★ MY SERMON NOTES
@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)
Wuye, Abuja
2nd Sunday Service
15th May, 2016
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| Pastor Sarah Omakwu Picture Credit: FWC Media |
* Speaker: Pastor Sarah Omakwu
* Topic: The Diety of Jesus Christ (1)
* Theme: Our Jesus
* The doctrine of the diety of Jesus Christ is one of the most important doctrines of Christianity
→ It is non negotiable
→ It is a major rock of offense for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ
→ It is the major distinguishing point between Christianity and other religions, sects and cults
* Many religions do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God
→ They argue that since God does not have a wife, He could not have had a Son. By this, they limit God's Almightiness
→ God does not need anything to create anything (see: Hebrews 11:3)
* The Diety of Christ means:
→ The 'God-ness' of Jesus [the fact that Jesus is God, and is the Son of God];
→ The incarnation of the Son of God [Jesus came in the flesh but He is still God]
* Jesus Christ was God, before He became the son of God [at birth through Mary]
→ Many religions do not accept the diety of Jesus. They regard Him as a created being
* NOTE: Jesus was nota created being. He is seIf existent even before the world was created
☆ Question: Why is Jesus' Sonship to God a problem?
⇒ It is a demonic problem.
→ The idea that Jesus is not the Son of God started from the devil
→ The diety of Jesus had always been challenged by Satan
→ It is satan's grand plan & strategy to cause people to reject Jesus as the Son of God
* The bedrock of the Christian faith rests upon the fact that Jesus is God, and He came into the world in flesh
→ If there is anything that Satan can take away from you, it is this belief
* It is exteemly important for every Christian to know, understand, accept and be able to defend the diety and incarnation of Jesus Christ. If you don't, Satan has you exactly where he wants
★ 1 John 4:2-3 →''By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world." [NKJV]
* There is no Christianity if the diety of Jesus Christ is not the prime tenet
→ Every faith, religion or sect that does not accept this fact is essentially antichrist
* The diety of Jesus Christ is the presupposition of the New Testament & the bedrock of our Christian faith
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
☆ THE ORIGIN OF JESUS
→ NOTE: Jesus Christ did not come into existence with His birth through Mary
→ He existed even before the world was created as a limitless, eternal, unending, unchanging God!
→ He was at the beginning with God
☆ THE TRINITY
* Jesus is the Second person of the trinity
* The trinity is the existence of One God in three persons (God the Father, Gd the Son, and God the Holy Spirit)
→ This is a major offense to Islam and to all those who do not believe in Christ
→NOTE: God is supreme, and He can choose to manifest Himself in as many forms as He desires. He is limitless
★ Genesis 1:26 →"Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
→ NOTE: At creation, it was the three persons of God working together as one to create every thing
* The trinity is the ultimate creative force in the universe
→ God spoke His Word (Jesus); the Holy Spirit takes the Word and makes it into what God desires
→ The same creative force was manifested at the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ
* Whatever happens to you has to be done by the Trinity
→ When you speak God's word [into your situation], the Holy Spirit takes it and makes it happen. This is the Key to getting any miracle you require in life
☆ JESUS IS FROM GOD
★ Micah 5:2 →''But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” [NKJV]
* NOTE: Jesus Christ is ageless, changeless, limitless and eternal
→ He came from 'everlasting'
★ John 1:1-3 →"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." [NKJV]
* Everything that exists [in the Universe] was made THROUGH Jesus Christ
→ There is nothing that exists that was not made THROUGH Him
→ If you need anything, you must come THROUGH Him
⇒ You must put 'pressure' on the Word of God for all you require
→ See: Acts 20:32
★ Revelation 13:8 →"All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
☆ NOTE: God had already made provision for the redemption of man right from the foundation of the world!
* Jesus Christ was not 'created', He 'existed' before the world was made
* Jesus Christ transited from to man, but He is God
→ He was God first, then He became man
⇒ Jesus Christ is an infinite, eternal and unchanging God
☆ PROOF OF HIS DIETY
* The Scriptures give us enough evidence that He is the Son of God
* Jesus Christ esteemed Himself as divine (see: Matthew 6:17)
* Those who were with Him [His disciples] did not only give us a verbal evidence, but they wrote it down in the Gospels (see: Matthew 16:13-17)
* Those whom He taught recognized His divinity (see John 4:42)
* Those who crucified Him also attested to His divinity (Matthew 27:54)
* Above all the Biblical evidence, is the great impression Jesus left in the world
→ The revolution which Christ has wroth in the world is the most convincing proof of the diety of Christ
→ Billions of lives have been affected and transformed by simply accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior
→ Our transformed lives as Christians bear the greatest proof that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
→ Many lives have been totally transformed [from darkness into light] through the power of the Son of God over the ages!
* By our different testimonies and the things that God has done in our lives, we can boldly say "Jesus is the Son of God, and Jesus is God''
★ John 5:16-18→"For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." [NKJV]
* NOTE: The only person who could break the Sabbath was God, because He was the person who instituted it
→ Jesus was there when the idea of the Sabbath was commissioned and He knew why it was created (see: Mark 2:27)
→ Jesus and God are one!
→ Jesus said the was the Son of God and He cannot lie
★ John 20:27-29 →"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.”
→ Thomas made that proclamation by divine revelation
★ 1 Timothy 3:16 →"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory."
☆ THE CONCEALMENT & REVELATION OF JESUS
* Jesus Christ was concealed in the Old Testament (OT) but He was revealed in the New Testament (NT).
* Jesus was Prophesied about in the Old Testament (OT), but manifested in the New Testament (NT)
* The following set of verses are a clear evidence to this:
1. Jesus' Everlasting Rulership
★ OT: Psalm 45:6-7 →''Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions."
★ NT: Hebrews 1:8-9 →"But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
2. Jesus the Good Shepherd
★ OT: Psalm 23:1 →"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."
★ NT: John 10:14 →"I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own."
★ NT: Hebrews 13:20 →"Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant."
★ NT: Acts 20:28 →"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
3. A Stone of stumbling & a Rock of Offense
★ OT: Isaiah 8:13-14 →"The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem."
★ NT: 1 Peter 2:4 →"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious."
★ NT: 1 Peter 2:7-8 →"Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed."
* NOTE: whenever you invoke the name of Jesus in prayer, you are addressing the entire godhead
4. Exaltation of Jesus
★ OT: Psalm 110:1 →"The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
★ NT: Matthew 22:42-46 →''saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’ ”? If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore."
5. The I AM
★ OT: Exodus 3:13-14 →"Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they 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 children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
★ NT: John 8:57-58 →"Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
6. The Voice in the Wilderness
★ OT: Isaiah 40:3 →"The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God."
★ NT: Mark 1:1-3 →"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’"
7. The First and the Last
★ OT: Isaiah 48:12-13 →''Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together."
★ OT: Isaiah 48:17 →"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go."
★ NT: Revelation 1:17-18 →"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last."
→ Note: when God speaks, it is Jesus that is also speaking
8. The Holy One
★ OT: Hosea 11:9 →"I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror."
★ NT: Mark 1:23-24 →"Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
→ For the first time, demons spoke the truth!
9. Jesus Exalted
★ OT: Isaiah 45:22-24 →"Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say, ‘Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him."
★ NT: Philippians 2:10-11 →"that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
→ NOTE: The same respect given to God (in the OT) was accorded to Jesus (in the NT).
10. Our High Priest: Melchizedek
★ OT: Genesis 14:18-20 →"Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all."
★ NT: Hebrews 7:1-3 →"For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually."
* NOTE: Jesus not the Father, but He is the same as the Father
→ He is true man and true God! (100% man & 100% God)
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
The audio of the message is available for download at: https://store.fwcabuja.org/
