John 1:1 Third Serm

But, since He is God who has come in the flesh and has appeared, we are Christian. And we may look like fools to the world, but what we have in Christ is eternal and true!

There is no mystery in heaven or earth so great as this. That the man Jesus Christ was and is God.

We may not be able to understand fully how this happened but we can believe it to be true because it happened!

The truth that God became a man.

Carm.org gives us a good definition of what is called the hypostatic union.

“Hypostatic Union is the union of the two natures (Divine and human) in the person of Jesus. Jesus is God in flesh. He is fully God and fully man, thus, He has two natures: God and man. He is not half God and half man. He is 100% God and 100% man. He never lost His divinity. He continued to exist as God when He became a man and added human nature to Himself.”

There are other views of the divine nature that we must guard from.

One view states that Christ's natures were so thoroughly combined--in a sense scrambled together--that the result was that Christ was not really truly able to relate to us as humans.

Another states that Jesus' two natures are combined into one new one. The problem here is that neither God nor man was represented in Christ but a new third thing.

Another states that the divine and human natures of Christ were so separated from each other that they were "not in contact." The problem here is that worship of the human Jesus would then not be allowed.

This explained from Carm.org.

But what Christ Alone Fellowship believes:

Article 4 - God The Son

4-1. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Word, the eternal and true God who is of one substance and equal with the Father. He took on Himself man's nature, with all of its essential properties except sin: Being conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, He embodied two perfect and distinct natures in one person. He is truly God and truly man, the only mediator between God and man.

The Word that came in the flesh was God.

10:30-33

So why is this important for you to believe?

1. The Bible teaches that Jesus was God.

What does the Bible say about ?

20:28

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39 Bible Verses aboutThe Deity Of Jesus

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

). He is fully God and fully man (

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

), thus, He has two natures: God and man. He is not half God and half man. He is 100% God and 100% man. He never lost His divinity. He continued to exist as God when He became a man and added human nature to Himself (

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

).”

But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

The Holy Scriptures are clear. Jesus was and is God.

A denial of this is to essentially deny what saves and also denying the Holy Scriptures as God’s word.

Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

2. A rejection of the divinity and humanity of Christ proves that one has not come to saving faith.

1 John 4:1–3 ESV

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

John’s concern was due to what was called Gnosticism.

They believed that Jesus’ physical body appeared to be real but wasn’t.

They believed that His spirit descended upon Him at His baptism, but left Him just before His crucifixion.

This clearly rejects the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. Which according to John here, proves that one is of the antichrist.

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,

Which means that a person is setting themselves in the place of Christ; desiring to usurp Christ and his position.

for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

A rejection of the divinity and humanity of Christ is proof of one’s own condemnation.

antichrist n. — a person who sets himself in the place of Christ; especially implying the usurping of Christ and his position.

This proves that one is a liar.

1 John 2:22–23 ESV

22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

Philip Schaff “John makes the denial of the incarnation of the Son of God the criterion of Antichrist, and consequently the belief in this truth the test of Christianity.”

So some might ask, “Why are we spending so much time on this?

Answer. Because all the malpractices in the church, all of our problems stem from forgetting the importance of this truth (Christians).

And a denial of this truth leaves one uncovered from the wrath of God (Unbelievers).

3. A wrong view of the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ will directly affect your practice.

One pattern I have noticed with those who deny Jesus divinity and humanity is that it produces legalism.

Most cults, as an example, are very rule and law based.

Why? Because they have to make up for what their false god can’t do.

Which is fulfilling the requirements of God’s law.

Matt Slick, a Christian apologist noted this:

“In Christianity, legalism is the excessive and improper use of the law (10 commandments, holiness laws, etc). This legalism can take different forms. The first is where a person attempts to keep the Law in order to attain salvation. The second is where a person keeps the law in order to maintain his salvation. The third is when a Christian judges other Christians for not keeping certain codes of conduct that he thinks need to be observed.”

Believing that Jesus is God is to believe that He came as a man to die on the cross so that the wrath of God would be satisfied!

says that the law brings wrath. So in breaking them we are left with deserved punishments.

And because it was satisfied, in Christ we have died to the law.

James 2:10 ESV

10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Because Jesus was God He did not and could not have sinned!

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because Jesus was God who came in the flesh, we are freed from the law that demanded condemnation.

That’s what being saved means!

If Jesus was not God in the flesh then we are only left with our sin!

"There is no mystery in heaven or earth so great as this; a suffering Deity, an almighty Saviour nailed to a Cross."

If Jesus was not God in the flesh then He was not raised from the dead.

Everything we believe comes from Jesus Christ and on the reality of who He said He was.

Was He there in the beginning? Yes.

Was He there in the beginning with God? Yes.

Was He always God? Yes.

Even in the incarnation? Yes.

And now He sits at the right hand of the Father eternally reigning over all things!

This matters eternally. To believe that Jesus is both God and Man!

We live in a culture that is working hard to make us preoccupied with other than this truth!

Churches that are supposed to be built on this foundation are rethinking the gospel.

Many are asking what can God do for me. Forgetting that everything has been completed in the work of His Son.

Many have forgotten the importance of sound doctrine.

Many have forgotten that the incarnation is a truth worth giving God all the glory for.

But by God’s grace, not here in Christ Alone Fellowship!

We will remember that we were deserving of God’s wrath and judgement!

We were deserving of eternal separation from God.

But God being rich in mercy, sent His Son who was God, to die on the cross for our sin.

And because of the sinless life He lived and the death that He died, we have become the righteousness of God!

May God in our church be glorified in our worship and thanksgiving for what He has done!