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John chapter 17. So we're looking at these doctrines, these major doctrines in the Bible. And we've been kind of going through a section on the Godhead. And we talked about the attributes of God, and then we started talking about the deity. We talked about the natural attributes of God, the moral attributes of God. Then we started talking about the deity of Christ, and we spent several weeks with that. The sermon tonight, I'm dealing with the doctrine of the eternal sonship of Christ. And the eternal sonship of Christ, it kind of is the doctrine that's in between the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ. There'll be a sermon to come on the humanity of Christ. But the eternal sonship of Christ is the doctrine we want to deal with. And what we are looking at and what we're learning in this doctrine is that Jesus has always been the Son of God. Now, there are some people and there are some religions that don't believe that. There are doctrines out there and belief systems like that of the modalist or the oneness who teach that Jesus became the Son of God at the virgin birth, but that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches in the eternal sonship of Christ that God, the second member of the Godhead, has always been the Son of God. So I want to prove that to you, and I want to explain some things tonight. You're there in John 17. Look at verse 5. We'll kind of use this as a launching point. John 17 and verse 5. This is, of course, Jesus praying to the Father. This is before he goes to get 70. John 17, 5. The Bible says this, and now, oh Father, glorify thou me. This is Jesus speaking. He says, glorify thou me with thine own self. And I want you to notice these words, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. So notice, Jesus is not a creation. He was not created. He did not come into existence. And we talked about this last week. Jesus said, I am, several times. Before Abraham was, I am. And here's another statement where he's speaking to the Father. And he's saying, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. So before creation, Jesus was there with the Father, and they shared in glory. So we're looking at this idea of the eternal sonship of Christ. Go with me to the Book of Proverbs, if you would, in the Old Testament. If you open your Bible just right in the center, you'll more than likely fall in the Book of Psalms. And right after the Book of Psalms, you have the Book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 30. And what I want to do is I want to give you two foundational thoughts in regards to this doctrine of the eternal sonship of Christ. And then I'm going to get into my outline and give you three points in regards to the eternal sonship of Christ to kind of help you with some of the attacks that we get from people who don't believe this, people who reject the Trinity, people who believe that Jesus either was created or that he was some sort of other being that became the Son of God at the virgin birth. So let me just kind of begin with two foundational truths, just by way of introduction. It'll take a little while to get through this, but I want you to understand this. The reason we're going through this series is because we want you to know what you believe and why you believe it. Why do we believe the things that we believe? So here's the first foundational truth in regards to this doctrine. The second member of the Godhead, and of course, that's Jesus. But when we're talking about the Godhead, we believe in the Trinity. And there are three members of the Godhead, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The second member of the Godhead, Jesus, has always been the Son of God. And again, today you'll have those who say, no, he was the Word. And they'll look at 1 John 5, 7 where it says, there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. And they'll say, see, that says he was the Word. Or in John 1, 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. They'll say, no, he was the Word. And then in Bethlehem's manger, that's when he became the Son of God. Now, I don't have time to develop this. I'm not preaching against oneness. But just understand this. When they say he was the Word, they literally mean like he was like a book. There was like a written book in heaven. And then that book became the Son of God. But the Bible doesn't teach that. And let me just say this. If you want to take 1 John 5, 7 and say, well, it doesn't call him the Son. It calls him the Word. So therefore, he couldn't have been the Son. Wait a minute. It says there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. So we see that the first person of the Godhead, the first member of the Godhead, is called the Father. Well, let me ask you this. Can you be called the Father if you don't have a son? So say like, well, it's referred to as the Word. So therefore, you couldn't be the Son. Well, there's a Father. And we know that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So the point is this, that the Son, the second member of the Godhead, has always been the Son of God. And I'm going to prove that to you in the Old Testament. Because they'll say, no, he became the Son of God in Bethlehem's manger at the virgin birth. But here's the problem with that. Throughout the Old Testament, we have references to God and his Son, to the Son of God. Let me just show those to you quickly. Proverbs chapter 30 and verse number 4. Proverbs 30 and verse 4, the Bible says this, who hath ascended up into heaven or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fist? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? And these are all rhetorical questions about God. He's saying, look, who's done this except for God? Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended? And Jesus actually quoted that in John 3. Who hath gathered the wind in his fist? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? Then he says, here's the answer. Notice, he says, what is his name? And he's referring to God. He's saying, God has done these things. He says, what is his name? Then he says this, and what is his son's name if thou canst tell? So I want you to notice that in Proverbs there, there's a question asked about what is God's name? And then they ask, and what is his son's name? So we see that even in the book of Proverbs, there was already a belief and an understanding that God had a son, that there was a son of God. So to say, no, no, it was the word, and then he became the son of God in the New Testament, well, you can disprove that because Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost writing here in Proverbs, I'm sorry, not Solomon, but the point is that scripture is telling us here that there's God and then there's his son. He's saying, what is his name and what is his son's name if thou canst tell? Go to Psalm chapter two, Psalm two, if you go backwards from Proverbs into the book of Psalm, Psalms two, and look at verse 11. Psalm two and verse 11, notice what the Bible says. Psalm two and verse 11, serve the Lord, you see the Lord there, all capitals, that's Jehovah God. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Notice verse 12, kiss the son, S-O-N there, capital S-O-N, 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 notice here there's a reference to the Lord in verse 11 and then in verse 12 it says, kiss the son, the son of who? The son of the Lord. So I want you to notice again a reference to the fact that the Lord has a son. Kiss the son, lest he be angry with you. Let me give you another example. Go to Daniel chapter number three and I don't wanna spend a lot of time on this because I've got lots of other stuff to go over and lately I've been preaching like an hour and 15 minute a lot and I don't know, I don't wanna make that a habit. I'm gonna turn into like all the other new IFB preachers that preach really long. I've always prided myself on preaching 55 minute sermons because you don't have that long of an attention span. I understand, the television has ruined you. But let me try to get through this if we can. Daniel chapter three, if you're there in Psalms, you have Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations of Ezekiel, Daniel, all right? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations of Ezekiel, Daniel. I mean you sit there and watch a two hour movie but you know, that's okay. But then preaching, maybe I need to just give you a commercial break, you know. Daniel chapter three, look at verse 23. Here's another example of the son existing in the Old Testament. This proves that God, that Jesus did not become the son of God in the New Testament. We already had the son of God in the Old Testament. Daniel 3.23, the Bible says this, and these three men, this is of course a famous story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They refuse to worship the idol of Nebuchadnezzar and they get thrown into the fiery furnace. Notice verse 23, and these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said unto the counselors, and notice what Nebuchadnezzar says. He says, did not we cast three men bound in the midst of the fire? He asked this question. He says, didn't we cast three guys into the fire, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They answered and said unto the king, true, O king. Notice verse 25, he answered and said, lo, I see four men loose. You know, it's interesting because he says, we cast three men bound and I see four men loose. And by the way, that's what Jesus does for you. He takes the bound and he makes them loose. And he says there, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt. So he throws three guys into the fire and then he says, didn't we cast three guys in there? Why did I see four guys walking around? Then notice what he says at the end of verse 25, and the form of the fourth is life, the son of God. So he says, look, there's a fourth man in the fire and it's the son of God. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who appeared there and was with the men. Now, if you have a modern Bible version, you don't have a King James Bible, your version, they probably changed it to say, and you know, the form of the fourth is like one of the, or it's like the son of gods or of one of the gods. You know, they changed that to make it into like a more of a plural. And they'll say, oh no, Nebuchadnezzar, you know, he was polytheistic, so he was referring to the plurality. First of all, when you look at the original language, and I'm not going to get into that, that is untrue. It is accurately translated in your King James Bible when it says the fourth is like the son of God. But look, you don't have to have, you know, speak the Hebrew language or Aramaic or Greek to understand. Even in the context, later on, because of this event, because of the fourth man, you know, where he sees the fourth is like the son of God. Nebuchadnezzar, just a few verses later, we won't take the time to read it, but just a few verses later, he says, everybody needs to worship the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because he is the only true God. So why would he be saying, and the fourth is like one of the sons of the multiple gods, when the whole point of this thing happening in his life of the son of God appearing in the fourth, it causes him to declare, no, there's one true God, and it is the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and I know it is true because I saw his son in the fire. So your King James Bible is correct when it says the form of the fourth is like the son of God. So I'm showing to you that throughout the Old Testament, we see references to the son of God because the second member of the Godhead, Jesus has always been the son of God. Again, the modalist and the oneness crowd will teach that the word became the son of God at the virgin birth, at Bethlehem's manger, but that is not true. The second member of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, has always been the son of God, and we see him appear through the Old Testament. Go to the book of Genesis, if you would, first book in the Bible, Genesis chapter number 18. So this is all by way of introduction. I'm giving you two foundational thoughts. The first foundational thought is this. The second member of the Godhead has always been the son of God. Here's a second foundational thought. The second member of the Godhead has always manifested himself as a man. The second member of the Godhead has always manifested himself as a man. Not only do we see glimpses of the son of God in the Old Testament kiss the son, you know, what is his name and what is his son's name, Nebuchadnezzar looking in the furnace and saying, I see fourth man, and one of them's like the son of God, but we also see that the second member of the Godhead, the son of God, manifests himself as a man. You need to understand this. The foundational truths about the second member of the Godhead the eternal sonship of Christ is that he's always been the son of God and he's always manifested himself as a man. Now I'm gonna, we could preach a whole sermon on this and I'm not gonna do it, but I'm gonna show you just a few examples from the book of Genesis. And what we mean by this is that there have been times in the Old Testament where a man shows up and that man is God. And you say, who is that man? It's the second member of the Godhead. Because if you remember, and I don't have time to develop this, but the Bible says that God, the father, he's invisible. No man had seen God at any time, the Bible says. And the Bible also tells us that the son of God is, because God is invisible, the Bible tells us that the son of God is the express image of his person. So whenever somebody sees God, whenever somebody in the Bible says, I've seen God, who they've seen is the Lord Jesus Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ is God. And this is why this ties in with the deity of Christ. Now, you know, the theological terms for this are theophany or Christophany. When you see an Old Testament appearance of God as a man, this is none other, of course, than an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. And these appearances are sometimes referred to as the theophany or a Christophany. So let me just give you a few examples of this. Genesis 18, look at verse one. Genesis chapter 18 and verse one, the Bible says this, and the Lord, now you see the Lord there, all caps? Jehovah God, right? And the Lord appeared unto him. And of course, this is referring to Abraham. So the Lord appears to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he, Abraham, left up his, Abraham's, eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. So he looks up, and in the door of his tent, he sees three men, okay? So they're appearing as men, and they stood by him. But verse one tells us that the Lord appeared to him. Notice it says, and he left up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him, and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. Notice verse 13, and I'm not gonna take the time to develop this whole thing, but I just want you to notice, one of these men is God, is the Lord. Now we can already get that from verse one, the Lord appeared unto him, and then in verse two, three men stood by him. But notice, one of the men is talking to Abraham, verse 13, notice what the Bible says, and the Lord, all capital Lord there, said unto Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of surety bear a child which am old? So notice in verse 13, we see the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, is one of these men, and he's talking to Abraham. Now notice verse 16, and the men, because remember, three men showed up, the men rose up from thence and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. Notice again, verse 17, and the Lord, all capitals Lord, said, shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do? So notice, three guys show up, and one of them is the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, and he's talking to Abraham. You say, well, you know, God is invisible, no man has seen God at any time, so who is this Lord who Abraham can see and talk to? Well, this is an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead, has always been the Son of God, and has always manifested himself as a man. Now look down at verse number 22. Notice what the Bible says, and the men, these are the other two men, because if you read the story in its context, three men show up, one of them's the Lord, and he's talking to Abraham, and then two men go off to basically go and take a look at Sodom before they destroy it, and the men turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. So notice, one guy stays the Lord, one man stays, and then two of them leave. Who are the other two? Well, look at Genesis 19 and verse one. And there came two angels to Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. So you see how in Genesis 18, three men show up, one of them's the Lord, and then Genesis 19 tells us that the other two were angels that were just traveling with the Lord to come have this conversation with Abraham. So look, this is an Old Testament appearance of God in the flesh, God as a man. Who is it? It is the second member of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you another example, Genesis 32. Genesis 32, look at verse 24. In Genesis 32, we have Jacob. Remember, Jacob ran away from home, and now he's coming back. And he's coming back, and Esau hears that he's coming back. This is 20 years later, and Esau is coming to meet Jacob, and Jacob is worried about how this confrontation is going to go, because last time he saw Esau, Esau wanted to kill him, right? Because he stole the birthright, and he stole the blessing, and he did all those things. Genesis 32, 24, Jacob separates himself from everybody else. And in verse 24, the Bible says this, and Jacob was left alone, and the wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, and he wrestled with him. So this guy, this man shows up, and Jacob is wrestling with him. We won't take the time to read all the verses, but Jacob is trying to get a blessing from him. He says, bless me. And of course, the man asks him, he says, what is thy name? And he says, Jacob. And he says, thou shalt be no more Jacob. And he names him Israel because of prince, and he goes through all that thing, and he renames Jacob Israel. But I want you to notice, this man that he was wrestling with, who was this man? Look at verse 30, Genesis 32, 30. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. Notice, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. So Jacob identifies the fact that the man he was wrestling with was God. And he says, I've seen God face to face. And people say, well, this is a contradiction in scripture because the Bible says no man has seen God at any time. But here's the thing, no man has seen God the Father at any time, but lots of people have seen God in the second member of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Son of God has always existed, and the Son of God has always manifested himself as a man. So here we see this man wrestling with Jacob, and Jacob says, I have seen God face to face. Now let me give you another example here. I'm just going to give you ones in Genesis for sake of time. Go to Genesis 14. But we could look at other examples in scripture. And we won't take the time to turn here because we recently saw this in a sermon on Sunday morning. But if you remember in Joshua 5, the captain of the host of the Lord appears to Joshua. And if you remember, Joshua asked him the question, art thou for us or our enemies? And he said, nay, but as the captain of the Lord of hosts, am I now come? And the Bible says, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship. Why did he do that? Because this man was God. And he was told, lose thy shoes from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. So a man appears to Joshua, and Joshua worships him. And the man tells Joshua, take your shoes from off your feet, because the place where you're standing is holy ground. And that's a reference back to the burning bush, when the Lord appeared to Moses at the burning bush. And Moses was told to lose thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground. So that man that appeared to Joshua was God. But it was a man. So who was that? It was the second member of the Godhead. Because the second member of the Godhead has always appeared as a man. And he's always been the Son of God. Let me give you another example, Genesis 14. In Genesis 14, we have Melchizedek, who appears to Abraham. Genesis 14, 18, and Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. And he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. And he, Abraham, gave him Melchizedek, tithes of all. Now look, don't we tithe to the Lord? Well, why is he tithing to Melchizedek? Because this is the Lord. Because this is an Old Testament appearance of the second member of the Godhead, who has always been the Son of God, and who has always manifested himself as a man. So those are the two foundational truths about the eternal sonship of Christ. Go to the book of Hebrews, if you would. Hebrews chapter number seven. And let's talk about Melchizedek a little further. In Hebrews 7, we learn more about Melchizedek. And again, I realize this is heavy on doctrine. But the series is called Declaring Doctrine, OK? So I don't know what else to tell you. We're learning doctrine in the house of God. But go to Hebrews chapter 7. And if you start at the end of the book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, and you head backwards, you have Revelation, Jude, 3 and 1 John, 2 and 1 Peter, James, Hebrew. Hebrews chapter 7. Do me a favor, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in Hebrews, because we're going to leave it. And we're going to come back to it. And look, I've told you this through a series. People pay good money to go to Bible college to learn these things. And you know, you're getting a better deal, because number one, we're not charging you. Number two, there's no test. Number three, I'm trying to make it a little more interesting than some professor with a whiteboard. And number four, I'm not teaching you any heresy, because a lot of these Bible colleges are filled with a bunch of heresy. You know, I'm proving everything to you from the Bible. But you know, you should take notes, because I'm giving you a Bible college degree here, all right? We're teaching you the doctrines of the word of God. So when it comes to the eternal sonship of Christ, here's the two foundational truths. We're only in the introduction, all right? It might be an hour and 15 minutes, OK? The three foundational truths, the two foundational truths are this. The second member of the Godhead has always been the Son of God. And the second member of the Godhead has always manifested himself as a man. Now, here's where the confusion comes for some people, because there are verses in the Bible that say that Jesus was begotten on a certain day. So because it says that he was begotten on a certain day, they'll say, well, no, that's when he became the Son of God. And then there's even more confusion, because in some places in the Bible, it tells us that Jesus was the only begotten son. And then in other places in the Bible, it tells us that Jesus is the first begotten son. Now, when you say that someone is the first begotten son, that means that there has to be other begotten sons. Because if you're the only begotten son, then you don't have to say you're the first. First would imply that there's more than one. But if first, which implies there's more than one, that contradicts the only begotten. And people say, this is a contradiction in scripture. I'm going to explain this to you. And I want you to understand this, OK? The second member of the Godhead has always been the Son of God. And the second member of the Godhead has always manifested himself as a man. However, there have been three different, and I don't know what the right word is for this. Maybe we could say stages or phases to the man, the human body portion of the second member of the Godhead. The second member of the Godhead has always been the Son of God. But he's been a man in three different phases or in three different stages, OK? And I'm going to explain that to you. And I want you to maybe write these things down so you can understand it, OK? Let's talk about the first stage or the first phase of the Son of God as a man. So it's the Son of God. And if you're taking notes, you can write this down. The Son of God as a man in the Old Testament. The Son of God as a man in the Old Testament. Because I just showed you a bunch of verses that showed that both the Son of God was talked about and acknowledged in the Old Testament, and also that a man showed up throughout the Old Testament and was referred to as God. So we know that's the second member of the Godhead, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as a man. The first stage to this doctrine, this belief, is that the Son of God as a man in the Old Testament is the first stage, all right? And if you're taking notes, you can just put in parentheses next to this. And this is not a biblical term. This is just a term I came up with, all right? So if you don't like it, it's fine. But just to kind of help you understand, this is the non-begotten stage, OK? The Son of God as a man in the Old Testament, the non-begotten stage. Because the word begotten means to be brought forth, means to be birthed, means to be produced. And the characteristic of the Son of God as a man in the Old Testament is that he wasn't begotten in the sense of his body. Now, let me explain that to you, all right? Hebrews chapter 7, remember Melchizedek? He appeared to Abraham. How do we know that Melchizedek was God? In Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 1, we learn about Melchizedek. Notice what the Bible says. 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 whom also Abraham gave the tenth part of all, we just read all that in Genesis, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Notice verse 3, OK? We're talking about Melchizedek. So how do we know that Melchizedek was God? Was deity. Here's how we know, verse 3. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, that means he never began, nor end of life, that means he'll never end, but made like unto, notice these words, the son of God, abideth a priest continually. So we know that Melchizedek is deity, because he is without father, without mother, without descent, without beginning of days, nor end of life, and he is made like unto the son of God. So we understand that Melchizedek is a second member of the Godhead, who's the son of God, and who also manifests himself as a man. Now, what are some of the characteristics about the son of God as a man in the Old Testament, the non-begotten version? Let me give you two characteristics. First of all, the non-begotten version, if you will, and I hope that's OK for me to say that. I don't know how else to explain it. The non-begotten version, Jesus in the Old Testament, when he appeared, he did not have a bloodline. And that's actually what we just read there. There's no bloodline to him. There's no lineage to him. He's without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. There's no lineage where you could say, OK, Melchizedek was begotten of this guy, begotten of this guy. Now, can't you say that about Jesus? Aren't there lineages to Jesus in the book of Luke, in the book of Matthew? But the Old Testament version of the man, the son of God, that manifests himself as a man, there's no bloodline there. He's without father, without mother. So you need to understand that. Go to Hebrews chapter 2. Look at verse 16. And kind of let me show you how that's different from the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Now, of course, we could go to Matthew chapter 1, and we could go to Luke chapter 2, and we could read the lineages of Jesus from Joseph and Mary that go back down through David to Abraham, all the way to Adam. We could read those lineages. Let me just show you a few verses here. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 16. For verily he took not on him, talking about Jesus, the nature of angels. He was not an angel. Dispensationalists like to teach that too. Jehovah's Witnesses like to teach that too, that the son of God is an angel. The Bible says, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham, right? Jesus was the seed of Abraham. The New Testament version of the son of God manifest in the flesh had a lineage, had a bloodline. His bloodline went back to Abraham, and back to David, and back to Adam. But the Old Testament version is without father, without mother, without a bloodline. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2. Look at verse 8. You're there in Hebrews. If you keep going backwards, you have Philemon, Titus, 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Look at verse 8. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 8. The Bible says this, remember that Jesus Christ, notice these words, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel. So notice Jesus had a lineage. He had a bloodline that went back to David, that went back to Abraham. You go back to Hebrews chapter 2, and let me read to you from Romans 1, 3. You don't have to turn there. You go to Hebrews 2. Romans 1, 3 says this, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, all right? So one major difference between the second member of the Godhead who's always been the son of God and has always manifested himself as a man, in the Old Testament there was no bloodline, no lineage. He's without father, without mother. In the New Testament, of course because he's born to the Virgin Mary, there is a bloodline, there is a lineage that goes back to David, to Abraham, and all the way back to Adam, all right? Now let me give you a second kind of characteristic or a difference between the Old Testament man, God man, and the New Testament God man. Not only is there no bloodline, that's not just figurative, though, because there's also no blood. The non-begotten Jesus in the Old Testament, not only did he not have a bloodline, the reason he did not have a bloodline is because his body actually did not have blood in it. Hebrews chapter 2, let me show it to you. I know some people are like, this is going to get weird. Well, look, it's just the Bible. You watch all sorts of crap on the internet. This is actually interesting. This is the word of God. Hebrews chapter 2, look at verse 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, now the children are us, you and I. It says, because you and I are partakers of flesh and blood, right? If you cut my body, it'll start bleeding. He also himself likewise took part of the same. Talking about Jesus. Jesus had to become flesh and blood. He likewise took part of the same. Why? That through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. So look, the Bible tells us that something different about Jesus in the New Testament when he was born is that he partook. He likewise took part of the same. What is that referring to? To the fact that the children were flesh and blood. Because the Old Testament version, Melchizedek, he had no bloodline because he literally had no blood. Now look, Melchizedek could not die for your sins. Why? Because what saves us? The blood of Jesus Christ. Why can't wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's not just a cute song we sing. That's actually doctrine. The blood of Jesus Christ was the sacrifice, the atoning sacrifice that the high priest, that Melchizedek, the high priest, took up, that Jesus took up and actually sprinkled the blood upon the altar in the Holy of Holies. And that's what brings us atonement, remission of sins. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that saves us. But the Old Testament version of that, the non-begotten version, the son of God that manifested himself as a man in the Old Testament was without father, without mother, without bloodline, without lineage, and without actually having physical blood. And by the way, let me just say this. Go to 1 Corinthians. And I know we're turning a lot of passages, but I just want you to get this. Our resurrected bodies, which we're going to talk about in a minute, or a few minutes, maybe 60 minutes, I don't know. Our resurrected bodies, our glorified bodies, they're not going to have any blood in them either. 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 50. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50. Notice what the Bible says. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50. Now this I say, brethren. 1 Corinthians 15, 50. Now if you know the book of Corinthians, you know 1 Corinthians 15, that's the resurrection chapter. It's all about the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of us, the rapture, it's all the resurrection. Notice 1 Corinthians 15, 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Flesh and blood can't go to heaven. Why? Because corruption comes through your blood. And we'll talk about that here in a minute. But flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Go to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, look at verse 39. In Luke 24, 39, we have Jesus, after he resurrected from the dead, in his glorified body. Notice what he says about himself. Because he's showing himself to his disciples. Luke 24, 39, notice what the Bible says. Behold, he's telling them, behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself handle me and see. Because they think he's a spirit. He shows up, and they're like, are we seeing a ghost? Are we seeing a spirit? And he says, behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself handle me and see. For a spirit, notice what he says, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. All throughout the Bible, you see these two phrases put together, flesh and blood, flesh and blood. Not being born again of flesh and blood, not being born of flesh and blood, right? But Jesus, after his resurrection, he says, feel my body. Oh, is it flesh and blood? Oh, not exactly, it's flesh and bone. But there's no blood. So how can that be? Because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So the glorified body that you and I will have one day will not have any blood in it. And the body that Melchizedek was, the body that appeared to Abraham in the Plains of Mamre, the body that Jacob wrestled with was a body, a human body, but it had no bloodline because it had no blood. Because it was without father, without mother, without descent, no lineage, okay? So the first phase, so here's the thing, the son of God, the second member of the Godhead has always been the son of God, and he's always manifested himself as a man. In the Old Testament, he was what I refer to as the non-begotten version. He was never birthed, he doesn't have a father or mother, it was a human body without blood, and he manifested himself as a man. Then we have the second, so here's point number two, the son of God as a man after the virgin birth. This is the only begotten version where Jesus was actually birthed. Because see, Melchizedek wasn't actually born anywhere and grew up, right? He's without father, without mother. Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem as a baby and he grew up and he became a man. We can probably just turn the AC. This will probably start playing with the AC. Could you turn it down, please? Thank you. The son of God as a man after the virgin birth is the only begotten version. Now you say, well, why did Jesus, because sometimes you ask this question, why did Jesus have to be born? And here's the main reason, because he had to be born into a lineage. He had to be born into a bloodline, so therefore he had to be born. Now there's a problem here. The problem, go to Romans chapter five if you would, is that if Jesus, when someone is born, they are born with a sin nature. And I'm gonna try to explain this to you quickly and I don't wanna spend too much time on it. But you know, we're not Catholics. We don't believe in original sin, okay? We don't believe that you and I are gonna go to hell one day because of Adam's sin, okay? If you and I, if somebody goes to hell, they'll go to hell for their own sins. That's what the Bible teaches. The sins of Adam, the original sin of Adam was not passed down on you. Don't you worry about that. You got enough sins all on your own. You don't need Adam's help. What was passed down to you was Adam's sin nature. See, you're not a sinner because you sin. You sin because you're a sinner. What was passed down to you was the sin nature of Adam. Romans 5, 12. Wherefore as by one man, that's Adam, sin entered into the world and death by sin. That's the sin nature. Why do we die? Because of sin. Why do we grow old? Because of sin. Why do our bodies begin to corrupt? Because of sin. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. See, it is Adam's sin nature that passed down to mankind. And by the way, that sin nature is passed down through the blood of Adam and it's passed down through the men. It's passed down through mankind. You say, how is that? Well, let me just explain this to you as quickly as I can and as appropriately as I can. How is the sin nature passed down through the blood? An adult woman will have a cycle that she goes through when she's in the age of being able to reproduce and give birth. Every month, an egg will cycle through her body. And if that egg could potentially become alive, but if it doesn't, if that egg travels through that woman and is never fertilized, then it is discarded. It never becomes a human life. However, if the blood of a man, if the seed of a man comes in contact with that egg, you have fertilization or conception. Life begins at conception. So that egg will never become alive all on its own. It needs the blood of a man and you'll have life. The problem is that when that blood, the bloodline comes through your father, that sin nature comes to your father. This ought to be good for some of you moms because whenever your kids do something bad, you just blame it on the husband. He got yours in nature. It's your fault, Adam. But every month, an egg cycles through the body of a woman and is discarded. If the blood, the seed of a man meets that egg, you have fertilization, you have conception, then life is produced and life begins. So this is how the sin nature of Adam is passed down to every man. Jesus needed to be born to have a bloodline to have blood, but he could not be born with the blood of Adam because then he would just have a sin nature like you and I. Hence the virgin birth. These are not just little stories we tell in Christmas. A virgin gave birth. No, it's actually for a reason. Jesus is the only begotten son of God because he's the only man that was born bypassing the Adam line, the sinful line of Adam's blood. His blood came from heaven, came from God. He's the only one. The only begotten son. He has a bloodline. He has a lineage. The body, the physical body, because remember Mary, you know the Catholics say, Mary's the mother of God. No, God doesn't have a mother. Remember Melchizedek, without father, without mother, without descent, without beginning of days or end of life. You say, what was Mary the mother of? Mary was the mother of the physical body. She physically gave birth to a body, but the blood did not come from Adam or any other man. It came from God. So Jesus is born as a human begotten with a blood, which we needed for salvation, with a lineage, but no sin nature. Because of the virgin birth, Jesus had no sin nature. The Adam sin nature was not passed down to him. But let me say this, go back to Hebrews, and I hope you kept your place in Hebrews. You need to do that because we're gonna go back and forth a little bit. So, Jesus, because of the virgin birth, Jesus had no sin nature. But let me say this, because of the virgin birth, Jesus was able to be tempted by sin. Because the Bible's clear that Jesus was tempted by sin. But he'd never sinned. He had no sin nature, but he was tempted to sin. Let's look at some verses on that. Hebrews chapter two, look at verse 16. Hebrews 2 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. He took on the seed of Abraham, and he was made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Verse 18, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted. Notice, Jesus was tempted on this earth. He suffered being tempted. He is able, because of that, he is able to succor, the word succor means to aid them that are tempted. Why can Jesus aid you in your temptation? Because he himself has suffered being tempted. Go to Hebrews four and verse 14. Hebrews four and verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are. See, Jesus was tempted in every way like you are. He was in all points tempted like as we are. One major difference, though, for him, yet without sin. See, Jesus lived a sinless life, but please understand this. It's not like he was just down here and he was God and he couldn't sin if he wanted to, because some people teach that. See, Melchizedek had no blood flowing through his body. He was not even tempted to sin. He couldn't have sinned if he wanted to. Jesus was birthed. He didn't just have a human body. He was part of the human race. He was born into the lineage of mankind, minus Adam's blood, minus the sin nature, but still able to sin, just like Adam. Remember how in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus called the last Adam? Because Adam was created on this earth with blood flowing through him. He didn't have a sin nature, but he had the ability to sin, right? I mean, we saw it this morning. Satan tempted Adam and Eve to sin. They fell for it, and then they got a sin nature. They died. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all of sin. Jesus could have. Now, obviously, he never would have. He didn't. The reason that God became a man was because he, but he suffered all those temptations. And by the way, we'll talk about this in the sermon on the humanity of Christ, but he was hungry, like you and I are hungry. He got tired, like you and I get tired. He, you know, he had all those things like a human being, because he didn't just have a human body. He was actually part of the human race. So because of the virgin birth, Jesus had no sin nature, but also because of the virgin birth, Jesus was able to sin. He was tempted to sin. He never sinned, but he was in all points tempted like as we are. Major difference between you and I though, yet without sin. He was tempted to sin and he never sinned. Okay, so when we talk about the only begotten, the only begotten is a reference. You say, what is that referring to? It is a reference to Jesus, his body as the, at the birth, the virgin birth. It's the only one like that. He's the only begotten. No one else was ever born without the blood of Adam. You and I all have Adam's blood running through our veins. Jesus was the only begotten of the son whose blood came from the father in heaven, whose blood came from heaven. Does that make sense? Now let me give you the third stage to this thing. You guys remember, the second member of the Godhead has always been the son of God, and the second member of the Godhead has always manifested himself as a man. However, there have been stages or changes to that man. In the Old Testament, it was what I call the non-begotten stage. That's Jesus in the Old Testament, but there's no bloodline without father, without mother, and there's actually no blood. And that's why there's no bloodline. Then you have the son of God as a man after the virgin birth. That's the only begotten. That's Jesus who's born of a virgin, and because he was born of a virgin, he had the temptations to sin because he was part of the human race, but because of the virgin birth, we bypassed Adam's sinful sin nature passed down to all mankind, so he had no sin nature. Jesus had no sin nature, but like Adam, he could have sinned, but he didn't. He refused to sin. He was tempted in all points like we are, yes, without sin. Now let me give you the third phase. This is the son of God as a man after the resurrection, and if you notice, each one of those phases has nothing to do, nothing changes as far as him being the son of God. What changes is his body. Body in the Old Testament, no parents, no bloodline, no blood. Body in the New Testament, bloodline, blood. No sin nature, because he's born of the virgin, but he's able, he has the temptations to sin. Then we have the son of God after the resurrection. This is called the first begotten. Now at the resurrection, there was a new day when Jesus was begotten with his new body. Let me show it to you. Go to Acts chapter number 13. Acts chapter 13, and look at verse 33. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. We'll try to finish this up quickly, but let me just make these points. Acts chapter 13 and verse 33. God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children. God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that, notice, he hath raised up Jesus against, this is referring to the resurrection, as it is also written in the second psalm. Remember we read the second psalm where it said kiss the son? Well, this is a quote from that psalm. We're not gonna take the time to look at it, but he says, as it is also written in the second psalm, notice what he says. He says, thou art my son. This day have I begotten me. What day is he referring to? He's not referring to the virgin birth. He's referring to the day that Jesus resurrected from the grave. He says he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. You say, why is that? Here's why. Because at the resurrection of Christ, there was a change to the body of Christ, so he was begotten again, a different begotten, not in reference to him as the son, but in reference to his body. Hebrews chapter one, look at verse 13. Let me show it to you. Hebrews 1, 13. Hebrews chapter one, verse 13, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, we saw this in detail a few weeks ago, but let's just look at it again real quickly. And upholding all things by the word of his power, when he, that's Jesus, had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. That is after the resurrection, right? He's already died. He had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. He ascends up to heaven, this is after the resurrection, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to my father, and he shall be to me a son. Again, quoting Psalm 2, Hebrews 1, six. And again, when he bringeth the, notice these words, first begotten into the world he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. Now, verse six is not referring to the virgin birth. It's not referring to Bethlehem's manger. And again, when he bringeth the first begotten into the world he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him, he is referring to the resurrection of Christ. We saw that in Acts already, but we see it in the context here, because the context is, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand. And notice, it is after the resurrection. At the virgin birth, he's called the only begotten. After the resurrection, he's called the first begotten. And then, after the resurrection, we see this theme throughout the Bible. Hebrews 1, six, the first begotten. Go to Revelation chapter one, look at verse five. Revelation, last book in the New Testament, should be fairly easy to find. Revelation chapter one, verse five. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. And, I gotta move quickly, because I don't have a commercial to show you, okay? So, I'm gonna lose your attention span here in a minute. Revelation 1, five. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. Notice these words. 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. How did he wash us from our sins? In his own blood. This is a reference to, after the resurrection, he's the first begotten of the dead. He'd already died, he resurrected. Now he's not just the only begotten, now he's the first begotten. Go to Romans chapter eight, look at verse 29. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Romans eight. After the resurrection, he's now the first begotten. Why? Because we're in a different phase now. See, the only begotten, there's no contradiction here. No one, Jesus will, the virgin born son, Jesus Christ, no one will ever be like that. He was the only begotten, and he'll always be the only begotten in that sense that he's the only one that was born physically without the blood of Adam. But then after the resurrection, he's resurrected in his glorified body. Now he's not called the only begotten, he's called the first begotten. And this theme about him being the first is throughout the Bible. Romans eight, 29. Look at it. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be, notice the words, the first born among many brethren. See, Jesus, after the resurrection, he was the first born among many brethren. You say, what's the context? Well, the context is this, that he predestinated you to be conformed to the image of his son. He's saying, God wants all of us, you and I, to be conformed to the image of his son because Jesus was the first born among many brethren. Verse 30, moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. So you see how the context is about Jesus in his glorified body? He says Jesus in the glorified body is not the only begotten, he's the first begotten. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. You're there in Romans? Just flip over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20. Notice, it's always within the context of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15, 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. Notice, whenever he's called the first begotten, the firstborn, the firstfruit, it's always in the context to his resurrection. Look at verse 23, same chapter. But every man in his own order. Now we're talking about every man's resurrection, but every man in his own order. What is the order of the resurrection? Christ, the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ that is coming. You see that? You say, why is he called the first begotten after the resurrection? Here's why. Because Jesus, the virgin born son of Mary, was the only begone. No one will ever be born that way. No one will ever have a body that way. But Jesus, the resurrected glorified body, he's just the first begotten, because guess what? All of us are gonna receive that same glorified body. He's just the first begotten of the dead, but there's more to come. That's why he says, but every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruit, afterwards they that are Christ at his coming. Talk about the rapture. We're gonna be raptured up, and we're going to be in our glorified bodies. Jesus is just the prototype. He's the first one. But notice, the word begotten is not in reference to him being the son. He's always the son. He's always been the son. The word begotten is in reference to his body. In the Old Testament, we had a non-begotten, without father, without mother. In the New Testament, the virgin birth, we had an only begotten, the only one that was born without the blood of Adam. But then after the resurrection, we have a first begotten. Why? Because he's resurrected in a glorified body, and there's more to come, you and I, after the rapture. Go to Colossians chapter one, like verse 14. Let me just show you a few more things, and we'll finish up. Colossians 1, 14. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, Colossians 1, 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. See, people like to take this verse and say, oh, that's a reference to the fact that Jesus was created. But if you look at it in its context of scripture, the firstborn of every creature is a reference to his glorified body. He wasn't the first one created, but he was the first one who resurrected in a glorified body. Go to Colossians 1 and verse 18. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning. Notice, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he might have preeminence. He's the firstborn from the dead. Go to 1 John chapter three. If you start at the end of the Bible, Revelation, you go backwards, you have Jude, third, second, and first John. First John chapter three. See, he's the first begotten in the sense that we're all going to get the same glorified body. He's the only begotten because he's the only one that was born in the way in which he was born physically as a human. And then, but even before that, since he's always been the son of God, he appeared as a man in a non-begotten phase. So you say, well, why is he the first begotten? And I've already made this point because one day you and I are going to be begotten in the same way. 1 John chapter three, verse one, notice what the Bible says. Behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he, Jesus, shall appear, we know when Jesus appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. See, when Jesus comes back at the rapture, when we see him, the Bible says this corruption will put on incorruption. This mortal will put on immortality. We'll be given a glorified body like him. We shall see him, and we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So there's no contradiction here. He's the first begotten because he was the first one to get that glorified body that all of us are going to get. He's the only begotten because he's the only one that was born with human blood, not from Adam, bypassing Adam's sinful nature. And before that, he was the non-begotten because Melchizedek, we're told, was without father, without mother, without the son of days, without end of life, but here's the point. The second member of the Godhead, he's always been the son of God. And the second member of the Godhead has always manifested himself as a man. Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this doctrine. I hope it was clear, and I know there's a lot of passages we went to and a lot of explanation, but Lord, I pray that you would just help us to be, just to study your word, to learn the word, to want to delve into it. And sometimes it's easy to just look at the Bible and say, oh, there's a contradiction there. But if we really take the time to study it out and read it and think about it, we'll see that there's never a contradiction in scripture. There's always a reason why you word things the way you do. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us through your Holy Spirit to always learn that and understand that and to grow in our learning. Thank you for the doctrine of the eternal sonship of Christ, that we can understand that the second member of the Godhead was always the Son of God and has always manifested himself as a man, yet in different ways and different phases throughout human history. We love you. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.