Congregation, tonight we turn to Exodus chapter 20. I know to be a very familiar text. Verses 1 through 7. And then, if you can keep your finger there, we'll go to John chapter 20, verse 28. And then if you can hold all of that and turn with me to Forms and Prayer book on page 162 to article 10 of the Belgic Confession. We'll begin at Exodus 20. Hear now the word of the Lord. And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Boys and girls, why did I just read that to you? What is this text talking about? Well, boys and girls, right, it's talking about God and how we're not to ever, ever worship anyone else but God, right? That's the text. And I know I read that to you every Sunday morning. I wanted to read it to you tonight just to remind you don't ever worship anyone else other than God, right? Okay, now go with me to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. This is a text where Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, he's visited some folks, but now he's going to see Thomas. He's already seen the disciples, but Thomas wasn't there. We don't know where he was, but he wasn't there then. So a few days later, he meets with Thomas and the disciples. You know the story. So let me pick it up at verse 26. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them, although the doors were locked. Jesus came, okay, right? Did you see that, boys and girls? He just walked through a locked door. How do you do that? Jesus came and stood among them and said, you know, from this morning's sermon, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, uh-oh, here he comes, put your finger here. and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, Thomas, but believe. Now what did Thomas say? Look at this. Thomas answered him, my Lord and my, what, God. Jesus said, have you believed because you've seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. What did Thomas just do, boys and girls? He just believed. worshiped Jesus. He just said, Jesus, you are God, right? That's what he said. And so tonight, I wanna give you five reasons, boys and girls, very quickly, we don't have a lot of time tonight, five reasons why Jesus Christ is God. How do we know that? How do we know Jesus Christ? He's the Son of God, yes. He's fully man, yes. But as we keep chasing it, keep trying to understand it, we discover that He is worthy of our worship. Now, to help us, we'll look at the Belgian Confession very quickly. We'll see what Guido de Bray wrote here on the deity or the, you know, the boys and girls, what is deity? The divine nature of Jesus. So here's Article 10. Let me read it quickly. That Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only Son of God, eternally begotten, not made nor created, for then he would be a creature. He is one in essence with the Father, co-eternal. The exact image of the person of the Father and the reflection of his glory being in all things like him. He's the son of God, not only from the time he assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as the following testimonies teach us when they are taken together. Moses says that God created the world, and John says that all things were created by the word, which he calls God. The letter to the Hebrews says, God made the world by his son. Paul says that God created all things by Jesus Christ. And so it must follow that he who is called God, the word, the son, and Jesus Christ already existed when all things were created by him. Therefore, the prophet Micah says that his origin is from ancient times, from eternity. And Hebrews says that he has neither beginning of days nor end of life. So then, he is the true eternal God, the Almighty, whom we invoke, worship, and serve. A word from a Belgian confession trying to help us understand this. So, congregation, last week we attempted to understand the biblical teaching of the Trinity. We tried to look into the oneness of God as he reveals himself in his three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I say we tried. We swam deep into this doctrine and try as we may, we still came away lacking, didn't we? A complete understanding, yet drenched in an unfathomable mystery that left us in awe of our God. And this is what good doctrine always does. It just leads us to worship Him. Tonight, we adjust our looking by instead of looking at the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and the oneness, we're gonna focus in on Jesus Christ, just so appropriate, such good timing with your program tonight, singing about Jesus. Tonight, we wanna just talk about Jesus for a few minutes, further about Him, because another mystery lies before us. How is it that God became man? How is it that God dwells in the sun as a human and as God? How could our God dwell in a womb and yet die on a tree? So as we come to marvel and to stand in awe and to ask God to move us to worship during this season of Christmas. And as we seek to listen to the Scriptures, may God help us. Fully man? Yes. Fully God? Yes. Paul said in Colossians 2, 9, in him the full fullness of the deity dwells bodily. Philippians 2.6, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped or held on to, but he emptied himself for us. Amazing love. Hebrews 1, 2, in these last days, God has spoken to us by a son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world. He's the radiance of God's glory and the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by the word of his power. So Christianity stands on these truths. That's why Guido de Bray wrote it in the Belgic Confession and went to the gallows to die for these truths. This was a truth that he would die for and others, many others died for in those days and died for in our days. So tonight it's my intent to try to put into a simple outline why we believe Jesus Christ is God. I wanna give you five of those. Number one, very quickly tonight, one reason why we believe that Jesus Christ is God, these all start with W by the way, The Word of God says so. That's why. And if that wasn't the case, we wouldn't believe it. And so we know this to be a true doctrine because the Word of God teaches it to us. Jesus Christ is to be worshipped because He is God. The Word of God says so. The Bible calls Him Son of God, Son of Man, and even the Bible calls Him God. He is unambiguously called God, as we just saw from Thomas. And you notice that when Thomas said that, Jesus didn't correct him and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Don't call me God. It's okay if you call me son of God or son of man, that's okay. Don't call me God. Jesus didn't go there. Because Thomas was correct when he said that. Romans 9, five. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ. Who is God over all, blessed forever, amen. So if you're sitting here tonight, you're wanting some texts, some passages that teach what the Bible says about Jesus being God, here's a few of them. Romans 9.5, Titus 2.13. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are waiting for the blessed hope, the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus. Second Peter 1.1, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And of course, John 1.1, as you well know, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We drop down to verse 14, and the Word became flesh. Who is the word in verse one? The one with God and the one who is God. And what happened to him in verse 14? He became flesh. So these are just a few texts that say he is God. He's also called King, John 18, 36. The word of God also tells us that he is eternal. There never was a time that Jesus Christ did not exist, as we read tonight in our Belzer Confession. John 1.1 said, in the beginning was the word. John 8.58, Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Every Jew knew what he just said. He just called himself Yahweh. John 17.5. Revelation 22, 13, I'm the Alpha and Omega, you know the text. So the Bible tells us that he's eternal, he's omnipotent. That means Jesus Christ has all power. He's not limited a little bit less than someone else. He doesn't have less power than the Father. He's got equal power with the Father. God is able to do all his holy will. Yeah, he cannot do everything because he cannot sin, but our Jesus is all-powerful. Is anything too hard for the Lord, the scriptures ask? No. He stilled the storm out on the sea. He multiplied the fish and the bread. He changed water into wine. Is anything too hard for our God? No. He's all-knowing. He knows everything. He knows what you're thinking right now. He knows what I'm thinking right now. He knows what you're thinking right now, too. And he knows what you're going to be thinking in five minutes from now. Wow. He's all knowing. In Mark 2, 8, he knew the thoughts of all men. He knew the thoughts of Nathanael as he was worshiping under this fig tree. He knew who would believe in Him and who would not. He carries all authority. The Scriptures teaches us that Jesus Christ carries all authority. The prophet said, Thus saith the Lord. But Jesus said, I say unto you. Here's a second reason why Jesus Christ is declared to be God. Number one, the Bible says so. Number two, we're helped with further information. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and, and, don't miss the and, for Him. He sustains creation with his providence. This earth rotates on a perfect axis. It gets just close enough to the sun and does so year after year after year. He created and he sustains all things. Hebrews 1.3 says he's the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. He forgives sins. And of course, the Jews knew that only God can forgive sins. That's right, they just missed who it was they were with. He performed miracles, one after another after another. He healed the lame, the blind, the demon-possessed. He raised people from the dead. Others did this too, I know that, but not to this magnitude. This in and of itself does not make him God, but it is one other issue to consider. He executes judgment on the living and the dead. Text after text, Acts 10, 42. Acts 17, 31. Romans 14. This is the one we will stand before in the judgment. Third reason. Well, we see it tonight in our little text from John 20, 28. It's because of his worship. And boys and girls, you saw that, didn't you? That Exodus teaches us to ever worship anyone but God. And here we have Thomas worshiping, he's confessing with joy and wonder, my Lord, my God. Philippians 2.9, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. What a statement. for our Israelite brothers to hear. This is a name that is above every name, even the name Yahweh. He is either God or we are performing an immoral act tonight by worshiping him, right? I mean, just cut through it, get right to the bottom line. I mean, he's either God or we got no business worshiping him tonight. You know, Revelation 22, 8 tells us about an experience John had with an angel, with a servant. Let me read it. Well, I'll read the first one, it's in John 19, nine. The angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then, John says, I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, you must not do that. I'm a fellow servant that you and your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus, worship God. And again, it happens in Revelation 22. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at his feet, the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, you must not do that. You know, John had to be told this multiple times. Sounds like us, doesn't it? You must not do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. What's the angel saying? Don't worship me. Worship God. Okay, there's three reasons. How we doing? Got them? Because the word of God says so. Because the works, the word of God says so. The works of Jesus Christ say so. We are worshiping him, biblically, correctly, tonight. Fourth reason. And it will have to do with his sacrifice. So put down the word wrath. Wrath. No one could bear the wrath of God. But God, no one could take upon himself such terror, such horror, such darkness. but God himself. And I think if he's not God, his sacrifice on the cross would be the ultimate child abuse. But it's not, for God is sacrificing himself in the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's taking your wrath The wrath do you. Jesus died for me. Not that others have not laid down their lives for others, they have. But no one else can lay down their life for my sins and for your sins but God. Only God can pay God for my sins. Hebrews 2, 14. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things. that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make, here's that big word, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Only Jesus could satisfy the eternal wrath of God for our sins. But he did it. He did it, congregation, he did it. And yet still rose from the dead. Only God can have such power to take such wrath. So here's the conclusion. Here's the conclusion tonight. I promised you five reasons to start with a W. Here's one more. I suppose it holds hands with the others, but here it is. It's because of his worth. That's why I worship Him. That's why Ghetto Debray worships Him. That's why you worship Him. Because of His worth. I value Him. You value Him more than anything else, don't you? Don't you? You must. Or if you don't, whatever it is, it's an idol. Cast it away. Get it away from you. but worship Jesus Christ. Why? Because of his worth. I value him more than anything else, and so does God. And God gathered us tonight to value Jesus, to say to him, You are worthy of all my praise. You are worthy of all my life. You are worthy to be followed. You are worthy to be obeyed. You are worthy to be trusted. So we gather tonight to worship our Lord, our King of Kings, the Son of God, God in flesh, Jesus Christ. Look at how valuable He is to us. For it's only through Him and by Him that we are saved, but saved we are. And so this Christmas time, this Christmas season, may you be caught up in the worship of Jesus Christ. Come to the manger and marvel at Him. But remember that he who lies in the manger will carry your sins to Calvary. But don't forget that he who goes to Calvary also ascends on high and he who ascends on high will return again. Amen. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the precious gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's our prayer that during this time, our hearts would be filled with great joy and great wonder over all the mysteries the Christmas story teaches us. But what a great mystery it is that the second person of the Trinity has become God incarnate, there lying in the manger. and we would worship him tonight. Our Father in heaven, continue to move our hearts, we pray to love the Lord Jesus Christ. For we ask it in his name, amen.