The Deity of Christ - His Worship

All right, thanks for that song, reminder that we are indeed worshiping our Lord tonight. We'll talk some about that this evening. But first, I need to correct a mistake I made last week. I know you're shot. I'll give you a little time to recover if you need it. When I told Jeanne this week I'd made a mistake, took her two days to recover. We were in Matthew 16 last week and we were talking about where Jesus said, I give you, speaking to Peter, I give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And I mentioned that the pronouns there are plural, so it wasn't referring to Peter alone, but to all the disciples. And shortly after I said that something it just didn't sound right to me. And the more I thought about it by the time I finished up, I did a little checking and realized I was confusing in my memory with two other passages very similar. In chapter 18 verse 18, Jesus says, truly, I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. That is plural and also John 20, 23 where he says, whatever you forgive, if you forgive someone there sins, that's plural. Both of those are spoken to all the disciples, they're very similar statements. And I was confusing them with chapter 16 verse 19. In speaking to Peter, actually chapter 16 verse 19 is singular. Jesus was referring to Peter alone. And when he says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Most, most Bible students and scholars and so forth, take that to mean Jesus was saying, Peter, I do entrust that to you and you will use those keys to open the kingdom of heaven to different people groups, which if you read the book of Acts, you know he did. Peter was the first one to to preach the gospel to the Jews and the they've been a cost. And he opened the door of the kingdom to them on that first day when the gospel began, the church began. And then in Acts 10, he was the first to go to the Gentiles in Cornelius's house. And that's what this is referring to since Jesus is speaking to Peter and indicating what he will do in the book of Acts. That is singular. So there you have it. That was a mistake last week. And but the other two passages referring in general terms to the forgiveness of sin and so forth, that is plural. And we've talked about what that means before. Okay. Any question about that? Not not any question about me making a mistake. I know there's no question about that. But any any question about the passage. All right? Let's let's talk tonight about the worship that Christ is given and and receives in the New Testament. We have we have seen that we're what we're looking at is the various ways of seeing his deity in the New Testament. The fact that Jesus is fully God, not just fully man, but fully God. And we're looking at the different proofs of his deity. And we're looking at it from a lot of different angles, finding that there is a lot of information about this in the New Testament. It is not an isolated one or two verses which may indicate he was God. Now there's an avalanche of evidence that Jesus was God. And so we've looked at his names, seven of them, attributes, 15 of them, his works. We saw several of those, his claims, things that he claims. And tonight we're going to look at at his worship. And I'm not talking about him worshipping. I'm talking about his worship in the sense of the worship of Christ. Okay. Now the way that we're going to to whether we're going to prove that that shows the deity of Christ is kind of a twofold approach. We're going to lay down one line of evidence and then hit that head on with a second line of evidence and the conclusion can only be from those two lines of seemingly conflicting evidence that Jesus is God. The first line of evidence is that worship belongs to God alone. The New Testament makes it very clear. The Bible makes it very clear that worship is never to be rendered to anyone but God. No matter how exalted a creature is, no one is to receive worship except for God. The Bible makes that very clear. So let's take a look at kind of a several lines of evidence improved for that statement that worship belongs to God alone. First of all, the apostles refused worship. There were a couple of occasions in the book of Acts where people tried to worship the apostles and they clearly refused that. Let's take a look at the two passages you have on your notes. First of all in Acts chapter 10, the passage I referenced earlier where Paul or Peter, rather, is taking the gospel to the Gentiles. He's going to Cornelius's household. Remember the story of how God convinced Peter that the gospel could now go to the Gentiles by causing that sheet to be dropped from heaven with all manner of food that under the mosaic law was unclean for Israelites to eat and God told him that's done. That's over. That's no longer we're no longer in that age. We're in a new age and those food laws no longer apply. And so that was a visual object lesson to Peter that the distinction between Jew and Gentile no longer apply either. And the gospel is to go not only to Jews but also to Gentiles. And so Peter goes to Cornelius's household, a Roman military officer. And when he gets to Cornelius's household, he spreads the gospel there, tells them about Christ preaches the gospel to them. And look at the result of that in chapter 10, verse 25, is Peter entered the house. Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. Stand up, he said, I am only a man myself. So you see Cornelius knows that Peter is a special messenger from God and actually bows down in a posture of worship to to reverence him. Reference is is deserved only to God. God only deserves reverence, worship. And Peter corrects him immediately. Get up, get up. I'm only a man myself. So Peter refused worship. Same thing happened to Paul in Acts chapter 14 or at least something very similar happened to Paul in Acts 14. Let's look at that passage. Paul and Barnabas, this is on their first missionary journey. They are in the town of Listera. Verse 10, they have just healed a man who was lame from birth and had never walked. Verse 8 tells us. So it was an amazing miracle. The response of the crowd is in verse 11. When the crowd saw what Peter had done, they shouted in the Lyconean language. The gods have come down to us in human form. Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul, they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Zeus is the chief God and so that still indicates that they saw Barnabas still as being kind of the leader of the two. But Hermes is the God of Orathurs, the God of eloquence. And so Paul is already by now in this first missionary journey taking much of the speaking responsibilities. And so they basically refer to them as Greek gods. Verse 13, the priest of Zeus whose temple was just outside the city brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them to Paul and Barnabas. Now, verse 14, but when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd shouting, friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, turn from worship of idols, false gods to the living God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. And he goes on then to give more of the gospel. So Paul and Barnabas refused worship as well. They could tell what was happening when they realized what was happening. They immediately refused worship, told them, no, no, no, don't worship us. We came to preach a gospel that should deliver you from from the worship of false gods. You're to worship only the true, the true God. Okay, so the apostles refused worship. Possils are pretty special people. There's no one like them today. They were specially gifted to lay the foundation for the church in the New Testament. The first century, they were specially gifted with miracles to be able to give the credentials that would establish the gospel, get the church off the ground. They were pretty special people, but not to be worshiped. Not to be worshiped. Okay, comments or questions about those two passages making the same point. Okay, not only the apostles refused worship, but angels refused worship in revelation on two occasions. The Apostle John is so overcome with the splendor and majesty of an angel that he falls down to worship. Revelation 19 verse 10 after the angel reveals details to John of the second coming. What it will be like when Jesus comes at the second coming. Verse 10, at this I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, don't do that. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for it is the spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus. And it's verse 9, an angel that has been speaking to him and John falls down at his feet to worship him. The Bible says clearly to worship him and the angel says, no, no, I'm a fellow servant. I'm not God. So worship only God, he says. So very clear that angel, this angel refused worship. Same thing happens in chapter 22 verses 8 and 9 when an angel has been showing him new heavens and new earth and what will take place after the second coming. The new Jerusalem verse 8, I John and the one who heard and saw these things and when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me, but he said to me, don't do that. I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God. So on two occasions when John is just kind of overcome with the glory of these beings that he's seeing and falls down the angel's caution. If you don't do that, you can almost hear the slap on the wrist. Don't do that. Worship God and they make it clear that they are not deserving of worship. So as glorious as angels are, they are not worthy of worship and they know that and they warn people against worshipping them. Comments or questions there. Yeah, you know, that is hard to explain. John should know better by now. He's in his 90s. It's been 60 years since he's walked with Jesus. He's written, you know, four other books. John, don't you know better than this? I don't think he thought it was the Holy Spirit because in writing it, he calls, calls on an angel. But I think it must have just been like you said in this, in that moment, the impulse being so overcome with the the glories that he was seeing and so filled with with everything that he's been shown and this angel is there before him and just his impulse is to fall down a worship and that's the only way I can explain it. It doesn't seem reasonable that John would do that, but he does. And I wonder if I were in the same situation with I do the same thing. Knowing better, but still just be overcome with the moment and all you're seeing. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's I'm sure all that John has been seeing. He's overcome with. It's not just the presence of the angel, but the angel wants to make sure you're falling down in front of me. No, no, wrong place, wrong person. I understand you're you're overcome, but don't worship me, worship God. Just a caution there and a reminder. Okay, here's another one. And that is that Christ Christ himself commanded people to worship God alone. Remember the temptations in the wilderness Matthew chapter four when Satan is tempting Jesus and the last temptation. In verse eight, the devil took him to a very high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you. He said, if you bow down a worship me, Jesus said to him, quoting Deuteronomy 613, Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Worship him and serve him only. You worship only God. So Christ himself commands that you worship only God and hang onto that one because that's a key thought. If Christ himself knows that you should only worship God, then some of the things that happen we're going to see in just a moment really are amazing if he's not God. Okay, and then lastly, men are punished. People are punished for accepting worship. Anybody does accept worship. At least there's one evidence, one instance, in the New Testament where a man who received worship was immediately judged by God with death. And that was Herod Agrippa, the first in Acts chapter 12. Herod Agrippa, the first is the grandson of Herod the great who was the king when Jesus was born. This is obviously later. This is this is Herod the great grandson. And he has, if you remember chapter 12, he has arrested James, the leader of the early church in Jerusalem, and put him to death. And that is so popular that he says, okay, let's just go right down the list and he arrests Peter. Peter's an excellent. Well, you know, Peter's just two cantankers, you know, to let this happen to him. And so the Lord delivers him from prison that night. The angel remember comes and pokes him in the ribs, Peter's asleep, and the angel delivers him. And Herod Agrippa then makes a trip to Cessaria. There's a dispute from Cessaria to Tyre and Sidon. He's been in a dispute with these people. And he makes a speech there. And because they've been at odds, these people are wanting to get in Herod's good graces. And notice what happens in verse 21. On the appointed day, Herod wearing his royal robes sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, this is the voice of a God, not of a man. Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. By the way, the official historical record of this is there is a historical record of what happened here that Herod made a speech. And afterwards came down with some kind of intestinal ailment, and a few days later died. The historical record obviously does not attribute it to what God was doing, but we know from the inspired record, that's what was happening. That God actually smote him with this illness. And he died because of the judgment of God. Why? Because he accepted the worship of the crowd, basically saying, this is the voice of a God, not a man. This is God. Now they didn't really mean that. They were trying to get on his good side because they had a dispute with him about food that was supposed to be delivered to fire and side. And so they're wanting to get back in his good graces. So they say, this is a voice of a God. And because Herod accepted that, because he basked in that adulation. And maybe even in his own heart thought, well, you know, yeah, they're right. Because he accepted that that kind of adoration. Immediately the Lord struck him down. And he had this illness and then died. Okay. So men are punished for accepting worship. All right. So we, we, I think established the point from the New Testament worship belongs to God alone. Apostles say, no, no, no, don't worship us angels. No, no, no, don't worship us. Christ even says worship God only. I'm not going to worship Satan. I'm not going to bow down before him. And then people who do accept worship, at least in this one instance, it's calls for God's most severe judgment. Okay. So worship belongs to God. That's pretty clear. Now that's one line of truth. The second line of truth seems diametrically opposed to that. And that is that the Bible also teaches that Christ is to be worshipped. And it teaches it in lots of different ways. First of all, Christ accepted and encouraged such worship. Let's just look quickly at several passages where Jesus either accepted worship or encouraged it. In Matthew 14, 31 to 33, this is after he calms the storm on the sea of Galilee, which we read about in John's Gospel a couple of weeks ago. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and called him. You have little faith. He said, why did you doubt when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down, then those who were in the boat worshipped him saying, truly, you are the Son of God. They worshipped him saying, truly, you are the Son of God. Now do you hear Jesus saying, don't do that. Worship God only. You hear Jesus saying that? No, he doesn't. He doesn't correct them. He doesn't tell them not to do that. The apostles knew better than to have people worship them. Angels know better than for people to worship, but Christ accepts it. He accepts that worship with no correction. With no, no, no, no, don't do that. Worship God, not me. He doesn't do that. Same thing in chapter 15 verses 25 to 28. This is a can of night woman who persists in her faith. Jesus says to her, I'm sent on to the law sheep of Israel. She's a Gentile. And verse 25, she came and knelt before him. Lord, help me, she said. He replied it. It's not right to take the children's bed. Toss it to the dogs. Yes, it is, Lord. She said, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And Jesus said to her, woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed at that moment. Notice those. She comes and kneels before him. That's a posture of worship. That's like what Cornelius did with Peter. Kneeling and irreverence in worship and and Jesus does not correct her for that. He is testing her faith by saying I was sent to the law sheep of Israel, but her persistent faith says, well, at least I get a few crumbs, Donna. And he said, yes, you will get my blessing. So, but he does not correct her for kneeling before him. By the way, one of the Greek words for worship, prost-caneto means to kiss toward or to bend the knee. It was used of people bowing or kneeling before a king when they came into town. And so the idea of kneeling in the New Testament clearly is a posture of worship and an adoration of someone who's in authority. So Jesus accepted that. Look at the next two, both of them together here in Matthew 28. This is after the resurrection. Remember what happened when the women saw him after the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Verse 9, suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said, they came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee there they will see me. Again, he doesn't stop them, doesn't correct them, they worship him. You say, well, yeah, but he's resurrected now. He's glorified, but yeah, but it's the same Jesus. It's still Jesus. It's not, it's not, you know, if he's not God, there's no difference except that he's in a glorified body now. Same thing in verses 16 to 18 when the disciples do catch up with him. Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven or another, it's given to me and then he gives them the great commission. One other and that is in John chapter 9. What a fascinating story. I can't wait till we get to it in on Sunday morning. The healing of the man that was born blind. It's a great story because at first he doesn't even know who did it and gradually he comes to understand who it was and that it was Jesus who had done this and looked kind of the end of the story verses 35 to 39. Jesus heard the they had thrown him out. He got thrown out of synagogue for taking up for Jesus among the religious leaders. And when he found him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? Who is he, sir? The man asked, tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said, you have now seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking with you. Then the man said, Lord, I believe and he worshipped him. Jesus said, for judgment, I've come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind speaking of the difference between him and the Pharisees. So Jesus does not correct him. Jesus accepts his worship. So we've seen five instances where Jesus either accepted or encouraged worship of himself. All right. Secondly, Christ actually demanded such worship. Not only does he accept it and not correct it, not only does he encourage it, he actually demands that people worship him. John 5 verse 23, remember this verse? Well, the start in verse 22 to pick up the train of thought. More over the father judges, no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who's sent him. And he's speaking of honor here, the use of honor in the strongest sense. It's not just to kind of pay deference to, but to honor in the sense of worship because this is in the context of his claims to deity, you know, of doing the same work his father's doing, of claiming equality with God. And the Pharisees are ready to kill him because of that. Remember verse 18, they're ready to kill him. And so in that context, Jesus says, if you don't honor me, you don't honor the Father. But in order to honor the Father, you also have to honor me. So that's a strong term. It's not just honor in the sense of giving someone respect. It's a strong term of worship. So Christ said, you can't honor the Father unless you honor me. That's demanding this kind of worship. And then thirdly, the Father commands worship of Christ. Not only does Christ demand it, not only does he receive it, but the Father, God, commands that people worship Christ. He brews 16. When the writer of Hebrews is establishing the superiority of Christ over angels in chapter one, Christ is better through the first few chapters of Hebrews. The writer is basically making a case for the superiority of Christ over everything, the Jews of known, angels, Moses, Mosaic law, all of that. And in verse, or chapter one, he quotes from the Old Testament time and time again to show the superiority of Christ over angels, verse six. And again, when God brings his first born into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. Angels, no, they're not supposed to be worshiped, but they are commanded by the Father to worship his first born, his son. So angels worship Christ. And then quickly, and I will give you a chance to ask question in a moment, let me make this case quickly. Revelation five, Christ is worshiped by the host of heaven. This is an example of the actual worship of angels, but also of redeemed people who are in heaven. It's one of those great worship passages in the book of Revelation, there are four of them. And this is a really high-powered stuff. Let's begin in verse eight, when he had taken it, remember this is when Jesus is able to take the scroll that's the seal or the deed to the earth and has seven seals on it. And he's the one that breaks these seven seals and opens up God's judgment upon the earth. But he has the right to take title deed to the earth. Verse eight, when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Now, who are these four living creatures or some kind of angelic being? Don't have time to prove that yet, but one of these years, we will study the doctrine of angels and we'll prove that these living creatures are angels. But just take more word for it right now. Promise is not another mistake. The four living creatures are angels. 24 elders probably representing all the redeemed. Some say 12 to represent the 12 tribes of Israel, Old Testament saints, 12 to represent the church, the elders of the church, so 24 and all possible. But anyway, probably representing redeemed people, they all fall down before the Lamb. Each one has a harp. They were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people. And they sang a new song. Now, this song is full of worship terminology. Listen to it. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain. And with your blood, you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people in nation. You've made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. They will reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 times 10,000. They circled the throne and the living creatures and the elders in a loud voice they were saying. Listen to this worship song. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. The four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshiped. Okay. The great song written directly from this passage first recorded by Philip's Craig and Dean. We sing it here in our contemporary service called Revelation Song and it's based on this passage. In fact, the wording comes directly from this passage. Great, great worship song. Every time I sing it, I get chill bumps thinking about this scene and this is a song that is sung in heaven. I don't know if if I don't know if it was Sean Craig or Randy Phillips or Dan Dean that actually wrote the words of the song which one of them did but but whoever wrote the words of that song, I don't know if if they're going to sing the same tune in heaven but it's the same words, same words and I just get chill bumps whenever I sing that that song. Christ is worshiped by the host of heaven and then fifth the worship of Christ will finally become universal. It will finally be true of every created being. Philippians 2, you know the passage. After the humility of Christ becoming man and lowering himself all the way to death, even death on a cross, verse 9, therefore God exalted him to the highest place, gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. In heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee, every tongue in the universe will eventually, finally, bow before Christ and proclaim him Lord worshipping him. So it's pretty clear in the New Testament that Christ has to be worshiped, right? Two lines of thought seemingly on a collision course. The Bible teaches very clearly. Only God is to be worshiped. The Bible teaches just as clearly and just as dramatically Christ is to be worshiped. Now how do you keep those two from exploding? How do you keep those two from being opposite and opposed? Only if they merge into one. The only way they can do that is if Christ is God and thus he fits the qualification of only God is to be worshiped. That's the only legitimate conclusion from those two lines of evidence. Christ must be God. Okay, very powerful proof of the deity of Christ. Again, it's not one of those proofs where you just find it neatly stated in one verse, but when you put all of that evidence together, the conclusion is undeniable and it is dramatic that Jesus Christ is God has to be or else you got to throw this whole book out. Those two lines of evidence are contradictory if Christ is not God. Okay, come answer questions before we go tonight. Yes, yes, now that is certainly true that Jesus would not accept worship from the devil. Now, actually the devil was asking Christ to worship him in the temptation to worship the devil, but that is certainly true because the devil is always. Right. Right. Yeah, Jesus will not accept false worship. In other words, being included with other gods with demons and so forth. Even I think a great example of that is when Jesus would cast out a demon and the demon would start proclaiming him as to who he was and the demon was right, but Jesus would shut him up and Paul did the same thing when he healed the slave girl in Acts 16, didn't he? And she started going around town saying these are really true men of God and he said, stop. He cast the demon out of her because Christ does not want to be associated with demons or that kind of worship. You're exactly right. Jim Christ will not be aligned with false worship in any way, but he will receive and encourage, except and even demand the worship of his people. People who truly loving good point. Okay. Had enough for tonight. All right, let's go. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our majestic Savior, our glorious Savior, the one who truly is equal to you in nature, in person, in essence. And we worship you and we worship him. We anticipate that time when we will join those around the lamb, around the throne in crying out to you worthy are you to receive honored power, glory and praise. Because of who you are, thank you, thank you, Father, that we can worship you and your son, Jesus, whom you've sent to save us. It's in his name we pray. Amen.