I certainly feel overwhelmed
with the greatness of my subject, and I think you'll see why when
I give you the title of this message, The Son of God. The Son of God. I think it's interesting the
way Mark begins his gospel account. He doesn't do what Matthew and
Luke did. They gave the story of the birth
of Christ. They gave the genealogy of Christ. Mark doesn't do that. Look how
he begins. Verse one of chapter one, the
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Look in Mark chapter one, verse
34. And he healed many that were
sick of diverse diseases and cast out many devils and suffered
not the devils to speak because they knew him. They didn't love him, but they
knew him. They demonstrated much more respect
to him than the average religious person in Lexington, Kentucky
does. They trembled in his presence
because they knew him. He suffered them not to speak.
Our text says in chapter three, verse 12, and he straightly charged
them that they should not make him know. Now, why did he do
that? There's only one answer. He wasn't
seeking to gain a following. He was coming to save his people
from their sins. That's why he said, don't make
this known. They knew him, but they didn't love him. Look
at Mark chapter five. And they came over unto the other
side of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he
was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the
tombs. And no man could bind him, no,
not with chains, because he'd been often bound with fetters
and chains. And the chains had been plucked asunder by him and
the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him.
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, in the
tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw
Jesus, afar off, he ran and worshiped him and cried with a loud voice
and said, what have I? to do with thee, Jesus thou Son
of the Most High God. I adjure thee, I beg thee by
God that thou torment me not. Now he knew who he was. What connection is there between
me and thee? You're light, I'm darkness. You're
holy, I'm evil. You're good, I'm bad. You're
strength, I'm under weakness. Have you come to torment me before
the time? He didn't even suspect mercy.
He knew who he was. Jesus Christ is the son of God. Let me repeat that. Jesus Christ
is the eternal, only begotten. And that beginning is not an
event of time. It's an eternal fact, irrespective
of time. Jesus Christ is God the Son. John 1, 1 in the beginning was
the word And the word was with God as a distinct person. And the word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Would you turn with me for a
moment to John chapter five? Verse 17. But Jesus answered them, my father
worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the
more to kill him, because not only had he broken the Sabbath,
but also said that God was his father. Look at these next five
words, making himself equal. with God. Hear these words from the gospel
of Isaiah, gospel Isaiah chapter nine, verse six unto us, a child
is born unto us. A son is not born. Is he he's
given he's the eternal son. He wasn't born, he was given. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders. That means the absolute rule
and dominion. He is an absolute sovereign control
of everything, always has been, always will be. The government
is upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called
Wonderful. We use that word way too loosely,
don't we? How was your meal? Wonderful. How you doing? Wonderful.
Full of wonder. Okay. His name shall be called Wonderful. Counselor. And I think it's interesting,
that word is a verb. He is the one who says, I will
do all my counsel. That means he counsels, that
means he decrees, that means he's the one who determines everything.
That's not talking about somebody who gives good advice. That's
talking about the one whose will is always done. His name should
be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God. the everlasting father. He said, he that has seen me
hath seen the father. Now, what all can I say about
that? Can I explain that? I'm not even gonna attempt to. Truly, his name is wonderful. He's the counselor, the mighty
God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. He made our peace with God. I
mean, he made it, didn't he? He made it. And he, as Paul says
in Ephesians 2.14, is our peace. Turn to Hebrews chapter one.
There's not a passage that speaks more of the excellency and glory
of Jesus Christ than this passage of scripture. Hebrews chapter
one, God. I love the way Hebrews begins. I love the way it begins with
God. God, who at sundry times and diverse manners, spake in
times passed into the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken to us by son. Notice the his is in italics,
by son. Who is this son, whom he hath
appointed heir? of all things, everything was
made for him by him, by whom also he made the world. He's the creator, who being the
brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and
upholding all things by the word of his power. When he had by
himself, you know what that means? That means without any help from
me or you. Me and you didn't make any contribution in this.
He did this by himself. When he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
Look in verse eight of this same chapter. But unto the Son, the
Son of God, he saith. This is what the Father says
to him. But unto the Son, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Aren't you glad? Don't you want
him to be anointed above all else? In John chapter one, verse
18, the Lord said, no man has seen God at any time. The only
begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, that near dear
relationship. He hath the clarity. Now the
eternal son, who inhabits eternity actually made many pre-incarnate
appearances where he, before he became flesh, the son of God,
he appeared to Adam and Eve after they fell walking in the cool
of the evening. and provided that covering for
them, took away that fig leaf covering they tried to make.
I love to think of Abraham coming to Melchizedek. I don't have
any doubt that Melchizedek is the Lord Jesus Christ. without
mother, without father, without beginning of days nor end of
life, abiding a son continually. And you think about the way the
writer of the Hebrews said, without contradiction, the less is blessed
by the better. Well, Abraham is a, I wouldn't
call any man, mere man better than him, but I'd call Melchizedek
better than him because this is the Lord Jesus Christ. and
he blessed him with bread and wine. Would any priest, earthly
priest, a man priest, use bread and wine? No, they'd sacrifice
blood. But this prefigured the Lord's
table, and this Melchizedek appears to Abraham, and Abraham paid
him tithes. It was the Son of God who wrestled
with Jacob. And Jacob walked with a limp
the rest of his life. After that, it was the Son of
God who appeared to Moses as a burning bush that could not
be consumed. And I love what that tells us. That bush didn't need the energy
of that wood to have the fire continue. That speaks of the
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, his utter independence. He doesn't
have any needs. He doesn't need you. He doesn't
need me. We need him. But he has no needs. He didn't need the energy of
that wood for that burning to keep going. And that wood couldn't
be consumed. It kept burning. That's the perfect
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He couldn't be consumed by the
wrath of God. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
three for a moment. He was the Son of God before
He ever became the Son of Man. I think this is one of the most
thrilling passages of Scripture in the Word of God. This is after
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had been thrown into the fiery
furnace. Beginning in verse 23, and these
three men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell down, bound,
into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And you'll remember
it was so hot that the men who threw him in were consumed by
the flame. They couldn't take it. Then Nebuchadnezzar
the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said
to his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into the
midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, true, O king. He answered and said, lo, I see
four men loose walking in the midst of them and they have no
hurt in the form of the fourth is like to the son of God. How did he know? If you see him,
you'll know. Turn to Luke chapter one and
let's read about his birth. beginning in verse 26. And at the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph. From the
house of David, the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel
came in unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored. The
Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
When she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her
mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, fear not Mary, for thou has found favor, grace
with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb and shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his
name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be
called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever and ever. Of his kingdom there shall
be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be seen? I know not a man. The angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come 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. We know very little about his
first 30 years on this planet. We're only given the one story
when he left his state in Jerusalem, when his parents went back and
spoke with the doctors and teachers of the law and his parents came
back after him. sorrowing, son, what have you
done? He said, wished you not that
I must be about my father's business. You see, he is the son. Now,
after 30 years of keeping the law perfectly as a man, he begins
his public ministry. And he asked John the Baptist
to baptize him. And can you imagine how John
felt? I happen to be baptized today. He knew who he was. Not
many other people did, but he did. Suffer to be so now for
those who become with us to fulfill all righteousness. And he suffered
him. And when John the Baptist lowered the Lord into the water
and brought him back up, a dove came down from heaven. The Holy
Spirit visibly bodily descending upon him and a voice came from
heaven. And you know what it said? This
is my beloved son. In whom? And I love that in whom. He doesn't say with whom. He
says in whom. Everybody in him is included
in this. In whom? I am well pleased. And there was somebody else that
was there at this time. Satan. You can bet that Satan
was watching the Lord Jesus Christ every moment of his life. And he heard that voice come
down from heaven. And what does he do? In the wilderness
when he's tempting? If you're the son of God. He
called it into question. If you're the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that cometh out of the mouth of God. That's
what's written. If you're the Son of God, prove it, demonstrate
it. Jump off this temple because the scripture says, now he goes
to the scriptures. The scripture says, the angels will bear thee
up, lest at any time thou dash thy stone, thy foot against the
stone. It is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. If
God testified, this is my son, nothing else is needed. No proof
is needed. That is the word of God. When he preached that message
in John chapter six, early in his earthly ministry, He'd fed
5,000 people, and after they heard the message, the scripture
says, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with
him. They didn't like what he said.
They said, these are hard words. We don't like hard words. And he looked at the 12, and
he said, will you also go away? I love Peter's answer. To whom
shall we go? It's not like we have an option.
It's not like there's any other place to go. Thou has the words
of eternal life. These words that they find hard
words, we find them to be words of eternal life. And we believe
and are sure that thou art that Christ. The son of the living
God. Now, I've said this recently,
but I am going to say it again, because I like saying it. He's the Christ. He's the prophet
like no other prophet, because every other prophet said, thus
saith the Lord. He said, I say it to you. He's a priest like
no other priest. Every other priest brought the
blood of bulls and goats that can never take away sin. But
he brings his own blood, which takes away sin. He's a king like
no other king. Every other king has borrowed
power. He is inherently king of kings
and Lord of lords by virtue of who he is. He's the Christ, the
son of the living God. You see, the issue is who is
Jesus Christ? That's really the only issue.
Who is Jesus Christ? You'll remember when he said
to his disciples in Matthew chapter 16, whom say men that I the son
of my man am. And they said, well, they say
some good things about you. Some say you're John the Baptist,
one of the prophets. They put you in some high cotton. Not really. Not really. To compare him to
any man is greatly derogatory to the glory of his person. He
said, but whom say ye that I am? Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. That's the issue. Who is he? Now, somebody says, well, about
everybody believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Ask
him. Well, I realize that, but there's
a problem there. The God that they speak of bears
no resemblance to the God of the Bible. And the Christ they
speak of, the Jesus they speak of, bears no resemblance to the
Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. So to say I believe Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, well, if you know who God is, it means something.
If you know who Christ is, it means something. But if you've
got some kind of make-believe God, make-believe Christ or non-existence,
it's meaningless. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Blessing blood didn't reveal
that to you. but my Father, which is in heaven. If you believe
this, God revealed this to you. And thou art Peter, and upon
this rock, this confession of me, who I am. You see, that determines
everything else. Who he is determines everything
else. Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock will I build my church. Oh, aren't you glad that Christ
is the builder of the church? And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. I'll pluck out everybody, knock the doors
down, and save everybody I intend to save. You see, the one who is the Son
of God, I wish I could say this correctly, you believe He's the
Son of God when you believe that all of the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in His body. That's what it is to believe
he's the son of God. You believe he has fullness of sovereignty,
fullness of omnipotence, fullness of omnipresence. You say, how
could that be? Well, he said, no man descended
from heaven, but the son of man who's in heaven. Well, I'm standing
here talking to you right now. I'm there. He's, he's God. fullness of immutability, fullness
of... Every attribute of God is expressed
fully in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you believe
that and you find it necessary to... He can't save you if He's
not like that. That's what you need. That's
who you need to save you. You're relying on Him. That's
what this means. To believe He's the Son of God. heals that man who had been born
blind. And then he asked him this question,
does thou believe on the Son of God? He said, who is he? Lord,
that I might believe. I love his answer. Thou hast
both seen him and it is he that speaketh with thee. And you know
what he said? He said, Lord, I believe. And what happened?
He worshiped him. You see, anybody who sees the
Son of God, this is the natural Consequence, you will worship.
You will worship him for who he is. I can't help but think
also when I'm thinking of this thing, the man of transfiguration,
the Lord, he gives them a view of his deity. They knew he was man. And then
his deity burst through his humanity at this time. And Peter and James
and John are watching. Can you imagine how they felt?
And then Moses and Elijah appear at that time. And I love the
way the Holy Spirit has told us what they were talking about.
They spake of the deceased, which he should accomplish in Jerusalem.
That's what they were talking about before the foundation of
the world. That's what they're going to be talking about when time's
no more. That's everything. They spake of the deceased, which
he should accomplish. Oh, Moses and Elijah, they were
saying, we're going to be saved because of what you're going
to accomplish on Calvary Street. That's why we're saved. They were glorying
in that. Then answered Peter. Nobody asked
him anything, but he answered, Lord, it's good for us to be
here. Let us build three tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses and
one for Elijah. You know, he couldn't have said
anything worse than that. He's putting the Lord Jesus Christ
in the same plane as Moses and Elijah. That was bad. That was
bad. And they knew it real quick because
of A bright cloud overshadowed them. They hit the dirt. And
a voice came from that cloud, this is my beloved son, in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. And they got up,
and I love the way the scripture says they saw no man save Jesus
only. Now, when they came to arrest
Christ, they come up with swords and
staves, a big group of people, people estimate anywhere between
500 and 1,000 people who came to arrest Christ at this time.
And he said, Whom seek ye? Jesus of Nazareth, I am. Where it says he, that's in italics.
I am. And I love the way the scripture
says they fell backwards. That big group fell backwards. He's the great I am, the son
of God. And he's letting them know at
this time, I'm not your victim. I'm in control of you. This is
my will be done. That's exactly what he's letting
them know by that action. Well, he lets them arrest him.
They bring him before the high priest. And the high priest says
in Mark's account, are you the son of the blessed? He said,
I am. I am. In some of the other accounts,
he said, you say it, which I guess is saying the same thing. I'm
not real sure why he said it that way. You said it. You said
it. But here in Mark's account, he said, I am. I love it when
the Lord says I am. Before Abraham was what? I am. I am that I am, the name
of the Son of God. It was he that spoke from the
bush. I am that I am. Tell them, I
am has sent thee. And then he said, hereafter you
shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven And then the priest said, crucify
him. And they got the people shouting,
crucify him. They bring him before Pilate.
Pilate says, I find no fault in him. And they reply, by our
law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. And the scripture says Pilate
was the more afraid. He was scared to death at this
time. And he comes up to the Lord and he said, don't you know,
What's this sir saying? Don't you know that I have power
to crucify you and I have power to release you? He said, you
have no power at all over me, except it be given thee from
above. When he's nailed to the cross,
they pass by mocking him. If you're the son of God, come
down and save thyself. He saved others. Himself he cannot
save, and there's never been truer words spoken for me to
be saved. He could not save himself. What restrained him when they
were questioning his sonship? Because he knew he had to carry
this out for the salvation of his people. When he finally cried, It is
finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. You know what that Roman centurion
said as he saw the earthquake when this took place? Surely
this was the Son of God. Let me close with these statements. This is the content of faith. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked
what hinders me to be baptized, he said, if you believe with
all your heart, you may. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son
of God. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing, you might have life through his name. 1 John 5, 1. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? There's a second statement I
want to make. This is the content of the gospel. Turn with me to
Romans 1. Verse one, Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the
gospel of God, which he had promised before by his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures. And the gospel of
God is the gospel concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
of the dead. Now there's the gospel in those
verses. And this is the content of our preaching. Always. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter one. Verse 17, when I therefore was
thus minded, I use likeness for the things that I purpose. Do
I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be
yea, yea, and nay, nay. But as God is true, our word
to you, toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God,
there he is. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay. Does His blood accomplish redemption? Yes. But not if you don't fill
in the blank. That's yea and nay preaching,
isn't it? Is salvation all of grace? Yes. But not if you don't
do your part, you'll still... That's yea and nay preaching.
There's no truth to it. It's utterly contradictory. It's
wrong. The Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea for all. The promises of God in him are
yay, yes, positive saving, and amen, so be it, finished. This is it. Unto the glory of God by us. Now, would I be making any kind
of overstatement If I said, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the
Son of Man, the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
revelation of your son. Lord, we ask that you would teach
us that he is the gospel. He is the content of the gospel. That he is the object of faith. that he is salvation and enable
us to rely completely and solely on him as our salvation before
you. In his name we pray. Amen.