The Gospel of John
(James J. Barker)


Lesson 28

THE DEITY OF CHRIST

(John 10:30-42)



INTRODUCTION:


1.     The key verse in the Gospel of John is 20:31 – “ But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

2.     The key word is “believe.”

3.     The deity of Christ is stressed from the very beginning and throughout the Gospel of John (John 1:1).

4.     Jesus said in 10:30, “I and my Father are one.”  People can debate this statement all day long but there can be no question that those to whom our Lord spoke understood exactly what He meant.  Jesus was affirming equality with God the Father.

5.     We left off last Sunday night with our Lord’s enemies attempting to stone Him to death (10:31).  

6.     The Jewish leaders hated our Lord because he claimed to be the Son of God (10:30-33; cf. 5:18; 8:59).  They called Him a blasphemer (10:33, 36).

7.     I have heard JW’s claim that while it is true that Jesus is the Son of God, He is not God the Son.  This statement might sound reasonable to those who do not understand the Bible, but the fact is that because Jesus is the Son of God, He is co-equal with God the Father.

8.     In fact, if you will carefully look at these passages (e.g., 10:36), the Jews considered Jesus a blasphemer for calling Himself the Son of God (cf. 5:18). They still hold this opinion today. Muslims and many other non-Christians refuse to accept that Jesus is the Son of God.

9.     According to the Bible, Jesus received worship from men.  The Bible clearly teaches we should only worship God (Matthew 4:10; cf. John 9:38; Matt. 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 20:28).

10. One cannot take the Bible literally and deny the deity of Christ.  And one cannot be saved and deny the deity of Christ.

11. Jesus made many statements that only God could make (cf. John 6:62; 10:9; 11:25-27). Either He was who He claimed to be (the Son of God) or else He was a deceiver and a false prophet.

12. I normally divide my exposition in three, but today I will divide it in half.

 

I.      OUR LORD’S WORKS

II.  OUR LORD’S WORDS


I.     OUR LORD’S WORKS (10:31, 32).

1.     Our Lord asked His enemies, “Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” (John 10:32).

2.     Of course our Lord knew why they wanted to stone Him.  He was forcing them to consider His mighty works – in John 9, He gave eyesight to the blind man.  In fact, this conflict in chapter 10 follows from that great miracle (cf. 9:38-41; 10:1).

3.     In chapter 5 our Lord healed the man by the pool of Bethesda.  The man had an infirmity for 38 years but because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath day the Jews wanted to kill Him (5:15-18).

4.     In John 6 our Lord fed the 5,000 with just five barley loaves and two small fishes. 

5.     Our Lord went around doing good, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, casting out devils, and raising the dead.  So He asks His adversaries, “Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” (10:32).

6.     These “good works,” these mighty miracles, were credentials to back up our Lord’s claim that He was the Messiah, the Son of God.

7.     Our Lord always pointed out that these works were from God the Father (10:32, 37, 38).  Since they rejected Jesus and His works, they were also rejecting God the Father (cf. 5:23; 8:54, 55).

 

II.     OUR LORD’S WORDS (10:34-39).

1.     In refuting His enemies our Lord always quoted the Word of God.  In fact, when He was tempted by the devil our Lord quoted Scripture three times (Matthew 4).

2.     Here in John 10, our Lord quoted Psalm 82:6 (John 10:34).

3.     There is a big debate today over evolution and “Intelligent Design.”  People question whether or not there really was an Adam and Eve, but Jesus said, “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female…” (Matt. 19:4).

4.     No one who accepts the Bible can believe in the ridiculous theory of evolution.

5.     Liberal unbelievers claim that Moses did not write the first five books of the Bible, but Jesus said, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46).

6.     Liberals mock the story about Noah and the flood, but Jesus said, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26).

7.     Mockers scoff at the story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale, but Jesus said, “This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation” (Luke 11:29, 30).

8.     The homosexuals do not like any talk about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah but our Lord referred to that great judgment on several occasions.

9.     Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35b).  This means the Scripture cannot be annulled; it cannot be set aside when its teaching is inconvenient.

10.Now, what exactly does Psalm 82:6 mean and why did our Lord quote it (John 10:34)?

11.This is particularly interesting at this time as our attention is drawn to the US Supreme Court.  Many people here in America consider judges to be gods and it upsets many of them that this judge John Roberts might be against the infamous Roe vs. Wade decision.

12.God is the Judge over all.  In OT times God appointed in Israel men who were to stand in His place and represent Him. The people of Israel were to bring their questions and grievances to these judges and these men were to judge in accordance with the Word of God.

13.God said to Moses in Exodus 7:1, “And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.”  This was because Moses stood in the place of God before Pharaoh.

14.“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” (Psalm 82:6).  So our Lord is saying in John 10:35, “If God called these judges gods, why are you calling Me a blasphemer when I was sent by God and claim to be the Son of God?” (see John 10:34-36).

15.Our Lord challenged His adversaries and this challenge stands today (John 10:36-38).

16.“If people would only read the Bible thoughtfully and face its testimony honestly, oh, how many would be delivered from the snare of unbelief!” – HA Ironside.

 

CONCLUSION:


1.     The Jews tried to stone our Lord to death in 8:59 and 10:31.  In 10:39, it says, “Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand.”

2.     They could not kill our Lord at that time (cf. 17:1).  An invisible hand protected our Lord from His enemies.

3.     Also, they could not stone Him to death because Psalm 22:16 says, “they pierced my hands and my feet.”

4.     Zechariah 13:6 says, “ And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”  Five hundred years beforehand, Zechariah prophesied of our Lord’s nail-pierced hands.

5.     Zechariah 12:10 says, “and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.”

6.     So our Lord could not have been stoned to death.  According to the OT prophecies He was to be crucified.



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