Pastor Mase, and I trust that we've all continued to remember him and that work in prayer. This afternoon's lesson, I'll talk a little bit about our responsibilities to one another as the children of God and making sure that we make use of our time, that we don't just come to church and do that. And OK, we put the quarter in and now we're good to go for another week. Fellowship is about remembering one another. One of the reasons that Andy brought Pastor Luke here was in order that we might know him. And so now I know him. I know his wife. I know his two younger children and have a picture of him in my head. And that should help us to to remember and to pray for one another. Same with our missionaries as we we read about them. So we come today to what is, I've titled The God-Man. It's a section of chapters. If you have the book, it's chapters 18 through 20. And I had thought this might be a little shorter today, but you know me better than that. And Gene helped a little bit there, so we'll be fine. But the idea of the God-man, that Jesus Christ is both God and man, is startling, if you stop to think about it. That God and man could be united in one person is beyond our comprehension. This is the God who is spirit, who exists everywhere, in all time, in all eternity, in all places, who literally, out of nothing, created all that we know. and said, let there be light. And it was interesting. So I'll tell you again later, we were at a little mini conference Friday night and Saturday, and the guy said a couple of things. One of the things I wrote down was he said, it's okay to chase rabbits, to go down a rabbit trail if you catch the rabbit. So I have more leeway now. I just have to remember what the rabbit was. But it was interesting, Joe Rogan, I don't personally listen to him very often, but he's got the number one podcast in the world apparently, had interviewed a couple people and he recently had what I assume was an evangelical Christian on who, at least the guy reporting it, said it was an amazing presentation of the gospel. But they talked about creation and Rogan said one of the reasons he's starting to question his atheism and that he does think there must be a God is Because scientists have put forth this idea that somehow way millions and billions of years ago And if you had enough time at that, you know, it comes to pass there was a singularity of like almost nothingness but from that everything came and And he said, I'm sorry, but that's just like, that's silly to have that. And we can believe in that, but we can't believe that there was a God who out of nothing created everything that we have to come. And it was interesting to see that thought process. And men don't come to salvation by rational reasoning, but God's universe is rational. and it is meant to be studied, and that's why I have contended all of my life, partly because of some of the people I hung around with when I was young, that you can't study science without understanding God. And so anybody that says to you, I'm a scientist, and they don't believe in God, no, no, they're a groper in the darkness. In order to truly understand and study all that's been created, we have to understand the creator. And so in light of that, God, the creator of all things, it is startling, it is beyond belief that that God could come in the form of one of his creations. But it has to be received by you or else you cannot receive Christ. There is no salvation short of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Anything short of this will not satisfy Jesus. And I've told you this before. I'll use it again, I'm sure. I went to Bridgewater for a few years and the teacher who was the doctor of something or other, he was a doctor teaching New Testament theology said in class, now this is all just, don't read it as if this is all real, this is just some good lessons for us. First of all, it's absurd. So we're to learn good lessons from a bunch of liars? Because that's what the New Testament is. If the apostles and Christ didn't mean what they said, well then they're a bunch of liars. Why should we listen to anything else they have to say? And as Andy's been pointing out in his teachings on the incarnation, the Jews, the religious people today, they certainly understood what Christ was teaching. They wanted to kill him. Why? He was a blasphemer. He said he was God. There was no doubt that Christ said he was God. And so good character, pure doctrine, moral teaching, all those things are not enough. to satisfy God and to bring salvation. A great prophet will not satisfy him. or even a teacher sent from heaven. None of those things will satisfy. So again, in your dealings, if somebody comes knocking at your door, not to name names, and says, we want to teach you, talk to you about God, you can stop the conversation dead in its tracks by saying, what do you believe about Jesus Christ, the God man, the second person of the Trinity? And they will say to you, no, no, no, you misunderstand that. He is a God among gods. No, he's not. No, he's not. That's not biblical. So have a nice day. Or would you like me to explain it to you? Then they'll have a nice day, usually. But these things are foundational. None of those things is enough. It is only if Jesus Christ is the God-man. So all of these things are true. Character, doctrine, moral teaching, great prophet, teacher sent from heaven. These are all true, but they're not enough to answer Christ's question, who do men say that I am? Now, if you think I'm cheating and stole from Andy, I had my notes first. He just beat me to it. If you haven't heard the sermons from Andy on 1229 and January 1st, get them, okay? I'm not even gonna recommend it. Just get them, listen to them on the incarnation. They're very good sermons laying down the foundation. of the doctrine. But Christ said to Peter, Who do men say that I am? And in Matthew 16, 16, Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the son of the living God. And that is who Christ is. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God, the one who is to be looked to, to save his people from their sins. And so you must also believe that the man born of a virgin is the everlasting Lord of heaven and earth without beginning of days or end of days. You only receive Christ in deed and truth when you believe in his real humanity and his actual Godhead. Anything less cannot save us from our sins. John 1.14 says, and the word became 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. And so just a couple more points here this morning to continue on with this. And the first one is this, the miracle of God united with humanity. We cannot stand before a holy God. Reading Exodus recently, and Exodus 33, 17 says, So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken, for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. And Moses said, please show me your glory. Then God said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But God said, you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live. That's the God that we worship. So how can we see God? Only in Jesus Christ. because we can stand before Christ, the revelation of God. Luke 21 verse 36 says, watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. That's how we approach unto God, not through some mystic way or some mystic experience, but through Jesus Christ, the God-man, the man who brings us into the presence of God because he is God, and who alone has seen the Father. Moses just, if you haven't read that recently or aren't familiar with it, Moses was put in the cleft of the rock And remember, God's using language that we can relate to. God doesn't have parts. But God basically said, I'll put you in the cleft of the rock, and after I've gone by, you can see the back of me. And then Moses came down from the mountain and his face so shown with the glory of God that the people couldn't stand to look at him. And he had to put a veil over himself and tone down that glory that shone. And the same happened to him when he would go into the Holy of Holies and speak to God as things were being organized as they'd first come out of Egypt. And all that to remind us of we can't stand before God, but Jesus Christ has seen the Father. John 6 and verse 46 tells us, not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. So of course, if you wanna see God the Father, look at Jesus Christ. If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus Christ. And if you say, well, how do I do that through the word of God? That's the importance of the revelation of the word of God to us. Only in the word of God does Christ reveal himself in that word. Only in the word of God does God reveal himself in Christ so that we can see God the Father through Jesus Christ. And that's the importance of Christ's ascension to heaven and his promise that he would send the spirit. they all work together. How is it that we can be in the Word of God and see and know Christ and know God through Christ? Because the Spirit works in us. The Spirit draws us to that. So you see, in all these things, although you are not going to be the means that makes it happen, God has told you, cry out and ask for the Spirit. Cry out and ask for wisdom as you read the Word of God. That doesn't cause it to happen. Just because you do it more than someone else doesn't make it happen. If that's the case, then the old Roman Catholic monks would have been way ahead of all of us because they beat the body and they did all kinds of things to themselves in order to find grace with God. And what did Martin Luther find out? It didn't work. He didn't have anything better than he started with. It's only as God works in us and blesses us, but God still tells us to ask. God still tells us to seek these things and to see Christ, who is the only one who has seen the Father. And this is the only means of satisfactory salvation. Hebrews 10, verse eight says, previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire, nor have pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law." They had a point. They were commanded to be done. Then he said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Christ is the only satisfactory means of salvation. Someone asked in a discussion we were in the other day, what about the Jews who don't sacrifice anymore? You read through the Old Testament, Exodus, Leviticus, and all the sacri- I mean, you can't help but, as you get bogged down in reading, which you will, you can't help but think to yourself, wow. First of all, for Christians, what a blessing it is that we have Christ to sacrifice. But for the Jews, there was no way they could ever do all these things. And for modern Jews, what's your salvation based on? You were told to sacrifice. You're not sacrificing. Now, I've asked a few modern Jews that question, and you get one of two answers. Either you get the... it's interesting. There are Jews that go to church just on Christmas and Easter, okay? Pick two different ones, because it's their Jewish holidays. I get that. But that's the extent of their religion. They were born a Jew, so therefore they're Jewish. We were born Americans, therefore we're Christian. And so, there's a population of Jews that believe that. But there's some more that I've talked to that basically say, oh, well, yeah, but that's all symbolic now. Once Israel was destroyed in 70 AD, once the nation was dispersed, then those things became symbolic. And sometimes you just want to grab them and shake them and say, don't you see it? Yeah, the nation was destroyed because your Messiah came. Believe in him, he's the sacrifice. You'll never bring someone to salvation that way, I promise you. But continue to give the word to them and continue to pray for them. Because there is no hope. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Period. God said that. That has not changed. What do Christians have? Christians have the satisfactory salvation of being in Jesus Christ who shed His blood for our sins. That's it. That's the whole gospel, if you will, summed up. And so it is only In Jesus Christ, the God-man, who died for our sins, that there is satisfactory salvation. And there is no other way to God. Now, this is, and I'm well aware of it, this is an unpopular and exclusionary truth. There are people that I know or work with that if they ever listen to this, their heads will explode that I could possibly believe those things, but it doesn't change it. As unpopular and exclusionary as it is, this is the teaching of Jesus Christ himself. So you go back to, you can't believe the Word of God. You can't say, I'm a Bible believer. I believe the Word of God. It's good teachings for man. And then take a verse like I'm about to read and say, well, Christ didn't really mean that when he was a liar. And I'm sorry, with all respect, if Jesus Christ is a liar, he is not God. He is certainly not capable of being a good man or bringing salvation. But in John 14, 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And I've heard some of the mental gymnastics. They're silly. That means exactly what it says it means. There is no path to God the Father. There is no reconciliation for your sins except through Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ alone. Now, why is this important and why do I spend a few minutes saying this to people that I am 99% sure most of you have heard this or know this? And so why the emphasis? Because it's important to remind ourselves that Satan is at work and he's a liar. And Satan tells lies such as, don't worry, all roads lead to God. Doesn't matter if you're a Christian or a Hindu or a Muslim or a dirt worshiping planet lover, doesn't matter. We'll all get to the same place in the end. And so, as was mentioned recently by Andy, you can go to many a place, you can go to many a funeral and be told they were good people. Never went to church, they were good people. Never had anything to do with Christ, but they were good people. And so he's in heaven now with his favorite dog, I might add, fishing. Wouldn't we all like to do that, right? That's great, that's wonderful. No, you see what it is? It's doing what you wanted to do on earth and saying, well, that's what we're gonna do in heaven. No, no, heaven's about God. So is being on earth. If we are true Christians and follow after God, we will serve God on earth and what we do in heaven will be the same as what we did on earth because it won't be about the things that man puts first. And so all roads lead to God is a lie told by Satan to deceive and to keep men from the truth. Now, why again do I emphasize this? We need to remind ourselves of that so that we have mercy and pity on those around us. And even though I like good neighbors, okay? We have some good neighbors, and they look out for us, and we look out for them, and we all pick up each other's Amazon packages when Amazon decides, we don't feel like driving to your house, it's a little snowy, and they throw them down on the mailboxes. Stuff like that. That's good neighbors. I've told people in the past, the Mormons, you know that they're wrong. They're doctrinally wrong. They are going to die and go to hell if they don't repent of the sins that they believe. But I'm gonna tell you right now, if I got a choice between a bunch of Mormons for neighbors or a bunch of some other group for neighbors, I'm picking the Mormons. They don't like hippies. Okay, that's beside the point. I've never met a Mormon that did. It's weird. But they're good family people. They're solid people. They have nice families. Most of them hunt and fish. Most of them have arsenals bigger than mine. I hate to admit that. But they're good, solid people. They're prepared. They help in the community. When things go wrong, they kick right in. But all those things make them good neighbors, but it doesn't mean they're children of God going to heaven. And so we should therefore Have good neighbors, but have mercy on them. Maybe you've spoken to your neighbor once or twice, and most people are like, oh, yeah, you've got your religion, I've got mine. Okay, that's fine, I'm not gonna offend you, I'm not gonna be obnoxious about every time I see you, I've got to say something about God to you. Some people may need that, not all, but I'm gonna pray for you. I'm gonna pray for you all the time. I'm gonna pray for you on a regular basis. And so it's an encouragement. It's a spur, if you will, to remind us that unless you are following the truth of God, You are not on the road to heaven and you are not, in fact, going to find out that everything works out in the end. And so that is Satan. Satan is a liar and he uses lies and he twists things in order that we might take it a little easy. And so to wrap this section up, what a comfort it is that he who sits on the throne is such as I am, me personally, except for sin. That's a quote from Spurgeon, by the way. You can't tell where I got the quotes in here. But what a comfort that is. The man who sits on the throne in heaven is of the same nature as I am, except he didn't sin. We have a brother in the flesh, sitting on the throne of heaven. He drew near to us and joined himself to man. And it is a sign of reconciliation and peace to unite with those that war against you. You see this in the regular world. It's maybe not as prevalent today as it used to be, but a king is having trouble with the nation next door, and they're getting ready to go to war, and the two kings say, look, let's work this out. And what's one of the things they could do? My son's going to marry your daughter, right? And they marry and the kingdoms unite. And that uniting, it's a sign of reconciliation and peace. And Psalm 2 gives us the same thing. Psalm 2 verse 12 says, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. And then it switches. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. So the God who says, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish, reconciled himself to us by becoming man so that we might be blessed by putting our trust in him. So you see the foundational aspect of God, man, and how important it is to us. And then the second thought is this. And it is the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. And this is because these things are hard to grasp as we think about God, and as we think about man, and to realize that the fullness of God is in Christ Jesus. For it pleased God the Father to make this the means of salvation. Colossians 2 in verse 9 and following says, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now I have a lot more to read, but I'm going to stop every few phrases here and say, think about that. The fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Jesus Christ. How can that be? Don't know. Not sure we'll ever comprehend that, but we'll spend our lifetime in eternity thinking about that and understanding that to a better extent. In Jesus Christ, the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. And you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. Think about that. You see the connection? Not only is Christ the fullness of the Godhead bodily, but we are complete in Christ, in Him. So if you're trying to be complete anywhere besides Christ, you're never gonna do it. You're never gonna be satisfied. Somebody used the example just recently. The richest man in the world and his wife just said, we're done. Start over, which I think he's done two or three times. I don't keep track. So you can't trust people to complete you. You can't trust some goal to complete you. Only in God are we complete. I'll continue on in Colossians 2 if you're following along. In him, in Jesus, you were also circumcised. with the circumcision made without hands. This isn't physical circumcision like the Jews. This is spiritual circumcision as is taught in the New Testament. We are brought in, you'll see this in the afternoon service, which is abide in him. the vine that is grafted in, abide in Christ. We are brought in through the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. That's how we move forward in the Christian life. by being in Christ, by being united with him through the circumcision made without hands. What was the point of circumcision? It set the nation of Israel apart from all the other nations. One of the things they did when a nation would come and say, we want to be friends with you. We want to have a treaty with you. They'd say, OK, first we have to circumcise all your males. And depending on how bad they wanted to take advantage of Israel, they'd say, OK, we'll do that. And what happened is they'd do that, and then Israel would slaughter them while they were all incapacitated. And so that was the physical means of it. It was a sign of who the Jews were. The circumcision made without hands is a sign of who Christians are. We are in Christ. We are part of the body of Christ. And that's how the body of sin is put off. And then I love this next section here because it's a Baptist section. Buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith. That's why we have a baptismal, aside from all the other teachings. You can't be buried with Christ and have the symbolism of burial with Christ in baptism, sprinkling a little water on their head. You have to be immersed in the water. That's how you're buried with Christ in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead. And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. You see the importance of the incarnation of Jesus Christ? You see how you can't have Christmas and the little baby in the manger without Jesus Christ, the son of God hanging on the cross? That is the means by which our sins have been taken out of the way. And so this is the linchpin of the true church. A linchpin for you that don't know is just, it's the pin that holds everything together. You know, you chain or sometimes in the building, it's the one thing that if you pull that, everything falls down. It's, you know, Jenga. It's that last block that you pull. It's the linchpin of the true church, this teaching of God incarnate. Ephesians 1 and verse 7 says, in Him, that's in Christ, in Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. So no matter how much we partake of Christ, there is never one bit less of Christ. He's God. Spurgeon used the illustration, oh, that was a good illustration, that we often say, you know, if a child goes to the ocean and scoops up a cup of water out of the ocean, the ocean isn't any less the ocean, it's still full. And Spurgeon says, yes, but the ocean has one cup of water that's missing out of it. But God isn't even like that. No matter how much we partake of Christ, there is not one bit less of Christ because he is God. And neither will we ever become weary of learning at his feet. And again, I go back to the idea of heaven, and I don't know, and I know there's been a lot of discussion and talk and books written and speculation about heaven, and I think there's very limited knowledge of what is in heaven. but Christ has promised it's a place that we will dwell forever. There are habitations there. We will dwell there forever. What will we do in the new heavens and the new earth? I believe we'll have things to do. I don't think we'll be laying around. I think we'll have things to do, but I know for sure we will be partaking of Christ. We will be worshiping Christ. We will be drinking in the fullness of Christ without sin. without weariness, without distraction, without our minds wandering and learning constantly of new things that we didn't understand and didn't believe. So what blessed truths these are that God came incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. Let's close with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we do rejoice at your revelation to us of Jesus Christ and of his nature of both God and man. These things are so far beyond us that we could never have imagined them, never created them on our own, never made a religion that had these elements. But Father, you have revealed them to us throughout the ages, through different prophets, through different authors and apostles and teachers. And you have blessed us in these things. And I pray that we might lay hold of them. We might take some of these verses that we've looked at this morning and read and meditate on them for ourselves and just stand in awe before you at your mercies and your blessings to us. Father, work in the hearts of any who are without Christ that they might know him. and that they might rejoice with us at what you have done in Jesus Christ. We pray, continue and bless us now throughout the morning service and our time of lunch and fellowship together. Just be with us, be especially with our Pastor Andy and Beth as they're apart. May you bless and keep them and may they rejoice and be rested also in this time of grief in their own lives. We ask all of these things for your glory and for your honor in Jesus name, amen. you.