Regina Conference: 1992
Table of Contents
The Suffering of Christ
The Eternal Son of God
Address—C. Hendricks
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Please allow me to read just a very short.
Clipping that I took out of the Christian treasury.
Some time ago I thought it was so choice.
And it's entitled John's Epistles.
The House of the Elect Lady.
Second John.
Was the sanctuary of the truth.
And had to keep outside all that was not of it.
All those that did not bring the doctrine of Christ with them.
They were to be excluded.
The House of Gaius Third John, On the contrary, was the guest Chamber of the truth.
And had to open itself to the witnesses of it.
She the elect lady.
Second, John was to be the guardian of this mystery.
He Gaius third John, the fellow helper of it.
The atmosphere within God's house should be so full of the fragrance of Christ, of the name of Christ, that all who are of a contrary part should be forced out.
And then it refers to 1St John 2. It says they went out from us.
For they were not of us, but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none were of us. Speaking of the antichrists.
The door at the entrance should be so closed.
That the same the Antichrist should know that they would be kept out.
Second John 10.
If anyone come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house.
Don't welcome him.
Don't bid him godspeed.
But third John, now the welcome should be so clear and fervent.
To all who savor and witness of that name.
That all who savor and witness of that name should feel themselves at home.
In it.
And to Gaius.
The apostle writes.
To the friends of the friends receive them.
That she may be fellow helpers to the truth.
Shall we not all join in such services as these?
This is Kohathite service.
This is business with the Ark itself.
The person of Christ we heard yesterday afternoon.
Some things that warmed our hearts about his work.
His sufferings.
And I'd like to.
To speak a little this.
Afternoon about.
His person.
And in particular, I've made some.
I don't know as though I'll refer to them, but I just put them so I wouldn't forget certain scriptures.
I want to talk about the eternal sonship of Christ.
Some don't feel that it is an essential fundamental.
Essential Doctrine.
But the more I have looked into it, the more I see that.
It is that which?
Is the crowning glory of His person.
He is the eternal Son of the Father.
And not to hold that is not to hold the doctrine of Christ.
Way back in the time of.
The Emperor Constantine when he embraced Christianity, outward at least.
There was a great conflict in the early church Arias.
Who is the forefather of the Jehovah's Witness teaching today?
And he was withstood by the champion of the.
Faith, Athanasius. It so happened that Constantine, who was the head of the Church at that time, was sympathetic with Arias. And so Athanasius went into exile. The truth was at stake. Now, Arias, contrary to what I thought, he didn't deny a lot of things that that we hold.
For instance, if you ask a Jehovah's Witness.
Who Jesus is, they will say he is the Son of God, but they don't mean by that what we mean by it. They don't mean he's the eternal Son of God. They mean he's the generated Son of God, that at some point in time in the past, he was generated, He was created, and then God created everything through him. And he, according to Arias, was of a similar substance.
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To God.
But not equal.
Not the same substance and there was quite a controversy back then.
And that's why John wrote his epistles. That's why John wrote his Gospel.
To bring before us the truth of His person.
John one, will you please?
John, Chapter 1.
It says in verse 14.
And the Word was made flesh.
And dwelt among us.
And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth. I'm going to read the verse without the parentheses, which is properly placed there. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. But it's in that parentheses. Now we want to concentrate because in that parentheses we have.
A most profound and wonderful statement.
They beheld, he says, His glory.
Now what glory was this? Those who deny eternal sonship and advocate temporal sonship, They say it was his moral glory.
But we will check that out from scripture to see if it was.
But no, it's his. It's not his moral glory. It's his essential glory.
Notice what it says. We beheld His glory.
The glory as of I'm going to render this as it is literally.
And only begotten with a Father.
The glory that that pierced that veil of flesh. The Word became flesh, and there he was, a man.
The faith that pierced that veil of flesh saw there was a glory there. It was the glory of an only begotten with the Father.
What he's talking about is that eternal relationship that existed between this person that had just become flesh.
The relationship that he had from all eternity with the Father.
He says we beheld His glory. It was his personal glory as the eternal Son.
That they beheld by faith, we beheld His glory.
The glory is of an only begotten with the Father. That was the glory. It was the glory of a relationship which He beheld.
The relationship of the Eternal Son with the Eternal Father.
And they beheld that even as they saw the word become flesh. This man down here. There's a verse in the 5th chapter we want to turn to now very important verse that brings before us.
His eternal sonship. We start with verse 14. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold our It made whole sin no more or less the worst thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.
Notice now. But Jesus answered them. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. I believe this is the first time that He speaks of Him as my Father.
And immediately there was a reaction on the part of the Jews. All he said was, My father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him.
Because he not only had broken the Sabbath.
As they thought.
But said also that God was his father. In Mr. Darby's translation is God was his own father.
Notice the comment. Now this is not their comment, but this was their thought on it. And they were right. But it's not put as their thought in scripture here. It's put as the divine comment on what they were charging him with.
Said that God was his own father. Now here is the comment. And they had come to this conclusion. Yes, the Jews had making himself equal with God.
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Making himself equal with God, not just similar to.
That was a good conflict between Arius and Athanasius way back then. That area said that he was similar to God.
And Athanasius said he was equal with God.
These Jews discerned that when he claimed his sonship and spoke of him as my father, that was his sonship, that he was making himself equal with God.
You see, you do away with the eternal sonship.
And you do away with the most perfect proof to refute Arianism.
And that is that he was an eternal Son with an eternal Father.
From all eternity.
He did not become son when he became a man.
But he carried his sonship into time.
And so it says of Mary, That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Not shall become the Son of God, but he's called the Son of God. He carried his sonship into time.
There are many scriptures that speak of him as the Son of God, but they don't all bring out.
His eternal sonship.
I'm going to be skipping around because I'm not referring to these, I'm just going by my memory and return to Hebrews 5.
Very wonderful proof.
Of his eternal sonship.
And we'll be coming back to John.
But Hebrews 5 comes to mind just now, so we'll turn to it.
And you'll pardon me if the the order of things is not.
Too orderly, but we will.
We will see this wonderful truth. Verse 5 Hebrews 5 S Also Christ glorified not himself to be made in high priest.
But he that said unto him.
Thou art my son, This day have I begotten thee.
I don't want that verse. I want verse 8. Excuse me?
Verse Well read 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 was heard in that he feared?
Though he were son. Though he were a son.
The the indefinite article should be omitted. It's it's characteristic though he were son. The character that is, that he's being spoken of here is some.
Yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now notice that these two things are in opposition. They are in contrast. He was though he was Son. That's what he was forever in the past, from all eternity. He came into a position of subjection when he became a man, and he learned obedience. But those that hold the temporal sonship doctrine, they say that he didn't become son till he became man.
And so that sonship and subjection in their minds.
Go together.
But in this verse they are exclusive of each other, when He was the Son, and only that, and in the form of God and only that He did not.
Have the experience of obedience.
Everyone obeyed him.
He was God, and He was nothing less than God the Son.
When the Scripture speaks of Him as the Son, it's Speaking of his essential glory.
That eternal relationship that He had with the Father.
Though he were Son, that's in contrast to the next statement. He learned obedience by the things which he suffered, not because he was Son did he learn obedience, but in spite of the fact that he was Son.
In the eternity of the Godhead past, He was Son, but he came into his own creation and learned obedience.
By the things which he suffered.
The experience of suffering and obedience was something that the Son experienced after He had become a man, become that perfect servant. But it's put in contrast to His being Son, not after He became Son, because He never became the Son. He was always the Son from all eternity, always the Son. Now let's go back to John. One we saw in verse 14. We beheld His glory.
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Glory is of an only begotten with the Father. That faith penetrated the veil of human flesh. The Word became flesh and saw the glory of that eternal relationship that the Son had with the Father.
A relationship that had no beginning and no ending. Now we go to the 18th verse of John. One. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him. There is something in that verse which has puzzled me for years, and that is that the word translated in.
In the bosom of the Father.
In the original Greek language, is not N in, but it's ice in two motion towards and. What does that mean?
Well, I believe it means.
A most profound and wonderful truth, by the way. It's the same. It's the same preposition that is used in John 316, and I'm going to quote that verse. We heard a lot about that last night.
John 316 For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him. That's the same preposition, ice.
To him. We can't render it that way in English. Mr. Darby renders it on him.
It's the movement of the heart towards him.
It's the movement. It's it implies movement, not just being stationary in a place, but it's the movement of the heart of our hearts responding to the heart of God. We heard about that so beautifully last night.
John 316 The heart of God being told out, who did he give?
What is the proof of his love He didn't give a son that was that became son in time.
If he gave, he gave his only begotten Son.
And I want to say some things on that expression, and we'll look at the five occurrences where that expression occurs, applying to the Lord Jesus, the only begotten Son. It has nothing to do with time. It has to do with an eternal relationship that existed with the Son and with the Father that had no beginning and no ending.
Whosoever believeth in him, on him.
Whosoever is so moved in his soul that his heart and will are now led towards him to believe in him.
Well, in John 118 going back there, no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son.
Which is in.
The bosom of the Father He hath declared him. We have the movements of the divine Persons in the bosom of the Father.
The movement of the sun in affection and love to.
Towards him, and he towards the Son.
And so that's used. We don't have a way to express that in our English language.
So beautiful, the movement of the affections.
Of the Father and the Son, the Hymn, 27.
Son of God, thy Father's bosom.
Ever was thy dwelling place his delight in him rejoicing.
One with him in power and grace.
Oh, what wondrous love and mercy about its lay thy glory by.
And for us it's come from heaven as the Lamb of God to die. Was the hymn right or wrong when He penned those words, that the Father's bosom was ever his dwelling place? Did He enter the Father's bosom when he became a man? The very thought makes the soul recoil with horror.
It is such a pathetically inadequate expression of the truth of who he is.
The eternal Son.
With the Eternal Father.
No man has seen God at any time.
Who could make him known?
God, who is light and love.
Who could make him known adequately Well, The one who dwelt from all eternity in his bosom.
In, as Mr. Bell it so beautifully puts it, in his Son of God in the hiding place of love.
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The place where the divine affections flowed from one to the other without hindrance.
Dwelling in or into or unto the bosom of the Father doesn't. It doesn't convey anything real intelligent in English to us, but it's the movement of divine affections between divine persons and this the Sun and the Father, the only begotten Son, verse 14, the only begotten of the Father, that eternal relationship.
And here in verse 18, it's the only begotten Son in the movement of divine affections between the Father and the Son. And then in chapter 3, we have it again two times we've read it in verse 16.
God so loved the world. It's the proof of his love. Who did he give? He gave his only begotten Son.
We'll come, let me finish this and then we'll go to the next portion, verse 18.
Says he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Notice it doesn't say title. That's not his title, that's his name. That's who he is, that's who he is from all eternity, the only begotten Son.
Not to believe in him. So when you ask someone, do you believe in the Son of God?
Or who is Jesus and he answers you. He's the Son of God. You can't stop there. That's inadequate. That answer is not adequate.
Because the Aryans believed that he was the Son of God by creation.
Adam was the Son of God by creation.
The angels are sons of God by creation.
We are sons of God by redemption, but only He, only one, only the only begotten Son.
Is the Son of God by.
As the ancients stated it.
In the early church eternal generation.
Some don't like that expression.
Once I learned what they meant by it.
It's acceptable.
We always think of.
Be getting when we come to the Word, be getting only begotten. We think of a point in time when something began. Well, that's the way it always is down here. The Father begets the Son, and so on. It was a point in time. But when we're talking about divine persons, persons of the Father and the Son, especially here, it has nothing to do with time at all. There was no point in time.
When he came into that.
Position.
If He was begotten of the Eternal Father, He is of the same essence and substance as the Father, and so He is the Eternal Son.
And our minds immediately seem to go to a point in time past and say it began at some time. Well, that's Arianism. It never began. He is eternal and the relationship is eternal.
And I can't fathom that.
A member of Brothers saying to me, it was a very simple statement but it left a very profound impression on me. He said I can, I can.
Envision something from now in existence now going on forever. I can grasp that in my puny mind. But a being who exists now and never had a beginning?
Never had a beginning and no ending. Of course. An eternal being I cannot grasp. I don't believe any of us can.
Because we are all creatures that had a beginning, but we're talking about a person. Persons that had no beginning and relationships that had no beginning. They are eternal.
The relationship of the father and the son.
And that what's that is what makes John 316 so exceedingly precious, that it's his only begotten Son that he gave.
To save the likes of us. There's no love like that.
So not to believe on the name.
Of the only begotten Son of God is to be condemned already.
God has exhausted himself.
He could not have given more.
He would not give less.
He gave his only.
Begotten Son.
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The one who was one with him from all eternity.
He gave him.
Well, knowing all that lay before him here, let's turn to a very profound statement in First John Chapter 4.
First John, chapter 4.
Verse 15.
Whosoever shall confess.
Jesus is the Son of God. God dwelleth in him.
And he in God.
Obviously, that confession.
Is a confession that is implied in that little Greek word ice in John 316. We believe in the sun, we believe in Him, but it's the movement of our heart and our will in our whole being towards Him to put our full confidence and trust in Him.
That's what's meant here.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, it's not the confession of the Jehovah's Witnesses, for instance, because they don't believe that he was eternal.
They believe that he didn't believe he became Son when he was born into this world. They believe that it's some distant past, maybe millions of years ago. We don't know how far back God created him.
And he became the son. No matter how far back you go, the distance between.
That finite time and Infinity is infinite. No matter how great the finite is, the distance between Infinity and anything finite is infinite. So the distance between what Athanasius believed and what Arius believed was infinite, and the distance between what you and I believe, if we really believe in the person that we're talking about this afternoon.
And those who are not true, but whom John calls false prophets and antichrists, the distance is infinite.
Though they may confess him to be the Son of God, they don't mean by that what we mean if we're taught of God, if we're taught of God. But we've got another doctrine today that's even far worse than the Jehovah's Witness.
Because they give him in a certain sense.
They give him to have been the son from a long time back.
But the new doctrine is that he didn't become son until he became a man.
I reject that with horror.
With abhorrence.
It's not minor.
One who doesn't bring that truth doesn't bring the doctrine of Christ.
Doesn't really.
Realize in his soul who he is.
And the eternal relationship that He sustained with the Father.
In his bosom.
From all eternity.
The father gave that person.
Save you and me.
The father sent his son into the world.
To save us.
Let's look at some scriptures that that point out what convinced different ones to confess.
Jesus was the Son of God. Let's go back to John 1 John chapter one, verse 45. Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth.
The son of Joseph.
And Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Notice Philip.
Called him the son of Joseph.
The Spirit of God never does that.
He wasn't the son of Joseph. Legally, yes.
Not really.
As our brother said the first night.
As to his deity, he has no mother. The Roman Catholics call him Mary, the Mother of God. She's not the mother of God. Scripture never speaks of her in that way. As to his deity, he has no mother.
Only a father.
As to his humanity, he has no father, no human father, only a mother.
But they made this mistake. It was common.
And it was made by Philip.
Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Saith unto him, Come and see.
Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.
Nothing will say if under him once knowest thou me.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou hast under the fig tree, I saw thee. That was evidently Nathaniel's prayer room, and he was altogether alone. No one could have seen him. And this produced a statement. It's not the Lord's moral glory here, it's his.
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It's his omniscience.
And omnipresence. He saw Nathaniel under the fig tree. Nathaniel answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God.
Thou art the King of Israel.
He confesses him as the Son of God, and when they did that, when these Jews did that, they were confessing his deity. Thou art the Son of God.
Thou art the King of Israel.
Mark, Chapter 15.
We didn't read this this morning. We read Matthew.
But I wanted to read Mark 15.
Verse 37.
Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
And when the centurion which stood over against him saw that, he so cried out.
And gave up the ghost. He said truly this man was the Son of God. What convinced him?
That he was the Son of God.
That he would make such a confession.
A confession that involved his deity.
Because he had seen many die of crucifixion.
At the point of their death.
They are so weak.
They are.
Hardly able to breathe, in fact. That's how. That's why how they die. They die of suffocation.
And.
They have suffered so much, the excruciating sufferings of crucifixion, that they can't speak above a whisper.
And the Lord cried out with a loud voice.
Finished.
And then he gave up the ghost. Father, into thy hands commit my spirit.
And he said truly this.
Was the Son of God.
That's impossible. No mere man could have done that.
And that convinced him.
And the centurion in Matthew 27, when he saw the earthquake and those things which were done, said this was the Son of God.
Nathaniel.
Confessed him as the Son of God.
Then we have another beautiful instance in John Chapter 9.
John Chapter 9 about the blind man.
He says to thee.
Those hypocritical Pharisees.
He says.
Now we know verse 31. Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God man, and do with his will him he heareth. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind?
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
They answered and said unto him, Thou hast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
He used his divine name, the Son of God.
He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou has both seen him.
And it is he that talketh with thee.
There are two people in John's Gospel, a woman of Samaria and John 4, and here this blind man in John nine that he reveals himself to.
And he said, Lord.
I believe.
And he worshipped him.
And the Lord Jesus didn't reject that worship because he was worthy of it. He was the Son of God.
We read this morning.
That the charge they leveled against him, he said. I am the son of. That's what he said.
And that's who he is. That's who he is.
The Eternal.
Son of God, if you don't hold that in your soul then you are reducing the Lord.
To the level of a creature, maybe the highest created being.
But still something infinitely less than he really is one with the Father. It's turned to John chapter 10, John 10, verse 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life.
And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.
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I and my father.
Are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them. Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone me not, but for blasphemy, because that thou being a man, makest thyself God.
Yes.
He goes on to say Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, ye are gods talking about the leaders of Israel. If you call them gods, call them gods.
To whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken.
He called them God's mere creatures near men. Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world.
Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God.
The father set him apart. The father sent him. He came as scent of the father. He came from the father. Notice how he says that. Turn over to John Chapter 16.
No John 14. No, it is 16 John 16, verse 27.
For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God.
They had believed that he came out from God.
Now he gives them a deeper truth. He says I came forth from the Father.
And him come into the world.
Again, I leave the world.
And go to the father. He was going to leave this scene. He was going to return to the father from whom he had come.
He came forth from the father. He was the father when he left him. He is the father to whom he is returning. He was the father not.
A term that applies to the father or the Son after the Son became a man. That's what the teachers of the temporal sonship doctrine are teaching.
He was the eternal Father. He came forth from the Father.
And I've come into the world again. I leave the world and I go to the Father. There's a passage in John 14 that I want to read to you. Also. We read that in John 10 where he says.
I and my Father are one. This is one that the enemies of the Lord's deity.
Often attack verse 28.
He says, You have heard how I said unto you, I use this to attack this person. I should have said, I go away and and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I.
My father is greater than I is a statement that only has meaning coming from one who had previously said I and my father are one.
The eternal Son, one with the Father. Now he's become a man.
And as man in the sonship, in his mediatorial position, he says my father is greater than I.
Wouldn't make any sense for any of us to say our Father is greater than us. Of course he is, We're just creatures.
Of course he's greater than I, than me, than you.
But here was one who was equal with the Father, but he had taken a position in lowly grace as a man, his servant.
And in such a place, he says, my father is greater than I.
That's his true humanity. That's the place of subjection that he had come into.
In infinite grace, in order to die for you and me.
But I and my father are one.
Is the first statement he makes, and that's his eternal deity.
As the Eternal Son, I'm going to read one more portion and then we have to close Mark 12. I knew I would not finish this subject, it is so vast, but I want to read it because it is a very precious portion.
Mark 12. He began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and said in hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen A servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant, and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another in him they killed.
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Beating some and killing some. Notice now having yet therefore one son.
His well beloved.
He sent him also. He was the son before He sent him. He didn't become son after He was sent. Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, He sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. Here is the one that comes from my very heart. They will respect him.
But those husbandmen said among themselves, this is the air.
Come, let us kill him. They knew.
This was the sun, they knew. This is the air.
Let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours.
And they took him and they killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
What shall therefore the Lord of the Vineyard do? He will come and destroy those husband men, and will give the vineyard unto others.
Have you not read this scripture? The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing in his marvelous in our eyes.
And so the Roman armies came down on Jerusalem in 70 AD and destroyed the place that had crucified the air.
Cast him out, rejected him. This is the heir. Let us kill him and they said the inheritance will be ours instead. When they killed him, they lost everything.
You depart from him, you lose everything.
You think you can do a wave, get him out of your life and do away with him. You lose everything.
Everything.
That self destruction when you shut him out of your life.
That self destruction. Never turn your face away from him.
Because he is God the Son.
This Same Jesus
1 Corinthians 12:1
1 Corinthians 12:8
1 Corinthians 12:24
Open Mtg.
1 Corinthians 12:13-