#-2~ 1 Timothy 3:16 THE SON BECAME FLESH 12-18-10
Recently I brought a few thoughts on what I consider to be the # 1 Bible doctrine, and that is the
INCARNATION. If Jesus was not God in flesh then none of the rest of the numerous Bible doctrines are important, if the incarnation is not real then we can forget the whole thing because nothing else will matter, if Jesus had a human Father He would have inherited sin just like all the rest of us and He Himself would have need of a Saviour, and all of are still in our sins.
But we that believe the Bible believe all that it tells us by faith, that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary just exactly like we find it in the Bible, the KJ Bible, and that the Holy Spirit of God was His Father, just like the Bible says.
As we get a little further in the message we’ll see that because of the fall of man is why He came to earth.
Ø Listen as I read our text for today:
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy*(dispute) great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest *(reviled) in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Ø Notice- God was manifest *(reviled) in the flesh,-
Jesus said in John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
John 10:38— the Father is in me, and I in him.
Therefore If Jesus is God (and He is), and if He became man (and He did), how did He become man?
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word,** and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2The same was in the beginning with God. 3AII things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Ø We read, "The Word became flesh-
14 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.
Ø You and I have been begotten again:
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again----we’ve been born again.
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Long before any thing was ever created, the God Head, FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST had a glorious plan, because God knew that man would fall into sin, and so the plan was that God the
Father would send His Only Begotten Son to the earth in the form of sinful man but without sin in order to pay the sin debt.
1 Peter 1:18-21 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation**(behavior) received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:--
--In order to pay the sin debt required a perfect, sinless Sacrifice, Jesus would be the Lamb of God, Jesus was the only perfect Sacrifice, and God would except nothing short of perfection, that’s why only Jesus could pay this great price,
20 Who verily**(truly) was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest**(He appeared) in these last times for you, 21 Who**(believers) by Him**(JESUS) do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him**(Jesus) glory; (the reason) that your faith and hope might be in God.
Lets not forget that we’re talking about God here, and He knows all things, He sees and understands every thing that’s going to take place even before it happens.
Matthew 6:8— for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. (but He wants us to ask)
Ø He sees the ending from the beginning-
Rev. 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega,*(are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Ø Listen as I read -
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, -
Lets be sure to see and understand that Jesus came to earth at a precise set time,
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
(We read many times that GOD SENT JESUS)
Listen-God didn’t send His Son during the Babylonian Empire, or the Median-Persian Empire, or the Grecian Empire, because any of these would not have been "in the fullness of the time"
God sent His Son at a certain time during the Roman Empire; it was during this precise time that
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, God knew that His people, the Jews, would be under this Roman rule and oppression and that they would be looking for their Messiah to come and deliver them from this great oppression,
--They we’re looking for a great man to come on the scene and defeat the Romans, -
--They were looking for a man to conquer the Romans and set up His Kingdom, never did they think that the Deliverer would be born in an humble stable.
--Never did they have any idea that He’d come humble and lowly and allow Himself to be hung on a Roman cross,
--Never did they realize or understand that He was to come the 1st time to pay our sin debt,
-- Never did they realize that this same Jesus was going to come a 2nd time to receive His own, and at His 2nd coming would be when He destroys all His enemies.—ARMAGEDDON--
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What a Great God we have, what a great plan He had and has, and His plan is exactly on schedule, its not early nor is it late, but it is exactly where His plan is suppose to be, nothing takes Him by surprise,
He’s not at all worried about the turmoil that’s coming on His people today; it certainly worries us because of our human weaknesses and our love of Israel.
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He’s not sick with a throbbing headache from worrying about the problems of the day; He has never had a problem!
He’s not pacing out and back in the Throne room wringing His hands wondering what He should do next. He has every thing under complete control.
Numbers 23:19—(Balaam as he was talking to king Balak) --hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Ø Let’s try and have patience, at His set precise time He’ll take us out of here.
HE DOES EVERY THING AT PRECISE TIMES:
1. Jesus was born at the precise time---Roman rule
2. Jesus was crucified on a precise day, --PASSOVER—
3. He died at the precise time of day—3: O clock—
Exodus 12:6-- and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
4. He was born in a precise town---Bethlehem of Judea.
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting---
Caesar Augustus (Cæsar and Augustus) both wound up being titles of the Rom. Emperor) thought he was in control when he declared a census in order for the Jews to pay tax, but what he actually did was cause Joseph and Mary to have to go to Bethlehem Judah to register about 60 miles away, because that was the town the Messiah was to be born in, and this was Gods way of getting them there.
5. And we have no doubt that He’ll call us away at His foreordained time.
Hosea 6:2 After two days (2000 years) will he revive us: (Jews) in the third day (millennium) he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.—the rapture is about 7 years before this.
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I can just almost picture God sitting back and watching it all unfold, and perhaps looks over at the Son and saying "well Son it’s not gonna be long now, it’ll soon be time for you to go and get your Bride", and I can just imagine Jesus being all excited and anxiously waiting to call her out of this sin sick world.
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But the Virgin Birth was a must, and He was born of the Virgin Mary the very day that it was foreordained for Him to be.—we don’t know the exact day, but Dec. 25th has been set aside to remember His birth.
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Let me say something about Mary, all of this stuff that some of these other denominations would have us to believe, and millions do believe, that she is above Jesus or equal to Him, that she is also a mediortrix, is a lie of the devil, let me quickly say that none of this is her fault, if it were possible she’d be the 1st to say so. .
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus;--and that settles it for time and eternity.
Ø The Word of God says in
@@@@ Matthew 2:9-11 When they*(the wise men) had heard the king*(Herod) they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was (notice young child, not a babe, possible about 2 years old by now).
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
== Matthew makes it clear that this star was a very unusual star; it was a supernatural star ==
LISTEN- 11And when they were come into the house, (not stable) they saw the young child with
Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: -
Let’s be sure we notice the One being worshipped- and worshipped him:- not her.
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@@@@ In Luke’s account He was a Babe, but here in Matthew He was a young Child. And I want to point out something in Luke’s account.
Luke 1:26-28 And in the sixth month*(the sixth month refers to the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy) the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,--
--There were 3 Provinces in Israel, JUDEA-GALILEE-SAMARIA.
---Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee---
27To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28And the angel came in unto her, and said. Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Mary was highly favored, but God could have chosen any number of virgins to give birth to His
Son, but He chose Mary, she was highly favored, (favored from on High) and notice what else we read here, she was, (blessed among women) not above women.
29And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
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LET ME REMIND US That John the Baptist and Jesus was both given their names from God, the parents had nothing to do with naming them.
Luke 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
--Also God told Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid that her son would be called “ISHMAEL”
Genesis 15:11-- Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael--
Also God named ISAAC-
Genesis 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac:
God named a man, “CYRUS” about 200 years before he was born.
Isaiah 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
There’s another before Cyrus but I don’t recall his name, all of this tells us just a little of the power of our Great God.
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32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:** 33And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
· Why is Jesus called the son of David many times in the gospels?
· Jesus is in the line of King David, which ties him to the covenant that God the Father promised David that his seed will rein forever. But Jesus father was not Joseph His Father was God himself.=
34Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Some one may asks, could not Mary transmit her sinful nature to Jesus through her sin tainted blood?
Ordinarily this would be the case, but the phrase in verse 35-“that holy thing which shall be born of thee” declares that God supernaturally prevented this from occurring.
I believe that Mary was only the vehicle so to speak, to bring God into the world in flesh.
Jesus did not carry any human blood from Mary or any man, His Blood was Gods Blood.
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.
She believed the promise, but she did not understand how it could be possible. How could a virgin give birth to a child?
Gabriel explained that this would be a miracle, the work of the Holy Spirit of God.
Joseph, her betrothed, would not be the father of the child even though Jesus would be legally identified as the son of Joseph.
It’s possible that some people thought Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph and that Jesus was "born of fornication"
John 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
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Gabriel was careful to point out that the Baby would be a "holy thing" and would not share the sinful human nature of man.
Ø Jesus knew no sin
2 Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Ø He did no sin
1 Peter 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth--
Ø He had no sin
Ist. John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin--
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His body was prepared for Him by the Spirit of God Who over shadowed Mary.
Heb. 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Ø Mary’s womb became a holy of holies for the Son of God.
Gabriel ended his message by giving Mary a word of encouragement: her aged cousin Elisabeth was with child, proving that "with God nothing shall be impossible."
Ø She had to be a virgin: -- to fulfill Old Testament prophecy
Gen 3:15 -- And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, (notice, not man) and between thy seed and her seed;--
Isa. 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.** (God with us)
