Looking forward to this morning, and once again, the Lord just works these things out. That's interesting. For our Lord's Table theme, it is on a schedule, and we do whichever one it's been the longest since we've done it. Well, this morning it just happened to be Christ Ascension. You know, I don't think that's a coincidence. That lines up perfectly, of course, with Easter, the Resurrection Sunday, celebrating Christ's resurrection, and then he ascended. And then this morning, in our We Believe study, we are up to a study particularly on Jesus Christ. So we've gone through Bibliology, which is a study of the Bible. That's pretty easy, right? We just did theology proper, which is the study of the Trinity and in particularly who? God the Father. Now we are in Christology, which is the study of Jesus, the study of Christ. And this is a statement found in our doctrinal statement. It says this, we believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, sinless, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. And these are really foundational, simple foundational truths that people must understand as they're coming to the gospel, right? Have you ever been sharing the gospel with somebody or heard false teachings? And we heard them on Friday night as well, in particular, that while Jesus is simply, was simply a man and not truly God, or people have been known to go to the other extreme and say, Jesus was God and he looked like a man, but he wasn't actually a man. And then you'll hear people say, which I've had this happen quite a few times, sharing the gospel with somebody, when I say, Jesus never sinned, they go, yeah, right. He was a man. Of course he sinned. All of us sin. And what they recognize is, yeah, men are sinners. And we're going to learn about that later on in our We Believe statements. I think that's next week, actually. We're going to focus on that men are sinners, the nature of mankind. So they get that truth of Scripture, that men are sinners, and they hear that Jesus, the God-man, never sinned, and they can't believe it. All right, but we're going to consider that this morning. Those are really the three main things that we'll focus in on this morning is that Jesus Christ is God, Jesus Christ is man, and that Jesus Christ was sinless. Conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary that is I don't think that needs too much study to be understood Jesus was born to his mother named Mary who was a virgin at that time and that he was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit So we're going to focus this morning simply on him as God, him as man, and him as sinless. So number one, he is truly God. Jesus is deity. And we talked about that with the Trinity last week, and we talked about how there are illustrations, and they're helpful, and yet they're unhelpful at the same time. I think one of the helpful illustrations that I really liked, actually, in the film that we watched Friday night, was it had three circles overlapping, and they kind of moved around, and it showed Jesus, the Spirit, and the Father, and how they're all one, and yet three different parts, They're one in being, three in person. And once again, that's not a contradiction, right? It's two different parts. We are one in being, one in person. God is one in being, three in person. So Jesus Christ is God. All right? One thing to help clarify us, right, and we hear, we know John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All right. Jesus, then the Word took on flesh and he dwelt among us. So did Jesus exist before he was born? Yes. Now, was he Jesus before he was born? Ooh. Yes, but no Okay, he was he existed as the eternal son of God now were there Christophanies in the Old Testament where the pre-incarnate Christ appeared to people Yes, whenever you hear the term the angel of the Lord not an an angel of the Lord, but the angel of the Lord That's a pre-incarnate Christ appearing to people in the Old Testament Jesus Christ also we know had all things created through him, the Father created through the Son, and so on and so on. He existed before he took on flesh, but the Son of God took on flesh and became a human named Jesus. So did Jesus exist before he was born? Yes and no. He existed as the Son of God, but then when he took on flesh, he took on the name Jesus as the Son of God. So who has John 14, verses 9 through 14, I think, Lindsay? So 9 through 14, go ahead and read that. Jesus said to him, have I been so long with you in that you have not come to know me, fellow? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his work. Believe in me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Alright, so you notice he says, I and the Father are one. He is in me and I am in him. Earlier on in John chapter 10 verse 30, he says that same thing. I and the Father are one. Alright, Jesus is God. And what is the religious leader's response when he makes these statements? Have you ever been tiring with somebody and they say, Jesus never clearly states that he's God. Well, yeah, if you're reading it with your understanding of English and so on and so on and your culture, maybe Jesus doesn't clearly say, I am God. But when you understand the context and what he's saying, when he says something such as I am, Really, he's taking the term, the name that God the Father declares, I am, to Moses, and Jesus applies it to himself. And what are the religious leaders' response? They pick up stones and they're ready to kill him. Why? Because he's making himself equal with God. It's very clear that their understanding of what Jesus was saying was, I am God. He couldn't have really said it any clearer in his context. All right, I and the Father are one. The response is he's making himself out to be God. That's very, very clear. But let's continue learning very quick bullet points about Jesus. He was in the beginning with God. He was God. God created the earth, and it was through Jesus which all things were created. Nothing was created that wasn't created through Him. So if you ever hear somebody say, oh, God the Son, Jesus was created. He's a God, Jehovah's Witnesses. Alright? No! That verse makes it very clear. There's absolutely nothing that was made that wasn't made through Jesus. In other words, Jesus could not have been created because he couldn't have been created through himself, because he would have had to have existed before he was created, which is impossible. All right. Thomas proclaims Jesus as God, and Jesus does not redirect nor deny his worship. What happens every time in scripture when a human falls down and starts to worship an angel? The angel says, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that. Other than Satan, of course. But Jesus, when people fall down and worship him, he says, yes. Why? Because he's worthy of worship. Why? Because he is God. Jesus asserts himself to be one with the Father, as we already saw. Jesus also very proclaims that he existed before his earthly ministry and was before Abraham declaring himself to be, I am Jehovah. I am, John chapter 8, 58. We're told that we see God through the revelation of Christ, John chapter 1, verse 18. So we know God the Father through Jesus in the flesh. Interesting to note, when God reaches out to the Hebrew people and he speaks, what's their response? They say, don't let that happen again. They say, Moses, you go talk with God and tell us what he says. God is too much. So then he says, I'm going to send a greater prophet than Moses. And who is that greater prophet? Jesus, God himself takes on human flesh to communicate to mankind, to be the final word, God incarnate. We are told that we see God through the revelation of Christ. And Jesus, while here on earth, forgave sins. Very important. Matthew chapter nine, I think that's Rene, verses two through seven. And I encourage you folks, read nice and loud, that way in the recording, people can hear your voice and it's not just this long, dead silence. All right, so read nice and loud. They brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, take courage, son, your sins are forgiven. And some of the scribes and to themselves, this fellow blasphemes. And Jesus knowing their thoughts, thought said, why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk? but so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then he said to the paralytic, get up, pick up your bed, and go home. And he got up and went home. But when the crowd saw this, they were awestruck and were of our God who had given such authority to men. Great, so you have Jesus saying, your sins are forgiven you. The religious leader's response is blasphemy. Why? Because they understood in him saying your sins are forgiven that he's declaring himself to be who? Deity, God. And then he says, well, just to prove it, that I am God, get up and walk. The man gets up and walks. Very clear. He had his own prophet that came and proclaimed that he was coming, the Messiah. And he also, it mentions in John 1, verses 15 and 23, that before John, the prophet was who existed? Jesus. Who was born first? Who was older? John. John was older, but in reality, who was older? Jesus. Well, not Jesus the man, but the Son of God existed long before. Matthew 3, 16-19. So here we don't only have a prophet testifying of who Jesus was, but then God the Father himself opened up heaven and spoke forth. and said, this is my son. We've already studied as we read the book, Who is Jesus? That statement, son of God, is pointing obviously to the Messiah, the one who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. All right, Matthew 27, 52 to 55. I think John, you have that? So 52 to 55. In 1557, the tombs were opened. Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after the resurrection, they entered the Holy See and appeared to many. Now, the centurion and those who were with him Great. So there are others at times who rose from the dead, right? But what happened when they rose from the dead? They rose and then later it was just them for one, and number two, what happened to them later on? They died again, right? They didn't go on living forever. Also, for example, have any of you met Lazarus? I think he died again, all right? But Jesus, he rises from, he dies, number one, and at his death, John just read, the tombs were opened and a bunch of dead people actually got up and were raised from the dead. And then, as we celebrate today, hopefully every day of our lives, but particularly in a special way today, Jesus rose himself. Jesus didn't come to his tomb, or Jesus didn't need another man to come to his tomb and say, Jesus, come forth. No, Jesus was the one who went to Lazarus' tomb and said, Lazarus, come forth. Jesus was in his own tomb and he, by the work of the Holy Spirit and God the Father and him, raised himself up. Raised himself up. And then he goes to his disciples and he says, because he's been risen, he has all authority given to him. His resurrection meant something more than all the other resurrections. And that was because he actually conquered death through his death and his resurrection. Also throughout the epistles, right? It wasn't just the gospels that declared Jesus to be God. Very clearly throughout the epistles, Jesus is clearly proclaimed to be God. In Colossians 1, that's one of the key passages, we're told again that all things were created through him and he takes first place ahead all of created things. It says he's the firstborn among many creation, above all creation. What's that saying? Oh, he's a? Creation, right? No. All right, understand the context, understand the culture. What does firstborn mean back then? It means first place, preeminent, the boss, in charge, the one who's heir, and so on and so on. It's not saying that he is one of the created things. It's saying he takes first place among the created things. Why? Because all things were created through him. All things were created through Him, through Him, by Him, and for Him. He's first place. He's first born. Alright? That's not saying that He was born. And He sustains life, and that all things are for Him. Jesus is declared to be God, over all, our great God and Savior, who is Titus 3, verses 13 and 14. Vic, is that you? Titus 2, 13, and 14? 2, 13. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say three? My bad. Titus 2, 13, and 14? Yeah. Looking for the blessed hope in the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself and people for his own possession, zealous for pity, Great. So you see right there, one of the clearest passages. Very, very clear. We are waiting for the glorious appearing of our God and Savior. So God the Father and Jesus Christ? No. It's saying, it's clarifying who the God is. We're waiting for the appearing of our God and our Savior, who is Jesus Christ. And it's very clear in the original text, the way you use the plurals versus the singular and so on and so on, it's clearly speaking of one person, and that person is Jesus Christ. Also, you'd never hear God speaking in terms of God the Father appearing at some point. It's always Jesus Christ is coming. He will be appearing at some point. It's very clear Jesus is declared to be God. He is deity. God the Father says of Jesus that he is God in Hebrews 1 verse 8. on 8. God, at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by the Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who, being the rightness of his glory, can express himself in his person, and upholding all things by the work of his power. For he hath by himself, the Church hath sinned, except that of the Lord and the Father. Someone better than me was asking about inheritance of a teen in a more excellent domain than that. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have beckoned you, and again I will be to him a father, and he that shall be to me a son. But he again brings the first woman to the world. He says that all the angels of God worship him. And the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire? What you have sung says that the phenomenal God is forever and ever, a specter of righteousness, a specter of the kingdom. You have no righteousness in fearful business. Therefore, now your God has come into view, only by the gladness born of your companions. Oh, I'm sorry. Are you done? I'm sorry. Okay. Well, we can stop there though. I'm sorry if I cut you off. I thought you were done. So we heard very clearly that God said to Jesus, your throne O God. So either God the Father just blasphemed, or Jesus is truly God and deity. And I would go with that second option, all right? I think that would be the wise choice. We also recognize every knee, every bow, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Philippians chapter two. The book of Revelation makes it very clear that Christ is worthy, once again, of worship. The worship isn't turned away from him, rather the worship is turned to him. All right, very, very clearly. Revelation 411, you are worthy, O Lord Jesus, to receive honor and glory and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created. It's very, very clear. But secondly, he is not only God, he is definitely, without a doubt, also human. And in fact, we often don't think of this, Jesus still exists In a what? In a human body. When Jesus comes back or when we go to Jesus, we will see him in a human body. A resurrected human body. And yet he is still God. So Jesus is humanity. Jesus, though he was completely God, was also completely human. He left heaven and he took on flesh. John 1, Philippians 2. He left his glory in heaven, took the form of a servant. In other words, a human. Philippians 2, 6-7. He was conceived by a virgin. Luke 1-2. People recognized him as a man. Who is Matthew 13, 54-55? So 54 and 55. He came to his hometown and began teaching them in their synagogues, but they were astonished and said, where did this man get the wisdom and the miraculous powers? Is not this the father's son? Is not his lover called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters? Verse 55, is that all? Nope, just 55 is good, yeah. So it gets a point across what? That people saw Jesus and they thought of him as a man. Don't overthink it. They recognized that Jesus was a man. They say, isn't this Joseph's and Mary's son? Doesn't he have brothers and sisters? Isn't he flesh? So people saw Jesus and they recognized that he was simply a human. Now, of course, there was much more to him. He was also God, but he was human. All right. Being a man, he lived a life marked by humanity. This is going to be real quick, but Luke 2.52 says he grew in stature and wisdom and favor with man. So he had growth. He had fatigue and hunger. Matthew chapter 4, John chapter 4, verse 6. He had sorrow. Jesus wept at Lazarus's grave. He had temptation. All right? Matthew 4, Hebrews 4, 15. He had loneliness. He had pain. And he died. Flesh dies. Spirit does not die. Jesus Christ was human. He had flesh. Jesus had to be human for one thing, to reconcile humans to God. All right? If Jesus, if the Son of God did not actually take on human flesh, he could not reconcile mankind to God. How is that? Romans 5 18 through 21 makes it very clear as it talks about a second Adam. Our first Adam messes it up, and all of us would have. But the second Adam comes, and he lives the righteous life that none of us could live. On behalf of humans. How? Because he himself was a human. Colossians 1 22, Yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death. in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." In other words, in order for him to take the punishment of man's sin, he had himself to be a what? A man in his human flesh, right? His fleshly body through death. He also had two natures though. This does not This does not negate the truth. Because Jesus was human and had flesh does not negate that he was God. And just because he's God does not negate the truth that he had flesh. It is two natures. Jesus has two natures. He has deity and humanity. He existed before time as the son of God and then was born as a man conceived by a virgin. He added that. And that's what Philippians 2 is saying. When he emptied himself, it's an emptying by what? By addition, taking on human flesh. All right, I believe this is, hopefully this will help. All right, there's something called the Chalcedonian Creed, and it helps very carefully explain Christ's two natures. They exist inconfusably, unchangeably, indivisibly, and inseparably. Though he is still God, this makes him no less human. And because he never ceased to be God, he is therefore a perfect human. He never sinned. So very last, very quick point, we'll learn about his sinlessness. He is therefore sinless. He is completely without any fault. As he exists as God, he could not and would not have what? Sinned. If Jesus is God and God cannot sin, then Jesus could not sin. Alright? James chapter 1 verse 13 says this, "...let no one say when he is tempted by evil, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." Alright? God cannot be tempted by evil. And then simply some logic. So there's some passages to help us understand that. But then also logically, number one, Jesus was the perfect sacrificial lamb as part of God's decreed will. And therefore, as he was the perfect, sacrificial, spotless, sinless lamb, as part of God's eternal plan to save mankind from their sins, he could not have what? Sinned. Because then if he sinned, he would not have been the perfect, sacrificial, spotless lamb. All right. God will never change. God forever was and forever is. He's the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end, and He does not change. So therefore, could Jesus as God have sinned? No, because that would have meant that God changed. All right. Also, He not only never sinned, and get this, folks, this is a beautiful truth. He not only never sinned, but He also fulfilled all righteousness. on your behalf. Matthew 3.15, Matthew 5.17, and Hebrews 5.8, it's very clear that Jesus not only never broke God's law, but he also followed God's law perfectly. He followed God's law perfectly and he followed it for you. Yet, we do learn and hear that Jesus was what? He was tempted, it says. So there is a distinction between that. And let me help us understand that real quick. Where do we know clearly that Jesus was tempted? I believe it's John 4 and Matthew 4. All right. That's an easy way to remember. They're both chapter fours. All right. So Matthew 4 and John 4, Jesus goes out and he is tempted by Satan. It says Satan tempted him very clearly. All right. Also in Hebrews chapter, guess what? for all right so john 4 matthew 4 and hebrews 4 it says jesus in all points like we are was tempted and yet he was without sin so could jesus have sinned we already established no he couldn't have sinned he was impeccable that's the word there but was jesus and god cannot be tempted by evil but was in a different way jesus tempted Yes, all right, in a different way than James is talking about. And the best illustration I've heard is this, and I've shared it with most of you before. My college professor used the picture of mushrooms. I use the picture of beets, right? I absolutely, without a doubt, hate beets. If beets are placed on my plate, it ruins the entire meal. I mean, you can put a nice filet mignon and cheesy mashed potatoes and a beet, and I've lost my appetite. All right, beets are awful to me. And no matter how hungry I am, no matter how famished, no matter how tired, you can put a beet before me and I'm not going to be tempted to eat it. Now, in that way, could you come to me and prepare a dish of beets and say, Pastor Kevin, would you like these beets and tempt me with those beets? Yes, you could place beats before me and offer them to me. And yet I would say no every time. All right. Now, of course, if it was a matter of life and death, but you get the picture. Jesus did not have an appeal to sin. Jesus was God and could not and would not sin. And yet, as a man, he had sin placed before him. And every time he said, no, on your behalf. So Jesus was God, Jesus was man, Jesus was sinless. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for Jesus. Wonderful love that he has for us. I pray that you would be lifted up and glorified today as we continue worshiping you. In Jesus' name, amen.