Sound of Faith

Sharon Knotts: Greetings, friends and new listeners, and welcome to the R. G. Hardy 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.

R. G. Hardy: Now, we get it. He laid aside His glory, His reputation, His recognition. How many say amen? That when man saw Him, they didn't recognize Him or know His reputation as the one that made the heavens and the earth. They thought He was the son of Mary and Joseph. They were only half-right. Son of Mary, but the Son of God. How many say amen? He made Himself of no reputation. He laid aside His right of equality. Even though He was equal, didn't think it was a big thing, because He was God. He made Himself of no reputation, laid aside His recognition, His God form, and His free exercise of His deity. And He took upon Him, not only humanity, but humanity in its lowest form. He took upon Him the form or the essence of a servant. And was made in the likeness of man, or like humanity.

And then it goes on in that verse, and being found in the fashion, and the word means an outward form or scheme, like the fashion of a police, you know what He looks like, or the fashion or the outfit of a soldier, or of a nurse. He had the outlook and the outward appearance of a man. How many say amen? Being found in the habit, or in the form of a man, He humbled Himself and became what? The Creator becomes a creature. The Commander becomes a servant. The one that gives commands becomes an obeyer of the commands. He became obedient. He became God's servant. And the word form means that which you are forever. He had God's form. He could never cease to be God. He was much God when He was man that He ever was. But then when He added the form, the nature of a servant, He cannot cease to be a servant. He's forever the servant of God.

When you read the Old Testament prophecies, behold the man that is my fellow, behold the man that is my servant. He became to be the servant of God. And that's why He said, I serve not my own interest, but I serve the Father, and of my own self I can do nothing. I have to let the Father tell me, and even in His agony in the garden, He wouldn't usurp His place as a servant, but He pleaded with His Father, let it pass. The Father said no. He said, thy will be done. How many say amen? I mean to tell you, I have never gotten over it when God let me realize that forever, He has took on the form, changed His God form, took on the form of a servant forever. He is the servant God now.

And because He did that in becoming man, so that He could understand man to be the servant of the Godhead, the man, the High Priest. The High Priest is God's servant. And Jesus is forever relegated to the servant of mankind as God's High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, which means a priesthood that never changes hands, and is eternal. In that Melchizedek has no beginning or end, or it wasn't counted, made like Jesus, the Son of God, that has no beginning as God and no end as God. And not in the end is man the High Priest of God. And because He was willing to undergo an eternal change in His form, His essence to be, taking the form of a servant. That wasn't the appearance of a man. Don't misunderstand.

The next verse talks about part of the verse, that He was made in the likeness of man. But He took on the form, the essence of a servant. Can you get that? Forever now, He relinquished His right to be a co-ruler. Not only as man on the earth, but now, even risen. He is not a co-ruler anymore. Don't let that sink in. Okay, let's get the rest of the verse. Because He would affect an eternal change, not only become humanity, and we be found in a habit, or a fashion, or a form, or an appearance as a man. And truly human, He also took on the essence of a servant. And forever He will be a servant. And because He did that, God has highly exalted Him. And given Him a name. And name means authority, you know that.

Like when somebody knocks on the door at two o'clock in the morning, and wakes you up, and you holler out, quit that knocking! And they knock that harder, and you say, quit that knocking, get out of here. Who do you think you are? Say, open up in the name of the law. Oh, sorry, I'll be right now. Because He's done that, God has highly exalted Him. Everything He gave up, God gave it back to Him. And because He will be a servant forever, God in this dispensation has made Him the sole ruler. Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name or authority above every name or authority, not only in this age, but in the age to come. How many say amen? And as in Ephesians, has put all things under His feet and given Him a name above every name. In this age and in this age to come.

And as in the First Corinthians, the 15th chapter, He must reign till He puts all enemies under His feet. And as He said all power in heaven and in earth is given unto Him now. John 3:33, and God loved up the Son and had given all things into His hands, for the Father gave Him not the Spirit to Him by measure. How many's out there? And with this all power in heaven and in earth, and in our present age, world or dispensation, and in the millennial reign to come, and after the thousand year millennial reign, then death will be done away with. But in this period of time, He is all powerful because He entered it out and became nothing. He is everything. That's why when you address your prayer, you must do it in the name of Jesus. It's all in His account.

You can't pray in the name of the Father. You can't pray in the name of the Holy Ghost. You've got to pray in the name of Jesus. Jesus said, whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, He'll give it to you. And all these people praying God, God can be anybody, Buddha. I mean, God could be one of the million gods in the world. When you say God, that don't mean nothing. That means different things to different people. But when you say the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're telling who that God is that you're praying to. But after He reigns and puts the last enemy under His feet, then what does He do? He turns the kingdom back to the Father, and the Son Himself does what? Becomes subjected to Him, an eternal servant. Do you get it? Blows your mind, don't it? That's how much Jesus loved us. I said, that's how much Jesus loved us.

Now I can sing that song, Jesus loves me, yes I know, because in the Bible, He told me so, that He would become a servant of man and deliver me out of the devil's hand. Yes Jesus loves me. How many's out there? I mean, we get into the nitty-gritty and getting down into it this morning. He laid aside that equality and became an eternal servant, and after He reigns now in the thousand years, He becomes yet a servant to the Godhead and that High Priest that lives forever to make intercessions for them. He is able because He lives forever to stand before God and He understands us, and He understands God. And when He goes to the Father and says, Father, forgive them, the Father says, I will, because you know their part, my part, and you know what I demand and you know what they need. I forgive them because you know what they do.

You're touched with the feelings of their infirmities, because you were touched with their sins and the judgment of mankind. How many say amen? And you understand what it means to wrestle all night in Gethsemane under the pressure of the devil. How many say amen? You know what it is to pray and to fast. You know what it means to be rejected and talked about and spit upon, and beaten and mistreated, and to be forsook and left all alone. You see, God didn't want to be too hard because His law was harsh and had no mercy. Folks that want to be under the law, you have no mercy. If you sin, that's it. And the Bible said that all posterity of mankind that's not born again is going to sin.

That's why God indicted mankind, and it said, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And if we're trying to put our justification in the law, then we come up as sinners, and when we come up as sinners, there is no mercy. There is death in the lake of fire. The Bible said the law works wrath. There is no mercy. As in Hebrews, He that died without mercy under the witness of two, you see, you broke one of the commandments, they brought you before the elders. You could holler all you want mercy, they stoned you to death without mercy. The law was merciless. And God wanted to understand His creature. But He had to show and make sin known to man as being exceedingly sinful. So He added the law because man sinned. The law worked wrath and had no mercy.

He wanted to show mercy to His fallen man. The only way that He could was to understand Him. Because God deems that when He makes the law, that we should obey it. You see when God makes His will known to us, then He don't have no second thought. We're supposed to obey His will and put it into operation. And when we don't do it, we can't understand why we wouldn't do it. And when we don't do it, then His law is merciless and demands retribution and judgment. But God wanted to bring mercy to man, and wanted to pardon man and yet be true to His law and His own will and His own standards. The only way He could do that was for Himself to become a human being and understand man's part. I mean, He didn't just take on a likeness. He became human.

He was just as human as you and I. Read especially the book of Luke that portrays Him as God's man. Now when you read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke and John, you've got to read it with the intention of the author. In Matthew, Jesus is portrayed as the King. So His regal line is given, and all the kingly prophecies are given. Behold, thy King. So His genealogy starts when He got into the kingly line of Abraham. That's why the genealogy starts and traces it back. He began to be a King when He began to be born in the family of Abraham, down through David, and that line of Judah. Behold, the line of Judah breaks every chain.

In the book of Mark, He is behold the miracle worker. So His genealogy starts at His baptism, coming up out of the water and the Spirit of God anointing Him to be the miracle worker. No genealogy needed. Luke, behold the man. God's perfect man. So His genealogy traces Him all the way back to Adam. Now, it doesn't stop at Abraham, that was just His kingly line to show you He's the King in the line of the King. But in Luke, to show you He is the man, then it just goes back from Mary His mother and supposedly Joseph His father, then He that begat Him backward to Adam. And Adam was God's son. So when He was becoming the miracle worker, they didn't have to have a genealogy. He wasn't born the miracle worker. He lived 30 years just like any other human.

And He laid aside His right of use of deity. And He didn't become the miracle worker until He come up out of the water and the heavens opened up and the Spirit of God anointed Him, and God said, this is my beloved Son, and He anointed Him to be the miracle worker, and He drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted 40 days and 40 nights. And after He whipped the devil there 40 days and 40 nights, the Bible said then He returned to Jerusalem in the power of the Spirit, and His fame went out in all the land. And if you're having a little trouble with healing and miracles, read Mark over and over and over and over and over again. Then when you know all about Him intimately human, His human side, you read the book of Luke.

And Luke's the only one that records His agony in Gethsemane. None of the others could do it. Because Luke was a doctor, and only Luke knew what He was experiencing physically. When He said that He prayed in the garden and His sweat became as it were drops of blood. And remember to the Jew, blood means life, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. And the word for drops is the Greek word from bous, that we get the English word thrombosis. And you know what a coronary thrombosis is? A pulmonary thrombosis. Have anybody ever heard of those medical terms? Pulmonary thrombosis means you've got a clot in your lung, coronary, you got one in your heart, you've had it. His sweat, the very essence of His physical life was coming out in clots of life and dropping on the ground, and if God didn't send an angel and strengthen Him, He would have died in that physical battle.

Kind of like if you'd read about Samson, when he killed 1,000 of the Philistine with the jawbone. And when he got done, he was so poured out that he hollered to God, God, I'm dying. And God had to let water come out of the jawbone and renew him. He dehydrated in the battle. And Jesus dehydrated in the garden. And the devil tried to kill Him there, didn't want Him to go to Calvary. And contrary to the Gnostic gospel, where they say that death was just a means to go to hell to suffer, well, why didn't He let Him die in the garden then? That was just as good a place as any. Why did He have to go to the cross? The devil wanted Him to die every place but the cross.

Tried to stone Him, but the Lord made Himself invisible. Tried to throw Him off the brow of the hill where His hometown was, but He made Himself invisible. Tried to get Him to come down from the cross. If the devil wanted Him to die, he'd have tried to make Him stay on the cross, not come down. That was the devil's last try to see if Jesus had any self at all in Him. Because the law of an unsaved man is self-preservation. And if He was full of God on the inside and wanted revenge, He would have come down off that cross and said, you devils, you'd have sacked them. But He didn't do it. He stayed on that cross. He won the victory in Gethsemane, and He was going all the way for mankind. I'm glad He didn't come down off that cross. If He did, I wouldn't be here saved today. He stayed on the cross like the choir sings. He wouldn't come down. How many say amen? Thank God, He wouldn't come down.

He was so much human like us, that He bled on that cross. And you read the book of Luke, He wanted human companionship. He sought them in His agony. When He partook of that last supper, that was the highest desire of His to have human companionship. And He said with desire, and the Greek says with great desire, I desire to eat this supper with you before I suffer. And even breaking that bread, knowing that Judas was going to betray Him. He dipped that sop and gave it to Judas. And according to Eastern tradition, the highest form of fellowship is to be called to someone's table to partake of the broken bread.

And they don't have like we do, you know, knives and forks per se. You that were under the Bedouin tent, they're lucky they got that dirty pot that they got full of water and always ready to give to their friends that cup of tea. And they have common dishes. In fact, if you go on that Holy Land tour, you'll see the guides all get together, and they're mostly all Arabs. And they have all those dishes, and they're all dipping in the dishes together. You don't, you don't invite everybody to dip in your dish, do you? See the meaning of it? Because you dip in a common plate together, you make sure you know who's dipping in the plate. Especially in this day, brother. I want to know who's dipping in my plate.

And they all dipped together in their dishes. And they drank from that one cup. He blessed that cup and passed it. I want to know who drinks from my cup. Dips in my dish. And if you have a lot of friends at the table like Jesus had all of His disciples, then if the host would dip in the dish and give it to one, He has honored him above all, the honored guest. And that's why Jesus troubling His Spirit said, one of you shall betray me. He that eats the bread with me, lifted up His heel against me.

Peter reached back and hollered to John, that disciple whom the Lord loves, it said in John. He loved them all, but there was a deeper love ship because John loved better. Laying right on His bosom. They didn't sit at the table like we do. They had like divans and they laid back. And Jesus was there, and John laid back with His head on His bosom. Read it. And Peter reached over and touched him and John looked over and said, ask Him who it is. He's going to betray Him. John, whom that disciple whom the Lord loves, said, Lord, who is it? He said, who I give this sop to. How many say amen? Then that was the expression of the honored guest. And Jesus dipped in the bowl and wept the sop and handed to Judas Iscariot. That was His last try to change Judas's mind.

Because Judas understood it, we don't understand it in the English, you see, you can't try to bring them up to our day. You got to let the Holy Ghost transport you back to that day. You got to sit at the Lord's table and understand the customs. And understand what it meant for Him to give the sop. Brother, if Judas could have been reached, that should have been the one that broke His heart, that God was honoring him, the Lord was honoring him with that sop. But instead, he rejected it. And it said, when he took that sop, immediately Satan entered into him. And then the Lord knew and said, what you do, do quickly. And he went out to betray Him, and the disciples thought He sent him out to get some bread or something for the Passover.

See, Jesus didn't eat the Passover. He was the Passover. Said, what did He eat? He ate the meal of the feast before the Passover. The Passover was killed between 1 and 3 the next day. You see. And this was the day the preparation before the Passover, not the weekly Sabbath. There was two Sabbath days that week. But the one before was the high Sabbath, the Passover Sabbath. He asked, ate the feast before the Passover. They ate the Passover the next day after they killed it. You find that in the 13th chapter of John. He ate that feast, He said, I want to suffer with you, and He let Judas get out. And then He instituted the Last Supper. The breaking of the bread, and the drinking of the cup, the covenant of the New Covenant. And this takes the place of the Passover to you and I, the children of God. Christ is our Passover.

In the 13th chapter, He dismissed Judas, He washed their feet, and then He preached the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapter to them. To His own, because He got rid of the one traitor. Then He went over the book, the Kidron Valley, to Gethsemane. And there He agonized. And when His agony was finished, Judas brought the High Priest and all of His enemies and betrayed Him about midnight. And contrary to all Bible order, they had a trial at night and it's not supposed to be. Everything about the trial of Jesus was illegal. They'd have threw it out of the Supreme Court. After they had their trial, found Him guilty, and determined to crucify Him, they took Him to Pilate.

And finally after all the persuasion, Pilate beating Him and putting the crown of thorns on. Right before nine o'clock in the morning, He sent Him out with His cross to be crucified. And at nine o'clock in the morning, the third hour, they put Him on the cross, the time of the first burnt offering. At the sixth hour, high noon, it became as night. Dark on the face of the earth. Even the sun veiled its head. When it was supposed to be in the zenith. The ninth hour, three o'clock, the time of the second burnt offering, Jesus releases His Spirit. Within the hour, four hours He hung on the cross, seven hours at four o'clock. They took Him down, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

Had to hurry quickly to take Him to the garden tomb, because at six o'clock, started the Sabbath for the Passover. And at six o'clock, they put Him in the ground. And as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, 72 hours later, at 6:00 PM, Saturday evening, which is the Jewish first day of the week, He busted that tomb wide open. Hallelujah! And He came out. So that sunrise stuff don't mean nothing. That's paganism from the God Saul. He'd already been raised 12 hours. How many say amen? See the Jewish day doesn't start like we call sunrise. Even our day doesn't start at sunrise. It starts at midnight. Your clock changes.

You know, one second after midnight, you're in the next day. When it gets one second after midnight tonight, we're going to be in the Monday. At six o'clock, we're going to have six days in, six hours in. But the Jewish day started 6:00 PM. That's why Jesus said there's 12 hours in the day and 12 hours in the night. And if you go to the Holy Land now and you live in a Jewish hotel, Friday at 6:00 o'clock, you come in, you're going to get a cold cut meal. Because they don't work. Friday at 6:00, that's their Sabbath. Till Saturday at 6:00 PM. That's their first day of the week. How many's out there? So I kind of ran from His birth, little bit of His life, to His death, and His resurrection. How many say amen?

So the Babe of Bethlehem can't help me. And the Man of Galilee can't help me. He was only sent to the Jew. And the holy Nazarene can't help me. And a dead Christ can't help me. But a risen Lord is the one that can help me. He lives, and He lives. And like He appeared to John on the Rocky Isle of Patmos, saying, I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and the beginning and the end, and He that was dead, but look at me, behold, I'm alive forevermore and I've got the keys to death and to hell and the grave. How many say amen? And I will ever live to make intercessions. And I can save you to the nth degree, to the utmost, to the absolute, because I ever live to make an intercession for you. I am your go-between. I am the servant of man of God forever.

And even after I've been resurrected with the Lord a million years, if I would happen to do something to displease the Father, I can still go to my High Priest Jesus because He ever liveth to make intercessions. You see what I'm talking about? It's possible, good friends, have disputes. Because when you get resurrected, you still have your same right of choice. Even now that I'm saved, I can choose not to obey the Lord, but I'm not a dummy. And I've already learned the folly of not obeying the Lord. I can choose not to obey the Lord, but I don't want to suffer the consequence. That's where you get in trouble. Child of God refuses to obey the Lord the first time, then the devil's got you, and you can't obey the Lord. In exercising your freedom, you lose it. Revert back to what? A rebel, a sinner, and a slave. Satan rules the slaves.

Jesus has fellowships with the sons. Hallelujah. I hope that the Lord got across a little bit how much Jesus loves you. How much God cares. Don't ever let the devil come tell you God don't care. Look in the mirror and say, God cares He became like me. Can I believe it? And He's going to ever be like me. Can I believe it? Still got that same flesh and bone body. He said to Thomas, put your hand in there and say, see, a spirit, a ghost, don't have flesh and bone like I have. He's got a flesh and bone body.

Sharon Knotts: Amen. I trust you've 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 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 R. G. 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 two 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 P. O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. This is Sister Sharon Knotts saying, until next time, Maranatha.