Correct your attention now to Paul's letter to the believers in Colossians chapter number one. We're going to break from Matthew this morning and this afternoon for one Sunday. It seems appropriate, not only because of the time, but I think to Consider the last Sunday of the year, which will be next Sunday and is probably the first Sunday as well, because I probably will not get through the verses in Matthew 13 fully in one or two messages, the importance of the Word of God, because Matthew 13 deals with the parable of the sower. It seems an appropriate truth to remind ourselves of as the year comes to an end and the New Year dawns. It is also important for us to have a correct understanding of the One who is often sung of, and as we have sung of this morning. Hopefully you will receive that this morning by God's grace. I'm going to read the opening 20 verses of Colossians chapter 1, and I'm going to be referring to a large number of other verses in the message as well. 1, verses 1 to 20. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and Timotheus, or Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which he have to all the saints. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringing forth fruit as it does also in you, since the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth. As ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit for this cause, we also, since the day we heard It, do not cease to pray for you and the desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. In the passage that I've just read, one particular verse at the end of verse 18, Paul is infallibly inspired by the Spirit to declare about the Lord Jesus Christ that in all things he might have the preeminence. The Lord Jesus Christ is to have the first place, the preeminent place, the top place in all Well, is this time of year a thing? Yes, it is. It is a very popular thing when you see all the various ideas and traditions associated with it. Yet, Paul tells us In all things, Christ is to have the preeminence. Therefore, regardless of your conviction with respect to this time of year, or even lack of conviction regarding this time of year, in all things, He is to have the preeminence. Why? Although it is tradition that has set apart a day in December, no text of Scripture declares with infallible certainty when the Lord Jesus Christ was actually physically born. But what child is this? As the hymn writer said, what child is this? What child is this that results in a day being set apart traditionally associated with His birth? What child is this that despite the foolish and dangerous attempts of unbelievers to introduce, and you may have seen these initials or prefixes, BCE or CE, before the Common Era or the Common Era, to date events of history, despite the foolish and dangerous attempts of unbelievers to introduce these foolish terms, rather than BC, before Christ, in AD, in the year of our Lord. What, child, is this? I believe if you understand what child this is, if you understand it, If you believe it, if you realize it and grow in your understanding of it, you will understand why Paul writes that in all things that he should have the preeminence. So I have a simple theme, dear brethren, for my message both this morning and this afternoon. What child is this? What child is this? And I'm going to answer that question In two ways. In this morning message, what child is this? It is God incarnate. In the afternoon message, what child is this? Behold the man. What child God incarnate, the incarnation, the reality that at a particular time in space-time history, the living and true God in the person of the Son of God took into union with Himself in the womb of the Virgin Mary, sinless humanity. And if we come to the realization and embrace this truth, it is no wonder that Paul says that in all things that he should have the preeminence. He is the God-man. The fact that he is God is shown throughout Scripture. And I'm just going to lay before you a number of texts that illustrate this truth, and then I simply want to do in my second point, so it's a very simple message this morning. First, the fact that this child is God. And then secondly, facts that flow from the truth of the Incarnation of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But first, to lay the biblical foundation that this child is God. And the number of verses that clearly and unmistakably declare this are more than I can give, but I'm going to lay a number before you. What I did, and this was a challenging thing to do, it took me a while to do it, but if you have a computer program, a Bible computer program, you can do a word search. So I put in theos, the Greek word for God, and I limited it to the New Testament, and I tried to read every text. that made reference to God. I've distilled that study down, as it were, to a variety of verses from Matthew through into the New Testament letters that show us in a variety of ways the reality that the One who was born in Bethlehem is God. First, in Matthew 1.23, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. The child conceived in that womb, yes, as we'll seek to look at this afternoon, was sinless humanity, but he was also God. that all those necessary attributes that make God God were present in the womb of Mary. Mark 2 verse 7, and here is a statement by the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet nevertheless they understood. Why does this man thus speak sin, but God only. They knew that only God could forgive sin. They saw Jesus saying, man, your sins are forgiven you, but rather than making the correct deduction from what Jesus was doing, they made an incorrect deduction because that you might know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, i.e. that I am God incarnate. I tell you, take up your bed and walk. Mark 10, 18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. See, the rich young ruler came and said, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And so before he answers that question, stop for a moment. What's this use of the term good? The ultimate reality of goodness is found in God alone. So when you use that adjective to refer to Me, realize that you are saying something about what you see in Me, the goodness of God incarnate. And going on into Luke's Gospel, Luke 1.16, the to Zechariah, and many of the children of Israel, shall he turn to whom?" John the Baptist is going to turn many of the children of Israel to whom? To the Lord their God. Who did he turn them to, dear brethren? Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. John 1, verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That inter-trinitarian relationship, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All that makes God, God, was in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1.14. And then in John 1.18 we read, No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. You want to see God? John 5, verse 18, "...therefore the Jews sought the Lord to kill Him." Again, here, we see that even in their opposition to Him, they had to testify to the truth of who He is. John 5, verse 18, "...therefore the Jews sought the Lord to kill Him." Because He not only had broken the Sabbath, which He had not done, but that was their misinterpretation of what He was doing, but said also that God was His Father making Himself equal with God. They realized what He was doing. But rather than seeing the truth of it, they refused to believe what was being testified before them. Now John 8 verse 24, I said therefore unto you, this is Jesus speaking, that ye shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am... Now the translators add the italicized words he, but they're not necessary. For if you believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. I am is the divine name. Why do I say that? John 8, 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And what did the unbelieving Jews do? Because they knew what Jesus was declaring about Himself. Verse 59 of John 8. Then they took up stones to cast at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went unto the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. They took that to be blasphemy rather than being a testimony of the truth of who He is. Jehovah, Jesus, Yahweh in the flesh. Because what is that testimony at the end of John's Gospel? The first of the apostles to testify to this truth. You hear of doubting Thomas. Oh, unless I see the nail prints and put my hand in his side. But who is the first one to fall down and confess this truth? John 20, 28. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, And by God, that moment he came to a deeper realization that what they were struggling with as they walked the earth, who is this man? He's God incarnate. Then you move on into Acts, the book of Acts, Acts 5.29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered. This was to the unbelieving Jewish authorities that wanted them to stop preaching the gospel. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Well, who told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Who told them to take the gospel to every creature? The Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to obey God rather than men. The Scriptures in so many different ways, in so many different texts, testify to this truth over and over and over again. We read in Colossians 1 earlier, Colossians 1.19, For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. What fullness? Colossians 2.8, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And then you hear Paul write to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3.16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. This revealed truth that God reveals to us through His Word and by His Spirit, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. And if I can make a quick aside here, dear brethren, this is now whether you're reading an accurate translation or an inaccurate translation, the next word in this verse. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Because there are translations that don't have the word God. That just use an indefinite pronoun, He. No. Paul is testifying to the mystery of godliness. That God Himself was manifested in the flesh. Justified in the Spirit. Seen of angels. Preached unto the Gentiles. Believed on in the world. Received up into glory. And then when he writes to Titus, what does Paul write about the Lord Jesus Christ? Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of who? The great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ! Our great Savior is God! And that's who a believer is looking for. The One who came into this world to save His people from their sins. Hebrews 1.6, and again, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, He said, let all the angels of God worship Him. So worship anything or anyone else other than God is an act of idolatry. And here you have God the Father saying to the angels, worship God the Son. Hebrews 1.8, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever a scepter of righteousness, a scepter of thy kingdom. God testifying to God in that inter-Trinitarian reality. Then in John's letter, the first of his three letters, in his last chapter, the one who walked with the Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, 1 John 5, verse 20, and we know that the Son of God is common, hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God. And eternal life. And what does He say in John 17, verse 3, if we go back into His Gospel, and this is eternal life that they might know You, true God and eternal life. Dear brethren, what child is this? What child is this? God incarnate in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true God, my Lord and my God. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Is it any wonder that Paul would write that in all things he should have the preeminence? Because we are addressing the reality of God Himself in the person of the Son. So what does that mean? What does that mean? The fact that Jesus is God. That brings me now to my second point this morning. that flow from the fact that He is God. First, and this, I know I've said this before, but it's this time of year when everybody thinks it's safe to sing the hymns and the carols and not give any thought to what they're singing. To reject the fact that Jesus is God is to deny God. To reject the fact that Jesus is God is to reject God. He is the true God. Anyone who rejects the truth that Jesus is God incarnate, that Jesus is God, is an idolater. Even if they use the three letters G-O-D. Even if they say, I believe in God. Do you believe that Jesus I don't. That you are an idolater. All the gods of the nations are idols. All the ideas that men form about God that reject the truth that Jesus is God are idolatrous. Dear brethren, the incarnation of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, do you know what it does? And this is why it's so It's so dangerous in this idolatrous age in which every man thinks he can define God his own way, and it will get you labeled a name offensive, and narrow, and arrogant, and bigoted, and all the various pejorative terms that can be used. You know what this truth means, dear brethren? The incarnation of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ does not give you the option of having God your way. The incarnation of God in the Lord Jesus Christ does not give you the option of having God your way. Well, I believe God is this. I believe God is that. Do you believe that Jesus is God? No, I don't. Well, then you're an idolater. Because the incarnation of God declares to us, we cannot have God any way we want. Unless you believe that I am, unless you believe that I am God, you will die in your sins. The sin of idolatry. Why do we take the Gospel into the Islamic world, dear brethren? Because they're devoted to their idol, Allah. But if they do not confess, and if they do not believe that Jesus is God, that idol will take them to hell. You and I do not have the option. Well, I believe that God is this. I believe in my great higher power. I believe in an intelligent designer, but don't dare tell me that Jesus Christ is God. Well, then you're an idolater and you need to repent of your idolatry. Because what did Joseph come to see? My Lord and my God. What did John write? This is the true God. Dear brethren, the fact that Jesus is God means that any and all attempts to portray Him physically are a misrepresentation of Him. For it is impossible to portray God, who is eternal Spirit, physically. This is the true God in eternal life. Little children, keep thyself from idols. Every physical depiction of the Lord Jesus Christ is a sinful misrepresentation of His sinless humanity. Because the only infallible record we have of His sinless humanity is given in the Scriptures. But it is also a denial of His deity. Only misrepresenting His humanity. And dear brethren, to misrepresent someone is to lie about someone. Oh well, we have to allow artistic license. Not when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Not when the heaven inscripturated testimony to who the Lord Jesus Christ is tells us that in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Therefore, it is impossible to accurately represent Him in any physical way. Second fact that flows from the fact that Jesus is God. simply flows in a different way from my first point. If all the ideas about God that disagree with the fact that Jesus is God are wrong and idolatrous and foolish and eternally dangerous, then to understand what God is like, look to and listen to the incarnate God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him by faith and listen to Him by faith. He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Seen Me not with the physical eye, but with the eye of faith. With the eye of spiritual understanding by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit of God. Sanctify them by Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Does what a person is saying or teaching about God agree with what God, the Lord Jesus Christ, reveals about God and declares about God? When it comes to speaking and teaching on God, what are you going to do? Are you going to listen to God? Or are you going to listen to idol-makers and idol-worshippers? To me, it makes it simple. If you want to know what God is like, then you should listen to the One who is God. You should hear what He says. You should see how he reveals the truth about God. He has seen me. He has seen the Father. You know what? You want to know what God is like? Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the testimony of Him in the Scriptures. Well, I'd rather listen to Mary Baker Ede. I'd rather listen to Muhammad. I'd rather listen to Joseph Smith. You'd rather listen to false teachers and to dead men? and to the one who is God himself. You want to know what God is like? Then immerse yourself in the scriptures. Immerse yourself in the gospels as you see the Lord reveal the truth of who God is to us. Have I been so long among you that you have not seen God? He who has seen me has seen the Father. The third fact that flows from the fact that Jesus is God. The foolish idea popular today that God is not interested or involved in this world is shown to be the dangerous and soul-destroying and soul-impoverishing lie that it is by the incarnation. Dear brethren, God not only made and sustains this universe, He walked on this earth in the person of His Son. He was laid in that manger, the very one who was sustaining that very manger, the one who had very brought together those cloths that were wrapped around His body and sustaining that cloth as it warmed the sinless humanity of the Christ child. He was the one sustaining it. Not interested in this world, He was willing to take upon Himself humanity without sin in the womb of Mary the Virgin? Great is the mystery of godliness. Try to wrap your mind around that reality. Dear brethren, the earth is not only not a planet, because I challenge you to do a search in the Scriptures to the word planet. It's an astronomical term used by unbelieving men to describe heavenly bodies. The earth is not only not a planet, it is the unique creation of God that God himself chose to walk on. The one who made the universe, the one who sustains the universe, in him all things consist. I mean, let's try Try and grab hold of that. When we walk out of this sanctuary, God walked on the earth in the person of the sun, and as he was walking on the earth in the person of the sun, he was sustaining it. I can't sustain the ground. The very one who was sustaining all things was in this world. God's not interested in this world. There is no God. As I had told to me yesterday outside that death clinic in Boston, there is no God. There is no God when you have God entering in this world in the person of the Son. God walked on this earth. The earth is a unique creation of God, even as the sun and the sky is a unique creation of God, because it is on this unique creation that the Creator Himself chose to become man. Dear people, get your understanding of anthropology, who man is, get your understanding of astronomy, what the heavens are, and get your understanding of geology from the truth of the incarnation of God. What did the heavens do when the Son of God was born in Bethlehem of Judea? They were filled with the heavenly host from the third heaven, testifying to the unique place the earth has in, and Bethlehem had in, God's plan of redemption. God's not interested in this world. When you have the testimony of the incarnation of God in Scripture, fourth, and then one more, And I'm sure there are others, but I only give you five this day. The fourth fact that flows from the fact that Jesus is God. To treat man as nothing more than an improved monkey is to deny the uniqueness of man displayed by the incarnation of Christ. The living, true and only God took sinless humanity into union with deity in the person of the Son. He did not become the God-angel. He did not become the God-fish. He did not become the God-snake. If you do any search of human history, men of worship, become a snake. He did not become a fish. God, in the person of the Son, became the God-man. So, for men, to say that a slug in the ground is more important than a man, and to set up rules and regulations that a man cannot build on a particular piece of his own property because it might do damage to some aspect of creation, is to deny the reality of how important Must God's people be to Him that He would take sinless humanity into union with Himself in the person of His Son? What a testimony to the power of the devil over the minds of men who worship idols of all forms of created things, and yet reject the uniqueness of man. But it was sinless humanity that the living God took into union with Himself in the person of the great is the mystery of godliness. He appeared in the flesh. Which brings me to my last and final point in this message. The fifth fact, it flows from the fact that He is God. The incarnation testifies to the fact of how heinous a thing sin must be and is. in order for God to save His people from their sin. God had to take deity into sinless humanity. So that who can forgive sins but God alone. Who can atone for the sins committed against God alone but God in union with the sinless humanity in the Lord Jesus Christ. Gifts that were given to the Christ child. Gold and frankincense and myrrh. The very God who was born into this world came into this world to die. Emmanuel, God with us. You will give him the name Jesus because he will save His people from their sins, the church that He purchased with His own blood. That union between the human and the divine and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is of such a nature that Luke in Acts can say, the church of God that He purchased with His own blood. How horrible must sin be? That the only way you, believer, could be saved from those sins, that you could be cleansed from those sins, was by the sinless, eternal, holy God. taking humanity into union with himself, as we'll seek to look at this afternoon, into union with deity, so that, as it were, I think it was Edwards who said this, that the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ was laid on the altar of His deity to save His people from their sins, because who but God alone can forgive sins? Oh, dear brethren, if ever you want to understand how heinous a thing sin is, consider that God Himself had to come into this world to deal with it. What are you going to do and say, dear brethren, about the incarnate God at this time of year? In all things, He should have the preeminence. Are you going to confess Him? Are you going to glorify Him? Are you going to worship Him, not only today, but every day? and acknowledge the truth of who He is, but not only what are you going to say about the Incarnate God in this time of year. What will the Incarnate God say to you when you return? We look for the appearing of our great God and Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. What will the incarnate God say to you when He returns? Did you make that good confession of Me in this world? Were you ashamed of testifying to an idolatrous world that I am God? Or was it the rejoicing of your heart to say, My Lord and My God? In you is eternal life. In you is forgiveness of sins. May your confession of Christ as God incarnate, as the only Savior of mankind, as your only Savior, testify to the truth that your good and true confession of who He is means that He will testify that He knows you on that great day. Let us pray.