Okay. Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to the Archie Harding Ministries Program. I'm Sharon Knotts thanking you for tuning in today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today's message by my father brother Hardy is God became man. Truly, this is a message that will warm your heart and endear you to our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ His Son as we discover just what a sacrifice He made when God became man.
You know the world if they know the Lord. All they know him as is a historical Jesus. The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head. Heavenly say amen. He's not a little Lord Jesus.
He's a powerful, reigning, almighty Lord. He wasn't the Lord Jesus, the Lamb till the resurrection. And all the world knows there's a little old babe in a Bethlehem. In a manger. Can't even help himself.
I said the babe of Bethlehem can't even help himself. How many say amen? All they have it is this historical knowledge, but I'm glad I know him as a risen Lord. Hallelujah! I'm glad I know him as my all-sufficient.
Trice. And I have him. I got the gift. I don't worry about the other gifts. How many say amen?
A whole lot of parents will be in the corner exhausted. Saying, thank God this day's over. Hallelujah. But if you got that gift, Jesus. That gift that God so loved the world that He gave, He's never over.
Day after Christmas shall be right there. Supplying it all you need. Yeah. Doing what you need. In your life.
Most of the Christian world don't realize this. Most of the saints They're like a lot of even the natural man. Jesus, he came to be the Dave of Bethlehem. He came to be the sacrifice that God accepted for man's sins. Then What we call Easter heat was offered at that sacrifice.
and paid the price to remit our sins. Then he rose. And now they forget all about him. He's somewhere in the great beyond the blue. And they're trying to struggle.
In this earthwalk and in this battle. To make happen. And we're not getting the main part. of Jesus's ministry. The biggest part of Jesus' ministry is going on now.
It took his death. On Calvary to make me a child of God. But now that I'm a child of God His great ministry towards me is going on now. And the Bible tells us what he is in Hebrews. He's our high priest.
He's our mediator. We have an avocate with the Father. A go-between. Jesus Christ The righteous one. He's Standing in the presence of God in his high priesthood.
He's a priest, God said. I swear forever, thou art a priest after the order of Melchizedek forever. You know, it's just been a few years ago, God really. Emphasize on my soul forever.
Now listen to this scripture. See, he is able to save. to the uttermost All that come to God by Him. Because he ever Uh To make intercessions for him. You know, and I'd quote that real quick, you know.
But then God told me, he said, stop. and quote that scripture slow and get the meaning of it. And especially the last clause where it says, he ever liveth. to make intercessions for us. And the word uttermost is evermore really in the Greek or eternally.
And it should be quoted, he's able to save eternally. All that come to God by him, seeing that he ever is eternal, he ever liveth. In his office as a high priest. To intercede. Before the Father for them.
And the Lord, right now, He has nothing to do. Except Intercede for the brethren. They're a high priest. He made him a high priest forever. His high priest never stops.
And you know what the main function of the high priest is? to make intercession for the people. Amen. And one of the qualifications to be the high priest He had to be one of the same kind. Because, in order to be an intercessor and a go-between, he had to be touched.
With the feelings of their infirmities, or he would be able to feel what they feel. I did. And if he couldn't feel what they felt, How could he be an able fitting high priest? You see, I believe that's the whole reason why. God had to become Man or humanity.
He could have saved man another way. Did you know that? Sure, Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane told us that. In his agony, He said, Father, let this cup pass from me. Don't let me go to Calvary.
I know that you can save man another way. All things are possible to you. But then he relented and said, Nevertheless, Thy will be done. And I believe one of the major, if not the major, reason why. That God or deity became humanity Is so that he could be touched with the feelings of our infirmity.
God, deity, doesn't know what it means. To be sleepless? To wrestle all night. Fighting demon powers. And go into day after day after day of it.
Without no rest and no sleep. For the God of Israel In his God form. doesn't need to sleep. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He has no need of sleep.
Sleep only belongs to this frail natural man. And God is not frail. And natural it is. Deity for me supernatural. and omnipotent and all-powerful.
And God really wanted to understand. His creature man. And he couldn't really understand him. Unless he became like him. See, you can never understand or sympathize with me.
I got a broken leg, and you never had your leg broke. You don't know nothing how I feel. You don't know anything about it. Can they say amen? Yeah.
That's why God has A tripe of man for every type of sinner. The self-righteous sinner Never hardly did anything. He's the hardest guy to get saved, anyhow. He can't understand. The man that fell on Skid Row.
He never was bound by alcohol. The one that never was bound by dope can't go to the one that's bound by dope. He can't sympathize with me. You know what? Sympathy means Of course, it's got watered down.
Coming over into the English. But the word sympathy is a combination of two Greek words. Sim, which means Together And pathos, which means suffer. or the suffer with And in the Greek meaning, the words mean to suffer with, to jointly suffer with that person. The sit right where he sits.
And to take on his misery, the same kind, and there. Be a fellow experiencing a fellow sufferer of his agony. Yeah, amen. How many say amen? Of course, we've anglicized the word, brought it into English, and sympathy means to us.
We give $10 because our boss twists our arm to the United Fund. That's sympathy. Or sympathy usually is we see somebody in the bed straight saying, hmm, man, that guy's having a tough time and go ahead on. And God couldn't sympathize with us. Unless he became like us.
Well, that's the whole essence of the love story that God so loved the world that he became humanity. And it blows your mind. This season that we set aside.
Now I know Jesus wasn't born on December the 25th. But I'm glad. Give him this. Sin-maggot society and world of ours that we have one day we set aside to worship and celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God.
How many say amen? I'm glad that even if they only have a historical thing. That we still have a day. that we set aside and thank our God that he so loved the world. And that he gave his only begotten son, and that the Son of God, the word of God, so loved us.
That he would forever Experience a change in his being. Here's where we begin to express See the expression of the love of God.
Now Jesus didn't become humanity temporarily. Let me set let that sink in. You know? If you put the Father and Son and the Holy Ghost up there before. The word became flesh.
If you would have put. God, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God together. You could not have picked out which one was which. How many say amen? They would have to wear a tag, you know, like little kids go to school the first day in the kindergarten and they got their name on it.
In order for you to be able to pick out who was God the Father, who was God the Son, and who was the Holy. Spirit, they would have had to have their name on her. I'm the Holy Spirit. Because They are triplicates. They were identical triplicates.
You know, people have children, identical twins. Can't tell the two from apart? identical triplicates They've had ident a lot of identical triplicates, and they were separated soon after birth. To different families put out to adoption, yet when they brought them together, And got their case histories, they think alike, they act alike, they you see what I mean? They were identical.
Tripletes. Not only in the looks. but in their whole physical makeup. Yes and now. And that's the way the Godhead was.
That's why Jesus said in John It's gospel, said Philip. Have you seen me and have not seen the Father? He that's seen me has seen the Father, because I am the expression. Of the invisible God. I'm exactly what He's like.
Said, if he were to come, he would look like me. I am the image of the invisible God. And he is the invisible image of me. Absolutely looked alike of the same substance. Absolutely alike.
None inferior to the other? The writer of Hebrews said in the first chapter, he was the brightness of his glory. and the expressed image of his person. Bad translation person. expressed image of his substance.
Or of his being. But now If you would put the father And the Holy Ghost together, you still couldn't tell those apart. They still have to have their name. Of course, you'd have to have a 50-50 chance to guess. You reduce the odds.
From one to three to one and two. But if you put the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost together now, now you can pick out Jesus right away.
Somebody said, How can I pick him out? Because he's got a human body. He didn't temporarily take on Humanity. To pay the price of sin and then lay it aside, he's forever in a human form. Oh, now you see how much God a little bit loves us, that he was willing to be altered forever.
to change his form forever. Oh, the depths of the wisdom and the love of God. Think about it. And we won't really grasp this truth. Till we get our glorified body.
And when we see God the Father in all of his majesty, then we'll begin to realize how much Jesus loved us to effect an eternal change in his being. I know I but never got over it. I never will get over it. How many say amen? Some people think, well, he just took on the human form temporarily, and then they have the resurrection later.
No. No way. Remember he appeared to his disciples after the resurrection? They were all hiding in the upper room. Fearing.
Faith being severely tried, disillusioned. Jesus is crucified, the whole world's crumbling. Didn't believe in the resurrection? Almost the whole ancient world didn't believe in it. The Bible said about his scripture being raised was hid from them.
Then, all of a sudden, they were full of fear of hiding in the building, and Jesus disappears. He just comes on in the building and shoo! There he is. And said, Peace, Lord, help me, Jesus. In the middle of all their confusion.
Consternation. Doubt Unbelief, the whole world's crumbled. Here he appears and says peace Man, I like to have been there. I could see them light up, shoot their face shot up a million times. Mr.
Downton Thomas wasn't there. Did us. And any time you see it Greek or Hebrew word with DI in the front, it means double. Double-minded. Old double-minded Thomas.
And Thomas finally came back, and the brother said, We've seen Jesus. He said, I don't believe it. See, they didn't believe no resurrection. I don't believe it. Said, we saw him.
Said, I don't care. I don't care what you say, Peter. I don't care what you other whole 11 say. I don't believe it except I put my hand. In the print of his hand, and my hand in his side, I won't believe.
He no sooner got the words out of his mouth than what happens. Sat, there's Jesus. Stand in the midst, said, Come here, Thomas. Put your hand. In my handprint.
Stick your hand in my side. And see, it's not. A ghost, but it's me. Thomas said, my Lord and my God. Jesus said, Because thou hast seen.
Thou hast believed, but blessed is he that has not seen me physically and put his hand in, my hand inside, and yet believes him and he says, Amen. You see he still had that human body. He still had that. Human nature. He had a blend of the divine nature and the human nature.
That's why he was called the managerous. The only begotten. You know what that means? The only one of his race. That's what they were like.
There wasn't a God like him. Because they were just God. He was a God man. There wasn't a human like him. Because they were just human.
He was the God man. How many say amen? He possessed. that dual natures. In Jesus, God and man met.
The human and the divine. And in order to be a mediator between two, you've got to be able to understand both sides. thoroughly and be able to relate to both. And because he was God and man, he could relate to God and he could relate to man. He could satisfy my God and he could satisfy man.
The greatest mystery in all is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-lamb, that brought a new order of beings into existence. There was never anyone like him before. Not a God, not a human. Because he was the sum total of deity and humanity. He was just as much God as his father, and he was just as much man as his mother.
Hallelujah. He understood us. Yeah, yeah. And then the second chapter of Hebrews. To fulfill the qualification to be a high priest.
And he said, because the children Partook of flesh and blood. He likewise partook of the same. He didn't take the nature of angels, but he took on the seed of Abraham, and he was made liken unto his brethren in all things, that he might be a merciful high priest that can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Wherefore, seeing that he became human, he is able to save to the utmost all that come to God by him. Sing him that he ever lived up to make him a sat down.
Okay. Glory to God.
Now God could understand man because God the word has become man. Amen. King James Dead translation was made flesh. The word is not made in the Greek, it is became flesh. He wasn't made anything, he became.
Humanity. God never lost anything in becoming God man. He added something. He became something he wasn't, a human. And he experienced every human thing.
That man will and more than most men. Kind will. Yeah, it's He experienced birth. He experienced childhood. Yes, amen.
And was under a mother and father and had to be obedient like any other child who was parents? He was obedience to the law. A lot of mythology said when he was a little boy, he would make mud pies and give them life, and they would run around. But we know that's a fairy tale because the Bible said the first miracle that he did was change the water in the wine and let him say amen. In fact.
For his first 30 years, he lived completely as a human being. without any exercise of deity. Because of becoming man. He laid aside his right of free exercise. of his deity and became the lowest of men, a servant.
Yeah, but He didn't become the highest of man, a king. But he took on the lowest form of man. And the word form here in Philippians means essence. A servant. Let me quote the scripture so you know where I'm talking about.
Philippians, I believe it's the Second chapter and the fifth verse said, Let this mind be in you.
Now, when I preach and say, when I got saved, God give me the lets, you know what I'm talking about. Here's one of them. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God And here the word doesn't mean a person, but deity, essence. Who was in the form of or subsisted in the mode of deity?
Being in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal. With deity. He didn't think it a big deal to be equal with anybody else to claim deity because that's what he was. See, I don't think it's a big deal. To be equal to any other human being.
That's what I am. It's not anything big deal, I was born that way. I mean, I don't think it's a big deal to be a man. Even though I'm a short man. I'm really a short, big man.
They're a tall big man. I'm a short big man. Even though I've lost about 40 pounds. I still believe I'm the neck. The Lord's the head.
I don't get it mixed up. Jesus is the head. A whole lot of people try to be the head. I don't want to be the head. In my limited form, I don't have all the answers.
I'm going to let the Lord take care of it. Let him worry about it. But I am the neck. I think I'm still the neck in this church. I got a 20-inch neck.
Anybody can do it better? This is a 17 and a half. I just don't quite cut it. And I'm like that song, Don't Fence Me In, my neck don't like to be fenced in anyhow. Yeah, I think.
I don't think it's a big deal to be a man, do you? Out of about three billion people in the world, it's about a big and a half as a man.
So, what's the big deal about it? And the Lord It is Pre-existence before we became human. He didn't think it was a big deal to be God. That's what he was. He didn't think it was a big deal to be omnipotent.
Omniposent All whites. Full of wisdom and knowledge. All part of them, that's what he was. He was in the form of God. He was in the form of deity and deity is omnipotent.
I've never said And all the owls. And deity means self-existing. and self-maintaining. Nobody brought him into existence. And nobody maintained him.
He was self-existing from everlasting to everlasting. He only got an existence part of him when he became human. And during his human walk. He owed God his existence in the maintainance of that existence. And he said in his human walk, because he limited himself, I of my own self can do what?
Buffing. No, he was. Coexistent with the Father and the Holy Ghost. I'm the creator of all creation, for all things were created by him. Though he was in the creature form, he made himself of no reputation.
So, if Jesus was made anything, he made himself. Nobody else did. Because we got a lot of errors said that Jesus was creative.
Well, if he was created, he created himself. Yeah. Because the Bible said he created all things, whether they're things in heaven or on earth. President of things to come, preach about his powers, thrones, dominions, rulership. He created it all.
He's the head of all of it. And he holds it all together. That songwriter had it right when he said he holds the whole world in his hand. Though he was in this so the glorified Former essence of deatry. He made himself of no reputation.
Amen. I trust you have been inspired by this beautiful message by God's servant, Brother Hardy. God Became Man. Truly great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh.
This message can only cause us to love our Lord Jesus even greater, as we come to understand a little bit better what He did when He laid aside His deity, His equality with God, and made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and and made in the fashion of a man, This enabled him to become to us an able and merciful and faithful high priest. The one and only mediator between God and man is the man Christ Jesus. This wonderful message would make an excellent addition to your spiritual library. It is available on CD, and when you order God Became Man, we will send you the bonus message: The Relinquishment and Restoration of God's Glory. Ask for offer number 135 and send a love gift of $15 or more for the radio ministry.
Our mailing address is RG Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or if you prefer to order online at rghardy.org. That's rghardy.org. Once again, our offer is 135.
It is a 2 CD set. You will receive both messages, God Became Man and the Relinquishment and Restoration of Christ's Glory. Send your love gift of $15 or more to PO Box 1744 Baltimore, Maryland 21203. This is Sister Sharon Knott saying until next time, Maranatha. Yeah.
