Gooding, David: 2 - The Deity of Christ in Incarnation

So welcome once more to this second in this small series of meditations, which we devote to exploring the wonders of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As we remarked on the first occasion, there is no more exalted or more awesome topic that is possible for the human mind to contemplate than the question of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. For in studying the Trinity, we are not studying so much what God has said, though of course we are extremely interested in everything that God has said. Nor are we concerned exactly with what God has done, though of course studying the Trinity will involve us in much consideration of what God has done. But in studying the Trinity, we are being allowed to peer into the very heart of God, to consider what God is in himself. And it is altogether a mark of God's extraordinary grace that he should allow the likes of us to peer into and to consider and to discuss what God is in his very self. So when we began in our first meditation last night, we observed that our knowledge of the Trinity is only possible because God, in his superb grace and condescension has chosen to reveal himself to us, and done so most splendidly, first and foremost in sending his dear beloved son, his one and only son, to communicate, to express, to reveal to us what God is in himself. And secondly, God has done this to reveal what he is in himself by sending the Holy Spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus, as he did at Pentecost, to abide with us and to be in all those who trust the Savior. So not only has Christ declared what God is, but the Holy Spirit has been sent to be within the believer, to help the believer grasp what Christ has revealed about the Holy Trinity. So that, thank God, we are not left to our own devices. Let us secretly in our hearts at this very moment, as we begin our study, praise God for the Holy Spirit, God the Spirit, who, knowing all the deep things of God, has come to reside within the believer, that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. Otherwise, and without him, we should grasp nothing. So on our first occasion, we looked at first and listened to the Son of God incarnate and to his inspired apostles that had the authority to tell us all that he said. And we listen to our Lord telling us what he was before he became human, before he became incarnate. So when we are thinking him of him in as what he was, we are not yet involved in thinking about his manhood and the question of how, being God, he could simultaneously become man, because before his incarnation, he wasn't man. There was a time when the Son of God was not human. What was he then? We learned from the opening words of John's gospel of his eternal existence. In the beginning was the Word, with an eternal, timeless beginning, without beginning of life or end of days. We learned that he was with the Father, therefore, in some sense, distinct from the Father. But he was with the Father, which indicates that he enjoyed with the Father that intimate, living, glorious, and marvelous fellowship with the Father. He was that eternal life that was with the Father, for the Father's eternal enjoyment. And we learned from that clause of scripture that God, the Supreme God, the Holy Trinity, is not a monolith, but is a fellowship, a communion. And our hearts were very warmed when we later read that this life has been manifested, so says John in his epistles, manifested for this very purpose, that we might have fellowship with God. Surely our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. It is a thing to be pondered, my fellow believers, that as we sit or stand here this evening, here on this planet, we can and do have fellowship in the very intimate things of God. We have fellowship with the Father. We share with God the Father this eternal life that is his Son. And then we were told that the Word was God. So though the Word can be viewed as distinct from the Father, yet we must try to apprehend that there are not two gods, there are not three gods, there is only one God. For the Word of God, the Son of God, has and shares the very basic essential life and being of God. The Son is as much God as God the Father is. And that is true also of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is as much God as the Son is, or as the Father is, all three persons of the Godhead being equally God. But now tonight in our meditation, we must move forward to consider what happened when the Word, who eternally existed and was with God and was God, what happened when he became flesh, as the Bible puts it, that he took to himself humanity and became a human being? This we can say at once that certainly happened. Verily, God though he was, he became truly human. A real man. Not a pretend man. Not just superficially man. Not just looking like man. He became thoroughly human. He was made, says the Bible, in all points like as we human beings are, except for this only, except for sin. He was truly human. But if he became truly human, then what, we ask, did that do with his deity? And the Bible's answer that we're going to consider this evening is that he remained God to the full extent as ever he was God. Says the Bible, the Word became flesh. Notice it, not the Word became flesh and ceased to be God. Not that the Word suddenly changed and became something different from what it was and ceased to be God, but the Word being God became human. Now, of course, that raises a problem in many people's minds, does it not? Even the truest believer will on times wonder how it could possibly be. How could our blessed Lord be God and really man simultaneously? For instance, Psalm 121, verse four says, talking of God the Father, behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. So God doesn't go to sleep, mercifully, for he it is that sees after us and cares for us and keeps us. And yet, we're told in the Gospels, for instance, Luke chapter seven verse twenty three, that presently when Christ said, let's cross the lake to the other side, they took him in the boat as he was, and as he sailed, he fell asleep. If God neither slumbers nor sleeps, how can our Lord fall asleep in a boat if he were simultaneously God? Or again, the famous verse Isaiah forty twenty eight says, the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. Oh, what a marvelous thing it is when we come to our Father, wearied with life and its toils and its troubles and its labours and its works and its problems. And we come weary and we wait on the Lord, who reminds us that the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth, he doesn't faint, neither is weary. And yet, John four and verse six tells us that Jesus, being wearied with his journey, sat by the well at Sychar in Samaria. If God doesn't grow weary, how could Jesus Christ our Lord be weary if he was simultaneously God? These then are some of the questions that arise, don't they, as we consider this wonderful mystery. I'm going to say this evening, therefore, I'm not going to try to solve the problem or even to comment on it at very, at any length. We'll reserve that to a later session in our series. What I want to do this evening is to show that when our Lord became flesh, the Word became flesh, became a man, Scripture asserts, makes it abundantly and unmistakably clear that he remained what he always was. Not only in eternity past, but here in this life, he was and remained Remained God. God. So we shall tonight look at the facts, the scriptures that tell us this, that in his life on earth, Jesus is said to be God. In his resurrection, he is hailed as God. In his ascension to glory, without ceasing to be human, yet is he acknowledged as God. And when he comes again, we shall greet him, says Paul to Titus, as our great God and Savior, we shall see him. That is Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior. The New Testament will add that Jesus Christ, who came according to the flesh after the tribe of Judah in Israel, nevertheless Christ is, who is over all, God, blessed forevermore. This then I la- wish to emphasize this evening, that not only in eternity past, but the man Jesus Christ, come flesh, he never ceased to be God. Tomorrow, God willing, we shall consider the other side, that he became truly human, and begin to think how, being God, he could become a real man. But first, let me come to a false explanation, a false solution to the problem that we have posed. How can Christ, how could Christ, being really a man, simultaneously be God? And there is a solution offered. It's a very common solution to this problem, and it is, I want to make abundantly clear, completely false. Only it seems to some people to be convincing because this explanation, they claim, is based on scripture. So now to your Bibles, if you will, it will help to keep you awake. There's an advantage in having to turn the pages of the Bible, and this, after all, is a study of the Bible. So here we come, and this is the Epistle to Philippians and chapter two. The Epistle to the Philippians and chapter two. It's a very well, well, well, well-known passage, but we must give special attention to its terms. Philippians two and verse five. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being or existing in the form of God, counted it not robbery to be on an equality with God, but made himself of no reputation. Or at least that is what the good old King James, the authorized version, will say, if you have the authorized version in front of you. Being in the form of God, nevertheless, he, uh, made himself of no reputation. But now a little Greek to season the food. Um, the word here that is translated made himself of no reputation is a very simple word in Greek. It simply means emptied. He emptied himself. Plain, straightforward meaning of a very simple Greek word. Of course, the translators, when they came across this phrase that tells us that our blessed Lord emptied himself, paused to think, whatever could that mean? He existed in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself and became a man. What does it mean, they said to themselves, that he emptied himself. So the authorized translators decided it meant that he humbled himself and made himself of no reputation, which is a very good translation, and that is true indeed. But here comes the false interpretation that I warned you of, so do notice it's false. There are people, and have been multitudes of them, who, faced with this question, how can Jesus Christ be both God and man, say, ah, but look what it says, he emptied himself. Emptied himself of what? Emptied himself, they say, of his divine Divine attributes. attributes. And simply emptied them, put them away, and thus became man. And while he was man, he no longer possessed his divine attributes. In other words, he wasn't God. For if you take away God's attributes, God ceases to exist. This false interpretation gained much currency, particularly in theological circles. Do be warned, it is not true. If Christ, being the Word of God and equal with God, emptied himself of divine attributes. I repeat, he would no longer be God. You can't be God and yet have no divine attributes. What is the right interpretation? The right interpretation is to take the words simply as they stand. He didn't empty himself of anything. What he did was he emptied himself. That is, he poured out himself. Now that's another thing altogether, isn't it? He poured himself out into a life of a servant, that he might serve others. Poured himself out in obedience to his father, poured himself out to the point of death, and that is the death of the cross. As it is said in Isaiah the prophet, he poured out his soul unto death. What a marvelous thing that is. Pause in our study just for a moment to let your heart turn in worship to the Lord. That he for whom all things are and by whom all things are, all things made to serve him. Countless unnumbered galaxies of ten thousand times ten thousand billions of stars. He for whom are all things. Oh, what a story this is. He emptied himself, poured himself out. For God his Father, of course, but also for us. Don't you find your heart responding right now, this very moment? Oh, how could it be? My Lord and God, that you should empty yourself out for me? We are used to tracing the stages of his self-humbling, the stoop that he took. Oh, let's enjoy it and not just use this scripture, uh, to prove a false theory wrong. Let's enjoy the positive side. What a stoop it was. Existing in the form of God. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God, or as that might be translated, considered that being equal with God was not a reason why he should grasp everything for himself. You know, there are some men, and once they become dictators of their country and have all the power in their hand, regard it as the opportunity to grasp everything for themselves. And he, being equal with God, didn't count equality with God as a reason for grasping everything for himself, but the very reverse, instead of grasping for himself, he poured himself out. And the first step was to become a servant. Notice that, won't you? The first step was not being a man, the first step was becoming a servant. That he whose it was to command obeyed as a servant and served. And you may think of it thus. It was certainly a vast stoop to, for God to become a servant, but then angels are servants, aren't they? And angels are higher than men. Old Gabriel and company, you know, Michael, uh, they they have a notion that you are somewhat lower than they are, made a little lower than the angels. And yet the vast angels that are mighty and excel in power, they are servants. When our Lord humbled himself and poured himself out, he was not content simply to be a servant for angels of that, but he took on him the form of a man. And men are lower than angels, aren't they? Verily, God, you have become truly human, lower than angels, to die in our stead. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient. But not all men obey, do they? The great Augustus Caesar, emperor of the Roman world, emperor of the world, he considered himself. He wasn't given to obeying anybody. Man though he was, he regarded it his right to command. Yet our Lord, being a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. And then even that wasn't a hero's death. Your Lord didn't die surrounded by admiring onlookers, marveling at the courage of his hero's death. No, indeed not. The death he died was the death of the cross, with all its shame and the curse of God's law and the mockery of his creatures. He poured himself out. But the glory of it is this, who was it? Who was it, I ask, who poured himself out like that? And the Bible's answer is that he who poured himself out like it was God, eternal God, who never ceased to be God. It was God who thus gave himself. What a story it is, isn't it? So now let us look at a few scriptures that stated explicitly that when Christ was here on earth, he was fully God. And the first, uh, scripture I appeal to is the Epistle to the Colossians and chapter two. You might even care to look at that. That will give you a break from listening to me. Colossians chapter two and verse nine. For in him that is in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power. In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. But in case we were tempted to think that was true of him in his pre-incarnate state, but wasn't true of him when he took a body and lived on earth. The apostle adds, in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily. He was truly God and fully God. Or come back to once more to the Gospel of John and chapter one. The Gospel of John chapter one, and let's look at verse fourteen. John's Gospel chapter one. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. A lovely verse, we know it well, but many scholars, and I among them, believe that when John uses the verb dwelt among us, he is deliberately using it so that it shall act as an allusion to the book of Exodus. For the verb is an unusual verb to be used in this context. It means, of course, he dwelt among us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But the word it uses reminds scholars, at least, of the tabernacle, that tent, that tabernacle that God commanded Moses and the Israelites to build for him as a sanctuary for him to dwell in. And they made it in the course of their journey from Egypt to Canaan. And with great excitement, eagerness, and interest, the historian records how they built, the women worked the, the, the wool and the skins, and the men worked the woodwork and the gold, and they made the curtains. Oh, they made it all exactly as God had said and as Moses had commanded, and they brought it to Moses, and Moses inspected all the material, and then he erected it, and when they erected it, then we are told that the glory of God descended and filled the tabernacle. I wonder, can you imagine, can you visualize it? Can you see all those thousands of Israelites and the men with their hands a bit horny now with hard skin where they've been doing all the work, and the women seeing their, uh, the curtains that they made, all there put into place, with what trepidation and awe and wonder. They see the very glory of God and the cloud of his presence come and fill that tabernacle and dwell among them. It was like that, says John. When we saw the blessed Lord Jesus, and it dawned on us who he was. The only, the one and only Son of the Father. And he came and dwelled in a human body, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. In other words, he was the glory of God, as the Epistle to the Hebrews puts it. God has spoken unto us in his Son, who is the effulgence of his glory, the outshining, the radiance of his glory. And just as a sunbeam is of the same substance as the sun, so was the Son of God of the same substance of the Father and was able to tell out his glory. Verse eighteen adds, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him, expounded him, told him out fully. But notice that what he is called, the only, one and only son who is in the bosom of the Father. When we read those words, he's in the bosom of the Father, we shouldn't think, should we, of a place. Where is he? What place is he in? Oh, he's in the bosom of the Father. No, it is, as in English, a metaphorical term, meaning the one and only Son of the Father ever dwelt in intimate, personal, immediate relationship with the Father, in personal, immediate communion with the Father, in such intimate communion with the Father that you could c- say he was in the bosom of the Father, dwelling in the bosom of the Father, knowing the heart- Father's heartbeat, so to speak, and all the secrets of the bosom and being of God came down here in human form and expounded God to the full. Marvelous, is it not? But let's go further, i- if we will. Let's turn over to John chapter five and to see now what the Lord himself says about himself in John chapter five. John has told us that our blessed Lord has, uh, uh, healed a man on the Sabbath day, and the Jews, uh, are accusing him of breaking the Sabbath. And therefore our Lord, eh, answered them, John five and verse seventeen. John an- Jesus answered them, my Father worketh even until now, and I work. For this cause, therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. And you'll notice that this is an accusation hurled at Christ by Christ's enemies. But they are telling us that in their estimation, this Jesus made himself equal with God because he called God not only Father, but his own Father, claiming to be related to God in a special way, that God was his own Father, that he was indeed Son of God. And this they held was blasphemy on the part of our Lord, and they sought to kill him. His enemies, therefore, are witness to the fact that he did claim, when he was here on earth, equality with God. Of course, the Jews' concept was that in claiming to be equal with God, he was setting himself up as a competitor, so to speak, with God, another God, so that there are now two gods, and that they held to be blasphemous. But our Lord, in claiming to be equal with the Father, is not claiming to be independent of the Father, another God, distinct from the Father. Listen to what he says. Verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing. What things soever he does, the Son does also. Pause now with me, if you will. Have you got the place and you see what our Lord is saying? He says the Son can do nothing from himself, is the literal translation. He does simply what he sees the Father doing. In this, our Lord is saying he is not independent. He is, in fact, asserting that he does nothing from himself. He simply does what he sees the Father doing. We ponder that. It will be important when we come to sum up our understanding of the Trinity. The Son of God equal with the Father, but not independent of the Father. Secondly, it is always the Father within the Godhead who takes the initiative. The Son doesn't take the initiative, nor the Holy Spirit either. It's the Father who takes the initiative. Just ponder with me a moment these very terms. Father, Son. Two persons in the Trinity, and the Bible calls one of them Father, and it calls the other one Son. Let's pause a moment and think that through in your mind. Notice what it doesn't call them. It doesn't say it's brother and brother, does it? It's son, father and son. And the two terms are not interchangeable. For instance, you will find the scripture saying the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. You will never read that the Son sent the Father, will you? Our blessed Lord, the Son of God, obeyed the Father. You will never find it said that the Father obeyed the Son. Let's ponder that, and we shall come back to it on another occasion. But here is our Lord telling us of the relationship between the Son and the Father. He's claiming to be equal with God. He's just as much God as the Father is God. But within the persons of the Trinity, there is this relationship, and the Father is the Father. He takes the initiative. And the Son does act not from himself, but he does whatever he sees the Father doing. That's interesting, isn't it? We must ponder that and pray about that. Here is our Lord telling us of relations within the Trinity. But unless you should think or anybody else should think, that he is less than the Father, look what he goes on to say. He says, for what things soever he does, that is, what things soever the Father does, these does the Son also in like manner. Oh, pray, consider what that means. Whatever the Son sees the Father doing, the Son does it as well as the Father does it, and he does it in like manner. You just imagine that. Does the Father, according to Matthew, cause the sun to rise on the godly and the ungodly? Well, then the Son causes the sun to rise, the Son of God. Is God a creator? Then the Son is creator. Whatever he sees the Father doing, he doesn't only, uh, do also himself, but he does it in exact the same way and to the same extent. How could he do that if we were not God himself? And in the verses that follow, our blessed Lord tells us in two respects how the Father has committed to him. What are the divine functions? As the Father has life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, so that the Son is able to give life to whomsoever the Son wills. The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son as they honor the Father. Let's pause again. Have you got that? That the Son does what he sees the Father doing. The Father has given him life in himself so that he can give life to whomsoever he will, and he is the judge. Ponder it, my dear brother, my sister. When you came to Christ for forgiveness and received forgiveness and eternal life from him, from whom were you receiving it? Does it matter to you who he was? Well, you say, of course it matters. How could he give me life, eternal life, the very life of God, if he were not God himself? Amen, that's how it is. You say, he's given me spiritual life. As he said, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. And you say, Mr. Preacher, I know what that is. I once was dead in trespasses and in sins, and I came to the blessed Lord Jesus. I didn't know much about him then, but I trusted him, and he gave me life. We feel the throbbings of eternal life grow stronger as the days go by. Yes, he did give you life, but ponder who he must be to do it. He does it because the Father has given him to have life in himself, just like the Father has. You say, yes, and I tell you what more, he's given me life not only here, but life eternally. Re- read that lovely verse. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. You believe it, of course. But how can this Jesus tell you what the outcome of the final judgment is going to be. How can he so confidently assert that he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation? How can he say what's going to happen at the final judgment? And the answer is because the Father doesn't judge anybody. He's committed all judgment to the Son. That all should honor the Son as they honor the Father. Or shout hallelujah in your heart if you're, even if you're afraid to do it out loud in public. You have the word of God incarnate. You have the word of the final judge. There is no appeal against his judgment. All judgment is given to the Son. Think what he must know to judge everybody, and all the secrets of every human heart that has ever lived on this earth or ever shall live. He would need to know it all to be just as judge, wouldn't he? How can he do it? Because he is God incarnate, and you'll rest tonight easy in your bed, I trust. Though the final judgment were to be tomorrow, you have the word of the incarnate Son of God, that if you trust him and believe him that sent him, you have eternal life and shall not come into condemnation. Look, if you will, another scripture while we have time, this time in the same gospel, John chapter eight. this time. John chapter eight. And let's read, uh, the verses. Uh, and he says, uh, verse thirty, uh, fifty one, Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my word, he shall never see death. The Jews said unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, If a man keep my word, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead? Whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me. Verse fifty your father Abraham, they sa- uh, your father Abraham, he said, rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abram? Jesus said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abram was, I am. Not, you will notice, before Abram was, I was, but before Abram was, I am. Our Lord is claiming absolute deity, timeless, eternal existence as God. I am. He's using a word that in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is used of God himself, where God says, I am God, there's none beside me, I am the first and the last. I am he, says God in Hebrew. And when the Jews translated that passage into Greek, a hundred or more years before Christ was born, they translated God's phrase by the Greek words, I am. So they have God saying, I am the first and the last. Beside me there is no one else. I am. And our Lord is quoting it. Before Abram was, I am. Standing there two feet on this ground, talking to the Jews, claiming to be the eternal God. Oh, what comfort there is in this, isn't there? Our Lord said, he that followeth me shall not see death. That has had people worried sometimes. Some preachers say publicly, you know, if you're a real Christian, you wouldn't be afraid of death, and we know what they mean, but it ain't true, of course. When I hear preachers saying that, I- I am feeling very wicked inside me, and I'd like to take the preacher and put him in the middle of a twenty-acre field and, uh, let him hear a mad bull, head down, horns pointed, coming roaring at him behind at twenty miles an hour, and see whether the man feared death or not. I fancy, preacher though he was, he wouldn't stop to think. Nature would take over. The old adrenaline would come on so powerfully that he'd be running across that field and jumping across the gate, however high it was. Yes, because God has put into nature a fear of death. Of course we fear physical death. And our Lord is not saying that if you are a true believer, you won't fear physical death. What he's saying is, he that followeth me shall not see death. How can he say it? Why, he is the eternal God. I am. Existed before Abraham, before us, exists eternally, and you have trusted him. If you are a believer, when you come to die, you'll feel the pain of death maybe, or not, it depends how it happens. But what Christ assures you is this, you'll not see death, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, to step out of time and immediately in eternity, and to be with him who is your eternal God, the I am, and know yourself to be forever with him, never to go out again. It matters, my dear friend, who this Jesus is, doesn't it? He is truly human, yet is he divine. And what he was as he walked this earth, so he was in his resurrection. As John comes to the end of his gospel, he reports how Thomas at first doubted whether Jesus was alive at all. He couldn't bring himself to believe it, and said, I must see the mark in his hands and then, uh, and the sword thrust in his side, else I won't believe. The risen Lord appeared to him and said, Thomas, bring your finger and put it into the wound and your hand into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas, so overwhelmed with the reality of our Lord's resurrection and his omniscience, bowed at his feet and said, my Lord and my God. And Jesus did not rebuke him. If Jesus were not God, then to accept Thomas's adoration would have been blasphemy. But our Lord accepted it. He was Thomas's Lord and God. He's now exalted to the right hand of the Father. God has given him the name, the name which is above every name. That is not the name of Jesus, of course. The name which is above every name is Jehovah, and God has acknowledged the man Jesus as being Jehovah. Yes, and at his second coming, how shall we greet him? Paul is exhorting Titus to train the believers in Crete to be zealous of good works. He says the grace of God would train you, teach you to be zealous of good works and to live a godly life. Please do that while we wait for the appearing of the glory of, now notice what the true translation is, not of our great God and in addition our Savior Jesus Christ. The true translation of that passage is simply this, we wait the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior. And who is our great God and Savior? He is none other than Jesus Christ. We've got to see him one day, our great God and Savior. And when we see him, we shall remember, as we should remember now, that our great God and Savior gave himself that he might purify to himself a special people, uh, cleansed from all impurity and absolutely zealous for good works. And he who wrote those words, the Apostle Paul, showed us in his own life what the deity of Christ meant to him. To think that for all his law keeping, he was a bankrupt sinner and on his way to perdition. And the very one he mocked and blasphemed and persecuted was none other than God incarnate, the Son of God, who hung upon a tree cursed by God's law to save Saul of Tarsus. He says, I've given up trusting my own righteousness, but I'll tell you if you, uh, uh, if you want to know what my principle of living is. The life I live, well, I live, yet in one sense not I. It is Christ lives in me. And the life I now live, I live in faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. How can we consider the Trinity without considering the deity of our blessed Lord? How can we consider the deity of our blessed Lord without feeling our hearts deeply and profoundly moved. If he be God, and he did this for me, how shall I not give him in return everything I am and have?