(John 20:24-31 -Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.)
We know that Jesus is God but what proofs can we turn to when we are asked why we believe that. Today, we are going to look at the evidence why we know that Jesus is God. The Bible tells us that “on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed” (Deut. 19:15). So today, we are looking at three witness that tell us that Jesus is God; through the Scriptures, the confession of Christ Himself, and thirdly, the witness of Christ's disciples. Today's sermon is the truth of the proof of Christ's Deity.
I. Proof 1: Proclaimed by Scripture (John 1:1,14).
The message of this biblical fact that Jesus is God is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. To deny that He was God would be a travesty to truth. The great Christian writer, C.S. Lewis wrote that to think that Christ was anything but God would make Jesus either a liar or a lunatic; He cannot be a just a good man or just a great spiritual teacher and claim to be God. There is no middle ground, "He is either Lord, a liar, or a lunatic". The heart of the Christian faith is built upon this foundational truth, Jesus is God. Salvation is not possible if Jesus is not God. The suffering and death on the cross would be a tragedy if Jesus was not God, and the resurrection would be a fanciful fantasy if Jesus was not God.
From the scriptures we will get our witnesses about the truth of Christ's deity. In John 1:1, 14 we read this truth from the Apostle John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. From our previous study of the titles of Christ, we learned that He was called the Word. We see it here in John chapter 1 that the Word was God and we find out that the word was Jesus in v. 14 because it says that, “the Word became flesh”, we know that Jesus is God the Son come in flesh (incarnated) and the Gospel of John is solely about our Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures boldly proclaim the Deity of Jesus. We see not only in scripture that the Apostle John proclaims the Deity of Christ but also the Apostle Paul wrote as scripture in Titus 2:13 this, “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”. Do you see what Christ is called, God and Savior. Also, we see from what Thomas himself proclaimed in John 20:28 after he touches the nail scarred hands and the scar of the wound in Christ's side, he says, “My Lord and my God!”. But look at what Jesus tells Thomas, “Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. Thomas said to the disciples who had seen Christ resurrected that he would not believe unless he touched the wounds of Christ for himself. Thomas refused to believe the eyewitnesses, we cannot be like Thomas, we must believe the witness of the Holy Scriptures. John 20:31 tells us that scripture was “written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” and Romans 10:17 says that, “ faith (saving faith) comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. The truth of the Gospel is the “power of God unto salvation”, because it proclaims the powerful truth that Jesus, our Lord God, has saved us by His death and resurrection. The witness of scripture tells us that Jesus is God.
II. Proof 2: Revealed by Jesus Himself (John 8:58).
Not only is there the witness of scripture that Jesus is God but we also have the direct revelation from Jesus Himself. Jesus not only told us but He also reveled it by how He lived and what He did before He ascended. Let's first look at what Jesus told us in the Gospels about Himself that proved He was God. Did you know there is a group called the Christadelphians, who believe that Jesus is not God and says that Jesus never claimed to be God. I always wondered why they had church and chose to follow Christ as they believed. But regardless of their belief, Jesus did tell us that He was God in many ways. Maybe the best verbal revelation is found in latter part of John 8. Jesus was having another confrontation with the Pharisees, and as always they were trying to find fault in Him. They slurred Him by saying that He was illegitimate child in v. 41 and in v. 48 they accused of being demon possessed and a Samaritan (mixed blood, ½ Jew & ½ Gentile, illegitimacy). Jesus clearly and correctly tells them that they are of their father the devil and not of God as they claimed. They kept asking Him who are you really claiming to be but all Jesus would say that He came to honor His Father and not to seek His own glory. The Pharisees keep boasting that they are the children of Abraham and that's when Jesus tells them in verse 56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad”, then the Pharisees to Jesus, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”. Then comes the bombshell that Jesus drops on them to let them know exactly who He is in vs. 58, “Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM”. Do you get the picture, do you get who Jesus is saying that He is? Let me give you a clue from Ex. 3:13-14, Moses is speaking to God and Moses asks God this, “Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'”. Jesus revealed to the Pharisees in the passage in John 8 that He is God. In fact you can see they get exactly who He says He is in John 8:59, because they “took up stones to throw at Him”; they were going to stone Him for blasphemy for saying that He was God. There are many more times that Jesus makes statements that only God can make, like in John 14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” or John 10:30, “I and My Father are one”. There are many more statements that Christ made of His Deity but not only did Christ claim Deity but He proved that He was God by His life and His miracles. If we look at Jesus' life in the Gospels, we see that He lived a holy, blameless, and sinless life on earth. In John 8:46, Jesus asks, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?”. There were none that could do so, the Pharisees could not trap Him in word or deed because there was no fault in Christ because He is God. He is holy, pure, and undefiled because He is God. Comparing Him to the greatest men in the Bible or the greatest men in humanity and none can measure up. If we could ask Moses was he without sin in his life, he would answer that he could not for he murdered a man. If we could ask King David, a man after God's own heart if he was sinless in life and he would shamefully confess that he was an adulterer and in that adulterous affair had her husband killed. Or ask King Solomon and he would say read his account of sin in the book of Ecclesiastes. Look at George Washington or Abraham Lincoln and they would confess they were like any other mortal, human being, a sinner. If you would ask the men wrote the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John they would tell you they were never sinless but they would point you to the One who is the grand theme and subject of the Scriptures, Jesus Christ, and they would proclaim His sinlessness. Not only in how He lived but also see it in the signs, wonders, and miracles that made the blind to see, the crippled to walk, the deaf and dumb to hear and speak, deliver the possessed from demons, and raise the dead to life. But the greatest miracle of all to save a wretched sinner from the doom of sin. This all speaks of Jesus as God, proof positive that Jesus is God.
III. Proof 3: Lives Changed (2 Cor. 5:17 - if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new).
Look at the lives changed by Jesus, because when you do that, there is no doubt that Jesus is God. I have heard many different testimonies of men and women of all ages and backgrounds tell how Jesus saved them and changed their wretched lives. You know, I have never heard an atheist tell how atheism saved them from drugs or alcohol. Anyway, look at the lives of the disciples. Look at their background of the Twelve, they were fishermen, tax collectors, zealots (terrorists); simple men and sinners that forsook all they had to follow Christ and proclaim His name to the world. Of the 12 Disciples, only one was not martyred and that was the Apostle John. Jesus through these twelve men, changed the world. Not because their was anything special about these men, only that Jesus saved and changed them. Peter denied Christ three times the night Christ was taken to be falsely charged and yet after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, Peter on the day of Pentecost preached Christ to thousands and 3,000 were saved. A man named Stephen, the first martyr proclaimed Christ to his killers and as he was being stoned He saw His God and Savior Jesus at the right hand of the Father and as he forgave his killers and in full hope and assurance said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. How did this happen to common men to be so bold and so abandoned to the hope that was within them, that hope being Jesus Christ. Jesus saved them all and changed them. Men like the Apostle Paul, Charles Spurgeon, D.L. Moody, Billy Graham, Adrian Rodgers. People like you here in this church changed by the power of God the Son, Jesus Christ. The lives of many Christians and many martyrs of Christ proclaim the proof positive, the truth that Jesus is God.
You know, your life can be a proof and a witness to the truth that Jesus is God. Are you willing to submit to our Savior's Lordship like these faithful witnesses and let your life boldly prove that Jesus is God?
These proofs of the truth that Jesus is God show us that our faith, hope, and dedication to Jesus has real meaning. We are not worshiping, serving, and loving a mere man, our Jesus is God. Because He is God, we serve a risen, living Savior that destroyed the power of sin and death. Thank you Jesus that you are God!
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