Introduction:

Intro: The most important truth a man can ever learn is "Who is Jesus Christ."   Each man must learn and accept this truth if he will be saved from Hell and being eternally lost and separated from God. The answer to the question demands a response in man. A person must accept the truth of who Jesus truly is or reject Him and be forever lost.

The first Messianic prophecy, which is the first mention of his coming,  is found in Gen. 3:15:

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

It is clear that God was saying that He would send One who would render the death blow to Satan and undo the sin that the Devil had brought into the world.

God promised a Savior, the Messiah, meaning "Anointed One."  To Abraham God promised in Gen. 12:3, and 22:17-18,  that from his offspring would come One that "in Him all the nations would be blessed." Paul in Gal. 3:16,  tells us that this Promised One was the Lord Jesus Christ.

Satan however being a deceiver offers the world and guilible men a substitute Messiah made in the image of man. The Apostle John warned about these "antichrists": "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.(1 John 2:22) Clearly John said they existed in his day and they surely continue to exist in our time also. An "antichrist" is a false christ who presents himself as Christ, but is an imposter. Folks, God has but one "Only Begotten Son" and He is the Lord Jesus Christ....there is not other.

The O.T. speaks of Him over and over in hundreds of prophecies concerning almost every detail of his Coming. These prophecies concerning His work can be divided into two groups. First He is seen as the suffering Savior.

First He is seen as the suffering Savior.

Psalm 22, the most quoted Psalm in the Old Testament, clearly speaks of Christ as the rejected and suffering Savior. From verse 6 and following the passage is clearly suffering and reproach more that David ever knew, but is recognized by all to be prophetic looking to the sufferings of Christ.

Isaiah 53 is the least quoted passage among the Jews today. Jewish children are forbidden even to read it. I think we can understand why when we read the passage. Without doubt these verse clearly reveal that Christ would, in great suffering, be offered as a lamb led to the slaughter to bare the sins of the world. The Jews were looking for a conquering Messiah would given them a worldly kingdom. Jesus did promise them a worldly kingdom, but it will be inhabited by redeemed Jews who receive their Messiah spiritually. They did not accept Jesus as their Messiah come to save them from their sins and the penalty of death. He offered them a spiritual kingdom on earth and they rejected him. You do not enter His kingdom by force. Everyone in His kingdom will be there because they sought Him first at their spiritual Savior.

Second He is presented as the coming King, the Messiah and Deliverer who would save His people and restore the greatest to Israel.

Daniel 9:25 He is presented as the Messiah the Prince.

Isaiah 59:20 says, "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD."

Throughout history man has twisted and confused who Christ was and His nature. False teaching, directed by the master deceiver Satan himself has done all he could to discredit and dethrone our God and Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.

The modern cults and false religions of our day were not the first to deny who Jesus Christ really is. Each of them are only the modern version of the age old heresies.

All the modern cults deny the deity of Jesus Christ. The Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses, Unitarians, Christian Science and many others deny that He is God. Each of them in different ways state He is only a created being.

As we shall see the Bible as God's word and revelation to us telling us that even as God is eternal, so is Jesus Christ. All the attributes of God the Father are equally attributed to the Son, Jesus.

In this message we will see what the Bible says about who Christ is and let God our Creator tells us who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Did you know that one day you will meet Him? This is why this message is so important, because every man, woman, boy or girl in this room will someday meet Him face to face. In fact every person in Tremonton, Utah will also meet Him and everyone ever born on earth. Love Him or reject Him makes no difference.

Romans 14:11 "For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Hebrews 12:23 declares that Jesus is the Judge of "ALL." READ HEBREWS 12:23-29.

Let us then look at the One we will one day meet and be judged by.

A. If something is eternal then it has no beginning or end. Does the Bible say that Jesus Christ is our eternal God?

1. Each of the following passages in the New Testament affirm the eternity of Jesus the Christ.

Timothy 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

1 Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

2. John 3:16 states, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." You must be eternal to impart everlasting life.

3. Jesus in John 17:5 states His eternity with the Father. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

2 Timothy 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

B. In John 3:19, Jesus stated that Light had come into the world, but man would reject Him, because their deeds were evil. Note John 7:26, again. They knew who He was.

C. In Romans 1:18. Paul tells us that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Note it says men hold the truth in unrighteous. In verse 20 Paul concludes that men are without excuse. They could know the truth, it is plain to see all around them, yet they reject God's truth.

ILLUS: Did you ever wonder why the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, the cults, false religions such as Islam, and liberals so hate the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ. It is simply this: They live in their own self-righteousness. All the false religions and cults suppose themselves to be working their way to heaven. They offer their own good works and shun the shed sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ as an atonement for their sin. To acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God, and that He only is the Redeemer, exposes man's sin and depraved sinful nature. It throws a spotlight on the evil heart of man and shows him to be what he is. As Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no not one." In the light of Jesus Christ's deity is revealed the truth that man can offer nothing for his salvation and that man's works and righteousness is as Isa. 64:6, says "filthy rags." Man is not the savior! Man can do nothing to save himself and the fool that he is man persists in trying to offer "filthy rags" of his righteous instead of the pure shed blood of our Holy and All Righteous God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the tragedy of such foolishness that denies the truth and believes a lie.

D. In John 8:58 ended His discourse to these false religious leaders and proclaimed. "Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM." The Jews then rioted and took us stones to kill Jesus, but Jesus and alluded them and passed through the midst of them.

When Moses ask God who should he tell the Children of Israel who has sent him to lead them out of Egypt, in Exodus 3:14 records, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."

Jesus was saying He was Jehovah God, the "Self-Existent One." He identified Himself as the One who sent Moses to the Children of Israel when they were in captivity in Egypt. In John 8:58 "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."

1. Jesus then in John 9:1-12, healed the man born blind again on the Sabbath day demonstrating that He was God.

2. In John 9:13f they brought the man who was healed before the Pharisees. Note verse 16. Jesus had just healed a blind man who was blind from birth. This is the first time in the history of the world that this had happened. Further, this fulfilled the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 35:5-6:

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert."

3. They knew this was an unprecedented mirage. They then went and ask the healed man's parent's was this truly their son. Why all the fuss. They knew only too well that only God could do such a miracle. His parents identified him, yet would not state how he was healed. They said he is a grown man...ask him.

4. Again they questioned the blind man. V24-29.

5. But listen to the testimony of the man in verses 30-33.

6. Jesus heard of how the Pharisees had treated the man and He went to see Him.

a. Note what Jesus ask him. V35. "Do you believe on the Son of God?"
b. The man then ask "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe him."
c. Then Jesus emphatically stated who He was. "Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee."
d. Then in that moment, a lost sinner was found, and saved for all eternity....because he believed on Jesus Christ and worshiped Him. V38.

Note that the man worshiped Jesus Christ! Jesus accepted the man's worship because He was God.

E. John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men."
1. John 1:14, clears up any misunderstanding concerning who the Word is. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth."
The phrase "only begotten" is monogenhv "mon-og-en-ace'" "mono" meaning "only one" and "gen-ace" meaning "to beget" or only begotten. This statement which is only used of the Lord Jesus states absolutely that God the Father no other begotten Son. God created man...exhilo, out of nothing and breathed into him live and man then told man to "Be fruitful, and multiply" meaning that man would produce children after him.

The phrase "Only Begotten of the Father" affirms the deity and uniqueness of Jesus Christ being God incarnate in Man.

2. Rev. 19:11-13, also emphatically identifies who the Word is.

3. Jesus Christ is the eternal God, He is the Word, and He is eternal.

F. Lets us go back to the Old Testament and Micah 5:2.
"But thou, Bethlehem E-ph-rat-ah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

G. Jesus is the Father. Jesus in John 14 told his disciples that He would be leaving them and returning to heaven. John 1:1f

Note Jesus' answer to Philip when he asked Him to show them the Father:

10 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

Clearly, without question Jesus said that He was the Father. They in seeing Him, was seeing God the Father incarnate in man.

A. Note again John 1:3. "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
1. The verb "was made" means "came into being."
2. It is significant because it literally means "it came into being out of nothing."
3. This single verse refutes every form of evolution.

B. Hebrews 1:3, 10, proclaims Christ as the Creator. "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; . . . And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands."

C. Colossians 1:-15-17, " Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."

A. Clearly God's word says that one day everyone will face Him.

Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

1. When you meet Him will it be a His obedient child. We you stand before Him forgiven of your sins and unashamed having put your faith and trust in Him as your personal Savior?

2. Or when you stand before Him will it be as His enemy? James 4:4 says that those that love the world are His enemy. (Read James 4:4-10)

3. John 3:36 says, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

a. In this verse there are two truths. Those that believe have everlasting life. Those that believe not have not life and the wrath of God abideth on them.
b. It is our choice which of these two truths we accept. If we do nothing....we do not believe and will stand before Him in the judgment of condemnation.
c. However, the Good News is if we believe and simply trust Him....we will stand before Him as a friend, as our loving Savior with whom we will spend eternity.

1. God, the Father is said to be the Creator of the Universe and of us all. Here we have further seen that Jesus Christ the Savior is that God, God the Son, wholly man and wholly God.

2. The Scribes and Pharisees saw the deity of Jesus Christ in the same way that you and I have today. They saw in the prophecies which is the Word of God, of who He is. They had the advantage is seeing Him in person and seeing His mirages and hearing the Word of God from His very lips.

3. But do not be mistaken about this one thing. God is a strongly speaking to each of us today by His word even now. He ask the once blind man, "Do you believe on the Son of God?" This is His present question to each of us.

4. That is the most important question a man will ever answer. The man who saw Jesus Christ and was healed, believed and he worshipped the Lord.

5. Will you today, believe and worship the Lord Jesus Christ? Will you believe in God, our Lord and Savior and be forgiven of your sins and receive eternal life. My friend the answer is yours to make!

6. You will see Him one day face to face.

It will be as a friend or as His enemy. It will be moment of reward and joy as the Savior says well done my beloved servant....or it will be moment of shame and terror as you stand knowing you have no defense.

It will be a time of happiness as you know you received Him, welcomed Him into your life, or a time a eternal reject knowing you rejected Him who loved you.

It will be time to rejoice knowing that for all eternity you will live with your Creator and God....or a time horror as you realize that you have only an everlasting hell before you.

Would you know agree with me that this is the most important truth on earth today and the most important question is this:

What will you do with Jesus right now.