[0:00] I'd ask you to take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John chapter 1. John chapter 1. We'll be reading the first 18 verses.
[0:12] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
[0:28] Through Him, all things were made. Without Him, nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
[0:47] There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through Him all men might believe. He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light.
[1:04] The light, the true light, that gives light to every man, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
[1:20] He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband's will, but born of God.
[1:43] The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We've seen His glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
[1:56] John testifies concerning Him. He cries out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has surpassed me, because He was before me.
[2:10] From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
[2:22] No one has ever seen God. But God, the one and only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known. Every two years, Ligonier Ministries takes a survey of the state of theology in America.
[2:44] And let me give you just one question on the survey that was taken recently. Actually, it's a statement with which you either agree or disagree.
[2:55] So statement number seven reads, Jesus was a great teacher, but He was not God. Agree? 52% of Americans believe that Jesus was a great teacher, but was not God.
[3:12] That's over half of Americans rejecting the deity of Jesus Christ, with another 12% that are not even sure what they believe about that.
[3:27] Maybe you're not surprised at that, since we shouldn't expect much from a world that is in rebellion against God and against His anointed Christ.
[3:37] But more alarming then is the response of those who identify as evangelical Christians, gospel Christians. Jesus is a great teacher, but He was not God.
[3:51] 30% of evangelicals agreed with that statement. Another 4% unsure. That's like one out of three evangelicals, like every third row here.
[4:06] Rejecting the deity of Jesus Christ. Ligonier Ministries concludes that people inside the church need clear Bible teaching just as much as those outside of the church.
[4:21] When among evangelicals, there are those who are suffering from biblical illiteracy and damning heresies over such a fundamental truth of the Christian faith as Jesus being God.
[4:35] You see, it's no longer Christianity, but a different religion. Back in 1943, C.S. Lewis cut the legs right out from under liberal theologians of his day who were saying, Jesus is a great teacher, but He's not God.
[4:52] And I'll paraphrase, but in essence, and he said it with some pretty strong language, don't come around peddling such nonsense. If Jesus claimed to be God, Lewis argued, which he did clearly and often, and yet was really not God, well, then he may be a liar, knowingly deceiving the people.
[5:16] He may be a lunatic, unstable, delusional, thinking he's something when he really isn't what he thinks he is. But one thing for sure he cannot be is a great teacher.
[5:32] For no deceiving liar or delusional lunatic is a great teacher. So take your pick, liar, lunatic, or lord of all. Now, but don't tell me that he's a great teacher, but is not God.
[5:48] That's not even possible, was his point. And such an argument and logic has not been and cannot be refuted. Christianity down through the ages has repeatedly, in her creeds and confessions, confessed that Jesus Christ is God.
[6:06] For in Scripture, God's holy word, Jesus is given the names and titles of God. He has the attributes of God.
[6:16] He does the very works of God, creating, sustaining all things by his powerful word, giving life, eternal life, and judging all men.
[6:27] Works of God done by Jesus. And he accepts worship that is to be given to God alone. Indeed, Jesus Christ is God.
[6:40] Now, what does all this have to do with Christmas? Well, just this, as many who call themselves evangelical Christians are gathering today to celebrate the birth of Christ, singing Christmas carols, as we've done here, and reading and hearing the Christmas account in the Scriptures, the birth of Christ, one out of three of them do not believe that the baby in the manger was God.
[7:04] But if the baby in the manger was not God, then we have no Savior. We have no salvation. We have nothing to joyfully celebrate and sing about.
[7:17] We have no gospel, no evangel, no good news, either for ourselves or for the world. Oh, but because Jesus is God, we have every reason to believe, to rejoice, and sing.
[7:33] So let us then cherish a divine Savior who in love came to rescue us poor sinners. That's the wonder. That's the mystery, the delight and joy of Jesus' birth, that none other than God himself has come to save us.
[7:52] Now, this was the hope promised in the Old Testament. 700 years before Jesus' birth, Isaiah 9, 6, speaks of this coming Messiah King that God would send.
[8:06] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God.
[8:18] Pause. Right there. Hold it. What will he be called? Mighty God. Mighty God.
[8:29] The child born to save us is to be called Mighty God. When you parents give names to your children, there are meanings to those names, and you think over it, and you pick out a name, and you hope that one day, perhaps, your child will, and maybe even pray, that your child will live up to fulfill that meaning.
[8:55] But when God names his son, Mighty God, it's because that's what he is. All the names and titles given to Jesus by God reveal truth about his person and his work.
[9:11] He is God, Mighty God. No lesser will do. No angel can save us. No man can save us. Mere man can save us. Indeed, no son of God who is less than God, like the Jehovah's Witness God, or the Jesus of the liberals, or even the Jesus of 30% of evangelicals can save us.
[9:33] No, he must be God. Our problem is a God-sized problem, you see. We've sinned, every one of us, and we've sinned against an infinitely holy God.
[9:48] Therefore, our offense against him is infinite, and the punishment that we must bear for it is infinite, eternal hell. And only a sacrifice of infinite worth, then, can save us from everlasting torments.
[10:05] Our God-sized problem needs a God-sized solution and savior, and that's what God sent. He is Mighty God. He is mighty to save because he is Mighty God.
[10:19] The Lord himself is our salvation. Isaiah says in 33, 22, the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king.
[10:31] It is he. The Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah, who will save us. He himself will save, redeem Israel from all their sins.
[10:42] And then Isaiah says in chapter 7 and verse 14, a virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him what? Emmanuel. And why would God call this son Emmanuel?
[10:55] Well, Matthew tells us it's because Emmanuel means God with us. Now, many others have had the name of Emmanuel down through the years and even today, but only Jesus Christ perfectly fills up that name.
[11:13] And really is God with us. When Joseph found out that his dearly beloved and betrothed, Mary was pregnant, he just assumed, as we all would probably, that the father, that another man was the father.
[11:30] And therefore, he was thinking of putting her away or divorcing her privately. And an angel came to Joseph. Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
[11:46] She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. Because he will save his people from their sins. The name Jesus means the Lord saves.
[12:04] Jehovah, that great name of the old of God in the Old Testament, that covenant name. He, the Lord, saves. Jesus is Jehovah.
[12:15] Jesus is Yahweh. He is the great I am, the Lord who saves. And so the angel sent to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherd said, do not be afraid.
[12:26] I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born for you. He is Christ, the Lord, the Lord.
[12:40] That's the name of God, you see. And because Jesus is Lord come to save us, we have good news of great joy for all people. Whoever you are, whatever you've done, there is a savior born for you who is God himself.
[12:55] And if you put your trust in him, he will save you. So open with me to John chapter one, John chapter one, as you're turning there, you're aware that the Holy Spirit has given us four inspired accounts of the, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[13:11] And Matthew and Luke each begin their account with the birth of Jesus. They give the historical details that which we just love to hear about in at this time of year of Gabriel's announcement of the Savior's birth.
[13:24] First to Mary and then to Joseph, their journey to Bethlehem, his birth in the cattle stall, the angels announcement to the shepherds, them coming, the wise men coming, worshiping the Christ child, Herod attacking his life, God delivering his son, taking him down to Egypt and then back into Nazareth where he grew up as a young boy.
[13:49] All exciting biography, the stuff we love to hear during Christmas, amazing providences of God, how he controls all things to see that everything is fulfilled about his son's birth that was prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before.
[14:08] It all happens even as it was written. But in his gospel here, John bypasses those historical details of Jesus birth and instead focuses our attention upon the theology of who Jesus is.
[14:27] The historical details had already had two witnesses. Matthew and Mark had already been written by the time John writes his gospel. So there was really no need to cover that ground again.
[14:39] Rather, John tells us right up front who this Jesus is. That's his burden. And based upon that Ligonier survey, it may be John's account that you and I need to be paying special attention to in our day as more and more people are denying, even professing Christians denying that Jesus is God.
[15:02] God. That's what John in his gospel is saying at the outset that we need to know about the baby in the manger.
[15:14] He's putting on putting us on notice, as it were, as we turn to John's gospel. John saying, you will not rightly understand this gospel that you're about to read unless you realize right up front that this Jesus is God.
[15:29] And this is critical because if we're to be saved at all, we must be saved by God himself. And this Jesus cannot save you if he is not God.
[15:42] And so John shouts to us right up front. He is God. He is God. He can and he will save you if you put your trust in him. So Matthew and Luke each begin with Jesus birth.
[15:57] John begins where the Bible begins. And where does the Bible begin? In the beginning, God. That's where the Bible starts.
[16:10] With God, not proofs for his existence, but just the bare statement that when the universe, the heaven and earth had its beginning, God already was.
[16:22] He's not part of the creation. He is the uncreated creator who is from everlasting. Even so, John wants us to know that the baby born in Bethlehem is that very God who in the beginning of this world already was.
[16:39] So he starts his gospel. In the beginning was the word. That's his name for Jesus Christ, the son of God. John in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
[16:54] He was with God in the beginning. And so the first statement that we get from John is a statement on the pre-existence of the word.
[17:07] Before he was made flesh, as we read down in verse 14. He's been with God. He was with God in the beginning. Children, you need to know that that that Christ did not have his beginning in the womb of Mary.
[17:25] As one old Puritan put it quaintly, he's the only baby born who was older than his mother. Well, you know what he means that as to his divine nature, this baby is from from eternity.
[17:42] He predates Mary. He predates the created universe in the beginning. God in the beginning was the word. It all he already was.
[17:53] And the word was with God. There are the ideas face to face toward each other. He was face to face with God in a unity, in a in a loving, delighting relationship to be with someone is is more than one, isn't it?
[18:10] So it's it's telling us that this God who is one has more than one person in that one God. And the rest of scripture makes that even more clear.
[18:21] But he goes on to say, and with this drops all. Fogginess, haziness, he says the word was with God and the word was God.
[18:34] There it is. His opening words are as clear as can be. Jesus is much more than a great teacher. He is God. God with God.
[18:46] God, the father with God, the son from all eternity. Furthermore, the word is God, the creator. Genesis one in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
[18:58] John one verse three says about the word through him. All things were made. That's the that's the statement positively stated through him.
[19:10] All things were made. And then he says it negative. Without him was not anything made that was made. So don't miss this. John says Jesus is not part of creation.
[19:22] He's not the highest in all the created order. He is himself the uncreated creator of all things. And in him was life.
[19:32] Verse four. And that life was the light of men. In him. Was life. And he he has it then to give.
[19:44] Not just physical life, but eternal life, as we see in the book of John. In him. Was life. John leaves no doubt that about who this word was.
[19:55] He is God himself. The creator. The one who himself possesses eternal life and has it to give. And then this staggering statement about the word hits us in verse 14.
[20:09] The word he's just been talking about became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Now, this is the incarnation. We come to the historical event that that Matthew and Luke tell us about the conception and birth.
[20:24] Of Jesus. But John's primary concern is who is this baby in the manger and what was happening here? And he says, this was the word who was with God in the beginning, who was and is God.
[20:39] This is now in space time history. The word became flesh, became human like us, a real human body, a real human soul to natures in one person.
[20:53] Jesus of Nazareth. And he who was with the father from eternity is now with us. So what do we have? We have Emmanuel, don't we?
[21:06] The word. God. With us. Still fully God, but now fully man.
[21:19] Now with us. As Paul would later say in Christ, the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. Now in the last half of verse 14, John says there's no mistaking who he was.
[21:37] This word who was made flesh, he says we have seen his glory. And it's not it's not the glory of a mere human. No, not at all. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the father, full of grace and truth.
[21:54] The glory we saw in Jesus is nothing less than the glory of the one and only God. He says it again in verse 18. No one has ever seen God, but God, the one and only who is at the father's side.
[22:08] He has seen him and he has made him known. That's why he's called the word. We make known ourselves, our thoughts and and what we believe by our words.
[22:20] And God in Jesus Christ is making himself known. Jesus is telling us what God is like. What is God like? He's like Jesus because Jesus is like God, because Jesus is God.
[22:32] So verses one through 18 of John's gospel have been the pro called the prologue of John's gospel. The before word before he digs in and starts telling us the meat and potatoes of his gospel.
[22:47] Here's the before word that you need to get straight right up front. Get the main character straight. Jesus is God. And the whole gospel that follows stands on this foundation and without it, it crumbles.
[23:01] So as we work our way through the gospel of John, this crucial point of Jesus deity is made over and over by Jesus and quoted by John.
[23:12] John. So clearly that even his enemies got it. Some people, scholars would say, you know, all the statements about Jesus being God.
[23:24] This came much later when his followers took what was really just an ordinary man. And they started telling miracle stories about him. And they started saying that he claimed to be God. And it wasn't true. No, that won't stand up to the historical record.
[23:37] Jesus claimed to be God was so clear. That on many occasions, his enemies, the Jews, stooped over and picked up stones to kill him because he being a man was claiming to be God.
[23:51] That's how clear it was. And not once, but many times. John chapter five, Jesus has healed a man on the Sabbath and he's called God his own father. This intimate relationship between the son and the father.
[24:04] In chapter five, verse 18, it says, for this reasons, the Jew, for this reason, the Jews tried all the harder to kill him. This is early on. John five.
[24:15] Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath in their view, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.
[24:26] And Jesus didn't respond by saying time out, fellas. You've misunderstood me. Put your stones away. Stop trying to kill me. I'm not claiming to be God.
[24:36] No, he didn't respond that way. Rather, he affirms it by saying that the father has entrusted all judging to me. The son. So that all may honor the son just as they honor the father.
[24:53] He's claiming he's worthy of equal honor and has equal honor with God, the father. Later in John chapter eight. He said to the Jews, if anyone keeps my word.
[25:06] He will never see death. And that that brings them off of their seats and they say, now we know you're demon possessed. Abraham died. Yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he'll never taste death.
[25:19] Are you greater than our father Abraham? Abraham, he died. And so did the prophets. Just who do you think you are? He didn't call a time out.
[25:33] No, you've misunderstood me. Rather, he said, your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. And he saw it and was glad. You're not yet 50 years old.
[25:46] The Jews said to him, and you seen Abraham. I tell you the truth, Jesus answered. Before Abraham was. I am.
[25:57] Ego a me. That's the name of God in the Old Testament. I am the great. I am. And Jesus takes that word upon himself and says, that's who I am.
[26:10] Yes. Before Abraham. I am the eternal existent one. And that caused them to stoop over and pick up stones to stone him.
[26:21] But he hid himself slipping away from the temple grounds. Chapter five, chapter eight. Now, chapter 10. Again, he's claiming God is his father. Going so far as to say that I and the father are one.
[26:36] About that. There are two persons, at least. We know as well that the Holy Spirit. But I and the father are one. One God. And again, the Jews picked up stones to stone him.
[26:49] But Jesus said to them, for which of my good works do you stone me? Oh, we're not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, but for blasphemy. Because you, being a mere man, claim to be God.
[27:01] And again, Jesus doesn't say, oh, fellas. No, no, you've misunderstood me again. No, he doesn't. He rather pours it on and says, that's right. And if you don't believe me, believe the miracles that I do.
[27:15] That you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father. Now, any man who says those things. Is either delusional or a liar or else he is the Lord of all.
[27:32] And they chose one of the first two and picked up stones again to stone him. But he escaped their grasp again. Now, we've not even looked at the precise miracles that Jesus did.
[27:44] That are throughout the Gospel of John. We've not looked at all of his great I am statements. I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the door. I am the good shepherd.
[27:56] I am the true vine and so on. The I am statements. But throughout his Gospel, John keeps up the drumbeat that he began in the prologue that Jesus is God.
[28:07] Jesus is God. And he's showing it to us by his miracles. He's showing it to us by his preaching and teaching, his interaction with the people, his titles, his words, the titles and names given to him.
[28:20] And that he only escaped being killed many times because it was not yet his time. But eventually it was his time, wasn't it?
[28:33] That's why he came. And for his claim to be God, they finally condemned him guilty of blasphemy and therefore worthy of death and handed him over to the Romans to torture him to death on the cross.
[28:45] That was the stone that they stumbled over. He was the great rock, the eternal God, and they stumbled over him like a stumbling stone.
[29:01] But whoever trusts in him will never be put to shame. Well, John's Gospel ends where it began. With another clear statement on the deity of Christ.
[29:13] It's like two bookends. Screaming, Jesus is God. And the drumbeat throughout making the same point. We must not miss the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth.
[29:26] That's John's point. You know, when John wrote his epistles, he's able to say many, many men, Antichrists have gone into the world. They're going around in churches and they're getting a hearing among the churches of Jesus Christ.
[29:41] And how can you know the spirit of Antichrist? Well, those who do not believe that Jesus is God. Come in the flesh. Are the spirit of Antichrist.
[29:56] And he warns the churches against them. Those warnings are needed today. When 50% of the world and 30% of evangelical, quote unquote, Christians are denying the deity of Christ.
[30:12] And so in chapter 20, we have the grand climax and conclusion to his gospel. John takes us right into the room that has been locked. It's a week after his resurrection.
[30:23] Jesus' resurrection. And he has appeared a week earlier to the 11 disciples. But Thomas wasn't there that time. He is present a week later as they're together on the Lord's Day.
[30:37] But he had told the other disciples, I don't believe you. You said Jesus appeared to you that he's alive from the... I don't believe you. In fact, I won't believe unless I can see the nail prints in his hands.
[30:53] And unless I can put my finger into those places where the nails were. And put my hand into his side where the spear entered.
[31:04] I will not believe it. So here we are a week later. The disciples huddled in this room with the doors locked. And suddenly Jesus appears. Do not be afraid, he says to them.
[31:17] And then he turns to Thomas and says, Put your finger here in the marks of my hand. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.
[31:30] And Thomas said to him, My Lord and my God. My God. Jesus accepted the worship of Thomas.
[31:47] As being his God. He didn't correct him. Oh no, Thomas, don't call me God. I'm not God.
[31:58] He didn't say, stop pouring worship upon. He accepted it. And said to him, because you have seen me, you have believed. But here's a special beatitude. Blessed are those who have not seen.
[32:11] And yet have believed. That would be you. That would be me. There's a blessing for us. For believing. And then John gives the conclusion.
[32:22] The reason for writing this gospel. Why have I been at it for 20 chapters as we've divided it? Well, he says this. Well, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples.
[32:33] He'll say in the epilogue, the afterword. He'll say so much could be written that it would fill heaven and earth. There wouldn't be room for all the things he did.
[32:43] But these things are written. That you, the reader. Might believe. That Jesus is the Christ.
[32:55] The Messiah. The Son of God. That's a name of deity. And that by believing, you may have life. Eternal life. In his name.
[33:07] Not that you might believe in a Son of God of your own making. I didn't write this for you to just believe in some Son of God that is less than God. No. I wrote that you would believe in the Son of God who is revealed in these pages to be nothing other than God himself.
[33:23] Yes, man. But also God. Far more than just a great teacher. The evangelistic purpose of the fourth gospel can't be missed. It was written that you and I who have never seen Jesus might come to believe and bow with Thomas saying, my Lord and my God.
[33:43] And if you've not been brought to the worship and confession of Jesus as God. Then you don't have life in his name.
[33:55] You do not have eternal life. You may call yourself an evangelical. But you have no evangelist. You have no gospel. You have no gospel. You have no good news.
[34:05] You have no reason to rejoice. The only gospel that can save you is a Jesus who is God who saves you. So what about you?
[34:18] What about you? Do you believe that Jesus is God? Well, that's good and necessary. But many stop there.
[34:31] And that's not all that is needed for saving faith. Just believing some facts about God. James says, you believe that there is one God?
[34:43] Well, good for you. The demons also believe that and tremble. So do you believe Jesus is God? Yeah. Good for you.
[34:53] But the demons believe that also and tremble. You remember in the gospels. When Jesus comes to set free people who are demon possessed. What do the demons say? We know who you are. Son of the most high God.
[35:05] They know who he is. You're the son of God. But they're not saved. They tremble. They believe the fact of who Jesus is.
[35:16] You see, you can believe that Jesus was born of a... That he is from eternity. You can believe that he was born of a virgin. That he lived a sinless life. He died on a cross to save sinners.
[35:28] Paying the punishment that sinners deserve. You can believe that on the third day he rose again. And then he ascended into heaven. And he's coming again to judge the living. And you can believe all of that.
[35:40] And still not be saved. Saving faith goes beyond. It includes as the foundation the belief of everything said about Jesus in scripture.
[35:51] But it's more than just mental agreement with Bible truths about Jesus. It is actually entrusting yourself to this Jesus.
[36:03] To where you put all your weight upon him. And rely and depend upon who he is and what he's done to save you. 100%. That's saving faith.
[36:15] To believe what the Bible says about Jesus. And to act upon it by entrusting yourself to him. You understand the difference between just a mental belief in facts about Jesus.
[36:31] And saving faith that goes further than that. And actually entrust yourself to this Jesus to be saved by him. Charles Blondin was a French acrobat who became a sensation in the United States when he came here in 1859.
[36:49] And he, a year later, was crossing the Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Before large crowds. The account is given that in 1860, the Duke of Newcastle, England, came all the way with other dignitaries to see this wonder for himself.
[37:12] And Blondin was at his finest that day. He not only walked across the falls on the tightrope. But then he also pushed a wheelbarrow across and back. And then they put a big sack of potatoes in the wheelbarrow.
[37:24] And he walked across and came back. And then he approached the Duke. He said, Duke, do you believe that I can push a man across in my wheelbarrow? And he said, I sure do.
[37:37] And he says, then hop in. And the Duke said, no. And everybody in the crowd, yes, you can do it.
[37:49] But nobody wanted to get in the wheelbarrow. And then one man came out of the crowd, hopped in the barrel. And Blondin pushed him all the way across and all the way back.
[38:05] It was his manager. The only one to put his life into Blondin's hands. That's trust.
[38:15] That's saving faith. Everybody says, yes, I believe. I believe you can. Friends, that's not enough to say to Jesus, I believe you're God.
[38:27] I believe you have saved and will save anyone who comes to you. That's not enough to save you. You must come to him and take him. You must receive him.
[38:38] You must get in the wheelbarrow and let him take you across to heaven. All on his doing. You just resting and relying upon him and his skill, his ability, his works, his merit.
[38:52] That's saving faith. So we all have these two statements of faith, we might say. We have the statement of faith in our minds.
[39:03] It's that book up on the shelf. I believe these things. The theoretical statement of faith. And then we have a real practical statement of faith.
[39:16] That which we act upon. That which we really believe so much that we act upon it. Because all saving faith is active. And so that's the real, the true statement of faith.
[39:30] Do you believe Jesus is God? Do you believe the statements that he says that whoever believes on me will not perish but have everlasting life? You say, I believe that.
[39:44] No, you don't. Not really. Not if you're not trusting in him. You really don't believe that you're perishing. And you're a breath away from hell. And that only by trusting in Jesus will you not perish but have everlasting life.
[39:58] If you really believe that from the heart, you would run to Jesus. You would hop into the barrel and you would let him take you on his merits and abilities to heaven.
[40:10] To make you right with God. Now the illustration breaks down because it cost Blondin nothing to take his manager across the falls on a wheelbarrow.
[40:23] In fact, he made lots of money to do so. But it cost our Lord Jesus his life to save mine. In order for me to be saved, he had to be damned.
[40:37] In order for me to have life, he had to lose his. I needed a substitute. Who would take my sins upon himself and take it to the place of punishment on the cross and let God pour out all of his wrath upon him for me.
[40:55] That's what I needed. And not just any substitute will do for that, will it? You know, for some missions we read in the Bible that God sent an angel. To announce the birth of Jesus, to talk to the prophets, to do this, to do that.
[41:13] He'd send an angel to complete the mission. Other times he sent men. He raised up John the Baptist to go and bear witness to the light that was coming. Moses, the prophets, he sent men.
[41:26] But for this mission of saving sinners from the coming wrath, God sent his own son. His one and only son. His divine eternal son.
[41:39] God the Father sent God the Son. Because only he was qualified to accomplish the task. And to make the mission succeed. So that all that the Father had given him would make it to heaven.
[41:52] Not one would be missing. As he says in John 6. You see, there was no other good enough to pay the price for sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.
[42:07] As Jesus found out in Gethsemane, there was no other land. There was no other way to save us. Apart from him drinking the cup of God's wrath.
[42:19] For himself. That we not have to drink it. For all eternity. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name.
[42:32] Under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. No one. But no one comes to God the Father. Except through me. Jesus says.
[42:43] So it's because Jesus is God that he's able to save us. But it's also. Because Jesus is God that he is willing.
[42:54] To save us. You know. Jesus being God. And the Father being God. The Holy Spirit being God. They're able to save us.
[43:05] But. They didn't have to. There was no necessity in being God. To save us. We could have been left to perish for our sins.
[43:17] And pay the punishment ourselves eternally. But. Jesus as God was willing. To save us. That's what Paul says there in.
[43:29] Philippians 2. That though he was. In very nature God. He did not. Consider. Being equal with God. Something to be grasped. And held on to.
[43:40] You. But. He let go of that honor. That was his in heaven. And he. Became a servant. Became a man. And became obedient unto death. Humbling himself. To be obedient unto death.
[43:51] Even the death of the cross. That's grace. Isn't it? He didn't have to do that. And. And the grace of God. Is. Is. Is. Most clearly revealed.
[44:02] In. In. Jesus. Humbling himself. And coming. Willingly. To save us. For you know. The grace of our Lord. Jesus Christ. Though he was rich.
[44:13] Yet. For your sakes. He became poor. That you. Through his poverty. Might. Become. Rich. Now that's grace. And what John told us. In the prologue.
[44:24] In. John 1. 14. That the word. Was made flesh. And dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. The glory of the one. And only. Come from the father. Full of what?
[44:35] Full of grace. And truth. Jesus. Is full of grace. And that fullness of grace. Is a demonstration. Of his glory.
[44:46] As God. This is what God. Is like. He is full. Of grace. And truth. And Jesus. Comes full of grace. And truth. The God man.
[44:57] Coming near us. To show us. The gracious heart. Of God. When Jesus. Who is God. Equal with God.
[45:08] Humbled himself. All the way. To the cross. And humiliation. And the wrath. For us. He wasn't acting. In some way. Out of character. With God.
[45:20] He was doing. Something there. That was matchless. Godlike. And divine. He was showing us. The heart of God. His willingness.
[45:30] To stoop. And serve. And save. Rebel. Rotten. Sinners. That's what God's like. Doesn't it make you.
[45:41] Love him for it. Doesn't it make you. Willing to serve him. Sinner friend. Aren't you safe. To put yourself. Into his arms. When you see.
[45:52] That that's his heart. Willing to stoop. To save you. Willing to stoop. And serve. Are you not amazed. That he who is God. Is the one.
[46:03] Who should die. For you. That's what we conclude. With this morning. Amazing love. How can it be. That thou my God. Should die.
[46:14] For me. Stand and let's sing it. Well if you can say.
[46:26] With Thomas. My Lord. And my God. To Jesus. You can say. Amen. To every one. Of those words. You can say. Bold. I'll come. And claim. That crown.
[46:36] Of eternal life. Through Jesus. Christ. My Lord. God. Because this is the record. God has given of him. That. Eternal life. Is in him. And he who has the son. Has life.
[46:48] He who has not the son. Has not life. So if. If Christ is yours. Eternal life is yours. And. There's every reason. Then to believe. What the angel said.
[46:58] I bring to you. Glad tidings. Of great joy. Trust in this God. Make him yours. Through faith in Jesus Christ. Go and rejoice.
[47:11] And spread the word. Amen.