1. D o e s God T H E Jesus True Identity Of Does it Matter?

2. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? Is it important to believe in who Jesus really is?

3. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? Does it make a difference if you believe… 1.Jesus is God in the flesh and the savior of mankind. 2.Jesus is the Son of God, but He’s a created being. 3.Jesus is not the Son of God, but only an important prophet of God. 4.Jesus was a great, moral teacher, but nothing more. 5.Jesus manifested the Christ, but was only one of the Christ’s incarnations. Let’s look at how the logical law of identity can help answer this…

4. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? Logic is built upon four foundational laws: 1.Law of non-contradiction – something cannot be “A” and “non-A” at the same time and in the same sense. 2.Law of the excluded middle – something is either “A” or “non-A”. 3.Law of rational inference – e.g. All men are mortal, John is a man, therefore John is mortal. 4.Law of identity – “A” is really “A”.

5. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? The value of the law of Identity: 1.Makes rational communication possible. 2.Acts as a critical protection mechanism. One of these containers is lemonade and one is poison – does it matter which you drink?

6. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? The law of Identity is immune to: 1.Sincerity. 2.Belief. 3.Desire. If the law of identity applies to the natural world, why think it won’t apply in the spiritual world?

7. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? Note there is only one Jesus and His true identity is: God, the second person of the Trinity (John 1: 1-14). The one/only Christ, the Messiah of the world (Matthew 16:16). The Judge of all humanity (Matthew 25:31-46). But what if someone doesn’t believe this? Does a case of “mistaken identity” have any consequences?

8. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? Three reasons why believing in the true identity of Jesus matters: 1.Enables a true salvation experience. 2.Enables a true reconciliation between God and man. 3.Enables a true view of God and affects how we live. … and if the above three points are true and valid, it means that the reverse is true for those who don’t put their trust in the real Jesus.

9. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? 1. Enables a true salvation experience. Jesus thought His identity was key: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24). Jesus is saying that unless a person believes in who He really is, they will suffer eternal consequences. A fake Christ won’t do.

10. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? 1. Enables a true salvation experience. This being the case, it is any wonder the silver lining running through all cults, false religions, and humanism is the denial of the deity of Christ? Mere coincidence? Idols are idols whether they are mental or metal. Imagining a counterfeit Christ results in no benefit. An example: Is worshiping Baal the same as worshiping God? “To believe on Christ savingly means to believe the right things about Christ. There is no escaping this.” - A.W. Tozer, “How important is Creed”

11. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? 2. Enables a true reconciliation between God and man. Only the God-man can stand in the gap and mediate between God and man. Being both God and man allows Him to build true reconciliation. “For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, that we may go to court together. There is no umpire between us, who may lay his hand upon us both.” (Job 9:32-33). “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6)

12. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? 3. Enables a true view of God and affects how we live. Jesus, being God, shows us what God is like. Jesus, being God, shows God’s love for us. Jesus, being God, has the authority to tell us how to live. Jesus, if not God, becomes just another voice to be considered and dismissed. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)

13. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? Want to know the #1 most scary verse in the Bible? Jesus, describing the Pharisees, says: “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14) Notice that the deceiver and the deceived meet the same end result. Jesus follows this up later with this statement: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:15)

14. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? It is critical to believe in the one, true Jesus Your salvation, relationship, and experience with God depends on it. Understand the enemy won’t deny Jesus – he’ll just try and alter Him. As R.C. Lensky said, “The worst forms of wickedness consist in perversions of the truth”. Being sincerely wrong can have eternal consequences. "So skilled is error at imitating truth, that the two are constantly being mistaken for each another. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and which Abel." - A.W. Tozer, “How to Avoid Serious Error”

15. © Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org T H E True Identity of Jesus Does it Matter? Investigate the facts, remember identity matters, then … Make your choice. TruthError

16. D o e s God T H E Jesus True Identity Of It Matters!