["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening. We're in the Book of John, Chapter 1.
And the Bible reads,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
The same came to bear witness of the light that all men through Him might believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying,
This was He of whom I spake.
He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.
And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man hath seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask Him,
Who art thou?
And He confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ.
And they asked Him, What then, art thou Elias?
And He saith, I am not.
Art thou that prophet?
And He answered, No.
Then said they unto Him, Who art thou?
That we may give an answer to them that sent us.
What sayest thou of thyself?
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Elias.
And they which were sent were the Pharisees.
And they asked Him, and said unto Him, Why baptize us thou then,
if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water,
but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not.
He it is, who coming after me, is preferred before me,
whose shoes latch, that I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The next day John seeth Jesus, coming unto him, and saith,
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
This is he of whom I said, after he cometh a man, which is preferred before me,
for he was before me.
And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel,
therefore I might come baptizing with water.
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove,
and it abode upon him.
And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water,
the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending,
and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.
And I saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God.
Again the next day, after John stood, and two of his disciples,
and looking upon Jesus, as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Then Jesus turned and saw them, following, and saith unto them,
What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted Master,
Where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see.
They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day,
for it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him,
was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him,
We have found the Messiahs, which is being interpreted the Christ,
and he brought him to Jesus.
And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jonah,
thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone.
The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee,
and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew, and Peter.
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him,
of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write,
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him,
Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is not.
Nathanael saith unto him, Once knowest thou me?
Jesus answered and saith unto him, Before that Philip called thee,
when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God,
thou art the king of Israel.
Jesus answered and saith unto him, Because I saith unto thee,
I saw thee under the fig tree, Believest thou?
Thou shalt see greater things than these.
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God,
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you for this church you have given us,
dear God, for every precious gift you have given us,
dear Lord, and every perfect gift we thank you for giving us,
your Son, Jesus Christ, dear Lord.
And what a wonderful gift, my God, that you have given to this world.
We thank you for our pastor.
Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in John chapter 1 this evening,
and the title of my sermon tonight is the exact same one
The title of my sermon tonight is The Existence of Jesus Christ.
We're going to take a break from the book of Isaiah
to do another Bible study in light of the fact that it's Christmas.
And so I want to talk about the birth of Jesus Christ.
And look at John chapter 1 in verse 12.
It says,
But as many as received him, to them gave me power to become the sons of God,
even unto them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Tonight, I want to go over the incarnation of Christ.
But I'm going to break this sermon up into three simple parts.
We're going to look at the preexistence of Jesus Christ,
the incarnation of Jesus Christ,
and ultimately, the glorification of Jesus Christ.
Now hold your place there in John chapter 1.
We're going to come back to that.
Go to John chapter 17, if you would.
John chapter 17.
Now before we can really truly understand the incarnation of Christ,
it's important for us to kind of lay a foundation of the preexistence of Christ.
The birth of Christ is essential to our faith, right?
But we need to understand that his physical birth does not negate the fact that he already existed before the first century A.D.
And in fact, the Bible says that he is from everlasting,
essentially talking about his eternality, the fact that he's the eternal son of God.
And when you study the Bible, this becomes very apparent,
not necessarily in the Old Testament, although we see that in the Old Testament,
it actually becomes very clear when we read the New Testament.
And so in order for us to understand the preexistence of Christ,
we need the New Testament for that, okay?
There's a lot of pictures, there's a lot of appearances in the Old Testament,
but some of the strongest evidence for the existence of Christ in the Old Testament is actually the New Testament, right?
And in fact, we often say the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.
The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
And so now that we have the New Testament, we know what the Word of God says.
It sheds light upon what we would refer to as the Trinity, right?
The fact that we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity,
and we actually see this not just in the New Testament, but we see it even illustrated in the Old.
John chapter 1, during chapter 17, let me read to you from verse number 1, it says,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
Now, obviously, this is written in such a way that it would cause us to connect it to what?
To Genesis chapter 1 and verse number 1, right?
The fact that in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
We read that in light of John chapter 1, we see that it was Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God,
who created all things.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
So we see that when the Bible talks about Jesus Christ making all things,
we automatically understand that He was very much involved in the creation period in Genesis chapter 1.
Not only that, but look at John chapter 17 and verse number 4.
So we're looking at the fact that He existed as the second person of the Trinity, even in the Old Testament.
Look at John 17 and verse 4.
I have glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,
listen to this, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Showing us that Jesus Christ existed as the second person, even before the foundations of the earth were laid,
He possessed the glory of God the Father, even before the existence, the creation of the world itself.
Go to Colossians chapter number 1, if you would.
Colossians chapter number 1, we see that He existed as the second person of the Trinity,
but we also see that He existed, as we looked in John chapter 1, as the Creator, right?
Look at Colossians 1 and verse 14.
It says here in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 14,
In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
For by Him, referring to Jesus, were all things created, that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him,
and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.
So this is a passage that the Jehovah's Witnesses hate.
And the reason for this is because of the fact that they believe that Jesus Christ is a created being.
But no, you're wrong, Jehovah's Witnesses, which is why you're going to go to hell.
You know, according to the Bible, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the Creator, He's God.
He's the one who created all things, and He is, what Colossians chapter 1 says, the preeminent one.
He's before all things.
So everything that you see that is visible with your eyes, everything that you can imagine of that doesn't exist,
physically speaking, but is existed in the spiritual realm, He created all of that,
because He is the Word of God that spoke everything into existence.
Go with me, if you would, to Psalm chapter 2, Psalm chapter 2.
We're looking at the pre-existence of Christ through the New Testament, shedding light on the Old Testament.
We see that He exists as the second person of the Trinity, He exists as the Creator,
but we also see that He exists as the Son of God.
Now, that term is more frequently used in the New Testament to describe Jesus Christ.
Obviously, we know that it also describes believers, but more specifically, Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
That's a term that's used consistently throughout the book of John, right?
But that doesn't mean that He became the Son of God in Bethlehem's manger.
That is a false doctrine, that is heretical, and in fact, we believe that He is the eternal Son of God,
meaning that He's always existed as God's Son, even from eternity past.
Jesus has always been the Son of God.
He's the Son of God, of course we know, because He's born of a virgin with no earthly father,
but also because of the fact that God considers Him to be the only begotten Son.
Now, when we look at the term begotten, we have to obviously define it based upon its context,
and we're going to look at a context regarding begotten when it comes to the resurrection,
but when you read, for example, John chapter 3 verse 16, the most famous verse in the Bible,
it talks about the only begotten Son.
That's referring to the fact that that essentially is unique to Jesus Christ as being God's Son, right?
The fact that He exists as the second person of the Trinity, but that He is God's only begotten Son.
Let me read to you from Daniel chapter 3 and verse 24, proving the existence of the Son of God in the Old Testament.
It says,
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors,
Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?
They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt,
and the form of the fourth is like the sons of the gods.
No, actually, this is the King James, which is the word of God.
The King James says that the fourth is like unto the what? The Son of God.
So it's important for you to use a King James Bible because actually it's faithful to the doctrines of the word of God.
It doesn't blaspheme the deity of Jesus Christ by claiming that it's just one of the sons of the gods or something.
You know, this is referring to the fact that He is the Son of God.
And so very powerful passage there.
And you know what? If Nebuchadnezzar understands this, why can't people understand it today?
Nebuchadnezzar saw the fourth and he knew that it was the Son of God.
Clearly showing, it's a picture of, obviously we know that Jesus Christ was there,
but it's also a picture of the fact that Jesus Christ walks through the fire with us.
When we're going through tribulation, when we're going through hardships, when we're going through the fire, so to speak,
Jesus is right there with us going through it alongside us as well.
Look at Psalm chapter two, if you would.
Psalm chapter two, it says here in verse number one,
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed,
saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
So we see that He exists as the second person of the Trinity.
He exists as the creator.
He exists as the Son of God.
But He also exists as the Messiah.
How do we know that?
Well, Psalm 2 calls Him His anointed and anointed means Messiah.
And we know this is referring to Jesus Christ because of the fact that that's what Christ means as well.
So anointed Messiah Christ are all terms that are used interchangeably to describe the same exact thing.
That's not His last name.
OK, Christ is like, What's your last name?
No, it's Christ.
It's referring to the fact that He's the anointed one.
He is the savior.
He is the Messiah.
And the Bible tells us in Isaiah 43, I even I am the Lord and beside me, there is no savior.
So that would mean that it's referring to obviously Jesus Christ is divinity.
He is divine.
He is the Messiah.
You're still in Psalm to look at verse 10.
Referring to the existence of the Son of God in the Old Testament, says in verse 10.
Be wise now, therefore, all ye kings, be instructed he judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the sun lest he be angry.
By the way, it's capital S, right?
So it's obviously referring to God.
Lest he be angry and he perish from the way when his wrath is kindled.
But a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
So, yeah, does it say Son of God?
It doesn't need to say Son of God.
It's a son capital S.
And it's referring to the fact that, you know, this is obviously prophetic of the millennial reign.
He's telling the kings of the earth to kiss the sun because it's zero tolerance in the millennial reign.
You don't want to make them angry.
So be nice to the Lord.
Amen.
Respect the Lord.
Be in subjection to the Lord.
Kiss the sun.
Lest you perish from the way.
So we see him existing as the son of God in the Old Testament, existing as the Messiah.
Go with me.
Go to the New Testament once again and go to John Chapter eight, if you would.
John Chapter number eight.
Now, we can spend probably a series just going over the different manners in which he essentially showed himself in the Old Testament.
But we're just looking at different passages that essentially prove the fact that Jesus Christ existed prior to Bethlehem's manger.
Look at John Chapter eight.
He exists as the Messiah, but it also exists as Jehovah.
And let me repeat this, that Jesus Christ is Jehovah God.
Amen.
Something blasphemous about that.
He is Jehovah, regardless of what the Jehovah's Witnesses say.
Look at John Chapter eight, verse 56 here.
Here's proof.
It says, Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day and saw it and was glad.
Then said the Jews unto him, Darn it, yet 50 years old.
And has thou seen Abraham?
Jesus said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.
Now, the reason we see it here after they wanted to kill Jesus is because they knew enough Bible to conclude the fact that they knew what he meant by that was that he's Jehovah.
Because he's referencing, you know, Exodus, you know, Chapter three, the burning bush, the I am that I am.
He's essentially saying I am the Tetragrammaton.
I am, you know, Jehovah's what he's saying there.
OK.
And so he's showing himself to be the Jehovah God of the Old Testament.
Go to Hebrews, chapter number seven, Hebrews, chapter number seven, if you would.
Hebrews, chapter seven, we see that he preexisted, showing himself as the second person of the Trinity in the creation period.
He created all things.
He exists as the son of God, proving the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ.
He exists as the Messiah.
He didn't just become the Messiah when he was born in Bethlehem's manger.
He's always been the Messiah.
He exists as Jehovah because of the fact that he is the I am that I am.
And look at Hebrews, chapter seven is probably one of the most famous appearances of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.
Given to us with clarity in the news, says Hebrews seven, verse one for this Melchizedek,
king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him to him.
Also, Abraham gave a tenth part of all first being, by interpretation, king of righteousness.
And after that, also king of Salem, which is king of peace without father, without mother, without descent,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like into the son of God abideth the priest continually.
So this is obviously referring to the fact that Jesus Christ is Melchizedek.
Melchizedek is Jesus Christ.
Why? Well, because he's called the king of righteousness.
He's called the king of Salem, referring to Jerusalem.
He is the king of peace.
And he's without father, without mother, right?
Without descent.
He doesn't have the beginning of days nor end of life because he is from everlasting.
Given these qualities that are referring to divinity, referring to the fact that he is God.
So we see that illustrated there.
Now, go back to John Chapter one, if you would go back to John Chapter one.
And this isn't even scratching the surface as far as the symbolic representations of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, right?
Through the various metaphors, through the various pictures of the lamb, of the rock, just different instances that Jesus Christ has pictured.
This is simply showing us that Jesus Christ existed not from Bethlehem's manger, but even prior to that.
So let's talk about the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which is what Christmas is all about.
It's referring to the fact that Jesus Christ came to this earth, was born of a virgin, and he did it to die, okay?
And this is the big thing because of the fact the incarnation of Christ is commending or elevating the fact that Jesus Christ took on humanity.
He became a human being.
He was not a human being before.
He was definitely considered a man in the sense that, you know, God is a man, as the Bible puts it.
But he was not a human.
He took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh in the New Testament in the first century A.D.
And so we're going to talk about that, the incarnation of Christ.
Now, first and foremost, I want you to understand that when we talk about the humanity of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of Jesus,
it's referring to the fact that prior to Bethlehem's manger, he's 100 percent God, but in Bethlehem's manger, he also becomes 100 percent man.
In other words, nothing of his divinity is removed from him, you understand?
He doesn't become less God.
A percentage is taken away from him being God.
You know, he's 100 percent God and 100 percent man.
People would refer to this as the hypostatic union, referring to the fact that he has both natures, okay?
And one nature is now removed just because one is added.
One, the human nature is added to his divine nature.
Therefore, he's both.
He said, well, how can this be?
You know, ask him when he gets when you get to heaven.
That's how he did it.
He's God and he can do that.
And this is why it's important for us to use the King James Bible as well,
because the new modern versions of the Bible removed from the deity of Jesus Christ in Philippians,
chapter 2, implying that he somehow emptied himself of divinity in order to become a human.
No, he retained his divinity.
He never ceased to be God when he was here on this earth in any way, shape or form.
Humanity was simply added to him.
Verse 14 says, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews chapter number four, Hebrews chapter number four.
While you're turning that, I'm going to read to you from First John chapter one in verse number one.
It says that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life,
implying incarnation, the fact that he became a human being.
Romans chapter eight and verse number three tells us, for what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God setting his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
excuse me, likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh,
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
So it's very important to understand that when Jesus Christ became a human being,
he did not take the sin nature of man.
The sin nature of man is inherited through Adam, which would essentially be through an earthly father,
but Jesus Christ did not have an earthly father.
We can accurately say he had a stepfather, which is Joseph, but Joseph had no dealings with his birth.
His father was God the father and so he took upon himself this flesh with the absence of sin.
As the Bible puts it, the likeness of sinful flesh.
The Bible also says in Hebrew chapter four and verse fifteen,
now why did he take on sinful flesh or the likeness of sinful flesh, excuse me,
it says in verse fifteen, for we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
So we see that one of the reasons Jesus Christ came to this earth as a human being
is because he wanted to experience the sufferings of mankind in order to succor them,
succor them, which means to help them, to save them.
He was going to live a life as a human being subject to the same sufferings that a human being goes through with the absence of sin.
Because it says that he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
So what does this mean? It means that when Jesus Christ was here on this earth, he was tired just like you get tired.
He felt hunger just like you felt hunger. He felt sadness just as you and I feel sadness.
He went through the entire spectrum, the range of emotions that a human being would feel
and he did that so that he can succor them that essentially believe he can suffer just like you and I.
And in fact, let me read to you from Isaiah 53 and verse number 2, which is prophetic of Jesus Christ.
This is for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.
He hath no form nor comeliness. When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men. Listen to this, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hit, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not.
You see, Jesus Christ, when he took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh, he did it so he could experience
everything that a human being experiences, rejection, being despised, having sadness, being acquainted with grief,
experiencing deep sorrow and experiencing what it is to be forsaken. Why?
Because of the fact that he wants us to know that he's acquainted when we go through a hard time, right?
You know, when we experience deep sorrow, we know that Jesus Christ knows what that feels like.
And it says something that when we go through a tough time, a difficult time of pain, you know,
it means something to us when we know that our God felt those same emotions at one point or another as well.
He felt the loneliness. He felt the depression. He felt the pain and sorrow and what it is to be forsaken.
You know, if you've ever been forsaken of another person, if you've ever been forsaken of a friend,
of a family member, of a spouse, you know, there's a lot of people in this world that can't identify with you.
But you know what? One person can 100% identify with you and that's Jesus Christ.
Because he's forsaken. Even he was forsaken even of his own father.
And you know what? That's one thing that we will never be forsaken of. Right.
Like we can experience all types of disappointments. We can experience people forsaken us for various reasons.
But because we're saved, we're never going to be forsaken of God. Like God the Father will never leave us nor forsake us.
And so Jesus Christ experienced the deepest form of being forsaken.
And so, you know, it's true. The reason it says that he's acquainted with grief is because God knows that we, you know, misery loves company.
We find some sort of solace and comfort in knowing that someone else has experienced what we've gone through,
especially if they've experienced it in a higher form, a deeper form.
And Jesus Christ definitely felt that when God the Father forsook him,
when he was on the cross, because he became sin who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
OK. I mean, that is a grief that we will never experience. That is a sorrow that we will never know anything about.
And knowing that Jesus Christ went through that, it brings us a lot of solace because we know that he was tempted in all points.
And knowing that he was tempted and he pushed through, it kind of gives us hope that we can also push through as well.
OK. And that's why, you know, Allah sucks. Because he didn't become a man.
You know, Allah, the false god of Islam, you know, is not acquainted with grief.
He's not acquainted with sorrows. He knows nothing of the sorts.
You know, he is a false god, whereas our God and the greatest expression and demonstration and elevation of love came to us
was one like unto us and was willing to suffer like us.
Look at verse number go to Chapter five, if you would. Chapter five.
So he was subject to the weaknesses of the flesh without sin.
Look at verse seven. It says, Who in the days of his flesh, referring to the fact when he was here in his earthly ministry,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, have you prayed or have you cried strongly?
You know, Jesus is acquainted with that. He offered up strong cryings and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard.
And that he feared, though he were a son, listen to this, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now, passages like this can be a little hard to understand at times because of the fact that we're referring to Jesus Christ.
Right. And it's just like, wow, Jesus had to learn obedience.
But sometimes people get the misconception that learning obedience means that the only alternative is that you're disobedient.
And that is true with you and with me. But it's not true with Jesus.
Jesus is learning obedience, not because he knows how to be disobedient, but because of the fact that he's taken on humanity.
And by that very nature, has to learn how to be in subjection and to obey his parents, to obey the laws of the land, etc.
He's going through those same experiences that we experience with the exception of, of course, the disobedience.
And so he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
The Bible says. Go to Chapter two of Hebrews Chapter two.
So he was subject to the weaknesses of the flesh. And I do want to mention this is that, you know, Jesus Christ took upon himself humanity.
He's 100 percent God, 100 percent man.
And he also retained his divinity, of course, because he's 100 percent God, but temporarily surrendered some of his divine power.
OK, how do we know that? Well, there are certain aspects of God that are very unique to God himself.
Right. I mean, think about his omnipotence, his omnipresence, his omniscience.
And in his humanity, he temporarily surrendered some of those capabilities while in his earthly ministry,
for while he was here on this earth throughout his earth at the end of his earthly ministry until he was glorified.
Now, I don't believe that he surrendered them essentially completely because obviously he's 100 percent divine still.
Right. And so because he's 100 percent divine, some of those things are still present.
But here's the thing, though, in his humanity, he was not able to do some of those things.
And obviously, here's an example. You know, his omnipresence.
You know, he obviously surrendered some of that, which is why he's walking around everywhere.
What is omnipresence means he's everywhere at all times. And that's definitely true.
Right. God is everywhere at all times. However, Jesus Christ is walking to Galilee. He's going to Jerusalem.
He's not transporting himself or being at two places at once on this earth.
But in his divinity, he still retained that omnipresence, did he not? How do we know that?
Well, because of the fact that he told the thief on the cross today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.
You say, well, how does that prove his omnipresence?
Well, because of the fact that the Bible says, what is it that he ascended, but that he first descend into the lower parts of the earth?
We know that when he died, he went to hell for three days and three nights.
It's not a contradiction of what he said that today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
How do you explain it? His omnipresence.
John Chapter three also tells us that the son of God, he said that the son of God is in heaven.
So that speaks to his divinity, right? Not to his humanity, because that's why he has to walk everywhere.
OK, so I'm not referring to his miracles or, you know, the resurrecting of the dead.
You know, obviously, he performed those feats with the power of the Holy Spirit, some of which others throughout the Bible had.
However, he did surrender those specific capabilities that are the only God has and uses without restraint or limitations.
So Jesus Christ, prior to the incarnation, you know, was omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient without restraint or limitation, meaning that he was just always in every place at all times.
But once he takes on humanity, obviously there's a limitation there, right? Not from his divine nature, but from his human nature.
OK, you say, oh, man, this is kind of like making my head hurt. Well, great is the mystery of godliness.
OK, but I don't think what I'm saying is confusing at all. I think it's 100 percent valid. It's 100 percent provable by the Bible.
OK, so, you know, prior to his incarnation, he is exercising, you know, his omnipotence, his omniscience and omnipresent without restraint or limitation.
But when he came to this earth, he didn't necessarily forgo or forfeit those divine natures because he's still 100 percent God.
But he is surrendering them in his human state temporarily until the resurrection.
Make sense to everyone? Look at Hebrews two, verse nine. It says, But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
So why did he take on humanity for this one reason to die?
Because here's the thing is that he's eternal. He existed eternally, but he has to die.
Therefore, he has to take on the likeness of sinful flesh for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.
For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect or suffering.
Skip down to verse 17, if you would. Verse 17. I love what it says here. Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
I love that because of the fact that it's stating here that he was made like unto us so that when he sees you struggle, he's merciful and faithful to you, right?
He sees that you're struggling and you know what? He's not like, Get it together. Although sometimes he does tell us to get it together in the Bible, right?
But we also know that he's also merciful to us, okay? And we know that part of his ministry right now in heaven is at the right hand of the Father, and he's making intercessions for the saints, okay?
He's praying for us, amen? And so when, you know, you may think of a certain believer and you feel like they're stubborn, they're just like involved in sin, or they're just struggling with something, and you're just like, This person needs to get it together.
But here's the thing, the Lord is probably like, You know what? He is gonna get it together, but I'm gonna be merciful to him because I know it's hard to be a human. It's difficult to be a human.
It's difficult to have the ranges of emotions. It's difficult to be limited in these areas. Like the Lord knows that. The Lord knows that we have limitations, you know?
And he is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but also will make a way to escape. You understand?
And so when you think about that, you kind of come to the conclusion, you realize like how precious the incarnation of Christ really is. You know, the fact that he feels those ranges of emotions, and in light of that, uses that to become merciful to us.
Like in verse 18, for in that he himself had suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. And so in order for Jesus to take on humanity, it would require him to momentarily surrender these capabilities that are unique to God.
Now, you know, I don't want to get into semantics because, you know, we can get into semantics and, oh, did he not have it completely while he was on this earth? Or did he just lay it aside for a moment?
You know, did he possess these things in his humanity, but he chose not to do them? You know, we can get into those semantics, but at the end of the day, the Bible doesn't really explicitly explain to us how that worked.
All we know is that in his humanity, he did not do those things. He was not able to do some of those things, okay? But at the end of the day, we still see, you know, hints of his divinity even in his earthly ministry.
We see hints of his omnipresence, his omnipotence and his omniscience. And so he temporarily surrendered his omniscience, which is why he had to walk everywhere. I'm sorry, his omnipresence.
He temporarily surrendered his omniscience, which is why he had to perceive and grow in knowledge, right? Grow in wisdom. He's learning the scriptures. He's asking questions to the doctors.
He's growing these areas. And to a certain degree, he was also limited in those areas because that's why he didn't know the hour, the day or the hour of his second coming.
You know, someone who's not well-versed or doesn't understand the Bible very well but believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that can confuse us. Like, why is Jesus, how come he doesn't know the day or the hour of his second coming of peace to God?
Well, it's because of his humanity. We see that he has to perceive the motives of others, okay? And so on and so forth. And so he temporarily surrendered his omnipresence, his omniscience.
And his omnipotence, which is why he needed God the Father to resurrect him from the grave. But again, we see a tint of his omnipotence even in his earthly ministry because he says that he can take his life back again, right?
So in his humanity, he did possess these qualities but not in his, excuse me, he possessed these qualities in his divinity but not in his humanity. Go to John chapter 3, John chapter 3 if you would. Let's look at some more verses here.
John chapter number 3, you're like, I don't really believe that or I don't really understand that. That's kind of confusing to me. Well, look at verse 12 of John chapter 3, if I have told you of earthly things and you believe not, how should you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
You know, sometimes there's heavenly things that are just hard to understand. And by the way, we all believe in the Trinity but you know what? Just no illustration is just perfect though to explain the Trinity, right?
Look at verse 13 says, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven, presently speaking of Jesus Christ being in heaven.
And obviously that's referring to his divinity since he's physically right there in the earth saying these things, okay? And so that's showing his omnipresence in his divinity.
Matthew chapter 18 and verse 20 says, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And I do believe that's referring to his omnipresence but obviously in his divinity.
He's saying that he's in the midst of them. Those are passages we commonly use to prove the omnipresence of God.
Go to Acts chapter 13, if you would, Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter number 13. So what is the point of tonight's sermon? The point of tonight's sermon is just to kind of remind us not only of the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ,
but obviously the purpose behind it, and that we may appreciate it that much the more, you know, and not take it for granted. Oh man, this is a Catholic celebration or whatever, you know?
Well, you know, maybe the Catholics got this one point right. You know, a broken clock is right twice, you know, if they created Christmas, hey, good job, we'll just jack it from you and celebrate it correctly.
You know, and, you know, people are like, oh, that's a, you know, Catholics came up with Christmas, you know, they're the ones who can't, Christmas, mass, you know?
Yeah, but they're going to hell though, so who cares? You know, I'm celebrating Christmas and I'm going to heaven. And, you know, here's the thing, Catholics celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
You know, I celebrate Christmas like it's September, you know, October even, you know, for me, that's how, that's like, it's a Christmas season celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
But really, you know, all jokes aside, at the end of the day, you know, we want to think upon the incarnation of Christ because of the fact that, you know, it helps us to understand and realize and appreciate the fact that he experienced everything that we experienced,
all the mental anguish that we experienced, all of the challenges and the difficulties like the God of the universe came down and did that for you and for me, okay?
And that's important to note because of the fact that it also helps us to kind of push through hard times as well, knowing full well that he is acquainted with that.
So let's look at, we see his pre-existence, we saw his incarnation and now his glorification.
So after the resurrection, he still retains his humanity, so Jesus Christ is still a human being in heaven.
You know, nothing is diminished from him, nothing is subtracted from him.
Once he's, once that humanity is added to him in Bethlehem's manger, he retains it with the exception that now he is glorified.
And this is what I want to talk about for this last point and that is that this is why the Bible refers to him as the only begotten of the father, right?
Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 says, I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Now, this day is actually not referring to Bethlehem's manger, okay?
Even though he is the begotten son of God, meaning that he's like the only divine son of God, so to speak, who is the second person of the Trinity,
he's begotten in Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 is referring to the fact that he is the first begotten from the dead.
Look at Acts chapter 13 verse 33.
To prove that, it says in, I'm sorry, verse 32, it says, and we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, and that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, thou are my son, this day have I begotten thee.
So this day have I begotten thee is in conjunction with the fact that he raised up Jesus again, referring to the resurrection.
Verse 34 says, as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption.
He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
Go to Revelation chapter number 1, Revelation chapter number 1.
So when I said in the second point that he momentarily surrendered in his humanity, some of those divine qualities that are unique to God,
he obviously retained them once again, once he was glorified, because now obviously he knows the day and the hour.
Now for sure, in his humanity and his divinity, he is in all places at all times.
Now in his humanity and in his divinity, he is all powerful, right?
He's able to perform all types of feats and miracles without restraint and without limitation.
So that little window of time in his ministry, in his life, those 33 years is when he did that specifically for our sakes.
But after the resurrection, he becomes the begotten son of God, the first begotten from the dead.
Look at Revelation 1, verse 5.
It says, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Now when it says that he's the first begotten from the dead, you know, this is implying that there's going to be a second one, right?
And what is the second? We are the second ones.
He is the first, the only person at this point, who has resurrected in a glorified state.
And that promise is given to us, but the resurrection of believers has not yet taken place.
And so he is the only one who is resurrected in that regenerated form, in that resurrected state.
And I believe that is when he once again took upon himself those divine qualities unique to God, the omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.
And I understand that the Bible does not use the words omniscience or omnipresence.
It does use the word omnipotent.
But here's the thing is that there's plenty of doctrines in the Bible that the Bible does not use.
The Bible does not have a specific word for like, for example, Trinity.
Right. But the concept is clearly laid out.
And you know what? The concept of omnipresence is clearly laid out in the Bible as well.
Something that's very unique to God.
The concept of omniscience is very clearly laid out in the Bible.
We just add these terms to kind of help us hone in on these specific doctrines.
And so what's the sermon tonight? The sermon is simply this.
You know, thank God for the birth of Jesus Christ, the Incarnation.
Obviously, we're thankful for the resurrection because it means we're going to resurrect one day.
If Jesus Christ did not resurrect, we would not have this promise. Right.
Thank God for the pre-existence of Jesus Christ, because it kind of helps us to understand the fact that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.
That our Savior is from everlasting.
OK, but the Incarnation is the sweet spot.
Because it is the only time in human history where something actually changed that was a little different from everything else, because he added to himself that human nature for you and for me.
He tasted death for us.
And this is why, you know, we celebrate Christmas. Why do we celebrate Christmas?
To commemorate the fact that Jesus Christ, the word of God, was made flesh.
Why? Well, as the song says, born to die.
You know, he was born in Bethlehem's manger with the one intent to die for us.
Amen. And it's a beautiful, beautiful message.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And we're thankful for the Christmas season, Lord, that we take this time as a nation to commend the doctrine of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
The fact that he became a human being and the word of God was made flesh.
He experienced all of the things that we experience, all our limitations, all our pains and sorrows, the feelings of our infirmities.
And we're thankful, Lord, for that.
I pray that, Lord, you'd help us to appreciate it.
May we think upon it tomorrow morning when we get up and read our Bibles and we praise you and adore you for those things, Lord.
And Lord, we're also thankful that Jesus Christ became a man, became a human.
And yes, he died, but he resurrected and lives forevermore and sealing the promise that we too will resurrect one day.
I pray you bless our people here, Lord, tonight.
Bless the fellowship to follow. May all things be done for your honor and for your glory.
We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.