I'm going to take you to... hold your place there in the
book of Acts and turn to Psalm chapter 80. I don't know if you
are familiar with Psalm chapter 80, but I like this psalm. This
psalm is dear to me because it calls for God to turn us again. The nation of Israel had that
problem in the Old Testament, always needing to be turned.
Most of the time, they didn't know it. Most of the time, they
didn't call upon the Lord for it. If they had, it wouldn't
have been a problem. But I find this chapter a great
blessing, and I don't want to read the entire chapter, but
you'll find this phrase over and over in here, "'Turn us again,
O God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine And we shall be
saved. If God causes His face to shine,
we shall be saved. If He shines toward us in His
saving mercy and grace, and His favor in Christ, we shall be
saved. But look at verse 17. In Psalm 80 it says, Let thy
hand be upon the man of thy right hand. That means the man who's
sitting on your right hand. Upon the Son of Man. whom thou
madest strong for thyself. So will we not go back from thee? Quicken us, make us alive, and
we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." I can
never think of a more appropriate prayer than that for my life.
Lord, turn me again. To be turned again means to be
turned in repentance again. Repentance is not a one-time
thing. It's a moment-by-moment thing.
I constantly regret the sin of the very moment that I'm in.
I'm asking the Lord to turn me again to see what he has said about myself
and see what he said about himself in Christ. I read that though
because this phrase, let thy hand be upon the man of thy right
hand, introduces us to this topic, the son of man, who is the one
who ascended into heaven. In Matthew chapter 16, if you
want to look at that, this question is raised by the Lord Jesus himself,
and he calls himself by, he gives himself a title, And this title
is the most frequently used title the Lord Jesus gives to himself.
He says in Matthew chapter 16, verse 13, When Jesus came into
the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,
Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? We just read in Psalms, let thy
hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man, whom
thou made as strong for thyself. And here he says, whom do men
say that I the son of man am? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or
one of the prophets. He saith to them, but whom do
you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed that to thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Son of Man, and the Son of Man is the Son of God. That's what we just read there.
He said, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And Peter
answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. One
person. in two natures, the Son of God,
God Himself, God over all, blessed forever, the One who created
the heavens and the earth by His great power, by His Word,
who did it all for Himself, at His own pleasure, the Son of
God, and He is also the Son of Man. Now, Scripture reveals to
us who the Son of Man is, and it does it by telling us about
the Son of Man in four different periods in which God reveals
His character to us. And so I want to give you these
four different ways in which God reveals to us who the Son
of Man is. We know it's the Lord Jesus Christ,
but why is it, how is it this title, Son of Man, how does this
refer to the Lord Jesus Christ? What does it teach us about Him?
And the first thing we see is that if we take it in the order
in which things occur throughout eternity and then time and eternity
again, the first thing we see is that Jesus Christ had glory
with the Father as the Son of God and as the Son of Man before
He came into this world. We think of the phrase Son of
Man as indicating the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it does that. It does refer to His humanity.
But that's not all it refers to. In John chapter 6, in verse
62, you don't have to turn there, but listen to this. The Lord
Jesus stood before these men and He told them that I am the
bread that came down from heaven. And he told them, if you eat
this bread, if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have
everlasting life. And they were offended with that.
They were offended that he said that he came down from heaven,
that they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood in order
to have life. Even the disciples who professed
to be his disciples, but were not, they were offended. And
Jesus asked them this question, does this offend you? In verse
62 of John 6, "...what and if you shall see the Son of Man
ascend up where He was before?" Where He was before, the Son
of Man. Now, if Christ in His humiliation as the Son of Man,
when He stood before these men, if that offends us, the Lord
Jesus is asking then, and how much more will Christ in His
glory as Judge of all offend us? If Christ as the Son of Man
after His humiliation will ascend up where He was before, because
that's what He says, the Son of Man, if He ascends up where
He was before, if it offends you now, think of how much offended
you will be when He ascends up where He was before And we know
when He ascends up, He goes up to glory and takes His place
on the right hand of God. Therefore, before He came into
this world, He sat on the right hand of God as Son of Man and
Son of God, where He was before. He had glory with the Father
as the Son of God and as the Son of Man. In John chapter 17,
verse 5, He says this. He says to His Father, give me the glory that I had
with you before the world was." And that's what he's referring
to here. In Jeremiah 17, 12, it says this,
And I want you to turn there, because this is not a verse that
we read every day, so I'm having you turn there. So it might be
one of those verses that becomes precious to you, as it has, as
I've thought about it over a long period of time. This is a key
verse in Scripture, Jeremiah 17, 12. Listen to this. Speaking
about the Son of God, who is the Son of Man, who had glory
with the Father as Son of God and Son of Man, Before he came
into the world, in verse 12 of Jeremiah 17, it says, "...a glorious,
high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary."
Now, what is a sanctuary? Well, it's a place of refuge.
It's a place of worship. It's a place where God discloses
Himself to His people and teaches them who He is. And this he does
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of God and Son
of Man. But here he says, it's a glorious high throne which
was from the beginning. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was in heaven before he came to this earth. And this is what
it means. He came from heaven, that place
where He had glory with God the Father as Son of God and Son
of Man. That's the first thing. Jesus
Christ had glory with the Father as Son of God and Son of Man
before He came into the world. And second, The second thing
we learn about the Son of Man through these time periods, if
you will. We can't really speak of eternity
as a time, but it was a period in which God reveals to us this
One who is the Son of Man. The second thing we learn is
that Jesus Christ voluntarily humbled Himself and came into
the world and suffered and died in humiliation that he might
accomplish the eternal will of God to save his people from their
sins. So that's the second part. Here,
he who was in glory, who had glory with the Father, voluntarily
humbled himself. He left his place in glory to
take the place of the lowest servant, to fulfill the highest
service ever performed in all of eternity and time, to forever
take to himself The nature of a man, a real body and soul. And to be made under the law
and obey God's holy law in everything. That's the son of man. He came
from glory. He was born of a woman. He was
made under the law. And he came to be made lower
than the angels in order that he might suffer and die in order to save his people from
their sins. That state of humiliation in
which he was in this world made a man in the likeness of sinful
men. It says in Romans chapter 8. He came to fulfill God's eternal
will to offer himself in sacrifice on the cross to lay down his
life to shed his blood that he might make atonement for the
sins of his people. So he who had glory with the
Father took the place of the lowest servant to fulfill the
highest service of all, to do the eternal will of God." You
can read about this in Revelation chapter 5. Remember that chapter
where the great angel calls out to heaven and all the inhabitants
and he says, who is worthy to take the book and to open the
seals thereof." That book that was the eternal will of God,
written within and without on the backside, both sides, every
side, all around, from top to bottom. It was written, the volume
of the book. And Jesus Christ, when He came
into the world, He says, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body
hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. So the second thing we see of
our Lord Jesus is that He came. He who was in heaven before sharing
the glory with His Father came to earth in humiliation for the
suffering of death to save His people and to glorify His God. And third, The third thing we
see about the Lord Jesus Christ is that having fulfilled the
will of God in his death, having conquered sin and death, and
the devil, by his own death, and saved his people from their
sins, he rose from the dead. And he ascended back up to heaven
to sit on heaven's throne with power. and great glory. Only this time, not as the Son
of God only in His nature, but now as Son of God and Son of
Man, both God and man in two natures, the one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. It's a great mystery,
this mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, raised from the dead, declared unto the world. Now
the fourth thing we see here, so there's first three things,
is Christ in glory before He came into the world, Christ on
earth in humiliation, Christ in glory having accomplished
the will of God, and now fourth, Jesus Christ who now rules over
all things as Son of God and Son of Man, He will return to
this world. And He will return in the power
and the glory of the Son of God and the Son of Man to judge this
world in righteousness. He will return to separate the
sheep from the goats. He will return as a reigning
Savior to gather His people to Himself in heaven and to them,
to give to them the kingdom that the Father prepared for them
before the world was. He will judge the world in righteousness.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to this
world, who now reigns over all in heaven. He will come again
in power and great glory. It says this in Matthew chapter
25. Look at Matthew chapter 25 with me before we get to the
book of Acts. Matthew 25 and verse 31. He says, the Lord Jesus is talking
here. And listen how He speaks of Himself
in the future. He says in verse 31, "...the
Son of Man shall come in His glory." The first time He came
into the world, He came in His humiliation. But the second time,
He will come in His glory. "...and all the holy angels with
Him." They're His angels. They serve Him. So they come
with Him. The armies of heaven are commanded
to worship Him. Those are the angels. "...then
shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." And before him
shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one
from another, as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats
on his left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And then he describes
himself as being hungry and thirsty and naked, and they came and
ministered to him, but they had no memory of it. But he speaks
of it this way, the sheep, they can never remember what they
did for the Lord because they didn't do it in order to gain
something by it. They did it for His glory and
to His honor, out of love for what He did for them. But the
goats, they respond when he says to them, but when you saw me
hungry and naked and thirsty, you didn't give me food or drink
or clothe me. And they say, but when did we? If we would have had an opportunity,
we would have done that. We would have earned something
by that. Always presenting themselves as having that potential to do
the will of God and earn eternal life. That was the goats. But
now I want you to turn with me to the book of Acts. And I'm
going to do a survey through the book of Acts. Something I've
thought about doing for a long time, but have never done it. In the book of Acts, several
sermons are preached. And so I want to visit each of
these sermons in overview. Not in particular, of course,
but just in overview to see what is the message that they preached
in the book of Acts. It turns out that in the book
of Acts, Peter and John and Paul all exhorted and warned men to
believe in Christ. And so in Acts chapter 2, if
we pick it up in verse 22, it says Peter is preaching here.
This is his sermon. I want you to notice a few things
about this sermon. First of all, he uses scripture. And second of all, he speaks
of Jesus of Nazareth. And then he speaks of the crime
these men committed, and the will of God in their crime, and
what God did by that. So look at his sermon here in
verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man, approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and
signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves
also know, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. God knows before what will be
because He determined it in His counsel. That's what this phrase
is saying here. You have taken Him, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should
beholden of it. Why was it not possible? Well,
first of all, he is the life. And secondly, he fulfilled the
will of God. The law brings death upon the
sinner. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. But Christ put away the sins
of his people. And having put them away, there
was no wage left there to expend upon him. And so he had to be
raised from the dead. For David, in verse 25, for David
speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face.
Now this is David speaking in Psalm 16, verse 8 through 11. But he does it in a way as if
he's speaking in the first person, but he's not himself speaking
in the first person because he speaks as a prophet. In fact,
he's speaking as the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, The Lord Jesus
Christ, speaking these words, I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover,
also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. And Peter speaks
now, he says, Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of
the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and
his sepulcher with us unto this day. He mentions that because
David is speaking of resurrection. And he's in the grave still.
So he must have been speaking about someone else. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." Whose throne?
God's throne. He, seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Now listen to these
words very carefully, because he's coming to the end of his
sermon. He says, Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted,
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this which you do now see and hear. For
David is not ascended into heaven, the heavens, but he saith himself,
The Lord, Jehovah, said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right
hand until I make thy foes thy footstool." In other words, David
is saying in Psalm 110.1, he just quoted here, that the Lord, Jehovah, said
to him in prophecy, in promise, in oath, that he would set Christ
upon his own throne, on his own right hand, and make his enemies
his footstool. Verse 36, he draws the conclusion,
he says, Therefore, that all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified,
both Lord and Christ. That's the message of every sermon
in the book of Acts. They told, Peter told the Jews,
they had the one they crucified, God raised from the dead according
to his promise and his oath. And then he applied the words
of David from Psalm 16 to Christ. And he taught that God's promise
was to enthrone the Son of Man on Heaven's throne. David's Son
and David's Lord. And then he concluded that Jesus
of Nazareth, the Son of Man, is both Lord and Christ. It's
so clear, isn't it? And then look at Acts chapter
3. Peter here preached again in Acts chapter 3. And he preached
about many things, but I'm going to take you to the end of this
in verse 25. He says, Peter is preaching in
a sermon, and he says, You are the children of the prophets,
and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying
unto Abraham, and this is what he says, saying unto Abraham,
and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed."
The seed of Abraham was the one in whom all the nations or the
kindreds of the world would be blessed. He's speaking about
the Gentiles and the Jews, but primarily the Gentiles who would
be blessed in Abraham's seed, his descendant, the one God promised,
the one in fact to whom God gave all of the promises. And Peter
is speaking about Christ as the seed of Abraham here. And so
he tells him this. Remember what it says in 2 Corinthians
1.20? He says, In Him, in Christ, all
the promises of God are yes and amen. They're certain. And they're
sure. In Christ. All the promises.
And in Galatians 3, verse 16 and verse 19, it's clear. He's
speaking about Christ to whom all the promises were given.
And so Peter is preaching that. Therefore, the promises weren't
given to the nation of Israel as a political nation, but to
Christ. In verse 26, He draws the conclusion,
Unto you, you who crucified Him, unto you first, God, having raised
up His Son, sent Him to bless you in turning away every one
of you from His iniquities. What grace is this? Jesus said,
go first to Jerusalem, then Judea, and then Samaria, and the uttermost
parts of the world. Start where they took me, and
falsely accused me, and spit in my face, and buffeted me,
and beat my back, and hung me on a cross, and drove those thorns
into my brow, and pierced my hands and feet, and my side,
and mocked me, Go to them first and declare to them, in humiliation
he came, according to the will of God he suffered, in order
to give repentance and remission of sins to Israel, to his people,
the chosen of God, those called with God's name. And now, look
over, that's Acts chapter 3. We see it there. Then in Acts
4, remember what happened in Acts chapter 4? There was a man
who was lame and he couldn't walk. He was over 40 years old. Peter and John came to the temple. He was begging for alms and Peter
said, "...silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give
I thee in the name of Jesus Christ." In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk." Why does he say it that way?
Because the name of Jesus Christ means the one who sits on heaven's
throne. The one who has all power and
all authority. That's what Jesus said. He said
in Matthew 28, 18, He says, All power in heaven and earth is
given unto me. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations. And so Peter looks on this lame
man and he says, In the name of the King of Glory, Jesus of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now it was God's will that he
did that. Immediately this man over 40 years old could walk.
All these years, bam, he stands up and he doesn't just walk,
but he leaps. Most 40 year olds can't leap,
but he could leap. And he was walking and leaping
and praising God. And so the Jews, they were incensed,
they were angry. And they called Peter and John
and asked them by what name they did this. And so look at verse
10 of Acts chapter 4. In verse 9 he says, If we this
day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by
what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all, And
to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is
the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved." So now we see the Lord
Jesus Christ who sits on the throne is the only one by whom
we must be saved. He's the one who turns his people
from their iniquities. He came from heaven in humiliation
in order to make remission of sins for his people. And that's
what he says here in Acts chapter 4. Then look at Acts chapter
5, verse 31. Peter again is preaching. They
had told them to be quiet. And verse 29, then Peter said,
Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to
obey God rather than men. He was very bold. He had seen
what they had done to Christ. He knew that these men were threatening
them. But he says, We ought to obey God rather than men. Verse
30. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. That's an accusation,
and it was a correct one. But listen to the next verse.
Listen to the mercy and the grace. Him, the one you killed, God
raised up. Him hath God exalted. with his right hand, to be a
prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins. Let thy hand be upon the man
of thy right hand, even upon the son of man whom thou hast
made strong for thyself." Isn't that what Psalm 80 says? Turn
us again, Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and
we shall be saved. And then look at Acts chapter
7. Stephen is preaching in the entire
chapter, and he brings his sermon to a close. And he tells the
Jews that they were the ones who crucified Christ. They rejected him just like they
had rejected Moses. Not them, in particular. They
hadn't gone back, and they weren't the ones in the wilderness, but
they were the same generation, the same type of people. They
had the same spirit of unbelief. And Stephen tells them this very
boldly. And so, they take up stones to
kill him. But look at verse 54. When they heard these things
that Stephen preached, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed
on him with their teeth. But he, Stephen, being full of
the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory
of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. There
he is in power. He equates the glory of God with
the position that Christ holds. On the right hand of God. And
Stephen said this, Behold, I see the heavens opened. And who? The Son of Man, standing on the
right hand of God. And they cried out with a loud
voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at the young man's feet, whose name
was Saul. But listen to what happened. And they stoned Stephen.
And he was calling upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit. And then he says, and he kneeled
down, and he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin
to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. What mercy, what grace. The men who were stoning
him, he says, Lord, don't lay this sin to their charge, because
he saw Christ. And he committed his spirit into
the hand of him who sits on heaven's throne, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Son of Man. He saw him there, didn't he?
And so every believer is taught to do that. In Acts chapter 10,
if you turn over there. In Acts chapter 10, Peter was
sent to Cornelius and he told Cornelius and the Gentiles that
were with him that Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good. And it
starts in verse 34. But he went about doing good,
Peter said, and he was approved of God by the miracles and wonders
that he did. Yet the Jews crucified him and
killed him, but God raised him up from the dead. It's the same
message that he spoke of all. Let me read this to you here.
He says in verse 36. He says, The word which God sent
unto the children of Israel, preaching peace, By Jesus Christ,
by His sin-atoning blood, He says, He is Lord of all. The
One whose blood made peace with God for His people, He is Lord
of all. That's amazing, isn't it? That
the Lord Jesus Christ raised Him up and made Him Lord of all.
And then He goes on, He says in verse 40, I'll just go ahead and read down
through 42. He says in verse 37, "...that word, I say, you
know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee,
after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about
doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
For God was with him, and we are witnesses of all these things
which he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they
slew." and hanged on a tree. Him, God raised up the third
day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with
Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach
to the people and to testify that it is He which was ordained
of God to be judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets
witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall
receive remission of sins. And so in verse 48, look at what
it says. He commanded them to be baptized
after those that believed. He commanded them to be baptized.
That's not the verse I was looking for. But anyway, you see the
point here? Peter preaches the same sermon to the Gentiles.
God raised up His Son. He blessed Him. He sent Him.
He went about doing good to the Jews. They took Him and they
crucified Him. God raised Him up. God raised
Him up and set Him on His own right hand. And now God sends
the message of peace by His blood to those people who crucified
Him and to all the people. This is the message. He's Lord
of all. He's Lord of all. I love that
phrase in verse 36. Preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is
Lord of all. Now in chapter 13 also of Acts,
we see the same thing, only this time it's Paul preaching. Because
he preached the same things to the Gentiles in his sermons that
Peter preached. He said that the rulers in Jerusalem,
though they found no cause of death in Christ, wanted Pilate
to crucify him. And you can see that in verse... Beginning around verse 26 and
following. In verse 30 you see that God raised him from the
dead. Because after they had fulfilled all that was written
of him, they took him down from the tree, they laid him in a
sepulcher, but God raised him from the dead. And then he goes
on. In verse 32, he says, "...and
we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was
made unto the fathers, God has fulfilled the same to us, their
children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again." And it is also
written in the second psalm, "...thou art my son." Now when
he says that, he's speaking about the Son of God. He reveals Him
here. It's the time of the revelation that the Son of Man, who is Jesus
of Nazareth, The people saw him as just son of David, Jesus of
Nazareth. He's the son of man prophesied
in the Old Testament. But when God raised him from
the dead, he declared, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. In other words, he raised him
from the dead and declared that he was his own son. And so he
goes on and he repeats the same thing that Peter said about David's
prophecy in Psalm chapter 16. He says in verse 38, look at
what he says. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. And now verse 48. And when the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and they glorified the
word of the Lord. These Gentiles who heard what
Paul said, And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. That's the message. Paul preached
it. Peter preached it. All the apostles
preached the same thing. It's an amazing thing, isn't
it? Jesus of Nazareth, He had glory with the Father before
He came into the world. He took the place of the lowest
servant to fulfill the greatest service. To save His people from
their sins. To glorify His Father. And for
that, God set Him at His own right hand. He's the one that
is our High Priest, our King, our Mediator. He's all these
things. Now I want to get to the significance of these
things to us. It's obviously significant, isn't
it? Is there salvation? Yes. Where is that salvation
found? In Christ the Lord. How do we know that Jesus accomplished
the will of God? Because God raised Him from the
dead. How do we know that He overcame sin? Because God raised
Him from the dead. Death hath no power on Him. How
do we know that He is the Son of God and Son of Man, prophesied
in the Old Testament as the One who would sit on heaven's throne,
the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand? Because
God raised Him up and set Him on His own right hand. Now, what
is the conclusion of these things? What can we learn from these
things? First of all, that the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is Son of Man, is Lord of all. Did you catch that? In Acts 10.36, He is Lord of
all. You can see this throughout.
In Romans 10.12, it says the same thing. He is the Lord of
all. And the second thing is that the Father, God the Father,
Delights to honor his son. He delights to honor him, doesn't
he? The one thing the Lord God delights
to do is to honor his son. This is my beloved son. Hear him. Remember those words? I love to hear them. Hear him. That's what he said at the transfiguration. That's what he said at his baptism.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. What a statement! God the Father, the Holy One
of Heaven, who cannot look upon sin, He looks at His Son and
He says, with Him I am well pleased. My only Son, my only begotten
Son, my beloved Son, He's done it all. And so he sits him at
his own right hand, far above all principality, and power,
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things. Why? To the church, which is
his body. This is from Ephesians chapter
1. The Lord God delights in him, to honor him. How much more ought
we to honor him? Remember in the book of Esther,
Haman, that wicked man who wanted to have the king's place. He
coveted the king's throne. He devised to kill all the Jews.
But God overthrew his plan and he exalted Mordecai instead. Haman comes in at a particular
time. Someone had told the king what
Mordecai had done and the king is thinking, what can I do to
honor Mordecai? And Haman walks in and the king
says to Haman, Haman, because Haman was the highest prince
in the land, he said, Haman, come here. What shall be done
to the man whom the king delights to honor? And Haman thought in
his heart, he said, Who but me would the king delight to honor?
This is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights
to honor. Put the king's robe, his own robe on him, and take
the king's horse, and set him on his own horse, and have the
mightiest prince in the kingdom lead him through the city, and
declare, proclaim before him, This is what shall be done to
the man whom the king delights to honor. And the king said,
good idea. Do that to Mordecai right now. Of course Mordecai had planned
to kill, I mean Haman had planned to kill Mordecai and all the
Jews. And he had built a gallows 70 feet, 70 cubits, I can't remember
which. 50 cubits I think. Really tall. A gallows for Mordecai. And it
was discovered that that was his plot, and so the king commanded
that Haman be hung on his own gallows. This is the Lord Jesus
Christ, isn't it? God the Father, delighted in
his son, exalted him to the highest place. And he found the devil
who lusted after his place, and he said, Hang him on the highest
place, and all of his seed with him. And subdue him unto the
feet of my son and his church. This is our Lord Jesus Christ.
The third thing we learn here is that He is the sovereign Lord
who gives salvation to all. Look at John chapter 5. I'm trying
to hurry up here a little bit. John chapter 5. Let's bring these
practical things. He says in verse 21, Jesus is
talking to the Jews. In verse 20 he says, "...for
the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself
doeth." Now, this isn't just as a son of God. This is as a
son of man. He reveals himself to the one
who is not just son of God, but son of man. Sitting on heaven's
throne, not as God only, but as man. The image of the invisible
God. Son of God. Son of man. The father
loveth the son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth.
And he will show him greater works than these, that you may
marvel. And as the father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them,
even so the son quickeneth whom he will. He's given him so much
authority that God entrusts the life, eternal life of his people
with his son. He says, you do whatever you
want to do. Raise from the dead whomever
you will. And so he says that here. He
quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment to the Son. Just like Pharaoh
in Egypt, he committed everything to Joseph. Go to Joseph if you're
hungry. No one lifts a hand without Joseph.
He committed it all to His Son. Judgment, life, everything is
put into... Why? That all men might honor
the Son even as they honor the Father. How could anyone deny
that the Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself by those statements?
Honor Him as you honor me. That's what God the Father says.
He's the Sovereign Lord who gives salvation. And I didn't read it there, but
he also goes on in verse 24 to say that he quickens the dead.
He raises them to life by his word. Continue reading that in
your own time. But the fourth thing I want you
to see about the Son of God and Son of Man is that he accomplished
our salvation as God and man. He offered himself to God. He
now sits on heaven's throne. And what does he do there? He
sits there to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him.
What does that make you want to do if he humbled himself and
himself accomplished our salvation and now sits on the throne of
heaven? It's called the throne of grace
because he sits there. What should sinners do? Go to
him. Go to him, we have not a high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but in all points he was tempted like we are, yet without sin,
therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we might
obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need, which
is all the time, isn't it? He alone accomplished our salvation. And the fifth thing, he says, that there is a man
in glory. A man in glory. Isn't that amazing? He's a mediator. He's both God
and man. He does all for God that God
requires. And he does all for men that
God would have to bless them with. He represents us to God,
which we could never do. No man can go to God. But Christ
did. And now He brings His people
in Himself when He goes. As the high priest entered into
the holy place with the blood of the animal, Christ entered
with His own blood. And He brought His people with
Him. And He appears in heaven with His own blood for us. In
Hebrews 9 it says that. There's a man in glory. That's
phenomenal, isn't it? That the Lord Jesus Christ, the
eternal God, who doesn't change. From eternity to eternity thou
art God. And yet, he's taken to himself
a human nature, a body and soul, and sits now on heaven's throne.
Look at Hebrews chapter 2. I just have to point this out
to you. It's just amazing. Hebrews chapter
2 verse 5. He says, For unto the angels
hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we
speak. Not to the angels, but one saith in a certain place,
Or he testified in a certain place saying, what is man that
thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest
him? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor and set him over the works of thy hands. This is speaking,
it sounds like he's speaking about creation, doesn't it? Thou
hast put all things in subjection under his feet. But in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. If he said all things are put
under him, then everything must be put under him. But now we
see not yet all things put under man, but we see Jesus who was
made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every..." And the word man was actually
not there in the Greek. It just means every son. It says it, doesn't it? He humbled
himself. He suffered death to save his
people. And God set him in glory. We have a man sitting on the
throne of glory. He is our forerunner. Look at
Hebrews chapter 6. Since you're there, last two
verses. He says... What is this saying? It's saying that... We have life, everlasting life
and grace. He was raised from the dead.
Think about the power that God required to raise Christ from
the dead. When He raised Him from the dead,
He raised all of His people with Him. From the dead. Their sins were taken away. His
blood. in His resurrection are our victory. It's amazing. All things have
been put into His hand. Eternal life and everything in
heaven and earth is put into His hand. He's the heir of all,
and with Him we inherit all things. There's so much to say about
this. This is really just the whole Bible. We have to expound,
really, to have it all, which I don't have time to do. But
I'll just touch on this last thing one more time. that all
judgment has been put into the hands of our Savior. As it pleases
Him, He sits as judge and judges men. He searches the hearts,
He knows the thoughts of men. He searches the hearts of men.
And it says in Psalm 14, He searched and He could find no man that
did good. Then if He searched all the hearts
of men, what does that mean about your heart and mine? It means
He searched our heart, doesn't it? And what did He find there?
No good thing. And if he sits as judge, then
what are we going to answer him? We can't answer him, can we?
Not of ourselves. We need someone to answer for
us. That's what He did at the cross. His resurrection says God received
full answer from Him. He answered with Himself, and
that is our only plea. We have fled to Christ for refuge,
the Son of God, the Son of Man. This is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that You would
so show us what you have done in our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he is the Lord of all, he's the only one in whom
salvation is found, and we would come to him at every moment. We would never come with anything
that we might call our own, but come through everything that
is his own, everything he's accomplished, and trust you, Lord, that you
would look upon him and receive us for his sake. and so seen Him, find us in Him,
in His righteousness alone. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.