Good afternoon everyone. Welcome back to steadfast Baptist Church. If you could all find your seats, we're going to get started.
We're gonna begin this evening service with song number 274, Come Unto Me.
Song 274.
Song 274 come unto me sing it out on the first
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this church.
We thank you for everyone that's gathered here together.
We thank you for all the souls that were won today
and yesterday.
Lord God, we ask you that you please bless Pastor Shelly
with your Holy Spirit,
help them to preach a netifying sermon unto us.
Help us to apply it to our lives
so we can walk out better Christians
for your honor and glory.
It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
All right, next up we have song number 304.
We've done this one before,
but it's a little bit newer still.
So, if you know it well, sing it out nice and loud.
Nothing between three, zero, four, nothing between.
Spacey
for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you need a bulletin, you can lift your hand nice and high.
One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin.
On the front, we have our Bible memory passage,
Matthew 28, verse 12.
On the inside is our service and soul winning times.
Please make sure you're putting in your soul winning
information into our chat group.
Also, if you have any maps, make sure you're marking those
and turning them into our done bin, please.
On the right is our list of expecting ladies.
Please be in prayer for them.
Also, we have down below,
upcoming events. For our Rinoza Solani Marathon, we ended up having 187
salvations for the event and boy it was it was a lot of hard work and so a lot of
work went into that number. Thank you so much for everybody for praying for us
and just thinking about us.
Know one thing I didn't say in this morning sermon, but it often gets missed on this as I
Was kind of thinking back about how many people I preached to and I think I preached the full gospel to about 25 people and
12 of them did not get saved and only 13 of them did get saved
And so, you know, sometimes you have to put in a lot of effort energy and even preached a lot of people that don't get saved
As well as the ones that do and so
You know, these numbers are not necessarily even reflected of all the seeds that were planted and other people that may have heard the gospel, but sometimes it does take...
a lot of effort and a lot of energy and great appreciation to those who went out there with us.
We had a great time. Honestly, it was a lot of fun, great spirit. People were really happy
and we ate well. So, you know, that's the one thing no one ever criticizes me on missions trips
is we didn't eat well. So, the workman is worthy of his meat, right? And also,
cruise mission trip coming up, please be in prayer for that. Also, we have a couple kids' events.
And then I need to put here in the bulletin the Spanish soul winning marathon
We're we having I believe it's March 8th if I'm correct is that sound right 8 March 8th
This is Saturday, and then we having a Spanish breakfast on the morning on
The back we have our prayer list. Please be in prayer for our church family
And that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned
We'll go ahead and sing our Psalm of the week Psalm 150 Psalm 150
All right, that's Psalm 150 in your black binders.
Psalm 150.
Praise Him with love, sound of the drum, And praise Him with love, sultry and far,
Praise Him with the temple and dance, Praise Him with strength and strength and...
that everything that hath read, praise the Lord,
praise ye the Lord, praise God the Father,
praise God the Son, praise God the Holy Ghost,
praise God and we worship Him.
Excellent singing.
As the offering plates are going around would you please turn in your bibles to mark chapter 10 mark chapter 10
Chapter 10, the Bible says,
and he arose from thence
and cometh into the coast of Judea
by the farther side of Jordan,
and the people resort unto him again,
and as he was want, he taught them again.
And the Pharisees came to him and asked him,
is it lawful for a man to put away his wife,
tempting him?
And he answered and said unto them,
what did Moses command you?
And they said, Moses suffered
to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away.
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
For the hardness of your heart," he wrote this precept.
But from the beginning of the creation,
God made them male and female.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother
and cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.
So then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put us under.
And in the house his disciples asked him again
of the same matter.
And he saith unto them,
whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another,
commiteth adultery against her.
And if a woman shall put away her husband
and be married to another, she commiteth adultery.
And they brought young children to him
that he should touch them.
And his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased
and said unto them, suffer the little children
to come unto me and forbid them not,
for of such is the kingdom of God.
Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child,
he shall not enter therein.
And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him and asked
him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good?
There is none good but one that is God.
Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery,
do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness,
defraud not, honor thy father and mother.
And he answered and said unto him, Master,
all these have I observed from my youth.
Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him.
and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me."
And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked round about and seeth unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God.
And the disciples were astonished at his words.
But Jesus answered it again and saith unto them,
children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches
to enter into the kingdom of God?
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
And they were astonished out of measure
saying among themselves, who then can be saved?
And Jesus looking upon them saith,
with men it is impossible, but not with God.
For with God, all things are possible.
Then Peter began to say unto him lo we have left all and have followed thee and Jesus answered and said verily
I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother
or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels.
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time,
houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children
and lands with persecutions
and in the world to come eternal life.
But many that are first shall be last
and the last shall be first.
And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem
and Jesus went before them and they were amazed.
And as they followed, they were afraid.
And he took again the twelve and began to tell them what things should happen under him saying behold we go up to Jerusalem and
The son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn him to death
And shall deliver him to the Gentiles and they shall mock him and shall scourge him and shall spit upon him and shall kill him and
The third day he shall rise again
James and John the sons of Zebedee come unto him saying master we would that thou
should us do for us whatsoever we shall desire and he said unto them what would
ye that I should do for you they said unto him grant unto us that we may sit
one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory
But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask.
Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
And they said unto him, We can.
And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of
and with the baptism that I am baptized with all shall ye be baptized.
But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give,
but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.
And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John.
But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them,
Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise lordship over them,
and their great ones exercise authority upon them, but so shall it not be among you.
But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister,
and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all.
For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people,
blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highwayside begging.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And many charged him that he should hold his peace.
But he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called and they called the blind man saying unto him be of good comfort rise
He calleth thee
and he casting away his garment rose and came to Jesus and Jesus answered and
said unto him what wilt thou that I should do unto thee the blind man said
unto him Lord that I might receive my sight and Jesus said unto him go thy way
thy faith hath made thee whole and immediately he received his sight and
followed Jesus in the way. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father I thank you for the
word of God I thank you for the souls that were saved today I thank you for
Please bless our pastor now as he preaches your word.
Please help us to be attentive
and help us to be better Christians.
Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
I wanted to preach another series
and this series is gonna be on the Trinity specifically.
And I'm wanting to preach a few different sermons
that I really haven't covered these topics on the Trinity.
Now, the Trinity is a big topic.
There's a lot of things that could be said,
a lot of things that can be talked about.
But I'm gonna be preaching three different sermons
that are a lot of things that I haven't taught on yet
or things that are just coming from a different perspective.
But the first sermon that I wanna talk about this evening
is on the deity of Jesus Christ.
Now, this is something that
is honestly pretty simple.
It's a pretty basic doctrine,
and I'm sure everyone here already automatically agrees,
but I think it's just important to see
how we prove this from the Bible
and to kind of remind ourselves,
especially if you ever get into a soul winning situation
or you're talking to other people.
It's just nice to remember where you can turn in your Bible
because even myself included,
I had been a soul winner for quite a while
and I remember running into somebody
that wasn't quite sure about the deity of Jesus Christ,
and I wanted to prove it to them.
And just right up the top of my head,
I was struggling with like where I would turn
or some places that I might go.
And so I think it's helpful to have a sermon
where we just kind of remind ourselves or refresh ourselves
of some of the places we could go to
to prove that Jesus Christ is God.
Now, of course, John one is a really great verse
and there's a lot of verses like that.
I wanted to go to one here in Mark 10
that it's not really a textual variant.
And why I bring up that concept is
a lot of people try to wiggle out of.
some of the clear verses on the fact that Jesus is God
by claiming, well, in the originals it's not there,
or there's all these different Bible translations
that say it differently or something like that,
because there are some places in the Bible
where there's not really a quote textual variant,
and if you understand the doctrine that's being taught,
there's no way to not understand
that the Bible is teaching Jesus is God clearly, okay?
In Mark chapter number 10, it brings up a young rich man that's coming into Jesus.
It says in verse 17,
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to him.
and asked him,
Good Master,
what shall I do
that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him,
why callest thou me good?
There is none good,
but one that is God.
Here in the text,
the young man is calling Jesus
Good Master.
And I'm going to use the board here for just a second
to help me.
But I think that if we kind of think about what this guy is calling him
It's really helpful because here in in mark chapter 10
And I don't know if this isn't very visible
Let me let me grab a different Marco and mark chapter 10 verse 17
He is calling him
Good master now
grammatically
We we can understand that the good isn't necessarily
in reference to the noun, it's an adjective, right?
He's calling him good master.
So really, if we're looking at it, he's calling him master,
but he's using a qualitative adjective.
He's describing the quality of the master
with an adjective and that adjective is good.
This is the word that Jesus Christ is picking out
and basically taking him to task on,
why callest thou me good?
Why are you calling me a good master specifically?
He says there's none good, but one, that's God, okay?
Well, go if you would in your Bible now,
the John chapter number 10,
go to John chapter number 10.
This is also confirmed in other places.
The Bible says in Romans chapter number three,
there's none righteous, no, not one.
I mean the Bible is really crystal clear that there is only one that would be an exception to the idea that no one is good and that is God.
God is the only exception to the fact that everyone else is bad.
Now in John chapter number 10, look at verse 11.
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
So when Jesus Christ describes himself, what does he say?
He says he is the good shepherd.
So here's the thing, what is the adjective
that Jesus Christ uses about himself?
Good.
Now here's the thing, obviously you could just say,
the Bible's all lies are all trashed.
You could just be an atheist or something like that.
But if you actually said, I don't think Jesus is a liar,
well then you'd have to understand
that he believes something about himself.
What does he believe about himself?
He is the good shepherd.
Good and he says in this other passage. Why call us thou me good? There's none good, but one that's God
So you know what he's saying? I'm God
Because the Lord Jesus Christ is God when he says that he is the good shepherd. He is saying that he is God
Again, if you're going to be an atheist or say I just don't believe the Bible, okay.
But there are religions today that would deny the divinity or the deity of Jesus Christ.
Now on this other side of this board and pardon me for you on the side, I'm going to try
and get a TV for next week.
I kind of have this matrix, all right?
And I'm not gonna really go through all this matrix tonight.
We're gonna go through this matrix next week.
But there's one section of this chart
that we're gonna focus on tonight.
And it's an important section,
it's that Jesus is God.
Now, this is basically just a matrix
of Trinity views and doctrines, okay?
So if we were to look at biblical doctrines,
I believe the Bible teaches that there's one God.
Jesus is God. There's three persons. Jesus is not the Father. Jesus is the eternal Son.
That Jesus' sonship is an eternal submission, okay?
And that each person of the Trinity has their own witness, self, and will, okay?
That's basically the doctrines that I believe the Bible clearly teaches.
understanding of different views that exist,
kind of just general categories.
These two columns I would say are a Trinity column.
Okay, but there is a three-self view and a one-self view
Now I've consistently taught and always will teach that I believe that the Trinity is a three-self view
There's the Catholic view and it's not really the Catholic view. It's like the Catholic theologian view of a one-self view
This is Augustinian view. There's modalism. There's Unitarians and Arians
There's Muslim Jews and Mormons. Okay, and it's kind of just as you go down this as you like move this way
you just get worse and worse and worse when it comes to the trinity,
okay, when it comes to who God really is.
But if we look at this category, you notice there's some problems.
Some people do not believe that Jesus is God.
That would be Unitarians.
That would be Muslims.
That would be Jews.
That would be Mormons.
Now,
Mormons will say that Jesus is a God, but just not the God.
Okay, so there's a little bit of nuance there, but they would say they became a God,
which is a lie straight out of hell. Okay.
But Jews just deny that Jesus is anything good about Jesus.
They spit, if they have to say his name.
Sorry for all you Zionists out there
Muslims they would say Jesus was a good man and a good prophet
But not God, but do you think he can't even be a good prophet because there's none good, but one that's God
Okay, and then Unitarianism
They essentially would say there's one God and it's just the father and that the son is a created being
He's a lesser being and it's okay to worship him and stuff even though. He's not God, which makes no sense
But he's just not God. It's just a weird strange view. It used to be of antiquity
Arianism or coming from that particular theological view. There really isn't anybody today
I don't believe that are called Arians or anybody that would say they're an Aryan,
but Unitarians exist. There are a lot of Unitarian churches. There's been
famous people that have been Unitarian in this world. So we're kind of addressing
this particular matrix. There's, of course, maybe other groups or other circles or fringe
areas that deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, but we don't really care about them too much. So
that's just kind of a general synopsis of the chart.
But I want you to now go, if you would, to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
I basically have 10 simple proofs that we want to go through in the Bible
that prove clearly that Jesus Christ is God.
Number one, He's good.
And that's a great point to ask people.
You could just say, hey, is Jesus Christ good?
Because if He's good, then He's God.
It's that simple.
If Jesus Christ is good, He's God.
He said He was good.
that Jesus Christ believed he was God
because he would not be able to call himself the good shepherd
if he did not believe he was God
because he clarified with the young rich ruler,
hey, why are you calling me good master?
Because if you're calling me that,
you're basically calling me God.
because there's none good but one, that's God.
That's what Jesus Christ clarifies
in Mark chapter number 10.
John 10 verse 11, he says, I'm the good shepherd.
In second Corinthians chapter number five,
here's another point that I think's important to bring out.
And again, this is not a textual variant.
This is just simply just using the doctrines
of the Bible's teaching to show clearly
that Jesus Christ is God.
I don't even know how a Unitarian
Could even get out of the first point that I made here's the second point
I have no idea how they can get out of second Corinthians chapter number five look at verse 20
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God to beseech you by us
We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God for you have made him to be sin for us
Who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God and him
Here's the second reason why Jesus is God. He never sinned
How can you believe that Jesus never sinned and not be God?
Because for all have sinned and come short of the glory of who?
God, you know why Jesus Christ is accepted in that message?
Because he is God
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God
For all of us in it comes short of the glory of Jesus Christ, right?
Because Jesus Christ is God.
But you know what?
If he's not God, all have sinned.
All have sinned. So if the Bible is saying that he has not sinned,
there's only one solution to that. He's God.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
and the person that has not sinned is God, which is Jesus Christ.
So the Bible is crystal clear that he never sinned.
Hebrews chapter number four also says he was tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sinned. So the Bible is crystal clear, Jesus Christ never sinned.
Very important point, doctrinally.
Go to 1 John chapter 3.
Go to 1 John chapter number 3.
So point two is Jesus Christ never sinned.
I almost always explain that point when soul winning
because I'm trying to help them understand
that Jesus Christ had to be sinless
so he could take our punishment
because if he was a sinner,
then he would have been punished for his sins.
But because he was sinless,
then he could be punished for our sins as that substitute.
And I feel like that explanation really helps people
kind of click with what's happening,
how he's taking our old arson,
and we're taking his righteousness,
that's what's being taught in 2nd Corinthians chapter five,
is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ,
how we took his rights,
we're made the righteousness of God and him,
and then he was made sin because of us.
That's why you have the serpent on the stake,
or the serpent on this, on, you know, being lifted up,
because the serpent represents the sin
that Jesus Christ became on the cross for us,
and it was an ugly sight.
It was a gross sight because our sin is gross
and it's something you don't want to look at
and God was not really pleased with
because he's not pleased with our sin
and he ended up having to die and take our place.
Not only did he die physically,
he took our place in hell.
and then rose again three days later, of course.
But this is really explained in 1 John 3
and what really could help you memorize this passage.
And this would be a great one to just have
just ready in your mind.
Is it's 1 John 3-16.
So you have John 3.16 and then you have first John 3.16.
And notice what first John 3.16 says,
hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
So there's a great verse that you can just go to right on the spot
to show them that Jesus Christ was God
and that God laid down His life for us.
The love of God, what is the love of God?
The love of God is that he laid down his life for us.
That God laid down his life for us.
So we can see how much love that God has for us
because Jesus Christ is God.
That's right.
Now, I love this verse, this is a great verse,
but let me read this verse for you.
And I took some screenshots just so it'd be quick for me,
but this is the NLT.
And first, John chapter number three, verse 16.
So you're looking at the King James.
This is the, I'm sorry, now this is the NIV.
Let me get it right.
The non-inspired version, all right?
This is how we know what love is.
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives
for our brothers and sisters.
Now, here's the thing, it's not that that is necessarily false, but doesn't it leave out something kind of important?
Doesn't it actually take away from the idea that Jesus is God?
Because he just says, this is how we know what love is.
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
But this says, hereby perceive we the love of God.
So we actually see that it was God so you know these modern versions
They make a lot of these subtle changes in these passages that strip away important things like the deity of Jesus Christ in this passage
You know you could see in a lot of other passages keep your finger here go through to John chapter 10
Let's go back to John just the gospel of John for a moment
I want to show you again
It's obvious too that when we talk about the person sacrificing themselves for us that that was Jesus
And we see the love that Jesus has for us that Jesus would be willing to sacrifice himself
But the Bible is really clear about who sacrificed themselves. It was Jesus now in John chapter 10 look at verse 15
As the Father knoweth me, even so, know I the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep."
Verse 17,
"'Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again.'"
Now, these are some great Trinity verses,
because notice the Father is loving the Son,
because the Son is laying down His life.
And specifically, we know from 1 John 3.16,
That it's the love of God that he was willing to lay down his life for us for the brethren for the sheep
Jesus Christ loves us verse 18 no man take it that from me, but I lay it down of myself
I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this
Commandment have I received of my father so you can really see the love of God illustrated in first John because it talks about how the
Father is willing to sacrifice his son gives the commandment to the son to be the sacrifice
But then Jesus is a willing and obedient son,
also willing to lay down his life
and the love that he has for us to lay down his life for us.
So we see the great love that God has for us
in the Father and in the Son because they're both God.
Gov. Wood, back to 1st John
and let's look at chapter number five now.
Let's look at chapter number five.
So point one, Jesus Christ is God because he's good.
Point two, he's God because he never sinned.
Point three, it's because the Bible tells us
that God laid down his life for us.
Here's the fourth one, is the Bible just explicitly
states that Jesus Christ is the true God.
Now look at first John 5, verse 20.
And we know that the Son of God is come.
and have given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true and we are in Him that is true even in His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life.
So the Bible makes it crystal clear that Jesus Christ is the true God.
We're in Him that is true, which confirms what He says in John about how the way the truth
and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me."
So Jesus Christ is the truth, he is the true,
and he is the true God, as the Bible describes.
Is someone even naysay this?
I don't know because of the,
just the fact that says this is the true God.
Notice it says, and eternal life.
Well, the Bible clearly says in this passage that Jesus Christ is the eternal life if you just back up to verse 11 look
And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his son.
So notice he already told us that eternal life is Jesus Christ and it's in Jesus Christ.
So then when you go down further and it's saying, hey, and eternal life, that's matching with Jesus again, right?
So we notice that it's consistent because Jesus Christ is the true God and he is eternal life.
Okay, and that life is in Jesus Christ, in the Son.
That's how we get saved is through Jesus Christ.
That's how we obtain eternal life
is by putting our faith in Jesus Christ
and he gives us eternal life
and he is the true God.
Now, again, I wanna read a couple quotes
from some other translations here.
First, John 5 in the NLT.
In the NLT, this is what it says in verse number 20.
And we know that the Son of God has come
and He has given us understanding
so that we can know the true God.
And now we live in fellowship with the true God
because we live in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ.
That's kind of hard for you just to hear but I want to make it clear what he's what this is said
It says now we live in fellowship with the true God
Because we live in fellowship with his son
So it's saying that the true God sounds like it's someone that's not the son because we're in fellowship with the true God's son
his son
Jesus Christ he is the only true God and he is eternal life
So they just completely
Misconstrued the pronouns to strip away again the fact that Jesus Christ is the true God
That's why we you never want an NLT
Go to 1st Timothy chapter 3, go to 1st Timothy chapter 3, so if you want to prove that Jesus Christ is
the is divine is
Deity is God
To me, it's pretty simple if you just remember. Hey John 3 16. Let's go to 1st John 5 3 16
And if you want to tag on 5 20 you're right there, but here's just another one. How about 1st Timothy?
3 16 again, so all you have to remember is just 3 16
You got John 316, which is just, you already know that because it's the best verse in the Bible.
And so then you just remember, hey, the best verse in the Bible.
What if we just add a 1 to John 316? Just 1st John 316.
And then you got 1st Timothy 316 is also another great verse on the deity of Jesus Christ.
Look what it says here.
Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached in the Gentiles,
believed unto the world, received up into glory.
So again, another great verse on the deity of Jesus Christ.
Yet, the modern versions ruin this one again too.
Here's what the NIV says.
Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith.
Christ was revealed in a human body.
Now, first of all, it just sounds
a little bit more awkward and clunky, doesn't it?
I mean, God manifests in the flesh just has power to it.
Christ was revealed in a human body.
It just, it sounds like a technical journal or something.
And it just kind of it just doesn't have the same ring to it
But it also just doesn't have the same doctrine to it
Because it's now stripping away the the great idea of just God was manifested flesh now
It's just Christ and a human body and
You know it even kind of strips away who Christ is like is it a loner body like what kind of body?
You just showed up in a random body like what does this even mean?
It just sounds weird as opposed to saying hey, it was God manifest in the flesh
Of course the ESV and other versions do the same thing where they just say he was
Manifesting the flesh and they don't really give that attribution of
God being manifest in the flesh.
And what I've noticed is when people kind of argue
about the deity of Christ,
they almost seem to always go to these verses
where there's a critical text.
issue, or there's kind of a variant textual question mark.
But the first few points that I went to, I don't even know how they would argue against because there's not a textual variant.
It's just what the Bible is teaching. It's just the doctrine of the text.
I would love to see those people being taken to task on those other points that I brought up.
But these ones are just great if you go soul-winning because we're not trying to convince an idiot, okay?
We're not trying to convince an atheist or some weirdo.
You know, if someone's a heretic, the Bible says after the first and second ammunition reject.
If they don't like 1st John 316, and they don't like 1st Timothy 316, it's probably just, you know, hit the road, Jack.
We don't want you back, right?
Go over to Hebrews 1, go to Hebrews 1.
So we've got some great verses here.
Of course, you know, I'm going to get to it, you know.
some other verses that are pretty obvious,
but I'm just kind of clumping a lot of these verses together
in a similar point that's being made, right?
Number one, Jesus is good, that's why he's God.
He never sinned, that's why he's God.
He laid down his life and it says God laid down his life.
The Bible says he's the true God.
The Bible says he was God at manifesting the flesh.
Here's another really strong point
is that the Father calls Jesus Christ God.
I mean, that's a pretty great point, right?
Hebrews chapter one, verse eight,
but unto the Son he saith,
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever,
a sceptre of righteousness is a sceptre of Thy kingdom.
Now it's loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
Therefore God, even Thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above Thy fellows.
And so another great verse.
I don't even think this one's a textual variant.
I mean, for the most part, pretty much all the modern Bibles even say here,
you know, they're talking about Jesus and they're calling him God here.
And so that's why you would even see most Christians, most churches, almost everybody
will affirm Jesus is God.
But I just don't want a Bible version.
where it's hard to prove that Jesus is God.
I want a Bible version that's easy to prove that Jesus is God
because they're not taking out tons of different places and references.
I want all of them in here.
Of course, verse 9 is a great Trinity verse
because we see that God has a God.
How is that even possible?
It's because there's three persons in the Trinity.
There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Each are God.
And of course, Jesus Christ is submissive to the Father.
So that's another point that's being made here,
is that He is submissive unto the Father.
And so therefore it's His God in a sense,
even though we understand that they're co-eternal,
they're co-equal.
At the same time, Jesus chooses to be submissive unto the Father
Let's go if you would to Hebrews 1 verse 10 now.
So number six was that he, the father calls him God.
Here's another point in the same text though, verse 10.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid
the foundation of the earth and the heavens
are the works of thine hands.
The Bible says about Jesus that he is the one
specifically that laid the foundation of the earth
and the heavens are the works of thine hands.
What does Genesis chapter one say?
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
So there we go.
There's another reference to the fact that Jesus Christ is God because He is the Creator.
Jesus Christ is the Creator, and He's the one that created all things.
If we keep reading it, it says,
They shall perish but thou remainest.
And they also axle as though the garment.
And as a vesture,
shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed,
but thou art the same.
and thy years shall not fail."
Colossians chapter one, if you skip to the left
and go back to Colossians chapter number one,
we'll notice that the Bible affirms
that Jesus Christ is the Creator.
And so we have the Father speaking all things
into existence and through the Son, the Word of God,
all things were created.
The Bible says in Colossians chapter number one, verse 13,
who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, and whom we have
redemptioned through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature, for by him were all things created that are in
heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all
and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist, and he is the head of the
body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. So the Bible makes it crystal clear that Jesus Christ is the creator of everything,
every single thing that has ever been created.
and you'd say, what about him?
Well, he didn't create himself
because he's not a created being.
But of course, some people get a little confused
and I understand the text can read a certain way
where you just kind of get a certain imagery
when it says that he's the firstborn, right?
Did you notice this?
It says in verse number 15,
who is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature.
Now, again, that sounds like he was created but if you notice a little bit further down,
it says in verse number 18, the firstborn from the dead.
I believe that, again, it's just in a reference to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the first fruits.
He's the first resurrection.
So he is the firstborn in that particular context.
There's not a time when Jesus Christ did not exist.
Micah 5 makes it very clear that he's from everlasting.
And so, yeah, he's just before everything.
He is the first.
But that does not mean that he is created.
Because we have to understand that while we all exist,
we haven't really been born again physically.
But Jesus Christ has because he's been resurrected and so he is the first born in the
Resurrected state and he's the first born of every creature every single thing that's going to be in the resurrected state
Jesus Christ is the first of all, but that does not mean that he was created
He already existed prior to him being the
quote, first born, okay?
So don't get too confused on that language there
and think like that somehow denies
the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Go to John chapter one, go to John chapter number one.
He's the first to essentially have the resurrected body and resurrected
State he's the first born from the dead. He's the first born of every creature
One day we will also be like him and we will be in a resurrected state
But he's the first fruits then there's the harvest and then there's basically the gleaning's they say you understand the end times
Jesus Christ was the first to be resin resurrected and and
Send it up into heaven then there'll be the rapture
where there's kind of like that, a first resurrection,
and we all be gathered together and we'll be resurrected.
And then it seems like there's probably a later gleaning
from after the millennial reign period.
So that's kind of the, how you understand it.
And God uses earthly examples of how you.
gather a harvest so when you're gathering your harvest is kind of that first fruit then you have the main
Period where you gather the most of the fruits and then you kind of the gleaning's where you're just getting the last little
But you know pieces that are plucked off of the the crop now
It says in John chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God
The same was in the beginning with God, all things are made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
So again, we see the Creator aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course, John 1-1 is probably one of the best verses to use if you're going out so wanting to prove that Jesus Christ is God.
But I wanted to show you a couple other examples, right?
You got John 1-1.
You got 1st John 316, you got 1st John 520,
but you also got 1st Timothy 316.
And so hopefully with those few examples,
if someone isn't gonna believe it,
after you just show them John 1,
1st John 3, or 1st John 316, 1st John 520,
and 1st Timothy 316.
They're probably just not going to get it at that point.
And so you might have to wait and give them, you know,
more time to chew on that, but a man that is in heretic
after the first and second admonition, the Bible says to reject.
I want to go to just a couple more.
Go to Matthew chapter 9, go to Matthew chapter 9.
There's some other kind of just...
places in the Bible where we can see and confirm the divinity of Jesus Christ,
but I wouldn't say that these are necessarily the best or the clearest examples,
but I do think that there's still great pictures of how Jesus Christ is God
and just ways that we can understand that he's God.
Matthew chapter 9, look at verse 2.
And the old they brought into him a man sick of the palsy laying in a bed, and Jesus seeing
their face said in the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee."
Lord Jesus Christ clearly forgave sin in Matthew chapter 9.
Who can forgive sin and save God?
Now, again, this is a little bit harder of a proof to maybe make, especially to someone
that's a contrarian, but at the end of the day, for us that believe the Bible, we all
recognize no one in the Bible forgives sin apart from God.
And so this is just another clear proof text of Jesus being God.
Look at Matthew 4.
Go backwards a little bit.
Go to Matthew 4.
is that Jesus Christ, when he was on this earth,
not only did he say he's the good shepherd,
not only did he forgive sin,
but he also accepted worship,
which is something that is not allowed
for anybody to save God.
Now, Matthew chapter four, look at verse 10.
Then say, if Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord by God, and him only shalt thou serve.
The Bible says that you're only allowed to worship God.
And specifically, Jesus Christ said this.
This isn't just a random text.
This is Jesus Christ rebuking the devil,
saying to him specifically,
thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.
But then later in the text,
or actually let's go backwards,
let's go to Matthew two and look at verse two.
Here's a great one.
Matthew two verse two saying,
where is he that is born king of the Jews?
If we have seen his star in the east
and are come to worship him.
You know what the kings of the east believed?
That Jesus was God because that's the only one that's allowed to accept worship is God
Though if you would do the end good of Matthew 28 though good of Matthew 28 will see Jesus Christ accepting worship and of course
This could be proven a lot of texts
There's a lot of places where people came and worshiped Jesus meaning they're literally kneeling bowing down and worshiping Jesus Christ
Which is only accepted of God. Why would Jesus rebuke the devil for that and then later do it?
allow people to worship him unless he clearly believed he is God and of course he did believe he was God
But that doesn't change the fact that what he said to the the devil is a clear rebuke
It's a clear admonition that you could only do this. So you'd have to say either Jesus is lying
Crazy or he's God, but there's no middle ground on this doctrine Matthew 28 verse 9
And as they went to tell his disciples,
behold, Jesus met them saying,
all hail, and they came and held them by the feet
and worshiped him.
Now again, I don't understand this,
but Unitarians will somehow say
that it's okay to worship Jesus
even though he's not God.
Well, I'm wondering like, what about Matthew 4, 10,
when he's talking to the devil
and saying you're not allowed to worship anybody
but the Lord thy God?
How do you even argue against that?
And again, that's not a textual variance again.
That's just a doctrine from the Bible.
But you see people, lame people like James White
debating these people, these Unitarian,
and he always goes to these textual variant passages.
I'm like, why don't you go to this passage?
Why don't you show them these kind of points, right?
I guess because then they wouldn't want to debate anymore
after they lose.
Go to Revelation chapter one.
Here's the last one I'm gonna make,
This is a very important doctrine is just understanding that Jesus is God because
When you don't understand that Jesus is God you can get off on a lot of these Trinity views
So this is a really important point to understand that Jesus is God because in order to believe in the Trinity
I think you got to have to just understand a few basic points in my view the Trinity is this there's one God
Jesus God there's three persons Jesus is not the father
I mean, if you pretty much believe that,
then I would say you believe in the Trinity.
But of course, there's going to be a spectrum,
there's going to be a little bit of nuance
and variation between that.
And of course, I want to prove all these other points
that I think are also still very important
and still taught in the Bible.
But if someone basically agrees to that,
then I would say they have a Trinity view.
And of course, our church view is that
we believe in the Trinity.
I'm not going to put any other labels on it.
I'm not going to, I'm not planning on updating it
or making it different.
But just for the sake of explaining these things,
I do talk about the three self versus the one self.
But, you know, some people would say,
what about the social trinity versus the orthodox trinity
or the classical trinity or all that?
You know, I just not going to really run
into any of these labels.
Obviously a lot of people probably accuse me
of being a social trinitarian.
I mean, honestly, I don't really have a problem with that,
but I just don't really necessarily want to use the title myself,
because I don't see it being that beneficial.
There's some baggage I feel like sometimes associated with that title.
So to me, it's just like, hey, we believe in the Trinity.
But at the end of the day, I do believe that there are three cells to the Trinity,
and we'll talk about that next week.
But we have to understand first some basics.
There's one God, everybody agrees, praise it pretty much.
but that Jesus is God.
We have to understand that that's a true statement.
Revelation chapter one, look at verse eight.
This is Jesus speaking.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,
sayeth the Lord, which is and which was
and which is to come the Almighty.
And so the Bible is really crystal clear
that Jesus Christ is the Almighty.
I'm sure there's a few other texts
that we could go to improve the deity of Jesus Christ,
but I just wanted to give you 10 really solid points.
I'm just gonna kind of quickly recap them.
Number one, Jesus Christ is God because he's good.
number two because he never sinned number three the Bible says that God laid down his life for us and
Jesus is the one who laid down his life for us the Bible says that he is the true God and eternal life in 1st John 5
20 the Bible tells us in 1st Timothy 3 16
It was God that was manifest in the flesh the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter number one that the father when he looks at the
Son he says thy throne oh God and so do we see the father calling Jesus Christ God number seven
The Bible is clear that Jesus Christ is the Creator, and we know that God created the
heaven and the earth.
The Bible tells us in Matthew that Jesus Christ healed a man by forgiving his sin, and we
know that only God can forgive sin.
In Matthew 4, Jesus says that we're only allowed to worship God, and of course Jesus
Christ accepted worship multiple times while on earth.
When he comes back or in this great vision here in Revelation,
he makes it clear I'm the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the ending,
which was and is and which is to come the Almighty.
I mean, he couldn't get any clearer
that Jesus Christ is God.
And of course, we worship God and we love God
and we love Jesus Christ because he is God.
And we need to know these doctrines.
And when we go out and preach the gospel,
you know, I don't necessarily feel like
I have to convince people of this doctrine.
But I do think it's important to just at least
Confirm it with them. Just confirm it with them. It's pretty simple
I typically just say hey the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Bible says that he was God
Manifesting the flesh you believe those you know
Hey, the Bible says that there's the Father Son and Holy Ghost three persons
But there's one God and almost everybody's just pretty much like yep. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that and then I just move on
But if someone were to say, you know,
I don't really understand that,
all right, that doesn't make sense to me,
or I'm confused or something,
then I might go through some of these passages.
I might go to John 1-1.
I might go to 1st John 5-13.
I might go to 1st Timothy 3-16.
And of course, you could use any of the ones
that I showed you, but those are some ones
that are easy to remember.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us the free gift of salvation through your Son Jesus Christ
and thank you so much for Jesus your sacrifice that you're willing to lay down your life for us.
And I pray that you would just help us to have a greater appreciation of what you did
and the humility you had to have as God to come down and be clothed in flesh
and to suffer and to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
and that you're willing to endure the cross,
even though despising the shame,
you went through all of the pain and the suffering
and the torture of being crucified,
spending three days and three nights in hell,
but coming out victorious through the resurrection.
I pray that you would just help us to gain
a greater appreciation of who you are
and what you've done for us.
And in the name of Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
Amen for a last song we're gonna go to 374
Send the light
Song 374
3-7-4, sing it out on the first.
from shore to shore. Send the light, the blessed gospel light, let it shine forevermore.
We have heard the Master know him tall today. Send the light, send the light,
and the golden offering at the cross we lay. Send the light, send the light.
Sing the line!
For a crown of love, send the light, send the light, send the light,
the blessed gospel light, let it shine from shore to shore.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light, let it shine forevermore.
We have a baptism this evening.
Sister Cammie is coming for baptism.
Sister Cammie, have you trusted Christ as your savior?
Yes, sir.
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost.
Buried in likeness of his death.
Praise to walk and inness of life.
God bless you.