This message entitled THE DEITY OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE CHRIST OF GOD, I firmly believe to be very timely. For I do not know of any time in the history of the Christian church when the foundations of our faith are being attacked as they are today. False cults, false teachers, and false preachers who are driven and possessed by Satan, are tearing away at the foundation truths on which we base our assurance of salvation: of forgiveness of sin, of deliverance from the wrath of God, of our preservation to the end, and of our entrance into the blessings of heaven prepared for us by our blessed triune God before the foundation of the world.

In Psalms 11:3 the Psalmist asked, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" My friend, the answer to that question is that we can pray to our living God; we can trust in Him, and continue to hope in His mercies, grace, and love; we can continue to sing and give praise unto Him, for He changes not; we can continue to preach and teach the unsearchable riches of Christ and stand fast in the faith once for all delivered unto the saints; and we can adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, especially in holy and godly living.

Now, the one foundation of divine truth that we hold dear in our faith, and the one which is most essential to our abiding hope and peace, is the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God. It is this divine truth that has been attacked by all false cults, false teachers, and false preachers. They do this because to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as being God manifested in the flesh, means that they must also acknowledge that they are sinners, totally depraved, hopeless in themselves, and that only by Christ's precious shed blood and righteousness can they be saved, forgiven, and made suitable for heaven. This they will not acknowledge, because they still cling to their own righteousness, hoping to reach the higher life, the heavenly life, by the works of their own hands. They say, "We will not have this Man to rule over us," so they try to make Him a mere creature like themselves, hoping thereby to do away with His authority and their bowing to Him as Lord of their lives.

These false cults, false teachers, and false preachers tell us that because the Bible speaks of Jesus of Nazareth as being God's Son, then surely He cannot be equal to the Father, for He was begotten of the Father. They reason, that if He has been begotten, then He is not eternal; thus He cannot at the same time be the eternal Son and the begotten Son. But they fail to understand that the Father begat the Son in eternal generation; therefore, the Father cannot in any sense exist before the Son in eternal generation. In John 10:30 our Lord said, "I and My Father are one." This word "one" is in the neuter gender, which refers to one substance; it is not in the masculine gender, which would refer to one person. Thus, the relation of Christ to the Father is an unanswerable argument for Christ's Deity: He is a Person equal with the Father. He is the Second Person of the blessed Godhead, the Son of God; and as Colossians 2:9 tells us, "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

Listen further! In Bible language, the terms "Father" and "Son" carry with them, not our ideas of source of being and superiority or subordination and dependence, but rather the Semitic and oriental idea of likeness or sameness of nature and equality of being. Now it is the Semitic consciousness that underlies the phraseology of Scripture, and wherever the Scriptures call Christ the "Son of God," they assert His true and proper Deity. The title signifies a unique relationship that cannot be said about nor shared with any creature. As any human son is like his father in his essential nature, that is, possessed of humanity; so Christ, the Son of God, is like His Father in His essential nature, that is, possessed of Deity. The Father and the Son, together with the Holy Spirit, are coeternal and coequal in power and glory, and partake of the same nature or substance.

Listen to Hebrews 1:3-6, as the writer there portrays the glory of the Son of God in eternity and in time: "Who being the brightness of His [God the Father's] glory, and the express image of His [God the Father's] person." All of this declares His pre-existent and eternal being. "Being made so much better than the angels... when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world." This affirms His manhood in time. He always had Sonship as God, but by inheritance He obtained it as man; thus, the Lord Jesus Who was eternally with the Father, was brought forth in time.

This same truth is set forth in II Timothy 1:9 in these words: God "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Here was the Son's eternal state as God; and to deny His eternal Sonship is to deny the eternity of our election, for our eternal election depends, as shown in this verse, upon His ETERNAL SONSHIP. Then, verse 10 reads, "But [God] is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Here we have His manhood in time, as the only begotten of the Father.

Now we could continue giving Scripture after Scripture to support this truth, but we must go on to another truth that bears out as greatly as any other the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God: It is the testimony that the Scriptures give of the Divine attributes spokenboth of the Father and of the Son. First, let us ask, "Is the Father eternal?" Scripture states that the Son is eternal. We find in Micah 5:2 that the city of Bethlehem was the predicted birthplace into our world, of One "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." This was quoted as referring to Jesus of Nazareth in Matthew 2:4-6. He was from everlasting, for He is the eternal Son.

In John 1:1,2,14 we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God... And the Word was made 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." Four great facts are presented in these verses: (1) WHEN the Word was-"In the beginning" (2) WHERE the Word was-"with God" (3) WHO the Word was-"God" (4) the Word, the eternal Son of God, became God manifested in the flesh to show forth the glory of the Father. Therefore, He is eternal with the Father; and as I John 2:23 and John 5:23 tell us, "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father," and "He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him." Therefore, he who denies the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is not saved! He has no hope of eternal salvation, for the Scriptures declare plainly that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12); and only God can save a poor, hell-deserving sinner.

Again, is the Father omnipresent? Then also is the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, omnipresent-everywhere at one time, filling all the universe. The Christ of God said in Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." He said, "There am I," not, "There will I be." He is referring to His divine presence at all times, in all places, even though two or three of His people be met together in ten thousand places upon the earth at one time! Another blessed Scripture that bears this out is John 1:18: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him." Jesus of Nazareth, as the begotten Son of God, even as He was speaking, was both on earth and in the bosom of the Father in heaven. How? He is God, therefore omnipresent, capable of being in all places at one time.

While we are looking at John 1:18, there is another blessed truth brought out here that proves the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God. Look at the word "Son." The Greek uses two words for "son"; one refers to dignity of position, and the other to relationship by birth. Listen now! The second of these, relationship by birth, is never used with reference to our Lord Jesus in His relationship to the Father. The Greek word for "son," in every verse of Scripture where it is used as referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, refers to His dignity of Person and authority; therefore He is coequal with the Father and worthy of our worship, praise, obedience, and adoration.

Proceeding with these thoughts of His divine attributes then, I ask, Is the Father immutable (unchangeable)? So is the Son, for Hebrews 13:8 reads, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever"; therefore, He changes not, and for this I lift up my heart in praise.

Again, is the Father almighty? Then so is Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God. Creation demands omnipotence, so we read in John 1:3, "All things were made by Him"; and "By Him all things consist" (Col 1:17); and "Upholding all things by the word of His power" (Heb 1:3). Therefore, Jesus of Nazareth, could say in Matthew 28:18, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." You see, He is one with the Father as almighty; He is the Almighty God.

Is the Father infinitely good and holy, as set forth in Matthew 19:17, "There is none good but One, that is God"; and in I Samuel 2:2, "There is none holy as Jehovah"? Then Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is set forth as being infinitely good and holy. In John 10:11, He Himself said, "I am the Good Shepherd." And in Acts 3:14, Hebrews 7:26, and in John 1:14, He is called "the Holy One and the Just," the One Who knew no sin, Who is without sin and without spot, "holy, harmless, and undefiled"; Jesus Christ the righteous, in Whom is no sin, "full of grace and truth." Yes, He is the Almighty God, and we, as His blood-bought sons and daughters, cry like Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" because He is worthy of our worship, love, praise, and adoration.

Dear friend, have you bowed your knees before Him Who is King of kings and Lord of lords? Psalm 2:12 tells us to "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." He and He alone, is the hope of every sinner from Paradise lost to Paradise regained. He was the Lord of glory Who cheered the heart of saintly Enoch. He was the living Redeemer on Whom Job rested his hopes of immortality. He was the Shiloh of Jacob's dying hours. He was the Angel of the burning bush Who promised to lead Moses all the days of His life. He was the Captain of the hosts of the armies of God Who went before Joshua in conquering the promised land. He was the Child endowed with a name of lustrous Deity, as seen by Isaiah, for His Name is "Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." He is the Lord our Righteousness, as anticipated by Jeremiah. He was the Messiah announced by Daniel, Who should be cut off, not for Himself, but for all His people. And, praise His Name, He is the Sun of righteousness of Whom Malachi wrote, Who would bring healing in His wings. Oh how blessed is this gracious and wonderful Lord, before Whom we bow in love and praise!

Again I must say that we have in no way exhausted all the Scriptures about the blessed truths of this subject; but we have plainly showed from Scripture that the Bible declares Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, to be God manifested in the flesh, and therefore we must obey Him, believe Him, worship Him, follow Him, and give ourselves wholly and completely to Him in worship, praise, adoration, and love, for He is God blessed for ever (Rom 9:5).

It is my heart's cry that in these messages on THE DEITY OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE CHRIST OF GOD, He would be exalted before the eyes of our souls, received into our understanding, loved with all of our affections, and that our wills would embrace Him in all of His offices as Prophet, Priest, and King.

Dear friend, to know the Lord Jesus Christ is to love Him. To love Him is to follow Him and abide with Him for ever in that living union of salvation. For you see, in salvation we are brought into that living, loving, and lasting union with Him and by faith know Him to be our Head, our Husband, our Lover, and our Friend. We find in Him a preciousness, for unto him who believes, He, Christ our Lord, is precious-precious in His life, precious in His death, precious in His resurrection, precious in His ascension into heaven, precious in His intercession within the veil as our interceding High Priest, and precious as we wait for our Lord from glory in His second coming.

To the believer, the Lord Jesus Christ is our life, our hope, and our peace. I say, for the Scriptures say, He is All and in All. Listen! We see in His blood shed for us at Calvary's cross a cleansing from every sin. We see in His imputed righteousness a justification before God that leaves us perfect in His sight. We see in His redemption a complete deliverance from sin, Satan, the world, and the very presence of sin, and that for ever. We see in His resurrection a conquering of death, hell, and the grave, and an entrance into heavenly glory for every blood-bought child of God.

So if the Lord Jesus Christ is not God, as the false prophets and teachers tell us today, then you and I have no hope of heavenly life; we have no hope of sins forgiven; we have no hope of deliverance from sin, from ourselves, or from this present evil world. Therefore, like countless millions, we're shut up to nothing but confusion, sorrow, suffering, hell, and the fate of life with all its cruelty.

But as we have seen, Jesus of Nazareth is GOD manifested in the flesh, and He brings sinners back to God in reconciliation by His blood-shedding at the cross. Therefore, having proved this from Scripture, we will not waver in our belief and proclamation that He is indeed the very Christ of God. Thus, those who know Him, those who have Him, have a hope that grows brighter even unto the perfect day. We are not left to "the cruelty of fate," as men call it, but walk in that blessed hope of the children of God.

I say it one more time: To deny the Deity of Christ is to deny God's Word plainly. To deny the Deity of Christ is to deny the only way of salvation; for none can be saved apart from living faith in the living Christ, the living God manifested in the flesh. The Bible says, "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" (I John 2:22,23). Then Revelation 21:8 tells us: "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Therefore, let every man be a liar who does not believe in the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, for God's Word is true, and God is true, for He has set His seal upon the works of Himself in the Person of His Son.

So continuing this precious subject of THE DEITY OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE CHRIST OF GOD, let us look together at our Lord's words in Matthew 4:10, where He was tempted of the devil in the wilderness. In answer to Satan's proposition that he would give Christ the kingdoms of this world if only He would worship him, our Lord said, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." He plainly says, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve"; and yet He Himself received worship and honour while He was on earth, and surely since He has gone into heaven. Therefore if He be not GOD, then all who have worshipped Him and are worshipping Him today are idolaters; and we are told, as God's children, to "flee idolatry" (I Cor 10:14).

But being God manifested in the flesh, our Lord received worship and honour, heard the prayers and cries of those who called upon His Name, and never rebuked any for coming to Him with their affections and petitions. He did not rebuke the ruler (Matt 9:18) when he came and worshipped Him, asking healing for his daughter. He did not rebuke His disciples for worshipping Him (Matt 14:33) when they had seen His power in quieting the stormy seas. He did not rebuke the women who came to the grave after His resurrection for falling down at His feet in worship and praise for His deliverance from the tomb (Matt 28:9; Luke 24:52). And I ask, Why? Because He was God manifested in the flesh, and therefore worthy of our worship and praise. In fact, Jesus of Nazareth, Who was God manifested in the flesh, encouraged men to worship and honour Him. Listen to John 5:23! "All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." And then He went so far in the last portion of that verse as to say, "He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him." How plain could any Scripture be? Here our Lord was saying, "I the Son, am equal to the Father; we are one; I came to manifest the Father, and if you will not worship and honour Me, then it is proof that you do not know the Father and have not worshipped God the Father in spirit and in truth." Also He said, "He that is of God heareth God's words" (John 8:47).

Another Scripture that is very plain on this subject is in Acts 7. Here we find the martyr Stephen giving the truest adoration to the Son of God.

"Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they [of the council] cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him... And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep (vv. 55-60)."

In quoting the words of Psalm 31:5, "Into Thine hand I commit My spirit: Thou hast redeemed Me, O LORD God of truth," Stephen prayed not to God the Father alone, nor to the Father through Christ, but to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, worshipping Him with his last breath as very God, the Eternal God. Oh what greater proof do we need than this, that the Lord Jesus Christ is to be worshipped, honoured, and adored as God, very God, God manifested in the flesh!

Let us now look at another line of thought. Prayer, or calling upon the name of the Lord, is everywhere encouraged in the Word of God. Psalm 145:18 reads, "The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." Then in the New Testament we read in Acts 2:21, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved"; and "follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (II Tim 2:22). These Scriptures, showing us that we are commanded to pray and to call upon the name of our Lord Jesus, could be multiplied, but there is one in particular which shows that the name of Him Whom we are to call upon is Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is God-"to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord" (I Cor 1:2).

Let us note the setting: The Apostle is writing to God's children, called saints. They are in the act of spiritual worship. They are worshipping Jesus Christ our Lord. They are not just a few in number, but all saints everywhere are calling unto the same Person. Think of it: all saints in every place are calling upon the name of Jesus Christ! Just think, if He were just a man, how many could He listen to at one time and know what they were saying? How could He feel sympathy for each of them, help them, answer them, and give them His undivided attention? If just one person were pouring out his heart to you, and then a second one came, then a third, how could you give your undivided attention to all of them? Then add twenty or fifty more-what would happen? You would give up in despair, trying to keep all their varied interests from becoming entangled! You would say, "All of this is beyond the power of one man." And you are right.

But remember the words of I Corinthians 1:2-"Saints... in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." They are bringing unto Him matters of importance, pouring into His ears the deepest secrets of their hearts, crying for mercy, confessing their sins, supplicating for grace in their crises, asking for help in time of trouble. Some are praising Him; some are giving thanks to Him; some are adoring Him, but He hears them all. He comprehends all they say; He answers all of their requests. And remember, as Revelation 5:11 tells us, the worshippers are "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." They are numbers without number, and yet He hears them all. Oh my friend, if a single cry of distress were disregarded, or a single note of praise unheard, then that act of homage would be vain and futile, and would be an appeal to an incompetent Deity. But no prayer is lost. There is no confusion, no entanglement, no weariness, no telling us to come back later because He is dealing with someone else. No, because He Himself has invited us to come, and all in every place who call upon His Name are daily proving the truth of His divine proclamation, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28).

All of this proves that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is not mere man or the highest of God's creations, but is God Himself, Who knows all, sees all, and is everywhere present at the same time. Our God can hear the cry of all of His millions of people at one time and answer them all according to His divine pleasure and grace. I say, this is gracious and comforting; this is precious, to know this Christ Who is our Great High Priest and hears and answers us, though millions more of His blood-bought people around the world are crying unto Him at the same time!

Then, before we close, I must take you to the scenes of the Revelation which picture the redeemed ones in heaven. What do we find there? Read Revelation chapters 5,7,15,19,21,22 which picture them worshipping the Lamb of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, the eternal Son of God, Who is God over all, blessed for ever. Then if anyone objects to the fact that in many places it says that the Lamb was not spoken of as being on the throne but at God's right hand, let him turn to Revelation 22:3 and see that when Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, has finished the work of the kingdom and has delivered it up to God (I Cor 15:24-28), then shall God be all in all and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the new heaven, and all of God's children shall serve Him. You see, in eternity we will never see God in His essence as Spirit (I Tim 6:14-16), but we shall see Him in His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, the Lamb, God manifested in the flesh; and we shall for ever adore Him, praise Him, worship Him, and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. Oh dear friend, do you know this Christ of God in that living, loving, lasting union of salvation? I say again, to know Him is to love Him and to follow Him.

I will close with the last Scripture that for ever shuts the mouths of those who claim that the Son of God is not God, very God. Listen to I John 5:20: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. THIS IS THE TRUE GOD, AND ETERNAL LIFE." Amen, and Amen!