he doesn’t operate that way. God is one.

Their basic prayer that’s prayed several times a day, I believe, is, Hear, O Israel, hear the Lord our God is one Lord. He’s one. Islam is similar.

Allah can’t have a Son. And the worst sin you can commit is to believe that he has a son, that he shares his glory in that way. And so they had not grown up like we have grown up, hearing Jesus is God’s son.

And I kind of wonder, again, my imagination, I’ll tell you when it’s Bible and I’ll tell you when it’s me. And if it’s me, feel free to disregard it if it contradicts the Bible. But I’ve often wondered if Peter spits this out, says this, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and then says, Where did that come from?

What did I just say? Because to hear that would have gone against everything that he had thought growing up, everything he’d been taught. Because they didn’t even understand that the Messiah would be the Son of God.

They were looking for a human Messiah. They were looking for somebody who was just there for the human mission of kicking the Romans out and saving Israel in that way. So for him to say that Jesus is the Son of God is a pretty revolutionary statement.

And that’s exactly what we believe, that he is the son of the living God. And he is that in a unique way. Christianity does teach that we become sons and daughters of God, but we become the sons and daughters of God through adoption.

When it comes to being begotten, when it comes to having that relationship by nature, there’s only one. There’s only the son. And so we need to have these two things nailed down.

There’s more that we talked about when I read through the doctrinal statement. There’s more that we could go through in the scriptures tonight. But as I said, we don’t have time to go through everything the Bible teaches about Jesus.

And typically I like to stay focused on one passage instead of going on a wild goose chase and pulling verses out at random. I think people get into trouble when they do that. You start pulling verses out, you can make them say whatever you want them to if you don’t look at context.

So I’d rather us just focus in on these two points and realize that this is at the heart of everything else. If we don’t understand Jesus as the Messiah, as the Savior, and if we don’t understand Jesus as the unique, only begotten Son of God, then we’ve missed the point of who the Bible says Jesus is. And I think one final thing that it’s important for us to understand, and we are almost finished, believe it or not.

One final thing that it’s important for us to understand beyond these two teachings is that these teachings aren’t merely human opinion. If it was just my opinion, or if it was just Peter’s opinion, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, then it would be equal to everybody else’s opinion. When everything’s opinion, and it’s just human opinion, who’s to say what’s right and what’s wrong?

But Jesus indicated that these things weren’t human opinion. These things were the truth revealed by God. This is not what Peter said about Jesus, even though he’s the one recorded making the confession.

This is not what I say about Jesus. This is what God the Father says about Jesus. Because he said, again in verse 17, And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee.

No human person told you this. This is no human person’s teaching. He said, But my Father, which is in heaven.

He said, This message you got straight from God. So when we stand firm as a church, as we stand firm as individuals, as we stand firm as Southern Baptists on the unchangeable truth that Jesus Christ is the one and only Messiah, he’s the one and only Savior, and also that he is the one and only begotten Son of God. When we stand firm on those truths, we don’t have to worry about the fact that it’s just human opinion and we might be wrong.

What we’re standing on is the same thing Peter stood on, which is the truth that’s revealed by our Father in heaven, that Jesus Christ is the one he sent to fulfill all of his plans and all of his promises.