Robert Morris Teaches Full-On Heresy About Jesus
Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is often thought of as a more “normal” charismatic. He is not. Robert Morris is not only Word of Faith, but also New Apostolic Reformation. In this video, we will examine his blatant heresy on the person of Christ.
Transcript
Even though Jesus was fully God He completely laid down his divinity when he was on this earth
Completely so that he could be fully human Hello, dear ones.
My name is Justin Peters. I hope that this finds you and your family doing well today I want to thank you so much for joining me for this podcast.
That was a shocking video. Was it not? Robert Morris is the pastor of Gateway Church in South Lake, Texas in the
Dallas area Robert Morris is word of faith In fact, he is
New Apostolic Reformation Sheaan is one of the leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation He's good friends with Bill Johnson who is
NAR and Sheaan says this of Robert Morris He says even Robert Morris from Gateway Church in Dallas Texas has started an apostolic network with Jimmy Evans called the
Gateway Apostolic Network I'm just scratching the surface. I'm just giving you some of the networks here in the
United States These five amazing moves of the New Apostolic Reformation Support my conclusion that Apostles are for today and that God is restarting his church government
Todd White has been one of the Prominent leaders in fact for a while I believe is even called an apostle there at Gateway Church But Robert Morris flies in under the radar in ways that say a
Benny Hinn or a Kenneth Copeland some of these more flamboyant Word faith prosperity preachers do not he's more normal -looking kind of more low -keyed
But make no mistake about it. He is every bit the heretic as is
Kenneth Copeland But because he is more normal -looking That makes him even more dangerous in many ways than a
Kenneth Copeland And so I'm going to show several clips from that sermon from what you just heard
But I'm also going to enlist the assistance of my friend. Dr. Mike Riccardi I've interviewed
Mike before on this channel, but Mike is an elder at Grace Community Church He earned his
Master Divinity Master of Theology and PhD from the Master Seminary Serves alongside
Phil Johnson as co -pastor of Grace Life there at Grace Community Church And he's also pastor of local outreach ministries and does evangelism
One of the things I appreciate about Mike is that he is not only One of in my opinion one of the more able theologians that we have today
But he he puts feet to his faith and he goes out into the community community He evangelizes goes to jails and does ministry there in the jails witnesses to the inmates and shares the gospel with them.
So He's just a really good guy, but he has written on this issue of Jesus emptying himself
Kenosis as you just heard Robert Moore say laying aside his divinity difference
These are very serious issues. And so this is going to be a fairly long
Video as you can probably already tell from the timestamp But I do encourage you to watch this because Robert Morris is so extraordinarily popular
But he's extraordinarily dangerous. So please Watch this.
I'll have clips of Robert Morris sprinkled throughout and Mike Riccardi will give us his thoughts and evaluation on What we are hearing
Send this to your friends send this to your family members because he is very very popular and very dangerous
Okay All the pertinent links to Mike Riccardi's resources and he has a number of them down below there in the description
All right, dear friends without any further delay. Here is my interview with Mike Riccardi All right,
Mike brother. Thank you so much for joining me. How are you today? Doing well brother.
Thank you for having me always a pleasure to see you and talk with you Absolutely. Well, thank you so much.
Yeah, it's a pleasure and honor to have you on the program and got really good feedback from our
Last interview that we did and so it's an honor to have you back on with us.
So So Mike I've sent you the video clip. This is Robert Morris He is pastor of Gateway Church in South Lake, Texas in the
Dallas area Robert Morris is one of these guys that kind of flies in under the radar
Whereas a lot of people will pick up on the obvious problems with a Kenneth Copeland even
Bill Johnson Robert Morris not so much. He's one of these guys. He's more normal -looking he's more kind of a
Subdued personality, I suppose not as flamboyant as a lot of these folks But what
I heard in this sermon and preached on Resurrection Sunday, by the way Easter Sunday of this year 2023
Christologically speaking Dealing with the doctrine of Christ Christology. It is as bad as anything
I have ever heard from Kenneth Copeland or Bill Johnson and it deals with Kenosis and I wanted to have you on the program
Mike because you have written on this and I will have a link Down below in the description to the article that What's more than an article isn't what would you call a journal entry essay?
on Kenosis that deals with this specifically. So before we get going or as we get going
Can you define for us? Kenosis, what does that mean? Yeah, so I mean
Kenosis just means emptying and It's it comes from the the
Greek term Kana 'o the verb Kana 'o which Paul uses in Philippians 2 7 which is often translated but he emptied himself and it's referring to the
Humiliation of Christ wherein he you know as God and fully
God from all eternity The King James says something like make him makes himself of no effect or makes himself of no reputation by Becoming a man by adding the human nature or assuming maybe better said the human nature
Into personal unity with his divine nature being born in the likeness of men
Being found in appearance as a man It's the idea that he has
I think I think sometimes wrongly something that goes along with with that idea is
That it speaks of that which the Son gave up in that which he emptied himself of and I think neither of those
Concepts are inherent in the language, but Kenosis really refers to the incarnation of God the
Son whereby he humbly Did not insist upon his rights to remain in perfect flawless
You know manifest worship of the saints and angels in heaven and instead took on a human nature with all its frailties apart from sin and Lived as a man among us
Okay All right. Okay. So with that Definitional groundwork laid we are going to listen to this clip taken from this sermon now,
I will say in fairness Earlier in this sermon Robert Morris did affirm the virgin birth
He did affirm the deity of Christ Referring to him as the
Son of God But what he gives with one hand he takes away with the other so let us begin here
Mike I'm just gonna I'm just gonna play this and when you're When you've had enough or you think it's a good point to stop.
Let me know. We'll stop and and you can discuss. All right Okay, here we go
Emmanuel means God with us but I want to give you a little a surprising fact that is literally theology 101
I Mean this isn't theology 201 or 301 or 401 This is 101, but a lot of people don't realize this even okay
I want to stop it myself right there because what he's about to say he's saying this is ground level theology theology 101
So if you don't understand this you really don't understand Christ. So this is Ground level stuff.
Okay, keep going even though Jesus was fully God He Completely laid down his divinity when he was on this earth
Completely so that he could be fully human Okay, stop it there.
Okay, so Even though Jesus was fully God What I've expected that means is that even though God the
Son Was fully God before the Incarnation when he became
Jesus of Nazareth when he was born of a woman and lived on this earth there he laid he completely laid aside his divinity, so That seems to me and maybe
I could be wrong But that seems to me to be saying that Jesus was only
God before he was human Yeah, and not while he was human, right?
I mean, I don't know if there's another way to take that but Certainly we would expect better if he didn't mean that we would expect better precision from a minister of the gospel or a pastor
Preaching in any in any place then then to let that be ambiguous
Jesus that the God the Son Existing as the second person of the
Trinity from all eternity was indeed God and then when this one Became man in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He he Laid aside his divinity by which
I can't understand anything other than He he was fully God and then he wasn't
I mean, I don't know if he means to distinguish between God Like he was still fully
God and he laid aside his divinity I don't I don't know what that would mean so it sounds to me like he was
God and then he wasn't which you know, first of all is Absolute utter impossibility, right?
It is not possible for God Ever not be God That's part of what it means to be
Immutable that's part of what it means to be Self -existent that's part of what it means to be
Ah -say right like the yes of himself and have his own self existence
So, I mean even if it was just immutability, right we all affirmed I the Lord do not change right
Malachi Says or God says in Malachi and if if that's so then
God can never not be God he can never go from a state of being God to not being God and If Jesus if the second person of the
Trinity is God and then not then he was never God because that God was capable of change and Our God the
God of the Bible is not capable of change So right away you just have a logical and theological
Impossibility, yeah Yeah, so It's it's it's kind of mystifying but I guess that so that that's
I guess maybe my first comment, right? Okay Yeah, and he said he completely laid aside his
Divinity completely. In fact, he emphasized that twice. He used that word twice completely twice for emphasis
And I don't know how you could say that any more than you and I could say we well we we completely lay aside our
Humanity, right and the way that he said and the reason that he says it was There so that he could be fully human
So what you have there is you have an assumption at play in this man's thinking that That it is impossible for someone to be
Fully God and not laying aside one's divinity and at the same time being fully human and that is simply a
Assumption that is unwarranted by scripture that that is a tacit denial of the possibility of a hypostatic union
Then I grant that the hypostatic union of the the two natures of Christ God and man united in the single person.
I grant that that is a a mystery and a miracle beyond Everything in our ability as humans to conceive right?
How is it that? One can be both God who is infinite and human who as and fine therefore finite at the same time in the same person
It is a it is a mystery and nevertheless it is the consistent confession of the entire church throughout history
As as codified in the Council of Calcedon in 451 AD But but it's also that the manifest teaching of the scriptures right the in the beginning was the
Word the Word was with God the Word was God Right. So so the Sun is God and that word became flesh and dwelt among us not
Transmuted into flesh, right? But added a human nature in addition to his
Divine nature and again, I keep using term added and I don't mean it differently than the term assumed Right, he he took on to himself a human nature, but in in no way
Diminishing or abridging the realities of his divine nature You know my when
Thomas says my Lord and my God Jesus doesn't say well I was But I laid that aside, right?
No, indeed, and we'll talk more about all of this
But when John even says and we you know, we're became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory
Glory as of the only begotten of the Father Full of grace and truth, you know, what does it mean for the son to be only begotten son of the
Father? It doesn't mean to be the one who is, you know Begotten in the Virgin's womb or conceived in the
Virgin's womb and born as a man Only begotten refers to the eternal generation of the
Son where in this another lofty inevitable mysterious act right there that is this this
Self -differentiating act between the persons of the Trinity wherein the father
Becomes the father of the Son which which is not in time, which is not in a moment
That's why they call it eternal generation It was always the case that the father was was siring the son was was
Generating the personal subsistence of the son that he was putting the son into possession of the full undivided divine essence in this eternal communication of God of Godness, right?
It's just it's just this amazing thing. The only one who could be the begotten Son of God Must be
God himself. Just like if I'm the begotten of my father, I get my nature from him, right?
That's why the Pharisees say, you know When they go to stone him Jesus says for what good work are you stoning me and he said and they say for a good work we don't stone you but You're calling yourself the
Son of God making yourself equal with God so sonship or begottenness is not a title of Subordination or submission or obedience.
It's a title of sameness of stock as well as Differentiation so that the son is not the father
You can say this way the son is not who the father is But the son is what the father is.
His person is distinct, but his essence is entirely identical so If John says we beheld the glory of the only begotten
Son of God therefore God himself then The glory that they beheld wasn't one
You know Of somebody who laid aside his divinity. What glory? does anybody have who is is not
God the only glory there is belongs to God and And for them to say we saw this and in particular
John will then say in the next chapter In John chapter 2 verse 11, right as he turns the water into wine at the wedding at Cana Thus he manifested his glory there and his disciples believed in him so that the working of that miracle
Is the manifestation of the glory of the only begotten Son John says we saw that glory manifest in his divine works
And therefore he is God and so the notion that it's impossible
To be God and man at the same time with the properties of both natures
Being unabridged not mixing but nevertheless united in one person you know, that's just that's that's what the
Bible teaches and it's the it's the Christianity 101 assumption of Everybody who names the name of Christ's at the very least since 451
But of course since well before that as well. Yes Indeed indeed.
Okay All right Great. Keep going. Yeah, okay
If you want to know how he did the miracles that he did the Bible tells us he did them by the power of the
Holy Spirit and his personal relationship with the Father That's how he walked on the water
That's how he opened blind eyes. You know what that does for me. It gives me hope Okay, stop there.
Okay, so That is sort of the I was foreshadowing this in my reference to John 1 14 and 2 11
I understand the view that says, you know, Jesus so divested himself of divinity or divine privileges or divine prerogatives that He did not act upon his native divine power as son to do those works
Which are manifestly divine he was sort of emptied down to nothing other than a human like you or me
But then like Moses worked miracles or like Elijah worked miracles the son was full of the
Spirit without measure and by the power of the Spirit he did his miracles and And you know, that's that's partially true.
I believe it's Matthew 12 1 28, you know If I cast out demons by the
Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So it is true that the man
Christ Jesus was full of the Spirit and That he worked by the power of that Spirit according to his humanity
But just as Scripture attributes the working of divine miracles To the
Spirit of God, you know upon Christ or in Christ there are other passages which attribute the divine miracles to his his native power as the
Divine Son like the one that I just Mentioned so you have in John 1 14 John saying we beheld a glory in this one.
That wasn't Like the great prophet Moses or the great prophet
Elijah We behold we beheld in this one glory as of the only begotten of the father of the divine son and and That term glory right is is used then the next time just a chapter later in John chapter 2 verse 11 where Jesus turns the water into wine at the
King at the wedding of Cana in Galilee and And it says in that in that verse and I'll pop in the verse so that I don't mess it up this beginning of his signs
Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and Manifested his glory and you can remember glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth and His disciples believed in him so What you have there is a miracle manifesting divine glory
Which is not the glory of the only preceding one from the Father and the
Son, right? That's what you would need to hear if it was from the Spirit the Holy Spirit of God Eternally precedes from both the
Father and the Son. That's what that's his eternal relation In the in the
Trinity, but the Son is eternally begotten from the Father And so if you were expecting the grounding for Jesus divine miracle of turning the water into the wine
Is that yeah, it was divine there was glory in it because the Spirit was working in him
You would you would expect to have heard, you know The glory is of the only one proceeding from the
Father and the Son not as the glory of the only begotten from the Father and so again a small amount of time removed 1 14 to 11
The next instance of the term glory. It's plainly putting the spotlight on Jesus deity and then it's saying that it's a sign
That reveals glory and that in which revelation of glory becomes the basis or the ground for the disciples faith
Saving faith in him, right? You know, none of Moses miracles was to be a ground of faith in Moses None of Elijah's miracles was to generate, you know faith in Elijah Didn't say they nobody says they believed in Elijah.
They believed in Elijah's God, right? Yes if Jesus is not
Fully God if he is and he has laid aside his deity and this is just the
Spirit working through him then You know upon what basis did the disciples believe in him?
To be the divine Savior the son of man of Daniel 7 who is coming on the clouds and who's you know
Who's Yahweh himself the Amalekites three the messenger of the
Covenant and so on The Lord said to my Lord right who is this one who is
David's Lord, right? This is somebody must be Yahweh right upon what basis can the disciples believe this one to be
Yahweh because of the divine glory that is miracle manifested and not believe that Moses was a divine person or Elijah was a divine person if they were just Spirit -filled men and you know, why is the reaction to their miracles?
Well believe their God and the reaction to Jesus miracles believe in him as God Yes, it doesn't it just doesn't make sense that the
Bible does speak of both and and here's here's a key piece This really is theology 101.
It's something called the communication of the properties So that refers to the fact that when we say that Jesus is fully
God fully man Hypostatic union of both divine and human natures concurring in the one person without confusion without separation without change without division
What we're saying there is Jesus is not less God because he's man nor less man because he's
God He doesn't divinize his humanity and he does not humanize his deity to all perfect and distinct natures concurring in one person without mixture and Therefore what you're gonna get is you're gonna get statements about Jesus That are predicated of his humanity in some cases and of his deity in another in other cases
So for example in Acts chapter 20 in verse 28 Paul tells the
Ephesian elders at Miletus in his farewell address to them shepherd the Church of God which
He purchased with his own blood The Church of God which he
God Purchased with his God's own blood. You say now wait a second there
God is an eternal spirit. He is without body parts or passions. He is incorporeal.
God has no blood, right? So what in the world God purchased the church with his own blood?
Well, it's true to say that the the God that God qua God has no blood
But when you consider that Jesus is God and That Jesus is man and so has blood right you recognize what
Paul's doing there He's making a predication about the one -person Jesus at first according to his deity.
He is God and Then according to his humanity. He has blood
Yes, so when so the fact that those two things can exist together Undermines this preacher's statement that you know, he had to lay aside his divinity in order to be fully human
Even though Jesus was fully God He completely laid down his divinity when he was on this earth
Completely so that he could be fully human No, only fully human people have blood
And that one who had blood was also fully God so so What happens is scripture will sometimes speak of the
Son according to his humanity Sometimes speak of the Son according to his deity and sometimes speak of him according to both
Another example of that is in 1st Corinthians 2 8 where it says, you know, if they had known this they would not have crucified the
Lord of Glory well crucifixion Cannot happen to the Lord of Glory, right?
God can't die Right, but Jesus is the Lord of Glory because he's
God and he can be crucified because he's man So what's happening in Matthew 12 28 when it's speaking of Jesus doing miracles by the power of the
Spirit is it's making a predication according to his humanity and then but then what's happening in John 2 11 and John 1 14 is that it's making a
Predication according to his deity. So we ought not to say Jesus either did his miracles by his native power as Divine Son or by the power of the
Holy Spirit We ought to say both that Jesus according to his deity affected his miracles by the power his native power as Divine Son and According to his humanity.
He worked them by the power of the Spirit. It's not either or it's both in both in Amen, amen
Okay, all right, let's continue with Pastor Morris and let me just prove it to you in Scripture Philippians 2 verse 7 says he gave up his divine
Privileges he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being
And they stopped there so, I mean That that is just a horrendous translation of Scripture that's not living new living
I was gonna say I don't know what he's using there, but I don't know What that mean that that is that is interpretation
More than than translation. I mean I understand that there's always a degree of interpretation in translation because languages aren't one -to -one but You know that that's taking some liberties that belong in a
Bible commentary Not in your Bible purporting to be the very words of God Philippians 7 does not say he gave up his divine privileges.
My goodness it says But he emptied himself. So Philippians 2 6 Christ or you know have this attitude in yourselves verse 5, which was also in Christ Jesus who?
Though existing in the form of God in the very nature of God Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped
But here's 2 7 but emptied himself Allah. Hey, you Tom a keno sin, right?
so That is not gave up his divine privileges. Yeah now this involves us in a study of The verb cannot oh and how it's used interestingly
That wherever the term so I guess trying to figure out what not to what not to say what to leave out
I think the basic thought is When we hear the term emptied we often think of okay
I've got this vessel here and it's full of something and I'm gonna pour it out And I'm gonna empty it.
That is not this word cannot oh there is a word in the New Testament that is is used for that kind of thing and it's the verb echo and It's used.
I think it's Romans 4 14 right so it Paul is talking about Abraham and circumcision versus righteousness faith before circumcision
The Abraham was justified before there was a law and so therefore circumcision is not necessary and he says in Romans 4 14 for if those who are of the law are heirs faith is
Made void and the promise is nullified faith is
Emptied keke no tie. Okay, same words a different grammatical conjugation
So when we read that we don't Think okay of what was faith?
emptied like Faith is made void and the promise is nullified. The point isn't that something was there was faith
It was a vessel and something was poured out of faith, right? So that's not echo. That's can that's that's the other version of cannot
What am I thinking of echo? Oh in Romans 5 5. That's right. It was in Romans as opposed to Romans 5 5 hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out
Within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So There's the verb echo
Referring to the idea of the love of God shed abroad or poured out into our hearts But cannot always is not that bird cannot who does what
I just mentioned in Romans 4 14 It speaks of to make void to nullify to make of none effect.
And again, that's that is how the King James Translated it, you know, but made himself of no reputation.
That's a bit of a freer Translation as well, but is it captures the sense the proper sense of the verb cannot
Wherever the verb cannot always used in the New Testament It's used in that figurative sense of nullifying oneself
So it so this the text does not say that Jesus emptied himself of something
It does not say he poured something out of himself Notice the direct object of the verb akin to sin is the the word hey out on Himself Jesus didn't empty himself of something.
He emptied himself Nullified himself. He made himself of no effect.
He he embraced shame as opposed to glory as opposed to manifest worship of saints and angels in heaven and the question is
What was that how did he do that by what act did he did he nullify himself and the answer is in the in the next words, right
Morphine doulu labone taking the form of a slave He that that labone that's a participle and that mean it's a participle of means
Okay he emptied himself how by taking the nature of a
Bond servant assuming to himself the nature of a human being Being made in the likeness of men being born as a as a human being.
So so that is just a fundamental Mistranslation misunderstanding of The grammar of the
New Testament text it's an interpretation that is not warranted You could say he laid aside his privileges or gave up his privileges only in the sense that the
Sun Deserved to never deserved to know what it was to feel hungry.
He never knew what it was to feel Sadness or sorrow he didn't deserve that Didn't deserve to certainly didn't deserve to have you know
People spit in his face or with him or beat him or accuse him of falsehood and betrayal or be betrayed, right?
these are all things that he experienced as a result of Uniting humanity to his deity and living living as a man to accomplish our salvation and pay for our sins
Though you could say therefore he laid aside those privileges but It's not the case that he laid aside his deity.
I mean for crying out loud Colossians, you know one
It's 16 Says for by him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or Dominions or rulers or authorities
All things have been created by through him and for him He is before all things verse 17 and in him all things hold together that's something that is true of the
Divine Son as Divine Son, and so if he is Holding all things together by virtue of his deity, right
Hebrews 1 3 He sustains all things or upholds all things by the word of his power, right?
Well, well, does he stop doing that when he? Know that would be to stop being
God and God can't stop being God. So that means at the same time as The that God the
Son is a weeping baby in the arms of Mary Sustained by the nutrients of her own body.
He is at that same moment according to his deity Sustaining Mary such that if he doesn't give the word
She disintegrates into nothing. He upholds all things by the word of his power so the
Not those divine privileges he hasn't laid out laid aside the divine privileges of actually being
God He's he's laid aside. Perhaps you could say The privilege of being unencumbered by the assumption of a human nature into unity with his divine nature
Yeah, okay What an awesome God we serve. Amen Okay, all right, let's continue then to prove to show you how he did miracles watch this acts 1038 and you know that God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power then
After he was anointed Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was
With him even though he was God he laid down his Godhead So, I mean again,
I think this is an example of taking a predication about the human nature of Jesus and then
Absolutizing it and and leaving no room for the the predications of Jesus according to his
God It again is to assume that since he's man. He can't be God and And we've talked about this already later on in the book of Acts Paul is going to say the
Church of God with his you know bought, you know Shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood and so you've got predications of both.
So Yeah, yes, I think that you can speak so we know that we're talking about Jesus according to his human nature here
He's called Jesus of Nazareth Yes, he God did anoint him with the
Holy Spirit that the Spirit of God was in the Son of God, you know without measure other texts saying and And Yes, he went about in doing his miracles because because God was with him
But but that that is that's only to say that that's a predication of his human nature And he was more than his human nature when he became incarnate as an example
Divine attributes are still predicated of Jesus the man So if Jesus laid aside his deity
We would expect that divine attributes not be predicated of him during that time.
But for example in John 16 30 Peter says to Jesus or is it his disciples generally who say to Jesus Now we know that you know all things and have no need for anyone to question you by this
We believe that you came from God so I understand that's the confession of the disciples, right but You him he doesn't say
I don't know everything now, hang on. All right, so We know that you know all things and and you know
No matter how spirit -filled Moses or Elijah was they didn't know all things no matter how spirit -filled you or I might get
We we won't know all things Omniscience is an attribute of deity and that is predicated of Christ himself when
Jesus is, you know reads the thoughts of the Pharisees who are reasoning in their hearts saying
Who does this man think he is saying to this guy over here? His sins are forgiven. I think it's Luke chapter 5
Who can forgive sins but God alone? Right. So Jesus reads their minds, you know in a display of omniscience, right?
and then says You know, I mean again with but what by not rebuking them by not saying no no, no
Listen when I say I forgive the sins I'm only acting as sort of a mediator, you know a prophet of God a priest of God, you know
God You're right. God alone can forgive sins. None of that, right? It's kind of looking at him going. Yep, right
Only God can forgive sins and that's what I'm doing, right? So Jesus is is saying he's taking to himself even not just attributes omniscience, but prerogatives
Yes, this one forgives sins of deity Sometimes you get people in a scaled -down version of this.
So what what what this pastor is espousing is what's called? ontological canonicism so canonic
Christology Ontological that is having to do with the essence. Jesus lays aside the essence of deity
Yes, but sometimes even within evangelical circles you hear of functional canonicism and people will say oh he gave up his divine prerogatives
Well, not that one right not the prerogative as we said before of sustaining the cosmos not the prerogative of forgiving sin
Not the prerogative of laying down his life of his own accord and taking it up again, right? These are all manifestations of the prerogatives of deity.
So To say Oh acts 1038 says he went about the power of the Spirit Yes, nobody is saying that because he's
God he isn't man and didn't go in the power of the Spirit Right. It is to say that in addition to his going about in the power of the
Spirit according to his humanity these other predications of Jesus in the same New Testament require us to say
That those things are predicated of his deity and that the one doesn't rule out the other he is fully God and fully man 100 % at the same time perfect in Godhood and perfect in manhood, right?
One person two natures two distinct natures in one person Okay. All right.
Let's continue here divinity. He became a human this encourages me But it also causes me to respond to the message
I shared two weeks ago where we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit and to ask you this question if Jesus himself
Needed to be anointed by the Holy Spirit to live as a human in this fallen world
How much more do you and I need the whole the anointing of the Holy Spirit? And you can stop there
Yeah of itself, right? I Don't disagree if Jesus needed to pray how much more do you and I need to pray if Jesus needed to retire?
To be alone with his father and met and meditate on the truth of Scripture and you know
How much more do you and I if Jesus himself combated the the temptations of Satan and Matthew in Luke 4
With it is written. It is written. It is written How much more you and I have
Scripture at at our fingertips to battle with temptations of Satan? Amen, Jesus was indeed fully human and and so yeah
He was the one anointed with the Spirit beyond measure and therefore I must seek, you know that very same
Anointing of the Spirit but understand what that anointing of the Spirit is from for us, right Romans 8 9
If anyone belongs to does not belong to Christ or just let me not butcher it, right
Romans 8 verse 9 You are not in the flesh But in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you
But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him Which means if you do belong to Christ you do have the
Spirit of God 1st 2 speaks of the anointing that you have all received the
Spirit of God who dwells in you such that we need no one to Teach us like a sort of an elitist
Gnostic level sort of teacher No, we have the Spirit in us that that testifies to the truth that he himself is inspired in his own word.
So Yeah, I want to seek the anointing of the Spirit, but I only get that in Jesus And so if I'm to get the
Spirit I must believe in the the anointed one the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ and when
I do I'm baptized, but you know into the Older by the Holy Spirit of God into Christ and sealed with with him or in him
Ephesians 1 13 With the Holy Spirit of promise so in principle,
I don't disagree with that notion given that Jesus is human and needed the Spirit of God and Given that we are human and lesser than Jesus In so many ways and the fact that we're sinful and he's not if he if he
Needed the Spirit to anoint him. So do we agreed? But Jesus is not just human and therefore he is divine
Son by nature and is acting in the attributes and prerogatives of divinity all throughout his incarnation and That is not us and and not only that but you know in demonstrating that he is
King So a lot of this is going to get used to then say Well since Jesus was no more than a man and you're no more than a man
We can do the same kinds of things that Jesus can do if indeed we're full of the Spirit and all these sorts of things
And then they make full of the Spirit not a fact of Christian conversion That's common to all believers, which is but they make it at this subsequent
You know Experience that is manifest manifested speaking in tongues and all these things and so it tells us to seek something that we don't have and Shames us that if we can't do
The kind of miracles that Jesus is doing raising the dead and all these things that therefore we must not be filled with the
Spirit And we're a second -class Christian. That is demonic, right? That is the very thing that Satan the accuser of the brethren would love to do for people is to Hamstring them in this hamster wheel of introspection and looking to myself as to why is it that I can't get the
Spirit and do these miracles like The God -man did there must be something wrong with me and oh if I listen to this teacher or send him money
You know, maybe I'll get that spirit or something like that It's demonic to make a precious sheep of Christ flock think that he is less than Because he can't do something that God has not given him to do right
Jesus is the unique Messiah the King who brings the kingdom with him and and therefore must indeed
Display these unique works of God alone to say I am the one the coming one the one who was to come into the world
The promised Messiah I am the one you know, who was going to finish transgression and seal up prophecy, right?
This is me if I showed up and started saying that I'm Jesus, you know
And I'm and I can't do anything about sick and I can't do anything about the lame and I can't do anything about the dead You'd have very good reason not to believe me, right?
But he's the one who needs to demonstrate by his works that he is the divine
Messiah, so so laying upon The shoulders a burden of if you don't do the works that are unique to the divine
Son Therefore you must not have enough of the Spirit and that's due to your own fault
You know, that is that that is the perfect kind of stratagem that our enemy would love
To to lay upon us that burden that that does that steals the freedom the blood -bought freedom
Yes of Christ's righteousness and acceptance and adoption by the Father And turn us in on ourselves rather than looking outside of ourselves to our
Savior who is all of our righteousness Amen. Amen. It is indeed this endless hamster wheel
They they demote God and deify man And if you don't perform and they don't themselves perform the same signs and wonders that Jesus did they don't turn water into wine despite some of their claims
Okay, I digress everybody who knows you knows that right? Oh, yeah
Everybody knows your ministry has seen that that fact that claim that you just made demonstrated over and over again.
Exactly If Jesus himself did not do one miracle
Until the Holy Spirit anointed him how much more do we need the Holy Spirit in our lives think about he was a carpenter
Did he ever make crutches? And I don't know what he means by this.
Did he ever make crutches? Did he ever make a casket? Is he saying no? he didn't do that because he would have just healed the person or raised him from the dead or Make crutches and didn't always demonstrate his power to heal.
Yeah. I know that's bizarre thing I don't know what he's saying If the latter he didn't always we know he didn't always demonstrate his power to heal
Yeah, you know it says things like he didn't do many miracles here, right? If he is the former I don't see any reason to assume that that nobody in Israel died while Jesus was on earth, right?
like at the very I mean That's just an argument from silence and what would that prove
I mean Certainly later on when it comes to you know, Jesus's disciples who did in fact do miracles, right?
Paul been speaking to Timothy tells him to take some wine for his stomach. He doesn't say ah, let me zap you free of your stomach ill
Trophy my sick, right? Yeah, so if that's the case then I'll be well
Paul's not Jesus Yeah, but Paul is you know, he is the Apostle to the
Gentiles. He is the one you know who has Taken this gospel all around the world the fact that he you know
If there's somebody certainly I'm not above the Apostle Paul if there's somebody who's next in line to Jesus It's the
Apostle Paul and if he could do miracles elsewhere Why would he not be doing them them later on the notion that Jesus would never allow
Somebody who was Burdened with some sort of affliction persist in that affliction.
It's just an argument from silence I don't know. I don't know how it advances his point at all, right? We probably never even thought about it.
Did he ever make crutches? For a little boy he could have healed
Did he ever make a casket For someone he could have raised from the dead yet.
He was waiting the Bible says until the fullness of Time to manifest so I told you he did miracles two ways by the power of the
Holy Spirit and by his personal Relationship with God or with the Father look watch this how he raised
Lazarus from the dead many people missed this John 11 41 and 42 then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father
I thank you that you have heard me and I know that you always hear me but Because of the people who are standing by I said this that they may believe
That you sent me see this hope Yeah, okay
So the by you know, either either by the power of the Spirit or by relationship with the father So that's interesting to me
So are there would he say that there are miracles that Jesus did not do by the power of the
Spirit but by his relationship with the father You know if so that that means that Jesus is
This one who is full of the Spirit without measure is sort of tapping into the Spirit's power sometimes more than others
You know, the problem is the Holy Spirit what it dwells in dwells him You know at all times, you know, is he anointed or not?
Is he sometimes more anointed than other times? Right text never gives us reason to believe that and then the relationship with the father
In other words, he prays to God and God heals him. But but again, right again
That's a predication of Jesus humanity and he's made Jesus is flat -out saying I'm doing this.
I'm asking you this Because I want to demonstrate to these people that I am from you that I am
NOT Some sort of rogue or phony right but that I am from God Almighty Yeah, and but and then
I'm just thinking of like just a few passages later a few chapters later rather in John chapter 14 where where You know
Jesus talking to Philip and Philip says show us the father and Jesus says have I been so long with you and yet you've not come to know me
Philip He who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say show us the father? Do do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me?
That is not a statement. That is purely concerning Jesus humanity It may be if he had said the father is in me and that's it, right?
That means I'm sort of filled with the father as a divine teacher But to say that I am in the father and the father is in me is is the doctrine of perichoresis, right?
It's the doctrine of the mutual indwelling of the persons of the Trinity with one another the you know
The Fact for Jesus to say I am in the father and the father is in me if you've seen me
You've seen the father Moses isn't making a claim like that. Elijah's not making a claim like that You know and then he says the words
I say to you I did not speak From myself the text is of my own initiative. I don't speak from myself
But the father abiding in me does his works
So and then and then I'll say believe me that I am in the father and that the father is in me
Which is is equivalent to saying believe that I am God because nobody else is in the father and the father in them
Otherwise believe because of the works themselves. So what is he saying? He's saying the works that I'm doing are legitimate grounds for you to know
That I am God that I am in the father and the father is in me that there's such an equality of the two of Us that I don't
I don't work of myself I work from the father which is which is
Language that is reflective again of that eternal generation that eternal relation of Godhood From Jesus God Jesus is
God From the father. He is the only begotten from the father and and so he's saying just as I was begotten from the father from all
Eternity so also I work from the father in the the mission of my incarnation so Jesus quote relationship with the father is
Is not something like well my relationship with the father is I can ask him for things and he'll give them to me Jesus relationship with the father is
I am in the father and the father is in me and he does works in me that Identify me as an object of faith for God's people
I am NOT an object of God's of faith for God's people You ought not to believe in me right the angel says get up.
Don't worship me, right? Jesus Receives that worship and and is happy to be called the object of the faith of God's people, right?
Whole thing about God with us. Let me just go a little bit further with it God did not
Send someone to redeem you he came himself to redeem you
And so You know God did not send someone to redeem you.
Okay. Well, I've got a problem, right? So Galatians 4 4 & 5 Says but when the fullness of the time came
God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law so that he might Redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoptions of sons
So Galatians 4 4 & 5 flat -out says that God sent someone to redeem you now
God God came to redeem you. Yes God came if you're referring
God the Son God the Father sent God the Son now again, we're talking about mutual and dwelling inseparable operations
I am in the Father the Father is in me The there's a sense in which we could say God the Father came in the person of God the
Son and in the power of God the Spirit I get it what I fear this man means is
God God is not sending God, right? Yes I think that he's referring to the
Father as God and Jesus as the Son as Jesus meaning to so distinguish them that when he says
God came I think he means the Father came Yeah, and I think that he means the Father came by means of the mediation of this merely human
Jesus this once divine But having laid aside his privileges Jesus In whom the
Father works right that is just that's perilously close to motel as modalism, right?
Yeah, that if that's not modalism, it's it's right up against the edge of it that is that Jesus is not
God himself But that G in the man Jesus has manifested the you know, the person of the
Father Who alone is God is a unitary being as God and and therefore the
Son is just the manifestation of The one who is really God ie the father.
Yeah, I want to ask more questions before I Convict this guy of modalism, but given that he's already denied the deity of Jesus It wouldn't surprise me to learn that that's what he's after there, right?
No, I had the exact same thought absolutely and that that's and see the thing is that that's not anything unusual
In this movement, that's right pretty par for the course So that is the natural assumption and then the question becomes okay
So if you're saying he's laid aside his deity it when he was on earth now, he's no longer on earth
But and so we can assume therefore that according to these people he's regained his deity or reassumed his deity or reactivated
It right. Well, if the reason that he can't be fully God on earth is so that he can be fully man
Is he no longer than fully man now that he's fully God again exactly Yeah, the answer of course is no
Jesus remains incarnate eternally at the very very least Colossians 3 is it 3 to Colossians 2 9
Says makes a predication of Jesus. This is Paul in the early 60s AD right into the church in Colossae For in him that is
Christ all the fullness of deity dwells present -tense in bodily form
All right So if 30 years after the Ascension right all the fullness of deity dwells in Christ in bodily form
Then the man Christ Jesus is forever you you know human and divine the incarnation is eternal and or I should say everlasting and That Means that you've got a canonic canonic
Christology has a problem there in saying well why then either you've got to deny the plain teaching of that text and So evens yourself a heretic, right or you've got to say that Jesus is
Human and divine in heaven, but and that poses no problem
To each other like this humanness poses no threat to his deity, but then you've got to answer then Well, why do you assume that is you being fully human in his state of humiliation would be a threat to his deity?
Why couldn't he be both then if he's both now? Yeah, there's no answer to that right, absolutely
Okay, I think we have just like six seconds left. So we'll finish it out here God didn't send someone with a message.
He came with the message Yeah, so just that's that's the end. So just wrapping up there
So God sent God sent someone with a message and God came with a message, right? That's that's the whole point of one
God three persons is that God Jesus is both the same what as the father but a distinct who?
Yes father and and so God came and sent someone yes indeed indeed
Okay, Mike. So as we wrap up here, so what are I? Know how I would answer this and Chris you're only answer the same way.
Are we dealing here with? and minor minor differences here on person of Christ or It's what we just heard objective
Christological heresy, I Mean certainly the latter. There's not a there's not even a question that that is not
Christianity that that is a paganism with Christian dress
Language wrapped around it That there if that's not heresy nothing is heresy
There's no such thing as heresy if that's not it that that is a violation of the oldest most ancient confessions and creeds of our faith
Nobody throughout the history of the church would have recognized that as Christianity they would have identified that as such a deviation as to be
You know in certain times in history execute, you know Excommunicated from expelled from a city and maybe even maybe even punished by some sort of capital punishment
You know, I'm not advocating for that. I'm just saying that's how plain it would have been to those in in those days
And you know, look I understand that these things are high and mysterious and holy and they're beyond our comprehension
But let not many of you become teachers for as such we will encourage a stricter judgment, right?
You you can't I'm not ready to say You know, I'm not ready to make a referendum on the guy's soul.
He could be just badly badly badly mistaken and misled But then to assume the mantle of a pastor a teacher and teach these things
That that is a wolf objectively and he's leading God's people astray
Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that is a wolf as a wolf Manifestly Unqualified from being in the pulpit correct manifestly unqualified from being in ministry.
That's right I would even I would even say permanently I think when you're at that level of Teaching heresy as if it were truth and you don't know enough to know that that's the case
That's the that's a level of reproach. That's a level of lack of aptness to teach that the first Timothy 3 says is required for for elders and You know the proper thing for that man to do is to step down this is tent of the heretical statements to be quietly study the matter and learn the historic
Christian faith the biblical Christian faith and and Content himself with being a student of the word
Under qualified leadership for the rest of his days. He does not need to be in a pulpit Yes, amen.
Amen to that and it's it's not coincidental that Todd White has been a Guest preacher at his church.
In fact, I believe Todd White even served for a time. This is the leg lengthening Todd what? Served as a time as a as an elder at Gateway Church And there's a close connection there between and Todd White teaches the exact same
Christological air is what we just heard from Robert Morrison. Jesus healed the sick. He didn't do what he did as God He did what he did as the son of man possessed by God when he came to this earth
He had to humble himself become a bondservant was tempted at all points yet without sin The Bible says it's impossible for God to be tempted
So what he's saying is he's so limited himself and he was he was just like you and I he became the son
Of man born of the Virgin Mary fully God and fully man, but laid his divinity aside
Well, he was on this earth so that he could model what a Christian life would look like when you're fully possessed by God and I would say that you know when you say you can't make a
Judgment on the man's soul. I think you and I would both agree If if if he is a believer and some if he does see this video
Which my guess is he probably will at some point if he sees this video if he's truly a believer just extraordinarily immature
Extraordinarily misguided then his once he sees the truth then his repentance
Would be evidenced by him doing exactly what you just said Yeah out of ministry.
Absolutely. I mean, I always want to leave open the opportunity But I don't know anything is the first thing
I've ever seen in this guy and so it may very well be that you know He should be regarded as you know, not not a brother
I think that's probably likely, you know, but I I would want to hope and pray that it's oh wow
There's there's a whole tradition of things that sees this another way I guess what I want to do is I want to encourage somebody who may have been taught in that tradition and Who you know says?
Oh, well, that's what that's what I preach, you know, and they may be a genuine believer and make an appeal to Christ of conscience for for salvation through through faith alone in Christ alone and Say, you know, oh man, that's just stuff that I was confused about like there's another there's another
I'm missing this I'm not speaking so much about Morris and as much as I'm speaking about the guy who
Finds himself, you know the guy in in a small church who finds himself Holding that position because he was taught that by his
Pentecostal charismatic friends And yeah, this is what our camp believes, you know that yeah
Maybe that guy so I mean, yeah, I don't want to seem soft or squishy on on heresy.
It's objective formal heresy and and if if that is what this man genuinely believes in his heart then
He's not a Christian Amen. Yeah, and and look just very quickly
You know again if you believe this teaching then the second person of the
Trinity was God and Then was not God and then was God again at the very least That's that's a denial of the immutability of God.
Yeah, which is Not Christianity, right? And so a Christ who was
God was then not God and then was God again is not God That's right and a
Christ who is not God is as different from a Christ that is
God as As can possibly be there's no greater difference in the world between what is
God and not God the creator creature Distinction is is as divergent as you're going to get
And so it's when Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 11 for if one comes and preaches another Jesus Yes, you have not preached where you receive a different spirit, which you've not received or a different gospel
Which you've not accepted. He says to the Corinthians mockingly you bear this beautifully a different Jesus There is no more different Jesus than a
Jesus who is God versus a Jesus who is not God. And so You can't get
And if you've got a different Jesus, you've got a different gospel and you can't be saved by that different gospel
And so that's why we say stuff like this. That's right. That's right and that's why I tell people all the time that that you know, it's it's not enough to just quote believe in Jesus because Mormons believe in Jesus Jehovah's Witnesses believe in Jesus Muslims believe in Jesus, but they don't believe in the right
Jesus Yeah believe in the right Jesus the Jesus of the Bible and the Jesus that we just heard preached today by Robert Morris one of the largest churches in the country that is just as much a different Jesus as is the
Jesus of Mormonism or Islam Absolutely without question.
Yes, indeed Speaking of Mormonism, let me interject this here real quickly a
Robert Morris just about 11 years or so ago I invited Glenn Beck to come and speak at his church at Gateway Church Glenn Beck, however is a
Mormon. He is a committed Mormon He's I'm sure a very nice guy. He shares my conservative political
Convictions, but he is a Mormon and is therefore not a
Christian but Watch this clip of Robert Morris as he's introducing Glenn Beck Your friends there you just heard
Robert Morris affirm Glenn Beck as a Christian a man who loves God Glenn Beck is a
Mormon. He emphatically does not love God. He loves a false
God He loves an idol not the God of the Bible and Mormonism God God the
Father Was a man who himself had a father and this was he was just a man and now he is an
Exalted man who lives on the planet Kolob with his wife spirit wife
I mean this this is a cult Mormonism is a cult So I have no doubt that's in that Glenn Beck is sincere
But sincerity is not the issue truth is the issue and so on top of everything we've said today here is yet another reason why
Robert Morris is Unqualified and disqualified from being in the pulpit
Mike thank you so much brother for helping us walk through these issues and looking at this
I think this will be immensely helpful for a lot of people Robert Morris's is one of the most popular preachers in the country and Arguably one of the more popular preachers around the world is the
International Ministry was certainly one of the most popular here in the United States And as I said
He flies in under the radar a lot more readily than someone like a Kenneth Copeland does and yet what we just heard
Every bit as dangerous and heretical as Kenneth Copeland one of the most obvious Heretics and charlatans ever to disgrace the name of Christ, right?
So Mike as we close brother, where can we get some more reason? What do you have available for people?
You've written some books and articles. Where can people get more of your preaching and teaching
Resources. Yeah. Well for just me in general my sermons are available at the grace life pulpit calm the grace life pulpit calm and Also on the grace the grace
Community Church website grace church org I've written a couple of small books one called sanctification
The Christians pursuit of God -given holiness and another one called the forest and the trees Sort of basic biblical interpretation and both of those are available through grace books calm
Grace books calm and you can find links to those on my Twitter account.
It's my pinned tweet And then just recently published a book called to save sinners
It was my doctoral dissertation on the extent of the atonement. Yeah, that's published by whip and stock
You can get that on Amazon or directly from the whip and stock publishers website and With respect to what
I've written on this topic in particular I've got a sermon a couple sermons on Philippians 2, you know
You could always go to there at the grace life pulpit and see them and then Specifically, I've written an article for the the master seminary journal in the spring of 2019
I think called veiled in flesh the Godhead see Study of the kenosis of Christ that of course is a line from the
Christmas Carol heart the Herald 2019 and it's a sort of a really it is a basic study of the failures of evangelical theology to grapple with the implications of these truths and trying to sort of recover a classical
Christology that avoids the error of Kenoticism both as I mentioned earlier ontological kenoticism like we heard today and functional kenoticism
Which is sort of a light version the light beer version of of this particular error that many
Who many respected teachers in under the banner of evangelicalism teach and it's it's not that version isn't necessarily heretical suppose it could be but it is is definitely aberrant and heterodox and And it was certain is certainly popular and it's held sway in Latter half of 20th century theology that needs a correction the best resource on Battling kenotic
Christology that I know of has been Stephen Wellum's book God the
Son incarnate So dr. Stephen Wellum is professor of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he published a book
I think in 2017 called God the Son incarnate. It is just a intermediate
Christology maybe and Deals very heavily with the error of kenotic
Christology in a way that will bless you if you read it excellent Okay, fantastic.
I will be checking that book out too because I have your books, but I don't have that one yet So I will all right
Mike thank you so much brother. Appreciate you your preaching ministry your friendship Thank you so much for giving us your time today.
That's my pleasure brother always a pleasure okay, dear ones, well,
I hope this has been helpful for you and Again we do this because we we care about people we care about the truth
Teach sound doctrine refute those who contradict these are eternal matters of eternal consequences
And so if you are if you have been listening to Robert Morris, or maybe you have a friend
Maybe you have a family member who maybe goes to this church because it's enormous or watches him.
Please please Send this video to them and by God's grace.
It will bring them out of this very very dangerous deception Until our next time together may the grace of our