[Biblemat] A) IMPLICATIONS OF FAITH IN THE DEITY OF CHRIST

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Tuesday
morning to each and every one.  May God bless you and yours.
I have finally reached the big 80 this morning.  The Lord has bless-
ed me and mine mightily.  Thanks to each of you that has been a
part of my life through this medium and other ways.  Here is an
article from my files:

IMPLICATIONS OF FAITH IN THE DEITY OF CHRIST

     How anyone approaches a study of the life and teachings
of Christ is fundamentally influenced by his faith or lack of
faith in the Bible teaching that Jesus is the Christ, that He is
Deity, that He in His stay upon earth in the flesh was "God
with us" -- Immanuel.  Much of the "study and research" pre-
sented in the media today approaches the subject from the
perspective of unbelief, thus from the assumption that Jesus
was merely a man subject to all of the limitations of human
knowledge and understanding.  Thus the "scholars" reason
that Jesus must have experienced the work of building hous-
es in order to teach as He did the lesson of building one's
house upon the rock (Matt. 7:24-26).  They also reason that
Jesus must have experienced toil of farming in order to have
such understanding of the laborers' toil in the heat of the day
(Matt. 20:1-16).

     If we, through the evidence God has supplied, are fully per-
suaded that Jesus is the Christ and that He is all that He claimed to be and 
all that the Scriptures declare Him to be,
then our faith in His identity as Immanuel (Matt. 1:23) resolves doubts and 
questions raised by unbelief.  It is no
wonder that the teachers of the Law were astonished at Jesus' understanding 
and answers when He was twelve years
old (Lk. 2:46,47).  True faith in the Deity of Christ explains
Jesus' capability at that age and His ability to put to silence
even learned men (Matt. 22:33-46).  He who had the fullness of the Spirit of 
God was thus filled with the excellence of knowledge that appertains to God 
alone.  "God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to Himself..." (2 Cor. 5:19).  "For in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9).

     As Deity, Jesus Christ is eternal.  He was with God in the
beginning and was God (Jno. 1:1).  He is Creator as God is
(Gen. 1:1; Jno. 1:1-4; Heb. 1:1-12).  All of His declarations are
true and accurate.  The history He cited as He taught is true
without question, because He spoke from knowledge and not
from human faith.  This history includes the beginning, creat-
ion, marriage, the flood of Noah's day, Jonah's account of the
great fish, Sodom and Gomorrah, and other places and events that unbelievers 
have questioned because of their un-
belief.  Jesus' use fo Scriptures was always correct, and His
interpretations were always true and exact.  He is our perfect
pattern for proper handling of the Word of God.

     Both the Old Testament and the New Testament give us
the evidence to assure us that Jesus is the Christ, that He is
Deity, that He came to redeem lost mankind, and that He will
judge us all at last.  When we accept that evidence and believ-
e in Him with all of our hearts, we should accept all of the nec-essary 
implications that our faith entails.  After all, those who
believe in Him will not be put to shame (1 Pet. 2:6).  Scoffers
may ridicule, and the effete elite may arrogantly demean us,
but our faith is grounded and sure.  Its truth is as firm as the
Rock of Ages, for He is our Source.  Let us embrace the faith
and hold fast, for we are partakers of Christ if we hold our
confidence steadfast to the end (Heb. 3:14).  ---- Gilbert Alex-
ander.
 
   </HTML>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20070508/2fb36640/attachment.html