What Does "Only Begotten Son of God" Really Mean?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, once again, we'll just go right back into where we left off. You know, that's the beauty of teaching through the Bible. I've always said if I had to somehow pick out a subject for every class, that would drive me up the wall, I'm afraid. But in this mode of teaching, all we have to do is just stop, pick right up where we left off, and it really simplifies my part of it anyway to know what to teach next. Now again, for all of those, all of you on television, watching us on television, we like to just welcome you. We are an informal Bible study. We are not underwritten. We're not promoted by any one group. We just teach the book, and we trust regardless of what your denomination will handle or whether you have none, that you'll get interested in the Word of God and study it. And as I've said so often before, you don't have to agree with me on everything. There's room for disagreement, except when it comes to the plan of salvation. That is set in concrete, and no one can change that. I'll never compromise it. Not one iota. We are saved by the work of the cross, plus nothing, and that of course is appropriated by faith. All right, I'm not going to spend any time on announcements in this half hour. Maybe we will again next one, but let's just jump right in where we left off in our last program, and that was in Acts 13, and Paul now and Barnabas have left Antioch. I put a makeshift map on the board. It's not according to scale, and I hope that someone can at least read some of my writing, but of course here's the land of Israel that I have on the board so often, the Sea of Galilee and so forth, Jerusalem. Up here at the curve of the Mediterranean was Antioch. Right up here, I didn't put it on, was a river valley on which we had Tarsus, Saul's home area, and now they have left Antioch. They touched the island of Cyprus, and they've come what I call the underbelly of Asia Minor, or what today we call Turkey. This is the land of Turkey, and in Paul's day of course Ephesus was out here on the west coast as was Sardis, and then inland was Antioch where they have gone to now first, and then Derbe, and we've got Lystra. Up here on the coast would be Troas, and up here along the Black Sea we'll find a little later in this book is the land of Bithynia, where Paul had intended to go and then go on back down through Asia, but instead of course the Holy Spirit led him across to Greece. Now this would be all the cities that will be coming later in the book of Acts. They'll go across from Troas to Philippi to Thessalonica, down to Berea, down to Athens, over to Corinth, and then he'll be going back to Antioch. On another trip he'll come back and retrace all this, and then of course in his prison experience he's going to be leaving Caesarea, which would be right about there. Again they're going to touch Cyprus, they'll have the storm, and they're tossed to and fro, and they finally end up at the little island of Melita, and then he goes up the coast, and finally we'll end up at Rome in the closing part of the book of Acts. But this is the area of the world where Paul of course spent most of his time, and these are the churches that are addressed in his letters, and this of course is where most of them were even in the book of Revelation, those seven churches in Revelation 1-3. So maybe that gives you a little glimpse of about how the geography lays in that Mediterranean area. All right, so now they're up at Antioch of Pisidia, not the Antioch from which they came, but a second one, up there in about the center of Asia Minor. And Paul, like Stephen, as I said before in chapter 7, Paul is going to rehearse the whole history of the Jewish nation, beginning with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And I'm not going to take all that verse by verse, but there's one little tidbit of basic doctrine in this chapter that should solve a lot of confusion, and that is, what does the Scripture mean by the only begotten Son of God? We use the term so glibly, but I think most church members, most Christians think of the only begotten Son of God as His birth at Bethlehem. Nothing could be further from the truth. That is not where Christ became the only begotten Son of God. Not at all. But here we have the explanation of what it really refers to. Acts 13, and you'll come down to, oh, let's just jump in at verse 30, where He has now come all the way through Christ's earthly ministry, crucifixion, and then in verse 30 He says, Now, where does that take you? All the way back to Genesis 12, beginning with Abraham. Those promises were repeated to Isaac. They were repeated to Jacob, and the 12 sons of Jacob carried it on through their sojourn. And then the prophets began, Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and they all spoke of His first coming. All right? In verse 32, reading it again, "...fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that," now watch this, "...in that He raised up Jesus again," that is, from the dead, "...as it is also written in the second Psalm," Psalms chapter 2, "...thou art my Son." Now let's go back and look at that, because a lot of people just don't comprehend that God the Son was so vividly portrayed back here in the Old Testament. Psalms chapter 2, that little chapter that we use as the benchmark of prophecy, or as I've always referred to it as the outline of the Old Testament program. This chapter foretold His rejection and His crucifixion, or at least His death, by Jew and Gentile together. And then you come down to verse 4, "...after they have rejected Him, then God, who sitteth in the heavens, shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them," that is, the Jew and the Gentile nations, "...in derision." Verse 5, "...then," see these are all time words, one thing right after another, "...then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and in His vexation," or He'll vex them, "...in His sore displeasure." Verse 6, then comes the next part of the outline, "...yet have I set my King upon the holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree," now here it comes, this is what Paul is quoting, "...I will declare the decree, The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son." And that word, Son, is capitalized, so it's a reference to God the Son, to the Lord Jesus. "...Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Now lock that in, "...this day have I begotten thee." That's what God the Father says. All right, now come back to Acts and we'll get the definition. What's He talking about? Well, He's not talking about Bethlehem, He's talking about something far different. Acts 13 again, now look at verse 34, "...and as concerning that," now we have to read carefully or you'll miss it, "...as concerning that, that Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, He raised Him up from the dead." You see that? Now, "...no more to return to corruption, He said unto this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David." I'll read that again, because this is not just something that you'll see by glancing through it. "...Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, and as concerning that," now what does the that modify? "...Thou art my only begotten Son." See that? And so concerning that, He raised Him from the dead. Now turn to Romans chapter 1, and I think Paul just sort of puts the cap on it, that there is no doubt that the scriptural account of the only begotten Son of God is the resurrection. When He rose from the dead, He became the only begotten Son of God, in power, as Paul says here in Romans. Starting at verse 1, "...Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore," or before, "...by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh," and remember Mary was of the seed of David, as was Joseph. Now verse 4, "...and declared to be the Son of God," how? By power, "...according to the Spirit of holiness," by what? The resurrection from the dead. Now you see that? Now that's as plain as I can make it. It was the power of God that raised Him from the dead, that declares Him then to be the only begotten Son of God. See now, this is why the resurrection stands at the heart of the gospel. I don't know how many people I've had approach me over the last 25 years, well I've got a pastor or I've got a Sunday school teacher who believes that Christ died. They believe that somehow He's the Savior of the world, but the way they put it, they have a problem with His resurrection. And I say, then I have a problem with understanding that they're even saved, because if you haven't got the power of the resurrection as the basis of your salvation, you have none, because it all rests on that, that God raised Him from the dead. You remember back when we were in the Gospels, I think, I pointed out, when they confronted Peter at the time of Christ's arrest, what happened to Peter? He collapsed, didn't he? I mean, his whole facade just simply melded away from him, and he cursed and he denied that he ever knew Him, and he ran scared and so did the others. But after the resurrection, was Peter afraid of anybody? Nobody. He wasn't afraid of Rome, he wasn't afraid of the Jews, he wasn't afraid of anybody. Why? Because he had now witnessed the power of resurrection. And that has to be the bedrock of our Gospel. It's not enough to believe that Jesus was a good man. It's not enough to believe that He died a crucifixion. We've got to take it to the whole fruition of the Gospel, and that is, He was raised from the dead, victorious over sin, over hell, over death, over everything, see. And as we get into the Book of Romans in the next few weeks, we're going to see that this is what Paul trumpets to the world, that we are what we are because not only did Christ die, but He rose victorious over our archenemy, and He was able then to break the bonds and the shackles of sin. All right, now let's go on then in Acts chapter 13, and I want to keep moving on quickly or I'll never do what I intended to do, and that is finish the book in these four programs. So as he continues on then to these Jews in the synagogue of Antioch and Pisidia, you come down to verse 43, and now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and the religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the what? The grace of God. Not in the law of Moses, but to continue in the grace of God. Then verse 44, and the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city to hear the Word of God. Now remember, we're still in that transitional phase, and so Paul will do a lot of things that we can't comprehend, because he too is going to still be bending to the Jew, but realizing that he is the apostle of the Gentile. And so when you ever see these things that seem like it's more Jewish, well just recognize that Paul is still going to the Jew first, during the first part of his ministry. And then when Israel continues to reject, he'll finally just turn almost completely to the Gentile. So remember that whenever you run into these things that are seemingly still part of Peter's preaching and teaching, and Paul is seemingly in line with, it's just because he's still dealing transitionally with Judaism, but it's coming out of that into what we would call the Age of Grace. All right, then verse 46, no let's read 45. But when the Jews, the unbelieving Jews, saw the multitudes, that is of Gentiles, they were filled with what? Envy. And they speak against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. All right, now again let's go back to Romans 11, where we were in our last program for just a second. Unfortunately, it didn't always remain that way. Unfortunately, it wasn't long after Christianity began to permeate the Roman Empire, that instead of causing the Jew to envy, it caused the Jew to hate him. Why? Because Christianity began to hate the Jew, because they were accusing them now of being the Christ killers, and to get rid of the Jew was doing a God a service. Well, if you were a Jew, how would you feel? The same way they began to hate anything connected with Christianity. But in the early days, as Paul and Barnabas are witnessing to these Gentiles, and Gentiles are being saved, and they still have a love for the Jew, the Jews were filled with envy. And that's what God wanted. Now look at Romans 11. Oh, let's see. Let's start at verse 7, the one we read last program. Let's just come on down, pick up the flow. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for. But the election, those that did believe, they obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. See, it hasn't changed, even today. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them. Verse 10, Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always. Now this is speaking of the nation of Israel, not the individual Jew, but the nation. You remember over the years now I've taught, you have to realize that God deals with the Jew on two different levels, nationally and individually. Never lose sight of that, all right? Now verse 11, I say then, the Apostle Paul writes to the Gentile church at Rome, I say then, have they, the nation of Israel, have they stumbled that they should fall? In other words, that God would just kick them out of His sight? What's the answer? Well, God forbid, banish the thought. But rather, through their fall, oh, get this, Israel had every opportunity to have the king and the kingdom and their Messiah and redemption, but they rejected it. And so through that fall, as a result of rejection, through their fall, salvation has now come to what people? We Gentiles, no, us, to us Gentiles, now I've got to stop and think of my English. Now salvation has come to us Gentiles, and never lose sight of that. Why did God open the windows of grace to us Gentiles? Because Israel rejected it, and they fell from that place of preeminence, of being the covenant favored nation. And now salvation has come to the Gentiles, now don't lose me, for to provoke them, the Jew, to what? What's the difference between jealousy and envy? Nothing. So it was working. It was working. All right, now come back to Acts chapter 13. And so as the Gentiles now are hungry for the Word, and Paul and Barnabas are laying out the gospel that Christ died for them and rose from the dead, and the Jews are seeing all of this happen amongst the Gentiles, and they became envious. Verse 46 of Acts 13 now, then, see, after they showed their envy and their blasphemy, then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary, had to be, that the Word of God should have first been spoken to you, but seeing you put it, what? From you. Oh, you know, this is what scares me about our beloved America. In a lot of ways you can make the comparison between Israel when she was still under God's leadership, when they were still the covenant people, and America today. I can't help but draw that analogy. And it's the same thing with us. America has had so much opportunity to have the truth of the Word of God, but what are they doing with it? They're throwing it out. They're rejecting it. Some people have sent me some material from their own denominational headquarters, from some of these liberal people. And it's enough to make you vomit of what these people are putting out. I told one fellow the other night, I've seen more pornographic language in some of this material coming from these denominational headquarters than I've ever had in my house. Language that is filth, promoting it throughout their huge denominations. God's not going to stand for it unless we have a tremendous turning back to the truth of this Book. We're doomed. I hate to say it, but we are. We're doomed. I don't care how much the planners can work. I don't care how much the politicians can labor. We're doomed if America does not wake up because God is not going to stand for it. And so here again, Paul says, seeing you put it from you in unbelief of everlasting life, now Paul says, we'll turn to the Gentile. Just that simple. We turn to the Gentile. Verse 47, for so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee. See now, we've looked at all these verses when we were coming up through the Old Testament. How Israel was to have been a light to the Gentiles. Israel's Messiah would not have it unless they would believe, and they rejected it. And so now Paul is rehearsing all this. That thou shouldst be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation to the ends of the earth. See, that was Israel's role, but they rejected it. Verse 48, and when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life. Swallow that today. My, I was just talking to someone again last night where they had just heard a sermon the last Lord's Day. Do this, and do this, and do this, and do this, and then hope you're saved. And listen, that's not what this book teaches. This book teaches, believe that Christ has done it all. As I've told a couple over the phone just this last week, just simply believe that when Christ finished the work of the cross, when He rose victorious over the grave and over death, there's nothing more we can do. We had an interesting question come up in our Tahlequah class, and I'm always so thankful for these questions, and it ended up in just a super, super evening of discussion. And the gentleman's question was, I hope I've got time enough, is it still necessary to beg the Lord for forgiveness? Joe was there. No. Is it necessary? I had another call from Tennessee. Do I have to pray the sinner's prayer to be saved? God be merciful to me, a sinner? No. Oh, this is going to fly. For mercy. If you still have to beg for forgiveness, then this book is a lie, because this book says all the mercy of God was poured out on that cross. God has already forgiven every human being all his sin. It was paid for in full. And He doesn't expect someone to beg to be forgiven. He says you are forgiven. Believe it. The other word he used in 2 Corinthians 5 is what? Reconciled. The world has already been reconciled to God. And I had to tell the class Monday night, it was a week ago, and all the way home there was a verse that was plaguing me now since I've sidetracked or chased rabbits, as I told the class last night. I like to do that. Come back with me to Hebrews, because I can't bring up a subject and then let you dangle on it. Hebrews chapter 2. When I got home that Monday night, that verse had been plaguing me, and I had to quick go find it. I couldn't put my finger on it. For every human being from Adam to the end of time, every sin has been already paid for. And that's why the only thing God now asks is, believe it. Believe it. See? All right? Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should taste what? Death. For how many? For every man. Now let me tell you something. Do you know what's going to make the eternal doom of the wicked so awful? It's not the heat of the flames. It's not the appetites unsatisfying. It's going to be an eternity of regret. I didn't have to be here. This was all paid for, and I rejected it. And now listen, there's nothing worse than regret. I've made a couple bad business deals down through the years, and I know what regret can be over something so mundane, and I'm sure everyone has. But listen, to spend an eternity in torment and then regretting constantly, there was no need for me to be here. It was all paid for, and I walked it underfoot. See this is what the world is doing today. They are walking underfoot. I gave a good little illustration last night, and I haven't got time on this program, but it made the point. What it is to reject a pardon. Do you understand that? What it is to reject a pardon. And see that's what lost man and woman, boys and girls are all doing when they reject God's offer of salvation. They're rejecting a pardon. Now you know what a pardon is? A pardon is a decree that sets you right back as if you had never broken the law in the first place. It is complete wiping the slate clean. That's a pardon, and that's what God has done for us. Everything has been paid for in full, and they're going to realize it when they get out into their eternal doom. They're going to know when they come up before the great white throne there isn't a single person that will ever say, well I never knew. Amen. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.