Why Christ is the All Sufficient Savior - P2

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life

Jesus Christ as the All-Sufficent God, came to be the All-Sufficient man
Yesterday we pointed out why Christ is the All-Sufficient Savior, noting that He is Equal to the Father in both Being and Authority.  Today we want to take this familiar verse again and point our a second reason why Jesus Christ is the All-Sufficent Savior.  Notice that underlined word "gave".  When God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to this world, He did not come displaying His full, unveiled Deity that He has shared with God the Father from all eternity.  King Solomon reminds us in 1 Kings 8:26 that the universe could never contain the full and unveiled glory of God. 

Rather Christ veiled Himself by taking up Himself a human nature through the virgin birth.  He did this in order to dwell among human beings, and to perform the only act that could make salvation possible - His death on the cross.   Christ in His Deity never ceased being God.  When He died on the cross, it was not Christ's Deity that was killed, rather it was Christ's humanity that was crucified, buried and risen.  

As the Only Begotten Son from All eternity, Christ was able to take upon His person a human nature by being born.  Now we witnessed yesterday the difference between "birth" and "begotten".  I won't labor the comparison between the two terms, however, it must be remembered that as true as it is that Christ is "the Only Begotten" touching His Divine nature, He taking upon Himself a human nature required a birth.  When we say nature, we mean the means through which one expresses their existence. Thus Christ expresses His existence through two ways: An unlimited, Eternal Divine way and through a limited though sinless human way. 

Christ in His Humanity makes Him capable of being the All-Sufficient Savior
As God, Jesus Christ is able to be the All-Sufficient Savior, and as man, He is capable of being the All-Sufficient Savior.  Why?  First of all, it was a man - Adam, who rebelled against God in the garden of Eden.  According to God's Law, the penalty, the curse of sin, committed by man, could only be reversed by a man.  The problem is, all of Adam's descendants inherited the sin nature from the bloodline of Adam and Eve. 

Furthermore, the curse of sin, pronounced by God on Adam and his descendants, could only be reversed by One who is God.  To complicate the issue, If God would had reversed the curse after stating it in Genesis 3, then He would had violated His Holy character, since sinful man committed high treason against God. 

Why Christ's Virgin birth qualified Him to be the All-Sufficient Savior
Therefore in order to alleviate this dilemma, there had to be a way in which God, who alone could reverse the curse, could become man, who must pay for the penalty of sin.   Christ as God accomplished this by being born a man.  His birth was not just any normal birth, it was a virgin birth.  Now that is important, since the sin nature of fallen Adam is transmitted through the father's blood-line. (please compare 1 Peter 1:18-19)  Thus Christ, being fully man, did not have a sin nature, and so he could in a real legitmate way represent humanity before Holy God as the New Adam. (please compare Romans 5:11-21)  As God, Christ also has the authority to reverse the curse of the penalty of Sin upon all those who by grace through faith belive upon Him as the All-Sufficient Savior. 

Christ, The All-Sufficient Savior

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

In today's blog I want to share some observations about what is perhaps the most familiar verse in the Bible - John 3:16.  Sometimes the most illuminating moments in our Christian walk is when God takes what we deem familiar, and unfolds for us truths that are indeed precious and profound.  What John is stating here in this verse is this central idea: that God's choice to accomplish salvation through Jesus Christ is tied to the fact of Who Jesus Christ really is.  In short, He is enough, He is All-Sufficient. 

When we read in the above text that "God so loved the world", we come across the incredible statement: "that He gave His only Begotten Son".  Now many English Translations today will render that phrase as "One and Only", which is an acceptable rendering of this description of Jesus Christ given by the Apostle John.  However the NASB above chooses to retain the phrase as "Only Begotten", which as you will see below, is actually the preferred rendering. 

What is meant by "Only Begotten"?

When John writes the term "Only Begotten", He is making a statement pertaining to Jesus Christ being equal in authority and nature to the One who sent Him - God the Father.  Now you have seen the word "begat" in those genaeological lists that mention about how "so-and-so begat so-and-so".  Why is it that the biblical authors don't say "birth" or "born"?  When we compare the term "birth" to "begat", we can understand the reason why:

     Meaning of "birth"                      Meaning of "begotten"
-Begins in time                            -Is not bound to time
-Refers to individual identity      -Refers to an office or title
-Is different in age from birther  -Same qualities as begetter
-Mother centered                        -Father centered
-Based upon human bloodline  -Based on Eternal Decree 

Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten, is God

Now when you apply the above observations of "begotten" to what John is saying here in John 3:16, you begin to understand why it is Jesus Christ alone is the All Sufficient Savior.  In Isaiah 43:11 we read - "I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me".  Without a doubt, Jehovah God, THE LORD, is making this statement.  Only God can create, and only God can be the Source of salvation. 

To say that Jesus Christ is the Only-Begotten Son of God is to say that, touching His Divine Nature: He is not bound by time, that He occupies a position that has existed from all eternity and that He shares the same Divine, Eternal nature as God the Father.  Thus what John is arguing for is the reason why Christ alone is All-Sufficient - He has the same Eternal Qualities, Power and Life as the One who sent Him. 

This means then that He is All-Sufficient.  No matter how deep my sin, Jesus Christ can span that depth.  No matter how high my wickedness may run, Christ alone can overcome it.  Despite the gulf that existed between Holy God and sinful man, Christ alone can span it.  He is God.  In tomorrow's blog we will look at the second truth drawn from John 3:16 - namely how Jesus Christ is the All-Sufficient Savior due to the fact that He is also man.   For only as both God and man can Christ bring man and God together. 

Rooted in the Everlasting

Genesis 21:33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God

In today's blog I want to continue from where we left off yesterday in reference to God, the Everlasting God.  When Abraham referred to God as "El-Olam", He was affirming the truth of God's perpetual and unending character and commitment.  This name for God is made up of two Hebrew words: "El" meaning "mighty One, One who affirms a Covenant" and "Olam" meaning "eternal, unending".   As a way of applying the significance of this name of God to your life and mine, I chose to compose a short poem that speaks about God as the Everlasting God.  I pray you find it to be an encouragement to your own walk of faith.

Rooted in the Everlasting

Rooted in the Everlasting

Unmoved by Circumstance

Guided by Sovereignty

Not led by Happenstance

The Eyes of His Eternal Love

Guide my weary soul

Living in a changing world

Walking by faith I go

The Scripture He opens to me

To quench my thirsty soul

He feeds me and sustains

To overcome the defeated foe

Though life may grow dry

And opportunities may wilt

Yet the Everlasting God is the One

On Whom my faith is built

God's Goodness in His Permanent Relationships

Genesis 21:33  Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

In these past several blogs we have explored how to see God's Goodness as the focal point of your Christian walk.  We have noted how God's Goodness can be witnessed through His Promises fulfilled and answered prayer.  In this blog we want to discover how to see God's goodness in the permanent relationships He makes with His people. 

When we speak of that word "permanent", we are referring to God's unending pledge of Himself to those who by His grace evidence faith and trust in Him.  Abraham has been walking with God for over 25 years.  He has experienced the fulfillment of a major promise from God - the birth of his son Isaac.  After meeting and making covenant with a king by the name of Ablimelech, Abraham decides to plant a tree in commemoration of the relationship he has with God.

The tree tells it all
Tamerisk trees are interesting trees that grow in the land of Israel.  From what we know about them, they are the type of plant that flourishes in poor soil and hostile environments.  Undoubtedly Abraham saw himself as that Tamerisk tree.  By God's grace he had flourished and grown in circumstances that many would consider to be hostile to his faith-life.  Dear believer, understand that you and I are called like Abraham to flourish where God plants us.  Though we may seen frail, yet in Christ our faith cannot fail. 

God is the Everlasting God
Abraham then utters a name of God, revealed to Him for this occassion - El Olam.  The name means - the Everlasting God.  This name tells us that God, the Everlasting God, was in perpetual relationship with Abraham.  Indeed God's Goodness is as long and High as His character.  Jesus Christ tells us as Christians in Matthew 28:20 that He will be with us always - even to the end of the age.  In Philippians 1:6 I am told that the work God began in me will be completed.  We are reminded in Hebrews 13:5 that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us.  God is Everlastingly Good - He will not fail you.  He is there all the time.  He is Good. 

God's Goodness in Answered Prayer

Genesis 21:17 God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

When Impatience Accompanies the Christian walk
Not all was peaceful in Abraham's house when Isaac, the child of promise, the long awaited fulfillment, had finally been born.  Years earlier Abraham and Sarah grew impatient with God, and so Sarah gave her slave Hagar to Abraham to be his wife.  Much was done wrong in the whole decision, but chiefest of the issues was that Abraham and Sarah and Hagar all assumed God had forgotten His promises.  Hagar got pregnant and gave birth to Ishmael.  Now Abraham had an heir - but it was not God's chosen heir. 

Is God Good no matter what?
The above event occured in Genesis 16, and now it is 13 years later in Genesis 21.  After Isaac, the son of promise is born, Ishmael, now 13, taunts Isaac.  Sarah tells Abraham to get rid of Hagar and her son, and so they are sent packing into the desert.  It is a hostile environment, and soon Hagar and her son run out of water.  Life was draining  from the both of them - and all seemed lost.  The text of Genesis 21 tells us that Hagar set her boy at a distance, under a bush. He is crying because he is hungry, scared and dreading his pending demise.  However Hagar is weeping, not only for herself and her boy, but crying out to God.  Will He hear?  Is He listening?  In Genesis 16, some 13 years earlier, this same situation had occured.  She cried out to God, and He came as the Angel of the Lord.  She evidenced a heart of faith.

God's Goodness is seen in answered prayer
But now would He hear her again?  Is he still the God who sees?  He is!  The Angel of the Lord appears to her once again - most likely an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ.  God permits what he hates in order to accomplish the good He intends.  He knew this was going to happen, yet He used the circumstance to reveal His goodness.  He preserved both Hagar and her son, He answered prayer.  Psalm 102:17 reminds us - "He has regarded the prayer of the destitute and has not despised their prayer." 

God dealt personally with Hagar in a redemptive way - He heard her prayer.  His immediate plan for her was situated in His ultimate plan for her son and the situation in which she found herself.  Paul in Galatians 4:21-31 points back to Hagar's expulsion from Abraham's household as a picture of how the Law of God points to the need for the Grace of God.  More could be said on this point, however for our purposes here today, we will move on to understanding how we know God is good all the time.   

How we know God is Good all the time
God's purposes for His people and His answers to prayer never conflict with the motives pertaining to what He permits to enter into their lives.  As Romans 8:28 reminds us - All things work together for the good, to those who love God, who are thee called according to His purpose.  God's goodness is seen in answered prayer.  As you pray, not only fix your eyes on God's goodness, but remember that while waiting for your answer, God can even reveal His goodness in the process of your waiting - you and I just need to ask Him to help us see it. 

God's Goodness in His Promises

Genesis 21:1 Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.

How a waiting couple were kept by God's goodness
Today we want to consider God's goodness as the reference point for focusing your Christian walk and mine.  In Genesis 21 we see God fulfilling a promise to the great Old Testament Patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah.  For 25 years they had been told that through them God would bring forth a physical descendant - for you see Sarah was unable to have children, and furthermore she and Abraham had become past child bearing age.  Over the course of Genesis 12-20 we see Abraham and Sarah triumph and at times stumble in their walk with God.  However they did not fall from grace, but were kept by the Goodness of God. 

God's goodness is seen in His promises
After 25 years and over 1,000 miles of journeying over the deserts and lush fields of the land of Canaan (which by the way would become the land of Israel), the promised child, Isaac, is born.  Galatians 4:28 tells us that Isaac is the son of promise - he embodies the very principle of God's goodness to His people in fulfilling His promises. 

God's promises are telescopes to seeing God's goodness
Over 8,000 promises exists in the Bible.  In 2 Corinthians 1:20 we read these words - "For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us." God's Promises function as telescopes, bringing into focus the fixed NorthStar that is the Goodness of God.  Just as Abraham and Sarah witnessed and experienced, so can you dear saint - that God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. 

Praying through the Scriptures

Hebrews 4:12 the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Why the Bible and Prayer go hand-in-hand
As we continue today in the small blog series called "A Bible Study Tool-box", we want to consider how you can take prayer and unite it with your study and reading of God's Word.  As you look at the above two passages, they are only separated by four verses, the first being about God's Word and the second concerned with your prayer-life.  If we had included the verses in between, you would discover that the author is connecting prayer and God's Word together. 

Four types of Prayer
There are over 600 prayers recorded in the Bible, prayer by different sorts of people.  In looking at those prayers, we can classify them under four main types and use the acrostic A.C.T.S to aid in our memory of them.
Adoration = This is when I praise and worship God in my prayertime
Confession = This is when I confess, or fully admit of my sins to God in my prayertime
Thanksgiving = This is when I thank God for Himself and other things in my prayertime
Supplication = This refers to how I ask God for things in my prayertime

Applying the types of prayer to the scriptures
By once again appealing to the little Bible book of 1 John, we can observe how you can combine your prayer life with God's word.  I will use 1 John 1:9 as the example, since it is a wonderful promise for every Christian to claim.  1 John 1:9 states - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Now as you look at that passage, you can plug in those four types of prayer, and pray through that passages in the following ways:

-Adoration = Lord, I praise you, I adore you for that fact that through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, I have the right to come to you by faith.  I praise you Jesus that you are sufficient and just to forgive me of my sins. 

-Confession = Lord, I confess to you my sin this day.  I admit I have done wrong in this or that area.  I confess Lord that may I should have done this or not done that.  Lord, please forgive me.

-Thanksgiving = I'm thankful to you Lord that having confessed my sin to you, by the blood of Jesus Christ, I stand innocent before you.  I am so thankful that you and I can walk in fellowship and friendship with one another.  I thank you Lord that you cleanse.

-Supplication = I ask Lord that you would enable me to walk by the power of your Grace to embrace my Lord and Savior, and that by your grace I would hate sin.  Enable me Lord to flee to your word when I am tempted, and to not rely on myself, but soley on you - amen.

When you take a verse of scripture, and pray it, it is like adding high octane fuel into the tank of your prayer life.  May the Lord bless you today dear friend - as you live and walk for Jesus.