Introduction to The Godhead: God’s Greatest Image of Himself | Steve Benson

Open your Bibles this morning if you

would.

Going to begin this morning in the book

of Colossians.

Colossians.

Started a new series

major doctrines of the word of God.

This lesson will be an introduction

into the Godhead

and ask I ask a question. The word of

God asked a question. What is God's

greatest image of himself?

The Bible answers that, doesn't it?

So, let's begin this morning in

Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

A lot of these books were written to

combat errors that were in the culture

and there are a lot of errors in the

culture. A lot of superstition, a lot of

man's ideas about things and not God's

ideas.

So at this particular church, they

thought it was not good to have been a

be a body, be material,

and it would be better if you were

immaterial,

maybe like a spirit or God. So it was

very difficult for them to imagine that

that God would become a man, would

become a human being.

So, we have some of the greatest verses

in the New Testament about the Lord

Jesus Christ

doing that very thing.

He's the preeminent one.

Uh he's the one all the treasure is

hidden in. And Paul warns them about

being led away to something else and not

to the person and the work of Christ.

So here in chapter 2 and verse 9, I want

to zero in on this verse. It's not a big

verse, but there's a word in here that

we want to begin with this morning. For

in him, that'd be Christ dwelleth all

the fullness of the godhead bodily.

So we have this word godhead in the

Greek. Um it it uh it helps us to see

that you know the that there is one God

which

you know that's what we've been talking

about. That's what the word of God

reveals

in Deuteronomy chapter 6. One

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

you know we have one God. The Jews began

their day that way. They began that day

with their children praying and praising

God. There is one God. Yet he manifests

himself

into three people. The Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

That's the Godhead here

in verse

nine. So from the word of God,

you know, that's where we get this,

right? We this is not something that we

dreamt up

um or or men have dreamt up. You know,

their doctrines are foolish.

But the word of God tells us who the

true God is, what the true God has done.

And there is one God, the Bible says,

and he has manifest himself in three

different people.

That's what Jesus said at the end of the

book of Matthew.

good place for us to recall where Jesus

said to to what to do go and to teach

uh the doctrine and the doctrine is that

the name of the father the name of the

son and of the holy spirit

Jesus said teach these things and

observe these things so it's important

for the church to teach what Jesus said

and abide in his doctrines

and That's the purpose of the word of

God. That's the purpose of

the truth. So we might know what it is.

We might believe what it is.

And not only can we know these things

about God,

but we can have a personal relationship

with this great God.

And if you'll turn over to chapter 3,

the same book Colossians

here, Paul says, "If you then be risen

with Christ,"

that's what salvation means,

you know, is that, you know, by faith

we're saved

by grace and not of works lest any man

should boast. So, we're risen with

Christ.

That's Romans chapter 6, the

Romans 6 · chapter mention

resurrection.

We were dead in trespasses and sins and

now we've been raised together with

Christ. So this member of the Godhead

that Paul zeros in on here says if we

put our faith in him, we'll not only be

saved, but we'll know him.

So, you know, that's the great benefit

now of of this great salvation.

So we should seek those things which are

above where Christ sits on the right

hand of God. So we see here that

you know this Godhead is much bigger

than one person

much bigger than just you know one event

one act.

He is seated at the right hand of God.

So this this is a God who can do things.

This is a God who has a will, a God who

has purposes.

And we're going to get into some of

those things, but in the series, but

before we get into these things, we I we

want to see I want to see how big God

is. I I want to know how big and great

God is. So, we want to we want to set

our affection on things above and not on

things of the earth. We're dead and our

life is hidden with Christ in God. And

then here we have the his return

who is our life. He shall appear then

shall be we will appear with him in

glory. So this great God who come to

earth in the person of Christ you know

we can know him. Not only can we know

him we can we can seek him. Uh we can we

can put our affections on him and our

affections on you know the things above

not on things on the earth. Well we

can't do that without the word of God

because we don't even know what those

things are. We're we're ignorant. were

foolish men.

So Jesus said, "Teach these things and

observe these things." And here Paul is

so many years later, he's still doing

that. The church, that's the

responsibility of the church is for us

to help each other one another do what

Colossians here says, you know, that the

Godhead has done something great uh for

us. So, how can we know what the godhead

has done for us without the word of God?

It's impossible.

As I mentioned last week,

um we can't have a church without the

word of God. We can't have Christianity

without the word of God. That's how

important it is.

That's where men go astray and women go

astray. They try to have a church

without the word of God. That's a

problem.

So, we're dependent on this book. We're

dependent on the doctrines of this book.

We're dependent on this godhead uh to

instruct us and to help us to know who

he is and what he has done. And the word

of God, as you can see here in

Colossians

uh chapter 2 and chapter 3, these verses

that we've looked as we begin,

we see there's a difference between, you

know, God himself and what God has done.

You say, "Well, that's pretty obvious.

That's that's that's a small thing." No,

it's not. It's a big thing. You know,

God wants us to know him as a person.

And then God wants us to know what he

has done.

So, as we begin this morning, those are

some of the introductory thoughts. Turn

over to the book of Romans,

chapter one.

That's how

That's how we Gentiles know what's going

on. I mean, we have the privileges now,

not the Jews.

They had the word of God. They had the

privileges

and and they messed up. That's what Paul

says here uh in the book of Romans. And

now there's still Jews that are saved,

but

you know, they have to come through the

blood of Christ in the work of Christ,

one the member of the Godhead who who

come to earth. So they had all the

prophecies. They should have known these

things. You know, we Gentiles, we had we

didn't have the promises. We didn't have

anything. We're just a bunch of sinners.

And and now we know who Christ is. He's

God.

And then we know what the Bible says. He

came to his own. His own received him

not. He's actually he actually is a is

our Jewish Messiah.

So here Paul tells the Romans

in chapter one some very important

things about

God and the Godhead.

What's going on here if you would look

over in verse 20 and then I'll back up

and read the first part. But I want to

Here's our word over here in verse 20.

It says

for the invisible things of him from the

creation of the world are clearly seen.

So the Paul says that we can see

creation.

You know it's separate from God. He's

above it. It answers to him. Uh the

world God's above it. It answers to him.

Everything in the world he's above it.

Everything answers to him.

And he says here being understood by the

things that are made

even his eternal power and godhead so

that they are without excuse.

So dealing with this godhead word we can

see right here that Paul uses it as

well. You know, when we think of God, we

have one God as the Old Testament says.

But then we uh we learn there's more to

God than just one one person. There's

the three three there

here in chapter 1 verse one. Now I'll

read this

and Paul tells us, you know, what the

Godhead is here. He says a servant of

Jesus Christ called an apostle separated

unto the gospel of God. So right away we

see this Jesus Christ who's he

which he had promised before by the

prophets in the holy scripture. So Paul

even tells us where

in the old testament. So the godhead

who made everything he he has revealed

his great power in creation. But this

God also now is going to reveal himself

concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord

who was made the seed of David according

to the flesh. So God sent his son

uh through the Jewish nation

through the seed of David.

Jesus goes back to David

in his humanity and declared to be the

son of God with power.

you know and and this word uh declared

here means you know the power and the

majesty of it.

So you know this is where Jesus was

before

he came to earth. He was with the

father. He's he's a member of the

godhead. You know he has great power. He

has um great majesty and the spirit of

holiness by the resurrection of the

dead. He's going to raise from the dead.

And he did do that.

by whom we have received grace and

apostilhip for obedience to the faith

among all the nations for his name's

sake. So Paul said the Gentiles now it's

whosoever will may come. We don't the

Gentiles don't need one savior and the

Jews need another savior. No Jesus work

covers both. He died for the Gentiles

and he died for the Jews. In fact, he

died for everyone in every nation.

And God wants this preached.

Uh here they are making it to Rome just,

you know, 60 years later.

And Paul says, "To all that be in Rome,

be loved of God and called saints. Grace

to you and peace from God the Father and

the Lord Jesus Christ." He's still

talking about the Godhead.

The Spirit is here. The Father is here.

The Son is here. And then he says,"I

thank my God through Christ

that your faith is spoken of throughout

the whole world. For God is my witness

whom I serve with my spirit

in the gospel of his son." That's what

Paul calls him, the gospel of the son of

God. That's who Jesus is. He's God's

son.

Without ceasing, I I make mention of you

in my prayers, making requests, if any

means, by length, that I might have a

prosperous journey by the will of God to

come to you. So, you know, Paul says

there's there's one God, but that one

this one God, this one godhead has, you

know, three persons here. And that's

that's what the word of God says. And

remember last week we read in in Acts

Acts 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17 where Paul told the uh those

unsaved people there that we're the

offspring of God. You know, that's who

we are. So when we look at at what God

has done, God has he's made the

incredible creation that we see.

It it never stops,

you know, and and all the seasons and

and everything going on. uh the animals

and and and their instincts,

all those great things. How can you not

see God in creation?

In fact, Paul says, "You're without

excuse. You better see him in creation."

But then he says that something here as

well about the son of God that that's

who God is manifesting himself in and

through. This is the mystery

that Paul wrote to Timothy about chapter

3:1 15 about the mystery of godliness

and the mystery of God. So the world

creation is is fruit from God. Man God

made us. We're fruit from God. He made

us in his image. And then we see here

that the son of God is fruit from God.

He sent him. He sent his only begotten

son. This is the great mystery.

So this is the the great unity

that there is in the Godhead. God the

father, God the son, and God the holy

spirit. And when you think of the

trinity, you think of the godhead.

That's one of the very first things that

we should think about and know is that

uh they're united.

They're united in their purpose and who

they are and what they're doing. One man

said, "God is not merely one. He is the

only one."

And this trinity and these things are

not easy to understand.

But just because we don't understand

them, that doesn't, you know, that

doesn't give us the right to not believe

them. You know, there's a lot of things

that even in the secular world that, you

know, we don't know a lot of. My dad was

an electrician and I don't know anything

about electricity. I know to stay away

from it. You know, I've seen people hurt

by it bad. So, I don't mess with it. You

know, call the call the electrician.

So, there are things out there that we

don't understand, but they still exist.

That's just one example.

So saying that you don't understand God.

Well, welcome to the club.

You say God's greater than my brain.

Well, welcome to the club.

You know, that's why we have his word.

That's why we, you know, we spend time

um not only in, you know, devotions and,

you know, our our uh our leisure time,

if you will, with God, if there is such

a thing, but we also have this this time

when we come in and we look at the depth

of the word of God, what's here, and to

see who God is. And you know, we need

the word of God. We have, you know, we

have no access to him, no understanding

of him

outside of his word. What do men say?

Well, men say there is no God. You know,

the fool said in his heart, there is no

God. That's what that's what they say.

And and God God says, "Well, come come

and let me show you who I am. I'll

introduce you to myself." as well. Man

says that there are many gods.

You know, there's not just one. There's

many gods. And you can find your

favorite god and we're all going to end

up at the same place in heaven. That's a

lie. That's an enormous lie.

We're not all going to end up in heaven.

Only those who find God through his son

Jesus Christ, who he sent is his perfect

image to this earth. The Greek gods,

they're they're foolish gods, aren't

they? They Michael read that book on

them. The Greek gods, they're at war.

They can't even get along.

Well, that's the opposite of our God.

He's united. He's getting along very

well

uh with himself, within the Godhead.

So, this is a great mystery that must be

revealed to us. You know, we're not

going to go down to the library and find

a nice book to read. Although there are

some

but this is the book where we we find

out these things you know that God is

one yet uh he's the triune God and

that's what that's what Paul said about

Jesus in the book of Ephesians he being

the mystery of of God and and a mystery

not in a sense of a you know we can't

know but in the sense that God has to

show us you know we're not going to get

there. We can't climb up on our own. You

know, we need a new birth. We need the

Holy Spirit. We need the scriptures. We

need all those things that we've already

talked about in order to know this God

and then devote ourselves

uh to his word. It's it's simply a

matter of revelation.

You know, the people that get to know

are the are the ones who come to God the

right way.

And those who come to God the right way,

God said, "I will in John, remember that

verse, uh, I will make make myself known

to you. Any man have a deep rooted

determination,

God's will to practice, he will know the

truth."

So once we've been given the truth, you

know, and and we've seen we see the

animals, we see ourselves, we see

creation, we see all these things around

us, then, you know, um God decides now

to become a man.

We're men and women, but God says, "I'm

going to become a man." That's that's a

pretty tall order for God to become a

man, huh?

But we know that from Psalm 2,

don't turn there. We're going to look at

that a little bit tonight. But there we

see Jehovah has a son.

And uh he the Old Testament talks about

him being begotten, the only begotten

son. God has one son that he begott.

That's what John 3:16 says. For God so

John 3:16

loved the world, he gave his only

begotten son that whosoever believes in

him will not perish but have everlasting

life.

We're going to look at Hebrews chapter 1

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

here in a second, but that whole chapter

is just filled

with things like that.

And you know, some people in their

foolishness think, you know, God the

Father became God the Son, God the Son

became the Holy Spirit, and now we've

got the Spirit, so we've got the whole

Godhead. That that's foolishness.

That's not what the Bible says.

There there are three independent gods.

Um remember Jesus baptism, they all

showed up. God the Father, this is my

beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

The spirit descended on him like a dove.

So here we have all three members of the

Trinity doing something at the same

time. They couldn't be individuals and

you know, you know, Jesus didn't say,

"Okay, thank you, Father, and now I'm

going to turn into the Holy Spirit."

That's foolishness.

There are three independent beings

within the Godhead. Turn to 1

Corinthians 8.

1 Corinthians chapter 8

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

verse one.

Read verses one here. Now, as touching

things off for the idols, we know that

we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs

up, but love edifies. If any man think

he knoweth anything, he knows nothing as

he ought to know. So, you know, say,

"Well, I know something you don't know."

I mean, that's pride.

If any man think he knoweth anything, he

knows nothing. If any man love God,

the same is known by him.

Look at the singular God. He didn't say

gods.

Singular God. As concerning therefore

eating of those things that are offered

and sacrificed unto idols, we know that

an idol is nothing but something in the

world and there is no other god but one.

So there's Paul saying there's not three

gods. There's only one.

And he goes on to say,

"For though there be others called gods,

you know, there's plenty of idols, you

know, they're um they're plural,

whether in heaven or in earth or as many

gods many and lords many." Yeah. Oh,

yeah. The false ones are many. They

outnumber the true one. But he's still

calling God one God here.

If God was something else, here's the

perfect place for Paul to say, "By the

way, God's this and God's that." No, he

says God is one God.

For though there be those that are

called God in heaven and earth, excuse

me, verse six, but unto us there is but

one God. And here he listened. The

father of whom all things we and him

creation were made in his image. One

Lord Jesus

by whom are all things and we by him.

So God exists in three distinct persons,

personalities. It's okay for us to say

person

about God. Jesus is a person.

The Holy Spirit's invisible.

Uh God the Father is invisible.

But it's okay to think of them as as a

person so we can re Persons have

personalities. People have

personalities. So in in a sense, you

know, God has a personality. Each one is

distinct. Father, Son, and the Holy

Spirit.

And uh, you know, that's what the word

of God says here for us. You remember

what uh,

did I read verse six? Yeah. There is one

God.

You guys remember what James chapter 2

James 2:19

verse 19 says? I'll quote it for you.

James says, "Thou believest that there

is one God. Thou doest well. The demons

believe and tremble."

So we have one God, not three. But we

have a trinity, a triunity, a triune God

in the Godhead. God the Father, God the

Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

And you know this is a mystery as the

Bible says and you know when you're

first introduced to these things the

these things may be new to you

but it doesn't change the truth. You you

have to I have to adjust to what the

book says

you know and and anything short of this

is not not good. Um you know Jesus said

without without me you can do nothing.

That means that we can't go to heaven.

and and he said, "You're going to die in

your sins unless you believe I am."

So, we're going to see some of these

things as we go through this series

about the deity of Christ and these

things uh that are going on. But what

happens to husband and wife? Michael's

getting married. Pray for him

to terra in a couple weeks. But what is

that? Well, the Bible says

father and uh

man and a woman will leave their father

and mother and the two will become what?

They two become one flesh.

So we have things like that in the Bible

where two become one. And uh you know

that's that's

difficult to describe I guess or

difficult but it's exactly what happens.

The two become one.

And what God has put together, let no

man put us under. So we use things like

that to describe Mary. The two become

one. Well, well, God is just one God.

There's only one God. Yet he exists in

three people in the Trinity.

And we also have our our uh word

trinity.

We body. That's what we can see. Soul,

what we can't see. And our spirit or our

personality, what we can't see. So, two

parts of us are immaterial. We can't

see. One part of us is material.

And then we're going to be made all

immaterial when we get when we go to

heaven. We got to flesh and blood cannot

inherit the kingdom of God.

We must be chained.

So we have things like that in the Bible

to help us along the way to understand

what some of these things are.

You know, some of you have flown on

planes and some of you have not. Some of

you

are very uncomfortable flying.

And I I guess I started out that way

because I didn't you're like, man, I

don't know if I want to get in a plane

and fly, you know, at 30,000 ft, 500

miles an hour for 15 hours.

We did that going to Africa. Wasn't

quite as long going to he's getting

ready for that trip.

But, you know, we

take some metal,

we take a couple jet engines and we

strap a couple jet engines to a pile of

metal and load everybody up on it and

put somebody behind the wheel and take

off and land halfway around the world in

15 hours. That's that's incredible.

But it takes a little bit of faith

to do that.

You know, that's what help God God

helped me with my faith

in in these planes and these gizmos and

these gadgets. So

ultimately, we're trusting him.

But at the end of the day, you know,

there are people that will put their

faith in Delta, but they won't put their

faith in God,

you know, and and God's much greater

than than a jet, much greater than a

plane. He deserves, you know, all of our

faith and and uh, you know, once we know

the truth, then our faith can lay hold

of him. That's what happens when we get

into the word of God. We're,

you know, maybe we're a little shaky at

first. Maybe we don't understand at

first and and and our knees knock a bit,

but once we get into the word of God,

we see that this triune God who says

he's one, yet he exists in three people,

you know, and we should believe that. We

should rest our faith in that. That's

what Hebrews says. Turn over to Hebrews

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1.

Now, Andreas, don't you die in a plane

crash on the way to Argentina. You just

blew my

illustration.

Pray for him.

So

here in Hebrews chapter 1,

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

so the Godhead is united as one, yet it

exists in three persons with three

personalities that are specific to them.

You know, like some people think the

father became the son, the son became

the holy spirit. That's that is so

wrong. But they are they're they're in

within the godhead, but they have

distinct personalities. They have

distinct things that they are and

distinct things that they have done to

reveal themselves to us. And they're

perfect, by the way. They don't need us.

They don't need uh any help. Uh we don't

add anything to them other than the

glory that's going to be Christ at the

end of the age.

And here in Hebrews chapter 1,

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

these these first two chapters of

Hebrews are so important.

because this really helps us. This this

was written later on. This was written

after

uh whoever wrote Hebrews saw the

problems with the Jews were having with

moving on and and you know trusting

Christ and then and resting in him.

So we have a lot here in these first two

chapters. Well, if Jesus was just a man,

how could we do that?

It's just a He's just our best man. We

found our best man and it happened to be

Jesus because he was just so good. He

went about doing good and all those

wonderful things and then we sacrificed

him to God.

Um that would do no good. He's uh a man

cannot pay for man's sin.

So if Jesus is only a man, he's not

deity, then we're still dead in our

sins. That's what Paul told the

Corinthians.

So we need to think that way. We need to

understand this great gospel. And here

in Hebrews 1,

you guys are familiar with this. God at

times in diverse manner spoke to the

fathers by the prophets.

That describes the Old Testament. Now

there's much more to the Old Testament

than that.

But has in these last days spoken unto

us in his son. And his son here is its

deity. The son of God. God became a man.

He appointed heir of all things.

God the father appointed his son heir of

all things. That's why he's more than

just a man.

And every knee will bow. Every tongue

will confess. If Jesus was just a man,

how is he going to overcome Satan? How

is he going to overcome all these demons

and a third uh of of heaven that's

rebelled against him and the father and

the Holy Spirit? If Jesus is not God,

he's in big trouble here.

But he is God

who being the brightness of his glory

and the expressed image of his person.

Well, there's what Paul told the

Colossians.

Who's Jesus? He is the expressed image

of the Godhead

and upholding all things by the word of

his power

has by himself purged our sins,

sat down on the right hand of the

majesty on high. So again we got this we

got this view of the Godhead

God

the Godhead one of them became a man one

of them come to earth one of them is the

brightness of his glory the image of his

person that will be Christ and in him is

everything

and he by himself purged our sins

and being made and then you say how

about the best angel if we got we can't

get the best man to die for us. We were

still going to hell. What if we got the

best angel?

A holy angel to die. We're not angels.

He can't angels can't pay for sin.

As he has inherited obtained a more

excellent name than they, for unto which

of the angels said he at any time,

you're my son?

None.

Not to Gabriel, not to Michael,

not to the holiest, certainly not to

Satan after what he's done. He's in

serious trouble.

Jesus is not a brother to an angel.

He's not a brother to the human beings.

He is in a sense that he became uh lower

to bring us back to God. That's here at

the end of chapter two. But he could

never do that without the first part.

Then again he brought the first begotten

into the world and let all the angels of

God worship him.

When did Jesus become

God?

Was there a point in time remember his

ministry? We have three gospels.

Remember poor John? He in the book of

Revelation he he worshiped an angel and

he got in a little bit of trouble for

that.

uh you know and and other people have

made that mistake. They see something

majestic and they worship it.

But but Jesus,

he never turned that away.

Worship.

The ladies did it.

You know, he said, "Leave him alone.

They're doing this for my burial." They

worshiped him. He's God.

But when did all that begin? And that

Jesus at some point, did he become God

after his resurrection?

Did he become God when you know he was a

good guy and he went about doing good

and he finally he did enough good deeds

and he became God?

No. That's all foolishness.

He was born God.

When was the first time he was

worshiped?

You guys remember Bethlehem?

You guys remember the the wise men

What did he do? He said, "We worship

him." And everybody was like, "What?

This little baby?" They're like, "He

he's God.

He's God in the flesh." Remember uh

Anna? Remember Simeon? They did the same

thing.

God in the flesh.

Jesus was God when he was born. He was

God when he was in the womb.

At no point did he ever become God.

He's always been God.

And now he says here,

you have laid and and he's connected

with creation.

You Lord from the beginning have laid

the foundation of the earth and the

heaven and the works are of your hands.

Wow.

That little baby made everything in this

universe,

including us.

They shall perish.

You will remain.

They will become old as does a garment.

But as a vesture shalt thou fold him up,

and they will be changed,

and uh thou art the same, and thy year

shall not fail.

What what a saying here about Jesus.

He's going to come back.

Everything's going to answer to him.

He's going to renew everything.

He's going to have a kingdom

wherein dwelleth righteousness and that

includes us. And he says verse 30, which

of the angels did God say that to?

Gabriel,

Michael

the angel.

No, none of them. No angel did God say

this to. He only said it to his son. He

says, "Now are they ministering

spirits?" And he goes on and then

chapter two is just as good.

Therefore, we ought to give the more

earnest heed to the things which we have

heard, lest at any time we should let

them slip.

God doesn't want us to let this

slip.

His son became

a man and he's taken over this universe.

So

whatever rulers and leaders we have out

there, it's only temporary.

Remember, he's the King of Kings. He's

the Lord of Lords.

You know, he the Psalms, one of them

Psalms back there, 80 something says,

"God the Father says to God the Son, I'm

going to make you a king.

You think God's going to fail?"

And here we have, we say, "Well, sin's

gotten in the way. How can God have a

king? How can God get all this back if

we've sinned and we've fallen short?"

Well, that's what the salvation's all

about. God died for us. God shed his

blood for us.

And you know there are a lot of people

that don't take this serious and don't

take God serious. Why? Well, God takes

this serious.

Verse three, how shall we escape if we

neglect so great a salvation?

Which at the first began to be spoken of

by the Lord

and was confir confirmed unto them that

heard him. God started way way back

there

with this plan.

God bearing them witness both with signs

and wonders and diverse miracles and

gifts of the Holy Spirit according to

his own will. He does it again. What

what angel did God say he would do this

to or for?

If Jesus is just a man, we're in big

trouble. He's much more.

If he's just an angel, we're in trouble.

He's much more.

The writer says in verse 9, we see

Jesus. That's who we're looking for.

He's God.

He's the great I am.

He said, "Come unto me all ye that labor

and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest. Learn of me. I'm lowly and I am

meek. And take my burden upon you. Take

my yoke upon you." And he as well

suffered to death and crowned under

glory. So, okay, God come to earth. But,

you know, we rolled the red carpet out

for him. We we put him in his seat in

the temple and we everybody got around

and fanned God, you know, and we uh told

him how great he was. No, it says he he

was a servant.

That's what this says.

A suffering servant. Well, where's that

at?

Isaiah

55. all all through the Old Testament.

God's son is going to do something when

he gets here. We have verse after verse

after verse on this one.

For it became him from whom are all

things. Wait a minute. That's what he

said way back there in chapter two.

There's nothing that Jesus

didn't is not going to take over.

There's nothing, you know, there's no

there's not going to be anyone, you

know, between the Godhead and Jesus. He

is the Godhead.

And that's what this says. And whoever

Jesus says goes into his kingdom,

they're the ones going into his kingdom.

For it became him from whom are all

things and whom are all things to bring

many sons to glory. That's us.

So Jesus didn't die to bring back the

fallen angels. No, he he did something

far greater and far more important to

God. That was to die for Adam's race.

And that's what he did. And he's the

captain of their salvation,

perfect

through suffering.

For both he that sanctifies and they

that sanctified are all one. So, we're

one with Christ because he's God,

because he's the son of God, because

he's the creator of of heaven and earth,

because he is so perfect and so

righteous and and did such a great job

paying for all of our sins. And now, as

many people as we can get in can go to

heaven,

not because of anything we've done, but

because of what he has done.

And then he did even more. He knocked

out the fear of death.

at the end of this chapter. It's just

amazing these two chapters here. And

then look at verse 18.

For in that he himself has suffered

being tempted that he's able to help

them that are tempted. You say, "Well,

if he's God, he he he doesn't understand

what I'm going through."

Wrong. He does understand what we're

going through. And that's what this is

about. How high and holy and glorious is

God and Jesus to come to the sinful

earth and become a worm basically

that we spit on

that we put a crown of thorns on that we

laughed at

and he said father forgive them for they

know not what they do

that's who this person is Christ

many reject his deity

That's a dangerous thing. You can see

right here what the word of God says.

You You reject the deity of Christ,

you're in serious trouble. You're still

in your sin. I didn't say that. The word

of God says that.

So, you know, how has God shown us his

love? Well, the person and the work of

Jesus.

So, if Jesus were just a man, not God,

well, how could God show us his love?

If Jesus was just a man, well, he's more

than a man. He's God himself. God says,

"Here's how I will love you." Go back to

First John.

1 John

1 John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

Paul said 2 Corinthians chapter five,

excuse me, 2 Corinthians, yeah, he said

the love of Christ constrains us.

And when he says that, he's not talking

Jesus is not a man,

not man's love. This is God's love.

We're constrained by God's love.

God showed us what love is. A man

didn't.

God showed us what love is. And here in

we have this verse in in First John.

I'm going to find it.

This whole section is upon is on this

very subject.

He says in verse 7,

the Bible says we're beloved.

Well, when did we go from not being

loved to being beloved? Well, we we were

never not loved by God.

God so loved the world, he gave his only

begotten son, whosoever will may come.

God loves us. And then we become beloved

when we were put in Christ.

We took God up on his offer.

Not man, not humans, not angels.

We took God up on his offer. That's what

this says.

Beloved, let us love one another for

love is of God.

So

Christ displaying his love for us at the

cross. He was just a man. John couldn't

say this. Well, he was just a man. He

wasn't God.

But we know he is God. And and for love

is of God. Everyone that loves is born

of God and knows God.

That's what changes

once we know God. Once we're born from

above, once we take God up on his offer,

that he loved us and died for us,

we become

beloved and we're able to love

one another and him.

How can you not love God? He's perfect.

He never made a mistake.

The struggle was with one another

because we make a lot of mistakes, don't

we?

He that loves not God knows not God.

For God is love. John's so bold to say

people that don't love are they don't

know God. It's it's something else in

them.

It might be lust. It might be luck. It

might be uh wisdom. It might be their

intellect. You know, there a lot of

things we can plug in there that that

everybody thinks is love. That's not the

love of God. The love of God is who

Christ is and what Christ has done. He

died for us sinners.

That's what he says. And this was

manifest.

That means displayed. God did something

so we could see.

That's what the miracles were. Jesus

raised the dead so we could see he's

God.

Jesus loved the prostitutes that washed

his feet so we could see what love from

God is.

That's what he says. The love of God

toward us.

God sent his only begotten son.

You don't doubt the deity of Jesus.

You're denying the love of God

when you do that.

He came into the world that we might

live through him. That's where it all

began. That's where it's all at. That's

how we're all going to get. That's the

bus we're on

here in his love. Not that we love God.

We didn't do anything special.

Our our thoughts were not of him. Our

ways were not of him. Our words were not

of him.

We were dead in trespasses and sins. And

God said, "These sinners are whom I

love.

Come, come unto me all ye that labor and

heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

And that's what Jesus did. Here is love,

beloved.

Because he that loved us sent his own

son to be

the propitiation for our sins. Where's

God's love displayed?

That's the cross.

If he's not God, then a man can't pay

for our sin. If Jesus is just a man,

we're still dead in our sin. That's what

Paul told the Corinthians,

you know. So, um, you know, God is

absolutely perfect. He is absolutely

full of joy. God needs nothing.

You know, he's complete in himself and

he's loved us sinners and made us

complete in Christ. We lack nothing now.

All we all we lack is a transformation.

And beloved, if we so loved us, so we

ought to love one another. What an

example he is.

And this is just an incredible section

on the love of God here.

And that's what 2 Corinthians turn to

Exodus 33.

Exodus

30 3

verse 12.

God did nothing out of impulse. God has

done nothing out of frustration. God has

done nothing out of revenge.

Yet,

we're still in this window

of his grace and his love and his mercy.

And God had this plan

before

you existed, before I existed.

And everything that God

begins, he finishes.

Not one thing in the Bible that God

didn't finish.

And our salvation is one of those

things. When we know who God is, we know

that Jesus is God. We know to what

extent and what end God went to save us.

Romans says, "How shall we freely give

us everything else?"

Uh took the greatest thing God had.

God said, "Take him. Take my son." It

just fascinates me that he handed him

off to Mary in the manger in Bethlehem.

Incredible, isn't it?

And here in Exodus

in verse 12,

morning.

And Moses said unto the Lord,

"See thou sayest unto me, bring up the

people,

and thou has not let me know when thou

wil sin with me, yet thou has said, I

know thee by name, and thou has also

found grace in your sight."

So God knows us. He knows He knows us

better than we know ourselves.

He knows our thoughts. He knows our

ways. He knows all these things about

us. Yet he still loves us.

And here Moses

in verse 13 says, "Now therefore I pray

thee, if I have found grace in your

sight, show me now your ways

that I may know thee that I might find

grace in your sight and consider that

the nation is your people."

And he said unto me, "My presence shall

I go with thee, and I will give thee

rest." That was God's response.

After all this nation did, after all

Moses did,

God said, "I'll go with you. I'll give

you rest and I will show you who I am."

There's not a greater thing for a human

being than to know who God is and to

have this rest that he has promised. Now

look over in verse, excuse me, chapter

34

verse 5.

And the Lord descended in the cloud and

stood upon him there and to proclaim the

name of the Lord.

And the Lord passed by before him and

proclaimed,

"The Lord

God merciful,

gracious,

long-suffering,

abundant in goodness and truth, keeping

mercy for thousands,

forgiving iniquity and transgressions

and sin."

This is all before Jesus ever come to

earth. Well, how can God do this? He He

knew one of the member of the Trinity

was going to take care of the problem

that we have of sin.

God won't clear the guilty. He's not

going to let us off. That's not what

he's going to do.

Visiting the iniquities of the fathers

to the children, the children to their

children, to the third, fourth

generation. God says, I I'm just not

going to do this once. I'm going to do

it for every generation.

And here we are, how many thousands of

years after Moses wrote this.

Moses made haste. He bowed his head

toward the earth and he worshiped.

That's what we're to do. We're not to

bring our filthy rags to God. He doesn't

want them. He doesn't need them.

He wants us to worship him and praise

him because he's merciful, because he's

gracious, because he's long-suffering,

because he's abundant in goodness and

truth and abundant in mercy.

That's why.

And Moses made haste. He bowed his head

toward the earth and he worshiped and he

said,

"If now I have found grace in your

sight, oh Lord, let the Lord, I pray,

thee, go among us, for these are stiff

necked people. Pardon our iniquity and

our sin and take us for your

inheritance."

Wow.

And God says,

"Behold, I will make a covenant."

So God took all this upon himself.

As sinners, we need mercy, grace. We

need we need everything that God has.

And God says, "I'll I'll be there. I'll

be your guide. I I will find you. Rest."

As sinners, rest. And these things rest

in the person and the work of Christ.

He's the face of God. We saw David in

Psalm 27, remember?

Look at Isaiah 63:9.

Isaiah 63:9

I got to quit.

Isaiah 63:9.

Isaiah 63:9

How foolish we are to think we can take

care of our sin. How foolish we are to

think we can work our way into heaven.

How foolish we are

after God has made a a grand provision

that we need to get in his word and find

Isaiah 63

and verse 9. In all their afflictions he

was afflicted and the angel of his

presence saved them. And in his love and

in his pity, he redeemed them. He bore

them and he carried them all the days of

old. That's our God.

We don't have to run from him. We can

run to him. He's abundant mercy. It's

incredible what the word of God says

about him. He's plenteous in grace. He's

plenteous in mercy.

So

you know we ask the question then what

is the grace of God? What is the mercy

of God? What it's the person of Jesus

Christ. That's why the wise men came to

worship him. Here's God in flesh

to take away our sins and to take our

burdens

and to bring ourselves to him. What an

amazing thing God has done for us.

That's the wisdom of God, isn't it?

Let's pray. Father, we thank you this

morning

uh for your word.

We certainly couldn't

think these great thoughts, Father, that

you've given to us without your word.

And truly, we're sinners. Truly, we have

a burden.

Truly, we need your mercy. We need your

grace. We need your longsuffering.

Um, we need the Holy Spirit within us.

We need the word of God. We need one

another.

We thank you for these grand provisions

that you have made. Most of all, paying

for our sin

as far as the east is from the west and

you will not remember our transgressions

anymore. This is a great salvation and

we thank you for it. Jesus name. Amen.

>> Hi.

>> Hi Martha.

Lord, as we go from this place,

loving you more, trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin darkened

world. As we go from this place,