[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John, entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] Take your Bibles, if you would, and open them to John chapter 19. I'm going to talk to you about Jesus, the Son of God. I'm going to talk to you about a king.
[0:26] I'm not sure how far I get in this. I have my doubts. You may have to come back tonight, I hope you will, to find out more about our king. But just let me say, I'm afraid Americans, we don't understand kings, and if you haven't read history or studied, we don't understand what it means to have a king.
[0:44] We don't understand that much power abiding in one person. We elect our representatives and we're angry with them. And we get attitudes and everything else, but a king, a king, man, he was absolute power.
[1:01] God had warned the Jews that they wanted a king, and he said, you don't really want a king. He said, if you get a king, he's going to make you give him so much food. He's going to tax you. He's going to take your children from you.
[1:12] He's going to rule over you. He said, you really don't want a king. I've never known what it's like to have a king but Jesus. In America, I often don't like the rules.
[1:26] If I don't like the rules, I often don't keep the rules as well as I should. You didn't do that under a king. These Jews knew what it meant to have a king. You and I as Christians ought to understand what it means to have a king.
[1:38] We take the speed limit laws as a suggestion. You know, it suggests that you run 70. I mean, that means at least 70. It's a suggestion.
[1:50] If it says 70, everybody knows 75 is good, 78, 79. You know that if you just get a speeding ticket for going a little faster than that, you wouldn't be the only one. It was just a suggestion anyway.
[2:01] You and I know that stop signs really mean slow down. And look both ways real quick before you turn while nobody's watching. I mean, tell the truth. I mean, most laws. Income tax.
[2:12] You figure out any way you want. You figure out. I mean, it's a suggestion that you put everything down that you made. And come on, let's be honest. You know, it's a little bit different, our attitude. So maybe we don't understand what it means to have a king.
[2:24] But before I finish, Lord willing, today and over the next few weeks, I hope you understand. Jesus is king. He rules. He reigns. He makes decisions.
[2:35] He tells us what to do. We do what he says. It's for real. His words aren't suggestions. They're called commandments. And that means I meant it. I'm telling you.
[2:45] The first thing I want you to look at, once you go in your Bible back to John chapter 19 and verse 7, and I want you to focus on something I think that might be confusing to you. And I will quit on time, but we may stop in the middle of the message and finish tonight and move tonight's message a little further along.
[3:01] But look at this. The Jews answered him, we have a law, and by our law he ought to die. Because he made himself the son of God. The Jews have now taken 18 full chapters and they figured out something.
[3:18] This Jesus, who has been publicly active for approximately three to three and a half years, has made it abundantly clear that he thinks he is the son of God.
[3:29] But, so when anybody reads to you and says, we don't believe that Jesus ever thought he was God, and I'll explain son of God to you in just a second.
[3:40] Let me just explain to you, the Jews knew that that's what he was saying, and that's why they killed him. Because nobody ought to ever blaspheme God by saying they could be the son of God.
[3:52] If you'll look at the verse, John chapter 20, verse 31 on the wall right there. You've been reading that now for weeks and months. Look at what the Bible verse says.
[4:02] John said, I'm writing this book to you that you might believe. I want you, as you read the gospel of John, to believe some things. I want you to understand some stories.
[4:13] I want you to understand some history. I want you to understand some truths so that when you end up my book, you will believe that Jesus is the Christ. We'll get into that again at another time.
[4:25] The son of God and that believing you might have life through his name. Now that was a bold and audacious statement. The word Christ meant Messiah. It meant the sent one.
[4:37] It meant the anointed one. And for any Old Testament Jew, they knew that meant, this is the biggest guy God ever talked about in the Old Testament. And John said, I wrote this book so you know it's what I'm talking about.
[4:48] Not only is he the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, he is the son of God. And I'll show you what that means right now.
[4:59] That believing you might have life through his name. Nobody can give you life but God. But John said, I write a book so you know there is someone who can give you life through his name.
[5:10] And that is Jesus, the Christ, the son of God. That is Jesus, the Christ, the son of God who can give life. If you would, if you would note this somewhere there in your Bible, in your notes, John wrote the book to say this.
[5:28] Jesus knew he was the son of God and he wanted you to believe that. His suffering and subsequent death is because he very clearly taught and they understood that he really believed that he was a son of God.
[5:43] He really believed he was a son of God. Now some of you already are jumping over in your Jehovah's Witnesses mind and you are thinking, well that son of God is not God. So I want to take just a second and help you understand what the term son of God meant.
[5:58] So would you go with me to John chapter 1 and verse 1 and you need to look these verses up for you. Because we need to believe that Jesus was the son of God. And to believe that I need to know what the son of God means.
[6:10] What's that term mean? And what it means, number one, write this down, is that God was in human flesh. God was in human flesh.
[6:21] God, God, Jehovah, big God, God in heaven, God that creates, God that's invisible, God that's above all, was in human flesh.
[6:32] The Bible says in John 1, 1. Maybe I could get you to read that out loud with me. Everybody, just 1, 1 in unison. Would you read that with me? The Bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
[6:51] 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. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
[7:05] The word, this word, whatever it is, circle that word, word. It was with God. It was God. It was in the beginning with God.
[7:15] Didn't start in Bethlehem. Didn't start in Mary's womb. It's an eternal word. Who's the word? Need to know.
[7:27] I need to know who's the word. So we'll go down to John 1, 14. Look at your Bible, John 1, 14. Come on. Let's do a little really. You need to know this. John 1, 14. And the word.
[7:39] You might take a circle, a pencil and draw a circle around the word word in 14 and go back up to John 1, 1 and 1, 2. And circle the word word and draw it all together. Now you know who we're talking about.
[7:50] The word we're talking about is the word that was with God. The word that was in the beginning. The word that was God. The word that made everything and without him was not anything made. Verse 14.
[8:00] And the word that was with God that was in the beginning that was God became or was made flesh and dwelt among us.
[8:11] And we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Now do you understand something? Let's just so we know who the word is.
[8:23] And by the way, this is the son of God. And this is how John starts explaining. You can look, listen to me. Look at me. Where was the word in the beginning? With God. Was the word in the beginning?
[8:35] Or did God think of him 2,000 years, 4,000 years later? He was in the beginning. Say that. He was in the beginning. He was with God. And he was God.
[8:46] Let's do it. Let's get it. He was in the beginning. He was with God. And he was God. And now what does he do in verse 14? In verse 14, the word was made flesh.
[9:01] And he dwelt among us. Now who's the us in the verse? Human beings. People on the planet. The Jewish nation. John says with us.
[9:12] That means with us. Like John said with me. With my family. With my brother. With my mama. With my sister. With everybody. He lived amongst us. In case you're not sure who we're talking about yet. Can you say John 3, 16 with me?
[9:24] And I want you to notice what it says in John 1, 14. And John 3, 16. John 1, 14. It says. And we beheld his glory. The glory as the. What? Help me.
[9:35] I say it out loud. The only what? Begotten of the father. Would you read John 3, 16 with me? John 3, 16. The Bible says. For God so loved the world. That he gave his only.
[9:47] Begotten son. That whosoever believeth in him. Should not perish. But have everlasting life. So I want you to write down number one. And what's it mean to be the son of God? Well it's a word used. To talk about the word.
[9:58] The word was God. And he was with God. And he was in the beginning with God. And he became flesh. Okay. So the. When we talk about the son of God. We're talking about God. In human flesh.
[10:09] Can I hear an amen right there? We're not talking about a prophet here. We're not talking about a teacher. We're not talking about almost God. We're not talking about 98% God.
[10:19] We're not talking about 50% God. And 50% human. We're talking about God. In human flesh. Second thing we should write down. The son of God has the same essence.
[10:30] As God. The Bible is clear. That in Jesus. The Godhead. All the Godhead. Dwelt in him. What's that mean? That means all of God.
[10:42] All God the father. All God the son. All God the holy spirit. Dwelt in him. You say where in the world's Bible say that? Colossians chapter 1. Verse 18.
[10:52] Would you write that down? Look it up with me. Colossians chapter 1. Verse 18. And he is the head of the body. The church. Who is the beginning. The firstborn from the dead. That all things he might have. What's the word?
[11:04] Come on. And all things he might have. Preeminence. That he might be first place. He might have all place. That he's the number one. There's nobody like him. And here's why. Verse 19. For it pleased the father that in him should.
[11:18] Say this with me. In him should what? All. Come on. Help me. Read it there. All fullness dwell. Colossians 1. 19. Look at it. For it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell.
[11:35] In case you didn't get it. He explains it a tad clearer. In Colossians chapter 2. Verse 9. Colossians chapter 2. Verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
[11:52] All right. Would you read that verse out loud with me? Are you ready? In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
[12:02] Let's just stop a second. I want you to change the word him. Him's a pronoun. And the word him being a pronoun means it has an antecedent. You grammar teachers know this. That means there's a proper noun being replaced by a pronoun.
[12:16] And the proper noun for him here is who? Jesus. So read it with me like this. Out loud. Are you ready? For in Jesus. All right. Help me. Come on. Let's read it. For in Jesus dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
[12:32] Now then. Let's think about Godhead. What's the Godhead? Godhead is just a word that's saying all of the Godhead. Matthew 28, 19 and 20. We will go and teach all nations.
[12:45] Baptizing them in the name of the Godhead. Except there it just gives you the whole Godhead. Baptizing them in the name of. Would you help me say it out loud? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
[12:59] Okay. So who's dwelling? Who's dwelling in Jesus? Are you ready? Tell me. Who's dwelling in Jesus? The Godhead is dwelling in him. Who's dwelling in him? Say it out loud. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
[13:12] You say, I don't get that. I don't either. That's what it says. Now how they dwell in him? Go to Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 again. I want you to underline the word. They dwell in him.
[13:25] Come on. All the fullness of Godhead bodily. I mean, so when you saw Jesus, you saw God. He wasn't something less than God. He wasn't just somebody talking about God.
[13:38] He was God in human flesh walking on the earth. He didn't mind saying it. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15.
[13:49] The Bible said, who is the image of the invisible God? The firstborn of every creature. That's talking about Jesus. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
[14:03] You say, I don't know if that's in the Bible. Go in your head with me. I'm not going to look it up with you right now. But in John 14, you might remember one day. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you.
[14:14] And when I prepare a place, I'll come and get you again. And they're all sad. And Philip looks at him. I believe it's Philip looks at him and says, well, if you'll just show us the Father, that'll suffice us.
[14:26] And Jesus said, you mean to tell me I've been living with you all this time and you don't know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How many of you are doubting me right there?
[14:38] If you're doubting what I say, let's go to John 14. I think I see doubt. Go to John chapter 14 if you would. Go to John chapter 14 if you would. Thomas, I guess.
[14:54] Look at verse 5. 14, 5. And Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest. And how can we know the way? And Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.
[15:05] If you had known me, you should have known my Father also. From henceforth know ye him and have seen him. Philip said, well, Lord, show us the Father. And it suffices thus.
[15:16] Now, stop a second. I want you to notice that just before that, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. And Jesus said in verse 7, if you had known me, you should have known my Father.
[15:28] If you have known me, you should have known my Father. From henceforth you know him and have seen him. And Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us. Verse 9.
[15:39] Jesus said unto him, have I been so long time with you, yet hast thou not known me, Philip? For he that has seen me has seen the Father.
[15:50] How sayest thou then? Show us the Father. Let me say it this way. Philip says, Father, if you had let us, Jesus, if you had let us see the Father, we'd be happy with that.
[16:02] That would be enough. And Jesus said, you mean tell me I've been with you so long and you don't know who I am, Philip? When you've seen me, you have seen the Father. So I want to know something. How could you dare ask me to show you the Father?
[16:14] You're looking at him. Does Jesus believe he's God? I'd like to know. Can you tell me, does Jesus believe he's God? Those Jews were right. Hey, I'm telling you, maybe a Jehovah's Witness can't figure it out.
[16:26] Maybe a few slow Baptists can't figure it out. But those Jews figured it out. They said, hey, we want him dead because he thinks he's God. We want him out of here because he thinks he's God. But I don't have time to show you all of this.
[16:39] But you know, they had a lot of things against him. They had accused him of threatening to destroy the temple in Matthew 26, 59. They'd accused him of being an evildoer, a malfactor in John 18, 30.
[16:51] They accused him of perverting the nation in Luke 23, 2. They accused him of stirring up the people in Luke 22, 5. But what really made them mad was this.
[17:02] You claim to be the son of God. He was calling himself God. As you read the Bible, you need to ask yourself if he really claimed to be the son of God.
[17:16] That's why he's being crucified. Jesus is the son of God. I'm going to stop there because I think that's enough and we'll get the rest tonight.
[17:31] You need to understand something. We're not worshiping. There's a major difference in what we worship, how we worship, and what our message is than all the religions around the world.
[17:46] Because all of the people in the world would say we all believe in God. Granted, hey, I don't doubt that. You can be an Islamic person and believe in God. You can be a Jewish person and believe in God.
[17:59] You can be any brand and believe in God or a supreme being or a supreme power. But that's not where we stop. We believe in Jesus, God on earth.
[18:11] That's our message. He's our person. He came. God came from heaven. And he made himself God in human flesh. And he died on a cross. We believe Jesus is God.
[18:24] And we believe that God himself died for us. And we believe that God himself paid our sin debt. And we believe that what's happening in John chapter 19 is God paying our debt so we can be saved.
[18:36] If you don't get that, no wonder the songs don't mean much to you. If you don't get that, no wonder Bible reading doesn't mean much to you. If you don't get that, no wonder you don't give like you ought to give.
[18:48] Because you don't understand we're worshiping God. Jesus in human flesh. Jesus, God in human flesh. Come to earth. Those Jews knew that day.
[19:01] Beat him all you want to beat him. Pull his beard. Put a plow of thorns on his head. Cover him in purple. Mock him and laugh at him. Because he claims to be God. And we don't want that.
[19:15] In today's society, nobody wants to believe Jesus is God. Let me just explain something to you. I have one message. And that is that Jesus is God.
[19:26] What I believe is based on this. Jesus is God. What I believe is this. That God in Jesus died on a cross to pay my sin debt. I'm going to go to heaven when I die.
[19:37] Not because I'm good. But because God came in Jesus. And paid my sin debt. Do you know that Jesus is God?
[19:49] Check it out quickly. No mention of any saints. No mention of any virgins. No mention of any prophets. No mention of any priests.
[20:01] Jesus made out, claimed to be the Son of God. God in human flesh. That's the message. That's the message.
[20:12] What makes us different? Why is our religion better than what they believe in Africa? Why don't you leave them alone? Because here it comes. They may believe in God. But nobody gets to the God of heaven unless they go through Jesus.
[20:27] Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Do you know what makes your faith weak? Do you know what makes your Christian walk weak?
[20:38] You hadn't figured out something. Jesus is God. That's the ground, foundation, basis of your faith. Jesus is God.
[20:51] Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Do you understand that everything we preach and everything we teach, every song we sing, every dime we give, we give it because of this. Jesus is God.
[21:03] And He died to save us. Father in heaven, we love You. We magnify You and we praise You. I pray that Your name would be glorified and lifted up. I pray that You'd save some that might not know You as their personal Savior.
[21:17] I pray, God, that You'd help Christians this morning to surrender their lives to You and to yield themselves to You because of who You are. I pray You'd help us to magnify You. God, do a work in our lives.
[21:29] And I will praise You and magnify You. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church. For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com.
[21:48] $8,1 a. monsieur of vision. is