“The Only Way”
Acts 4:5-12
(from a Billy Graham message, Decision Magazine, April 2012)
Sunday, October 14, 2012

Introduction: Let me ask you a question: Why is Christianity so different from every other religion? The answer is that it focuses on the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Messiah, the One who came to this earth to save the world from its sin.

            Today there are many claims about who God is. Atheists say there is no God. Polytheists believe that Jesus is one of many gods. Others say that Jesus is the first of the divine creation, but not eternally God.

This question is not new. When Jesus was on this earth there was a debate about who Jesus was. Jesus asked His disciples who people thought that He was. Matthew 16:14 tells us, “And the disciples said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’”/     We see here that the people thought Jesus was some kind of prophet or great teacher, but not God in the flesh.

            Then Jesus asked them who they thought He was. Peter, speaking for all the disciples, answers: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

            Understanding who Jesus is, is the most important concept we can learn. It really is the difference between life and death.

I.                   The Name of Christ- (John 1:4, 9; 8:12)

a.      Title- The word Christ is really a title for Jesus. It means ‘anointed

one.’ It is the term, in the Greek language for the Hebrew word for Messiah. The Old Testament is full of prophecy of the Messiah, God in the flesh, coming to this earth to save us from our sins. Peter and the disciples, and many others, recognized Jesus as the Messiah who was promised in the Old Testament.

            However, because of their situation, living in a depressed and oppressed society, they believed Jesus to be more of an earthly savior. They believed that Jesus was going to free them from the rule of the Romans, and set them up as a ruling kingdom. Jesus was indeed a light to the people of that time.

            So Jesus’ challenge was to help them understand what kind of light He was. We read in John 1:4, 9- “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” Jesus is the light that shines toward eternal life. Jesus expounds on this thought later in the gospel of John, 8:12- “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Jesus never said that He would lead a rebellion against the Romans. Jesus always talked about how His presence was to take away sins and lead people to the spiritual truth of eternal life.

            The essential truths of the Gospel, and who Jesus is, never changes. It is the same today as it was in Jesus’ time. It is important to understand and believe wholeheartedly about the virgin birth, Jesus’ sinless life, His sacrificial and substitutionary death, His reseurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father, and the glorious hope of His return. These truths should not be diluted in any way!

            Because of these truths, and the words of Jesus Himself, we believe that Jesus is the only Christ. Jesus is God. Jesus is the ONLY savior. Jesus is Lord! This is hard for many to believe because it is such an amazing truth.

b.      A wonderful truth- The Story of the Two Pebbles, (found on the Internet)

There is a story of a farmer who owed a local rich but very ugly and old man a lot of money. And the farmer had a beautiful young daughter that the old rich man favoured. The rich old man proposed to the farmer that he would waive the debt in return for the hand of the beautiful daughter. Both the farmer and daughter were shocked at the proposal.

In any case, the shrewd old man wanted to make the proposal "fairer" to the young lady. He said, I will put two pebbles into the bag and you pick one. Should you pick a black pebble, you are to marry me and I will extinguish your father's debt. If you pick the white pebble, you do not have to marry me, yet I will still extinguish your father's debt. If you picked neither, I shall have your father thrown into prison.

With that said, the old man picked two pebbles from the ground which was full of pebbles and put them in a bag. The young girl's sharp eyes caught the old man stuffing two black pebbles into the bag. What could she do, she wondered? Should she expose him as a cheat? That would probably make the old man angry and cause him to dismiss his offer. Should she go along with the game and sacrifice herself? Or should she not play at all and let her father go to jail?

What would you do?

What the girl did was she reached into the bag and picked out one pebble. As she pulled it out she “accidentally” dropped it onto the ground (which was full of pebbles) before anyone could see the color of the one she picked. "Oops,” she said. “Clumsy me. Never mind. The pebble left in the bag will prove which pebble I picked first", offered the girl, knowing very well, the other pebble left in the bag was surely black. As she pulled out the second stone from the bag, sure enough it was black.

The old man did not dare to reveal he cheated in the first place and therefore had to extinguish the debt without a bride in return. This is how the young lady turned a seemingly hopeless situation to a most advantageous result.

            When sin came into the world through Adam and Eve, it was a seemingly hopeless situation. This sin created a wall between our holy God and His people. God overcame this seemingly hopeless situation by choosing to take on flesh, come into this world, and die for our sins! It could only work if Jesus was fully God and fully human. The deity of Christ and the incarnation are fundamental truths and the cornerstones of the Christian faith.

II.                The Deity of Christ- (John 1:1-4, 8:58, 10:30; Colossians 1:15-16, 19; Hebrews 4:15)

a.      Christ is Eternal- This great truth of Christ being fully God and fully

human is spread throughout the New Testament. We read in the gospel of John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word…” The greek word for Word is “logos.” So that people would fully understand, John continues, “And the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became 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.”

            Christ is from eternity to eternity. Meaning, that because He is fully God, He always existed, and always will exist! The apostle Paul echoes this truth in Colossians 1, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created…For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.”

            When the angel came to tell Mary that she would be pregnant, Gabriel instructed her that it would be Jesus, the Messiah, and that her pregnancy was from God by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was God, but He came upon the earth as a baby; in the flesh. The invisible God was born into this world!

            This concept of the incarnation, God in the flesh, troubles many people. It troubles people because they have difficulty understanding how this could be. They have trouble understanding because they try and see with their minds, not with their spirit.

            Jesus Himself made several claims of reference to His divine nature. In John 8:58 He declared, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” In John 10:30 He said: “I and My Father are one.”

b.      Truly God in human form- Despite the fact that we are asked to

believe, in faith, it is good to know that there is proof that helps us to see that Jesus was indeed God come in human form.

            First, there was the proof of His perfect life. This is why He could ask in John 8:46, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” No one could answer that question because His life was perfect. He was blameless. As Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Second, there was the evidence of His power. His power was the power of the Almighty God. He could quiet the storms, raise the dead, heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, and make the lame walk. His miracles were a witness to the fact that His is Lord of all nature.

            Third, there was the evidence of fulfilled prophecy. Hundreds of years before His birth the prophets of the Old Testament spoke exactly of the place where He would be born and the manner of His death and burial. Many details of His life were spoken of by the prophets long before any of them took place. In every instance these prophecies were fulfilled in and through the life of Jesus Christ!

            Fourth, there was the evidence of His resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead,” we are told in Romans 1:4. There are many who have started religions throughout the centuries, but they have now died and been buried! But Christ is ALIVE!! His resurrection is a fact. His tomb is empty. Fifth, there is the proof of changed lives. Christ alone, the divine Son of God, has power to change the human heart. And He does. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” I could speak of the testimony of my life being changed by Jesus Christ, and I have shared this in my sermons. I know you have a testimony of your life being changed as well!

            Yes, Jesus Christ is who He said He is, God in human form. This is the crucial truth that supports the reality of our salvation. Only the divine Savior could die as the perfect and complete sacrifice for our sins. Only the divine Lord could tell us how we should live. Only the risen and ascended Son of God is worthy of our worship and our service.

III.             Knowing the Truth about Christ- (1 John 4:4; John 1:18; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 3:16)

a.      Those who don’t acknowledge Christ- In this day and age there are

many who do not believe that Jesus was God in the flesh. Some believe that it is the Bible, and the Bible alone, that talks about Jesus in this way. As I heard one person once say: “The character of Jesus is, at best, a combination of many stories and heroes/saviors/whatever rolled into one. He is not unique among gods and demigods.” Another said: “There is no contemporary evidence for Jesus.” And still another: “Most of what we have is evidence of the existence of Christians and their beliefs.”

            By faith Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior. Yet, those without faith deny that Jesus is who He said He is. Those who do not believe in Jesus, believe in themselves, or some cosmic power. Their lack of faith keeps them from seeing the truth. The evil in the world keeps others from acknowledging the Lordship of Christ. They are under the deceiving power of Satan.

            To break through people need to open their eyes to Jesus. Jesus has authority over the evil one and all of his demons. The apostle John, in his letter of 1 John, 4:4 says this: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Those who do not have Jesus are blinded from the truth, because they do not have “eyes” that can see the spiritual truth. Only when someone gives himself or herself over to Jesus, and has confessed their sin, and accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, can they begin to truly know the full truth about Christ.

b.      Knowing the truth- How can we know the truth about God? Is

religion just a matter of personal opinion? The Bible says no! It tells us that we can KNOW the truth—because God has revealed Himself to us. Since mankind’s fall in the Garden of Eden, God has continued to reveal Himself in history. God chose a man, Abraham, to help build a great nation. God miraculously delivered His chosen people from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. God also used Moses to help His people cross the Red Sea, and give them the 10 Commandments. After this God used prophets, who were divinely inspired, to make predictions that ALL came true.

            But most of all, God revealed Himself in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him,” John tells us in chapter 1, verse 18 of his gospel.

            The written Word of God was prepared under the direction of the Holy Spirit, who preserved the authors from departing from God’s revelation in their writing so that they conveyed exactly what God wanted them to record. As 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Even though the writers of Scripture were human, God ensured that the words and thoughts were inspired and recorded accurately as He intended. We are reminded of this in 2 Timothy 3:16, which says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

            Because the Bible is God’s inspired Word, it does not contradict itself or teach falsehoods—because God cannot lie. We may not understand every detail of Scripture, but we must never lose sight of the fact that it is God’s Word and not man’s ideas or opinions.

            Jesus constantly quoted the Old Testament and made it clear that it was the inspired Word of God. We who follow Christ must have just as high a view of Scripture as Jesus did! The word of God has the power to change lives.

            God has promised to bless His Word. Time after time when I quote scripture in my sermons, people come up to me and tell me that the verse was meant for them. This is the Holy Spirit prompting me and touching the lives of others with God’s word.

            From the time when I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord at age 15, until now, I have not doubted God’s word. Our call and power come from the infallible Word of God—the Bible. This is how we know the truth of who Jesus is.

           

Conclusion: In this day and age when it isn’t popular to believe in Jesus Christ as the Only Way, it is all the more imperative that as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, we hold firm to this truth!! It is in the Scripture in which Jesus is revealed. It is in the life of Christ, that we see Jesus demonstrate that He is God in the flesh. It is in Christ that we believe, trust, and proclaim as Savior of all. It is in Christ that we are to confess before others that He is our Lord. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes, because He is the eternal God. This is the foundation of truth that we declare. This is the foundation on which the church resides. This is the foundation of who we are as Christians. This is why we come to worship. This is why we can live with power and hope and love. This is why we rejoice. Amen.