Let me read a couple of verses here in the book of Isaiah. Chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55. In verse 6 it says, Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the
rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Now, I want to talk
to you for a few minutes here this evening in regard to that
great and glorious gift that God hath given to us in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you
a little bit of what happened when God incarnated Himself. Here in the book of Hebrews,
chapter 1, He is talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's always necessary for
us to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is
God and man in one person. We need to remember that deity
and humanity joined, united, linked in one person. deity and
humanity in one person. That one person is the Christ
of God. And that's who he's talking about
here in this first chapter. When he says that God at sundry
times and divers manners, different times, different ways, spake
in times past under the fathers, by the prophets. That was the prophets in the
Old Testament time. God spoke to the people through
the prophets. Moses was a prophet. Now, he
says, half in these last days he has spoken unto us by his
son, not speaking now to us through a prophet like he did through
Moses and Elijah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and those fellows
and Jonah. There are not major prophets
and minor prophets, no prophets at all. If he speaks now, he
speaks through his son. That is the only place, the only
person, the only medium and manner that God communicates with his
people. is through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who, by the way, is the Word made flesh. The living
Word made the written Word. And that is how He speaks to
us. Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed, and we talked about
the anointing and appointing of the Lord Jesus Christ by God
the Father, God whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
heir of all things. In another place it says he hath
given him power over all flesh, power over everything in heaven,
power over everything on earth, as a reward for what he did. He is worthy of that gave him
a name which is above every name, worthy of that office, worthy
of being our advocate and our intercessor. He's our advocate,
and since he's our lawyer, he speaks for us. He's our intercessor,
intercedes for us day in and day out, hour in and hour out.
He pleads before God as our advocate and intercessor. If any man sin,
we have an advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, even the Lord Jesus Christ, our intercessor, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,
who being the brightness of his glory. Now, he's talking about
the Lord Jesus, that he's the brightness of the glory of God. I told you, the glory of God
is his holiness, and the express image of his person. and upholdeth
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
alone." We talked there a little bit before church with the brethren
there about folks talking about losing their salvation. Afraid maybe they might lose
it. Well, if they had anything to do with it, it's possible
they could lose it. if they had something to do with
it. But if they didn't have anything to do with their salvation, then
they can't lose it. If God is the author of salvation,
if the Lord Jesus Christ Himself purged our sins and sat down
on the right hand of majesty on high, if He did it all, if
God in Christ did it all, then we can't lose it. There's no
way we can lose salvation because it's in the hands of God. It's
God himself in Christ that wrought salvation, made atonement, made
reconciliation, established righteousness, bore the penalty to our sins.
How can we lose it if it's all of God? You can't lose it. If
you've got anything in you, you can lose it. And all the Armenians,
you know, that believe that salvation is according to their will and
wishes and desires and according to their prayers and according
to their works, they can lose theirs. But if it is all of God,
you are not going to lose it. Being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, Thou art my son? This day have I begotten
thee, and again I will be to him a father, and he shall be
to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten
into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship
him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits,
and his ministers the flame of fire? Who does that? Now he says,
But unto the Son, this is the part I want you to Think about
it. But unto the Son, he saith. This
is what he says to the Son. Thy throne, O God. God the Father
refers to the Son as, O God. Unto the Son, he says, thy throne. Ain't nobody got a throne but
God. There's only one true and living
God, and He's got a throne. There's only one King, and one
crown. There is only one kingdom and
one heir to that kingdom, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He is God. But under the sun He saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. No end to it. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. All right? In light of those passages, that
I read to you there, there is in this redeeming person, God's
Christ, one God ascent, there is in this redeeming person a
union of two natures. He is God and man in one person. God and man, all God and all
man in one person. And they refer to Him in the
Scriptures several times as the God-man, the God-man. Now, He is called God in the
verse that I read to you, verse 8, of having a throne forever
and ever. Now, He is the seed of David
according to the flesh, and He is declared to be the Son of
God according to the resurrection. Now, in John chapter 1, verse
14, I have reminded you of it already, the Word was made flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Word, and He becomes the Word of flesh. The living Word becomes
the Word of flesh. The Word from eternity was made
flesh in time. The Word and flesh in one person. Word and flesh in one person.
In other words, a great and glorious God and a little infant in one
person. A great and glorious God and
a little baby in one person. Now, the terms of this union,
this uniting of God and man in one person. The terms of this
union were infinitely distant. In other words, what greater
distance can there be between deity and humanity? Imagine the distance between
God and humanity. The distance is so great, it's
inconceivable to even think about measuring the distance, that
man and God are so far apart. God, deity, and humanity. So I say that the terms of this
union that we're talking about, that God and man in one person,
was infinitely distant, what greater distance can there be
between deity and humanity, between the Creator God and the creature? What great and far distance,
poles, poles apart, eternities apart. Can you imagine the distance
between eternity and time? Can't conceive of that. Can you
imagine the distance between infinite power and miserable
infirmity? I'm saying all this in order
that you and I might come to appreciate how God emptied Himself
when He gave us the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave all that he had,
no more to give when he gave Christ. Christ left eternity,
who thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He left eternity,
left the riches of glory, and came here and become a man. Oh, the distance between time
and eternity. The Word was made flesh. Great distance. Great. Can you imagine the separation,
the distance between an immortal spirit and dying flesh? God is an immortal spirit. You
and I are dying flesh. We're dying by inches. We've
been dying since we came forth from our mother's womb. We've
been dying in the process of decay and dying. The highest being, can you imagine
the distance between the highest being, that's God, no higher
than God. The distance between the highest
being and nothing. You and I are nothing less than
nothing. What are we? We're the dust. We came from the dust. The highest
being came and joined himself to that
which is nothing and become one person. Can you imagine a God like our
God, the true and the living God? A God over all and above
all, none like unto Him, none can be compared to Him. A God
that is so vast in greatness and glory that we can't even
imagine the vastness of the glory and the holiness and the goodness
and mercy of God Almighty. A God of unmixed blessedness
is joined personally with a man of perpetual sorrow. A life incapable to die. That's God. He can't die. I often say, God, they're going
to kill God or something, but those are just human expressions. God cannot be killed. There's
none greater than God, who can stay His hand for His purpose. He doeth whatsoever He will in
the armies of heaven, and He says, Who can withstand me? Well, a life, a life incapable
to die, joined to a body in that economy, incapable to live unless
he dies first. God joining Himself to us. A life that is incapable to die
to a life that is incapable to live until it dies first. Oh, listen, infinite purity. We talked about the purity of
God. I told you that He is so good
He cannot be bad. And I will add this to it this
evening, that God is so good that he cannot be bad, and man
is so bad that he cannot be good. God is so holy, he can't be unholy. Man is so unholy, he can't be
holy. But yet God, of unmixed blessedness,
joins himself to this nothing, and they become united and become
one person. What grace, what grace that God
would condescend and be concerned about you and I for what reason?
What reason could you think of that God would be concerned with
human flesh? My God, He could have made 10,000 worlds.
He could have let this world go to hell and everyone in it
and made another one, repopulated it if He wanted to. But that
wasn't His will. That wasn't His good pleasure.
Eternal, infinite, puritia to a reputed sinner, like you and
I. Eternal blessedness with a cursed
nature. We got the cursed nature. Almightiness. Almighty God. What does that
mean? Almighty. Almighty God. We say that, don't
we? Almighty God. That means there's
nothing too hard for God. He's Almighty. He can cause the
Red Sea to stop. He can cause the sun to quit
shining. It's Almighty God. Nothing too
hard for our God. Almightyness and weakness join
together. We're weak as water. Weak as
water. No stability about us. You can't
put any confidence or trust in human flesh liable to do anything
at any time to anybody. Oh, my soul, all mightiness and
weakness joined together, united together in one person. Omniscience! Omniscience! The omniscience
of God knows everything before it happens. It knows the
end from the beginning. You can't tell God anything.
He knows all there is to know. Omniscient and ignorance joined
together in one person. That's what I'm talking about.
God coming down and taking it upon Himself. Human flesh. God and man. in one person. Immutability. Immutability. I've told you many times what
immutability means. It means God cannot change. It
doesn't mean God will or can't. It means He cannot change. God
cannot change. And let me tell you, that's part
of God's glory. that God can do that you cannot
do is God's glory. And God cannot change, and you
can. You and I change all the time,
but God cannot change. Whatever God has said, He has
said forever. He'll never go back on His Word.
He'll never change His mind. You can't get God to change His
mind. when his mind is already made
up as to what he's going to do. You can't get him to change his
mind. He won't change his mind. He's immutable. Immutability
and changeableness join together, united in one person. See? God, this is the way it had to
be if we was ever going to be saved. A man couldn't save us. Only the God-man can save us.
God and man, one person, see? Think about this now. That which
cannot be comprehended, can't comprehend God, we can't even
imagine in our wildest dreams. I have not seen nor entered into
the heart of man all that God is and all that God has done.
The worthiness of God. That which cannot be comprehended
and that which can be comprehended join together in one person.
Marvelous thing, isn't it? Marvelous thing. God doing that
for us. That which is entirely independent. God is not dependent upon anybody. Won't you do something for God?
God doesn't need your help. I'm not to say that you're not
to serve God and serve your generation and all that, If what motivates
you is that you think you're doing something for God and helping
God out, something He couldn't do Himself, then you're on the
wrong track because God is altogether independent. He needs no help. And He said, if I needed anything,
I wouldn't ask it of you or me. But listen, I only say that to
say this, that which is entirely independent to that which is
totally depended on, and that is us, joined together, see,
in one flesh, united in one flesh. That is, the Creator God forming
all things. Everything that was made, that
was made, was formed by God. Every particle of dust. everything
that moves and wiggles, every drop of water, every flake of
snow, every breath of wind, every leaf formed on every tree, the
Creator God forming all things, and the creature made, He made
us out of the dust, meet together in a personal union, God and
man, one person. That's what happened. when God
became a man. That is a great mystery. God
become a man. God become a man. That a person
possessed of all these perfections of the Godhead should inherit
all the imperfections of manhood in one person. In one person. Sin only accepted. a holiness
incapable of sinning, to be made sin. He who knew no sin was made
sin in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The fullness of the Godhead,
the fullness of Deity and nothingness, the fullness of Deity and emptiness
join together. and one person. It may be said
that God suffered and God was crucified. That may be said.
God suffered. God was crucified. For the person
of Christ is but one person, and the person that suffered
was the God-man united. joined together, God
and man in one person. And that's the message that came
from heaven through the Lord Jesus, that
God sent one to rescue poor damn sinners who can't save themselves. He sent him. And he become a
man like their man. He had to become a man because
he was a man that sinned against God. And he, as a man, met all the requirements that
God had laid upon man. Met them all. Honored and magnified the law
on their behalf. Suffered the penalties due to
them. Made them accepted in the Beloved. Who did this? The God-man. He did it all. And all to Him we owe. Isn't
that right? All to Him we owe. Lord, all
to Him. All glory and honor and majesty
and might and power belong with unto our Lord Jesus Christ because
He is worthy of it. Because He is the One who emptied
Himself of all of His glory and came here and joined Himself
to nothingness. And as a man redeemed us, made
atonement for our sins, He ever lives as our intercessor and
advocate to keep us straight. He died to make us clean. He ever lives to keep us clean.
God bless His name. Thank the Lord. for our dear
Savior who left heaven's shore and came and redeemed poor sinners
like you and I redeemed us with His blood died He really suffered
and He really died and He really rose again and because He lives
we shall also live good hope isn't it? Our salvation is tied up, shut
up, bound up, wrapped up in Him. And we can't lose it because
it's in Him. And we're kept. We're kept by
the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
stand. We'll be dismissed.