Course:
Jesus the Son of God
Section
Two: Jesus is God the Son.
Lesson
Four
Lesson
Title: God's Message to Mankind; the Word (logos) of God.
Text:
John 1:1-4;
Introduction: Jesus Christ
is the eternal Word of God; God's message to a sinful
world. A word spoken by a person
with authority is important. How
much more God's message to mankind that He has spoken by His Son, the Word
(logos) of God.
Introductory
Story: Greek concept of the Word (logos), John 1:1.
New Testament
was written in Greek. John uses
'logos' a word known in Greek thought. Compare Paul in Athens where He quotes
from the Greek poets, (Acts 17).
The concept 'logos' means that Jesus is
· The
mind of God;
· The
wisdom of God;
· The
power of God;
· The
incarnate God. 1 Corinthians 1:24 'But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.'
Main
Points:
1. John begins His
gospel with a declaration that Jesus is the Word 'logos'
a)
The Eternal Son of God
'In the beginning was the Word' (John 1:1)
'In the beginning…' Beginning - means in this context
beyond time - a time beyond which you cannot go.
Jesus is called 'The Everlasting Father' (Isaiah 9:6)
b)
He is equal
with the Father
‘The Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John
1:1)
The same was in the beginning with God', (John
1:2)
'The Son of
God declares the Father' (John 1:18).
c)
He
is the Creator God (The Word of God).
The
creative power of God and the eternal purpose of God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not
any thing made that was made’ (John 1:3).
2. He is God's message
to mankind, Hebrews 1:1 - 2:4
The writer to the Hebrews shows the importance of the
Gospel because God spoke in the Old Testament by the prophets but now He has
spoken by His Son, (1:2).
The importance of the Gospel is seen because the Lord Jesus
is:
a)
The Creator God 1:2-3, 10-14
‘heir
of all things’
‘he
made the worlds’
‘upholding all things by the
word of his power’
b) The eternal God 1:3
'the
brightness of his glory'
His glory was veiled in
His flesh. No man could see His
glory and live.
'the
express image of his person'
He is equal with the Father.
c)
The
Messiah, the Redeemer 1:3
'by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high'
A finished work. He sat down.
d)
The One who the angels worship
1:6
It is
commanded for the angels to worship Him.
e)
The One who sits enthroned in
the heavens 1:8.
He is the
eternal God who sits on the throne.
He has always
been there as God and now He is both God and Man.
f)
The Anointed One 1:9
He as Man
received the anointing of the Holy Spirit because He is worthy and through His
redemption we have inherited the promise of the Holy Spirit.
3. Rejection of Jesus, the eternal Son of God
Those who deny the deity of Christ; deny the gospel.
a) Jehovah's Witnesses deny
that Jesus is God by misinterpreting scripture.
Jesus said
‘the Father is greater than I’
John 14:28
'You have heard how I said unto you, I go away,
and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I
go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.'
Question: What
did Jesus mean?
Scripture cannot be isolated from scripture. It must be understood in the light of
scripture. John 14:28 must be
understood in the light of Philippians 2:5-11.
Jesus came to
earth to do the will of the Father.
He became
obedient to the Father but He was always equal with the Father. John 10:30 'I and my Father are one.'
b) The Nicene Creed (325 AD)
was written as a confession of faith to uphold the teaching that Jesus is
God.
'We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of
all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten
of the Father, only begotten - that is, of the substance with the Father; God
from God, Light from Light, Very God from very God, begotten not made,
Consubstantial with the Father, by Whom all things were made, both in heaven
and in earth, Who for us men and for our salvation came down, and was
incarnate, and was made man; suffered and rose the third day; ascended into the
heavens; and will come again to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.'
The Nicene
Creed opposed the teaching of Arianism.
Arianism held that Jesus the Son of God was:
i)
a
created being
ii) Unequal to the Father
iii) Capable of
sin
c) What
about the argument that people don't know?
People in false
religions may be ignorant of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God but what
they are following is a deliberate rejection of the truth.
Example: Islam is a rejection of the truth. It rejects that
Jesus is the Son of God.
Quote: Koran 19:88-92
'They say: "(Allah)
Most Gracious has begot a son!"
Indeed ye have put forth
a thing most monstrous!
At it the skies are ready
to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter
ruin, That
they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious. For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most
Gracious that He should beget a son.'
Muslims will
say that the Bible is the Word of God but they follow a religion that denies
the Son of God. The Bible says
this is antichrist.
1 John 2:22-23
'Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father:'
The Message
of the Gospel has been given to us by the eternal Son of God. The writer
to Hebrews expresses the importance of the message:
Hebrews 2:3-4 'How shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was
confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also
bearing them witness, both with signs
and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according
to his own will?'
Summary:
God has spoken by His Son, the logos,
the Word of God. The importance of
the message is seen in that Jesus is
1. The Word (Logos) of God, the eternal Son of God
2. God’s message to mankind.
3. There is no other way of salvation
for those who reject that Jesus is the Son of God, John 14:6.