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Bramhall, John WThe Incarnation 03 ~ Matthew 11;27

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Beloved radio, friends, we give you greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ and welcome you to the continued Bible study upon the incarnation of that blessed one. It has been of great blessing to me personally to take the word of God and prove with rejoicing that the babe of Bethlehem, the boy of Nazareth, the man of Galilee, and the Christ of Calvary is both very God and very man. And I pray that you, my radio listener, believe and know the truth of it more and more. But let us consider in detail from the Word of God some reasons for the incarnation of the Son of God. Have you ever investigated in the Word of God For your own personal knowledge and profit, why God's eternal Son became man? Will you please join me in considering from the Scriptures why? And may the Holy Spirit inspire the study? First of all, listen to this carefully. Christ came into the world to reveal God to men. by its incarnation becoming flesh, the incomprehensible and the invisible God is translated into terms of human understanding. Let me mention one scripture in Matthew eleven and verse twenty-seven, where Jesus himself is the speaker, saying, All things are delivered unto me of my Father, And no man knoweth the Son but the Father. And note the next words, please. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Oh, that blessed Son came into this world to reveal his Father. My friend, Christ came to reveal his Father to you and to me. Do you know God as your Father yet? Thank God I do. But let us read another verse. John chapter one and verse eighteen. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him, or he hath made him known. Once again we declare that the invisible God whom no man hath nor could see, is now revealed to human hearts and to human minds through the person of his beloved Son. Yes, the invisible God is now made visible in the person of the Blessed Son of God when taking a human body. Do you recall the words that Jesus said to Philip, when Philip in John fourteen said that Jesus shows the Father? Did not the Lord say, Philip, have I been so long time with you? Yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. My beloved, let me state briefly but thoroughly, by his life, through his words, and his deeds upon the earth, Christ revealed God to mankind. My beloved radio friend, can I ask you a question? Do you know God? Have you found Him as your Father? Remember the Lord Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John chapter fourteen in verse six. So let me repeat. Christ came into the world to reveal God to men. Christ came to reveal what man should be to God. Ah, my beloved friend, if you and I wish to know what we should be to God, we have to look at the life of the Lord Jesus. When you look at the earthly life of Christ from his boyhood to his death, he is God's perfect, ideal man. He is particularly to all Christian people. Christian men and women, Christian boys and girls, their perfect example. Let me emphasize, he is not an example for unsaved men and women, for he cannot be their example until they are saved. But may I point out the Apostle Peter's words, my fellow believer, when Peter wrote to say, if when ye do well and suffer for it, You take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even here on to were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. First Peter chapter two, verses twenty and twenty-one. My beloved Christian believer, my fellow believer, the life that you and I should live in this world, is to be patterned after the life of Christ in his earthly walk. Listen to the pattern that has been given to us by the Apostle Paul when writing in Philippians chapter two, verses five through eight. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant or a slave, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians chapter two, verse five through eight. Here is the believer's pattern for his and her life, to be like Christ as he lived upon the earth when he was here. It reveals what the believer should be to God. Please let me condense this pattern that Paul has set before us in a very few suitable words. First, as you can study the context, love was the motive of his life. It was love that moved him to leave heaven's glory to come to the earth below. And it was that same love that motivated him when he lived on the earth through all of his earthly pathways. Love not only loved to God, but thank God love to others. Second, humility governed and controlled him every step of the way through life. Even when he appeared in the fashion of man, he humbled himself. Are we humble? What a terrible curse pride is. but what tremendous power there is in humility. Third, obedience was ever before Him. To be obedient to the will of God, yes, to be as He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. That was the ultimate, perfect, and complete evidence of His obedience, which provided an eternal salvation through His death upon the cross. My beloved let us drink at Him. He has revealed by his incarnate life what man should be to God. My fellow Christian, God helped you and me to be more like him. He came to reveal what man should be to God. But my beloved unsaved listener, would you be longing to know God perhaps? Are you longing to have a life that is more like that man who walked in Galilee? Then you must be saved first. Don't try to attempt living the Christian life without being saved. It's not possible. Christ himself alone can bring you to God, as you well know. But now listen to the words of the Apostle Peter, my unsaved friend. First Peter, three eighteen. For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. that he might bring us to God. Have you been brought to God, my friend? Yes, he came into this world that he might reveal God to men. And when by faith you trust his redempted work for your sins, he will bring you to God. Then you will have Christ enabling you to live as you should to the glory of God. Then you will have Christ for your example, for your pattern to follow, for He left us an example that we should follow in His steps. My beloved, please let me summarize and pardon the repetition, though I do not apologize for it, to summarize and conclude the reasons for the incarnation of the Son of God which we have touched upon today. We have presented two particular facts. He came to reveal God to men. That invisible God that no man has ever seen has been visibly revealed, and that before all mankind, when they sun upon the earth, by the incarnate life of the Son of God, in his life, by his words, His blessed thoughts that he expressed and the deeds that he performed, they reveal the incomprehensible and the invisible God in terms of human understanding. Oh, my beloved, let me repeat the words of Philip, or the words of Jesus to Philip, when in John fourteen, verse nine, he said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. My beloved friend, do you know God? Can you call him my Father? Oh, may I remind you of the words of the Lord Jesus in John twenty, verse seventeen before we close, following his death, his burial and his resurrection, that very first message that he gave to Mary Magdalene to take to his brethren. Go to my brethren and tell them I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and unto my God and your God." Yes, my beloved, he came to reveal God to men. And every man and woman, boy and girl, who receives them as their Savior, can call God Father. But second, he came to reveal what man should be to God. Christ the incarnate, life of that blessed one. He was the ideal man before God, and is the believer's perfect example to follow his steps. Oh, my beloved, will you not meditate and reflect deeply in mind and heart and soul? Why the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, left heaven to come to the earth to save you and to save me. Christ Jesus came into the world. Praise His name. To save sinners. Has He saved you? Father, bless the Word to the salvation of the Son. In Jesus' name, amen.