Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 2 * PART 4 * BOOK 73
INCARNATE CHRIST: GOD BECOMES MAN
Genesis 3:15 and Galatians 4:4
It is so good to have everyone in again this afternoon. For those of you joining us on television, again we want to thank you for everything: your letters, your help, and your prayers. My, how we appreciate your prayers. We know that without them we would never be where we are.
Well, I don’t know whether the camera is going to be ready or not, but we’d like to let our TV audience know that I’ve got part of the family with us today. I’ve got my son, who is back there on the ranch with me and works in the ministry, and his wife and their son Jesse. There, they got them on camera. Okay, there’s Greg and Janette, and there’s Jesse and even got Roberta in there! Roberta is just a dear friend of Laura’s. And again, we always appreciate what people do for our ministry. A lot of you know that it’s a family run operation. And we like to keep it that way.
Before we get started with this study, Iris wants to always remind our audience that we still have our one and only book, and we don’t sell it for a fundraiser. We just sell it because it’s such a good informational tool. And that’s the question and answer book. Feel free to call the ministry, and we send them out postage paid for $11.00. It’s not a money-making thing whatsoever.
All right, let’s move right on. This is our fourth program on the incarnate Christ, and we’re going to look a little more at His humanity. Then we’re going to look for the rest of the hour at His Deity. So, turn with me to Acts chapter 2 verse 22. The Day of Pentecost and Peter is preaching to the Nation of Israel. This is after His resurrection, about ten days after His ascension, and look what Peter says.
Acts 2:22a
“Ye men of Israel, (You see how Jewish all this still is. Not a word concerning Gentiles.) hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, (What?) a man (See that?) approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,…” Now, on what basis did He do the miracles and signs? Well, His Deity, but on the other hand He was human. We’ve got the two sides of the coin all the way through here.
Acts 2:22b-24
“… a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: 23. Him, (This Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate God) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”
All right, now let’s move over to a statement by the Apostle Paul. Go over to I Timothy chapter 2, and we get the same kind of language. Then we’re going to switch over on the other side of the coin and look at His Deity. I might as well start at verse 1.
I Timothy 2:1-2
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2. For kings, (presidents, prime ministers) and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quite and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” Without corruption. That’s what it means. Oh, that we could have honesty in government.
I Timothy 2:3-4
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” He would, but they won’t. You know, someone got the idea one time—in fact I’m seeing more and more of it as the deception is coming in from every direction. There are more and more people who are subscribing to the fact that sooner or later everybody is going to end up in heaven. Universalism—I think is one of the words they’re using—but, that’s not what my Bible teaches.
All right, but God would. He would love to see all people come to a knowledge of the truth, but they will not. All right, move on to verse 5.
I Timothy 2:5
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the (What?) man Christ Jesus;” All right, now Hebrews chapter 1, let’s go look at it again. I referred to it in the last program, but let’s turn ahead from Timothy to Hebrews. Again, start at verse 1. Now don’t lose sight of what we just read in Timothy, that there is one mediator between God and men, and it’s the man Christ Jesus. All right, now Hebrews is going to tell us where the man is mediating from.
Hebrews 1:1-2
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers (That is to the Nation of Israel.) by the prophets. (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the rest of them. But this same God now–) 2. Hath in these last days (Speaking of His first advent—His earthly ministry, His passion, His resurrection, and His ascension) spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made (or created) the worlds;” Now, put that up in your computer, because we’re going to come to that a little bit later.
Hebrews 1:3
“Who (speaking of God the Son) being the brightness of his glory, (See His Deity?) and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, (There’s His Deity as the Creator, the upholder.) when he had by himself purged our sins, (Did what?) sat down (As a what? As a man.) on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Now, that’s about as plain as I think I can make it.
All right, now let’s back up and look at a few more references that especially Paul makes regarding the Deity of this man, this Christ Jesus of Nazareth, of Bethlehem, of Mary, and then of the cross and the power of His resurrection. All right, let’s look at Colossians chapter 1, verses that I use because, again, they are so thrilling. You’ve heard me teach them over and over, that if anything shows that Jesus Christ was the Creator of Genesis 1:1, this is it. Colossians 1 and we’ll drop in at verse 9 so that we get the flow as I like to call it. Paul is writing to this Gentile congregation in Colossi in western Turkey. And he says:
Colossians 1:9a
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it,…” That is of their salvation, because you see, Colossi was one place Paul had never visited. This was a church that sprang up from others. And after he had heard it, he wrote this letter to these believers in Colossi.
Colossians 1:9
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”
How many church members today have got any of that? Not many. I am aghast when I realize the ignorance of most church people concerning this Book. All they know is a little bit of fluff that they scratch on the surface. But see, that’s not what Paul prayed for. He prayed that we as believers would have “knowledge and wisdom and spiritual understanding.”
I had a couple stop by, and I’m not going to say where they’re from or anything like that. I don’t want to put them on the spot. But we had a couple stop by the other day. They spent all afternoon with us. They were ex-Mormons. As we were talking about it, my question was, “Well, how could intelligent people like you guys be taken in by something so false?” I knew his answer, and yet it made a new impact on me when someone else said it. He said, “Les, don’t you realize that until you become a true born-again believer, you don’t realize error from truth. You can’t see the difference.”
And that’s exactly it. Until you become a true born-again believer, this is a closed Book. It’s just gobbledy-gook to most church people. But once you become a believer and the Holy Spirit—in fact, let me show you a Scripture verse to back it up. Keep your hand in Colossians. I haven’t even started there yet. Come back to I Corinthians, because when I say something, I have to back it up with Scripture. I get enough opposition as it is. But here it is in plain words.
I Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11. That’s where we’ll start. Now remember what made me come over here—the gentleman’s statement that we cannot understand the difference between false and truth until we become a believer. And it’s the indwelling Holy Spirit who does that. All right, look at what I Corinthians says, chapter 2 verse 11.
I Corinthians 2:11a
“For what man knoweth the things of a man, except the spirit of man who is in him?…” In other words, when you go to the university, you’re going to learn the secular things, the things of this world. That’s all you can learn from them, because that’s all they understand and that’s normal. That’s the world we live in. All right, but Paul says:
I Corinthians 2:11b-12a
“…even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (in other words, not a university professor, but the Holy Spirit of God) 12. Now we have received,…” Now again, what did I tell you in the first program today? Who does Paul always write to? Believers. Never to the lost world, he is writing to believers.
I Corinthians 2:12-13
“Now we (as believers) have received, not the spirit of the world, (We’re not Ph.D.’s in chemistry and mathematics and physics and world history, or what have you. No. Now we have received–) not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” And that’s why I’m always using as much scripture as I possibly can, to compare scripture with scripture. Otherwise, you can real easily be led astray.
All right, so we compare spiritual with spiritual. Now look at verse 14, this says it all.
I Corinthians 2:14
“But the natural man (Who’s the natural man in Paul’s language? The lost person. The person who has never become a believer.) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: (Isn’t that true. Oh, they scoff and they ridicule.) neither can he know them, (He can’t understand scriptural truth. Why?) because they are spiritually discerned.” That says it all, doesn’t it?
If the Spirit doesn’t open your understanding, it’s a closed Book. But the minute the Spirit gives us understanding and you take the time to study it—my, we get people who finally get into this, and they stay awake half the night studying. Why? Because all of a sudden these things become such truth, such reality.
All right, back to Colossians. Colossians chapter 1 and we continue in Paul’s prayer on behalf of not just the Colossi’s, but you and me as well.
Colossians 1:9b-10
“…in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; (That, in turn, will bring about what?) 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord, unto all (Now I think that means unto God and fellow believers. That we can be unto all–) pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” See, that’s a daily process. Just like a child that’s being fed and nourished to grow.
Colossians 1:11
“Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;” Now verse 12, this introduces us to who Jesus Christ really was in His earthly ministry and now is at the right hand of the Majesty.
Colossians 1:12
“Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet (or has prepared us) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:” In other words, all the things that God is preparing for them that love him.
Colossians 1:13
“Who (speaking of the Father) hath delivered us from the power of darkness, (as lost people) and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” Because we become members of the Body of Christ at our believing faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And the Body of Christ is in the Kingdom of God. We showed that several months ago in our program, how that the Body of Christ is inside the Kingdom of God. So this is the reference that we are members of the Body of Christ, and as such we, yes, “we have been translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son.”
Colossians 1:14
“In whom (Here’s His spiritual side.) we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” But what did He have to become to shed His blood? Man. It had to be. He had to become the God-Man so that in His humanity He could accomplish and finish the work of the cross which required the atoning blood. It had to be. But, He never lost His Deity.
Colossians 1:15a
“Who (Speaking of God the Son, the Redeemer, the One who shed His blood.) is the image (the visible) of the invisible God,…” Now, I think it’s still on the board from our last taping, isn’t it? The Godhead was an invisible Triune God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Now, out of that invisible Godhead, God the Son became the visible manifestation.
I’m just thinking. Do I want to go ahead one chapter? Just a second, yes, turn on over to chapter 2 verse 8, and then we’ll come right back to chapter 1. I can’t help it. That’s the way I teach.
Colossians 2:8
“Beware (be on guard) lest any man spoil you (or lead you astray) through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Well, all of this in verse 8 is just coming on the world like a Tsunami today. The whole New Age Movement, all this ecumenicalism bringing all the religions of the world into consort together, is all part of this deceitfulness tied to the tradition of men. Because after all, how far back does the New Age system go? Babylon. The Tower of Babel. That’s the beginning of the whole New Age system.
Now, I’ve got to do this while I’m thinking of it. While I was laid aside and recuperating, I told you in one of my other programs, I got a lot of books in the mail. One of them was an exposé of some of this New Age stuff, and I’m just going to share one verse with you. Keep your hand in Colossians, because I think it’s so apropos that we realize what they’re doing with the Scripture. Go back to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 6. Now this is one little tip of the iceberg with what they’re doing to the denominations, to Christendom as a whole. And because of their ignorance of Scripture they’re falling for it by the jillions. This is a simple verse but oh they’ve twisted it to just create mayhem.
Ephesians 4:6
“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and (What?) in you all.”
Now, like I’ve mentioned two or three times this afternoon, who does Paul always write to? Believers! So, is God in us, the believer? Absolutely!
But what are the New Age people doing with this verse. They say that’s for the whole human race. You see that? That God is in everybody, everything, and every tree. And they use this verse. That’s what it says, “God is in you all.” Now imagine what that does? So, how are you going to get to God if you’re a lost person? How are you going to get the God that is in you to come out and become operative? Meditate. That’s how subtle all this is. All you have to do is meditate. Empty your mind and let this whole New Age system permeate you, and the God that’s within you will come out and become operative. Beloved, that’s not what it says! God isn’t in the world in general. He’s only in the believer. But see how they can twist the Scriptures?
All right, that’s free for nothing. You weren’t supposed to get that today. Now back to Colossians. We’ve got to move right along, or I won’t even finish chapter 1. All right, here we have God the Son, the God-Man, who is in His present day existence, coming out of His earthly ministry and finishing the work of the cross, ascending back to Glory.
Colossians 1:15
Who is the image (or the visible likeness) of the invisible God, (He became–) the firstborn of every creature;” In other words, He’s from eternity past.
I read something the other day where God the Father created God the Son. No, He didn’t! God the Son and God the Spirit and God the Father in unison came out of eternity past.
Now, if you want to go crazy some night, lie in bed and figure out where God came from. Isn’t that right? It’s enough to drive you up the wall. But we take it by faith. He’s pre-existent. He’s always been.
Colossians 1:16a
“For by him…” God the Son, the God-Man—the visible, touchable, yes, crucifiable, able to be raised from the dead bodily—that’s who this Christ is. All right, now verse 16 and every time I teach it I remind people, do you know that most of even church people have never heard this before? That this Jesus of Bethlehem, of Nazareth, is the Creator of Genesis. It blows them away. They can’t comprehend it. But it’s who He was. Now look at it.
Colossians 1:16
“For by him (Jesus of Nazareth, God the Son, the One who’s been crucified) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, (Like we saw in Ephesians early this afternoon—the principalities and powers in high places, demonic forces—they’ve all been created by God the Son.) whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things (everything, anything that you can ever imagine) were created by him, and for him:” They are for His pleasure and no one else’s. All right, this is the next verse that very few people comprehend.
Colossians 1:17
“And he is before all things, and by him all things (What?) consist.” Now, you can go to your Strong’s, or you can go to a dictionary, what does that mean? Held together. So that it doesn’t fly apart.
This whole universe in all of its clockwork, in all of its intricacy, is held in its place by the word of Jesus Christ. And if He would ever remove it, it would disintegrate. But He won’t until He’s ready. So we have to understand that the One in whom we have placed our faith is more than capable of fulfilling all of His promises so far as we are concerned. And when He tells us about salvation in Romans 10:9-13—that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then a little further on, or back a couple of chapters, in Romans chapter 8 when Paul says, I know that nothing can separate us from the love of God. How do I know that? Because if He can hold the universe together, He can hold me! He can hold you! We can rest on these promises that if we have trusted Him for our eternal destiny, He has all the power at His command to keep it intact.
All right, I’m going to give you one more before we have to close, and that’s Ephesians chapter 3. So you’ve got to back up a page or two. Go back to Ephesians chapter 3 and drop down to verse 9. Then we’re going to have to close. Ephesians chapter 3, well, I almost have to use verse 8.
Ephesians 3:8-9
“Unto me, (the Apostle Paul) who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles (See, now before it was all Jewish, as I’ve been pointing out. Now this Apostle goes to the Gentiles.) the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who (Now watch it.) created all things (How?) by Jesus Christ:”