Well, again I bring you back
to the book of Genesis. We're looking at scriptures which
testify of Christ. And all of the scripture testifies
of Christ because Jesus himself said it. These scriptures are
they which testify of me. And why do we keep coming back
here? Because it's only in and through Christ that sinners know
anything of the true God. It's only in Him. You know, you
think religion would tell you there are many, many ways to
God. We all worship the same one God. No, we don't. You only
know the true God in Christ. He himself said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. There are other ones if you want.
No, he didn't say that. He said no man comes to the Father. No man comes to God truly except
by me. Listen to what John wrote in
his first epistle, at the end of his first epistle. We know
that the Son of God is come. And He has given us an understanding. Why? Because He has made of God
unto us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
He's given us an understanding of what it is to have this understanding
of eternity. But where is it? It's in the
Son of God who has come. He has given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. And we are, if you believe
Him, If you trust Him, if you've believed His Gospel, you are
in Him. What a safe place to be. There's
nowhere else that is safer. Whatever man might do to us,
in that cleft, in that split, in the rock which was broken
for us, that rock which was Christ, to be hiding in Him. We are in
Him that is true. We're in Him if we believe Him.
Even in His Son. You see, God is true. We're in
Him that is true. But how? Even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. This, Jesus Christ, is true God
and eternal life. And there's no eternal life anywhere
else. That was the testimony of that
hymn that we just sang, the second verse of it. Other refuge have
I none, no other way, none other name, under heaven, given among
men, whereby we must be saved. other refuge have I none. Hangs my helpless soul on thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone.
Still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed.
All my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wing." That's the cry of the saved person,
of the child of God. It's what we do trusting him
in knowing and apprehending the blessings of God because God
has blessed his people. God has promised blessing to
the people he has saved in Christ, the people he chose in Christ
from before the beginning of the world. They're the covenant
blessings, they're the same blessings that God poured out on Jacob. who was so undeserving, but then
which of us reckons that we are deserving? Which of us reckons
that we are deserving? However good and righteous we
are, hear the voice of Jesus to those scribes and Pharisees
in John 8. Let him of you that would accuse
others, let him that is without sin cast the first stone at her,
and they all went away because everyone knew. In me, that is
in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. I am all unrighteousness. In me, in myself, there is nothing
of any value, but it's all in him. And he promises covenant
blessings. He promised covenant blessings
to Jacob. Why? Because he's God. Because
he's sovereign. Ah, but it's not fair. You know,
out of the mouths of babes, but even Timothy asked me the other
day, is it not unfair that some people don't hear this gospel?
But it's the sovereign purposes of God. the sovereign purposes
of God, and we bow to the sovereign purposes of God. God has said,
He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious, and He will
have mercy on whom He will have mercy. So it is not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy. to those who believed in says
John chapter 1 he gave the power to become the sons of God who
were born not of the flesh nor of the will of man nothing that
we do in ourselves but of the will of God he's sovereign and
in that sovereignty God said concerning Jacob and Esau you
know they were twins They were twins. God said to Rebekah, their
mother, before they were born, He said, there are two nations
in your womb, these twins. And He said, the older one, the
one which was born first, shall serve the younger one. not fair. It goes contrary to what natural
law would tell you, but that's what God decreed. Romans 9, 12
and 13, it was said unto her, Rebekah, their mother, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, this is in
the scriptures, this is what the Bible says, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. This is God, our sovereign God. Are we going to kick and scream
and fight against what he has said? Or are we going to bow
to his sovereignty as God? This is sovereign grace. And
it is God's purpose to bless Jacob, his elect one, with eternal
life. And it's God's purpose to bless
every Jacob. Because all of his elect are
Jacobs. All are sinners by nature. But
every single one of them, he is blessing with eternal life.
Have you heard his promise of eternal life? Have you believed
his gospel of sovereign grace? Of how he is just, he remains
just, and yet he has justified that which is sinful. He has
declared righteous. He has imputed the holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord to all his people in and through
what Christ has done. He has done this. Our God has
done this. Have you believed it? Have you
trusted? That's how we know that you're
a true child of God. Paul says to the Thessalonians,
I'm bound to give thanks to God for you all. Why? Because God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How did he
know he'd chosen them to salvation? Because they believed the gospel
he preached through sanctification of the spirit, The setting apart
from this world of the Spirit of God, of a people for himself,
and belief of the truth. That's how you know. That's the
mark of the children of God. Not people who believe in Jesus,
because they believe in a Jesus of their own imagination, but
those who trust the Christ of Scripture, the true Christ of
the Bible. And he promises blessings. Listen
to the blessing that God promises his people. I love this verse.
Jeremiah 29. Verse 11. God says this through
the prophet. God says this to his people.
Are you one who believes him? Listen to this. Listen. Listen.
In this world, in this world of fear and torment and evil
that's all around us, listen to what God says to his people.
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, child of God. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil. to give you an expected end.
What's that expected end? Eternal glory. Eternal peace. Eternal bliss. Eternally. Without end. With Him. In glory. This is what God promises every
one of His people. And whether He takes us through
the fire, or through torment, or through persecution, or through
whatever it might be, This is what he purposes for his children.
How will God bring you, his child, by sovereign grace, if that's
what you are, how will he bring you to know the reality of his
blessing? There's something in the way.
There's something getting in the way, isn't there? All the
time. What is it that gets in the way? It's the flesh. It's
the flesh. It's this fallen, sinful flesh. And this is why God chastises
his children. His purpose is to bring us into
the blessings of his grace. but there are trials on route
to that blessing. And Jacob knew trials on the
route to this blessing. Jacob knew trials. He was a deceiver. That's what his name has become
synonymous with. He was a deceiver. He was a supplantage. Remember what he did? He was
the younger one. He was the softy, the stay at
home softy. His brother Esau was the man's
man. His father Isaac loved him. He
was a hunter in the field. He went out, he did those things
that his dad loved. But Jacob was mummy's softy boy
at home. But God loved Jacob. And in God's
sovereign purposes, he left Esau to his own unbelief. Esau sold
his birthright. And that has so much meaning
in it concerning God's sovereign grace and the knowledge of the
gospel of grace. But Esau sold it. He sold it
to Jacob, who sold it to him for what's called a mess of pottage,
a bowl of stew. He sold his birthright. He counted
the grace of God in Christ, which his father had taught him. He
counted that thing worthless, and he sold it. He sold it to
his brother. And the price? Just a bowl of
stew. That's all it was, because he
felt hungry. And Jacob deceived his brother out of his birthright.
And then Jacob and his mother, Rebekah, deceived Isaac, their
father. She deceived him into thinking
that Jacob was Esau, so that Isaac gave the firstborn's blessing
to Jacob and not to Esau. He was a deceiver. And he had
to flee. We saw that last time. He had
to flee. Esau was determined to kill him. His mother said,
you better get out of here. "'cause Esau, your brother, is
determined to kill you." And he went to the family of his
mother, to Rebekah's family, to Laban. He went to Laban, the
brother of Rebekah, and he worked for him. And Laban had two daughters,
Leah, the older one, who was plain, and Rachel, the younger
one, who was beautiful, who Jacob loved. And Jacob said he would
work for Laban for seven years for Rachel to be his wife. And
then, he the deceiver, Jacob the deceiver, was deceived by
Laban. Because you know, marriages then
weren't like now. You know, we have this thing
about the veil, but you know who it is that's behind the veil.
Well then, it was such a good veil, you didn't know who it
was. And Laban fobbed Leah off on Jacob, rather than Rachel. And he had to work another seven
years to get Rachel, so he ended up with two wives, and not only
that, with two maids of two wives. And there was like a having babies
contest between these two daughters and their maids and they ended
up with, by the time of this story, 11 sons by different mothers. Jacob had 11 sons. But he who
was the cheat and the deceiver was grievously deceived by Laban
who tricked him. He worked hard, God blessed him,
everything he did for Laban God blessed it. Laban's flocks and
herds grew mightily when that was the currency of richness.
He had all of that currency. And it came to the time when
Jacob said, well, you know, what are you going to give me as my
wages? And they struck a bargain. And it was this. They agreed
that all of the livestock that would be born spotted, or speckled,
or brown, the sheep that were brown, or ring-straight, all
of these things, the ones that you wouldn't really want, they
could be Jacob's. And you know what God did? God
caused all the animals that were born to all the flocks and herds
of Laban to be spotted and ring-streaked and speckled. And Jacob had a
mighty host. It was as if the entire flock
was in the justice of God transferred to him. The deceiver had been
deceived, but now he's rich, and he's told to go back to his
homeland because he's never going to be counted as an equal amongst
Laban and his sons. He's worked hard, he's called
blessing, but he's told to go back. And he sets off back, and
on the way he hears that Esau, the brother who is determined
to kill him, is coming looking for him. And not only that, Esau
has got 400 men with him, with arms. They're coming, looking
for him. And what does it say about Jacob? He said, in verse
7, Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. God had blessed him
and said, I will bless you, and these are the thoughts I think
toward you. But there's a thing coming along, which is his brother,
armed and with 400 men, and he's terrified. Jacob is absolutely
terrified. greatly afraid. He's distressed. And he starts to do those things
to minimize the damage. You know when it's a military
thing, that if you don't want the entire force to be destroyed
at one go, split it up. Split it up tactically. So he
split his band up into separate bands and he said, well if he
comes and kills one lot, at least there's a chance that the other
lot might escape. Do you see what he's starting
to do? what the tendency of the flesh always is, to trust yourself,
to trust your plans. You know, we must always be responsible
in what we do. The scriptures give us no excuse
for being irresponsible. The man with his family must
go to work. Paul tells us, Paul writes to
Timothy, says the one that doesn't do that is worse than an infidel. The one who doesn't care for
his own family and provide for his own family is worse than
one who doesn't believe at all. Don't say I'm trusting God. to provide for me and don't go
to work as a result of it. That is appalling. That is not
what the scriptures teach. No, we're to be responsible,
but don't we always love to trust our own plans? Don't we love
to cling to our own comforts? Don't we like to keep a little
something back that we think we can lean on? You know, oh
yes, I trust God. but you know, I'm awfully glad
I've got all that money in the bank. Don't we say that we trust
God? Ah, but I'm so pleased that I've
got that house, and I've got this family, and I've got this
career, and I've got this potential for promotion, and all of these
other things. Don't we like to lean on our own plans? Do you
know, to be truly blessed of God, as the children of God,
Without being irresponsible in any way whatsoever, we must be
stripped of all fleshly reliance. We must, like Jacob, be brought
low to know the blessing of God. Psalm 116 says that very thing. I was brought low and he helped
me. God brings his people low. Listen
to what he says in Psalm 107. 107 verses 4 to 9. This is what he
says about his people. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of
their distresses, and he led them forth by the right way,
that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that men would
praise the Lord! God has to strip us of fleshly
reliance on the things of this world in order for us to truly
know that with which he has blessed his people. How has he blessed
his people? With the knowledge of eternal
salvation. Jacob must be brought low. We must get to that point so
that we, as 1 Corinthians 1.31 says, let him that glories, glory
in the bits and pieces he's got. No, let him glory in the Lord
and only in the Lord. Here's Jacob. He's alone. Entirely
alone. You know, he's put the wives
and the children on the other side of the Jabbok river, and
he sent servants on ahead of him with presents for Esau to
try and appease him. And here he is, verse 24, look
at him. Jacob was left alone. He's entirely alone. He's got
nothing to lean on. He's fearful for himself. He's
fearful for his wives, for his children, for his flocks. But
how will he apprehend? How will he know the presence
of God there to bless him? God has promised to bless him.
How will he know the presence of God there to bless him? The
answer is this. God must come to him. God must
come to him. And God does come to him. And
God does come to his people. Child of God, when you're in
need and in distress, You pray to Him. You look to Him. He comes
to you. He will come to you. He will
minister grace to you. He will minister His goodness
to you, for He has purpose to bless you. He has purpose to
bless His people, and bless them He will. Look in verse 24, when
he's left alone at his lowest point, there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of day. There wrestled a man with him.
Who was this man that wrestled with Jacob? Well, we can infer
without looking any further that it was our Lord Jesus Christ,
that it was the second person of the Trinity, that it was the
Word who was with God in the beginning and who was God in
the beginning, the manifestation of the being of God. to man the
word that's that's who he is the one by whom God speaks his
word is a written word but he is also the living word this
is who it was but you know we don't need to speculate if you
were to look and I'll read it to you in Hosea the book of Hosea
after Daniel chapter 12 and verses 3 to 5 this is speaking about
Jacob This is speaking about he, Jacob, took his brother,
Esau, by the heel in the womb. They said that the twins came
out of the womb and Jacob, the second one to be born, had hold
of his brother's heel as they came out of the womb, as they
were born. He took his brother by the heel in the womb and by
his strength he had power with God. Yea, he had power over the
angel. This is the one who wrestled
with him and prevailed. He had power over the angel and
prevailed. He wept and made supplication
unto him. He found him in Bethel and there
he spake with us. Even, who is it? Who is it that's
speaking with him? Who is it that's wrestling with
him? Verse 5, even the Lord God of hosts. The Lord is his memorial. It was the Lord God of hosts
who he wrestled with. This was Christ. It was Christ
in the form of a man. Now, now, this was not Christ
incarnate. No, no. He wasn't Christ incarnate
until he was made of a woman, made under the law. When the
fullness of the time had come, Galatians 4 verse 4, that was
when God became fully man. This was Christ in the form of
a man, but not the actual flesh and blood of Christ the man.
And who initiated the wrestling? Who initiated? Who started it?
He did, Christ did. Christ came to him because Christ
was determined to make Jacob aware of his blessing. God had
blessed him from all eternity, and to all eternity he will bless
him. But Jacob must know it, and so it was God in Christ who
came to him and initiated this wrestling. And what was its purpose?
What was the purpose of this wrestling? Do you know he wrestles
with all his children? its purpose was to bless. And
how would he do it? He would strip away self-reliance. He would cause him to wholly
lean on Christ. Wholly lean on Jesus' name. Not
trust any other prop. Not trust anything else that
we might lean on. People say that this is a lesson
in wrestling with God in prayer. That if we want something, and
you know, God's not really paying any attention, it's because we're
not twisting his arm hard enough. We must wrestle with God in prayer.
We must twist his arm up his back. Oh, let's stay up all night
at an all-night prayer meeting. I'm not saying we shouldn't be
importunate, we shouldn't be earnest, we shouldn't be persistent
in prayer. I'm not saying that at all. What
I am saying is this. This is not teaching us that
we should pray until we've twisted God's arm enough so that he blesses
us. This is not Jacob pleading for blessing. This is Christ
showing Jacob that he is blessed of God. It's Christ wrestling
Jacob's flesh to subdue Jacob's reliance on his flesh and thereby
give him the blessing, make him know The testimony of the New
Testament is this, Paul's testimony in 2nd Corinthians 12 and if
you can read it for yourselves and you will see how he boasts
about the things that God used to make him weak. Shipwrecked,
beaten, imprisoned, all of these other things. Let down in disgrace
in a basket out of the walls of Damascus, this man that was
so full of his own strength. No, he says, when I am weak,
Then I am strong. My strength, said Christ, is
made perfect in your weakness. And this was wrestling all night
long, all night till the breaking of the day. Not a fleeting encounter
at all, but a decisive battle, a never-to-be-forgotten battle.
God must come to you, child of God, and to me, and subdue your
self-reliance that he might bless you with his grace. And what
is it to be blessed with His grace? I tell you what it is.
It's not just to mouth the words. It's not just to write the words
down, but it's to know in your heart that I am crucified with
Christ. I am crucified with Christ. I
have no fleshly self-reliance. There is nothing that I am or
do or can ever do that can ever make me fit for eternity. But
Christ has done it all. That's what it's for. That's
what it's about. That's the blessing, is knowing
that. Knowing what I am in Christ by sovereign grace and particular
redemption. by His purposes worked out. He
causes His people to bow to Christ's will, to lose our lives to Him. What did Jesus say? He that will
lose his life shall find it, and he that will cling on to
it shall lose it. He subdues us, our will, so that
we lose our life to him, so that we willingly surrender to him. And it isn't a once-off thing,
it's a lifelong warfare. The flesh is always there. The
spirit wars against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit,
and these two are contrary. Romans 7, the things I would
do, I don't do, and the things I don't want to do, those are
the things I do. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death, the body of this death? I thank God, through Christ
Jesus, my Lord. This is what it is, to know the
blessing of that, being crucified with Christ, knowing that Christ
in him dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and
they're mine in him, knowing that I am in him, I am hiding
in that rock which is Christ from the judgment of God, that
I am blessed by him, knowing that Christ in whom dwells the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, As a man when he walked this
earth, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that he, this one, is
made unto me wisdom from God, and righteousness, all the righteousness
I need, and sanctification, all the separation to God that I
need, and redemption, for he has paid redemption's price for
the sins of his people. Have you been subdued by God's
Spirit? Has he wrestled you? Has he wrestled
you in your flesh to abandon hope in the flesh? He's subdued. Jacob is subdued and made willing. Look, when he saw that he prevailed
not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. The man,
Christ, touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of
Jacob's thigh was out of joint. He dislocated this joint as he
wrestled with him. He gave him a mark in the flesh
that he wouldn't forget. The hollow of his thigh was out
of joint, dislocated, a permanent, disabling reminder in the flesh
of his submission under the blessings of God. It made him willing.
In the day of his power, God, Psalm 110 verse 3, makes his
people willing in the day of his, willing to do what? Willing
to cease all works of self-righteousness. To cease all fleshly betterment
with God. to come to an end of self, to
be like God's true children really are. God's true children have
no confidence in the flesh. We are the true circumcision,
says Paul. We are. We worship God in the spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And we have no confidence. You
compare that with religion. Compare that statement with religion
all around. No confidence in the flesh. Oh, how religion loves its singing,
it loves its rituals, it loves its cathedrals, it loves its
priests, it loves its robes, it loves its traditions. No confidence
in the flesh is the mark of the children of God. No longer able
to fight. Jacob was no longer able to fight,
but he was able to cling. He clung on. He said, let me
go for the day breaketh, verse 26. This is the man wrestling.
And Jacob said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me.
He can't fight anymore, he's disabled. He's got the mark in
his flesh, but he is able to cling. He's only able to seek
the blessing that God has purposed. other refuge that him other refuge
have I none hangs my helpless soul on thee this is Jacob clinging
on clinging on to the God who is determined to bless him and
he seeks assurance of blessing look in verse 27 he said to him
that's that's the man that's Christ Jesus says to him what
is thy name Of course he knew his name, but he wants him to
say it. And he said, Jacob, deceiver, swindler, cheat, liar, flesh,
flesh, fallen flesh, fallen flesh. In me, that is in my flesh, there
dwells no good thing. And the man said to him, thy
name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. You're not
going to be called Jacob anymore. You're not going to be called
cheat, supplanter anymore. You're going to be called Israel.
Israel is a prince with God. You're going to be called a prince.
For as a prince thou hast thou power with God and with men and
has prevailed. He's given him a new name. What
is the new name that God gives to every one of his Jacobs? Are
you one of his Jacobs? He gives you a new name. Not
sinner, though we know we're sinners as long as we're in this
flesh, but he's given us a new name. He's given us a name of
Israel, Prince with God, the people of God. He's given us
that name which means justified. on the basis of what Christ has
done for His people. He's given us a name of the redeemed,
for the price of justice has been paid for the sins of His
people. He's given us the name sanctified, not the sanctification
that we do in the flesh, but the sanctification that He has
done in eternity by Christ to His people. So are all true believers. Now are we, says John in his
first epistle, 1 John 3 2, now are we, here it is, new name,
new name, now are we the sons of God. That's what he says to
you Jacob, now are we the sons of God. Do you know when a child
is adopted, Adoption is a beautiful picture. It isn't, you know,
the civil adoption in our society doesn't come close to describing
what the adoption of God means in reality. But nevertheless,
there are similarities. And that child takes on the name
of the family into which they're adopted. And the children of
God are adopted, whereby we receive the adoption. He's given us the
adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. He's given
us a new name. He's given us His name. All true
believers. God's purpose is to bless His
people. Thoughts, I think of you. Thoughts
of good, not of evil. to give you a desired end, to
give you life. This is it, I am come that they
might have life and have it more abundantly, to justify his people,
to exalt his people. How does he exalt them? He lifts
them up out of that horrible pit of sin and of condemnation. Out of the miry clay, as it's
called in the Psalms. And he sets their feet upon a
rock. A solid place. Not a miry, swampy
place. A solid place. And what is that
solid place? It is Christ, who himself is
the rock that God has sent. He gives his people justification. He exalts his people in the Lord
Jesus. He calls his people, his Jacobs,
he calls them his jewels. His jewels. His shining jewels. I am sin. I in my flesh am sin. Everything I do and think in
my flesh is sin. But God gives such as sinners
like me the power to become his children. John chapter 1 verses
11 to 13 as many as received him to them gave he power to
become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name
which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man but of God He takes sinners from that
horrible pit. He gives them this experience.
Look at this. This is the blessing with which
He blesses His people. Let me read these words out to
you in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 to 7. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us, these are
the blessings for his people, with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us
in him. What a blessing. Chosen in him
before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. Your name, no more Jacob. You're
named with the name of the family into which you're adopted. For
children, by Christ Jesus, to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Jacob, you're
accepted in Christ. He's the Beloved and you're accepted
in Him. In whom? This Beloved. In whom?
Christ, this Beloved. We have redemption. We have the
payment of the sin debt that God might remain just and the
justifier of those who trust Christ. In whom we have redemption,
how? Through His blood. He must become
man and shed the blood of man that man might be redeemed. The
forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. These
are the blessings that God would have us know. These are the blessings
indeed. And to see, to see that, to see
it and to experience it, to see as much as is revealed and no
more, because Jacob said to him, what is your name? And he said,
verse 29, wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?
And he blessed him there, but he didn't tell him, he didn't
tell him any more, and God gives us a limit of revelation And
he blesses us with that, and that much, and no further. But
there Jacob saw God in Christ. He saw him in Christ. Look at
verse 30. Jacob called the name of the
place Peniel. That is, the face of God. Look
at the margin. If you have a marginal reference,
the face of God. He called the name of the place
the face of God. Why? For I have seen God face
to face. And my life is preserved. Why
is that surprising? I'll tell you why. Listen to
these scriptures. This is why, this is why, Exodus 33 verse
20. Show me your glory, show me your
face, said Moses. God said, thou canst not see
my face, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me and live. There shall no man see the spirit,
I don't know how to put this, reverently. But what I mean is
this, there shall no man see the spirit essence of the Godhead
and live. That's what the scripture says.
Now listen to this. So then how, how did Jacob see
God face to face? How do we, Jacobs, see God face
to face? John 1 verse 1. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God And the word was God. The way God speaks was God himself. John 1 verse 14. The word, this
same word, was made flesh, made of a woman, made under the law,
and dwelt among us. The fullness of the Godhead bodily
dwelt among us. And we, the disciples and the
people that heard him minister, we looked on we beheld his glory
the glory as of the only begotten of the father the fullness of
the Godhead bodily in him we saw him full of grace and truth
John 1 verse 18 no man has seen God at any time no man has looked
on the spirit essence of God and lived at any time but the
only begotten son this word of God which is in the bosom of
the father He has declared Him. He has made Him known. He has
manifested Him. Philip said to Jesus, show us
the Father and it sufficeth us. And Jesus said to him, Philip,
have I been so long with you, and yet you have not known me?
Him in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily said, he
that has seen me has seen the Father. And we, Jacob's, Jacob's
declared to be Israel, princes with God. He says to us that
we see the glory of God. Where do we see it? Where do
we see it? God, who shined light out of darkness, has shined into
our hearts, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, to give us the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where is it? In the face
of Jesus Christ. That's where it is. Have you
heard God's voice of blessing promised to you in salvation,
in the gospel, in the seed of Abraham, Christ? Have you heard
it? Has it spoken to you? Have you
heard the voice of God's blessing in the gospel of his grace? Has
he wrestled your fleshly self-reliance into submission to his will? What did Jesus say to his father
the night before the crucifixion? Not my will, but thine be done. Has he caused you to say that
in your flesh? Not my will, but thine be done. Has he blessed
you with the new name of the redeemed of God, those who are
his people? Has he shown you his glory in
the face of Jesus Christ, the God-man? If he has, you know
the truth of his promise of peace that he gave in Jeremiah. I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Amen.