One Lord — Tim Conway

One Lord in Ephesians 4:4–6

I simply want to deal with one Lord in v. 5. Beginning in v. 4, there is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Father, I ask You for the help that we need to embrace this, to know this. I want to be able to say to my brethren here what needs to be said, what should be said, what honors You to have said. I pray, Lord, take our minds, take our thoughts, guide them.

We pray, Lord, for an endowment of the Spirit's working and power and energy so as to transform, so as to fill our minds with this Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Expand our understanding.

Expand our minds. Expand our thoughts. Expand our awe, our worship, I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. One Lord. It's concise. He just says it. I know that's not all He says, but that's all He says about the one Lord.

Just bang! Right before that, it was one hope. Right after that, it's one faith. Different things. He's got seven specific, unique ones that He throws at us. There's one Lord. No definition. No information.

Just that. One Lord. It's kind of like the Lord's Day. I've thought about this. We build whole doctrines around the Lord's Day, but you know, the Lord's Day is only used once in the Bible. And it's very interesting, it's used as Jesus, actually as John is writing, he's talking about Jesus and walking amidst the candlesticks and Jesus Himself is going to deliver these seven epistles to these seven churches.

And John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. He doesn't define Lord's Day. You know, when you're talking to God's people and you don't define things, it's typically because the author, the writer assumes that the people to whom he's writing understand what he's talking about.

And the thing is, if we had just actually read from the very first verse of Ephesians all the way up to chapter 4, verse 5, there would be no doubt in our minds about who Paul was talking about. Let's just, you know.

Identifying the One Lord as Jesus Christ

But let's be certain about who he's talking about. Because the reality is, arguably, Paul uses the term Lord with regards to the Spirit and the Father. I say arguably because it's not super clear. And depending on the translation you have, it's difficult.

For that matter though, it's not difficult when Jesus looks up there in Matthew 11, speaking to His Father, and He calls His Father, Lord of heaven and earth. So that name, that title, is used probably of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3, verses 17 and 18.

Probably Paul uses it with regards to the Father in 2 Corinthians 6 towards the end. But by and large, Paul uses the term 250 to 300 times. And usually, there's no question about who he has in mind when he uses this term.

But look at Ephesians 1 too. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And again in v. 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when he speaks of the Father, he calls Him God.

When he speaks of Jesus Christ, he calls Him Lord. This is very typical in Pauline literature. Very typical. Ephesians 1 .15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus. V. 17, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.

Look at Ephesians 3 .11. This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized or carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. Any question about who Paul means when he says, one Lord? And if you still have any doubts, look at another verse with me.

One God the Father and One Lord Jesus Christ

Look at 1 Corinthians 8. Because here, Paul is identifying God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ separately, distinctly. They're not the same person. They're separate. And he gives more information.

He doesn't leave us in doubt at all about who he's talking about. 1 Corinthians 8 v. 5 -6. For although there may be listen to this, so-called gods, what Paul is recognizing is there are people out there who call all sorts of things God.

They're all manner of gods in people's estimations and in people's minds. And lords. So-called, because they're not real. So-called gods in heaven and on earth as indeed there are many gods and many lords.

So-called. Yet for us, there is one God the Father from Whom are all things and for Whom we exist and one Lord. There it is. Any doubt about who this is? One Lord Jesus Christ through Whom are all things and through Whom we exist.

One God and Father. One Lord Jesus Christ. Now, listen to me very carefully. We don't want to imply from such a statement that God the Father is never called Lord. Or that the one Lord Jesus Christ is never called God.

You don't want to imply that. Both the Father and the Son are called Lord. Kyrios in the Greek. Both are called Lord in the same verse as Jesus Christ quotes from the 110th Psalm the words of King David.

And you know the verse. And he says this, he says, the Lord, that is God the Father, said to my Lord, that's Jesus Christ, sit at my right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet. Who's sitting at the right hand of the Lord?

The Lord. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. See, in Scripture, the title is used for both Father and Son. And likewise, God, God the Father. But that doesn't mean that the title of God is never given to Jesus Christ.

And in fact, once again, as the Old Testament, I believe it's Psalm 95, is quoted by the author of Hebrews. In Hebrews 1. You know what he says there? He says, "...but of the Son...". You remember, he's saying what God said of the angels.

But God says of His own Son, Your throne, O God. This is God the Father speaking of His Son. And He says, Your throne, O God. The Father calls His Son Thaos. "...is forever and ever the scepter of uprightness, is the scepter of Your kingdom.

You have loved righteous and hated wickedness. Therefore, God...". Your God. Thaos. It's God speaking to God. "...God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.". So if the Father and the Son are both called Lord, if the Father and the Son are called God, both of them in Scripture, why does Paul insist that there's one God?

And that there's one Lord? Clearly, Paul's not trying to deny that Father is the Lord or that Jesus Christ is God. What he is emphasizing is this. This is important to recognize. There's only one God and Father of all.

And that's not Jesus Christ. Right here in Ephesians, look at chapter 1 v. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord. See, sometimes because Father's closest there, we say, well, yes, He's Father to Christ.

He's Father of the Son. He's Father. But you know, both God and Father ought to be included there. He's the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Ephesians 1 .17. Ephesians 1 .17 The God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And you know what's very interesting? The Scriptures never say this in reverse. Never. The Father is over all. And even in the end, though Christ is definitely said to be equal to the Father, you need to recognize this.

And then 1 Corinthians 15 when this whole thing is done, Jesus Christ offers this whole thing up to His Father. The Father said, you sit at My right hand until I put everything in subjection to you. And the end's going to come and Jesus is going to have to put down every single enemy.

But when they are all put down, it says except the One who put everything in subjection to Him. God the Father is over all and He is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is never said of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is a different Person. And He is not God the Father. But then there is this. Equally true. Though the Father is called Lord, He's not the one Lord Jesus Christ. We have to get this. The Lord Jesus Christ shares our humanity.

Christ the God-Man Who Died and Rose Again

He is the God-Man. Listen to this. In Luke 1 .43, don't look at that. Just listen to me. Elizabeth, you remember what happened when Mary came to her? The babe inside Elizabeth jumped. And do you remember what Elizabeth said?

She said, why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Now, Scripture never calls her the mother of God. But it calls her the mother of the Lord. Be clear on that. The Lord.

Who is He? The Lord is a Man. He's the God-Man. He's the Son of David. Listen to this. This one Lord is Lord because He suffered and died and rose again. Listen very carefully. Listen to this. Romans 14 .9 says this, to this end, Christ died and lived again.

The Father cannot die and live again. The Father is God. He's the one God. Over all. Through all. In all. He's not man that He should die. But the Lord Christ died and lived again that He might be Lord.

You see that? You hear that? Lord of the dead and the living. That cannot be said of God the Father. Christ is Lord by right. He's Lord by purchase. You know this. Jesus Christ, who being in the form of God, the form, that doesn't mean not God.

Being in the form of God means He is God. He was God. He's in the form of God. And being in the form of God, what does Scripture say? He didn't count His being God. That which should hold Him back from humbling Himself and taking on the likeness of mankind.

He didn't grasp it. He didn't hold it. He didn't let it be a deterrent. But what did He do? He emptied Himself and He took upon Himself the likeness of a servant. And He took upon Himself the form of mankind.

And being found in the form of man, what did He do? He humbled Himself. And He became obedient to death, even death on the cross. And you know what the Scripture says? Because He did that, therefore, He had to do that.

He had to leave the glory of heaven and become this humbled, emptied servant man and die. And it's because of that that the Father has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name.

And that name is Lord. It's not Jesus. It's the name Lord. So that every knee might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord on this earth, in heaven, under this earth, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father.

But see, it's the therefore. You have to tie it. He's Lord by right. That can never be said of the Father. He is Lord by right. Yes, He is over all. All authority is His. But you have to recognize, Jesus came as a man.

He came as the second Adam. He came as one to earn His right, earn His place, earn the purchase price. And it's because He came, it's because He overcame death and hell and Satan and the grave. It's because of that that He now has the right to stand as Lord of both the living and the dead.

This is what Scripture says. And that cannot be said of the Father. There is one God and Father of all. And there is one Lord Jesus Christ. And they are separate. Very much so. There is but one Lord Jesus Christ.

And the thing is, there's never been anyone like Him at all. And there never will be. One who is both Son of David and Son of God. There has never been another. One who is man, and yet He was the Word who was God.

And the Word became flesh. God manifest in the flesh. Never has there been anyone like Him. Never. There's never been anyone like Him in the world before He came. There will never be another like Him in this world until He Himself comes again.

He stands entirely alone in all the glory of His absolute uniqueness. That's not to diminish from the glory of the Father or the glory of the Spirit. But He's unique. One Lord. One. And so, I came to this verse and I said, now wait a second, last week I dealt with one body, one Spirit, and one hope all in one message.

And so, I looked at this, okay, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Do I deal with all three of those? And make some progress to get smiles from all the Medina children. But you know what? You know what jumped out at me?

What jumped out at me are the words that Jesus said in John 16. When Jesus said that when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will glorify Me, I thought this, I believe the Spirit is in this place among this people, and this Spirit's business is to exalt Jesus Christ.

And if that Spirit is with me, I ought to be able to take those two words, one Lord, and if the Spirit's in exalting His Son, that ought to at least produce one message, probably a lifetime of messages.

It's like we heard in the first hour. Probably you couldn't even fill all the world with all the messages that ought to come forth from this if the Spirit really let loose. One Lord. Now, here's the thing.

One Lord as the Foundation of Church Unity

Remember what's going on here in Ephesians at this point. The Apostle is concerned with what? What's he concerned with? What was there in verse 3? Where are we getting all these ones from? Unity. It's the unity of the Spirit.

All this flows from what you saw there in verse 3. Paul's thinking ought to be clear on this. One Lord, therefore one church. It's a uniting doctrine. One Lord. One Lord. And that just cuts through all the many distortions that men suppose concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

One Lord. There aren't many Christs. There's the one we heard about in the first hour who men tend to be offended at. A cornerstone who men tend to trip over. But you know what happens is they trip over it and they recreate Him so that He's not trippable.

They recreate Him so that He's not offensive. People don't want an offensive Christ. And so what they do is they redefine Him. Muslims redefine Him. Catholics redefine Him. Hindus redefine Him. Buddhists redefine Him.

Atheists redefine Him. The truth is there's a lot of people that call themselves orthodox Christians and they're redefining Him. There aren't many Christs. There's one. It doesn't work that you have your version of Jesus and I have mine.

You don't define Him. And I don't define Him. He is not one thing to one and another thing to another. There's nothing more uniting than this. One Lord, therefore, one church. 2 ,000 years ago, Paul spoke of the fact, you remember when he was speaking to the Corinthians?

He was actually rebuking the Corinthians and he was saying, you know what? You guys will tolerate when somebody comes in here and they set before you another Jesus. You're all too quick to tolerate that.

What's that? Another Jesus? Yeah. Other than who Paul preached. Oh, it was common 2 ,000 years ago and it's common today. Paul himself admits, have you ever read it there in 2 Corinthians 5? Paul says this.

Now this, he's commending the Corinthians. He said, we no longer regard men according to the flesh. And he said, you know, we did one time regard Christ according to the flesh, but not anymore. What does that mean?

Well, you know, what's flesh? The best we can do in our humanity? It's the best men can do in defining Christ who don't have the Spirit. That's what that is. We think of Christ. Do you remember how you thought of Christ before you were saved?

Christians in here, how did you used to think of Him? Oh, I'll tell you this, I definitely thought about Him according to the flesh. My thinking about Him was altogether transformed when the Spirit of God took the blinders off.

I'll tell you this, He became altogether glorious in my eyes and He was not before that. What does that mean? You know what people say? You know what they do according to the flesh? You know that. One man says, I remember this, I remember being in the tool room there at Miller Curtin.

I remember the foreman out there. I said, Jesus Christ is God. He said, no, He's the Son of God, but not God. How do men redefine Him? Whatever the Catholics say, they say we need Mary. We need Mary more.

So however they define Christ, He certainly isn't sufficient. Him saying on the cross, it is finished. They not only need Mary, they need purgatory to try to pay off the rest of this thing. You see, everybody's for redefining Him.

The Muslim, what does he say? Well, He's a prophet. We'll give Him that much, but He's not God. He didn't die on that cross for our sins. Redefining. Everybody wants to redefine Him. Because you know what?

Oh, we heard this in the first hour. We've got Christmas coming up. Oh, that is one of the greatest redefinings of Christ. You say, you're going to observe the day or not observe the day? I'll tell you this, the world and the world who approaches Christ by the flesh, oh, let's put Him as a baby in a manger.

And that's perpetually in their mind how they want to imagine Him. Or that's another error of the Catholics. They like to portray Him dead on that crucifix all the time. Yes, dead Christ, baby Christ.

That's what we want. He's not offensive. Another says Christ is important, but we need more. We need our own efforts. We need our own works. He's a great man, but that's all. Some say like the Jehovah's Witnesses, they say He was created.

That's all. He was created. He's an angel. He's Michael. The Jews, what did they say? Well, He's not the Messiah. Did you see? I saw on drudge that some snake came out of the wailing wall. They're like, oh, that's a sign!

The Messiah's coming! Oh, they totally redefine Him. The Jews in His day said He's a deceiver. Paul himself said, I thought to do many things contrary to Him and against Him before my eyes were opened.

I saw Him as an enemy to the truth. I saw Him as a deceiver and to be resisted and to be fought against. Brethren, we've got people all around us redefining Christ. And however they redefine Him, it's so that He's not offensive.

Not offensive! But as soon as you say He's God, as soon as you call Him one Lord and He's got every right to have authority over you and you are going to bow to Him, oh, that's offensive! The builders, they rejected Him.

The world, they reject Him. This offensive Christ, they reject. They redefine Him. Some think Him a name. This was very common with myself and with my family and with my friends. They think Him no more than a name to use when you're cursing and when you're swearing.

Some imagine Him as a Christ who smiles. I saw something on Daniel the other day. And it was meant for children. And Daniel is put down in the lion's den and he's spared and he comes out and there's the king.

And the king prayed and fasted all night. And David says, the Lord sent His angel and He protected me. And then the king says, throw those who accused Him down there into the lion's pit tomorrow. And in whoever's caricature of this, Daniel says, well, I'll pray for them because God's merciful.

As though what? Those men were thrown down in there immediately and devoured. People want to redefine! This is offensive! We don't like that kind of Christ that will send His angel to protect Daniel. But then allow the lions to just devour the wicked men.

That is the kind of Christ we have. Many people see and they imagine Christ as some pathetic, effeminate, pale, anemic, dove-eyed pushover. You ever seen the pictures of Him? But there is one Lord. There is one Lord.

The Biblical Christ Is Unique and Sufficient

And we don't define Him. The one Lord Jesus Christ of Scripture. Who is He? In the beginning was the Word. He was there. He was with God. And He is God. And you can't get away from that. Don't redefine Him.

And that Word became flesh. True man. God became man. This is what it took to rescue us from our sins. This is the Christ. And He did become sin. He did die on a cross. And He died on the cross as a substitute for sinners.

He became sin to cancel the record of our debt. In Him, Scripture says, are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This is the Christ of Scripture. He did die. And He did rise. And He is alive and He ascended.

And Scripture tells us He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And He reigns. He is at the right hand of the Father. And all of His enemies are being made a footstool for His feet. He is highly exalted by the Father.

He has been given a name that is above every name. And I'll tell you this, every knee will bow to Him. And it doesn't matter who you're following right now. You can say Confucius had the wisdom or Mohammed had the religion.

Whatever you have, you can admire Mary. You can deny it all. You can say I'm an atheist and I don't even believe. It doesn't matter. We are all headed to an appointment with Him. This is the one Lord.

He's Lord. And our knees are going to bow. And our tongues are going to confess. And there is no getting around that. He's exalted. The one Lord is God. Scripture says He's the radiance of the glory of God.

He is the exact imprint of the nature of God. Scripture says that the Son declares the Father. In Him you behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And this one Lord, let me tell you about Him.

He's not this effeminate, pathetic thing. An anemic thing. I remember my great-grandmother had that typical picture of Jesus that I showed the kids during vacation Bible school. And I asked all the kids, is this Jesus?

And they all shouted, yes! And I said, no! It's not Him! It's somebody's idea of Him. Somebody's invention of Him. Let me tell you something. The Lord of Scripture was a man's man. Not like this effeminate thing some imagine.

The one Lord. He cleansed the temple. He took a whip in there. Did you see what He did? He could come in to a meeting of a bunch of high leaders and He could say, if you sit in the first seat, you sit in the best seat, you're going to be humbled.

And He can look right in their eyes and say that. He could come before those Jewish leaders and He could look them dead in the eye. He took them on. He took them on. He said you're wrong. He said you're going to die in your sins.

He looked at them and He said, I am the Messiah, but you won't believe Me. He stood toe-to-toe with them. He walked those roads of Palestine. It's Middle East under that sun. He wasn't white. He wasn't pale.

He was out there in the sun. He was a man's man. He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He walked around with a bunch of Galilean fishermen. He had carpenter's arms and carpenter's hands. This was the Christ of Scripture.

And He was gentle and tender with impure women. A woman of the city. Mary Magdalene had seven demons. And He was not afraid. With those Jewish leaders and all their convictions about the Sabbath, He'd go right up and heal somebody.

He'd give them their sight. This is the Christ of Scripture. He wasn't afraid to go to a wedding and make the best wine. This is the Christ of Scripture. Some people imagine Him altogether other than He is.

He was willing to enter into men's celebrations. He loved weddings and good wine. Fearless. He went toe-to-toe with the devil out there in the wilderness. They tried to get rid of Him. They couldn't tolerate Him.

But you know what? They tried to get rid of Him and He came back. They killed Him. He rose from the dead. They sealed the tomb. He breaks the seal. You can't get rid of Him. And as much as mankind wants to get rid of Him just like they did back then, this one Lord, you don't get rid of Him.

Because He is Lord. Lord means He's sovereign. He's the owner. He's got the authority. This is His. We are His. This world is His. You remember this. He is Lord of both the living and the dead. That doesn't mean those who are in the cemetery over there.

Listen, on judgment day, He is going to judge the living and the dead. They're all going to be conscious. He doesn't mean some are still over in the grave. What He means is some are alive spiritually and some are still dead in their sins.

And He's Lord of you. And you'll know it that day when your own tongue confesses and your own knee bows. Brethren, the wise path is to submit yourself and surrender to this Lord. That's the wise path.

Many have tried to stop Him, but He can't be stopped. His kingdom. What we're told is it's a kingdom that's forever. His kingdom goes on and on and on. This is the one Lord. And when He comes, He will not come in weakness, but in power and in glory.

And you know that text that says, you bring those enemies of Mine before Me. Those who did not want Me to reign over them, you bring them here and slaughter them before Me. Listen, if you continue to resist, if there are any in here, you continue to resist this Lord Jesus Christ.

He is Lord. He is Lord. And what He's doing right now is He's showing you kindness. That's what Scripture says. He showers you with kindness, not to make you think that everything's okay. Or to make you think that your twisted image of Him is okay.

He's giving you a time now. This for all of us. We're on death row. All of us. But we are given a time to seek pardon. And Him being kind to us does not indicate necessarily that you're pardoned. Don't misinterpret.

Maybe you've been in the place where you trusted something else. You've trusted yourself. You've trusted in your own opinions and your own strength. You've trusted to Mary or you've trusted Muhammad or Ganesh there in India or Confucius or science or aliens.

But I'll tell you this, when you take your last breath, there will be one Lord and one Judge of all. We have an appointment with this one Lord. Now listen, to deny Christ doesn't simply mean that, oh, He never existed.

To deny Christ simply means to define Him other than He is. You say, how do you know that? Listen to what Scripture says. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Messiah. This is the Antichrist.

Notice what he doesn't say. It's not the person who simply comes along and says Jesus never existed. He's not even going there. That's not the issue. The issue is this, if you deny that Christ is who Scripture says He is, you're attacking Christ.

You're denying Christ. This is the Antichrist. He who denies the Father and the Son. Wait, wait, how does he get the Father in there? Well, because of this, the Father is the one who declares to us who Jesus is.

If you say, I don't think so, this has to do with the Father's honor as well. Because you basically, to deny Christ, to say He's other than who He is, is to call God a liar. That's the issue. No one who denies the Son has the Father.

Oh, be careful there. People love to say we have the same God. Do you ever hear that? I hear that. It's the same God. I'm from another religion, but our God is your God. Okay, wait a second. How do you define Christ?

As soon as they define Christ different, not the same God. Because if you deny the Son, you don't have the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Listen, if you don't have the Father, it means you don't have God.

No matter what you may think, no matter how you may think, no matter what your trust may be in, no matter how certain you are, no matter what hope you're resting on, I'll tell you this, if the Christ you have is not the Christ of Scripture, you don't have the Father.

Only the Christ of Scripture is the way to the Father. No one comes unto the Father except by the biblical Christ, not the Christ of our own imagination, not the Christ we invented, not the Christ somebody else invented in some false religion.

There is one Lord. One Lord. And the thing that we need to recognize is this, the Father, this one God and Father is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their identities go together. You notice that?

I mean, do you recognize what I'm saying? If you redefine the Lord, then He's no longer the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because our Lord Jesus Christ is one Lord. He's got definition. There is a way He is.

There is a way that God expresses to us who He is. God has borne witness concerning His Son. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Redefine Christ, you've just redefined the God and Father of that Lord Jesus Christ.

Their identities are integrally tied to each other. That's the reality. Listen to this. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.

Did you get that? The Father has made Him Lord and Christ. Jesus Christ is the one Lord by the decree of God the Father. God made Christ Lord. Now this is interesting. From a couple different, I know many of you, you've often heard, we don't make Jesus Lord.

God made Him Lord. We don't make Jesus Lord, He is Lord. Well, that's true. We don't make Him Lord. Lots of people talk that way, and you've heard, you know that. No one makes Him Lord except the Father.

He is Lord. And like I said, He's not only Lord to Christians. He died, He went to that cross, and He rose again that He might be Lord of both the living and the dead. On judgment day, Acts 10 .42 says, He is the one appointed by God.

Again, notice that. God made Him Lord and Christ. God appointed Him to be judge. Of who? The living and the dead. Those who are saved, those who are not saved. Those who were Christians, those who are not Christians.

But here's the thing, God making Christ Lord is interesting from another standpoint. Jesus must be made Lord to be Lord. We don't, certainly we don't make Him that, but isn't that interesting? Wait, Jesus in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Doesn't His being God make Him Lord? Why does He have to be made Lord? If God becomes man, why does He have to be made Lord? And those are the kind of questions that come through my mind. But you know what you find in Scripture?

It's as a man, as the God-man, as the descendant of David. He as a man, He as an earthly, manly King. He needs to be made Lord. What's so unique about Him is that He is actually a man who has been committed with all authority.

One who bears our very nature has been made. God, His being God, it didn't automatically make Jesus of Nazareth one Lord. Listen to this. Listen to these texts. I've already mentioned Philippians 2 where it says, therefore, God has highly exalted Him.

Why? Because He emptied Himself. How? In becoming a servant and becoming man and becoming obedient even to death on the cross. Therefore, God highly exalted Him and gave Him this name. Or how about this?

John 5 .22, the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son. But notice, the Father has given all judgment to the Son. John 5 .26, as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.

Isn't that interesting? It's like it's not automatic. It's given. It's bestowed. It's granted. We get these verses at us all the time throughout Scripture. Matthew 28 .18, in light of the Great Commission, Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

Do you recognize what that's saying? Even in heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father, all authority has been given to Him in heaven. The angels are at His charge. What goes on in heaven? What goes on in this earth?

But all authority has been given to Me. Matthew 11 .27, all things have been handed over to Me by My Father. Hebrews 1 .2, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things.