Sermons From Enemies – We Have Heard It From His Own Lips

Sermons From Enemies – We Have Heard It From His Own Lips is the third in our Lent sermon series on the Passion of our Lord.  We’re looking at truths offered by Jesus enemies.

First let’s look at some polling data.  You can click around HERE and find breakdowns on what Americans think about God.  You can refine the information by church going evangelicals to different ages and genders.  THIS was the specific set that I referenced in my sermon.  I have to say, I was surprised.  I thought more “evangelicals” would claim that Jesus was God.  I was wrong.

This week we go on trial with Jesus.  One of the common claims made enemies of God outside the church and inside the church is that Jesus never claimed to be God.  About that…  Jesus did over and over again.  In this post I’m not going to reference the trial or the other couple examples Jesus gave that he was God.  These are the ones I left out.

Or consider this: Jesus said once, “I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers” (Mt 23:34). “I am sending…. What else can that mean, but that he was the one who sent all the Old Testament prophets? He gave them their message. The prophets, several thousand times, announced, “This is what the LORD says.” Jesus himself said, “All [should] honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him” (Jn 5:23).  The way to honor the Father is to praise him as God. Jesus said, “I should receive the same honor!”

Want more? What kind of qualities do you expect of God? Holiness, right? Omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, eternal existence? What does the Bible say about Jesus? He “had no sin” (2 Co 5:21) — holiness. “Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him” (Jn 6:64) —omniscience. “Jesus … said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ “(Mt 28:18) — omnipotence. He said, “Surely I am with you always” (Mt 28:20) —omnipresence. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb 13:8) — he is eternal and unchangeable.

Still more? “In the beginning was the Word,” John’s Gospel says, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). “Be shepherds of the church of God,” St. Paul said once, “which he bought with his own blood” (Ac 20:28). God had blood! “We wait for… the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…” (Tit 2:13). “…and from [the Jews] is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!” (Ro 9:5). “And we are in him who is true,” John wrote, “even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” (1 Jn 5:20). Do you see what people do to our Savior when they say he never claimed to be God? Jesus clearly confessed he was God, and the Scriptures clearly support his claim.

We would expect better responses in the Christian church. Listen, however, to Christian leaders: 1)”I don’t imagine for a minute that Jesus had the audacity to claim the deity for himself. 2) “In an honest effort to exalt Jesus, his followers sometimes insisted that he is God. However, the Scriptures nowhere declare that Jesus made that claim.” 3) “Jesus did not regard himself as the Son of God  4) The simplistic claim that Jesus is God is nowhere made in the biblical story. 5) Despite the magnificence of his divine sonship, Jesus is still only a man.” 6) I am firmly convinced that Jesus never talked about himself as God.

Who said that? 1) Robert S. Alley a Southern Baptist, professor and chairman of the department of religion at the University of Richmond; 2) A. J. Ungermas, a Presbyterian theologian 3) Father Adolf Holl, a Roman Catholic priest and part time lecturer in Vienna, Austria. 4) John Shelby Spong, Bishop in the Episcopal diocese of Newark, NJ; 5) Schonberg Setter, former parish pastor in the Lutheran Church in America; and 6) Bart Ehrman – professor of theology at UNC Chapel Hill.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week message taken from Luke 22 – Sermons From Enemies – We Have Heard It From His Own Lips.