The herald., 1897-01-25
CENTRAL BAPTIST.
Rev. B. A. Copass Second Discourse on
Fundamental Things.


Rev. B. A. Copass preached the second
of his series of sermons on Fundamental
things. His text was John Ills, and his
subject The Divinity Of Christ He said:
In the inspired Bible, about which we
spoke last Sunday, we may learn of the
divine Savior. We will not go outside
of the Bible for evidence. Some one has
said: IF Jesus Christ was not tiivine he
was the greatest imp oster the world ever
saw, his claim the most bqasphemouS,
and the punishment which he received
none too severe" Notice some of his
claims: u ann the way1 the truth and the
Light; mo man comes to the Father but
by me-" Before Abraham was, am"
Il go to the Father; whittier I go you
cannot come" Il and my Father are
one" 1t is impossible to say or think
that he was simply good man; he was
either the son of God or base deceiver,
he himself being the witness Let us see
from the scriptures whether the Lord
Jesus was deceiver or God.
1t was our purpose to discuss the SUBJ
ject broadly as found in the scriptures.
but we have thought it better to examine
text which contains all of the truth
that needs to be spoken on the subject.
Other passages of scripture will be
brought only to elaborate or explain
what is found in this text. John and
James were called by our Lord "The
Sons of Thunder" A man once exclaim-
ed, on reading our text, Listen how he
thunders;" and indeed he does thunder
the divinity of the Lord Jesus from every
point of view. The text contains two
Leading thoughts having a common
starting point and proceeding in differ
ent directions, each one designed to
teach an important truth in regard to
the divinity of our Lord. Let us address
ourselves to the thoughts separately.
First-In his essence or nature or very
being Christ Is divine. Verse 1 has a
starting point and looks inward into the
nature of Christ Let us get fully before
us the starting point, "In the beginning
This seems to be the beginning of the
activities of God. First John, i'll has
from the beginning" This passage
looks outward to our Lords manifesto
tions. Gen. i'll has, I'm the beginning
God created" So far as we know, this
is the beginning of Gods outward activ-
tiles.
We have in the text, then, the starting
point from which to proceed inward and
outward. Let us consider what we find
here, looking inward, Of the nature of
Christ. Q) "In the beginning was the
word"-eternity; and God alone is eter-
nal Let us look closely at the language
mind Of man cannot go, the Word was.
1t did not come into existence. it was. 1t
is easier to grasp the idea of eternity
looking forward than it is to grasp it
looking backward. The comprehension
of the mind breaks down at the origin
of all created things. The limit of the
human mind is reached in the time of
the beginning, but even then, in absolute
complacence and eternity the Word was
(2) THE Word was with God" Person.
atty In immediate communion with God
The conn ection of the verb and preposi-
ton used in this sentence is very rare
and striking. The verb implies rest; the
proposition motion. The proposition
does not mean accompaniment, but limit.
especially of disposition or relation. The
state of being of the Word is limited by
God himself. Here also is distinct per-
sonalty. 1t may be we'll to notice brief
ly other scripture teachings as to our
Lords distinct personality, since it is
sometimes disputed. The relation Of
the Father and Son as expressed at the
Lords baptism teaches the personality
of each They are said to have mutual
love for each other. The Father sends,
the Son Is sent. And, again, the Son is
declared to be the express image of the
person of the Father. (3) "The Word was
God"-dlivfnity, or absolute oneness with
God This agrees with the Savior's own
cla1ml and my rather are one" II
we had only this passage it would be
sufficient to inspire in us living faith
in the divinity of Christ. We do not stop
here to dscuss the mystery of the unity
and trinity in the Godhead; we simply
take the scriptures, which declare them
both as facts John seems to be near
the heart of the divine to hear it's beat
ings and feel it's eternal love. From
that position of favor he thunders out to
men the divinity of the worlds Savior
Second-In his activities Christ is
God-verses to s. We go again to the
starting point, "In the beginning" pro-
ceed outwardIy to Christ's activities, and
show that in them he displayed the truth
of his divinity. Three things are here
described as to the activities of the Saw
ior. a. Creation-"AIl things were made
through him" This expression
means to bring into existence.
This grand and majestic universe.
it's beauties and its blessings, man him
self. the mighty angels of God, all came
into existence through him (2) Up
holding what he has created "And with
out him was not anything made that has
been made" The tense Of the verb