A Vintage Faith pt. 3 - God-Man

Grace Church, Tulsa, OK
April 6, 2014 2nd service
Pastor Rob Yandian

God-Man

Matthew 16:13-19 ESV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."


Whole thing of our faith revolves around who we say that Jesus is.


John 4:25-26 ESV

The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."


John 1:20, John the Baptist said I am not the Christ.  Jesus said to several people that he was the Christ.  One of the first people is the one that He said that he was the Messiah.  Many people try to say Jesus never said he was the Christ but it is clear that He did.


John 6:33-35 ESV

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Again, clearly declaring his divinity.


John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

The light is the spiritual light that needs to illuminate the world.


John 8:58 ESV

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."


Jesus was talking about how Abraham was happy to see His day. They question his age and him talking to Jesus, so Jesus replied.

It is clear that Jesus defined who He was.  There will be one question asked, who is Jesus?  And it is not a grade on the curve test, you are either right or wrong.

The central question to the entire human race: "Who is Jesus Christ?" To be a Christian is to agree with Peter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Heresies about who Jesus is:

1. Ebionitism: denied the divinity of Jesus
    They believe that he was man but not a God.
2. Arianism: said Jesus was not eternal; He was created by God the Father
     God created Jesus.
3. Docetism: Jesus was only divine, not human; He only appeared to have a physical body
     To say this denies the cross as there was no body to sacrifice for our sins.
4. Pelagianism: Jesus set a good example for us to follow
     Adam set bad example, Jesus set good example, we must choose which one to follow.
5. Nestorianism: completely separates the two natures of Jesus; Jesus did not suffer spiritually
    Garden of Gethsemane shows that Jesus was suffering on the spiritual suffering.
6. Adoptionism: Jesus was born human, became divine when the Father adopted Him
   

When this ideas came about the church elders got together and established the beliefs that Christian should hold.

Church councils dealing with the nature of Jesus:
1. Council of Nicaea (AD 325): established the doctrine of the Trinity (and therefore that Jesus was fully divine)
2. Council of Chalcedon (AD 451): Established the doctrine of the hypostatic union-that Jesus was fully divine and fully human. -Chalcedonian Creed

Jesus was human and divine. His temptation was real, and his were just like mine except he had ones like everyone.  Because of that He can intercede for us before the Father.