SERMON OUTLINE

Witnesses to the Incarnation of God

The Witness of Scripture and the Godhead

“For in Christ all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” (Colossians 2.9) 

Introduction

The incarnation of God – God came to earth in human flesh and with a human nature, lived among us, gave himself to God as a sacrifice for sin, and is now ascended into heaven with a glorified body, soon to return with power and glory to get His own. (Romans 8.3; Hebrews 2.14, 17; Philippians 2.6-11)

Demons

Matthew 8.28-29 (also Mark 5.7f; Luke 8.26f)

-“Legion” recognized Jesus as the Son of God. (James 2.19)

-Expected to be tortured with Jesus as their Judge

-Authority of Jesus “Go”

Mark 1.24; Luke 4.34

-The Holy One of God

NT Scriptures

Gospel of John

-Jesus is the Christ the Son of God; True God and eternal life. John 20.30-31; 1 John 5.20

2 Peter

-Our God and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1.1

Paul

-Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. Romans 8.3; Philippians 2.6-11; Colossians 2.9

Hebrews

-Shared in their humanity. Hebrews 2.9-11, 14, 17

Godhead

Father

-This is my Son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Matthew 3.17; 17.5

Jesus

-God is my Father. “I am”. John 5.16-18; 8.24, 28, 58

The Holy Spirit

-Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ. Romans 8.9

Conclusion

1) Salvation: The blood of Jesus is the only way to remove the punishment of sin. 2) Identification: As one of us, Jesus knows us and can sympathize with us. We are conformed to his image. 3) Final Judgment: Eternal life in the presence of God or eternal fire. The choice is yours.

SERMON NOTES

Witnesses to the Incarnation of God

The Witness of the Scriptures and the Godhead

-Our focus over the last four weeks has been on the incarnation of God in Christ. This will be the last sermon in this series on witnesses to the incarnation. I am hopeful that these five weeks have given you a deeper understanding and awe for God the eternal Son of the eternal Trinity, who took a human body and human nature and lived with us. Not only did he live with us but he gave himself to God as a sacrifice for our sin, was buried, raised from the dead, resurrected, ascended to heaven and is now standing in a glorified body on our behalf before the Father in heaven. One day soon Jesus will be coming back in glory and power to bring those who love him to live with him forever in heaven. My great desire and prayer is that all of you will be in the group that will spend eternity in the presence of God.

-This morning I want us to look together at three more groups of witnesses to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. The first group is the demon spirits that Jesus encountered while he was on earth.

-Turn to Matthew 8.28-29 [Read] (also Mark 5.7f; Luke 8.26f)

–Mark 5.9 tells us that the demons in this man called themselves Legion because they were many. These demons immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of God. Remember that before the rebellion of Satan in heaven these demons were angels and lived in the presence of the Son of God. Here they were acknowledging their Creator and former Lord. Notice also that these demons expected to be tortured at some point in their eternal existence and that they knew that Jesus would be the one who was going to pronounce this judgment upon them. If we were to read further in the story we would see the authority of Jesus casting out these demons with one word, “Go”. As James tells us (2.19) the demons believe in God and shudder. Here the demons witness to Jesus as God incarnate.

-We find the same witness to the incarnation of Christ in Mark 1.24 and Luke 4.34 where the demons say, “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” So when the demons were confronted by Jesus they witnessed that he was the incarnate Son of God.

-The second group is the writers of the NT. Many verses could be quoted at this point from each NT writer acknowledging that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh. I have already given you a number of these verses in the first sermon of this series and you could go the website and look them up or listen to the sermon.

-John ends his Gospel with these words, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (20.30-31) John ends his first letter in much the same way, “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true – even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5.20) John witnesses to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

–Peter introduces his second letter with a clear identification of Jesus Christ as God. Peter writes, “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:” Peter witnesses to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

-In Philippians 2.6-11, Paul describes Jesus as having the nature of God before coming to earth, his descent into humanity as a servant, and his exaltation as Lord over all. Colossians 2.9, our theme verse printed in the bulletin each week says, “For in Christ all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” Then in Romans 8.3 we read, “What the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh.” Paul witnesses to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

-Finally the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says, “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. …Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil. …For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2.9-11, 14, 17) The writer of the letter to the Hebrews witnesses to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.                   

-We find throughout the NT a witness both to the humanity of Jesus and also to the divinity of Jesus and that in Jesus, God came to dwell with his creation in a human body and with a human nature without giving up his God nature.

-The third group is the Godhead. God the Father gives witness to the incarnation of God the Son in many ways which we have already looked at. At the baptism of Jesus, we find the Holy Spirit present as a dove and we find God the Father speaking from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God the Father repeats this affirmation of the incarnation of God the Son at the transfiguration of Jesus. “A bright cloud enveloped them (Peter and James and John), and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 3.17; 17.5) God the Father witnesses to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

–God the Son also witnessed to his incarnation by his miracles and prophetic statements. Jesus also claimed to be God a number of times as recorded in the NT by calling God his Father and also be calling himself “I am” the Greek equivalent of “Yahweh” the name of God. The Jews that Jesus spoke to clearly understood these statements. John 5.16-18 says, “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working’. For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” Three times in John 8, Jesus calls himself “I am”. In John 8.59 the Jews once again pick up stones to stone him. (8.24, 28, 58) Jesus witnesses to his own incarnation.

-We find that God the Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8.9 providing yet another witness of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. As the author of Scripture the Holy Spirit clearly points to the incarnation of God in Christ.

-Over the last five weeks I have proved to you from many witnesses of the incarnation that Jesus Christ is God, part of the eternal Trinity, and that he came to earth and was born a human being, with a human nature. I have also made known to you that the purpose for Jesus coming to earth as a man was to die on a cross to pay the punishment for man’s sin. God validated that Jesus paid the punishment for the sin of man by raising him from the dead. The ascension of Jesus into heaven resulted in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Bible tells us that Jesus continues in bodily form and is now standing before the Father on our behalf and will one day return to take us to heaven.

-Let me close by pointing out three important implications of the incarnation which cannot be ignored.

1) Salvation: The mission of Jesus when he came to earth as a human being yet remaining fully God, was to die on the cross as a sacrifice to pay for the punishment of your sin and my sin. Sin is man’s universal problem. The punishment that God requires for your sin cannot be worked off with community service, erased through transcendental meditation, spiritualized away, ignored, covered by religion or ritual or baptism; medicated; minimized by psychology; philosophized into non-existence; avoided by the teachings of evolution; or removed by animal sacrifices or any other kind of sacrifice. God says there is only one way to remove the punishment that your sin requires and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross he satisfied the justice of God which enables God to forgive your sins and bring you into His family by filling you with the Holy Spirit. If you ignore or refuse God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ, you do so to your own condemnation, for there is no other way into the presence of God than through Jesus Christ.

2) Identification: God the creator of the vast universe and the creator of man has visited earth as a man. Because of that we know and have the assurance that God is intimately acquainted with our trials and temptations, our sin, our longings, our weaknesses, our hopes and our dreams. God calls us to take all of our blessings and struggles and offer them to him, not only as one who sympathizes with us in these things but as one who also has the power to help us in them. (Hebrews 4.14-16) Jesus is now your high-priest who stands before God the Father on your behalf, if you belong to him. Otherwise Jesus stands as your waiting Judge.

In Christ, God also makes us holy and righteous and more like Jesus in our attitudes and actions. Life on earth becomes life in the Spirit because Jesus came to earth and lived with us and then died for us and is now in heaven praying for us.

3) Final Judgment: Your final destiny is either eternal life forever in the presence of God or eternity in the lake of fire with all unbelievers, the Devil and his demons. There is no purgatory, there is no reincarnation, there is no Nirvana, there is no annihilation without existence after death. Everyone does not go automatically go to heaven when they die. If you have not consciously made a choice to ask Jesus to save you from your sin then you may be living on a false hope of getting to heaven. Jesus, who is God and knows what he is talking about, said wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7.13-14) You need to be certain that you have entered through the small gate of salvation in Jesus Christ and that you are on the narrow road that leads to eternal life.

God the Son, left the glory of heaven and was born as Jesus and then died on the cross for your sin and mine because there was no other way for you and I to pay for our sin and be brought back into a relationship with God. If you are trusting in any other way to heaven, including your own goodness, you are saying to God that there is another way to be right with God and that Jesus is not the only way. What I am telling you this morning is that by the incarnation of God in Christ, God is saying to everyone, “there is only one way to God and that way is Jesus Christ”. I pray that God will make this truth so very clear to you that you will trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life. That is the ultimate intention of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.