The first thing we need to realize is that NO MERE MAN could ever be an effectual sacrifice to God to take away our sins.  It took the suffering and death of the holy Son of God to pay our sin debt.

1 Peter 1:18-19 tells us, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH and WITHOUT SPOT.” It took the pure and precious blood of a perfect and sinless One to redeem us to God.  Christ was the ONLY one who could ever be described as “without blemish and without spot.”  That means there was no sin in Him (1 John 3:5) and He never sinned at all (1 Peter 2:22).  Only the Son of God could sacrifice Himself for another.

We read in John 1:12-13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”  Man cannot save another man from Hell.  I cannot give anything to God that would satisfy Him as payment for my own sins or for the sins of anyone else.  To deny that Christ is deity (the Son of God and God the Son), is to deny His person…and thus render Him unable to be our savior. 

The Lord Jesus spoke these words to some Pharisees who were questioning Him as to who He was.  We read, “And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:23-24).  Here, the Lord Jesus stated that He was “from above” which declares His deity (Read Philippians 2:6-11).  If one does not believe in the deity of Christ, he “shall die in your sins.”  It is imperative that we believe that Jesus is who He says He is…He is God.

Now, let’s consider what we read in John 10:30-33, “I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”  When the Lord Jesus declared that “I and my Father are one”, the Pharisees knew exactly what He meant by those words…and they wanted to kill Him for those words.  They only knew Him as a man and said that in His statement He “makest thyself God.”  Indeed, the Lord Jesus IS God and it took His death on the cross to save us from our sins. 

• Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of THE SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
• 1 John 5:10, “He that believeth on the SON OF GOD hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”
• John 14:8-9, “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”
• John 20:27-28, “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, MY LORD AND MY GOD.”

We could go on and on with different scriptures declaring and showing that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and is the Son of God.  To deny this truth is to deny the truth of the Word of God.  In order to be saved, one must realize who Christ is and that it took the very Son of God dying on the cross to save sinners like you and me.  (CC)  (564.6)