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A thousand tongues to sing my 
great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King, 
the triumphs of His grace. The main that charms our fears, 
that bids our sorrows cease. Tis music in a sinner's ears, 
tis life and health and peace. speaks and listening to his voice, 
new life the dead receive, the mournful broken hearts rejoice. Let's open in prayer. God, we 
thank you for this Lord's Day Sabbath. We rejoice in your goodness 
to us. We thank you for the beauty of 
this day. We pray that you'd help us on 
this day to worship you aright, that we would sing your praises 
and Rest in all your goodnesses. We thank you so much for salvation 
by Jesus Christ, our precious Savior. We thank you this morning 
that we can study the doctrine of Christ. We rejoice so much 
in our redeeming King, and we do just pray that you'd help 
us in this hour of study to learn more of our Savior, to rejoice 
in Him all the more, that this exercise of knowing our Savior 
more would be unto the praise of your most high name and to 
the praise of your grace and we pray in Christ's name, amen. 
You can turn with me to chapter 8, the confession of faith. This 
chapter is of Christ the mediator. And I'm going to read We'll read paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 
and 4. seven and nine, as they pertain 
to the person of Christ specifically. We're gonna do a few sessions 
on this one. I'll work on, I'll spend some 
time in the person of Christ and Pastor Butler will spend 
some time in the work of Christ. So to get the session started 
with the person of Christ, I'll read one, two, three, seven and 
nine. It pleased God in his eternal 
purpose to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten 
son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be 
the mediator between God and man, the prophet, priest, and 
king, head and savior of his church, the heir of all things, 
and judge of the world. Unto whom he did from all eternity 
give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, 
called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. The Son of God, 
the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal 
God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal 
with Him, who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all 
things He hath made, did, when the fullness of the time was 
come, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties 
and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin. being conceived 
by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy 
Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the Most High 
overshadowing her, and so was made of a woman of the tribe 
of Judah of the seed of Abraham and David, according to the Scriptures, 
so that two whole perfect and distinct natures were inseparably 
joined together in one person. without conversion, composition, 
or confusion, which person is very God and very man, yet one 
Christ, the only mediator between God and man? The Lord Jesus, 
in his human nature thus united to the divine in the person of 
the Son, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure, 
having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom 
it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, to the 
end that being wholly harmless, undefiled, and full of grace 
and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office 
of a mediator and surety, which office he took not upon himself, 
but was thereunto called by his Father, who also put all power 
and judgment in his hand, and gave him commandment to execute 
the same. Paragraph seven, Christ, in the 
work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by each nature 
doing that which is proper to itself. Yet by reason of the 
unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes 
in scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other 
nature. In paragraph nine, this office 
of mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ, who 
is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of God, and may 
not be either in whole or any part thereof transferred from 
him to any other. So this is a significant chapter, 
obviously. It's about the namesake of our 
religion, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is, I think we could 
say, the center of the confession. The chapters preceding it, we're 
moving towards it, and the chapters that follow it proceed from it. You know, thematically, with 
regards to the scope of the confession, right out of the gates in chapter 
one, we have Though Christ isn't mentioned specifically, we have 
him captured implicitly. And that is with regards to the 
scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God, the 
holy scriptures. The scope of the whole is to 
give all glory to God. That's paragraph five, actually. 
But that speaks to Christ as the very scope of scripture, 
the aim or the target. or the end of Holy Scripture 
is the revelation of Jesus Christ as the one who brings many sons 
to glory through his sufferings. We have the language of, in paragraph 
five, chapter one also, that the Holy Scriptures, one of its 
attributes is the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's 
salvation. And so the point of the Holy 
Scriptures is to point man to the only way of his salvation, 
which is Jesus Christ. Chapter 2 is foundational for 
the understanding of the person of the Son. It's doctrine of 
God and of the Holy Trinity. And it, of course, captures then 
the doctrine of the person of the Son, eternally begotten of 
the Father. from whom, in addition to the 
Father, the Spirit proceeds. Chapter three of the decree of 
God, the decree of God is centered around the before time choosing 
in Christ a multitude of sinners to the praise of God's glorious 
grace, their salvation. Chapter four, creation serves, 
we could say, the Christo-redemptive end, that redemption is in Christ. Creation serves that end. The 
story of Christ is just not some, you know, story amongst other 
stories under the hood of creation, but rather it is the story for 
creation that creation serves. Providence, the fall of man into 
sin. Chapter seven, the doctrine of 
the covenant. Christ is the champion of that 
covenant. And so, all of these chapters 
before were tending to this chapter, and then following them, what 
do we have? We have the reality of salvation being poured out. First of all, the doctrine the 
doctrine of free will, the doctrine in fact of free will and then 
immediately following effectual calling and all of those blessed 
doctrines of the application of the redemption of Christ. 
So chapter 8 and then what what obtains for the church and for 
believers following the blessed chapter on the person and the 
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is effectual calling. It is 
justification. It is adoption. It is sanctification. It is faith and repentance. It's 
all of these blessings that flow from the person and the work 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all the way through to the 
end, you know, the champion, the judge, the mediator of God's 
elect bringing the eschaton and consummation at the end of the 
confession. So this is a very, very important 
chapter and that's an understatement. The importance of the doctrine 
of Christ is clear. Christ himself says that he is 
the way, the truth, and the life. That should on its own, John 
14, six, speak to the blessed reality that Jesus Christ is 
the sum and substance of the gospel of all true and proper 
religion. We have the simple clarion call, 
the summons of the gospel, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
you shall be saved. We have that declaration by the 
disciples in the book of Acts that there is by Peter that there 
is one name given under heaven among men by which a man can 
be saved, and that's Jesus Christ alone. The importance of this 
chapter is, again, could not be overstated. And maybe just 
as we move towards the study properly speaking, just in introductory 
matters here, what is confessed in the doctrine of Christ, the 
person of Christ? There's a helpful quote by Hillary. He was an early church father, 
fourth century. And he says something like, He 
says something like this, and basically summing up what Christians 
are to confess with regards to the person of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. He says, this is the Christian 
faith for human blessedness, to preach at once the godhood 
and the manhood not forgetting the God because we behold the 
man, and not forgetting the flesh because we behold the word. In 
other words, we preach the deity and the humanity of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and we preach this at once, which means he is at 
once godhood and manhood. He's not two persons. He's not 
two subjects. He's not the son of God over 
here and the son of man over here. he is at once the manhood, 
the godhood and the manhood. And when we come, and when he 
says that not forgetting the God when we behold the man, that 
is when we see these passages in the holy scriptures where 
Christ says things like, the father is greater than I, where 
he says things like the son doesn't know the day or the hour, we're 
not to see that and then sort of forget the godhood because 
this is clearly saying that he's somehow less than the father, 
we see the manhood and we realize that the one who is very and 
eternal God took to himself humanity. So when he says the father is 
greater than I, he's speaking according to his humanity. When 
he says that he doesn't know the day or the hour, he's speaking 
according to his humanity. And then conversely, and we could 
add to that when we see him hungering, eating, thirsting, drinking, 
bleeding. dying, we see the man, but we 
don't lose sight of the God who assumed our humanity for our 
redemption and recovery. And then when we see the Godhood, 
we're not to forget the humanity, so that when we see him calming 
the seas, When we see him forgiving sins, when we see him performing 
miracles, when we see him exercising his omniscience, we're not to 
forget that he did take to himself humanity, that his humanity isn't 
just a feigned or a faked humanity for, you know, for our benefit 
or something like that. So we preach at once the godhood 
and the manhood. A helpful Nehemiah Cox quote 
on just the simplicity of the Christian doctrine of what is 
the Christian doctrine of Christ. In the person of Christ he says, 
therefore we are to mind first, the distinction of both natures, 
divine and human, and secondly, the union of both natures in 
the person of the mediator. It's a helpful summary of what 
the doctrine of Christ is. Again, in this person of Christ, 
the doctrine concerning Christ, we are to mind, take into our 
minds, understand the distinction of both natures, divine and human, 
and the union of both nature's in the person of the mediator. 
So that is what's confessed in the person of Christ, his deity, 
his humanity, and the fact that he is very God and very man, 
yet one Christ. We preach at once those things. 
So just a structure with regards to this chapter as we move into 
a study. This morning we're going to focus 
on his deity and equality with the father, but just a couple 
things before that. Notice in the structure of the 
chapter is largely speaking paragraph one, an introduction two, and 
a summary of the chapter's content. So this basically sets before 
us the entire doctrine of Christ, his person and his work. And the confession very often 
does that, where the first paragraph is largely introductory, it captures 
the essence of the entire topic or the entire chapter, and then 
we move into the various parts of the doctrine under consideration. So here we see from eternity, 
through to eternity, we have Christ presented for us. So we 
see here in the Divine Council, we see the covenant of redemption 
set forth there. His, the eternal purpose of God. We see here chapters two and 
three sort of set before us as it respects the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and chapter seven with regards to the covenant. We see here 
that the Son of God is ordained to be the mediator between God 
and man. That mediatorial office is a 
three-fold office, prophet, priest, and king. We see these wonderful 
titles of the Lord Jesus Christ, Head and Savior of His Church, 
the Heir of All Things, the Judge of the World, and you can see 
this last clause here essentially is following. basically chapters 8 all the 
way through to the end of the confession in chapter 32. So that Christ's elect are in 
time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, glorified. It's sort 
of capturing that Romans 8 language, but it's capturing it in the 
sense of setting forth the rest of the confession. This Christ 
redeems his elect, and in time, they are therefore called, justified, 
sanctified, and glorified. That's chapters nine all the 
way through to 32. So paragraph one, an introduction. 
Paragraphs one to three, and paragraph seven and paragraph 
nine as well, we could say, is the doctrine of the person of 
Christ, the mediator. The work of Christ, the mediator, 
paragraphs four to eight, and the exclusivity and necessity 
of his mediation in paragraphs 9 and 10. So we could sum it 
up by saying this chapter concerns the person and work of Christ. 
That's the doctrine of Christ. The excellency of his person 
and the virtue of his saving work. Secondly, so that's the 
structure of the chapter. Secondly, a simple threefold 
approach to our consideration of Christ. I think this should hopefully 
help us and frame the confession, our study in the confession of 
faith of Christ, frame it in some helpful biblical language. 
So three things in our approach to the doctrine of Christ, and 
those three things are these, the pressing question, the proper 
answer, and the believing posture. So what is the pressing question? The pressing question, when we 
consider a study of the Lord Jesus Christ, the pressing question 
is the words of Christ himself. Who do men say, or who do you 
say that I am? Those words to his disciples 
in Matthew 16, who do you say that I am? That's the pressing 
question for all of humanity. Who do you say that this Christ 
is? And so, yeah, the most important 
question ever asked, the pressing question is exactly that. Who 
do you say that I am? And the answer to that question, 
the proper answer, the answer to that question, largely speaking, 
will really will really evidence who has heard the shepherd's 
voice. The proper answer, of course, 
is given by Peter in Matthew 16, thou art the Christ, the 
son of the living God. So not only a prophet, not just 
some virtuous first century man, not anything other than thou 
art the Christ, the son of the living God, which contains in 
it all of the blessed language that the Bible has to say about 
Christ, that he is God, that he is man, that he is one Christ, 
and that he is the only mediator between God and man. That language 
captures the entirety of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
So the pressing question, who do you say that I am? The proper 
answer, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And 
we'll dive into some of the content of what that is, what that means. 
And then the believing posture. And this is to be our posture 
when we study always. But when we study Christ, to 
be sure, as well, the believing posture, 1 Peter 2, 7, to those 
who believe he is precious, that's to be our posture as Christians. And so whenever we come together 
as Christians to study the doctrine of Christ, it ought to be that 
that rises to the surface of our souls, that Christ is precious 
to us. his deity, his humanity, the glorious oneness of his person, 
and just the super abounding excellence of who he is and what 
he has done. So with that in view, let's move 
thirdly here then and lastly to take up the bulk of our time. 
The person of Christ, first here this morning, we're gonna look 
at his deity and equality with the Father. Notice in paragraph 
two, there are a number of clauses that mount on top of each other 
to set forth who Christ Jesus is. And we should observe at 
this point that this language, the first half of this paragraph, 
is really just taken off of the pages of the Nicene Creed. It's 
not verbatim, but it's close enough. It's very close. You 
can tell that our 17th century Baptistic brothers were reaching 
back to Nicaea and pulling it forth to demonstrate their solidarity 
with our Christian heritage. And I think we should likewise 
have that same posture, that we appreciate God's gifts given 
to the church throughout the ages, that the ascended Christ, 
by his Holy Spirit, has protected the doctrine of the church, the 
doctrine of the church, largely speaking, biblical theology, 
the spirit has gifted the church throughout the ages with, through 
controversy, through much trial, through much persecution, has 
preserved and protected the doctrine of Christ throughout the ages. 
And so, if you were to do a side-by-side comparison with the Nicene Creed, 
the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the creed largely from 
381, which has some added clauses to it, you'll see a very close 
comparison here as well. So that would be the first half 
of this paragraph. The second half of the paragraph 
is very rich with Chalcedonian language, the whole paragraph 
to be sure, but with regards to the assumption of humanity 
and the oneness of the person, And the fact that these two natures, 
while inseparable, are not, they're not mixed, they're not confused, 
they're not compounded, that sort of a thing. It's taken right 
from Chalcedon of 425. 425? 451, sorry, yeah, 325 is Nicaea, 451 
Chalcedon. So you can see this rich creedal 
connection here to our past, to their past from their vantage 
point, of course, to our past. And so I think this is something 
we always ought to appreciate is sort of this generational 
handing of the theological baton through the ages. We're not so 
detached from, we ought not to be detached from our history 
because the history of the doctrine of Christ, the history of Christianity, 
you know, didn't start in the 20th century. It didn't start 
at the Reformation. Wonderful things took place there, 
but it started with Adam in the Garden. It started a long time 
ago. Christ left us the blessed deposit 
of the doctrine of himself and the church by the empowering 
spirit has passed the baton through the ages. So with regards to 
this mounting clause upon clause, let's have a look at some things 
under the topic of his deity and equality with the father. 
First of all, we wanna see here the identity of Christ. We see 
here the person who, as we'll see at the end of the paragraph, 
assumes our humanity. The Son of God, the second person 
in the Holy Trinity. So the identity of Christ is, 
of course, that he is the Son of God. You can back up to chapter 
two for a moment. Chapter two. So in this chapter, remember, 
it's the doctrine of God, largely His perfections and His independence 
in paragraphs one and two. And then we have His triunity 
in paragraph three. And notice the language here 
with regards to the identity of Christ. In this, divine and 
infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, the 
Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit. So when we read in paragraph 
two of chapter eight, the second person in the Holy Trinity, we're 
to have in mind that. There is an order, not a subordination, 
but an order with respect to the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy 
Spirit, first, second, third persons of the Holy Trinity. 
So the Word or Son, as specified there in chapter two. And remember, 
and we'll get there in a moment, but of one substance, power and 
eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence 
undivided. So the identity of Christ, he 
is the son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity. And 
just with regards to this language of son, let's just turn to our 
Bibles for a moment. We can go to the Gospel of John. John chapter one, just regarding 
the identity of Christ as the son, and not, as you've heard 
Pastor Butler say, not son by creation, not son by adoption, 
not a son by grace, but a son by nature. Notice in 1 John one, 
at verse 14, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and 
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth. So this speaks, in addition to 
what we'll see in a moment, it speaks to his relation to the 
Father, but notice in verse 18 regarding that same language 
reiterated but connected to the language of son. Verse 18, No 
one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is 
in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. So we see Christ 
is identified throughout the scriptures, here in only a small 
sampling, as the son. He is the son of the father, 
and again, not son by creation, not son as some sort of honorific 
title given to someone, but son by very nature of the triune 
God himself. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And his sonship, as we'll see 
in a number of minutes, how is he the son? He is the son because 
he is eternally generated by the Father. There's no other 
manner by which he is son in the sense of the doctrine of 
the triune God, except for the blessed reality and the blessed 
mystery that he's eternally generated, eternally begotten of the Father. 
So the identity here of Christ is, of course, that He is the 
Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Getting 
back to chapter 8, then again, we want to note then the deity 
of Christ, which is an obvious entailment of Him being the Son 
of the Father. So, you know, that's proof positive 
of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ that he is the Son of 
God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, but there's some 
explicit language here in the next clause of the confession. 
The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very 
and eternal God. So that's certainly inescapable. You know, the, the errorist, 
the heretic, the person who has a problem with the deity of Christ 
might, you know, might try to take exceptions with the language, 
the son of God. But when we get to being very 
and eternal God, the language is certainly inescapable. He's 
very God and he's eternal God. And that language of very God 
is, is important. It's not just an adjective being 
thrown in there before God, that he's very God. It's not just 
an additional word thrown in there just for word's sake. The language itself holds a rich 
theological heritage in in maintaining the oneness of the Christian 
God with respect to being, and the threeness of the Christian 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as it pertains to persons or 
subsistences. That he is God, the Arians could 
have affirmed in their own twisted way. but that he is very God, 
they could not affirm, because that means that he is then one 
with the Father. In fact, the Nicene Creed is 
constructed in such a way that it states the language concerning 
the one Godness of the Father first, but then when it gets 
to the Son, it says, and one Lord, and it's connecting the 
one Lordness back to the one Godness of the Father. So to 
say God in the Greco-Roman world wasn't much, but with regards 
to those who subscribed to one God, one principle, one first 
and divine source or reality, to say very God with respect 
to the Son was a very significant thing. So there is richness with 
the language of very, and then, of course, eternal. So that second 
modifier of the word God here, eternal, very significant. Christ, the Son of God, did not 
have a beginning. Of course, according to his assumed 
humanity, he did, conception in the womb of Mary, Holy Spirit 
overshadowing here, the Most High overshadowing the womb of 
the Virgin Mary. There was a beginning to the 
humanity of Christ, but there was not a beginning to the person 
of Christ. He is from everlasting to everlasting. The language of the Arians in 
the fourth century was their there once when he was not. The 
language has been sort of extended so that we can understand it 
easier in English. There was a time when the sun 
was not, but the actual, I remember a lecture or something by Dr. Jim Renahan, and he was talking 
about the Aryans in the fourth century, and he was setting this 
picture of little Aryan children skipping through the streets, 
singing the Aryan mantra, and in Greek it's something like, 
and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 
and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 
and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 
and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 
and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 
and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 
and, it's structured in such a way that it's almost like a 
mnemonic for remembering the blasphemous doctrine that there 
once was a time when the Son was not, there once when he was 
not, there once when he was not. And so this clause here, being 
very and eternal God, is pulled from out of Nicene language and 
you know, being biblical theology itself, and it's pulled from 
out of there to declare the unqualified deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
He is very and eternal God. And the passages that we could 
multiply in defense of this doctrine are many. From the outset of 
John's gospel, the word was God. There's distinction there made 
with respect to the son relative to the father, that the word 
was with God, and then there's the reality of his unqualified 
deity, the word was God. The end of John's gospel, we 
have Thomas with those, glorious words, my Lord and my God. And the scriptures are replete. We don't have to get out a fine-tooth 
comb to try and find the doctrine of the deity of Christ in the 
holy scriptures. It's in the Old Testament right at the outset 
of Genesis, and it's all the way through to the book of Revelation. We see we see the deity of Christ 
as well, you know, revealed in so many different ways, not only 
the names of God and explicit declarations that He is God. The word translated Lord for 
Yahweh in the Old Testament is applied to Him a multiplicity 
of times, and every time we see Lord, we should see that. We 
see things that only God can do, being ascribed of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Only God can forgive sins. You 
know, that wonderful language of the Psalms, Psalm 107, you 
know, for only one example, but of God lifting up the waves of 
the sea that are sending the storms that lift up the waves 
of the sea, calming the storms so that its waves are still. 
We get to the gospel accounts and what does Christ do? Not 
only was he the sender of that storm, but he was the one who 
calmed that storm so that its waves are still. We see the works, 
the words, the titles, the names, only those things that God can 
do ascribed to this Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So the Baptists 
here, reaching back into history, reaching back into the Word of 
God, as you can see with the biblical texts supplied, argue 
for the unqualified deity of the Son of God. Thirdly, we see 
the relation of the Son to the Father. the relation of the son 
to the father, and we see that in the very next clause. So being 
very an eternal God, the brightness of the father's glory. This is 
taken from Hebrews chapter one in verse three, the brightness 
of the father's glory, the express imprint of his character. So this is historically a verse 
that doesn't explicitly say that the son is the only begotten 
of the father, but that's the theological echo that is here, 
the only begottenness of the son relative to the father. So, 
remember when we speak of the relation of the son to the father, 
that's what we're talking about. We're answering the question, 
how is the Son of God, the Son of God. He is the Son of God 
by virtue of being eternally generated by the Father. Back to the Gospel of John for 
a moment because we saw this already in a couple passages, 
but in a couple more. Have a look at John 3 and some 
of those well-known verses. John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life. And again in verse 18, 
he who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not 
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in 
the name of the only begotten Son of God. And I think it's 
important to maybe just only briefly note the proper translation 
here of only begotten. There's a more modern flavor 
of translation that translates that as unique son rather than 
only begotten. But the language with the ancient 
heritage is only begotten, and that's the proper language. And 
it emphasizes some important realities with regards to who 
the son is and why we can call him son. It is, again, because 
he's the only begotten of the Father. And that doctrine's very 
important because we... to understand because when we 
think of eternal generation, sometimes we hear generation 
and we forget eternal. We think, we hear generation 
and we're like, well, I thought, you know, I thought Christ was 
God. I thought we reject the notion that the Son of God is 
created. We're not Arians after all. Well, first of all, the 
generation that obtains amongst the, between the Father and the 
Son, because it's, divinity, it cannot be anything other than 
that which is eternal. But the eternal modifier is there 
as well. So it's the fact that the son 
is eternally generated from the father, not in a time past as 
in eternity before creation, but he's eternally generated 
from the father. That's the manner by which he 
has his very subsistence as the son. So, all of that to come 
back to the simple declaration that the relation of the son 
to the father is that the father is unbegotten and the son is 
eternally begotten of the father. Back in paragraph three of chapter 
two, we see that very language. the confession of faith bringing 
out the biblical witness to the relations of origin amongst the 
persons of the Trinity, the Father is of none, neither begotten 
nor proceeding, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy 
Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. So the relation 
of the son to the father is captured in the confession here as a theological 
echo of what we just read in 2.3 in the language, the brightness 
of the father's glory. The church fathers would use 
language like, with regards to the sun and its rays. Just a 
qualification here that any created analogy never captures the Trinity. So created analogies, well I 
guess that's the only analogy that we have anyway. Language 
of the creation ascribed to the creator must be used very responsibly 
and never, of course, has a one-to-one connection with that which it 
is describing or predicating things of. But, with that said, 
the early church fathers would, using the language of Hebrews 
1.3, the brightness of the Father's glory would speak to the reality 
that as long as there was a sun, there was always its rays. As 
long as there was a fire, there was always goes on to press the 
reality that he is one with the Father, that he is equal with 
the one who sent him, that he is very God of very God. And so this, of one substance 
language, back, in the early church, is targeting the Arians. In the context of the confessionalists 
here, it's targeting people like the Sassinians, who would have 
been arguing very similar to the Arians on a number of points, 
the most notably being the rejection of the deity of Christ. As well, 
Thomas Collier, who was a particular Baptist, but departed and became 
the the arch-heretic of the particular Baptist at this particular time, 
he rejected the deity of Christ as well. And so, it's rich language 
here. And notice the language as well, 
equal with him. So of one substance and equal 
with him. The language of one substance, 
just to note, one, though not the only, but one biblical text 
that speaks to that fact is John 10 30. I and my father are one. John 10, 30. In the context, 
the blessed context, the language of Christ, speaking to those 
sheep who hear the shepherd's voice, who cannot be snatched 
out of the sovereign grip of the triune God, he speaks of 
them not being able to be snatched out of the father's hand, nor 
being able to be snatched out of the son's hand, and the ground 
of that really is the consubstantiality of the Trinity. I and my Father 
are one. So that is a key verse with regards 
to the consubstantiality of the Trinity. I may have mentioned 
it before. No, I know I've mentioned it 
before. There's a hymn that we sing. And one of the stanzas 
is, laud and honor to the Father, laud and honor to the Son, laud 
and honor to the Spirit, ever three and ever one. And we sing 
now one in might and one in glory while unending ages run, I believe, 
but the original hymn was consubstantial, co-eternal, while unending ages 
run. The early church confessed the 
explicit language of consubstantiality, and so we shouldn't shy away 
from using it. With any big words, they should 
always be defined and explained and clarified, but we should 
always love the big words of our Christian heritage. And so, 
this consubstantiality and co-eternal or co-equality, which is our 
fifth point, the equality of the son with the father, notice 
again, of one's substance and equal with him. So, as these 
clauses are essentially targeted to remove from conception, any 
notion of the son's inferiority to the father, of his subordination 
to the father, of some sort of, you know, submission eternally 
to the father. He is of one substance and equal 
with him and Not too many Lord's Days ago, Pastor Butler was in 
Philippians 2, and there the language is clear with regards 
to the equality of the Son with the Father. Let this mind be 
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form 
of God, an explicit declaration of his deity already, who being 
in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to 
be grasped or held on to, or did not consider it robbery with 
God to be equal to Him. And so we have the blessed reality 
that the Son of God is not some subordinate deity. He is of one 
essence. He is of one substance, and therefore 
equal with the Father. We could say, going back to all 
of these clauses, since He is the Son of God, He is equal with 
the Father. Since He is the second person 
of the Trinity, He is equal with the Father. He's very an eternal 
God, so therefore He has to be, of course, equal with the Father. 
He's the brightness of the Father's glory, so therefore he's equal 
with the Father. He's of one substance with the 
Father, therefore he's equal with him. So for anyone to argue 
for some measure of subordination or inferiority with any regard, 
or as some people say, that the glory of the Father is greater 
than the glory of the Son, and the worship of the Father should 
be greater than the worship of the Son, it's absolutely terrible. 
the Son of God is of one substance and equal with him. And this 
language continues with regards to now the might, the all-mightiness, 
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have sort of these clauses 
that, not sort of, we have these clauses that pertain to his deity, 
and now we have these clauses that still do, but describing 
or capturing his might as the eternal God. So notice the language 
here. of one side, and first off at 
the point of the power of Christ, notice of one substance and equal 
with him, who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all 
things he hath made. So this speaks first to the power 
of Christ. He made the world and he upholds 
and governs all that he has made. And this language, you can turn 
again, actually, to the Gospel of John for a moment. So again, 
we have the confession here, arguing for the power of Christ 
in creation. First off, these clauses that 
capture explicit statements of his deity, and now explicit statements 
of the power that only belongs to deity. So John 1, notice at 
verse 3, all things were made through him And without him, 
nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life 
was the light of men. We have this clear language at 
the outset of John's Gospel, after the clear language concerning 
his deity, distinction from the Father, but consubstantial equality 
with the Father, we have the fact that he is the sovereign 
creator of all things. All things were made through 
him, and without him nothing was made that was made. You could also turn with me to 
the book of Hebrews. We've already noted the language 
there regarding the brightness of the Father's glory. The brightness 
of the Father's glory in this same wonderful section of the 
beginning of Hebrews that argues for the super abounding excellence 
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's also language 
with regards to creation and providence and language at the 
confession is echoing here. Notice beginning of Hebrews 1. 
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time 
past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken 
to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, 
through whom also he made the worlds. through whom also he 
made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and 
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the 
word of his power." So we see this language concerning through 
whom also he made the worlds, and then upholding all things 
by the word of his power. Notice back in the confession, 
who made the world, and then who upholdeth and governeth all 
things he hath made. And so again, just reemphasizing 
the fact, clause upon clause, not C-L-A-W-S, but phrase upon 
phrase, the confession here is stressing and amplifying and 
articulating in an inescapable nature that Jesus Christ is God. First by these identities, titles, 
by comparisons to or the reality with regards to his oneness with 
the Father, his equality, and now with the very power behind 
creation and the power behind the providential governance and 
upholding of all things. So explicit deity and explicit 
power that only belongs to deity, the confession is upholding. 
And as we look to a close here, the confession is doing this 
in one sense to clearly argue for and defend the doctrine of 
the deity of Jesus Christ, but also because with the next clause, 
also in order to set up the high and loftiness of the sun contrasted 
to the lowliness in the assumption of humanity that will follow 
with the second two-thirds of the paragraph. And so then lastly, 
so we see the power of Christ and then we see the unchanging 
sun. The language here, not only does 
it capture the power of Christ, but the unchanging reality of 
the Son. The clause that's going to come 
next is, did when the fullness of time was come, take upon him 
man's nature. And so it's fitting that the 
clause preceding that is, who made the world and who upholdeth 
present tense, and governeth, present tense, all things he 
hath made. When we get to the Incarnation, 
this didn't bring a change to the Son of God. The Incarnation, 
the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, is not changed 
in the assumption of humanity. The change is on the human side, 
not the divine side. Why? Because God is unchangeable. He is immutable. This immutability 
with regards to the Son is stated clearly, in fact, in the book 
of Hebrews, other places as well. But with regards to the book 
of Hebrews, in fact, in that Hebrews 1 passage that we just 
read, his unchanging, his immutability is stated as well. they will 
perish, but you remain, and they will all grow old like a garment, 
like a cloak you will fold them up, and they will be changed, 
but you are the same, and your years will not fail. So as the 
confession is leading into the incarnation of Jesus Christ, 
we have this clause that states the reality, essentially, that 
even though he takes to himself man's nature, with all the essential 
properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin, he 
is not changed in that incarnation in the assumption of humanity. 
The mantra, or mantra is not probably the right word, a common 
saying in the early church was, He took that which He was not 
without casting off that which He was, or variations of it. 
Without casting off that which He was, He took to Himself that 
which He was not. And we'll get to that next time 
when we look at this glorious Son who took to Himself man's 
nature for our redemption and for our recovery. And so I think 
going into worship now, One thing that we can do is we can say 
with Peter to those who believe he is precious, as we go into 
worship, we worship this blessed triune God, and then we do worship 
the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Let's pray. 
God, we thank you for this time together, and we rejoice in your 
goodness to us to have this freedom to study your truth. Do go with 
us now into worship, rejoicing in our Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, singing the praises of his person and work. And we do 
just pray that all of us, that you'd be with those traveling 
to church in a number of minutes. We pray you'd watch over them, 
that you'd bring us all together, that as one voice we would raise 
up our praises to the triune God. And it's in Christ's name 
that we pray, amen. Any questions about any of that? All right, thanks everybody.