Who is Jesus Christ?
Is Jesus God?
You know the common view of Jesus? Kind, patient, meek, mild? That is true
sometimes. But not in John 8. Jesus really puts it all on the table, and tells
the Pharisees what he sees in their hearts.
Jesus just got done telling them that sin enslaves them. But if they will
believe in Jesus, he will set them free.
The Pharisees are really put off by that, claiming to be descendants of Abraham,
enslaved to no one! Jesus counters, saying if they were children of Abraham,
they would do what Abraham did...and listen to God. So, Jesus brings into
question who they really belong to.
John 8:42 Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because
I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me."
Now Jesus pulls out all the stops:
43 Why can't you understand what I am saying? It's because you can't even hear
me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the
evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with
his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Then Jesus asks a question of them (of his enemies) that no average person would
normally be able to ask 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?
Then Jesus finishes the logical progression of his message:
And since I am telling you the truth, why don't you believe me? 47 Anyone who
belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don't listen because
you don't belong to God.
You know how they reacted? They began calling him names! No kidding. They called
him a Samaritan (a racist slur). And then said Jesus was possessed by a demon (a
religious slur).
Jesus does not back down. He says a few things, then this: 51 I tell you the
truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!
They immediately retort: 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died,
and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?
Here is how Jesus responds: 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward
to my coming. He saw it and was glad." 57 The people said, "You aren't even
fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?
Based on Jesus' answer below, what do you think he is saying about himself? Who
is he saying that he is?58 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham
was even born, I Am!"
Here is their reaction: 59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him.
But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.
Remember the phrase, "I Am" is reserved for only God. So, once again, Jesus is
clearly putting forth his identity.
Before Abraham was born, Jesus existed. Eternally. "I am."
Those who say that Jesus never claimed to be God, have never read the gospels!
Jesus is God Himself manifest in the flesh. He is the image of the
invisible God.
Jesus said; John 4:24 God is a Spirit...
And Jesus is the body where God dwells:
Col 2:9 For in him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily.
He is the image of the invisible God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 … Christ, who is the image of God
Hebrews 1:3 (Jesus is) ... the express image of his (God's)
person
Colossians 1:15 (Jesus) Who is the image of the invisible God
John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
God is Jesus, and Jesus is God. The Father is the Holy Spirit which dwells within Jesus. Jesus is the human body God created for Himself!
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Only God can forgive sin, and Jesus did just that.
Luke 5:20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are
forgiven thee. 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who
is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
And, Jesus said He is God!
Luke 4:12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God.
Jesus IS God! That means that God Himself came to the earth as a man to die for
us and save our souls so He could walk among us and live among those who love
Him, forever!
Is there any truth to Interfaithism? The claim that all religions worship the same God?
Or, is Jesus the Only Way?
First of all, we have to acknowledge that the Bible is the one and only truth.
We can know it is truth by studying fulfilled prophecy and looking at historical
facts. John 14:29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when
it is come to pass, ye might believe. Prophecy helps us believe. And, while
there are more than 25,000 archeological digs that prove the Bible is 100%
accurate history, the Bible has never had an incorrect prophecy.
Any deviation from the pages of the Bible and you will corrupt and taint the
truth and end up somewhere else. Religions like Islam and Judaism take the parts
of the Bible that they like and discard the rest. Islamic doctrine says they
believe in the whole Bible, but they choose the parts they like and say the
parts they don't like are “corruption” in the Bible. Judaism, like Islam,
doesn't believe Jesus was the Messiah and they are still waiting for him to
arrive. Even Christianity is full of doctrinal deviations and have very wide
extremes of beliefs.
The Catholic Church is one of the driving forces behind Interfaithism and is
promoting the lie that all religions worship the same God. This is so not true!
For example: Did you know that Allah was a pagan deity? In fact, he was the moon
god who was married to the sun goddess and the stars were his daughters. The
Muslims say that they are worshiping the God of Abraham, but this has been
proven to be false. And, the Roman Catholic church says that you don’t really
need to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved! (Article #841 of the Catechism says
Muslims will be saved just like Christians, but Muslims do not believe in
Jesus). This is a direct contradiction to the words of Jesus Christ Himself!
John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if
ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.
We absolutely must believe that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh as of
the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14), was crucified for our sins and rose
again. This is the gospel!
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
There is no salvation in any other name but Jesus! Not Mohammed, not Buddha; no
other name…
Why??? Because Jesus is not just a man or a prophet, He is the human body that
the Almighty God manifested for Himself. Take a look at the following:
1 Tim 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham was, I am.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God; … 14 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.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, ... and his name shall be called ...
The mighty God, The everlasting Father
Matt 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Jesus said; Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith
the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. … 18 I am
he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and
have the keys of hell and of death.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and
how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Jesus said; John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
A child will be born (Jesus) and he will be called “the mighty God”, “the
everlasting Father”, “God with us”. God was manifest in the flesh (Jesus). The
Word was God and became flesh (Jesus). Who lives and was dead? Jesus. Jesus
said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Now there’s a powerful statement! Jesus is
God! He that has seen Jesus, has seen the Father. Jesus said, “I and my Father
are one.”
There are also many places where context
shows us the same thing, by referring to Jesus and God in the same context. IE:
Luke 8:39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole
city how great things Jesus had done unto him.
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So, what must I do to be saved now that I believe and understand who Jesus really is?
Be careful that you don't just take a man's word for truth just because he is a
preacher or a priest. There are so many different churches and teachings, but
only one truth.
If a church’s theology is "wide," or "broad," and understood and complied with
by the many, which way are they teaching? The broad way, or the narrow way?
Which way did Jesus say we should go? Matt 7:14 Because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Most Christian churches are founded on the same verses of scripture:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world…
John 3:3 Ye must be born again.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved.
Romans 10:9 That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.
These passages are truth, yes, but that’s not all that the Bible teaches us! We
cannot take a few truths out of the Bible and ignore the rest of it. Many people
like to justify themselves by hanging on the fact that God saved us by His
grace. It is by grace that we are saved, but God expects us to obey Him
and love Him with all our heart, mind and strength. If we’re looking for
excuses, God sees our inner hearts and we can’t hide from Him. We can fool other
people and can even fool ourselves if we really want to, but do we really want
to do that? Do we really want to justify ourselves instead of pleasing our God
and trying to do His will? The meaning of these verses goes much deeper than
that! There is great danger in taking scripture verses out of context and
misinterpreting them!
For example: John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Basically what some
people teach is that the Bible says that if we believe, we are saved. That's
true! It does say that. Here in John it says that if we eat and drink of the
body of Jesus, we're saved. Does this mean that all we have to do is take
communion (symbolically eat and drink of his body) to be saved? If we wanted to
take this verse and make a doctrine of it, we could. But that would be silly,
wouldn't it? So why do we allow people to deceive us with similar types of
doctrine? We have to take the Bible as a whole and obey God in every thing He
says, not just pieces of it.
We are saved by grace and belief in Jesus Christ is salvation, but as
Jesus said, why would we call Him Lord and do not the things He says? Luke
6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Why
wouldn't we obey Him if we truly love Him? The thing I'm arguing here is that
many people don't really give their life to God and truly repent. Many people
are taught that saying a prayer saves their soul, but aren't told that they must
absolutely mean that prayer, or that it's not saying the words that saves you,
it's changing your heart and mind, admitting you're a sinner, repenting of those
sins, and turning to follow and obey the Lord that saves you.
We have to be very careful that we don't follow the watered down "Christianity"
that is very prevalent in the world today. We can't do anything to save
ourselves, Jesus did it all on the cross, but we also can't listen to people who
are so adamant about "doing nothing" that you don't even repent! If we change
our mind, we're doing something. If we repent, we're doing something.
Jesus said that the way to be saved (to see the kingdom of God) is to be,
“Born Again”. Surprisingly, most people can't tell you what that means.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Belief alone does not mean you are born again. The devil believes, James 2:19
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe,
and tremble. But he will be cast into the lake of fire for ever and ever
(Rev. 20:10). There are many people that believe, but will be turned away, that
will fully expect to get into Heaven.
Matt 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord , shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord , have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful
works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me,
ye that work iniquity.
Not every one that saith unto Jesus, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven! Be careful that you aren't deceived by those who don't know the truth!
Simply believing and confessing with my mouth is not enough!
Acts 8 contains the story of Simon, who believed, and was even baptized, but: as
Peter said, in Acts 8:21, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for
thy heart is not right in the sight of God.”
If I truly believe, I will follow Christ. If I don’t follow Christ’s teaching,
do I truly believe, or am I just trying to get there with the least possible
affect to my life? Am I saying I believe just because I want to cover all the
bases? That won’t work. I must repent and give my life to Jesus Christ without
any reservation at all!
The Bible teaches us to “obey the Gospel”.
1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of
God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not
the gospel of God?
2 Thess 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Paul declares the gospel; how that Christ died for our sins, and was buried, and
rose again. That is the gospel.
1 Cor 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel ... how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;4 And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day ...
The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Being born again
is the death, burial and resurrection of our spirit. To obey the Gospel is to be
born again.
How do we do that?
Death:
Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out
Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men every where to repent:
Acts 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and
throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
We die to self by repenting and giving our lives to Jesus Christ totally and
completely. Don’t gloss over this. This, is salvation. If you haven’t truly
repented, you can get baptized all you want, but God is not going to fill you
with His Spirit and save your soul if your heart is not right, and you don't
truly repent of your sins. You must give all of yourself totally and completely!
Burial:
Burial is the act of emersion in water; baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins. The original Greek word for baptize: baptizo
(bap-tid'-zo) means to immerse, submerge; to make overwhelmed (i.e. fully wet).
Jesus said; Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned.
The apostles all taught and commanded both Jew and Gentile to be baptized with
water.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost.
We are buried with Jesus by baptism into death, to walk in the newness of life
with Him!
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection:
Does this mean that baptism saves you? No, alone it does not, but it is
part of being obedient to God, and obeying the gospel. Like Simon in Acts 8:21; He was baptized but his heart was not right.
It's the heart that matters and obedience in baptism is only part of it. What I mean by
this is, like the thief who was hung on a cross next to Jesus, Luke
23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt
thou be with me in paradise. This man did not get baptized but
Jesus clearly said he would be with Him in paradise. If you don't
have the ability to get baptized, and you die before you get a chance
are you damned to hell? No way. But should you be baptized? Yes!
Absolutely! We should be baptized into Jesus Christ as it says in
Romans 6. And we must obey Jesus' command to be baptized. Please don't get me wrong,
I'm not giving people an excuse to not get baptized, I'm simply making sure you
understand that baptism isn't what saves you, and that being baptized
does not ensure your salvation, but it's a necessary act of obedience
to Jesus and the Gospel. True faith and repentance will always cause a person to be
obedient to the plan of God for salvation. Always.
Resurrection:
We are resurrected by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Some churches teach that baptism is the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”, not water
baptism. But you’ll notice that Paul re-baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
(Acts 19:5), and that Peter commanded the Gentiles to be baptized with water
after they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:47). The baptism Jesus and
His Apostles are talking about is water baptism. It is one part of being
obedient to the Gospel, and receipt of the Holy Spirit is a promise of God, not
something we can earn or do for ourselves.
So, the question remains: What does God expect? What does it really mean to
be born again? What must a person do to be saved?
Faith in Jesus Christ and repentance do save a person. However, true faith and
repentance will always cause a person to be obedient to the plan of God for
salvation. This has always been the case through history (see Hebrews 11). Faith
always produces obedience. We are obedient to our faith by following the plan of
salvation taught to us by Jesus and the Apostles; by obeying the gospel.
It's important to understand that Jesus is the body of God manifest in the flesh
and that He came to the earth as a man, born of a woman as we are, to die in our place.
Sin began with Eve when she believed Satan and ate of the tree that God commanded not to.
Adam took the apple and listened to the voice of his wife instead of God and ate as well
(Genesis 3:17 and 1 Timothy 2:14). The penalty for sin is death, and Jesus paid the price for us.
He died, was buried, and rose again. That, is the gospel. He will return to gather those
who believe this and turn away from sin (repentance) to follow the Lord in obedience. That, is the way to salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ is loving and merciful. It is His love and mercy that has
given us this great plan of salvation. However, the scriptures clearly teach
that those who reject His plan will be lost (2 Thess 1:8, 2 Cor. 4:3). We need
to be careful, lest we start down the path of thinking that God's mercy will
justify people that do not obey God's plan. The same argument can be used to say
that those who live in India, who have been surrounded by Hinduism all of their
life, could not be lost simply because they don't believe in Jesus. There are
many that would claim that God would never be so unmerciful as to damn those
people, even though they haven't believed in Christ. At that point, we're at a
place of "universal salvation"--i.e., everybody will be saved. As much as I'd
love to say that is true, we know that it isn't. God destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah because they were evil (sexually deviate) and did not obey Him. He
destroyed the whole planet and millions of people with a flood, only saving one
family, because they were evil and would not acknowledge, love and obey Him. God
is an awesome loving creator, but He is also a God of wrath against those who
deny Him.
We must continually seek God’s face! The devil will always try to lure every one
of us away from the truth. It's a common occurrence. All the way back in the
garden we see it. The devil's first question to Eve was - "Hath God said?" He
hasn't changed his tactics much in 6000 years. That's why it is so essential
that we are continually and prayerfully digging into the Word of God. Our
offensive weapon to the devil's "hath God said" will always be "It is written."
What have we learned so far?
We’ve learned that God loved the world so much that he saved us by His grace,
that we must be born again, and that we must truly believe, and that if we do we
will obey the gospel and have a love for His truth.
When Peter and the apostles were asked, “What shall we do?” (to be saved), Peter
answered them by saying: Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you,
and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call.
The promise is to any and all who believe and obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ! Thank you Jesus! Without His sacrifice we would be lost!
Do not be deceived by the false prophets and false teachings.
The best advice: Read the Bible yourself! Don’t take another man’s word for it.
I can’t say it enough times; read the Bible! God gave us His word so that we
could know Him! It’s the only way we can really know God and know His truth.
Ps 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against
thee.
We need God’s word in our heart! We have to actually read it before we can have
it in our heart!
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