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Does anybody need a confession 
of faith? You need the blue basket up on the top there? Jim's grabbing 
it for you. Anybody else need a copy of the 
confession of faith? You can turn to chapter 8. Chapter 
8 of Christ the Mediator. I remember last time that we 
did an introduction to Christology. We introduced the topic and also 
spent time on the importance of it. So we didn't actually 
read from the Confession. Then we simply introduced the 
study. Now I'm going to open with the 
reading of the first two paragraphs. So the first two paragraphs of 
chapter 8, and then we'll get into a study of the introduction 
to the chapter in brief, and then the identity of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. So this is chapter 8, beginning 
at paragraph 1. It pleased God in His eternal 
purpose to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten 
Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be 
the mediator between God and man, the prophet, priest, and 
king, head and savior of his church, the heir of all things, 
and judge of the world, unto whom he did from all eternity 
give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, 
called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. the Son of God, 
the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal 
God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal 
with Him who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all 
things He hath made, did, when the fullness of time was come, 
take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties 
and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin. being conceived 
by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy 
Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the Most High 
overshadowing her. And so was made of a woman of 
the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David, according 
to the Scriptures, so that two whole, perfect, and distinct 
natures were inseparably joined together in one person without 
conversion, composition, or confusion, which person is very God and 
very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and 
man." So there are a number of other paragraphs after that, 
and we'll seek to read through some of those as we move forward. 
It's my idea, and I can check to make sure that it's okay, 
but with regards to the doctrine of Christ in chapter eight, to 
look at first the identity of Christ, the person of Christ, 
and then to look at his work. So this morning, I just want 
to do a brief intro to the chapter. And then we'll look at the identity 
of Christ first at the point of his deity, because it's obviously 
a very important doctrine. It is of the utmost importance 
in the Christian faith, a non-negotiable, an irrevocable. It is one that 
is absolutely central to and vital to our profession as Christians. And so we'll begin then just 
with a very brief review of last time. Remember that we looked 
at an introduction to the doctrine of Christ. And we noted some 
important interpretive rules or observations when engaging 
in a study of Christ. And those were that first, truths 
contained in Holy Scripture are either A, expressly set down, 
or B, necessarily contained. And so in our job of doing theology, 
And when I say our job, I mean simply the Christian's job, whether 
the man in the pulpit or the man or woman, boy or girl in 
the pew, is to recognize that particular rule of scripture. 
Secondly, we are not to attend to nakedness of words, but to 
fullness of meaning. We noted Jerome stating that 
it's not simply the bare words that we attend to in the scriptures, 
but the fullness of the meaning, that is the meaning or the the 
understanding of the words themselves. And the reason I point that out 
is because heretics of old have cited scripture, heretics of 
new cite scripture irresponsibly in just a wooden literalness 
approaching the words themselves without seeking to see the words 
as they are clothed with the divine meaning. Thirdly, there 
are clearer passages that are to be searched to answer questions 
about the true and proper sense of the less clear. That's sort 
of a paraphrase of chapter one in paragraph six, or a section 
of it. So if we approach the Bible, 
and we see in this case text concerning Lord Jesus Christ, 
for example, where he says something like, the Father is greater than 
I, we don't just then somehow conclude that Christ, according 
to his deity as the Son of God, he must be somehow lesser than 
the Father. We need to seek out passages 
that speak to his you know, unrivaled deity or 
unmitigated deity, and the fact that, of course, he assumed our 
humanity, and so that that statement must, of course, mean or touch 
upon the fact that he assumed our humanity. We also noted that 
the unchanging divine perfections and the unchanging divine perfections 
of the sun, that those truths serve to undergood our understanding 
of the person of the sun. So in the background, well, in 
the foreground, as we're studying the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought 
to have chapter two, paragraphs one through three in our minds, 
and we'll look at that in a few moments. Fifthly, we noted, and 
lastly, the recognition of the union of the two natures in the 
one Christ. So that when we come across particular 
texts that speak in a lowly manner, and some texts when they speak 
in a highly manner, we're to rightly navigate what that pertains 
to. For example, Chrysostom says, 
when anything lowly is said of him conjoined as he is with the 
flesh, there is no disparagement of the Godhead in what is said, 
the economy admitting the expression. Or maybe more easily to understand, 
attributing to the deity the higher and diviner expressions 
and the lower and more human to him who for us men was the 
second Adam, Gregory of Nazianzus. So when we read of Christ, sleeping, 
hungering, thirsting, praying, bleeding, dying. We're not to 
ascribe those things to his deity. Those are the lowly and human 
sayings. But when we read of Christ forgiving 
sins, when we read of Christ stopping the winds of the storm, 
when we read of Christ knowing the minds of men, when we see 
Christ saying things like, I am, we're obviously to attribute 
those higher and diviner sayings to his divine nature. All right. Someone's listening, or someone's 
speaking. Okay, so I wanted to add just two quick rules connected 
to that last one. As we seek to understand the 
sayings of Christ, the writings concerning Christ in the Bible 
more, and to rightly understand when certain things are said 
of Christ in certain manners, And one of those things comes 
in paragraph three, and that's the role of the Holy Spirit with 
respect to the incarnate Christ. You can very briefly see there 
at the beginning of paragraph three, the Lord Jesus in his 
human nature, thus united to the divine in the person of the 
Son, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure. So as we work through the confession, 
we'll make a note that that's an important thing to recognize 
as well. not simply, well, simply and 
gloriously the deity of Christ, His humanity, the singleness 
or the unity of the person, but also the fact that the Holy Spirit 
is intimately involved with respect to the man Christ Jesus in regards 
to His assumed humanity as He goes about the task of mediatorship. Isaiah promised it. Christ recognizes 
that prophecy concerning Himself in the Gospel accounts that Isaiah's 
promise of the Spirit being upon the servant comes true in his 
own life and ministry. And then, of course, the mediatorship 
of Christ, which is connected to him being very God and very 
man, yet one Christ. So let's look then just briefly 
at an introduction to the chapter, and then we'll jump into the 
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the identity of Christ, that 
he is very God. James Renahan summarizes the 
chapter this way, or I'm sort of paraphrasing, but this comes 
from him essentially. A three-fold outline to the chapter, 
there are ten paragraphs. A summary of the doctrine of 
Christ, paragraph one. The person of Christ, paragraphs 
2, 3, 7, and 9, and then the work of Christ, paragraphs 4, 
5, 6, 8, and 10. So a very simple and helpful 
outline to the chapter, a summary or an introduction to the doctrine 
of Christ, and then the person of Christ and the work of Christ. 
That is what Christology is. That is what the study of Christ 
is. A study of the person and work of Christ. The glory of 
his person and the virtue of his respective offices. An extended 
outline based on every single paragraph, very briefly. A summary 
of the doctrine of Christ, paragraph one. A statement on the person 
of Christ, paragraph two. The Trinity and the incarnate 
Christ, paragraph three. The historical execution of his 
mediatorial task, paragraph four. The perfect completion of his 
mediatorial task, paragraph five. The scope of his mediatorial 
task relative to Old Testament saints, paragraph six. incarnational 
and interpretive rules governing the doctrine of Christ, paragraph 
7, the application of the benefits of his redemptive task, paragraph 
8, we're almost there, just two more paragraphs, the exclusivity 
of Christ as mediator, paragraph 9, and then the power of his 
three-fold mediatorship relative to the elect. That shouldn't 
just be, hey, a bunch of complex statements. I think that illustrates 
or that sets forth the glory and the scope of the doctrine 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter writes in his first epistle 
to those who believe he, Christ, is precious. And so in our in 
our goings forth as Christians in this lower world by the Spirit's 
aid, studying so blessed a Savior, we're not just engaging in an 
exercise of absorbing truth statements. We're doing that, but we're doing 
that because there really is a living and true Christ behind 
those truth statements that we're to glory in, that we're to believe 
in, that we're to rejoice in, and if He is precious to us, 
then we are to know Him and we are to study Him, and we are 
hopefully in this exercise to jettison from our contemplations 
those things that aren't true of Him, because we're to know 
Him are right. Our study, the identity of Christ, 
we noted last time, and Jim's mentioned this before as well, 
one of the most, if not the most important questions ever asked 
is asked by Christ, who do you say that I the Son of Man am? 
who Christ is is absolutely vital to the Christian faith. The correct 
answer to that question is absolutely vital to the Christian faith 
and proves such as saints who rightly answer it. And so we 
want to know the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is 
Augustine on this exercise. He was made, that which he made, 
that what he made might not perish. Very man, very God, God and man, 
whole Christ, this is the Catholic faith. And Catholic, small c 
if you will, the universal faith believed by true Christians. 
not Clinton, Hillary of Poitiers, if that's the right pronouncement. 
This is the true faith for human blessedness, to preach at once 
the Godhead and the manhood, to confess the word and the flesh, 
neither forgetting the God, because he is man, nor ignoring the flesh, 
because he is the word. And so the study of the identity 
of Christ is absolutely vital. So this morning's focus, we're 
gonna look at the deity of Christ, and then next Lord's Day, Lord 
willing, actually the one after that, we'll look at his incarnation 
in humanity. So on the deity of Christ, we're 
going to look simply at two things, what it doesn't mean and what 
it does mean. So it's a simple outline to our 
study this morning. We'll read from the confession. 
We'll read from our Bibles to see the clarity with respect 
to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a cardinal truth. 
It is a truth of the first order, one of the first cardinal tenets 
concerning the Orthodox confession of the Son. the deity of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Bovink writes this, it is clear 
that the Christian religion, that is the true fellowship between 
God and humans, can be maintained in no other way than by the confession 
of the deity of Christ. For if Christ is not truly God, 
he is only a human being. And however highly he may be 
placed, he can neither in his person nor in his work be the 
content and object of the Christian faith. So we study Christ as 
Christians, recognizing at the outset and glorying in the fact 
that he is very God. One of the, just before we jump 
in, some of you may not have come across this, but it is the 
objections of the God-haters and the heretics, even in our 
own day, that the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ wasn't confessed 
in the early church, that it was an ecclesiastical imposition, 
that it was even a political imposition by Constantine upon 
early Christians, you know, he and they, the wicked church, 
dashed away the Aryans, the true Christians in the early church. 
But the confession of the deity of Christ, obviously we have 
it in the Old Testament promise that the Christ would be divine. 
Obviously we have it in the New Testament, Christ himself identifying, 
self-identifying as God. But the early church is not absent 
of this declaration. And two things with regards to 
that observation in the early church. One, just at the turn 
of the second century, so around 120 AD, an unbelieving Roman 
observed that Christians were accustomed to meet on a fixed 
day before dawn and sing responsibly a hymn to Christ as to God. So 
even an unbelieving Roman realized that the Christians believed 
in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a Christian, 
Aristides of Athens, who only a couple decades later, around 
140-ish, wrote this. The Christians then traced the 
beginning of their religion from Jesus the Messiah, and he is 
named the Son of God Most High. And it is said that God came 
down from heaven and from a Hebrew virgin assumed and clothed himself 
with flesh." So that's only two quotes to note that the early 
church most certainly believed in the deity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. So let's look at that now then, 
and let's first jettison from our minds what we don't mean 
when we say or talk about the deity of Christ. So first off, 
we do not mean, and when I'm writing these things, I'm not 
just making them up. These are things that heretics 
have believed historically and that some even would believe 
today. So what we do not mean when we 
speak of the deity of Christ. First, we do not mean that Christ 
is one God among many in a pantheon of deities, of course. We're 
not Greco-Roman pagans. We're not sitting somewhere in 
Athens bringing offerings of of leaves and things atop Mount 
Olympus or whatever. We do not mean that Christ is 
one God among many in a pantheon of deities, Greco-Roman religion, 
Norse mythology, Hinduism, all of that sort of garbage. Secondly, 
we do not mean that he is the second of three beings, or individually 
willing self-conscious persons in a divine triumvirate. I know 
that's a lot of language. But sadly, some even who would 
confess themselves as Christians believe that today. James Dalzell 
uses the language of God incorporated. as if the Trinity is simply Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, three separate willing subjects who simply have 
a harmony. Their oneness isn't a substantial 
oneness. Their oneness isn't a oneness 
of nature, but it's simply a oneness of harmony. That's not what the 
deity of Christ is. He isn't the second of three 
beings. or individually willing self-conscious persons. He is 
the second person of the triune God of one substance, power, 
and eternity with Father and Spirit. Thirdly, we do not mean 
that he is of a similar or derived substance to or from the Father. 
That was an ancient error, that he's not of one substance with 
the Father, just a similar or derived substance. Fourthly, 
we do not mean that he is divine and that he is filled with the 
Holy Spirit. Though, according to his assumed humanity, he is 
filled with the Holy Spirit or given the Holy Spirit above measure, 
but his divinity is not seen in that he is filled with the 
Holy Spirit. Fifthly, we do not mean that 
he is an exalted man, his deity being seen in that he is some 
way chosen or honored by the Father. That's an ancient and 
a modern heresy as well. So that his deity is somehow 
acquired or rewarded or is a status granted by the completion of 
heroic deeds. He's not Hercules. He's not some 
man, an exalted man that's been rewarded with deity. We do not 
mean, sixthly, that he has merited his divinity by virtue of his 
obedience, a la Mormonism. So he hasn't received his deity 
by the perfection of obedience. He has received a reward by the 
perfection of his obedience according to the perfection of his mediatorial 
work, but his deity, of course, is not seen as a reward for being 
a man perfecting obedience. Seventhly, and approaching lastly, 
we do not mean that as the personification, bear with me on this one, with 
the language, but this is what some people believe, and too 
many people actually believe it. We do not mean that as the 
personification of the eternal word, or an impersonal logos, 
he was an enfleshed agent of God, and so can be called God 
in some ambassadorial way. So, the Sassanians, The anti-Trinitarians 
of the 17th century that our heroes railed against in defending 
the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity, some Messianic 
Jews in our own day, Unitarians, believe that particular quote-unquote 
doctrine of Christ. That he was an eternal idea, 
kind of, in the mind of God that became enfleshed at the incarnation. Of course, we reject that as 
heresy, and that's not what we mean when we speak of the deity 
of Christ. Two more. I don't know what number I'm 
on, but I'll say eighthly. Ah, thank you, that was right. 
We do not mean that he is the father or the spirit, a la modalism, 
that he is the father and the spirit. You know, modalists of 
the Sibelian heretics of old, present in our own day, you know, 
subscribe to such a doctrine that the father sort of became 
the son who became the spirit. Or, you know, sort of another 
variation is that these are three manifestations of the one God, 
that the one God manifests himself in those three particular ways. 
And then lastly, we do not mean that he is 33 and one-third deity 
splitting the Godhead with the Father and the Spirit. I know 
Jim and I have repeated that on a number of occasions, and 
I know nobody believes that, but it's important to inoculate 
ourselves against bad theology and seeing the Trinity as somehow 
carved up into thirds, the essence carved up into thirds, and Christ 
being 33 and one-third percent of that that is incorrect. So what do we mean? The simple 
confession of the truth, we are saying that Christ is true and 
eternal God. He is essential deity, God in 
essence and in truth of one substance with the Father and Spirit. This 
is John Owen on this particular truth. He writes, It is asserted and believed by 
the Church that Jesus Christ is God, the eternal Son of God. That is, He is proposed, declared, 
and revealed unto us in the Scripture to be God, that is, to be served, 
worshipped, believed in, obeyed as God. upon the account of his 
own divine excellencies. And whereas we believe and know 
that he was man, that he was born, lived, and died as a man, 
it is declared that he is God also, and that as God, he did 
pre-exist in the form of God before his incarnation, which 
was affected by voluntary actings of his own, which could not be 
without a pre-existence in another nature. This is proposed unto 
us to be believed upon divine testimony and by divine revelation." We do mean, when we speak of 
the deity of Christ, that he is true and eternal God, essential 
deity, God in essence and truth, of one substance with the Father 
and Spirit. Our confession, going back to 
it, uses this language, the Son of God, the second person in 
the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness 
of the Father's glory of one substance and equal with him 
who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath 
made." our particular Baptist forebears 
from the Holy Scriptures, and in concert with creeds and confessions 
before them, recognize the full and unmitigated deity of our 
Lord Jesus Christ and oneness of substance with Father and 
Spirit. So he is, again, very and essential 
God, God of God, light of light, true God from true God, begotten, 
not made, one in being with the Father. Now, there are some necessary 
accompanying assertions regarding this truth. So first, we have 
the simple confession of the truth, and secondly, some necessary 
accompanying assertions regarding this truth. What also does the 
Bible say, and what also must we glean by necessary consequence 
that the Bible speaks with respect to the deity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Well, the first is that the Son 
has essential identity with the Father and Spirit. Everything 
the Father is, Christ is, save for being the Father. When we 
read, for example, in chapter two, paragraph one, on the doctrine 
of God, and it speaks with respect to the perfections of the divine 
being. It speaks about simplicity, about 
pure actuality, about immutability, about immensity, about impassibility. It speaks about God being most 
absolute, most loving, most holy, that he is a most pure spirit 
without body, parts, and passions. To summarize, that he is infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable in all of his glorious perfections, 
That is true of Father, Son, and Spirit. So that there is 
no perfection that the Father has that the Son and Spirit don't 
have. This is what we are saying as 
an assertion with respect to the deity of Christ. There is 
one substance, power, and eternity. The distinctions in the Godhead 
have to do at the point of relations. The Father is unbegotten, eternally 
begetting the Son. The Son is eternally begotten 
of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and Son. 
So the Son has essential identity with the Father and Spirit. Everything 
the Father is, Christ is, save for being the Father, or the 
Spirit. Again, I would direct you to 
chapter two to read that particular language. Secondly, regarding 
a necessary accompanying assertion regarding the deity of Christ 
is the son is therefore equal to the father. So if the son 
is of one substance with the father, then the son is equal 
to the father. There are some historically and 
some in our own day that would argue against that. that would 
argue that there is some sort of eternal relation of authority 
on the part of the father and submission or subordination to 
the father on the part of the son, or a relationship of authority 
on the part of the father and obedience eternally on the part 
of the son to the father, so that they are not truly equal. 
There is no co-equality. They couldn't sing a lot of the 
hymns that we sing, and they couldn't really justified their 
doctrine, of course, from the scriptures, whereas Jim has pointed 
to us time and again from the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ 
asserts his own equality with the Father time and again in 
his self-identification to the unbelieving Jews, and for our 
blessed benefit, the strength of our faith. And so, the Son 
is equal to the Father. I mean, some passages that clearly 
speak to that, Hebrews 1, 1-4, Philippians 2, 6, where it speaks 
concerning, Paul is writing, and he speaks concerning Jesus 
Christ, being in the form of God, remember the language, let 
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being 
in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to 
be held on to, or did not consider that, did not consider it robbery 
to be equal with God, the text says. So the Bible is very explicit. The Bible is very clear that 
the Son of God is equal to God the Father. Thirdly, with regards 
to a necessary accompanying assertion, is that the Son has personal 
distinction relative to Father and Spirit. With respect to the 
doctrine of the Trinity, Christ is the Word or Son. Just turn 
back with me to paragraph 3 of chapter 2 for a moment. In paragraph 
3 of chapter 2, we have the doctrine of the Trinity set forth. This 
is after asserting, blessedly, the perfections of the divine 
nature, the perfections of the being of God, and then With regards 
to the Trinity in distinguishing Father, Son, and Spirit, notice 
in paragraph three, in this divine and infinite being, there are 
three subsistences, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy 
Spirit. Now notice again, the oneness 
of substance, that their oneness is not simply some sort of harmony. 
amongst three beings or three persons with separate wills or 
self-consciences, but it is grounded in one substance. They are of 
one substance, power and eternity, each having the whole divine 
essence, yet the essence undivided. So there it's speaking against 
this sort of one-third, one-third, one-third approach. And then 
notice this distinction back to our point number three here. 
The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The 
Son is eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeding 
from the Father and the Son. And then they move from threeness, 
or Trinity, back to the unity, all infinite, without beginning, 
therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and 
being, but notice, distinguished by several peculiar relative 
properties, and personal relations, and those are simply what they 
had beforehand stated, unbegottenness, eternal begottenness, and eternal 
procession. It's a lot of language, and I'm 
speaking fast, but at the end here, we'll have a time for any 
questions, but it's important for us, in the very least, to 
understand the essential deity of Christ, the equality of the 
Son with the Father, and then, thirdly, His personal distinction 
relative to the Father, and then, of course, the Spirit. Fourthly, with regards to a necessary 
accompanying assertion regarding the deity of Christ, the Son 
has an unchanging deity regardless of the incarnation. This is very 
important to understand as well. The Son has an unchanging deity 
regardless of the incarnation. If Christ is God, and he is, 
and if God is simple, if he is autemporally eternal, if he is 
immutable, that is, unchangeable, I, the Lord, do not change, If 
He is impassable, if He is all of those blessed perfections 
that He reveals to us concerning Him, and that we in turn believe 
concerning Him, then the Son cannot change in the incarnation, 
though some do teach that. That in the condescension of 
the incarnation, God the Son in some way changed. He may not 
have cast off his deity entirely, that is, he does not lose deity 
in sort of the taking on of humanity, while they wouldn't even use 
that language. For example, when John 1.14 says, the word became 
flesh and dwelt among us, that became doesn't mean that deity 
transmuted into humanity with deity being lost. Of course. 
But, while they may not say that Christ cast off his deity entirely, 
they would say that in some measure, he set aside divine prerogatives, 
he set aside certain attributes, he temporarily and voluntarily 
set aside certain things in the incarnation. Well, that would 
mean that God can change. That would mean that God, you 
know, in essence, lied, which he cannot do, when he said, I, 
the Lord, do not change. And so, God, the Son, did not 
change, he has an unchanging deity regardless of the incarnation. The change respects creation 
and humanity. In the case of the union, change 
reflects the assumed humanity and not the one assuming. For 
example, or just for a text from the early church, this is Hillary 
on this truth. What do we do with certain texts? With certain texts, such as in 
Mark 13, 32, where Jesus says that the son doesn't know the 
day or hour, but only the father. So what do we do with that? Well, 
that must mean that Christ, in the condescension of the incarnation, 
became ignorant for a time, because he clearly says that he doesn't 
know the day or the hour. What do we do with passages such 
as John 14, 28, where he says, the father is greater than I 
did. Perhaps something happened in the incarnation where he has 
become lesser relative to the father. Hillary writes, With 
John 1428 and Mark 1332 in the background, again, the son doesn't 
know the day or hour. Here, the heretics find opportunity 
to deceive the simple. These words, uttered in his humanity, 
they falsely refer to his divinity. And because he was one and the 
same person in all his utterances, they claim that he spoke always 
of his entire self. It is this preaching of the double 
aspect of Christ's person, which the Blessed Apostle emphasizes, 
he points out in Christ his human infirmity and his divine power 
and nature. So this stresses the importance 
of one of those interpretive rules or observations regarding 
the doctrine of Christ and what Christians are to believe, is 
we come to our Bibles with that reality in mind, that He is very 
God, but also very man, yet one Christ. And so when Christ speaks 
with regards to ignorance, with regards to weariness, and when 
I say ignorance, not a sinful ignorance, just with respect 
to His assumed humanity, not knowing in that case the day 
or the hour. So when he speaks of sleeping, 
hungering, thirsting, weariness, and all of those things, those 
lowly things, he's speaking with regards to his humanity. He is 
very man, yet one Christ. When he, again, forgives sins, 
when he walks on water, though he walked with human feet, yet 
it was according to divine power, when he calms the storm, when 
he does those divine things, of course, he is speaking with 
respect or doing with respect to his perfect divinity. So again, 
it is this preaching of the double aspect of Christ's person, very 
God, very man, which the Blessed Apostle emphasizes. He points 
out in Christ his human infirmity and his divine power and nature. So, With, and as we move along 
in studying the incarnation and the humanity of Christ, this 
will come up again, but what do we do with those texts? We 
don't, you know, the way out isn't to somehow ascribe mutability 
to God, the son. You know, the way out in interpreting 
these texts, or the way to interpret these texts, isn't to bring God 
down, But it's to recognize that Jesus Christ, as the ancients 
would say, while he did not cast off that which he was, he took 
to himself that which he was not. So he didn't cast off his 
deity, he took to himself humanity. So in those cases where it seems 
to say that the son of God somehow maybe cast off or set aside divine 
things in his incarnation, we don't think or believe that, 
but ascribe that to the assumed humanity. You know, the glory 
of the incarnation, the glory of the incarnation is not that 
the eternal son of God cast off his divinity, but that the unchanging 
eternal son of God assumed to himself our humanity and entered 
our lower shame with all the essential properties and common 
infirmities of humanity yet without sin. It's that the Perfect One, 
unchanging in His glory, assumed our changing ingloriousness, 
if you will, our humanity, in order to redeem sinful man. So thirdly, under what we do 
mean, the creedal language declaring this truth. the creedal language 
declaring this truth from the outset of Christianity. And even 
in the pages of our Bibles, we have creeds that are appropriated 
by the divine authors, superintended by the triune God. that declare 
the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, we could think of Philippians 
2, 6-11. We could think of many places 
in the Apostle Paul, for example, where he speaks of God is manifested, 
God was manifested in the flesh. Other places that speak that 
that are the apostles, the writers of Holy Scripture, appropriating 
early church creeds, whether their own or others, in order 
to assert divine truth. So since the outset of Christianity, 
since the advent of Christ, his life, death, resurrection, and 
ascension, the church has proclaimed the deity of Christ, confessed 
it, by a proper spirit-aided understanding of the Holy Scriptures. 
This is the Nicene Creed. 325 A.D., or is it proper to say 
A.D. 325? Thank you. A.D. 325. We believe in one God, 
the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all 
things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, 
the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before 
all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God. the Creed of Chalcedon, we then, 
following the Holy Fathers, that is, the Nicene Fathers, and this 
is A.D. 451, all with one consent teach 
men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
same perfect in Godhead, truly, consubstantial with the Father, 
according to the Godhead, begotten before all ages of the Father, 
according to the Godhead, God the Word. The Athanasian Creed, 
which was probably shortly after that or around the same time, 
the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, the Holy Spirit Almighty, 
and yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father 
is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet they 
are not three gods, but one God. the Second London Confession 
of Faith. Now, notice that the Second London Confession of Faith 
that we already read from, they're not doing anything new. They're 
not coming up with their own language. They're not trying 
to take what was said of old and sort of refashion it in modern 
phraseology. They're simply appropriating 
that heritage of antiquity in order to articulate the doctrine 
of Christ in consonance with those who preceded them. The 
Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very 
and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory of one 
substance and equal with him who made the world, who upholdeth 
and governeth all things he hath made. So it's a wonderful stream 
of orthodox, Christology, an orthodox doctrine of Christ, 
a biblical doctrine of Christ that is reflected credally and 
confessionally, loved by Christians throughout the ages. So lastly 
then, the biblical witness proclaiming this truth. the biblical witness 
proclaiming this truth, we don't come with a fine-tooth comb to 
the scriptures trying to scrape through and find little grains 
or nuggets of the deity of Christ. It's everywhere. And almost always, 
it's not for this rigorous defense of the deity of Christ, it's 
simply asserted, it's simply owned, it's simply observed, 
it's simply narrated concerning. It's axiomatic for the Christian 
in essence and in truth. And so, the biblical witness 
proclaiming this truth, and just five things as we move in the 
last 15 minutes towards a close. The deity of Christ, first, is 
proved by explicit statements concerning his deity. So there 
are explicit statements concerning his deity. As Pastor Butler's 
been preaching through the Gospel of John, he has rightly come 
back often to the prologue language. In the beginning was the Word, 
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That's explicit, 
that's clear, that is the deity of Christ explicitly proved. by an explicit statement. Also, 
Thomas' profession in John 20, 28, where he declares, you know, 
before the risen Christ, after the Christ was very gracious 
to him, in, you know, showing him the prints, the wounds, the 
prints of the nails, allowing him to, you know, to see, to 
touch, and that sort of a thing, to know that it is he, Thomas 
professes gloriously the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ when 
he says, my Lord and my God. It's not as the Jehovah's Witnesses 
and the Muslims blasphemously assert that it was some sort 
of blasphemous exclamation of surprise. It was simply Thomas 
simply confessing the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ as God. 
Isaac, I see you over there. I know, simply, I'm sorry. But 
Jesus Christ is God, my Lord and my God. What a great, I think 
it's Robert Raymond who called that the supreme Christological 
statement of the fourth gospel. Thomas' confession before the 
disciples and before Christ, my Lord and my God. And that's 
our profession 2,000 years later, my Lord, and my God, our blessed 
Savior." So we have explicit statements regarding His deity. 
You can also note Romans 9.5, 1 Timothy 3.16, God was manifested 
in the flesh, Titus 2.13, and 2 Peter 1.1. Now secondly, regarding 
the biblical witness proclaiming this truth, the deity of Christ 
is proved by the self-witness of Christ to His own divinity. the self-witness of Christ to 
his own divinity. You can turn with me to John 
8. Pastor Butler, a number of Sundays 
ago, was in John 8 and observing the clear statements of the Lord 
Jesus Christ with respect to his deity. So in John 8, when 
you get there, you can go to verse 23. John 8, verse 23, and he, that 
is Christ, said to them, you are from beneath, I am from below. 
You are from this world, I am not of this world. Therefore 
I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not 
believe that I am, you will die in your sins. A number of blessed 
you know, nuggets of clarity that the Lord Jesus Christ brings 
out there. First of all, he's identifying 
himself as the I Am of Old Testament divine revelation. He is God. He is Yahweh. As well, he is 
asserting what we have been asserting, that the knowledge of Christ 
as such is absolutely vital for salvation. or it is a profession 
indicative of one who is truly saved. Therefore I said to you 
that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that 
I am, you will die in your sins. A rejection of the deity of Christ 
puts you outside the pale of saving faith. So Jesus Christ 
here identifies himself as God. And also a declaration in the 
same chapter, 58, Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say 
to you, before Abraham was, I am. Another identification of himself 
with, as, the God of Old Covenant, Old Testament revelation. And 
it's not just simply Jesus here saying, I preexisted prior to 
Abraham, as if to say, before Abraham was, I was, he's using 
the language of God's own self-identification to identify himself. And as well, 
we could note John 18, five and six and Matthew 22, 44. A wonderful statement with respect 
to the language in John 18 from Cyril. Cyril here speaks or is 
writing with regards to when Christ is lifted up upon the 
cross as that being a declaration of the deity of Christ. And he 
writes, therefore does the Savior say that his cross shall be assigned 
to the Jews and a most evident demonstration of his being by 
nature God. Since looking only, he says, 
to the flesh, you believe that I am mere man and deem that I 
am one like yourselves, but the dignity of the Godhead and the 
glory from thence do not so much as enter your mind. This is Cyril 
speaking as if Christ. evident token to you of my being 
God of truly God and light of light shall be your all dread 
and most lawless deed of daring, the cross that is and the death 
of the flesh thereupon. And so we have wonderful language 
from the lips of our Savior himself with regards to his identity 
as God. So, the deity of Christ is proved 
by explicit statements, the deity of Christ is proved by the self-witness 
of Christ to his own identity. Thirdly, the deity of Christ 
is proved by the New Testament application of Old Testament 
texts to Christ. And there are many, of course. 
And, you know, we need to go into worship in 40 minutes, so 
we can't rehearse all of them. But the deity of Christ is proved 
from the New Testament, applying Old Testament texts to Christ. 
So Old Testament texts with respect to Yahweh, with respect to God, 
applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, whether himself applying them 
to himself, or the apostles, the gospel writers applying them 
to him. We could note Hebrews 1.8, citing 
Psalm 45.6. It's a wonderful language that 
the Apostle Paul uses in Hebrews with regards to bringing together 
many Psalms in identifying the Lord Jesus Christ as God. The 
one particularly in verse eight, but to the Son he says, your 
throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness 
is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness 
and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has 
anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. 
And remember, this is after the Apostle Paul had already written 
that the Lord Jesus Christ, verse two, whom he has appointed heir 
of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being 
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his 
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power." And 
so, most certainly, Jesus Christ is very God of very God. Hebrews 
1, 10 to 12, a citation of Psalm 102.25, not a citation, a quotation 
of Psalm 102.25-27. John 12.41, remember in John 
12.41, John's speaking with respect 
to Isaiah and specifically that, well, I think bringing together 
there Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 6, and John closes that section 
in a sense by saying these things Isaiah saw when he saw Christ 
and wrote of him. So that scene of in the year 
King Uzziah died where he sees the Lord high and lifted up with 
the train, even just the hem, of his robe filling the temple, 
and the angels singing, holy, holy, holy, that is with respect 
and applied rightly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4, 8-10, 
you can note an application of Psalm 68, 17-18. And so many titles used, Alpha 
and Omega, the First and the Last, King of Kings, Lord of 
Lords, so many titles explicitly of Yahweh in the Old Testament 
applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly, the deity of Christ 
is proved by divine perfections predicated of Him. Immutability, 
for example, we just spoke concerning that Malachi 3 language, I the 
Lord do not change, and applying it to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
acknowledging that Christ in the incarnation remained truly 
what he always eternally was, the son of God, in essence and 
in truth. Hebrews 1.11 speaks with regards 
to his immutability. They will perish, but you remain, 
and they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak you will 
fold them up, and they will be changed, but you are the same, 
and your years will not fail. Eternity. Micah 5.2 speaks with 
regards to the eternity of Christ, not just a successive everlastingness, 
but an autemporal eternity, that there is no yesterday, today, 
and tomorrow, but an everlasting, unsuccessive now with respect 
to God, a boundless now with regards to God. He is autemporally 
eternal. Proverbs 8, 22 to 23, also Revelation 
1, 11. Omniscience is ascribed to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Again, these are all things only 
true of deity. There is no man that is unchangeable. If you've ever seen one, your 
eyes deceive you. There is only one that is unchangeable, 
immutable, and that is the everlasting God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
But omniscience as well is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. 1630, 
2117, Revelation 2.23, to name only 
three. Omnipresence is true of the Son 
of God, Matthew 18.20 and John 3.13. And of course, omnipotence 
is ascribed in Revelation 1.18, 11.17 and Hebrews 1.3. This is only bringing forth five 
perfections of the divine being, five perfections of the Son of 
God. but all of that to say the deity of Christ is proved by 
divine perfections predicated of him. These are things only 
true of deity that are applied gloriously to the Son of God, 
the champion, the captain of our salvation. And lastly, but 
not exhaustively with regards to biblical witness, lastly, 
The deity of Christ is proved by divine works ascribed to Him. The deity of Christ is proved 
by divine works ascribed to Him. He is the creator of all things. John 1, 3, Hebrews 1, 2, and 
10, Colossians 1, 16, and 17. The Son of God is creator. He is also, secondly, the preserver 
and the providential Lord, the God of providence. Hebrews 1.3, 
he upholds all things by the word of his power. Speaking about 
his unchanging deity, yet his suffering humanity united together 
in the one person, There's a wonderful interview that James Dozal did 
with regards to this point. It was on the point of impassibility. 
But he acknowledges, as others have acknowledged in the past, 
that at the time Christ is crying out, my God, my God, why hast 
thou forsaken me? He is at the same time upholding 
all things by the word of his power. We don't have a weak and 
denigrated deity somehow upon the cross suffering for our humanity. We have the blessed unchangeable 
one who assumed our humanity with all those essential properties 
and common infirmities yet without sin on the cross crying out according 
to that assumed humanity, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me? But at the same time, he is upholding 
all things by the word of his power. Glorious Savior, blessed 
Lord. The bestowal of resurrection 
life. John 5.21, 5.36, and 6.40. Christ is the bestower of glorious 
resurrection life. He is the resurrection and the 
life. And then the forgiveness of sins. 
Again, only to name four. The forgiveness of sins in Matthew 
9.6. So hopefully in this short period 
of time, we've gained an extra measure of appreciation for the 
identity of Christ as truly and eternal God. God of God, light 
of light, true God from true God, equal with the Father, co-substantial, 
consubstantial with Father and Spirit, that blessed one who 
assumed our humanity for our redemption and recovery. As you 
go about your lives, as we go about our lives as Christians, 
we are to ever and always glory in the deity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. And as we'll see next time, we're likewise to glory 
in that incarnation and the assumption of our humanity, which was unto 
the end that he might save a multitude of sinners. Well, let's pray. 
Heavenly Father, we thank you for studying your truth. We rejoice 
in the preciousness of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, 
we pray that it would be true of us to those who believe he 
is precious. We pray that we would lay hold 
of our blessed Savior, that we would glory in him as very God, 
as very man, yet one Christ. the only mediator between God 
and man. Help us in our knowledge of Him, in our growth in the 
grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Savior, and 
do bless us now as we go into worship. Might we honor you, 
might we serve you, and might we sing the praises of Father, 
Son, and Spirit. It's in the name of Christ that 
we pray.