The Deity of Christ - His Works (2); His Claims

When we look at the kinds of things we're looking at on Wednesday nights and talking about our Savior looking at his deity we're thinking of the greatness of our Savior, the awesome character of our Savior. Yet we've sung a couple of songs tonight that help us balance that with his closeness, his nearness. When we think of our Savior's love, his great love for us, that he was willing to come and die for us and that we truly do have a friend in Jesus. He is a friend that comes close to us and meets whatever needs we have and we can go to him in prayer, take him whatever concerns that we might have in our life. So it's wonderful to know that and we're going to see that one of the works that Jesus does we're going to see tonight is that he does answer prayer and invites people to come to him in prayer. So it's good to know both his greatness and his closeness, his transcendence and his imminence close to us. Well we are looking at the deity of Christ and it probably is the major part of our study of what the Bible teaches about Christ, probably about half of what we'll study has to do with his deity because that is as we've seen such a basic truth but also a doctrine that is so much under attack, it is one of the devil's favorite targets because if he can get us to believe wrongly about Christ then everything else just kind of goes by the wayside. So we're establishing from many different angles and many different directions the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that Christ is God, the deity of Christ. We've been looking at his names which prove his deity. We've looked at his attributes, seven different names, fifteen different attributes that all of which proclaim his deity and last week we began talking about his works, the works of Christ, things he does that also indicate his deity and the things we're looking at are things that only God can do. These are not things that that man can do and so just by virtue of what they are they prove that he is God. Last week we looked at the fact that he created all things. We also saw that he upholds and preserves all things. In conjunction with that he guides and directs the stream of history and we saw all of those last week in addition we also saw that Christ forgives the sins of people, the forgives sins and gives eternal life and only God can do that, only God can forgive sins in the sense that he can block them off of our record in heaven. We can forgive people in the sense that we no longer hold a grudge or hold against them. What they have done we can forgive people in that way but we cannot forgive sins in the sense that their eternal consequences are dealt with. We can't do that. Only God can do that in it if that's exactly what Jesus claims to do. So if we forgive sins and he actually gives eternal life also those are obviously works that only God can do. We're going to look at four other works tonight which Jesus does and then hopefully we'll get to a couple of his claims as well. Christ builds the church and maintains its existence. That's another work that Jesus does that only God can do. In Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18 Jesus makes a promise about building his church if you have your Bible open there you see this is in that passage where Jesus asked his disciples who are people saying that I am and they give the different responses in the nation in that day that people are saying well you're one of the prophets you're Elijah you're maybe Jeremiah and Jesus says in verse 15 what about you he asked who do you say I am and Peter answered you are the Messiah the son of the living God great answer tremendous answer Jesus recognizes that in verse 17 when he says blessed are you Simon son of Jonah for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by my father in heaven. Now verse 18 and I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church in the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Jesus says your Peter you are a rock and on this rock not Peter different word not Petras but Petra on this massive foundational stone this huge rock I will build my church and I believe Jesus was referring to the confession that Peter had just made and all that that involves Jesus is the Messiah the son of the living God and the church is built on that declaration upon him upon Christ wouldn't built on Peter built on Christ Jesus the son of God the Messiah and so Jesus promises on that foundation I will build my church and notice he calls it his church this is Jesus church and that's something we sometimes fail to recognize at least in practical terms I think we would all agree with that but sometimes pastors speak of churches as this is my church and it isn't it's Jesus church not our church sometimes we think of our ministries as our ministries and they're not they're Jesus there is they go on to him and he has just given us a stewardship an opportunity to manage them on his behalf and to do that in a way that we will give answers to him for we're accountable to him but it says church and he promises that he will build it it's not it's not our responsibility to build church Jesus responsibility to do that it's our responsibility to be faithful to the charge that he's given us you know when you look at what Paul tells Timothy in person second Timothy in Titus and the book of Titus these young pastors he doesn't tell them now you build the church he just says you be faithful to guard the deposit that I'm entrusting to you and that's the gospel you be faithful to that Jesus will build his church he'll do that work now I can't build the church nobody else can build church because it's spiritual work in the hearts of people that none of us can do only God can do that so when Jesus says I will build my church by always my church and I'm gonna build it then he's doing something that only God can do okay now he does use people to do that and that's where the next passage comes in in Ephesians chapter four in any question about Matthew and what Jesus is saying there all right Ephesians chapter four Jesus talks about how he will build his church this is the actual plan and process for building it verse seven but the each one of us grace has been given as Christ a portioned it these are gifts given by God's grace and he he portions them he distributes them as he wants to verse eight this is why it says when he has centered on high he took many captives and gave gifts to his people what does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions he who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe basically just saying Jesus Christ descended to the earth came down to the earth in his incarnation to do the work of salvation provision of his death for our salvation now he's ascended back to heaven and part of what he's doing when he ascends back to heaven is he distributes gifts that will be used to build up the church now notice he's the one doing the work of distributing the gifts so really what happens in building the church is engineered by him but he does use people to do that in verse verse 11 so Christ himself gave the apostles the prophets evangelists the pastors and teachers so there are four different gifts that are given here in this passage apostles prophets evangelists and pastors and teachers and it's very clear in the original language there's a certain grammatical rule that is followed in this passage that couples pastors and teachers it means the same person with two functions I don't want to go into the grandville sharp rule and all those kinds of different things in the group that's exactly it's it's clear here that pastor teacher is the same person it is a shepherd who teaches the word of God same person okay so you got four people that are given to help that Christ works through to build his church first way you got apostles the apostles were the specially gifted men in the first century who helped lay the foundation of the church and then prophets were men to whom God gave truth they spoke it to the church and they were also first century people the Ephesians 2 20 says that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ obviously is the foundation but the apostles and prophets are the ones that laid that foundation in the book of Acts okay so you've got those two gifts and you've got evangelists now evangelist is not a guy with 50 sermons and 50 suits it just goes all over the place preaching that's not that's not a new that's not a new testament evangelist now we we talk about evangelists that way and that's okay that's an American term it started in the 1820s with Charles Finney and that's fine but that's not what the Bible means by that a person who goes from church to church and preaches evangelist sermons in the new testament concept the evangelist is a person who takes the gospel to new areas we would think I've been more in terms of they have a missionary that's the gift of evangelist is a person who takes the gospel to new areas and that's why Paul told Timothy even in your pastoral work Timothy second of the four five do the work of evangelists get the gospel out to some new areas too but that's what an evangelist is in the new testament since of the term and then there are pastors and teachers the apostles and prophets laid the foundation of the church in the first century the book of Acts evangelists spread that growth throughout the world and then a pastor teacher lands in a particular place and and teaches the church so that's how it works that's that those are the gifted people that God uses to to build his church the first two in the first century got it started better off the ground laid the foundation and then evangelists have been operating ever since to take it all over the world to people who've never heard and then when a pastor teacher sets up shop in a particular place he stays there and teaches the word of God that's the that's the methodology that God said he would use and here's what he's using those people to do verse 12 to equip his body for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up so from those who laid the foundation onto those who have spread the gospel throughout the earth and now pastor teachers who land in a particular local expression of the church local church like this from all of that the purpose of those people are to equip God's people for works of service so it is it is our job as pastor teachers to to equip you to do the works of ministry to do the work of serving God and and the result of that will be that the whole body of Christ may be built up so here here we go Christ promised to build his church I hear Paul is that how's them doing the actual process that Christ has chosen to build his church and that is laying the foundation spreading the gospel then throughout the world through missionary evangelists and then pastor teachers coming up and equipping the saints to do works of ministry which all together builds up the body and builds up the church okay until verse 13 we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ that's the goal the goal is to grow up mature so that we become more like Christ individually and then as we are pulled together in a body we become more like him as a unit as a body and so it's fascinating to me that Jesus is the one who started it all he ascended back to heaven verses 7 through 9 gave the gifted gifts to the church to get it started spread and then built up so that God's people would be doing works of service so that we would become more like Christ he started it he's the goal of it so it's all about Christ and the people who are used to build up the body are really just what God uses people that God uses to bring us to maturity in Christ and he goes on to say in verse 14 then we'll be no longer infants tossed back and forth by the waves blown here and there by every wind of teaching by the cunning and craftiness of people under deceitful scheming instead speaking the truth and love we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ okay again he's the goal that's what we're growing into growing toward to be like Christ and then notice verse 16 from him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work so again the body of Christ the church is light into a physical body with every part functioning every joint every ligament every part of the body functioning together at least that's what happens when you're younger all of it functions together and does what it supposed to do right but that that's the that's the way the body is supposed to work and that's where the church is supposed to work and and and Christ in verse 16 is seen as the one who is providing the source of energy for that growth and nourishment of the body so House Christ going to build his church this is the blueprint right here he starts it out by sending back to heaven and giving the gifts and as those gifts function the body is trained and equipped to serve builds itself up and the purpose of the growth has become more like Christ and all the time he is nourishing that body giving it the energy that it needs to do what we're supposed to do so this is the blueprint of Christ building his church he promised he would do it Paul explains how so Christ is building his church and maintaining its existence that's something that only he can do only God can build his church and we are used of him to to accomplish that purpose if he's the one doing the building okay questions or comments about that work of Christ which he does John yeah yeah that it was it was a new term actually the the Greek word Jesus would have said it in air make Matthew wrote it in Greek the actual original word was a term that was used in the first century but it was used of any called out assembly of people it was actually the Greek translation of the Old Testament it was used of the nation of Israel as an assembly of God's people in the wilderness it was used of a group of people meeting in in Ephesus in X 19 where they gathered in the Coliseum and that riot that's called a an assembly or church same word so it was a term that that was familiar but but not in that sense you're right John not in the sense that Christ was going to build an assembly of people they didn't they didn't understand that and they wouldn't understand it really until in the book of Acts that it would be a body composable Jew and Gentile and all that that was new it was very new to them exactly right okay you have to come answer questions there all right let's look at the next work that he does Christ receives and answers prayer now notice Christ receives prayer in other words he invites people to pray to him I'm not gonna do that I better not do that you better not do that you better not invite people to pray to you that's something that only God should receive but Jesus did look at John chapter 14 and verse 14 Jesus is instructing his disciples in the upper room the night before he is to die he's trying to orient them to this new work that's happening that will happen in the book of Acts as they are laying the foundation for the church getting started a lot of new information here and in chapter 14 he's talking about prayer verse 13 he says I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the father may be glorified in the sun then look at verse 14 you may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it notice Jesus said you can ask me you can pray directly to me for anything and I and ask in my name in my authority coming in in that authority and and I will do it then look at Acts chapter 7 verse 59 which is an example of this remove the story of Stephen when he's being stoned because of the sermon he's preached summarizing the Old Testament story and leading up to the fact that these people who who knew their Old Testament put to death the one that the Old Testament prophesied Christ and the people the religious leaders are angered and began to stoned him killing verse 58 verse 59 rather while they were stoning him Stephen prayed Lord Jesus receive my spirit he prayed directly to the Lord Jesus in fact remember when he looked up he saw Christ standing ready to receive him and he addressed Jesus directly and so Jesus told us disciples you can ask me you can pray to me for anything in my name I will do it and Stephen literally did that Stephen prays directly to the Lord Jesus so you can pray to him just as you would the father you can pray to him and receive answered prayer just as the father would answer prayer any questions there so let me ask you a question is it appropriate to pray directly to Jesus yes okay is it appropriate to pray directly to the Holy Spirit say yes okay why not they're both gone right just like the father now why do we typically kind of shy away from that we don't we don't typically do that in our circles why why don't we do that the Holy Spirit asked us to go through Christ the Holy Spirit's ministry really is to magnify Christ and draw attention to him right okay that's very true and I think sometimes we're a little afraid of the excesses because of the focus on the Holy Spirit and the charismatic movement we're afraid of those excesses sometimes I think that keeps us away but give me another reason why do you think we typically don't pray directly to Jesus and directly to the Holy Spirit okay that's what I was fishing for can I thank you what did what did the how did Jesus teach us to pray what was the first thing he said our father Richard and heaven how would be that name okay Jesus in what's often called the Lord's Prayer a misnomer because the Lord could never pray that prayer it includes a request of forgiveness of our sins so it's not the Lord's prayers the disciples prayer the Lord's prayers John 17 that's the one he prayed but it's the disciples prayer it's often called the Lord's Prayer because the Lord spoke it but he was teaching his disciples how pray and and it's a model for prayer and Jesus says the way you should start is our father which are in heaven so typically we have taken that to me and I think rightly so that that that again typically our prayers should be addressed to the father and we come in the authority in the name in the confidence and boldness of Christ we come through him because Hebrews to Hebrews 4 the new and living way which has been opened through Christ in his death we come through Christ and we pray Ephesians 6, 18 in the spirit we pray with spiritual fervor depending on the Holy Spirit's intersection for us so putting all of those scriptures together that seems to be the general pattern for prayer praying to the father in the name of Christ or authority of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit however there's nothing wrong with addressing Jesus directly in prayer again that the scriptures we've seen indicate that he said to these disciples ask me anything in my name and Stephen directly addressed him in prayer so there's nothing unbiblical about that nothing incorrect about that and by extension we would say because the Holy Spirit is equally God there's nothing incorrect about that either but typically we would pray as Jesus taught us to pray and address it to our father so that's why we typically do that but our point tonight basically is because Jesus does open the door to the fact that you can ask him directly in prayer obviously that makes him equal with the father it makes him God okay we're not to we're not to pray to human beings by the way not even glorified ones in heaven we don't pray to saints we pray to God we address him in prayer all right let's look at the seventh one Christ will raise the dead in the resurrection so we've seen this passage recently in John 5 verses 28 and 29 do not be amazed at this for a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come out those who have done what is good will rise to life to live and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned so Jesus says I'm gonna raise the dead someday okay well how does that prove Jesus did he didn't other people didn't you like to raise someone from the dead then you like to raise someone from the dead didn't Peter raise someone from the dead how does that show Christ's deity how does it why is it any different than the dead or do you have someone to get to be faith in the dead or did you raise the different from the dead again okay all right there the two different kinds of death and would you would you say also the time they two different kinds of resurrection okay what's the difference in Elijah raising a little boy back to life he's gonna die again resuscitation really isn't it came back to life but they're gonna die again that's not the kind of resurrection Jesus is talking about by the way Jesus was resurrected raised people from the dead like that too didn't he three people that we know of gyrus's daughter the widow of name son and Luke 17 and and Lazarus those three and they all died again didn't they so Jesus raised people like Elijah did and others but that's not what he's talking about here is it he's talking about the final resurrection to to life or eternal destruction and hell eternal punishment in hell he's talking about all who are in the great will hear his voice okay he's gonna raise everybody not just the isolated incident that somebody has raised back to life and then they died again he's talking here about the final resurrection about the time when people will be raised to stand before guy and judgment and they'll be raised to either be in heaven or in hell that's different only God can do that Elijah might be empowered by God to raise someone but not in the sense that Jesus is talking about here and that's what Tommy was getting at okay Christ will raise the dead in the resurrections and then number eight Christ will be the final judge of all men as well that obviously something all the God can do right here in John 5 we see that mentioned twice verse 22 more over the father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the son so in the judgments where people stand before God in judgment the one who will be the judge both when believers stand before God and when unbelievers stand before God the one who will be the judge is Christ okay all judgment has been committed to him and verse 27 tells us why and he has given him authority to judge because he is the son of man we saw that earlier when we were going through John on Sunday mornings son of man is a term which describes his humanity but it also is an Old Testament term from Daniel 7 referencing his deity and so it really is the combination of both that qualifies Jesus to be the judge he is a righteous judge because he is God he is a merciful judge Hebrews 217 because he is man he's experienced human life and so because he is the God man he is uniquely qualified to judge us right well that's a good question Tommy how are Old Testament saints judge they are not they haven't been judged yet they will be judged at the end of the tribulations the second coming all the Old Testament saints will be resurrected and they will be judged then and they will be judged by the same by the same criteria by the word of God based on of course their relationship with God how faithful they were same same basis obviously people were saved in the Old Testament the same way they were saved in the New Testament by grace through faith they didn't know everything about the death of Christ yet it was God who took Christ's death and applied it back to save people but they simply believed God and trusted him and God in his grace saved them by faith they trusting Abraham Genesis 156 Abraham believed God what did he believe in the context he believed the promised God made him about having a multitude of descendants like the stars of the heaven he believed God and God credited him for righteousness so God in his grace gave him his righteousness because of faith faith in God I don't think Abraham knew about the cross I don't think Abraham had that much revelation yet that had not been revealed yet but Abraham believed God so they were saved in the same way by grace through faith and so they will be judged on the same basis those who were saved will be judged on the basis of their works obviously those who are lost will stand to great white throne judgment later and be condemned to hell but those judgments were all yet to come Christ will be the one judging people a couple of passages in Acts real quick Acts 1042 the apostles recognized that Jesus was going to be the judge this is Peter at Cornelius's house talking about Christ giving the story about Jesus and his death and resurrection verse 42 he says he commanded us to preach to the people to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead so that's what we're preaching Peter says that Christ is the one who is the judge and Paul preached the same thing in Acts 17 verse 31 for he God has said a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed he has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead who is who is the one who's going to be the appointed judge appointed by God the one he raised from the dead Christ Christ is the judge right now I just want to make this kind of summary statement all these works that we have seen these eight works that Christ does can only be done by God these are not done by people and we've made the distinction in some cases where men do something similar but not the same like the resurrections and so forth these are exclusively done by God so they are strong proofs of the deity of Christ if Christ does all these things obviously he's God okay that's the reasoning any question or comment on that okay we've got about five minutes to start on the claims of Christ we're going to move now to several of the claims that Jesus makes which indicate that he is God claims apart from what we've already seen there have been some of the things we've already seen when we talked about uh uh Jesus called himself the son of God that was one of the names he used of himself and so that in itself was a claim to deity but we're going to look at other kinds of claims this is not an exhaustive list but we're going to look at some other claims the first one we'll get started on this one tonight is claims to authority Jesus claimed the kind of authority that only God could have Matthew 5 is a good example of it where he claims authority over the law of Moses it's very interesting what happens here in Matthew 5 Matthew 5 verse 21 this is the sermon on the mount and this is where he begins to address the Pharisees understanding of righteousness which is basically just the letter of the law and keeping that and Jesus declaration of righteousness which is the underlying heart attitudes and so he makes these distinctions throughout this sermon the first one is in verses 21-22 you've heard that it was said to the people long ago you shall not murder and that's one of the ten commandments that was one of God's laws and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment but I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment and he goes on to say other things about the inward attitude of anger will also be judged just like the outward expression of murder is judged so notice notice the contrast here or actually the supplement to the law Jesus saying the law said this but I'm telling you that there's something that goes deeper and in a sense he's asserting his own authority equal to the law or over the law same thing in verses 27 and 28 you've heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery and that is part of the law again part of the ten commandments but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully is already committed adultery whether any part so Jesus says it goes deeper than that it goes to the heart it's not just the letter of the law it's the heart issue as well and so he goes right on through divorce with oaths with an eye for eye loving enemies all of those other things are the same way this is what the Old Testament law says now I'm telling you something in addition to the law and only Jesus can do that because he's gone he can say this is the real interpretation of the law this is the deep remaining of the law this is this is something that is in addition to the law at any rate he is showing his his authority by saying this is the deeper intent of the law he has the authority to do that so he has the authority over the law of Moses just think that the next one at least he has authority over the temple Matthew 12 this is when Jesus disciples were walking along the road picking grain to eat satisfy their hunger it's on the Sabbath day the Pharisees get all bent out of shape over that as they did any time anything happened on the Sabbath that violated some of their laws and traditions and so they they criticized Jesus and his disciples for that and Jesus basically says verse 3 haven't you read what David did when he is contained were hungry entered the house of God he and his companions they concentrated bread which is not lawful for them to do but only for the priests there was a special need there and God allowed for that okay verse 5 we're having to read into law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent the priests are working on the Sabbath they're working in the temple on the Sabbath there's a violence made for that and verse 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here or some translations say someone greater than the temple doesn't really matter which which one whether it's someone or something either way Jesus is saying I have authority over the temple okay um I'm greater than the temple I have authority over that someone greater something greater than the temple is here if allowances were made in special circumstances in the Old Testament regarding even the bread in the temple and the serving of the priests in the temple want to tell you that I have greater authority than the temple so it's not the temple that's the authority it's God who's the authority he has authority over the temple he decides how the temple will be used and if there's special allowances to be made and I have that same authority I'm greater than the temple so and then a couple verses down he also says he has authority over the Sabbath verse 7 if you have known what these words mean I desire mercy not sacrifice you would not have condemned the innocent and by the way that is a fascinating study he quotes from from Hosea where God says basically he values the heart over just a cold rigid observance of the law and so I desire mercy not sacrifice it's not that God doesn't want the sacrifices of the Old Testament law to be observed right but you can go through all that ritual and do it in a way which doesn't mean anything and have no mercy have no heart and that's no good in God's eyes and so God wants to see the heart and Jesus says in that regard for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath in other words this and he says you know in I think it's in Marx account of this the Sabbath man was not made for the Sabbath the Sabbath was made for man and here's the point God didn't create the Sabbath and the Sabbath is a particular entrenched rigid law and now man is made to fit into that so if man is made to fit into the Sabbath what's more important the Sabbath the Sabbath is not more important the Sabbath was given it's the other way around the Sabbath was given as a blessing for man for him to be able to have a break in his schedule of work okay that that's why the Sabbath day was given so it's not it's not that the Sabbath is over us telling us you can do this you can't do this the Sabbath is the one ruling no no it's the other way around and Jesus says I want to say I'm the one who is the Lord over the Sabbath I have authority over the Sabbath and only God can have authority over the thing he created and so that's a very strong claim to the itty so Jesus is pretty clear in this passage who is exactly exactly right time man was putting too much emphasis on the rigid observance of the Sabbath and and it forgotten purpose its purpose was to help and to bless and so if David needs bread because he's going to start of otherwise that's the man is greater than the Sabbath law okay there wasn't the other way around there were some exceptions made because of human need and that's what Jesus is getting at so my disciples can can can bring on the Sabbath that in fact that was even allowed in the Old Testament well okay our time is up and we need to go but we'll get next week to one other place where Jesus claims that authority and then some of his other claims which indicate who he is let's pray Father thank you for our great Savior and his great love for us thank you that he is a friend to us thank you Lord that he does receive and answer prayer and we can go to him in prayer or a friend we do have in the one who invites us to come to him thank you for his greatness his his authority all that he is that he is our God that he is equal to you Father thank you for what we can see in your word of who our great Savior is so his name we pray amen