This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 8, 1987.

This morning our scripture is found in Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 and also some verses in Matthew 22. So we’ll look at Philippians 2 first. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, that made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. Then from Matthew twenty-two, reading from verse forty-one.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then does David in spirit call him Lord? The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

Let’s pray. Before your glory, our God, we are melted, and Lord, those that this day bring your word to your dear people, they too must be melted, perceiving your glory then stretched out before you. They to be lifted up by your hand, your hand alone, and given a message which cannot be their own, but only yours. May it be this day, therefore, that your word unto your praise may go forth from your servants. Those then who you’ve raised up begotten in humility, that as servants of yours, they may not put forth themselves, but Christ crucified. Lord, throughout the entirety of this world, under your heaven, may your word sound forth, and may there be glory and righteousness and honor and power and dominion ascribed unto you the God above all gods, through your Son whom you’ve exalted, by the Spirit whom you’ve given at the down payment of our inheritance with you forever.

Amen. We have been talking about our Savior, and we have spoken about his name, Jesus, and what that name means. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Jehovah. We have seen that there has then been attached to that name Jesus a title become name, that of Christ. Christ meaning the anointed one. And how this one, this Jesus, has been anointed by God, equipped and designated as that one to whom all those previously anointed point. He exalted. Before God. Before. Not only Jesus salvation is of the Lord Christ, the anointed one. But this one is Lord.

He is, therefore, the owner, ascribed as such in the Word in no sense less than that ascription given to God from the beginning of time. Jesus Christ is Lord, and as Lord, He is the owner of all things, be they above here or below, be they the angels, unseen principalities or powers, or what we perceive and those we know, ourselves included. Jesus is our Lord and therefore our owner and we are to live as those owned by him.

But Jesus is also the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God. We have the confession rehearsed repeatedly by us, that confession that came forth from the lips of Peter, the son of the living God. And during his ministry, Jesus is acknowledged as nothing less than the Son of God by a host of witnesses.

We think of the inadvertent testimony of Satan, if thou be the Son of God. We think of the testimony of demons The legions of Satan himself, we think of the testimony of enemies pitted against Christ. They also inadvertently giving testimony to the fact that this one is the Son of God. We think of the centurion at the cross.

Truly, this man was the Son of God. Even before Jesus is born, we are told that that which is conceived in the womb of the Virgin is the Son of God, because He is the product of God’s direct action. There is that voice at the Jordan, out of heaven. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There is that voice once more on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my beloved son. Hear ye him.

And by common acclamation from the apostles and the apostolic church, we hear the apostle Paul in Romans tell us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, declared to be such with power. In Colossians, we are told that we who have longed after God and come to know him have been delivered out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

And what of the person? Testimony of the apostle, none greater, Galatians 2, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And what of the disposition of all those that are joined to Jesus Christ? Are they not spoken out? My extension, as Paul directs his words to the Thessalonians, he says to them, as sort of a capsule statement of the life of all the things. You fled from. Devotion to life. In order to serve God, the living God.

And to await Is there any less of a testimony from the book of Hebrews? God, in former times and in different ways and manners, revealed himself through the prophets. But in this last day, he has revealed himself, he has spoken unto us by his son. Would you know why? Ask John. To know life. Is to know God. And his son. Jesus Christ. Jesus. Is the son of God. But what does it mean? to call Jesus, the son of God.

You know how I preach these titles. In these messages, you have become accustomed to my method. I returned to the Old Testament to look at statements we find there. Reviewing those statements, those considerations, we build to the New Testament to understand better and more properly what it means to call Jesus Christ.

The Lord. The Son of God. What about. The Old Testament and its use of the title. Son of God. It might baffle you a bit to know that in the Old Testament, angels are called sons of God. Do you remember the opening chapters of Job? When all the sons of God come and present themselves before the Lord, and there in that setting, in that writing, we are pull that these sons of God, these angels are so described and so distinguished. Are you aware that in Exodus four, God calls Israel the son of God, my son?

The prophets speak similarly. Voicing the words of God, Hosea eleven verse one out of Egypt. I called my son. Referring to Israel. But not just angels, not just Israel. Do you remember Genesis chapter six, the horrible things that take place that are described there in that chapter?

We are told that the sons of God looked upon the daughters of men, and that these sons of God are described somewhat in detail. And we are impressed with the fact that these are those who have made of themselves something in the world. They are men of renown. They strut and pose and poise themselves within the world for power and position. Sons of God. And thus it was, in the ancient world, that the kings, those of might, those who were answerable to no one, became described as sons of God.

Into the midst of this comes the word of God to David, 2 Samuel 7. Those verses spoken there by God to the king who assumes the throne and to the coming descendant of David. He will be my son, says the Lord. Thou art my son. This day I have begotten thee. that against the background of the coronation, the anointing of the king within Israel. The Son of God in the Old Testament, angels, Israel, men of renown and power, and the coming Son of David.

As we reflect on these various individuals, figures described as the son of God, sons of God, we take stock of some aspects of their character and courage. We think of their nature. As sons of God, you see, we are to think of them as originating from God himself. Their nature is such that they are viewed as having originated from God. Thus it is with the angels. God is responsible for their existence, and therefore it is proper and right to call them sons of God, because their origin is from Him, no one else.

What shall we say about Israel? Is it not this that God is testifying to when he calls Israel his son? Can they ascribe their existence to some power within themselves? Not at all. They are generated by God. They originate in him. That is their nature. That is their definition. But alongside of origination from God, They are also to reflect the character of God.

There’s a perversion of it when we consider the men of renown in Genesis, Genesis, Genesis six. I’ll get it out. There is that perversion of it in Genesis six. When these men of renown become a parody of God. But you see, in their power there is that point of contact. They, in that power, though perverted, are reflecting God.

But the king that God raises up, the son of God of the tribe of Judah in the family of David, he is to reflect the character of God himself, a man truly after God’s own heart. When we consider the Son of God, then, and think about the nature of the Son of God, we think about one who originates from God, also one, ideally, who reflects the character of God. But more than nature, there is the relationship. For what would relationship suggest with regard as to the name son of God and God himself. Does it not suggest an intimacy? So that beyond the nature itself, there is also this intimacy in a relationship with God, a communion, a fellowship, a commonality that binds together God and his son. then in an embrace of a father and his son.

That relationship seen at every juncture, angels bound to God, ideally obedient messengers of his will. In fellowship in covenant bound to him married, if you will, to their God, Israel’s king so intimately bound to God. The perversity is well. Angels disobedient Israel disobedient men of renown going their own way and Israel’s kings being disobedient, rebellious. for claiming the name of their son.

But just as important as the nature of the son of God and the relationship fellowship that exists because this particular figure is the son of God as important as these things are there is yet another aspect that we must take consideration of namely the function of the son the end and goal in view, what exactly is before the eye of God and that One described as Son. The function, you see, is that this One who is Son of God bears a relationship to God that entitles Him to all that is God’s. Thus He is God’s Son, for what is the Son but the heir?

But think of it now. The sun is heir not just of things. We may well think of the sun as heir of things. All things belong to him. Do not all the kingdoms of the nations, do not all of the things that God has created, seen and unseen, belong to the sun? Things above, things below. Are they not all the sons, yet even through that, beyond it?

The power and force of this title is not so much as to bring things before your eye, but God Himself, so that when we say that Jesus is the Son of God, we have in mind that He is heir of God, that is, God is the inheritance. Son of God pertains to inheritance, and it is not simply things that the Son inherits. It is God that the Son inherits.

When we take stock then of the Old Testament testimony to the Son of God, Angels, Israel, men of renown, Israel’s king. We think of the nature of the Son of God, the relationship the Son sustains to God Himself and the function of the Son, namely as heir, an heir by exaltation. An exaltation from God in which He is installed as Son, if you will, in which He becomes Son. This day, namely, the day of coronation, this day I have begotten thee. Well, that’s the Old Testament. Now what about the New? In the New Testament, The title son of God is also diverse. Did you know that in the New Testament.

Adam is called the son of God. If you read the genealogy of Luke. Genealogy of Christ given us in the third chapter of Luke ends with Adam and Adam there is full. the son of God, and we see how that is appropriate, because, as we mentioned above, and how true this is with Adam, there is no origination for Adam apart from God, and therefore Adam is truly son of God. He originates from God. And properly, he was to reflect God’s character. He enjoyed fellowship and intimacy with God. a marvelous intimacy, and he was the appointed heir, the important and the heir of all things, the heir of God himself. Yes, Adam was the son of God.

But we know also that in the New Testament, the title, the imagery, the idea of son of God is applied to the people of them. We think of Roman faith. That great statement there concerning the adoption of the people of God, that they are sons by adoption and have rights and privileges as such. We think of how this is echoed in Galatians chapter four. We think the wonderful description that is now conferred upon us as sons of God. But we realize, you see, that to be sons, we must be adopted. And our adoption is based upon what is true concerning the son, that one who is the fulfillment of everything that was spoken about sons. Fulfillment in perfection of everything that was spoken about the son of God, the sons of God in the Old Testament, so that our focus falls upon Jesus Christ, the son of God.

And here you see, it’s not as if we can lay aside the Old Testament considerations. Even though those considerations in the Old Testament seem to pertain to creatures, to angels, to a nation, Israel, to men of renown, to Israel’s king even.

For you see, in every respect, Jesus Christ will fulfill those dimensions of sonship that were perverted and destroyed and defaced and marred by sons of God formally. Jesus will act as that one who recognizes that he has originated from God in the sense that any of us has originated from God and Jesus will fulfill perfectly that relationship that exists between God and his people and he will fulfill that function, whereby by exaltation he will enter into an inheritance that was promised to the people of God. But even though all of these things are true, and we think of Jesus Christ as Son of God on a very human level, as a creature, even undergoing adoption himself, still with regard to him When we take up the matter of his sonship, all of these things are heightened because in him, consideration of the Son of God explodes before us. We realize that human categories cannot contain him. How unfortunate, then, how unfortunate that the Church of Jesus Christ in the last two centuries could make so much out of humanity of Christ As if concentrating upon those considerations out of the Old Testament and make so little about his big deity, the fact that he is God, the fact that he first category of sonship when they are applied to men for this one is the eternal son.

How can you read Philippians 2, 5 through 11 and not be convinced that Paul sees in this person of Christ, one who proceeds out of heaven as the Son, becoming the servant that he might, by way of exaltation, become the means of salvation for others. He was equal with God. And what is the point of Jesus’ argumentation with the Pharisees in Matthew 22 if it isn’t this? Pharisees have a very human idea of the Christ.

They see him as David’s son, the one who will come by natural generation to sit upon the throne. But Jesus confounds them. with statements out of some 110 concerning the fact that this one who is called David’s son is no less than David’s Lord. He precedes David. He is above David, whose son, then, might he be? David’s son?

No, he says he’s God’s son, and he means that in the most exalted way, not like any other king that has come to Israel. But as one who proceeds truly, completely, wholly from God. In this instance, God’s Son is God. In the case of Jesus, Unlike angels, Israel, men of renown, Israel’s line of kings. In the case of Jesus, God’s son is God.

Fulfilling in us then that sonship which has been perverted, that sonship that has gone awry, in order that we might be called sons of God. Does not John tell you this, concerning your nature? Are not all those who believe in Jesus Christ described in 1 John as begotten of God, born of Him? We originate in Him and from Him, despite who our parents are. Maybe even in spite of who our parents are. We are begotten of God. We originate in and from Him. We reflect His character, and therefore, you see, John is insistent in 1 John. You must love your brother. You have to. There’s no argument. There can be no argument. You must.

You’re begotten of God. What does it mean to be begotten of God? To be begotten of God means to reflect God’s character. A son of God is like God. Does God love? Who wants to debate it? Are you to love? How can you debate it? What about intimacy with God? Relationship?

Doesn’t John in 1 John tell us that the intimacy is such that we know all things? Such is the bond between us and God as God’s sons, that we know all things, because we know all things from the point of origination. We know all things from the point of God. We know everything from above. What about this last matter of function?

Heirs, sons of God as heirs. Do I need to remind you of the greatest verse in the New Testament? There is no greater birth in the New Testament. Starting with verse 716, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, sons of God, and his sons, heirs also. Hear what he says.

Heirs of God and joint heirs. with Jesus Christ, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him.” There it is, the Son of God moving out of the Old Testament into the New, with the focus properly upon Jesus, He fulfilling everything in Sonship that was lacking in us. But even more, he being the eternal Son, who gave up all that he had in heaven to come here to be found in fashion as a man, in order that we might be exalted to the status of sons, declared begotten of God, born again in righteousness, reflecting God’s character, knowing all things because of our intimate bond with God, and now In conclusion, declared to be there with. Now. You see, all described things this way in Romans eight. Because he wants those Romans. To feel like airs now.

Discipline yourself for your own spiritual well-being. You are an heir of God. Do you not feel like one? Do you not think like one? If so, maybe it’s time to ask yourself some very serious questions. Do I belong to God at all? Do I belong to God at all?

Please. If you grab hold of that verse and all that is being said to you this morning concerning sonship, don’t despair, for those words of Paul come as gospel to you and encouragement. Do you understand what I’m saying? If you understand that there is a testimony within your heart that the Spirit is at work in you presently to convince you of that exact thing, namely that you are a son of God, that you are a child of God, don’t walk from that. Give yourself to it.

Don’t walk away from it. If you do, it’s death. There’s no question about it. It’s death. It is hell. It is damnation. But if you are resonating to what is being said this morning concerning sonship, grab hold of it, hold on to it for all you’re worth. It’s life. Eternal life.

And don’t dare let Turn our hearts, our Father. Consideration of sonship drives us to you and your son, Jesus Christ. May our confidence arise from you, your word and what is plain in him. May the glory that we experience at the encouragement of the apostle be full and free. Whatever the cost to ourselves, may we forsake the old life, may we put behind us all of those things that would detract us. Distract us from you. Oh, Father, may there be nothing that gets in our way as we hold fast to this confession. Jesus Christ is the son of God. And this son of God. He’s gone. Father, be pleased to grant all in this room life. And may none of us choose death.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.