Diety of Christ 02 the Only Begotten — Worth Ellis

Defending the Hope of the Gospel

I'm going to give you a little paraphrase of this verse to help us get a hold of it. First Peter 3, verse 15, sets apart the Lord God in your heart and be ready always to make your defense to every man who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Now, 2 Peter 3, verse 15, we count that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you. It is also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they who are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

The Deity of Jesus Christ

Now, today we have come to the fourth and final message on the subject of the deity of Jesus Christ. Originally, we outlined a plan to go through this subject under the headings of the deity of Jesus Christ, which we think of Christ defined and then denied and then declared and demonstrated.

So, this is our fourth Sunday, and we're just getting on the second point, so you can see that we are running slightly behind. We felt that it was extremely important that those who profess to be saved should know what the word of God teaches about the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ, and that those who do not know the Son of God might realize that the One who died for their sins is none other than God Himself incarnate, manifest in the body of human flesh.

When we defined the deity of Christ, we felt to make the clear distinction that the word of God makes between divinity and deity, divinity being simply a word used very loosely of that which proceeds directly from God, but deity being God Himself, and that's what the Bible teaches about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those Who Deny Christ's Deity

Now, today we want to look for a little while at some of those who deny the deity of Christ. May I say this? That it is never a good practice to get into a rut of criticizing everybody who disagrees with you, and yet we should never apologize for disagreeing with anyone who does not believe that Jesus Christ is God.

We read this morning concerning such people here in 2 Peter 3 .16, that one thing about them is that they are known for their arresting or twisting or torturing the word of God. Here the Spirit of God tells us in verse 16 that such people are unlearned or ill-taught and unstable or unestablished.

Now in chapter 1 of 3 of 1 Peter, we are emphatically commanded that we are to set apart the Lord God in our hearts. We are to make Him as the Lord of our lives, He is to be the ruler of our lives, and we are to be ready always at any moment to make a defense of what we believe for anyone who asks us a reason for the hope that lies within us.

But it says that we should do this in meekness and in fear, and that words should not be construed as a word that means to be scared to death while you're defending what you believe in concerning Jesus Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 3 .12, we read these words referring to the superior hope of the gospel as compared to that of the law, that we have such a hope, therefore we who are saved use great boldness or plainness of speech, and we're going to do that today.

We're going to use great plainness, and we're going to use great boldness of speech. We're going to do our very best to separate the people from the doctrine that they hold. God loves people. God even loves people, I believe, who deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Many times it's a case of ignorance, and other times it's a case of one being fully set. Having reached the point where they have been enlightened by the Word of God, they have apostatized, they have turned from truth reveal, and they deliberately deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Cults and the Biblical Definition of Christianity

Now, in some cults in America today, one may find a true Christian. Simply remember that a cult is a system of religion composed of beliefs and rituals, but there is a foolproof method by which you can determine a cult in which it is impossible to find a true Christian.

That is, a biblical Christian, according to the biblical definition of the word Christian. Now, talking about everybody in America who is not a Jew is a Christian. That's the thinking of the natural mind.

We're talking about the biblical connotation that is placed upon this word Christian. But the foolproof way to recognize a cult in which you cannot find a true believer, and don't waste your time looking for one, is that they not only deny that Jesus Christ is God, but they are militantly opposed to the deity of the Son of God.

Not only do they deny it, but they are very militant in their opposition to this truth. Perhaps the three most familiar of these are the Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian scientists, and Mormons. The Mormons are not quite as vocal, or quite as public or radical, I should say, as the first two.

However, they do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, lest you think I do not have a scriptural warrant for speaking critically of such people, I would remind you again of what the God-breathed scriptures say about everyone who denies that Jesus Christ is God.

In John 5 .23, the apostle said, He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. And in 1 John 2 .22 and 23, he who denies that Jesus is the Christ, and that is the equivalent of D .H .A., is a liar and an antichrist.

And if he denies the Son, he does not have the Father. Now, I do not understand why we should go around like Casper Milquetoast or Elsma the salesman who used to knock on the door. Remember the radio years ago, when Elsma would go around knocking on the door, you know, and very hesitant, and they'd say, Nobody at home, I hope, I hope.

He was afraid somebody would answer the door. That is absolutely dishonoring to God. It's dishonoring to the Word of God. We're to be loving, we're to be kind, we're to be considerate, but God knows this is not the day to apologize for the truth of the God-breathed scripture.

So, remember, anybody who denies that Jesus Christ is God is a liar, and they are an antichrist, and anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father. Now, I believe it would help us very much in refusing the heretical teaching of these satanic religions if we simply examined some of the proof texts that they use to try and prove to us that Jesus Christ is not God.

Heresy and the Isolation of Proof Texts

Now, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 8, please, over a little toward the left in your Bible, and we're going to discover something that all of these people have in common who teach false doctrine and who deny that Jesus is the Son of God.

And may I tell you this, if you have perhaps not heard it, or do not know it, or never thought of it, that heresy always trades on isolated texts. Heresy always trades on isolated texts. No one can promote a false system of religion in America that will draw any number of followers that does not have enough scripture in it to make it credible.

Now, I know there are a lot of oriental religions like Muslims and so on that draw people and have no scriptural background whatsoever, but most of the false religions like Mormons and like Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Science and Unitarians, they have enough of the Bible in them to make them credible to good Southerners who live in what is called the Bible Belt.

But remember one remarkable thing about these people, and I frankly confess I do not have the intelligence to understand their philosophy or their logic. It is simply this, that one thing that all of these groups have in common is that they totally ignore the context in which their proof texts are found.

They take the proof text out of its setting to prove that Jesus is not God, and if they leave it in and leave the context, the very passage in which they try to prove that Jesus is not God is a passage the Holy Ghost uses to prove that Jesus Christ is God.

That's a remarkable illustration of the darkness of religious blindness. There are no people in the world who are so blind as those who are lost and steeped in religion. We read a moment ago about those who rest through their own destruction the Word of God.

Interpreting 1 Corinthians 8:6 in Context

Now, here in 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 6 is the Unitarian charter text. I want you to notice they give us this verse, and they practically live in this verse. Remember, they do not believe that the Lord Jesus is God, and so they're going to prove that to you and to me this morning from this passage.

They're not going to consider the context, the setting in which the verse is found, but they're going to give you the verse, and look at verse 6. But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him.

And they would tell us that this truth is made all the more emphatic by the following clause, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. And so they tell us here now the Bible says, but to us there is but one God the Father, and then there is one Lord Jesus Christ.

So, if there's one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ, how could they possibly be the same person? But notice the violation of the context, and it is never safe. It is not a sign of spiritual intelligence.

As a matter of fact, it's spiritually suicidal to ever take a statement out of the passage and try to prove something by it. For this simple reason, one of the laws of Bible interpretation is this, and you cannot violate it without suffering extreme ignorance and confusion of mind regarding the God-breathed Scripture.

No statement of Scripture is ever unrelated to the context in which it is found. No statement of Scripture is ever unrelated to the context in which it is found. And this is one of the strong points of the doctrine of inspiration of the Scripture, in that they were under the control of the Holy Spirit and were bound to write about what they were writing about, and they weren't writing about something and all of a sudden go off through the wide blue yonder and say something that's not related to what they were talking about.

That is one of the principles of the law of context. Now, without going into too much time, which we do not have, verses 5 and 6. If you'd only read them sometime at your leisure, you'll see it very clearly that the teaching here is aimed at pagan eras which then prevailed, and in view of the immediate context, it is an impossible suggestion that the apostle meant to teach that the Lord Jesus was but a creature.

I want you to notice something very interesting in verse 6, which they totally ignore. "...but to us there is but one God, the Father," notice these words, "...of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.".

You could, I believe, without doing any harm to the Scripture, make the prepositions uniform in this verse, and the two clauses would say the very same thing. Now, look, "...but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we of him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, of whom are all things, and we of him.".

Isn't it interesting that the very things that are said of God in the first clause are emphatically stated of the Lord Jesus in the second clause, and they take this and twist it, and tear it, and jerk it out of its context, and try to prove to you and me that there's only one God, and there's only one Lord Jesus Christ, and how could they be the same?

Well, there again I say that this is one of the marks of spiritual ignorance, and so typical of false teachers. The world's greatest apostate who ever lived was Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. When he died, he passed his sword, or whatever he used, on to his son, Garner Ted Armstrong.

I heard Garner Ted Armstrong preaching years ago on the plain truth and the world tomorrow, and listen, did you know that that man was preaching from the book of Romans to prove that salvation is by works?

Can you imagine a man so spiritually ignorant, so completely bored of any spiritual understanding, to take the very book and the Bible which the Holy Spirit has given to us to prove that justification is by faith apart from works?

So then, Abraham believed God who has counted him for righteousness, and here's a man who takes the very book written to prove that salvation is by faith to try and prove that salvation is by works. Now, how can you be any more spiritually ignorant than that?

Apostasy, Ignorance, and Christian Witness

But then you see, the God of this age has blinded the mind of the unbelieving. But such people, my friends, are apostates. An apostate is one who has been brought face to face with the truth, and then deliberately rejecting that, turn their back on the light, and they're forever facing nothing but eternal darkness.

May I say this? I believe it would be well for you and for me as Christians if we would learn to distinguish between the foot soldiers among the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses in the hierarchy. I believe we should remember there is a distinction.

If we do not witness to people who knock on our door, and young Mormon elders in black coats and white shirts and black ties, if we treat them like so much scum and slam the door in their face, and then the door faces in the Jehovah's Witnesses, and we do so under the guise of being faithful and loyal to the Word of God, may I say again, sometimes I suspect that such a defensive attitude regarding these false teachers is due to our ignorance of the Scriptures.

We're afraid they might get the best of us. And if that's the case, God have mercy upon us. And I tell you again, there's not one thing that you and I have to fear from these people except our lack of knowledge of the Scriptures.

I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. Now, like I said a while ago, your last week or so, you can be ugly. If you don't believe it, look at me. You can't help that. You can be short. You can be long.

You can be tall. You can be fat. You can be lean, and you can be intelligent. You can be dumb. But one thing there's no excuse for is being ignorant when we have a divine revelation from God Almighty in our hands to read, and the Holy Ghost within us to interpret it for us.

Ignorance is absolutely inexcusable, and so today we see that these people here are religiously blind, religiously blind, absolutely blind. Now, one thing in connection with this interesting truth of those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ is that, again, I want to tell you this, and we're going to look at something that's even more dumbfounding.

Jehovah's Witnesses and John 5

It's in John, chapter 5, and we're going to look for a moment, and we're going to take the very passage which the Jehovah's Witnesses used to prove that Jesus Christ is not God. Now, in John, chapter 5, their favorite section in this passage is from verse 19 down through verse 30.

Their two favorite verses are the 19th and the 30th verse. If you are at John, chapter 5, notice in John, chapter 5, verse 19, "...answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, for what thingsoever he doeth, he also doeth the Son.

Likewise," verse 30, "...I can of mine own self do nothing, as I hear I judge my judgment just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father who hath sent me.". Now, these are isolated passages.

If you take these two verses out of the context, you are arresting, torturing, twisting the Scripture, and that is what they do. And right in the context is unequivocal proof to anybody who has enough brain and without bias to have anything proved to them in the very context in which they take their proof back is absolute proof that Jesus Christ is equal with God in every way.

But if they don't consider what else the passage said, they're on safe ground, and they do not do that. This is so typical, I say again, of false teachers. Now, I want you to notice, first of all, in this passage, these two verses, and I want to, and you listen to me carefully, I have no desire to explain them away but to explain them.

We want to see what do these verses really mean. Now, in verse 19, the Lord is speaking, says, "...the Son can do nothing of himself.". If you would change the preposition of to the preposition from, you're going to get a little light on this verse.

What the Lord Jesus is saying, the Son can do nothing from himself. And look in verse 30, "...I can do nothing of mine own self, or what I do does not originate with myself.". And so, the fault here is not that the Lord Jesus could not, but He would not do anything independently of the will of God.

Christ Reveals the Father

You see, my friends, when the Son of God came into this world, He was here for one purpose only, to reveal God the Father. In John 1 .18, the Bible declares, "...no one has at any time seen God. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.".

In John 14 .9, the Lord said to His disciples, "...have I been so long time with you, and yet you have not known me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.". The Lord Jesus came into the world to reveal God.

Now, the argument here in this section comes from His claim in verses 17 and 18, and they are introductory to this section here in verses 19 through 30. Jesus answered them in verse 17, the Jews, "...my Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him. But he not only hath broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.". Now, that's language that you can't understand unless you're delighted in being ignorant, unless you have a bias that's so absolutely hopeless that you'll never overcome it.

He says, "...my Father worketh hitherto, and I work.". And the Jews then sought to kill him because he called God his Father, making himself equal with God. He didn't say it, they said it. The Jews understood what Jesus meant when he called God his Father.

They knew he was claiming to be equal with God, and that's the charge they brought against him, and that's the one that resulted in his being crucified by the Roman authorities. And so, the Lord Jesus claimed to be God.

Now, this thing introductory to these verses, 20 through 30, you can expect to find in this section the proof that Jesus Christ is God. But we won't go into that in detail. We may not even get to it. I'd rather wait a few months if we have to, because it's all going on tape, and pick up where we have to leave off today than to butcher it all up and try and jam it all in between the hands of a clock.

And you know when I get excited and try to beat the clock, too, that you can't understand anything I say? Well, half the time I can't myself. Now, in these words here where the Lord says, "...a son can of himself do nothing," and down in verse 30, "...I can of mine own self do nothing.".

The Doctrine of Procession

Let me give you the secret to both the meaning and the understanding of this statement. It comes from the biblical doctrine of procession, the Bible doctrine of procession, and we learn from this doctrine, listen carefully, that neither member of the Godhead is inferior to the other, but that each member of the Godhead has his own place and work in accomplishing the sovereign purposes of God.

Notice in chapter 8, we are going to be introduced now to the doctrine of procession. In verse 42, 842, Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth, and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Now, do you see this? Jesus proceeded from the Father. He did not come into this world of his own volition. My friend, 43 times, listen, 43 times in the Gospel of John, and three times in John's Precipice when we read these words, the Father sent the Son.

What we're going to learn today is that the Lord Jesus never acted independently of the will of God, never acted on his own, and hold your hat or your breath instead of one you have. We're going to learn this, that the Lord Jesus Christ never said anything but what God told him to say, did not know anything but what God taught him, and never did anything except what God told him to do.

May I repeat, my friends? It was not that he could not, but that he chose not to. He is God's Son. He has a perfect, obedient servant. The Son proceeded from the Father, and listen, the Lord Jesus had no purposes or plans or programs of his own to promote.

He was in the world to promote the glory of God, and that's all that he did was reveal God to the human race. He had no interest of his own. He had no self-interest. Which of you today can show me a text wherever defended himself?

You know why? He had nothing to defend. He defended his father, he defended his followers, but he never defended himself. When he was reviled, he never cut back with his tongue. This is the doctrine of procession.

The Lord Jesus proceeded from the Father, had no interest, program, or purposes of his own to promote, and this is why he did always the thing that pleased him. Do you not remember the Gospel of John, where the Lord Jesus said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him who sent me?

The Lord Jesus had no will. His will was so perfectly subservient to the will of his Father, he never exercised his own will in this life. Oh, you cannot find one single passage in the record of the life of Jesus in the Gospels where he ever acted independently of his Father who is in heaven.

Listen, he did everything he did according to the will of God, and by the authority of the Word of God, and by the power of the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus did everything he did by the will of God, by the authority of the Word of God, and by the power of the Spirit of God.

Do you remember the woman at the well? She said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. It wasn't his, it was his Father's work. So, my friend, he did it exactly like God told him to do it, and there are so many passages we won't turn to them all, but just remember this, and I want to say it again, and then we will get to one or two closing passages.

I want you to start with me. We're going to have to eliminate some, that's why I'm so hesitant. Let's turn to John 6, verse 38. Now, when you make a statement that the Lord Jesus never said anything but what God told him to say, and never knew anything but what God taught him, and never did anything but what God told him to do, you better have some backing.

You better have something that says so. And it's not trying to make the word say, but let's listen. Chapter 6, verse 38,. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

Jesus Speaks the Father's Words

Chapter 8. Look in chapter 8, verse 26. The Lord says, I have many things to say unto the judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And listen, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from him.

Now, that's plain, isn't it? I speak to the world those things which I have heard from my Father. Verse 28. Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself.

I do nothing of my own volition, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. How could we overlook these things for so long? Jesus never ceased to be God, but on this earth he was a man. And it took upon him the limitation of a mortal man that he might be absolute subservient to the will of God.

I'd like to accomplish that, would you? Would you like to die and go to heaven and say, I did always the things that pleased him? Well, here's your example, and it's so clear. Look at verse 29. And he that sent me is with me, the Father hath not left me alone.

Well, I do always those things that please him. Now look at chapter 14. Chapter 14 of this same gospel in verse 10. 14, 10. These words from the Lord Jesus. In verse 10 of chapter 14, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?

That's where we start in John chapter 10. The words that I speak unto you I speak not from myself, but the Father that dwells in me. He doeth the work. There again is plain language. The words that I speak to you I speak not from myself.

Look at chapter 17 for a moment. In verse 8. 17, 8. And here the Lord is praying for his disciples, for I have given unto them the words which you gave me. What could be simpler? I've given unto my disciples, Father, the words that you gave me.

He never was at any moment in his life inferior to God in any way. He was subservient to God, but not inferior. And that is because he had no programs, no purposes, no plans of his own to promote. If there's any doubt left in your mind, let's pull this good oration on you in chapter 12.

Now may I say this, my friends? I've learned a long time ago that when you come across truth in the Word of God, which is so transcendental or so transcending or so far beyond our feeble ability to get a hold of it, it is ours not to try to explain it, but to believe it as it is and say it in the words in which it is written.

Trusting Transcendent Truth

And don't get involved in trying to explain things that you don't have the brain to explain, and God never meant for us to explain anyway. I was sharing with my brother Stegg in my house how remarkable that Mr. Anderson, in one of his books, says that while on the authority of the voice of the church, multiplied millions of people accept things that are absolutely dumbfounding just because the church says it's true.

But we Christians, we have to try to prove everything that anybody asks a question about, whether we're supposed to understand it or not. And if the church can hand down such arguments and people say, yeah, the church says that it's right, why can't we say it's right if the Bible says it?

But I don't understand, so what? Welcome to the club. But we need to remember when we come to something we cannot understand is to say it like it is written and come down off our intellectual high horse and remember that God nowhere asks us to understand everything about our Christian faith, nor does he ask us to explain it to others.

May I say this? That so complete, and I will repeat this for the sake of emphasis, so complete was his self-renunciation, his submission, that beyond what the Father gave him to speak, listen, he knew nothing, and he said nothing.

Now, please, for heaven's sake, don't ask me to explain it to you. But the Word says his self-renunciation, his submission to the will of the Father was so complete and perfect that besides what the Father gave him to speak, he knew nothing, and he was absolutely silent.

Look in 12, 47. If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me and receives not my word has one that judges him.

The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. Because I have not spoken from myself but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment of what I should say and what I should speak.

How can you argue with this kind of language? Verse 50, and I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. Back in the days when I was ignorant, didn't know any better, and I got a reputation of being obscurantist, I used to say, you have to be an intellectual to understand that kind of language.

He did not say anything, nor do anything, nor know anything except what God told him, and what God told him to say. And the very words in which he spoke it, he got them from his Father. Is that what the book says?

Are we Bible-believing Christians here? How many of you believe this? Look out. You think that Jesus is the Antichrist. The hands are so slow going up, and yet the Bible says it. The problem with you and me is the experience of the Lord Jesus and the pattern of servanthood that he said is so far contrary to your stubborn, rebellious heart and mind.

We just can't believe a man could do such a thing, not even God, a part of human flesh. But there it is. The words that I speak, I got from him. What I know he taught me. I don't do anything except what he tells me to do.

The Son's Knowledge of His Coming

Now I blow all of our minds one last shot. Look in Mark's Gospel. And this is especially interesting in light of so many of God's dear, gullible people getting carried away with a recent book, making all sorts of claims to the coming of Jesus Christ, which left most of us, I hope, feeling like a bunch of nuts.

We ought to get carried away with anybody that sets dates or anything else. And I just, I don't know. You say, well, a lot of people thought about the Lord. So what? A lot of people think about the Lord anyway.

But if they think about him with their brains scrambled like breakfast eggs, it ain't going to help them none. We need to remember this. Now I want you to look now in Mark chapter 13. And I wouldn't believe this wasn't in the Bible.

I tell you, if it was in any other book in the world, I wouldn't believe it. But it's in the Bible. And I have to believe it because this is the book that tells me how I'm saved and sure of it. Now, in Mark chapter 13, the Lord is talking about the day of his coming glory.

In verse 31, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour knows no man, no not the angels who are in heaven, neither the sun. Shall we just take that knife-like hezekiah idea with the hezekiah and cut out this verse because we can't figure it out?

We don't like it. Concerning the day in which I'm going to come in my glory and establish my kingdom on this earth, the angels of heaven don't know. No man knows. I don't even know. No one knows but the Father.

Absolutely dumbfounding, isn't it? Would you like to explain this to me? Wait till I get through. I'm running out of time. Come to my house this evening and explain this to me. Not even the Son of God knows.

Unbelievable, isn't it? May I say this again, my friend? It's because he chose not to know. That's why. That's all. You see, may I say this again? He was in the world to reveal God. He did not have any purposes or plans or programs or interests of his own to promote.

He was absolutely and totally uninterested in himself. This is God's perfect servant. It's very interesting, very interesting when I read these words that even the Son himself doesn't know. Turn to Revelation for a moment.

Christ's Exaltation and Continuing Submission

Chapter 1, it's associated to what we're talking about this morning. But you know, you'll find this, that in the coming day, the Lord Jesus is yet to give the greatest exhibition of his absolute submission to the will of his Father.

When I brought these messages in Richmond, Virginia, a few years ago, one of the brethren wrote me a letter and said, you're too deep for me. I wrote a letter back and apologized. I said, if I'm deep, it's not deep.

It's because I'm out of the waters now. But he said, I read a book, and he gave me some help on it. And Mark, the Lord is presented as Jehovah's servant. In his servanthood, he didn't know anything except what God told him.

But now in his exaltation at God's right hand, he knows everything. I said, I have no argument with that. But I want to show you, and he quoted to me the Revelation, chapter 1, that now in his exaltation at God's right hand, he has laid aside his servanthood, and now he is glorified and he is omniscient.