Alright well we’re there in Matthew chapter number 19. And of course tonight we are continuing through our “Declaring Doctrine” series. And on Sunday nights what we’ve been doing is we’ve been systematically going through the major doctrines of the Bible. And if you remember, a couple of weeks ago, several weeks ago, we started in a new section in this series. We’ve been dealing with the Godhead and we talked about the attributes of God, the fact that God is omniscient and omnipotent and immutable. And then last week we talked about the moral attributes of God. And if you remember, the week before that we looked at the moral attributes of God. And we learned that God is love, he’s holy, he’s just, he’s merciful, he’s jealous, he’s righteous, he’s truth, he’s faithful, and he is good.
Tonight we’re going to begin a new section in this Godhead section about the deity of Jesus Christ. And of course when we say the deity of Jesus Christ, what we mean by that or what that means is that we believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. Now there are some people who don’t believe that. There are some religions that believe that Jesus was a good man or a good prophet but they don’t believe that he’s anything more than that. We of course believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. Now we’re going to look at this over the next several weeks. I don’t know exactly how many sermons it’s going to end up being but tonight we’re going to look at the deity of Jesus Christ as proven by his moral attributes. And the only reason I’m even starting with that is because we just looked at the moral attributes of God a couple of weeks ago. So, I think it would be a good to look at that tonight. But we’ll also be looking at the deity of Jesus Christ as proven by the virgin birth, the deity of Jesus Christ as proven by his sinless life, the deity of Jesus Christ as proven by the statements of scripture and the deity of Jesus Christ as proven by his own statements. And not all of those are a specific sermon. Those might be all united into a couple of sermons or a few sermons. We’ll see how that goes.
But tonight we’re looking at the deity of Christ. And the reason I’m telling you that is because I don’t want you to think that what I’m giving you tonight is the only proof for the deity of Christ. There is actually stronger and clearer proof for the deity of Jesus Christ then the deity of Jesus Christ by his moral attributes. I just felt like it was a good segue into it since we just looked at the moral attributes of God. And this is strong too of course but this is not necessarily what I would go to if I was at the door and somebody didn’t believe in the deity of Christ. What I’m going to show you tonight is not necessarily what I would go to in order to prove that. There are clear passages of scripture. We’ll look at those as we continue on in this series. But tonight we’re just going to focus on the deity of Jesus Christ based off of or proven by his moral attributes.
If you remember, a couple of weeks ago we looked at these things. God is love. God is holy. God is truth. God is just. Tonight we’re going to look at those and we’re going to see that Jesus shares all of the same moral attributes as God does. And that proves that Jesus is God or it’s one of the proofs that Jesus has. Notice Matthew 19:16. We have this famous story of the rich young ruler coming to Jesus and asking him a question. Now there is a lot in this passage. I preached entire sermons out of this passage before. I’m not obviously doing that tonight. There’s a lot that we could cover. But I want you to understand the context is that we have this rich young ruler coming to Jesus but he’s coming with a bad attitude. And he’s coming with his mind already made up.
To be honest with you, it seems like Jesus is kind of short with him and just kind of gets to the point. But I can understand that. Because you know as a Pastor, over the years I’ve had many people come to ask me a question when they’ve already made up their minds and they already know what they’re going to do. They already know what they think. They already know what they believe. They’re just trying to get you to kind of rubber stamp the decision that they’ve already made. And this is what this young man is doing to Jesus. He already knows what he’s going to do and he’s not going to let anybody correct him or tell him he’s wrong. But he’s just coming to Jesus hoping he can manipulate him into just kind of rubber stamping it and saying you’re good to go. And of course Jesus doesn’t do that but look at verse 16. The Bible says this “16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”. Now notice, he doesn’t come to Jesus asking “What must I do to be saved?”. He already has an idea of what it takes to be saved, that you have to do something good, you have to do good things to be saved. And he comes with this attitude with Jesus. And of course Jesus knows this about him because Jesus is God, because Jesus is deity, because he knows what’s in man.
So he comes to him with this attitude. He says “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”. And again, I don’t have time to develop this but look at verse 17. “17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good?”. And this is what I mean when I say it seems like Jesus is kind of a little stand offish with him. But I can understand. It’s for a reason. He says “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”. And of course they have this whole conversation. But I want you to notice that Jesus is kind of standoffish with this young man because he knows what this young man thinks about Jesus. He realizes that this rich young ruler simply thinks that Jesus is not the Christ, is not the chosen one, is not the Son of God but he’s just a teacher or master. He even tries to compliment him by saying “good master”. Jesus kind of highlights for this young man that he knows what he really thinks about him because he says “Why are you calling me good?”. He says there is none good but one.
Now what Jesus explains here is a theological truth. Go to Romans 3:3. Of course you’ve seen this before but let’s look at it together. Romans 3:12, the Bible says this “12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”. The Bible says that no one does good. Now you and I by our human standards would say “Well you know so-and-so is a pretty good person”. And by our human standards, another person might be a pretty good person but the standard for good is God. In fact, the word good comes from the word of God. God is good is what Jesus is saying to the rich young ruler. And to be good, you’ve got to be like God. And by the way, this is why in Romans 3 he goes on to say “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. None of us can attain to God’s glory. Why? Because none of us can attain to God’s goodness. So see, Jesus is looking at this young man who doesn’t believe that he is the son of God and he says “You’re calling me good?”. But here’s the thing, “there is none good but one, that is God”.
And here’s what Jesus is trying to explain to this young man. He says if I’m good then I’m God. And if I’m not God then I’m not good. Because there is none that doeth good, talking about human beings, no not one. And of course if we ask the question “Is Jesus good?”. The resounding answer would be “Yes, Jesus is good.”. In fact, if you ask those who deny the deity Jesus Christ, if you ask the Muslim who denies the deity of Jesus Christ, if you ask the Jehovah’s witness who denies the deity of Jesus Christ, if you ask the Mormon who denies the deity of Jesus Christ, if you ask whatever cult that denies the deity of Jesus Christ, if you ask them is Jesus good then the resounding answer will be yes. No Mormon will tell you that Jesus was a sinner. They’ll say “Well Jesus isn’t God.”. Okay. Well was he a sinner? Was he bad? Then they say “No, no. He was good”. They say he was a good teacher, a good master, a good prophet. Ask the Muslims if Jesus was a good prophet. Well wait a minute, Jesus highlights this idea. He says “Look, if I’m good then I’m God”. And here’s the interesting thing about Jesus. When you study his life, no one would say he’s not good. Everyone would say yes Jesus was good. Well let me explain something to you. The fact that Jesus was good proves that Jesus was God.
The truth is this, if we were to ask about you to your wife, husband, neighbor, in-laws, then they might say you are good but they will say you are a sinner. They won’t say that you are sinless. You say, “Well people think I’m a good person”. But if we ask them if you are a sinner then they will say “Of course”. Do you see what I’m saying? No one would accuse Jesus of being a sinner. Everyone would say Jesus is good. Well let me tell you something. Because Jesus is good, Jesus is God. Because there is only one good and that is God. God is good and Jesus is good. Therefore Jesus is God.
God is good. Jesus is good. Therefore Jesus is God. And to deny the deity of Christ, you have to deny the goodness of God, the goodness of Christ. The Bible says that Jesus went about doing good. The Bible says Jesus is good. Let me give you another one. John 3:33 “33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.”. Truth comes from God. Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. The only truth we have in this world comes from God. And by the way, I’ll bring this up in my America series on Sunday mornings but all of you constitutional loving Americans out there, let me explain something to you. When the declaration of independence says we hold these truths to be self-evident, that’s actually an attack on God. You say “Well it’s true.”. No, we get our truth from the word of God. We hold these truths from the word of God. They’re not self-evident. That’s a sermon for another day.
John 14:6. “6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”. So, Jesus is not only good, Jesus is truth. Now God is truth. Is this the only proof we have of the deity of Christ? Absolutely not. We’ll spend the next several weeks looking at it. But please understand this. If we were to ask “Are you truth?”. I mean you tell the truth sometimes or when it benefits you but are you truth? Is your being truth? Is there no deceitfulness or lying in you? The answer is a resounding no, of course not. The Bible says “Let God be true but every man a liar”. Here’s the thing, Jesus was not just a man. He was truth. He was God. God is good. Jesus is good. Therefore Jesus is God. God is truth. Jesus is truth. Therefore Jesus is God.
Isaiah 6:3 “3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”. Here’s point number three. God is holy. God is holy and the Bible teaches that Jesus is holy. Let me show it to you. Luke 1:35 “35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”. Now the term “the Son of God” is a reference to the deity of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God. But notice, in this verse it is connected to the fact that he is holy. He is referred to as a holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the son of God. See, God is holy but Jesus is also holy. We spent an entire sermon focusing on the moral attributes of God, not just the physical attributes of God, the fact that he’s omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient and immutable. But he also has moral attributes. He’s good. He’s holy. He’s just. And then we see that Jesus shares all those same attributes. God is good. Jesus is good. Therefore Jesus is God. God is true. Jesus is true. Therefore Jesus is God. God is holy. Jesus is holy. Therefore Jesus is God.
Acts 4:27 “27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,”. See, Jesus is described as being holy. God is described as being holy. God is holy. Jesus is holy. Therefore Jesus is God. And again, how much would you have to pay someone to say of you that you’re holy because you’re not holy. I’m not holy. Jesus is holy. Revelation 15:3, the Bible says “3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”. God is just. And the Bible says that Jesus is just.
Acts 3:14 “14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;”. See, the Bible refers to Jesus not as someone who does justice but as someone who is just. And again, could it be said of you that you’re just? Are you always fair? Sometimes we get it wrong. But Jesus never gets it wrong. In fact, the Bible says that he’s just in making war. See, the difference between you and the American Christian is that when Jesus wages war, it’s always just. It’s never like “Well, we thought the weapons of mass destruction were there and then afterward found out that they were.”. God is just. Jesus is just. Therefore Jesus is God.
Daniel 9:14 “14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.”. The Bible says that God is righteous and the Bible says that Jesus is righteous. 1 Corinthians 1:30 “30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:”. Now none of those apply to you and me. But I want you to notice that Jesus is made unto us righteousness. So, the Bible says that God is righteous in all his works. But then the Bible tells us that Jesus is righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21, the Bible says “21 For he hath made him to be sin for us,”. This is God the Father who made God the Son to be sin. “who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”. See, at salvation he took my sin. I took his righteousness. Why could I take his righteousness? Because he was righteous. You and I are not righteous. You and I do not have the righteousness that will allow us into heaven. God is righteous. Jesus is righteous. Therefore Jesus is God. And we don’t even have to ask you if you’re righteous. We already know you’re a sinner condemned to hell. You need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Your righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The Bible says you’re not righteous. I’m not righteous. We’re not righteous enough but Jesus is. You say, well how could Jesus have enough righteousness? Because God is righteous. Jesus is righteous. Therefore Jesus is God.
Look at 1st Corinthians 1:9. The Bible says “9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”. The Bible says that God is faithful. And again, we talked about that last week. I don’t want to spend too much time on it. But let me tell you something. The Bible also teaches that Jesus is faithful. Go to the book of Revelation. Revelation 3:14, the Bible says this “14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen,”. This is Jesus referring to himself. “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;”. Go to Revelation 19:11. Of course we have the Battle of Armageddon. We have the lord Jesus Christ coming down to the battle on the white horse with ten thousands of his saints behind him. Revelation 19:11 “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse;”. Now this is not the white horse that we saw in Revelation 6 where the antichrist is imitating Jesus. “and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”. See, he judges in righteousness. He makes war in righteousness. He’s faithful and true. The Bible says God is faithful and then the Bible says that Jesus is faithful and true. The Bible says that God is truth and then the Bible says that Jesus is faithful and true.
You say how can these things be? Here’s how, because Jesus is God. And by the way, let me just say this. Aren’t you thankful that Jesus is faithful? I mean being faithful means he’s consistent, he’s constant. Sometimes in life it might seem like people are looking for an opportunity to let you down. It’s almost like people are looking for an opportunity mess you up, trip you up, offend you. But you know what, Jesus will never do that. Jesus is faithful, constant, consistent, always there when you need him. Don’t expect your husband, your wife, your children or any human being to be 100% faithful. But God is faithful and Jesus is faithful because Jesus is God.
Psalm 116:5 the Bible says this “5 Gracious is the Lord,” Gracious, that’s the word grace. For by grace are ye saved through faith. “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.”. A few weeks ago we talked about the fact that God is merciful or mercy but we talked about the fact that mercy and grace are kind of different sides of the same coin. Grace is when you receive something you did not earn. Mercy is when you don’t receive something you did earn. Grace is when I didn’t work for it but I got it. Mercy is when I’ve sinned and messed up but I didn’t get the punishment. It’s the same concept but on the flip side. That’s why they are put together in this verse. “5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.”. We often emphasize the grace part and there’s nothing wrong with that. We do that because we’re talking about the gift that we are receiving which is eternal life, the gift we get by grace. But realize that mercy is there as well. Because when I don’t get hell, that’s mercy. When I get heaven, that’s grace. When I don’t get hell, that’s mercy. Grace gives me something that I didn’t deserve. Mercy doesn’t give me something that I do deserve. That’s why these words are coupled together, grace and mercy. Now here’s the point, God is gracious and merciful. We saw it there in psalm 116:5.
John 1:14 “14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,” And of course this is talking about the deity of Christ. “(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”. Now God is true. Jesus is truth. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. But the Bible says here that he’s grace and truth. He’s he’s full of grace and he’s full of truth. God is grace and mercy and Jesus is also grace and mercy because Jesus is God. John 1:17, the Bible says this. “17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”. Notice the Bible emphasizes that he’s grace which is just the flip side of mercy and he is true. The Bible says that God is gracious.
In John 8, you have this extremely popular story. John 8:3 “3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery;” And of course the Pharisees were doing this to try to catch Jesus in his words. “and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.”. The question I have to ask is where is the man? We can tell that their motives are not righteous. Verse 5. “5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?”. By the way, that’s true. But they are trying catch Jesus in his words. “6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.”. They’re trying to get him to go against the law of Moses or against the Roman Empire. This is very applicable to us because we live in a heathen society, in a non-Christian society where the laws of the land do not match up with the laws of God. And here they’re trying to get Jesus because there’s no right answer to this question. If Jesus says “stone her” then they call the Roman Empire and say he is going against the law of Rome. If he says don’t stone her then they’ll say that he is a phone and not following the Levitical laws. So, they’re trying to catch him in his words.
What does Jesus do? And look this is a good lesson for some of you. We don’t have to answer every question. “6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.”. Sometimes people ask you questions and there is no good answer or it doesn’t matter what you answer. He acts like he doesn’t even hear him. “7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”. Of course we don’t know what he wrote on the ground nobody knows that. We’ll have to ask him when we get to heaven. Now the idea is that there is none that doeth good. There’s only one without sin and it’s Jesus because Jesus is God. Jesus is saying that they’re trying to get them to do something that only he has the right to do.
Verses 8 & 9. “8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?”. Verse 11 “11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee:”. Now the average liberal goes to this passage and loves the grace and mercy of Jesus. This definitely highlights the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ. But I want you to notice that’s not all he said. Because that is all that people like Rick Warren or Joel Osteen will focus on. He also says “go, and sin no more.”. He didn’t just say “Hey, I don’t condemn you either just go on and do what you do.”. He said, “No, I don’t condemn you either but you need to stop that”. Jesus was the perfect mixture of grace and truth. The liberals are like “Grace, grace, grace. Forgiveness, love”. There is grace and forgiveness but they never preach truth. As fundamentalists, we tend to be a little lopsided on the truth and preach hard sermons. I’m all for that but Jesus was the perfect balance of grace and truth. When you got saved, Jesus was saying “neither condemn I thee but go and sin no more”. You don’t have to stop sinning to get forgiveness but don’t forget about the truth. Jesus was the perfect balance of grace, mercy, and truth. How can that be? Jesus is God. The perfect balance of gracious and merciful is found in God. And Jesus was full of grace and truth. How can that be? Because Jesus is God.
The Bible says that God is jealous and Jesus is jealous. Let me just show it to you and explain. John 2:17 “17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”. Remember when Jesus walked into the temple, he got angry and he overturned the tables and he threw them out of the temple. When he did that, the disciples remembered that it was written. They applied this to Jesus. “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”. 2 Corinthians 9:2 “2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.”. I want you to notice in John 2:17 that the Bible says “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”. In 2nd Corinthians 9:2, the Bible says “your zeal hath provoked very many”. I want you to understand that the Greek underlying words translated as “zeal” are the same words. I’m not trying to confuse you with the Greek or impress you. I just want you to understand that the words in the original language are the same words in those two verses and they’re both translated zeal.
If you go to 2 Corinthians 11:2, the Bible says this “2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy:”. And I want you to notice that the word “jealousy” is the same underling Greek word that was translated as “zeal” in 2 Corinthians 9:2 and John 2:17. I just want you to realize that these words are used synonymously in scripture. You can hear even by the way the word sounds that they have the same etymology. “Jealous” and “zealous”. I don’t have time to develop that and how that all works together and why they mean the same thing. I’m just bringing that up to say this “God is jealous”. Those words are being used synonymously and I’m just explaining that to you because there’s not a verse that I could find in the New Testament that said that Jesus was jealous. But the Bible says that God is jealous and the Bible says that Jesus is zealous. Those words mean the same thing. That’s the only point I’m trying to make. God is jealous or zealous. Jesus is jealous or zealous. Why? Because Jesus is God. They have the same moral attributes. We saw that God is good and Jesus is good. Therefore Jesus is God. We saw that god is truth and Jesus is truth. Therefore Jesus is God. We saw that God is holy and Jesus is holy. Therefore Jesus is God. We saw that God is just and Jesus is just. Therefore Jesus is God. God is righteous and Jesus is righteous. Therefore Jesus is God. God is faithful and Jesus is faithful. Therefore Jesus is God. God is grace or mercy and Jesus is grace and mercy. Therefore Jesus is God. God is jealous and Jesus is zealous. They mean the same thing. Therefore Jesus is God.
The most famous moral attribute of God is that he is love. People sometimes think this is the only moral attribute of God. 1 John 4:8 “8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”. There’s other passages that say the same thing that God is love. But I’ll submit to you tonight that Jesus is the embodiment of love. Now here’s what’s interesting, John 13:34 says “34 A new commandment I give unto you,”. Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross, coming to the end of his ministry. If I was a disciple then I would sit up and listen because they grew up in this Jewish, Pharisaical culture of commandments and traditions. They understood commandments. That’s why Jesus asked so much about commandments. For example, he asked what is the greatest commandment. Multiple times he answered “To love the lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might. And the second is like unto it. To love thy neighbor as thyself.”. He said “On these hang the law and the prophets”. He says if you can do these two things, you’ll fulfill all. You don’t have to worry about the rest because if you do these 2 things then it will cause you to obey all of the commandments. You won’t worship an idol, steal from your neighbor, kill him if you follow these 2 things. Their religion was all about commandments. And by the way, all false religions are all about commandments. You know, keeping the law, doing good things. They ask him about the commandments.
“34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another;”. Now this part is not new. Jesus already said to love one another. But here is the new part “as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”. See, the new part of the commandment is not that we love one another but that you love one another as I have loved you. You say well what’s the big deal about that? Well, here’s the big deal about that. No one loves more than Jesus. John 15:13 “13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”. He says when a man sacrifices himself for his friends, there’s no greater love than that. Jesus had the greatest amount of love, the greatest quantity of love, the greatest quality of love. There was no one that had greater love than Jesus because “13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”.
And by the way, that’s exactly what Jesus did. He said they don’t take my life from me. I lay it down. I sacrifice myself for you. So please understand this, the Bible says God is love. Then the Bible says that in Jesus was the greatest love that mankind had ever seen or heard or known of. You say how can that be? God is love and Jesus is love. Therefore Jesus is God. And Jesus said, to love as I have loved you. How would that transform your marriage? How would that transform your parenting? How would that transform your friendships and your relationships in life when you decide to not just love like you love yourself but love like Jesus loved us. “13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”.
And here’s the truth, God is love. Jesus is love. Therefore Jesus is god. There are other reasons why we believe Jesus is God. We believe Jesus is God because the Bible says so and we will look at that in a later sermon. There are statements of scripture that say Jesus is God. We will look in a later statement as the statements that show us the deity of Christ. We believe Jesus is God because of his sinless life and his virgin birth. We’ll look at that as well. But tonight we saw that Jesus is god because of his moral attributes. Jesus is good, truth, holy. None of those things apply to you or me. Jesus is all of these things. Because Jesus is God. We believe in the deity of Christ because of the attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray.