Regina Conference: 2001
Table of Contents
The Person of the Christ
Address—C. Hendricks
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Let's sing hymn #61.
How once the glories that meet?
In Jesus and from his face shine.
His love is eternal and sweet as human.
Is also divine.
#61.
They couldn't help but think this morning.
When the scriptures that we had before us were read.
Beautiful hymns that we sang.
It was.
What? I was lying awake last night.
Meditating upon.
For this afternoon's address.
The person of Christ.
Wonderful, matchless truth.
Let's start with reading a verse in Matthew 28.
Matthew 28.
And verse 19.
Go ye therefore.
And teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father.
And of the son.
And of the Holy Ghost.
Members speaking to a Jehovah's Witness lady once and she said to me that Trinity is not in the Bible, she didn't believe in the Trinity and all cults don't believe in the Trinity.
There's two things that are essential to the belief in the Trinity, and the one is that each one of those three persons is God.
And each one is a person, not a thing, or an It, or an influence, or a force, which is their view of the Holy Spirit.
So those errors can do away with the Trinity. The Jews don't believe in the Trinity because they don't believe that Jesus is God.
And the Islams don't believe that either.
In fact, of all the religions that are in the world, we are the only ones.
But I say we, I mean true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ that believe.
That God is 3 and one and one in three. Three persons in one God. We're charged with believing in three gods, and that's not true at all.
One person, three gods, three. One person, one God, I should say, and three persons.
Well, I read that because we're going to talk about the one that was in the center of this Trinity, the sun.
The Sun.
The expression in our hymn.
Brought out what I have before me, His glory.
Not only God's Son.
In manhood, he had his full part.
And the union of both.
Joined in one.
Formed the fountain of love in his heart.
We're going to talk a little, first of all, about his.
Eternal Sonship.
His pre temporal sonship that means before time.
He was the.
He never became the son in time.
That's an error that a group that used to be with us, a group of brethren, teach and hold. They're in serious, fundamental error, both on the divine side of this person and on the human side of this person. Very serious, how far they have departed when we look back and think that they once broke bread with us.
And it shows how we can depart so far from the light that God has given to us.
Turn to the second Psalm.
The second Psalm.
Just a verse there.
Verse 7.
I will declare the decree.
The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son.
This day have I begotten thee.
Now that verse is quoted 3 times in the New Testament. It is quoted in Acts 13.
It's quoted in Hebrews 1 and in Hebrews 5.
Thou art my son.
This day have I begotten thee. Now the Word begotten here is used in connection with His incarnation.
This day have I begotten thee as what he became when he became a man.
He was begotten in time. Thou art My Son is a statement expressing who he ever was, His pretemporal, ontological, inter trinitarian sonship. That is, He's one of the Persons of the Trinity, His essence, His divine essence, the very nature that identifies Him as that. He's the Son.
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And he's before time. He is the eternal Son of God.
Tremendous truth.
Thou art my.
This day have I begotten thee. The doctrine which says that he didn't become the Son until he became a man is seriously wrong.
Seriously wrong this day have I begotten thee?
Now that refers to his birth in time.
But there's another use of the word begotten, and we turn to John chapter 1.
Gospel that doesn't refer to time at all.
It refers to his essential intrinsic nature.
And who he is.
And it's found in John's writings.
5 * 4 in the Gospel, and once in his epistle.
It's also used four other times in the New Testament.
Three in the Gospel of Luke, about an only son and an only daughter.
It's used in that way, and it's used about Isaac.
In Hebrews 11.
But I want to look, especially this afternoon, at the use.
In John's Gospel and in John's Epistle.
Referring that wonderful expression to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In John 1.
And verse 14.
And the Word, now he's mentioned in the first verse, 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, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
The creator.
But in this tremendous 14th verse it says the Word was made flesh.
And dwelt among us.
And now we have a parenthesis, very wonderful parenthesis. And we beheld His glory, the glorious of the only begotten of the Father. End of parenthesis, full of grace and truth. So if we read it without the parenthesis, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. But what's in that parenthesis tells us about His?
Essential being and.
The expression is used only begotten, and that's not referring to His being begotten of the Holy Spirit or conceived by Mary. No, it's it's referring to His eternal essential being as the Son.
The only begotten of the Father, only John uses it with respect to the Person of Christ.
We beheld His glory.
The glory as of and only begotten with the Father.
It was a glory which was veiled.
In his flesh.
But which only faith could.
Perceive who he was.
I have a burden to bring before us.
Who he is, Who he really is.
That wondrous person.
The glories of the only Begotten of the Father, and again in the 18th verse.
No man hath seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son.
Which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
The bosom of the father, Mr. Bellit has said, is the hiding place of love.
That place where the love of the Father and the Son and the Spirit flowed freely amongst the persons of the Godhead.
The bosom of the Father, the only begotten Son.
Which is in the bosom of the Father.
That 27th hymn that we sang this morning.
Brings before us, it says in the second verse, Son of God, thy fathers bosom.
Ever was thy dwelling place his delight in him, rejoicing one with him in power and grace.
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Oh, what wondrous love and mercy.
Thou didst lay thy glory by.
And for us, it's come from heaven as the Lamb of God to die. We'll consider that shortly.
But there he was from all eternity past, in the bosom of the Father.
To enjoy the Father's love.
And to share it.
And we get the exchange between the persons of the Godhead in the creation of man in Genesis one. Let us make man in our likeness and after our image.
Let us make.
When he considered the creation of man.
He confers the persons of the Godhead confer among themselves as to man.
And so man is at Trinity.
He has a spirit and a soul and a body.
Just like his creator is a Trinity.
Everything that God brings into existence reflects himself in some way.
And we do too.
The way he created us.
Wonderful.
Well, we have these two verses in John 1 referring to Him as the only begotten. Then in John 3.
We have the third one.
Which is the 16th verse that we know so well.
For God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son.
Now that has nothing to do with his birth by Mary, that has to do with what he always was.
This word begotten here is not used as an event that took place in some time in some time in the past, but it's it. It brings before us that He is of the same essence and substance and nature as God Himself, for He is God.
The only begotten Son as the Father and as the Spirit, They are all one in essence, in essential being.
And that's who God gave His only begotten Son, when we understand a little better who He is.
The glory of his person.
The gift that God gave.
Impossible to exceed it.
He gave the one who was the darling of his bosom, son of his love.
The one who was unique and distinct from all others. Not a creature, never, but the creator.
But more than that, the one who dwelt in the love of the Father from all eternity.
And he's the one that he gave. He's the one that he sent.
That we might know the Father.
How wonderful to get a hold of it, for God so loved the world.
Not just Israel, not just the Jews, but the whole world, all of mankind.
Jews and Gentiles that he gave.
His only begotten Son. Impossible to exceed that gift.
And one used to say, if God hasn't won your heart.
What more could he do to win it?
Given his beloved son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now the next verse brings before us the truth that.
His sonship is not a title. Not just a title. We sometimes use it that way, but it's his name.
Verse 18.
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, the name of the only begotten Son of God. That name describes who He is in the essence of His being and the relationship which He sustained with God the Father.
From all eternity past.
The last one that John uses is in one John 4.
And I'll turn you to that.
1 John 4.
In verse 9.
In this was manifested.
The love of God toward us.
Because that God.
His only begotten Son.
Into the world.
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That we might live through him. John 316 says he gave him.
And this verse says he sent him.
Sent from the very heart of God.
That we might know the God who is love.
And who is light?
Impossible to really know him.
Had he not himself come?
Had he not himself?
Revealed.
Himself.
God sent his only begotten Son into the world. He was the Son before He sent him.
He didn't become the son after he was sent, no.
The son before he sent him, having therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also, saying they will.
Reverence, my son.
And when they saw him, they said this is the heir, come, let us kill him and seize the inheritance.
We know what they did.
It was mentioned in our readings.
And well mentioned that not until he became a man.
Not until he entered his own creation.
Could man get his hands on him, so to speak?
And due to him what was in his heart express physically.
Towards him what was in his heart towards God.
For what they did to him is their attitude towards God Himself.
To hate him.
To dishonor him is to hate and dishonor the father.
You cannot know God.
You cannot be in relationship with God.
Without the sun.
He is.
The Grand Central testing point for man.
You've probably noticed in any discussion you have with people of the world, you can talk about God, and that's fairly acceptable.
But bring in the Lord Jesus Christ, Bring in the Son.
And then you'll find there's an enmity and immediately a resistance and a hatred that they have towards him.
And this was manifested the love of God. The only way he could really manifest it, He could tell us about it, that I love you. It's one thing to say I love you to one, it's another to manifest it.
And that's what God has done.
You have to manifest something that already exists.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us.
Because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
Now let's turn back to a very well known passage.
Philippians, Chapter 2.
I want to dwell a bit on this.
Wonderful passage.
It's been brought out that we have.
Seven steps down and then seven steps up.
As God answers to the to his being so perfectly glorified by his Son, by exalting him.
So I want to precede that with those comments reading this verse 5. Philippians 2.
Let this mind be in you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus.
The preceding verses of Philippians 2. He is exhorting these Saints there at Philippi. He says fulfill you my joy. Verse 2 That ye be like minded.
Having the same love, being 1 accord of one mind, let nothing be done through strife and vain glory, but in loneliness of mind. But each esteem other better than themselves. That's what he's exhorting them to. To do is to take the low place with respect to your fellow brethren, and to give them the higher place to exalt them. Look, not every man on his own things. Don't be just occupied with what concerns you or me.
But everyone on the things of others looking where we can help.
And then he enters into this tremendous passage. Let this mind this attitude.
Be in you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus.
What was his mind? What was his attitude?
What was the willingness that he had?
And was absolutely essential. If his mind was not what it was, there would be no salvation for any of us.
Now it starts with the mind that was in Christ. That's the first. That's the starting point of this descent downwards.
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Who being in the form of God, that establishes where he was.
From all eternity past, before he became a man, he was in the form of God and in no other form.
He was not in the form of an Angel, he was not a man, yet he was only in the form of God.
He was God.
And he was in that form.
What was his mind?
Who being in the form of God now, it's very difficult to get the thought that is really here in our King James translation.
Who, being in the form of God, hath thought it not robbery to be equal with God? Very hard to.
To get the thought.
And Mr. Darby's translation is he thought it not an object of rapid or plunder.
It's like an army that comes into a town. Once the town has been conquered and the soldiers go into their different houses and plunder what's in it, they take whatever they want. They seize it as an object of rapid.
And one goes into a house and he sees this beautiful lamp.
He's always wanted a lamp like that and he grasped it and seizes it and he says that's mine and I'll never let it go.
That's mine.
That's an object of rapping, That's an object of plunder. He the, the, the, the soldiers come in and plunder the town and they take whatever they want. They seize it.
That wasn't the Lord's attitude. He was God. He was in the form of God. He thought it not something to be grasped and tenaciously held onto and seized with the attitude. I will never consider being anything less than God.
That wasn't his attitude. If it had been, there would be no salvation for any of us.
Now his attitude was.
To relinquish that.
To lay aside, as we've sung in that 27th hymn.
He laid aside his glory.
Thou is laid Thy glory by and for us. It's come from heaven.
The Lamb of God to die.
His attitude was not I am God. I will never consider being anything less than God.
Now he was willing to become a servant.
Tremendous.
Tremendous truth.
Who being in the form of God, thought it not something to be grasped, and tenaciously held onto His being there as God and in the form of God. But he, he made himself of no reputation, literally he, he emptied himself.
Of what? Of the form of God?
By assuming the form of a servant.
So.
He exchanged the.
The position of commander in chief.
Of all the creation, the angels and all.
To being a servant.
And when he came into this scene.
As a little baby.
And he was born into this scene.
From that point on.
He never asserted.
His own will.
It was always the will of the father.
I came down from heaven not to do my own will.
But the will of him that sent me?
He wasn't here as a commander. He was here not to command, but to obey.
And he learned obedience, Hebrews 5 tells us, by the things which he suffered.
He learned to obey perfect servant.
Never once did he fail in his obedience.
If thou be the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread.
Satisfy your hunger. He spent 40 years, 40 days in the wilderness.
He was hungry. How did he answer that?
Man shall not.
Live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the Father hadn't told him.
To do it.
He would not do it to satisfy his hunger.
He always answered Satan's temptations with Scripture.
Set him on the pinnacle of the temple. If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, and he leaves out to keep thee in all thy ways.
No one wasn't one of his ways to tempt the Lord, so he answers, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
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When we consider the Lord's deity.
And who he is essentially in his person.
And then we consider the willingness, the mind.
That was his to be willing to come.
Into such a scene as you and I live in.
With all the evil and the sin.
And the treachery and the cunning and the craftiness.
All that is down here.
He was willing to come.
To do the will of God.
To be the obedient 1.
We had that read to us.
Earlier today. We'll come to it in a moment.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. It starts with the mind, His attitude.
Who being in the form of God.
Thought it not something to be grasped.
Tenaciously held on to.
That he.
Was made.
He took upon him the form of a servant.
Made himself of no reputation.
Did not go through this world as a king.
When we shall see him, Isaiah says there is no.
Lordliness about him.
How knoweth this man letters? They said, having never learned.
And then he said, My doctrine is not mine, but that of the Father who sent me.
Never had any special education.
By what authority doest thou these things they said to him? Who gave thee this authority? You haven't gone to some theological seminary and have ADD after your name. Who gave you the authority to do what you're doing?
And then he said, I'll ask you a question. The baptism of John was it of heaven or of men?
And they didn't answer. We say of heaven they'll he'll say, why didn't you believe him? And if we say of men, then they will stone us, because they all held down to be a prophet. So they said neither. They said we cannot tell. And he said neither tell are you?
By what authority I do these things?
He did it the authority of the father.
He was sent to the Father to represent the Father, to speak the words of the Father, to do the works of the father.
To manifest the Father.
In all things my meat, he said, is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.
That's what sustained him here. That was his meat.
That was His sustenance as a dependent, obedient, lowly man.
And whom we think of that.
And we think of who it was that took that place.
Allowed himself to be.
Misrepresented, maltreated, spit upon, mock smitten.
And all the evils that they heaped upon him.
He did it for you, He did it for me.
He made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant. He exchanged the form of God for the form of a servant. And once he did that.
It was only proper, always proper, for him to obey.
Even the death of the cross, the shameful, ignominious death of crucifixion.
There's no death. More dishonouring.
More demeaning.
More degrading to one than crucifixion, it was reserved for the worst criminals.
That's what they gave.
To the Son of God.
Let this mind be in you, in me.
That was in him. He was willing to go to the very lowest place.
To become nothing. I am a worm and no man, he said, despised of the men.
Despised.
You think of who he is.
I think of John 6.
He fed.
To 5005 loaves and two fishes.
Just a little bit beyond that.
They said.
Do a miracle. What sign do you do to show us?
What sign?
You just fed 5000?
With five loaves and two fishes.
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And they asked for a miracle.
Did one of the greatest miracles there was.
They his own got into a ship. The Lord didn't get into that ship.
And it said the wind grew and the water was rough, and here comes the Lord walking on the sea that wasn't a calm sea.
Zarofsky.
Like Peter saw when he started to sink, the Lord didn't have a problem with it.
And they were afraid, he said. Be not afraid to desire.
And as soon as he got into the ship, the ship was at the place where they were going.
And the crowd noticed that he wasn't in the ship when they left. And he How did you get here?
He completely ignores that question. He says ye seek me because you were filled with the loaves.
Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.
Oh, as you read.
John's ministry. I mean all of the Gospels.
Especially John's ministry.
How one can read it amazes me without knowing who he is.
Getting some glimpse, just all you have to do is just touch the hem of his garment.
Just that much and you can be healed.
You don't have to have a full understanding of who he is, because none of us really do.
None of us.
And will never understand.
God and man.
In one person.
That's an infinite mystery.
Infinite mystery.
Well, let's not leave Philippians 2 just yet.
Being found in fashion as a man.
He humbled himself.
Became obedient unto death. He had never obeyed before.
He was the commander of all. Everyone obeyed him when he was in the form of God.
But now he lays that aside.
And takes on the form of a servant.
And he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
Though he were Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
He never obeyed as the Son.
Now he becomes the Son of Man.
He enters his own creation.
This infinitely glorious person who could speak.
And it was done. Who could command and it stood fast.
Says in the 8th Psalm, the heavens are the work of his fingers.
Just his fingers. Just his word.
Peace be still.
They woke him up. He was sleeping.
Master, cares thou not that we perish?
Self-centered we or I or us?
They didn't express any concern for him.
Little realizing.
As long as he's in the ship with us, it can't sink.
It can't sink.
If they had understood his person. Oh what unbelieving believers we are. And I speak to myself when I say that.
How little things can trouble us so much.
If he's in the ship.
We don't have to be troubled.
Everything is under his control.
We were talking in the hallway about.
Meeting a Satanist. Someone did, and they thought he was praying. Instead of praying he was.
He was asking the devil to.
Destroy Christians.
She said that scares me as he don't be scared of that. Or you can say to that person and say you can't. Your prayer is worthless.
Your prayer is worthless. God takes care of his own. You can't touch them, neither can your master Satan touch them.
It's wonderful to know that.
We don't have to fear Satan. I remember brother once expounded wrongly.
Where the Lord said.
Fear him who after he hath killed that power to cast into hell? Yeah, I say unto you, Fear him. And he said, that's the devil. And I said, no, it's not.
Never told to fear the devil. That's God.
You're told to fear God.
Never the devil.
We're to resist the devil and then he will flee from us.
Stick close to him.
Well, let's read a little bit more. Wherefore verse 9. God also hath highly exalted him as a man now.
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And given him a name which is above every name.
When he left that throne of glory, he set aside that glory, and he entered it.
As a man, as a servant, obedient, and as he carried out that perfect obedience when he was down here, God now rewards him.
For all that he.
Manifested when he was here.
God hath highly exalted him.
Giving him a name which is above every name.
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
Of things are beings in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth.
Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
To the glory.
Of God the Father.
When we realize.
Who he is?
And then what he became.
When he became a servant.
And then because he did this.
God puts everything under his feet.
Not 2 angels hath He subjected the world to come whereof we speak, but one in a certain place saith what his man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man that thou visitest him, Thou hast put all things under his feet. And we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, and that coming Kingdom is going to be subjected to that man.
That man not because he is God.
Which he is and never will cease to be, and always will be, but because he became a man.
So that we could really know God.
But we could really get ahold of him.
We could understand him. He lived in the very circumstances which you and I lived in. You remember when Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven, he came back and he said, I can't tell you.
What I saw and heard can't tell you.
But so he came to where we were.
So that we could know God.
Know him?
In a relationship that you and I can relate to.
He was a man.
Perfect man.
Glorious man.
Let's pass on.
From.
This passage.
The Two Colossians, chapter 1.
We have some of the most profound truths.
In this chapter.
Verse 12.
Colossians 112 giving thanks.
Unto the Father.
Which hath made us meet?
To be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light.
Who hath delivered us from the power or the authority of darkness?
And have translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, or the Son of his love.
In whom? In that son we have redemption through his blood.
Even the forgiveness of sins.
Who the Son is the image of the invisible God, first born of every creature, first born of all creation, that is, as a man.
As a man, As the image of the invisible God, as a man.
For by him.
This one who became man.
Were all things created? Of course, when he did the creation, he wasn't a man yet.
But it's the same person.
That came, and He sets before us the glory of this person by him.
In virtue of the power which essentially resides in his person.
All things were created.
That are in heaven, That are in earth visible.
And invisible.
Many, many, many invisible spirits in that you and I have not seen.
But they are just as real as the visible that we do see.
Whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him. That's a different proposition.
By means of him and for him, he's the ultimate end. He's the essential power.
He's the means by which it's brought about, and then he's the end in creation.
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And then it says verse 17 He is before all things.
And by him all things consist.
Or subsist are held together.
And he is the head of the body, the church. We had some of that before us.
Who is the beginning, the first born from the dead?
That in all things.
He might have the preeminence.
Now notice verse 19.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
You notice the father is in italics. It's been supplied by the translators. It's not there.
It pleased the fullness.
It pleased the Godhead.
Put that word in there.
That in him should all fullness dwell.
Now I I put that in because of chapter 2 and verse 9.
It says, For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Now we don't have in our Bibles the word Trinity, but that's the closest that we have the Godhead.
Composed of the three Persons of the Trinity.
Now it says it pleased.
All let me rearrange the words in verse 19. All the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in him.
When it says was pleased, this is not something that was true of him when he was in the form of God.
This is something that is true of him as being in the form of man, in the form of a servant down here.
All the fullness was pleased to dwell in him.
And that's not true.
This is a special of the other Persons of the Trinity. This is a special truth applying to the One who is, as we sang, the union of both joined in one.
Form the fountain of love in his heart, very God.
And very man.
It pleased the Godhead.
That in him should all fullness dwell.
Fact that it says it pleased. It's not. It's something that happened after he became a man.
It's not something that was eternal.
It pleased the Godhead.
That all family should dwell in that one.
You see, they took advantage of his humiliation.
They took advantage of his being a servant to dishonor him.
They still do that.
Man still does that.
And.
They do. They deny that his deity because.
He's a servant.
I was.
Speaking.
To in Red Bluff to accompany.
Of Saints, and they had some people from the Baha'i religion there.
And I spoke on John 1 and Colossians 1 and Hebrews one, all on the person of Christ.
And then I threw it open to questions, and this man asked a question from John 14.
John 14 the Lord says my father is greater than. I won't turn to it. You know the verse.
And he said, how could he be God?
And the Father be greater than he.
And I said, well, you've touched upon the mystery of his person.
He is God, yes, and Noah is greater than he is God.
But he's man.
He's a servant.
He came to obey.
He was sent to the father.
And he carried out imperfection, the will of the Father.
And in that character.
He could say my father is greater than I.
But at the same time, he says, I and my father are one.
I said you've touched the mystery of his person.
First Timothy 316 says great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh.
Justified in the spirit scene of angels preached unto the Gentiles, believe on in the world and received up into glory.
That verse starts with God coming down and becoming a man, and it ends up a man going up into the very glory of God.
And then those in between statements that describe him down here.
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Now that's a mystery that we'll never fathom.
God and man.
In one person.
The verse was read this morning. I'm going to read it again.
It's in Matthew. We'll come back here to Colossians, but it's in Matthew 11 and I just want to read it.
Because it's such a profound.
Verse.
Matthew 11.
Verse 27.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father.
No man knoweth the Son.
But the father and there's no qualifying clause to that.
Neither knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. But it doesn't say that the Father reveals to us the Son.
Because it's an inscrutable mystery.
God and man.
In one person.
The creature can't understand that.
How could he be asleep in the boat?
And at the same time.
Be the one who never sleeps.
God.
How could he be one who was weary with his journey and then at the same time be one who never wearies?
Because he was man.
And he is God.
And the truth of this person is, as we have it in this hymn, the union of both joined in one.
Form the fountain of love in his heart. He is very man and very God. He is very God and very man.
And we can't fathom that. Only the Father knows.
The mystery of his person.
It pleased the Godhead that in Him as man should all fullness dwell. Look at 29 in Colossians.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
As a man.
As a man, all the fullness.
Of the Godhead dwells.
You want to know anything about God?
All the fullness.
Of who God is.
Dwells in him as man bodily.
That's a tremendous statement in the word of God, probably goes beyond any other that we have.
As to the glory of His Person, very God.
And very men.
I've often said when I'm in the presence of that man.
I will think of Colossians 29.
At all the fullness of the Godhead.
Dwells in that.
Bodily.
Can't fathom that.
You can't fathom that.
No creature can understand that.
That's the mystery of his person.
God manifest in flesh.
Do you know that man?
Do you know that glorious person?
Who is God and man?
In one person.
The creator of all things.
Who became a little baby?
Who entered his own creation as an infant.
And yet all the while he was upholding the universe by the word of his power.
Can you fathom that?
When he was on the cross, they said, Come down and we will believe thee, that thou art the Son of God.
You said you were. Prove it. Come down from the cross.
Well, he could have.
Would have been very simple for him to have done that.
But then he wouldn't have accomplished.
In obedience to God his Father, the work that he had come to do.
He would never depart from that.
He would never use his power.
To avoid suffering.
Or to defend himself.
We know he could have in a moment they came to take him, and he said, whom seek ye? And they said Jesus of Nazareth, and he said, I'm he.
They all fell backward to the ground.
One word from him.
Would have destroyed them.
The next breath you take, the next breath I take, is given us from him. And if he hadn't, if he doesn't do it, if he withholds it from us, we would perish in a moment.
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Puny man.
And he dares.
To insult.
And speak.
Against.
The God in whose hand is breath is.
All the fullness.
Of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, no one knows the Son.
But the Father. And why does it say that? Because he is inscrutable. He's God and man in one person.
I just hope as a result of this.
Lecture.
That you'll have a better grasp.
Of who he is.
Before we close, I want to read some verses from Hebrews 1 and 2.
Hebrews One.
God, who at sundry times.
And in diverse manners, speaking, time passed unto the Father's by the prophets.
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.
Not a prophet, not an Angel, but his son speaking.
Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world's.
Who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of His person, are literally the expression.
Of his substance.
He tells us who God is.
And yet.
When he had by himself purged our sins, When did he do that? When he became a man.
You sat down in the right hand of the Majesty on high. When did he do that as a man?
Be seated there you have this mixture back and forth blended together.
Not 2 angels hath the second chapter, not 2 angels hath he put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak.
Verse 6 But one in a certain place testified saying What is man?
Thou art mindful of Him, or the Son of Man that thou visitest him.
Made his Tim a little lower than the angels.
It's promised him with glory and honor, and that's that. He applies that to the Lord Jesus.
We see Jesus verse 9.
Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
Crowned with glory and honor.
That he, by the grace of God, should taste death.
For every man.
Well, I've done a very poor job.
And trying to set before us.
But it's very difficult to put into words.
To explain.
The glory and the greatness, the majesty.
In the lowliness.
The Lord Jesus, which is greater?
His creatorial power, where in a word he could speak the world's into existence, where he upholds all things by the word of his power or.
Is this greater? You know the grace.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich.
Yet for your sakes, he became poor.
That you, through his poverty, might be rich. Which is greater?
The glory.
Or the grace.
I'll vote for the grace.
That he could come.
To pick up a Wretch like me.
I think we could pretty much endorse that for ourselves.
Being who he is.
And then when he became.
And the wonder of it is, he will be a man forever.
Never cease to be a man.
That overwhelms me.
Should overwhelm all of us.
Then shall the Son.
The subject First Corinthians 15 The subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all, proves that he will be a man forever.
In the place of subjection, and yet God over all.
Blessed forever.
Now only God the Father knows that, understands it perfectly.
God and.
In one person. Do you know that person?
Is he your personal savior?
That's the question that has to be answered by each one of us.
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Most glorious person.
Universe, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily.
Let's sing that hymn, the Person of the Christ.
And Folding, 3132.
Every grace once slain, but now alive again in heaven.
Demands our praise. Someone raise that, please.
The Sent One of God and the Father in John's
Gospel—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
To introduce my subject tonight, let's turn to 1St John four and verse 9.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world.
That we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.
And sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Verse 14.
And we have seen and do testify that the father sent the son.
To be the savior of the world.
These verses introduced my subject tonight.
Which is to go through the Gospel of John.
And see the Lord Jesus here as the sent one.
Sent one of God, verses 9 and 10. It was God who sent him, and also the sent one of the Father, verse 14.
Comment on verse 9 before we leave it In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world. And what does that tell us? It tells us that He was the Son, His only begotten Son, before He was sent into this world. He sent Him into this world that we might live through Him and needs life.
And that's the first essential in order to enjoy God, we need His life and nature.
And then in verse 10 here in his love.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us.
And sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
And who was that God who sent him? Well, verse 14 says, and we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son.
To be the savior of the world.
Now we're going to take a trip through John's Gospel, starting at Chapter 3. Please turn back.
John's Gospel.
And look at these precious verses that speak of him as the Saint one.
This is the heart of the Gospel of John.
That God sent him.
And that the father sent him.
And that he came.
But to consider him.
As being sent is most precious indeed.
Verse 17 First instance in John's Gospel. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.
But that the world through him, might be saved.
We learned three things from that verse, that he was the Son before he sent him.
God sent him into the world, and he was the only begotten Son.
The one who was of the same essence, the same nature, the same essential being as the Father.
And it was God who sent him.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But.
Have everlasting life. That's verse 16.
Verse 17 tells us that he didn't send him to be a judge.
He sent him to be a savior.
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world or to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
First time he came was as a savior. The next time he comes it will be as a judge.
But we must meet him one way or the other. Either meet him as Savior or meet him as judge.
We will notice as we touch these precious verses in John's Gospel, Speaking of him as being sent.
Brings before us the place that He took in lowly grace coming into this world. Sent of the Father to reveal the Father, to make us know who God really is. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who's in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him, He hath told Him out. He hath made Him known to us.
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Most precious and the love of the Father.
We'll step our way through verse 34. For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God.
For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Not only was he not sent to judge, but to save, but he was sent to speak the very words of God. This very gospel begins in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the very one who spoke the very words of God. It wasn't. It wasn't an Angel speaking. It wasn't a prophet speaking. It was God the Son speaking.
Every word He spoke was given him from God the Father, and as we hear what He says and as we see what He did, we see the Father in all his words and in all his actions.
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. He received the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit, not by measure, as the prophets of the Old Testament, where the Spirit came upon them, and they uttered the prophecy, and then He retired from them. No, He was given to the Son to be in that perfect manhood that was his, to be the living power, and the.
The the force of all that he said and did.
In the 4th chapter.
Verse We know the story of the Samaritan woman.
Verse 31. We'll pick it up there. In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying Master.
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that she know not of.
Therefore said the disciples, one to another, hath any man brought him ought to eat?
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
We learned 2 added truths from that verse that he came to do. He was sent to do the will of the Father that sent him and to finish his work. And it's in John's Gospel when he prayed to the Father in John 17, he said, Father, I have finished the work which thou gave us, me to do. And again on the cross he cries out, it is finished. Yes, He was sent to carry out.
All that the Father had entrusted to him.
As we go through these verses, you will see that that's the theme of John's gospel. He's presented to us as scent of God and scent of the Father, that we might know God and might know the Father.
My meat is that which sustained Him is very sustenance. Here is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work. How often do we do our own wills?
He never, he always, he ever did the will of his father imperfection, and he finished the work that was entrusted to him.
In chapter 5.
Chapter 5.
Let's start in verse 21.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them.
Even so, the sun quickeneth gives life to whom he will.
For the Father judgeth no man.
But hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.
The greatest insult that man can give to God, to the Father.
Is to dishonor the son whom he sent.
The one who was the perfect representation of the Father.
The one whoever spoke the words of the Father. The one who always did the works of the father.
The one that was perfect in representing the father to reject the Son.
Is to insult God the Father.
And will be met with severe judgment.
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You cannot have God, you cannot have the Father without the Son. He revealed him.
He is the living expression of him. He is one with him. He was sent of him.
To represent him and he did it perfectly.
That all men verse 23 should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.
Again, verse 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word.
And believeth on him, or believeth him that sent me hath everlasting life.
Shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Wonderful verse has eternal life Will not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life, believing on.
The one.
Who sent the son?
Believeth him that sent me hath eternal life.
Again.
In verse 30.
I can of mine own self do nothing.
Those that do not know who he is.
Will take a verse like this.
And use it to dishonor.
The sun and to show that he was not God.
He says I can of mine own self do nothing. He came into a position of dependence.
He came not to command, but to obey.
In the form of God, He always commanded and everyone obeyed him.
But now he takes the form of a servant sent of the Father, and in that place of dependence he obeys perfectly.
Perfectly.
I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge in my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will.
Man.
Never sought his own will, always did the will of his Father. That was his meat, that was the delight of his heart. My delight, he said on coming is to do thy will. Oh God.
I seek not mine own will, but the will of whom the Father which hath sent me.
And then he brings forward in the last part of John 5 the witnesses that he had to him. He says in verse 33, He sent on to John, and he bear witness unto the truth, John the Baptist.
But I receive not testimony from man, but these things I say that you might be saved.
He was a burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
But I have greater witness.
Than that of John.
For the works which the Father hath given me to finish.
The same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
When we see the works that he did, we're seeing the works of the Father. When we hear the words that he spoke, we're hearing the words of the Father. We're getting to know the Father.
As we learn the sun.
Study Him, read the four Gospels, ponder Him, meditate upon Him, and you will learn who the Father is, for He is the living embodiment and expression of the Father. Verse 36 again. But I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me again in verse 37.
And the Father himself which hath sent me.
Hath borne witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at anytime, nor seen his shape at the river Jordan. The Father himself bore witness of him. This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Again on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my beloved son, and whom I am well pleased.
The father himself. His voice was heard declaring his delight in his son.
Then he says to these unbelieving Jews in verse 38, And ye have not his word, abiding in you for whom he hath sent.
Him, he believed not.
Whom he had sent him he believed not.
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Solemn, serious thing to reject the words and the works of the one whom the Father sent. Chapter 6 Now.
Chapter 6. Verse 27. He had just fed 5000 men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fishes. And he says to them, Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you for him that God the Father sealed.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent.
They said therefore unto him, What signs showest thou? We may see and believe thee. What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat man in the desert, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. He had just fed with five loaves and two fishes over 5000.
Probably 20,000 with the women and children and they asked him what sign he showed.
And then they present what Moses did, probably to say that was a far greater sign than you did. He fed the he fed the whole people of Israel for 40 years with bread from heaven, the manna.
And notice how the Lord meets that.
Verse 32 Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Verse 38 For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will.
But the will of him that sent me?
Verse 39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Verse 40 And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Eternal security. I will lose nothing.
And I will raise him up at the last day, everyone that seeth the son and believes on him.
The one scent of the Father again in verse 44. No man can come to me.
Except the Father which hath sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Every one of us here that saved is saved, because the Father has drawn you to his sent one, his beloved Son. Left to ourselves, let's face it, we would not have come.
We would not have come, but He's drawn us, and we're His. Verse 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, by reason of the Father, on account of the Father, that was His whole purpose down here, to live for Him.
So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. We are to live.
On account of the son, as he lived on account of the father who sent him.
Chapter 7.
Jesus verse 16 Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
His doctrine, his teachings, that's what doctrine means. His teachings is they were mine. They were the fathers who sent me. To reject the Son is to reject the Father. Absolutely impossible to know God, to believe in God, to have him as your God, if you do not receive the Son. My doctrine, my teaching is not mine.
But his that sent me again, verse 18 he that speaketh of himself or from himself as a source.
Specific His own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, and that was the Lord Jesus. The same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
Again verse 28 then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, you both know me and you know whence I am, and I'm not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom you know not.
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But I know him.
For I am from him, and he hath sent me.
That's the cardinal truth of the Gospel of John, that he was here as set of the Father to represent him, to speak his words, to do his works to.
Glorify Him to do His will and to manifest Him. Verse 33.
Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
He was about to return to the father.
And he tells them he was leading.
And about to go to the Father Chapter 8 now.
In verse 16. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone.
But I am the father that sent me.
Verse 19 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Verse 26 I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
You reject everything that the Lord Jesus said or anything that He said. You're rejecting the words of the Father because those are the words that He spoke.
You cannot.
Dishonor the Son without dishonouring the Father. Can I reject the Son without rejecting the Father? You cannot have God without the Son.
Impossible.
Greatest insults you can give to God is to reject his Son whom he sent, the darling of his bosom, the Son of his love, the one whoever lay in his bosom, came down into this world, so that we might know God.
We might know who he is.
And all about him and the Son has told it out in perfection.
I speak to the world, those things which I have heard of him.
Again, verse 29.
And he that sent me is with me.
The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.
That's not true of any of us. That's not true of any of us.
That we do always, those things that please the Father. Not even close.
Speak of myself.
But he was the perfection of obedience.
Always pleasing to his father.
Never had to take a word back, never had to retrace a step.
Never had to say I'm sorry.
Never had to say I was wrong.
When they asked him, Who art thou, He said, I am altogether absolutely what I say to you.
My mother used to say do as I say, don't do as I do.
Whatever he said he did, and whatever he did, He said He was perfect in everything. And if he hadn't been, we wouldn't have a savior, because our salvation depends upon perfect obedience even unto death. And that the death of the cross, had he failed, faltered in one point.
Even one thought.
Those that say he could have sinned, do they know who he is?
Do they know who he is?
Can holiness sin?
Holiness is delight in what is good and abhorrent of evil. They are very suggestion to him.
Of going counter to the will of his father was painful to him.
Satan tried it.
If thou be the Son of God, you are hungry. Prove it by making these stones into bread.
And you said, None shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He lived by the word of God, and he didn't have a word from the Father to do that, so he wouldn't do it. He never would act independently of his Father. If thou be the Son of God, he set him on a pinnacle of the temple. Cast thyself down. For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee.
He leaves out in all thy ways to keep thee.
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And he leaves out part of Scripture. Satan quotes scripture, but he doesn't quote it right. And it not wasn't one of the Lord's ways to act independently of his Father.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
He meets every temptation with the Word of God. He was in a place of dependence.
And he acted in that place in perfection.
The greatest truth.
In the Bible.
In the word of God.
Is that God the Son?
Became a man.
Live perfect life as a man.
Died as a man to glorify God as to the sin question and to save poor sinners like you and me. Rose is a man is seated in heaven as a man.
And will be a man forever.
Forever. That's the gospel story.
That's the most wonderful love story ever.
Ever.
Chapter 8.
And verse.
26 I have many things to say and to judge of you.
But he that sent me is true.
And I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. Verse 29. And he that sent me with me, Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.
Again.
42.
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me.
For I proceeded forth, and came from God, Neither came I of myself.
But he sent me.
He sent me now Chapter 9. Very precious. We know it very well. I'm going to read from the first verse.
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And he asked his disciples, asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, neither had this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day.
The night cometh when no man can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Now notice this beautiful type of his incarnation.
When He had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle. What does that speak of? God was manifest in the flesh.
God was manifest in the flesh, the word became flesh made clay of the spittle, the word, and then he picks up that that earth that he made Adam from and he makes it into.
Clay and anoints the eyes of the blind man, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. But that's not all.
And he said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent.
He went and washed and came, seeing heart into mind. Our blind eyes, blind spiritually, are opened.
And we see.
We see as this minds man's physical eyes were opened and he saw, but he got his spiritual sight at the end of the chapter when they cast him out of the synagogue.
They said, we know that this man is a Sinner, for we know that God spake to Moses. As for this man and this fellow, we know not from whence he is. Why hearing is a marvelous thing that you know not from whence he is, and yet it's opened mine eyes since the world began. One born blind was never given sight. This man were not of God, he could do nothing.
I was altogether born in sins, and they cast him out. Dost thou teach us They cast him out.
They couldn't answer.
The logic of his words.
The truth of his words.
Jesus found him an outcast from religion.
Is telling my Barber today he was talking about religion. I said religion only sends people to hell, it's only Christ that can save them.
You trust in religion, you go to hell. That's the opiate of the people. Religion without Christ is nothing.
All it does is puff up the pride of man.
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Make him think that he's fit for heaven because he's done his religious duty.
Oh, no, never. Well, this poor man was cast out of religion. He was cast out of the synagogue, and the Lord finds him and he says, dost thou believe I'm the Son of God?
He said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on Him? He said, He that speaks to thee is He and He. And He fell his feet, and he worshipped him.
So not only did he get his physical sight, he got his spiritual sight as well.
And that's the way we got our spiritual sight to to accept the Jesus as the sent One, the one who came and became a man.
Became one of us so that we might truly know who God is, who the Father is.
Now the 10th chapter.
Verse 36.
Say ye of him the Lord is speaking whom the Father hath sanctified.
And sent into the world.
The blasphemous because I said I am the Son of God.
The Father sanctified him, set him apart for this work, this mission that he sent him on.
And then He sent him into this world to accomplish it, and he did so in perfection. Now again in the 11TH chapter, we have Lazarus. We know the account very well. I'm going to pick up the story. It's very precious. In verse 38, Jesus therefore again groaning in himself.
Cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
Jesus said take you away the stone, Martha, the sister of him that was dead.
That saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead 4 days.
Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou should see the glory of God.
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.
And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father.
I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Now notice this next verse.
And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I set it.
That they may believe what, what? What may they believe that thou hast sent me?
That they may believe.
That thou has sent me. That's the critical truth of John's gospel, that the Father sent the Son.
To be the savior.
Of the world.
Now in the 12TH chapter, the end of the chapter, we have some very precious verses. I've often been asked.
Possibly you've been asked. Will we ever see the Father question?
Well, this verse answers it. Verse 45 answers it, but I'll read verse 44. Jesus cried and said he that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me, and he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. Will we ever see The Father will be in the presence of the Son, who is the image of the invisible God, who is the.
Representation of the Father. Whoever spoke the words of the father, Whoever did the works of the father. Yes, in the person of the son we will see the father.
He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me.
Now the last two verses of chapter 12 are very profound and precious.
Deep and wonderful.
For I have not spoken verse 49. For I have not spoken of myself.
From myself as a source, as the force of that.
But the father which sent me.
He gave me a commandment.
And I that I what I should say and what I should speak. Everything he said, everything he spoke, was in fulfillment of the commandment the Father had given him. He sums up everything he did and everything he said as a commandment from the Father. He was in perfect obedience. He was not here to command, He was here to obey.
And he did it in perfection.
I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know verse 50 now.
00:35:05
That his commandment, his life everlasting, life eternal.
Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. I know that His commandment, Father's commandment.
Was the.
Was the living expression of who He is and what eternal life really is.
His commandment is life eternal.
We will notice as we go a little bit farther in John's Gospel, the fullness of eternal life is to know the Father, to know his Son.
And as he carried out the Father's commandment, he gave expression to what eternal life really is. It's his person and all that he carried out in obedience to the Father. That's what eternal life.
Is in expression down here in a man, whatsoever I speak therefore.
Even as the Father said unto me.
So I speak.
Chapter 13. Verse 16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord.
Neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
And I was in Red Bluff, we had a cottage meeting.
And it was somewhat informal.
And a couple had invited four people, two older couples and two middle-aged.
To come they they were of the buy high religion.
I know something about it because I was raised in Wilmette, IL and there is a Bahai temple, a central temple for that religion in the United States of America, is in Wilmette, IL. It's right in the harbor, the Wilmette harbor.
And I've seen it before many times.
When I was a young boy, way before I was saved, I went through it to be the thing to me. It's got nine sides to it. It's supposed to be at a conglomeration of all the nine major religions in the world, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism.
Muslim religion and so on. Don't know all nine. Well, that's of course an impossibility to get the mall harmonized. And it puts the Lord on the same level as these other prophets, which is totally false. The whole thing is false.
And the.
I spoke on John 1.
Colossians 1 and Hebrews one and the person of Christ. I felt that's what they really needed.
And certainly was. And then we threw the meeting open to questions. I said that all but your question must be on the person of Christ. Stay on that subject. Don't get off into something like prophecy or the church or something else. I'm the person of Christ.
And this the younger man who had married a Bai Hai woman, she was born in it and he had come out of the Church of Christ.
And he was now, I guess, by high.
And he asked this question. It's based on John 14. Turn over to that verse 28.
You have heard how I sent, how I said unto you, I go away, and came again. 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.
Now he wasn't being contentious. There was a serious question, he said. How can he be God and the Father be greater than He?
And I said to him, I said, you have touched the mystery of his person.
In his Godhead he is equal with Father. In his manhood He is subject to the Father. He is obedient to the Father. He ascent of the Father to do the will of the Father, not to act as God, but perfect man.
And in that sense, he could say my father is greater than I.
That's the mystery of his person, which none of us will ever fully understand.
In Matthew 11, he said.
No man knoweth the Son.
But the father?
No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. The Son reveals the Father to us, but the Son, the Father, is God.
Nothing diff, nothing less than God, nothing more than God. God can't be more than God. The Holy Spirit is God.
But the Son is God and man in one person.
00:40:03
That's beyond our comprehension. It's our puny minds cannot fathom that the incarnation God becoming a man.
Coming to where we were so that we might really know God.
You had to come in our likeness.
He had to become a man, had to become a servant. He had to show what perfect obedience was dependence.
And he did it.
And he'll be a man forever.
Awfully, awfully.
Astounding truth and never cease to be a man.
That's how we know God, and without that we could never know Him.
And he accepted that.
Accepted it. I don't think he'd ever heard that before.
That in the sense that he became a servant, he could say my father is greater than I.
In the sense of his essential deity, he could say I am my father are one. Both are true.
Remember speaking to an old sister once.
And I said we were talking about things we can't understand, but I'll tell you when you can't understand. And that is God and man and one person.
She said, well, that's simple. I understand that he's God and he's man in one person.
Well, to her simple mind, yes, that's it was simple. But the depths of that truth, it's beyond our ability to comprehend.
That he could know everything.
And at the same time the learner.
That he could be the one who never slumbers nor sleeps, and yet he slept in the boat and they had to awaken him.
That he could be the one who has never gets hungry because he's God and the Spirit and yet he hungered.
How do we understand those two things? How can we put them together?
We don't have to with our puny intellect, but simply to receive them by faith.
The mystery of who he is, this tremendous, wonderful person.
His son.
Verse 20.
Of John 13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me.
Receiveth him that sent me. To receive the son is to receive the Father. To reject the son is to reject the father.
John 14 and verse 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which he hears not mine, but the fathers which sent me.
We hear what he said. We are hearing the father.
John 15.
And he's talking to to his enemies here.
About them at least. And he says in verse 21, But all these things will they do unto you for my namesake, because they know not.
Him that sent me.
Chapter 16 verse 5. But now I go my way to him that sent me.
And none of you asketh me with her goest thou. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
There's another person in the Godhead that is spoken of in John's Gospel as being sent, and that's the Holy Spirit. It's another subject most precious he was sent to.
But we're on the person of the Sun.
John 17, six times in just in this prayer, he's the sent one. Let's look at them verse 3. And this is life eternal.
That they might know thee, the only true God.
And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
I was asked at a young people's meeting, did the Old Testament Saints have eternal life? And I answered yes and no.
What do you mean?
Well, when they were born again, and they were born again by the word of God.
They received the same life that we received when we're born again.
But they had it in the baby state.
They didn't know the father.
They didn't know the sun. He hadn't come yet. Only by prophetic predictions of his coming, such as kiss the sun must he be angry. And he perished from the way. When his wrath is kindled. But a little blessed are all day they put their trust in him. Thou art my Son, this day of I begotten thee, and so on.
00:45:21
But they didn't know him like we do.
When you have a baby, that baby has the same nature that you have.
But it doesn't have the same knowledge. No, they're just babies.
And that's the Old Testament state of things. But we know the father Son has revealed him to us. We know the son, he's come down here, become a man.
And so we have eternal life in the fullest sense of the word. This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast set.
That's eternal life in the full development of it. That's when the Lord said in John 10, I'm come that they might have life, that you might have it abundantly. That's the abundant life. And we'll touch on that a little bit more.
In in a moment, in another verse that we'll look at.
Verse 8.
For I have given unto them, addressing the Father in this prayer, we know that I've given unto them the words which thou gavest me.
And they have received them.
And have known surely, that I came out from thee.
And they have believed.
That thou didst send me. What a wonderful.
Truth.
Without believing it, you're not saved.
He talks about those accompanied with him when he was here on earth, he said. He said they've believed Father that you sent me.
Wonderful truth.
The world doesn't believe it.
No, they don't.
Young, godly, don't believe it.
We do.
We are part of his family.
And we believe.
As he says here, they have believed that thou did send me. Now these were those that accompanied with Him here on earth. But in his prayer he expands it, and he brings us in. In verse 20, he says.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word.
That brings us in. We'll come to that in a moment.
But there's another verse in verse 17. He says, I'll read verse 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. He's speaking about those who were his own, those that believed that the Father sent him. And then he says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Set apart and be sanctified, but in the power of that truth of knowing God is our Father.
As Thou has sent me into the world, Even so have I also.
Sent them into the world. He just has said they're not of the world. He's taken us out of it and now he sends us back into it. For what purpose?
For what purpose are we sent back into the world to represent him?
Even as he represented the father.
We're not here to make a big name for ourselves. We're not here to become popular. We're not here to be the best athlete or the best musician or the greatest artist or the greatest scientist. We might be. The Lord has given many talents to the Saints of God, but that's not why we're here.
We're here to represent him.
Just as he was here to represent the father.
As thou has sent me into the world, Even so have I also sent them into the world.
And then he sets himself apart on high as the heavenly object for us people. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself. That is, he sets himself apart to be the one we have as our object.
That they also might be sanctified through the truth.
And then that verse I've already read. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be 1.
As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in US.
To what end? For what purpose? That the world may believe what that thou hast sent me?
00:50:04
Did they ever believe it was this unity? Was this oneness ever manifested in the early Church? Yes, it was.
Turn to Acts Chapter 4.
Acts Chapter 4.
We'll pick it up in verse 29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings.
And grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.
By stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy Child, or thy holy servant Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Here you have a company, not just individuals, a company of people filled with the Holy Ghost.
The first effect of that was they was they spake the word of God with boldness.
They spake the word of God with boldness. The fear of man bringeth A snare, but when one is filled with the Holy Spirit, he speaks the word with boldness.
More and the multitude of them that believed were of 1 heart and of one soul.
Mr. Darby's translation reads. And the heart and soul of the multitude that believed was one.
What did he pray? That they all may be one, as thou, Father art in me, and I and thee, that they also may be one in US, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And that was realized in the early Church.
Didn't last long. Very next chapter failure came in.
And we're living at the end of the day of grace, and we know how.
Miserably, the church has failed, but it was realized.
Let me read on here, the multitude of them that believed were of 1 heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And great grace was upon them all.
Well, those days were wonderful.
Power of the Spirit of God ungrieved.
By man's failure wrought so wonderfully and produced a unity and a oneness that the Lord prayed about in John 17, going back to John 17, verse 21. And they all, that they all may be one as thou, Father art in the art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe.
That thou hast sent me.
Well.
The divisions amongst God's people certainly don't lead to that.
But they will believe it.
Let's read on 22 and 23 and the glory which thou gave us, me I have given them.
That they may be 1 even as we are one.
I and them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.
And that the world may know. Not believe now, but that the world may know.
That thou hast sent me.
And more and has loved them.
As thou has loved me.
That day is coming.
Are walking together in unity would produce that the world would know it. It's a testimony, but here it's glory.
And the world will know it in that coming day.
And then in verse 25, the last mention of it in this prayer.
O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Beloved, we are that company that know that the Father sent the Son.
To be the Savior of the world, to be my savior, to be your savior. What knowledge so precious? I can't help but think of the psalmist that said such knowledge is too wonderful for me. I cannot attain unto it.
Can't fathom it.
But it's for us to enjoy by faith.
The last verse that we'll look at is in John 20.
And then we close.
00:55:03
John 20. The resurrection day at the evening of that day, verse 19.
Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut.
Where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus.
And stood in the midst, and saith unto them, This is the risen Christ.
Peace be unto you.
And when he had so said, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord?
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you.
As my father hath sent me.
Even so, send I you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
There was only two times in Scripture when we read of God breathing on man and this is the second time and the first time is in Genesis 2 when it was Jehovah God who breathes into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul and he was created in the image and likeness of God.
He was here as God's representative, and God breathed his own life into him, became a living and never dying soul. That's what that means. That's why it's so solemn for.
Anyone to reject the Lord Jesus. He has a never dying soul. The animals don't. When they die, their soul dies.
But man has a soul that will never die, and the spirit.
That gives him God consciousness, which the beasts, the animals do not have.
And.
The second time we read of this person Jehovah, but not.
As God, but as man.
The risen man breathing into their nostrils the breath of his resurrection life. Let's read it.
Verse 22 and when he had said this.
As my father has set me, Even so send I you. When he had said this, he breathed on them.
And saith unto them, Receive ye.
Holy Ghost, I left the word, the article out. The Holy Ghost as a person was not received until the 2nd chapter of Acts, but here it was the Spirit as the power of His resurrection life communicated to them by the risen Christ Himself. He breathed on them.
He is a quickening spirit. 1 Corinthians 15 says man became a living soul, and the second man became a quickening spirit. And here he is the second man, a quickening spirit, a life giving spirit. And so he sends them forth.
Where we've been sent forth fully equipped, we have his resurrection life, we have the Spirit of God is the power of that life, and we have His Word.
And we have him as our high priest and our advocate.
We know God is our Father. We have eternal life. We shall never perish. None that the Father has given him will he lose.
And we're sure of heaven, we're sure of it all.
And he's sent us here to represent him.
During this short time of his absence, he's coming back soon.
Let's not waste the time.
By living for self in any way.
But only for him.
Caleb
One with Him
1 Corinthians 3
Jude
Address—C. Hendricks
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One of the smallest.
Of the Epistles.
But full of.
Very important and needed instruction in these dark days in which our lot is cast. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.
To them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called.
Mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believe not.
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh.
Are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despised dominion and speak evil of dignities.
Yet Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses.
Durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuked thee.
But these speak evil of those things which they know not.
But what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things, they corrupt themselves.
Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Cora.
These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
Raging waves of the sea forming out their own shame. Wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness.
And Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
These are murmurers, complainers walking after their own lusts.
Then their mouths speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons.
In admiration because of advantage.
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts? These be they who separate themselves sensual, having not the Spirit.
But she, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.
Praying in the Holy Ghost.
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
And if some have compassion making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless.
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
00:05:01
Amen.
It's interesting that this very short epistle.
Contains several expressions in it, found nowhere else in the New Testament.
We'll point them out as we come to them.
Let's back up to the second chapter of 1 John.
For a few verses.
1 John 2 and 18.
Little children, it is the last time.
And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.
They went out from us, but they were not of us, or if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they, they all were not of us. The way it should read.
Now John speaks of apostates that left the profession of Christianity and went out.
They went.
They left it and they attack it from without.
They've given up the profession that they once made.
Jude also speaks of apostates, but in a different sense.
Those in Jude are apostates as far as the fundamentals of the Christian faith are concerned, but they didn't go out.
They're not attacking it from without, they stay inside.
And they're doing their evil work from within.
And they're more dangerous than those that have abandoned Christianity professibly and attack it from outside.
You might say you'd expect to hear the things that they say because they've ceased to profess Christianity. But in in Jude they haven't done that. These men that have crept in unnoticed are are evil men, ungodly men. You've probably noticed as we read that epistle how often the word ungodly occurred.
This Jude, the brother of James. They were both the Lord's brothers.
He had two others, Joseph and Simon.
Judas and James.
And they didn't believe in the Lord when he was here below.
But they came to faith after his resurrection and if you read in Acts 1.
You'll read that Mary was there with his brethren. It says his brothers.
And he also had sisters. They're not named.
But he had four brothers, and two of them wrote epistles. Jude is one of them and James is the other.
And they were his brothers after the flesh. They don't write his apostles. You notice Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.
To them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. This is the darkest epistle we have in the New Testament, and we need that preserving care of the Lord to keep us from the evils that are round about us in the professing Christian.
Company, wherever they are.
Now three times in our King James we have the word beloved. Verse 3, beloved.
And again in verse 17. But beloved.
And again in verse 20. But she beloved.
In the new translation.
We have instead of to them that are sanctified by God the Father. It is beloved in God the Father. Well, whether it's three times or four times, whenever Jude speaks of the beloved.
He's Speaking of those who are real.
Now this epistle is, is like Second Timothy. It's looking at the whole profession of Christendom and it's like unto a great house where there's gold and silver and wood and hay and stubble and vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor. And that's the that's the viewpoint that you have in Jude.
You won't understand Jude if you try to get to fit it in with a with a local assembly.
I certainly hope that it doesn't fit in this local assembly.
Or any of our local assemblers. It's a picture of christened up.
And what has come in to it? We, we are, we, we lead such shielded lives gathered to the Lords name, many of us hardly know what's going on.
00:10:11
Under the umbrella of Christendom. Under this profession of Christendom.
It's it's, it's really bad.
And Jude addresses that.
To get instruction for a local assembly that's gathered to the Lord's name, you go to 1St Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians. These are epistles that deal with that.
But Jude, that looks at the whole profession of Christendom.
Christ's Kingdom, Kingdom of heaven in its mystery form, where the tares and the wheat grow together. And we've read of many tears in this epistle. Ungodly men.
And then that yet there are the beloved. And I want to make this very clear. Whenever, whenever it says beloved, it's not referring to the gathered Saints only, it's referring to all those who are.
Saved those who have faith, those who are the Lord's.
They are the beloved.
And it's a very precious He was God's beloved Son.
But he has those who he also addresses as beloved.
You get that in other portions, like in Hebrews 3 when he speaks of the apostasy, and that in the wilderness many didn't make it to the promised land because of underneath. But then he says, but we love it. We are persuaded better things of you, though we thus speak.
When he says beloved, he's talking about those who are real and genuine.
So I say that to caution us. Don't apply any of these things that are stated about apostates to real Christians.
They don't apply.
Real Christians. Real Christians from the viewpoint of Jude our beloved.
They're his. They're going to spend eternity with us, and we're all going to be there in that glory scene above. We should be together now, but that's another subject.
But here we're looking at the whole profession of Christianity.
And he?
He speaks to them that are sanctified by God the Father, set apart or beloved in God the Father, if you will, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called beautiful to be to be one of the called ones.
Those that he has called out of darkness into his marvelous light. Paul often speaks of us as the called ones.
Called us to His eternal glory.
Yes, we're called to wonderful things ahead.
And preserved in Jesus Christ. We need to be preserved, especially in this dark day.
Paul usually begins his epistle with grace be unto you, but Jude says mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied mercy. He looks at the Lorde coming. You'll notice in verse verse 21. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
And I think it's the only epistle that speaks of his coming as a mercy.
When he, when he takes us out of this scene, it will be a merciful deliverance from it, because things have gotten so, so dark and so bad, things happening under the profession of Christ that you would, you would think, would only happen right out in the secular world.
But no, these things are happening right in the profession and even from the pulpits of the land and so on. You'll see that as we go into this.
Mercy unto you. We need mercy. We need to be kept and delivered from the evil that is round about us, and we need to be made conscious of the fact that we're going through a very wicked scene.
At peace and love be multiplied. Need to have that multiplied to us.
We sometimes say we can't keep ourselves well. There are things that we're told to keep ourselves from. Keep yourselves from in the love of God, it says in this epistle.
Beloved verse 3, when I gave all diligence.
To write unto you of the common salvation. He wanted to write of those things which are ours in Christ, the blessings which we've been brought into and.
00:15:05
All our portion he wanted to write.
Of how that we are justified by faith.
That we have peace with God.
That we're children of God, That we have eternal life and the forgiveness of all our sins.
That were justified, reconciled, redeemed, and all these precious terms that that describe our portion.
But he says, It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith.
Which was once delivered unto the Saints.
Now, that doesn't mean our personal faith. That means the whole body of revealed truth that we get a hold of by faith is that which we believe.
The faith that was once for all delivered unto the Saints. We don't look for fresh revelations in this 21St century. The whole Word of God, the Canon of Scripture, is closed.
The faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints, that was completed by the end of the 1St century.
And God is not giving fresh and new revelations today.
And those that claim to be doing so are false. And we can test so many things that are out there by principles like this in the Word of God, the faith once for all delivered to the Saints. We don't look for fresh revelations today. He's given us everything that we need. Paul said in Colossians one that he was given the truth of the mystery to complete, to fulfill or complete the word of God.
It's like a pie that has one piece cut out of it, and all the rest of the pie that's there represents all the revelation that God has been pleased to give in the Old and New Testament. But then Paul was given the truth of the mystery, and there's that one piece, and he sets that in the pie, and that fills up. That fills up the revelation of God. We don't expect anything further.
The truth of the mystery to complete to fulfill the Word of God.
So he says, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints. That's the whole body of revealed truth, and it's all been delivered.
And those that say that they have apostles, nowadays, we know they're false.
Because the apostles were given to lay the foundation churches built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
And that's been done.
And now the gifts that are beyond the apostles and prophets. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints. But we don't have apostles today. We have it in the Word.
What they've given us, that's our standard.
That's the truth by which we measure everything, and all the things that are going on in the Christian world around us have to be tested by the Word of God.
You may never have noticed this, but I'll make this observation whenever any company of Christians have the word of Yes, we believe the Bible, we have the word of God, but we also have this.
We have the Book of Mormon or the covenants or whatever it is, the Watchtower, we all, they've got something besides the word of God.
The Pentecostals would say we have prophets that speak today and utter the the mind of God.
As though as though what we have here is not complete. We need something further fresh and new for this present generation.
If it's new, it's not true.
Because God has given it to us as a complete revelation.
We can test things that are out there.
By these principles.
Earnestly contend.
Stand for.
Fight for it.
Uphold it, maintain it.
The faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.
Ungodly.
Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God on our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Is that it has a new translation, the only sovereign ruler?
Two things these these evil men, these ungodly men that have crept in unnoticed are doing is they're they're denying authority, denying that there is an absolute authority to which they must be subject and that's that of the Lord Jesus. And then that gives free reign for the flesh.
Flesh can do as it pleases, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, dissoluteness.
Doing what we want. No one's going to tell me what to do I don't. I don't bow to any authority over me, and I'm going to give free rein to my flesh. That's the philosophy that permeates Christian circles today.
Mess with you and speaking about.
How did these men get in There are certain men crept in unnoticed? Turn back to Acts chapter 8 please.
Acts Chapter 8.
In verse 5.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people with 1 accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were healed.
There was great joy in that city.
But there was a certain man called Simon.
Which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one.
To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God.
And the name of Jesus Christ. They were baptized, both men and women.
Then Simon himself believed.
Also, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Notice what attracted Simon so much were the miracles and signs which were done.
Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John.
Who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then lay their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
And when Simon saw that through laying out of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.
Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. Now he had been a sorcerer. Now he sees the power far stronger and mightier than what he had, and he wanted that for earthly gain. There's many men that are in Christian pulpits today that are there just for that reason.
Just for that reason.
Give me also this power, that at whomsoever I may lay hands, He may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto him.
He had the gift of discernment, Peter did. He said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness. Now let me pause here. This man had never repented. It says Simon believed, and he was baptized, but he never had repented. He never had taken God's side against himself and judged himself. Paul preached repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead.
And a gospel that doesn't bring in repentance is only half a gospel.
And Simon had never repented.
He had never seen himself as a guilty, rotten, hell bound Sinner.
No, he saw the miracles and signs which were done, and that impressed him, and he believed after a fashion.
But it wasn't saving faith at all.
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And that's how some of these men crept in unnoticed. If Peter had not been here to expose the hypocrisy of this man and the unreality of this man, he would have remained amongst the Christians an ungodly man.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which thou had ye have spoken come upon me.
Well, I cite that as an example going back now to Jude, how these wicked men, these ungodly men got here and unnoticed, they made a profession. They even submitted to baptism and they became Christians by profession.
There's millions of them in the Christian profession today that are not real. Some of them wear clerical garbage.
Some of them have Reverend behind their names and so on and other titles.
That make them looked up to and respected as men of the cloth.
That they've never been born again.
They've never cast from death to life. They've never had their sins forgiven.
They've never really been saved at all.
There are certain men crept in unawares.
Says.
Who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men?
Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ, Using God's grace for profit and gain.
And to go ahead with their carnal evil designs.
To pollute defiled the sanctuary of God, the Saints of God inside.
Now verses 5-6 and seven are three verses that set before us. Apostasy. Jude speaks of apostasy. If you read second Peter 2, you'll see the 2nd chapter is very much like Jude.
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how let the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt.
Afterward destroyed them that believed not here's a saved people that didn't make it.
We often say once saved, always saved. You can't be lost if you're saved. That's true the way we mean it. But there's such a thing as being in the position of salvation. Simon Magus was like that. He said, says he believed and he was baptized. He was saved. That is, outwardly, but not really.
Never been born again, never had eternal life at all.
And these men that were saved out of Egypt, they came out from under the power of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in Egypt, and he went through the Red Sea Speaking of the death and resurrection of Christ, and they were a saved people positionally.
But not really.
Not really.
And that's what Jude is Speaking of. He's Speaking of apostates who are inside.
It wasn't too long ago.
Two or three years back I was in Canada in the eastern part and the United Church was electing a new president. I don't know what his title is, but and.
He was an apostate.
He doesn't know.
The truth of Christianity at all.
He was I am the Way, the Truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
His response to that is that in the Bible?
I'll have to look that up.
I didn't know that.
President, top man in the United Church of Canada, an apostate body. Been that way for years. But think of those that put him into that position.
That's what Jude's talking about. He's talking about these ungodly men who have got in unnoticed. They've got in under a profession which satisfies so many, but there's no reality to it whatsoever.
And so here was the saved people. All of Israel that left Egypt went through the Red Sea. They were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. You get that in 1St Corinthians 10. They were a safe people. They ate the same spiritual meat and drank the same spiritual drink, but they were not pleasing to God, many of them.
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Because they didn't have faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You may have been brave raised as a Christian. You may have Christian parents. You may be sitting right here and not be saved. Don't know your hearts.
The Lord does.
You may not even know your own heart.
Talking to a brother just recently and.
A workmate came to him with tears and said I lied to you when I took this job.
I said I was a born again Christian.
And she said, I don't know what I like. I don't know where I am now.
I'm living in sin.
And I don't think I'm saved.
Well.
At least as a measure of honesty, in that these that Jude is talking about are those that are there and they don't apologize for anything.
They're self willed, self appointed.
Men of tremendous pride.
And they're the ones that you'd speak so.
So it's possible to be in a safe position.
Partaker of the Holy Spirit. As the writer Paul of Hebrews says, the partaker of the Holy Spirit, everyone that's in this room is a partaker of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is here. He leads and guides. He indwells all true believers. And you outwardly are a partaker of that blessing outwardly. But you may not be real. You may not be born of the Spirit. Now that's reality or sealed of the Spirit, that's reality.
But you can be an outward partaker of it and all the benefits of Christianity.
Meetings such as this, what a privilege to be here.
And to be around the Lord in his death, remember him, and so on. All the privileges of Christianity.
And yet you can still be lost.
Bust.
Another example of apostasy is the angels and the angels which kept not their first estate. Verse 6.
But left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains.
Under darkness, under the judgment of the great day, these angels are not free to tempt man. They're chained. They're kept reserved for judgment.
Now in Peter he says the angels that sinned, but here Jude says the angels which kept not their first estate, but abandoned, left their own habitation.
I believe that Genesis chapter 6 that says when the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, they went into them.
And they had children by them.
The angels left their first estate. They left that which they had been put into by creation.
And entered into another order of creation.
And a sin if they apostasy, sometimes they were apostates. And this is what Jude is talking about.
A saved people outwardly that never made it. They were they were apostates.
Hear angels that became apostates. They left their first estate.
Kept not their first estate, left their own habitation. They're reserved for judgment.
And then in verse 7 we have moral apostasy. We see it everywhere, even in pulpits.
Homosexuals.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the cities about them in like manner.
Giving themselves over to fornication.
Going after strange flesh men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves a recompense of their error, which was me, Romans. What? But this is Jude. This is the end. This is like Second Timothy, the end of the this is describing Christendom. It's not describing the Pagan world like Romans one did, but it's describing Christen go.
Christianity, the profession of it, not the real. The real ones in this epistle are those whom he delineates as my as my beloved, my beloved. They're real. They're genuine. Don't ever apply anything that's said about an apostate to a real Christian.
Just because they're not with us.
That would be the the epitome of sectarianism.
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And an abomination to God, we would do that.
That's like saying that all the tables of men that are round about us that are not the Lords table are the tables of demons. That's an abomination.
They're not the tables of deals.
Tables of men.
We're not demons tables. That's.
Paganism.
That's idolatry and so on.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner.
Giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Now if you read these two verses.
6:00 and 7:00.
Together.
And use Mr. Darby's translation.
What it says is.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the cities about them.
He puts that all together.
In my manner with them.
Who's the them?
The antecedent of them is the angels that sinned.
So Jude clearly tells us that the angels left their own habitation in the angelic world and came into our world and.
Had children, they were called the mighty men and that's all. Been destroyed by the flood.
That's interesting because when man, when, when, when this kind of thing happens, which is a.
Totally abnormal.
Homosexuality is apostasy from what is normal. Even as a man and a woman, you go down the street and you see this sign, Unisex. That's an abomination to God. There's not one sex. There are two sexes. There's the male and the female.
And be thankful for what you are.
I never tried to change that or to be or even dress like the other.
God called Sat an abomination.
Woman on a dress as a woman and a man as a man.
But this is all.
Departure from this this is the kind of thing we see around us, and even Christians are defending this abomination.
Verse 8 Now likewise also these dreamers, filthy dreamers that's been added, These dreamers defile the flesh.
Despise Dominion.
Speak evil of dignities. They they don't. They're not subject to anyone.
They're not going to be told what to do and they have free reign for the flesh. These are the two things that characterize these that are.
In the Christian world.
That are not real.
These are leaders.
Leaders.
Yet Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuked thee.
But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts. In these those things they corrupt themselves.
Woe to them.
For they have gone in the way of Cain.
And ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward.
And perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
The way of Cain.
Is.
The way of works.
Turn back to Genesis 4 quickly.
Genesis chapter 4.
And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
And she again bear his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord. Now both of these men become worshippers. They bring an offering, they approach God on. Cain approaches God on his terms. He brings the best he could. He brings the fruit of the ground what he had labored for. It speaks of his works. He brings his works to God, assuming that God will accept him on that basis.
And Abel, he acknowledges that he was a Sinner. He also brought up the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Now the difference between Cain and Abel is not that Cain was a bad man, and Abel was a good man and one that you like and had a nice character and was amiable, and you'd like to be in his company. And Cain was, was a mean and hateful man. No, that's not the difference. The difference is the is the.
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Offering that they brought in their approach to God.
Cain brought an offering that spoke of his own.
Accomplished righteousness. His own works.
And God says no.
You can't come into my presence.
On that basis, you're a Sinner and you haven't acknowledged it, Abel. He acknowledged that he was a Sinner. They had both heard about the fall from Adam and Eve, no doubt how they were expelled from the Garden of Delights. They both knew it.
But it didn't have the same effect of Cain as it did on Abel.
Unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. But Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wrath, And why is that countenance fallen, if thou doest well? In other words, if you bring the right offering, Cain?
Shalt thou not be accepted? Yes, he would.
Abel brought the right offering. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
That is their sin. That is barring you from me. God says you can't pass that door. You can't pass it because your sin is still upon you. The offering that you've brought does not put your sin away at all.
It ignores the fact that you're a Sinner and you're presenting to me your good works. But I'm sure that when Cain brought, he labored much for that. It was probably the best he could find in his garden. And he put them in a basket and he brought it to the Lord. Surely he'll accept this. He'll be pleased with this. No, he won't.
Sin is at the door. He never had brought anything that would remove the sin that kept him from entering the presence of God.
It says in verse 8 Cain talked with Abel his brother. It came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Now turn to 1 John 3.
First John 3.
Now we know that Cain's slaying Abel, that was evil. We know that he murdered him.
But that's not the original sin that he was guilty of, which kept him from God.
First John, chapter 3.
It was his offering.
It was what he brought.
Verse Verse 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked 1 and slew his brother.
And wherefore why did he slay him?
Because his own works were evil.
And his brothers righteous, the works were that were evil was not his murdering Cain, that was evil. We're murdering Abel, that was evil, yes, but it was the offering that he brought.
The offering that he brought.
Did not acknowledge that he was a Sinner.
Turn back to Hebrews 11 for one more verse and then we'll pass on.
Hebrews 11.
Verse 4 by faith.
Abel offered unto God.
A more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
By which he obtained witness that he was righteous God testifying of his gifts.
And by it he being dead yet speaking.
The difference between these two men?
Was that Cain brought his own righteousness.
Works.
God said.
You can't come into my presence on that basis. Sin is still at the door, and you're barred from my presence until it's put away.
What Abel offered spoke of the sacrifice of Christ, which would put this in a way and open up access into the presence of God. Well unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain.
Natural religion. This man I was just Speaking of a few moments ago was one who had gone in the way of Cain.
And ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward turned back to numbers 22.
We have 3 chapters, numbers 22, three and four about Balaam.
But I'm only going to read a verse or two.
Numbers 22.
Ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward. There's many men that are occupied pulpits in the land and that's why they're doing it. They're doing it because they're making a lot of money out of it. Religion is a very profitable thing.
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At Christ, but religion.
And they know it, and they're using it for their own gain in numbers 22.
Verse 9 And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee? Balaam was a false prophet.
He was hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel.
And God says to Balaam, What men are these with thee?
And Balaam said unto God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, had sent unto me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt which covers the face of the earth. Come now, curse me them.
Peradventure I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out.
And God said unto Balaam.
Thou shalt not go with them.
Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.
I say this for the benefit of young people that are here if you ever get into a conversation with someone that is in the occult world.
And they threatened you with a curse if you don't go along with them or agree with them or whatever it might be.
You can answer, you can't curse me.
I am blessed.
God has blessed me.
You can't curse me.
I remember the time when my wife and I went to visit a young lady.
And her brother was there. He was the Church of Christ, man.
And just about everything I said to this young girl that tried to help her, she was interested in the truth, he contradicted.
I discerned where he was and I said to him.
Because they push baptism. They say that you have to be baptized in order to be saved. That's essential. I said, was Paul sent to baptize? Tell me he said yes, he was. That's essential to salvation. And then I read in First Corinthians one where he says God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
And I said to the sister.
Who's true? Who's telling the truth? The Apostle Paul, he said he wasn't sent to baptize.
Your brother says he was. Who has the truth?
And he got so furious and angry with me, he said, get out, I'll put a curse on you.
Well, I got out with my wife and if I had known what I know today I would have said you can't curse me.
Now you can't.
Because God has blessed me, and who he whom God blesses is blessed.
Just remember, remember that no witch or anyone that's in the occult world can ever put a curse on you. Don't ever be terrified by that kind of a threat. And those threats are out there and you might have it said to you. Just remember that Satan cannot curse those whom God has blessed.
Woe to them, for they have gone in the way of Cain.
And ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward hired prophets.
Even willing to curse the people of God just to get the reward that Balak was going to give to him.
He tried every vantage point he could, but he had to pronounce blessing upon his reel.
And these have perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Turn back to #16 quickly.
Taking too much time on these points but they're so important #16.
Now Cora.
The son of Izhar.
The son of Kohath.
The son of Levi Cora was a Levite. Note that and Dathan in Abiram the sons of Eliab, and on the son of Pele, sons of Reuben, took men.
So these came from the tribe of Levi and the tribe of Reuben, and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel. 250 Princess of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. They had a great following. These were not just the the run-of-the-mill Israelites. These were the the top crust of the the religious Society of the day. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. What did I speak of to us today? Moses was the.
He was the sent one that we had yesterday, the sent one of God, and Aaron was the high priest representing us before God.
So as the as Moses and Aaron, they were both being opposed by this group.
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What answers to that? Well, we'll see in a minute.
They gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them.
You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore thou lift you up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face, and spake, and he spake unto core, and so on.
I don't want to go into the details of it, it would take too long.
There are there's a movement, it's called the New Age movement in Chrisno. They don't need Christ. They don't need Christ as the the apostle, the sent one or the one that represents us before God. All the people are holy.
They can approach God on their own terms.
That's what Cain did. Approached God in his own term, in their own terms.
The way of Cain, the error of Cain, The way of Cain is Catholicism. Where it works, works.
The error of Balaam for reward Protestantism. Not the real ones, not those that are real, but those that are hired for that position, for gain.
They'll do anything in order for their own profit and gain. Many men like that and then the gainsaying of Korah.
The New Age movement.
This is around us, it's everywhere.
Verse 12.
These are spots in your lofty piece of charity.
When they feast with you, here they are.
I think Lord's there, we're going to have a fellowship time, we'll sit together, we'll eat together. And these men were were amongst the Christians, the believers.
It kept it crept in unnoticed, unawares, feasting with them, feeding themselves without fear.
Clouds without water carried about of winds trees whose fruit withereth.
Without fruit twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
Raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame. Wandering stars, nothing fixed about them.
To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Now I say it again, Don't ever apply these verses to a true believer. Never do that. These apply to apostates.
Those that wear the Christian garb and make the Christian profession, but there's no reality about them at all. Evil men.
Now we have a prophecy that Enoch made that's not recorded in the Old Testament. We have it here in Jude.
And Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints. This is not the rapture, this is his appearing. He's coming with the Saints back to earth to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
These are murmurers, complainers walking after their own lusts.
And their mouths speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons and admiration because of advantage. Oh yes, they know how to flatter, They know how to manipulate people.
These evil men.
Faith healers. Frauds.
Fakes, that's what they are.
For money.
But beloved verse 17, now he talks to the beloved.
To those who are his belong to the Lord.
But beloved, remember ye the words.
Which were spoken before.
Of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time?
Who should walk after their own ungodly lusts?
I don't know if you've ever read it.
There's a book out. It's in the Collected Writings, Mr. Darby.
His book is called The Irrationalism of Infidelity.
And he's commenting upon.
Francis Newman's Phases of.
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Phases of Unbelief. It should be titled.
There were three men that went to.
To school together.
Mr. Darby was 1.
Francis Newman, who became an agnostic.
He wrote the spaces of Faith, denying the Bible.
And then his brother, Cardinal Newman.
His brother.
They went three different ways, these three men. One went into ritualism, one went into rationalism, and one went to the truth.
For the difference.
Between these three men, but they were all together.
If you want to read something that will send chills up and down your spine, read the preface to.
The irrationalism of infidelity. It's a private letter made public, written by Mr. Darby to Mr. Newman.
Within a school name.
And he'd become an apostate.
Hard to read that without tears as he appeals to.
To something that he saw in the past year, your expressions of joy in the Lord and and how you spoke endearingly of Him. And now you are tearing down everything that you once profess.
Was there nothing real in what you said? Was there no reality at all?
Read it if you get a chance. Most stirring.
These be they verse 19, who separate themselves sensual.
Having not the Spirit.
Apostates within.
Doing their deadly work.
But she beloved.
Building up yourselves on your most holy faith.
Praying in the Holy Ghost.
You may have you may have heard of higher criticism, some of you young people.
Higher criticism, they called it.
They were men that with their intellect attacked the word of God.
Said that the first first five books of Moses were not written by Moses, but by different men.
The Jehovah stick and the E holistic documents.
All this nonsense.
That they came out with.
They were attacking it from within. They were Christians.
And with their intellect.
We're attacking the Word of God.
You see, Satan knows that if he can, if he can get you to question any part of the Word of God.
Just question it and not start to reason upon it and then finally to deny it.
He will have achieved all he wants.
It's like a child that's building this big pyramid and he just pulls one block out the bottom.
That's Genesis.
1St 11 Chapters. The most attacked portion of the whole Word of God.
Creation.
Story of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 is that of God, absolutely.
Absolutely we can trust him.
They speak not according to this word. It is because there's no light in them.
Build trust and evolution is never saying we got here by chance, no.
Well, that's another subject, but Jude is talking about this kind of thing.
Verse 20 but she beloved.
Building up yourselves on your most holy faith.
Remember that your faith is your is a holy faith, holy faith, and it's your most holy faith when you believe it. Build yourselves up the reading meaning ministry meeting such as we have tonight. Build yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost. Can you pray still in the Holy Spirit in the midst of all the evil that's come in yesterday?