Who Is This Savior? Pt. 1 (01/09/2005)

Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 1. Brother Otis isn't the only one with a frog in his throat this morning.

Did you catch your frog from my frog? Okay, from another place entirely.

Matthew chapter 1 and verse 20.

Then I want you to go ahead and start looking for the book of Micah. If you're like me, that one takes a little longer to find sometimes.

So Micah chapter 5 verse 2. I'm going to talk about our wonderful Savior today and who he is.

Who is this child? Who was this child? Who is this Savior?

Let's pray and we'll begin. Father, we thank you for a time to meet together this morning.

We ask that you would be with those of our church family who are under the weather today and couldn't make it. Be with my dad today.

Let him know that we're thinking about him and praying for him. Strengthen him and others who are not able to be with us today.

Lord, we ask you to bless us by moving in upon our hearts today and teaching us from your word.

We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. The world has a lot of things to say about who

Jesus was. They ran a big article about Jesus in Time Magazine recently right before Christmas this year and they missed it.

They missed who he was naturally. There are many groups that call themselves

Christian groups in our country and across the world that miss it. And of course many of the quote great religions of the world which are non -Christians, they miss who

Jesus is. Many of them say he's a great prophet. Some say he's a good teacher.

Some say he's an example. And let's see what the word of God says.

Matthew chapter 1 verse 20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the

Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee

Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now I'd like you to turn to that beautiful and interesting passage in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2.

While you're turning there, last time we introduced this message and we read several scriptures from Isaiah chapter 45 verse 5 and also verse 18 in Deuteronomy 4 35 and 1

Samuel 2 2 and 2 Samuel 7 22 and 1

Chronicles 17 20 Isaiah 46 9. And they are all verses that say this and there are many others in the

Old Testament. They say things like this, remember the former things of old for I am

God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me.

And we reminded ourselves that the Jews used to sing a little song two times a day and the

Orthodox Jews still sing this song twice a day and they teach it to their children.

Shema Yisrael, Yahweh Elohim, Yahweh Echad. Now they don't say the word

Yahweh, they would say the word Adonai because they don't pronounce the word Yahweh.

They believe it's too holy to pronounce it. But what it means is hear O Israel, the

Lord our God, the Lord is one. And so we know that historic

Christianity comes from a Hebrew religion,

Judaism, which believed in one God, the unity of God.

They believed it so strongly they sing the song every day and teach it to their children. But the Old Testament is full of verses like the ones

I just cited. And so we know there is one God. We have to begin our study of who the

Lord Jesus Christ is by understanding that there is only one God. There are not two gods, there are not three gods, there are not a pantheon of gods like the

Greeks taught that there were and the Romans. And I'm learning more and more about the

Mormons. They believe there's a pantheon of gods that there are many, many, many gods. And yet the

Bible says there is one God. Oh Lord, there is none like thee.

Neither is there any God beside thee according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Now with that in mind, let's go to Micah chapter 5 and verse 2. We're talking about who the

Lord Jesus Christ is with the underlying understanding that there is one

God only. There's even a verse where the Lord in the Old Testament said I am one God and he said

I will not share my name with another and so forth. He says I am a jealous

God, which means he will not share anything with any other

God for there are no other gods. Micah chapter 5 verse 2 says but thou

Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler of Israel whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting.

That's an amazing phrase because this word everlasting is the Hebrew word olam which means literally concealed or a vanishing point.

It means time out of mind. It means eternity. And so this one that is going to come and Micah the prophet

Micah prophesied that there would be one that would come he would be born in Bethlehem Ephratah and it says that he this little town would be little among the thousands of Judah so it tells us it's the small little town of Bethlehem and yet this one who would come the father says he will come to me he will be the ruler of Israel and it gives this amazing information it says of this one that his goings forth have been from old from olam which means from as far back as you can go the vanishing point as far back as your mind can take you this one was there now we know that this one is none other than the

Lord Jesus Christ he is the one who was born in the manger in Bethlehem Ephratah and so what an amazing verse coming to us from the

Old Testament and now I want to pick up where we left off we didn't have that verse in the introduction last time so I wanted to bring that to us but I want to pick up where we left off we had cited several passages of scripture in the

New Testament that speak specifically to the question who is this child and we started in Matthew chapter 1 verse 20 it says that his title shall be

Emmanuel which means God with us his name shall be Jesus which means the one that shall save it's because he shall save his people from their sins and we want to go in and look at those in a few moments a little closer another passage was in 1st

Timothy 316 these are the key passages this passage says

God was manifest in the flesh and that that is who Jesus was then we went to John chapter 1 and verse 1 and the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

God and then we went to Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 where it says that Jesus is the express image of the

Father and the brightness of his glory and it went to Colossians 112 and following where it says he is the image of the invisible

God for by him were all things created there in heaven that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones dominions principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist that in the

Greek language means he holds all things together he is that which keeps your molecules from flying apart not only from each other but literally from flying apart and then we went into Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 and through 9 actually verse 9 says this for in him dwelleth all of the fullness of the

Godhead bodily in a body I want to read to you the verse right before it the verse right before that verse says beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ for in him dwelleth all of the fullness of the

Godhead in a body now the verse right before it talking about these philosophies and traditions and rudiments of the world refer to the

Greek Pantheon and many other things but especially to the Greek Pantheon with Zeus and and Saturn and Mars and Jupiter and all the other planets they were all named after their gods and it talks about these rudiments of the world in these traditions and the

Apostle Paul said beware lest you be led astray by these things what's interesting when you study some of the cult groups you'll find that there are beliefs they take the

Bible and they take familiar verses and phrases from it in words and they use the same words we do they just use different dictionary they define them differently and that's really confusing to us but the thing is they bring in things that go go back to the

Greek mythology and they bring in some of those types of gods and this is what the

Apostle Paul is warning against and many times Paul said that you should stay with the simplicity of the gospel the simplicity that is in the

Lord Jesus Christ now I want to take these passages that we just mentioned and go into more detail into the word studies and into who the

Lord Jesus Christ is if you go back to the passage in Matthew chapter 1 which is where we really began in verse 21 and she shall bring forth a son and now shall call his name

Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins this word

Jesus is pronounced Yeshua is how the

Hebrews say it it actually comes from two Hebrew words and the first is

Yehovah does that sound familiar Jehovah and it means

Jehovah God the self -existent eternal one and it comes from the second word

Yahshua which means to open wide or free or to be safe and so when you put

Yeshua together the two little words together what Jesus his name means is

Jehovah saved isn't that amazing that's what his name means

Jehovah saved that's what Yeshua means in Isaiah 43 in verse 10 and 11 it talks about Jehovah you are my witnesses saith the

Lord and it's all caps L or D all caps that's always Jehovah when you see it that way so you are my witnesses saith

Jehovah and my servant whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me there was no

God formed neither shall there be after me I even

I am Jehovah and beside me there is no

Savior now think about that for a moment

Jehovah of the Old Testament says that he is

God he says that he has chosen us as servants and witnesses of him we're the only true

Jehovah's Witnesses by the way and he says understand that I am

I am he now do you remember a passage in the New Testament or more than one passage in the book of John where Jesus says you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I am he you shall die in your sins and in the

Greek the word he is not there so Jesus really said you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I am you shall die in your sins and in Isaiah 43 and verse 10

Jehovah says I even I am and then he says and beside me there is no

Savior you must understand and believe me and understand that I am

I have declared and have saved I have showed when there was no strange

God among you therefore you are my witnesses sayeth the Lord that I am

God yea before the day was I am and there is none that can deliver out of my hand

I will work and who shall let it or stop it he is the sovereign

God of the universe so who is Jesus then if he is called the

Savior if his name means Jesus Jehovah that saves who is he if God says there is none other but me there is none other that can save there is none other

Savior and yet the very Bible that says that says that Jesus shall come his name will be

Jesus which means Jehovah saves how can this be it can only be true if Jesus is the

Jehovah of the Old Testament and he was formed by the Father and there was no other formed by the

Father now did you notice in Isaiah in this passage it has an interesting interesting phrase we don't talk about or hear about a lot

Isaiah 43 10 right at the bottom of the verse it says before me there was no

God formed neither shall there be after me now we're going to go into this a little bit a little bit later on in this study about what could that possibly mean because we know that Jesus was not created because he is the

Creator Colossians passage that we read last Sunday made that very clear he said he created everything that is he said he created everything that's visible and everything that's invisible that means the spirit world as well everything on the earth but he also created everything in the heavens so Jesus Christ cannot be a created being and he cannot be another

God and yet it uses this interesting terminology formed there was none formed before me there shall not be another formed after me put your thinking caps on about what that possibly could mean and we'll get back to it a little bit in a few moments the word itself by the way the word formed here is the word in Hebrew y 'all saw her and it means formed through squeezing into shape to mold into a form as a potter it also carries the connotation of to determine such as the determinative will of God so let me ask you this when a potter begins to make a clay object is he making the clay or is he just forming the clay does he create the clay no the clay was already there wasn't it so that gives us a hint about what this means the word itself formed it means y 'all saw her into the

Hebrew mind that is a potter working the clay and forming it into a shape that has been predetermined a predetermined shape it's already been planned out the plan for the beautiful pot is already in the potter's mind if not on paper and then he takes that substance which already exists and he forms it into that plan

I'm giving you too much of a hint so let's move on it does not mean to be created from nothing that particular

Hebrew word does not now the Bible says in Colossians chapter 1 in verse 16 for by Jesus by him were all things created that are in heaven and in earth and so forth now when you go into Hebrews much of the first part of the book of Hebrews was written to combat the theory that Jesus Christ was an angelic being do you know who the

Mormons think that he is well many things and it's confusing to try to figure out what they think he is because just depends on where you read in the

Book of Mormon they're in their books but one of the things they think he is is the brother of Lucifer how does that fit you another thing they think he is is they really think he is

Adam reincarnate and that Adam is your God and they call him the

Adam dash God so the true God is Adam do you believe that have you seen that anywhere in the

Bible but that's what they believe and it's really sad now the Mormon on the street may disagree with you there you may say we don't believe that but they teach these things to their people in stages and some of these things are secret things that only the the higher -ups the priests talk about very much they don't introduce this to their new converts and they certainly don't let the world know about it and so there are many many beliefs about who

Jesus is one time look magazine I don't even think that one exists anymore but it used to when

I was a boy growing up and it was larger than life I mean it was bigger than a normal magazine big magazine and they put one of the things they did one year was they ran an article where they interviewed one of the top leaders in the

Mormon Church and they asked him questions because back in those days the American public was more interested in God than they are now so they had an interest in things like this so this is a key article in the magazine and they asked him simple questions won't know are they are you like the rest of us are the

Mormons like the rest of us and one of the questions they ask is do you believe in the virgin birth and the priest answered this way he said yes we believe in the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ that's how he answered it now did he answer the question exactly actually he did not he wanted the public to think that they believe just like we believe but if you study the books and you realize what they believe they believe that Adam miraculously and this is how he could answer yes with a clear conscience yeah we believe it's a miracle but the miracle that they believe in is that Adam resurrected and came out of a grave somewhere on the earth and walked around and came into Mary and had relations with her if you know what

I mean and that that's where Jesus came from that's exactly what they teach so that Adam was

Jesus's father Adam being the Adam God now ladies and gentlemen this is not just blasphemy this is the type of doctrine that leads people to hell it's blasphemous but it's the doctrines of demons and it leads people to hell if they believe these teachings so we have to look at the clear

Word of God and see who it says Jesus is now remember these people and the

Jehovah's Witnesses are the same they believe that Jesus is an angelic being I'd like you to turn to Hebrews chapter 1 now remember this is one of the passages we introduced last time and it does deal with who

Jesus is but it spends a great deal of time telling who he is not that is very important for us in the light of what

I just told you that the Mormons believe and teach next time you see the two young men with the little black skinny ties and the white shirts and they want to come in your home ask them the question who do you think

God is is he any kin to Adam see what they say they will not want to admit that to you now

Hebrews 1 3 Jesus Christ is who we're referring to and it says he is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high being made so much better than the what all right so can you both be an angel and be made better than an angel at the same time as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they their name is angel which means messenger his name is

Yeshua which means Jehovah saves and his title is Emmanuel which means

God with us and the author of Hebrews asked the question has any angel ever been given a better inheritance or inherited a more excellent name than Jesus Christ and the clear answer is no verse 5 continues the argument again now you have to understand the cults do not have new blasphemies there's nothing new they go back a cult always starts from a leader who is usually an ignorant person and by that I mean an unstudied person they usually have not read very much they usually haven't read what anybody else thinks certain passages the

Bible means and if they had they wouldn't care what anyone else thought it meant and they usually come forth with the idea that everyone else that means the

Methodist the Presbyterians the Baptist and the Lutherans predominantly are all false and they're all perverted and they've gone so far away from the truth that we can't listen to them we are the new

Reformed Church that's what every cult teaches their people they teach their people that if you're a

Baptist a Methodist Presbyterian Lutheran or one of the mainline denominations that you have been blinded and that you've fallen away and you're no longer part of the true church and God brought us up under this one man who started us in order to bring his truth back into the world they never try to answer what happened during the other 1 ,300 years since Jesus was here to all those people who didn't have

Joseph Smith for example they don't try to answer that question and then they begin to teach things such as perversions of who

Jesus is well these are not new perversions if they were new you'd have to ask the question why is

Paul answering the same perversions in the book of Hebrews why is he arguing against someone saying that Jesus was an angelic being if it weren't true that someone was saying that during his lifetime there were groups of people who were teaching this in Paul's day what does

Paul say about it he continues in verse 5 for unto which of the angels said God at any time thou art my son this day have

I begotten thee Paul asked that question did God ever say that to an angel the implied answer is no but he did say it to Jesus Christ and again

I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son is there a place where God ever called any angel his only begotten

Son verse 6 and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith and let all the angels of God worship him does it make sense to have an angel worshiping another angel so apparently

Jesus was not an angel he was the one the angels were supposed to worship and since God says

I don't share my name with another and there is none other no worship should go to anyone but me it begs the question then who is

Jesus verse 7 and the angels to which ones of the angels did he say well he says of the angels who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire but in contrast

God said unto his son thy throne O God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness in the scepter of thy kingdom the

Apostle Paul brings out the point that when God speaks of angels he calls them ministering spirits ministers a flame of fire but when he speaks to Jesus Christ his son he calls him

God he says thy throne O God so God calls

Jesus God now this is not only found in the book of Hebrews it is actually quoted from of Psalms in the

Old Testament and so God says to Jesus thy throne

O God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom

Paul makes it very clear who Jesus is but he also makes it clear who he isn't he's not a created being he is not an angelic being he is the one that the angels in fact worship he is the one that God himself called his only son and he is the only one that God ever called

God verse 9 now has loved righteousness and hated iniquity talking about Jesus therefore

God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows that means above all the angels and above us his brothers and sisters down here and thou

Lord in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands now how can that be true of an angel you see thou

Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth you built the earth the

Lord Jesus built the earth and the heavens are the work of his hands he not only built the earth but as if to prophesy what the

Mormons would teach thousands of years later he said you also built everything that's in heaven and you see the

Mormons teach that who we worship only had to do with this earth the

Adam God only has to do with this earth and that there are other gods on other planets and that you yourselves can become gods over a planet someday nothing more blasphemous than what they teach but they don't let you know that that's what they teach but it's in their

Bibles they have three they have four Bibles the King James Bible the Book of Mormon the

Pearl of Great Price and the Book of the Covenants they consider them all to be inspired in fact they consider the

King James Version to be the most accurate Bible but they believe that the Roman Catholics perverted every verse in it so much that you can't know if even one single verse is true is what they say about the

Bible however the three books that Joseph Smith brought them are perfect because they're newer and they hadn't had time to be perverted by the

Catholics so tell me which book in their view interprets which other book and which books have the authority the

Bible doesn't have the authority because it's has errors in it they say now isn't that subtle so what

Satan has done is he's created the perfect cult just like when the AIDS virus was created it was the perfect killer because it kills the immune system and without the immune system you can't survive it and that's what it attacks so the

Mormon cult attacks the very authority of the only book in the world that could prove them wrong so their people humanly speaking are caught now

I take great comfort in this passage in John chapter 10 Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and they follow me and they will not follow another so if there are sheep caught up in that horrible cult guess what they will do if you teach them the true gospel they'll come out they'll come to the true shepherd

Jesus Christ so try as they may the cult group cannot cause one single elect person to go to hell but they are trying they're trying to deceive even the elect so continuing in Hebrews chapter 1 just for a moment longer let's continue down here look at verse 11 they shall perish this means the earth but thou remainest this means

Jesus they shall wax old as doth a garment and as vesture shalt thou fold them up the

Bible says Jesus will fold up these things someday and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail now if Jesus is the same which means he never changes who is he there is only one who never changes and that's the immutable

God the one true God but to which of the angels said

God at any time sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool the author continues

Jesus is not an angel the Apostle Paul is arguing are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation talking about the angels now you go into chapter 2 verse 1 therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip because some cult member comes into your house and teaches you weird things and you start to think they sound pretty good

I doubt that you would think that in this church but there are many borderline

Christians who never study or in these churches out here that wouldn't know the difference and so look at this we ought to take the more earnest heed

Paul says since these are true since Jesus is not an angel since he is the one the angels worship since he's the one that created the angels and everything in earth and everything in heaven then we ought to give more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip and we change what we believe for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the

Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him being the Apostles God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders you see this is the role of the

Apostles and the Mormons believe that there are Apostles right now today they also believe in zombies did you know that you who knows what a zombie is figured some little kid would tell me but anyway they believe that people come out of the grave walk around all the time all around you right now because it happened one time you know at the resurrection it said the graves were open and some people came out walked around so they said why happens all the time

Bible doesn't say it happens all the time nor does it say that we have witnesses such as these

Apostles who are followed by signs and wonders all the time and that's the heresy of the

Pentecostals as well any group that believes there are Apostles today and that there are men followed by these kinds of signs and wonders are telling you a fib because if they were they can also speak to you the

Word of God which by the way the high prophet among the Mormons today when he speaks it's God's Word they say it's it's more true than the

Bible itself they say I've read the quotes they say it's more true more important for you than the

Bible itself what is the difference in saying that their prophet can speak something

God told him and a Pentecostal or charismatic saying well God told me this last night so I'm gonna share it with you you tell me the difference there is no difference the truth is

God set us in a dispensation called the Church Age and he brought the

Jesus Christ and then the Apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven Jesus said to them I have things to tell you that you can't bear until I'm gone but when

I'm gone I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit who's gonna come into your mind and bring forth the things that I want you to write and they wrote it and he bore it out with signs and wonders and miracles so the

Jews of that day who require a sign would believe that they were God's Apostles that's the purpose of these strange and unusual signs and wonders that they had and once those signs and wonders were fulfilled and the

Word was given and we had the New Testament canon they ceased the

Bible says in 1st Corinthians 13 they would cease and they did cease and I can go back and show you two witnesses they go back as early as a hundred years after Jesus died one of the early church fathers in the east one in the

West who both said these signs no longer exist in the church so you tell me why they exist in every

Pentecostal charismatic Mormon Church today because it's a counterfeit ladies and gentlemen so don't believe these things you may see him with your eyes but don't believe what your eye sees if it contradicts what the

Word says God bore them witness with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the

Holy Ghost according to his own will let me ask you this who controls when a sign like that happens was it according to the will of the

Apostles who did these things or does it say according to God's own will the sovereign

God of the universe dispenses these gifts it is really beyond us to argue whether the gifts exist today or not doesn't even matter whether they exist or not what matters is whether the sovereign

God operates them or not because you can't turn them on and off and yet there are churches all around us even in this city today that tried to turn them on today right here in church so that they can see with their eyes so they hope they believe something

Jesus said you wicked generation why do you have to always have a sign said the only sign

I'm gonna give you is the resurrection from the dead and he's already given it so we're not living in a dispensation of signs and wonders we're living in a dispensation of faith hallelujah and it's better it's better because I don't have to see something to believe

God is all around me and in me and in this room today I don't have to see anything

I know it because the Word says it for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak but we see

Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels you see he had to be made lower than them why is that because what was he before he was made lower than them stay with me we're almost through what do you have to be before that in order to be made lower than them higher than them so he's not an angel so that he by the grace of God should taste death so why was he made lower so he could die that he should taste death for every man for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things to many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren well

I think we've exhausted the passage in Hebrews and I think we've seen very clearly who

Jesus is and who he's not next Sunday the Lord willing we'll pick up a passage in the book of John chapter 1 verse 1 and see what it says he is but in review first Timothy 316 says that Jesus was

God manifest in the flesh manifest in the flesh he is a way that God exists he is a mode in which

God appeared to man that's who Jesus is he is not another God he is not a second

God you don't have three gods of the Godhead God the Father God the Son God the

Holy Spirit that's an appropriate way to say it don't ever say God the Father God the Son God the

Holy Spirit just say the Father the Son the Holy Spirit who is God because it's not three gods you see you've heard people pray in their prayers they go dear

Father God please do this that didn't exist when I was a child no one ever prayed a prayer said dear

Father God do this you never heard that did you ever hear that phrase growing up brother Otis dear Father God do this that's a new phrase that has come about by some group some charismatic leader in a group who prayed that way so their people start praying that way and spread all around the country but it shows an ignorance of the

Trinity you don't have Father God and Son God and Holy Spirit God there's one true

God one Savior Jesus was Jehovah the Savior that's his name he was

Emmanuel God with us that's who he is I hope that's clear this morning let's stand and pray together father we thank you for your word it is the only true source of clear clarity that we have in this world which is so full of voices trying to tell us who you are and who

Jesus is and all of these voices so often are sent from below not from above and so thank you that you've given us the

Word of God and Lord help us remember some years back when we studied for week after week about the manuscript evidence of our

Bible and how many verses you've written that say that you not only inspired the

Word of God but you preserved it to each generation that means all the way to us you've preserved it and kept it here for us because it's the true protection that we have in this world of heresy in these last times with many false prophets arising and so thank you for the clarity of your word thank you for your spirit which comes and teaches us exactly what you mean by what you say and Lord may we revel in the fact that we have the

Word of God this morning we believe it we trust it may we uphold it to the world may we hold it up as the true authority in this world as far as anything that's physical that's here and Lord we thank you for the

Lord Jesus Christ who dwells within our heart by his Holy Spirit who is also you and so Lord we ask you to go with us into our time of fellowship bless our meal together in Jesus name