Is Jesus Christ God? – Dr. Charles Stanley

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male announcer: “In Touch,” the
teaching ministry of Dr. Charles

Stanley, reaching the world with
the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Next on “In Touch,”
“Is Jesus Christ God?”

Dr. Charles Stanley: What
do you think of Jesus Christ?

That’s the most important
answer you’ll ever have to give.

If you only think
that He’s a man,

simply a man, and
that’s all He is,

then one day you will
be greatly shocked.

Who is this person
called Jesus Christ?

Many people believe in God,
and they’ll tell you they do,

but Jesus, that’s a
whole different story.

“He’s just one of those other
prophets or teachers who roamed

the world of His day and talked
about other things that people

may be interested in and
healed some people and so forth.

But Jesus’s not
all that important.

It’s God who is important.”

That’s the way the world thinks.

And I want to ask
you how do you think?

What do you think
of Jesus Christ?

The most important question
you’ll ever answer in your life.

And in John’s Gospel, he has
given us a picture of Jesus

unlike any other
place in the scripture.

And so, oftentimes people
will read and they’ll say,

“Well, I believe
this or I believe that.

But the question is what
do you really and truly

believe about Jesus?

And the answer is that
Jesus Christ is God.

Now, you probably
say, “Well now,

I don’t believe He’s God.

I believe He’s maybe a prophet.”

No, He’s God, and I want
to show you why He is,

because all the proof that we
need is in the Word of God,

and you could just remain in the
Gospel of John if you wanted to.

He’s everything He promises
to be, and He is God.

Turn, if you will,
to John chapter one.

And we could read
quite a number of verses,

but I’ll just limit this to
these first five verses of the

Gospel of John because
He answers this question

throughout the gospel.

And we’re answering
the question: Who is He?

“In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the
beginning with God.

And all things came
into being through Him,

and apart from Him nothing came
into being that came into being.

In Him was life, and the
life was the Light of men.

The light shines in the
dark, and the darkness

did not comprehend it.”

Who is Jesus?

Well, I want us to think
seriously about it because your

whole eternity depends upon
what you think about Him.

And most folks will say, “Well,
as long as I believe in God and

I try to live a
pretty good life,

that should be sufficient.”

That’s not what the
Word of God teaches.

So, I want us to think about
it in this light and answer the

question: Who is He?

And so, I’m going to ask four
questions that are legitimate

questions and ought
to give us an answer.

We’re answering the
question, Who is Jesus Christ?

And the first question is:
Who did Jesus say He was?

Who did He say He was?

Jesus said in John
chapter ten, verse fourteen,

and I’m going to give you the
scriptures for all of these,

so you’ll remember them.

Jesus said, “I am
the good shepherd,

and I know My own
and My own know Me.”

So, Jesus says, “I’m
the good shepherd.”

Secondly, Jesus said, “I
am the door of the sheep.”

In John chapter ten,
verse seven.

If anyone enters the
door, or, “enters through Me,

he will be saved,” John
chapter ten, verse nine.

Jesus said, “I and
the Father are one.”

Look at that, “He who sees
Me sees the One who sent Me.”

In John chapter
twelve, verse forty-five.

And then in John
chapter eight, verse twelve,

Jesus said, “I am the Light of
the world; he who follows Me

will not walk in darkness but
will have the Light of life.”

And then in the fourteenth
chapter of John and the sixth

verse, Jesus said, “I am
the way, and the truth,

and the life; no one comes to
the Father but through Me.”

So, this is what
Jesus said about Himself.

All of those verses
are quotes of Jesus.

This is what He
said about Himself.

And then we’re asking questions.

Who did Jesus say He was?

The second question is:
Were His actions consistent

with who God is?

Because we’re trying to
find out who is this Jesus?

So, were His actions
consistent with who God is?

In John the eighth
chapter, the twenty-ninth verse,

He said, “I always do the
things that are pleasing

to Him,” to the Father.

No one can say that
but Jesus, always

do the thing that please Him.

A second verse is John ten, ten,
Jesus said, “I came that they

might have life and have
it more abundantly.”

That’s certainly
consistent with who God is.

For example, look at the
miracles He performed.

He fed five thousand.

He healed the sick.

He raised the dead.

He walked on water.

Think of all the
miraculous things He did.

So, when we ask: Who is Jesus?

He’s certainly a miracle
worker, but He’s more than that.

Because the one thing He did
that stirred up the Pharisees

and the Sadducees to absolute
hatred and bitterness toward Him

when He said, speaking
to them, that He forgave

someone of their sin.

Who can forgive sin?
We’re talking about who He is.

What’s consistent
with who God says He is?

Then, no one can
take His life from Him.

Listen to John chapter
ten, verse eighteen,

no one could take
His life from Him.

He has, “authority to
lay down,” His life,

“and,” He says, “I have
authority to take it up again.”

Is that consistent
with who God is?

Yes, it is.

In the sixth chapter of
John, the thirty-eighth verse,

Jesus said, “For I have
come down from heaven,

not to do My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me.”

So, the question is: Were these
actions consistent with God?

Every one of them was.

We’re answering the
question: Is Jesus God?

So far you have to
admit yes, He is.

No one could follow all
of this unless He is.

The third thing I want
us to notice is this.

What was His
relationship to God the Father?

We’re talking
about Jesus being God.

What was His
relationship to God the Father?

Now remember, in
Genesis chapter one,

the twenty-sixth
verse, when He said,

“Let Us make man in Our
own image,” who is Us?

It’s certainly not angels.
Angels aren’t creators.

Not the devil.

“Let Us make man
in Our own image.”

God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit,

the three Persons of the Trinity
that make up the Godhead.

That’s what the
scripture teaches.

In John chapter
ten, verse thirty,

Jesus said, “I and
the Father are one.”

He said, for example,
in the eighth chapter,

“If you knew Me, you
would know My Father also.”

And, when I look at the
fourteenth chapter of John,

there are a number of verses
there that I want us to look at,

but look at verse sixteen of the
fourteenth chapter for a moment.

Jesus said, “I
will ask the Father,

and He will give
you another Helper.”

Another in the Greek is allos,
that means another just like,

just like Himself.

“I will ask the Father.

He will give you
another Helper, that He

may be with you forever.”

In that one verse are all
three Persons of the Trinity.

So, who is God?

There’s God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Now, I’ll tell you why this
is so important in a moment.

He says, “That is the
Spirit of truth,

whom the world cannot receive,
because it does not see Him or

know Him, but you know
Him because He abides

with you and will be in you.”

Then, for example,
in John chapter one,

verse one, the Word, Jesus,
was, “In the beginning,” He,

“was with God,” and
the scripture says,

“and the Word was God.”

The testimony of John is that
Jesus was God in human flesh:

God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s coming
after the resurrection,

but there are three
Persons of the Trinity.

Now, I’m going to say it again.

I want to show you why
this is so important.

Then, look, for example, in
Colossians chapter one because

all the way over here in
Colossians, Paul, all the

things that he wrote,
and in this first chapter

of Colossians, listen
to what he says.

He says, for example, in the
first chapter and the fourteenth

verse, “In whom,”
speaking of Jesus,

“we have redemption, the
forgiveness of our sins.”

And then he says, “He,” Jesus,
“is the image of the invisible

God, the firstborn
of all creation.

For by Him are
all things created,

both in the heavens and
on earth, visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities,

all things have been created

through Him and for Him.

He is before all things, and in
Him all things hold together.”

So, the testimony of the
Apostle Paul is the same

as the testimony of John.

Now, let me show you
why this is so important.

In the mind of the
world, there’s God.

In our mind, we know
that is God the Father,

God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit.

So when you talk to
your friends about God,

they say, “I believe in God.”

And in their minds,
there’s God out there somewhere.

But He’s so distant and He’s so
foreign and so unimaginable and

so indescribable that He’s just
this big blob of spirituality of

some sort out there somewhere.

And they pay Him
very little attention.

But they can say that
they believe in God.

“So, what’s His name?”
“Well, I don’t know.”

“Well, what kind of God is He?”
“He’s God.”

Now, watch this.

You see, if He is this invisible
something out there somewhere

they believe in, that
they cannot describe,

that He is impersonal,
that they pray to Him,

whatever He is, when they get
in trouble, but He’s out there.

And they’re afraid,
they cry out to God.

And if you ask them
if they believe in

God, “Yes, I believe in God.”

“Describe Him.”

“Well, you know, you
can’t describe Him, but

I do believe in God.”

And so, when you think about
what the world thinks about God,

it’s sort of this big spiritual
blob out there somewhere and

they just don’t want it to be
personal enough that they

have to give an account.

When I think about
people, for example,

who do not believe in Jesus
Christ as their personal Savior,

don’t believe that
they’re subject to Him,

watch this, they want a God who
is impersonal enough that they

can sin and not
feel bad about it.

When you eliminate Jesus,
you eliminate the Holy Spirit,

you cannot have the one
true God without the Son

and without the Spirit.

And so, you ask
yourself this question:

Do you believe in God?
Yes.

Do you believe in His Son?
And remember what Jesus said.

Watch this carefully, “I
and the Father are one.”

And if you do not believe
that Jesus Christ is God,

you do not believe
in the one true God.

Or you believe that
Jesus Christ is a liar.

And if He’s a
liar, what about God?

Maybe He doesn’t exist.

If you do not believe the
biblical concept and truth about

God, you end up being confused.

And so, one of the reasons
people don’t want to believe in

Jesus, that makes
it too personal.

There are too many
verses about Jesus,

“I and the Father
are one,” He said.

Jesus said, “If you’ve seen
Me, you’ve seen the Father.”

I wonder what
happens to this nebulous,

indescribable, invisible God
out there who has been in the

background of your
life, all the life,

and now you’re
getting ready to die,

and you think maybe,
maybe I’ll meet God.

My friend, you better
know Jesus before you die.

Because if the only god you
have, if the only god you have

is this indescribable,
non-biblical god,

then you don’t have a true God.

And so, I want you
to think about this.

Why did He say He
came into the world?

And He answers this.

Jesus came into the
world that we might,

“have life and have
it more abundantly.”

He came for a specific purpose.

And you look at His whole
life, the life that Jesus lived.

What is it about
Jesus you don’t like?

You see, most people want a God
that will pacify them and that

will agree with them, and won’t
scold them, won’t keep them

up at night and just not
tamper with their business.

They want a convenient
personal God they describe,

that helps them get
what they want in life,

but no accountability
whatsoever.

That is not who God is.

You may have a god, but if he’s
not a god that matches what we

just read in the Word,
which is God’s Word,

you don’t have the one true God.

Who is this god
that you believe in?

Is he real?

If he’s not the
God of the Bible,

Jesus Christ, you
don’t have a true God.

It’s your imagination.

You say, “Well, what about
all those other millions

of people in the world?”

They have their
imagination also.

And you see, the
Bible’s made it very clear.

And John who walked with
Jesus, the last disciple to die,

the youngest one of them all,
but when he wrote the Gospel,

he wrote the Gospel inspired by
Almighty God to describe for us

so intimately, so
beautifully who Jesus

was and what He’s like.

And the only way you can have
a relationship with Him is to

begin by asking Him to forgive
you of your sins and surrender

your life to Him.

You’ve got to believe in Him.

So as long as you have your
personal god out here who

doesn’t mess with
your conscience,

doesn’t bother you when you
commit adultery or live in sin

and you’re drunken and all the
things that go on in a person’s

life, as long as that doesn’t
bother you, that’s your god.

But I’ll tell you one thing.

There’s going to be death.

There’s going to be a judgment.

You’re going to give an
account, and guess to whom?

Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
that I want you to understand

you need to surrender
your life to Him here

and now because He is God.

Then of course,
listen to John three, sixteen,

which you know so well,
“For God so loved the world that

He gave His only Begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him

would not perish but
have everlasting life.”

But in your life at this moment,
what kind of relationship

do you have with Jesus?

Because the Word of God bears
witness that Jesus Christ is God

who walked in the flesh.

Watch this, this is the
awesome expression of Holy God.

Not only was it sufficient for
Him to give the truth through

the prophets all the way back
to Moses and all the things that

happened with the prophets, but
He sent Jesus to walk in human

flesh, to be
tempted by the devil.

But to perform all of these
miracles so that man does not

have any excuse for
not believing in Him

as the Son of God.

That is an example of
God’s awesome love for us,

why He came into the
world motivated by love.

You say,
“Well, you know what?

I don’t know that I think
God’s all that important.”

Wait till you come to die, and
the only person who is going to

be important is not your doctor,
he can’t keep you there another

moment; not your family,
you’re going to leave them.

The only person that’s going
to matter is Jesus Christ.

The only person’s going to
matter is Jesus because

only He can forgive sin.

Only He can write your name
in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Only He can take you
from this life into heaven.

You can have everything
else in the world you want,

everybody thinks
you’re fantastic.

you have all power,
whatever it might be,

if you don’t have Jesus,
“Except a man be born again,

he will not see
the kingdom of God.”

That means unless you have a
spiritual relationship with

Jesus Christ and
accept Him as your Savior,

you’re going to be lost.

Who is Jesus?

God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit,

a Person of the Trinity.

When He said, “Let Us
make man in our own

image,” who is He talking about?

God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit.

There isn’t anything you
and I need that’s not

in the Word of God.

He answers all the questions
that I need to have answered.

If a person does not
believe in Jesus but they

have a god, mark it down.

There’s, watch this, there’s
something about Jesus that

interferes with their lifestyle,
something about Jesus that

bothers their conscience,
something about Jesus that

demands of them something
they don’t want to give,

something about Jesus that sort
of cramps their style of living.

And so they decide,
“I do believe in God.

Don’t ask me to define Him.

Don’t ask me to describe Him.

It’s none of your business.

I do believe in God.
You have your God, I have mine.”

You’ll die with your god and be
sorry that you rejected Jesus

Christ as your Savior.

He’s the only Savior.

Now, let’s think about
something for a moment.

Because in light of all
that, suppose Jesus is not God.

Then we have no
assurance of life after death.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ
is our one awesome assurance of

life after death,
and that we will

experience the resurrection.

So when people don’t believe in
Jesus, then I ask the question:

What are you going
to do when you die?

Where are you going?

What’s going to happen to you?

Every once in a
while, somebody will say,

“Well, I’ll just disappear.”

Oh no, you won’t.

You may like to
disappear, but you can’t.

“What happens to
you when you die?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Don’t you think it’s
important enough

to find out what you should do?

“It’s appointed
unto man once to die,

and after this the judgment.”

You should know
what’s going to happen.

You don’t have to
know all the details.

What you have to know is this:
that Jesus promised eternal life

for those who would
trust Him as their Savior.

If Jesus Christ is not God,
we are all hopeless

and helpless in this life.

But, Jesus is God,
and listen to this.

Jesus is God.

All He said, all He did has
resulted in the forgiveness of

our sins, the gift of eternal
life, and heaven is our home.

There’s one God.

And if somebody
asks you: Who is God?

God is Jesus, God is the
Father, God is the Holy Spirit:

three Persons of the Trinity.

So, Jesus said to them, to make
it very clear, “I’m going away.

And if I go away, I will
send the Comforter

to you–the Holy Spirit.

He’ll be in you,
with you, and upon you.”

And so what happened?

Jesus rose from the dead,
spoke to those disciples,

and then at Pentecost He sent
the Holy Spirit to do what?

To enable you and me who
come along afterwards

to live a godly life.

He didn’t leave us.

You think about how
absolutely thoughtful God was.

It’s not enough for them to have
seen Him even walk among them,

but the Holy Spirit
to live within them.

He says we are sealed by
the Holy Spirit of promise

unto the day of redemption.

If you don’t have
Jesus, what do you have?

You say, “Well, I have my God.”

Let me ask you this.
Describe “my god” to me.

I’ll tell you how
to describe Him.

You describe Him in a way
that suits what you want,

what you hope for.

But you can’t describe Him
by facts, by the truth.

Your god is a false god.

Your god is an empty god if
your god is not Jesus Christ,

our Savior, our Lord, our God.

Amen.

[congregation applauding]

Dr. Stanley: And it is my prayer
that you’ll be honest.

I’m not being critical.

I’m just saying
here’s the truth.

You can’t deny the truth.

Everything we’ve
said is the truth.

And the question is: What
will you do with the truth?

You have two choices: accept
it or deny it and go your way

having put behind
you what you heard.

You will regret it for
all eternity if you

do not make a decision.

And my prayer is
that you would say,

“Yes, what you’ve said is true.

I do believe that
what you said is true.

And by faith, I will accept
Jesus Christ as my personal

Savior as the one true God,
surrender my life to Him,

and watch Him work in my life.”

He will do an
awesome work in your life.

And all of us who are believers
can bear testimony that Jesus

Christ is not
only the Son of God,

but there is the Spirit of
God and the Father who is God.

That’s our prayer for you: that
your life would be radically

changed by believing, trusting
the Word of God that Jesus

Christ came into this world,
laid down His life at the cross,

and made it possible
for us to be forgiven.

Father, how grateful we are
You did not leave us to guess or

wonder or dream or fear.

You gave us a very clear answer
to the question: Who is God?

And I pray that every person
who hears this message will be

honest enough to
examine their life,

their belief system, and what
they really believe and who they

really trust in
for their future.

And I pray that many people will
turn from that false belief and

accept Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior.

And this we ask it
in Jesus’s name, amen.

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