Jesus is God || Victory Church [Book of John #23]

All right, hey guys. Hey, I miss y'all, I miss y'all. Summer and I, we miss you guys. Hey, so where have we been? Some of you are like, who is this guy? Summer and I, our 25th wedding anniversary is actually September 1st. Yeah, we got married when we were two years old. It was awesome. And no, and so we know August was gonna be really fast. And so we said, hey, let's get away for a few weeks in June, July. And we just kind of took our dream vacation that we'd saved up for, planned for, did the whole like European cruise deal. And some people asked me like, hey, what was your favorite part of that? And I wanna be real when I say this, I'm not just trying to get brownie points. My favorite part of it was that I got to spend 17 uninterrupted days with my bride, Summer Boo, right over here. Yeah, no, for real. But on the first part of the trip, I didn't miss y'all at all. But at the end, I was like, it's time to go home. There's no place like home for real. I love this house. I love these people. I love who I'm looking at right now.

I love you guys. It's the joy of our life to do what we get to do. And I love the fact that we have some amazing pastors and preachers around here that Summer and I can disconnect, like disconnect, disconnect. Like I turned my email off for a month. That was awesome. And I came back and it's all still here. You know what I'm saying? It's awesome you're still here, it's great. And I love what God has been doing here, not just over the last month, but over the last season, as we're really spending this year walking through the book of John together. It's transformative, it's amazing. The gospel of John is my favorite, probably book in the New Testament, probably. And today we are officially in John chapter eight. And I know I say this often, but I really do mean it today in a special way. Today's like really, really, really important, what we're gonna talk about, why? Because what we're talking about today, literally Christianity rises or falls on what we're talking about today. So what I need you guys to do, I need y'all to put on like your thinking caps, need you put on your learning caps. I need you to pull out your phones or however you take notes,

because I promise you, you're not gonna remember everything that we're talking about. How do I know that? Because I know what we're talking about. So you're not gonna remember what we're talking about, cause it's a lot, unless you write it down. So I'm really gonna encourage you that because what I wanna do over the next few minutes, I wanna prepare you to live in the world that you live in right now. Here's what I mean by that. When Summer and I were overseas just a few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to actually check a box on my bucket list that I actually thought that I'd never get to check that box. And at the tail end of our trip, we went to Naples for a few days, Naples, Italy. Our son Jeremiah was there on a missions trip. And so we went there for a few days. And listen, I'm the geography guy, but I did not know that right next to Naples is Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii. And so we actually got to tour the ancient ruins of Pompeii where the ash and the rock came from the volcano, like in a second in 79 AD, just buried the place. And there when you're in Naples and when you're there in Pompeii, you can look and there's Mount Vesuvius in the distance with a big crater in the top of it, is what happens is that pressure builds

and just the top of the mountain as a volcano just blew off of that thing. And as I was reading this week through John eight, I just had this mental imagery that just like the pressure builds inside of a volcano until it finally erupts, that pressure has been slowly building here throughout John until we finally get to John eight and Jesus's interaction with these people until it finally erupts. And what makes this moment really jump off the page here in John eight even more, is that the same conversation that caused the eruption 2000 years ago is still causing eruptions today. And so I kind of warned our online team that the comment section may be on fire today, okay? Because today we are diving headfirst, here it is, into the argument that Jesus never claimed to be God. That Jesus never claimed to be God. Now here's the deal, I'm not sure if you've been confronted with that yet, I don't know if you've been accosted or attacked with that yet, but there is a counter apologetic right now. So apologetics is the defense of the faith. So a counter apologetic would be an attack on the faith. There is a counter apologetic right now that the only phrase I would have is being led by counter evangelists

who are trying to convince you and the person sitting next to you and other Christians that Jesus never claimed to be God, therefore he is not God. And what it is, it's an all out attack right now in the world that we live in against the deity of Jesus. All right, that's what I'm saying. Everything rises and falls on this. So let's be clear here just for a second. The accusation is not whether or not the New Testament says that Jesus is God, because the New Testament calls Jesus Lord over. 500 times, in Greek, the language of the New Testament, that word is kyrios, kyrios, the word for Lord. Kyrios is how we translate the name of God from the Old Testament to the New Testament, it's kyrios. They call Jesus kyrios, Lord, over 500 times. The totality of the New Testament, wholly and clearly proclaimed, shouts from the Rutops that Jesus is God, I will read you one verse just so you can get as hyped as I am. Colossians 1, the sun is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created. We're in God territory. Everybody say all things. Not some things, all things. For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers

or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. Jesus is the glue that holds the universe together and he is the head of the body, the church. I don't know what type of church you grew up in, but I'm here to remind us that Jesus is the leader of the church, not your pastor, not your priest, no flesh will glory in his presence. Jesus is the head of victory and the capital C church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the, I love it, say it together, supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. The New Testament has a very high Christology is what we would call it, like a very high view of Jesus, that Jesus is God, okay? But the accusation that we're being faced with today that we need to be prepared for is the accusation that Jesus himself never said that he was God. So in fact, right now, here's how I'd say it. There is an active, I have no better way to say it. There's an active Muslim evangelism movement against you. And here's what it sounds like. Hey guys, we Muslims respect Jesus. We might respect him more than you do.

In fact, he's a great prophet. We think he's the Messiah. In fact, we believe that Jesus is coming back to fight the Antichrist. Did you know that Muslims believe that? And for some of us, listen, some of us are like, check, check, that sounds pretty good, right? Because we've never developed our faith, all right? And here's what they would then, dot, dot, dot. But here's the problem. Christians elevated Jesus beyond anything he ever claimed to be. Jesus never said he was God. In fact, Christians made Jesus God at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. It's just being thrown around, right? Jesus being God is a Christian invention, all right? So come on, guys, here's the deal. Muslims and Christians, we worship the same God. Just chill out about that Jesus being God stuff. I need to tell us today, at the risk of stepping on everybody's feet, we're not on the same team, okay? Paul would actually call Islam the doctrine of demons, okay? And right beside that, you'll see atheists today, maybe agnostics, and they'll throw out this phrase. Where did Jesus say he was God? Come on, chapter and verse. Give me a chapter and verse. Where did Jesus say the words, I am God?

Then they'll say, he didn't, gotcha. And then if we don't know, we're like, uh, uh, uh. Now, here's the deal. I do know, I'm about to tell you. And to me, all that, it sounds oddly, vaguely familiar. Maybe it's ringing a bell with you. It reminds me of the first four words spoken in Genesis three by the devil who said, did God really say? Did God really say, question mark? Come on, did Jesus really say he was God? Come on, did Jesus, come on. Did Jesus really say? Let me let you in on a little tip about the devil. The devil loves putting question marks where God has already put periods. The devil loves to get you questioning things that God has already made clear because if he can get you questioning things, then he can destabilize you. And then you end up in James one territory where James says, you'll be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and your entire life will get destabilized. You'll find yourself up in your head and you're questioning stuff. Your whole life is going up and down and up and down. Why? Because you have no firm foundation. And Jesus came to be the firm foundation.

If he can get you questioning things where God has already made statements, he can get you asking questions where statements have been made, your whole life gets destabilized. So here's the deal. Today, if there is a question mark over whether or not Jesus is God, today, if there is a question mark We're gonna pull out the divine eraser and we're gonna replace it with a period. over whether or not Jesus is God, You're gonna be able to leave here today, if there is a question mark knowing that Jesus claimed to be God and in fact is God. So here is the truth. I'm gonna give the atheists credit on something. The atheists are correct that Jesus never said the phrase in English, I am God, okay? But that's not nearly the gotcha that they think that it is. I'm gonna break that down, okay? So here's my goal. I have two real goals today, okay? Today, what I wanna do is I wanna put some tools inside your hands, all right? So that one, you would know that you know, that you know, that you know that Jesus truly is God, that you believed it, that you trust it, that you can build your life on that firm foundation, okay? And two, that you would be prepared to talk to others

about the good news and defend it if that day comes, all right? So that if you don't believe, by the time you leave, the scales will have come off your eyes like they did with the Apostle Paul and you would step into faith and trust in eternal life. And also so that you would be prepared to give an answer for the reason that you believe. Because everything hangs on the deity of Jesus, all right? And I don't know about you guys, I'm very tired of watching Jesus-loving, shallow Christians get knocked over by TikTok arguments. I'm tired of seeing people go to church for 20 years and then get taken out by a 20-second clip by a heretic. Because they never developed their faith on the weightier things of what we believe. So today, here's the deal. We're gonna see that Jesus doesn't simply reveal himself as a good man, as a good teacher, as a great prophet, no, no, no. He clearly, boldly, unashamedly asserts claims that he is the one true God. He is the word of God made flesh. He is Emmanuel, God with us, the one who laid his life down on the cross. And to prove his deity, he rose again, conquering it all, okay? But I know some of you are like, but pastor, I thought you said that Jesus never claimed that he didn't say I am God, okay?

Here's our problem. You wanna know what our problem is? First off, our problem is most of us are Americans, okay? So problem with Americans is we want it our way. Like it's my money, I want it now, like BK, you know what I'm saying? So here's our thing. We end up putting a Western lens on an Eastern book, all right? I'm gonna, there's gonna be a few thick parts over the next few minutes, because it needs to be, okay? So one of our things that we said a whole lot in seminary was this, is the Bible was not written to you, it was written for you. Some of you may need to write that down, because you need to chew on that a little bit. Here's what I'm saying. The Bible was not written to you, it was written for you. In other words, the scriptures are just as relevant, just as real, just as alive today as they were 2,000 years ago. But you understand, the Bible was not written in the language of Atlanta 2026. It was written in the language of a first century Jew. So, listen, the real question is not whether or not, did Jesus say, I am God in English? The real question is, did he say, I am God in Hebrew? Did he say, I am God to the people

who were listening to him that day? With that in mind, open up to John eight, all right? If you didn't bring your Bible, you might wanna do that next time. We'll have it on the screen, okay? So, I love what happens here in John eight. Again, the tension has been building. In John eight, Jesus gets in a 47 verse argument with the Jews about who he is, and about what it means to be a child of God. All right, and so what the Jews are saying is, we're children of Abraham. And what they really mean is, Abraham's the father of the faith, all the way back in Genesis. Yeah, they prized Moses, but it really went all the way back to Abraham. They're saying, we're children of Abraham. They're saying, hey, if you did a 23 in me, on me, there'd be some Abraham in me. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 tribes, all the way to the people who are sitting in front of Jesus. And Jesus is like, hey guys, I got some news for ya. Since you don't believe in me, your father's not Abraham, your father's actually the devil. And listen, listen, just listen. Listen, listen. I know we like nice, cuddly Jesus. My favorite Jesus is the Jesus who takes the gloves off.

And the gloves come off here a few times in this interaction as the tension gets turned up, okay, John 8, 48. And the Jews respond to that. They answer, hey, aren't we right in saying that you're a Samaritan and demon possessed? This is like a Jews insult, okay, at that time. Samaritans were the half-breeds. They're like, hey, aren't you just a half-breed and a demon possessed? They're insult. This is the yo mama joke of the, yo mama so fat, Jesus. That's what's happening. And Jesus says, I'm not possessed by a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. I'm not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it. And he is the judge. And very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death. And at this, they explain, now we know that you're demon-possessed because Abraham died and so did the prophets. Yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death? Are you greater than our father Abraham? Pregnant pause. He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are? And Jesus replied, if I glorify myself,

my glory means nothing. Pause, pause on that real quick. So a lot of people are like, why didn't Jesus just go walking around saying, I am God, I am God. Okay, first off, we put those people in the loony bin. Okay, second off, here's the deal. If you just want, I am God, I am God, that means nothing, anybody can say that. Anybody can say that, that's what's happening. It wouldn't accomplish anything. He says, if I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My father, who you claim as your God, he's the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. Oh, I love this so much. If I said I did not know him, I would be a liar like you. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Get him, Jesus. But I do know him and I obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad. You are not yet 50 years old, they said to him. And you've seen Abraham? Very truly, in the Greek, it's amen, amen. It's truly, truly. In other words, this is the most Jewish way of saying, listen to what I'm about to say. Before Abraham was born, I am. And at this, they picked up stones to stone him,

but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple ground. Woo, okay, that escalated quickly. All right, so what's going on here? Again, there's culture everywhere in this, right? So people of the day had almost like a mythological view of Abraham, all right? So in all the traditions, they call it the Midrash, like all the traditions of the time, the oral traditions, the stories they would tell, was almost like this mythological idea of Abraham, that Abraham was so blessed that 2,000 years before this moment, he could look ahead, Abraham with his eyes, he could see the day of the Messiah. And the Messiah could look back and see the day of Abraham. There was this relationship between Abraham and the Messiah, like it was so blessed. And Jesus leans into this idea and he says, hey guys, news, I know Abraham. And Abraham celebrated the day that I would come to earth, and they start mocking him. They're like, Jesus, come on, bro, you're like 30. Abraham lived 2,000 years, come on, bro, you think you know Abraham? And then Jesus claps back, he says, before Abraham was ever born, I am. They pick up rocks, why? Because it's the great proclamation in the Greek, there in the Greek in the New Testament, ego me, ego me.

Ego me means I am. Now here's the deal with language, okay? If you take off the ego and you just say me, so you say me a carpenter, I'm a carpenter. Jesus says, I'm the light of the world. Jesus says, I'm the bread of life. Nobody gets upset about that stuff. But when you just say ego me, you're in different territory now. So you rewind back to the book of Exodus. God appears to Moses in the burning bush and he calls him to draw near, to take off your shoes, Moses, because you are on holy ground. And Moses, today I am calling you to go back to Pharaoh and to tell him to let my people go, right? Exodus three, verse 13, Moses replies, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they asked me, what is his name? What is the name of God? Then what should I tell them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am, has sent me to you. And God also said to Moses, say to the Israelites, Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. Yahweh. Listen guys, we're on holy ground, even saying the name. I don't know if we need to put some more respect

on that name, okay? Listen, we tread lightly here. Here's what you need to know. The Jewish scribes at the time, when they're copying the scrolls, whenever they got to the name, they would clean the pen because there's dirt on all the other names. I can't write the name of Yahweh. In Greek, they call it the tetragrammaton. There's actually a name for this. It means the four letters. Yod, he, vav, he, yod, he, vav, he, Yahweh. The name is so holy, I've got to clean the pen. Sometimes they would throw away the pen and get a new pen because how am I supposed to write the name? They wouldn't say the name because they're afraid to mispronounce it. I am, I am, I am, Yahweh, means I am who I am. I just am. I have no beginning and I have no end. Listen, guys, you have a beginning. and you will have an end. There was a moment in your mother's womb, the light flashed and life came alive and it turned into you. There was a moment where this building was constructed. There was a moment where the earth came into being. There was a moment where the plasma ignited and turned into the stars. There was a moment when all this started.

There was a moment when it will all end, but God has no beginning and God has no end. Yahweh is the A, he is the Z, he is the alpha, he is the omega, he stands outside of it all. He's at the beginning right now. He's at the end right now. He's here right now, because he's in it and stands outside of it. And he says, I just am. I am uncreated. I am the creator of all. I am. And Jesus takes that name and he claims it for himself. What he was doing, Jesus is revealing that he was there at the burning bush. Jesus is revealing he was there before the birth of Abraham. Jesus is saying he was there on the day that I said, let there be light happen. Jesus, get this, Jesus does not say before Abraham was born, I was. He says, before Abraham was born, I have always been. And it was the most Jewish way of saying that you were God. And Jesus knew exactly what he was saying. And if you notice the text, the people knew exactly what he was saying too. And they pick up rocks to kill him. Why? Leviticus 24. Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death.

The entire assembly must stone them. To blaspheme means to misuse the name of God. And so what they're saying is, Jesus, you, a man, just claim to be God. Therefore, you have to die. This is what we call going Old Testament on somebody. And I want you to notice, Jesus says it, what their response, what is Jesus' response? I want you to notice. Jesus isn't like, whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, I'm sorry. Whoa, I didn't mean to say that. I didn't mean to say that. This is a complete misunderstanding. I didn't claim to be God. No, what does Jesus do? He says, I am. Drops the mic, peace out. Read the text, that's what he does. I love it. He just says it, smoke bombs and walks away. You know what I'm saying? It's amazing. And notice what they do. What do they do when Jesus proclaims to be God? What do they do? They respond with violence. Isn't that interesting? That the same way people responded 2000 years ago is the same way they're still responding today at the proclamation of the divinity and the deity of Jesus.

It sparks violence, either physical violence or verbal violence. It sparks violence. Why? We talked about it in John one because the light has come into the world and it reveals the darkness, but the darkness doesn't wanna be revealed. And what happens when you're in a dark room and somebody turns on the light, you either step into the light or you fight to get the light turned back off again. And they lunge back out at Jesus to try and kill him. And listen, listen, listen. People will say, Jesus never said the words, I am God. No, he said, I am, which is how you would have told a Jew that you were God. Here's the cool thing for us though. It wasn't the first time. I'm gonna give you two more. In John five, we talked about John five in Father's Day. And Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. Why? Because he's proving he's the Lord of the Sabbath. The thing that you have held us so holy for so long, I'm the God of that. That's what he's revealing himself. So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. And in his defense, Jesus said to them,

my father's always at work to this very day, and I too am working. And for this reason, they tried all the more to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, listen, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Jesus is God. Before John eight, Jesus is already really, he's turning, he's being more and more and more and more clear. All the way to John 10, we'll give you one more. The Jews who were there gathered around him saying, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. This is what people are still saying today, that Jesus never answered this question. Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you don't believe. The works, we're gonna circle back to works in a minute. The works I do in my father's name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. I and the father are one. Again, his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, I've shown you many good works from the father. For which of these do you stone me? Pay attention. We are not stoning you for any good work, they replied, but for blasphemy because, pay attention, you, a mere man, claim to be God. You, a mere man.

A mere man claimed, you claim to be God. In the Greek, man is anthropos. That's where we get anthropology. Anthropos claims to be theos. Anthropos claiming to be theos is blasphemy. We have to kill this God. Let there be no mistake. What did Jesus claim to be? God. If anybody ever tells you, give me chapter and verse. Word it, John 10, 33. John 10, what is it? John 10, I'm gonna tell you 15 more times. John 10, 33. John 10, write it down. Tattoo it on your face. Put it in reverse so you can read it in the mirror. John 10, 33. John 10, 33. John 10, 33. John 10, 33. John 10, 33. John 10, chapter and verse. John 10, 33. Where did Jesus claim to be God? John 10, 33. They knew exactly what he was saying. And so did he. Listen, guys. Today, everybody wants to make Jesus

their mascot for their thing. Everybody's trying to hijack Jesus, turn him into Republican, turn him into Democrat, turn him into Socialist. Everybody's like, Jesus would have been a Socialist. I mean, that's the big thing today, right? Jesus was for the underdog. Jesus got killed because he fought the powers that be. All that stuff is so secondary, tertiary. It's way down the list, lower in the order, okay? Let there be no mistake. Jesus claimed to be God so clearly that they nailed him to a cross. They nailed him to a cross because Jesus is God. Now, listen, let me give you one more angle. Think about this. When people say, Jesus never said, I am God. Here's what they're really implying. They're saying for Jesus to be God, he has to say, I am God, worship me. He has to walk around doing that. I am God, worship me, okay? Here, go with me. What if I told you I work on cars at Toyota? What did I just claim to be? A mechanic. Did I tell you I was a mechanic? No, listen, I told you that I do what a mechanic does. Come on, come on, come on. And that's what Jesus does over and over and over and over.

He does what God does. Here's the question. What's more convincing, saying you're God or showing you're God? Okay, anybody can say they're God, okay? But can you do what God does? Don't tell me you're a mechanic if he can't fix my car. Because I'm gonna give you my car and then I'm gonna drive off a cliff because my brakes don't work, you know what I'm saying? Like, don't tell me, don't. Like, I brought my trainer up here last service and I was like, you don't have to tell me he's a trainer because he flexed and his biceps hit me in the eyeball. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, don't tell, show me, show me, show me. Prove it, prove it, prove it. Can you do what you say that you are? And at the last supper table, I love this, with one of the most intimate moments, we'll get there in a little while, but last supper table there in John, Jesus is sitting with his disciples and they're kind of asking him one-on-one questions. And I love this. Philip says this in John 14, eight. Lord, show us the Father and that'll be enough for us. And Jesus answered, believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,

or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Here's what he said, if you don't believe my words, at least believe my works. If you don't believe my works, at least believe my works. And here's the question, what were the works of Jesus that say that he is God? I'll give you a few of them. This isn't an exhaustive list. He forgave sins. Okay, I'm not gonna go line by line, but Mark 2, 5. Mark 2, 5 is when the friends of the crippled man put him on the mat, bring him down the street, lower him through the roof, and Jesus looks at the guy and says, hey, your sins are forgiven. And the Pharisees freak out. They're like, only God can do that. And Jesus is like, how did you say that? I didn't, you know? And then he's like, hey, so what's easier? Is it easier to say that your sins are forgiven or is it easier to heal a crippled person? It's way easier to say your sins are forgiven, by the way. And he's like, just to show I can do both, rise and walk. Jesus forgives sins. He walks on water. He calms the storm. He heals the sick. Come on, he cast out demons. He raises the dead.

He fulfills hundreds of prophecies. He lives a sinless life. He receives worship. That one right there, Matthew 14, 33. He receives worship. That's when Jesus walks on water. It says when he gets to the boat, it says the disciples proscuneoed him. Proscuneo is the Greek word for worship. Proscuneo means to lie prostrate, to go face first before a king. That's what you do. And so when Jesus gets in the boat, they go face first and they worship him. And Jesus receives their worship. Thomas, after the resurrection, cried out, my Lord and my God, right? Like the New Testament all around him is affirming it. He's receiving it. He conquers death. to prove his deity, Jesus is God. Here's the point, Jesus didn't only say he was God, he showed he was God, he proved it over and over and over again, Jesus is God. Jesus is God. Now here's the deal. Some of you may be asking some questions about right now because you've read some other verses, you've had some other conversations. And let me fill in the cracks,

I'm gonna go thicker just for a second because we need this, we need to be prepared for the world that we live in. Maybe you're asking the question, if Jesus is God, why does he pray to God? If Jesus is God, how could he die? Okay, and I'm gonna give you two big theological words and you're gonna have to do some own research because we only, we got some people we gotta get in here in a minute, okay? All right, here's the first theological term, the trinity. Okay, the trinity, okay? Here's what Christians believe. Christians believe that there's one God revealed in three persons. Here's a good way of saying it. One what and three who's? One what and three, one God revealed in three persons, okay? Let me tell you a few things we don't believe. We don't believe in three separate gods, that's called tritheism, that is what Mormons believe. And they would fight you over that, but that's really what they believe when you pull the curtain back. They believe that Jesus became a God, so he is separate, all that sort of stuff, okay? We don't believe that Jesus was created or lesser, that's what Jehovah's Witnesses believe, all right? That is, by the way, about a 1700 year old heresy called Arianism, you can research all this stuff, okay?

From the beginning, the church's statement of faith, it was just put by Athanasius around 350. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. One God, three persons, blessed Trinity. If you grew up like me, you sang that every single Sunday in your Presbyterian church, okay? Co-equal, yet distinct. One God, three persons, co-equal, yet distinct, which is how it's possible for the Father to be here and Jesus to be there, okay? Let me clarify something. Jesus did claim to be God, but Jesus never claimed to be the Father. Y'all tracking? So when Jesus is talking to God, why does Jesus pray to God? Because when we say God, which in Greek is theos, you'll see that everywhere in the New Testament, theos, theos, theos, theos, theos, what we normally mean is the Father. Theos usually means the Father, okay? So Jesus talked to the Father all the time, all the time. If you wanna get confused for a second and see how beautiful this is, 2 Peter 1, you can just go read on your own free time like you always do. All right, 2 Peter 1, Peter's introducing his book and he says, I have written these things so that you would know Jesus Christ, our God, better. And I'm praying that through my,

if you know Jesus Christ, our theos, better. Then he says this. He says, I prayed that through my writings, you would know theos and Jesus. Wait, what? Because you just called Jesus theos and then the next line, you separate the two out because he's talking about the Father and the Son. This is many times. While you see Jesus called the Son of God, that does not mean that God had a baby. It's trying to draw a distinction between the Father and the Son, okay? Here's our problem. If you wanna know where our real problem is, we're humans. And we only have language, human language to try and describe our God. And here's the problem, guys. If you could figure God out, guess what? Now you get to be God, okay? This is a little bit bigger. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. So why did Jesus talk to God? Because he's talking to the Father and the Trinity, okay? So here's the other question. If Jesus is God, how could he die, okay? I'm gonna give you one more term and it comes back to Jesus. Jesus is humanity and divinity

and how they relate to each other, okay? It's called kenosis. Okay, you can go and do all this on your own. But kenosis comes from the Greek, kenou, which means to empty, okay? Here's the big thought. Jesus is both fully God and fully man, okay? This is what we call the hypostatic union. 100% God, 100% man. Not 50% God and 50% man. Not 75 and 25, 100% and 100%. Fully God, fully man. When Jesus puts on flesh, he did not cease to be God. His divinity added humanity. 100% God and 100% man. This is how it's possible for Jesus to have a one-on-one conversation with the Father and still get hungry. 100% God, 100% man. So when Jesus says something further on in John, when he says the Father is greater than I, what's he actually saying? He's saying that Jesus is less than the Father in his humanity, but he's equal with the Father in his deity. I know this is a lot, but it's important. And I'm gonna give you one scripture for it and then we're gonna surge forward, okay? Philippians 2, five. This is where we get it from. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God. Here's what Paul's saying. Let's just go ahead and get that out of the way so there's no confusion about this. Though he was God. he did not think of equality with God as something to hold on to. instead he gave up his divine privileges. he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. when he appeared in human form he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. therefore God, Theos, elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name that is above all other names, that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus is God and there is power in his name. here's what I'm trying to say guys. there's no power in the name of Buddha. there's no power in the name of Muhammad. there's no power in the name of Vishnu and Shiva and Brahma. there's no power in the name of Joseph Smith. come on Muhammad. Joseph Smith. come on Ganesh. come on there's no power in the name of crystals. there's no power in the name of horoscopes. there's no power in astrology. there's no power in demons. there's no power in sage and universal energies. but there is power in one name and it is the name that is above every other name. that the name of Jesus every knee must bow and every tongue confess him Lord to the glory of God the Father. the name of Jesus is bigger. it's greater. it's salvific. it changes the room. it changes a nation. the nations fall at the name of... listen. you walk into a room and you say the name of Jesus and the room changes. why? because there's power in his name. Bolivians do. he has the name that is above it. listen. because when you say the name of Jesus all the other names in the room start getting unsettled. because there may have been some darkness in that room. there may have been some demons in that room. there may have been some idols in that room. and they don't want to get dethroned. and so when you say the name of Jesus you better believe

everything starts popping off in that room. and it may even get violent for a minute because the darkness wants to extinguish the light. so take that question and replace it with a period. Jesus is God. Jesus is God. here's our final question. why does it matter? why is it not enough? listen there. just go with me just for a second. I'm going to give you an apologetic. why does it matter that Jesus just can't be a great prophet? why is the Islamic proposal... why is that not enough? why is it not enough that they don't even think that Jesus was crucified, by the way? they think that God kind of like pulled him away from that thing because they can't imagine, come on, a holy man dying like that because they don't get the gospel. so why is it not enough that Jesus was just a good teacher? why isn't it not enough that he was a great prophet but he's dead in the tomb somewhere? why is that not enough? okay what's at stake here? here's the first thing that's at stake. is that a dead man can't save your soul, but God can. okay again I just think I gotta be super clear. think about it. Muhammad died. Confucius died. Buddha died. every religious leader has a grave, but Jesus walked out of his. come on, you can go visit all these other dudes. I've been to Israel numerous times. I poked my head in that tomb and I was like, where he at? and they're like, he ain't here. good news, he has risen. and here's the problem. a dead man can't save anyone. only a living God can. and and let's just be super... let's just punch it on the nose. if Jesus is not God, we're wasting our Sunday mornings. you should be on the lake right now. if Jesus is not God, we are idiots. if Jesus is not God, Paul says this, he says that Christ has not been raised from the dead. we should be pitied as fools more than anybody else who's ever lived. I mean come on, the Apostles were martyred. even right now our brothers and sisters in Nigeria and in certain parts around the world, they're being murdered by the hundreds. we're idiots. what are we clinging to? if Christ has not risen from the grave, if Christ is not God, we should be pitied more than all fools. why? because we're worshiping a dead liar. and we are still lost in our sins because of Jesus' sin, which we all do. we screwed it up at nine months old. come on somebody. only a perfect, sinless,

spotless lamb of God could be the ultimate sacrifice. and if Jesus is not God, means he's a sinner. and so he died on the cross for nothing. and so we're worshiping a liar and we're putting our trust in one who can't hold that trust. and so you're going to hell and your sins are still on you because Jesus' death on the cross didn't accomplish anything. but good news, Jesus is God and he's alive. and if you have not heard that good news, that gospel recently, Christ went to the cross to take on the sins of the world, including your sins and my sins, and he rose again on the third day conquering sin. held death and the grave appeared to hundreds, proving his divinity. And now by faith in his finished work, we are forgiven, we are free, and we are reconciled back to the Father. Therefore, death doesn't have the final say-so, and those who die in Christ never really die. Romans 10, nine says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that he raised from the dead, you will be saved. It does not say you might be saved. It does not say hopefully you'll be saved. No, good news, guys. All of God's promises are yes and amen, and Christ Jesus, and you will be saved because nobody who trusts in the Lord will ever be put to shame. And if you trust in God, not Jesus, not just as the Lord, but as your Lord, and believe that God raised him from the dead, it doesn't matter how you walked in here,

what shame is on you, what sin is on you. Nothing is too big for the blood of Jesus not to wash you as white as snow and separate your sins from you as far as the East is from the West. And bad news, the dead man can't do that, but the living God can. The living God can. Here's the second thing that hinges on the deity of Jesus. A dead man can't change your life, but God can. And listen, a dead man may be able to inspire you, but he cannot change you. There are people who have lived in the past, their stories inspire me, but there's nothing about them that can actually change the human soul, okay? There's no power in a dead man's name to do anything, but there is power in the name of Jesus. And listen, in that name of Jesus, you can cast mountains into the sea in prayer, you can cast out demons, you can heal the sick, you can even raise the dead in Jesus' name. And the power of Christ can transform a rebellious sinner into a righteous saint, because he's done it with me and he's doing it with you. And on some days it may look like micrometers of change, but I'm telling you, the one who began a good work in you is faithful to carry it on to completion because the same power that raised Christ from the dead now abides within you because God is alive. And I look different today than the first day

I said yes to Jesus and you should look different today than the first day you said yes to Jesus because Christ himself is alive on the inside of you. You should love God more and love your neighbor more and be more evangelistic and more holy than you've ever been in your entire life because the holiness engine is gaining momentum as Christ is alive inside your bones. Here's what it means, no marriage is beyond hope, no sickness is too great, it means no addiction is too strong, why? Because Jesus is God and he's alive in you, in you. And here's the third thing that hinges on the deity of Jesus, here it is. You can't know a dead man, but you can know God. And the most beautiful thing that I'm kind of clinging to and living in and pressing into in this season is relationship with Jesus. Guys, you can't know a dead man. I'm sorry, I gotta be just brutally honest with this. Why can't you know a dead man? Because they're dead, yeah, they're dead. Like, you can go to a grave and you can talk to it and it doesn't talk back. No, it doesn't. Because they did, they did, right? But you can talk to Jesus and he can talk back because he's alive. Jesus is God and he's alive and you can know him and infinitely better

than you knowing him is him knowing you. And guys, I don't know, maybe you got sidetracked somewhere, maybe you got stuck in religion, but I'm just here to remind you that Christianity is bigger than dead religion. It's bigger than stained glass, it's bigger than dusty Bibles and long sermons. It's a relationship with the King of kings and the Lord of lords who knows your name and he can know it because he's God and he's alive. And I was praying during my sabbatical and I just wrote this down. I said, God, I would rather be unknown by man and known by God than stand on a stage to be known by man but not be known by God. And before I make you known, I wanna know you. I don't just wanna know about you, I wanna know you. Guys, if you did not know this, the most precious thing in this life is not possessions, it's not money, it's not the job, the raise, the trophy, the accolades, the title, it's not human relationships or 25th anniversary vacations. It's not even having a really good hermeneutic and orthodox theology. Best thing in this life is knowing God and being known by God. And that's only possible because Jesus is God and he's alive. And that's what's at stake here. Listen, if the devil can get you putting question marks

where God has already put periods, think about those three things. Here's what he can steal from you because the devil only comes to steal and kill and destroy. Here's the three things he can steal from you. Your salvation, your transformation, and your conversation with God himself. So bottom line, here's the final question. What are we gonna do with Jesus? And one of my favorite quotes is from C.S. Lewis, who wrote a book called Mere Christianity many years ago, in the last century. Here's what he said, he addresses this at all. He says, I'm trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus. That I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. And here's what happens over the next just few sentences, he begins deconstructing this idea that we can just make him certain things. Like this idea, here's what he's really trying to say in the next minute, you'll recognize it. That some would say, well, Jesus is not God, he's just a great prophet. And here's what we have to understand, if Jesus said he was God, he's now a liar, which means he's not a great prophet. And so Jesus takes that option off the table. He's saying, I can't just be a great teacher,

I can't just be a great prophet. I'm either one thing or I'm the other thing. Here's how he says it here. That is the one thing we must not say, because a man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg, I love that, or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and call him a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us, he did not intend to. My other probably favorite C.S. Lewis quote is this, is that Christianity, if false, is of no importance. If it's true, it's of utmost importance. The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important. Yeah. Jesus is either a liar and dead in the tomb, or he's God, there is no other option. Jesus intentionally abolished everything in the middle. He's either liar, lunatic, or Lord. So today, what are you gonna do with Jesus?

Because here's what it comes down to. If Jesus truly is God, you can't just simply admire him. Can't come in, sing a nice song, and keep our hands in the pocket, it's like, mm, really, mm, that's nice. Okay, you don't calmly appreciate a king. You don't casually fit him into your schedule. No, if Jesus is God, you bow. You worship, you submit, you obey, you reorder your life around his kingship. Because if Jesus is God, it changes everything. And Jesus is God, and he's alive. Amen, amen, amen. Let us bow our heads, let's talk to the king. Jesus, I thank you that we can even pray. We can boldly approach the throne of Christ with confidence because we have a great high priest who's gone before us, and through your broken body, the veil itself has been torn. God, I thank you for these moments that our words aren't just bouncing off the walls. This is not just a religious exercise. No, we're actually having a conversation with the king of glory. Thank you that our prayers are heard. Thank you that salvation has been purchased. Thank you that righteousness is available to the saints. Thank you, God, for every good and perfect gift that comes from above. But we have some decisions to make.

We just kind of talked about three things. We talked about salvation and transformation and conversation. And there's some of us inside this room, maybe even online, who haven't crossed that line of faith yet. And I know how this works. Listen, I can't change you. I can't convince you of anything. It's really what is God saying through what I'm saying. And over the last few minutes, you've found yourself thinking things and believing things that you never thought you'd think or believe. That's God himself doing that work, right? You are on holy ground right now. And so the invitation is here. The really cool thing, Jesus actually says this. He says, I stand at the door of your heart and I knock. And I love it. I love what he says. He says, if you open up your heart and let me in, here's what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, we're gonna have a church service. He actually says, if you open up your heart, I'm gonna come in and we're gonna eat together. Like, that's who Jesus is. And so maybe your heart's being softened right now in a way you never imagined. You say, hey, I actually believe this.

What do I need to do? Well, here's what it looks like. I'm gonna lead you in a prayer where you can put your faith in Jesus Christ. And over the course of this prayer, here's what it looks like. It's like, as you confess that Christ is King, as you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. In other words, you're gonna be born again, sins forgiven, and you're gonna come into a relationship with the Father where you can pray on the other side of this and talk to Him and you'll live forever. It's amazing. It's the most amazing thing ever. That's why it's called the Gospel of Good News. And if that's you today, I wanna lead you in a prayer and family of God around you is gonna pray. So let's pray like this, say, Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God. You rose from the dead. I put my faith in You and I turn, I repent from my old ways, my old sins, my old life. I leave it behind and I turn towards Jesus. I put my faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died for my sin. You rose again. I believe it and I receive it. And right now, because of Jesus, I am forgiven. I am born again.

I will live forever. And God is my Father and I'll live for You the rest of my life in Jesus' name. Receive that, just receive, just let that be real. Thank you, Jesus, for salvation. It's only possible because you're God and you're alive. Here's the truth, some of us, listen, if you just got born again, stay right there. Some of us, some of us have been Christians for a while and we've settled into some sin, Bible would call it iniquity, just repeated stuff. But Christ invites us into transformation or Christlikeness, becoming more and more like Jesus. And He then gives you the power to do it through the Holy Spirit. And so maybe some of us over the next few minutes, we just need to say, hey God, I've allowed some just junk in my life. And if Jesus is God, He can't just be God on Sunday morning, He has to be God of my whole life. And so I'm gonna submit, I'm gonna obey, and I'm gonna clean out the cobwebs of my soul. You just need to do some business with God as He does business with you. And then that third thing is relationship. Some of us maybe have camped out at religion and stained glass and we've forsaken the most precious thing ever is knowing God and letting Him know you. Just over the next few minutes, the team's gonna come

and they're just gonna sing just for a minute. Here's what I'm gonna invite you to do, is just talk to Jesus. And here's what conversation is, if you didn't know. It's talking and then stopping talking so you can listen. Because Jesus wants to have a conversation with you. Maybe it's been a while since you talked to Him. So here's what we're gonna do. Team's gonna lead us for about three or four minutes. Some of you may need to just stand up and worship as loud as you've ever worshiped because Jesus is God and He's worthy of it. Some of us just need to kind of come and sit down front, maybe do some business with God. Some of you may need to stand, sit, whatever it is. Just engage with Jesus because He's God. He's alive. He's worthy of every breath and every moment that we have. Let's worship together. Thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app. We hope this content was a blessing to you. But we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, or even content that you would like to see us create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you, you're important to us,

and we'd love to continue to create some things in the future that will bless you. So send us a letter and we hope to hear from you soon.