I'd like to read the first phrase
of verse fourteen. And the Word was made flesh. Now, look up in verses one and
two. 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.
Without Him was not anything made. That was made. Now, when these words describe
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, who was with God, When these
words describe the Lord Jesus Christ, at that time did he have
flesh? Now, when these words were said
of our Lord, no, he did not have flesh. I don't understand that,
but there was a time when the Lord Jesus Christ did not have
flesh. He was spirit, just as his Father. And then we read in verse 14,
and the Word was made flesh. Now, these first two or three
verses speak of the pre-existence of the Lord Jesus Christ before
creation, when there was nothing but God. That's all there was. Nothing but God. There were no
stars. There was no universe. All there
was was God. Now, that blows my mind, even
thinking about that. But there was a time when there was nothing
but God. At that time, Christ always already
was. In the beginning, the Word already
was. He was, is, and always will be
God, God the Word, God the Son, God the Second Person of the
Trinity, God the Immutable One, the One who cannot change. In
the beginning was the Word. Now, he's not subject to change.
He never ceases to be what he is. Let me repeat that. I want you to think about what
I'm trying to say. He never ceases to be what he is. When he became
flesh, he did not cease to be what he is as God. That being
said, it's equally true that he became what he was not. The Word, the Eternal God, the
Immutable One, was made flesh. Now in verses 1 through 3, as
we've already seen, He did not possess human flesh. When He
created the universe, He had no flesh. But all of a sudden,
for us to be saved, He had to become flesh. And the Word was
made flesh. There is no salvation apart from
the words of Lord Jesus Christ actually becoming flesh. This
stuff, what you and I are made of. Some of you, you're sitting
here tired, perhaps. Who's tired? Some of you feel
good when you knew what it was like to feel good in the flesh.
The Word of the Lord Jesus Christ was made flesh. And for this
flesh to be saved and for this flesh to be saved, Christ Jesus
had to become flesh. Now, my goal in bringing this
message is that us through considering what's said in this message,
you hearing this message, me preaching this message, my goal
in this message is for the Lord Jesus Christ to be more precious
to us. Wouldn't that be worth our time
of meeting together if we left here with Christ, us actually
viewing Him as more precious, more glorious than we saw Him
when we came in here. That'd be something if the Lord
would bless us like that would. And it's my prayer that that's
what the Lord's going to do through this message. Now what I'm going
to do, I just read that first phrase, the word was made flesh. In order for us to be saved,
Christ who cannot change, who never changes in his essence,
in who he is, he had to be made what he was not. In order for
me to be made what I'm not. For me to be saved, for you to
be saved, Christ Jesus had to be made something. And only the
Father could make in these things. Now, what I've done when I was
I was just reading that passage of scripture and I was thinking
about the fact that Jesus Christ at one time had no flesh. No
way I can understand that, but I know he didn't. There was a
time when he had no flesh. And yet there was a time when
he was made flesh. He came to be flesh. And, you
know, he'll always be flesh. There's never going to be a time
from here on out when he's not going to be flesh. Right now,
as I'm speaking, there's a man Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh, there's a man in glory right now, seated at the right
hand of the Father. Now, there are some nine or ten
verses of Scripture that talks about what the Lord was made
to be. And that's what I want to consider tonight. What Christ
was made to be. And as I said, it's my prayer
that through this, Christ will actually become more precious
to us by seeing what he was made to be, that we might be saved. I can't spend much time on any
of these passages of scripture, but would you turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 7? Hebrews chapter 7. Now, remember, he cannot change.
He's immutable. Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, forever. He said, I am the Lord. I've
changed not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. That's
our hope, that he doesn't change. Yet, this one who cannot change,
who never changes in who he is, was made to be something he was
not. in order that his people might
be saved. Now here's the first verse I want us to consider.
Look in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 22. By so much was Jesus made
a surety of a better testament. And do you know what a surety
is? And when we think of a surety,
we think of someone who is going to take responsibility in case
we can't pay the bill. I remember when I had my first
loan. I was 16 years old, and I borrowed
$600, and I bought a 1967 Mustang Fastback. It was, at the time,
the height of my life. I mean, I'd reached the pinnacle
at that time. But when I went to borrow the money, they wouldn't
give it to me. I had to have a co-signer. My grandfather co-signed for
me. And if I couldn't pay the bill, I couldn't even remember
what the payments were. They were $62 a month. And at the
time, that was a lot of money for me. But I remember it. If
I couldn't pay the bill, he would be held responsible for it. And
that's what I thought of as surety. But you know, that's not what
the scriptural concept of surety is. Someone who will pay if we
can't. The scriptural concept of surety
is someone who does all the paying. The Lord Jesus doesn't pay if
I can't. The Lord Jesus does all the pay. Now that's what assuring is according
to scripture. Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter 43 for a moment. Now this is Judith speaking for
Benjamin. If you remember the story, Joseph
would not let the brothers come back unless they brought Benjamin.
And Jacob didn't want to let go of Benjamin. Jacob loved,
that was the son of his old age. He was afraid something would
happen to him and he wouldn't send Benjamin with the brothers in
order to get corn. He didn't want to do it. But Judah said,
I will stand a surety for him. Look at this passage of scripture
in verse 8 of Genesis 43. And Judah said unto Israel, His
father, send the lad with me, and we'll go, we'll arise and
go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also
our little ones. I will be sure indeed for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Now here is what the Lord has
made to the believer, way back before time again. And I'm speaking
to accommodate the weakness of our flesh. Way back before time
began, God the Father foresaw the fall of the elect in Adam. He foresaw all this was going
to happen. And he said, who's going to stand as a surety for
these people that are going to fall? And the Lord Jesus said,
I will. Now, here's what's so glorious
about this. When Christ Jesus agreed to be my surety and bear
my responsibility, at that time, Everything God required of this
sinner, at that time, everything God required of this sinner,
he ceased to look to me for, and he looked to my surety for.
Everything. Now that's what a surety is.
Now, for me to be saved, I'm going to have to have a surety.
I'm going to have to have someone come in ahead of me, before me,
and bear all the responsibility of my salvation. And that's exactly
what Christ Jesus the Lord has done. He's the surety of a better
testament. Now, isn't this a better testament?
Wouldn't you rather be saved this way than be saved by your
own works? Would you rather stand on your own, or have your surety
stand in your place? Christ Jesus is the surety of
a better testament, and that's absolutely necessary for our
salvation. And then there's our text in
John chapter 1. Now, let me make this statement. Was the salvation of the elect
guaranteed when Christ became their surety? No. Well, you know it was. Was their
salvation certain when Christ became their surety? No. Well, you know it was. Well,
did that in any way take away from the necessity of Christ
being made flesh? No. Christ still had to be made
flesh in order to be my surety, in order to be my savior. You
see, I'm flesh. Flesh must keep the law. Flesh
must pay for sin. So for this flesh to be saved,
Christ actually had to be made flesh. He became, he who is God,
the uncreated one became the bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. And we read on our text in John
1, 14, and the word was made flesh. Galatians 4, 4 says when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of
a woman. Now you and I are flesh. That's
obvious enough. And for me to be saved, flesh
is going to have to keep the law. Flesh is going to have to
suffer and die. I can't do either. Not in a way
I can't keep the law and I can't satisfy God. God became flesh
in order to satisfy God. And the Word was made flesh. 1 Timothy 3.16 says, Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And in the flesh, he kept the
law. In the flesh, he suffered and
died. In the flesh, he saved me. The Word was made flesh. Now, what did he do when he was
made flesh? Well, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. This is a very familiar passage of Scripture, and I suppose if
you would ask me, what is the passage of Scripture that I least
understand? There's a whole lot of them.
As a matter of fact, I could go on and on about that, but
I believe this is the one that I had the most difficult time
getting a hold of. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Now, remember, he was made sure
of it. Then he was made flesh. Now, look at this. 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21. For he, God the Father, hath
made him the Lord Jesus Christ to be seen. He, now God the Father has authority
to do this. He can do this. He made the Lord
Jesus Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now Christ knew no
sin. Can you imagine what it would
be like to be sinless? Can you imagine having a holy, pure mind? I mean, if I told you to go five
seconds without thinking about anything that is equal, which
is good. It's hard to have them all pop
up in your mind. I know that from experience. I've tried.
He knew no sin. He never sinned. He never sinned
in thought. He never sinned in word. He never sinned in deed.
He knew no sin. Yet this passage of Scripture
says on the cross, he was made to be sin. And notice this. It
doesn't say it's as if he were made sin. And I don't understand
this. This is what I find so mystifying.
It doesn't say he was made as if he were made sin. It doesn't
say simply that he was made to bear The penalty of sin, it says
he was made sin. Now, only a believer can get
a hold of this. You have some idea of how evil
you are, don't you? Just a glimpse. You have some
idea of the hell that's in your heart. Do you know Christ Jesus
was made to be that on the cross? I don't understand that in any
way, how it could happen, but I know it happened. He was made
to be sin. God is holy. God must be satisfied. Sin must be punished. I can't
satisfy God. If He poured out His wrath on
me forever, it would still not satisfy God. Christ Jesus, for
this flesh to be saved, He had to be made sin. And that's precisely
what took place on the cross. He was made sin. It's not as
if He were made sin. He was made sin. And just as
truly as he was made sin, every believer is made the righteousness
of God in him. Now, can I understand all that? No, I can't. But bless God, I
don't have to understand it. I do believe it, and I rejoice
in it. He was made sin in order that
I might be made the righteousness of God. And let me say this also.
If he wasn't truly made sin, I'm not truly made the righteousness
of God, am I? But thank God he was made sin, and every believer
is made the righteousness of God because of that. Now, Galatians
3, just turn a few pages over, Galatians 3. Now, he was made
a surety. He was made flesh. He was made
sin. And look at this verse of Scripture,
verse 13, Galatians 3, verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He was made a curse for us. Now, what could be more horrible
than being cursed by God? I can't even imagine that. To
have God's curse upon you? To have no pity from God, no
compassion from God? We don't know anything about
that. The Lord Jesus is the only one who truly knows about it.
But on Calvary's tree, not only was he made sin, he was made
a curse. All that that means, the curse
of God, the wrath of God, the justice of God, all came together
on Him. He was made a curse. What in the world does that mean? There's no way I can explain
that. But he was made a curse that I might not have to be.
She cried out, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Well,
I know why he was forsaken, because he was made sin and therefore
he was made a curse. The only way you and I could
be saved is for him to be made a curse. But thank God he didn't
remain under God's curse. Acts chapter two, verse 36, says
this same Jesus whom you crucified. God has made him Lord and Christ. This one who's made a curse because
of who he is. Remember, this is God manifesting
the flesh. This is the one who has the ability to satisfy God,
who can take this curse on and drink the wrath of God dry. Now,
here's something that always helped me in thinking about the
Lord being made a curse and actually satisfying God's wrath. Do you
remember When Elijah was on Mount Carmel and he took the sacrifice
and he doused it down with water and he said, the God that answers
by fire, let him be God. And you'll remember that the
pagan. the bail worshippers, they got around their sacrifice
and they started hopping and leaping and doing all kinds of
pagan ritual, trying to get the, trying to get their God to answer
by fire. And he never did. And then Elijah said, let, you
know, the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And he
doused his sacrifice with water. And the scripture says fire came
down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. He consumed the
dust and the stones and everything, he was all gone. The wrath of
God actually consumed the sacrifice to where there was nothing left,
not even any dust left, not any dirt left. But you know, when
Christ died on the cross, the wrath of God didn't consume him.
He consumed the wrath to where there was absolutely nothing
left. Now, he was made a curse, but
because of the excellency and dignity of his person, He consumed
the wrath till there was absolutely nothing left. And because of
that, because of his achievements, the Lord has made him Lord and
Christ. He is the perfect savior of sinners
now because he drank the wrath of God completely dry. And now
he is God's Christ, God's Messiah, God's Lord. And because of all
that, which in turn would be 1 Corinthians 1. And you can see the way all this
flows together. Christ was made church. Christ
was made flesh. Christ was made sin. Christ was
made a curse. Because of His victory over that
curse, Christ is made Lord and Christ. And now here's what we're
made because of that. Look in 1 Corinthians 1, what
Christ has made unto us. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us. wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Now, here's what Christ has made
to me now. And remember, it's God who made him this to the
believers. He's made unto me wisdom. He's made to me by his
Father righteousness. He's made unto me holiness. He's made unto me redemption.
And this is what's glorious about this. How could God have fellowship
with me? The holy God who the universe
can't even contain. You think of his wisdom, you
think of his knowledge, you think of his power. How can God have
fellowship with somebody like me, as dumb as I am, as ignorant
as I am, as fleshly as I am? How could the holy God have fellowship
with me and embrace me? And how could I be fit to have
fellowship with God? Because Christ is my wisdom.
And when God views me, he views me as wise, one fit for fellowship
with him. Christ is my wisdom. How can
God embrace me? I'm sinful, I'm a sinner. I can't express that the way
it ought to be expressed, but I'm a sinner. How can God embrace
me when I'm filled with wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
according to the scripture? How can God have fellowship with
me? Because Christ has made to me righteousness. Therefore,
I'm fit, fit for fellowship with God. God can look at me and say
he's worthy of me. Through his comeliness, through
his righteousness, come to me. I'm unclean. How can God have
fellowship with me? I'm unholy. How can God have
fellowship with me? Because Christ is my sanctification. He is my holiness. It doesn't
say that he just simply views me to be sanctified. He himself
is my holiness. That's what makes me fit for
fellowship with God. I can't come up with a sin payment.
There's no way I can pay for anything I've done. I can't make
atonement. Christ is my redemption. He's made all of these things
to me. Now would you turn to Hebrews
chapter 6. I'd like you to look at this one with me. Hebrews
6. Verse 20, Wherefore, the forerunner is
for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now, because of his achievements,
Hebrews 620 says he's made a high priest. God made him to be a
high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now, what's a priest
for? Everybody knows the notion of
a priest. Everybody's heard the term of
a priest. What is a priest actually for? What's the definition of
a priest? A priest is a man who represents
other men before God. I can't come into God's presence
on my own. I must have somebody to represent
me. Christ Jesus is made priest,
but it also says he's made a high priest. Now, who's the high priest? You'll know from the Old Testament
that the high priest, there was only one high priest. And he
was the only one who could come into the holy of holies in the
presence of God. Nobody else could. All of Israel
had to stand out and wait while the one high priest came in,
not without blood, which he offered for himself and the sins of the
people. And no one else could come into the holy presence of
God or the holy of holies, only the high priest. Now Christ Jesus
is the great high priest. And notice it says he's the high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now, what's the point of him
being a high priest after the order of Melchizedek? Well, in
the Old Testament, the priest came through the line of the
Levi and the Levites. And Christ Jesus didn't come
through the line of Levi or the Levites. He came through Judah.
And he is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, that
one who met Abraham. Now let me show you what the
scripture says about this Melchizedek. Look in verse 25 of Hebrews chapter
7. Well, let's begin reading in
verse 21. For those priests, those priests
of Levi's, were made without an oath, but this with an oath
by him that said unto him, The Lord swear and will not repent,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By
so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament, and they
truly were not, were many priests, because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death. But this man, the Lord Jesus,
because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
He never dies. Now look up at the first of this
chapter, chapter seven. It is Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest
of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter
of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all, first being, by interpretation, king of righteousness,
and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without
father, without mother. without dissent, without any
genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
made like unto the Son of God, he abideth a priest continually. Christ Jesus is the high priest
who never dies after the order of Melchizedek. Now let me give
you an Old Testament illustration that will show us the importance
of Christ never dying. You remember in the Old Testament
the law of the city's refuge. There were six cities of refuge.
If you're out working in a field and you accidentally kill somebody,
their nearest of kin relative was allowed to come and kill
you. He was called the Avenger of Blood. And you were fair game. He could kill you and he would
not be prosecuted by the law in doing so. Now, there were
six cities appointed in the Old Testament, where if you could
get into those cities, you were saved from the avenger of blood. You had to get inside the city,
and you were saved in that city. He couldn't touch you as long
as the high priest was alive. But if the high priest died,
you were fair game. But this one we're talking about,
this great priest is one who never dies, and therefore I'm
always safe in the city of refuge. This high priest never dies.
He's able to save them to the uttermost and come unto God by
Him seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. And
you think of the intercession of Christ. Right now, while I'm
speaking to you, there's a man in glory representing
me. Right? And he takes my prayers,
he takes my efforts, he presents them to the Father. Now, my prayers,
my efforts are nothing but sin. I'm a sinner. Yet he represents
me before the Father. And everything that comes from
me is a sweet smell to the Father because of him. Now, that's the
intercession of Christ. I think of so many different
examples in the Scripture. First of all, I think of Peter. What
was the difference between what Peter did and what Jews did? Was there that much difference
as far as the sins go? Well, what's the difference between
Peter and Jews? You remember how our Lord prayed for Peter?
He said, Peter, Satan has desired to have you that he may sit you
and wait, but I pray for you. Now that's the difference. I
pray for you that your faith fail not. Now, right now, the
reason I don't fall away is there's one in glory who's representing
me, my great high priest, interceding for me. My name is written on
his hands. It's not like he's down on his
knees begging the Father, oh, let him get by this time. No, all
he does is show the Father his hands and his feet, and I'm accepting.
That's the intercession of our great high priest. He was made
a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, and I'm so thankful
for my great high priest. Now, would you turn to 1 Peter
chapter 2? I love all of these. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse
7. Unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which are disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, rejected. The religious leaders did not
like this way of salvation through this great high priest. The stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner. This one that the religious leaders
rejected and disallowed, they said, we'll not have this man
to reign over us. Oh, but you have no choice. The
stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the headstone,
the head of the corner. And it's the Father who may end
this. And this is the Lord's doing. And it is wonderful in
our eyes. All the weight of the building
is on him. He's made the headstone. And here's the last scripture
we'll look at. Turn to Hebrews chapter 5, verse 7. And this is once again talking
about Melchizedek and our Lord's similarity to him. But now he's
talking about our Lord during his days in the flesh. Look in
verse 7, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death, and he was heard
in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience
by the things which he suffered. and being made perfect. Now, he already was perfect,
wasn't he? Yes, but he had to be made perfect. Being made perfect. He had to Although he already
was perfect in his person, he had to achieve perfection through
his work. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obeyed him,
called of God and high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Now, here's the point about him being made perfect, him being
made complete. My dear friend, Jesus Christ
the Lord is the perfect Savior for you. He is exactly what you need. He's perfectly suitable for you
in every respect. He is the perfect, complete Savior. He is just exactly, precisely
what you need. I wish I could communicate that
the way it ought to be communicated. I can't. But I know God, the
Holy Spirit, can take these words and communicate them to you.
to where you see He is exactly what I need. Now there's a passage
of scripture that says the righteous, remember that scripture in Peter
where it says if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall
the ungodly and sinner appear? Now that word scarcely doesn't
mean they'll just make it in by the skin of their teeth. It
doesn't mean that at all. It says that the righteous with
great difficulty is what it means. if the righteous with great difficulty
be saved. And it was very difficult for
me or you to be saved. The things that Christ had to
go through. He was made surety. He was made
flesh. He was made sin. He was made
a curse. He was made Lord and Christ. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He's made the great high priest.
He's made the head at the corner. And He's made perfect. He's made
complete. He is the perfectly suitable
Savior for sinners. He is exactly what you and I
need. May God give us grace to come to Him and truly rest in
Him. That's the work of God. May he
enable us to do so. Let's pray together.