THE APOSTLE'S CREED (Part 3)
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Introduction
Introduction
-There’s always a lot of talk about Antichrist. Certain last day beliefs think that it is a particular political leader who ushers in tribulation and problems until Christ returns. But if you look at the instances when the term is actually used, Antichrist is a spirit or a spiritual belief that holds to false concepts of the Messiah. In fact, the prefix ANTI in the Greek means that something is replaced by another. So, the spirit of Antichrist seeks to substitute the real Christ with a fake Christ—a replacement Christ. Just as the old commercial said ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES, we cannot accept substitute Christs, because a substitute Christ does not save. An Antichrist can do us no good.
-That is why it is so important to know who Jesus is and what it is that He has done—so that we’re not deceived by a fake, a phony. Unfortunately, the world is trying to serve up a lot of Antichrists. There is the Antichrist of the Muslims who is a mere prophet. There is the Antichrist of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who is Michael the archangel. There is the Antichrist of liberal, woke theology who will never sit in judgment, but just accept everyone as they are without being born again. Again, we cannot accept any substitutes—there are a whole lot of fake Jesuses that are being pilfered in the world, and the devil is overjoyed about that. The devil doesn’t care if you are spiritual, and he doesn’t care if you are moral, and he really doesn’t care if you go to church or not; as long as you do not believe in the real Jesus and live in the power of the real Jesus. The devil doesn’t care if you have A Jesus as long as it isn’t THE Jesus.
-And so, we have a document like the Apostle’s Creed that summarizes the major teachings about Jesus so we know who the real Jesus is. The section on Jesus takes up the bulk of the Creed and points us to who Jesus is (that is, His nature and character) as well as the work that He accomplished for God on our behalf. Tonight, we want to focus in on the first section about Jesus which tells us who He is. So, the Apostle’s Creed reads like this:
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord;
-The section we want to concentrate on begins saying I BELIEVE IN JESUS. There is a famous quote by Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, where she says:
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
-Since Romeo’s family name is Montague, and Juliet is a Capulet who isn’t supposed to hang out with Montagues, Juliet is trying to reason that if Romeo had any other name than Montague there’d be no problem; so, really, names are meaningless. And, in general, that would seem to be true. My name has no meaning to my character or actions. But the same cannot be said of Jesus. There actually is a lot to His name, and no other name would fit Him. Why do we say that? Consider what the angel tells Joseph about what is going on with Mary:
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
-To Americans who speak English, this doesn’t seem that important. We pick names for babies all the time. We have books with thousands of names you can choose from to name your child. But God’s messenger said that this child was to have a specific name: Jesus. The name was connected to what He was going to do—FOR HE WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS. The name Jesus, which is a form of Joshua, means YAHWEH SAVES. There is something to the name of Jesus because it declares what He was born to do. Jesus is Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. His name indicated His work.
-The Bible emphasizes the importance of Jesus’ name because of the importance of His person and the importance of His work.
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
-And it is because of this that Jesus is the name above every other name:
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
-We think of salvation from the penalty of sin, but He is also Savior from the power of sin, and He is Savior from the presence of sin at our death and ultimately at His return. And He is Savior of both soul and body, because these wrecked bodies of our will be completely remade. There is a lot to His name. His name is exalted because of the uniqueness of His person. His name is exalted because of the victory He won through salvation. His name is exalted because of His character and nature and the importance of His work. What’s in a name? A whole lot is found in Jesus’ name.
-But our confession about Him continues as the creed goes on to say that I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST. In speaking of names, the term Christ might be misconstrued by some to be Jesus’ last name. Some think that just like Pihringer is my last name, Christ is Jesus’ last name. But that’s not what Christ means. First, because that’s not how they did names—you were named son or daughter of your parents and somewhat by your hometown. Jesus would have been commonly known as Jesus Son of Joseph of Nazareth.
-But then, second, the word CHRIST is a title, it is not a name. Christ is the Greek Word for Anointed or Anointed One, and is the equivalent to the Hebrew word Messiah. So, you can go through the New Testament and replace the word Christ with Messiah—Jesus is Jesus Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the prophecies that pointed to the Messiah.
-Why is He called the Anointed One? The word anointing itself means to be chosen and empowered to fulfill a specific task or purpose. In the Old Testament generally three types of people were anointed for their task: Prophet, Priest, and King; and Jesus fulfills all of those roles. Jesus is the anointed prophet in that He speaks the words of God, and He Himself is the Word of God—the ultimate revelation of God to the world. Jesus is the anointed priest in that He is the mediator of the new covenant between God and man. And Jesus is the anointed king in that He is the promised heir of David who would rule and reign over God’s people for all of eternity. That is the Messiah—the specially Anointed One of God who would fulfill God’s ultimate purpose of bringing a remnant of people on the earth back into the sheepfold of God. Jesus in the role of Messiah became the Savior of the World.
-This was an important truth and revelation especially for the Jews of the first century. They were expecting the Messiah to do one thing, but He did something completely different. So, to believe that Jesus was Messiah was to go against common human understanding and to embrace what it is that God revealed in the Word and through Jesus. People of the first century didn’t know what to think of Jesus because He may have been Messiah, but He wasn’t really following what they thought the plan should be. So, when Jesus asked the disciples who people say He was, they gave all sorts of answers. But when the disciples were pressed, they understood. As it is recorded:
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
-Peter, speaking for the group, says they recognize Jesus is Messiah, the Anointed One, the promised Prophet/Priest/King Savior from God.
-But the description in the creed continues I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON. We are familiar with that terminology from the King James and other translations; whereas other translations will say something to the effect of ONE AND ONLY, or ONLY UNIQUE, or just ONLY SON. We see it in:
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
-Although the term is used of other people in other contexts, what it does is speaks about the unique position and relationship of the child to the parent. Now, some may object and say that the Bible talks about all Christians being God’s children which it does. (By the way, on a side note, the Bible nowhere says that all humans are God’s children. Only those in covenant relationship with God are ever called His children). But anyway, we are God’s children in one sense, but Jesus is God’s Son in a very unique sense. There is no human or angel or any other creature that is a child of God like Jesus is a child of God. Jesus is unique in that He is the Son that share in the nature and existence of God the Father. Only the Son of God shares in the eternal character and being of the Father. Jesus is unique. There is no one like Him or who will ever be Son like He is Son.
-We Christians are called children of God, but as Paul and others talk about, it is through adoption through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
-I am a son of God because God adopted me by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus, on the other hand, has always been and always will be the unique, only-begotten Son of the Father for He alone shares in the divine nature and always has and always will share in it for eternity. He is the second member of the Trinity. Jesus is the unique Son because of His origin and nature.
-But then it goes on to say I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON, OUR LORD. There are two aspects we need to realize in this title. First, in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, better known as the Septuagint, they used the word KURIOS (Lord) whenever the divine name YHWH appeared. So, in one sense, by say that Jesus is Lord we are saying that He is YHWH. Saying Jesus is Lord is saying that Jesus is God. After the resurrection, doubting Thomas finally got it by declaring:
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
-But then, second, the term Lord obviously has connotations of headship, authority, power. We say Jesus is Lord we say that He is the ultimate authority—that He has power and authority over us. He’s in charge. He makes the rules and standards. And this is an important part of the gospel and salvation. We see Paul telling people that this is what they must believe:
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
-It doesn’t say BELIEVE SAVIOR JESUS or confess JESUS IS SAVIOR…it says Lord. Some people say that this is Lordship salvation and it adds to the gospel, but without believing rightly about Jesus you aren’t believing in the right Jesus (if that makes sense). You believe that Jesus is God/YHWH and that He is the ultimate authority. This is who died for us, and you are recognizing and believing in these truths. This is our Savior.
-Some may think that this is all boring, doctrine stuff, but this is more important than you know. As the world tries to pass off its versions of Christ—its Antichrists—we need to know who the real deal is. Accept no substitutes. And if you have believed in a wrong Jesus, you need to believe in the right Jesus. And if you aren’t living daily by faith in this right Jesus, you aren’t going to be living like you can.