Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

February 15, 2015

Friends are an important and wonderful part of life. In seminary, Dr. Howard Hendricks told us, “Two things will most influence where you’ll be at ten years out of seminary: the books you read and the friends you make.” He added, “Choose them both very carefully!” Of course, that was long before Facebook came into existence, where you can “friend” just about everything and everyone you want!

But by far, the most important friend that you can have is the Lord Jesus. A number of hymns celebrate this wonderful truth:

“What a friend we have in Jesus!”

“Jesus! What a friend for sinners, Jesus lover of my soul!”

“I’ve found a friend, O, such a friend! He loved me ere I knew Him.”

“I’ve found a friend who is all to me, His love is ever true.”

“There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one, no not one!”

But as D. A. Carson cautions (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 522), we need to be careful about being too chummy in calling Jesus our friend. In the Bible, God and the Lord Jesus call certain ones their friends, but no human ever refers to God or Jesus as their friend. It’s not a mutual, reciprocal friendship. The Bible refers to both Abraham (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23) and Moses (Exod. 33:11) as friends of God. Jesus here calls the disciples His friends. But He is still their Lord and Teacher (John 13:13, 14). Although at the last supper, the apostle John laid his head on Jesus’ breast, years later when John saw Jesus in His glory, he fell at His feet as a dead man (Rev. 1:17). So as we consider whether or not we are friends of Jesus, we need to maintain John’s reverence.

The question I’d like you to think about and ask yourself is, “Would Jesus call me His friend?” Our text reveals four characteristics of those whom Jesus calls His friends:

Friends of Jesus love one another, obey His commandments, understand His truths, and are chosen to bear fruit that remains.

(For a somewhat similar treatment of this text, see John MacArthur on gty.org. I read his sermon after developing my own outline and content.)

Before we look at these characteristics, you need to know that Jesus is not automatically your friend or everyone’s friend. You especially need to know this if you’re inclined to think that you’re His friend because you’re a good person. The Bible teaches that by nature we’re all God’s enemies because He is holy and we all have sinned (see Rom. 8:7; James 4:4; 1 Pet. 5:5). The bad news is that you can’t have a worse enemy than God, because He always wins!

But the good news is that God sent Jesus to reconcile rebellious sinners to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18-19). The self-righteous, religious crowd scoffed that Jesus was a friend of sinners (Luke 5:29-32; 7:34; 15:1-2). But He gladly accepted that label, explaining that He didn’t come to call the righteous (in the context, He means “self-righteous”), but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). So the first step to being called the friend of Jesus is to come to Him as a helpless sinner, asking Him to save you. Once you’ve done that, then you can consider these characteristics of Jesus’ friends and seek to grow in them.

1. Friends of Jesus love one another just as He loved us (John 15:12-13, 17).

John 15:12-13, 17: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends…. This I command you, that you love one another.”

If these commands sound vaguely familiar, it’s because Jesus already said (John 13:34-35), “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Why would Jesus repeat this command on the same night? He repeated it because He was the master teacher and He knew that repetition is the key to learning, especially learning something that isn’t easy. It takes more than one hammer blow to sink a nail. It takes more than saying it once for us to learn to love one another!

During the last supper, the disciples got into an argument about which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24). While we can sit as armchair quarterbacks and say, “What a petty squabble!” the embarrassing truth is that many of our conflicts stem from the same self-centered motives. As James (4:1-2) says, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.” The Lord knew our propensity towards selfishness, so during His final hours with the disciples He hammered on this command to love one another. He wanted them to remember this one thing, because love is not optional for those who follow Jesus (1 Cor. 13). Note three things:

A. Jesus’ love for us is the supreme standard for our love for one another.

Just as He stated when He gave His new commandment (John 13:34), so here Jesus repeats, “… just as I have loved you.” Jesus’ love for us is most vividly seen at the cross, where He offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2). We can define Jesus’ love as “a self-sacrificing, caring commitment that shows itself in seeking the highest good of the one loved.” The highest good for all people is that they would have their sins forgiven and receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. And, once a person has come to know Christ, his highest good is that he be conformed to the image of Christ. Those goals should be our aim in all of our relationships.

Because love is primarily a commitment and not a feeling, it can be commanded. The Bible does command certain feelings, for example, “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). Or, “Be anxious for nothing” (Phil. 4:6). And love should not be devoid of feelings. It is a caring commitment; people should feel our genuine feelings of love for them. But even when we don’t feel especially loving, we need to obey God by sacrificing ourselves for the sake of others. I’m sure that the cross didn’t feel good at the moment, but Jesus endured it because He was focused on the future joy of having us with Him in heaven for all eternity (Heb. 12:2).

In verse 13, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” Some have said, “To lay down your life for your enemies is greater than doing it for your friends.” Paul points out (Rom. 5:8-10) that this is in fact what Jesus did: He died for us while we were still His enemies. And in another context, Jesus commanded that we love our enemies (Matt. 5:44). But in this context, Jesus is speaking about love among friends. He will demonstrate His love for the disciples the next day on the cross. That’s the high standard for our love for one another. Of course, we can never die as a substitute to save others from their sins, as Jesus did. But He sets the standard for our love as laying down our lives for one another.

Every once in a while I’ll read a story about someone who literally sacrificed his life to save someone else, maybe on the battlefield or to rescue a drowning person or to save someone inside a burning building. While not giving their lives, I’ve read about people who have donated a kidney for a perfect stranger. And I’ve thought, “Would I do that?”

You can sit around and speculate about whether you would do such heroic deeds if you were thrust into those situations, but the place we all need to apply this is by confronting our selfishness in small, daily matters. Husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her (Eph. 5:25). Do you? You say, “Oh, sure, I’d die to save my wife from an intruder that was trying to kill her.” But do you die to yourself so that you can serve her? Do you turn off the TV or leave the computer and help her clean up the kitchen or get the kids into bed? Do you give up your own pursuits because you delight to be with her? It’s in these small, daily ways that we should be practicing sacrificial love for one another.

B. We can only love one another if we abide in Christ’s love.

In John 15:9, Jesus said, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” Now Jesus applies abiding in His love to our relationships to one another. Abiding in His love is the key to loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. These, of course, are the two great commandments that sum up the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40), that we are to love God and love our neighbor. But the point here is that it is God’s great love for us, as seen in giving His own Son while we were yet His enemies, that motivates us to love others.

Also, note that in John 15:17, Jesus repeats the command for us to love one another immediately after He has repeated the concept that He saved us so that we would bear fruit. The two are intertwined. When He gave His new commandment (John 13:35), Jesus said that others would know that we are His disciples by our love for one another. Here, He ties our ability to bear fruit with His command that we love one another. As people see the love between Christians, they will be drawn to the source of our love, our Savior who gave Himself for us on the cross.

But sadly, the church has often failed on this matter. I never read it, but years ago Leslie Flynn wrote a book with an intriguing title, Great Church Fights. I’m sure that he had to choose his material selectively, because there have been thousands of “great” church fights! And on a lesser scale, there have been tens of thousands of conflicts among believers over relatively petty matters. It’s always grievous and a black eye for the name of Christ when believers don’t judge their selfishness and work through conflicts out of obedience to Christ’s command to love one another.

“But,” you say, “you don’t know how difficult that other person is to love!” That leads to the third thing here:

C. The others that we are commanded to love are imperfect sinners, just as we are.

It is both interesting and instructive that Jesus did not pick a homogeneous, cohesive group for His apostolic band. Most glaringly, He picked Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot! The Zealots were a radical political party whose main objective was getting Roman rule out of the Holy Land. And they viewed tax collectors as despicable traitors who had sold their souls to Rome. They took advantage of their fellow Jews by milking them for excessive taxes that they pocketed. I don’t know whether Jesus picked Matthew first or Simon the Zealot first, but it’s humorous to think of what the one who was already an apostle must have thought when Jesus picked the other one! “What was He thinking?” And then Jesus commanded them to love one another!

He still does that, you know! He picks people for His church that I never would have picked and He commands me (and you) to love them. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to like them, but you do have to say no to your selfishness to help them become what the Lord wants them to be. Friends of Jesus love one another, just as He loved us.

2. Friends of Jesus obey His commandments (John 15:14).

John 15:14: “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” This repeats the thought of John 15:10, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” It doesn’t mean that obedience makes you Jesus’ friend, as if it were earned. Rather, it describes what Jesus’ friends do: they obey Him. He isn’t friends with any who live in disobedience or self-will. As we saw in John 14:21, 23, the Lord will disclose Himself to and make His home with those who keep His commandments.

On one occasion, Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived to see Him at a time when people had crowded into a house to listen to Him. When someone told Jesus that His mother and brothers were outside looking for Him, He gave an answer that must have jolted them (Mark 3:33), “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Then, looking around at those who were listening receptively to His teaching, Jesus continued to shock by answering His own question (Mark 3:34-35), “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” Jesus’ true friends are those who obey Him. Do you qualify?

3. Friends of Jesus understand the truths that He made known to us from the Father (John 15:15).

John 15:15: “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Even though Jesus here elevates the disciples from being slaves to being friends, the master-slave relationship is not eradicated. Just a few sentences later (John 15:20) Jesus implies that He is the master and they are His slaves. Paul, James, and Peter later delighted to call themselves “slaves of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:1; “bond-servant” is literally, “slave”).

A master could command a slave, “Fix dinner for 50 guests tomorrow,” but he didn’t need to explain why he was having so many for dinner. But a master who viewed himself as a friend to his slave would have explained the situation behind such a large dinner party. Jesus’ point in our text is that He has openly shared with the disciples the things that He has heard from the Father. By “all things,” He means all things necessary for them to know at this point. He later (John 16:12) tells them that He has many more things to tell them, but they could not bear them yet. After the resurrection, He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures in ways that they could not understand before His death (Luke 24:45).

Now we have the Holy Spirit and the Spirit-inspired Word of God to reveal to us all that we need to know for life and godliness (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:9-13; 2 Pet. 1:3-4). If you know Christ, you know things that the most brilliant scientists and philosophers in the world don’t understand! You know the living and true God, who spoke the universe into existence! You know His plan for history. You know how to have your sins forgiven. You know why He put you on this planet. You know that you will spend eternity with Him in glory. You know how He wants you to conduct yourself in all of life’s difficult situations. All of this and more is revealed to us in God’s inspired Word!

So, friends of Jesus love one another, just as He loved us. They obey His commandments. They understand the truths that He has made known to us from the Father. Finally,

4. Friends of Jesus are chosen by Him to bear fruit that remains as they depend upon Him through prayer (John 15:16).

John 15:16: “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” Note three things:

A. Friends of Jesus are chosen by Him.

Probably Jesus’ primary reference here is to choosing these men as His apostles, not to their election to salvation (even Calvin says so!). But the Bible is abundantly clear that God both chooses us for salvation and also sovereignly determines our spiritual gifts and station in life (1 Thess. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Cor. 12:11, 28). If it had been left up to us, none of us in our proud, fallen, rebellious state would have chosen Christ. Rather, the Father graciously drew us to Him and opened our blind eyes to see the glory of Jesus (John 6:44, 65; 2 Cor. 4:4-6).

But why does Jesus mention this truth here? D. A. Carson (The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus [Baker], p. 107) points out that “often in John’s Gospel election is introduced just at the point where human arrogance may need a gentle lesson in humility (e.g., 6:70; 13:18).” He adds, “This truth is of overwhelming importance if we hope to escape the puffy spiritual arrogance that talks almost as if Jesus has been blessed by our presence, as if we have done him a favor by choosing him.” He adds that while we are responsible to repent and believe the gospel, no one in heaven will be able to claim that he made it because he made the right choice. As Paul told the proud Corinthians, God chose them as foolish, weak, unimportant people, “so that no man may boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:29; cf. 1:26-31). If you’re a friend of Jesus, it’s because He chose you. That’s why you chose Him.

B. Friends of Jesus are chosen to bear fruit that remains.

“Fruit” here mostly likely refers to converts who come to Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. They will remain because Jesus promises to keep them (John 6:39, 40). A main reason that God chose to save you is that you would help bring others to know the Savior. As Paul put it (2 Tim. 2:10), “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.” Paul suffered so that God’s elect would hear the gospel and be saved. That should be our aim as well.

C. Friends of Jesus bear fruit that remains through prayerful dependence upon the Father.

In the Greek text, there are two parallel clauses. The first shows why God chose and appointed the disciples; the second shows how that purpose would be fulfilled. We could paraphrase it, “I chose and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, abiding fruit, which you will do by asking the Father in My name.” While it’s good to receive training in how to share your faith, we always need to keep in mind that making converts who go on with Christ is not dependent on our methods or on using sales techniques to close the deal. Only God can produce a convert who abides and He does it through the supernatural new birth. He has to give life to the spiritually dead. So prayer is the God-given necessity behind evangelism. Before you talk to a person about God, talk to God about the person.

If you haven’t done so, make a list of the people in your daily life who don’t know Christ and begin to pray for their salvation. Understand that you may be the means that God uses to bring them to salvation! So always be alert for opportunities to turn the conversation to eternal issues. Be equipped to know some verses to explain the gospel clearly. But prayer is the foundation for bearing fruit that remains.

Conclusion

So, would Jesus call you His friend? He would if you are loving others, especially those in your home and in the church. He would if you are seeking to obey His commandments. He would if you are growing to understand the truths revealed by the Holy Spirit in God’s Word. And He would if you know that He chose you to bear fruit that remains and you’re seeking to bear that fruit through prayer. And if you wonder, “How do I know if God has chosen me?” the answer is, “Have you believed in Jesus as your Savior and Lord?” If you have, that didn’t come from you! You believed in Him because in love He chose you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). That way, He gets all the glory!

Application Questions

1. Why is friendship with Jesus not reciprocal? Why is it important to keep this in mind?
2. Practically, how can you love someone you don’t like? What does this look like in daily life?
3. Some imply that to preach obedience is to be legalistic. Why is this fallacious? Can obedience become legalistic? How?
4. Why is the doctrine of election important for growth in humility? What other practical applications does it have?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

March 1, 2015

Two unpopular themes in modern evangelical Christianity are the need to suffer for the sake of the gospel and the certainty of God’s judgment. Rather than suffering, the evangelical church is into how Christianity can help you have a successful, happy life. Of course, the Bible does give wisdom and guidance on how to live happily and it is proper to understand and apply its teaching.

But, the Bible also teaches (Acts 14:22), “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Paul said (2 Tim. 3:12), “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Jesus said that all His followers must take up their cross (an implement of a slow, tortuous death) in order to follow Him (Matt. 16:24).

In its extreme form, the de-emphasis on suffering has veered into the heretical teaching that it’s always God’s will for you to enjoy financial prosperity and physical health. You’re supposed to rebuke any sickness or suffering it in the name of the Lord. If it continues, you must not have enough faith.

Regarding God, we focus on His love and grace rather than on His judgment. Many go so far as to say that because God is love, no one will suffer in hell. In his popular book, Love Wins, Rob Bell argued that a loving God would not punish people in an eternal hell. While that book was rightly denounced as heretical, it resonates with many. We’d rather think of God as love than of His wrath and judgment.

So Jesus’ words in our text are not going to be popular in today’s Christian world. He continues to prepare the disciples (and us) for what we will face after He is gone. The world often will hate us, but…

Our task is to witness in the power of the Spirit to a hostile world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.

John MacArthur shows (“The Holy Spirit Convicts the World,” on gty.org) how in the upper room discourse Christ promises to counter the problems that we will encounter in this evil world: “The world hates you, but I love you. The world is your enemy, but I am your friend. The world gives you trouble and anxiety, but I give you My peace. The world will cause you sorrow, but I give you My joy. The world may kill you, but I give you eternal life. The world is under Satan’s power, but you will have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.”

1. To witness in a hostile world without stumbling, you must face the difficulty of the task: you will be persecuted and you may get killed (John 16:1-4).

Jesus spoke these things so that the disciples would be kept from stumbling or falling away (ESV) when they encountered the opposition of the world (John 16:1). The Greek word means to be caught in a trap and has the nuance here of being taken by surprise (John [IVP/Eerdmans], R. V. G. Tasker, p. 181). Their task (and ours) is to go to a self-seeking, pleasure-oriented world and proclaim that the Holy God is going to judge all sinners, but that He has provided the way of escape through the Savior. This message is sure to stir up derision and hostility. Just the people of Noah’s day rejected his message of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5) and the people in Sodom thought that righteous Lot must have been joking (2 Pet. 2:6-9; Gen. 19:14), so sinners today will not respond favorably to a message about sin, righteousness, and impending judgment. If you expect that everyone in this hostile world will welcome your message, you’ll be in for a rude awakening.

Sometimes we may be surprised because persecution often comes from the religious world, where you would expect a receptive audience (John 16:2): “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.” Before his conversion, the apostle Paul thought that he was being faithful to his Jewish faith by imprisoning and killing Christians. After his conversion, the Jews persecuted him and other early Christians (2 Thess. 2:14-16). Centuries later, the Roman Catholic Church instituted the Inquisition to try to stop those who preached the true gospel. Religion has always been a major perpetrator of persecution. Jesus pinpoints the heart of the problem (John 16:3), “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”

The key to enduring persecution is to trust in the Lord Jesus. Thus in verse 4, He gives us a solid reason to trust Him: He knows the future. He knows the trials that we will face as we serve Him and He warns us in advance so that we will trust in Him. When Jesus was with the disciples, He was the lightning rod for persecution. But after He returned to the Father, they would catch the brunt of the opposition. So the Lord speaks these prophetic words so that we will be forewarned and thus forearmed. It will not be easy to be a faithful witness to Christ in this hostile world.

2. To witness to a hostile world, you must focus on the Lord’s glory, not on your own needs (John 16:5-6).

John 16:5-6: “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” My point about the Lord’s glory may not be immediately obvious, so let me explain. The disciples were not thinking about Christ’s returning to His glory with the Father and what that would mean, but rather on their own sorrow that Jesus would not be with them any longer. They were focused on their needs, not on Jesus’ glory and His kingdom purposes.

At first glance, Jesus’ words, “none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’” seem to contradict John 13:36, where Peter asked, “Lord, where are You going?” Also, in John 14:5, Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where You are going …” But neither man was really interested in learning where Jesus was going as much as in protesting that He was leaving them. So the Lord is saying, “None of you is really interested in knowing where I am going. You’re just focused on your own sorrow over My leaving.”

D. A. Carson (The Gospel According to John [Apollos/Eerdmans], p. 533) explains this by telling of a little boy who is disappointed that his father is suddenly called away for an emergency meeting when the boy and his dad had planned to go fishing. The boy says, “Aw, Dad, where are you going?” But he really isn’t interested in where his dad is going, as much as he is focused on his own disappointment. So, although the disciples have asked about where Jesus was going, they were really just self-absorbed in their own loss at His leaving them. They didn’t have the big picture of the Lord’s returning to the right hand of the Father and of His sending the Holy Spirit to empower them for the task of the great commission.

The application for us is, to be effective witnesses in this hostile world, we need to take our focus off of our feelings and needs and focus rather on the Lord’s glory through the spreading of the gospel to all peoples. Even if we are persecuted, His glory should be our aim. But we can’t accomplish that task in our own strength. Thus the Lord adds …

3. To witness to a hostile world, you must join the Holy Spirit in His witness concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11).

Jesus makes a claim that would have startled the disciples (John 16:7): “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” We often think, “Oh, how wonderful it would have been to have been on earth with Jesus.” That’s true, but Jesus says that we have it better because we have the Helper, the Holy Spirit, with us. He lives within us to comfort us, encourage us, and empower us to bear witness for Christ. As we saw in John 15:26-27, the Spirit bears witness, but He does it through us. Here, Christ sends the Spirit to us and when He comes, He will convict the world through our witness.

This verse indicates a major change in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to and through believers. We saw this in John 7:37-38, where Jesus promised that rivers of living water would flow from the innermost being of those who believe in Him. John (7:39) explained, “But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Jesus also told the disciples (John 14:16-17), “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

That change occurred on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the church. As the risen Lord made clear, a major role for the Spirit is to empower us to bear witness of Christ (Acts 1:8), “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” In our text, we first need to understand what Jesus means by the word “convict”; then He breaks the witness of the Holy Spirit through us into three parts:

A. The Holy Spirit will convict the world.

The Spirit obviously does not convict every person in the world. Even to this day, many have never even heard of Christ and so are not convicted of their sin. Rather, “world” refers to unbelievers in general, both Jewish and Gentile. It means everyone without distinction, not everyone without exception.

The Greek word translated “convict” means to expose or to convince. It’s a legal term used when an attorney presents his case in such a clear light that the truth of his client’s position becomes obvious. Dr. Ryrie explains (The Ryrie Study Bible [Moody Press], NASB, p. 1632), “To convict means to set forth the truth of the Gospel in such a clear light that men are able to accept or reject it intelligently; i.e., to convince men of the truthfulness of the Gospel.” R. C. Trench (Synonyms of the New Testament [Eerdmans], p. 13) states, “It is so to rebuke another, with such effectual wielding of the victorious arms of the truth, as to bring him, if not always to a confession, yet at least to a conviction, of his sin.”

The word is used in the sense of “expose” in John 3:20: “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” Jesus used the word in the sense of “convict” when He challenged His Jewish critics (John 8:46), “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?” One function of God’s Word is that it is profitable for “reproof” (2 Tim. 3:16; a noun derived from this verb). In this regard, a major role for the pastor is that he is to preach the word so as to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort” (2 Tim. 4:2). Elders are to be able to “exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict” (Titus 1:9).

Although the word is not used, we see an example of conviction when Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost and his hearers were “pierced to the heart” (Acts 2:37). His message exposed their sin of rejecting Christ and it convinced them that they were wrong. But such conviction is not always effectual in the sense of bringing a person to saving faith. In other words, it is necessary for salvation, but not sufficient: All who are saved have been convicted of their sin, but not all who have been convicted are saved. Salvation requires the Father’s drawing the sinner to Christ (John 6:44) and the Spirit’s imparting new life to the convicted sinner (John 3:5-8). A truly saved person is marked by genuine repentance for sin.

It seems to me that conviction of sin is often missing in our evangelistic methods today. We’re quick to get people to pray to receive Christ even when there is no indication that they are under conviction for their sin. I realize that a sense of conviction deepens after we’re saved. As we’ve seen, that’s the role of God’s Word. I am far more convicted about my past sins now than I was when I came to Christ. And, through God’s Word, I am aware now of sins in my life that I formerly would not even have noticed. But to trust in Christ for salvation there must be some sense that I am guilty before God and that I need a Savior. Without that conviction of sin, conversion will be for superficial reasons.

We see an example of shallow conviction when Samuel confronted King Saul with disobeying the Lord because he did not kill all of the Amalekite sheep and oxen as God had commanded. Under the pretext of saving them for sacrifice, Saul at first proclaimed (1 Sam. 15:13), “I have carried out the command of the Lord.” When Samuel further confronted him with his disobedience, Saul still insisted that he had obeyed, but he blamed the people for bringing back some of the sheep and oxen. When Samuel persisted with his charge, Saul finally reluctantly admitted that he had sinned, but then he wanted Samuel to return with him so that he might be honored before the people. His “repentance” was superficial.

By way of contrast, when the prophet Nathan confronted David (who was a true believer) of his sin with Bathsheba, David responded (2 Sam. 12:13), “I have sinned against the Lord.” He didn’t dodge his sin or make excuses for it. So, when the Holy Spirit convicts sinners, they can respond negatively; or in an outwardly positive, but superficial way; or through genuine repentance.

B. The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin.

Jesus says (John 16:9), “concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.” When the Spirit exposes your sin, you can run from the light (John 3:20), like a cockroach, trying to escape. Or, you can come to Christ, the Light, to save you. If you truly believe in Him, you will begin a lifetime of acknowledging or confessing your sin when the Spirit convicts you through God’s Word.

Jesus identifies the root of all sins when He says “because they do not believe in Me.” It is striking that the world generally would not view unbelief in Jesus Christ as a sin at all. If you asked people on the streets to give you a list of what they thought were sins, you’d probably hear, “Murder, child abuse, lying, and (perhaps!) adultery.” But I doubt if you’d hear, “Not believing in Jesus.” Yet Jesus names it as the sin that the Spirit will convict the world of. That’s because if you truly believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord, you will not be committing those other sins. They stem from unbelief in Christ. And, those other sins ultimately are not the issue between the sinner and God. The issue is, they have rejected His Son, whose death is the only remedy for our sin problem.

If a man went overboard in the middle of the ocean, it wouldn’t matter if he was a good swimmer or whether he couldn’t swim at all. It would only be a matter of time until he drowned, because no one is good enough to swim thousands of miles to shore. But if a rescuer threw him a life preserver, the issue is no longer whether he can swim or not, but will he grab the life preserver? If he says, “I’m a good swimmer; I don’t need a life preserver,” he will drown. Or, the fact that he can’t swim doesn’t matter. The only issue is whether he will grab the life preserver.

Jesus Christ is the life preserver that God has provided for the world. Self-righteous people may object that they don’t need a Savior; they’re good enough to save themselves. But, they will perish if they do not believe in Christ. Notorious sinners may think that they’re not worthy to be saved, which is true. No one is. But the same life preserver is offered to them as to the self-righteous. Rejecting Jesus Christ will damn either type of sinner equally. Or, believing in Christ will save either one. It is the issue! If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, you will perish.

C. The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning righteousness.

John 16:10: “and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me.” Jesus Himself is the standard for righteousness. He never sinned and He always obeyed God. He is the only one who could die in the place of sinners, because He had no sin of His own. When the Father resurrected Jesus from the dead, He put His stamp of approval on Christ’s death. Jesus could not have returned to sit at the right hand of the Holy God if there had been even the slightest taint of sin in Him.

Also, the Bible is clear that God now imputes the very righteousness of Christ to every sinner who trusts in Him. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 states, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Romans 4:5 states, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” At the moment any sinner trusts in Christ, his sin is charged to Christ and Christ’s righteousness is put on him.

So the message that we are to proclaim to the world is that they are never good enough to qualify for heaven. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). But, God has provided a means by which we can be covered with the perfect righteousness of His Son, namely, by believing in Him. But our message has one other vital element:

D. The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning judgment.

John 16:11: “and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” Where sin and righteousness meet, judgment follows. Satan is the ruler of this world and he was judged at the cross (John 12:31). Here Jesus speaks of it as done, even though it would take place the following day. At the cross, Satan’s doom was sealed. He still roams about, carrying out his evil schemes. But the sentence has been passed, both for him and for his subjects. John 3:18 states, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

This means that our witness to unbelievers must include sin, righteousness, and judgment, along with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only remedy for our helpless condition. It’s always intrigued me that when Paul witnessed to the Roman governor, Felix, he didn’t say, “Felix, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life! He offers you an abundant life. He can help your marriage. He will give you peace and joy.” Rather, Paul spoke to him about faith in Christ Jesus, along with righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come (Acts 24:24-25). In other words, he spoke to him about sin (“self-control,” or his lack thereof), righteousness, and judgment, along with faith in Christ.

Conclusion

So to be effective witnesses for Christ, we need to recognize that many people will not like our message and therefore they may not like us. If we are faithful, we may suffer persecution or even death. Given that unpleasant prospect, what should motivate us to bear witness? The Lord’s glory: He is now risen from the dead, at the right hand of the Father, returning soon to judge the world in righteousness. He has entrusted to us the message of salvation through the cross. But we can’t compromise the message by hiding the reality of judgment if people do not repent. Don’t be judgmental, but do tell the truth about God’s coming judgment. Our task is to witness in the power of the Spirit to a hostile world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.

Application Questions

1. How can a “people-pleaser” learn to become a God-pleaser when it comes to witnessing?
2. Discuss: Have we preached the gospel if we tell how Christ can solve your problems, but do not mention sin, righteousness, and judgment?
3. Why is conviction of sin necessary, but not sufficient, for salvation?
4. Can you find a single example in the Bible where a witness uses God’s love in the message? What are the implications of this?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

The Incarnation of Jesus Christ

The word incarnation does not occur in the Bible. It is derived from the Latin in and caro (flesh), meaning clothed in flesh, the act of assuming flesh. Its only use in theology is in reference to that gracious, voluntary act of the Son of God in which He assumed a human body. In Christian doctrine the Incarnation, briefly stated, is that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became a man. It is one of the greatest events to occur in the history of the universe. It is without parallel.

The Apostle Paul wrote, ''And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh . . . " (I Timothy 3:16). Confessedly, by common consent the Incarnation of Jesus Christ is outside the range of human natural comprehension and apprehension. It can be made known only by Divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, and to those only who are illumined by the Holy Spirit. It is a truth of the greatest magnitude that God in the Person of His Son should identify Himself completely with the human race. And yet He did, for reasons He set forth clearly in His Word.

Before we examine those reasons, it would be well at the outset to distinguish between the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth of our Lord, two truths sometimes confused by students of Scripture. The Incarnation of the Son of God is the fact of God becoming Man; the Virgin Birth is the method by which God the Son became Man.

These two truths, while distinct and different, are closely related to each other and stand in support of each other. If Jesus Christ was not virgin born, then He was not God in the flesh and was therefore only a man possessing the same sinful nature that every fallen child of Adam possesses. The fact of the Incarnation lies in the ever-existing One putting aside His eternal glory to become a man. The method of the Incarnation is the manner by which He chose to come, namely, the miraculous conception in the womb of a virgin.

A noteworthy passage pertinent to the Divine purpose in the Incarnation is recorded in the Gospel according to John-- ''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'' (John 1:14).

Cerinthus, a representative of the system which arose in the early church under the name of Docetism, claimed that our Lord had only an apparent human body. But the statement, ''the Word became flesh," indicates that He had a real body.

John 1:14 cannot be fully appreciated apart from verse one: ''In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh." He who was one with the Father from all eternity became Man, taking upon Him a human body. He ''was with God'' (vs. 1); He ''became flesh" (vs. 14). He “was with God”' (vs. 1); He ''dwelt among us'' (vs. 14). From the infinite position of eternal Godhood to the finite limitations of manhood! Unthinkable but true!

Paul gives another significant passage on the Incarnation in his Galatian Epistle: ''But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons'' (Galatians 4:4, 5). In these verses Paul establishes the fact of the Incarnation-- " God sent forth His Son, made of a woman."

God sending His Son presupposes that God had a Son. Christ was the Son in His eternal relationship with the Father, not because He was born of Mary. Since a son shares the nature of his father, so our Lord shares the Godhead coequally with His Father. Yes, "God sent forth His Son," from His throne on high, from His position of heavenly glory. God did not send one forth who, in His birth, became His Son, but He sent One who, through all eternity, was His Son. Centuries before Christ was born, the Prophet Isaiah wrote of Him, ''For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given . . . '' (Isaiah 9:6). The Son was given in eternity past before we knew Him. His human birth was merely the method of coming to us.

Again, Paul records the following noteworthy statement in the Epistle to the Philippians: ''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, 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. Wherefore God also bath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father'' (Philippians 2:5-10).

Before His Incarnation Jesus Christ was ''in the form of God'' (vs. 6). From the beginning He had the nature of God, He existed (or subsisted) as God, and that essential Deity which He once was could never cease to be. If He seems Divine, it is only because He is Divine. He is God.

He ''thought it not robbery to be equal with God'' (vs. 6). The eternal Son did not consider it a thing to be seized unlawfully to be equal with the Father. Equality with God was not something He retained by force or by farce. He possessed it in eternity past and no power could take it from Him. But in the Incarnation He laid aside, not His possession of Deity, but His position in and expression of the heavenly glory.

One of the purposes of the Philippian epistle was to check the rising tide of dissension and strife growing out of Christians thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to think. Being a general letter, it exposes no false doctrines but does enunciate our Lord Jesus Christ as the believer's pattern in humiliation, self-denial, and loving service for others. This is evident in the seven downward steps of the Saviour's renunciation of Himself.

(1) ''He made Himself of no reputation." God emptied Himself! He did not lose His Deity when He became Man, for God is immutable and therefore cannot cease to be God. He always was God the Son; He continued to be God the Son in His earthly sojourn as Man; He is God the Son in heaven today as He will remain throughout eternity. He is ''Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

(2) ''He took upon Him the form of a servant.'' His was a voluntary act of amazing grace, the almighty Sovereign stooping to become earth's lowly Servant. Instead of expressing Himself as one deserving to be served, He revealed Himself as one desiring to serve others. He did not boast His eternal glory and right to be ministered to, but instead evinced His humility and desire to minister. ''The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many'' (Matthew 20:28).

(3) "He was made in the likeness of men." This phrase expresses the full reality of His humanity. He participated in the same flesh and blood as man (Hebrews 2:14). Although He entered into a new state of being, His becoming Man did not exclude His possession of Deity, for He was and is today a Person who is both God and Man, Divine and human, perfect in His Deity and perfect in His humanity.

(4) ''And being found in fashion as a man." When He came into the world, Christ associated with His contemporaries and did not hold Himself aloof. Thus He manifested to all that He was a real Man. One obvious distinction marked our Lord's humanity; His perfection and sinlessness. As a Man He was made under the law, yet He never violated the law. As a Man He was tempted in all three points in which we are tempted (I John 2:16), yet His temptation was apart from any thought, word, or act of sin.

(5) "He humbled Himself." The world has never witnessed a more genuine act of self-humbling. So completely did our Lord humble Himself that He surrendered His will to the will of His Father in heaven. His desire was to do the will of the Father, therefore He could testify, "I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29). It was humiliation for the eternal Son of God to become flesh in a stable, and then to dwell in a humble home in subjection to a human parent. God was ''sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin'' (Romans 8:30). Only eternity will reveal the depth of meaning for Him and for us found in those words, " He humbled Himself."

(6) "He became obedient unto death." Remarkable indeed! Here the God-man dies. Did He die as God, or did He die as Man? He died as the God-Man. The first Adam's obedience would have been unto life, but because he disobeyed unto death, the last Adam must now obey unto death in order that He might deliver the first Adam's posterity ''out of death into life'' (John 5:24 R.V.). ''For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). To subject Himself to the cruel death of a criminal on the cross was a necessary part of God's plan of salvation for men, and to such a death our Lord voluntarily submitted. Implicit obedience!

(7) '' . . . even the death of the cross." Our Lord died as no other person died or ever will die. Other men had died on crosses, but this Man, the eternal Son of God, voluntarily and willingly died the kind of death meted out to criminals, even the death upon a cross. His own countrymen considered crucifixion the worst kind of disgrace. In their law it was written, "For he that is hanged is accursed of God'' (Deuteronomy 21:23; cf. Galatians 3:13). Not only did our Lord die, but He died bearing the burden of the worst of criminals and the guiltiest of sinners. Down He came from heaven's glory to earth's sin and shame through His Incarnation.

The purposes underlying this phenomenal occurrence can be summed up in seven points.

He Came to Reveal God to Man

The Incarnation of the Son of God unites earth to heaven. God's greatest revelation of Himself to man is in Jesus Christ. Revelation is the disclosure of truth previously unknown. Before the coming of the Son of God to earth many varied forms of revelation existed. Belief in the existence of God is innate. Since man is a rational, moral being, his very nature provides him with intuitive knowledge. As the mind of a child begins to unfold, it instinctively and intuitively recognizes a Being above and beyond the world that he experiences.

Man is so constituted that he recognizes the fact and the power of God by the things that are made. Many of the ancient philosophers marveled at the starry heavens above them and the moral law about them. We live in a world of order and harmony conducive to our happiness and well being, and we, too, recognize a revelation of God in nature.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:19, 20). Men may hinder or suppress the truth by their unrighteous living, but there is that which may be known of God which ''is manifest in them." The existence and power of God are discernible to us all by the things we observe in the external world. Those only who have abnormal, distorted, or biased minds can possibly deny God's existence.

Job realized that the nature of God in its different characteristics and qualities was not all revealed to man, yet he knew, as all men know, that the omnipotence and unchangeableness of God are exhibited in creation (Job 6:10; 23:12). The savage and the scientist can know two things about God; He is a Being and He is supreme. These are the two things God has been pleased to reveal about Himself.

Do not plead innocence for the man who does not possess a copy of God's Word. All men have a Bible bound with the covers of the day and the night whose print is the stars and the planets. What is knowable about God has been displayed openly, and any man who suppresses the truth does it "without excuse." Nature reveals the supernatural, and creation reveals the Creator. Read Psalm 19:1-6 and you will see that the heavens are personified to proclaim the glory of their Creator. Day and night pass on their testimonies giving clear evidence of the existence of the One who made them.

There are other evidences of primeval revelations of God to man, such as to Adam (Genesis 3:8) and to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 26:3-5). The writer to the Hebrews quotes the Son speaking to the Father, in which reference is made to an early primitive and temporary revelation through a book which God allowed to pass out of existence (Hebrews 10:5-7). Doubtless there were other books which likewise have passed out of existence, as the Book of Enoch of which Jude made mention (Jude 14).

We know, further, that God often revealed Himself in dreams as when He spoke to Jacob (Genesis 28), to the patriarch Joseph (Genesis 37), to Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2-4), to Joseph (Matthew 1:20), and to others. Through Moses and the prophets God revealed Himself (Exodus 3:4 and chapter 20). Over thirty-five authors, writing over a period of fifteen hundred years, wrote consistently and coherently, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of one historically accurate plan of salvation. The Bible in its entirety is a progressive revelation of God.

But of all the amazing revelations of almighty God, none was set forth more clearly and fully than God's final revelation of Himself in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since God is an infinite Being, no man could understand Him fully save the Son who is One in equality with the Father. Jesus said, ''. . . neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him'' (Matthew 11:27). Here, then, is one reason for the Incarnation—to reveal God to man. The fact of God's existence may be seen through test tubes and laboratory experiments, detected through microscope and telescope, and stated in the discussions of the seminar. But the glorious attributes of a loving God manifested in behalf of sinners can be found in no place or person apart from Jesus Christ.

Philip said to the Lord Jesus, ''Lord, shew us the Father . . . " and our Lord answered, ''. . . He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father . . . " (John 14:8, 9). When the Word became flesh He brought to man an adequate revelation of God. Whatever the ancient seers and saints knew about God before Jesus came, we have a more adequate revelation. Since God remains an abstraction until we see Him in terms of personality, so the Son became Incarnate that we might see and know God. ''No man hath seen God at anytime; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him'' (John 1:1, 8, 9).

The dictionary definition of the word ''light'' means nothing to a blind man, but one glimpse of a glowworm would be worth more for the understanding of light than all the definitions in the world. One glimpse of Jesus Christ will bring God closer to the human mind and heart than all the theological definitions of Him. No man could perceive the grace of God until the almighty Sovereign of the universe stooped to the level of His own creatures, suffering cruel treatment and dying the death of shame for them. No man understood fully the patience and longsuffering of the Father until Jesus Christ who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, and when He suffered, threatened not (I Peter 2:23). No man can comprehend just how perfect and holy God is until He comes face to face with the sinless Son of God. God has revealed Himself anew to the intelligence of man through the Incarnation.

He Came to Reveal Man to Himself

Through His Incarnation Jesus Christ reveals man to himself. He shows us what we are and what we may become. As we study the purposes of God in Christ, the fact impresses us that man is grossly ignorant of his real self, and that the mission of the Son's coming included a plan that would enable man to see and know himself as God sees and knows him. We are not the least bit impressed with man's vain philosophical views of himself, but rather with the accurate historical account of man as it is recorded in the Bible.

The primary fact that man needs to know about himself is his origin. Men are divided in their theories concerning this. We are not strangers to the evolutionary idea which attempts to explain man's place in the earth. In 1871 Darwin published his book, The Descent of Man, but he said very little that had not been said before. The idea of evolution might be here to stay, but not because Darwin said so. Evolution was taught by Roman and Greek philosophers and even by ancient Egyptians. But the evolutionary idea that man must swallow his pride and be content with the fact that he has oozed from the slime along with the snails is contrary to the revelation in Scripture.

The Bible teaches clearly that the human race had its origin by the immediate creation of God (Genesis 1:26, 27) and that man is the grand consummation of all creation. We are forced to accept this view as against the theory of evolution because of the immeasurable gulf which separates man, even in his barest savage condition, from the nearest order of creation below him. Moreover, history corroborates Scripture in that man was destined to rule over all other animal life. God took special care in the creation of man, for " God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them" (Genesis 1:27). Actually it was not the body of man that was created, for the body was merely ''formed'' of those elements necessary for man's body and which were created long before man (Genesis 1:1). What was new in man's creation was a form of life which only God and man possess (Genesis 2:7). Created in the image and likeness of God, man differs from every other form of animal. Man, in his lowest estate, seeks an object of worship and has been known to bow before gods that he cannot see, but animals never!

However, man did not retain God's image and likeness. When God placed our first parents in Eden He set before them one simple restriction, namely, not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for, said God, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Genesis 3 is a record of the fall of man. He disobeyed God and immediately the life-cord was severed. Adam died both physically and spiritually. Physical death began to do its work, and the grave for Adam was but a matter of time. Then, too, his spirit was separated from God, so that he was dead spiritually while alive physically.

Now all men, from Adam down, are born into this world spiritually dead in sin, possessing a sin-nature capable of every trespass against God (Ephesians 2:1). The sin-nature of Adam and the guilt of his sin were imputed to the whole human race, so that Adam's corrupted nature is of necessity a part of all his posterity. The highest self in man is altogether unprofitable to God. All men are not equally corrupt in word and deed, but all are equally dead, and unless the function of death is brought to a halt, it will destroy not only the body but also the soul in hell. Because of the solidarity of the human race, sin and death have passed upon all men (Romans 5:12). When Adam defaced the Divine image and lost the Divine likeness, he begat sons ''in his own likeness, after his image" (Genesis 5:3). Yes, "by man came death" and ''in Adam all die" (I Corinthians 15:21, 22).

While all of this is clearly stated in the Bible, man still thinks of himself more highly than he ought to think. There were many who had no Scriptures at all in Christ's day, and they needed this revelation. In order that man should see himself, not in the light of his own goodness, but beside the perfect standard of God's holy Son, the Son of God became Incarnate. Our Lord said, ''If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin" (John 15:22).

Responsibility increases with knowledge, and so Christ's coming showed man how far short he came of God's standard of a righteous man. The Lord Jesus said, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin . . . " (John 15:24). Our Lord did not mean by this statement that man would have been without sin if He had not come. There had been sin all along, as God's dealings with the human race through its four thousand years of earlier history prove. But the coming of Christ to the earth revealed the heart of man in cruel hatred for Divine holiness. The Son of God Incarnate was sinless in every respect, yet man, Jew and Gentile alike, crucified Him. Alongside Christ's perfect life and works, man can see the sin and guilt of his own heart.

When man sinned against the Son of God, he sinned against the clearest possible light, "the Light of the world'' (John 8:12). He came unto His own and His own received Him not (John 1:11), and then Gentiles joined hands with ''His own'' to put Him to death. How sinful is the heart of man? Look at that spectacle on Calvary's hill and you will see human hearts and hands at their worst.

Time has not improved human nature. Today men still trample under food the precious blood of Christ, and if our blessed Lord were to appear in person today as He did nineteen centuries ago, the world would crucify him again. The world, having seen the light, has turned from the light, for "men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil'' (John 3:19). Romans 1:18 to 3:20 enunciates the most searching and conclusive arraignment of the human race found anywhere, and the birth and death of Jesus Christ attest to the truth of this awful indictment.

He Came to Redeem Man

The Apostle Paul states clearly the purpose of the Incarnation in the following words--''But when the fulness of the was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law" (Galatians 4:4, 5). The Old Testament contains the accurate record of some four thousand years of sin, human failure, and consequent Divine judgment. The one bright hope was the coming of the promised Seed, the Redeemer (Genesis 3:15). With each succeeding revelation from God, the promise grew clearer and the hope brighter. The prophets spoke of the Messiah who would come to deliver the people from their sins. Perhaps the classic prophecy is Isaiah 53. Since the people needed a deliverer from the guilt and penalty of sin, the intent of the Incarnation was to provide that Deliverer. Moreover, all of history and prophecy moved toward that goal even as all subsequent movements have proceeded from it.

Jesus Christ is man's Redeemer, his Saviour. This truth is implied in His name. Said the angel, " Thou shalt call his name JESUS (meaning Saviour), for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). At His birth the angel testified again, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a

Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). Even the Lord Jesus Himself voiced emphatically the purpose of His Incarnation when He said, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).

The awful state of the world of mankind necessitated the coming of the Redeemer since there could be no hope of deliverance apart from Him. The character of God, which is righteousness, absolute and uncompromising, demands that every sin be dealt with. While God is merciful, gracious, and slow to anger, forgiving iniquities and transgressions, ''that will by no means clear the guilty " (Exodus 34:7)., While God is love, God is also holy and righteous, so holy that He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and [canst] not look on iniquity'' (Habakkuk 1:13). His righteousness demands that every sin must be dealt with impartially. In order to be true to Himself, God had to deal with the problem of sin. In order to deal justly and, at the same time, mercifully, someone had to suffer the death penalty for the sin of the world.

In the Person of Jesus Christ God solved the problem of the eternal well-being of the sinner. He sent His Son to die as the sinner's perfect Substitute, and thereby redeemed the sinner. Man was lost to God and heaven, and God's purpose in redemption could be realized only through the Incarnate Son of God, for the Son of God Incarnate is the connecting link bringing together God and sinful man. The sinner's relation to Jesus Christ is vital. Christ became a man "that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). The Word, who is the eternal Son of God, became flesh and was obliged to be made in the likeness of man in order to redeem him.

Christ defined the purpose of His Incarnation and earthly ministry when He said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17). There is no implication in these words that there is a sinful class of men who need repentance and another righteous class who do not. Nor is there a suggestion that there are "righteous ones," for in Romans 3:10 it is said, "There is none righteous, no, not one."

Consider the conditions under which Christ stated this purpose. Scribes and Pharisees were upbraiding Him because He had gone into the house of Levi to eat with publicans and sinners (Mark 2:14-16). His critics exalted themselves above sinners, priding themselves in an unpossessed righteousness which thereby excluded them from any realization or acknowledgement of their own sin.

In Levi's house, however, there were those who recognized their sinful state. It was for this reason that the Lord Jesus went to that group, namely, to bring salvation to them. Physicians go into sick rooms, not because of the pleasantness of disease and suffering, but because of a desire to relieve and cure the sick. So sinners are the special objects of the Saviour's love and power. He came into the world to save sinners.

Although all men are unrighteous, those scribes and Pharisees called themselves ''righteous," for they were possessed of self-righteousness that is as "filthy rags" in God's sight (Isaiah 64:6). Therefore, as they went about seeking to establish their own righteousness, they failed to see the purpose of His coming. Hence they never heeded the Saviour's call to salvation. Their kind seldom do!

Had there been righteousness in the human heart, there would have been no need for the Incarnation of the Son of God. And only in the self-righteous heart of the religious, moral man, satisfied with himself, do we find the careless indifference to the Gospel of redemption. When a man assumes a righteousness all his own, he is outside the reach of the Great Physician. The man who excludes his own need of Christ misses the purpose of the Saviour's coming and will not be saved. Each of us must say with the Apostle Paul, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (I Timothy 1:15).

He Came to Restrain Satan

The purpose of the Incarnation is further revealed in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Three verses, linked together, assert that the coming of Jesus Christ was to destroy the devil. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man . . . Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same [flesh and blood]; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:9, 14, 15).

In these three verses in Hebrews, we are reminded that the subject of death is dealt with in each of them, and the fact of the Incarnation is substantiated in the clause, "who was made a little lower than the angels." Furthermore, the purpose of the Incarnation appears in the words, "that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." From this verse, as well as verse 14, it is evident that the eternal Son became flesh in order to die.

Christ's crucifixion by wicked hands was "by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). Our Lord Jesus Christ testified, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Jesus Christ willed to die, not a sudden and unexpected death but a lingering, anticipated death that He would taste every day of His earthly sojourn. He became man to suffer death.

But why should it be so? We considered the purpose of the Incarnation relative to the sin question. Referring to the matter of death, the Word affirms that the Son of God became incarnate that "through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Of all the works of Satan, among the worst is that of destroying life. Our Lord testified, "He was a murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44). Satan is the spoiler of humanity, his malignant purpose being to bring both physical and spiritual death to mankind.

God placed our first parents in the Garden of Eden and surrounded them with every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Two of these trees are mentioned; ''the tree of life . . . and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9). Eating the fruit of the latter tree would bring sin and death, for, said God, " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Satan knew this, therefore we are not surprised when we read that it was of the fruit of this very tree of death that he enticed Eve to eat. He chose the tree of death because he is a murderer. He knew that the death sentence was already pronounced upon all who would eat of it. He delighted in the fall of Adam and Eve, for he knew that physical and spiritual death had struck.

But thanks be to God for the Incarnation of His Son. By the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, through His death and resurrection, He wrested from Satan the power of death. Death no more holds its lethal grip upon the believer. Although death has held sinners in bondage ever since the severing of the life-cord between God and man, the appearing of the Lord Jesus has broken its grip. "According to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began . . . the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (II Timothy 1:9, 10).

Before sin was indulged in and death struck, the inclusive salvation plan provided death's abolition. Since the death and resurrection of our Lord dealt comprehensively with sin, it of necessity affected death. The coming of the Saviour rendered death harmless, and the "sting" of it is gone (I Corinthians 15:55). Oh, the blessedness of an accomplished redemption! How wonderful to know Him who said, " I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18). Death once held man in the vise of hopeless doom, but now Satan is defeated.

The shadow of the cross hung over the manger in Bethlehem, assuring the world that the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15). As Adam yielded himself to Satan, Satan held him in death; but by His dying, Christ entered into our death and wrested from Satan that power which he held over us. At Calvary Satan was brought to naught, and now "death is swallowed up in victory. . . Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:54, 57). "The prince of this world is judged" (John 16:1 1). The Seed of the woman traversed the realms of death but was not captured by the enemy. Instead, He conquered the enemy. Thank God the Saviour came.

He Came to Rescue the Whole Creation

The Incarnation of the eternal Son is part of the divine plan. That plan comprehends a goal, and God assures the accomplishment of it. Though the salvation of man was God's chief concern, His plan was never limited to the world of mankind. It is written of the eternal Son, who was with God and who is God, that "all things were made by Him" (John 1:3). Paul writes, ''For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth'' (Colossians 1:28). Man was higher than all other created beings in the earth, and other creatures were subject to him. However, after the fall this condition changed. Now if man is to have dominion over the beasts, he must first capture them at the risk of his own life, and then imprison them until they are tamed. All of this resulted from the fall.

But the question is, Will God restore again to man the dominion which he lost through the fall? The prophet said, ''The wolf also shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cocatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:6-9). Indeed, it appears that the prophet here is looking beyond to a time of rescue and restoration of the earth and all of its creatures.

The cruelty of beasts was not the order before sin entered. Such discord among God's creatures has sprung from the sinfulness of man and is a necessary part of the curse. To remove this curse and rescue God's creation is one of the purposes of the Incarnation. When Christ comes back to reign and "the government shall be upon His shoulder" (Isaiah 9:6), then the sons of God will be manifested and will share with Him in a restored creation. If it were not so, then all of animated nature would remain spoiled by Satan. But God has said, "In that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground" (Hosea 2:18). Yes, God will "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him'' (Ephesians 1:10). At that day our blessed Lord will "reconcile all things unto Himself' (Colossians 1:20).

Many Christians fail to see that this redemptive work, wrought through the Incarnation of the Son of God, is wider than the salvation of human beings and that it affects the whole creation. The Apostle Paul writes, " For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:19-23). Here we are told that the deliverance of the whole creation will be revealed at the manifestation of the sons of God.

All creation lies in hope (expectancy) of a rescue from present corruption and of deliverance to that place God gave it in the beginning. Nature is now under the curse of sin, groaning and travailing in pain. It is not what it was at first. Nor is it now what it will be when the incarnate Son returns to "put all things in subjection under His feet" (see Hebrews 2:5-9). Before Adam sinned, no savage beasts, no desert wastes, no thorns and thistles existed; but when he fell, all creation fell with him. Now that the Son of God has come and purchased redemption by His death at Calvary, the whole creation must be rescued from the curse, and restored to its original state.

He Came to Restore Israel

Any reader of the Old Testament cannot escape the clear teaching that the Messiah was promised to Israel. Of this the prophets spoke and wrote. The Jew had great advantages. "Unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2). Theirs was "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises" (Romans 9:4). None can deny that from the call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1) to the Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar (606 B.C.), authority in the earth and divine representation was vested in the Jew. It is common information that since the overthrow of Jerusalem and the transfer of dominion in the earth to the Gentiles, Israel, as a nation, has not held authority in the earth.

When Jesus Christ, the Word, "was made flesh," "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11, 14). ''His citizens hated Him, and sent a message after Him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14). In blind unbelief the children of Abraham, refusing to recognize or receive Him, drove Him from their midst and crucified Him. After His resurrection and ascension He revealed to the apostles this mystery. No longer did Israel have priority on the truth, but the message was to be spread abroad to every creature and, during the present dispensation of grace, God would visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name (Acts 15:14).

When Christ came the first time He traversed Palestine proclaiming, " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). He opened the door into the kingdom, but only the regenerated could enter. Were the people ready to receive the kingdom, the King would establish it. However, the offer of the kingdom met with an ever-increasing opposition, and our Lord withdrew the offer for that time. He said to the Jews, ''Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matthew 21:43). There was no mistaking what the Lord Jesus meant, for the chief priests and Pharisees "perceived that He spake of them" (vs. 45).

Israel is still set aside, but only temporarily. The Apostle Paul writes, ''I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid . . . God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew . . . For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:1, 2, 25).

Anti-Semitism, raging throughout the world today, might lead one to question the future restoration of the Jew. Yet we know that both national restoration and national regeneration for the Jew are a definite part of the plan of God. Israel is not beyond recovery; she is not irretrievably lost. By her fall the whole world was blessed with the message of salvation. A national tragedy resulted in an international triumph. ''And so all Israel shall be saved'' (Romans 10:26). The Jew lives in a dark present with a bright future before him. When our Lord said in Matthew 21:43, that "the kingdom shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," He was not referring to any Gentile nation but to regenerated Israel.

God gave Palestine to the Jews unconditionally as a possession and a dwelling place (Genesis 12:1-3). He wants them there. That the Jews would be scattered is plainly taught in the Word of God, but coupled with such teaching are the assertions that they will also be regathered. Study Hosea 3:4,5 and see plainly the scattering and the gathering with the period between. (See also Ezekiel 36:19,24). The Word became flesh and tabernacled among them once (John 1:14). That same holy One, the incarnate Christ, will come again to tabernacle with Israel. Study, for example, such passages as Isaiah 12:1-6; Joel 2:26, 27; Zephaniah 3:14-17; Zechariah 8:3-8. Already modern inventions have revolutionized Palestine and its surrounding territory. This fact, coupled with the thought of the vast area granted by God to Abraham (Genesis 15:18), will assure any interested person that there is ample room in the Holy Land to hold all Jews.

While the Jews continue to return to the Land, all signs point to the return of the incarnate Son, the One who is both human and Divine, and the One in whom God's purposes for Israel are to be fulfilled. According to prophecy, the incarnate One, Immanuel, the virgin's Son, is to occupy David's throne. ''For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this'' (Isaiah 9:6, 7). Let us rejoice to see that day approaching.

He Came to Reign

When the Incarnation had been announced, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him" (Matthew 2:1, 2). They were wise men indeed, for they were followers of the truth of God. When the Old Testament prophets wrote of Messiah's offices, they included that of King. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation: lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass" (Zechariah 9:9). David wrote of Christ and His kingdom when he recorded the words of God, "Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion" (Psalm 2:6). Our Lord is not only Prophet, and Priest, but also Potentate.

In studying the purposes of the Incarnation we are forced to the scriptural observation that the eternal Son became Man in order that He might be King of the earth. Paul wrote that "God hath highly exalted Him" (Philippians 2:9). We dare not limit the exaltation of Christ as some try to do. We acquiesce with those who teach that the steps in Christ's exaltation were His resurrection, ascension, and His sitting at the right hand of God. But such teaching does not go far enough. Study carefully Philippians 2:5-11, and you will see that the steps in our Lord's humiliation were temporary steps leading to a permanent exaltation, culminating with the bowing of every knee and the confessing of every tongue in heaven and in earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The incarnate Son is to appear in His resurrection body and is to sit on the throne of His glory. Jesus Himself spoke of the day "when the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him; then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory" (Matthew 25:31). John writes, ''Every eye shall see Him'' (Revelation 1:7). The prophetic utterance spoken by God to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 concerning David's seed having an everlasting throne and kingdom, has a double fulfillment. Primarily it referred to Solomon's temple. Ultimately and finally it speaks of Christ's earthly reign as Zechariah 6:12 shows. The day must come when all things will be subjected unto Him (I Corinthians 15:28).

The Psalmist spoke of His throne as an enduring throne (Psalm 89:4, 29, 36). God promises that this earthly throne and kingdom are to continue forever, and that the One to occupy it shall be David's seed, his rightful Son (I Chronicles 17:11). The genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 will support the relationship of Jesus Christ to David. During our Lord's earthly ministry, those who sought His help called Him "the son of David" (see Matthew 9:27; Mark 10:47; Luke 18:38).

Christ's kingdom is literal, therefore it cannot be realized apart from the Incarnation. Such a kingdom men have been trying to establish for centuries, but nations are farther from realizing it today than ever before. A perfect kingdom demands a perfect King. At the end of the conflict of the ages, Jesus Christ, the God-Man will return to earth to establish His righteous kingdom which will never be destroyed. His kingdom of glory, and His throne in the midst, was God's first promise through the mouth of the angel Gabriel to Mary, and it links together the Incarnation and reign of the Son of God, ''And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He 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: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:31-33).

When the King comes, then will His perfect will be done in earth as it is in heaven. This is a blessed truth not without history or hope. The day will surely come when all men will see the revelation of the glory of holiness and joy in the earth. But His reign awaits His return to carry away His Bride, the Church. Everything has been deferred until He gathers her unto Himself. It may be at any moment that the last soul will be added to the Church, and then He will come.

This meditation in no wise exhausts the divine purposes of the Incarnation. Others have written at greater length and, doubtless, we could do likewise. But one thing more must be said. The supreme purpose in the eternal Son's coming into the world was to glorify the Father. In His great intercessory prayer, Jesus said, " I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do" (John 17:4). God had been glorified in creation, in the remarkable deliverances of His people, and in the exercise of His power over His enemies, but at no time had He been glorified like this. God could never have been glorified if the Son would have failed in His earthly mission in the smallest degree. But the Lord Jesus could say, " I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." Nothing was left undone, and in everything He did, the Son had the Father's glory in view. He glorified the Father; His earthly mission was complete.

And now to all of us who have been redeemed by His precious blood, the Apostle Paul writes: "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Corinthians 6:20).