We began with 1 Timothy 2.5. There's only one God and one
mediator between God and man. That's the man Jesus Christ.
And we've been speaking on the subject of the heavenly manhood
of Christ. I haven't really preached a message
on that. We've talked about it extensively.
I've made my views known on that in different times and different
subjects that we've talked about. I thought we would just kind
of go through this all the way through some things that at least
I hope that the Lord has taught me. But anyway, last week we
began looking and seeing that the Lord Jesus Christ in assuming
this role as mediator between God and man, he had to have taken
on flesh. He had to become man because
It speaks that there's only one mediator between God and man,
and that's the man, Jesus Christ. But not just a man, a man who
is fully man, but also fully God. The only way he can mediate
between God is to be God, and the only way he can mediate to
man is to be man, so he is the God-man. And ever since that
this mediation has been, the Lord Jesus has obviously been
in that role. I don't, as I mentioned last
week, I don't dare to try to peek into all the wonders of
God and how it took place and when it took place. Obviously
it took place before the foundation of the world. We're taught that.
But how it happens in eternity when there is no time, we don't
know. But obviously there was a succession
of this because God is a spirit and is invisible and God took
on flesh and was manifested. The Bible says that a body was
prepared for him that he was made into the likeness of his
brethren. And so there was a point that
he assumed that. Matter of fact, we see in Psalms
where the Bible says, or Proverbs, I guess it was, where he speaks
of he was possessed in the beginning of the way. So we see that before
any of the mountains were made, before anything was made, the
Lord possessed him, took possession of his body. indwelt him, he
came into him. We know the Bible says there
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit. These three are one. I believe that they
are one in Christ Jesus. How has God won God? He's won
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God, manifested
in the flesh. And so we looked last week and
we've seen how Christ has assumed these roles and how that Christ
existed in a manhood And like I said last week, I don't even
fully understand that either. What kind of manhood, what kind
of flesh, what kind of body that was, I'm not fully aware of that. And no, I know it's different
than what it was whenever he came and he died. I know it was
different than what it was, that that body was different than
what it was after he resurrected. And whatever body that was whenever
he ascended back to the glory that he had with the Father,
And we looked at that in John 1, 1, that he was God and was
with God. Well, he was with God in that
form. He was with God, but he was God
because God was indwelling in him. How can he be with God and
was God at the same time other than the fact of him being made
man? And so the invisible God, who
is a spirit, was also animating a body. who is Christ Jesus. So God, who the heavens and heavens
cannot contain, was present in spirit, but yet manifested in
flesh. And how that works, Paul says,
great is the mystery of God, that God was in flesh. That is
a great mystery. And so for everybody who disagrees
with the things that I'm preaching last week and this week, you
say it's a mystery, I say it's a mystery too. So how can you
say your mystery is More clear than my mystery. But anyway, with that being said,
in Colossians 1, verse 15, I'll try not to backtrack too far
with what we talked about last week, but you can go back and
watch it if you didn't see it last week. 1 Colossians 1, verse
15, one passage of scripture here says, speaking of Jesus
Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn,
the firstborn, the firstborn of every creature. Now, if Jesus
was born in Bethlehem, there was a lot of people born before
him. So it isn't speaking about that.
It's speaking about another birth. It was him taking on flesh. He is the firstborn of every
creature. We see in Revelation, as we read
last week in Revelation, the Bible says that Jesus is the
first creation of God. Are you saying, preacher, that
Jesus was created? The man Jesus, the body, the
manhood of Christ, yes, was created. A body was prepared or was made
for Him. It didn't eternally exist. Christ
and His deity has always existed. God, who is Spirit, is eternal
and has always been. But there was a point where God
made a body, prepared a body, and inhabited that body and manifested
Himself in flesh. And that happened before the
foundation of the world. So, Jesus is the image of the
invisible God. And where we left off kind of
last week was talking about how in the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. And whenever He created man,
He said, let us make man. our image. If you look throughout
the scriptures, there's only two or three places where the
image of God is talked about, and in every place, if we take
that part in Genesis, the other two places that it's found in
scripture is speaking of Jesus. Jesus is the image of the invisible
God. He is the one who has made God known. If you've seen God,
you've seen him in the face of Jesus Christ. So all of who God
is is manifested or is shown to His creation through the man
Jesus Christ. How have we beheld God? We have
beheld God in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus has made Him known
or has manifested Him to us. So with that being said, if we
are made in the image of God, the only place that we find that
is talking about the man, the embodiment of God, which is Jesus
Christ. And so I believe that that's
what that talks about in Genesis. And so we talked about Jesus
Christ being the image of God, and that anytime that God is
ever seen by man, it is in Jesus Christ. And so I left off last
week and told you that this week we're going to look and see some
things that Jesus said, and then we're going to go back and see
how through all the Scripture that we see Jesus manifested
as God to His people. Now we learn a few things that
God has told us and most of the times we go to Revelation and
we think that this verse is talking about something in the future
that is going to take place. But actually brethren, I believe
that this has been from ever since the beginning. But if you
would, turn with me to Exodus chapter 29. Now remember, the New Testament
tells us that all things happened in the Old Testament, all those
things were written for us, for us to know. And for us to know
what? Well, it's for us to know Christ. All those things that was in
the Old Testament, all the types, the foreshadows, all the priesthood,
all the sacrifices, all the tabernacle imagery, all the priest imagery,
all the things of adornment on the priest. All the things that
God did, even the very actions of people, their names, where
they come from, where they went to, all those things were types
and foreshadows to point us to Jesus Christ. All that was about
Jesus Christ. The Bible says in the volume
of the book, it's about Him. All things are about Christ from
beginning to end, okay? And so whenever we look in Exodus,
if you would, look at verse 45, It says, as a matter of fact,
let's go back and it says in verse 43, it says, and there
I will meet with the children of Israel and the tabernacle
shall be sanctified by my glory. Brethren, are we not sanctified
by Christ Jesus? Yes. Who is the glory of God? Are we not His tabernacle? Yes. The tabernacle not made with
hands? Are we not a spiritual tabernacle unto God, lively stones
that have been built? to inhabit the indwelling God. He says, and there I will meet
with the children of Israel and the tabernacle shall be sanctified
by my glory and I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation.
Hello. I will sanctify the tabernacle
of the congregation. There was a church in the Old
Testament. It wasn't like the New Testament church and it doesn't
have the rules and regulations that the New Testament church
has, but it was a gathered assembly that God had gathered together.
I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons. That would be Christ
and us, right? Are we not sons of Christ? Are we not his seed? And God
has blessed him with all spiritual blessings, and in him we have
all spiritual blessings. Ephesians chapter 1. And Aaron
was anointed As the priest, and we too have been made priest
unto God? Yes. But look here in verse 45,
this is what I was wanting to get to. It says, And I will dwell
among the children of Israel, and I will be their God. So in the physical sense, God
is promising that He would dwell with the children of Israel.
In the spiritual sense, God is dwelling with us by His Spirit.
But here in the Old Testament when we're looking at the physical
things that was going on, that actually was happening, actual
happenings, God said He would dwell among the children of Israel
and be their God. And they shall know that I am
the Lord their God that brought them forth out of the land of
Egypt. It was the Lord their God that brought them out of
the land of Egypt. Why? Because He was with them. Yes.
In the land of Egypt. Bring them forth out of the land
of Egypt that I may dwell among them. He didn't say dwell in
them, He said dwell among them. Now I believe that He dwelt in
them if they were His. The Bible said that if you don't have the
Spirit of Christ, you're not of His. Is it in Peter that talks
about how the prophets sought to look for Christ by the Spirit
that was in them? Yeah, the Spirit was in them,
but here it says that He would be among them. I am the Lord
their God. Now, we see the same verbiage
being used by God in Revelation chapter 21, if you'll look there.
Revelation chapter 21 and verse 3. It says, And I heard a great
voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be
His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. Brethren, we have the same verbiage
in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament that
in every generation, in every age, that God has dwelt with
His people. Christ came and dwelt with us
in the New Testament, but yet there came a time where in flesh
He ceased to dwell, but He sent His Spirit, who was Him, John
14, clearly identifies the comforter that was sent was Christ, but
it was Christ in spirit. Okay. And some people want to
get into three separate persons, but Jesus said, I will send you
another comforter. But he said, I will come to you.
I will come. I will come. How did he come
by spirit? Okay. So Jesus is still dwelling
with his people even today, but he did physically in the Old
Testament. Now, with that being the backdrop,
God is, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So whenever
God is ever seen, he is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
So if anybody ever sees God, it's Jesus that they're seeing.
Amen. Jesus existed in the Old Testament because he said he
would be with his people, and we'll see here shortly, that
he would be with his people and among his people. And in the
New Testament we see that He did come. And He did dwell among
men. And He did come and do all that
the Father had given Him to do. And He completed it. And then
He sent Himself back to His people so that they would not be left
comfortless. So they would not be left without
a counselor. Remember I mentioned last week
in that passage in Isaiah where it talks about Jesus where it
says that He is the wonderful counselor. That's the same as
a comforter. What is a counselor? What does
a counselor do? A counselor is someone who comes
and listens to what's going on to you, to give you advice, to
help you through things. That's what a counselor does.
Well, what does the Holy Spirit come to do? He's a comforter.
He's come to counsel Christ to us. He's come to counsel the
gospel to us. to counsel us in the fact that
Christ has done everything on our behalf. He's come to give
us that assurance of faith, that assurance of hope that we have
been made the children of God, that all the promises are yea
and amen in Christ Jesus. And if we are his children, which
he also testifies to, we're his. That's what a comforter does.
That's what a counselor does. So whenever the Bible says that
he, that Jesus is the wonderful counselor, that speaks of God
in the spirit. That speaks of Christ. Whenever
it says that he is the mighty God, that speaks of Jehovah,
that speaks of God in that invisible spirit that, again, the heavens
of heavens can't contain, that has always existed, that always
is, that who he revealed his name to, Abraham, I am almighty
God. Or not Abraham, to, yeah, to
Abraham as almighty God. But to Moses, he said, I'm Jehovah. That's Jesus. He's the wonderful
counselor. He's the mighty God. He's the
everlasting Father. He is the God who has declared
all things, decreed all things, predestined all things, has laid
out everything, and Christ is his servant. being that God has
manifested Himself. Who is the only one who is worthy
to do the work of God? It's Christ. This is the work of God that
you believe. Christ came to do the works that
God had given Him to do. And I know some people have different
eschatologies among us, but in the Revelation, We see that there's
only one worthy to take the scroll of God and to open it up. And
that's Jesus Christ. He's the only one to do that.
But God is the one who has determined all things and Christ is the
manifesting person and the only person that we see that God has
ever talked about as a person. Christ is a person that has come
to do all the things that God has laid out to do. It's in Christ that all things
have been revealed, has been worked out, has been accomplished. He's going to be the judgment
of God. He was the salvation of God.
He is the glory of God. He is the head of His people,
the people of God. Jesus Christ is all in all. For
of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. It's Christ we praise. That's
why we just sang that song. We praise Christ. We'll praise
Christ through all eternity. Who's the one that's going to
be sitting on the throne whenever we go to heaven? It's going to
be Christ that we see. Who was the one sitting on the
throne in the Old Testament when the Old Testament saints seen
Him? It was Christ. Isaiah saw Him high and lifted
up. And who was that? It wasn't an
invisible cloud sitting on the throne. It was Jesus. The man,
Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 1, I kind
of got off track a little bit there. I got off my notes. Matthew
21. And I want to reiterate it for those
that are on Facebook that might be watching to go back and watch
last week's because I made very clear what we do believe. We
do not deny that Jesus is less than God. We believe that Jesus is fully
God. We believe that He is fully man.
He is the God-man. We believe that He was born of
a virgin. We don't believe that He was just, you know, came as
a spirit or something like that. We believe that He was a man
and He was born of a virgin. We don't deny that. We believe
that He was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Ghost,
which we're about to talk about in just a few minutes. We need
to talk about a few things before we get there. So I went through
a bunch of things that we affirm that a lot of people think that
we don't affirm because of this teaching. But look in Matthew
chapter 1 and verse 23. It says, Behold, the virgin shall
be with child and shall bring forth a son. And they shall call
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted It's what? God with us. Now, you don't have
to turn there if you don't want to. I'll turn there real quick.
That is in Isaiah chapter 7. That's a quote from Isaiah chapter
7. And I'll stop in my head and
forget the verse. Verse 14? Yes, verse 14. Isaiah 714 says, therefore the
Lord himself shall give you a sign. The Lord gave his own sign. Wait a minute, how can he be
conceived in a womb and give the sign at the same time? How can God be manifested in
flesh on earth but at the same time be in heaven and talking
and communicating? The mystery of godliness. Therefore,
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Why do
they call his name Immanuel? Because he's God with us. That's
his very name. He's God with us. Not part of
God with us, but all of God with us. Colossians says that all
the fullness of the Godhood dwells in him bodily. All the fullness. Now the only other place we see
the Godhead is talked about, we see in 1 John 5, 9. Father,
the Word, the Holy Ghost. All those dwell in Christ who
is one. Now, it says that He is God with
us. In verse 25 it says, And knew
her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and
he called his name Jesus. Now there was a reason why his
name was called Jesus. Matter of fact, an angel came
and told them that they were to name his name Jesus. And that
was because he was going to take away the sins of his people. Now, in I'm kind of getting ahead
of myself. I'm going to hit that here in
just a minute because we're going to talk about the birth. But
let me go to John chapter 6. This is kind of going to be scrambled
around like last week I think. Because I've got so many stinking
thoughts running through my head and I'm hoping I can kind of
wrang them all in to be a little coherent. In John chapter 6,
And look with me, starting in verse 33. Now this is Jesus in
His discourse where He talks about being the bread of life.
And it says here, starting in verse 33, or actually I'll start
in verse 32, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but
my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto
the world. So the bread of God is equated
with Christ who came down from heaven, right? Is that not what
that's saying? For the bread of God, and Jesus
is the bread of God, is he which cometh down from heaven. So Jesus,
as the bread of God, came down from heaven, okay? It says, then
said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto him, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out, for I came down from heaven." Now who's saying that? Jesus is saying that. And he's
saying that as God manifested in the flesh. He's saying that
as Jesus Christ. He's saying that as the Messiah.
He's saying that as the mediator between God and man. He's saying
that in the role of Redeemer. And the role of Redeemer is never,
ever, ever disassociated outside of the manhood of Christ Jesus. He said, I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. He's
talking about the servant. Philippians tells us that he
didn't think equality with God was robbery. Why? Because he
was God. But yet, as inhabiting man, he
came as that man and humbled himself and became a servant
to what? The will of God. He came and
humbled himself as a servant to fulfill the law of God on
behalf of his people, to take on the payment due for all the
sins of his people. He became the servant of God
in that role. So as that role of servant, he
became subservient to God. And so he came down, not to do
my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. Is he saying
that there's two wills, that Jesus has a will and God has
a will, and Jesus' will may be different than God's will? Absolutely
not. God is not divided. God is unified.
There's only one God in His mind. What's the verse that just escaped
me? God is of one mind, and who can
turn Him? He's not of two minds or three
minds. He's of one mind. He has one will. And Jesus doesn't
have a separate will than him. Why? Because Jesus's will is
God's will. Because Jesus is God. It's just
that he is God manifested in the flesh and he is showing us,
we are seeing him as the servant of God. And he's saying, listen,
and remember, these guys didn't believe that he was Jesus, or
that he was God, that he was the Messiah. They were having
a little bit of a problem with this because He didn't come like
they thought He was going to come. He wasn't the Messiah that
they were hoping He was going to be. This was a different Messiah
with a different agenda than what they thought Messiah was
going to do. And so He is, remember, all they
knew from the Old Testament is one God. One God. One God. Invisible God. Jehovah. That's all they knew. But yet,
Jesus here now, who's claiming to be God, and they're like,
hey, this guy's a blasphemer, he's claiming to be God. And
Jesus said, hey, listen, it isn't robbery to call myself God, because
I am God, you know? I am God. And I'm here to do
God's will. See, that's what this is meaning.
It's not meaning that Jesus had a separate will than God. So
Jesus came down from heaven in the role of Messiah, Savior,
Redeemer. He took on that flesh to fulfill
that role. The Word became flesh, the Father
indwelt Him, the Spirit indwelt Him without measure. He had all
the fullness of the Godhead in that body to perform and to do
all that the will of the Father had determined for Him to do.
He had all the fullness of the Godhead in Him because God, as
God, could not have redeemed man without being man. Because it takes the punishment
on man to be the substitute for man. He had to take on flesh. Now could God have done it another
way? I'm sure He could have. But did He? No. He thought this
was the only way. This is the only way, that's
why I say it. This is the only way God could do it. And the
reason I say that is because that's the way God did it. If
there was another way, then God don't know which way to go. That is the only way. Because
God determined it that way. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should
lose nothing but should raise it up to the last day. This is
the will of Him that sent me that everyone which seeth the Son,
and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will
raise him up at the last day." The Jews then murmured at him,
saying, they said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
See, they had a little problem with that. And they said, is
not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
There again, they said, oh, now they're trying to disassociate
him, just saying, he's just a man. He's just a man. Ain't he just
a man like us? How can this be God? This can't
be God. How can he, and how is it then
that he'd say it, I came down from heaven. Jesus therefore
answered the son of them, murmur not among yourselves. No man
can come to me except the father which has sent me, draw him and
I will raise him up the last day. It is written in the prophets
and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that
have heard and have learned of the father cometh to me. Not
that any man has seen the father save he which is of God, he has
seen the father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the bread
of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat it thereof and not die. I
am the living bread which came down from heaven. How many times
has he said now, he is the one that has come down from heaven.
He came down from heaven. He didn't begin to exist in the
womb. He came down from heaven. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live
forever. And the bread that I give, I
will give is my flesh. So now he's telling us, he keeps
using this illustration of bread. I'm the bread. I'm the bread.
I'm the bread of life. I'm the bread from heaven. Now
he tells us, what is the bread? And he said, this bread is my
flesh. This flesh, which I will give
for the life of the world. See there was a purpose and a
reason for that flesh. A body was prepared for him,
why? Because he had to be flesh. To die for sinful flesh. But that flesh came from heaven.
Now did it come through Mary? Absolutely it did. It came forth
through Mary. So Jesus here says that he is
the bread of life, that he is the bread that came down from
heaven. Now look, if you would, skip
to verse 58. It said, this is the bread which
came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and
are dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples,
when they heard this, said, this is a hard saying, and who could
hear it? When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at
Him, He said unto them, Dost this offend you? Now, there's
some stuff in here Jesus just taught about election in the
previous verses. He also taught about the guarantee
that all that was given to Him in election would come to Him. The success of His salvation
would come to everyone that God had given to Him. But brethren,
the thing that really bothered them was the fact that he was
saying that he is the one who came from heaven. That's what
actually was the most offensive to them, is for them to say that
you were saying that you came from heaven. What and if ye shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? Son of Man refers
to him in his manhood, not in his spirit, invisible, eternal
deity. It refers to him in his manhood.
The son of man will ascend up where he was before. Before what? Before he came down from heaven. It's talking about his manhood.
It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. But there are some of you that
believe not. People can't believe these things
because they're not of God. Jesus said you believe not because
you're not of God. Now, do we all believe things
at the same time immediately? No, we grow in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I do believe, brethren, that
the Lord will begin to teach his people, begin to show them
the truth, and by the Holy Spirit will begin to teach them these
things. So Jesus was that flesh that
came down from heaven. Now, what does that have to do
with Mary. What about Mary? Don't we believe
that he was born of Mary? Well, absolutely we do. But we
must say, and I believe that the Scripture bears this out,
that even though Jesus was born of a virgin, that the Holy Ghost
conceived that manhood, that body, in Mary. Jesus didn't get any of that
manhood from Mary. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Look with me at verse 46. Howbeit that was not first, which
is spiritual, but that which is natural. Now we're talking
about the first Adam and the last Adam here, right? That's
what's being talked about here 15th chapter of Corinthians.
It says, the first man is of the earth, earthy. The second
man is the Lord from heaven. Now, in John 6, we've just seen
Jesus himself testify of himself. That's the truth. I am the Lord
from heaven. I am the bread of life. I am
the one who came from heaven. Okay? And the words that I speak are
Life. I'm the life that came from heaven.
I am the embodiment of God that has come from heaven. The second
Adam. What does the word Adam mean?
Man. The first man. The second man. You have the sea of Adam and
all that are in that sea are corrupt. Cannot keep the law
of God. unholy, unrighteous. All their
righteousnesses are filthy rags. But yet from among them people,
in that one lump was also found the people of God who, before
the foundation of the world, was chosen. Before the foundation
of the world was given to Christ, before the foundation of the
world was united in Him and had that life that was hid with God
in Christ with God. Christ was preexistent. We were in Him before the foundation
of the world as His bride, as His wife. And just like Adam,
who before Eve was manifested and brought forth out of Him
and shown He was blessed by God, God said, and He blessed them
and called their name Adam. Have we not been blessed in Christ
with all spiritual blessings even before we were made manifest
as His children, as His people, or if you want to say collectively,
as His wife? We were blessed with Him in Him
before it was ever made manifest. Why? Because we are united to
Him. He is our head, just like Adam was the head of his wife,
and before she, and they called their name Adam. Is not Jesus
called our righteousness? His name is our righteousness,
and we are the righteousness of God in Him. He's our name. Our name is His name. Amen. But it says here, again getting
off track, the first man is of the earth, earthy. The second
man is the Lord from heaven. If Christ the second man or the
second Adam was conceived or gained any manhood from Christ,
then he too would have been of the earth, earthy. So the flesh that came out of
heaven came out of heaven and was conceived in the womb of
Mary, but it wasn't conceived by Mary because Mary cannot conceive
anything without a man. And we know that she had not
known a man according to the scriptures. She had yet not known
a man. There have been no relations
between her and Joseph. There was no conceiving. She
cannot conceive. An egg cannot conceive without
a sperm. But yet the body of Christ was
conceived in her. In Matthew chapter 1 again, if
you'll go back to that. Matthew chapter 1 verse 20. It says, but while he thought
on these things, Matthew 1, verse 20, but while he thought on these
things, this is Joseph, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. Now you notice there it said,
that which is conceived in her, not by her. It says in her. That which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. It's not of you, Mary. It's not
of Joseph. We all obviously know that. But
it's not of you. It's of the Holy Ghost. It was
conceived. Now this word conceived here
in the Greek is geneo. And it can be translated begot.
It can be translated born. It can be translated bear. Like to bear, to hold, to carry. It can be translated to bring
forth or to be delivered. This thing, that which is brought
forth for you to bear is of the Holy Ghost. For you to bore or
to bear to be born. See, there's a difference between
conception and birth. See, conception is when life
begins. Birth is whenever that light
that you can't see, but it's there, comes out and is made
manifest. The manhood of Christ Jesus was
made manifest whenever He was born of a virgin. That's whenever
He was conceived or was place and put in and was carried in
her womb. But brethren, some may say, well,
if that's the case, then he really couldn't have been our substitute
because he wasn't really man. Well, he was man. The Bible says
he was man. But we also know that legally,
anyone that is born of a woman is that woman's child. Is that
man's heir. We see that also in the Old Testament.
We see that one brother can come and lay with his dead brother's
wife to continue on his brother's seed, his legacy. Now that didn't
come from his brother's seed. It came from this guy's seed.
But yet it being born was considered legally to continue on that line. And so Mary, conceived of the
Holy Ghost because Jesus is the only begotten of the Father,
of God. He's begotten of God, not Mary.
He's begotten of God, but he's begotten of God through Mary.
God was the one who made him, but yet Mary was the one who
delivered him. But we see that through several
verses actually whenever it talks about Jesus being born. It says,
conceived in, not by. In Matthew chapter one, verse
18, now the birth of Jesus was on this wise, when as his mother
Mary was his spouse to Joseph, before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Again, it's of the Holy
Ghost. Luke 135, and the angel answered
and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come unto thee upon thee,
and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God." That holy thing, if it was of Mary, it would have been of the earthy,
it would have been flesh, earthly flesh. That earthly flesh is
corrupt from conception. David said that in sin did my
mother conceive me. We are estranged from the womb. We're unworthy. We are sinful people. And so if Christ would have been
born of anything of Mary, he would have been such himself. And Luke chapter 21 says, when
eight days were accomplished, go ahead and turn here because
I want you to actually see this and read this with me. Acts chapter
2 verse 21, this is actually one just recently that I have
come across, this verse. Luke chapter 21, or chapter 2,
I'm sorry, chapter 2, verse 21. This is whenever Jesus is being
presented in the temple, or being presented before God. Verse 21,
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child,
his name was called Jesus. Now, stop right there. If you
remember, the angel had already told him before he was even born
that his name was going to be Jesus. So, as is actually Hebrew
custom, they always determined the name before the baby would
ever be born. You know, now, you know, we kind of do that
at the same time, but there's a lot of people who wait until
after the child is born and they finally figure out a name that
they want to call. But here, as was their custom, a name was
determined before the baby was even born. Well, in this case,
the angel, the messenger of God came and told them, this is what
his name is going to be. You're going to call his name
Jesus. But look what it says here. This is something I found
interesting. His name was called Jesus, which was so named of
the angel before he was conceived in the womb. He was given the
name Jesus before he was conceived in the womb, before the Holy
Spirit overshadowed him, her. Before he was ever come down
from heaven and placed in the womb, he was already called Jesus. He had already assumed that mantle
as the Savior. Why? Because there's only one
mediator between God and man. The man Jesus Christ. Not the
man Jehovah, not the man Father, not the man Word, not the man
Holy Spirit, not the man Yahweh. The man Jesus Christ. And Jesus
was that man before He even came into the womb of Mary. There's
a lot more that I'm sure we can probably develop in that in that
vein but there was Matter of fact, I want to keep going but
there's a whole lot of stuff in the Old Testament I want to
get to them. I don't have a lot of time to do that So I think
I'll just cut cut it off there and we'll continue this Lord
willing next week in the third installment And we'll look at
Christ in the Old Testament there's quite a few places in the Old
Testament where Christ is manifesting God with his people God among
his people in dwelling or dwelling with his people not just in his
people but dwelling with dwelling with his people and we're going
to look at those Lord willing next week there's quite a few
of them actually and everything that I've come across and some
more than just the Some are more than just the obvious ones like
the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Jesus being in the Bible.
But anyway, we'll pick up with that, Lord willing, come next
Sunday. Anybody got any questions or
comments or anything that you'd like to add, rebuke, correct? Let's bow. We come to you now, Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, King of kings, eternal, immortal, almighty,
omniscient, omnipotent, before anything was, sovereign God, creator, Lord,
we're so thankful for the Word of God that's been given to us
to reveal Yourself to us. We thank You, Father, that You
have stooped to sinful man to not only save him, but to give
him the gaining knowledge of Christ Jesus. Father, we thank
You for the work that servant did, that Christ Jesus, our Lord,
our King, our God, manifested Himself in flesh,
took on the form of a servant, and with the joy set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame. And that it pleased Yourself
to bruise Him, that He might justify the many,
that You might see the travail of His soul and be satisfied,
that by His salvation we too can fellowship and be with God. Lord, we are so grateful. We're so humbled by that. We
know that there's nothing in us that is worthy for You to
save us, to call us from all eternity as Yours, to set Your
love upon us, to show that love through the death of Your Son.
There's no way, Lord, that we could ever do anything, for we
are dirty, vile. We are sinful people. By nature, Lord, we cannot keep
your laws, even if we wanted to. Lord, we just know that everything
that has been given to us has been given to us by grace. Without
grace, we would not be saved, for it is by grace that we are
saved through the faith of your Son. not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to your mercy, you've saved us. You've called us a holy calling. Again, not according to our works,
but according to the purpose and grace that you've given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. But you have now made
it manifest. through the coming of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, brought
life and immortality to life through the glorious gospel that
you've given us to preach and to proclaim and to believe. For
it is only by your mercy and grace that we believe these things
to be true and that we believe these things to be ours. We pray
for these brethren that are here today. I pray, Lord, that you
would encourage them. I pray, Lord, that you would
build them up in the most holy faith. I pray that Christ has
been honored and exalted in our worship today, that the Spirit
has aided us in coming before you in spirit and in truth. Lord,
I pray the things that I've said is of the truth and that there
is no error there. But Lord, as always, I pray that
if I do speak error, I pray that you would protect your children
from that error and that you would correct me that I might
too preach truth and not error. Father, Lord, I am so grateful
for the love and the fellowship that you give among the brethren
to allow us still in this vile nation that we live in to worship
together and to proclaim your name. Lord, we know the days
are evil. We know that wickedness is spreading
throughout our country. But we know that you are sovereign
and in control of all things and nothing is happening that
is not according to the purpose of God. We know that you say
that in the last days, men's hearts will wax worse and worse.
And we know that you say before you're coming that men's hearts
are going to be evil and they're going to devise evil things and
that there will be much, much evil among us. But Father, we
know that whenever you come, that no king, no prince, no president,
no Congress, no dictator, no council, No Illuminati, no secret governments,
no shadow governments. No one can stay your hand from
bringing judgment on this earth. And you will judge rightly, we
know. You will judge according to your word. And Father, we
know that those that will be taken, they will be taken in
pure righteousness and holiness and justice. And those who will
be left behind will only be righteous because of your son. And it is
by his grace that we will forever sing. Holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is filled with
his glory. And so Father, Lord, we pray that you would be with
us now this week as we go, that you might keep us safe until
your son comes again. And may he come quickly. In Jesus'
name we pray, amen.