Great is the Mystery of Godliness Part 4
Justified in the Spirit
I. The second element in the mystery: The God Who was manifested in the flesh, our flesh, was justified (vindicated NAS) in the Spirit. Justified #1344–dikahyoo–“to show, to exhibit, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered. Of Christ, evidenced to be righteous as to His spiritual, Divine nature.” Thayers Greek Lexicon
A. The Dilemma: “How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman.” Bildad in Job 24:4
Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
Such is the condition of fallen man, so clearly stated in Romans 3:18, “There is NONE righteous, no, NOT ONE!!!!” How then, can a Perfectly Righteous God communicate, fellowship with such unrighteous creatures?
B. God’s Answer: God sends His Only Begotten Son, to be manifested on our flesh, this flesh that throughout the preceding centuries, has not produced a single righteous man. No human being could be put on trial and found guilty of being Righteous before God. Therefore, this God/Man, this Wonder of all of history, must be proven to be That One, the Righteous One, the Righteous Human that God can receive.
The Divine Exhibition:
1. Matthew 1:20 The good man, Joseph, struggles with a great moral dilemma, only to be visited by an angel of the Lord, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived (begotten #1080) in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
2. Luke 1:35 And to Mary, the angel explains: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and The Power of the Highest will overshadow you (Remember Gen. 1:2?); therefore, also the Holy One Who is to be born (#1080 begotten) will be called The Son of God.”
Luke 1:37 “FOR WITH GOD NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE.”
C. The Prophecies:
1. Psalm 2:6-7 “Yet I have set my King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are MY SON, today I have begotten You.
2. Isaiah 42:1 “Behold (see the exhibition of) My Servant Whom I uphold, My Elect One in Whom My Soul Delight! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”
3. Isaiah 7:11b, 14 To Ahaz: “Ask a sing for yourself from the LORD your God.” Ahaz wisely refuses to test the LORD, but God, “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign” Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, ans shall call His name Immanuel (lit. God With Us) See Matthew 1:23.
D. The Evidence:
1. Matthew 3:16-17 Therefore the Glorious Witness at Christ’s baptism: The Spirit Descends, and the Father Speaks! “This is My Beloved SON!!!
2. John 1:29-34 The witness of John the Baptist–He saw the Spirit descending like a dove (vs 32), and notice “and remaining on Him”. The Holy Spirit did not depart from this Man!!!
Now notice, “This is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
3. John 3:22-36 Again John’s witness to this Glorious Person-- “He Who comes from above is above all;.....He Who comes from heaven is above all, and what He has seen and heard, that He testifies.” (In John 16:13 The Holy Spirit does the same thing)....”He who has received His testimony has certified (verified) that God is true. For He Whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands. (Hebrews 2:6-9) He who believes IN the Son has Everlasting Life.”.......Christ’s very Words are Life everlasting!
4. John 6:63 (61-63) “It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The Words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are Life.” He Who had the Holy Spirit without measure, had the Holy Spirit remaining upon Him, His Words were especially “Spirit Breathed” and were very Life Itself! Remember Peter’s wise confession in John 6:68!! “To Whom else shall we go? You have the words of Eternal Life.”
5. I John 5:8-10 “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” That Witness is the Holy Spirit as in vs 8. And this Spirit is the Understanding of I John 5:20, the One given to us that we may Know Him Who Is true. And of course this is the message of John 3:3-7.
Everything Jesus said, everything He did, was by and through and in the Holy Spirit Who “birthed” Him and remained upon Him. Everything He promised was to be found in the operation of the Holy Spirit.
E. God “Seals the Deal”. How does the Righteous God verify that all these words, all this revelation of the Spirit of Life in this Man is undeniably true? And how does all that this Glorious God/Man has said and done become effectual in His people?
1. Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give Life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.” The Holy Spirit of Life, the “continuum of the Life of God (Eternal Life) given fully without measure into Jesus and through His Words, to us. His Resurrection from the death of this old cursed earth, proves, justifies, verifies all of Jesus claims, all the prophets anticipations. That is why the Apostles were chosen to be witnesses to His Resurrection!
2. Acts 1:15-22 “beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His Resurrection.”
3. Acts 2:22-36 (vs 32) “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are witnesses.”
4. Acts 13:26-38 Paul refers to Jesus’ Resurrection four times in this incredible sermon. Notice that in verse 33 that He seems to imply that the Father’s Begetting the Son in in Jesus’ Resurrection! And ponder long verse 38, “let this be known to you brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.”
It is this Man, this Son of Man Who is the Son of God, Who is our Salvation. It has been verified that He is the Righteous Man in Whom God is well pleased. This was verified finally and completely by His Resurrection from the death of this flesh in a body that is now “exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the Promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you see and hear.” Acts 2:33
It is this same “Justifying Spirit” that now “verifies” the Life of the God/Man in us.
5. Romans 8:11-17 This very same Glorious Spirit “dwells in you”, “The SPIRIT HIMSELF bears Witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.....” It is the Spirit of the Son, the Spirit Who continually proceeds from the Father, that assures us that we are the sons of God. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Adoption by Whom we cry out, Abba, Father”.
“To demonstrate at the present time His Righteousness, that He might be Just and the Justifier of the one who has faith IN Jesus.” Romans 3:26
Justified in the Spirit
I. The second element in the mystery: The God Who was manifested in the flesh, our flesh, was justified (vindicated NAS) in the Spirit. Justified #1344–dikahyoo–“to show, to exhibit, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered. Of Christ, evidenced to be righteous as to His spiritual, Divine nature.” Thayers Greek Lexicon
A. The Dilemma: “How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman.” Bildad in Job 24:4
Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
Such is the condition of fallen man, so clearly stated in Romans 3:18, “There is NONE righteous, no, NOT ONE!!!!” How then, can a Perfectly Righteous God communicate, fellowship with such unrighteous creatures?
B. God’s Answer: God sends His Only Begotten Son, to be manifested on our flesh, this flesh that throughout the preceding centuries, has not produced a single righteous man. No human being could be put on trial and found guilty of being Righteous before God. Therefore, this God/Man, this Wonder of all of history, must be proven to be That One, the Righteous One, the Righteous Human that God can receive.
The Divine Exhibition:
1. Matthew 1:20 The good man, Joseph, struggles with a great moral dilemma, only to be visited by an angel of the Lord, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived (begotten #1080) in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
2. Luke 1:35 And to Mary, the angel explains: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and The Power of the Highest will overshadow you (Remember Gen. 1:2?); therefore, also the Holy One Who is to be born (#1080 begotten) will be called The Son of God.”
Luke 1:37 “FOR WITH GOD NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE.”
C. The Prophecies:
1. Psalm 2:6-7 “Yet I have set my King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are MY SON, today I have begotten You.
2. Isaiah 42:1 “Behold (see the exhibition of) My Servant Whom I uphold, My Elect One in Whom My Soul Delight! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”
3. Isaiah 7:11b, 14 To Ahaz: “Ask a sing for yourself from the LORD your God.” Ahaz wisely refuses to test the LORD, but God, “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign” Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, ans shall call His name Immanuel (lit. God With Us) See Matthew 1:23.
D. The Evidence:
1. Matthew 3:16-17 Therefore the Glorious Witness at Christ’s baptism: The Spirit Descends, and the Father Speaks! “This is My Beloved SON!!!
2. John 1:29-34 The witness of John the Baptist–He saw the Spirit descending like a dove (vs 32), and notice “and remaining on Him”. The Holy Spirit did not depart from this Man!!!
Now notice, “This is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
3. John 3:22-36 Again John’s witness to this Glorious Person-- “He Who comes from above is above all;.....He Who comes from heaven is above all, and what He has seen and heard, that He testifies.” (In John 16:13 The Holy Spirit does the same thing)....”He who has received His testimony has certified (verified) that God is true. For He Whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands. (Hebrews 2:6-9) He who believes IN the Son has Everlasting Life.”.......Christ’s very Words are Life everlasting!
4. John 6:63 (61-63) “It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The Words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are Life.” He Who had the Holy Spirit without measure, had the Holy Spirit remaining upon Him, His Words were especially “Spirit Breathed” and were very Life Itself! Remember Peter’s wise confession in John 6:68!! “To Whom else shall we go? You have the words of Eternal Life.”
5. I John 5:8-10 “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” That Witness is the Holy Spirit as in vs 8. And this Spirit is the Understanding of I John 5:20, the One given to us that we may Know Him Who Is true. And of course this is the message of John 3:3-7.
Everything Jesus said, everything He did, was by and through and in the Holy Spirit Who “birthed” Him and remained upon Him. Everything He promised was to be found in the operation of the Holy Spirit.
E. God “Seals the Deal”. How does the Righteous God verify that all these words, all this revelation of the Spirit of Life in this Man is undeniably true? And how does all that this Glorious God/Man has said and done become effectual in His people?
1. Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give Life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.” The Holy Spirit of Life, the “continuum of the Life of God (Eternal Life) given fully without measure into Jesus and through His Words, to us. His Resurrection from the death of this old cursed earth, proves, justifies, verifies all of Jesus claims, all the prophets anticipations. That is why the Apostles were chosen to be witnesses to His Resurrection!
2. Acts 1:15-22 “beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His Resurrection.”
3. Acts 2:22-36 (vs 32) “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are witnesses.”
4. Acts 13:26-38 Paul refers to Jesus’ Resurrection four times in this incredible sermon. Notice that in verse 33 that He seems to imply that the Father’s Begetting the Son in in Jesus’ Resurrection! And ponder long verse 38, “let this be known to you brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.”
It is this Man, this Son of Man Who is the Son of God, Who is our Salvation. It has been verified that He is the Righteous Man in Whom God is well pleased. This was verified finally and completely by His Resurrection from the death of this flesh in a body that is now “exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the Promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you see and hear.” Acts 2:33
It is this same “Justifying Spirit” that now “verifies” the Life of the God/Man in us.
5. Romans 8:11-17 This very same Glorious Spirit “dwells in you”, “The SPIRIT HIMSELF bears Witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.....” It is the Spirit of the Son, the Spirit Who continually proceeds from the Father, that assures us that we are the sons of God. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Adoption by Whom we cry out, Abba, Father”.
“To demonstrate at the present time His Righteousness, that He might be Just and the Justifier of the one who has faith IN Jesus.” Romans 3:26