Sermons

04/06/2025

Lent 5

Text: John 8:42-59

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

“Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

Let us pray: “On my heart imprint your image, blessed Jesus, king of grace. That life’s riches, cares, and pleasures never may your work erase. Let the clear inscription be, ‘Jesus crucified for me is my life my hope’s foundation, and my glory and salvation.’” Amen.

The Christian confession about the man Jesus is that He is God. Anything less is false and any claim to the contrary blasphemous.

We confess that Jesus is God for two very important reasons. First, because God Himself says so. Second, because by that confession alone are we saved.

God is very clear that Jesus is God, too. In the first place, the Scriptures declare this truth. Scripture is God’s word and so true. In His word, God says that Jesus is God. It’s not hard for us to understand that Jesus is a real man. He’s born of the virgin Mary. He has a true human nature. But God says that He’s not just a man. The Angel Gabriel, God’s messenger, announces to Mary that “the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Thus we confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man. The Son of God has taken a human nature to Himself but remains one person with two natures. As the body and soul of a man are intimately joined but distinct, so the divine and human natures of Christ are joined in one person yet remain distinct.

Lest anyone say that the name, “The Son of God” means that the Son is less God than the Father, St John says this in His Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word (that is, the Son of God), and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” The Word is distinct from God the Father yet is also God. John says that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” God’s word everywhere declares that Jesus is God, and so that’s reason enough to confess that Christ is God.

And if you’re not convinced, within His word Jesus Himself says that He is God. That is why the Jews in our Gospel text are arguing with Jesus. Jesus Himself says, “I proceeded forth and came from God.” He says that “My Father honors Me.” And He says, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” I AM is the most explicit declaration possible Jesus can make. When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush on Mount Sinai, He told Moses to go back to Egypt and lead His people up and out slavery. Moses asks the Lord what His name is. He wants to give an answer when the people ask him who has sent him to them. The Lord gives a name. “I AM WHO I AM,” He declares and says, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.” This name says something true about God. He is. He is being itself, eternal and powerful. The gods of the nations are idols, false gods who are not. But the Lord God is He who is. Yahweh in Hebrew.

Jesus announces that He is I AM. He is the Lord God of Israel and of all the earth. He stands in their midst. The Jews know exactly what Jesus is saying. And they pick up stones to stone Him for blasphemy because they did not believe that He, a man, is God.

But you do not reject this truth because you are a Christian. As our Lord says in this Gospel, “He who is of God hears God’s words.” A Christian is someone who is of God, born of Him. You are a Christian. You are of God. That means you hear God’s words. Therefore you confess that Jesus is God because He says so in His word. That’s the truth. You hear it, and delight in it for you are of God, and so of the truth.

Because God says something is reason enough for a Christian to believe it. But there is a second reason you confess that Jesus is God. It is because by that confession alone shall we be saved.

If Jesus is not God then His death is worthless. If you do not confess that He is your God and your Lord who has redeemed you, then salvation is not yours.

Satan knows this. That is why he attacks the Lord Jesus’ with blasphemous lies. Our Lord says that Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. He wants to spread false lies about God and he wants to destroy mankind. He wants people to die eternally because they believed lies instead of the truth.

He used the unbelieving Jews who speak with Jesus to attack Jesus. They rejected Jesus’ miracles and teaching and are out to get Him. Jesus speaks patiently with them but they accuse Him of blasphemy. They claim He has a demon and is a Samaritan, an unbeliever. Through them, Satan wants to discredit and destroy Jesus. He doesn’t want anyone to believe that God is in their midst to fulfill His promises and redeem His people. He doesn’t want anyone to find a Savior in Jesus, to find a loving God, to find their heart’s joy and highest good.

He wants them to look at Jesus and see a man, someone who does not in the end redeem them. Thus he used the unbelieving Jews to attack Christ and so he uses false teachers today who assert that Jesus is not God. There are a lot of them in American churches these days. They say you should not believe that Jesus is really God. It’s silly. How could it be? Why should it be?

 How can it be? Because God said so. Jesus says so right here and, as the angel Gabriel says to Mary, “With God nothing is impossible.” Why should it be? Because if Jesus is only a man, then salvation is not yours and you live dead in your sins.

We confess that Jesus is God because He says so. But we also confess that Jesus is God because by that confession alone shall we be saved. How can a mere man save the world? How can a mere man deliver us from the father of lies and the murderer of souls? For the scriptures declare, “No man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, the redemption of souls is costly.”

Think of our Old Testament reading. God promised Abraham that through his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This promise is marvelous because all men are sinners unworthy to receive God’s blessing. If this blessing could have come to them through a man, then Isaac’s life would have been a worthy sacrifice. But the Lord staid Abraham’s hand because the death of his son could not obtain God’s blessing for all nations.

If the sacrifice of the ram in Isaac’s stead, or if the bulls and goats of the old covenant could have atoned for transgression, then by their deaths mankind could have obtained the blessing. But the sacrifice of men and animals cannot pay for the sins of the world. The death of guilty men cannot redeem the guilty. Animals cannot atone for the sins of men who are both body and soul.

But the death of the Son of God is sufficient. For that purpose Christ came in the flesh. I AM is with His people in the flesh to obtain an eternal redemption. The Son of God assumes a human nature into His person so that He can die. But as God, He adds an eternal worth to this death. For the blood of God is a worthy payment for sin. The sacrifice of God for His people shields men from the devil and his power. It atones for their sins. Through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself up without spot to God, that our consciences might be cleansed. His was a sacrifice sufficient to redeem us.

Thus we confess that Jesus is God. That is the saving confession of faith. As St Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” That is your confession. It is the Christian confession.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.