Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to the R. G. Hardy Ministries program. I'm Sharon Knotts. Thank 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 and Jesus Christ His son as we discover just what a sacrifice He made when God became man.

R. G. Hardy: You know the world, if they know the Lord, all they know Him as is a historical Jesus. The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head. How many say amen? He's not a little Lord Jesus. He's a powerful, reigning, almighty Lord. He wasn't the Lord Jesus till after the resurrection. And all the world knows is 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 is a historical knowledge, but I'm glad I know Him as a risen Lord. Hallelujah! I'm glad I know Him as my all-sufficient Christ. 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, He'll be right there, supplying all you need, doing what you need in your life. Most of the Christian world don't realize this. Most of the saints. They are like a lot of even the natural man. Jesus, He came to be the babe of Bethlehem.

He came to be the sacrifice that God accepted for man's sins. Then what we call Easter, He was offered as that sacrifice and paid the price to redeem 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 earth walk and in this battle to make heaven. And we're not getting the main part of Jesus's ministry.

The biggest part of Jesus's 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 advocate with the Father. A go-between, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

He's standing in the presence of God in His priesthood. He's a priest. God said, "I swear forever thou art a priest after the order of Melchizedek forever." You know, just it's just been a few years ago, God really emphasized on my soul forever. Now listen to this scripture, "seeing He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him because He ever liveth to make intercessions for them."

You know, I'd quote that real quick, you know, but then God told me, 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, He's 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. Their 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. 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, a go-between, He had to be touched with the feelings of their infirmities or He wouldn't be able to feel what they feel. 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 in His deity form. He's 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. How many say amen? That's why God has a type 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's 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, "sym," which means together, and "pathos," which means suffer, or to suffer with.

And in the Greek meaning, the words mean to suffer with, to jointly suffer with that person. To sit right where he sits and to take on his misery the same kind and there be a fellow experience and a fellow-sufferer of his agony. 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 twisted our arm to the United Fund.

That's sympathy. Or sympathy usually is we see somebody in a bad straits, say, "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. Boy, 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 in this sin-mad 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 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 to kindergarten and they got their name on it, in order for you to be able to pick out who was God the Father, and 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 a lot of identical triplicates that 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.

You see what I mean? They were identical triplicates not only in the looks but in their whole physical makeup. And that's the way the Godhead was. That's why Jesus said in John's Gospel, said, "Philip, have you seen me and have not seen the Father? He that has 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 would have come, He would have looked 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 express image of His person.

Bad translation, "person." Express 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 a 50/50 chance to guess. You reduce the odds from one in 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 until 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 affect an eternal change in His being. I know I would never get 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 after the resurrection laid it." 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, hiding in the building, and Jesus just appears. He just comes on into the building and there He is. Said, "Peace." Oh, Lord help me, Jesus.

In the middle of all their confusion, consternation, doubt, unbelief, their whole world's crumbled, here He appears and says, "Peace." Man, I'd like to have been there. I could see them light up, their face shot up a million times. Mr. Doubting Thomas wasn't there, Didymus. Anytime you see a Greek or Hebrew word with D-I in the front, it means double. Double-minded. Old double-minded Thomas.

And Thomas finally came back, and the brothers said, "We've seen Jesus." 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, what happens? There's Jesus. Standing 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 in side and yet believes." How many say 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 monogenes, the only begotten. You know what that means? The only one of His race. 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 the dual natures. In Jesus, God and man met. The human and the divine. And in order to be a mediator between two, you 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-man 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. And in 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 like 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 uttermost all that come to God by Him seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession.

Glory to God! Now God could understand man because God the word has become man. And the word, King James bad 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 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 mankind will. He experienced birth. He experienced childhood and was under a mother and father and had to be obedient like any other child to His 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 into wine. How many say amen? In fact, for His first 30 years, He lived completely as a human being without any exercise of deity.

Because in becoming man, He laid aside His right of free exercise of His deity and became the lowest of man, a servant. 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 what I'm talking about.

Philippians, I believe it's the second chapter and the fifth verse, "Let this mind be in you." Now when I preach and say when I got saved, God gave 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 God 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. There are tall big men, 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?

It's just a 17 and a half, it 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. And I don't think it's a big deal to be a man to you. Out of about three billion people in the world, about a billion and a half is a man, so what's a big deal about it?

And the Lord in His preexistence before He 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, omnipresent, all-wise, full of wisdom and knowledge, all-powerful. That's what He was. He was in the form of God. He was in the form of deity, and deity is omnipotence, omnipresence, and all the "alls."

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 and the maintenance of that existence.

And He said in His human walk because He limited Himself, "I of my own self can do what? Nothing." Though He was coexistent with the Father and the Holy Ghost and 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 error said that Jesus was created. Well, if He was created, He created Himself. Because the Bible said He created all things, whether they are things in heaven or on earth, present or things to come, principalities, powers, thrones, dominions, rulership.

He created it all. He's the head of all of it. And He holds it all together. That song had it right when He said He holds the whole world in His hands. Though He was in this glorified form or essence of deity, He made Himself of no reputation.

Sharon Hardy 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 Christ'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 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.