The Lamb is all the glory of
Emmanuel's land. Another wonderful hymn. I love that hymn. I and My Beloved, the Beloved
Son. Look at Luke chapter 3 again. We haven't come close to bringing
out the fullness of these two verses. We're just going to dwell
on what the Father said about the Son. In Luke 3, verse 22,
the Holy Ghost descended in bodily shape like a dove upon Christ. And a voice came from heaven
that said, Thou art my beloved Son. in whom
in thee I am well pleased." The Beloved Son. This is written
many times of Christ, the well-beloved, only begotten Son of God. Maybe someone doesn't know why
He's called the only begotten Son of God. Go with me back to
Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2. He's called
the Son, the only begotten, because He's the only bodily image of
God. He's not less than God. In fact,
Philippians 2 says he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. And Hebrews 1, you read with
me, where God called him God. He said, Thy throne, O God. He says, to the sun, you reign. And he said, let the angels worship
him. And it's idolatry if you worship
anyone but God. And God said, let all the angels
worship Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I remember the story of David
when he was... There's a wonderful story in
1 Kings where the people were going to make a brother of Solomon
king. And this fella fancied that he
was king. Okay? Like man in his free will. But now, David had already appointed
Solomon as king. And when the time came, it says
David brought Solomon in and bowed himself to Solomon. The king, the father, bowed to
the son. Now you explain that, if that's
not a picture of Christ. He's called the Son because He's
the only bodily image of God. Colossians 2 verse 9 says, in
Him dwelleth all the fullness of God, of the Godhead. He's God. Isaiah 9, 6, called
His name Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. Even He said to His disciples,
He hath seen Me, hath seen the Father, didn't He? The mighty
God, the everlasting Father. And in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In a body. Hebrews 1, we read,
is the express image of God. The only begotten. You and I
were born of earthly parents. Okay? He was born. A body has
to have prepared me. when he said, A body hast thou
prepared me. That means he existed before
he had the body, doesn't it? A body hast thou prepared me.
Okay, Hebrews 2, look at this, verse 6. Hebrews 2, 6. One in a certain place testified,
saying, What is man? This is Psalm 8. What is man,
that thou art mine both him, or the son of man, that thou
visitest him? That's what Christ is called
in it, son of man. He came to visit. We're going
to look at Proverbs 8 in just a minute. All right. He came to visit this earth.
He came to save. Verse 7, Thou madest Him, God
in His covenant and purpose salvation, made Christ a little lower than
the angels, that is, flesh. But Thou crownest Him with glory
and honor. After it was all over. He set
Him over the works of His hand. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under His feet. This is Psalm 8. In that He put
all in subjection under Him, Christ, He left nothing that's
not put under Him. But now we see not yet all things
put under Him. We see Jesus. We saw a man. Most people still haven't seen
Him to be more than a man. You and I have that. Read on.
He's made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, a man, for
the suffering of death. See, God can't die. Man must. Man will. So God became a man. Man can't satisfy. God can. So God became a man. For the suffering of death. He
died, but now he's crowned with glory and honor that he, by the
grace of God, should taste death. for every man. One of the few
times in Scripture that, I don't know why, that word is not in
the original Greek Testament. The word man is not there. Look
it up. It's not there. I don't know
why they put that there. But, it can read like this, because
the next verse says, bringing many sons. He should taste death
for every son. For it became him For whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. We could just keep reading, couldn't
we? Look at verse 14. For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. For verily he, Christ, took not on him the nature of
angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. And wherefore,
in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
you see, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation of the sins of the people, and
that he himself that suffered being tempted is able to succor
or help them that are tempted." He became a man. John 1. Some
of you love this. I know someone over on my right
side really loves this. Well, everyone on the right side
and left side. John 1. This is speaking of God. Speaking of Christ. In the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God. And the
Word was God. How clear can it get? The same
was in the beginning with God. Well, is He God? Or was He with
God? Yes. All things were made by
Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. In Him was life. The life was
the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness.
You remember 1 John, he said, God is light. Who is light? Christ
said, I am the light. You remember in Genesis 1 when
God said, It says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. The Spirit of God, that's verse
2. So you have God the Father, the Spirit of God, and then God
said, let there be light. That's Christ. The last chapter
in the Old Testament says the Son of Righteousness is coming. And that day, That day. The day. And Peter said in 2
Peter 1, the day star. He called him the day star. So
Christ is God. He is the light. But he's called
the only begotten son of God because he took a body. God was
manifest in the flesh. And this is why people don't
believe he's God because he was a man. That's why most people
don't believe He's just Jesus. Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, so
many others make Him just to be a man. They
say, well, that's what they said when He was here, didn't they?
They said, you blaspheme because you're just a man. You make yourself
be God. They had it all wrong, didn't
they? And to cart before the horse. You see, He was God. And
He made Himself to be a man. He said, before Abraham was,
I am. I like that reverberation. Proverbs
8, look at this. Oh, how I love this chapter. Proverbs chapter 8. Christ is
wisdom, isn't it? Christ is the wisdom of God and
what? Power of God. Proverbs 8, this whole chapter
and chapter 4 and other chapters are about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 1, doth not wisdom cry? Understand Sandy put forth her
voice, and we've seen how the female is used because Christ
speaks through His church. Verse 8, all the words of my
mouth are in righteousness. There's nothing forward or perverse
in them. They're all plain to him that
understandeth, and right to him that understandeth. We know that the Son of God has
come and given us an understanding that we might know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true. This is the true God
in eternal life, Jesus Christ. Look at verse 11. Wisdom is better than rubies,
Christ. All things may be desired, not
to be compared to Him. And he goes on and on to talk
about himself. Verse 15, by me kings reign,
princes decree justice, by me princes rule. Verse 17, I love
them that love me. Verse 18, riches and honor with
me, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold
and fine gold. My revenue and choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness.
Verse 22, The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way,
before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting,
that is, declared to be, the lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. The Lord, the Ruler, like Psalm
2, I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion long before He came
here. Men don't make Him Lord. God
made Him Lord before the world began. That's what this says. When there were no depths, verse
24, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounded with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills, I was brought forth. 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 heaven, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, 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 as one brought up with Him, and I was daily
His delight, the beloved Son of God, always with God. I can't explain it. We can't
explain it, how He can be God and the Father, God is Spirit,
but God was made flesh. But we believe it, don't we?
The beloved, well-pleasing Son of God. Now at His baptism, as
we saw, and on the mountain when He took three choices, He chose
three servants to go up on the mountain to behold His glory,
to see Him as He is. See, God dwelleth in light, which
no man can approach unto, right? When Jesus Christ took Peter,
James, and John up on that mount to be transfigured, He, as it
were, peeled back the robe of flesh, the veil, rent the veil
of His flesh for them to just get a glimpse. You can't look
at Him too long with eyes aflame. But just to get a glimpse. His
countenance was as the sun that shined His eyes as a flame of
fire, like Revelation, like Daniel said of him. And so they were
chosen to see. And on that mountain, Peter, James, and John were so awestruck by Christ's glory and
seeing Moses. They saw Moses and they saw Elijah
talking to him. What were they talking about?
His death. The death he should accomplish.
The death he should accomplish. The death of death. Put it in
the way of sin. That's what the angels talk about.
That's what the prophets spoke of. That's what we speak of.
All right. Peter was just, you know, he
had to say something. And Peter said, let's build three
tabernacles, three monuments. God a long time ago said, don't
build any images, monuments to men. After He said that, the
words that no sooner got out of His mouth till God spoke from
heaven. And He said, this is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. honor and praise to Moses and
Elijah, all honor and praise and glory belongs to the Son.
That's what God has done. The well-beloved, He's dearly
beloved means, and it's a beautiful term, not used much today. That figures, doesn't it? Because
iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold. And not many
are called beloved. God's people are called beloved
all through the Scriptures. But God calls His Son, His Only
Begotten Son, His Well Beloved, the Beloved. Beloved means dearly
loved. Not just loved, dearly loved,
like one who is very dear to you. My dear, my dearly beloved,
greatly loved. Someone who is very precious
to Him. You have someone who is very
precious Your spouse, maybe, your children, dearly loved. Aren't they dear? You call them
dear. Precious. Especially grandbabies,
huh? Well, God says of His Son, He's
my well beloved. Well beloved. Dearly beloved.
Precious. Precious to the Father. He's
loved by the Father because He's lovely. Because he's lovely. God doesn't love us because we're
lovely. God loves the unlovely. He makes us lovely through Christ's
coming. But God didn't see anything lovely
in us to love. The reason God loved us was because
he did. Because he's God. Only God could
love such as we. But God loved his son. Dearly
beloved. He hadn't spoken. Well, he hadn't
spoken out loud to anybody in the whole Old Testament. He
spoke to the fathers by the prophets. But when the Son of God walked
this earth, walked before God, was walking, coming to be baptized
and came up out of that water, it's as if God couldn't help
Himself. God spoke for the first time
in thousands of years. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Well pleased. Because He's lovely. Altogether lovely. He's beloved,
He's well pleasing and lovely in His person, His personality. His personality, His character,
His traits. Character, traits. They're all
good. You and I don't have too many
good traits, do we? Got a lot of bad traits. He had
no bad traits. All good. Everything about him.
Everything about him was good. Perfect. Pleasing. No faults. Completely without faults. Listen to some of his characteristics
or attributes. He's holy. Holy. Holy. The Lord God Almighty is
holy. Holy means physically pure and
morally blameless. Physically pure. Paul said, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Well, in His flesh dwelleth no
bad thing. Nothing. Pure. Pristine. Holy. Morally blameless. Like that
lamb that was observed to be without spot and without blemish. Thoughtless. Within and without. Pure. Pure as a driven snow. Whiter than fuller soap. Holy. Holy means sacred or that
he is consecrated, devoted, dedicated to God. That's him. Totally, completely,
wholly, body, soul, and strength. Mind, heart, body, soul, and
strength. Completely and totally consecrated,
given to, dedicated to, sold out to God in His glory. Holy, holy, holy. He is righteous. Go with me to Isaiah 42. This
is the altogether lovely Son of God. Well, the Lord chose
for us this greatest of all subjects. And you get to hear it. The well-beloved
Son of God. I called Brother David Edmondson. We were talking. I said, what
are you going to preach on? I said, let me check that. Where
are you going to preach from? We're going to preach Christ.
Where do we preach Him from? Isaiah 42, look at this, verse
1, Behold my servant whom I have held, mine elect in whom my soul
delighteth. God said, I put my spirit upon
him. That's that dove that came down,
isn't it? That's his name, Christ. Verse
6, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, I will hold
thine hand. We watched An old couple walked
in before us tonight and they were holding hands, weren't they? An old couple named Davis. Mindy
made the comment, she said, you're in love when you hold hands.
God said, I'm holding my son's hand. I'll hold his hand. I'll give thee, verse 6, keep
thee. I'm going to keep thee. And give
thee for a covenant of the people, a life for the Gentiles. Oh,
we could keep reading, couldn't we? Verse 21, no, here it is.
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will
magnify the law and make it honorable. Man doesn't even give a thought
to God's law. And he breaks every one of them, not crying. He said,
I've come to fulfill all righteousness. Heal the law of God. The law
of God is holy. It's just and it's good, isn't
it? Nothing wrong with the law. Nothing wrong with us. Christ
came and He lived according to the law. Perfectly. Perfectly. And God said, I am
well pleased for His righteousness sake. And we are too, aren't
we? Isaiah 45. We've got to go over
there. Isaiah 45. Look at this. Oh, don't you love
this? Isaiah 45, 21. You have it? Tell ye, bring them near. Yea,
let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
times? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord?
There is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There
is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved.
All the ends of the earth. Did not Christ say, Come unto
me? All ye that labor and every labor, and I will give you rest.
Didn't He say that? All power is given unto me, and have no
doubt. Didn't he say that? He's God. I am God. There's none else. I've sworn
by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness. He's the Lord, our righteousness
shall not return. And unto me every knee shall
bow, every tongue shall swear. Well, didn't it say of Christ,
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. I was thinking the other day,
I'm not a prophet in the truest sense, but I'm going to make
this prophecy. There's someone talking to me about someone that's
a rebel and doesn't believe and refuses to believe and just is
bucking the truth and felt so sorry for this person. They would
grieve for him. And I thought, that person is
going to believe someday. It may be too late, but I tell
you this, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess
that He's Lord. And salvation is for God to reveal
Himself now, and for you to bow the knee now, and confess Him
now as Lord. Look at this, verse 24, Shall
one say, in the Lord have I righteousness? What Lord? The whole book of Romans is about
this. By one man's obedience, many are made righteous. Surely
shall one say, in the Lord Jesus Christ have I righteousness and
strength. Even to Him shall men come. Well,
that word Lord, that's Jehovah, isn't it? It's Kapillai. Who's he talking about? Even to him shall men come, all
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. If the Lord
shall all the seed of Israel, see, is he laid, be justified,
and they shall glory." The glory. He's well beloved, pleasing,
because he's righteous. Righteous. Righteous is the Lord. He loveth righteousness. He's
well beloved, pleasing, because he's an obedient son. Obedient
son. John 8, 29, our Lord said, I
do always those things which please my Heavenly Father. He
said, I delight to do that with you. I wasn't an obedient son.
And I'm still ashamed of it. I'm still ashamed of it. I was
a prodigal son, not the son. Oh no. He's obedient. Obedience. I do always, O Saint,
please my Heavenly Father, so much so that God out loud, that's
my son. I'm well pleased for his righteousness. He's obedient. Though a son,
yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered. And
we'll get to Philippians 2 in a minute. Obedience unto death.
He came here willingly. I wouldn't have come here. Would
you have left perfect bliss and happiness and holiness and righteousness
and come to this place? He did. He's altogether lovely
and well-beloved of the Father because he's loving like the
Father. Loving Son. Greater love hath
no man than this. No human being has ever loved
God and his fellow man like Jesus Christ. He laid down his life. Not for the good, not for the
righteous, but the sinners. And it says of Christ's love
for His own, have He loved His own which were in the world?
He loved them to the end. He is the love spoken of in 1
Corinthians 13. Have you ever read 1 Corinthians
13 and replaced the word charity for the name of Christ? It fits
perfectly. Love never faileth. Love is kind. Love thinketh no evil. He's altogether
lovely. Loved by the Father because He's
merciful, kind, tender, gracious, true, just, honest, honorable. So the Father called out, Thou
art my only begotten well-beloved Son. I'm well pleased. Well, he's pleasing to the Father. Turn to John 17, which, by the
way, is the gospel in one chapter. If you had only one chapter in
all the Bible to take with you, this might be it. John Knox had
them read this chapter to him while he was dying. six or seven
days, and he was on his deathbed, having to read this every day.
This and Isaiah 53. Having to read this to him all
the time. John 17. He's beloved and pleasing
to the Father in his work. His work. Remember, as a 12-year-old
boy, he said, I must be about my father's business. How many
12-year-old boys are diligent and conscientious? and have their
father's good in mind. How many 12-year-old boys are
not out running around and playing and foolishness and frivolity
and only caring about themselves and going out in the world doing
this and that and playing? Foolishness is bound up in the
heart of a child. How many 12-year-old boys? None. Well, John the Baptist,
but this one. I had a feeling Daniel was. I
had a feeling Joseph was. But our Lord was far superior
to them. He was well-pleasing in His work. He said, I must be about my Father's
business. The Father loved the Son and
put all things in His hands, John said. So He came to do the
Father's will. And look at John 17.4. He said,
I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which Thou gavest Me to do. Oh, what a work he was. And he
finished. I remember being given chores
to do. And I was taught a good work ethic. But I, you know,
more kids. You know, you're wanting to get
it over with so you can get out, whatever. Our Lord, his whole
life was spent every waking hour to please the Father and do his
work. He said, I finished the work
you gave me. Cut no corners. Compromised nowhere. Perfectly
did the work. I finished the work. God is well
pleased with what He did. He doesn't have to redo or undo
anything He did. Verse 12, while I was with them,
those you've given me, in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those thou gavest me, I have kept. None of them is lost. Oh, my. The Father is well pleased. How pleased? Philippians 2. This
is what God says of the Son. Because He made Himself of no
reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, made in the
likeness of men, being found in fashion as a man, my, my,
what condescension, humbled Himself, became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, the worst death. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, given him a name which is above every name, and
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, things in heaven,
things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. That's what God says about the
Son, because He's well beloved. Turn with me to the little book
of Esther. I'll give you time to find it. Esther. If there's
somebody in here who hasn't seen this, you might just leap your
pew. But this is all about the Lord
Jesus Christ, okay? As is every major figure in the
Scripture, and many minor. Esther represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. Did you know that? See, Psalm 14 says, God looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any.
Esther, go ahead and look at your index. I have mine marked. God looked
down, the scripture says, upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand. Any that did seek after God. And he said, they're all gone
astray. He said, they're none good, no, not one. He said, they're
none righteous. He said, they're all together.
He said, if you put them all together, they're filthy. And
the word is stinking, dead, and trespassing. That's what it said.
He read it. There's one human being walked
this earth that God Almighty looked on him and said, Ha, well,
please. And Adam all died. Adam rebelled. Adam was created in the image
of God, he wasn't expressing it. Okay? He was made out of dust. No, Christ came from the bosom
of the Father. Adam was created in the image
of God, but not to express Him. And when he rebelled against
God, When sin entered his countenance chain, everything about him changed.
Sin entered his being, permeated his being. His mind was corrupt. His heart was corrupt. His thoughts,
his deeds, his words, his actions, everything about him became corrupt.
And he passed that on to all his seed. Right? And Adam all died. Adam rebelled. He became sinful. And He passed
that on. And we're born dead and trespassed
in sin. None good. None not want. None
pleasing. As we quoted, all together, filthy. But God, being loving, being merciful
and gracious, chose to save some. He gave many. Chose to save many. He chose them in Christ, the
well-beloved. He said, you're the one. He chose
Him long before the world began. He said, you're the one that's
going to go down there and rescue this fallen race. You're the
one that I love and esteem highly and you're altogether lovely.
And you're going to be the firstborn among many brethren. Alright,
this is the story. In Esther chapter 1, look at
it, Esther chapter 1. If you don't know this, I'll
give you a little bit about it. There's a queen named Vashti,
verse 11. King Hasuerus, the king, represents
God. He had this queen named Vashti,
represents Adam. Alright, the queen was to come
before the king, verse 11, and show the people, the princes,
her beauty. And she was fair to look on. Chapter 1, verse
11. Alright, the king said for the
queen to come in and display your beauty and your glory. That
gave him beauty and glory. Alright? God made man in his
image for God's glory. Not man. For God's glory. God's
honor. And God said, show forth that
glory. Show forth that honor by glorifying me. Adam rebelled. Vashti said, I
ain't doing it. Vashti rose up with pride. Vashti, this queen, said, I'm
not doing it. And the king was wroth. Hasuerus said, I'm taking
you on the throne. And I'm going to seek someone
better than you. Are you with me? I look at verse
19. They said to the king, now this
matter is by decree, by the watchers. You remember, Daniel? That's
what they said, this matter is by decree. They said, if it please
the king, let it go a royal commandment from him, let it be written among
the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that is, it can't
be changed, cannot be altered, that Vashti come no more before
the king, Ahasuerus. Let the king give her royal estate
unto another better than she. Adam was kicked out of the garden.
Don't come before me again. There's going to be a second
Adam. Better than me. Come in before the king. And
the king's going to hold out his royal scepter. Are you with
me? Some of you are. Alright, look
at verse 22. So he sent letters into all the
king's province. into every province according
to the writing thereof, to every people after their language,
that every man should bear rule in his own house, and he should
be published according to the language of every people." That
is, they would take this, let this be known. Let this be known. And Adam all died. He can't come
into God's presence anymore. It's simple. Somebody's going
to have to come for you. Somebody better than He. Second
Adam from above reinstates us in Thy love. This is all the
story of history. Alright, chapter 2. Look at chapter
2. And they said, verse 4, Let the
maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And
the thing pleased the king, and he did so. Whoever pleases Me
will reign in Her stead. Verse 7. All right, here she
is. This woman, this young lady,
this maiden was brought up. Hedassa is her name. That is,
Esther, his uncle's daughter. She had neither father nor mother.
Hmm. Oh, the maid was fair. Good count. Beautiful. Beautiful. All right, so it says
in verse 8, it came to pass from the king's commandment, his decree
was heard, many maidens were gathered together. Esther was
brought forth also to the king's house, the keeper of the women.
That is, she was observed for a long time by those that were
close to her. And they were smitten. It wasn't
yet revealed to all the people. She was kept secret. She was
kept secret from everybody. But those who were close to her
knew who she was. She's the fairest. She's the
most beautiful. Surely the king come delight
in her. Look at verse 12. When every maid's turn
was to go, and they would go in, it was almost like a beauty
pageant. They would go in to see who would
please the king. And every maid's turn came, and
so they gave every maiden oil of myrrh oil of myrrh, six months
with sweet odors, and other things for the purifying of the women."
In other words, they had to give them makeup and perfume. Six
months! They already said that Esther
didn't need any of that. Look at verse 15. Now, when the turn of Esther,
the daughter of Abahiel, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken
her for his daughter, was to come to go in under the king,
she required nothing. She didn't need that. All right? Verse 15, the last
line says, Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that
looked upon her. So Esther was taken unto the
king, verse 16, Ahasuerus in the house royal in the tenth
month Verse 17, And the king loved Esther above all the women,
and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the
virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head and made
her queen instead of Bastet. This is the woman. And everybody
was to bow before the queen. And the whole story of Esther
is that he rescued the Jews. from being exterminated, from
being killed, by going into the king, and the king accepted her
on behalf of those Jews that were destined to die. And the
king, because they were accepted in her, the beloved, the king
reversed it all and said, no, they're all going to live, and
all their enemies are going to die. Now you tell me that is
not the Lord Jesus Christ. He's well beloved and whom I'm
well pleased. All right, go back to Luke 9.
Let me close. Luke chapter 9. God's final word
to us, to all human beings, is this. God spoke out loud. God has spoken once, yea, twice,
but men perceive it not, do they? We perceive it. We've heard His
voice. Luke chapter 9, are you with
me? This is important. This may be the most important
part of this message. Luke 9, God spoke again. Alright? Here's what He said. This is what He said at the end
of it. Luke chapter 9. This is when
He took the disciples up there on the mountain. They saw His
glory. And he said in verse 35, this is my beloved Son. Hear
Him. Hear Him. This is God's last
word to human beings. This is His final word about
anything and everything. Please the God that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. Everything. The mysteries of
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Christ is all. And our Lord God
Almighty said, hear Him. To every human being, hear Him. God used to speak unto the fathers
by the prophets, but in these last days it's spoken by His
Son. And He said it's to all flesh, hear Him. Hear Him. Now having ears to
hear, our Lord said, men don't hear. He said, have eyes to see,
but they don't see. They don't see anything, no beauty
in Him. What does it say? We talk about
man being depraved, and there's no more clear evidence of that
than this. That God says, hear Him. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Christ is the wisdom of God.
And God says, hear Him. And your soul shall live, didn't
it? What does it say about man who
is willing to listen to and hear anybody but Him? And they do. You can't get people
to come here and sit and just hear Him. Why? And God says, hear Him. Come,
sit, and hear Him. Oh, how blessed are our eyes,
we see. How blessed are our ears, we
hear. Every time I stand up here, or
a man stands in this pulpit, you're going to hear Him, aren't
you? You're not going to hear some
intellectual discourse on doctrine or history of the church. You're
going to hear Him. Him give all the prophets witness.
In Him filleth all the fullness. Him. It's all about Him. This
book is about Him. In the volume of the book, it
is written of Him. That little book of Esther? A
little tiny book, isn't it? Oh, wouldn't you like to go through
that completely? That's just one among many glorious
story pictures type that God put in His book to tell of Him,
hear Him. And buddy, if you've ever really
heard Him, you don't want to hear anything else do you? If
you've ever seen Him, once you see Him, the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, once you see
Him in this book, you'll see Him all the way through. It's
like looking at the sun. Have you ever looked at the sun? You can't look at it long, can
you? You can't take it in. Well, what do you see after you
look at the sun? Sunspots. If you ever see the sun, if thine
eye be single, the whole body is full of light. Once you see
Him, you'll see Him everywhere. You'll see sunspots all the way
through here. Once you hear Him, you don't want to hear anything
else, do you? Tell me about Him. Tell me about
my beloved. I was going to go over to Canicles.
Son of Solomon. Because what God says of his
son, my well beloved, so does the bride say. All the way through,
I looked up all the usages of every single verse of Beloved.
And in the canticles, the Song of Solomon is more than anywhere
else. But all through the epistles, especially 1 John, Beloved, Beloved,
Beloved, Beloved. Because you're beloved of God
if you're in Christ. If you're in Christ, He loves
you like He loves me. That's what Christ said. The Fathers
loved you like He loved me. He calls you beloved. Is He from
my beloved? Is He from my beloved? Is He a good boy? No, He's not. But I'm going to make Him so. Beloved, Beloved, Beloved. And
all through the canticles, all through the Song of Solomon,
it says Beloved, Beloved, Beloved. And they asked the Beloved of
Christ, Shulamite Baden, who said, I'm black. They said, what
about your spouse, your Beloved? What's he more than any other
Beloved? If somebody asked you about your Christ that you believe,
your God that you believe, They said, what's different about
your God than our God? Could you tell them? Give me a couple more hours.
But they said, here's what the Shulamites said, and this is
what all of Christ's drives say. What is she more than another? And she made a big list there
in chapter 5. She, she, she, he, he, he, he. And she finally ended up saying,
he's all together. Everything about him is beloved
to God and to his people. He's a well-beloved, only begotten
son. Hear him. Hear him. All right, stand with me.