I thought, what a blessing, what
a wonderful thing to be doing, coming out to meet and worship
the Lord and look at His Word and pray and sing, be with the
Lord's people just for a little while. What a blessing to be able to
do that. Want to do it. Want to do it. Want to do it.
I want to talk about the incarnation of the Lord Jesus this evening.
It says there in verse 14, ìAnd the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.î Now, we brought a message last week
on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his person, you know,
had been prophesied and promised from the Old Testament. And it
also had been promised and prophesied to come in the flesh, to come
into this world. But I've asked several people
over the years, I've asked Brother Henry and Scott Richardson, different
men over the years, of all the mysteries that you could think
of in this world and in this universe to confront the human
mind, what do you think it would be? And without hesitation, Every
one of them said the greatest mystery is that God was manifest
in the flesh. That's the greatest mystery.
In fact, you can look at that over in 1 Timothy 3.16. 1 Timothy
3.16. That's the thing that was said
there. There's many mysteries. People are always trying to solve
mysteries and look into mysteries. And the Scripture says a lot
about mysteries. Mysteries of iniquity. The mystery
of Christ in you, the hope of glory, the mystery that has been
hid from generations, now made manifest under the saints. But
here's the greatest. It says here in verse 16 of 1
Timothy 3. And Paul says without any argument
whatsoever, there's no controversy about this, no arguing about
this, no debate about this. Great is the mystery of godliness.
And oh, how great is it, God was manifest in the flesh. God
was. Eternal, infinite, majestic,
the One by whom this world was made, and all things that in
it was made by Him. Not anything that was made was
made without Him. And it says here that God was
manifest in the flesh. Why do they use the word flesh
instead of being made a man? Because if you say a man, that's
a generic term, when flesh means to identify with flesh. And flesh is always, in the instance
of the scriptures, talking about the weakness, the frailty, the
inability of it. So he's so identified with us
that it says he became flesh. And Lord, he says, and he was
justified in the Spirit. The Spirit justified him being
God in the flesh by the deeds that he done, by the claims that
he made, by the miracles that he did. The angels saw him. The
angels came and ministered unto him. They stood in wonder. And
the Scripture said in one place that they desired to look into
this salvation that Christ did. And then here's a great mystery,
that he was preached unto the Gentiles. That wasn't supposed
to happen? But Paul was the apostle to the
Gentiles, priest unto the Gentiles. Dogs is what Jews thought of
us. Corrupt idols were pagans, and
yet he was priest unto the Gentiles. And here's another great mystery
of it. He was believed on in this world. Everybody didn't,
but some did. And then he was received up into
glory. Received up into glory. And so
that's the greatest mystery, God manifest in the flesh, the
Word being manifest in the flesh. Now, I tell you, beloved, there's
the Trinity. We've learned about the Trinity,
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So when
we talk about God being made manifest in the flesh, all three
gods couldn't be made manifest in the flesh. And if there was
only one God and not in three persons, then God couldn't be
manifest in the flesh, and then there'd be a God that He answers
to. So you see, our Lord Jesus Christ is the second person of
the Godhead. He was the one. The second person
of the Trinity was the one that became flesh. The Holy Spirit
didn't become flesh. God the Father didn't become
flesh. It was God the Son that became flesh. And oh, beloved,
and you know, in talking about incarnation, that means to embody
in flesh. To embody in flesh. Have any
of y'all ever heard of reincarnation? A bunch of Indians and Eastern
religions and that, they believe in reincarnation. And if your
karma's good enough, if you do good enough in this world, and
don't hurt, don't step on no ants, don't kill no roaches,
and don't take good care of the rats and the monkeys and the
cows, and take care of them, you know you might come back.
You may come back. as a human being, or even a higher
level. But most of the time, if you do anything, you come
back as something less than a human bug or something like that, if
you've got bad karma. Now, when we talk about reincarnation,
that's the most ridiculous thing in the world. But now, when you
talk about incarnation, for someone who is pure spirit,
who is the eternal God, who was in the beginning, was the Word,
and the Word was with God, the Word was God. And everything
that was made in this world was made by that Word. God said,
let there be, and the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ went and did
what the Father said to do. That Word, that eternal Word,
when we wasn't there, when God said, let there be, and Christ
caused it to be, This eternal Word caused it to be. That is
what came into this world. The Word embodied Himself in
flesh, in a human nature, in a human body. And I'll tell you,
beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared many times in the Old
Testament, and yet He wasn't made flesh. You know, you remember
when those three men met Abraham. Came up to Abraham's tent, fixing
to go down and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham run out
and worshipped him. Christ was the Lord. The Lord
Jesus Christ was manifest back then and now. That was what they
called, and I'll just show you a big word here, theophany. That means a pre-incarnation
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. You learned something
tonight. I don't know if it's going to
amount to much. But he appeared many times, but he wasn't made
flesh. He didn't become a man when he appeared. When he stayed
Abraham's hand up on Mount Moriah, and he told Abraham, stay your
hand. I see now that you would obey
me and spare him and spare your son now. That was Christ who
stayed his hand. And it was the Lord Jesus Christ,
the wonderful, the mysterious one, the secret one, when he
said, what is thy name? I'll tell you, my name is secret.
And he was the one who laid hold of Jacob. He was the one who
laid hold of Jacob that night. He was the one who appeared unto
Abraham and said, get me out of the land of there and the
Galilees. So the Lord Jesus Christ, He was the angel of the covenant.
He was the light that gave them life by the night. He was the
cloud that gave them shade by the day. And guided Israel through
the wilderness. But I'm telling you, beloved,
He is the angel of the covenant. But with all those manifestations
of the Lord Jesus Christ, He did not become flesh, and He
did not become a man then. And He was the Word by which
all things were made. And yet, As He was in creation,
He didn't become flesh. He didn't become flesh. Well,
but He became flesh. It says here the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. Well, how did He become incarnate?
How did He become flesh? Well, look over here in Luke
with me, just Luke chapter 2. Excuse me, Luke chapter 1. Well,
I tell you what, it was by a supernatural act of God. You remember, God
told Abraham, he said, Abraham, you're going to have a son, but
you're not going to have him until it's past your ability
to have a child and your wife's ability to have a child. Well,
that was a supernatural act of God. It was a miracle child.
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ was made in the womb of a virgin.
by a supernatural act of God. It was something that God Himself,
you're talking about mystery. You're talking about mystery.
Everybody knows how children are conceived, but how in the
world is a woman who has never known a man, how is she going
to conceive and have a child? And that child not cease to be
who he was from all eternity. How is that going to happen?
Well, look here in Luke chapter 1 verse 26 with me. by a supernatural
act of God, by a work of God, he assumed human nature. It's
said here in verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth.
Six months, that was six months after Elizabeth was conceived
of a child. And he was sent, Gabriel was
sent to a virgin, espoused engaged to a man whose name was Joseph
of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the
angel came in unto her and said, Hail, highly favored, the Lord
is with you. Blessed, blessed among women
are you. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind, what manner of salutation
is this, that this should be? And, oh, she began to wonder,
what is he talking about? And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor, thou hast found
grace with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus, Jehovah Savior. He shall be great, He shall be
called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever and ever, and of his kingdom there
shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be? Saying, I know not a man, I've
never been with a man. I've never been with a man. And
the angel answered and said unto her, now listen, the Holy Ghost
shall come upon you. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost
of God, the third person of the Trinity shall come upon you and
the power of the high shall overshadow thee. Therefore also, and this
is all he could say about it, that holy thing What are you
going to call him? What are you going to name him?
I mean, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God. Here's a woman, never known a
man, and God Himself comes down in
the person of the Holy Ghost. And some mysterious way, He put
a seed in that woman's womb, united in her womb, and some
cell started manifesting itself, and that cell grew into an infant,
and nine months later he was born, and he was the Son of God,
he was conceived of the Holy Ghost, and you tell me how in
the world that can be. I don't know, but that's what
it says. Remember they got Joseph, he
found out she was pregnant. Here she showed up pregnant. You're talking about a just man. Can you imagine how he felt?
Here's this woman that I'm going to marry. And here she's going
to have a baby. Now, I could make a public spectacle
out of her. I could embarrass her. I could
embarrass her family and say, listen, I'm not marrying this
woman. She's going to have a baby. And it ain't mine. But he fought, and he worried,
and he pondered, and he stretched out over this, what am I going
to do? I don't want to embarrass her and make a public example
of her. So he said, I'll just put her away probably. Well,
he went to bed that night. About sometime during the night,
God came down and another angel. They said, Joseph, Joseph, listen. Don't you dare put Mary away. He said, that that's conceived
in her womb is of the Holy Ghost, and she's going to bring forth
a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, because this is what
Isaiah said, that, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and you know what? You're going to call him Immanuel.
God's come down to be with us. Old Joseph got up the next morning
and said, well, I'm going to get married. He understood, I mean, you're
talking about a man, the faith that he had to believe that,
that that child in her womb was God. That child in her womb was
conceived of the Holy Ghost. That child in her womb was going
to be his Savior and his wife's Savior, and the one promised
from Isaiah and from Genesis 3.15 was going to be his son
as far as the world would ever know. You're talking about faith to
believe that. And I tell you, here it talks
about how the Holy Ghost came upon her. Joseph had no part
in it. Mary had no part in it. Man had
no part in Christ's human nature. He was conceived in the Holy
Ghost, conceived in the virgin's womb, and when he did, he did
not cease to be what he was. He's still God. He was still
God. That's one of the greatest mysteries.
That cell that grew into, started growing just like an infant in
a mother's womb. That cell, it grew and grew until
it was time for it to be born. That born in her womb was God,
did not cease to be God from the moment He was considered.
Now that's what we're talking about. That's how mysterious
this thing is. And He, by assuming human flesh, human nature, He
didn't become a different personality. He didn't assume a different
personality. There was not a new personality brought into this
world. No, no. Once He joined Himself to us,
He would always, always be a man. Once He joined Himself to us
and assumed flesh, He would always, always be a man. And this is humility. You know,
the cross was an awful, awful humiliation. Awful way we done
our Lord Jesus Christ. Not the way they done Him, the
way we done Him. The way we done Him. The way the human race treated
Him, it was awful. But I think, this is my opinion,
this is my feeling, this is what I believe, that this is the humiliation
that Christ endured, of all His humiliation, was coming down
from the throne of glory and identified with flesh." Here he was, the angels worshipped
him and cried, Holy, Holy. He walked through the realms
of glory, and his father looked at him and just delighted in
him and rejoiced in him. And the angels just moved at
his beck and call, and he walked, and he was of such splendor and
glory and majesty and power. And here he was, delight in all
eternity. And here he was in glory, and
he looks down, and God said, it's time now, it's the fullness
of time for you to go into the world in this covenant of grace,
in this covenant of redemption. And Christ came into this world
of the seed of the woman. You think about it. He who created
this world, he here is held in the womb of a virgin when he
holds the waters in the arm of his hands and measures the nations
in a drop of a bucket. Oh, what a coming down it was. What a coming down it was, what
a humiliation it was to come down and to become a man. We
get ashamed of ourselves and our humanity and our sin and
our failings and our filthiness and our corruption. We get ashamed
of ourselves. And it brings us down. But for
Christ to come down and take unto himself flesh, human nature,
A body to live in. And with that came all the infirmities
of the flesh. Sin accepted. Sin accepted. Do you know what it is to get
tired? He knew what it was. Do you know what it is to be
sorrowful? He knew what it was to be sorrowful. Do you know
what it is to cry? He knew what it was to cry. Do
you know what it is to get thirsty? He knew what it was to get thirsty.
Do you know what it is to love? Do you know what it is to hate? Do you know what it is to have
joy? Do you know what it is to have
emotions? Do you know what it is to have
passion? Do you know what it is to obey? Our Lord Jesus Christ
had all the infirmities of the flesh sin accepted. He got sad. He got tried. He wept. He grieved. He was troubled in his spirit.
Tears, real tears came down his cheeks. He had a heart when he'd see
somebody. He was actually, he'd feel it
in his heart. Poor thing. You know, sometimes
your heart gets moved for somebody. Sometimes it gets hard towards
somebody because of something they've done. Well, our Lord
Jesus Christ would get angry at men when he'd see and experience
their hardness of heart, and then he'd look at somebody else.
Broken down, corrupt, weak, and frail, no ability to do anything
for themselves, and his heart would go out to them, and he'd
be touched with their infirmities, be touched with compassion, and
move and do something for them. Look with me in Hebrews 2 just
a moment. Hebrews 2, talking about this
is his humility, oh my. This cross, what a humiliation
to go to the cross. But oh my, to come down here
and bind himself, bind himself, if I can say it that way, in
a human body. And all that goes with dwelling
in a body. Do you know he so identified
with us that he even aged? That he learned? That he grew
in wisdom and stature? How can... That's how much of
a man he became. That's how he so identified with
us. That he learned. He grew. He was taught. And yet he was still God. What a mystery. Look here in
Hebrews 2, in 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
hath the power of death, that is, the devil. and deliver them
who through a fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. And this death here is being separated from God,
not just the fear of physical death. For verily, truly, he
took not on him the nature of angels. An angel, beloved, they're
an eternal being, and they can come and go and move at will,
see, and not be seen. He didn't take on him the nature
of an angel. An angel's a created being. He's the one who made
the angels. But he didn't take on him the
nature of Abraham. What did he do? He took on him the seed of
Abraham. And watch this, wherefore in
all things it behooved him, it was necessary for him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. In
that he himself hath suffered, suffered, being tempted, he is
able to secure them that are tempted. Who is made flesh and blood?
He is made flesh and blood. Made like is necessary for him
to be made like unto his brethren. And let me tell you something,
beloved, He didn't embrace humanity for just thirty-three years.
You know, once He came into that womb of the Virgin, He didn't
just embrace humanity for thirty-three years and laid it aside and went
back to glory. Once He embraced that humanity,
that's why He took back to glory with Him. There's one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. The man, Christ
Jesus. And oh, beloved, and said that
he would be born in Bethlehem, that he'd be laid in a manger.
But, O beloved, he who made all things is now made flesh. He who inhabits eternity inhabits
the womb of a virgin. He whose power is unlimited and
rules over all becomes obedient to a father and a mother to be
ruled by them. He who wipes the tears from our
eyes eases our troubles and pains
and sorrows and griefs, and bottles our tears, wept tears of his
own. He who neither slumbers nor sleep,
as a man, grew tired and wearied, and lay down and went to sleep." Went to sleep. And you talk humiliation. He is laying asleep one night
and a storm come up and those fellas run down there and said,
woke him up. And said, Master, don't you care no more for us
that you gonna let us die? Is that all you care about us? You gonna let us perish in this
storm? You don't even care enough for us to get up and do something,
save us, discomfort us, help us? Why humiliation? To subject himself. to human
beings talking to Him that way. People that He came into this
world to die for and to put their sin away. Why did the Lord Jesus, the Lord
of glory, become flesh? Why was the Word manifest in
the flesh? Why did He become? Well, a couple answers to that. First of all, if a man's going
to be saved, if he's going to be redeemed, he must be redeemed
by man. If sin came into this world by
man, then sin's got to be put away by man. When God made one
man in His image and he fell from that image, God had another
man. And we, if we're going to be redeemed, we must be redeemed
by man. And we have to, this man has
to be one who is not associated in any way, any way whatsoever
with our father Adam. He cannot be connected to him
in any way. He cannot be connected to him. So that's why he's called
the seed of the womb, and he comes through the womb of a virgin.
It's that he would not be joined to Adam in any way. Adam's not
his father. Joseph's not his father. God
is his father. And he used a human vessel to
come into this world through, and he was God manifesting the
flesh. And as a man, He had to identify with us without
actually becoming sinful like us. You see the mystery of it? You see the necessity of it?
I see the necessity of it. I see the necessity of it. If
he was just a man, and he hadn't been a sinless man, and he had
been a perfect man, he would have thanked God, but he'd just
been a man. The only person he could have stayed would have
been himself. But He came, as Adam represented
us, He came to represent a people. And He could not be associated
and have any human blood in Him whatsoever from Adam. He couldn't
do it. He'd be like us if He did, right?
And He couldn't save us. And that's why, you know, over
in Romans 8.3, it says that He was made in the likeness of sinful
flesh. In the likeness of sinful flesh.
What does that mean? Well, you remember that fiery
serpent that bit all those children of Israel and killed thousands
of them? God says, make you a grass serpent in the likeness of the
snake, the serpent. Make a likeness of grass. Well,
that's what Christ became. He never became us. became like us in the likeness
of sinful flesh, but he had no sin. And oh, beloved, this is why
he was the seed of the woman. This is why his birth was supernatural. This is why the Holy Ghost says
that holy thing which shall be born. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. We were lost through a man. We
must be saved through a man. We became sinners by man, we
must be made righteous by man. And this man, who is going to
make us righteous, has to have a righteousness that God will
accept on the behalf of all those whom He declares to be righteous.
And here's another reason that couldn't be identified with Adam.
If he's going to redeem us, he's going to be the Redeemer. And
he was made flesh to satisfy God. To obey God the Father. That's
why He was made. No human being had ever obeyed
God the Father. Nobody had ever, ever, on the
top side of God's earth, did the will of God. Perfectly and
completely. From the day they're born to
the day they die. Nobody had ever done that. Nobody
had ever done that. Until Christ came. he came. And he came into this
world saying, I delight to do thy will, thy will, O Father,
I delight to do. And so he came into this world
to satisfy God, to obey God, to honor God the Father. Now,
beloved, man cannot satisfy God, but only God can satisfy God.
God cannot die, but man can. So the second person of the Godhead
became a man to die, and was God who could not die to satisfy
God in putting our sins away, to obey Him and honor Him and
glorify Him. And second, look over here and join with me again
right quick. Let me show you this. And he
became a man, and he became flesh, To reveal God. To reveal God. He says here, And the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as the
glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and
full of truth. We beheld whose glory? His glory. The glory of the Only Begotten
of the Father. And then it says down there in verse 17, For the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared." He became
a man to tell out God, to reveal God. Nobody had ever seen God
any time. Now, he said, if you see me,
you see the Father. You see me, you see all that
God is. You see me, you see omnipotence. You see omnipresence, you see
omniscience. You see God. You see a just God,
you see grace of God. You see the truth of God, you
see the mercy of God. You see the justice of God, you
see the mercy of God, the satisfaction of God. You see law upheld, death
inactive. You see all God told out in the
person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, beloved, we would
know nothing of grace and truth without him coming into this
world. We wouldn't have known anything about grace. We certainly
wouldn't know anything about truth, would we? And not everybody didn't know
it. Everybody didn't see it. There's lots and lots of people
looked at him, and they didn't see God. Lots of people looked
at him, and all they saw was just another Jew. They just saw
a carpenter's son. They saw a poor man. A poor man
that was beside himself. A poor man who was out of his
mind. A poor man who had illusions of grandeur. A man who claimed
to be something and blasphemed and said he was God. Picked up
rocks to stone him for it. But, oh beloved, he came to reveal
God. And ain't you glad he did? God
said, Moses, you can't see me. You see just a little bitty part
of me. God said, I want you to see me. I want you to know me.
I want you to touch me. I want you to taste me. I want
you to handle me. I want you to be able to feel me. I want
you to be able to talk to me. I want you to be able to look
at me. And he said, all the invisible God will become visible. Where
at? In the flesh. It hit my son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then my son, the God-man. And oh, beloved, let me show
you this real quick. I don't know how much time I'm
taking. But look over here in Luke 10. Just a moment. Now be
done. Luke 10, verse 22. You know, creation,
nature, and the heavens, they reveal an awful lot about God.
Something of His grandeur, something of His majesty, something of
His power. And the law reveals something
of His holiness, His righteousness. But none of these, creation,
nature, the heavens, the law, could not reveal God as He is.
But the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see it in Him what you could
not see no place else in this universe. Ain't that right? Luke 10.22 says this, All things,
our Master speaking, all things are delivered to me of my Father.
And no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father, and who the
Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will be given."
He said, you won't know the Father until I introduce you to Him.
Oh, now, beloved, we have a man in glory, sent in God's right
hand, who as God not only saved us, But he lives now to sustain
us, to secure us, to intercede for us. And one of these days,
our Lord Jesus says that you'll see the Son of Man coming in
power and glory. And one of these days, this whole
world and everybody that ever dwelled in it will see soon that
the Lord Jesus Christ was none other than God. manifested in
the flesh, that he was all that he claimed to be, he was the
one who had been promised, he was the one who had been prophesied,
he was the one born of a virgin, he was the one who lived a sinless,
obedient life to the will of the glory of God, and they shall
look upon him whom they pierced." And they'll all say, truly, this
was the Son of God, and we knew it not. We knew it not. And then they'll cry out, hide
us, hide us from the faces of the wrath of the Lamb of God. Huh? I'm sure thankful He came
and how He came. And I know why He came. I know how He came. And I see
why it needed to be that way, to save. Sinners like ourselves. Oh, blessed Savior, gracious
God in heaven, thank You for this time together. Thank You
for Your truth. Thank You for coming into this
world. Thank You for the mystery of godliness. And oh, it is a
mystery, but Lord, we believe it. We believe, Lord Jesus, that
You are God and that You broke into time and that you walked
on this earth in a body like ours. And you walked, and you got dirty,
and you had to take baths, and you had to learn, you had to
grow. Mystery of all mysteries. Oh
God, blessed be your name. Blessed be your name for coming.
We thank you for this great salvation you give us. In your holy name,
Amen. Amen.