Well, we started last week on
a study through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, a book,
I believe, written by Paul, though many others say not, but I think
it's a book. Rather than just a letter, it's
a book. But it was written primarily to Jewish Christians in the first
century. And why was it written? It was
to show, to demonstrate, to display that Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the fulfilment of all of the Jews' Old Testament
scriptures. They revered their Old Testament
scriptures. They revered their Old Testament
practices and their temple worship. But this book was written to
show them, to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment. He is the reality of which everything
in those types and shadows in the Old Testament, as we'll see
later in the book, was a blueprint. It was the pattern. It wasn't
the reality. You know when a house is designed
or a building is designed and you have a plan which shows exactly
how it's going to be, but you can't live in it. You can't live
in the plan. You can only live in the building
that is made from the plan, in the reality. Christ is the reality
of what the Old Testament revealed. All the Old Testament said, all
that it revealed about eternal life, about the kingdom of God,
about the righteousness of God, about salvation from sin, all
that the Old Testament said is found, is realized, is reality
in Jesus Christ and in him alone. Are you conscious of your frailty
as a sinner, of your mortality, of the limit? We're all, we're
all. getting closer to that day when we will leave this life.
Are you conscious of that? Are you conscious of your offense
as a sinner against a holy God? Are you conscious that in yourself
you are in eternal peril? Well, the answer to all of that,
the answer to all of that burden and weight and problem, if you're
made sensitive by God to it, is the provision that God has
made for his people, and it's found in Christ and him alone. Peter read for us in 1 John chapter
5 and verse 12, he that hath the Son, have you got the Son
of God, by which I mean, Have you grasped him in your soul?
Is he there, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, making
their abode with you, testifying, witnessing to your spirit that
you are the children of God? He that hath the Son, the Son
of God, hath life. hath life, and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life." It's so stark, it couldn't be
any clearer, could it? If you would have the life of
God, eternal life, blissful life, the full purpose of life, you
must have it in the Son of God. Because each and every one of
us is on the pathway to that eternal appointment that we have.
It is appointed to man to die once, as it says later in this
book of Hebrews 9.27. It's appointed to man to die
once, and then the judgment. Let me ask you this question.
Is it as that hymn says, is it well with your soul? Are you
ready for that time? Are you ready if it came today
or whenever it might come? Are you ready for that appointment?
If you have the Son of God, you have life. You have eternal life. You have the forgiveness and
cleansing of all your sins. You have a solid hope. Anyway,
let's move on. We saw in the first three verses
of this book last week, Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 to 3, we saw
God revealed by the logos, the word, the word. In the beginning,
as John says in his gospel, in the beginning was the word and
the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was me. He is the light
of life. God is revealed by the logos,
and what do I mean by that? You cannot see or hear the thoughts
that are in my mind. They're hidden from you. You
can't see them, nor can you see anybody else's. But as I speak,
you can hear the words, and that is the revelation of the thoughts
that are in my head. The word as spoken words. That's what Christ is to God. Christ, the Son of God, the revelation
of God, is to the hidden God who we cannot see, for no man
has seen God at any time. He is the revelation, just as
my spoken words or your spoken words are the revelation of your
hidden thoughts. And He is the Creator. We saw
that in these three verses. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is
God, our Creator. He is God, our creator. He is
the upholder. He didn't finish it and then
that was the end of it. He continually upholds it by the word of his
power. He is the redeemer of his people,
for we saw that he by himself had purged the sins of his people. And thereby, having purged the
sins of his people, he has saved his people from their sins. You
see, No man has seen God at any time but the only begotten Son
who is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared Him. He has made
Him known. He has manifested Him. He has
revealed Him. And as I so often quote, but
I don't think I can quote it often enough, when Philip asked
Jesus in John 14, show us the Father, show us the hidden God. You know so much, but show us
the hidden God and we'll be happy. And Jesus said to him, you know
it, I know you know it, but you cannot Remind yourself of it
enough. Jesus said to him, Philip, have
I been so long with you, and yet you haven't known me? He
who has seen me has seen the Father. I and my Father are one. No wonder the Jews picked up
stones to stone him, because he was a man who was saying he
was the equivalent of God. But he was saying it because
he was that. If you have him, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, you have eternal life. Whatever else anybody tells you,
or this world teaches you, or Satan's kingdom tries to delude
you about, if you have the Son of God, if you have God manifested
in Jesus Christ, you have life. Peter said to him, Peter said
to him when he said, Will you go away from me? Will you go
away from me? Peter said to him, To whom shall we go? You and
nobody else by implication. You have the words of eternal
life. We need the words of eternal
life and you have them. But what is he like? How do I
visualize him? How do I visualize the Son of
God? Let me say right at the start,
Beware of the third commandment. Do you know what the third commandment
is? Beware of the third commandment. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 4. God, who is speaking to the Israelites,
having come out of captivity, bondage in Egypt, and the Sorry, I meant the second, the
second commandment, yes. The second commandment, thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness
of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them. You shouldn't worship them or
serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, I'm
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." Don't
make idols. Don't make false impressions
of what you think God is. Don't do it. Just do not do it. It's forbidden. God has forbidden
it. Why? Because you'll get it wrong.
You will get it wrong. You will get it wrong. There
are idols of fallen human imagination all around us, in our own minds.
There are idols in religion in the world all around us, in icons,
in statues, in paintings. The true image of God, the true
image of God isn't revealed in a painting. or in a Hollywood
blockbuster, the true image of God is revealed to the eye of
faith by God's spirit in the person of Jesus Christ. Let me say that again. The true
image of God is revealed to the eye of faith by God's spirit
in the person of Jesus Christ. So what image does God give in
his word? Now look at Hebrews chapter one
and verse four. speaking still about the Son
of God, speaking still about the One by whom God has spoken
in these last days, the One seated on the right hand of the Majesty
on high. Verse 4, being made so much better than the angels,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Immediately, Paul compares the
Lord Jesus Christ with the angels whom the Jews revered. People
revere the angels, these creatures about which we know so little,
relatively. But the first point he makes
is that our Lord Jesus Christ The Son who reveals God is made
so much better than the angels. Angels are messengers from heaven. That's what the word means. Angel
means messenger. In Revelation chapter 1, the
angels of the church at da-da-da, the seven are the ministers,
the messengers of the truth of God to those people. Angels are
messengers from heaven. Messengers from God's abode. It says at the end of chapter
one of Hebrews, are they not all, speaking about angels, are
they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation? They're ministering spirits.
And they appeared rarely in times past. They appeared rarely, but
they did appear, bringing the message of God. In Genesis 3,
24, they were placed at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to keep
the way of the tree of life. They were keeping the gospel
way, that the way to the tree of life, the true life of God,
is only in the redemption that Christ would come and accomplish. Cherubims were there, messengers
of God, keeping that way of the tree of life. We see them again
in the Old Testament. We see them at various times
and in various places. But for example, in 2 Kings chapter
6 and verses 15 to 17, Elisha the prophet is in a tricky situation. He's
surrounded by the might of the Assyrian empire and its army. And they're coming to completely
crush and destroy him and where he lived. And he's there with
his servant, a young lad who's filled with fear because he looks
all around and he sees the Assyrian army. And Elisha prays that God
would open the eyes of the young man and show him that they that
are with us are far greater than those that are against us. And
God opened the eyes of Elisha's servant, and he looked, and there
were multitudes of angels. It wasn't the Assyrian army,
it was multitudes of angels which would overcome that Assyrian
army and save them. In verse 14 of chapter one, as
we just read, they're there ministering for those who shall be heirs
of salvation. They're there for those who shall
be heirs of salvation. Believer, if you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you are an heir of salvation. And I'm telling
you, if you could hear now Physically, the sound of angels' wings, I'm
using metaphorical language, but if you could hear the sound
of angels' wings with your physical ears, you would hear them all
around you now. Are they not ministering spirits
to those who are the heirs of salvation? They're all around
us now. You would hear them all around
you. And you know, you would hear them especially in times
of deepest trial. Isn't that a comfort? The angels
of God are around his people, especially in times of deepest
trial. They brought the message of God.
They brought God's message to Daniel in Daniel chapter nine. Gabriel brought the message of
God to him and revealed truth. These that stand in the presence
of God. The angels announced the birth
of Christ to the shepherds, glory to God in the highest and peace
on earth, goodwill toward men. A saviour is born. They announced
his birth. They attended the Lord Jesus
Christ at his temptation in the wilderness and ministered to
him. They were there when he rose from the dead, when he rose
from the dead, when he ascended back to heaven. Angels came and
freed the apostles from prison, and all sorts of things like
that. Why do we not see them now? I'll tell you the reason
why. Because we have a completed Bible.
Ever since we've had a completed Bible, there has been less and
less, if not no need, for them to come and minister in that
way, because we have the completed Bible and God's Spirit. The completed
Bible, as we sing in that hymn, what more can he say, God say,
than to you he hath said? He said everything he needs to
say. He doesn't need to send angels to bring us a message.
The angels that he now sends are preachers, preachers who
bring the message of this completed word of God. The Jews revered
the angels. Just as, do you know when Peter,
James, and John went with Jesus up on the Mount of Transfiguration?
And there, the Lord Jesus Christ, the man with no comeliness that
we should desire him, just looked like another man. He looked,
even though he was only 30, early 30s, he looked like he might
have been 50 to the Jews. They said to him, have you seen
Abraham? You're not yet 50 years old.
Well, he was only just 30 years old at the time. He didn't have
that appearance that artists from hundreds of years ago go
around all the art galleries of the world and you'll see those
paintings where they try to do that which the second commandment
forbids and make an image, a likeness. Those disciples, Peter, James
and John, they revered Moses and Elijah who appeared on that
mountain with the Lord Jesus Christ. And they said, let's
build tabernacles, three tabernacles, one for you, one for him, one
for him. And a voice came out of heaven, no, no, no, no, no,
no. This is my beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear ye Him. Hear ye Him alone. He is the
one. The Son is infinitely better
than those patriarchs or the angels. The Son is infinitely
better, because as it says in verse four, He has, by inheritance,
obtained a more excellent name than they, a more excellent name
than the angels. The name of Almighty God, the
preeminent one, the name which is above every name, the Logos,
that's what I've called this message, a name which is above
every name, is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Logos,
the word, magnified. above all the name of the glorious
God. Psalm 138. He has magnified his
word above all his name. He has magnified this word. This
word, he is the word. In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God. This is the
word of God. That's his name in Revelation
19. The name on his thigh, the word of God. Here he is. He's
magnified that name above the name of the glorious God, and
he will not share his name or glory with another. It says that
in Isaiah 42 and other places. God speaks by the prophet. My
glory will I not give to another. Christ is God. That's why he
rightly claims the glory of God. So then, let's see, what does
the Scripture say? In Romans chapter 4 verse 3,
Paul writing there, making a point, he asked the question, what saith
the Scripture? And that's what we should always
do. If you want to know something about eternal truth, about spiritual
truth, ask this, what saith the Scripture? Because all religious
error, which leads to eternal condemnation, don't be in any
doubt, All religious error leads to eternal condemnation, has
its roots in wrong ideas about Jesus Christ. Let's see what
God has revealed to the law and to the testimony. If they speak
not according to this word, there is no light in them. So Hebrews
makes its case by quoting scripture because, as Paul wrote to Timothy,
all scripture is profitable for doctrine and teaching and reproof
and growth in holiness and et cetera. It's Holy Spirit inspired. And the first one is in verse
five. For unto which of the angels
said he, that is God, at any time, thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a
father and he shall be to me a son. Turn with me to Psalm
2. Psalm 2. And in Psalm 2, In Psalm 2, in verse 7, God says
this, I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Hebrews quotes that verse
in the Psalm. I will declare the decree, the
Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. What's he talking about? Verse
six, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. This is the Lord and his anointed
in verse two. The Lord and his anointed is
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the manifestation of himself. He is God's king who is set on
the holy hill of Zion. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords, with a name that is above every name. And he declared
the decree, the Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. The world was against, and still
is, the Lord and his anointed. That's what this psalm is about.
It's his King who is on that holy hill of Zion. And we know
it's Jesus because of Revelation 14, verse 1, which shows the
Lamb of God with his people on Mount Zion in this world which
is the kingdom of Antichrist, the kingdom of Satan. He is the
anointed of God. He is the king of his kingdom,
king of kings and lord of lords. He is begotten of God, not created,
begotten, not created. He is God manifest in creation. It says in verse eight of Psalm
2, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. In
all things Christ has the preeminence. He is triumphant. Verse 12, there's
an admonition to people reading this, kiss the sun, kiss the
sun. Show affection to the Son of
God, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. It says that to whom he didn't
say to any of the angels, you are my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be
to me a son. That is quoting in one of the
books of Samuel, Again, showing us how the New Testament writers
under inspiration took things that were declared in the Old
Testament that were sometimes just of a historical record and
apply them. They always apply them concerning
Christ, because as Jesus himself said, these Old Testament scriptures
speak of me. Okay, right. Then we move on,
verse six of Hebrews chapter one, again, when he bringeth
the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let the angels,
all the angels of God worship him. You see, he's better than
the angels. Let all the angels of God worship
him. And of the angels, he said, who
maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Yes, they're in an elevated position as the messengers and ministers
of God. But verse 8 of Hebrews chapter
1. But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Turn to Psalm 45. Psalm 45. We read it right at the start.
But come down to verse six, and this is what Hebrews chapter
one quotes. Speaking to the son, verse one,
my heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things
which I have made touching the king. Thou art fairer than the
children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips.
Therefore God has blessed thee forever. This is speaking of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh.
We see pictures of him, the Son of God, with his sword on his
majestic white stallion. In thy majesty, ride prosperously
because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right
hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemies. whereby the people fall under
thee. Speaking of the Son of God, and
look how it addresses the Son of God. You say, that's illogical. I know, to human reasoning it
is. Look how it addresses the Son of God. Verse six, thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. The scepter, the scepter is the
symbol of kingly power, ruling power. The scepter of thy kingdom
is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. God,
thy God, who's he speaking to? He's speaking to God. Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. Who is it that's being addressed
as God? It's the Son of God, the King,
the one riding majestically, the one who is revealed throughout
scripture as the Son of God. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Yes,
He's blessed of God. And when he walked this earth
as a man, his father in heaven was his God to whom he prayed.
He prayed to God because he was a man for a little while lower
than the angels, as we'll see in chapter two of Hebrews. He
is the one who is portrayed here, wielding the scepter, the power
symbol of God. What is the power of God? Romans
1 verse 16, it is the gospel, which is the power of God unto
salvation. Why? Because it underpins the
being of God as the just and justifier of his people. The
just God and justifier of his people. A righteous God, a holy
God, and a savior. That's what it's speaking of.
Back to Hebrews chapter one. Back to Hebrews chapter one and verses 10 and 12. So we read that in Psalm 45,
thou hast loved righteousness, therefore God even thy God hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. So
verse 10, and thou Lord in the beginning, speaking of Christ
still, right? Speaking of Speaking of the Son
of God, this is what it's all about. Thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. They shall all wax old, as doth
a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall
be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall fail
not. There he's quoting Psalm 102,
so just turn to Psalm 102. Psalm 102, verses 25 to 27, which
says this. Of old thou hast laid the foundation
of the earth. I said, oh my God, take me not
away in the midst of my days. Verse 25, of old thou hast laid
the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works
of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt
endure. And you see, that psalm, which
you say, well, it's speaking of God, it's speaking of God
doing these things. Yes, but Hebrews explicitly shows
us the light of the truth of this. that it's the Lord Jesus
Christ, the manifestation of God, the one by whom we know
God that did these things. As John wrote in his gospel about
the Word, who was in the beginning with God, without him was nothing
made that was made. Turn with me to Colossians and
chapter 1. Just read with me verse 15 down
to verse 17, because here, again, it's speaking of Christ. Why
is it always speaking of Christ? Because there's nothing greater
to speak about. There's not one greater to speak
about than Christ. And what does it say about him
in verse 15 of Colossians 1? Who is the image of the invisible
God. Is that not exactly what Hebrews
1 verses 1 to 3 said? He is the image, the express
image, the outshining. He is the image of the invisible
God. God is unknowable, unseeable. No man shall see me and live
yet, yet. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ is
the image of the invisible God. He who has seen me, he said to
Philip, has seen the Father. I and my Father are one. He is
the firstborn of every creature. That does not mean that he is
the first created. It means that he is the driving
force of all creation. He is the image of the invisible
God. Right, verse 16. Why does it say He's the firstborn
of every creature? For by Him, by Christ, by the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
Listen to this. All things were created by Him. and for him. Who is this? This is God. This is God manifest. This is God our saviour. He is
before all things, and by him all things consist. You know
that if you skip across to chapter two and verse nine, we read that
in him, this same one, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, in a human body. all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Can you get your mind around
that? I can't. But this is what scripture teaches
us, this is what it says, and therefore I believe it. Many
see Jesus as a good man, as a teacher, as a prophet, as an example. Undoubtedly, he's all of these
things, but to stop there is to utterly deny him. It would
be better to have never heard of Jesus than to stop so short
of his true being. Another psalm, and with this
we'll be finished looking at the psalms, but it's there in
verse 13. To which of the angels said he
at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. That's there in Psalm 110. Psalm
110, verse one. The Lord, the Lord, said unto my Lord. Here
we have it again. God said, thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, and
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, and so
on. Jesus quoted this psalm in Matthew 22. Speaking to the Pharisees,
he says to them in verses 41 to 46 of Matthew 22, what think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And he's talking
there about the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand. The Lord, you'll notice in your
Bibles, it's in small capital letters, the first Lord. And
then the second Lord is a capital L and then lowercase letters.
Do you know the two separate words in the original? The words
are as near as we can get to them. Yahweh, which is Jehovah,
the almighty hidden God, and Lord with lowercase letters,
Adonai, which is Adonai. the manifestation of God, the
manifestation of the hidden God. The Lord, Yahweh, said to my
Lord, Adonai, because He's my Lord, because that's how I know
God. This is the Father speaking to the Son. This is the unknowable
God to God manifest in the person of His Son. This is God speaking
to God. This is the counsels of heaven.
When the son was made of a woman, his father was his God. When he walked this earth as
a man, he prayed to his father. He sought to do the will of his
father. The Lord said unto my Lord. His father was his God, to whom
he, as a man, while he was made for a little while lower than
the angels, You might wonder, if Jesus is God, why did he pray
to God? The Jehovah's Witnesses and the
like are always thinking that that is a complete, logical conundrum. But it's because of how things
are. He is the manifestation of the
hidden, unknowable God. And as a man walking this earth,
he prayed to his father, and he communed with his father.
And it's a mystery, and can you get your head around it? No,
you can't, but you can believe it. because it elevates who he
is. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
Who is this one whose name is above every name? He's God manifested. Ask God to show you this truth,
to keep you from idolatrous ideas, from wrong ideas about who he
is. Who is this son who is set forth
as better than the angels? Who is this Lord Jesus Christ? In Romans chapter 9, and verses
four and five, Paul writing to the Romans talks about his heavy
heart because of the Israelites, because of the Jews who were
his kinsmen after the flesh. And he said of them that they
didn't know the truth of God. And he said that he would long
for them to be saved. But he says, to them pertaineth
the adoption because What advantage is there in being a Jew? Much
every way. God gave them the scriptures.
To them pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.
No other people on earth knew the living God as these did.
Whose are the fathers? The fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob. And of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came. Christ came from this people,
the Jews. From the flesh, Christ came.
Right, this is the bit I wanted to get to. Christ came, who is,
Christ is, overall God blessed forever. Could you have a clearer
statement of the divinity of Christ than that? Christ came,
who is overall God blessed forever. When the prophet Isaiah was speaking
in chapter 40 and verse 9, that chapter that begins with, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. He says in verse 9,
say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God, because God
is coming, Christ is coming. He talks about John the Baptist
preparing the way of the Lord. And then the man that was walking
this earth, he said, say to the cities of Judah, behold your
God. When the angel, the messenger
of God, came to Joseph, the espoused husband of Mary, when she was
found to be pregnant with a child, and he said, you shall not put
her away, because the thing that is conceived in her is not from
another man. The thing that's conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. And he says, you call his name
Jesus. Why? Because he shall save his
people from their sins. Then in verse 23, he quotes Isaiah
chapter seven. He says, a virgin shall be with
child. Stick with her, Joseph. She's
a virgin, and she's with child, but exactly as the scripture
said, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth
a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. What does that
mean? What does Emmanuel mean? Well,
read on, just the next few verses. Which being interpreted is, God
with us. The son that will be born, he
says to Joseph, the son that will be born of your espoused
wife Mary, who is pregnant by the Holy Ghost, He said, that
one who will be born is God with us. Say unto the cities of Judah,
behold your God. When the apostle Paul, when he
was still known as Saul in Acts chapter nine, verse 22, when
he was first converted, having gone to seek to destroy the church
of God, he increased the more in strength, it says, and confounded
the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ,
that this is very Christ, that this man, Jesus of Nazareth And
those who were following him that they were trying to destroy,
proving that this man is very Christ. What does he mean by
that? He's very Christ. He's God. He's God manifest. He's God come to earth for redemption,
to save his people from their sins. As John says in his epistle,
try the spirits, whether they be of God. Everyone that confesses
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. What does
he really mean? He means that that man, Jesus of Nazareth,
who grew and ministered, is the God revealed in the Old Testament
as, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand. Thy throne,
O God, is for ever and ever. He's that one. He is our God. Christ come in the flesh is eternal
God become man. So what do we conclude? With
this I'll finish. What do we conclude? If God graciously
gives you life, abundant life, eternal life, this life is in
his Son and nowhere else. You won't find truth in any of
the modern fads that there might be. Yoga is maybe not that modern
these days, but you won't find truth in yoga. You won't find
truth in meditation, empty meditation. You won't find truth in fitness
or in alternative religion. You will only find truth in Christ
and in him alone, in him alone. Isaiah 55, verses six and seven. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake... Who's
wicked? Unbelievers. Unbelievers. Let
the wicked, all of us by nature, let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. Jesus said, seek and ye shall
find. Lord, I believe, said that man.
Do you believe in the Son of God? He said, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief, because
I'm weak in the flesh. Bring me into the knowledge and
experience of the abundant, eternal life of God. Amen.