Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: Loving Truth and Ignoring Fiction

Theme: The Divinity of Christ

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us John 1:1, 14

Biblical revelation of God about Christ

I had a friend in Christ send me a cartoon this week.

In the background of this cartoon was a movie theater with a sign saying, “The Da Vinci Code.”

It showed lots of people running to get in to watch the film for their own entertainment.

Lying on the ground is a man that was trampled under foot with footprints leading to the theater door.

The man lying on the ground had a beard and you could see two feet sticking up out of the dirt that had nail scars on them.

The point I got from looking at the cartoon was that Jesus is getting stepped on and trampled down underfoot for the pleasure and greed of mankind.

I would propose to you that what you believe about Jesus Christ is determines where you are going to spend eternity.

The beloved John wrote down these words spoken by Jesus Christ in His discourse with the Pharisees (John 8:13), "…You are from below; I am from above.

You are of this world; I am not of this world.

I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be… (John 8:23-24)."

Jesus is speaking to all who live in an attitude of unbelief, those you resist Biblical revelation of God about Christ.

To reject Christ as God in the flesh is to completely reject His person and His claims about Himself.

(The Expositors Bible Commentary)

Listen to what the beloved John wrote about Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us John 1:1, 14).”

In the book “The Da Vinci Code,” Dan Brown’s character, Sir Leigh Teabing has many positive things to say about Jesus Christ.

He calls Jesus a great historical figure and perhaps the most inspirational leader the world has ever seen.

This is nice but not pleasing to God.

Muslims and Bahais consider Jesus to be a great prophet.

Hindus, Buddhists and even some atheists find many of our Lord’s teachings respectable.

The Da Vinci Code makes a startling charge: that Jesus’ followers only considered our Lord to be a human being until Emperor Constantine “upgraded” His status to deity almost three hundred years after His death.

Who do you think Jesus Christ was? Was He a myth, a great man, just a wise teacher, a prophet or God who became man?

Can you fulfill your Christian mandate and give a Biblical reason for the hope you have in Christ?

(1 Peter 3:15)

The Christ of the Bible must be understood in both aspects, being fully man and fully God

The Christ of the Bible must be understood in both aspects, being fully man and fully God.

“The Da Vinci Code” charges Emperor Constantine with omitting gospels that portrayed the human side of Christ.

A simple look at the Word of God shows us this is not true.

Before Constantine we have the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and they tell us this about Jesus’ human traits.

Luke 2:6-7 says, “[When it came time] for the baby to be born, [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn, a son.

She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger…”

Here we see the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, "But you, Bethlehem… though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times (Micah 5:2).

" Doctor Luke gets right down to the little human details in giving us the account of the birth of Christ being perfectly human while being manifested as God in the flesh.

Jesus grew as a normal child except without sin.

Dr. Luke gives us a report of those silent years when Jesus was growing to adulthood.

He writes, And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52).”

Wisdom (sophia) meaning He grew in purity of heart and life before God.

As Jesus grew into manhood he was given understanding, insight, common sense, prudence and discretion.

He understood the practical application in applying God’s truths in different matters.

He was able to grasp the great truths of life.

He could see answers to problems of life and see the difference between good and evil.

In his investigation into Jesus’ life on earth as being fully man, Luke took notice how Jesus grew in “stature” (helikias) meaning with full vigor, in normal development mentally, physically, socially and spiritually for all these are what is involved in growing to manhood.

Our Lord was certainly all man.

Jesus knew what it was like to have to work.

In Mark 6:3 we see the people were amazed at His teaching and knew about the miracles He had performed, yet they recognized Him as only being a carpenter.

In saying, “Isn’t this the carpenter (Mark 6:3)?”

The town’s people were recognizing Jesus as being a common laborer like the rest of them.

The people of Nazareth despised Jesus because he was a working man a common person.

To Christians that is great because it means that God, when He came to earth, claimed no exemptions.

He took upon Himself the common life with its difficult tasks.

A man’s status in birth, his fortune and pedigree have nothing to do with growing into true manhood that is pleasing to God.

Jesus became hungry and thirsty just like any man would (Matthew 4:2; John 19:28).

He became tired and fatigued (Mark 4:38).

He experienced sadness and sorrow (John 11:35).

He became amazed (Matthew 8:10), angry (Mark 11:15-16; John 2:13-17) and apprehensive about His impending suffering (Matthew 26:38).

He felt disappointment in His disciples (Matthew 26:40-45).

He bled and died a physical death (John 19:33-34).

Knowing and understanding the nature of Christ being fully man brings pure joy and hope to the illuminated child of God.

The Holy Spirit has brought to life in his heart the truths found in Hebrews 2:17-18, “For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.

Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”

The nature of the work Jesus came to accomplished demanded the incarnation, the Word becoming flesh and making His dwelling among us.

Jesus did this because God is merciful and the Lord is faithful, He can be relied upon.

He always accomplishes His mission.

His service was to make atonement for the sins of the people.

As we moved forward in the importance of knowing that Jesus was fully man and yet at the same time being fully God, it is imperative that you understand the difference of Jesus being tempted here in Hebrews 2:18 compared to man being tempted in James 1:14.

James, the half brother of Jesus tells us that man is tempted by the evil desire that is within his own heart (James 1:14).

He also tells us that “God cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13).”

The application for “tempted” (peirazo) in Hebrews 2:17 is better understood as “tested.”

Meaning that God tried Jesus through adversity to prove Him genuine, thus giving us cause and all the proof we need to fully trust in Christ.

When Dr. Jay Vernon McGee was a small boy, he grew up in West Texas in a very small town that sat very close to the Brazos River.

One year a winter rainstorm washed out the wooden railroad bridge that crossed the east fork.

The railroad company came in and replaced the old wooden one with a steel bridge.

When it was completed the railroad company brought in two huge steam engines and placed both of them on the new steel railroad bridge.

They then opened their whistles and the whole town came running.

One boy asked, “What are you doing?”

The engineer said, “We are testing the bridge.”

So the boy asked, “Do you think it will fall down?”

The engineer laughed and said, “Of course it won’t fall down!”

Another person asked, “So, why are you doing this?”

The engineer answered: “We are putting these two steam engines on the bridge to prove that it will not fall down so when the next train comes through, those riding on it will have confidence that the bridge will hold them up.”

Jesus, you see, was tested to prove that He was who He claimed to be and it is very important that He, being fully man was tested and He being fully God withstood all tests thrown at Him, even in His obedience unto death.

The Holy Spirit moved through the author of the Book of Hebrews to tell us about the hope we can have in Christ.

He writes, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

(Hebrews 4:14-16) The Word “help” (boetheo) in Hebrews 2:18 means “To run on the hearing of a cry, to give immediate assistance.”

Jesus is alive at this moment standing at God’s right hand interceding for every believer in Christ at this very moment.

(Truths found in portion of the message came from prayerful study of the NIV Bible; Thru the Bible; The Expositors Bible Commentary; Vines Amplified Dictionary; The Complete Word Study Dictionary; Practical Word Studies; Word Meanings in the New Testament; The Bible Knowledge Commentary; Daily Study Bible Series; Analytical Lexicon of the Greek; Dictionary of Biblical Languages)

Listen to His claims of who He is

Because Jesus became fully man to give His life to redeem fallen man from eternal separation from God, everyone should listen to His claims of who He is.

Last week we looked at the “Reliability of the Scriptures.”

The gospels hold the claims of Christ regarding His Divinity.

What are His claims in comparison to the Da Vinci Code’s allegation that it was men in Emperor Constantine’s time that upgraded the Lord’s status to deity almost three hundred years after the death of Christ?

Jesus makes a powerful claim about Himself in the Gospel of John 8:58, "I tell you the truth,… before Abraham was born, I am!" Jesus is no doubt proclaiming His deity.

“Was born” (ginomai) is better translated as “became.”