Last week’s Wednesday Word generated more ‘unsubscribes’ than has any other. It seems that the gospel message of the deity of Christ ruffles feathers among certain so called believers. They tell me that Jesus is the Son of God, but not God. Sad to say, but that’s a well worn and threadbare error which is re-gaining much traction nowadays.
A great question is asked in Luke 5:21, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Indeed, who can do this? Only God can forgive sins, and if Jesus is not God, then we are not forgiven! We may be sincere and well dressed as we sit in our meetings, but if we have trusted Christ, and He is not God, we are lost … for only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:10, 1 John 1:9)!
In Matthew 9, Jesus performed a wonderful miracle demonstrating that He was God. Actually, He forgave a man his sins and to prove that the man’s sins were forgiven, he healed him and made him walk. Nevertheless, the religious leaders, instead of believing in Jesus, chose to reckon Him as a blasphemer because He had usurped God’s position as the forgiver of sins.
These men believed in God, but they did not believe in Jesus as God. Are you of the same persuasion? Are you religious and zealous for your faith like these Pharisees? Do you believe in God, but not in Jesus as God? If so, then you are making Jesus a blasphemer and an evil worker. This is a very serious matter! In fact, it is more than serious; it is positively wicked! Christ asks His opponents why they are thinking evil in their hearts (Matthew 9:4). Did you hear that? “Evil in their hearts!” Yes indeed, their evil consisted in that they did not believe Jesus was God. They correctly reasoned that only God could forgive sins, but then wrongly reasoned that Jesus, by putting Himself in God’s position, was blaspheming. According to Jesus, this was evil!
So, we must face the awful truth; every time Christ claimed to forgive sins, he blasphemed, ….if indeed He was not God. In fact, if Jesus is not God, and we have asked Him to forgive our sins, then we are blasphemers together with him. We are co-conspirators against God and His Glory. Do you see how important this doctrine of the Deity of Christ really is? Please don’t ever say about Jesus, He was good, but He was not God. If He’s not God, He has brought damnation to our souls! If He’s not God, He is a blasphemer! Shun Him as an evildoer! If He’s not God, He’s a fraud! Only follow and trust Him if He is, in fact, God in flesh appearing!
Someone asks, “But surely Jesus was only acting as an agent of Yahweh when he pronounced forgiveness of sins?” My reply is this, I know that any Christian can pronounce the forgiveness of sins, but before he can do this, the sins have to have already been forgiven. For example, if someone comes to me and says, “I heard a gospel sermon, and as a result, I trusted Jesus as my Saviour and I now look to Him alone for mercy grace and righteousness,” I then can look at that person and confidently say, “Your sins are forgiven.” I can declare what the reality is. However, I cannot take a person who has not come to Christ and say, “Your sins are forgiven.” I neither have that right nor that authority.
Only God can forgive sins, yet we see Christ Jesus forgiving sins. Look at Him going around acting like God and speaking like God. No good man would dare to do that! Only an evil or crazy man would do that! So which is He? Is He nuts? Is He evil? Or is He God?
You cannot be neutral!
And that’s the Gospel Truth!