Jesus: Son of God or Blasphemer?

So we come now to our time of prayer or intercession as we come before the Lord bringing our needs and concerns. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this day, your day. We thank you for every day in your kingdom and in your service. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to witness to Christ at the village fair yesterday. We thank you that the weather stayed dry. We thank you that people were able to enjoy themselves. We know a lot of hard work goes into these events.

But above all, Lord, we pray that you would be at work in this village. That you will be calling sinners to yourself. And we pray, Father, that you will use us both individually and collectively as your people here. Use us, Lord, to make Christ known in this generation. We pray, Heavenly Father, for people known to us who are in any kind of need at this time, be it family, friends, neighbours, loved ones, be they Christians or non-Christians. We pray for those who are on our hearts and for whom we are concerned at this time for your grace and mercy in their lives. Lord, we continue to pray for Phil. Thank you that he's home again from hospital.

We pray, Lord, that you'll know your presence with him today. Pray that you'll continue his healing. We do also pray for the family of Dave Cook who died this past week. We ask, Lord, that you will work in the lives of his family, even in and through their grief. You will cause them to seek after you. We pray, Heavenly Father, for our nation in this, our day and generation, and indeed for the Western world as a whole. Father, we confess it's so easy to be discouraged as we see society rejecting you and seemingly increasingly rejecting you, adopting its own standards, living worldly lives, with no knowledge of you and seemingly at times no concern for you. Lord, help us to remember that you are sovereign, that you are sovereign over all, you are sovereign over all things, all people and all powers and authorities.

Lord, we would pray and we have repeatedly prayed for revival in our day, both in the church and in the world around us. Revive your church, Lord, give your church a fresh love for Christ, a fresh zeal for the gospel, a fresh desire to make Christ known. Pray that you'll be at work in the villages, the towns, the cities of this country, that Christ may be honoured and your name may be glorified. We pray, Father, for those parts of the world where people are living day by day in the midst of war, violence, uncertainty, where lives are shattered by the violence and sometimes the selfishness of mankind. Lord, have mercy, we pray. Bring peace, we pray. We think and have thought for some time of places like the Middle East and of Ukraine. We ask, Lord, that you will have mercy.

We ask, Lord, for your church in those places in the world where conflict continues, that you will preserve your church, that you will cause your church to look afresh to you, that you will enable your church to be beacons of light in darkness. We pray for Christians in parts of the world where they suffer persecution for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Release International's prayer diary, we're asked to pray today or over this weekend for Christians in Malaysia. We pray, Lord, particularly for Christians of an ethnic Malay background who suffer for confessing Christ rather than serving Islam. We read of an organisation called the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party seeking to increase the power of sharia, that's Islamic law. Lord, we pray against that. We pray that that will not be the case. And we pray for your people in that country.

We pray for wisdom, for grace, and for perseverance in difficult times. Finally, Lord, we pray for ourselves.

We pray that you will give to us a desire, an increasing desire for your living word. Cause us, Lord, by your Spirit to be those who not just on a Sunday but throughout our lives will be those who read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the truth of your holy word. We pray that we would be receptive listeners this morning as your word is opened up to us. Lord, we pray for ourselves. We pray that you will give to us a desire, an increasing desire for your living word. Cause us, Lord, by your spirit to be those who, not just on a Sunday, but throughout our lives, will be those who read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the truth of your holy word. We pray that we would be receptive listeners this morning as your word is opened up to us from Luke's gospel. And Lord, be with each of us in the week ahead.

Give us grace to be the people that you would have us be. In the name of Christ, we pray these and all things. Amen. Amen. Well, before we come to God's word, we're going to stand and sing again.

At the end of this hymn, the youngsters will go to Outback. So we're going to stand now to give thanks to Jesus as our Redeemer, the one who is Son of God, the one who is Messiah, the Lamb for sinners slain.

Let's stand to sing together. Let us sing. Thank you, O my Father, for leading us to your Son, and leading us here into the work of the risen. When I stand in glory, I will see his face, and there I'll serve my King forever in that holy place. Thank you, O my Father, for leading us to your Son, and leading us here into the work of the risen. Well, my thanks to Andrew for leading the first part of our service.

Will you turn with me now in your Bibles to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22, and I'm going to read from verse 63. I'll read through to the end of the chapter. So Luke chapter 22, starting to read at verse 63.

The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, prophesy, who hit you? They said many other insulting things to him. At daybreak, the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the elders of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. If you are the Messiah, they said, tell us. Jesus answered, I tell you, you will not, if I tell you, you will not believe me. And if I asked you, you would not answer, but from now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God. They all asked, are you then the son of God?

He replied, you say that I am. Then they said, why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips. What is Christianity all about? Well, it's centered on a person, Jesus of Nazareth.

Who was Jesus of Nazareth? He was a man who lived on earth around 2,000 years ago. But Christians claim that Jesus was more than just a man.

They claim that he was also God, truly God, the second person of the Trinity, and one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Wow, that's some claim, isn't it? It really is some claim. But Christians claim that Jesus was more than just a man.

They claim that he was also God, truly God, the second person of the Trinity, and one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Wow, that's some claim, isn't it? It really is some claim. Was he really God? And does it really matter? Some years ago, back in the 60s I think it was, the president of a large grouping of churches in this country denied the deity of Jesus Christ.

There were quite a lot of churches that left this grouping of churches as a result of what he said. Clearly they believed that denying the deity of Jesus Christ mattered. Does it matter? If so, why does it matter? We will come back to this question at the end because this sermon is all about whether or not Jesus was God and whether it matters. This morning we're going to look at these verses that we read just a few moments ago, Luke chapter 22, 63 to 71.

Now it might appear to some as if we're skipping over verses 54 to 62, but we're not because we dealt with these verses several weeks ago when we were looking at verses 31 to 34. Now we will get into the text in just a minute, but before we get into the text I want to say a little something about the order of events.

Last week, you may remember that we looked at verses 47 to 53, where we saw Jesus being betrayed with a kiss by Judas and him being arrested. In verse 44 of chapter 22 we see that those who seized him, that is arrested him, led him away and took him into the house of the high priest, a man named Caiaphas. Now by reading Matthew and Mark's accounts, it seems that there was an informal trial that took place straight away.

An informal trial that happened that night. And I mention this because Luke for some reason doesn't record it in his account. After that, the guards mock and beat Jesus, blindfold him and demand that he prophesies and say many insulting things to him. We see that in verse 63, 64 and 65 of Luke chapter 22. It seems pretty clear to me that they do not believe that Jesus amounts to anything more than a man. They clearly do not believe that he is the one who gives them the breath that they breathe. They clearly do not believe that he is the one that enables them to use their tongues to insult him and to use their arms and their fists to hit him. And then in the morning, or at daybreak, the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, in other words the Sanhedrin, meet to hold a formal trial.

The evening one was an informal trial, the morning one is the official one. And this is what we're going to focus our minds upon this morning together. In verse 66, we see that Jesus was led before them and they began to question him. If you are the Messiah, they say, that is the long-awaited, promised King and Saviour, if you are the Messiah, tell us. And Jesus interestingly responds by saying, verse 67, if I tell you, you will not believe me. And they won't. Because they have already made up their minds about Jesus. No more words from the lips of Jesus or miracles performed by his mighty hand will make the slightest difference.

They've made up their minds, they've hardened their hearts towards him. If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I ask you, you would not answer me. But, verse 69, from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.

Wow. What incredible words from the lips of Jesus. These are, it seems to me, the all-important words in this short passage that we are looking at this morning. And when Jesus speaks these words,. From now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God. Wow. What incredible words from the lips of Jesus. These are, it seems to me, the all-important words in this short passage that we are looking at this morning.

And when Jesus speaks these words, he is surely referring to himself. From now on, you will see me seated at the right hand of the mighty God. Now I'm going to argue this morning that Jesus is impressing upon these religious authorities three things about himself.

Firstly, that he is the Son of Man. Firstly, he is the Son of Man.

This was often the way that Jesus referred to himself. It seems to be his favorite title for himself. And as we saw last week, or was it the week before, I can't remember, it's Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 that speak of the Son of Man. Let me read to you what it says in Daniel chapter 7.

In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Please note that the Ancient of Days is God, God the Father. And the Ancient of Days gives a number of things to the Son of Man. Authority.

His authority. Glory. But doesn't the Bible say that God will not share his glory with another?

Yes, it does. But he's willing to share his glory, his majesty, his splendour with the Son of Man.

The Ancient of Days gives to the Son of Man sovereign power. Not just power. Not even just great power. But sovereign, universal power.

The Ancient of Days also gives the Son of Man the right to be worshipped by the nations. But is not God one who says that worship is to be exclusively reserved for him?

Yes, he is. Yes, he does. So the Son of Man is clearly more, much more, than just a man.

He is one who gets to share in the very things of God. Here is Jesus making this incredible claim. He's saying that he is the Son of Man. Secondly, Jesus says to these religious authorities, effectively, that from now on he will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.

What Jesus is saying here is that after they have done their work to put him to death, he will rise again. And sometime after that ascend into heaven and sit down, where?

At the right hand of the Father. The position of highest honour. And there begin his reign. And it may well be that Jesus here is alluding to Psalm 110, where we read, The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Interestingly, the Apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, preached a sermon. It was about Jesus. And he spoke of Jesus being exalted to the right hand of the Father. And he went on to quote Psalm 110, a Messianic Psalm, believing it to refer to Jesus.

Listen to what we read in Acts 2, 32-36. God, speaking to thousands of Jews, God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So here in verse 69, Jesus is saying.

And we are all witnesses of it, exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So here in verse 69, Jesus is saying to these religious leaders, these religious authorities, that he is the Son of Man.

He's telling them that he will soon ascend and sit down at the right hand of the Father, the position of highest honour. And then thirdly, Jesus tells them that he will come on the clouds of heaven. Now you say, I don't see that in Luke 22.

No, you won't see it in Luke 22, but you will see it in Matthew's account and in Mark's account. Why Luke doesn't record this, I don't know. I'm sure there are good reasons for it. But listen to what we read in Matthew 26 and verse 64.

But I say to you, from now on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. One day, we don't know when this day will be, Christ Jesus or Messiah Jesus will return to earth. And he will come on the clouds of heaven, and when he does so, he will judge the living and the dead. Listen to what we read in Revelation chapter 1. I'm going to pick things up in verse 5, halfway through verse 5. Revelation 1 verse 5, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.

To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Look, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all peoples on earth will mourn because of him, so shall it be. Amen. Listen to what we read about Messiah Jesus in Psalm 110 verses 5 to 7. The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way and so he will lift his head high. Have I explained verse 69 well enough? I hope I have. Here Jesus tells these religious authorities that he is the Son of Man, that he is the one who will soon be seated at the right hand of the Father, that he in the years to come will return to this earth on the clouds of heaven to judge the living and the dead. It seems pretty clear that the religious authorities who put Jesus on trial understood the significance or the implications of his words to them, doesn't it? Look at verse 17.

Are you then the Son of God, they say? Now please don't assume that by asking this question they are open to the possibility of him being the Son of God.

They've already heard his claims. They've already made up their minds. This question is being asked with sceptical grins. Are you really saying that you're the Son of God? And Jesus replies, verse 70, You say that I am. And what Jesus, I think, there is in effect saying to them is, You're right, I am the Son of God. You speak the truth. I am as you say.

And thus they reply, Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips. This man, this Jewish man who looks just like us, he claims to be the Son of God. How ridiculous. How sinful. How sinful. What blasphemy. What blasphemy.

You deserve the death penalty. And of course this was the death, this was the penalty for blasphemy. Now the question this morning is this, Was Jesus a blasphemer?

Or was he who he claimed to be? That is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and one with the Father and the Spirit. What are we going to conclude? What are we going to conclude in the... Now the question this morning is this.

Was Jesus a blasphemer or was he who he claimed to be? That is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity and one with the Father and the Spirit. What are we going to conclude? What are we going to conclude in the light of all that Jesus said on this occasion, along with all that he said and did throughout his earthly ministry as recorded for us in the four Gospel accounts of his life? In the Gospels, as Andrew has already said this morning, Jesus keeps on referring to himself as the great I God. You may remember when he met Moses at the burning bush, revealed himself to him as the great I am. Jesus does the same. I am the bread of life, he says.

In other words, I am the one who gives life, eternal life. I'm God. And you know, on the occasion when he spoke those words, to prove who he was, he took five loaves and two fishes and he turned them into enough food to feed 5,000 people. Well, actually a few more than 5,000.

There were 5,000 men. If we include the women and the children, we're probably talking up to, what, 20,000 people? I am, says Jesus, the resurrection and the life. In other words, I am God. I'm the son of God. I'm the one who is able to reconcile you to God and grant you a gloriously resurrected body on the day of my return. In John 20 and verse 30, we read, Jesus performed many other signs, that is, many other miracles, in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah or the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. The well-known and often quoted words of C.

Lewis seem rather apt at this point. Lewis writes, I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him. That is, I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the son of God, or else a mad man or something worse.

You can shut him up for a fool. You can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher.

He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. Friends, you know what I believe about Jesus, and you know what this church here in Crocken Hill believes about Jesus. You only have to look at the words behind me above the screen. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. But who do you say that Jesus is?

Was he just a man? Was he something significantly more than a man? Was he, is he, the son of God? And does it matter? Does it matter? Friends, I want to say this morning, it matters. Oh boy, it matters. If Jesus was not and is not the son of God, what am I doing?

What am I doing standing behind this lectern week by week? I'm wasting my time, and frankly I'm wasting your time as well. We're just playing at this Christianity stuff. I might as well go home before the final hymn. If Jesus was not and is not God, I might as well go and put the television on, or cut the lawn if it's not raining, and do something more worthwhile. You see, if Jesus was not the son of God,. And frankly, I'm wasting your time as well. We're just playing at this Christianity stuff.

I might as well go home before the final hymn, if Jesus was not and is not God. I might as well go and put the television on, or cut the lawn if it's not raining, and do something more worthwhile. You see, if Jesus was not the Son of God, then he was a liar, and a deceiver, and no better than a devil, because he repeatedly said that he was the Son of God. And of course, if he was a sinner, sorry, if he was a liar and a deceiver, then he was a sinner. On this occasion, the religious authorities believe that he's a blasphemer. A blasphemer and a sinner. But of course, if Jesus was a sinner, then he did not offer a perfect sacrifice upon the cross to atone for sin.

And this means there is no forgiveness of sin. If Jesus was a sinner, then it means that he did not earn a righteousness in life and in death, which can be imputed or given to repentant sinners so that they might stand righteous in God's sight. If Jesus was not God, the Son of God, then there is no justification. There's no forgiveness. There's no righteousness. There's no peace with God. There is no hope of eternal life. And those of us who claim to be Christians are, let's be honest, a sad bunch of delusional sinners destined for hell.

Oh, it matters. It matters a lot. But Jesus was and is the Son of God, isn't he?

And he lived a perfect life, and he offered his life upon the cross as a perfect sacrifice for sin. He made atonement for sin. And now we who trust in him as our Lord and as our Savior can be forgiven and clothed in his righteousness, his holiness, his perfection. Let me finish this morning with what must be my favorite quote outside of the Bible.

Martin Luther, that famous reformer, once wrote to a monk, troubled about his sins. And this is what he said, learn to know Christ. Learn to know Messiah Jesus and him crucified. Learn to sing to him and say, Lord, you are my righteousness. I am your sin. You took on you what was mine and set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not. Let me just flesh that out just a little bit as I finish.

Lord, you are my righteousness. You've clothed me in it. And I am your sin. It was all laid upon you when you suffered and died on the cross. You took what was mine and set on me what was yours. You became what you were not. You became sin so that I might become what I was not, righteous, holy, in your glorious sight. I hope you believe that Jesus was the son of God and that these religious authorities got it so terribly wrong.

And they did, didn't they? Because having crucified him, what did he do? He rose victoriously from the dead. Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for your word to us this morning. Thank you for the lovely reminder that Jesus, though he became a man, truly man, was also truly God. The son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

He was not a liar. He was not a blasphemer. He was who he claimed to be. And as the Lamb of God, he offered his life as a perfect sacrifice upon the cross to atone for the sins of his people. We thank you that because of his death and resurrection, we have died to the penalty of sin. He was not a blasphemer. He was who he claimed to be. And as the Lamb of God, he offered his life as a perfect sacrifice upon the cross to atone for the sins of his people.

We thank you that because of his death and resurrection, we have died to the penalty of sin, risen to new life in him. We thank you for the hope that is ours. We thank you for the wonder of being at peace with God. Hear our prayer. We ask it in Jesus' worthy name. Amen. Well, let's stand, shall we, and sing together our concluding song.

There is a hope that burns within my heart, that gives me strength for every passing day, a glimpse of glory, now revealed in meagre part, yet drives all doubt away. Because of Jesus, we have a hope, a hope that is sure and certain. Let's stand and sing.