Welcome to the new edition of the Weekend Sermon. I hope you have all had a good week. It is very hot where I live. Let us all pray that this extreme heat will end all over the world, and that the wildfires in many places will be able to be extinguished.
This week, we are continuing with our series on the names and titles given to Jesus in the Bible. In today's message, we will examine the fact that Jesus is called the only begotten Son of God. We will cover a few different titles in this message with my overall goal to show that the Bible is very clear that Jesus is God.
The most well-known verse that tells us about today's theme is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but will have everlasting life."
Let's start out by saying that the Bible makes it very clear that Jesus is God. It says that Jesus is the Word. He was with God and the Word was God. The Word was made flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus is God and man. Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity who came to be with us and redeem us. He is the eternal Son of the Father.
Jesus referred to Himself as divine. He accepted worship from Thomas who called Jesus his Lord and His God. There can be no doubt that the Bible teaches the divinity of Jesus. If some group or teacher tries to say that Jesus was not fully God and fully man, that is false teaching and is not in line with the Bible and the historic Christian faith.
Now, why is it important that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God? God became man in Jesus. Jesus was not a man who did good and then God adopted as His Son. This was actually a popular teaching at one time in church history. Jesus is not a being that God created to be His Son. No. Jesus was God come in human form. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He was begotten and not made as the Creed tells us. By saying that Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father, we are affirming that Jesus is God and man.
Jesus is called the only begotten Son as well because those who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ become the adopted sons and daughters of God. God becomes the Father of those who believe in Jesus. We are the children of the Father in Heaven.
Jesus told us that it is necessary to believe in Him if we are to have a right relationship with God. John 3:18 tells us, "He who believes in Him is not judged, he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." In order to escape the judgment of God for sin, one must believe in Jesus for salvation.
What strikes me in all of this is the great love of God for us. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity was willing to be born of a virgin and take up humanity in order to save us from our sins. The Bible tells us that Jesus humbled Himself and took upon Himself the form of servant. He went to the cross and suffered and died that we might be redeemed. He did all of this because of His great love for us. The Father was willing to send the Son because He loved us and wanted to have a relationship with us forever and forever. The Lord invites you to come to Him. I hope that you will do that today. Amen.
Prayer Requests
I am still not feeling too well. Please keep praying. The heat is really getting to me as well. I am off work today, and I am trying to stay cool.
Continue to pray that the wildfires around the world will be extinguished. I know that the fires in Canada and Greece are very bad right now.
Let us pray for peace in the world. Ukraine, Syria, Yemen and Sudan continue to need our prayers for peace.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in the nations of Malaysia and Mauritania. Pray that many will come to know Jesus.
Next week, we will continue with our current series. I will post the verses on Monday, and I will post more of the Minor Prophets book midweek. May God bless you all.
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