The Claims of Christ

There's no greater example of that than our Savior in the very passage that we look at today in John chapter 5 Jesus himself indicates to us what it means to stand in the teeth of fierce opposition and not back down It was 1781 October of 1781 general George Washington pulled his troops with general Rochambot of France 19,000 strong they gathered around Yorktown, Virginia Pushing Lord Cornwallis against with his back against the Atlantic Ocean into a corner of sorts When they began to make progress toward the front lines that Cornwallis had Cornwallis realized he would not be able to win that battle and And he surrendered 7700 British troops and The main British general who was still in New York City was heard to say The war's done It's over but actually it lasted two more years The tree of Paris ending the war officially did not was not signed until 1783 the fall of 1783 And so really the battle of Yorktown was the beginning of the end of the revolutionary war What we're seeing today in John chapter 5 is the beginning of the end of Jesus life and ministry In John chapter 5 we've skipped a lot of material of Jesus ministry that's covered in the other Gospels in fact about a year and a half has gone by Jesus has been ministering in Galilee the other Gospels cover that extensively John doesn't really cover that much because John's purpose is more to show some of the miracles that Jesus performed to show his Deity and a lot of that centers around his controversy with the Pharisees in Jerusalem And so John will focus upon that by the time we come to chapter 5 where as we saw last week Jesus healed the lame man of the pool of Bethesda man who'd been there 38 years Jesus healed him immediately and miraculously by the time we come to this passage and this story There are two years left in Jesus ministries ministered for a year and a half and The Pharisees when they see this miracle begin to Pursacute Jesus look at verse 16 of John 5 So because Jesus was doing doing these things on the Sabbath the Jewish leaders began to persecute him You might think that a man who's been lying there lame for 38 years and is immediately and miraculously healed You might think wow they would recognize that's what the Old Testament said Messiah would do and they would Embrace him as Messiah put their faith in him, but they do exactly the opposite They begin to persecute him Rather than worship him they persecuting rather than coming to him for life. They want to put him to death and This begins the white hot Opposition to our Savior's ministry that will boil over And explode in the last week of his life But this is the beginning of the end Because what Jesus does when they begin to persecute him and And antagonize him Jesus Defends himself and he defends what he did By healing this man at the pool of Bethesda. That's what we're going to look at this morning Jesus defense what he claims in this passage we see this morning Jesus Christ makes three bold claims as to who he is And that will arise the opposition and hatred of the Pharisees to the point that it will say in our text They want to kill him now. This is the beginning of the end Three claims that Jesus makes we're gonna look at those this morning the first of those is Jesus says boldly that he is God In verses 17 to 23 he makes that claim quite clear The skeptics have long said the liberal theologians have long said you know Jesus never in the gospels ever clearly claimed to be God Well, they haven't read John 5 At least not with the kind of insight that the Jews who heard Jesus speaking understood him to be speaking Because Jesus boldly claims that he is God And he does so by claiming equality with the father. He basically says I am equal to God the father We are on the same level Jesus claims that equality six different ways in seven verses He boldly proclaims that he is God The first claim to equality in verse 17 is a claim of equality of work Jesus says basically my father and I'm doing the same work We have an equality of work notice how he says it in verse 17 in his defense Jesus said to them my father is always at his work to this very day And I too am working the idea is exactly what the father does I do I'm doing the same work as the father you Accused me of doing work on the Sabbath. I want to tell you my father works on the Sabbath Now actually there were Jewish rabbis at this time who were in a great controversy over that very issue and They would finally come to the conclusion that the father God did work on the Sabbath But that's obvious that he continued to work even on the Sabbath in the Old Testament Jesus finished his creative work in six days and rested on the seventh as a pattern for us to have that rhythm of life Of six days work one day of recuperation rest recharge your batteries and then hit it again That was designed to be a pattern for us But God never really stopped working and he didn't rest From that time on he continued his work of providence of Working all things together for good and moving his creation along preserving it and Working through all of historical events to to fulfill his plan God continued to work He continued to work to save people and do spiritual work in other people's lives So God never stopped working and Jesus basically is saying I'm just doing the work of my father My father works on the Sabbath. It is clear that works of mercy on the Sabbath our legitimate works of rescue of Salvation my father does that so I do that too So he's claiming any quality of work But notice in verse 18 the Pharisees recognize that with that very statement He is claiming a second kind of equality. He's claiming an equality of relationship Look at verse 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him Not only was he breaking the Sabbath. I mean that's what they started being upset about But not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father Making himself equal with God Now when Jesus said in verse 17 my father Boy did that ever perk up their ears Because they realized he was making a claim that Abraham never made He was making a claim that Moses never made He was making a claim that David never made He was making a claim that Daniel who had a spotless Character in the Old Testament even referred to by Ezekiel and Ezekiel 14 as one of the men in the Old Testament that had no Bought publicly against his name, but Daniel never made a claim like this Jesus is claiming a special relationship with God by saying he is my father now even Jews in that day would call him our father Jesus taught his disciples to pray our father in heaven But this is different this is a different level of relationship This is a relationship that basically says there is a unique relationship between father and son Which puts us on an equal playing he is my father and the Jews recognize what he was saying That's why they wanted to kill him even more and Notice what they say he was calling God his own father making himself equal with God. They knew exactly what that meant So those who claim that Jesus never claimed himself to be God Need to listen to the Pharisees. They didn't believe it, but they knew what he was saying They knew he was claiming to be equal with God. He was claiming an equality of relationship But he didn't stop there in verse 19. Thirdly, he claimed an equality of will Verse 19 Jesus gave them this answer very truly. I tell you and by the way It's three times first of three times he will say that in this passage and it's basically to call their attention that something very Important is coming listen up. He kind of grabs them by the neck and said okay now listen listen to this what I'm saying is of utmost importance What does he say that's so important verse 19 very truly? I tell you the son can do nothing by himself He can do only what he sees his father doing because whatever the father does the son also does Not first glance it sounds like Jesus is saying, you know, I'm limited I really can't do anything by myself. I'm limited in power. That is not at all what he's saying He repeats the same claim in verse 30 and that helps us understand a little better what he's talking about verse 30 says by myself I can do nothing I judge only as I hear and my judgment is just here's the reason why For I seek not only or seek not to please myself, but him who sent me Now when Jesus says I can do nothing by myself But only what I see the father doing because whatever the father does the son also does He's not saying I'm limited in power so I can only do what the father enables me to do no No, he's saying I only do what my father does in other words What what I'm saying is this our wills are perfectly compatible I cannot act independently of my father It is impossible for me to go against my father to act independently of him because our wills are one Our wills are equal what he's saying basically is I'm not like any other human being who chooses to rebel against God Adam in the garden used his will to choose to rebel against God Jesus says I can't do that because my will is the same as the will of my father I cannot act independently of my father Even the angels who were created were given the option of either following God or not and a great host of them chose to follow Satan in his Rebellion against God of their own will they chose to rebel against him Jesus is saying I cannot act independently of my father I can only do what my father does our wills are equal I cannot act independently of him It's a claim to deity. It's a claim to being equal with the father But that's not all he's not done yet. He also claims any quality of knowledge in verse 20 For the father loves the son and shows him all he does Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these so that you will be amazed Now again, it may sound like Jesus doesn't know some things and the father has to show him what he knows I mean, that's the way we would think of this That's the way we use the term we show a child how to do something because the child is ignorant in that particular area They don't know yet, and so we show them how to do something We may show someone who's looking for directions the proper path or way to a certain location Because they don't know that and so we show them, but that's not what Jesus is saying Notice this father showing the son all things is based in a love relationship They have the father loves the son and shows him all he does Basically what Jesus is saying is our hearts are united our hearts beat as one and so everything the father does He shows me the reverse could be said everything I do I show the father in other words Everything the father knows I know everything I know the father knows it is an equality of knowledge Because there is this perfect love between the two of them perfect relationship Between them they share common knowledge all the fathers plans all the fathers works are known to the son in other words He has divine knowledge the same knowledge as the father They are equal in knowledge. It's a claim to deity. I have the same knowledge of the father any mere human being who would claim to have the same knowledge of God would be blasphemous That would be a serious charge, but Jesus claims that I have the same knowledge as the father Fifthly he says there is an equality of power notice in verse 20 He has just said he will show him the father will show me even greater works than these so that you will be amazed And so he gives them a couple of examples of the kind of powerful works that Jesus will do that they will see and they will be amazed at and this demonstrates that he has the same power as the father look at verse 21 For just as the father raises the dead and gives them life Even so the son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it So I have the same power as the father to raise the dead You talk about a work greater than healing a man who's been paralyzed for 38 years try raising the dead That's a greater work and I have the power to do that Jesus says just like the father has that power same power But not only does he have the power to give life He has the power to judge in verse 22 more over the father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the son Do you know that when every human being stands before God in judgment you will be looking Jesus Christ in the eye Jesus is the one that has been given all the authority to judge we will stand before him When we are judged before God so he has the power to raise the dead he has the power to judge He has the same powers God God has granted him that power Now he'll flesh that out a little bit more in verses 24 to 29 what that power means both of those things But for now he's making the point I have the same powers the father inequality of power But then here's the clincher This rises it to the highest level. There's also an equality of honor. Look at verse 23 That all may honor the son just as they honor the father whoever does not honor the son Does not honor the father who sent him This is absolute equality. There is no clearer Expression of Jesus claiming deity anywhere in the New Testament I have the same honor as the father in other words people that worship the son should all or worship the father should also worship the son There's the same honor worship reverence trust to be given to the son as there is to the father And so this is the ultimate statement of equality with God. I am to receive the same honor as the father Now I think it's very important that we understand all of those statements of equality with the father But especially that last one Because Jesus not only says I I'm honored to be honored as the father But he also turns it around and makes it into a negative statement that is very critical for our culture to hear today Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father Now that is extremely important for us to realize to understand and embrace Because of the denials of his deity today A Jesus makes very clear claims to deity deity but just as in his day there are today denials of his deity Those who say that Jesus never really claimed to be God Liberal theologians those who deny many of the major truths of the Bible although they'll talk about the Bible Many of them stand in pulpits and churches across our nation And they'll say glowing things about Jesus listen to them carefully however And they're talking about him as the greatest human whoever lived he is the pattern for all of us to live our lives after He's a wonderful teacher You press them on this however and a liberal theologian will not admit that Jesus is God Now I don't know what God they're worshipping but it's not the God of the Bible Because the Bible says if you don't honor the son you're not honoring the father either So there are people gathered in many liberal churches across our country today who are doing some kind of religious ceremonies They claim to be worshipping God, but they're really worshipping an idol because it's not the God of the Bible The God of the Bible can only be worshipped as we worship Christ Because if we don't honor Christ we don't honor the father either we don't honor God either And so the two come as a package deal You don't have one without the other it is impossible to have the true God of the Bible and not have Christ This is the damning failure of every cult And that is that every cult Denies that Jesus is God Armstrong is him basically says he is not equal to the father He had in fact has a sin nature Christian science says that Jesus is the idea of a perfect humanity The Baha'i religion says that it was a great religious leader The Mormon faith or Mormon cult says he was he was born with Without he was not born miraculously had a natural birth to Hobos witnesses say he was a perfect human, but he was not God Over and over and over again when you study the teachings of all the cults They deny the deity of Jesus Christ and my Bible says they do not know the true God Because if you deny Christ you don't know the father either They come together There are many secular organizations That will claim to know the true God or at least give allegiance to God or speak of God in general terms But please they will tell you don't talk about Jesus If you pray at our organization you can pray to whatever God but don't talk about Jesus They are talking to an idol they are worshiping an idol. They're not worshiping the true God if you don't honor the son You don't honor the father either I know this is not politically correct today. I don't care I know this is not politically correct, but Judaism does not worship the true God The God of the Old Testament was preparing his people for the advent of their Messiah for the coming of Christ He came he proved who he was he died for us and to deny the Sun is also to deny the father Islam does not worship the true God I know there is a move today to make everything Islam acceptable And I know there is a move even in missions today There's been a great controversy in this raging in the pages of Christianity today magazine About some missions who are saying you know to reach Muslims we can use the name Allah Allah is not the true God. He is not the God of the Bible Now, I don't say that to be mean and harsh to any group any of anything that I've said I think we should love Muslims and seek to win them to the true God But the true God only is known through Christ And Islam says that Christ was a prophet not even the best prophet Mohammed in their mind was the best prophet Jesus said the Bible says if you do not honor the son you do not honor the father So Allah is not the same as the God of the Bible. He is not Because if you don't come through Christ if you don't honor Christ you don't know the God of the Bible either You don't know the father either It is that clear I'm telling you friends. This is one of the battlegrounds. We're gonna have to stand on in the days ahead What I meant earlier when I responded to Al song This is gonna be one of the cultural battlegrounds of our day where we are gonna continue to be marginalized in our reference to Christ In Jesus as the only way to the father And that anybody else does not know the true God I mean even now to say that is not politically correct at all and I couldn't care less about political correctness But I do care a lot about biblical correctness And to be biblically correct if you don't come through Christ you don't know the father you don't know God either That is clearly what the scriptures teach and we will need to take our stand on that in this day We look we cannot be cowed by those who will say if you don't include everybody Who claims to worship God then you're a bigot Call us what you will call this preacher what you will I'm gonna stand true to the Bible as long as I have any breath in me I will proclaim that Jesus is God and the only way to the true God That is what the Bible teaches And regardless of what that costs us in our culture Misunderstanding or fewer people or even persecution or marginalization in our culture regardless of what it costs us We need to be willing to stand on that truth if we don't stand there We've given up everything because if you don't come to Christ you don't know God either the Bible is clear on that point Jesus Christ makes the bold claim in his day the religious leaders wanted to kill him because of it If that should ever come to our door we ought to be willing to say I'll take on the armor Jesus gave his life for that truth are we willing to give hours Are we even willing to be marginalized and treated as Uncultured bigots because we claim Jesus is the only way We'd better be willing to do that and we'd better be ready to do that Jesus Christ is God But Jesus is more than God He is also the Savior And Jesus makes this claim as well in verses 24 to 26 He claims very clearly that he is the Savior the only one who can give life That's what Savior means the only one who can deliver us save us from the condemnation of our sin And make us right with God and give us an eternity in his presence in heaven the only one who can give life like that is Jesus Notice he describes for us in verse 24 the path to life He says very rarely rarely I tell you again listen up this is serious Verily rarely I tell you Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but is crossed over from death to life This is a fantastic verse It's a favorite verse of many it was preacher Jimmy's life verse. It was the verse. He would always sign at the end of his name Those of you who remember him and said under his ministry know that anytime you got a card from him or anytime You heard from Jimmy or you saw his name you'd see John 524 right after it It is a great verse that that explains for us the essence of the gospel and what it means to have life in Christ Notice how it describes the path to life. How do we come to life eternal life? There is a clearly marked path and that path has two markers on it Notice verse 24 very rarely rarely I tell you whoever hears my word and Believes him who sent me has eternal life those that's the path right there those are the two markers that show us How do you get eternal life? How do you have eternal life? First of all you have to hear his word It is through the word of God that we get eternal life Not through any other means it is through the word of God And I will say that the scriptures are totally sufficient To give us what we need to know in order to be saved and in order to live the Christian life We do not need anything else Oh, it can help to fill in some gaps in our knowledge with some other arguments But they are not the word of God and they are not authoritative like the word of God This is the book that is living the Bible says sharper than any two-edged sword that can pierce Even to the dividing a sunder of soul and spirit joints and marrow and as a the zerner of the thoughts and intense of the heart It is only the Bible that can do that deep surgical precise work of the spirit of God in people's hearts and minds only the Bible can do that Not my clever arguments only the Bible It's the living book It is only the Bible that that Peter says we are born again through this seed He says for we are born again not of correctable seed but of incorruptible The word of God which livideth and abiteth forever It is this book that germinates life within us as we hear it you must hear the word of God in order to be saved But not only must you hear the word of God hear the gospel about how we are all sinners and we need a savior and Christ has come to die for us You embrace that by faith and that's the second sign or marker along the path to eternal life You hear the word of God and then you embrace in faith Christ is your savior That's what he says he says whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me as eternal life That's interesting that every time this is described up to this point in the gospel of John it is Jesus Christ himself Who is the object of faith you can check it out John 1 12 John 3 16 John 3 18 John 3 36 It is always believe in him believe in Christ and you'll be saved interestingly he changes a little bit here He says whoever believes him who sent me Well, no wait a second who is it that you believe Christ or the father Both I mean he's just made six claims to being equal with the father. So it's one and the same right If you believe the one who sent him you're also trusting him the one who was sent If you believe the word that God gave us about his son then you embrace and faith Christ as your savior And so what he's saying is in the path to eternal life the way that we get eternal life is through hearing the message of the gospel the Holy Spirit does his work in our hearts and minds To cause us to recognize the need for a savior and we trust him by faith as our savior. That's how you get eternal life It's the only path But when you do hear the Bible hear the gospel and trust Christ is your savior notice the promise Of eternal life the promise of life in verse 24 Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me Has here's the promise and it's powerful has eternal life Notice he does not say will have eternal life You know a lot of people think you get eternal life when you die and go to heaven That's not when you get eternal life Eternal life becomes your possession at the moment you trust Christ as your savior At that moment you have eternal life notice he does not say you might have you may have kind of depends on how you live from here on out No You have eternal life Immediately in your possession you have a life that will never end it is eternal in nature At the moment you trust Christ. That's a tremendous promise. But that's not all the promise notice he goes on Has eternal life and will not be judged You say wait a second John. I thought even Christians were going to be judged at the judgment seat of Christ And yes, we will that's not what he's talking about There are two or three words for judgment that the writers of the New Testament could use One of them just was a general word for judgment could refer to any kind of judgment The word that John uses here is an intensive form Kata Kremai it's an intensive form of the word for judgment It is only used in the New Testament of condemnation and I think the King James actually has it best here when it says he is not condemned Because that's the idea the kind of judgment that's being talked about here is condemnation It's the judgment that results in being cast into the lake of fire an eternal separation from God That's the judgment he's talking about if you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior you will never face that kind of judgment Never because you already have eternal life But that's not all the promise. That's pretty good. But that's not all the promise Has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life You have already crossed over from spiritual death to spiritual life You're no longer dead. You're a new person in Christ. You have new life resurrection life through Christ What a great promise of life and what a great verse But Jesus goes on to say as the Savior not only do I give you the path to life not only Do I give you the promise of life but I have the power to give that life as well. I can give you that life verse 25 Very truly I tell you again listen up A time is coming and has now come When the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live He's talking here. I believe about a spiritual resurrection because he talks about there's a time coming and it already is it's now When people will hear my voice and those who hear Not everybody, but those who hear will live So this is talking about what he's just spoken of in verse 24 the the passing from death to life the having of eternal life He has the power to give this life and and why does he have that power verse 26 For as the father has life in himself. So has he granted the Son also to have life in himself He is able to give this life because he possesses this life He is the fountain of this life Nobody had to give it to him He possesses it just like the father does the father has given him that right To be the fountain of life just like the father is And so Jesus is able has the power to give this life This spiritual life to all who will hear his voice hear his word and trust him as savior eternal life can be yours in a moment He is the savior. It is folly to trust anything else It is foolish to trust your own good life your own efforts or a church or any kind of religious ceremony It is folly to trust that to get you to heaven Jesus is the savior So he's God he's the savior, but he makes one more bold claim Which causes the iron anger of the Pharisees and that is he's also the judge He's the judge Verse 27 and he has given him authority to judge the father has given the Son Authority to judge Because he is the son of man now that's his qualification to judge Jesus is telling us here's my qualification. Why has the father given me judge? Why has he As I said in verse 22 Given me all the the authority to judge why because he is the son of man That's a title And it has to do first and foremost with Jesus humanity He's the son of man He came to live among us. He came to experience life as one of us And that uniquely qualifies him to judge. It's not that he would be unqualified otherwise But in our minds in our thinking no human being will ever be able to stand before Christ in judgment and say but wait a second You don't understand Sitting up here in your ivory palaces in heaven. You don't understand what it's like to live human life He does know he's the son of man He came and lived among us and was one of us So it speaks to his humanity the fact that he became flesh and blood like us and he does understand and Qualifies him to be our judge, but there's more than that in that title Every Jewish person would understand that oh wait a second son of man. There's some significant Old Testament background there Which indicates not only his humanity, but also his deity These Pharisees who knew their Old Testament would probably immediately think of Daniel chapter 7 and verses 13 and 14 look at it on the screen Daniel's giving this prophecy of what happens in heaven Prior to Christ coming to earth. He says in my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like notice the title like a son of man Coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached. Here's another title. He approached the ancient of days Now you can see what's happening There's one who approaches another in heaven one of them is son of man one of his ancient of days ancient of days obviously God the Father And was led into his presence now notice what happens He was given authority glory and sovereign power all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him now Your Bible is clear you don't worship anybody but God even angels said don't worship me I'm just an angel you only worship God. So whoever this is that comes to the ancient of days and Receives a kingdom where all the nations will worship him This son of man is God obviously the second person of the Trinity So they worship him his dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed and that is familiar Old Testament language for the kingdom of Christ The Messiah and so obviously the son of man Who is deity who is existing in heaven before he came to earth who comes over to the ancient of days and receives all the honor and glory and worship of the Nations this is Christ This is the son of man And every Jew familiar with his old Testament would have picked up on that So Jesus is uniquely qualified to be our judge because he is both man and God He is able to judge holy righteous perfect judgment because he's God. He's able to judge us sympathetically because he is man. He is uniquely qualified to be the judge. That's his qualification But notice also he says I'm going to describe for you this judgment notice the description of his judgment verses 28 and 29 do not be amazed at this For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice Now this is not the same thing he was talking about back in verse 25 verse 25 was talking about verse 24 stuff Eternal life being given to one who trusts Christ. That's a spiritual resurrection verse 28 is talking about a literal physical bodily resurrection Notice the difference he says for a time is coming. He doesn't say and now is Like he did back in verse 25. This is the future judgment. This time hasn't come yet And then notice he says all who are in their graves. This is not just the dead because that can mean spiritually dead This is literally people who are in the grave. This is physically dead people And notice he says all who are in the graves will hear his voice It's not verse 25. We're only those who hear will live some don't hear no everybody hears this So this is different. This is a literal future physical resurrection from the grave Jesus will resurrect everybody from the grave to be judged someday See what he says in verse 28 and come out they will hear his voice and come out Those who have done what is good will rise to life to live and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned two basic judgments talked about here and There have been those who've looked at this verse and said what is talking about some kind of General judgment everybody seems to be raised at the same time Well, you might think that if this was the only verse in the Bible about judgment But obviously it's not there are other passages which make it clear there are several Resurrection at different times of different people and several different judgments of different people at different times If you really want some of the timing of this you need to look at Revelation 20 Which basically says there are two resurrections Some people result in eternal life some in eternal death and there's thousand years between them Okay At least the thousand All right now here's the point Some people will be raised to live those are believers and he says those who've done good Will rise to life. Oh does that mean you get to go to heaven if you do good? Maybe I can make it No, no, if that's what he meant. He's just denying everything. He said back in verse 24 Obviously that's not the case often in the Bible the results of a person's life and faith in Christ seen in their lives serve as the accreditation of the credentials the evidence of true faith and all he's saying here is that people who've lived Righteously indicate from their hearts that their believers that they've truly trusted Christ He's talking about the evidence in their lives. They've done good and in God's sight that means to live a holy life They'll rise to life in other words these are the believers and then unbelievers those who've done what is evil will rise to be condemned Here's the point. It's not Jesus point at this time To lay out all the judgments and exactly how they'll happen and when they'll happen the rest of the Bible Jesus is simply making the point I'm the judge and Everybody believer or unbeliever is going to stand before me in judgment. That's his point It's basic. It's simple, but it's powerful Everybody's going to stand before me in judgment For some that judgment will result in them going into the kingdom or into heaven itself For others it will result in eternal destruction in the lake of fire An eternal separation from God of torment in the lake of fire But the point is He's your judge Everyone in this room will stand before Jesus Christ someday If you have trusted him as your savior I'm not talking about your religious person or a good person If you have trusted Christ as your savior and you're depending on nothing other than his death for your sins to get you to heaven Then you will you will enter heaven If you have not trusted him as your savior Then you will spend an eternity separated from him the lake of fire But all of us will stand before Jesus Christ Now these are just not academic claims. I want to make sure we get this These are not just academic claims these claims are not designed to just inform us satisfy our curiosity These are claims that are meant to be applied to our lives and here's the question Have they become claims on your life? That's the real issue this morning Have you recognized that Jesus is God? And if you don't honor Jesus then you don't know God either There are multitudes of people who talk about God who pray to God who think they worship God But if they're not coming through Christ, they're just talking to worshiping coming to an idol It's not the God of the Bible You don't know God unless you know Christ So the question is do you honor him? Do you know Christ? Have you trusted him as your savior and do you recognize you will stand before him someday as your judge? That adds urgency to the need to trust him as savior even today What would happen if you were to walk out of this building? Go home today or maybe even not make it home and never see another day of life and you stand before God would you be ready? Do you know that you've trusted Christ and Christ alone as your savior? Because you will stand before him someday as your judge Let's pray together Father we bow at your feet in the name of Jesus our savior and we come to you through him Him alone To ask father that you would speak to all of our hearts Help us all to do a spiritual check today To make sure that we're not trusting anything other than Jesus And his death for our sins For our ticket into heaven So that we might be your children heavy-turned-life What I pray that we would all know that that's what we're trusting in And if there is one here this morning that's not sure about that And is not sure if they were to die today that they would be in heaven I pray that they'll make sure today That they'll not leave this building without knowing for sure that they've placed their faith in Christ We ask in Jesus name Amen