Address—C. Hendricks
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I've been struck.
Lately and traveling about amongst us.
Of the need, the great need of speaking.
On the person of Christ who he is.
If we don't understand that.
We have missed the very foundation, I think of the eleven Psalm where the Osama says if the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do? The foundation of our faith.
Is Christ's person to uphold and to maintain it, to understand it insofar as the creature or the we the creatures can understand it?
Let's begin by reading a passage in Matthew 22.
Matthew 22.
Verse 41.
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying.
What think ye of Christ?
Whose son is he?
They say unto him, the son of David.
He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying?
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
These were the Pharisees. These were the fundamentalists of the Jewish religion.
The straightest sect of the Pharisees. Paul was of that. Saul of Tarsus was of that.
And they should have known who.
Christ was.
But they didn't understand.
The answer they gave was not wrong. They said he was the son of David.
And indeed, he is the son of David.
That brings out the side of his humanity.
But then he quotes from the 110th Psalm.
Where David says to his Lord, The Lord said unto me, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
David called him Lord, and the Lord Jesus asked them.
If David called him Lord, how is he his son? Now we can't answer that question.
If we can't answer that question, we really don't understand who Jesus is.
How can he be both David's son and David's Lord?
How can he be both?
And the answer, of course, is that he, as David's Lord, is God.
The Son of God, God the Son.
And as David's son, he is man, true men.
Both are true of his person.
Whenever the word of God speaks of him as the Son of God, it's always Speaking of Him as the.
As on the divine side, Son of God speaks of his deity.
The Son of Man speaks of his humanity.
He is both, and this is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Six things said there in one Timothy 316, but the first one is God was manifest in the flesh. God became a man, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
He became something that he was not before flesh.
He never became the son.
He was always the son, but he did become a man.
And he became the Christ, the anointed, the prophet.
The priest and the king.
But he never became the son.
The temporal sonship doctrine, which is very erroneous and sullies His glory.
Says that when he became a man, he became son.
That is heresy of the worst order.
It denies his person.
Turn to the last chapter in the Bible, Revelation 22.
You have the same truth. It's over and over and over again.
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In the New Testament.
Revelation, 2216.
I, Jesus have sent mine Angel, to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am the root.
And the offspring of David, the bright and morning star, the root of David.
The root of David. He's David's Lord.
Son of God, David's Lord.
And as the offspring of David, he's David's son, the Son of man.
Both are true.
It's essential to hold both and to hold them properly. Sully His glory as the eternal Son, or as the impeccable man that could not sin the holy man. Touch him in his person on either side, his divine side or his human side, and you are guilty of denying the doctrine of Christ. Turn to second John.
Turn back just.
A little bit before Revelation, second epistle of John.
A very solemn words here.
Verse 7.
2 John 77For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 7) for many deceivers.
Are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an Antichrist. A deceiver and an Antichrist not to confess.
Jesus Christ come in flesh, as John says, to be a deceiver.
And an Antichrist. I'm going to re read that verse and change it slightly.
To give the real force of it.
Many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not Jesus Christ come in flesh.
It isn't as we have it here that Jesus Christ came in flesh. Everyone believes that. You could ask anyone on the street, do you believe that such a person is Jesus Christ came in the flesh. He was born into this world, and they'll say yes, our very calendar is dated from the time of his birth.
That's not what John is talking about. He's not talking about a historical fact.
He is talking about the confession of his person.
Here is the confession of a person who came in flesh. It wouldn't make any sense to speak of you and me coming in flesh. That's the only way we could come.
Because we're mere creatures of Adam's fallen race. But here was one who pre existed before he came in flesh. Jesus Christ come in flesh.
Names the person. It's the confession of the person who came in flesh.
And that confession involves these two truths, that He is God and man.
Very God, very man, truly God and truly man, he said in the Gospel of John. If you believe not that I am he, ye shall what die in your sins.
So this is the most important truth there is in all of Scripture.
You remember in the Old Testament, explicit instruction was given as to the Ark.
And then there was a plate that covered the ark. The ark was made of ******** wood overlaid with pure gold.
The Ark spoke of the person of Christ.
The Shittim Woods speaks of his.
Incorruptible humanity.
And the gold that overlaid it of his deity.
Is eternal sonship the Son of God?
The Levites, the Koethites of the families of Levi had the responsibility to carry those vessels of the sanctuary.
Through the wilderness there were six wagons provided to.
The other two families of the Levites, 2 for the one and four for the other, to carry the heavier things.
But the Koethites had the responsibility of carrying them on their shoulders. There were rings in the ark and staves went through the ark.
Through the rings and the Levites carried the ark.
On their shoulders they were told not to touch it lest they die.
So holy was it, it spoke of the person of Christ, and it was covered with a plate of pure gold, with two cherubic figures on either side.
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Looking down on the mercy seat where the blood was sprinkled.
So those two, that those two articles of furniture speak of the person of Christ the ark, and the work of Christ the mercy seat, with the blood upon it.
Well, they carried the ark.
And we're not going to turn to it for lack of time. I'll refer to it.
In the time of.
Samuel.
In the books of Samuel.
And Eli was the high priest at the time, and he had two very evil sons, Hoffni and Phineas.
And Israel went to war with the Philistines.
And they were defeated.
And then they look to the Lord, and they.
Brought the ark. They fetched the ark and brought it to the camp.
And they thought that it would be something like a magical charm and assure them the victory.
And when the Philistines heard that God had come into the camp of the Israelites, there was a great shout there. And what's the What does this mean?
And they said these are the gods they called. Of course they did. They were idolaters and pagans. And they referred to the ark as the gods of the Hebrews. It was a symbol of their God.
Speaks of Christ, God and man.
And they said, quit yourselves like men, be strong, fight. And they fought, and they defeated Israel, and they captured the ark.
And the ark now was in the hands of the enemy, and it went from one city.
Of the Philistines to another, to another, to another, and every place where it had been brought.
There was a plague that broke out from the Lord upon the Philistines. God allowed them to defeat Israel because of the terrible condition, moral state that they were in.
As the people of God, but they were very sorry they had ever captured that ark.
It spoke of God.
Spoke of Christ.
I remember when I read Mr. Bellit's beautiful book The Son of God by JG Bellit.
He said it was just a box. The dimensions are given very accurately in the Book of Exodus, size of the box and so on. Covered with this gold plate. Cherubic figures over it. And he said why didn't they just smash it?
It caused the mall the trouble that.
The judgment came upon all their cities. Plagues broke out and.
And many died of the Philistines. Why didn't they just smash it?
And his answer came back. They couldn't.
They could not put their hand to it.
Remember the numbers of times they tried to take the Lord Jesus and Luke 4 After He had spoken of grace to the Gentiles, they took him to the top of the hill to cast him down headlong. Get rid of him.
And he, walking through the midst of them, went his way. They could not touch him.
Another time when he told them that before Abraham was, I am.
Thou had not yet 50 years old. And hast thou seen Abraham? And he said before Abraham was I am.
He took the name of Jehovah.
When Moses was told that he was going to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, he said, when they asked me, what is his name? What shall I tell them?
And God responded and said, I am that I am. Tell them that I am hath.
Sent you.
That's his name. That's the meaning of Jehovah. I am that I am. He is who he is. He's the unchangeable.
The unalterable God.
And if you would translate I am, you would translate it as the eternal.
He lives in an eternal present.
And the New Testament equivalent to Jehovah or the I AM and the I AM that I am is found in Revelation 1/4.
From him, who is and who was and who is to come. That's the New Testament.
Equivalent to Jehovah, he who is the present, who was the past, who is to come the future, He lives in an eternal present.
And he's the unchanging God.
I am that I am could be translated the same.
Is the same.
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Well, this is this infinite God that revealed himself to Moses. We know him.
In an even more intimate and blessed way as our Father.
Well, the Philistines were plagued by this presence of the Ark in their midst.
And they sought to get rid of it. They finally sent it back. They put it on a cart. They didn't know how it was to be transported. There were no Levites among them. And they put it on a cart and five golden emrods and five golden mice. They'd been smitten with emrods, and they sent it back. And that was to be a trespass offering to the God of Israel.
And as the men of Bashemish saw it coming, they rejoiced, the ark now coming back to the land of Israel.
But we read that the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark.
And a great slaughter came upon them, because they had looked into the Ark that was absolutely forbidden.
You know men have done that today. They have looked into the ark. They have sought to define where they are told they are not to define. They have sought to analyze a person who is inscrutable.
No man knoweth the Son, but the Father.
Neither knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Yes, the Son reveals the Father.
But it doesn't say that. When it says no man knows the son but the father, it stops right there.
You can't understand, nor can I, nor can any creature the union.
As we were singing of both the human and the divine joined in one, forming the fountain of love in his heart.
That he is very God and very man.
David is Lord and.
David's son, the root of David, the offspring of David.
That's the doctrine of Christ.
That's the truth of this person.
And that's the truth upon which the church is built.
Now 2 John 77For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 7).
Well, before I read that, let me go on a little bit more in this story of the history of the Ark.
The men of Bethesh were afraid of the ark, and it went to.
Another man's house. I forget his name at this time.
And it stayed there for 20 years.
You have a break in the action that's in First Samuel, and then you get the history of.
Samuel and David and so on. Saul.
And then?
Second Samuel, Chapter 6. I believe it is. We have the resumption of the story.
And let's just turn back there.
Just to pick up the story.
Two Samuel, chapter 6.
Again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000 and David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Bailey of Judah.
To bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubim.
And they set the Ark of God upon a new cart. Now that's the way the.
Philistines transported it.
That's not the way the Israelites were to transport the Ark. The.
Levites, the Coathites were to carry it on their shoulders with the staves that went through the rings on the side of the Ark.
But they set it upon a new cart and brought it out of the House of Abinadab. That's where it had been for 20 years.
That was in Gibeah and Uzah and Ohio, the sons of Abinadab. Here the ark had dwelt in Abinadab House for 20 years, and the sons were there too, and they were very familiar with the ark. These were the sons of the Bernadette, and they drove the new cart and they brought it out of the House of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah accompanying the Ark of God in Ohio went before the ark.
That was one of the sons, and David and all the House of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of firwood, even on harps, and on Psalm trees, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on symbols. And when they came to Nakin's threshing floor, Uzza, that was the other son of Abinadab, put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it.
Well, if you read in Numbers 4, it says ye shall not touch it, lest ye die.
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And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and God smote him there for his error.
And there he died. By the ark of God. He dared to touch it. The men of Bathsheba dared to look into it.
And they paid dearly with their lives in the judgment that came upon them.
And we read in verse 8, David was displeased before the Lord, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza, and he called the name of the place Pirazzuza to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?
So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David, that David carried it aside.
Into the House of Obed Edom the Gittite.
And the ark of the Lord continued in the House of Obadiah the Gittite 3 months. And the Lord blessed Obed Edom and all his household.
And it was told King David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the House of Obadetom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the House of Obed Edom into the city of David with gladness. And it was so that when they that bear the ark of the Lord had gone 6 paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.
David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was girded with a linen girdled linen ephod.
So David and all the House of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
I'm going to pause there and now. They had made a mistake.
They had carted the ark on a cart, carried it on a cart. That's the following the order of the Philistines. That wasn't God's order. But now David had learned judgment had come upon Uzza. And we'll come right back here. Hold your place, but turn over to First Chronicles 15.
I believe it is.
First Chronicles, 15.
And this is the same time that we're reading of now.
In Two Samuel 6.
And we start with verse 11. And David called for Zedek and Abiathar the priest, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Isaiah and Joel.
Shamiya and Elio and Aminadab, and said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel under the place that I have prepared for it for because you did it not at the first. The Levites didn't carry that the first. They put it on this cart.
The Lord our God made a breach upon us when he smote Uzza.
For that we sought him, not after the due order.
The priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel, and the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon their shoulders, with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord.
And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be singers with instruments of music, psalteries, and harps and cymbals sounding, and by lifting up the voice with joy, and so on. Now turn back to Second Samuel 6, and we will see the same.
This is the same scene now.
Verse 13 It was so that when they that bear the ark of the Lord, this was the Levites. We just read of that in one Chronicles 15 Now they learned the David had learned the error that he had made.
Serious mistake and judgment had come upon us. A.
And now it was being carried properly, and David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was girded with a linen ephod. And so David and all the House of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, looked through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord. And she despised him in her heart. She had no value in her.
Part for the true God. She had really no value for him.
And she despised David for the way he was carrying on as he was seeking to give honor to the Lord.
And they brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in his place in the midst of the Tabernacle that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts.
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And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to everyone a cake of bread and a good piece of flesh and a flag and of wine. So all the people departed everyone to his house. Then David returned to bless his household. And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said how glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself.
And David said unto Michael, It was before the Lord.
Which chose me before thy Father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore will I play before the Lord.
And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in my own sight. And of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of them shall I be had in honour.
Therefore Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child. Unto the day of her death she was like her father.
One who is after the flesh and had no value for the ark, no value for.
The honor that David was seeking to give to him.
Well, now let's turn back to two John.
2nd Epistle of John.
Again, verse 7.
Many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not Jesus Christ come in flesh.
There's the double truth, confessing the person who came.
The God who became a man. God was manifest in flesh.
This is a deceiver and an Antichrist. The doctrine of Christ consists in these two truths.
That he is Son of God and Son of man, very God and very man.
Verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth.
The new translation reads that whosoever goes forward.
And abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. Now the doctrine of Christ is what we've been talking about.
Symbolized in the Ark the ******** wood setting before us. His proper true and proper holy humanity.
And the gold, his deity, his eternal sonship.
Whosoever transgresseth, or whosoever goes forward.
It's what is called development in the things of God. I was passing out tracts on the elevated platform in Chicago many years ago at that platform, at that platform. It's where you changed from the elevated which looped the Loop and came back again, went back to Evanston when that.
And you get the subway if you choose, and it keeps going to South Chicago.
But right there is a theological seminary.
And it had, I think it was Methodist. I'm not sure that doesn't matter, but it had started out fairly sound in the faith, but by the time that I was.
Passing out tracts that had turned modernistic.
And I got into a discussion. I passed a track to a man there that was evidently one of the professors at the.
Seminary. And we sat down in the train and we got to talking and he asked me what I believed. And I told him, well, I believe in the deity of Christ. I believe in his proper holy humanity.
In his bodily resurrection, in his virgin birth, in infallible inspired inaccuracy of the Bible, accuracy of the Bible, and a number of other truths that are the foundations of our faith.
And he smiled at me and he said that's nice, but now you have to go forward. You have to go on to the deeper things.
And that's what John is talking about. Whosoever transgresseth or whosoever goes forward.
Abides not, and abides not in the doctrine of Christ he hath not God. This man was not abiding in the doctrine of Christ. He did not believe.
That Jesus was very God and very man.
He is one that John is talking about here. He's gone forward. He has gone into what they call fresh light and new light and deeper truth, and all it is, is darkness and error and deadly error.
You can't have any more than the person of Christ and the truth of this person, very God and very man.
And to say you can go beyond that into developing of new truths and fresh light.
Is not light, but darkness, and if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness, the Lord said.
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And it's a sad thing to say that there is a company that can say we have Darby for our father that have gone into.
This kind of darkness.
It's important. I've come across three young men that have left us recently.
For this very company.
Thinking that these are more spiritual.
More spiritual.
A stone in the building that Christ was going to erect.
A part of the rock, you might say. A chip from it, if you will.
But he had confessed the rock upon which Christ would build his church, and he says on this rock.
The Christ He had just confessed him, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, very man, and very God.
I will build my church. The church is built on that rock, that solid foundation, truth of this person, the doctrine of Christ. And if that isn't true, if that's not held solidly in our souls.
There are men. There's a very famous preacher. I can tell you his name if you're interested. After the meeting, he has congregations of thousands. He was asked the question.
Could Jesus have sinned and he this is the way he answered it?
I asked the brother that told me this. I said Are you sure he said this? He said I heard him say this.
He said we'll just have to wait and see. I don't know.
I don't know.
Now I think I could ask anyone in this room, even the youngest child here, could Jesus have sinned and you would know the answer no.
Impossible.
Not only because he was God manifest in the flesh, which was true.
But his humanity was impeccable. It was holy.
And holiness cannot sin.
Adam was created innocent, not holy, and he did sin and he lost his innocency and we partake of his fallen humanity, which is sinful.
Humanity has been in three different states, Innocency in the garden before the fall, sinful after the fall. And when Christ came, the Angel said to Mary, she said, how shall this be, since I don't know a man?
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing.
Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Notice it doesn't say shall become the Son of God. He never became the Son of God, He was always the Son.
Eternally.
But he was called the Son. He carried his eternal sonship into time.
And that little baby, imagine it. That little baby was to be called the Son of God. Why did they crucify him? We had that.
Just the other night.
That was in San Diego, the reading meeting.
Why did they crucify him? Because he made himself.
The Son of God. That's what they said in one gospel. He made himself the Son of God. He didn't make himself the Son of God. He was the Son of God.
Another gospel says, because he said I am the Son of God, that to them was blasphemy. They understood what that name meant. That name meant he was God.
No question in the Jewish mind.
That when he claimed to be the Son of God, he was claiming deity, he was claiming to be Jehovah.
And indeed he is.
Verse 9 says whosoever transgresseth or goeth forward.
And abideth not in the doctrine of Christ.
What does it say he hath?
Not.
God, now I didn't say that.
John wrote that.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
You see how important it is to be sound as to who he is.
I was struck when I came across these different cases of those that have left.
And one called this one brother up and says, do you realize that they teach those to whom you are now going that Jesus is not the eternal Son of God? He says, I know I I hold that too.
Terrible.
He holds that 2.
Now that's part of the doctrine of Christ.
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Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. That's the negative side of it. The positive side is he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ. He hath both the Father and the Son.
So our eternal destiny hinges on this truth.
I think of that lovely poem. I don't know at all, but I know the 1St 2 lines.
Verse 2 verses What think ye of Christ is the test to try both your state and your scheme.
You cannot be right in the rest unless you think rightly of Him as Jesus appears to your view.
As he is beloved or not, so God is disposed to you.
And mercy or wrath is your lot.
What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He in these religious Pharisees, the most learned?
Of all the different sects among the Jewish religion, they could not answer him. How if he is, how can he be David's son if he is David's Lord? David called him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit down on my right hand, Shall I make thine enemies thy footstool? 110th Song.
And they didn't.
Answer him. They couldn't because they didn't know him.
They didn't know his person.
Now he says to this elect lady and her children in verse 10.
If there come any unto you, a purported Christian teacher coming to you now as a Christian teacher, if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine.
Doctrine of Christ, that He is God and man in one person. Receive him not into your house.
Neither. Bid him godspeed. Don't greet him.
Don't shake his hand. Don't have any fellowship. Don't let him in the house. Don't serve him coffee and tea. Don't show hospitality to him. Refuse him.
He that biddeth him godspeed greets him.
Is a partaker.
Of his evil deeds.
That's how solemn this is. We're talking about fundamental truth here. We're talking about that which is a very rock foundation of the church.
And the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And if we don't hold that truth?
We are finished.
As a company.
Thank God.
That truth is held.
But it's given up in many quarters.
There's another.
Very well known man here in California.
This first man that I was referring to was from Atlanta, GA.
This man I'm talking about now is from California.
He has a large congregation, something like that of the other man Thousands.
And in his, and I've looked at it in Christian bookstores, in his treatise on Hebrews 1, he clearly denies that Jesus is the eternal Son of God.
His reasoning is that.
Sonship is a term of inferiority.
And he couldn't have been inferior in the Godhead. He doesn't deny that he's God.
And these other brethren don't deny that he's God, but they deny the relationship.
Of Father and Son, that it was an eternal relationship.
And that's what we mean when we talk about the temporal sonship doctrine. They say that he didn't become son until he became a man.
Our hymn #27 They stricken it out of their hymn book.
Son of God, thy Father's bosom ever was thy dwelling place.
They struck that out, this hymn that we sang. 61.
The union is glory, not only God's Son in manhood, He had his full part in the union of both joined in one formed the fountain of love in his heart. They took that out.
They've lost the truth of this person.
He's talking to one of these young men on the phone recently and he says, whoa, they don't deny that he's God. I said that's right. They don't deny that he's God.
Said they deny that he's the eternal Son of God.
Well, a person who is eternal became a man.
And it's then that he is called the Son of God.
They said he's not called the Son of God until time.
I said this to him.
Could he be called the Son of God before time?
When there were no creatures, no angels, no men.
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Before the beginning of Genesis one. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth before he had created anything.
We don't know what.
The conversation was between the persons of the Godhead. We are not told.
Of course he was declared to be the Son of God in time, but it's a declaration in time of an eternal.
Relationship.
That he had with the Father.
That doctrine is so bad that it involves the denial of the Trinity.
They talk about persons in the Godhead.
And then when they get nailed down, they'll even use the word Trinity.
And I said to this young man, I said, show me where the word Trinity is found in the Bible.
And of course he couldn't produce it because it isn't there as such. The truth of it is there.
Baptizing Matthew 28. Baptizing them in the name. Not names, but name.
Of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
So if the Son wasn't eternal as Son, then neither was the Father eternal as Father.
But the Spirit is spoken of as the Eternal Spirit, so one of those three persons.
Is eternal and the other two are question marks. Isn't that awful?
That's what that doctrine involves.
It's not a minor thing.
It's a very fundamental thing.
Yes, I said to him. I said in time. A revelation was made of God.
I said to him, He said, well, we don't know what the persons of the Godhead are like back then. We don't know anything about them.
And if you don't know anything about them, then don't tell me anything about them, because you don't know. You've already said you don't know.
Don't even call them the Trinity because you don't know.
That's inscrutable. That's beyond us. So is that is what they say that means when Paul was at Athens, he saw an inscription that said to the unknown God. And I said to this brother, I said, you've got an unknown God.
You don't even know who your God is. I know who mine is. He's the Father.
He's the Son, He's the Holy Spirit.
And that son became a man.
And the inscrutable part of that person is God and man in one person. And I can't fathom that.
Neither can you. None of us can.
But I believe it with all my heart.
Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not.
God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father.
And the sun, how important to abide in that doctrine before we close.
I want to just refer you to a few passages in John's Gospel chapter 5.
John's Gospel chapter 5. The contention of this man in California.
Is that the sun implies inferiority. We'll see if that's true according to scripture.
Just the opposite in truth is true. It implies equality.
Verse 17 of John 5.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Now I check this out.
In the New Testament, and he's the only one, he's the only man that ever referred to God as quote, my father.
He taught us to pray our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and so on.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, but He is the only one.
That ever referred to God as my father and he does it over and over and over and over again. The first time was as a boy of 12. Remember Mary came to him and she was a little bit irritated with him. They'd look for him three days hadn't found him. They went finally found him in the temple teaching son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing and he said, how is it that ye sought me? Wish ye not that I must be about.
My father's business.
And that wasn't Joseph.
That was God.
First time He ever uses the expression. Now here he uses it again publicly in the presence of the Pharisees. Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Verse 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, His own Father. Mr. Darby renders it.
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What making himself equal with God, not inferior to him?
But equal with God.
When he claimed to be the Son, by calling God my Father, he was making himself equal with God. They understood his words.
They understood what he was claiming.
And to them that was blasphemy and they tried to kill him.
Turn back to the first chapter of John.
John 1.
Verse 14.
And the word.
In the first verse of this chapter we read 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.
That's Speaking of Christ, the Word. Now we learn in verse 14. And the Word was made flesh.
He became a man.
And dwelt among us.
And notice this parentheses. And John says, And we beheld his glory. What kind of a glory did they behold by faith?
They didn't see it with their naked eye.
With this eye, but with the eye of faith, we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
It was the glory of an eternal relationship, the glory as of an only begotten with a Father.
He was the only begotten Son with the Father from all eternity. That's the glory, His personal, His essential glory. John says we beheld that by faith.
And then he goes on to say.
Full of grace and truth.
John bear witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me.
He acknowledges his eternity of existence. He was before me.
And of his fullness of all we received in grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now verse 18, Notice it.
No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son.
Now that expression occurs five times in the New Testament, applying to Christ the only begotten Son.
Twice in this chapter, twice in the 3rd chapter, and once in one John.
The only begotten Son. Does it refer to something that happened in time? No.
It has to do with an eternal relationship.
To the Jewish mind.
Every you go back to Genesis 1, every creature begat after his kind, after his kind, after his kind. So the thought and the connotation behind begetting.
Is after his kind.
If God has an only begotten Son, he is of the same kind in substance and essence.
As God himself, he is God. If the Father is God, the Son is God. That's the thought behind this.
Expression the only begotten Son, it also embraces the love that flowed between these two persons.
His only son.
His only begotten Son of the same kind and substance and essence as the Father himself, as He could say in John 10, I and my Father are one. But there's more in this verse. No man has seen God at any time the only begotten Son.
Which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him. Now these brethren, I've read their pamphlets.
And some of them are very gifted teachers.
They can make it sound right.
And yet it is deadly error.
This word translated in which is in the bosom of the Father.
In the Greek language, it's not en, which is the normal word for in, but it's ice.
Which means into and sometimes it's translated unto, sometimes for.
But you can't translate it that way. It doesn't make sense in English. The only begotten Son which is into the bosom of the Father.
He hath declared Him, or unto the bosom of the Father. That doesn't make sense in English. What's the force of ice? The force of Isis motion towards?
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Movement within and what is being brought before us in this precious, precious verse.
Is He's the only begotten Son which is in the Father's bosom?
The place where there is movement of the affections of the Father towards the Son, and the Son towards the Father. It's the movement of divine affections in the Father's bosom from all eternity.
That's why it's ice. I used to wonder and ponder that. Why is it that in the Greek, why is it not? NN would mean simply that he's there in a location, but ice is that he's there in the full flow of divine affections towards him and reciprocated by him back to the Father precious.
Wonders truth.
Son of God, thy Father's bosom ever was thy dwelling place, Mr. Bell. It calls it the hiding place of love, and he never left that place.
He came into this world as a man, but he was always in the bosom of the Father. He was always in the in the sunshine of the Father's love. Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.
So when we understand rightly.
These words, even the original words in the Greek language, they only enhance His glory.
They only bring out the wondrous truth that this relationship of Sun with the Father is an eternal relationship.
Relationship that never began, never had a beginning, even as the Father and the Son and the Spirit never had a beginning.
Eternal.
Persons of the Godhead, the Trinity.
Why did the seraphim in Isaiah 6 cry Holy, holy, holy? Because there's three persons.
Why does it say in revelation, Lord God Almighty, because there are three persons.
Over and over again you have that truth embodied in the teaching of the New Testament.
Father.
And this enhances John 316 For God's soul loved the world that He gave. Who did he give? His only begotten Son? The one who was of the same essence and substance as Himself. That's the one He gave. That's how much He loved us. He gave his only begotten Son. He could not give more.
He would not give less.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But have everlasting life.
One more and then we close.
Hebrews 5.
Hebrews 5.
Again.
I cite this as bringing before us the force of sun.
Verse 8 though he were a son, or though he were son, you can take the indefinite article out. It's not in the Greek. They don't have an indefinite article in that language. It's supplied by the translator, sometimes rightly supplied, sometimes not needed here. It's better without it though he were son.
Yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. Notice it doesn't say because he became Son, he learned obedience.
But though he were son, that is in spite of the fact that that's what he was.
He entered, now a new.
Condition of things in manhood, and learned obedience by the things that He suffered. His learning obedience was not because He was Son, but in spite of the fact that He was Son. Where He had never obeyed. He had always given the orders. He was God, God the Son, and all obeyed him. But now He enters His own creation. He takes upon him the form of a servant, lays aside the form of God, and takes upon him the form of a servant.
And learns obedience by the things which he suffered though he were Son.
He learned obedience.
By the things which he suffered. So the expression son is not an expression of inferiority.
But of equality.
Equality of essence.
A deity.
And that.
Became a man.
And he'll be man forever when he delivers up the Kingdom to God the Father, who has put all things under him. Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all. He'll be a man forever in the place of subjection, and yet eternally very God.
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As well as very man, a mystery that we'll never fathom.
But will adore.
For all eternity. The one who is both that.
Man and God, God and Man 1 inscrutable, adorable person. That's the rock, beloved, upon which the church is built.
How important that it's held fast by our souls.
Let's pray.
Our God and our Father.
We praise and worship Thee and Thy beloved Son, our Savior and Lord.
The one who came to where we were.
In order to save us.
Went into death, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die to biteth alone, but if it died, bringeth forth much fruit.
So, blessed Lord Jesus, without its going to death, that thou mightest have us, save us, and bring us into blessing.
Will never rise to deity. That's impossible for the creature.
But will be in the presence, in thy presence, precious Lord Jesus, the first born of many brethren.
Who art indeed.
God and man and one person.
Or we read that in thee dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
We cannot fathom this.
But we will rejoice forever in it. We do now.
Would be a night presence precious savior. Very soon it may be tonight that will come and take us home.
Until that moment, may we, as Levites of old, carry the ark.
Through the wilderness without peering into it, without touching it, without the profane hand of man looking into and trying to explain that which is beyond us.
You may just with holy reverence and awe.
Uphold thy person.
And all that thou art to the Father. Father, we give thee thanks for him and his precious and worthy name.