I pray that the Lord will enable
us to do just that, to adore his dear son. Wouldn't that be
a blessing? I've entitled this message, Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ Himself. That's all we're going to consider.
And this will be the consideration of eternity for all who are in
heaven. Jesus Christ Himself. He is, as we read, the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets. He is the chief cornerstone.
He is, now listen to me. He is the only subject of this
book. Let me repeat that. He is the only subject of this
book. He is the meaning of every doctrine
of the Bible. He is the meaning of every type,
every story. He's the only object of faith
and he's the only subject of faith. This book that we're looking
at was written by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Well, I thought
the Spirit of God inspired men to write this book. He did. And
he is the Spirit of Christ. When Peter was speaking of the
prophets, he spoke of the Spirit of Christ, which was in them
when they wrote these words. I love that scripture in Luke
24, verse 27, when he expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Jesus Christ himself. I love the way that sounds. Jesus
Christ himself. Look in the first chapter of
Ephesians at verse nine. Now this is speaking of Christ.
We know this from verse 7, in whom? In the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have redemption through His blood. Look what verse 9 says. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He
hath purposed in Himself. Now that is so sublime that I
don't even know how to talk about it. His purpose is in himself. That phrase, Jesus is the reason
for the season. No, he's the reason for everything. He ascribes sovereignty to himself. He ascribes a purpose to himself
and all of his purpose is in himself. Like I said, I don't
even know what to say about that. It's so glorious. He's absolutely
sovereign. He ascribes that to Himself.
And everything He's purposed in creation, in providence, it's
all His will being done. In salvation, He Himself is salvation. And all of His purpose is in
Himself. Turn with me to John 5. Verse
18. Therefore, the Jews sought the
more to kill him. Now, they were upset. They wanted
his death. They were so angry. Therefore,
the Jews sought the more to kill him because not only had he broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father making himself. equal with God. There's only one who is equal
with God. God. Making himself equal with God. Jesus Christ is not like God. Jesus Christ is God. equal to the Father. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
the great I am that I am in the beginning with God. Eternal existence,
equal with the Father, Jesus Christ himself. And remember,
all of heaven is going to have this one thing, this one object
of worship, Jesus Christ Himself. Nothing else. What do you think of? What does
God see in your heart when you hear this phrase, Jesus Christ
Himself? You're in John chapter 5. Let's
go on reading verse 19. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing
of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. For what things
however he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the
Father loveth the Son. This is what the father thinks
of Jesus Christ himself. The father loveth the son and
showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater
works than these that you may marvel. For as the father raises
up the dead and quickens them, even so the son quickens whom
he will. For the father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the son that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son, honoreth not the Father, which is sin him. Now
listen to this scripture, Isaiah 9, 6. For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given. He's the eternal Son. And the
government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God, the everlasting Father. Now, how do you explain that?
I'm not even gonna make an attempt. His name shall be called, wonderful,
counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father. Mystery. Show us the Father,
said Philip, and it sufficeth us. He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father. And all you and I are ever going
to see of the Father is Jesus Christ himself. Go on reading. Verse 24, Verily,
verily, I say unto you that he that he that heareth my word
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
Oh, that that might happen to us this morning, and they that
hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life. in himself. You know what that means? As
the Father is independent and has no needs. The Son of God is utterly independent
and has no needs. Now let me tell you how that's
translated. He doesn't need you. You need him. He has life in himself. He has
no needs. He didn't create the world because
he needed to. He did it simply because he would
to manifest his own glory. He has life in himself. and you and I are in His hand. If you don't praise Him, He can
raise up the stones to sing His praise. He has life in Himself. And before we go any further,
don't take any of what I'm saying for granted. What do I mean by
that? Listen to these words. In John
chapter two, verses 23 through 25, many believed in His name, Now you hear what it says, many
believed in his name when they saw the miracles he did, but
Jesus did not commit himself unto them. They believed in his
name, but he did not commit himself unto them because he knew all
men and needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what
was in man. His public ministry closed. with these words. These things spake Jesus and
departed and did hide himself from them. Now there are two
solemn scriptures to think of. He didn't commit himself to them.
He knew what was in them. And he did hide himself from
them. And if he didn't commit himself
to me, I'll never know him. And if he hides himself from
me, which he could do as an act of his justice, I'll never find
him. So don't presume on these things. Now, this glorious one who eternally was
before he came into the world in flesh and became incarnate,
became man. He was, he was before he came. He's always the great I am that
I am. I love that passage of scripture
in John 8, 24, when he says, if you believe not that I am,
you'll die in your sins. You see, faith has to do with
what you believe concerning him. Not what you think about yourself,
what you think of him. If you believe not that I am,
I'm the eternal I am, you'll die in your sins. I love when
he said to the Jews, they said, you're not yet 50 years old.
You think you've seen Abraham? before Abraham was I am. Now this one who is the eternal
I am came into this flesh and the scripture says in Philippians
chapter 2 verse 7 that he made himself. There's himself. He made himself. This glorious
being made himself. of no reputation. He made himself, that word is
vanity. You know, I've used the scripture
with regard to Solomon, man at his best state is altogether
vanity, because you see how far Solomon fell. But here is man
at his altogether best state, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant. Oh, how he humbled himself. Second
Corinthians 8, 9 says, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he were rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. And that's what happened when
he made himself of no reputation. He became poor. He who is rich
in the praise of God was cut off. He who is rich in the presence
of God was made to be forsaken and know nothing of the presence
of God on Calvary's tree. Oh, the condescension of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He made himself of no reputation. His enemies made fun of him.
He saved others. Himself He cannot save. Truer words have never been spoken
for me or you to be saved. He couldn't save Himself. Romans 15.3 Even Christ pleased
not Himself. He said, my meat and drink is
to do the will of him that sent me. He pleased not himself. Now, being you, we're really
into pleasing ourselves. I mean, that's. He didn't want
to please himself. All he wanted to do was do the
will of his father, which is in heaven. He didn't please himself. I do always those things that
please the Father. All He cared about was perfect
obedience to the Father's will. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. In John 13, verse 4 we read,
He took a towel and girded Himself in preparing to wash His disciples'
feet. That symbolizes everything He
did while He walked upon this planet. He said, came not to be served,
but to serve, to minister, and to give His life a ransom for
many. He worked out a perfect righteousness
as Jehovah's servant, He Himself. And having worked out this perfect
righteousness, we read in Matthew 8, verse 17, listen to this,
who Himself, who Himself, took our infirmities and bear our
sicknesses. Now, I realize that some people
think, well, that's God's will for you to never be sick. The
Lord took those sicknesses in his own body, so you don't have
to. That's foolishness. That's all that is. If you're
sick, it's because God's will for you to be sick for his glory
and for your good. You got some kind of disease
in you right now that's going to kill you. And it's all according
to his purpose. I know that. Whatever the Lord
does is right. So this is not talking about
physical health. I'm thankful for physical health
and I'd rather be healthy than sick. I'm not taking away from
the important. I want to feel good. I don't
want to feel bad. But what this is talking about
is giving us some idea of what it means when it says who his
own self bear our sins. his own body on the tree. Now, generally people think,
well, that means he bore the guilt of our sins. Yeah, it does. You don't bear the guilt of sicknesses
and diseases and infirmities, do you? He experienced it with
the exception of the commission of it. And I know I'm talking
about stuff that I don't even know what I'm talking about.
You know, when I began thinking about this Scripture and trying
to preach this message, I thought, I'm doomed for failure. I'm not
going to speak of Him as He ought to be spoken of. I'm not going
to say Him high enough. Not going to do it. I'm built
in for failure. But be that as it may, when He
was made sin, it's not just that He bore the guilt of it. He experienced the hell of it
in his heart. Oh, that's why he was forsaken
by God. Once again, I don't know what
I'm talking about. I feel like a fool trying to
talk about it, but this is what he experienced. He by himself,
with no help, No contribution from me or you, he by himself
purged our sins. He bore them in his body on the
tree. He bore the sickness of them,
the infirmity of them. That's why he can be touched
with feeling by our infirmities. Understand this, you know that
passage of scripture, it says he's touched by the feeling of
our infirmities, yet without sin. I always thought, well,
if he never committed sin, how can he be touched with my feelings
of weakness and sinfulness and failure and so on? Because he
felt all those things. Though he never experienced the
commission of sin, he experienced everything else about sin and
he's touched. With His brethren, His children, He's touched, He's
moved to sympathy by the feeling of our infirmities. He's experienced
them much more acutely than we ever could. Let me give several scriptures
with regard to what He did Himself for our sins. Galatians 1 verse
4 says, He gave Himself for our sins. What a statement. He gave Himself
for our sins. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20
tells us who the hour refers to when it says He gave Himself
for our sins. Paul said He loved me and gave
Himself for me. The hour is everybody individually
that he died for all of his elect. Listen real carefully. If Christ died for all men without
exception. What Paul said would be meaningless. He loved me and gave himself
for me. Now, if someone could say that
and they wind up in hell anyway, What's the gospel? There's no
gospel in that message. He loved me and gave Himself
for me. That's the assurance of the believer.
Listen to this. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25.
Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church
and gave Himself for it. that he might present it to himself. He gave himself and he presents
it to himself. A glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should be holy and without
blemish before him. Colossians 1.20, having made
peace through the blood of the cross to reconcile all things
to himself. That was his purpose, to reconcile
all things to himself. Somebody says, well, I don't
see everything reconciled to him. Well, it's gonna be, and it is.
It is, whether you and I see it or not. He has absolute control
of all things. I've already quoted this, when
he had by himself purged our sins. And I got a lot of favorite
scriptures, and this is one of them, because it reminds me that
I have no part in this thing. In the purging of sin, I have
no part. He did it all. I love the hymn we sing, Jesus
paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And
I didn't have anything to do with it. He did it by himself. And that rejoices my heart. He
did it by, doesn't need me. Doesn't need any contribution
from me. He did it by himself. After he died, we read in Acts
chapter 1, verse 3, he showed himself alive after his passion
by many infallible proofs. He showed himself alive. Now,
do you want to know where assurance of your salvation comes from? He lives. Nothing else. You want assurance? Look into that empty tomb. What's
there? Nothing. Why? Because He lives. He lives. And everybody He represents
is in Him. God is satisfied with what He
did. He showed Himself alive. Oh, I pray that God will show
Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, alive to everybody in here. Hebrews 7, verse 27 says, Who
needs not daily as those high priests to offer sacrifice first
for himself, his own sins, and then for the sins of his people?
For this he did once when he offered up himself. I want you
to think about this. He offered himself to God. He
offered himself to God. Listen, he didn't offer himself
to you. He offered himself to God. Now, you're the beneficiary
of it, but the gospel is not an offer. He's not offered himself
to you, but he did offer himself to God and God accepted what
he did. Listen to this scripture, Hebrews
9, 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God? Now you, you know what he says
next? Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God. Now what's meant by that? Every work of mine before He
gave me spiritual life by an act of His almighty sovereign
grace was nothing more than a dead work that did not contribute
in any way to my salvation. Purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9.26, Now once in the
end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin, by the sacrifice
of himself. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
2. Verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our father, which
hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and
good hope through grace, comfort your hearts. and establish you
in every good word and work. The Lord Jesus Christ himself. Don't you love if God gives you
the grace to think only of him? You're not thinking of yourself.
You're not thinking about somebody else. You're thinking of him.
The Lord Jesus Christ himself, which has given us this good
hope Now let me tell you what that good hope is. I'm gonna stand before God in
judgment, and God's gonna look at me, and he's gonna say to
me, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Somebody says,
how could he say that? Because whatever Jesus Christ
did, I did. And I stand before God justified. And I have a hope, this good
hope, I've got a hope that everything that's ever happened to me and
will happen to me is for my good and His glory. Now what a hope. And only the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself can give you that good hope. And He says, the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, comfort your hearts. I don't want any comfort
that comes from me. I don't want to derive any comfort
from something I've done. The only comfort I want is the
comfort that he gives of himself. What comfort there is in simply
being found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. The Lord Jesus
Christ comfort your hearts. Don't you want him to comfort
your heart? I don't want to receive comfort from any man. I want
to see comfort from him because I know it's real then. And establish
you. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
establish you in every good word, the word of the gospel and every
good work. I love this passage of scripture.
Turn to 2 Timothy 2. Verse 13. If we believe not. You ever been there? You ever been there? If we believe not. Don't believers
believe? Of course they do. Of course
they do. They cannot not believe. What's
he mean if we believe not? Well, I know exactly what it
means. Remember when that fellow said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Lord, I believe. You know, you
can't not believe. Not if you're a believer. You
can try, but you can't. But you know what else is true?
You've got something called the flesh. And you know, it never believes.
If we believe not, and sometimes as far as what you feel, all
you feel is that believe not. If we believe not, I know in
times that I've been a believer, I couldn't find a drop of faith.
If we believe not, I tell you what, when I couldn't find a
drop of faith, I knew more surely then than I do now that Christ
was the only hope I had. I couldn't even come up with
the faith. The only thing I had was Christ. If we believe not. Everybody in there? If we believe
not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Now what in the world does that
mean? Every believer is united to Christ. For him to deny me would be for
him to deny himself. That's exactly what that means.
Every believer is himself. What about that passage in Ephesians
chapter five when it's talking about Christ's love for the church
and says, he that loveth his wife loveth himself. Now, you can look at that in
a worldly point of view. If you love your wife, you're
the one that's going to benefit from it. You know that. If you
mistreat your wife, you're going to pay for it. If you love your
wife, you're going to benefit from it. But that's really not
what that passage of scripture is talking about. When Christ
loved his wife, you know who he's loving? Himself. Every believer
is vitally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, even when in
our conscious experience we believe not, we can't come up with any
faith, we're just a... He's not going to deny us, because
He can't deny Himself. I Thessalonians chapter 4 verse
16 says, For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, shall be caught
up together with him in the air, and so shall we be ever with
the Lord. Now think of this, the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven. Every eye is going to see him. Nobody's going to
question who this is that is coming. He himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Verse 28. And when all things shall be
subdued unto him, I like that word subdued, don't
you? All things are going to be subdued to him. He's able to subdue all things
unto himself. He's able to subdue you. He's
able to subdue me. And everything is going to be
subdued to him. You see, he's the Lord. That's
not just an empty title. He's the Lord. And all things
are going to be subdued unto him. Then shall the son also
himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that
God may be all in all. When everything is subdued to
Christ, he himself is going to subject himself to his father. Somebody says, tell me what all
that means. I don't know. I mean, I know that he's equal
to the Father, and he subjects himself to the Father. And that's
just what the Bible teaches. I don't know what else to say
about it. He's equal with the Father, but
everything's going to be subdued to him, and he's going to subject
himself to the Father, that God might be all in all. Jesus Christ himself. I love what the Lord said in
Matthew chapter 11. He said, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. Not learn about me. Learn of
me. What am I supposed to do with
all this? Psalm 45, 11. He is thy Lord. Worship thou Him. I'm speaking to unbelievers and
believers. I have no question about that.
To the unbeliever, He's your Lord. You might not know it. You might not rejoice in it.
He's your Lord. You're in his hand. The only thing to do is worship. What's that mean? How do you
worship him if you're not a believer? Believe. Believe. That's God's command
to you. Right now. Quit waiting for something
to happen. Quit waiting for an experience.
Quit waiting until you feel something. Believe. He's the Lord. He is the Lord. He's your Lord.
Right now, He's your Lord. When you hear a preacher say,
make Him the Lord of your life, that's foolishness. He is the
Lord of your life. And you are in His hands and
your salvation is up to Him. Think about that leper. Lord,
if you will, you could make me clean. He came and worshipped
him. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew he was
the Lord. Lord, if you will, you could make me clean. You
do the same thing right now. But I'm not a believer. Just do what the leper did. Lord,
if you will, You can make me clean. If you're a believer, he's your Lord. Worship thou
him. Jesus Christ himself. He is the reason for all things. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things. Whatever it is, He's before it. And by Him, all things consist. Jesus Christ Himself. And my hope of being accepted
by God on a judgment day is that Jesus Christ himself will say
regarding me, present and accounted for, he's mine. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence in his name. We wouldn't dare approach any
other way except in him. You told us in your word that
no man comes to you but by him. And Lord, we ask that you would
cause Jesus Christ himself to be made known to each one of
us. according to your will. In Christ's blessed name we pray,
amen.