Bristol Conference 1973-01 the Lord Jesus Christ — Stan Ford

He can make a gentleman of you, and make a man of God of you. And it was Alfred Mason who wrote the words that we found. You'll never guess what I'm going to read tonight. Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1.

The Apostolic Witness to Jesus and the Kingdom

A former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.

To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And then, if we may please, we'll return into the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 4, if you will please. We will read the closing verses of that very wonderful chapter. Verse 14,. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

For we have not an High Priest with whom to touch with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points kept it like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The Lord will add his blessing, I'm sure, upon the reading of his own precious word. Those of you that have been with us night by night, and day by day, will remember that we have been considering together a little of the opening verses of the Acts of the Apostles.

We have realized that in this very wonderful book, Dr. Luke, as a profound historian, is going to bring before us the history of the early church. But ere he records the history of the early church, he leaves on record something of the great principles of the Christian faith.

We saw something of the holiness of the Lord. We saw something of the wonder of his cross. We considered together something of the glory of his resurrection. And you remember yesterday, we went with him, as it were, to have a look into glory.

And we saw this one who moved amongst men. We saw him as our great High Priest. It makes the most interesting study, although tonight it is not on my heart, for I don't think I will have time so to do, it makes the most interesting study to see that everything that Jesus did amongst men on earth, he is continuing to do as our great High Priest and our Advocate in glory today.

And we praise God for this. We're glad that the Savior, having knelt upon a cross, the Savior they've put into a tomb, the Savior that conquered sin and death, is still available for every one of us today.

He's still waiting and longing to bless us. I wonder if I may remind you a little of the general background of this very wonderful epistle to the Hebrews. As we have been thinking together of the life of the Lord and the death of the Lord, I wonder if I may remind you that in the first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, we have brought before us Christ as the Son of God.

In the second chapter, we have Christ brought before us as the Son of Man. And in chapter three and four, and of course in many other chapters, we have Christ brought before us with His divine titles and His glorious offices.

We see Him first, of course, as the Son of God. And this is where it's bound to start. If in glory today there's a man, and he bears the marks of Calvary, and God has given His approval to him, we want to know who this man is.

And praise God, the first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, it is the epistle, the only epistle, that begins with the very name of God. God, who in Sunday times and in diverse matters. I wonder if I may just remind you of some of the things that you learned in your Sunday school class.

God Speaks About His Son

You will forgive me for being as simple even as this, but I think it does us good to re-echo the things that are surely believed amongst us. You will talk, you will remember, that in the first few verses of Hebrews chapter one, we see God speaking about His Son.

God, who in Sunday times and in diverse matters, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. But what was it that God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets? What was it He told them? Of whom did He speak?

If you've come with me, of course, into the New Testament, you're left in no doubt, are you? Let's walk Thaddameus' road together again. Let's hear those men who dare to say, we thought it was He who would have redeemed Israel.

And let's hear the blessed Christ at beginning, and Moses, and the prophets. He spake unto them the things concerning Himself. So when God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets, He was speaking about Christ.

He was speaking about His Son. Come with me afresh, as the blessed gospel message is handed out for the first time to a gentile. And God had to send the special visions of Peter before he would even cross the threshold of the home of Cornelius.

And looking into the face of Cornelius, what blessed things Peter told him. Why, we hear today, for it's one of the N-words among students, we hear today about communication. And they dare to tell us we must only speak in the words that the other folk will understand fully.

Well, Peter didn't do that, did he? He looked into the face of a gentile, and he dared to say this, To Him, Jesus Christ, to Him, they are all the prophets' witness. He didn't speak to the Roman about Roman culture.

He didn't talk to the Roman about Roman philosophy and Roman religion. He came to the very point and pinnacle of the Christian faith, and he said to Him, They are all the prophets' witness. So you see, in the opening verses of the first of Hebrews, we see God speaking about His Son.

And then, of course, we come to verse two, and we see not God speaking about His Son, we see God speaking in His Son. For God, who in sundry times and in diverse manners, spaking times past unto the fathers, hath in these last days spoken unto us through His Son.

Oh, never let us forget this, brethren and sisters, that if we listen not to Jesus Christ, God is silent to us. The only message that Heaven brings to us is the message that comes to the lips of the one who was the living Word of God.

No need for me to remind my young friends that a word is but an expression of a thought. When I look at Jesus Christ, I know the Father's thoughts towards the sons of men. When I listen to Christ speak, I remember He could say, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

And so you see first God speaking about His Son, and then you see God speaking in His Son. Are you listening now? For now you see or hear God speaking of His Son. Wonder of it all. Do you know sometimes I go into a certain area, and they announce that I am going to speak on a certain subject.

Well, hearken, God is going to speak on a subject, and I'll tell you His subject, His God. His God. It is the greatest seven-point sermon on Jesus Christ that ever has been preached. No one has ever preached a better one.

When God begins from verse 2 right through verse 3 to tell us of His blessed, His glorious Son. And oh, what a sermon. You young men who seek to say a word for the Saviour, you read it and read it and commit it to heart, and you'll find the greatest of all truths.

I believe it was Dr. Rawls, I try not to quote someone without mentioning their name, but I believe it was Dr. Rawls, who once said of this glorious seven-point sermon that God preaches on His Son, that first of all He speaks of Christ as the vocal expression of God's thoughts, as the vested inheritor of God's universe, as the veritable centre of God's universe as well, as the visible presentation of God's person, as the vital expression of God's power, as the vicarious sacrifice of God's providing, as the victorious vindicator of God's plans.

Oh, if there is not enough in Christ in these verses or these words to satisfy a heart, then I know not what will satisfy a heart, but praise God it's satisfied the heart of heaven. And I want to be, I want to be as those long ago.

I want to feast on what God feasts on, and I want to enjoy what God enjoys. I want to praise God for His Son. But if first of all we see God speaking about His Son, and then we see God speaking in His Son, and then we see God speaking or hear God speaking of His Son, then we hear God speaking for His Son.

It isn't often in Holy Writ that God the Father speaks for the Son, but praise God He does it here. You see, there were so many popes who stood back and said, but just a moment, almost everything you have said about Jesus Christ, you could say about angels.

Is He not just an angel? He does say very much about that tonight, need I. If you ask any Jehovah's Witness who Christ was, and they will tell you He was but Michael the archangel. And there were many popes in that day who said similar things.

They dared to say that almost everything you could say about Christ, you could say about angels. By the way, the Bible has a lot to say about angels. Do you know there are 286 mentions in the Bible of angels?

Now if you don't believe that, you go and do what I did, you can. But there are 286 mentions of angels in the Bible. But I have a God who wants to be associated in this way with angels. For this is what He says if He speaks for His Son.

But unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. But the first chapter of Hebrews is not over. For having spoken about His Son, and having spoken in His Son, and having spoken on His Son, and having spoken for His Son, then we are permitted to listen to that which we listen to so infrequently in Holy Rituals.

Oh, how many times would I long that God would have pulled aside the veil, have permitted me to have listened a little more, and seen God speaking to His Son. Verse 8. And unto the Son He said, He is an iniquity, therefore my God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness, which is above thy house.

Oh, if there is someone here this evening, and you have any doubt as to whether Jesus Christ was God, read and ponder Hebrews 1 and 8. Unto the Son He said, Thy throne, O God. The sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of vikings.

Oh, how we see right through this first chapter of Hebrews, how we see God speaking about, and in, and on, and for, and to His Son. For the whole of the first of Hebrews says, It is the One who lives in glory for you, the blessed Son of God.

Christ as the Son of Man

Oh, let us forget if we see Him in chapter 1 as the Son of God, if we see Him in chapter 2 as the Son of Man. And for this I will be eternally thankful. So glad that God became man and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth.

And as you and I ponder the wonder of Hebrews chapter 2, surely our hearts, surely our hearts are thrilled, as in almost every verse there is something said about Him that associates Him with men and women like you and I.

Oh, bless God He has identified with us. Thank God He was a man like unto us. Perfect God, yet perfect man, mystery of mysteries. But hallelujah, true, true. As you look at this second chapter, you will notice how from verse 1 to 3, He is brought before us as a messenger who speaks.

Oh, what a messenger! Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the words spoken by angels were steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape so great salvation?

Which began to be spoken by the Lord. Oh, here is a messenger speaking. A man He moved amongst us, and He brought the message of heaven, the message of God. But would you notice He is not only a messenger who speaks, but He is a man who conquers.

Verse 9,. But we see Jesus. Oh, Mr. Kell brought this before us in such a wonderful fashion just the other day. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.

He is a man who has conquered. We see Jesus. Oh no, it does not say we see the Son of God. It does not say that we see the Christ of God. But we see Him in the name that He has associated with His manhood, the Savior.

We see Jesus. Oh, brethren, sisters, how essential this is going to be when you and I look into heaven, and we see who is there. For He is not only a messenger who comes from heaven, who speaks for God.

He is not only a man who conquers, but again, verse 9, He is a Savior who dies. For the suffering of boy, the suffering of death, we wend our way afresh and gaze at as much as mortal man can see of the majesty and yet mercy, of the greatness and yet grace of our God.

And as we look at the cross, we remember that here He suffered the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. And oh, how He suffered. And oh, what He suffered. A man, a man, but oh, bless God, a Savior, who died.

But you will notice in this second chapter, He is not only a messenger, He is not only a man, He is not only a Savior, but glory to His name, verse 10, He is a captain. He is a captain. For it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation, perfect, who suffers.

Oh, blessed be His name, He is a captain that leads. The captain of our salvation. Never let us forget Him. Let us keep this in mind. For in a moment we are going to draw aside, we cast the veil and look in the glory.

We are going to see a messenger. We are going to see a man. We are going to see a Savior. We are going to see the captain of our salvation. But would you notice again, He is a brother, who is not ashamed.

Verse 11, oh, what a verse. What a verse. For both He that sanctified us and they who are sanctified are all one. For which cause He is not ashamed to call us brother? A brother, oh please, please. I would never call Jesus my brother.

He is my Lord. He is my Savior. I would take the shoes from off my feet. He is my God. But He is dead to call us brother. Oh, the mercy of such a woman. Yea, am I, and yea, am I brethren. So He is a brother, not ashamed.

But He is more than this. Oh, Mr. Choir Master, are you noticing this? The Savior, please. The Savior. Verse 13. I am sorry, verse 12. He is a singer. And He is a singer who praises God, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.

In the midst of the church will I sing praise. Will I sing praise unto thee. Is it wonderful to realize that we have a Savior who sings? Well, of course, of course, we would expect to find this, wouldn't we?

Do you remember the closing verse of the minor topic? When away there the great prophet Zephaniah dares to remind us that he will sing over his people with rejoicing. Sing over his people with rejoicing.

Oh, I'm glad that he leads the songs of the redeemed. Oh, brethren, sisters, what a wonderful thing it is to sing the praise of the Lord. What a glorious thing to know that He who wept alone in Gethsemane's garden doesn't sing alone.

For blessed be His name, He hath redeemed Himself. And we will use again the words of the sixty-ninth psalm. I will praise the Lord in a song. In a song. But we haven't finished with the second chapter, have we?

For He is not only a messenger and a conqueror. He is not only a Savior and a captain. He is not only a brother and a singer. But He's likened to a parent. Verse thirteen. Oh, what words. And again I will put my trust in Him.

And again, behold, I am the children. I am the children which God hath given. Oh, the love and tender compassion of a parent for a child is seen in Christ for those He has redeemed. No wonder I said the first chapter brings before us Christ as the Son of God.

No wonder I said in the second chapter Christ is brought before us as the Son of Man. And He's still not finished. For verse fourteen goes on and tells us that He is a victor who leads a great host in conquest.

Oh, what glorious words. Verse fourteen. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them.

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Oh, what a man. You see? He's the Son of God in chapter one. He's the Son of Man in chapter two. But in chapter three?

Jesus the Apostle and High Priest

In chapter three we have Him brought before us in His divine titles and surely in His divine offices. Hearken to the words of chapter three. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider, earnestly gaze upon, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.

It's not necessary for me to remind you, is it, of the difference between an Apostle and a High Priest. You teach your Sunday School class that an Apostle is someone who comes from God with a message.

That a High Priest is someone who goes to God with a message. And isn't it wonderful that Jesus came from God with a message of heaven, but He goes back to God with a message of earth. And would you notice He is not, or hearken, hearken please, He is not any particular kind of an Apostle.

Now Peter was the Apostle for the Jews, and Paul was the Apostle for the Gentiles, but Jesus, hearken, He is the Apostle. The Apostle. He is the messenger from heaven, but He is not only an Apostle, but He is the High Priest of our profession, Christ, Christ Jesus.

You will notice how, indeed, the wondrous things are brought before Him. Or brought before us. I wonder if I may, just for the sake of some of you young men who are seeking to say a word for the Lord Jesus, could I suggest a little outline for you.

As long as you'll use it, see. If ever I say anything, I hope you'll pass it on to someone else. I don't mind tomorrow if you stand up and preach, and I've heard my sermons preached all over the world, and I rejoice, because they never preach them the same as I did.

But listen, could I suggest just a little outline for you, that might be a help to your own soul and a blessing to someone else. Hebrews 3, here He is, the Superior One. The Superior One, counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

The Superior One, verse 3. Verse 9 of the second chapter, the sent One, made a little lower than the angels. The Saving One, chapter 2, verse 2, so great salvation. The Sustaining One, chapter 2, verse 10, bringing many sons to glory.

Isn't it wonderful to consider a person like this? Isn't it wonderful to consider someone, someone blessed be His name, who is superior, who is sent, who is saving, and glory to His name is sustaining.

He is the Apostle, but He is the High Priest. The High Priest, oh glory to God for this. For we turn over into chapter 4, and we read afresh those words with which we started. Verse 15 or verse 14, seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

The Reality and Purpose of Christ’s Temptation

For we have not an High Priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Now I want us just to pass a comment here. It's going to be a very brief one, for my time is almost gone.

And I want to pass a comment. I have been asked on a number of occasions of late, Mr. Ford, if He didn't sin, but could He have sinned? Now if He couldn't have sinned, then what is temptation really? And let me say this very clearly, that Jesus Christ was God the Son.

He was never less than God. Philippians 2 dares to say that He humbled Himself. In a ledger He emptied Himself. He laid aside, but you cannot empty yourself of yourself. I have a glass of water that was kindly placed there for me.

If I drink that water, I can empty the glass, but I can't empty the glass of being the glass. It's still a glass. Jesus laid aside, but He was still the Son of God, and never less the Son of God. So you say then His temptation was not real.

Not real? What do you mean? A little while ago, while we were in Africa, we were shown around a gold mine. A dear brother in the assembly had some position in the gold fields, and so we were given a sort of PP treatment.

And my wife and myself were taken down into the bowels of the earth, and we saw these here Africans as they cut out the gold-bearing rock. We saw it as it was placed under the great crushers and made into a white-like powder.

And then we went over to the refining area, and we saw how this great amount of gold-bearing dust now was placed in chemicals, and how bit by bit, bat by bat, it was cleansed and purified. And then we came to what was surely to us the most interesting thing, for what we had seen thus far were just great vats filled with a milky-like substance.

Now we saw what was taken out of those vats as though they were great furnaces, and they took what was remaining after going through that chemical process, and they placed it in the fire, and under intense heat, they melted it until the dirt and rocks sinking to the bottom and the gold rising.

They were able to take away that gold. And having tossed it through one fire, they tossed it through the second fire, the same heat. In that second fire, it was completely and absolutely purified. It came out pure gold.

It would have turned. There were chemists there to test it.

It went through all the formula or chemical tests. It was pure gold.

They didn't go through that fire to purify it. It went through that fire to prove it. But the fire was as intense. The heat was as great. It still melted. But it didn't go through the fire to purify it.

It went through the fire to prove it. Jesus Christ passed in that scene, the Holy Son of God. And all the temptation of evil came up. There was nothing in Him to answer to. Hallelujah. It was a fire that didn't purify Him, for He was as pure as ever He could be.

But hallelujah, it proved Him. It proved Him that man were amazed at the worth. But even the devil said we know who they are, the Holy One of God. His name the Father could claim. My beloved Son in whom I am wealthy.

Isn't that real? When we look down to it? When there's no answer into our heart? Listen, there are aged sisters here this evening and aged brethren here this evening who've walked with God for years. You take those brethren and sisters and you place them in some of the factories in your country or my country with all the filthy stories that are told, with all the cursing, with all the denying of God.

Do you think for one moment that that cursing will be a temptation to them to curse? Do you think for one moment that that swearing, those filthy stories will be a temptation for them to tell filthy stories?

But you go to that brother and sister and see whether it hurts them. To see whether the temptation's been real or not. And though there's been nothing in them that I've served to walk in is greater. I did.

The glory to His name. He was the sinless spot. What a high praise. But let me say this, I should have finished four minutes ago. Let me say this. That when I look at this verse and I remember this blessed Saviour in glory, the Son of God and yet the Son of Man, the only man in the bodily form in heaven today, the man that bears the marks of Calvary, a crucified man in heaven.

Coming Boldly to the Throne of Grace

And when I think of Him, as I said yesterday after the order of Melchizedek, but praise God after the pattern of Aaron, I hear the statement of this fourth chapter. And I ask myself the question, who are the people that can come to Him?

And I hear the answer, let us. For we are those that can come. Yea, I say the rich and the ragged, the favored and the forgotten, the humble and the haughty. If they've been born and dead and washed in the blood of the Lamb, they can come.

Who are to come? Let us. Are you in a fight? I am, praise God, I am. Would you notice who are to come? Let us come. Will you notice how we're to come? Let us come boldly. Oh, don't let's be timid in coming to this one.

Let's remember He ever lived to make His profession for us. Let's remember the man that walked those streets, the man that wended His way down to those pebbled beaches, is the man in glory, who having done good here, does good there.

Remember our verse? What Jesus both began to do, hallelujah, and teach. He's still doing it. Still doing it. Oh, let us come. Let us come boldly. But you say who are to come? And I say us. And you say how are we to come?

And I say boldly. And you say oh, but when are we to come? Oh, how come? In time of need? I've got a strong feeling. I've got a strong feeling that every one of us would be in agreement that we're in time of need, every moment of the day.

And isn't it lovely we can always turn to Him? Isn't it grand? Isn't it glorious that it could withstand the day of its place?

Then drew near us.

We can still draw near then. In time of need? Oh, my brother, my sister, I know not what you're passing through. I only know this. There's a God in heaven who knows what you're passing through. And that blessed Saviour says let us come boldly to the throne of grace.

But you say who are to come? And I say us. And you say how are we to come? And I say boldly. And you say when are we to come? And I say in time of need. But then the greatest question of all, why are we to come?

How come? That we might find grace. That we might find grace to help in time of need. Ah, but more than that. That we might obtain mercy. Find grace to help in time of need. You see, can't take any time to talk.

But Jesus is not only our high priest. He deals with the sin of the believer. If we sin, we haven't advocated for the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous doesn't deal with our sin. He deals with our infirmity.

Sometimes Lord's Day morning, you feel I've lost. I can't express myself. We still need the work of the high priest to present their worship to the Father.