Old Testament Reading: Zechariah 2

“And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he said to me, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.’ And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, ‘Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’’ Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: ‘Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.’ Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” (Zechariah 2, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 14:15-31

“‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.’” (John 14:15–31, ESV)

Introduction

As I think back upon the last five sermons preached at Emmaus two things come to mind.

Concerning the four advent sermons devoted to the topic of the incarnation the thought occurs to me that we need to talk about the Holy Spirit. Two sermons were devoted to the doctrine of God in general, and two to the doctrine of Christ, but what about the Holy Spirit? He is certainly of no less importance than the Father and Son. He is fully God, just as the Father and Son are. And the work that he does in creation and redemption is certainly of vital importance. We need to, at some point, give proper attention to God the Spirit so that we might fully understand his person and work. That is one thing that comes to mind as I reflect back upon those four sermons leading up to Christmas.

And concerning the sermon that Phil preached last week on the topic of sanctification I simply think, we need more of that! In particular we need to give more attention to our progressive sanctification. To be sanctified is to be holy. God is holy, and his people must be holy if they are to worship and serve him. The problem, of course, is that we are not holy in and of ourselves. But God has made us holy. He has justified us, having declared us not guilty on the basis of Christ’s finished work (that is the legal side of it). But he has also sanctified us in a definitive way. Those who are in Christ have been made holy, being clothed in Christ’s righteousness, being set apart for the worship and service of God – this is definitive sanctification. It is a one time event which happens at the beginning of the Christian life. But there is also a sanctification that this progressive. This is the process whereby Christians – who have been set apart, who have been cleansed by the blood of the lamb, who have been declared not guilty by God Almighty on the basis of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ – are progressively made more and more holy, really and personally, by Christ’s word and Spirit dwelling in them. More of this is needed, I think. Our personal holiness matters. Progressive sanctification matters.

And so these two things are on my mind as I reflect back upon the last five sermons preached in 2015, but I also know that we need to continue our study of the Gospel of John. And so I sat down to study, returning to where we left off, and what do I read? In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It is the need for real and personal holiness that is being emphasized here. And in verse 16 we hear Jesus say, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…” It is the Holy Spirit who assists and empowers the believer to live a life of obedience before God.

A Christian Is One Who Obeys The Commandments Of Christ

Let us consider, first of all, that a Christian is one who obeys the commandments of Christ.

Look at the repeated emphasis upon this fact throughout verses 15-31. In verse 15 Jesus says to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In verse 21 Jesus says it another way: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Drop your eyes now to verse 23 where Jesus says,“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” In verse 24 Jesus says it in a negative way: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” And in verse 31 we see that Christ himself is an example to us of this very thing when he says, “but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father…”

Remember that Jesus is here preparing his disciples for his departure. He is preparing them to live in the world after his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father. They will no longer see him in the flesh, and so Jesus is preparing them for this new phase. He has made it clear that they are to continue his work in 14:12, but here he emphasizes the need for obedience to the commands of God. The Christian is one who keeps the commands of Christ. The Christian is one who obeys the word of God.

The question might be asked, what exactly are the commands of Christ, or what is the word of Christ that we are here called to obey?

There are some who would suggest that we are only obligated to obey that which is commanded in the New Testament scriptures, as if the thought communicated here were that we are to obey only that which Christ and his Apostles have said – the Old Testament scriptures are done away with, then. That cannot be the idea here. For the very Word which took on flesh and dwelt among us was the very Word which spoke in ages past through Moses and the prophets. Notice also that Jesus explicitly links his words with the Fathers words in verse 24, saying, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” There is no disharmony between the word of Christ and the word of God the Father. No, the Father and the Son speak in perfect unison. With that said, there is a sense in which Christ speaks a new word to us. His commandments are new – not in the sense of altering the old, or replacing the old – but in the fact that they fulfill and advance the old. And so when Christ says that we are to obey his word and his commandments he is calling us to obey all that God has ever said, with special consideration given to the way that Christ’s first coming, and the ratification of the New Covenant, has affected and advanced that which was commanded under the Old Covenant.

The point is this: Christians are to keep God’s word. We are to obey it. Obedience matters. Holiness matters. Your sanctification matters to God. The Christian is to take great care to walk according to God’s precepts – to obey him in thought, in word, and in deed.

It Is The Christian’s Love For God, And For The Christ Whom He Has Sent, That Is To Motivate Obedience

But notice, secondly, what is to motivate the Christian’s obedience. It is the Christian’s love for God, and for the Christ whom he has sent, that is to motivate obedience to the word of Christ. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”, and “whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me”, and “if anyone loves me, he will keep my word”, and lastly, “whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”

This is very significant. Our love for Christ will motivate our obedience to Christ, and our obedience to Christ will demonstrate our true love for him. Our love for God, and for the Christ whom he sent, is the motivating factor behind our obedience to Christ’s commands.

Think with me for a moment about the Protestant Reformation. The first and most important doctrine of the Protestant Reformation was the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The question at hand was (and continues to be) how is a person saved? How can a person’s sins be forgiven? How can a person escape from the wrath of God and come to posses eternal life? The Roman church responds to that question by saying that a person is justified – saved from their sins – by faith and obedience. A Christian’s obedience, in other words, contributes to his or her salvation, according to Rome. The Reformers, on the other hand, insisted that the biblical teaching on the subject was that a person is justified by faith alone. We are saved from our sins, not because of what we do or don’t do, but because of what Christ has done for us, in both his active and passive obedience. For Rome, a person is justified before God when he believe and obeys. For the Reformed, a person is justified before God when he believes upon Christ. Period.

Indeed, it is the Reformed position that is the biblical one. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV) But what do you think the complaint of Rome was against the Reformers? Well, for one, they complained saying, if you remove the requirement of works for justification, you will loose all power to motivate the people to obey the commands of God.

This is true of Rome, and it is true of every works based religion. For them the motivating factor behind obedience to God is fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of eternal death. Remove the threat of hellfire and all motivation for holy living is lost, according to the legalist.

But this is not the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died in the place of sinners. He lived and died as our substitute. He obeyed the law of God perfectly for us, and he suffered and died in our place. We are made right with God by looking to Christ and trusting in him alone. We do not add to his finished work in the least, for he has paid it all. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, beginning, middle, and end – thanks be to God!

This being said, all agree that good works matter. Obedience matters. Holiness before God matters. The one who knows and loves God obeys God, and the one who obeys God proves that his love is true. But how important it is that we put obedience in the proper place. To put it in the wrong place will have the effect of changing the gospel into no-gospel-at-all.

Hear this brothers and sisters. Our obedience – Christian holiness – contributes, not to our justification, but is a part of our sanctification in Christ. Our obedience to God’s word does not somehow complete our salvation (as if Christ got us started and then left something undone), but it is rather the product of the full and finished salvation that we have received through faith alone in Christ Jesus our Lord. I’ve said it before, but it is worth repeating: good works (obedience, holy living) is not the root of our salvation, but the fruit of it. Obedience is not the ground or foundation of our right standing before God, but is the product of it.  We agree with Rome that holiness matters. But we disagree as to what role it plays in the Christian life, and as to what motivates it.

So what motivates the Christian who’s sins have been washed away by the blood of the lamb to live holy before his God? If it is not fear of judgment – if it is not fear of failing to attain to God’s standards, and thus falling short of salvation – then what motivates the Christian to obey?

The answer is love. If a person loves God truly, and is loved by God, then he will obey. His love for Christ will compel him to walk in holiness before God. It is love, and not fear, that motivates the true Christian to obey.

In the moment that I utter these words I know that some of you are thinking of passages which seem to say otherwise.

Paul, for example, exhorts Christians to “…work out [their] own salvation with fear and trembling…” (Philippians 2:12–13, ESV). But this is not a fear of failing to earn salvation by our good works, but rather a fear and trembling at our own weakness, being mindful of our propensity to sin and to turn from the God who saved us. Notice that Paul immediately comforts us with these words: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13, ESV)The point is this: fear and tremble concerning your own weakness. Trust in God who saves!

And it is indeed true that the Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  Paul says so in 2 Corinthians 5:10 where we read, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10, ESV) For the Christian this will be a judgment, not unto heaven or hell, but a judgment involving rewards, or lack thereof. But listen to how Paul introduces this. He says, “yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” (2 Corinthians 5:8–9, ESV) It was not fear of eternal hellfire motivating Paul. It was not a question of if he had done enough to earn a place in heaven, but a desire to please the Lord whom he loved.

Yes, brothers and sisters, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And live knowing that you will indeed stand before the judgment seat of Christ. But above all of that, may it be your love for God, and for the Christ whom he has sent, that motivates your obedience to him.

It Is The Holy Spirit Who Empowers The Christian To Live A Life Of Obedience

But you say, what about all of those times where my love for God is lacking? What about those moments in my life where I find myself loving the things of this world more than God and Christ? 

Brothers and sisters, this is indeed a valid concern. We are to obey God, it is true. And we are to obey God being motivated by our love for him. But the truth of the matter is that in our weakness we do not love God as we ought. We find that our love is often misdirected.

The Christian life is a struggle, that is the point! And it is because the Christian life is a struggle that Christ encouraged his disciples promising to send “another Helper”. If obedience, holiness, love for God, sanctification were automatic, why would we need a helper? But Christ promised to send another Helper that we might have victory in these things.

The helper, as you know, is the Holy Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit who empowers the Christian to live a life of love and obedience before God.

Notice these seven things about the Holy Spirit. We will have to move through these seven points rather quickly for the sake of time.

First of all, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. He is a he, and not an it. He is God in the same way that the Father and Son are God. And yet he proceeds form the Father and Son accomplishing a particular work in creation and in redemption. I do not have the time to demonstrate this fact from the scriptures today, but it needed to said.

Secondly, notice that the Holy Spirit is here called the Helper, which is the way that the ESV translates the Greek word transliterated Paraclete. It is difficult to find an English word that adequately communicates the thought behind the Greek word παράκλητος, which is why we find such a diversity within our English Bibles. Some translate the word “comforter”, others “counselor”, while others use “advocate”. Helper is probably best. The idea behind παράκλητος is someone who offers assistance in a situation where help is needed. And that is what the Holy Spirit does. He comes along side and dwells within the believer in order to assist the believer in a variety of ways.

Notice thirdly that the Paraclete would not be sent by Christ until after his resurrection. Take note of the use of the future tense throughout this passage. In John 14:16 Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…” Look also at verse 26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” The coming of the Holy Spirit was yet future in relation to the interaction between Jesus and his disciples described here in John 14. This truth has already been emphasized in John’s gospel. In 7:39 we read, “Now this [Jesus] said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:39, ESV)

Two errors can be made in regard to this fact. On the one hand some have imagined that the Holy Spirit was not active at all before the resurrection and glorification of Christ. This would be a mistake. The Holy Spirit has always existed, and he has always been active in creation and in redemption, fulfilling a particular role within the Godhead. But on the other hand, some fail to recognize the significance of the glorification of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Jesus the Christ was uniquely and fully anointed by the Holy Spirit. After accomplishing our redemption as the second Adam, Christ was glorified and sits now at the right hand of the Father. He, as a man, possesses a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15), that is to say, a body (not a spirit) fully anointed with and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is the kind of body that Adam would have had should he have passed the probationary test in the garden. It is the kind of body that all who are in Christ will have for all eternity, beginning with the resurrection at the end of the age. Jesus Christ, therefore, has become a life giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). He is fully empowered by the Spirit, and he has the power to give the Spirit to those who are his. It is through the ministry of the Spirit that we are in fact united to Christ – he in the Father, we in him, and he in us. The Holy Spirit was poured out in this way for the first time at Pentecost. It is not that the Holy Spirit did not exist before; and it is not that the Holy Spirit was inactive before. But it was not until Christ accomplished redemption for us as the second Adam that he was able give the Spirit to his people in this way.

We live now in the age of the Spirit. In eternity the Spirit will empower all things to the fullest extent. But the Spirit has broken in upon this age. Under the Old Covenant the activity of the Spirit was reserved, for the most part, to the people of Israel. In this age the Spirit is poured out upon all flesh. Under the Old Covenant a select few were anointed with the Holy Spirit – mainly prophets, priests, and kings. In this age, the Spirit is poured out upon all of God’s people. More on this another time.

Notice fourthly that the Holy Spirit is described as another Helper. Christ was a helper to his disciples while he walked on earth with them. The Holy Spirit would be sent as another Helper. The point to see here is that Holy Spirit continues the work of Christ. It is not as if the Father has his plan, the Son has his, and the Spirit his, each working independently from one another. No, the Father sends the Son who sends the Spirit. There is perfect unity of purpose within the Trinity. Any doctrine which undermines the unity of purpose within the Triune God is to be avoided.

Notice fifth that the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. The Spirit’s work is bent towards to the furtherance of truth. The Spirit works with and promotes the Word of God within the hearts and minds of the people of God. Many today look for movement of the Spirit. The truth of the matter is that the Spirit will be found moving most powerfully where the truth of God word is being proclaimed. If there is movement where there is no truth, rest assured that it is not the movement of the Spirit, for he is the Spirit of truth.

Sixthly, notice that the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Concerning this we must confess that he himself is holy. But he is  also the one who makes holy. He is the one who sanctifies his people and works obedience in them, Again, if the Spirit is moving with power than we ought to see this effect. The Spirit is holy and he makes holy.

Seventhly, it is through the Spirit that God and Christ are with us today. The promise of Christ is that he would not leave us orphans but would come to us. He would not be perceived by the world, but only by his disciples. When Judas (not Iscariot) asked how this would be, Jesus clarified that he and the Father would come and make their home with them. Given the context, this is a reference to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would come and bring the presence of the Father and Son.

Application

What then can we say by way of application?

The first thing is this: brothers and sisters we should strive for holiness. We should be holy in our thoughts, holy in our speech, and holy in our conduct.

Secondly, we should acknowledge our need for assistance. The Christian life is a struggle. The flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit the flesh.

Thirdly, let us live in continual dependence upon the Spirit. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16–17, ESV)

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Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 49:1–7

“Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.’ And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’  Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: ‘Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’” (Isaiah 49:1–7, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Matthew 2:19-23

“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:19–23, ESV)

Review 

In this brief sermon series entitled “The Wonder of the Incarnation” we have, first of all, considered the doctrine of God and have confessed together that there is but one true God eternally existing in three persons: Father,  Word, and Spirit.

Concerning the one true God we have also confessed that he is incomprehensible, a most pure spirit, self-existent, infinite, unchanging, and simple. He is also good, holy, and righteous. It was a great blessing to me to set my mind upon the glory of God in a pronounced way for a time. I hope that you were also blessed as we considered the greatness of the God we love.

After this we turned our attention to the doctrine of Christ, considering, first of all, his person. In response to the question, “who is Jesus?”, we acknowledged that he is divine, he is human, he is fully human, and fully divine, he is one person, and he is (meaning that he exists as the God-man even still).

The assumption of many, I think, is that the doctrine of God, and the doctrine of Christ, would be the simplest of all Christian doctrines. God, and the Christ whom he sent, are indeed at the center of our religion, and so it may be assumed that they would be easily understood by the people of God. Not so.

The doctrine of God, and the doctrine of Christ, are in fact the most difficult and technical of Christian doctrines. The reason for this is twofold. First of all, God and Christ are of such great importance to us that the church has labored to understand them well, and to speak of them with precision. The church has tenaciously defended the of God and Christ knowing that, to error in our understanding of God, or the Christ whom he sent, would undoubtably have serious consequences upon the rest of our theology, and upon the totality of the Christian life. Our belief concerning God and Christ are certainly foundational. Secondly, the doctrine of God and Christ are difficult and technical doctrines due to the subject matter. We are speaking of God here. And we are speaking of the God-man. Both are, in certain respects, beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Both are, to a certain extent, cloaked in mystery. We are human and he is divine. It is little wonder that we find ourselves reaching our limits as we seek to understand him.

God is incomprehensible. He is mysterious to us. We cannot fully comprehend him. But we may learn to speak truth concerning him. This is possible because he has revealed himself to us. The scriptures communicate truth concerning God. And the scriptures communicate truth concerning Christ. It is therefore important that we believe what is true and speak what is true concerning them both.

Introduction

The sermon last week was on the incarnation with special attention given to the person of Christ.

The question was, “who is Jesus?” Maybe more to the point, the question was, “what is Jesus?” What is his nature? You and I have one nature, but he has two: the divine and the human. The question then becomes how do those two nature relate to one another, and how do they relate to the person of Jesus Christ?

Today, the question is “why the incarnation?” Why is it necessary for Jesus to be both divine and human? It really is a strange and mysterious thing that we believe, isn’t it? Many of us have grown up believing that Jesus was and is God incarnate – we are accustom to thinking in this way. But what would you say to the person who is hearing this doctrine for the first time and is wondering why it was necessary for such thing to happen. Why Jesus? Why the God-man?

Jesus Christ is the Only Mediator Between God and Man

The simple answer is this: Jesus is the only man for the job! Jesus Christ alone has what it takes to serve as the mediator between God and man.

A mediator is one who stands between two parties for the purpose of bringing them together, or reconciling them. Perhaps you have mediated before. It could be that two of your close friends found themselves at odds with one another, and you, because you cared for them both, labored to bring them back together again. You served as a mediator – a middleman, or a go-between – with the objective of mending the broken relationship.

Brothers and sisters, this is what Christ has done for the elect. He serves as the middleman, or the go-between, in order to reconcile sinners with the Holy God. Only Jesus, the God-man, could accomplish this task.

When two humans are at odds with one another, then any human may certainly mediate. If a man needs to be reconciled with a man, then a man has what it takes to serve as mediator. A woman may mediate between women, etc. But here we are not talking about broken human relationships. No, we are talking about a rift, or a great chasm, which exists between the holy and righteous God and sinful man.

I must remind you of our predicament. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, everything that is seen and unseen. He created man in his image, male and female he created them. And he created them upright – they were indeed very good. And God entered into covenant with the man and the woman. It was a covenant of works. The two of them were placed in the garden of God. They were given dominion over that place. They were to keep it and to fill it. Everything in that garden paradise was theirs to enjoy. But they were to live in perpetual dependence upon, and in obedience to their Maker.  Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was the command. Instead, they were eat of the tree of life and enter into God’s sabbath rest by their obedience.

As you know they failed. They broke the covenant. Death was the consequence. Physical death eventually overtook them, but it was spiritual death that they experienced immediately. The communion that they once enjoyed with God was broken. There was a rift – a great chasm had opened up between God and man. No longer were they at peace with God, but now they were under his condemnation due to their sin.  They were fallen – depraved – and totally so. This was true of the first man and the first women, as well as all of their descendants, including you and me – this is the state, or condition, into which we were born.

I think it is helpful to use the imagination to go back in time and to put ourselves in Adam and Eves place. Imagine what it would have been like in the time between the act of rebellion and the arrival of God. Do you know the time that I am referring to? The scriptures are not clear as to how much time passed between the eating of the forbidden fruit and God’s confrontation of Adam and Eve. I imagine them rebelling in the evening. They were immediately aware of their sin. They sewed together fig leaves to cover their nakedness and shame, but to no avail. I imagine the sun setting on the rebellious couple – the night being unusually long and dark and cold. And then it was in the morning that God came to them in the cool, or wind, of the day in order to confront their rebelliousness. That is how I think of it. Rebellion, guilt, shame, and darkness.

Though we do not know for sure how much time passed from the act of rebellion to the arrival of God, I think it is safe to say that that time was a time of uncertainty. I am not saying that there was any uncertainty in the mind of God. His purposes were established from eternity past. But it must have been a time of uncertainty for Adam and Eve. They must have wondered what exactly the consequence would be? Would God show mercy, or would he come in full judgment?

You and I know the story well. God came, not in full judgment, but mercifully. There were consequence for the sin. Curses were pronounced. But there was a glimmer of hope. A promise was made. This promise was cloaked within the curse leveled upon the Serpent.

“The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’” (Genesis 3:14–15, ESV)

By the way, this was not a curse upon snakes; rather, it was a curse upon the spiritual being that lay behind the serpent through whom the temptation came.  There would be hostility between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The rest of the scriptures make it clear that this signaled the hostility, not between snakes and people, but between the people of God (the righteous line) and the people of the evil one (the unrighteous line). And there is a wonderful promise cloaked within this curse upon the serpent and his seed – the seed of the woman would, in due time, strike a fatal blow to the head of the serpent.

This good word must have made Adam and Eve’s ears perk up. Darkness and death and destruction had begun to envelope them, but with this word a beam of light broke through the darkness. There is now hope.

But who is this seed of the women? In a sense the seed of the woman represents all of the people of God from Adam’s day onward (the righteous line). But more particularly the seed of the woman is Jesus who is the Christ, the Savior, the Mediator between God and man.

He is the one who would reconciled sinners to God by his righteousness and his shed blood.

He is the door of the sheep. He is the ladder upon which we climb. He is “the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [him].” (John 14:6, ESV) It is through him alone that we can receive reconciliation with God (Romans 5:11).  “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:5–6, ESV)

Only Jesus the God-man could fulfill such a role as this. He had to be human. He had to be the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:47). He had to be truly human in order to live in obedience to the law and to suffer and die on our behalf. But certainly no mere man could accomplish a job such as this. Jesus Christ was uniquely qualified.

We should remember that Jesus Christ was foreordained to this task prior to the creation of the world.

Peter speaks of Jesus in this way in 1 Peter 1:18-20 when he exhorts the Christians, saying,

“… conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you…” (1 Peter 1:17–20, ESV)

To be foreknown is to be foreordained, or predestined. Jesus Christ was chosen to fulfill the role of mediator between God and man from before the creation of the world.

And as the Christ the scriptures tell us that he was anointed above measure by the Holy Spirit so that he might accomplish the Father’s purposes.

This is what John 3:31-34 is referring to, saying,

“He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.” (John 3:31–34, ESV)

Jesus is the Christ. Christ means “anointed one”. Many throughout the history of the world have been anointed by God to preform a particular task – be it the task of prophet, priest, or king – but they were anointed by the Spirit in a limited way. Their anointing was temporary. Their anointing was to empower them to serve for a short time, and in a typological way – prefiguring the arrival of the Anointed One. His anointing was without limit. Jesus is not a prophet – he is the Prophet; he is not a priest – he is the Priest; and he is not a king, but the King. And he is all three of these things rolled into one!

Christ is the only mediator between God and man. He alone was foreordained for this task. And he alone was uniquely qualified and adequately equipped for the task. He is truly the only man for the job.

But the question might be asked, what exactly does Jesus do for us as our mediator? How has he made a way for us?

Historically the church has brought greater clarity to the doctrine of the mediation of the Christ by emphasizing his threefold office. Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man, has made a way for us by serving as our Prophet, Priest, and King.

He is the Prophet 

Jesus Christ is the Prophet.

A prophet is one who speaks truth from God.

Many prophets existed in the Old Testament period – we may think of Moses, Ezekiel,  and Jeremiah, to name a few. And what did these men do except speak the word of God. Sometimes they received a vision from the Lord. At other times they would exhort the people from the Law. Sometimes their prophesies pertained to the future. More often than not their words had to do with calling the people to live faithfully before their God. One thing is clear, the Lord spoke to the people of God through his prophets. They were anointed for the task of revealing God’s truth to the people.

But notice that the Old Testament contains many promises concerning the coming of the Prophet.

Listen to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15, when he says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—” (Deuteronomy 18:15, ESV)

Jesus Christ is that Prophet. He is the Prophet of God. All other prophets were but a foretaste of the Prophet who was to come, who is the Christ.

The prophets of old had to receive a word from God. Jesus is the eternal Word of God.

The prophets of old had to be lifted up to heaven, as it were, being shown visions, or hearing a word from the Lord. Jesus was from above. He was not of this world.

The prophets of old mistered for a brief time. And the truth of the matter is that they were but mouth pieces of God. Jesus is God with us, the second person of the trinity, who was and is and is to come.

Brothers and sisters, we stand in need of Christ as Prophet.

We stand in need of him due to our ignorance. This is not meant to be an insult, but a statement of fact. We, apart from him, walk in darkness. We are blind – blind due to our creatureliness, and blind due to our sin. Christ, the Prophet of God, shines as light into the darkness.

“I am the light of the world”, Jesus says. “ Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12, ESV)

Christ is our mediator. And one of the ways in which he has reconciled us to God is by coming to us as the Prophet of God.

He is the Priest

Jesus Christ is our great high priest.

A priest is one who offers prayers and sacrifices to God.

Many priests existed in the Old Covenant. We are to think of Aaron and his sons. And what were these men anointed to do except offer up prayers on behalf of the people and make sacrifices for them?

But notice also the the Old Testament contains promises concerning a coming priest who would be of a different order than the Arronic priesthood.

Psalm 110 is a most famous Psalm which speaks of this very thing:

“The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.” (Psalm 110:1–5, ESV)

Jesus is this priest who has come, not from Aaron, but from Melchizedek. Hebrews 5:5-6 makes this clear, in saying,

“So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:5–6, ESV)

Jesus Christ is the Priest of God. He came, not from Aaron, but from Melchizedech. And he came, not only to offer sacrifice, but be the sacrifices for our sins. He is both priest and sacrifice!

The priests of Old only offered up the blood of bulls and goats which did not truly atone for sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Not only did Christ, who is our great High Priest minster in regard to sacrifice, but also in prayer. He prayed for his people while he was on earth (John 17). But he intercedes for us even still.

Listen to Hebrews 7:22-28:

“This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.” (Hebrews 7:22–28, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, we stand in need of Christ’s priestly office. We need him as priest due to our alienation from God. Our sins have opened up a great chasm between us and God, but Christ our High Priest has atoned for our sins. Not only that, but he intercedes for us still, praying that God would strengthen us by the Holy Spirit to walk in this world to the glory of his name.

He is the King

Notice that Jesus Christ is also our King.

A king is one who has supreme authority over the people. His job is to lead and protect and empower.

Many kings existed under the Old Covenant. We are to think of David and Solomon and those who came from their loins. They were to rule and reign on earth over Israel. They were to lead the people before God, and to protect them from their enemies.

But notice that the Old Testament contains many promises concerning a coming King who would far surpass them all.

Listen to God’s promise to David concerning a coming King:

“‘When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’  In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.” (2 Samuel 7:12–17, ESV)

Solomon, of course, was the immediate fulfillment to these words. But the ultimate fulfillment was Jesus Christ. He is the true Son of David. He is the “Lord of lords, and King of kings” (Revelation 17:14).

Brothers and sisters, we stand in need of Christ the King. We need him due to our weakness and rebellious ways. We need him also due to the strength of our enemies. He must subdue us, and he must protect us from harm.

Conclusion

Listen to the way that the confession summarizes these wonderful truths in chapter 8, paragraphs 9 and 10:

9. “This office of mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of God; and may not be either in whole, or any part thereof, transferred from him to any other. ( 1 Timothy 2:5 )”

10. “This number and order of offices is necessary; for in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of his prophetical office; and in respect of our alienation from God, and imperfection of the best of our services, we need his priestly office to reconcile us and present us acceptable unto God; and in respect to our averseness and utter inability to return to God, and for our rescue and security from our spiritual adversaries, we need his kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom.” ( John 1:18; Colossians 1:21; Galatians 5:17; John 16:8; Psalms 110:3; Luke 1:74, 75 )

So why the incarnation? Only Jesus, the God-man, could fulfill the role of mediator between God and man. He is our mediator – our Prophet, our great High Priest, and the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Let us come to God through him alone.

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady
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Old Testament Reading: Hosea 11

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels. My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. They shall go after the Lord; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west; they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord. Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.” (Hosea 11, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Matthew 2:13-15

“Now when they [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” (Matthew 2:13–15, ESV)

Introduction 

The title of this advent sermon series is, “The Wonder of the Incarnation”, but we’ve actually devoted two of the four sermons, not to the incarnation, but to the doctrine of God, answering the question, “who is God as he has existed for all eternity?”

We have confessed that there is only one true God who exists eternally in three persons, or subsistences – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Concerning the triune God we confess that he is incomprehensible, a most pure spirit, self-existent, infinite, unchanging, and simple. Concerning his communicable attributes we confess his goodness, holiness, and righteousness.

So much more could be said about God! But these few points were made in order to set our minds in the right direction concerning him. Also, these points were made in order to prepare us to finally think about Jesus Christ, the God-man, with precision and care.

And so we are ready, now, to turn our attention to the wonder of the incarnation. We are now ready to think, not about God as he is for all eternity, but about God with us, that is Jesus Christ, the God-man. We are to think now of the immaculate conception and the virgin birth. We’re to set our eyes upon the babe in the manger, and fix our thoughts upon the boy Jesus who grew into the man Jesus, who suffered and died in the flesh for you and me, raising again on the third day to earn our salvation.

There are some, I am sure, who would object to a sermon series such as this. Their complaint would be that I am saying way too much about God, and about Jesus. Too much detail, is perhaps the complaint of some. Let us alone so that we might simply love God and love Jesus. Spare us the details, they say. None of you are like this, as far as I know, but I raise the objection knowing that this is the spirit of our age. We will have God, and we will have Jesus, but spare us the details about them both!

Imagine for a moment a grandfather and a grandson. Imagine that the grandson loves the grandfather very much, but the grandfather passes away before the child is grown, before he has an opportunity to know the grandfather well. And one day, after the child has grown a bit, grandma sits down with the grandson and says, do you remember your grandfather, the one that you loved so much? Let me tell you about him. And then she goes on to describe him in ways that the grandson had never heard before. Would a grandson ever say to his grandmother, spare me the details, I would rather just remember him as I knew him as a child.

Actually, I can image a situation like that arising. If the grandfather was in fact a bad person I could understand why a grandson would prefer to know less and not more. But assuming he was a good man, what grandson would not want to know more about his grandfather. Surely his love would grow for him, and not diminish.

And so it is with God. When we begin in the Christian life our knowledge of the Heavenly Father is probably very limited, and perhaps even a bit skewed. We know him in an authentic way. And we love him sincerely. But our knowledge of him is small at the beginning. The same can be said about our knowledge of and love for Jesus. It is authentic and true from the beginning, but it is something for us to grow in.

What a blessing it is to grow in the knowledge of God, and of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Listen to the way that Paul prays for the Ephesians:

“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” (Ephesians 1:15–21, NKJV)

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is that they would grow in wisdom and in the knowledge of God, and of Christ.

And that is my prayer for you as well; that each one of you would forever grow in wisdom and in the knowledge of God, and of Christ Jesus or Lord. My hope is that you would fall more deeply in love with him day by day as your understanding of him grows.

This is why we are taking the time to focus in upon the doctrine of God. And this is also why we are now turning our attention now to the doctrine of Christ.

The question we are asking today is, what are we to think about Jesus? How are we to talk about him? Who is he, exactly? More to the point for todays sermon, what is he? What is his nature like?

Jesus is Divine

The first thing to be said about Jesus is that he is divine.

Notice, first of all, that Jesus is called God in the scriptures.

Many scriptures could be referenced, but these three will suffice to support the point:

In Jeremiah 23:5-6 we read this prophesy concerning the coming of the Christ: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’” (Jeremiah 23:5–6, NKJV) Clearly this passage refers to Jesus Christ. And what did Jeremiah say his name would be? The LORD. It the hebrew it is YHWH.

In Romans 9:3-4 Paul says, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:4–5, ESV)

And do you remember what Thomas called the risen Lord after he touched his wounded side and his nail pierced hands? Did he not refer to Jesus as “My Lord and my God”? (John 20:28, ESV) And notice that he was not rebuked for saying such, but rather commended.

Jesus is called God throughout the scriptures.

Notice secondly that Jesus is said to be eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent. These are attributes that belong to God alone.

Jesus claims to be eternal in John 8:58 when he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58, ESV) I

His omniscience is highlighted in Revelation 2:23 when he claims to be the one “who searches mind and heart, [giving to each one] according to [their] works.” (Revelation 2:23, ESV)

His omnipotence is mentioned in Philipians 3:20-21, which says that it is the “Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20–21, ESV)

These are attributes that belong, not to man, but to God alone, and yet Jesus Christ is said to possess them. He is said to be eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent.

Notice thirdly that it is Jesus who is said to have created the heavens and the earth, upholding them even still.

John 1:3 tells us that “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3, ESV) This verse is referring to the eternal Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us – Christ  Jesus our Lord.

Paul says it in a most beautiful and direct way in writing to the Colossians, saying,“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15–17, ESV)

Notice fourthly that Jesus is to be honored, worshipped, believed, feared, and served. These are things that only God deserves, and yet we are to give to Jesus!

In John 5:22-23 we hear Jesus saying these words: “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” (John 5:22–23, ESV)

In Hebrews 1:6 we learn that “all [of] God’s angels worship him.” (Hebrews 1:6, ESV)

And in Revelation 5:13-14 John tells that he “heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb [Jesus Christ] be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.” (Revelation 5:13–14, ESV)

God alone is to be worshiped by angels and men, and yet Jesus is rightly worshipped, for he is truly divine.

Jesus is Human

The second thing to be said about Jesus is that he is human.

Notice, first of all, that Jesus is time and again called a man in the scriptures.

Not only is he the Son of God, but his favorite title for himself was Son of Man.

In Romans 5:15 we read, “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” (Romans 5:15, ESV)

In 1 Corinthians 15:45 he is called the “last Adam”, and in 1 Timothy 2:5 we read, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5, ESV)

Secondly, it is important to recognize that Jesus had a true human body.

In Hebrews 2:14 we read, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself [that is , Jesus] likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…” (Hebrews 2:14, ESV)

In Luke 24:39 Jesus spoke to his disciples saying, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:39, ESV)

Jesus had a true human body.

Thirdly, it also must be confessed that he had a true human soul.

This, I think, is often forgotten. It is not only that Jesus had the body of a man, but also the soul. He was fully human. You and I are made up of body and soul. This is what it means to have have a human nature – we consist of a human body and a human soul. And this is what Jesus had – not only a human body, but also a human soul.

Did Jesus not say to his disciples in the garden, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death”? (Matthew 26:38, ESV) God does not have a soul, much less one that can be troubled. He is a most pure spirit, without body, parts, or passions. Jesus was referring to sorrow within his human soul.

Fourthly, remember that Jesus, as a man, was subject to various human emotions and afflictions, yet without sin.

He was hungry (Matthew 4:2), thirsty (John 19:28), and sorrowful (Matthew 26;38). He wept (John 11:35), was glad (John 11:15), and was tires (John 4:6). The divine does not experience these things, but Jesus did, because he was truly human.

Fifthly, do not forget that Jesus was born of woman, being the seed of woman, and the seed of Abraham and David.

Listen to the words of Wilhelmus Á Brakel as he reflects upon this point. He says that,

“[Christ] did not bring this human nature with Him from heaven; it was not created out of nothing, nor from some matter as some Anabaptists insist. He is man out of man, in order that he would have the identical nature (not merely a similar nature) which He would would redeem. This is confirmed in the Old Testament by way of prophesy, and in the New Testament by way of fulfillment.” (Á Brakel, The Chritsian’s Reasonable Service, vol. 1, pg. 500)

His point is this, Jesus was truly born of a woman in that the way that you and I were born of woman. He was man out of man, or humanity out of humanity. He had a nature, not similar to ours, but the same as ours, so that he might redeem us from our sins, serving as our substitute, our representative, our mediator.

The Old Testament everywhere makes mention of the salvation that would come by the seed of the woman, or, the seed of David. Genesis 3:15 and 2 Samuel 7:12 two examples out of many. And the New Testament picks up this theme and shows time and again that Jesus Christ is that seed. Read Matthew 1 and Luke 3. Read Galatians 3:16 which says, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16, ESV)

The point is this, though it is true that Jesus is divine, it is also true that he is human. Both of these truths are essential and of equal importance. He could not be the Christ, the Mediator between God and man, if we lacking one of these natures or the other.

Jesus is Fully Human, and Fully Divine

The third thing to be said about Jesus is that he is fully human, and fully divine.

Three errors have commonly arose throughout the history of the church concerning Jesus. Some have denied the divinity of Christ, believing him to be nothing more than a man. Others have denied his humanity, claiming that he only appeared to be man. And others have managed to deny both the full humanity and the full divinity of Christ by imagining that the divine and the human natures were somehow mixed, or confused, within the person of Jesus Christ.

I’m not too worried about the first or second errors existing within our churches. It’s hard to imagine a Christian who has the Word of God as their authority for truth, and takes the Word seriously saying, no, Jesus was not a man, or, no, Jesus was not divine. 

But it is possible, I think, for this third error to exist within our churches. It is not that Christians set out to deny the full humanity, or the full deity of Christ – they are not doing so intentionally, and they would never say so directly – but many stumble into this error, I think. There are many who manage to slip, or drift into it, for a variety of reasons. And so they, for one reason or another, have in their minds a Jesus who is neither fully God, nor fully man, but is some kind of mixture of both. He is a third thing. He is God-ish. He is human-ish.

There are some in our churches who have a difficult time thinking of Jesus as a real human.

There are some, for example who, when thinking of Jesus, imagine that he has existed in his humanity for all eternity.

There are some, I’m sure, when they think of of Jesus imagine that God the Son did, when the fulness of time had come, take upon himself, the body of a man, but not the soul.

And there are some who, when they think of Jesus, would say, yes, Jesus was a true man, body and soul, but the divine nature so overpowered the human that little or nothing of the human nature remained. In other words, the attributes of the divine nature were in some way communicated, or given to the human nature, the end result being that human nature was overrun by the divine and became more than human.

More examples could be given, I’m sure. But the point is that we can find ourselves saying that Jesus is fully God and man while actually believing that he is something other than true man.

So what about his deity? There are undoubtedly some within our churches who have a difficult time thinking of Jesus as being truly divine.

I think the trouble here arrises when we try to visualize what the scriptures mean when they say that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). We understand that the Word, or the Son, is the second person of the Holy Trinity. We understand that he is fully God, of the same substance of the Father and Spirit, being fully divine. But what are we to think when the scriptures say, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

It seems that some, when they read the word, “became” imagine God turning into man.  The Word was divine, they think, but 2,000 years ago the Word was transformed into humanity. This is wrong.

The Eternal Word of God did not change from being divine to human. He did not transition from being Creator to the creation. No, what the scriptures mean when they say that the Word became flesh, is that he took on flesh – he assumed a human nature in the person of Jesus Christ. The divine nature was inseparably joined together with the human nature in the person of Christ, but the divine nature was in no way converted into the human, nor the human into the divine.

Tell me church, is it possible for God to change into man?

This was one of the foundational things about God that we discussed two Sundays ago – God is unchanging. “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6, ESV) It is not possible for the Eternal God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – to undergo change. He is immutable. The scriptures make this clear.

The eternal Son of God did not change, or transform, or convert into humanity. No, he took on humanity. He assumed humanity. But he himself did not undergo change. This concept has historically been summarized in this way:  The eternal Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, became something he was not without ceasing to be what he always way. He assumed humanity. He did not transform into it.

This what our confession is getting at when it says that the Son of God “did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin.” A bit later the confession says that this happened in such a way “that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.” (London Baptist Confession 8.2)

Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. In him are inseparably joined two natures, the divine and the human. The human was not overrun by the divine, and the divine did not morph into the human. No, the two natures remained whole and perfect and distinct united forever in the one person Jesus Christ.

Jesus is One Person

The fourth thing to be said about Jesus is that he is one person, and not two.

Jesus did not have a split personality. No, the divine and human natures of Christ were perfectly united in the person of Jesus Christ. The personality of Jesus was drawn from the person of the Son of God.

So unified are the divine and human natures within the person of Christ that, from time to time, attributes that belong properly to one nature are said said to belong to the other nature by virtue of the attribute being communicated to the person.

He is what I mean. When Jesus stood before the Jews in John 8:58 and said, “before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58, ESV), how are we to understand this? Notice that Jesus did not say, before Abraham was my divine nature was. He did not make a distinction between his divine and human nature as he spoke. No, he spoke as the one person, Jesus Christ. But nevertheless this is what he meant – he existed prior Abraham in his divine nature, but certainly not in his humanity. Jesus did not exist prior to the immaculate conception as the God-man, but he did exist prior to the incarnation in terms of his divinity.

The point is this, due to the fact that the human nature and the divine nature are so united in the one person of Jesus Christ, the scriptures often speak of the person of Jesus both in terms of the divine and the human nature.

Charles Hodge explains it this way:

“[Christ] is finite and infinite; ignorant and omniscient; less than God and equal with God; He existed from all eternity and He was born in time; He created all things and he was a man of sorrows. It is on this principle, that what is true of either nature is true of the person, that a multitude of passages of Scripture are to be explained…”

For example, listen to Acts 20:28, which says, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28, ESV) Does God have blood? He does not. But Jesus spilt his blood for the church, and in the person of Jesus were united the divine and the human, and so it is said that the church was purshased with the blood of God.

Did God die for you? Properly speaking, no. But we speak this way. Why? Because Jesus Christ died for us according to the human nature, and in him were united the human and the divine.

Did God suffer for you? Properly speaking, no. God cannot suffer. But we speak this way. Why? Because Jesus Christ suffered for us according to his human nature, and in him were united the human and the divine.

And I might also ask, was Jesus with God in the beginning when the heavens and earth were created? Properly speaking, no. Jesus the God-man came into existence 2,000 years ago. But we speak of the pre-existence and eternality of Jesus because he did exist prior to the incarnation according to his divine nature, and in him were united the human and the divine.

In Jesus there are two natures, the divine and the human, and these two “whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person.”

Jesus Is

The fifth thing to be said about Jesus is simply this: he is. And by that I mean that he exists even now. 

Where is he? The scriptures tell us that he has been “exalted at the right hand of God.” (Acts 2:33, ESV)

And what is he doing there? He is interceding for his people. Romans 8:34 says, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34, ESV)

And it is from that place of honor that he will one day return. The angels said to the disciples of Christ as they stood staring into heaven when the Lord ascended there, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11, ESV)

Conclusion

I warned you at the beginning of this sermon series that massive concepts would be dealt with in a very brief period of time. My objective is to set our minds in the right direction, but my suspicion i that this series might raise more questions than it answers. There is so much more to be said. My hope is that this brief consideration of these doctrines would whet your appetite for more study in the future.

Until that time I would direct your attention to the confession which provides such a wonderfully concise and yet precise statement concerning Jesus. The language of the confession clearly build upon the the Chalcedonian Creed, written in A.D. 451.

London Baptist Confession 8.2. “The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, of one substance and equal with him who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath made, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her: and the power of the Most High overshadowing her; and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures; so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.”

Application

Brothers and sisters, this stuff matters. It matters big time.

We say we love Jesus, but do we know him well? Do we understand who he is? Do we underwent what he is?

And as we will see in next Sunday, what he is is directly related to what he has accomplished for us as the Christ, the Mediator between God and man.

Posted in Sermons Doctrine of Christ Joe Anady
Comments Off on Sermon: Selected Texts: Jesus Christ – His Person Posted by Joe

Old Testament Reading: Micah 5

“Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border. Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.  Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off. And in that day, declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots; and I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds; and I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes; and I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands; and I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities. And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.” (Micah 5, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Matthew 2:1-12

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’’ Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.’ After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.” (Matthew 2:1–12, ESV)

Introduction

We are fixing our eyes upon the wonder of the incarnation during this Advent season.  And it is a wonder, wouldn’t you agree? It is a marvelous thing to thinking about – it is a great mystery. How could it be that God – more specifically, the eternal Word of God – did, when the fulness of time had come, take upon himself humanity, in the person of Jesus Christ. Our minds creak and groan under the weight of such a thought. But this is precisely what we are considering this Advent season: God with us; Emmanuel; Jesus the God-man; the wonder of the incarnation.

And we are considering the incarnation, not by moving through one of the birth narratives contained within the gospels, as great as that approach would be, but theologically. We are considering the incarnation topically. We are asking the question, what do the scriptures in their entirety demand that we think concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Who was he? What was he? And what did he come to accomplish according to the scriptures?

Review 

Remember that we began this brief, four week mini-series last week, not by going immediately to the birth of Jesus, and not by talking about him – but by considering God himself as he has existed for all eternity – Father, Word, and Holy Spirit.  The reason is this: it is would difficult, if not impossible, to think clearly about God incarnate – that is, God in the flesh, or God with us – without first learning to think clearly about God himself as he has existed for all eternity.

Seven points were made last week concerning the nature of God. Let me review them briefly for the sake of tying last weeks sermon to this one. Here are seven things that need to be said concerning God:

1. God Is incomprehensible. We know God truly because he has revealed something of himself to us, but we certainly do not know him exhaustively.
2. God is Triune. There is only one true God, and yet the scripture reveal that the one true God exists eternally in three persons (or subsistences) God the Father, God the Son (or Word), and God the Holy Spirit. The three are each fully God, and yet their is only one God. For a more complete statement concerning this see the London Baptist Confession chapter 2
3. God is a most pure spirit. He is not physical. He does not have a body. Jesus put it this way: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, ESV)
4. God is of himself. He is self-existent. No one made God. No one sustains God. God does not stand in need of anyone, or anything, outside of himself for his existence. He is of himself.
5. God is infinite. He is infinite in regard to time – he is eternal, without beginning or end. He is infinite in regard to space – he is omnipresent, being at once in all places fully. He is infinite in regard to power – he is omnipotent; there is nothing outside of his sovereign power. Nothing constrains, or frustrates God. He is Lord Most High. He is the Sovereign.
6. God is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not grow or learn or improve. He does repent (though he may appear to repent from our vantage point). God does not have mood swings. He is not given to passions as you and I are. He is not given to fits of rage as you and I sometimes are. Humans may come to experience God’s wrath at times, and at other times find themselves awash in his mercy. But this is not a change in God properly speaking. We experience change. God does not change in his essence.
7. God is simple. This does not mean that he is easy to understand, but rather that God is not composed of parts. He is not a composite being as you and I are. He does not have a body and a soul as you and I do, for example. The easiest way to say it is that everything that is in God is God. With you and I it is different. We are not simple, but complex. We are made up of parts. If my soul were to leave my body it would not be totally true to say of my soul-less body, “there is Joe”, for that would only be a part of me. God is not composed of parts like that. All that is in God is God. He is utterly simple. More on that another time.

That is all review. My objective last week was this: to hurl these massive concepts in your direction so as to make God large in your minds and hearts, as he ought to be. It is right for the Christian to think high thoughts of God. He ought to blow our minds. He ought to loom large. It is right that we stand in awe of him. It is right for us to confess that God is incomprehensible. He is beyond us!

Concerning this, the great Reformed theologian, Herman Bavinck, has this to say:

“Scripture and the church emphatically assert the unreachable majesty and sovereign highness of God. There is no knowledge of God as he is in himself. We are human and he is the Lord our God. There is no name that fully expresses his being, no definition that captures him. He infinitely transcends our picture of him, our ideas of him, our language concerning him. He is not comparable to any creature. All the nations are accounted by him as less than nothing and vanity. He can be apprehended; he cannot be comprehended. There is some knowledge, but no thorough grasp of God.” (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, pg. 47)

A bit later Bavinck quotes St. Augustine, who says,

“We are speaking of God. Is it little wonder if you do not comprehend? For if you comprehend, it is not God you comprehend. Let it be a pious confession of ignorance rater than a rash profession of knowledge. To attain some slight knowledge of God is a great blessing; to comprehend him, however, is totally impossible.” (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, pg. 48)

The God of the Bible is the one true and living God, and he is majestic. He is full of glory and splendor and might. So glorious is he that he is beyond our ability to fully comprehend.

But in the moment these truths are proclaimed something else must be said. This great and glorious God is a personal God. He is YHWH, the covenant making and covenant keeping God. He he is the God who enters into relationship with his creatures. He is our heavenly Father. We can know him. We do not know him in the way that he knows us – thoroughly. And we do not know him in the way that he knows himself – exhaustively. But we can know him truly.

So how can these two things be true? How can it be that the unknowable One can be known? How can it be that God is at once transcendent, and yet imminent? High and exalted, and yet near?

The answer is this: God Almighty has determined to revealed himself to us. He has unveiled himself. He has disclosed himself. He has stooped down low and whispered to us in language that we can understand.

Calvin puts it this way, asking the question,

“For who is so devoid of intellect as not to understand that God, in so speaking, lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children? Such modes of expression, therefore, do not so much express what kind of a being God is, as accommodate the knowledge of him to our feebleness. In doing so, he must, of course, stoop far below his proper height. (John Calvin, Institutes, vol. 1, pg. 147.)

God, in order to reveal himself to us, has stooped low. He has come down to our level. And how has God stooped low for us? He walked with Adam and Even in the garden. He spoke to Abraham in human language so that he might understand. He revealed something of his glory to Moses in the bush, and as he was placed in the cleft of the rock. The people saw his glory on the mountain and in the temple. He spoke through the prophets. And he spoke to us supremely and finally through Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son. We have the inspired and Holy Scriptures which are a record and application of these revelatory acts of God in human history. In these ways God has stooped low. He makes himself known through his creation, through his acts, and through his words. He has condescended to us.

So how is it that we can know the Unknowable One? The answer is that he, in his grace and mercy has revealed himself to us. It is only because of this fact – the fact of revelation – that we are able to say anything meaningful and sure about God at all.

Brothers and sisters, do you not see that to think of God is the highest and most noble activity of the human mind. Let us then continue our consideration of God Most High.

Incommunicable Attributes 

I suppose that most of the things said about God last week could be put under the category of God’s incommunicable attributes. Have you heard of this term before? The incommunicable attributes of God are those qualities of God that he does not share with man. And by share I do not mean that he does not tell us about them. What I mean is that we do not possess these attributes of God ourselves, given our creatureliness. If you remember back to the sermon from last Sunday I would pause from time to time and say, ‘such and such is true of God, but you and I are not like this’. God is omnipresent, for example, and we are not. God is simple; we are not. God is unchanging; we are not. These are qualities that belong to God alone. He does not share them with us in any way.  The only attribute mentioned last week that might not properly belong under the “incommunicable” category is God as most pure spirit. God is spirit, and we too have a spirit, or soul. The difference between he and us in this regard is that he is a most pure spirit, whereas we consist of body and soul, body and spirit.

Communicable Attributes

And so God as most pure spirit probably belongs under the category that we will turn our attention to today. There are other attributes of God that fall under the category of God’s communicable attributes. As you might guess,these are attributes of God which he, in some ways, does share with us. Of course God possess these attributes perfectly so, whereas we possess them in some small degree, and that by his mercy and grace.

So what are they? I will only have time to mention three this morning. And because I only have time to mention three, I will confine myself to three of the moral attributes of God.

God Is Good

The first is this: God is good.

He is Good In Himself 

And when we speak of the goodness of God it is important that we first of all confess that God is good in and of himself.

It is not only that God does good, therefore we call him good. And it is not that he is useful to us, therefore we consider him to be good. No, more that, God is good in and of himself. He is good through and through. He is good all the time. He is good in an absolute sense. He is good in his essence.

You and I may do good from time to time, but it cannot be said of us that we are good through and through.

And we may designate people or things as good due to their usefulness to us. We say that a car is a good car when it functions well and meets our need. We call a friend a good friend when he or she preforms the duties of friend in a way that is useful.

And though it is true that God does good, and is a benefit to his people, we mean more than this when we say that God is good. He is good in himself. He is good through and through. He is good all the time, and in every way.  

A man might be called a good man. He may do good things.  And this, of course, is by the grace of God. But the scriptures tell us that “No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18, ESV) Only God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Only he is good in a pure and absolute sense.

He is Good for Others

It should also be acknowledged that, not only is God good in and of himself, but he is also good for others. Nothing is better for men and women, boys and girls, than to know God, who is the Supreme Good. He has “all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself” (LBC 2.2). And we are most blessed when we know him.

He is our highest good. He is the supreme good for all his creatures. We are to enjoy him – find our satisfaction in him – take pleasure in him above all created things. Oh, that we would agree with the Psalmist when he says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25–26, ESV) Not only is God good in and of himself, but he is also good for us. He alone is the good to be enjoyed.

God Does Good To Us 

And we must also confess that this good God who himself is good for us also does good to us. He is the overflowing fountain of all goodness. Bavinck says, that all good, be it “natural, moral, [or]  spiritual… finds its source in him.” (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, pg. 213) James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Mercy

God shows his goodness to those who are misery. The scriptures refer to this as God’s mercy. Mercy is God showing kindness or compassion to those who are needy either by not giving them what they deserve, or by doing good to them despite their unreservedness.

Lamentations 3:21-25: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”

Patience

The goodness of God is also displayed in his patience towards us. When God spares those who deserve punishment it is called patience or forbearance. Paul, in Romans 2:4, asks the sinner this question: “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4, ESV)

Grace

When God is good to someone who only deserves evil the Bible calls that grace. Grace is God showing undeserved favor. There is a way in which God shows grace to all men. He does good to all, though none are deserving. He causes it to rain on the the just and the unjust alike, for example. We may call this common grace – that is God doing good to all in a general sense. But it is more precise to see that God shows grace to some, and not all. He shows undeserved favor to his people. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, ESV) And, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8, ESV)

Love

The highest demonstration of God’s goodness to man is when he gives, not only good things, but himself to man. When God does good to a person in this ultimate since, bringing men and women, boys and and girls, into relationship with himself, the scriptures refer to this as the love of God. Those who know God – those who have been brought into a good and proper relationship with God through Christ Jesus – are called the beloved. They are the ones loved of God.

God is good. He is good in and of himself. He is good for his creatures. And he is good to his creatures as he demonstrates his goodness through acts of mercy, patience, grace, and love.

God Is Holy

The second thing to be said about God’s moral attributes is that he is holy.

He is holy in that he is set apart from us and from all evil.

He is set apart from us in that he alone is God. He is glorious and beyond compare. When the Prophet Isaiah was given a glimpse of the glory of God he heard the angels sing,“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV) He is holy in that he is set apart from us, high and lifted up.

And he is holy in that he is set apart from all sin.  “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5, ESV) He is holy, pure, undefiled. He resists all that opposes him.

This is why holiness is demanded of God’s people. The unholy are at odds with the holy God. The holy are embraced by him. God is holy in himself. He is holy, pure, undefiled. But he also demands holiness from his people.

The end goal of redemption, or salvation, it to bring a holy people, into a holy place, into the presence of the holy God.

God Is Righteous

The third of God’s moral and communicable attributes is this: God is righteous.

The righteousness of God is certainly connected with his holiness. Not only is God holy, and not only does he demand holiness, but he forever does what it right.

He is righteous in and of himself. He does what is right always, and forever because he is the righteous king and judge of all things.

God, the righteous judge, rewards those who are righteous and punishes those who are wicked. He does so even now. But he will do so finally and fully and perfectly at the end of the age.

We love to speak of the goodness of God, do we not? We are fond of his mercy, patience, grace and love. These are pleasant things for us to speak of. We even enjoy speaking of the holiness of God, so long as we confine the conversation to the holiness of God himself, and ignore it’s relational implications and the demands that God’s holiness makes upon us. But men and women often neglect to speak of God’s righteousness. If any of God’s attributes are neglected in Christian teaching today, it is righteousness that is rejected. We love to think of him as loving heavenly Father; but the scriptures also reveal him as God Almighty who will one day judge the world in righteousness.

Listen to how Paul warned the heathens in Athens as he preached to them, saying,

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30–31, ESV)

Bothers and sisters, God is good, God is holy, and God is righteous. This third attribute must not be ignored.

The righteousness of God should serve as a great comfort to those who are righteous in Christ Jesus who mourn the wickedness that they see in the world. Is it not comforting to know that God will do right? He will make all things right. He is judging in righteousness even now as he continues to display is mercy and patience. But the day will come when he will pour out his wrath in perfect righteousness. This should be a comfort to the people of God.

At the same time, the righteousness of God should cause the sinner to tremble. It should indeed lead the sinner to repent, to turn from sin, and to trust fully in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Imagine standing before God, holy, awesome and glorious, as he is. And imagine standing before him in your sins. Friends, you do not want to stand before the holy and righteous God in your sins. That you will stand before his is certain. You will want to stand before him in Christ, clothed in his righteousness, and washed by his blood.  

Conclusion

So what difference do these truths make in our lives?

First of all, it should be noticed that these moral and communicable attributes of God call us to strive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be like him. God is good, and holy, and righteous. We too are to be good, and holy, and righteous.

Listen to Peter: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14–16, ESV)

These truths concerning God call us to be as our heavenly Father is. As a child mimics his earthly Father, so too we are to mimic our heavenly Father where we are able.

Secondly, in the moment we hear the call to be holy, or, to be good, or, to be righteous as God is, does that not crush us? We think to ourselves, how could I possibly reach that standard. The truth of the matter is that through we are to strive to reach that standard, we will never reach it on our own. As we gaze upon the truth of who God is it should drive us to our knees, making us all the more aware of our need for help. We need a Savior. We need atonement, forgiveness, cleaning. When Isaiah was given a glimpse of the holiness of God his response was this: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, as we gaze upon the splendor and majesty of God almighty it move us to fear. It should compel to cry out for mercy and grace.

Thirdly, a careful consideration of these truths concerning God prepares us to understand the incarnation. Perhaps another way to say it is that it is these truths about God that made the incarnation necessary, given the fact of human sin.

Why was it necessary for the eternal Son of God to take upon himself man’s nature in the person of Jesus Christ? Well it is due to this fact – God is holy and righteous and we are sinners. He is holy, and demands holiness from his people. He is righteous, and must judge rightly, punishing the wicked and rewarding the just. This is bad news for fallen human beings, for the scriptures reveal that there is “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12, ESV) God was not obligated to save us from this predicament. He was not bound to lift us from this condition of despair.

But there is good news for us. God is good. He is merciful and gracious. And it is the goodness of God – the love of God – that motivated the sending of the Son to die for the sins of man. It is the goodness of God that motivated the incarnation and the atoning work of Christ.

“For God so loved the world [men and woman , that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16–17, ESV)

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Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 7:1–17

“In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, ‘Syria is in league with Ephraim,’ the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.  And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, ‘Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it’, thus says the Lord God: ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.’ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ‘Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.’ And he said, ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria…’” (Isaiah 7:1–17, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Matthew 1:18-25

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18–25, ESV)

Introduction 

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Many churches around the world celebrate Advent as a way of encouraging the people of God to focus upon the significance of the birth of Christ. It is a good tradition, I think, but not a mandatory one. If my memory serves me right, we did not do much in 2014 to mark the Advent season. The reason, I think, was to make the point that we are not obligated, biblically speaking, to observe such a tradition.

It should be recognized that we really do not know the date of Jesus’ birth. In fact, it is likely that Jesus was born in the spring time, and not in the winter, given what we are told about the shepherds keeping watch over the sheep at night in the open fields.

Nevertheless, I do think that the tradition of celebrating the birth of Christ is a good one. The coming of the Christ, after all, was the most significant event in human history. He came, he lived, he died, and he rose again. We set this season apart in order to give special attention to his coming.

I suppose there are many ways to preach during Advent. The most common is to move through the birth narrative of either Matthew or Luke. Mark does not contain a birth narrative; his gospel begins with the ministry of John the Baptist. And John’s “birth narrative” is really not a narrative at all, but rather a succinct statement of fact: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…”,  verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1,14, ESV) All four gospels, though, emphasize the fact of the incarnation in one way or another. And this indeed is a good and proper thing for us to fix our minds upon during this Advent season – the incarnation.

The word incarnation means to embody in the flesh, or, to take on flesh. When we use the word incarnation in the context of Christian theology we are talking about this fact, that “The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, of one substance and equal with him who made the world, who [upholds] and [governs] all things he [has] made, did, when the fullness of time [had] come, take upon [himself] man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her: and the power of the Most High overshadowing her; and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures; so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures [the human and divine] were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.” (London Baptist Confession 8.2).

This is the doctrine of the incarnation. The person of Jesus Christ was and is God and man. He is Immanuel, which means, God with us. The doctrine of the incarnation is a most basic and fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith, wouldn’t you agree? And yet it is highly mysterious, and often misunderstood.

It is the incarnation that I would like to focus upon during this Advent season. And I would like to focus on it, not by working through the birth narrative in Matthew or Luke, but theologically. I typically preach through the Bible exegetically, moving through books of the Bible verse by verse. But here I would like to approach the doctrine of the incarnation in a topical, or theological manner.  I think it is good to take this approach from time to time, especially when clarity, or depth of understanding is needed in particular area. And I think that is the case here.

We all confess with one voice that Jesus is divine. Amen? We agree with Paul who says of Jesus, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily…” (Colossians 2:9, ESV) We agree with Thomas who, after being convinced of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, spoke to Jesus, saying, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28, ESV)

Jesus is God. This is indeed true! But may I suggest to you that more needs to be said if we are speak with precision and clarity concerning God, and of the Christ whom he sent.

I want you to think about the statement, Jesus is God. It a true statement, wouldn’t you agree? But now imagine that you know nothing about the God of the Bible. Imagine being a non-believer who has had very little interaction with the church, or with Christians. You’ve heard of Jesus. You know that he was a Jewish man who lived about 2,000 years ago. But beyond that, you know little about what the Bible has to say about God. Imagine being in that position. And then imagine hearing a Christian say, Jesus is God. Period. What then would be your view of the Christian God? How would you think of him? Would you not then assume that Christians believe that God is a Jewish man with a beard?

This is, of course, not what we mean when we make the statement, “Jesus is God”. But it illustrates the point that more needs to be said concerning Jesus if we are to, first of all, speak about him with precision, and secondly, speak of the one true God, with clarity. To speak of Jesus Christ imprecisely, carelessly, and in an incomplete way will do damage in two ways: one, we will fail to communicate the truth of who Jesus was and is; and two, we will fail to communicate the the truth of who God is in his essential nature.

This is what I would like to address with you over the next few weeks. I would like for us to fix our minds upon the mystery of the incarnation. I call it a mystery because it is indeed a truth that is difficult (impossible) for our finite minds to comprehend. We can confess that the incarnation is true. We can lean to speak of it in a precise way so as not to bring error or unnecessary confusion to the conversation. But we will never fully comprehend how it is that the Eternal “Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity…did, when the fullness of time [had] come, [took] upon [himself] man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin…” This is indeed our confession. And our confession is indeed true, as it summarizes the teaching of Holy Scripture. We should learn to speak of Jesus with the same precision demonstrated here, all the while acknowledging that this is indeed a high mystery.

Only four sermons will be devoted to this topic during the 2015 Advent season. My hope is it to, Lord willing, teach on this topic in much greater depth in the Emmaus Essentials Sunday School hour after we finish our study of Eschatology. Maybe this sermon series will whet the appetite?

In this first sermon we will consider the nature of God himself. In the second we will consider the attributes of God. In third sermon we will consider the person of Jesus Christ. And in the fourth we will look upon the work of Christ. I hope that you are edified through what you hear, and are moved to worship and adore the one true God, and the Christ whom he has sent.

Now, I think you would agree that if we are to understand the incarnation – that is the Son of God, or the Word of God, come in the flesh – we had better first of all know something of God as he is in his essence.  To say it another way, it would most difficult to think clearly about God incarnate without first of thinking clearly about God as he was, is, and always will be in his essential nature.  And so that is what I am asking you to have in your mind today – God. God as he was and is and will forever be. We will come to consider the person of Christ the week after next, but for now I would ask you set your minds upon the one true God.

I have seven statements to make concerning the only living and true God. I will not be able to elaborate much at all upon each of these grand and glorious truths. My hope is that they will set our minds in the right direction, and lead us to praise.

God Is Incomprehensible

The first thing that should be said about God as we consider his essential nature is that he is incomprehensible. This means that he cannot be comprehended by us. He is beyond our ability to understand.

You may be thinking to yourself, this is a most unusual way to begin our consideration of God. It would seem that it if this is the first thing we are to say about God, it should also be the last. After all, if we cannot comprehend God then what is the point of saying another word about him?

But this would be a misunderstanding of the doctrine of incomprehensibility. It is true, our finite minds are not able to comprehend God fully. We, as creatures, cannot know the creator exhaustively. But we may know him truly. And how can it be that we are able to know the incomprehensible God truly? Well, it is because he has chosen to reveal himself to us. He has revealed himself to us through the world. Better yet, he has revealed him to us through his word. And most important of all, he has revealed himself to us through the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is because of revelation – it is because God has determined to make himself known to us – that we are able to know God truly.

But in the moment we say that God has revealed himself to us truly we ought to again confess that he is incomprehensible. We ought to remember that revelation in all of it’s forms is an act of condescension of God towards us. He stoops low for us that we might know something of him. He displays his power and glory through the created world. He speaks to us in words that we can understand. He came to us clothed in humanity. In all of these forms of revelation we learn something true of God – he has revealed himself truly –  but never should we make the mistake of thinking that he has revealed himself exhaustively. He speaks speaks to us by way of analogy. He reveals himself to us by telling us his names. He reveals himself through his actions in human history. All revelation reveals God truly, but never exhaustively.

In Exodus 33 Moses spoke to God saying, “Please show me your glory.” (Exodus 33:18, ESV) God responded to Moses, saying, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But, he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’” (Exodus 33:19–20, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, God does not have a face. Nor does he have a back, though that is what we are told that Moses saw after God had passed by – Moses saw the back of God. He has neither a face nor a back, but here human terminology is used to tell us something true about Moses’ experience. Did Moses see God truly? Indeed! Did God revealed himself to Moses when he passed by and showed him is “back”? Yes, this was true revelation! But did Moses see God in the fullness of his glory? Did he see God’s face, if you will? No, he saw God’s back. In other words God revealed himself to Moses in a way that Moses could handle, “For man shall not see [God in his essence] and live.”

God reminds us of the distance between he and us when he says through Isaiah the prophet, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9, ESV)

God, in his mercy and grace, has revealed himself to us so that we might know him truly, but we must never forget that he is nevertheless incomprehensible.

This is the proper place to start as we set out to talk about God as he is in his essence. It is the hight of arrogance to imagine that we creatures – and worse than that, fallen creatures as we are – have somehow managed to conquer God with our minds; as if we have wrapped our minds around him in all of his splendor and glory.

With this as our foundation we may move forward, saying things that are true of God, but only because these things have been revealed to us.

God Is Triune

The second thing to know about God as he is in his essence is that he is triune. It is a good thing that we started with the incomprehensibility of God, for this is certainly a truth beyond our ability to comprehend. We can confess it as true. We can learn to speak of it with care, so that we do not say something untrue. But our minds have trouble comprehending the triune God, as he is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures.

We teach our children the doctrine by asking them this question: “Are there more gods than one?” And they answer us with these words: “There is but one only, the living and true God.”

This is indeed a faithful summery of what the scriptures teach. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Jeremiah 10:10  says, “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.”

It is hard to miss the fact that the Bible teaches that there is only one living and true God. All other gods, are not gods at all. Men always have and always will replace the worship of the one living and true God with the worship of created things. These are the other gods mentioned in the scriptures. They are created things that men and women have determined to worship. But in reality there is only one true God.

But then we ask our children another question: “How many persons are there in the Godhead?”, we ask. And they are taught to reply,  “There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory. (1 Cor. 8:6; John 10:30; John 14:9; Acts 5:3,4; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14)

I will not take the time to demonstrate to you from the scriptures the truth of this doctrine. A simple reading of the Old Testament, but especially the New, reveals that, though there exists but one true God, this God eternally exists in three persons. The Father is God, the Son, or the Word, is God, and the Spirit is God. All are to be worshiped, all are to be prayed to, all possess the attributes of God, and are said to be of the “stuff” of divinity, and yet there is only one God.

The language of persons can actually mislead us if we are not careful. When we refer to God as existing eternally in three persons it can lead some to think of three separate people, or personalities, in the Godhead. It is wrong to think of God divided up in parts like that. Concerning the language of persons, Augustine has famously said, “When the question is asked: three what? human language labors altogether under great poverty of speech. The answer however is given ‘three persons’, not that it might be spoken but that it might not be left unspoken.” The point is that this Trinity is a great mystery. Human language is not well suited to speak of the mysteries of God.

Our confession speaks in this way: “In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him.” (London Baptist Confession 2.3)

This is the one true God as he is revealed to us in scripture. May we adore him forever.

God Is A Most Pure Spirit

The third thing to be known about God as he is in his essence is that he is a most pure spirit. Brothers and sisters, God does not have a body. Jesus has a body, but he is God incarnate – God with us – the Son of God who assumed humanity for us, to redeem us from our sins. God, as he is in his essence, is a most pure spirit, without body, parts, or passions.

Was Jesus not clear when he said that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, ESV) Or listen to how Paul praises God “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, [to him] be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, it is wrong for us to think of God as if he were nothing more than a bigger and better version of us. He is different than us. He belongs to another order of being. He is the creator, we the creature. He is divine, we are human. We are fleshly, he is a most pure spirit for all eternity.

God Is Of Himself

The fourth thing to be said of God is that he is of himself. By this I mean that he is self existent. He depends upon no one or no thing for his existence. He is of himself.

You and I are dependent creatures. In fact all things, besides God himself, are dependent creatures. We owe our existence to God. He created us. Not only that, he also sustains us. To use Paul’s language, it is “In him [that] we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28, ESV) But God is of himself. He is self existent. No one created God. No one brought him into being. No one sustains him. He is in need of no one or nothing outside of himself. He simply is. 

It is this fact that stands behind the mysterious name that God revealed to Moses in the burning bush. Moses wanted to know what name he should call God by as he spoke to the people of Israel. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14, ESV) What is meant by this name? It is that God is. He is the self existent one.

God is Infinite

The fifth thing to be said about our God is that he is infinite. This means that he is without limit.

We may speak of God’s infinity in regard to time. When thinking in terms of time we must confess that God is eternal. He is without beginning or end. He is not bound by time, but stands outside of it as its creator. You and I had a beginning. The earth had a beginning. The universe began to exist when God spoke that original creative word. Everything that exists has limits to existence, God created all things visible and inviable. But God is infinite. He is eternal, without beginning or end.

We may also speak of God’s infinity in regard to space. God is at once in all places fully. This is not to say that he is so big that there is a piece of him in every part of the universe – his head over there, his foot there, as if God had a head or a foot. It is to say that God is fully present everywhere at once.  You and I are limited creatures. We have boundaries. If I am here, then I cannot be over there at the same time. God is omnipresent.

We may also speak of the infinity of God in regard to his power. His power is also unlimited. It is not true to say that there is nothing that God cannot do. He cannot sin, for example. He cannot not punish iniquity. He cannot do anything that is contrary to his nature. When we speak of God’s infinity in regard to his power we may say that he is omnipotent. He is all powerful. Nothing in all of creation stands outside his sovereign control. Nothing constrains him. There is no one or nothing that can thwart his power. This certainly cannot be said of you and me.

I suppose we may also speak of God’s infinity in regard to his knowledge. He knows all things. He is omniscient. God has never learned a thing. He has never grown in knowledge, for he has always known all things. He knows the beginning and the end and everything in between

God is Unchanging

The sixth thing to say about God as he is in his essence is that he is unchanging. He does not grow. He does not learn. He does not transform or evolve. He is not impacted or moved by his creatures. He does not repent. He is not given to passions as we are. He is unchanging, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Listen to James: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:16–17, ESV)

Listen to how the Psalmist speaks of God, saying, “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.” (Psalm 102:25–27, ESV)

Listen to God’s word of comfort to us through Malachi the prophet:“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6, ESV)

And listen to 1 Samuel 15:29: “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” (1 Samuel 15:29, ESV)

For God to change would require one of two things: Either he was something less than the perfection of God before, and now he has grown; or through he was once the perfection of God, now he has fallen from that place.

Brothers and sisters, God does not change as you and I change. And this should be a great comfort to us. He is faithful. He is trustworthy and true.

God is Simple

The last thing to be said about God (at least as far as this sermon is concerned) is that he is simple.  You may be tempted to laugh at this last statement, thinking to yourself, this seems far from simple. But that is not what is meant by the simplicity of God. He is not simple in the sense of being easy to understand. No, he is simple in his essential nature.

You and I are composite creatures. We are made up of a body and a spirit. We possess a mind, a will, and affections. We possess certain attributes or qualities which, when combined together, make us who we are – a little of this, and a little of that.

God is God. Everything that is in God, is God. He is a most pure spirit, as has already been said. He is not a composite being consisting of body and soul. When we speak of the attributes of God we should be careful not to confuse the way that God possess attributes with the way that we possess them. You and I might be known for being somewhat loving, somewhat merciful, and rather just. But God is love – pure love. God is holy – and purely so. What may be called an attribute in us should actually be called a perfection in God.

God, in other words, is not made up of parts. He does not have body parts. He does not have certain aspects to his being which, if considered on their own, are less than God, but when considered together, add up to God. God is God. Everything that is in God is God. He is a simple being.

You and I are far from simple. We are complex creatures. We have to process things. We work things over intellectually, emotionally, volitionally. Everything is a process for us. For God, all things are simple, for he is utterly simple in his essence. More on this at another time

Conclusion 

I can hear the objections now: Pastor, I am more confused at the end of this sermon than at the beginning. I am having more difficulty picturing God, and imagining his essence now than when you started!

To that I would say, good! Mission accomplished! 

I say that partly in jest. I do not want to you to feel confused. As I said earlier, this sermon was intended to get us pointed in the right direction and to to whet the appetite for further study – there is not enough time her to give adequate attention to theses things. But in a way I am glad if God seems a bit more mysterious to you. Our tendency as creatures is to bring God low. We have this impulse to make God in our image – to bring him low – to press him into our mold, so that we might handle him, or conquer him, if you will. A god like this is more comfortable to us – less threatening.

But this is wrong, brothers and sisters. We ought not to bring God low and make him in our image. No, we ought to think of him as he is, and as he has revealed himself to us in his word. The solution to having a God that we can relate to – the solution to having a God that we can be comfortable with (approaching him as Father), is not to reimagine God as he is in his essence, but to understand all the more the significance of the incarnation.

It is Christ who has revealed the Father to us. It is Christ who has made a way for us. It is Christ who has  atoned for our sins so that we might come before God Almighty and cry out to him, saying, Abba Father.

Let God be God. Do not bring him low. But let Christ be Christ, seeing that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him.

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Old Testament Reading: Proverbs 15:29

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” (Proverbs 15:29, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 14:12-14

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:12–14, ESV)

Introduction

You really have to stand in the place of the disciples of Jesus to fully appreciate all that Jesus has to say to them in chapters 14-17. We should try our best imagine what it would have been like to see the long awaited Messiah with our own eyes, to be overwhelmed with excitement concerning his arrival, to assume that he was here to stay, and then to hear Jesus say, I am going away, and where I am going you cannot come. This would have been most disappointing – most troubling.

I’m sure you have experienced disappointment before. You expected to get the job – you expected to get the promotion – you expected the relationship to last forever, and when things went in a different direction, your heart was troubled. All of a sudden everything needed to be reconsidered.

This was the kind of emotion the disciples of Jesus were experiencing. They had thought that things would go one way, but Jesus revealed that they would go another. They expected that the Messiah would remain forever, but Jesus made it clear that he would go away for a time, and then come back for his people at the end. What the disciples thought would be one, simple, and all encompassing event (the coming and remaining of the Messiah) would actually be more complex – the work of the Messiah would actually be accomplished over a long period of time – his first coming marked the beginning of his work, and his second coming would bring about the completion of it.

It is not that these truths were missing from the Old Testament, mind you. It’s that the disciples where ignorant of these things. Jesus simply made these truth known to them, and their hearts were troubled upon hearing his word. I imagine their heads were spinning as they labored to wrap their minds around the fact that Jesus would go away for a time, and then come again at the end of the age to finish what he started.

What would Jesus be doing while he was away? John 14:1-3 revealed that he would be preparing a place for his people.

Where would he go? He made it clear that he would go to the Father?

And how would his people get from where they are now to where Jesus would be? They would get to the Father by believing upon Jesus – believing that he indeed was the Christ, the Son of God incarnate, and that life is found in his name.

So now the disciples of Jesus knew that he was going away. They knew that he was going to Father. They knew that he was going to prepare a place for them. They also were instructed as to how to get there. They would get there by believing in Jesus.

But the question remained in their minds, what would the time between the first and second coming of Jesus be like? What were they to do? They had depended upon Jesus so heavily during his earthly ministry, how would they get along without him? This, I think, was a most disturbing thought to the disciples of Christ. They trembled at the thought of going it alone.

Jesus had already alluded to the fact that he would be with them even after his departure. This allusion is contained in the dialogue between Jesus and Philip. I addressed this two weeks ago as we looked at verses 8-11, and will not repeat it for the sake of time.

But notice how Jesus, in verse 12, begins to speak rather specifically concerning how things would be in the time between his first and second comings.

Brothers and sisters, these are the days that you and I live in. We live in the age between Christ’s first and second coming. You may call it the “church age”, if you wish, or the “New Covenant age”, or the “age of the Spirit” – whatever we call it, it is important to recognize the significance and purpose of the age in which we live. John chapters 14-17 has much to teach us about this age.

Two things become clear through the text we are considering this morning: One, we learn something about the work to be done in this age. And two, we learn something of where the power to accomplish this work is found.

Let Us Consider The Work To Be Done In This Age

Let us first of all consider the work to be done in this age.

That there is work to be done is probably the first thing that needs to be said.

This is something that the people of God may loose sight of from time to time.

When we hear the statement, “there is work to be done in this age” we might agree, saying, yes, I must go to work to pay the bills, the lawn needs to be mowed, and the eaves need to be painted. Or, yes, the laundry needs to be done, the checkbook balanced, and the children need to be bathed and clothed. And it is true, this is some of the work that needs to be done in this age. This kind of work is necessary – it should not be neglected. It should also be said that this kind of work is good and pleasing to God – it should not be minimized. God is glorified when you are diligent to fulfill his calling upon your life, whatever that calling may be.

But what is the work that I am ultimately referring to here? It is not worldly work, or common work that I am referring to, but to the work directly associated with the advancement of Kingdom of God. Christ came the first time to accomplish his work as Redeemer, he ascended to the Father, and from there he will return. And in this age between his first and second comings, the people of God are to labor for the furtherance of his Kingdom. This is not a purposeless age. It is not an idle age. No, there is much work to be done for the Kingdom of God until the Lord returns.

That there is work to be done is the first thing that needs to be said.

Secondly, it should be noted that the work we are to engage in is nothing less than a continuation of the work of Jesus Christ.

Look with me at verse 12 where Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do… (John 14:12, ESV)

Remember that the disciples of Jesus were troubled by the fact that he was going away. Here he says to them, “Truly, truly” – in the Greek it is “ἀμήν, ἀμήν” – it is as if Jesus were saying, I am telling you the solemn truth.  And what does he promise? That “whoever believes in [him] will also do the works that [he does].” The believing ones – the one who believes in Jesus – will do the works that Jesus did. In other words, our works will be a continuation of the work that Jesus began.

Now of course we should not press this too far. There are some things that Jesus did that we could never do. For example, never could we claim to be from above, as Jesus was from above. Never could we fulfill the duties associated with being the Messiah, or  the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus alone was the Prophet, Priest, and King. We do not share with him in the work that he accomplished as the Messiah, the Son of God. To think in those terms would be to misunderstand what is being said here.

Instead, Jesus is making the point that his work will not end when he goes to the Father, but it will have, in fact, just begun. Perhaps another way to say the same thing is to point out that Jesus accomplished redemption in his first coming – he alone could do that – only he could live in perfect obedience to God, die for the sins of others, and rise again, defeating sin and death for us – we can in no way join him in that work. That work was his work, beginning, middle and end – it is finished! But what is Jesus doing now? Is he not applying the work of redemption that he accomplished to those given to him by the Father in this age between his first and second coming? This is the work that we share in. Christ started it at his first coming, and he will continue it until he returns; and he will involve us in that work!

This is a part of what is meant when the church is called the body of Christ. Though Christ is not present on earth in the flesh, his work continues in the world through the church, as each individual member does it’s part.

We might also think of the five great commission passages – one in each gospel, and also one at the beginning of Acts. What do they all communicate? They communicate the fact that the work of Christ will continue even after his ascension, through the Apostles, and through the churches they plant, to the ends of the earth.

It is interesting that the great commission passage in John goes like this: “Jesus said to them… ’Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’” (John 20:21, ESV)

The work that you and I together are called to engage in is nothing less than a continuation of the work of Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, notice that the works those who believe in Christ will do in the time between his first and second comings are, in some respects, greater than works that Christ did while on earth.

Listen to Jesus in the second part of verse 12:  “…and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12, ESV)

This sounds strange to our ears, doesn’t it? We think, how could it be that our works will surpass Jesus’ works?

If we take the word “works” here to refer only to the miracles of Christ, then this passage makes little sense. It’s hard to imagine how those who believe in Jesus could do anything greater than walking on water, or raising a man from the dead after four days in the grave, for example.

On the other hand, it would not be right to exclude miracles, for the word “works” (ἔργον) is used throughout John’s Gospel to refer to the miracles that Christ preformed. Jesus’ Apostles would indeed preform miracles – the book of Acts makes that clear. And thought I do not believe that anyone has the gift of miracles today, as they did in the age of the Apostles, I would confess that God is still able to work miracles through the prayers of his people, if he so chooses.

What I am saying is that we should not limit the meaning of the word “works” to miracles, nor should exclude miracles (this is consistent with John’s usage of the word ἔργον). Instead we should understand Jesus to be saying that after his departure those believing in him would continue the work that he began in his earthy ministry, and would in fact advance that work. Jesus’ work would reach new heights as it continued through his followers after his departure.

This would have been most comforting to his disciples, just as it is comforting to you and me.

Their thought was this: if Jesus is departing then it is game over.

Jesus’ response: was, no brothers, it has just begun.

They were troubled of heart thinking, how will we win given that we are loosing our star player?

Jesus’ comforted them saying, in effect, you will not loose the battle. In fact you will do even greater things after I go away.

And Jesus explains why this would be so. Those believing in Christ would greatly advance the work that he had begun, “because [he was] going to the Father.”

This “going away” was not a demotion for Jesus; it was a promotion. He would not loose power, but gain it. His work would not be hindered, but rather launched to new heights. His disciples would not be at a disadvantage, but rather it was to their advantage, and ours, that he go away.

I have heard some say, “Oh, if only I were there when Jesus was on earth, then I would have more faith! Then I would serve him better!” This is not true. The scriptures reveal that you and I are in a better situation now that Jesus has gone to the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ is in a more powerful position now that he has ascended to the right hand of God. It was to our advantage that he go away!

May I say two things about the exhalation of Christ to the right hand of God?

First of all, we should see that when Christ went to the Father he was given authority over all things. I could point to many scriptures to support this point. Peter says it in a most succinct way. Speaking of Jesus he says that “[he] has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Peter 3:22, ESV)

Do you hear that, church? Jesus has power over everything now. This is certainly to our advantage!

Notice also the introduction and conclusion to the great commission.

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV)

Why should we engage in the work that Christ gave us to do with boldness? Because all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to our Lord, and he is with us always, even to the end of the age.

Jesus is ruling and reigning now in his Kingdom. This is a most significant and comforting truth.

The second thing that needs to be said about Christ going to the Father is that he was then able to send the Spirit to us. I will not linger on this point for too long – to do so would steal the thunder from what we will encounter later in John 14. For now, please notice that this is the focus from verse 15 onward. Jesus promised his disciples that after he ascended to the Father he would send the Spirit. This certainly was to their advantage.

If you would like to see for yourself what Jesus meant when he said that those who believe in him would do greater works than he himself did during his earthly ministry, read the book of Acts. Christ had a very small band of disciples at the end of his earthly ministry; and yet 3,000 came to faith in one day when Peter preached the gospel in Acts 2. Also, Jesus’ ministry was limited to Palestine during his time on earth; but the Kingdom would spread to the ends of the earth after pentecost through the church planting efforts of his disciples. If you like to see more of how the those who believe in Christ would do greater works than Christ, study church history, giving special attention to the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In others words, we should not overlook the significance Jesus’ ascension to the Father, all things being subject to him, and to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out in New Covenant power. The gospel of the Kingdom advanced with great power after Jesus ascended to the Father.

Please hear me. It is not that Jesus’ followers would preform more spectacular miracles than he preformed (how could that be), but that the Kingdom that Christ inaugurated at his first coming would expand and grow and multiply from being the size of a mustard seed to the size of an enormous tree through the work of his disciples after his departure. This was made possible because he went to the Father, was given authority over all things in heaven and on earth, and from there sent the Spirit help us and to empower the continuation of the work he began at his first coming,

Application: Brothers and sisters, here is the question I have for you: Are you contributing to this work? I chose the word “contributing” carefully, for I do not think that an individual Christian is able to do the work of Christ (the Great Commission) on his or her own. The work of Christ continues through the church, which is the assembly of God’s people. We together are the body of Christ. The great commission was given – not to individuals – as if an individual were capable of fulfilling it on his own – but to the Apostles of Christ. And how did they go about fulfilling the command to “Go…and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19–20, ESV)? They planted local churches. Those local churches consisted of Elders and Deacons, and members. And each member was to do their part, according to the gift given to them from on High.

Take for example Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. He wrote to them in chapter 4, saying,

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’ (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…” (Ephesians 4:1–15, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, are you doing the work that Christ has called you to do. He has gifted you in a particular way. You have a role to play. It does not matter what your vocation is. It does not matter if you work in the secular realm, or the sacred, we all have the same mission in this age between Christ’s first and second comings – our mission is to continue the work that Christ began. We are his body.

Let Us Consider Where The Power To Accomplish This Work Is Found

Having first of all considered the work to be done in this age, let us now turn our attention to where the power to accomplish this work is found.

Notice first of all that Jesus points his disciples to the power of prayer.

He says in verse 13, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13–14, ESV)

This is quite a promise, isn’t it? Jesus was going to the Father. He would no longer be with his disciples in the flesh, but that did not mean that they would be alone. He left them on earth with the gift of prayer. Those who believe in Christ are able to commune with him by coming to him in prayer.

And notice the promise that Jesus makes. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do”, he says. And, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Our instinct is to immediately begin to qualify this promise, saying, well, Jesus only really means that he will do what we pray for so long as we pray according to the will of God, or something like that. And that is true. Christ is not offering himself up to us as if he were a genie in a bottle, ready to do all that our hearts desire.

But before we add qualifying remarks to what Jesus promises here, should we not first of all stand amazed at the breadth and depth of the promise that he made. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do”, he says. And, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

If this is true, then why are we so prayer-less? Should we not read these words and think to ourselves, if this is so, then I will pray to my Lord always and about everything! Our Lord has gone to the Father, but he has left us the gift of prayer. We are invited to come to him with our concerns and desires, and he has promised to act. This must have been a tremendous comfort to his troubled disciples, and it should bring comfort to you and me. Our Lord hears us. He is in a position of power. And he is ready and able to act for us.

The fact of the matter is that we do not need to add any qualifying or restraining remarks to Jesus’ promise concerning prayer – the text itself provides limits to the promise of Christ.

Noticed that we are to pray for those things which will bring glory to God the Father.

Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The prayers that Jesus promises to act upon are those prayers which are in line with the purpose of Christ, which is to glory God the Father. These are the prayers that Jesus promises to act upon!

The sinful and fleshly man is saddened by this news. The sinful man is disappointed when he hears that Jesus promises to act upon those prayers which are supremely concerned with glorifying God. He thinks to himself, well what is the use of that! What is the use if I am not guaranteed to have my prayers for health, wealth, and prosperity acted upon by Jesus!

But the godly are encouraged by this news. The godly – those who are true disciples of Christ – are filled with great joy to hear the Savior say, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, ][in order that] the Father may be glorified in the Son.” This was Jesus’ supreme desire – to glorify the Father. And it is the supreme desire of all those who truly love God. The leading cry of our heart is, Lord, be glorified!

Jesus taught us how to pray, didn’t he? He said,  “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’” (Matthew 6:9–10, ESV) What is to be our leading concern? That the Father be glorified! That his kingdom come, his will be done! After we begin in this way, it is then that we are invited to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:11–13, ESV)

Jesus makes a great and broad and unconstrained promise to us concerning prayer. And he does so assuming that those who truly belong to him will certainly pray for those things which make his heart smile. Those who believe in Christ are united to Christ. Those who believe in Christ have the Spirit of Christ. Those who believe in Christ have a heart transformed by Christ, and will naturally (or supernaturally) pray for those things that Christ loves. The thing that Christ loves more than anything is the Father, and the magnification of his great name.

Notice thirdly that our prayers are to be prayed in the name of the Son.

We conclude our prayers in Jesus name, do we not? We end our prayers by saying, “in Jesus name we pray. Amen”, or “in the name of Christ we pray. Amen”, or  something of these sort. Why do we do such a thing? Is it simply a tradition? It is just a nice way to bring things to a conclusion? No, it is in obedience to what is said here: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do”, Jesus says.

It is not that the name of Jesus is magical. It’s not as if the sound of the name has some sort of mystical power. No, to pray in Jesus name is the to pray trusting in him. We are praying in his name because he is our Savior.  We pray in his name because he is our Mediator even now – he is our great high priest who lives to intercede for us. When we say, “in the name of Christ we pray” we are saying that we trust that our prayers are heard by God and effective because of who Christ is, and all that he has done for you and for me.

Application: Brothers and sisters, are we diligent prayer? What a gift prayer is! Why we neglect it, I do not understand.

Are you diligent in your private prayers?

Do you “go into the closet” and pray to God, in the name of Christ?

Do you pray throughout the day, offering up adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication to him?

Are you praying with your family – your wife and children; extended family? Notice that we are trying to encourage family prayer through the Family Worship Guidelines that we send out each and every week.

Are you praying with the brethren? Did you know that there is a prayer meeting here every Sunday at 9:30am? How about praying with one another after the service, in your GCG’s, etc?

And are your diligent in prayer when we pray corporately in the worship service? When someone leads in prayer, you should be active in prayer too! When we say “amen” we are saying, I agree! Let it be so! Church, our “amens” should be hardy “amens”.

It is my objective as your Pastor to find more ways to motivate prayer. What a gift it is! What a promise Christ has made to us! Do you want to see Christ accomplish his work in and through us? Then we had better be a praying people!

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13–14, ESV)

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady John 14:12-14
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Brothers and Sisters,

If you were not able to make it to Emmaus Essentials on 11/15/15 I would encourage you to listen to the audio of Pastor Jason’s teaching on church associations. This is a very important topic given the fact that we are currently pursuing membership in the Southern California Association of Reformed Baptist Churches. The audio of his teaching can be found here.

Blessings,

Joe

Tags: Associations or Denominations, Jason Walter

Posted in Emmaus Essentials Associations or Denominations Jason Walter Church Life The Church Joe Anady
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