WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.080 Turning to God's word together. 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:04.560 We're turning to two readings this morning. 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:09.200 One from Luke chapter one and the other from Luke chapter two. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.400 Luke chapter one and Luke chapter two. 00:00:12.895 --> 00:00:21.295 And in Luke chapter one, we commence to read from verse 26, and we'll read to the end of verse 38. 00:00:21.295 --> 00:00:27.775 So that's Luke chapter one verse 26 through to the end of verse 38. 00:00:27.775 --> 00:00:30.940 Now these verses of course are familiar to you. 00:00:32.220 --> 00:00:48.715 Verse 26 says, in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee named Nazareth to a place or to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary. 00:00:48.715 --> 00:00:53.835 And he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. 00:00:54.400 --> 00:01:00.240 But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:11.435 And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. 00:01:11.915 --> 00:01:26.190 He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. 00:01:26.510 --> 00:01:31.310 And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? 00:01:31.470 --> 00:01:38.645 And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. 00:01:38.885 --> 00:01:44.325 Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 00:01:44.725 --> 00:01:56.650 And behold your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. 00:01:57.050 --> 00:02:04.810 And Mary said, behold I am the servant of the Lord let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her. 00:02:05.485 --> 00:02:09.005 And then if we turn over to Luke chapter two please. 00:02:09.165 --> 00:02:14.685 Luke chapter two we're going to read the first seven verses of Luke chapter two. 00:02:14.685 --> 00:02:22.720 We see the fulfillment of what has already been explained in chapter one here in chapter two we've got this fulfillment. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:30.000 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 00:02:30.595 --> 00:02:40.835 This was the first registration when Quanarius was the governor of Syria and all went to be registered each to his own town. 00:02:41.555 --> 00:02:57.450 And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the lineage of David to be registered with Mary his betrothed who was with child. 00:02:57.610 --> 00:03:12.295 And while they were there the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and led him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:17.070 Amen and we know God will bless His Word to your hearts. 00:03:17.950 --> 00:03:51.000 Now we've started a new series, we started it last Sunday morning exploring the wonder of our salvation and throughout history, the history of the Christian church the doctrine of Christ's deity the fact that Christ is God, fully God has often been attacked and really that shouldn't surprise us if Satan can discredit the full deity the full God being of Christ, then a true understanding of the Savior really becomes impossible. 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:57.320 And Christ who's not fully God cannot of course be a true Savior, can't save anyone. 00:03:57.775 --> 00:04:10.895 Yet in our proper zeal to defend his deity we must never neglect the other side of who Christ is, the fact that he is true and fully human. 00:04:11.430 --> 00:04:18.310 And interestingly the earliest heresies of the church did not really concern, this doubting of Christ being God. 00:04:19.110 --> 00:05:02.925 The great heresies of the early church concerned the manhood of Christ, the humanity of Christ for those shaped by Greek thought the idea that God could truly unite Himself with material human nature was almost unthinkable and the result was the development of a heresy called docetism the Greek word meaning to appear the claim that Jesus only seemed human He looked human He spoke as a human He ate as a human but His humanity was an illusion because he was solely God and the Apostle John was already trying to confront aspects of this error near the end of the New Testament period. 00:05:03.085 --> 00:05:05.725 So we must hold fast to both truths. 00:05:05.805 --> 00:05:46.590 Jesus Christ is fully God and Jesus Christ is fully man and last week we began our series by exploring the wonder of salvation by considering the Saviour who is truly God and this morning where we turn to a Saviour who is truly human, one who fully shares our human nature with a single exception that at the end of the day the exception being sin itself, He was without sin and that's so important to remember and there are three things that I want us to look at as we think of a Savior who is truly human. 00:05:46.830 --> 00:05:57.815 We want to first of all think about His human birth, then secondly we want to think about His human body, and then thirdly we want to think about His human soul. 00:05:57.815 --> 00:06:04.615 And you know when we're exploring this theme, this idea of the wonder of salvation, it always has to begin with Christ. 00:06:04.910 --> 00:06:11.790 That's why we're speaking about Christ's deity and that's why we're speaking about Christ's humanity. 00:06:12.670 --> 00:06:14.750 So these three things are very important. 00:06:14.750 --> 00:06:18.165 So let's first of all think about His human birth. 00:06:18.165 --> 00:06:25.205 His human birth, the reality of the Lord Jesus' human nature is evident in His ordinary birth. 00:06:25.205 --> 00:06:28.965 We read about it there in Luke chapter two verses six and seven. 00:06:28.965 --> 00:06:36.180 It simply records the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. 00:06:37.380 --> 00:06:49.145 And the gospels show him passing through the normal stages of human development as a baby, a child, an adolescent, as a young man and in that case he was like any other child. 00:06:49.145 --> 00:07:07.190 There was nothing outwardly remarkable about the process of the birth itself and yet scripture makes plain that the birth was utterly unique, it was utterly miraculous and although Jesus was born in the usual way He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:09.430 No human father was involved. 00:07:09.990 --> 00:07:22.805 The angel told Mary in Luke chapter one and verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you so the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. 00:07:23.125 --> 00:07:30.770 And then in Matthew's gospel chapter one and verse 18 we read that she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 00:07:31.090 --> 00:07:41.275 And you know we often do speak about the virgin birth and the term is fine and when it's properly understood, strictly speaking however it is a virgin conception. 00:07:41.595 --> 00:07:47.675 Jesus developed over the normal nine months and was born as any human baby is born. 00:07:47.675 --> 00:07:57.880 The miracle lay at the very moment of His human existence the sovereign intervention of God and from that instance there was never a time when He was only human. 00:07:57.960 --> 00:08:00.840 He was both God and man. 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:13.275 And this rules out later heresies that imagined an ordinary man whom God later adopted at baptism or some other point from conception onwards this was the work of God. 00:08:13.275 --> 00:08:15.595 That's what we must keep before us. 00:08:16.475 --> 00:08:44.445 And this virgin conception of course fulfills the prophecy of the Old Testament there in Isaiah chapter seven and verse 14 and whatever debates surround the Hebrew word concerning virgin, the New Testament Greek leaves no doubt Mary was a virgin and here we meet the unique person who is God man essential for our salvation and so shall we see this all drawn out for us in due course. 00:08:44.685 --> 00:08:49.085 Now something unique happened nine months before Bethlehem. 00:08:49.880 --> 00:09:08.735 Yet that miracle in no way diminishes the fact that Jesus was fully man and passed through the ordinary process of birth and growth and from the first moment we see one who is truly man, One who has a human birth and the truth calls us to to wonder and worship. 00:09:09.055 --> 00:09:13.775 The eternal Son of God didn't merely appear amongst us. 00:09:14.095 --> 00:09:33.355 He entered our story at perhaps the most vulnerable point in his life and because He took a human nature from the very first moment we can be sure that He is the complete Savior able to redeem every stage of human life from the womb to the tomb from the womb to the grave. 00:09:33.835 --> 00:09:41.355 It also invites humble faith like Mary's I am the Lord's servant may your word be fulfilled in me. 00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:52.570 And you know when God's purposes seem impossible or costly we too can yield ourselves to Him trusting that nothing is impossible to our God. 00:09:52.970 --> 00:10:07.245 And let the incarnation and that's tree, let the incarnation quieten our doubts and deepen our gratitude that God has come all the way down to us His human birth. 00:10:08.380 --> 00:10:12.300 But then secondly let's think about His human body. 00:10:12.540 --> 00:10:18.060 His human body the Lord Jesus Christ lacked no element of true humanity. 00:10:18.300 --> 00:10:21.295 He was not partly human and partly God. 00:10:21.295 --> 00:10:24.415 He was fully human as well as being fully God. 00:10:24.495 --> 00:10:34.130 Early theologians like the fourth century scholar Gregory of Nausiansus rightly insisted what he has not assumed he has not healed. 00:10:34.290 --> 00:10:53.865 What he has not assumed he has not healed and Gregory's principle asserts that Christ had to fully assume or take on complete the complete human nature to be a savior and whatever aspect of humanity Christ did not take on in the incarnation would remain unhealed and unredeemed. 00:10:53.865 --> 00:11:00.560 In other words if any part of genuine humanity were missing in Jesus He could not fully save us. 00:11:00.560 --> 00:12:04.350 In Christ we see human nature in all its fullness including a physical body just like you and me and He was perfectly man, there was nothing missing other than sin itself and this was especially difficult again for those of influenced by Greek thinking which generally regarded the spiritual as superior and the physical as inferior and the union of deity with a real human body seemed scandalous and seemed unacceptable and yet Scripture is clear Jesus possesses a fully human body and after his birth he came through life with ordinary growth as a normal human being Luke chapter two verse 40 tells us the child grew and became strong he was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him And then if we move on to Luke chapter one verse 52 it says it adds there Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. 00:12:04.350 --> 00:12:07.870 He was not a fully formed adult in a child's body. 00:12:08.315 --> 00:12:12.475 He matured stage by stage just like you and me. 00:12:12.955 --> 00:12:18.235 And because he had a real body he shared the limitations common to every human being. 00:12:18.475 --> 00:12:19.515 He got tired. 00:12:19.755 --> 00:12:20.715 He needed sleep. 00:12:21.050 --> 00:12:27.530 He was asleep of course when the storm blew up in the Sea Of Galilee when He was on the boat with the disciples. 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:37.695 He became hungry and after forty days of fasting, if you remember His body cried out for food and Satan tempted him at the point of weakness. 00:12:37.855 --> 00:12:47.135 In his final suffering the liability of his human body to pain and exhaustion is unmistakable when we think of what happened on the cross beaten and abused. 00:12:47.215 --> 00:12:54.380 He lacked strength to carry his cross beam and that's why Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry it for him. 00:12:54.460 --> 00:12:57.580 Ultimately his body could and did die. 00:12:57.660 --> 00:13:15.655 Death by crucifixion involves shock, asphyxiation, organ failure and when the spear pierced his side, blood and water flowed out confirming the reality of his death, the notion that he merely swooned and was later revived is absolutely impossible. 00:13:16.775 --> 00:13:21.620 At the simplest level, He could be in only one place at one time. 00:13:21.620 --> 00:13:25.300 He endured hunger, thirst, pain, death itself. 00:13:25.380 --> 00:13:27.300 He shared a human body with us. 00:13:27.940 --> 00:13:32.820 And because Jesus had a real body, He understands our physical frailty. 00:13:33.285 --> 00:13:55.590 And when you're exhausted and you're sick and you're hungry or you're in pain or you're facing the approach of death you don't come to a distant deity who pretends to know, you come to a Savior who has felt tiredness in his bones, hunger in his stomach, agony in his dying and bring your bodily weakness to Him without shame. 00:13:55.590 --> 00:14:01.590 He sanctifies ordinary human life whether it's work or rest or meals or aging or suffering. 00:14:02.885 --> 00:14:10.485 Let the truth also guard us against any teaching that despises the body or treats physical needs as unimportant. 00:14:10.485 --> 00:14:15.125 Our bodies matter to God and Christ took one body and He lived in it. 00:14:15.350 --> 00:14:17.110 He died in one body. 00:14:17.110 --> 00:14:22.950 He rose in one body and therefore we must care for our bodies as a gift from God. 00:14:22.950 --> 00:14:31.485 They're given to us as a trust and one day He's gonna raise our bodies in glory, His human body. 00:14:32.525 --> 00:14:36.205 And then thirdly and finally let's think about His human soul. 00:14:36.365 --> 00:14:42.925 His human soul it's equally important that Jesus possesses a human soul like ours. 00:14:43.085 --> 00:14:49.140 Sinless yet human and his divine nature didn't replace a human soul. 00:14:49.300 --> 00:14:59.220 Some early heresies imagined a human body animated only by deity that would leave him less than fully human and unequipped to be our savior. 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:03.195 The Gospels show us both body and soul. 00:15:03.755 --> 00:15:06.715 We see first of all his intellectual life. 00:15:07.035 --> 00:15:12.555 Luke chapter two in verse 52 which we read says that he actually increased in wisdom. 00:15:13.430 --> 00:15:27.835 He had to learn to read to reason to grow from the mind of an infant to that of a child and then to that of an adolescent and as he lay in his manger he didn't grasp the advanced knowledge He developed normally. 00:15:27.995 --> 00:15:32.315 His own brothers and sisters grew up with him and saw an ordinary brother. 00:15:32.715 --> 00:15:42.410 Only after the resurrection did they fully believe that he was the son of God and Hebrews chapter five and verse eight notes that he learned obedience from what he suffered. 00:15:42.410 --> 00:15:54.570 Not that he never resisted obedience but that he came to understand its full meaning as he grew, as he studied the scriptures, he recognized the prophecies that actually applied to him. 00:15:55.365 --> 00:15:58.005 His human mind had real limitations. 00:15:58.005 --> 00:16:03.125 He didn't know the day or the hour of his return and these limitations were never sinful. 00:16:03.125 --> 00:16:06.085 They simply belonged to true perfect humanity. 00:16:06.645 --> 00:16:10.725 And we also see his rich emotional life again without sin. 00:16:11.020 --> 00:16:13.740 He marveled at the centurion's faith. 00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:20.460 At Lazarus' tomb he wept grieving the damage that sin had wrought. 00:16:20.780 --> 00:16:29.775 Repeatedly the Gospels say that he was moved with compassion a vivid word that speaks of deep visceral feelings that twist the very stomach. 00:16:30.895 --> 00:16:36.015 In Gethsemane His soul was troubled, He was in anguish, His sweat like drops of blood. 00:16:36.335 --> 00:16:38.575 The emotional cost of the cross was real. 00:16:39.290 --> 00:16:43.930 He never resisted the Father's will yet trauma was profound. 00:16:44.010 --> 00:16:53.210 Here is a Savior with a fully human emotional life, a perfect human emotional life. 00:16:53.755 --> 00:16:56.715 And then finally, He possessed a true spiritual life. 00:16:57.195 --> 00:17:02.235 In His human nature, He enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Father, unspoilt by any sin. 00:17:02.235 --> 00:17:04.315 He devoted long periods to prayer. 00:17:04.315 --> 00:17:08.635 He knew the Scriptures thoroughly because He had learned them as a boy and stored them in His heart. 00:17:08.760 --> 00:17:12.040 He answered every temptation with the word. 00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:18.840 If you remember when faced with Satan in the wilderness, the word of God has said. 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:34.255 He attended synagogue as was the custom joining God's people in worship together and here's a Savior who is truly human in birth and body and soul like us in every respect yet without sin. 00:17:34.970 --> 00:17:39.290 And because Jesus had a true human soul what does that tell us? 00:17:39.290 --> 00:17:42.810 It tells us that He's able to sympathize with our inner life. 00:17:42.810 --> 00:17:50.250 He knows what it is to learn, to grow, to understand, to feel astonishment, grief, compassion, deep anguish. 00:17:51.075 --> 00:18:06.275 And when your mind is limited your emotions are raw or your spirit feels dry and yet when you feel like that you've got a great high priest who understands and therefore we can come boldly to Him in prayer honestly without pretending. 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:21.155 And let His example also shape our souls making time for prayer storing up the Word of God in our hearts and gathering with God's people for worship even when the church itself is imperfect. 00:18:21.395 --> 00:18:49.090 His perfect fellowship with the Father shows us that what we're really made for and what the restoring of grace can do and because his soul was sinless he can cleanse, he can renew and then bring Him we can come before Him knowing that we can bring our thoughts and our feelings and our spiritual hunger to Him and the knowledge that He can meet us at our point of need, His human soul. 00:18:50.175 --> 00:19:12.500 So to draw this all together our Savior fully human yes and we have seen a Savior with a normal human birth yet miraculously conceived a real human body that new tiredness, hunger, pain, and death, and a human soul with intellectual growth, deep emotion, perfect spiritual fellowship with the Father. 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:22.635 And God willing, next time when we come to look at the Lord Jesus Christ, God willing, we'll consider why it mattered. 00:19:22.715 --> 00:19:27.035 Why it mattered that Jesus is both fully God and fully man. 00:19:27.355 --> 00:19:29.035 Would it make any difference if He were? 00:19:29.190 --> 00:19:30.790 Well the answer is already clear. 00:19:30.790 --> 00:19:32.550 It makes all the difference in the world. 00:19:32.550 --> 00:19:37.350 There's no gospel if our Savior is not fully God and fully fully man. 00:19:37.670 --> 00:19:39.270 And praise him that he is. 00:19:40.390 --> 00:19:45.405 And you know as we close this morning you've heard of a Savior who is truly man. 00:19:45.645 --> 00:19:48.605 One who was born as we are born. 00:19:49.165 --> 00:20:00.810 Who lived in a body like yours who felt weariness, felt hunger, who felt sorrow and the full weight of human experience yet without sin and this is no distant myth friends. 00:20:01.290 --> 00:20:02.970 It's not a mere example. 00:20:04.090 --> 00:20:13.595 This is the living Christ who came all the way into our humanity so that He could stand in your place bear your sin and bring you to God. 00:20:14.235 --> 00:20:15.755 And you can't save yourself. 00:20:16.155 --> 00:20:21.755 Your best efforts, your religion, your morality or your your good intentions are not enough. 00:20:21.755 --> 00:20:30.740 Only a Savior who is fully God and fully man can bridge the gap between a holy God and a sinful people like you and me and He's done it. 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:38.180 He was born, He lived, He suffered, He died, He rose again so that we might be forgiven so that we might be made new. 00:20:39.175 --> 00:20:42.295 And will you perhaps this morning remain indifferent? 00:20:42.295 --> 00:20:48.375 Will you keep him at a distance while your soul this morning remains in danger? 00:20:48.775 --> 00:20:58.820 I urge you to turn to him, admit your need, repent of your sin, trust yourself entirely to this wonderful Savior. 00:20:58.820 --> 00:21:00.020 He understands you. 00:21:00.020 --> 00:21:02.900 He can save you to the uttermost and He's willing. 00:21:04.405 --> 00:21:13.125 And I say to you don't delay come to the Lord Jesus Christ this morning and find in Him the full and perfect salvation your soul requires. 00:21:13.125 --> 00:21:21.210 The Savior who is truly man can draw out your trust your worship and your wholehearted obedience. 00:21:21.530 --> 00:21:27.370 Come to Christ today and He will make all things new. 00:21:27.850 --> 00:21:28.410 Amen.