Hand number 117. Hand number
117. 117. We'll sing this to the tune of
Amazing Grace. Awake! sing how he is to carry on With cries and tears He offered
up His humble suit below, But with authority He has enthroned
in glory now. ? For all that come to God by him
? ? Salvation he demands ? ? Points to their names upon his breast
? ? And spreads his wounded hand ? atoning sacrifice give sanction
to his claim father I will that all my saints be with me where
I am Eternal life at His request to every saint is given. Safety on earth and after death,
the plentitude of heaven. Founded on right, thy prayer
avails The Father smiles on thee And now thou in thy kingdom art
Dear Lord, remember me I love that verse there. It talks about how Jesus, for
all that come to God by him, salvation he demands, points
to their names upon his breast and spreads his wounded hands. Shows of his substitution and
assurity ship there as our great high priest and as the sacrifice
of God. Turn now if you would over just
a page to 119. Hymn number 119, maybe the same
page you can get it. Hymn number 119. Great God, from Thee there's
not concealed, Thou seest my inward frame. To Thee I always stand, revealed
exactly as I am. To Thee I always stand, revealed
exactly as I am. Since I can hardly therefore
bear what in myself I see, how vile and black must I appear,
most holy God to Thee? and black must I appear, most
holy God to Thee. But since my Savior stands between
in garments dyed in blood, tis He instead of me is seen. When I approach to God, Tis He
instead of me is seen. When I approach to God, Thus
though the sinner I am say, he pleads before the throne. His life and death in my behalf,
and calls my sins his own. is life and death in my behalf
and calls my sins his own. What wondrous love, what mysteries
in this appointment shine. My preachers of the Lord is Amen. That's another, another wonderful
song. And that's not just, you know,
that verse there is not just kind of a nice little writing. That's actually the gospel, that
my breaches of the law, my transgressions, my sins are His, and His obedience
is mine. For the child of grace, our sins were laid to Him and
He died for them in our place. And so, what a blessed gospel
message is in that song. Alright, we'll turn to hymn number
200 now. And we'll sing this song. If
anybody else has a hymn that you'd like to sing after this, All but for free and sovereign
grace, I still had lived estranged from God, Till Hell had proved
the destined place Of my desert but dreadable. but oh amazed I see the hand
that stopped me in my wild career a miracle of grace I stand the
lord has taught my heart to fear to learn his will be To fear
his name, to trust his grace. I had a little bit of a problem
this morning, didn't I? Does anybody have a song that
you'd like to sing? ever gracious, ever wise. All my times are in Thy hand,
all events at Thy command, all events at Thy command. His decree to form the earth,
fix my first and second birth. Parents, native place and time,
All appointed were by Him. All appointed were by Him. He that formed me in the womb,
He shall guide me to the tomb. All my time shall ever be Ordered
by His wise decree. Ordered by His wise decree. ? Times of sickness, times of health
? ? Times of pinnery and wealth ? ? Times of trial and of grief
? ? Times of triumph and relief ? ? Times the tempter's power to
prove ? ? Times to taste the Savior's love ? ? All must come
and last and end ? ? As shall please my heavenly friend ? ?
As shall please my heavenly friend ? ? Plagues and deaths around
me fly ? ? Till he bids I cannot die ? ? Not a single shaft can
hit it ? ? Till the God of love sees fit ? ? Till the God of
love sees fit ? That last verse is kind of timely, isn't it? Someone ought to capture that
and post that to your Facebook page. Plagues of death around
me fly, till he bids I cannot die. Not a single shaft can hit,
till we got a love-seized bill. Well, Corona's not going to get
you until the Lord determines it to be so. Anybody else got
a hand, would you like to sing? Back to Ephesians chapter 1. I had a chance to follow along
the video broadcast we've been having, brother, but we started
last week looking at Ephesians chapter one and particularly
verse six. And we're looking at the subject
of being accepted in the beloved. Ephesians chapter one. And we'll go ahead and read starting
in verse one and read down to verse 14. And then we'll take back up with
our topic here. Ephesians chapter one, verse
one. Let's bow and have a word of
prayer. Our gracious heavenly father,
we are grateful today to be in your house. We're grateful today
to be gathered once again with the brothers and sisters of Christ
and the church. Lord, we're grateful for the
way that you take care of us and provide for us. Father, we're
thankful that you've given us this opportunity once again to
come and worship you. Father, we need you today. We
need the Holy Spirit with us to guide us and direct us in
our worship. We need him to give us understanding
of God's word. We need him to lift our hearts,
that we might love and praise you. Father, that we might do
these things in spirit and in truth. And Father, we ask that
you might send that spirit now, that you might give us today
the enabling to rightly come before you and worship. Lord, we pray that you would
speak to us. We need to hear a word from you today. We need
your guidance, your direction. We need your teaching, Father.
We ask Lord that now as the word of God is opened up, that you
might make it plain to us and that we might understand it.
Father, we pray that Christ will be glorified in the preaching
and teaching today. And we pray that in the singing
that we just did, Lord, we pray that it's been pleasing to you
as well. Father, we just ask now that
you'd be with all of our members. We're thankful that we're here
today. Our hearts go out to our brothers
and sisters that are not here. pray continually for Sister Louetta
and her healing. Lord, we ask that you would just
touch and minister to her and her infirmity and the healing
of her broken hip and surgery, and also for overcoming the stroke
that she's had. Lord, we just pray that you'd
be with all the nursing care people that's attending to her. Lord, we also pray for Sister
Beth, for the elders, Lord, that have been here on many occasions,
and we ask, Lord, that you might minister to them, and Lord, by
your grace and by your mercy and by your Holy Spirit, Lord,
that you might lead them back to us. Father, we just continue
to pray now that you would just increase our fellowship, Lord,
increase our love for you, our knowledge and understanding of
you, and may the fellowship today be sweet, and we pray, amen. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are
Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you
and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure,
which he had purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to
the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, and
whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that ye believed,
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of his glory. Again, them familiar
passages there, and honestly, I don't see how anybody could
read those passages and not believe in sovereign grace, or at least
not admit that sovereign grace is found in Scripture. These
first 14 verses are just packed full of doctrine and theology
here that speak of all five points really of the doctrines of grace
are found in these 14 verses here. And so it's kind of hard
for me whenever I read these verses time and time and time
again to ever consider going back to what I used to believe
and what I used to teach. It's just so clear that it's
amazing. And of course, we understand
that to understand spiritual things and to rightly interpret
the word of God, one must be born again. You must have spiritual
life to be able to do these things. And so we're thankful that the
Lord has given us life and understanding and we pray for those that, don't
have that. We pray that the lord would give
them understanding. Last week, we began to look at
verse six wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. We're looking at that phrase
and what it means. Um we looked last week at who
is the beloved. Uh I admitted that uh for a time
whenever I read here was speaking of the people
of God. I thought it was talking about
the elect or the people of God or even the church. But if you
look at the context and further review of scripture, you'll find
that this beloved is speaking of none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we took a little bit of time last week just to
kind of refresh everybody's memory. We looked at seeing that the
word of God speaks of the elect as the beloved, and we read several
verses that pointed out and spoke of the elect being the beloved.
We also looked and seen that there were several verses that
called the church the beloved. And then we seen that the Lord
Jesus was called The Beloved. Matter of fact, in Matthew chapter
three and verse 17, chapter 12, verse 18, chapter 17, verse five,
we see three times where the Lord is called the Beloved by
the Father. Matter of fact, at His baptism
and on the Mount of Transfiguration, we hear the Father actually speaking
out of heaven in an audible voice where other people can hear Him.
saying that this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And so whenever we look and see
that the, while the elect and the church are called the beloved,
the one that's in view here accepted in the beloved is speaking of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason that we say that
is because of what has transpired before. All the grace that is
given to us before the foundation of the world, it's an eternal
grace. This is an eternal election. We have an eternal justification. We have an eternal standing before
God, an eternal love that is coming from God to us. The Bible
says that we are loved with an everlasting love. The Bible says
that we have been chosen in Christ, as we see in our passages here.
But if you'll look here, we'll see that everything pertains
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's just kind of go down the
verses with me here. Again, you see that this whole
letter is written to the church at Ephesus, but it's considered
the saint and the faithful in Christ Jesus. So it pertains
to a relationship with Christ Jesus. Grace be unto you, peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. So grace
comes from God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. The Father is the Lord Jesus,
the Lord Jesus' Father is the one who has blessed us, or the
Father has blessed us, okay? And he's blessed us with all
spiritual blessings. And again, last week, we kind
of harbored on that just a little bit, just saying, of all the
spiritual blessings that we encounter. And every spiritual blessing
that ever has come out, whether it be suretyship, whether it
be love, whether it be justification, sanctification, glorification,
whether it be redemption, propitiation, all those things, obedience,
preservation, all those things are spiritual blessings. Knowledge. Wisdom, the Bible says that Christ
has been made into a wisdom and righteousness and sanctification.
All those things are spiritual blessings and they have been
given to a group of people, the us there, who are the saints
and faithful in Christ Jesus. They were given to us in heavenly
places, but as it was in Christ Jesus, okay? It's linked to the
fact that there is a relationship between them and Christ Jesus. Look at verse four. According
as He hath chosen us. That's election, right? That's
speaking of election. If anybody doesn't believe, the
Bible teaches election and not election of the nation Israel.
This is a Gentile church. The church at Ephesus was a Gentile
church. He's speaking of being chosen,
elected to salvation, to receive all spiritual blessings. Notice
there, according, the word according, okay? We were blessed with all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ according to
election, according to God choosing us in Him in Christ before the
foundation of the world. So see that there's a tight-knit
relationship between Christ and His people. We know in John chapter
six, again, that Jesus spoke of the fact that God The Father
had given Him a people. All that the Father had given
me. Jesus prayed in John 17 that
there was a people that had been given to Him. And you can go
down through there. In my Bible, I've highlighted
it. And there's like eight or nine times that Jesus brings
up the fact that we were given by the Father. Those that the
Father gave me. Those that the Father gave me.
Okay, so there is a people, a specific people that was given to Christ
Jesus and it wasn't just the Jews. And we also know from the
New Testament that not all Jews was given to Christ Jesus, okay? It's talking about a spiritual
people, both of Jews and Gentiles. And this group of people makes
up one spiritual Israel, right? And so it's this group of people
that are the seed of Christ. It is the ones who are given
to Christ and He, because of the union with them, and we're
gonna talk about that a little bit more here in a minute, but
because of Him, we have received all spiritual blessings. So the
fact that we were elected by God, and that word elected by
God, we've talked about this before, that's a holy calling. A lot of times the people in
Scripture, they'll look at that phrase in 1 Timothy, or in 2
Timothy, where it says that we have been saved and called with
a holy calling, and they think that that holy calling is speaking
of whenever God calls us in the new birth, whenever He calls
us in quickening. And they say, well, that's whenever
we were called and everything. No, brethren, that is a calling,
yes. God calls us out of darkness
and into light, out of death and into life whenever he causes
us or gives us new life and whenever we're born from above, spiritually
quickened. Yes, that's true, but there is
a calling that happened even before that. There's a calling
that God give to a group of people before the foundation of the
world. Matter of fact, in the context of 2 Timothy chapter
one and verse nine and 10, The whole context of that is before
the world began. That he saved us and called us. So that called us with a holy
calling can't be referring to quickening because he said that
it was before the foundation of the world, before the world
began. So this calling is the actual
calling of the elect as a people of God. We have been called His
people. We have been called out of everyone
else that He has purposed to create. He has called us His
own. We have been called His children. We have been called His people. And so, we will be given to Christ. We will be saved by Christ. And we will be redeemed, reconciled. We will be brought and kept by
Christ. And we will one of these days
be resurrected like Christ. and dwell with Christ forever
and ever. And so there is this link between
the giving of God of a people to Christ and Christ's work as
the Savior. as the Christ, the Messiah, His
work as the Redeemer, as the substitute, as the surety, as
the prophet, as the priest, as the king. We can just go right
down the line of all the offices and names of our Lord and see
that. And so it is tightly knit, this
being accepted in the blood is tightly knit to everything that
has been preceding above this, okay? We are accepted in the
Beloved not because we chose Christ Jesus at some point in
time. We're not accepted in the Beloved because we made a decision
for Christ. We're not accepted in the Beloved
because we walked down to the front of the church because we
raised our hand at an evangelistic meeting. We're not accepted in
the Beloved because we repented and we turned to Christ. We were
already accepted in the Beloved before that. We were not accepted
because we were baptized or become a member of the local church.
We weren't accepted in the beloved when we started giving money
to the church or whenever we started going out and witnessing
for Christ. That's not how we were accepted.
We were accepted in the beloved here according as he had chosen
us in him because of all the spiritual blessings that God
had placed upon us. All the spiritual blessings that
we receive now, the quickening, the drawing, the wisdom and understanding,
the knowledge, the being able to perceive spiritual things,
the conviction of sin, the desire and need for Christ, all these
things are given to us in Christ Jesus because of Christ Jesus
and it was because and according to our being chosen or called
of God before the foundation of the world. So being accepted
in the beloved has nothing to do with anything that happens
in this earth on this time continuum according to any condition set
for us. Are there things that God has
given for us and told us that we do? Does God command us to
repent? Yes. Does God command us to follow
Him? Yes. Does God command us to love
Him? Yes, He does. But all of these
things are an admonition to the child of grace who has been given
the capacity to do those things, and that is telling us what we
are to do, who we are. We've been given this spiritual
understanding and now we are to be given the spiritual knowledge
of what we are to be spiritually doing. And just to make sure
it happens, the Bible says that He's given us His Spirit and
that that Spirit now works in us to will and to do His good
pleasure. That that Spirit has come in
us. Isn't that what it says in Ezekiel?
That I'll take out that heart of stone and I'll put in a heart
of flesh and I will cause I will put my spirit within you and
cause you to walk in my statutes. See, that's why we need sovereign
grace. That's why we need the Lord is
because we can't do that by ourselves. We definitely didn't call ourselves
before the foundation of the world. And God didn't look down
the corridor of time and say, oh, well, he's gonna call on
me, so I'm gonna call on him first. You know, this isn't a
little match between us and God. You know, he's saying, well,
you chose me. Well, I'm going to, I'm going to do one better. I'm
going to choose you before you even were created, you know, but only
because you chose me. See, God has called us. And here's another thing we find
replete in this passage. Look, if you would, verse five,
according to the pleasure, good pleasure of his will. Verse six,
to the praise of the glory of his grace. Verse 7, according
to the riches of His grace. Look at verse 9, according to
the good pleasure which He had purposed in Himself. Look at verse 11, all things
after the counsel of His own will. Verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of His glory. Verse 14, unto the praise of
His glory. So we see here that it is all
about God's work, it's about God's business, it's about God's
pleasure, God's purpose, God's will, not ours. And so when we
come to this verse six where it says, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved." We see that being accepted in
the Beloved isn't like I said last week. See, modern Christianity
turns that phrase around and it says, will you accept the
Beloved? Preachers all over the place today are going to be preaching
messages and at the end of their messages, they're going to call
on people. You know, this salvation is such a wonderful salvation,
and whenever you have this salvation, your life is going to be so much
better. It's going to be such a changed, dramatically changed
life. You're no longer going to be
a sinner. You're going to be this wonderful, you know, obedient,
wonderful saint, and all you need to do to get that is just
accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Accept the beloved. See, that's what's being preached
from pulpits. That's the gospel that's being preached today in
90% of quote unquote Christianity is accept the beloved. But the
gospel of Jesus Christ is the beloved accepts us. That we have
been accepted in the beloved. And that acceptance happened
before the foundation of the world. It didn't happen based
in time. Our justification didn't come
because you believed at a certain point in time. Like I said, that's
wonderful, I've had this salvation that I've been wanting to give
you for so long, and I just couldn't declare you just, even though
Christ died for you. Even though I called you from
eternity as my own and gave you to Christ, and although I said
that there would be no sin ever imputed to you, although I had
already found Christ as your surety and knew that forever
you were gonna be with me, I just couldn't say that you were that
until you believed on me. See, that's what modern reform
theology says. That's what modern reform theology
says. It says that justification isn't given to us until we believe.
And then they'll plea and apply it to the verses about Abraham.
The very same verses that I have Armenian family and friends,
they use those exact same verses, to prove that God doesn't give
us salvation until we first believe. So see, the Reformed and the
freewill Arminian have the same gospel. It's a gospel of conditions. You know, they preach, well,
you can't be justified until you believe. Well, these over
here say, well, you can't be born again until you first believe.
What difference does that make? They're both saying that salvation
can't be given to the sinner based on Christ alone. It can't
be given to the sinner. You have to do something. Well,
surely you have to believe. Surely you have to repent. You
mean to tell me you believe that we can be saved without repentance
and belief? I'm not saying that. I never said that. I said that
is not the grounds and the condition for why you were saved. You were
saved based upon what we just read here, the good pleasure
of his will. You were saved according to his
grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. That's what is the basis of your salvation, for by grace
are ye saved. We are accepted in the beloved
brethren, not because of conditions on our part, but because of him. Now, I mentioned last week And
we see that that's all tied to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
beloved. And we are accepted in Him. Okay? We're accepted
in Him. Now, I mentioned last week that
we were going to look at why He is the beloved. Why is Jesus
the beloved? And why is it that we need to
be accepted in Him? Why can't we be accepted any
other way? But let's look first at why He
is the Beloved. One of the first reasons that
I believe that Jesus is considered the Beloved is because of, and
if you want to be turning with me, turn to John chapter 10.
I believe that He is the Beloved because of His divine union with
God. Jesus has a divine union with
God. Yea, He is God. to just like ABCs and one, two,
threes. That's just like, wow, preacher,
you studied all week for that. Can you come with something fresh
and new and a little mind boggling or something? But brother, we
gotta always remember that Jesus Christ, while united with human
nature, okay, he is God. He never ceased being God. and
he didn't lay his godship, his divineness, he didn't lay that
aside, okay? I used to teach that. I was wrong. I was in error. I repented that
teaching. I used to teach that Jesus, whenever
he became a man, he laid aside all of his divine attributes
and just lived as a human, just lived as a man. I used to preach
that. And that's wrong. The Bible does not teach that
anywhere. Now, a lot of people, they want
to refer to the scripture in Philippians. As a matter of fact,
hold your hand there, John, and turn with me over to Philippians. that Jesus just became a man
whenever he was here, and he didn't function and live as God
here. He only functioned and lived
as man. That's not true. That's not true. Look at verse five. It says,
let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Now,
we have to stop and think. Man, there's so many rabbits
right now in front of me that I'm wanting to chase down. and
get off track. We as a people, especially many
of us who have been raised in church, going to Sunday schools,
going to vacation Bible schools, going to church camps, week after
week, a lot of times, we look at isolated verses, and when
we look at these isolated verses, We lose track of the context,
and we make these isolated verses fit our theology. Look at verse
five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. We learn memorization, okay?
Whenever I was young, I was taught, you know, we need to memorize
verses, and that's what we did in Sunday school. That's what
we did in the Vacation Bible. We memorized verses, and so we
memorized those to get them down in the cadence sometimes. A lot
of times we can remember stuff because we do it to a tune or
we do it to a cadence, okay? Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of man. And so we say right there, okay,
who being in the form of God, thought it not a robbery to be
equal with God. Well, if you look in some of the newer translations
of the Bible, like the New King James Version, if you look in
the ESV, the NASV, if you look in the NIV, all these newer translations
of the scripture, they turn that verse around. They turn that
verse around and they say, who being in the form of God, thought
equality with God was not something to be grasped. That's what those new versions
say. If you've got a new version, if you've got a Bible app, look
through them. Go through and look at all those
newer versions of the Scriptures that aren't based upon the receipt
text, and you'll see that every one of them say that being in
the form of God, thought equality with God was not something that
could be grasped. What does that sound like to
you? That sounds like, well, Jesus took on this thought of,
I can't be equal with God. I'm not equal with God. Equality
with God is not something that can be grasped, okay? Listen, running a 10K marathon
is not something that can be grasped by me, okay? No matter
how much I think I can, I'm not going to run a 10K marathon.
As a matter of fact, I probably couldn't even run a 10A marathon,
much less a 10K, okay? I probably couldn't get out to
the end of the parking lot and back without falling over. It's
not something that can be grasped. What is that saying? That's saying
that, listen, I've just given up in my mind. I've not even
thought it to be even possible that I can be equal with a 10K
marathon runner. I'm not a 10K runner. That's
what that would be saying. That Jesus, let this, and that,
listen, that's what Jesus is telling you. Let this mind be
in you, which also was in Christ Jesus, being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Or as the New
Translations was saying it, something to be grasped. And see, that's
where my theology erred, It's because I thought, well, then
Jesus must have laid aside his deity. And whenever he was here,
he wasn't equal with God. He came just as man. He laid
that aside. He laid aside that. Yes, he was
God still. He was still God. But he didn't
act like God. He didn't function as God. He
didn't do anything on earth as God. He only did it as man. But is that what that verse says?
Matter of fact, no, the scriptures say the exact opposite of that,
doesn't it? It said, let this mind be in
you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, who being in the form of God. Jesus is the form of
God. Isn't that what we learned in
Colossians? That he is the image of the invisible
God, that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. He is the form of the invisible
God. The Father, the Word, the Holy
Spirit, that triune witness of heaven, that triune witness of
heaven that we see in the epistles of John, that triune witness
of God is found in the one man, Jesus Christ. He embodies the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. He is the embodiment of
that God. And here it says, who, Jesus
Christ, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. So him claiming to be God, as
he did a whole lot in his ministry, he claimed to be God. And the
Jews knew this, what he was saying, because they picked up stones
and tried to kill him at his, at his trial, fake trial before
his crucifixion. Remember, The high priests and
stuff, they rent their clothes and they mocked him and blasphemed
him because they said, hey, he's making himself out to be God.
And, you know, they were slapping him and hitting him and making
all kinds of mocking gestures at him and calling him to be
crucified because of his blasphemy of calling himself God, making
himself to be God. And so Jesus here, through the
Apostle Paul writing to the Philippians, saying that he did not think
it was robbery to be equal with God, okay? So we see that Jesus
has a divine union with God because he is God. He didn't lay that
aside. Now, without getting into any
more, that verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus, that gives us in on the context. What is let
this mind be in you? He's saying, let this mind be
in you, that you think that you are equal, with God? That's not what he's saying.
What is he asking about, let this mind be in you? Well, what
preceded this? What is Paul telling the Philippians
about? Being servants, right? If there be any consolation to
Christ, any comfort and love, any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels of mercy fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded. Having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves. Let not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. And let
this mind be in you, this mind of being one with one another,
being servants of one another, putting others before yourself,
Let that be your mind, just like it was in Christ Jesus, who even
though he was divine God, humbled himself, ain't that what it says
here? But made himself of no reputation. It didn't say stripped
himself of his divine attributes. It didn't say laid aside his
deity. It said, but made himself of
no reputation. He was meek and lowly, the Bible
says. Matter of fact, the Bible says
that he was calming, that anybody that looked upon him wouldn't
think much about him. And he said, it says, and took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men
and being found in fashion as men, he humbled himself and became
obedient under the death, even the death of the cross. And so
he's saying here that Jesus humbled himself for others. Even though
he was God, he humbled himself, became a servant. But don't miss
the fact, Jesus was God. And so we see that there is a
divine union with this man, Jesus Christ, and God, because He is
God. Now turn back to John chapter
10. Again, let me remind us, who is or why is Jesus the beloved? Well, He's the beloved because
of His divine union with God. John chapter 10, and look if
you would at verse 30, Jesus makes this claim, it's not I,
it's not a denomination of some sort, it's not a theology, it's
Jesus that says this, I and my Father are one. He here is saying that Him and
the Father are one. Now, there's a lot more that
we can talk about about that, and I'm not gonna get into the
teaching of the Trinity or the ramifications of what
all this might mean, but the fact remains is Jesus here makes
the claim, and we know that Jesus can't lie, and he doesn't spoof,
he doesn't embellish, okay? He's saying what he means. I, Jesus, and the Father, are
one. There is a divine union here. Jesus is God. Look, if you would,
at chapter 8 and verse 42. Again, Jesus makes this claim.
If God were your Father, ye would love me for I proceeded forth
and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
He sent me. Okay, so here we see that Jesus
Christ proceeded forth from the Father, or came from God. That shows that there is a union
between Him and God. Look if you would, John chapter
16. For the Father Himself loveth
you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came
out from God." See, the man Jesus Christ, His human form, that
humanity came from God. Isn't that what the Bible teaches
us? That a body that has prepared
for Me, that He is the first creation, over all creation. The Bible says that this body
was formed in fashion and it came down from heaven. That God
gave him that body and that form and it came and proceeded from
God. He was begotten of God or brought
forth from God. So that humanity came from God,
it didn't come from Mary. It didn't come from anything
on the earth. The Bible says that He is the Lord from heaven.
That the first Adam is of the earth, earthy. And such are they
also that are earthy. But Jesus, the second Adam, is
the man from heaven. Okay? He didn't receive His manhood
from the earth. He received His manhood from
heaven. It proceeded from God. It came from God. It was a body
like unto us, but it wasn't us. It was like unto us. It was a
body that was given to him. Of course, I have a whole teaching
on that and thoughts on that, and I'm not gonna get into that
either. But what I want you to see here
is that it says, look again, verse 27, for the Father himself
loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came
out from God. I came forth from the Father
and have come into the world. Now Jesus here is saying that
he come out from the Father first and then came into the world. Again, I leave the world and
go to the Father. So just, he's saying, and I was
gonna reciprocate, I'm gonna go from here back to the Father. So who's he talking about? Was
he talking about the Spirit or the Word? No, he was talking
about Him. He said, I, Jesus, the Messiah,
the Savior, the Christ, I came forth from the Father and come
into the world. Jesus has made that claim in
several places. Look at chapter 17. Verse 21, it says, that they
all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me. So right there, we see that there
is a divine union between God and Christ, right? Verse 22,
and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. that they
may be one, even as we are one." So there is a union between God
and Christ. And praise the Lord, there's
a union between Christ and His people. Of course, we'll see
that here in a minute. Verse 23, that they may be perfect in one,
and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me and hast loved
me, and that Thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they
also whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me, for Thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. So see, there was this
divine union between Christ and God, and a love for Christ, for
the man Jesus Christ. Not from God the Father to the
Word, or God the Father to the Spirit, or the Spirit to the
Word, or the Spirit to the Father, or the Word to the Spirit, or
the Word to the Father. For some reason they make me
think of a rap or something. Word to the Father. No, what is that talking about?
Anytime the Bible speaks of Christ, speaks of Messiah, speaks of
Jesus, speaks of the Savior, speaks of the surety, speaks
of the substitute, all those things, it's not referring to
God in that invisible form, Father, Word, Spirit. Whenever it says
Son, it's referring to God in the flesh. It's referring to
Jesus Christ. It's referring to the man, Jesus
Christ. So for all these people out here,
and I know Baptists of old have held to this eternal Sonship,
of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and that
there are three in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. There are three that bear witness in heaven,
the Father, Word, and Holy Spirit, and these three are one, and
there is only one man who embodies that three, and that's Jesus
Christ. God the Father, the Word, the Spirit, all those three are
one, and there's only one God. And that's Jesus Christ. And
so whenever it speaks of God in human form, it means Jesus,
the Son. All those verses, all those scriptures
where those terms are used, it's speaking of God in that human
form, in the fleshly form, in that form that was made. And
the Bible says that there is only one mediator between God
and man, and that is the man, Jesus Christ. So every one of
those prophet, priest, king, all those is referring to the
man, Jesus Christ. There is a divine union between
Christ and God because Jesus Christ is God. And that union
can't be thrown away. That union can't be severed. The man, Jesus Christ, did go
through forsaking Him of the Father, meaning that He turned
His head away. It meant that He did not come to the aid and
salvation of Christ whenever Christ became sin for us on the
cross. That the full wrath of God was poured out upon Christ
and His soul, and that He seemed dead, and that the Father didn't
relieve Him of that. And so there was that forsaking.
But there never is this distinction or pulling away of the union
between Christ and who God is. Ever since Christ has come forth
from the Father, He has been God. He is God. There isn't two
gods. There isn't three gods. There isn't a God in human form
and a God in spirit form. There is one God and that God
is in the man, Jesus Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in him bodily. The Godhead is in Christ Jesus. The three witnesses of heaven
is in Christ Jesus, is Christ Jesus. Okay? So there is a divine,
that's why he's the beloved. Why does the father love the
son? Because that is him. The Father loves the Son because
the Son is the embodiment of all who God is in flesh. All that heaven is, is in the
man Jesus Christ. How does the Father love the
Son? Well, God loves the Son because
the Son is the first creation. The Son is that who is the firstborn
among many. The Son is the One that He brought
forth and loved. Loved so much that He Himself
embodies that man. Directs that man. Guides that
man. Is that man. There is a divine
union with God. And we see it right here. Jesus
said it over and over and over again. I and my Father are one. We are one, just as you, O Father. You and I, together, okay? There is a union between the
man and the deity of God. Believe it or not, we can see
that also back in the Old Testament. Look, if you would, at Proverbs. It's going to be a little bit
of a lengthy reading, but stay with me here. Proverbs 8. Doth not wisdom cry and understanding
put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high
places by the way in the places of the past. She cried at the
gates at the entry by voice unto the sons of man.
O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools, be ye of an understanding
heart. Hear, for I will speak of excellent
things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For
my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination
to my lips. All the words of my mouth are
in righteousness. There is nothing froward or perverse
in them. They are all plain to him that
understandeth and write to them, that find knowledge. Receive
my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice
gold. For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that
may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell
with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear
of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogancy, and the
evil way and the froward mouth do I hate. counsel is mine and
sound wisdom. I am understanding, I have strength.
By me, kings reign and princes decree justice. By me, princes
rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them
that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.
Riches and honor are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue
than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness,
in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may cause those
that love me to inherit substance, and I will find their treasures.
The Lord possessed me, here it is, the Lord possessed me in
the beginning of His way, before the works of old. So here, the
Bible is speaking of Jesus. He's the one of all this reverence
is to be given to Him, verses 1 through 21. That's Him speaking. He's speaking of Himself. That
divinity, that glory that is of God, He's speaking that that's
Him. But look what He says here. The
Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way. When did the Lord
Jesus Christ take upon human flesh? Was it at Bethlehem? Well, we truly know that He was
born of a virgin and that He came forth in likeness of a man,
but that wasn't whenever He took on and possessed that. The Bible here says, the Lord
possessed me in the beginning of His way before the works of
old. I was set up from everlasting
from the beginning or ever the earth was. Christ Jesus, talking
about the man Jesus Christ, was set up from everlasting. He was
brought forth or possessed in the beginning of the way before
the works of old. I was set up from everlasting.
Set up for what? Well, he was set up as God in
flesh for one, but he was also set up as the surety for his
people. He was set up as the mediator
between God and man. And listen, for there to be a mediator
between God and man, there has to be representation of both,
right? A mediator is one that mediates
for one and for the other. He is a mediator, a go-between,
okay? He doesn't take sides with this
one, he doesn't take sides with this one. He is representing
this one, and he's representing this one. He is mediating between
the two. He is the mediator between God
and man. For God to have dealings with
man, there has to be a mediator. Because God cannot have dealings
with man, man is sinful, man is wretched, man is vile, man
is unholy, and God can't have dealings with man, so there has
to be a mediator, someone to go in between for them, to represent
them. Man cannot come to God because
God is divine, God is righteous, God is holy, God is sinless,
and man is opposite of that. And so man can't have anything
to do with God, so man needs a mediator, a go-between, a substitute,
someone that can do that for them so that in the side of this
one over here, that person is accepted. See, that's why the beloved,
to be accepted in the beloved, we need the beloved. to be accepted,
we need the beloved. And he's beloved because he is
the mediator between God and man. And he is mediated from
the time that the everlasting covenant was set up. And I believe,
if I'm not correct, if I'm not mistaken, according to Hebrews,
that that is an everlasting covenant. That the Bible speaks of it as
an eternal covenant. And so if it's an eternal covenant,
This man who was possessed in the beginning of his way, before
the works of old, set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
wherever the earth was, set up to be the mediator. To be the
one set up so that these could be accepted by this. That he was set up in that eternal
covenant. So however long that is, and
I'll be honest with you, I don't know. All I know is it says it's
an everlasting covenant. All I know is the Bible speaks
of it as an eternal thing. All I know is that God purposed
this in himself and that Jesus Christ is the foundation of the
mediation between God and man. And that everything is based
upon the work of the mediator. If the mediator doesn't becomes
successful in his substitution and suretyship, then these people
right here are never going to get to this, and this man is
never going to acquit this person. So our being accepted of God
finds its foundation in the Beloved, and the Beloved, brethren, is
the one who is in union with the Divine, just as He is in
union with the Undivined. with the name. He's in union
with His people. He's in union with God. Thus,
that makes Him the perfect mediator. He has union with God, union
with His people. He has divineness in filling
Him and completely governing Him inside of Him. He is the
fullness of it. But yet He is embodied with the
likeness of those whom He's mediating for. Look at verse 24. When there was no depths, I was
brought forth. Now, I know some people are probably
getting a little itchy about what I'm saying here, thinking
I'm kind of getting off into some heresy or something. Let
me ask you this. If it's speaking of God in the
Spirit, the divine, everlasting, eternal God, then could this
be true? I was brought forth when there
were no fountains abounding with water. Was there ever a time
that the deity part of God was brought forth? Let's back up and look at the
last few verses again. Bear with me. Stay with me. I pray the Lord, give us understanding
here. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of a way. So there's a distinction being
made here, right? The Lord possessed somebody in the beginning of
His way. What does His way mean? Well,
whenever I first started out my journey, okay? In the morning,
if I have to go to work, what am I going to do? I'm going to
get in my van and say I got to go to Little Rock. I'm going
to begin my journey to Little Rock. So the beginning of my
way is when I wake up and get ready for work. It wasn't yesterday,
but that's today. And the Bible here says that
the Lord, now look at that if you would, it's all in capitals,
right? L-O-R-D, all in capitals. We all know that, we've talked
about this here before. The translators helped us whenever they did this.
The Greek word behind that, or excuse me, the Hebrew word behind
that, is speaking of Jehovah. It's speaking of the eternal
God. It's speaking of God in His eternal,
invisible Godness, okay? It's speaking of God there. But
it says, the Lord possessed me. Who's the only one that the Lord
has possessed before the foundation of the world? Well, it can't
be us because we came after the foundation of the world. So it's
talking about one who is equally eternal with God. And the Word
became flesh. I was brought forth. He is His only begotten Son. That word begotten means brought
forth. Just like how a woman brings
forth a baby. Before a child is born, there's
already life there. That baby's already alive in
the womb, but we don't see it, right? But all of a sudden, then
it's born. Well, it didn't come to life
and come into being right then. It just was made manifest. It
was brought forth into the world or into its place. at that point
in time. But it was already there in the
mother's womb, hidden away. We didn't see it. We didn't know
about it. We didn't have any clue what
it looked like. All we knew is that there was
existence there. But there was a point in time
when it was brought forth and the life of that child was made
manifest, even though it was there before. The life of Christ
was already manifested. or it was already there before,
but it was manifested whenever God took on flesh. God really
is alive. God really is true. God really
is who He is. Why? There He is in the flesh. And by many signs and wonders,
He proved that He was God. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of His way. That can't be talking about the
spirit part of God. the invisible part of God, because
God is not brought forth. God is not set up. Verse 24, God is not brought
forth. So this has to be talking about
the humanity of God. Christ, Jesus, the God-man was
brought forth. But look when He was brought
forth. He wasn't brought forth in Bethlehem. Although, yes,
he did come forth out of a woman. Legally, he had to come from
the woman to coincide with the Old Testament laws that God had
given of the kinsman redeemer. He could only be our redeemer
if he was kin to us. And he was kin by birth, even
though there was no DNA, there was no blood, there was no humanity
that was passed upon him by his mother. made Him a kinsman. Jesus could
legally save us because He came from the loins of Mary. But that
don't mean that He got anything from her. And that didn't mean
that He didn't have life before that. And as we see here, He
was brought forth when there was no fountains abounding with
water. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth. While I was yet, He had not made
the earth. While as yet, He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The Bible says that all things
were made by Him and for Him. Who's that speaking of? The Lord
Jesus Christ, right here. When He prepared the heavens,
I was there. The humanity of Christ was there.
The manhood of Christ, embodied of God, He was there. When He set a compass upon the
face of the dead, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when He gave to the sea His decree
that the water should not pass His commandment, when He appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him. Can that be spoken of of anybody
else except for Jesus? No. He said, Then I was by him as
one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing
always before him. What does that mean? I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him, rejoicing in the habitable part of His
earth. And my delights were with the
sons of men. There's a distinction being made
there. Okay, this isn't us, this is speaking to somebody else.
Because His delights was with the sons of men. Now therefore,
hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep
my ways. Hear instruction and be wise
and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors.
For whosoever findeth me findeth life and shall obtain favor of
the Lord. But he that sinneth against me
wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8, brethren, is about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Beloved because He
is divine union with God. He was with God, brought forth
out of God, before ever the world was. So why is He the Beloved? Well,
He's the Beloved because of divine union with God. Why else? Well, that divine union as I
mentioned just a minute ago, brings up the fact that he has
been made the mediator for his people. He is the beloved of
God because he is the mediator for the elect of God. The Father
has chosen a people and gave a people to the man Jesus Christ
and has made Christ the mediator for that people. And because
of Christ being a faithful mediator, He is the beloved of God. Look
with me if you would at 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 2. I quoted this a while ago. I
want you to read it with me here. It says, for there is one God. Not three gods. There's one God. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. So there
is one God and one mediator between God and men, and that is the
man Jesus Christ. So the man, Jesus Christ, has
existed for as long as there's been a covenant to mediate. As
I said a while ago, the Bible says that that covenant is an
everlasting covenant. It's an eternal covenant, right?
He's the beloved because He is the mediator of that covenant
of God to His loved people. The Bible says that we have been
loved with an everlasting love. God loved us while we were yet
sinners. Well, God also loved us while
we were yet unmade, as we read in Proverbs 8. Okay? There was a love for us because
He brought forth the mediator. There was love for us because
God Himself said, I have loved thee. with an everlasting love.
We're loved by God because we know in Malachi that God said
the proof of my love is the fact that I chose you. We read in
Ephesians that all spiritual blessings, the love of God being
one of those, was given to us before the foundation of the
world in Christ Jesus. See, the beloved is Christ Jesus
and the reason he's the beloved is because all The blessings
of God to His people are yea and amen. I know I said blessings
and not promises, but listen, all those promises of God are
blessings to us. The promises of God are yea and
amen in Christ Jesus. Every one of those promises are
the things that God has said He's gonna do for His people.
And so yes, they're blessings, brother. And there is only one mediator
that can do that, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8. Look with me to verse 6. It says,
But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry by how much
also He is the mediator of a better covenant which is established
upon better promises. So here we see that Jesus is
the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better
promises. If you remember, the first covenant
was a covenant that God made with man, right? Do this and
live. But then there was another covenant
that God had established with the man Jesus Christ and his
people. But it wasn't established in a conditional way with men. It was established and conditioned
upon Jesus Christ. The only conditions, it's kind
of a play on words. We believe that salvation comes
by no conditions of man, right? We believe that it's all of God.
Salvation is of the Lord. If you want to get down to technicalities,
actually salvation is conditional, but the conditions are all in
Christ Jesus. It was conditional that Jesus
Christ become man. It was conditional that Jesus
Christ would obey fully all and fulfill all the law. It was conditional
that Jesus Christ would lay down His life as a sacrifice. It was
conditional that Jesus Christ raised from the dead. It was
conditional that Jesus Christ ascend back to the Father and
make intercession for His people. It was conditional that Jesus
Christ send His Spirit to quicken all those and apply that salvation
to all those that He died for. It is conditional that Jesus
Christ do away with this old body and give us a new body at
the resurrection. So that is a condition that he
comes again, right? So for salvation to take place,
there is some conditions that has to be met. But guess what?
Every condition is based upon Christ, not upon us. Not one
upon us. That's why God says that this
is a better covenant with better promises. You know why it's a
better covenant? Because it doesn't involve the
sinful man. You know why it has better promises? Because there
is no way that it can fail. There's no way that it can fail. Look at chapter 9, verse 15. of the New Testament, that by
means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the First Testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance." Uh-oh, now we're back to where
we saw earlier about the called. Who are the called? The called
according to his purpose. That's what Romans 8 says. that He predestinated us to be
conformed to the image of His Son. All those that He predestinated,
He called, and for all those He called, He justified. All
things work together for good to them who are of the call,
according to His purpose. Again, 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses
9 and 10, Who has saved us and called us with the holy call. This is that calling that happens
before the foundation of the world. This is that calling that
came when God elected us. And here we see verse 15. And for this cause, he is the
mediator of the New Testament or the new covenant that by means
of death for the redemption of the transgressions that they
that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. So eternal inheritance has nothing
to do with your choosing or accepting. It has to do with you being accepted
in the beloved, not you accepting the beloved. So why is he the
beloved? Because he makes you accepted
by his death. He makes you accepted because
of his work of redemption. He makes you accepted by being
the mediator in the new covenant. That's why he's the beloved.
He makes you accepted to God. Look at chapter 12, Hebrews chapter
12, verse 24. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speak of better
things than that of Abel. So here again, we see Jesus Christ
is the one who is the mediator of the new covenant. Back to
John, if you will, John chapter five. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father
do. For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise. For the Father loveth the Son,
and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth, and He will show
Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel." Now, let's
stop here, because I want you to get some understanding if
the Holy Spirit is kind enough to do so. Is Jesus talking about
He has actually seen the Father doing some actions, and so now
Jesus is gonna mimic the actions that the Father was doing? He
says there, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth
the Father do. For what things showeth He doeth,
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Now, I've taught
my kids how to do certain things around the house, work and stuff
like that, you know? I'll just use the mowing the
lawn, for example. I taught them, they seen me getting
out for years mowing the lawn. I'd get on the mower, turn it
on, put it into gear, drop the blade down, take off, start driving. Whenever I needed to turn, I'd
turn the wheel, okay? And so I taught them how to do
that. And they did it because they seen me do it. Is that what
Jesus is saying here? Did he see the, well, the Bible
says that God is a spirit. He can't see his spirit, right?
So is Jesus somewhere up in heaven as little Jesus, looking at the
Father, watching everything that he does? No, no, I don't wanna
do it that way. No, what does this mean? See,
that's where we're at. Let's draw out the meaning of
the text, okay? The meaning of the text here.
Verily, verily, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself.
That means that Jesus, as the God-man, can't do anything except
what the purpose of God has intended for the God-man to do. The Son
can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do,
for what things soever He doeth, these things also doeth the Son
likewise. That's basically saying that
whatever the purpose that God has laid out for this mediatorship,
for the whole existence of the God-man, that Jesus sees the
plan, the purpose of God in the mediatorship, in the mediatorial
work of Himself, and He says, I know that there is nothing
else that I can do except for this, because this is the reason
for why I was sent. This is the reason why I was
brought forth. This is the reason why I am who
I am, is so that I might accomplish this work. For the Father loveth the Son,
and showeth him all things that himself doeth. So whatever God
is planning and purposed, that's what the Son knows. So the Son
knows everything that the Father knows. The Son is doing everything
that the Father is doing. Why? Because the Son is God manifested
in the flesh. And he will show him greater
works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raises
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honored the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath already everlasting life and shall not
come into condemnation, but is past, is past. from death unto
life. The ones believing have already
passed from death unto life. God doesn't pass them from death
to life after they believe, okay? There's a lot of people that
believe that you're born again after you believe. No, you're
born again and that's what causes you to believe, okay? Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live, and as the Father hath life in himself, So He hath
given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him
authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of
Man. Why is He the Beloved? Because He is the Son of Man. What does that term mean, the
Son of Man? That means He is the God-Man. He is the One that's
come, God in the flesh. He is the mediator between God
and man, the man Jesus Christ. Because He is in that mediatorial
office, of being the son, the prophet, the priest, the king,
the sacrifice, all these things that He is as the Son of Man.
He has given Him authority to execute judgment because He is
the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice
and shall come forth. They that have done good in the
resurrection of life, they that have done evil, I'm the resurrection
of damnation. I can of my own self do nothing.
As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just, because
I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which sent
me." Now, does that mean that Jesus has a completely different
will than God? No. He's speaking to us in human
understanding terms. What's he saying there? He said,
I can't do anything of my own. It's my will and the Father's
will are the same. Why are they the same? Because I am God. Jesus can't have a different,
there's no two other wills. He's not a, the Father has a
will, the Word has a will, the Spirit has a will. No, there's
one will because there's only one God. And that one God is
found in Christ Jesus the man. And so the man Jesus Christ can't
have a will that's gonna go do something separate than the Father.
What's he saying? He's saying here there is a solid
promise that everything that God has promised from the foundation
of the world. Now remember, these people right
here didn't have the New Testament. All they had was the Old Testament.
And all the times and foreshadows promising something of an inheritance
coming based upon a Messiah to come, right? And so these people
are looking for that. They're looking for that. They're
waiting for that. And what is Jesus here saying?
He's saying, listen, the reason of what I'm saying is true is
because me and the Father's will are not two different wills.
Everything that the Father has said in the past to you is because of me. And I am here
to fulfill all that He has said to you. Why? Because before the mountains
were laid, before anything was done, I was with Him. And I was
His delight. Because He brought me forth for
this very reason. And I have been sent to you for
this very reason. And this covenant is an everlasting
covenant. It is a covenant that is built
on better promises. Promises that can't fail. And so Jesus here is saying the
reason that it's going to take place It's because what I am
saying is God's purpose, it's God's will. I can of mine own
self do nothing as I hear I judge, and my judgment's just, because
I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which has
sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth
witness of me, and I know that the witness which he beareth,
which he witnesseth me, is true. Ye sent unto John, and ye bear
witness unto the truth, but I received not testimony from man, But these
things I say that ye might be saved, does that mean He says
these things so that you might believe and then get saved? No.
That you might be saved from what? Saved from wrong thinking. The
reason I'm saying these truthful things to you is so that you
would be saved from error. Saved from a wrong gospel. What
were these people wanting? They were looking at a gospel
in the law, in the law, by keeping in the law, a self-righteous
law-keeping gospel. And Jesus here was saying, I'm
saying that all of these promises are coming because of me, and
it isn't nothing that you have to do. And he said, in doing
that, you're going to be saved. If you listen and hear these
things, which he said, the ones that does that have life, all
right, already. They've already passed their
death and life. He said, to save you from wrong thinking, from
futile efforts. He's saying that to them. Why?
Because day in and day out, what were they doing? They were getting
up, trying to keep the law. Day in and day out, they were
getting up, trying to keep the law. Whenever they couldn't keep
the law, what did they have to do? They had to go through the
sacrificial systems. had to bring forth their sacrifices, had to
bring forth their offerings, had to go through all the rituals,
the pomp and circumstance of law-keeping, law-keeping, law-keeping,
and it was a dredge day in and day out. If I slipped up, guess
what? I need to take this and do this. I need to do that. I've got calves,
and I've got sheeps, and I've got doves, and I've got grain,
and I've got wine, and I've got oil, and I've got all these things,
and it's just a constant thing. me on ye who are weary and heavy
laden, for my burden is light." Well, the burden wasn't light
to the Hebrew. The burden was heavy, day in and day out, trying
to keep the law, keep the law, keep the law, keep the law. And
Jesus here is saying, listen, there's something that is better
than that. And I've come to be the mediator
of that. And what I speak is truth. And he said, I receive
Not the testimony of man, but these things I say, all of this
that I'm saying, that you might be saved from wrong thinking
and saved from a life of futile effort. See, brethren, there's
a lot of people that think that we need to just keep on keeping
the law to stay right with God. Some people even believe that
you have to keep the law to be right, to be saved by God. Okay? That's what's going to be their
righteousness at the end. Now, most people that we know
probably doesn't, in theory, say that, but yet they believe
that our right standing, if we don't do that, then we lose our
fellowship with God. And all these things, and all
of a sudden, we're gonna stand before God at the Judgment Day, and God's
gonna shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, for all those things that
we did bad. But see, Jesus is saying, I can
save you from the day-in, day-out monotony and the day-in and day-out
labor of trying to be what you can never be. He was a burning and shining
light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
But I had greater witness than that of John, for the works which
the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear
witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father
himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me. Ye have
neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape, and
ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent,
him ye believe not. Search the scriptures for in
them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that
testify of me. And ye will not come to me that
ye might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. I am
come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another
shall come in his own name, him ye will receive, How can you
believe which receive honor, one from another, and seek not
honor that cometh only from God? Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe
not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? Why is Jesus
the beloved? Because he is in divine union
with God, because he is the mediator of God's elect. And as we've
already read in Matthew 3, 13, it is his beloved Son in whom
he is well pleased. But lastly here, look if you
would at Isaiah 42. in verse one. Behold my servant
whom I uphold, mine elect and whom my soul delighteth. I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. Of course, there's a lot more
that's gonna be said about the Lord Jesus Christ there, but here we see my beloved
servant, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom
my soul delights. God has pleasure upon him, and
his people has pleasure in him. 1 Peter 1.8. 1 Peter 1.8. So we know that God has pleasure
in him. He is the beloved because God
viewed It's towards the back of the
book. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 8. It says, Whom having
not seen, ye love. In whom through now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of joy. God's people love Jesus Christ
even though they've never seen Him. Ain't that odd? That we
love somebody that we've not ever met, touched, seeing, interacting
with, and none of us know anybody that has. And none of those people
before the people that we know has ever met Jesus. But yet,
here we are, a whole group of people that love Him. He is the
beloved of His own people. 1 John 4, 19, on John 4, 19. We love him because he first
loved us. He's a beloved because we love
him. But don't ever think that it's
your love for him to get you anything. The only reason that
we love him is because he first loved us. That goes back to what
we started with at the very beginning. So why is He the Beloved? He's
divine union with God. He is the mediator for His elect
because God finds pleasure in Him and because His people are
made to love Him. Now we'll stop right there and
Lord willing next week brethren we'll look at what it means to
be accepted in the Beloved. What does it mean to be accepted
into Christ Jesus? Anybody got any questions or
comments? things you'd like to say? All right. Well, it's good to
see everybody again today. I'll be back with everybody here. And I will say it was kind of
getting nice sitting in my comfy clothes and drinking coffee at
my desk at my house and preaching from there, but I'd much rather
be here with everybody gathered together. And so I'm thankful
that the Lord has allowed us to do that. Continue to pray
for Sister Louetta, that her healing, that the Lord might
heal her quickly so she can be back with us. And keep praying
your prayers if you would. All right, nobody's got anything,
it's about how we're praying. Father, again, we thank you for
this day, and we thank you for the man, Jesus Christ, who is
the mediator between God and man. We thank you, Father, for
the beloved who has done all things according to Your purpose
and Your plan and for our good. We thank You, Father, for this
day, beautiful day that You've given us today, Lord. We thank
You, Lord, for being able to congregate again as Your people. Lord, we thank You for salvation
that we have through Christ. We thank You, Lord, that You've
brought that understanding to us by Your Spirit Father, we
ask that you might continue to be with us as we leave this place
now, Lord. We ask that you would enable us to be witnesses for
you. Pray for those other Christians around the world. Lord, wherever
they may be, gathering in your name, we pray, Father, that your
blessings will be upon them, and that your testimony, that
your gospel will go out to all those around them. Lord, we pray
for our sister Louetta. We pray for her healing. We pray
your hand be upon her, Lord. Especially at this time, Father,
I can only imagine how lonely she feels having to go through
a broken hip and surgery and now a stroke, but not having
any family being able to come and sit with her or anybody to
visit her, pray with her, beside her. So Father, Lord, I pray
that you would encourage her spirit, Lord, to encourage her
during this time, Strengthen her. Lord, I just thank you again
for your mercy upon her. Pray that she will be speedily
returned to our meeting. Father, again, we are grateful
for all that you are and all that you do for us. And now we
ask, Lord, that you would bless the food that we're about to
eat to the nourishment of our bodies. For it's in Jesus' name
that we pray. Amen.