Jesus the Son and Saving King

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.

Acts 2:22–36 CSB

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know. 23 Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. 24 God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death. 25 For David says of him: I saw the Lord ever before me; because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. Moreover, my flesh will rest in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me in Hades or allow your holy one to see decay. 28 You have revealed the paths of life to me; you will fill me with gladness in your presence. 29 “Brothers and sisters, I can confidently speak to you about the patriarch David: He is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah: He was not abandoned in Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay. 32 “God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. 33 Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

We believe in one LORD, Jesus Christ.

Lord = Sept. designation for YHWH; Roman name reserved for Caesar; Lord used 700x in NT in reference to Jesus. undoing of a cultural misbelief

Jesus = “The Lord saves”

Christ = The anointed One, chosen one, Messiah (Hebrew)

1. Jesus is the only saving King.

This is the heart of the Gospel proclamation.

• The Gospel is “good news” not good advice; Good for ALL not just some (making it personal, but not individual)

• Euangelion (Gospel) in the Roman world: Inscription displayed by subjects of Rome in Asia Minor names Caesar as “savior” and his reign as the “beginning of the Good news”

Mark 1:1 “1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

The gospel is not good news about you, but is good news FOR you. Gospel is good news about JESUS.

Acts 2:36–38 “36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” 37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The response to a King is allegiance!

“Jesus is King. Sure, it’s a nice title. And we’re fine to give Him all the pomp and circumstance of Christmas and Easter. After all, those occasions have sentimental value. But like the people of Britain, we’d rather the King pledge allegiance to us than commit our fidelity to Him. So we’re good on the gospel so long as by gospel we mean Jesus died for our sins. We believe that. And if faith is about believing, then it’s all fine since we’re happy to believe such good news.

But if the gospel announcement is more startling, more arresting, more scandalous, and if we really are saying that Jesus (and not Caesar or you or me or anyone else) is the saving King, then mere belief is hardly a fitting response. This is the only way to respond to such an announcement is with allegiance.

This is exactly what Matthew Bates (along with a host of other scholars from Scot McKnight to N. T. Wright and others) argue for when they call us to understand faith as “allegiance” and not mere mental assent. The word for faith in the New Testament is pistis, and Bates argues that it means allegiance when the word is used within the framework of royalty or kingship, it means allegiance or fidelity. In his summary at the end of his book Gospel Allegiance, Bates wrote this under the heading “Our Response to the Gospel”:

Allegiance alone. Allegiance is expressed in repentance, trusting loyalty, and baptism. Repentance from sins means revoking other allegiances so as to live in the way Jesus commands. Saving faith is loyalty to Jesus as the forgiving king and includes good deeds done through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Allegiance alone.”

**channel of the gift isn’t the same as the source of the gift. Allegiance is the channel (through allegiance) we receive the source of the gift (GRACE).

illus: Kids with bike learning to ride. In this life, we never graduate from needing the steady hand of Father and power of Spirit’s wind to move us toward God.

**participating isn’t the same as paying for it.

**reciprocating isn’t the same and earning

Why is Jesus the saving King?

“…the only-begotten Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.”

We are coming to the edges of logic and language.

Metaphoric language from Scripture (light, truth in John’s Gospel)

“Begotten” is Father-Son language: not a making but a sharing out of the Father

Makes it crystal clear that the Son is not a creature (like Mormons and JWs)

At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus’ arrival, not his beginning or birthday!

2. Jesus is the eternal Son of God.

Our vision of Jesus must not simply be of the incarnate Son of God but of the eternal Son of God.

If we really catch a vision of Jesus, divinely human, we would fall to our knees

Colossians 1:15–17 “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.”

The one who holds the stars and the galaxies together holds your life together! And if He holds it together, He can redeem it all.

Hebrews 1:1–3 “1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

“For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.”

Why the repetition of saying, “He was crucified…suffered death and was buried”? It’s a way of saying, “Jesus went all the way to the bottom…”

2 Corinthians 8:9 “9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

1 Peter 1:18-20 — “life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.”

3. Jesus came for us!

The incarnation, the crucifixion, the death, and the burial…it was all for us, for our salvation, for our sake, for our deliverance from the POWER , PENALTY, & SEPARATION of sin.

John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.””

When you’ve run out of hope and all is lost, Jesus, the Saving King and Eternal Son become the Incarnate Son to come for you, die for you…to save you.

The cross is a pivotal moment in the redemption storyline…of history and can be of your story.

Lambs were meant to be sacrificed.

I highly recommend watching a depiction of Crucifixion and reading it in the gospels this Friday with your family.

Awe, gratitude…Communion

Talk it Over (being honest & open with friends, a spouse, or your Group)

The message was centered on what WE believe about Jesus the saving King. What is one idea from Sunday’s message that impacted you?

Read Acts 2:22-38. What do you notices about Jesus in the passage?

How would you explain who Jesus is to someone who has never heard of Him?

What does “allegiance” mean? What do you think it looks like to bend low in allegiance to Jesus?

How do we know if we’ve put ourselves before God?

Read Colossians 1:15-17. What do you notice about Jesus in this passage? How does that impact your view of Him?

Read Hebrews 1:1–3. What truths do you observe in this passage?

End your time reciting this section of the second stanza from the creed: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.