THE QUALIFICATION OF THE SAVIOUR

Photo taken by B Smith from the Patio

 

77 - THE QUALIFICATION OF THE SAVIOUR

SEPTEMBER 22, 1963

Henry F. Kulp

 

Romans 1:  1- 5 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

We told you last week there are two verbs that are very important in verses 3, 4 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 

The first verb is, made, and the second verb is, declared. He was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. In other words, here we have the humanity of Jesus Christ proclaimed. Then in the 4^th verse we have declared to be the Son of God with power. This has to do with deity of Jesus Christ. To understand Jesus Christ, you must understand that He has to be God and He has to be man. True God, true man.

1/  He was a man, and we have some very beautiful proofs of this in the Bible. 

Mark 4: 35 - 41 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Here we have the account of Christ in the storm. Is there anything more human than the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, tired out and asleep in the boat? If you take time to read this portion of Scripture very carefully, you will find it is evening time and it was the time when He was tired and worn out from the day. He had a very busy day. It was the day when He pronounced woes upon the cities. It was the day when He really went after the Pharisees—it was the day when His family thought He had lost His mind, and they just couldn’t understand Him. So here He is as a true man—completely exhausted, asleep on the boat. 

Notice, Mark 4: 36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

They took Him even as He was in the ship—even as He was. It was a phrase that shows us there was something about His conditions that drew the attention of the disciples. He was so tired that the wind and storm and the rush of the water into the boat did not awaken Him. Is there anything more human than a man tired, fast asleep, and not being conscious of what was going on about Him. But then the disciples awakened Him and the scene changes. He arises, rebuked the wind and says unto the sea, Peace be still. And you will notice that the disciples said unto Him—what manner of man is this that even the winds and waves obey Him? Here we have His humanity and His deity. In humanity, He was fast asleep, just like us, exhausted. In His deity, He was awakened and He stilled the winds and the waves and they became calm. Yes, He is true man, but He is true God.  

2/  I would like to set forth yet one more example of the two natures of the God-man—it is the story of tribute money. 

Matthew 17: 24 - 27  And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

The world tells us there is nothing more sure than death and taxes. The Romans, who controlled the land of promise, where Jesus Christ was living had a tax upon the people. It was actually a head-tax, and the day came when the head-tax was to be collected. The tax collector came and said to Peter—does your master pay taxes? The very fact that he asked this question of Peter shows that even the tax collector recognized there was something in Jesus Christ that was a little different then all the rest of the men with whom he came in contact. Actually, it was not Peter’s place to answer for the Lord Jesus Christ, but Peter, impetuous Peter, according to his reckless nature, agreed that the Lord would pay taxes. 

When Peter arrived at the house where the Lord Jesus Christ was staying, the Lord took him aside and began to talk to him privately. He reminded Peter that kings exempted themselves from paying tax, but they took money from others and in so doing were free. And Peter agreed that all this was true. Then the Lord pointed out that since He Himself was a King, it would be only natural that He should be exempt from paying taxes. Yet so no offense might be given to the world, He told Peter to go out and pay taxes. But notice the method of securing the money. It is truly startling. He said to Peter, go down to the Sea of Galilee, which I, of course, created, and I will have one of my creatures lose a coin in the water. And there in the water will be a fish. He is going to take the money into his mouth. And you will go fishing and you will catch the fish on your hook, take the fish out of the water, take the coin out of his mouth and go and pay the taxes. Pay yours and mine. 

We said it was only human to pay taxes, but certainly it is divine to be able to pay your taxes this way. Humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ in the same portion of Scripture. Humanity is subject to the laws of the land, Deity knows the movement of the fish in the sea, and the whereabouts of a lost coin. 

3/  But now for a moment, let us consider verse 3 where it says, Jesus Christ made of the seed of David according to the flesh. What does that mean? Let us look at the humanity of Jesus Christ and thrill to a truth that is brought out to us in the genealogies in Mathew and in Luke. In the account of Mathew we have the name Jechoniah and by the insertion of this name in this genealogy—it proves that Joseph could not have been the physical father of Jesus Christ. If he had been, then Jesus Christ could not have been the Messiah. Jechoniah was accursed of God with a curse that took the throne away from any of his descendants including Joseph his son. 

Jeremiah 22: 30 Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

And not one of the seven sons of this man ever possessed the throne. No carnal son of this man could ever have been king, because of the curse of God. He would have been accursed and could never have been the Messiah. If Jesus Christ had been the son, the physical son of Joseph, He would have been accursed and could never have been the Messiah. He would have been unable to sit upon the throne.   

4/  But on the other hand, in the Gospel of Luke, we have the other lineage, and this is the line of Nathan. And it is not the royal line. Here we read that the grandson of Heli was Jesus Christ because Heli was the father of Mary, and from this line, He could not be a king, because it is not the royal line. Notice, this line does not have a curse on it. This is the line without the curse that produced Heli and his daughter, the virgin Mary, and his grandson, Jesus Christ. 

The line that had a curse upon it produced Joseph, and of course, Joseph legally adopted Jesus Christ, and by this adoption through Joseph, Jesus Christ became the royal heir. For we read, Joseph married Mary and took the unborn Child under his protecting care, he gave Him the title that would come to him through his ancestor, Solomon.  And the Lord Jesus became the legal Messiah, the royal Messiah, the uncursed Messiah, the true Messiah. 

Remember, in Christ, both the lines were exhausted. For the line that had a curse upon it, that produced Joseph, exhausted the line of Solomon. And after Mary married Joseph, the children she had to Joseph had the curse upon them, and so the two lines were completely washed out at this point. Christ is the only one who could be the Messiah. There could be no one else. Any man who could come into this world, professing to fulfill the conditions, will be a liar and a child of the devil. Because we have positive proof here that Christ, according to the flesh is the Messiah.

5/  Romans 1: 5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

Notice that Paul is preaching obedience to the faith. Folks constantly ask me, isn’t it necessary to obey God to be saved? Oh yes, you do. But what does God ask you to do? How does He ask you to obey Him? Your salvation does not depend upon obedience, but how does God ask you to be obedient? One thing God says is believe. When you have believed on the Lord Jesus, you have obeyed, you have exercised obedience. That is what He has here, for obedience to the faith of among all nations. 

6/  You haven’t obeyed God if you haven’t believed. Unbelief is the damning sin. God nowhere in His Bible promises to save unbelievers, no matter how good they are. God says to you, it is necessary for you to believe on My Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you haven’t done that, that is disobedience. 

If a man walks up to me and says, “Have you obeyed God?” I say, of course, I have. Than he says, you know you haven’t obeyed Him—look at some of the things you do. I say, yes, I know I am still a sinner, but what did God ask me to do? He asked me to believe in Christ, and that is obedience of faith. So faith is obeying God. 

7/  Now notice, Romans 1: 7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The words, to be, should be left out again.Those living in Rome where saints. Not all the saints are in Heaven. It is true that all who have died in Jesus Christ and are in Heaven are now saints, but we are saints right here upon this earth. There are saints in Heaven and saints on earth. Isn’t it wonderful to know that you do not have to wait until you die to become sainted. 

8/  Romans 1: 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

You will notice it says that the Lord Jesus Christ is the seed of David, and you talk about the two genealogies, one is Mathew and one is Luke, and do you know that Jesus Christ is the only Israelite that can trace His lineage back to David or to Abraham? Do you know there is not one Jew living in the world today who can tell you what tribe he came from? I say living in this world, because there is an Israelite living in Heaven who is of the seed of David. There are no genealogies to show the regular Jew or Israelite his relationship to David or Abraham, but this is not true of Jesus Christ.       

9/  When the nation of Israel, the Jewish nation is ready for its Messiah, for its King to sit upon the throne of David, there is only one person they can use, and this is the God-man living in Heaven, for they will not be able to produce anyone other than Jesus as He is the only one Who belongs on the throne, that He is of the seed of David.     

10/  Now notice what Paul says about this group in Rome. He outlines five of the divine things that are theirs because of their position in Jesus Christ.

#1, that they are the called of Jesus and Christ.

#2,  that they are beloved of God,

#3, that they are called saints,

#4 & 5 that they are objects of grace and recipients of the peace of God. 

First of all, called of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Does that mean God only calls certain people, and those He calls are sure to come? The word, and it’s meaning, those who have listened and accepted and those who have acted upon a divine invitation. Those who have slighted the invitation are not reckoned among the called.

11/  Then we read, beloved of God. Someone will say, well, all men are beloved of God. This is true in one sense, and it is not true in another. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and the world is beloved of God as the creator of man, but when we are His children, children of His own household, we are the beloved of God, and unsaved men are never called the beloved. 

12/  Then called saints—the word, to be, are not in the original language, they have been added by translators—notice the slanting type, that means it is not in the original.

13/  In the church there has been a great confusion about the way of making saint. There is some who think that a saint is a term that is applied only to those who are saintly, that is they do good deeds. This is not what the Bible teaches. This is the new name of the one who was a sinner. His old name is sinner, his new name is, saint. And this difference between a saint and a sinner is the Saviour. 

14/  When you study about the different religions in the world, and you find out some religions make saint, you find it is quite different from the way God makes a saint. You will read that application has been made to ecclesiastical authority, the hierarchy of the church to make a saint out of one who lived upon this earth and has died in service of the church. The soul of that individual is supposed to still be in purgatory, suffering from the sins he has committed in this life. Then the church appoints a committee to bring charges against this person’s memory, and the head of this committee is known as the devil’s advocate, and this group finds every possible accusation of wrong doing that can be brought against the memory of this candidate. After the file is completed, another committee goes into the matter and presents a complete defense, and they search the pages of history for proofs on the saintliness of the candidate. And they try to secure evidence of supposed healing  or miracles performed at the grave of the candidate, or some relic in connection with him. All this evidence is collected, then there is a trial, when the trial is concluded and the defendant is found innocent, there comes a time, and sometimes it can be for years before the highest ecclesiastical authority in the church beautifies the candidate—he is now supposed to be in Heaven and no longer suffering for his sins. Then after a long wait again, perhaps many years, the beautified person passes through another ceremony called canonization and is declared to be a saint.

There wouldn’t be much hope for us, would there? I am sure the devil’s advocate could bring too many charges against us, but all of this quite apart from what the Bible calls a saint—if you read all the epistles, you will discover that they are all addressed to the saints—they are not dead, they are not in purgatory, there hasn’t been any trial, any devil’s advocation, any committees checking into their lives—they are called saints because they believe on the Lord Jesus. The word saint, means holy one. The saints are the holy ones. Our holiness is not in ourselves but it is found in Jesus Christ. 

II Corinthians 5: 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

15/  Romans 1: 8, 9 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

If you would read all of Paul’s epistles I am sure you will find that he is praying for all the churches constantly. How much time the Apostle Paul spent in prayer, I really don’t know but he does say in one place, night and day, praying exceedingly, He said to these Romans, whom he had never seen, I am praying for you all the time, I love you, you are believers in Jesus Christ. I have heard of your faith and I love you in the Lord.   

16/  The Lord may never use you in preaching. He may never use you in singing, He may never use you to be an authority in the church, such as a deacon or an elder, or a trustee, but He can use everyone in prayer—we do have the ministry of prayer committed to all of us.

AMEN

Ref: 09/22/1963 / 77 - QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SAVIOUR / 08/25/2020