Answers Bible Curriculum: Lesson 10 - Jesus is the Great I Am

Holy Father, you are so good to us, giving to us your word and, and giving to us, your Spirit to help us understand. Lord, we ask for your spirit to open up our hearts, our minds, and, and may your word, speak to us this morning and, and help us have understanding, but also help us to continue in that process of transformation that this This message will be something that blesses us, that your word will provoke us in our hearts where we need it, and that we will be changed because of it.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, it's good to be with you again.

Have another week and For those who are still coming in, I, I feel, I feel for you cause I feel, feel that way right now. I was scrambling this morning. It seemed like getting here was, One step forward and two steps back the whole way. Found myself leaving the house thinking I'm never gonna get there this morning, so, but finally, we're here, so glad we get to get started.

Today, we're looking at the I am statements from the Gospel of John. And so, the, the opening question, what is the way that the the word became fleshed was expressed? what I will, one of the things I want to propose to you this morning is Is that John in writing his gospel, When he says the word became flesh, one of the things that John does in his gospel is use the I am statements to, as these are declaratives, where Jesus is saying who he is. And, and so he, John is explaining or, or opening the door to it, so to speak, of what it means for the word to be, for the word becoming flesh.

And so, as that's what will be one of the things we'll be looking at. So as we go through things, we're looking at Jesus is the great I am. We, have been in, in this, in this particular series of lessons, we've been looking at the ministry of Jesus in, in his time on this earth. We started with his mission, why he came.

we looked at his power over nature by seeing, one of the things we saw was his walking on the water. We saw his control of the elements. around him and, and how even his disciples were just so amazed and then in some cases they were a great fear came upon him because of what they saw him do just in his power over nature. We saw his power over disease and healing the blind man.

And of course, there's several instances of his healing of people that are, that are explicitly explained and that these are, are things that no one else can do. That only, only God can do this and, and Jesus is demonstrating his power in his power over disease. We saw his power over death with the raising of Lazarus. We saw him Being expressed as the bread of life.

And when he fed the 5000, and then in, in the next day, explaining what, what was being taught with that in the feeding of the 5000 was that it's not just daily bread that we need, but we need the bread of life. And so he was, he was bringing that out and, and that they needed this spiritual bread. We saw that lesson 6, have you not read? And where he's refuting their misunderstandings about the law and the prophets.

And, and so he's clarifying, he's, he's challenging their thinking. And so in his ministry, we see him, very, very often challenging their thinking and, and, and coming up with this phrase, have you not read? And, and so we, we, we were able to see that. the next one, Jesus teaching.

He, he's, he's, teaching, particularly, we looked at the Sermon on the Mount. And so as, as Mike was leading us through that, he's clarifying God's expectations. And also our shortcomings. So he's he's clarifying the law, he's, he's, he's, he's raising the standard of what God expects for holiness, and, and, and also then helping or exposing our shortcoming, how we don't fall, how, how we do fall short, how we don't measure up to what God's expectations are.

And how it is that, that, that we are to see ourselves as being poor in spirit. So we saw in that lesson. His expectations that Jesus is teaching. And then we see Jesus defending God's honor in cleansing the temple.

And we saw him, him, going in and Awakening, or at least trying to awaken within the people that are around there, this, this understanding of the holiness of God, the sacredness of worship. And the the cavalier way they were treating all of those things and how it is so human for us to, to accept a normal flow of things and lose the, the picture of the majesty of God and who he is and, and we begin to lose respect for God, because we're, we're not thinking about it in the right way.

And, and Jesus is, is trying to reestablish that with them. Less than 10, we see, or today will be the great I am, but we will review a little bit just with A question, what was the purpose for Jesus teaching parables from this is from Mike's lesson last week.

Does anyone remember? Jesus began to teach in parables. What was the purpose for that? Why did he start doing that?

Joe To reveal and conceal, OK? OK, so Dave said, Right. OK. So Dave is, is saying that it's revealing to those who want to know the truth, concealing to those who are so set in their ways, they're not receiving it.

They're not going to, to hear it anyway. And so, and that is what the parables did. And so Jesus would, would tell, tell the parable, and, and, and then he would explain it to his disciples. And they would actually end up with greater understanding, right?

Because it's a word picture and, and, and they would help, it would help them learn certain concepts and that's what parables do when they're explained. They actually are a teaching tool. But for those who don't hear the explanation, it's, it's a veiled message is, is what it is. And so, That is That is, is what was happening in, in our last lesson, Jesus teaching in parables.

Today, in, in the great I ams, we'll be looking at what we're gonna be seeing is that Jesus. Begin, he, he also taught these things, or explained himself in these ways. These are also metaphors, but these are metaphors that, that are very easily understood. And these are, are not clouded, but they, are.

are open and able to see how these metaphors work and because he explained them very plainly, very bluntly as we're looking at them. But for some context, For all of these, these, I am statements or declarations that he made. I want us to look in John, the Gospel of John, and begin in chapter one, and we're gonna read the verse, 1st 5 verses to start with. And then down 14 to 18.

So John says this, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And then down in verse 14, he says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth. John testified about him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has a higher rank than I.

For he existed before me. For of His fullness we have all received and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time.

The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him. In this opening, from verses 1 through 18, is a preamble or a prologue as some commentators call it. Of, of the rest of the gospel. And, and so in these verses, John is giving opening statements about what his gospel is about, and, and really what his gospel is about is, is the revelation of Jesus Christ, who he is, and, and really declaring him to be God, declaring him to be the Son of God.

This is why, The Gospel of John is used many times, either for unbelievers who are seeking, the, to know more about, Jesus, or to, to new believers to help strengthen their faith and, and to help them understand, what they may not know about Jesus Christ. And so, John's Gospel, because it is so blatant about declaring Jesus the deity of Christ, who he is. This is, this is a gospel that is often used. For that In John 11:1-5, he means to draw our attention to the equality of the Son of God with the Father by describing his eternal existence, his role in the creation of our time and space, and that in him is life, not merely existence as a breathing creature, but the light of men, the light that brings reason, language, understanding.

The ability to, to communicate ideas and to have communion with his Creator. See, he's this, this word, this person that's, that's named the Word is the source of all things for mankind. And John is, is making this really plain that, that, that this person, the word is the source of, of, of what we have and what we need for life. In verses 14 to 18.

Where he says the word became flesh, it clarifies the identity of the word as being Jesus. And he says we saw his glory, and we did not, and, and when he says we saw his glory, this, that, that's a, a statement that, that arouses our attention because to see the glory of God for us as human beings is to die. But John says we saw his glory. He doesn't insert the, the phrase, and we didn't die from it.

But no, what he does is he explains it. He says, we saw his glory and we did not die because it was presented with grace and truth. And it's, and so it's not in judgment. That this is the idea that, that, Jesus came.

sent from God and came to us in a way, that would, would still be in truth. But that truth would be covered in grace, because he's, his purpose is to reach us. He's, he didn't come in judgment to kill us, but he came to, to rescue us. And so he covers his coming with grace.

And so that is what John is, is, saying here. And so as we go through these I am statements, what we'll be seeing is really a portrait of this savior, that he being the savior, is everything that we need. All the deepest needs that we have, all the, the real problems and issues that we have. are met with this savior.

When I was a little boy, I'd go at times shopping with my mom and so she would go, we'd go into the store and, in the stores back in those days, Which we still had, writing and so forth. We had comic books. And our store had a comic book section. And as a little boy, I loved going to that section and so my mom would go get her stuff and, and she knew where to find me cause I'd be in there reading about Superman and Batman and those heroes that I had when I was a little boy.

And that's where I'd be. Now, Paul talks about, when you're a child, you had childish things, but when you become a man, you put away childish things, right? And so my wife doesn't find me in the comic book section anymore. But I still like the superheroes, so, so I haven't outgrown all of that.

And, and so, but now as a, as a, an adult, I do see it from a different light. And one of the things that we noticed, if you, if you're, if you like watching any of the movies or any of those things, you see that the superheroes, as powerful as they are, are still really finite, right? They can't solve everything. in fact, the problems keep occurring, they keep coming back.

There's still trouble. and one of the, the comical ones. He's an animated version. I'm sure a lot of you have seen, The Incredibles, and Mr.

Incredible at the very beginning of his movie talks about, saving people and fixing things. And he says, but no matter how many times you do it, it keeps, keeps getting broken. And, sometimes we just like it to stay fixed, at least for a little while. and that is, that is also one of the shortcomings of our superheroes.

That that they, they, if, if they could be real. that's, that's what we like to, we, we, we want to see people be rescued. We want to see problems being fixed. But superheroes aren't real.

And Jesus is not a superhero. He's God in the flesh. The creator of everything. He's far more than all of that.

He's, he's almighty in wisdom. He, he knows how to do it. He always knows what to do. He's never confused about a quandary that comes up and, and not knowing what to do.

he always knows what to do. He always has the power to do what needs to be done. And he has a plan that is working through human history to accomplish that purpose, that full rescue of, of humanity, those that are his. to rescue them in, in, in the final end.

He has that plan, and it all falls according to his character, his justice, all of those things that, that are part of who he is. It always goes according to plan and as, as we read These I am statements, we're gonna be seeing this person who's making self-declarations. that are going to be declarations that truly do meet their need and, and, they're going to be pretty self-explanatory. Mostly, I'm gonna be reading the passage, just give a couple of comments, we'll move on to the next one.

There's really not a lot that needs to be said because they're really very, very plain and, so we'll be going through them. So go to The first one we'll be looking at is John chapter 8. And I'm beginning with this one because it's a little different. Then the other ones.

The, the, the following 7 are gonna be, I am, and then whatever it is that he says about himself. This one is a little different in its structure and, and of course, of, of, of its message. So, let's begin reading in verse 51. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also. And you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death? Surely you're not greater than our father Abraham, who died.

The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, If I glor glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say He is our God.

And you have not come to know him. But I know him, and if I say that I do not know him, I will be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word. Your father, Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.

So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself. And went out of the temple.

And so what we see here, is very plain. Jesus is very clear, so clear that the hearers of what he had to say knew exactly what he was saying about himself, that he is God. They took it though. They, they didn't receive it as being true.

They still saw him as they were saying before, you have a demon, who are you? You're just a guy like us. That's all they were seeing in him. And so they took up stones to stone him because what they were hearing sounded like blasphemy to them.

But Jesus is very clear in his message and the reverberations of this declaration are so strong and clear. to these hearers of the message that they were going to kill him. But these, this is a very powerful I am declaration. The next one, I am the bread of life.

Let's look back to John chapter 6. This is actually one that we covered in a, in a prior lesson, John chapter 6 verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He comes to me, will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.

And so what we, and, and from that lesson when we, when we covered that, I think, some of the things that we talked about is that he's one who provides life and not just the life as we see it biologically. But life that is spiritual, life that is full, life that is more than, than just what we have here now, but it's life that's eternal, life that is, that is greater and bigger that God intended originally for humanity and God intends to fulfill in humanity. This, this great life.

It's, and being the bread of life, he is declaring himself to be essential to life.

I am the one who, who, who gives this life, because I am the bread of life. And as, and if you remember from that lesson, He's the one who says, you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood in order to have this. You need to take me fully into your life. You need to believe in me.

And so he's the one who's declaring himself to be essential for life. So we'll go to the next one where he says, I am the light of the world. Go back to chapter 8. In verse 12.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. And what he's talking about here is enlightenment. Being able to understand things, a, a spiritual enlightenment, if you will, being able to see things that you haven't seen before, pushing back the darkness of our thinking.

And if you were to look over in chapter 12, verse 46, Jesus says this, I have come as light into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. And one of the things that we see, John, John says this a lot. is he compares light and darkness as being, darkness is what humanity grass onto, that's our natural state. And light is what God brings into us to, to help us to, get out of.

that darkness, of that confusion, of that despair that we find ourselves in, and to, to be able to move into that realm that God wants us to have of understanding, of spiritual understanding and communion with Him. In chapter 3 of John, verses 19 to 21, it says this, this is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

But he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

So, that's the light of the world. The next one is, is Jesus saying he's the door of the sheep. And so, let's look over to chapter 10. Verse 7.

Where he says to them, Jesus said to them again, truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. This is, and, and we'll see as these I am statements are, are brought out by Jesus, that they have overlap to them. And in particular, we'll see it with this one and the next one, but there is overlap.

They do have connectedness. It's like if you look at A, A creation of God in, in a plant, and maybe in a, in a flower as it has, is, is the, the, the parts of it come out and they overlap each other, but they, they're what create the whole, right? They, they, they're part of the whole and they all have that function together and, and so I was picturing it in my head, in my, my limited ability to think about these things, but But that's how I'm seeing these I am statements that they're all overlap, but they all have a little different part to Jesus' explanation of himself as to what he brings for us and, and meets the real need that we have.

So being, I am the door of the sheep.

this comes, out of the end of chapter 9. In chapter 9, we have the healing of the blind man, the man who's born blind, and that whole scenario plays out with the Pharisees and, and eventually ends up with that blind man who's now a seeing man being kicked out of the, of the temple. He's no longer allowed to go into worship. and he goes and finds Jesus and Jesus explains who he is and And, and the blind, that formerly blind man now worships him.

And Jesus begins to, then explain something about blindness and seeing. And so let's, if you would just look back with me. In verse 39 of chapter 90, Jesus said, for judgment, I came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, We're not blind too, are we?

Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But since you say, we see, your sin remains. And, and Jesus is pointing out the arrogance of, and that's all natural with all of us. The arrogance of, of how we view ourselves.

I'm not that bad. I'm actually a pretty good guy. I, I really do all the stuff I need to do. That's that natural arrogance that we have.

And if we can't see our fallenness, Then we are blind. Jesus goes on to say, truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger, they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they will not know the voice of strangers. So Jesus declares himself to be the door of the sheep. And what he's saying is there is no other way except me.

I'm the only way. I'm the only way that you get in. The only way you get to God. there is no other way.

In fact, any other way is characterized as a thief and a robber. If someone tries to get in some other way, they're a thief and a robber. And these other ways are not harmless. he describes them as, he says they steal and they kill.

And so Jesus is, is not being ecumenical here, is he? He's not drawing and saying, you get to all make up your own way to get to heaven. You get, you make your own way to get to God. No, he's being very specific and very exclusive, and he carries that through with the other I am statements as we will see.

Jesus is the one though that brings abundant life. And he declares that about himself and being the door of the sheep. The next one, which is right after that. Sorry, I got excited there and.

All right. I'm the good shepherd. We'll pick it up in verse 11. I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my father. And we see here him in this declaration about himself being the good shepherd. He says that he gives his life for his sheep.

And he compares himself to the other religious leaders, and he called as, as them being hirelings. And he says, so not like the, the hired hand or the hireling. That's the translation I grew up with. The hireling, Whose dedication to the sheep is very superficial.

And that's how the religious leaders will be. Human religious leaders who have a different way, their dedication. Really can only be for themselves, for their own life. And so if, if danger comes, they will flee.

And what Jesus says, but I'm not like that. In fact, I give my life for my sheep. And I have the power to take it up again. but the Good Shepherd provides protection, guidance, discipline, and comfort.

That's what a good shepherd provides. That's what he describes that he provides in this passage. He gives confidence that we are not left alone, but that our way is prepared for us. Are you beginning to see the picture that Jesus is painting about who he is when he, in this, in these I am statements?

Like all of these things are things that we need. Things that we, we come into this world and, and, even though we may be connected to a family and all those things, we really are on our own. We're alone. And what Jesus is saying is, I am your shepherd.

If you, if you are mine, if you will come after me. I am your shepherd, and he gives us that confidence that we're, we're not alone. Not only are we not alone, but he guides our path. And, and so he is with us.

He takes us in and out. He takes us to the pasture. He brings us back to the place of safety, and he's providing for us. And so that's what we need as, as human beings because of, of who we are and if we're left on our own, we can't figure it out.

We can't do all of those things for ourselves. But he provides all of that for us because he is the good shepherd. The next one, I am the resurrection of the life. So let's look over to chapter 11.

Verse 25. Jesus said to her, and this is to Martha, I am the resurrection of the life. He who believes in me will live, even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

And so, this is one that we also that we covered a few weeks ago. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and And then making this declaration, I am the resurrection of life, and what a powerful one this is as well. he demonstrates power over death, giving those who believe confidence instead of despair and hope for a future destiny with God. As we live life.

We will experience death, death of friends, death of loved ones, those who are close to us. We will attend funerals and we will see the end, and we will mark the end of people's lives, knowing eventually that's our end too. And if that's all there is for us. Then what do we have?

What, what, what is our hope? What is, is it that we, that we hold on to? Jesus is providing something else for us in this, this I am statement, this declaration. I am the resurrection of life.

There is more than just this, this human existence that you see right now. There's more to this. I have more for you. I am the resurrection of life.

I bring you back from death. I have power over death. And so, he, he gives confidence and, and helps us through that. Otherwise, we would be in despair.

John 14. A few pages over. He says, do not let your heart be troubled. He's speaking with his disciples here.

He says, believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you.

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also. And the way where I'm going, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How do we know the way?

Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. This is a triad that Jesus presents to, to them that is, these are all exclusive to Jesus. There's not another way.

There's not another truth. And there's no other source for eternal life. Jesus is very plainly stating this. I'm the only one.

I'm the only way. And so there's not another way. To, to get this. And this is one that generally we're pretty familiar with.

And it's one that, that, in fact, we often use in, in, in sharing our faith with others that in trying to help people understand. Jesus is the only way, right? And so we, we use it in this way. one of the things I was thinking is, is, is, looking at this one is, the objection to this.

because humanly, many people that we know, think it's OK. in fact, that God should allow for there to be other ways. There shouldn't be just one way. God doesn't owe us even to have one way, right?

He's very gracious to even give us a way. Why would And all wise God. A creator who's always give fallen man, who demonstrates more folly than wisdom, the latitude of devising his own ways to God. God isn't stupid.

If you look at the ways man devises, they, they have exclusionary clauses in them. But think about the way that God, God created, that God made for us to come to him. You don't have to have a degree. You don't have to have a certain amount of wealth.

You don't have to have a certain hair color. Or any other defining element, what you do have to have is a humble heart, to humble yourself before God, repent of your sins and follow after Him. Make Him your Lord. Everyone can do that.

You don't have to be in a certain class of people that's available to everybody. That's the, the plan that God devised. The God that, that he manages, that he takes care of. And so Jesus has not only the right, but he is the right one to do this.

and so, This is exclusive to Jesus. the last one we're looking at is I am the true vine. So look over in chapter 15. And the 1st 5 verses, he says, I am the true vine, my father is the vinedresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bear bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. Jesus is the life source in whom we must abide.

In order to flourish or to bear fruit, we must be connected or attached to Him and trusting in the pruning work of the vinedresser. But the thing that this gives to us. In this picture of what we need. is we need a connection.

We don't have the power within ourselves to, to muster up the, the goodness and, and the wholesomeness and all that thing that we need to grow. But what we do have is a way to be connected to the God of the universe, who has that power and who actually works in us, is active, actively working in our lives to help us to become what he wants us to be. And what a great comfort that is. That it's not up to me to, to set the targets and the goals and, and to, to, to make it all get there.

No, what I need to do is, is yield my life to him, follow him, learn of him, love him with all of my heart. And as I pursue him, he continues to work in me and make, make me what I'm supposed to be. And so the Father is, is pruning me and, and dealing with stuff in my life and And as I go along in life, I begin to trust that process because I begin to see how as he cuts stuff off in my life, it makes me better. It, it actually is good for me.

Those things that were so valuable to me before, I begin to see as, as, as I get further from them that, those weren't, weren't good for me anyway. And I begin to trust that process. God is so good as, as being the vine and the vinedresser in my life. And, and, and that's the, the thing that we, we need.

So, so that again, we're not left alone, we're not left to our own devices and our own wisdom, but we have connection with God. And what Jesus is saying is, Through all of these I am statements, going back to the very beginning, John chapter one, and, and understanding underneath that umbrella. That in this world that is, is broken, that where man has gone his own way into that realm of, of good and evil, and this is where we live. That God has entered into it with us.

He has pursued us. He's not left us alone. And in fact, he has sent his own son. to come and be what we need.

And so his son came into the world and made these open declarations about who he is. I am all of these things that you need. If you will follow me. And so that is, is what is wrapped up in these IM statements.

Also, As we should see In these, and not, and not ever not neglect it, that in these I am statements, he is openly declaring himself to be The Son of God. He is God in the flesh. And there is also no doubt about that, that that's what his intentions are. See, some have tried to argue.

That the, the zealous disciples later on. ascribed majesty and deity to Jesus, that Jesus is really just a man. a good man. But still just a man.

And so, later on, his disciples, they're the ones who, who, anointed him with deity. But that's not the case. Jesus is self-declaring here. And we see from the reactions that he got, that the people who, even the ones who didn't believe him, they understood what he's saying.

They understood it. They got it. however, There, there have been through the centuries since then, variant teachings on this. And, and one of them I wanna bring up, because we still actually have this heresy with us today, but it's called the Aryan heresy.

In the, in the early part of the 4th century, which is, for those of you are like me and kinda get numbers mixed up with, with this, that's in the 300s, OK? Early in the 4th century, there was a young articulate theology student who began his career as an assistant to the Bishop of Alexandria. That was Tertullian, in case you want to know. His name is Aris.

He had serious questions about the full deity of Christ. He declared that Jesus was a created being. What he said was, before the son was begotten, he was not. he could not accept, the fact that the, the, the teachings of scripture that Jesus was fully God.

And so what he would, his, his idea was that Jesus was halfway between God and man. And ascribed to him the title of an archangel. That was his position. Jesus' position.

And so Aris took that, that, that heresy. Because he was so articulate, he, he developed these catchphrases and, and began to promote this idea throughout Christ through Christendom, really, which is, by this time, this is in the era of Constantine and So the churches all around the Mediterranean, North Africa, all the way around, to Italy, even to Spain, they were all, In communication with one another and his teaching began to spread little by little. he was very persuasive and, began to, really create division.

He was eventually excommunicated from his church in, Alexandria, by Tertullian.

And, but there was a bunch of strife that was coming from this. Constantine, being the emperor, he's just fought all these battles, unified everything, and made the church a state church. One of, this is one of the issues with state church things is because if you have division in the church, you have division in the whole country. And we can't have that, right?

So he calls for there to be a council to settle this issue. And that's where we get the Council of Nica. And at the Council of Nicaea, there were quite a few things they were dealing with. This was the, the primary issue.

And out of that comes the Apostles' Creed, or not, I'm sorry, the Nicean Creed. And, where they declared, they made it, they examined what Arias taught. They saw all of his, his writings and his teachings, and they declared it to be heresy. And that Jesus is fully God, and that was their declaration.

However, after all of this, the heresy continued to expand. And for another, several years, it continued to, to grow and, and, he, because he was such an influential person. And so, It got to a point. Where, the successor of Tertullian was Athanasius.

Athanasius, it came to a point where he was almost the only one standing up against it. And someone came to him and said to him that the whole world is against you. and, and then, and Athanasius had that famous response, which was Athanasius contramundum. then his response is, then Athanasius is against the world.

He would not bend to this heresy and continue to defend it. Eventually, Aus died. And his influence began to fade away and the, the church, began to become more solid in, in the true doctrine. This is from the Church History in Plain Language, which is one of the textbooks of a prior, of a few years ago, church history class that we, we had here, but it says this, statement, if they had succeeded, that's the Aryans, their point of view would have become Orthodox Christianity.

It would have meant that Christianity had degenerated to a form of paganism. The Christian faith would have had two gods and a Jesus who is neither God nor man. It would have meant that God Himself was unapproachable and totally removed from man. The result would have been a Christianity, like a host of pagan religions.

And that was Satan's intent. That's always Satan's intent with heresy. And that's why heresy has to be taken seriously because theology matters. God is approachable.

God has made Himself approachable, and it's through His Son Jesus, and His Son is fully God. And, and so that is a, an important part of Of what we believe. John chapter 1, verse 6 and 7, or 1 John chapter 1. John continues to write with these things.

I, I just love the, the connectedness that, that John has. He says if we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son cleanses us from all sin. So there is this, this demarcation, this separation of light and darkness, right?

And the light came into the world, which is dark. And yeah, men hate the light, right? They hate it. That's the, the, the people of, of the darkness, they hate it.

Why? As John has said, because their deeds are evil. They, they, they prefer it that way. They prefer the status quo.

But the light is what gives us understanding. And the light is what connects us to God. That the light is where we find healing and hope. And that's where, where, where we're not locked into despair because all darkness ever offers us is despair.

That's all that's there. These I am declarations should leave no ambiguity about who he said he was and his purpose in becoming one of us. These, Jesus is very clear. And, and so we can be very clear about who he is.

he is God in the flesh, and he did come to visit us, and he did make the supreme sacrifice for us. And he is all of these things, that is for us. I was, listening to. To, a music channel, and DirecTV.

They have like these music channels, so I turned it on to a, a gospel music channel. Very first, this was yesterday. So I'm studying this stuff. The very first song that, that was playing when I, when I turned on it was, it was The Great I Am and Still is.

It was that was something about the title. It was a great song and, and he still is. he still is all of that for us. One more thing I'd like to address, That has to do with this.

is not only can there be Yeah, a heresy that, that, disfigugures the message of who Jesus is. But there's also the idea. That we, we face a lot in, in the world around us and that Jesus, and this idea is that Jesus was just a good moral man who lived at a certain time. that's really all he is.

And what we see from this is Jesus is far more than that. Jesus is everything that we need, everything that we want. And, and so one of the things, that there's a really a sad story. it comes from this book, A Case for Faith by Lee Strobel.

I, I just read a little bit of it, but to set it up, there's a man by the name of Charles Templeton, and that name was not familiar to me at all till I had, had read this several years ago, but Charles Templeton. had at one time been an evangelist. He actually was a good friend of Billy Graham's and they started out together. they did preaching together at, at events.

They would actually take turns, one night it's Billy Graham, the next night it's Charles Templeton. And, he started a church in, I believe it was in Canada. He is Canadian or was Canadian. That church grew to over 1200 people, was very persuasive in presenting the gospel.

A lot of people followed after him. he had been a, a, a sports writer, prior to his conversion and, and so those were his, who he was. but he at a point became disillusioned. And as he, Lee Strobel went to interview him, and so what, what is in, in here, comes out of his interview, Lee Strobel asked him, well, what, what changed you?

What, what was it that, that made you not believe in God anymore? And, and he said, he, his stipulation was that he would not say that there is no God, but what he would say is there's no loving God. He saw a picture in, in Life magazine. of a, a mother in northern Africa carrying her, her child who is dead.

Dead because of famine. And he looked at that picture and he said, all she needed was rain. That's all she needed was rain. Why couldn't God give her rain?

And he said, he said that that just turned his, his mind into a way that there is no loving God. The God, if there is a God, he doesn't care. And so, he began to Go on this journey then away and, and he, he tried to influence Billy Graham with him because he, he, his thinking was, it's not reasonable to believe in a loving God. So he left the ministry and so on.

Billy Graham had his own crisis of faith because of this. And he documents that in his, his own autobiography, being up at Forrest Home right before, his very first, big crusade, which was in Los Angeles. And Billy Graham had to, to deal with this. And finally, at his, his testimony is he, he says, I, I don't have the answers.

But I'm gonna believe it by faith. And, and so he went on to believe it and to trust God, no matter what. But Charles Templeton couldn't do that. And so the rest of his life, Charles Templeton lived as a man who's bitter against religion, especially Christianity, and wrote books, spoke out against it, and, and so on.

And, and that's, and he was known for that. So So Lee Strobel went to interview him in prior to doing the research for his book. And he asked him this question. And so how do you assess this Jesus?

And he says, Templeton's body language softened. It was as if he suddenly felt relaxed and comfortable in talking about an old and dear friend. His voice, which at times had displayed such a sharp and insistent edge, now took a melancholy and reflective tone. His guard seemingly down, he spoke in an unhurried pace, almost nostalgically, carefully choosing his words as he talked about Jesus.

He was, Templeton began, the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I've ever encountered in my life or in my readings.

His commitment was total and led to his own death, much to the detriment of the world. What could one say about him that this, except that this was a form of greatness? I was taken aback. You sound like you really care about him, I said.

Well, yes. He's the most important thing in my life, came his reply. I, I, I, he stuttered, searching for the right word. I know it may sound strange, but I have to say, I adore him.

I wasn't sure how to respond. You say that with some emotion, I said, Well, yes. Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus. Yes, yes, and tough.

Just look at Jesus. He castigated people. He was angry. People don't think of them that way, but they don't read the Bible.

He had righteous anger, he cared for the oppressed and exploited. There's no question that he had the highest moral standard, the least duplicity, the greatest compassion of any human being in history. There have been many other wonderful people, but Jesus is Jesus. And so the world would do well to emulate him.

Oh my goodness, yes, I have tried and try as far as I can go to act as I have believed he would act. That doesn't mean I could read his mind because one of the most fascinating things about him is that he often did the opposite thing you'd expect. Abruptly, Templeton cut short his thoughts. There was a brief pause, almost as if he was uncertain whether he should continue.

but no, he said slowly, he's the most, he stopped and then started it again. In my view, he declared he is the most important human being who has ever existed. We could adore Jesus. We can respect his humanity.

We can respect all that. But if we don't see him as who he presented himself to be, We've missed it And Believing that Jesus was a good man of excellent character is just not enough. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. And Jesus, in that declaration, said that God was real and knowable, that if you have seen Him, then you have seen the Father.

And out of what Charles Templeton's problem, his struggle was, is that our problem in accepting that there could be a good God and evil in His creation is that we don't think Cosmic treason is that bad. I remember thinking that, struggling with this idea. all they did was eat the fruit. Why do we have to have all of this from that?

We don't think cosmic treason is that bad. Our natural tendencies is to think our own sins are not that bad, right? We downplay it, we think it's just not that bad. But when we go through it, we search it out, we see it, we examine it, and we're honest with God.

We begin to understand the ramifications of what's there. And if you're at that place, I encourage you to continue to look. Read Genesis 3 again. Read it over, examine the language of what's going on there.

Everything's there for a reason, and it is powerful. Because that was cosmic treason that was committed there. And they did make a choice to go somewhere. God said, don't go there.

And yet God has made a plan of rescue for us. And Jesus is that one. He is the I am that covers all of that for us. All right, let's pray.

Thank you, Lord, so much for caring about us. Not leaving us alone but providing a way for us, a way that is simple. And yet so profound, the way it is so wonderful and covers everything that we need. You are so good to us to give this to us.

And Lord, may our lives reflect. Our worship And our relationship with you as we go on throughout this day and through this week in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you all.