G.I. Williamson

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 31

GOD’S MASTER PLAN

[H]ere are you and I, miserable worms in this world, miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance. We deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of the earth. But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed God considered us, considered our condition, considered what would happen to us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed.1

“God’s act of choosing His people in Christ was without the consideration of the fall, nor was it upon the foresight and footing of works, but was wholly of grace, and all to the praise and glory of it.”2

“[I]n love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” (Eph 1:4-5 ESV). “God predestined his elect to redemption and holiness in Christ according to the free council of his will.”3

“God has imputed the believer’s sin to Christ and God imputes Christ’s righteousness to the believer.”4 “[We] are pardoned because [our] sin is punished in Christ. And [we] are restored because his righteousness becomes [ours].”5

“Christianity rest on an unveiling of the hidden Creator Himself.”6 “[B]eing creatures, we cannot know God unless He acts to make Himself known to us. Even Adam in Eden needed direct divine speech to make known to him all God’s will.”7 “God created man in his own image. And God blessed them. And God said to them . . . And God said . . . ”(Gen 1:27-29 ESV).

“Revelation does not mean man finding God, but God finding man, God sharing His secrets with us, God showing us Himself.”8

It always bothers me when we gather for worship and people say things like, ‘Lord, we invite you into our presence.’ When we should be humbly thanking him for allowing us into his presence. You see, proper worship begins with a proper perspective of who we are and who God is. When we gather to worship, it’s good for us to remember that God is not in our presence, we are in his.9

“He is a friend to us, and we to Him, He finding His joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving Him thanks.”10

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ENDNOTES

(31) GOD’s Love Self-generated

            1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “God’s Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 4.

            2. A.W. Pink, “The Mediator Chosen,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 25.

            3. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2260.

            4. ESV Study Bible, 2231.

            5. G. I. Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing Company, 1964, 2004) 105.

            6. J.I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979) 45.

            7. Packer, 53-55.

8. Packer, 46.

            9. Denny Johnson, “The Intimacy of God’s Sovereignty,” NHC sermon notes, 7 February 2021: 4.

            10. Packer, 50.

            11. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 550-551.

            12. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 126-127.

            13. “ . . . Jesus Christ—Loyal Witness, Firstborn from the dead, Ruler of all earthly kings” (Rev 1:4-7 MSG).

            14. Isaac Watts, “Jesus Shall Reign,” 1719, Hymnary, 19 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_shall_reign_whereer_the_sun.

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 9

GRACED WITH SPIRIT

“God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38 ESV).

“And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom” (Luke 2:40 ESV).

“[Jesus] was continually filled with new degrees ‘of wisdom.’ [T]his growth was the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit.”1

Thus, JESUS as the Son of Man was “graced with the SPIRIT.” And I, once redeemed can say I am “graced with the SPIRIT.”

Jesus utilized all of the resources given to him in his humanity. He loved and meditated on God’s Word; he prayed to his Father; he trusted in the wisdom and rightness of his Father’s will and Word; and very significantly, he relied on the supernatural power of the Spirit to strengthen him to do all that he was called upon to do.2

“Christ at all times performed his preaching, worked his miracles, and yielded perfect obedience, in entire dependence upon the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.”3 “He was led of the Spirit, taught of the Spirit, and strengthened in the Spirit. He was constantly dependent upon the Spirit.”4 CHRIST did exactly what we are called to do.

Jesus’ humanity is an example for believers, as it has to do with how we live our lives. The Christian life should be an imitation of the life of Jesus. We are called to live our lives as He lived His. Just as Jesus was tempted, endured suffering, and faced hatred, so as Christians we will also face those things in the world.5

“Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Pet 2:21 ESV).

“Jesus’ life of obedience and faithfulness is an example to us when we face temptation since we have the same resources that Jesus relied on to fulfill His ministry: the Word of God, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.”6

“It is the Holy Spirit who also dwells in believers, thus creating, sustaining, and determining in them that life which is the life of Christ.”7

JESUS, coming from heaven to earth, was led by the SPIRIT to show earthlings the operations of His FATHER. Thus, He became our big brother—our example of how we can depend totally on the HOLY SPIRIT to live as our FATHER wishes. The SPIRIT changes us from stuck-in-the-mud-of-the-earth, GOD-hating, self-serving people to be fitted to carry out our FATHER’s desires.

“The Son of God became the Son of Man, that we, the sons of men, might become the children of God.”8

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ENDNOTES

(9) Graced With SPIRIT

            1. John Owen, “Work of the Holy Spirit in and on the Human Nature of Christ,” 2018, Monergism, 28 January 2021 https://www.monergism.com/work-holy-spirit-and-human-nature-christ.

            2. Bruce Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 84 quoted in Simon Turpin, “Why Did Jesus Take on a Human Nature?” 14 June 2016, Answers in Genesis, 28 January 2021 https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/why-did-jesus-take-on-a-human-nature/.

            3. G. I. Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing Company, 1964, 2004) 100.

            4. Samuel Chadwick, The Way to Pentecost (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2000, 2014) 79.

            5. Simon Turpin, “Why Did Jesus Take on a Human Nature?” 14 June 2016, Answers in Genesis, 28 January 2021 https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/why-did-jesus-take-on-a-human-nature/.

            6. Turpin.

            7. G. I. Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing Company, 1964, 2004) 255.

            8. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Children of God, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993) 3:19.

            9. “And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.  He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge . . .” (Isaiah 11:3-4 ESV).

            10. “ . . . you were washed, you were sanctified . . .” (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV).

            11. “ . . . you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV).

            12. “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might . . .” (Isaiah 11:2 ESV).

            13.  “And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. . . .” (Isaiah 11:3 ESV).