 Understanding Jesus, who he is, his identity is of the utmost importance. There will always be people who don't understand because they either don't want to understand. There are those who are trying to make it make sense. There are those who it sort of makes sense, but can't really explain it. It is so important. Literally, your salvation depends on it. Now, do you have to adopt the same terminology that everyone else adopts? No. Do you have to state that he is this triune being? Do you have to use the word triune or the word trinity? No, you don't. What you do have to understand is who he is, that Jesus is the Lord, and that the Lord is God. You must believe that Jesus is God. Now, I want to go through some scriptures. There are going to be those that are going to disagree. That's fine. Those who are kind of on the fence are trying to make it make sense, trying to get some understanding. Those are the ones that this video is for. And I want to give you some scriptures and some other things to kind of understand. Number one, we must understand according to Deuteronomy 4. Now, remember, this is God telling Moses. Moses doesn't know this unless God tells him. So God is giving him first-hand account. And remember, when God speaks, he is not trying to confuse anyone. He's not trying to speak in riddles. He is not trying to get you to hear something and not understand unless you happen to be one of the Jews of that day, whom he's given a spirit of stupor. They have ears, but do not understand. They have eyes, but do not see. That's not what he's doing to us. And that's certainly not what he's doing to Moses, who's explained it to the Jews. Then he's not trying to do the same thing to them. So what he says, they can take it at face value and clearly understand. He says to them in Deuteronomy 4.35, he says, To you it has been shown that you might know that the Lord he is God. There is no other besides him. So it seems pretty self-explanatory that he is the Lord. God is the Lord and the Lord is God. There is no other beside him. So how many Lords according to this passage are there? One, how many Gods? One, he reiterates it again in Deuteronomy 4.39, he says, Know therefore today and take it to your heart. Finally important you understand this that the Lord he is God in heaven above and he is the Lord below as well. There is no other. No other on earth. There is no other in heaven. So if there was another one to come and state that he is the Lord or anyone elsewhere to say that he is the Lord on earth, especially, then we've got a problem. The problem is we've got Jesus who comes. Paul tells us that there's only one faith, one baptism, one Lord. And he tells us how important it is to recognize he's Lord. Romans 10 9. He says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, a Lord, some random Lord know the Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised from the dead. Now some will be bothered or confused because it says that God had us raised from the dead. Remember though, the Bible tells us that God raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus himself says that he will raise himself from the dead. So who did so? Well, God, who is God? God the Father. God is God. So too is Jesus. Jesus is God. Notice what he says. He says for there is no distinction verse 12 between Jew and Greek for the Lord is Lord of all abounding and riches for all who call him for whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. You must call on him as the Lord that is understood as a matter of fact, even the Jews were understanding. As a matter of fact, they were angry. Remember Jesus makes a statement in Mark 2. He says to someone that their sins are forgiven. What do the Jews do? The Jews say, why does this man speak in that way? He is blaspheming. Why is he saying that? Because who can forgive sins but God alone? Well, Jesus doesn't correct him. As a matter of fact, he says so that you will know that I am the son of man that I will, that your sins are forgiven and take up your bed and walk. And so he wants you to know that I've got the power and I am who I say I am that being the case. Why would the Jews even think that only God can forgive sins? And why would it be blasphemous for them to think so? Well, because in Isaiah 43, 23, he says, you have not brought me brought to me the sheep of your burnt offering, nor have you honored me with your sacrifice. So he's speaking to them in regards to their sins as it relates to their offerings. And notice what he says in verse 25. He says, I even I am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins. So it's God who is the one that forgives transgressions who wipes him out, not somebody else. And so for Jesus to make that statement, the Jews understood that wait a second, if he's not God, then that's blasphemous. The problem is they didn't recognize that he actually is God. Notice Jesus is not correcting them. Jesus is not saying, no, you have this understood incorrectly. No, he knows full well what he's doing and why he says what he says in front of them, knowing what sort of response they would get. And one of the more clearer statements that could be made in the Bible in John 1, 1, we covered this passage and people still, I think, intentionally want to not understand what's saying. It's almost like they see what it's saying and just will not allow their eyes to see or to believe what they're seeing. John 1, 1, we know the passage in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. And as we notice this now, I understand that some folks aren't necessarily Greek scholars, but take what I'm saying and go and investigate it and see if what I say is true if you don't understand it. But this even relates to certain things that we know in English. For example, in this passage, we have a subject and we have a predicate nominative because we have two nouns. The two nouns that we see here are the word and God. We have the word here, Lagos and the word Theos, which is God. Pheon and Theos, same thing. And so the question is of these two nouns, which one is the subject and which one is the predicate nominative? Well, in Greek, the first noun that we see would be the subject. And so in this case, it's the word Lagos. So Lagos, the word is the word that is the subject. The next one, Pheon, Theos is the predicate nominative. Why is that important? Because the predicate nominative is going to describe the category or class of what the subject is. And so because we see that, we see that Pheos is the predicate nominative. It describes what it describes Lagos. As a matter of fact, even in the Greek, it says Chai Pheos and Halagos, which is and God was the word. Now the reason for the ship, because our English says in that latter portion of verse one says and the word was God. By the way, the English should make it abundantly clear. The word was God. What was the word? God, that part is understood. But here in the Greek, the reason why the Pheos is shifted to the front of this last cause of verse one is to give greater emphasis to what the word is. God, I understand some folks might disagree, but you're not going to be able to argue with these rules of Greek. That's just really what it is. Paul, who was certainly chosen by God will go on to state in various places his belief that Jesus is God. And one clear place to show it is in Titus 2 13. We have a group Greek rule that is used here, what's called the Grenville sharp rule. But even in the English, you still should be able to see it. He says looking to the blessed hope and the appearing of the low of the glory of our great God and save now before I go into the to the rule, notice what he says the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior. Where have we seen this whole issue regarding to the glory appearing? Oh, I know one in the Old Testament, the glory before the people that also in John was as we beheld his glory, the glory as of the father of the begotten of the only begotten son. Who is that Jesus? And so we beheld his glory. Oh, by the way, Jesus makes a statement as he's praying in John 17. He says, give me back the glory that I had with you from the beginning, the very same glory that God stated. God stated himself that he would not share his glory with anyone. And so in this passage, which glory the glory belongs to who it could not be glory that belongs to God and then Jesus be separate. No, one in the same. And notice what he says. He says that appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So he's calling Jesus Christ our great God and Savior. Now the Grenville Sharpe rule states this. You have what's called the the, which is the definite article, the substantive, which is a noun, chi and substantive. Now both of them are singular. They're not proper names and they are in in this case. They are in the same case. And so therefore they relate. So great God and great Savior, great God and Savior both refer to Jesus. That's what that means. We're not going to be able to get around it. And so the person disagrees will then help us to understand our misunderstanding of the Greek. Now, by the way, is Jesus the great God and Savior? Well, if you're, if you're saying otherwise, if you're saying that he's not, we got a problem because we all understand that Jesus is a savior. Well, but he's not the savior or he's a different savior. But wait a second because God himself says in Isaiah 4311, he says, I even I am the Lord again, who is the Lord God and there is no savior beside me. Well, how could that be? How could God say that he's the only savior? But Jesus is a savior. He is our savior. As a matter of fact, his name in the Hebrew or Greek both means the Lord who saves. So how could he not be God? If God says there's only one savior and Jesus is called and known to be by everyone, even those who don't believe that Jesus God, they'll even accept that Jesus is Savior. And then to make it even clear, God says in Hebrews 18 he says, but the son to the son, he says, your throne, oh God is forever and ever. And the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom. Well, which scepter? Which kingdom is the kingdom of God? Well, wait a second. He says this is his kingdom and this also harkens back to Genesis 49 saying that the separate shall not depart from Judah, which is explaining that Jesus is going to be the king, his kingdom. But I thought it's God's kingdom. More to the point, though, God calls Jesus the son. He calls him God. You can be mad at me. You can say that I'm wrong. But if God calls him God, I think that's good enough. But some are going to say, well, that's just his interpretation. That's just my interpretation. Well, let's go back to Leviticus 1711. This is after he is prescribed the atonement for the people. There must be blood that's given on the altar to atone for the people sold. Notice what he says in Hebrews, I mean in Leviticus 1711 he says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls and or for it is by the blood or the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. Well, that seems okay. That doesn't seem like like it's too controversial. How is that making your point, Corey? Well, here's how we've covered this before. But in the Greek, we're going to notice something that's here. We see this word, this use here, this word wahani, which is the word I and this word not that team. This word not that team is I have given. Unlike English, we don't have to have a pronoun such as I in front of the verb and the verb is going to have different endings. It can be I give, I have given. So I have given. I got half in front of it. We don't have that problem in Hebrew in the word itself can contain and the prefix and the suffix. It can tell us what is happening. Who's doing it and even the time that is happening the mood voice and so forth. All of that can be carried out in Hebrew or Greek. Now in this case, notice what it says. He says wahani and I, I have given. Why would he say I, I have given? Well, the reason for the I, I have given is to give emphasis is to say that I myself have given. Now this could be taken that he's supplying, but we know it's not. This also can be taken. It is to be taken that he himself is giving the blood. How could that be since he doesn't have any blood? Well, he's speaking about an offering. He's speaking about them having their sins atone for what we go to Hebrews 10 five, the state, the statement is made here in Hebrews 10 five to clarify this even more. So to make sure or to validate what I'm saying, he says, therefore, when he comes into the world, speaking of who speaking of Jesus, he says, sacrifice and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me for what, for a true sacrifice, for a true offering, why to offer himself as a ransom for many. And so he gives his blood for the atonement of the people's souls. Just like it says in Leviticus 7 11 to make it even more so, go to Acts 20 28. He says beyond guard yourselves for all the flock among, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God. Notice what he says to shepherd the shepherd of the church of God, which he got purchased with his own blood. How could that be? I might toss to Idiot, which is the blood of his own, his own blood. And so whose blood dodge blood? How could that be? Well, he has to, as the Bible tells us to in this veiled form come in the form of a servant lower than angels and to sacrifice himself on the cross. He sent himself Lord, notice in, in the scriptures, it says that he voluntarily imputed himself. He voluntarily came on his own. He was not forced to, but another passage is to say that he was sent. Both are true. Even if you don't quite understand it, both are true. Gravity for me, I don't understand it, but it's true. Black holes don't understand them, but they're true. The way the computers work, the way cars work, don't understand them, but they sure work. That is when they do work. But the fact of the matter is Jesus is God. Now this is why this is important. This is why this is important because your salvation is literally at stake here. Remember what he says in Romans 10, that you must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Now, that being the case, Jesus states it also in John 8 24. He says, therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins for unless you believe that I am. He who's the I am. He this is the Greek phrase. I go MA and if you do not believe that he's the I am. He says you will die in your sins. And we know that what he's referring to when he says the I am unless you believe that you will die, that he's referring to him being God. The I am is because he says in the exact same chapter. There's a few verses later in verse 58. He makes the same statement. He says, he said to them truly to I said to you before Abraham was born. I am. He was not saying that he's old. He's been around for a long time. They knew exactly what he was saying because therefore they picked up stones. Who's David the Jews to throw at him? But Jesus hit himself. So what did the Jews think the Jews clearly thought that he was saying that he was God? How do we know because even in John chapter 10 knows what he says? He says my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch him out of my father's hand. He says verse 30. I and the father are one. And that's what he says in verse 30. He says the Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them. I showed you many good works from the father for which of them are you stoning me? The Jews answered him for good work. We do not stone you but for blasphemy because you Jesus being a man make yourself out to be God. You are calling yourself out to be God and notice that Jesus does not correct him. Jesus doesn't say that that's not true. Now notice what Jesus does. He goes to verse 34. He says has it not been written in your law. I say you are God's now. The reason why he's he's kind of really here. He's messing with them. However they want to take it. They cannot impugn him. However, for us to understand they are thinking that he is calling himself God. That's the most important point. And he is not correcting them. He is not saying that's incorrect. Jesus has never been shy when it comes to correcting someone. Thomas says my Lord and my God. Well, first of all, if he's Lord then he's got to be God and he calls him God. Does Jesus say no, that's not the case. There are some pastors. I understand they're going to be troubled for some people. When Jesus says that I don't know only the father knows the father who sent me and that thing. Wait a second. How would he be God and not know? Well, when Jesus makes a statement, for example, in John 14, he's speaking about the father knows the time and hour. He's not saying he's not saying I don't know in terms. I don't know. He's making a point that under Jewish tradition that when the father blows the trumpet, when the father decides it's time to go and get his bride, then the son gets him. The father has given. So his whole point in that is to make the statement that he is going to come and get his bride. It's a guarantee. Not as a point to confuse people. But again, the Jews themselves thought that he was calling himself God. God calls him God and notice there's some things that have to be understood who he's called and what he does. We have to try to figure out who is who. Remember question would be who created everything? Well, Genesis one says that God did, but Jesus is said to have created everything. Who's the first and the last? Was he out from the meager? Well, according to the Old Testament, God is as well as revelation, but then Jesus is also called the first and the last, the out from the meager. Who's the great judge? Psalm 75 says it's God. James says it's Jesus. Well, who's the Lord? Well, we've covered it before. The Bible in the Old Testament says it is the Lord is God, but then in the New Testament all throughout Jesus is God. Who's the I am? According to Exodus, God who is the I am in John Jesus. Who's the Savior? God in Isaiah in Luke. It is Jesus. These are vitally important, but then also they're called by the same name, the creator of everything, the one that's forgiving sins, the one that's receiving worship, the one who's saving the one who raised Jesus. Is it God or is it Jesus? So we see them having the same name and also doing the same thing at some point in time. Someone's going to have to say, even though I don't fully quite understand it and granted everybody or virtually anybody is able to fully understand God's existence. Why? There's no one like him. There's no one nor will there ever be anyone like him. So try to describe him in our limited understanding is going to be difficult, but what should not ever be difficult is the fact that Jesus is God. He's made that abundantly clear. So too has God. So too has his prophets and apostles. And so I think he's also clear when he says that unless you believe this, you will die in your sins. That's why this is so important and that's why we will keep continuously stressing this so that people will finally see it now. Obviously, it's not to us. It's up to God to grant understanding for people. I don't think it takes that much. Honestly, I do see where there can be some issues where that didn't quite make sense. That's fine, but something that didn't have to make perfect sense in order for you to understand that is true. Again, you don't make perfect sense in the way that you do things, but you know that your existence is true. You don't understand everything that has to do with science or biology or anything. Computers, technology, but yet you understand it's true. You know, if I push this button, what will happen? You know, if I type certain things and hit sin, what will happen, it'll go through. And so though you don't understand it fully, does not mean it's not true. Don't let the one thing that is the basis of him coming to save us that is him showing his love and him paying the penalty, him paying the debt that he requires of himself. Don't let this great act of love be missed by you, especially if it's done intentionally. Amen.