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Love Series, Part 2: My Beloved Son
April 09, 2006
This sermon was presented before the Load, Kentucky, Church of Christ, on April 09, 2006. God loves His son, Jesus. He loves Jesus, because Jesus is obedient. He never argues with God, and never thinks that His way is better. He just does what His father asks.
Bernie Parsons
Love Series, Part 2: My Beloved Son
By Bernie Parsons
Presented to the Load, KY, church of Christ on 04-09-2006
In our first lesson on love, we examined the love of God for His creation, mankind. In this study, we look at the love that God had for His holy son, Jesus.
Matthew 3:13: “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14: But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
15: And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
16: And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
When John baptized Jesus, a voice spoke from heaven, proclaiming Jesus to be His beloved son, in whom He was well pleased. This voice would be heard again on the mountaintop, where some of the disciples encountered the glory of God.
Matthew 17:1: “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2: And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3: And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
4: Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
5: While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”
It is telling that God states His love for Jesus. He does not merely say, “Hear Him,” but first asserts His love for Him, and then tells them to hear Him. In other words, as Jesus would say on several occasions, the words of teaching and commandment that He brought to mankind were the words of God, His father.
Peter bore witness to this event on the mountaintop, as is recorded in his second letter:
2 Peter 1:16: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17: For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18: And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.”
This voice from within the glory of God had the desired effect. It seared itself into the disciples’ brains, so that they would always remember them. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased—hear Him!”
Matthew 12:14: “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
15: But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;
16: And charged them that they should not make him known:
17: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
18: Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
19: He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
20: A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
21: And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”
Notice verse 18 above—it is the prophecy that was borne out by the words spoken from the glory of God, first at the baptism of Jesus, and later on the mountaintop.
John 5:16: “And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
17: But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
18: Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
19: Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20: For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.”
The Father loves the Son, and that is why God revealed to His beloved son the plan that He had for mankind. He showed Him the things that were to transpire on the earth.
John 15:7: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8: Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9: As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10: If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.”
Jesus was beloved of God because He kept the commandments of God. He did not consider the commandments of God to be grievous, but righteous. Because of this, He was beloved in the sight of God. He was an obedient son.
Hebrews 1:1: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4: Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5: For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6: And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
7: And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8: But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9: Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
Jesus, because of His love for God and His obedience to Him, was elevated above all the angels in heaven, becoming the only son of God born of woman—the only begotten son!
John the Baptist also bore witness of God’s love for Jesus. Remember that we earlier read that John witnessed the voice of God speaking from heaven when he baptized Jesus.
John 3:22: “After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
23: And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
24: For John was not yet cast into prison.
25: Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
26: And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
27: John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
28: Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29: He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30: He must increase, but I must decrease.
31: He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32: And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33: He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
34: For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35: The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
“This is my beloved Son—hear Him!” Jesus was trusted with God’s words of truth! Because Jesus spoke words of truth—that is, words from God—He also holds the key to our salvation! Everlasting life comes from God Almighty, through His son, Jesus. As first John, and then Jesus, preached repentance and the salvation of God, they baptized the beleivers in the abundant waters nearby.
John 17:20: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21: That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22: And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24: Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25: O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26: And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Our salvation is not only in the initial belief in Jesus, but is in also trusting His words to be words of truth, words from God. Therefore, Jesus prayed that His followers would know the love of God that He Himself had known, and would thereby keep the teachings of the righteous God of the cosmos. In learning the attributes of God, and the ways of God, and adopting them into our own lives through the Holy Spirit of God, we become one with the righteous Father and His obedient Son, and are thereby saved. God loved Jesus from before the foundation of the world, and loves us through Him.
Back To Love, Part 1: God Is Love
Forward to Love, Part 3: No Greater Love
