The True Character of Christ

The life of our Lord then was a life lived dominated by the power of the Spirit. He is the perfect illustration of a Spirit-empowered man. Under the control of the Spirit of God, he lived a perfectly sinless, God-honoring life demonstrating what a holy human looks like and how a holy human acts. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.

There are lots of opinions out there, a lot of people trying to tell you who Jesus is in television documentaries and university studies and articles of all sorts. Jesus still gets a lot of attention, but what do the pundits and scholars base their conclusions on? More important, how do you decide what to make of it all?

Well, what you need to do is turn to the ultimate source about Jesus, and that's the Bible itself. That's what you'll hear today as John MacArthur continues his study called Consider This. And we'll get to that lesson in just a minute. But you know, our goal behind every Grace to You program is to help you get the most from God's Word. And we have a team of people here dedicated to that goal.

And outside the walls of our headquarters, there actually are multiple teams of people who are essential to our work. I'm talking about the people at Radio stations like the one you're hearing Grace to U on right now. And to each of you who serve your station, you are playing a part in helping us and other Bible teaching ministries make a life-transforming difference in people in your community. And here's just one example of the effect you're having. We received a brief letter from a woman named Stacy, and here's what she told us: Stacey writes.

After the Grace TU broadcast this morning on KKLA, you asked us to write a note.

So thank you. Grace to you. And thank you, KKLA. You help me keep my eyes on God all day long, particularly with John MacArthur's teaching. I know he teaches the truth straight down the line, including when the message is about God's wrath and his judgment.

It's what I need to hear.

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So keep going. You're doing important work and you're doing it well by the grace of God. Thank you. And she signs Stacey. Mm-hmm.

Well, thank you, Stacey, and thank you, KKLA, as well as our many other broadcast partners. And friend, let me encourage you to contact the station that you are listening to right now. Search for their website to get their email address or their phone number, and let them know that you appreciate programs like Grace to You, because believe me, they will appreciate hearing from you.

So thanks for doing that, and thanks for following along with John MacArthur right now, as he continues his study called Consider This with a message on the true character of Christ. All spiritual growth, personal and corporate, is the work of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 3, the Apostle Paul said, are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? You have begun in the Spirit because regeneration is the work of the Spirit.

Justification is the work of the Spirit. Adoption is the work of the Spirit. Conversion is the work of the Spirit. Sanctification is the work of the Spirit. Why have you set the Spirit aside and attempted to complete your spiritual development?

Through the flesh. That's foolish. Yeah. The model or the example of the spirit-controlled life is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. From a theological viewpoint, one of the most fascinating studies in all of Scripture is how the Holy Spirit.

worked in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the best way to answer that, and I want you to think through with me a little bit today. The best way to answer that is this: that the Holy Spirit. Eternally was Christ's Perfect companion. As was the Father.

That's the nature of the Trinity, one and three, three and one. But in the incarnation, The Holy Spirit was Christ's inseparable companion from womb to tomb to throne. The Holy Spirit was his inseparable companion. Just following his life, you see the role the Spirit played. According to Luke 1, he was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit.

As a child in Luke 2, the grace of God was upon him by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Baptism, the Holy Spirit came upon him. The Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted. He ministered, according to Luke 4, in the power of the Holy Spirit. In his death, He literally died and rose again through the power of the eternal spirit.

And his post-resurrection appearances and giving the great commission was even done by the Holy Spirit. All those things are stated in. the Scriptures. The life of our Lord then was a life lived completely dominated by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the perfect illustration of a spirit empowered man.

Under the complete control of the Spirit of God, he lived a perfectly sinless, God-honoring life, demonstrating what a holy human looks like and how a holy human acts. In his death, He validated God's salvation plan, made it possible. in his life. He demonstrated God's salvation plan. He made it visible.

In his death, he made it possible In his life, he made it very different. visible This is what the saved man In ultimate Perfection. looks like. This is what interests the Holy Spirit. Not knocking people over, not doing bizarre things, not barking like a dog.

Not giving private messages in people's feelings. Not making people rich. Not even making them well. Necessarily. His work is spiritual.

It is an insult to lower the ministry of the Holy Spirit to some kind of circus event. or chaos or confusion. or to be the source of satanic things that are some How attributed to God. Let me take you to a text that just kind of points this out. 2 Corinthians 3.18, you want to look at that with me for a minute.

2 Corinthians 3.18, really one of those definitive portions of scripture. As um The Apostle Paul comes off the illustration of Moses. Coming down out of the mountain and having seen the glory of God and having his face veiled. Paul says in verse 18, we all with unveiled face. There's no veil.

The Old Testament, the Old Covenant had a veil. There were things that were not. Discernible, were not visible, were not yet revealed.

So there were. things hidden, but we all with an unveiled face. Beholding is in a glass. The glory of the Lord. We stop there for a moment.

Th this is our current State. As believers, the veil is off. The veil of ignorance, the veil of darkness, the mysteries of the New Testament, that veil is removed. We see clearly in the glass the glory of the Lord. And it's manifest in The incarnated Christ.

So he's talking about looking at the glory of the Lord. With an unveiled face, nothing hindering our view. We have a full revelation of the Lord. Because of the New Testament. And it says that as we look at the glory of the Lord in this clear glass unveiled.

We are being transformed into the same image. from one level of glory to the next. In other words, this is what sanctification is. As you gaze at the glory of the Lord, You will literally be being changed into that image, moving from one level of glory to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next. And who is doing this?

End of verse 18. Just as from the Lord the Spirit, this is the Holy Spirit's work. to conform us Two Christ-likeness. Christ's likeness is the goal. The Holy Spirit is the agent.

And the scripture is the means as we gaze at the glory of the Lord revealed in scripture. Sanctification then. is only by means of The Holy Spirit taking what we see of the glory of Christ. revealing it to us and then conforming us to that same glory. I mean, just to go back in redemptive history, man is created in God's image to reflect God's glory.

Back in Genesis 1, man falls. In Genesis 3, So man, created to reflect and express the glory of God is fallen, he is corrupted, he is evil, the purpose for his existence is lost. In fact, man is so corrupt that by the sixth chapter of Genesis, God drowns the entire world. The entire world. God literally obliterated The distorted image.

of his creation of man.

So God had to make a plan. He saved eight people and had to make a plan to restore the terribly distorted image. By sovereignly, Supernaturally And graciously. Transforming sinners so that they could become again capable of reflecting. His glory.

So how did he do that? When he redeems us, he makes us. Uh 2 Peter 1.4. partakers of the divine nature. We escape corruption, the Bible says.

That's what salvation's purpose is: is to deliver us from corruption and give us the power to become Christ-like. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. That is God's plan. The Father initiated it. The sun validated it at the cross.

And the spirit demonstrates it. Spirit, as we saw last time, is the author of Scripture, which is the instrumental means of the transformation. He is the creator of life, and therefore He is the only one who can regenerate. He is the agent of resurrection in the miracle of glorification at the end of the purposes of salvation.

So, whether it's the beginning, revelation, whether it's the work of regeneration in us, or the work of sanctification, or the work of glorification in the end, it's all the Holy Spirit's work. And in the end, when we get to heaven, we will be like Christ, 1 John 3, 2, because we'll see him as he is.

So this is the work of the Holy Spirit. It's just so sad to me to see so much nonsense attributed to the Holy Spirit. This is the true work of the Holy Spirit. Revelation in Scripture, illumination of that scripture, leading the non-believer to repentance, awakening his dead heart by regeneration, going through the process of sanctification, conforming the believer to the image of Christ, and one day raising the believer to glorification. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.

When we read so many times in Leviticus, be holy, for I am holy, be holy, for I am holy, over and over and over again. How does this happen? How does this happen? The answer comes in Leviticus: I am the Lord who sanctifies you. I want you to be holy, and I'm the Lord who sanctifies you.

So much more could be said about that. I love to read Romans 8. I commend that to you. That is the Holy Spirit's chapter. I won't go through all of it, but I can't resist at least a look at a portion of Romans chapter 8.

You can look at it with me. Let's just go to verse 14 for a minute, Romans 8. We are all being led by the Spirit of God. If you are being led by the Spirit of God, you're sons of God. Verse 16: The Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are children of God.

The Spirit's work is to give testimony of our true salvation. Verse 23 says that We ourselves have the first fruits, the down payment. Of future glory, which is the Holy Spirit, is like God's engagement ring given to us, guaranteeing our future wedding. We have been given the Spirit, but we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. We live in hope.

We wait for the glorification that the Spirit will bring, but in the meantime, we have the Spirit as the down payment on that. Verse 26 says, The Spirit helps our weakness. We don't know even how to pray.

So the Spirit of God intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. The Spirit is our constant companion. The Spirit in us incessantly prays for us. Go down to verse 29. Those whom God foreknew, He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.

That's salvation. It's not just to get you out of hell. Salvation is to conform you to Christ. That's the point. He predestined us.

to be conformed to the image of his son. And to that end, he predestined us, verse 30, called us, justified us, and he will also glorify us. This again from initial grace. to final glory. is the work of the Holy Spirit.

And again, back to what I said at the beginning, the person of Christ is the model of the Spirit-filled man.

Now, I want to turn the page and let's talk about the Lord Himself. Let's talk about The Son of God. We've talked about the Father and the Spirit. And I know you know the most about him, and so I'm going to assume you're. Your knowledge is is deep and rich and true.

So how how are we to To see Christ. Let me just show you one passage, just a few minutes. Look. Twenty. And there are so many Places we could go, obviously.

But let me just show you Luke 20. I find this. Fascinating. Down to verse 41. This is Passion Week, the final week of our Lord's life before his crucifixion and resurrection.

And it's most likely Wednesday of that week. Thursday was the upper room, and Friday, of course, the crucifixion. Sunday, he rose from the dead. He's preaching the kingdom, he's confronting the religious leaders. And um There are discussions, parallel passages in Mark.

12 and in Matthew and There is a discussion about Messiah. He's confronting them about Messiah. And uh According to Luke 2041, he says to these Jewish leaders, How is it that they say the Messiah is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand. until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Therefore David calls him Lord. And how is he His son. The discussion prior to this, according to Matthew 22, is. What do you think about the Christ? He asks them.

Whose son is he? Whose son is he? That's kind of what launched this. And they're responding, oh, he's David's son, he's David's son. And so he says, how is it that They say Christ is David's son.

based on what it says in Psalm 110. In Psalm 110, it says David himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord is pointing to this Psalm. And saying David says, the LORD said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand. The Messiah is not just David's son.

He is David's Lord. He is David's Lord. How can the Messiah be David's son? And David's Lord. How is that possible?

David's son and David's lord. That would mean pre-existence. He would have to have been around when David lived. How can he be? After David and before David, How can he be born and yet Eternal.

This simple statement. Simple look at Psalm 110.1 shows us the nature of Christ. He is David's son, the royal line, a man. He is David's Lord, God. The eternal Sun This is the glory of Christ.

David's Son and David's Lord. It's a little bit like when Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, before Abraham was, I Mm. Amazing. David's lord, Adonai, or kurias in the New Testament. Deity We know he is David's Lord because He manifests omnipotence.

Omnipresence. Omniscience. Mutability He received worship. He knew the future. I guess you might kind of pull it together and say this.

If God became a man, We would expect his human life to be sinless. If holy God became a man, we would expect his human life to be sinless. Jesus The uniform testimony of the New Testament is the sinlessness, the blamelessness, the faultlessness of Jesus. No one could ever find any fault in him. If God Holy God, sovereign God, eternal God, were to become a man, we would expect him to be.

Perfectly. Righteous, not just sinless but righteous. Not just Without sin. But the very essence of pure holy virtue. The purest personal character, not just the absence of sin, but the presence of perfect righteousness.

And he was. If God were a man, we would expect his words to be the Wisest Truest. Purest Ever spoken. And Jesus were. His words were Basically, so profound that they said of him: Never a man spoke like this man.

If God were To become a man, sovereign God, we would expect him to exert. the most profound power over creation. He did. He did. Still the storms.

created food. Organs Heal diseases. If God, holy God, sovereign God, were to become a man, we would expect him to have a profound power over the souls of men. He did? He gave them life, forgiveness.

If Holy God were to become a man, we would expect him to exert complete power over. Fallen angels. He did, sent them into pigs. commanded them at will. If God became a man, We would expect the demonstration of supernatural Power.

over nature, over people, over demons. over everything, and that's what he did. And then this, if God Became a man, we would expect him to manifest the attributes of God. All of his attributes. including love.

And mercy. and grace and compassion. If God became a man, we would expect him to have power over life and death. If God were to become a man, we would expect him to have complete authority over sin.

Well, that's Jesus. He did become a man. When we think about Christ, we have to think about him in those grand terms. And one of the things that we have to be very careful of is not pulling Jesus down to a kind of a such a human level that we forget The divine nature. I think there's a lot of Frivolous.

reference to Jesus that doesn't uphold His glory. There's a closing to this that's most fascinating to me.

So Jesus is David's son. and the Lord at the same time. While the people were listening, look at verse 45. He said to the disciples, Beware of the scribes. Those are the theologians of Israel.

Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love respectful greetings in the marketplaces. and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. who devour widows' houses. And for appearance's sake, offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.

It's so fascinating to me that Jesus didn't condemn the Gentile idol worshipers, he condemned the Jews. who claimed to worship him and represent him. He condemned them for their religious hypocrisy. They rejected him. That they rejected him.

They rejected him. And in rejecting him, they rejected the Holy Spirit who worked in him. You remember? They said what he does, he does by the power of Satan. And he said, You have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, and you will not be forgiven for that in this age or the age to come.

Matthew 12. And in rejecting him, they rejected the spirit, and in rejecting the spirit, they had rejected the Father. The Father said at the baptism of Jesus, This is my beloved Son. Listen to him, in whom I am well pleased. John says, if you honor the Son, you honor the Father.

If you honor the Father, you honor the Son.

So, in rejecting the Son, they had rejected the Spirit who was. in the sun doing all the works. And they rejected the Father who sent the Son. And whose will the Son was doing, it was a full-scale Trinitarian rejection. And so Jesus says, beware of these hypocritical, false religionists.

All their worship is corrupt because they do not know me. True worship is What God requires. False worship is what he judges. And so we sort of end where we begin. Remember in Exodus?

If you take my name in vain, you will not go what? Unpunished. If you take my name in vain, you will not go unpunished. This is the highest and the holiest and the most sacred thing in our lives. is the true worship of our Priune God.

Lord, again, such a privilege. For us to be together. Thank you for these precious young people here and Thank you for what you're doing in their lives. I thank you for the The encouragement blessing they are to me and to all of us here. We thank you for raising up The school Thank you for those.

who have sacrificed for 90 years. to bring us to this hour. But mostly, we give you the glory and the praise for all that is right and good. Thank you for the privilege of being a part of it. And Lord, we want to be those true worshipers who who honor you, who ascribe to you What you are worthy of.

Elevate our thoughts about you, enrich them from your word. And may our worship please you because we come with clean hands and a pure heart.

So thankful for this privilege. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. John's current study here on Grace to U is titled Simply Consider This. And friend, just a reminder to get in contact with the team at this radio station and thank them for airing Bible teaching programs like Grace to You. And if you're benefiting from these daily broadcasts, we'd love to hear about that as well.

So let us know when you contact us today. You can write to us at grace2u.com. P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. You can also send an email to letters at gty.org.

Again, if this broadcast has encouraged you, write today and thanks for remembering to mention this station's call letters anytime you get in touch. And keep in mind that at our website, gty.org, there are thousands of resources available to help you dig deeper into God's Word. You can download all of John's sermons, including those from his current study called Consider This. And all of those resources are free of charge in MP3 format. They're also downloadable in text format, so you can read the transcripts of any of John's messages.

That's over 3,600 sermons that you can download and read and listen to all for free. Our website again, gty.org.

Now, for John MacArthur and the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember to watch Grace to You television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378, or you can watch anytime online at gty.org. And then be here again tomorrow as John helps you make sense of how a good God can allow evil in the world. Don't miss the next half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.