WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:04.480 Now in our Bibles we're turning to Hebrews chapter 12... 00:00:04.560 --> 00:00:11.440 Or chapter two please, Hebrews chapter two, and we're gonna take time to read the whole chapter. 00:00:11.920 --> 00:00:14.880 So Hebrews chapter two, reading the whole chapter. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:15.840 This is God's word. 00:00:16.215 --> 00:00:22.935 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it. 00:00:23.255 --> 00:00:33.030 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. 00:00:33.270 --> 00:00:36.790 How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? 00:00:37.110 --> 00:00:54.015 It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 00:00:54.815 --> 00:01:00.750 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking. 00:01:01.310 --> 00:01:04.270 It has been testified somewhere. 00:01:04.830 --> 00:01:10.190 What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him? 00:01:10.430 --> 00:01:13.550 You made him for a little while lower than the angels. 00:01:13.805 --> 00:01:19.965 You have crowned him with glory and honor putting everything in subjection under his feet. 00:01:20.765 --> 00:01:25.645 Now in putting everything in subjection to him he left nothing outside his control. 00:01:26.190 --> 00:01:47.185 At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him, but we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 00:01:48.465 --> 00:01:59.990 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, and bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 00:02:00.390 --> 00:02:05.590 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all of one source. 00:02:06.230 --> 00:02:24.725 That's why he is not ashamed to call them brothers saying, I tell you of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise and again I will put my trust in him and again behold I and the children God has given me. 00:02:25.220 --> 00:02:45.875 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 00:02:46.355 --> 00:02:52.435 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 00:02:53.080 --> 00:03:05.880 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 00:03:06.635 --> 00:03:13.355 For because He Himself has suffered when tempted He is able to help those who are being tempted. 00:03:13.355 --> 00:03:16.235 May God bless His Word to our hearts. 00:03:16.635 --> 00:03:27.850 You know when people hear about discussions in relation to doctrine sometimes there's a reaction, negative reaction and people say, well, what does it really matter? 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:31.530 Some would go further and insist that doesn't matter at all. 00:03:31.690 --> 00:03:49.285 And they argue that Christianity is mainly about how we live and that probing theology especially doctrines that divide is unhelpful, is cold or merely intellectual and doctrine they say hinders Christian living and it hinders gospel witness. 00:03:50.040 --> 00:03:55.880 And how wrong our view is what we believe really does grow into how we actually live. 00:03:55.880 --> 00:04:00.920 Belief is the root and Christian living as the plant and Christian living as the fruit. 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:14.075 And if we're not well rooted in truth, our growth of course is hindered, it's not helped, and we can't clearly communicate a plan of salvation, we don't really understand ourselves. 00:04:14.395 --> 00:04:20.960 Teachers who lack a clear grasp leave their hears more confused than before. 00:04:21.200 --> 00:04:23.200 And the same is true in evangelism. 00:04:23.200 --> 00:04:26.640 Unclear doctrine produces unclear witness. 00:04:27.200 --> 00:04:30.080 And for the Christian then doctrine really does matter. 00:04:30.080 --> 00:04:37.905 Doctrine is not something that's secondary and this is especially true when it comes to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:38.225 --> 00:04:58.410 We need a clear biblical understanding of who he is and what he has done and we have over previous Lord's Day, days been considering the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and this morning we ask why is it essential that He is both true God and true man. 00:04:58.410 --> 00:05:05.205 Two natures and one person and some might think that's abstract, that's really remote to my daily living. 00:05:05.605 --> 00:05:09.685 Well in reality it's everything to do with your daily living. 00:05:09.685 --> 00:05:14.245 It's everything to do with your Christian living and with salvation itself. 00:05:14.570 --> 00:05:22.570 Were Christ not true God and true man, there would be no salvation, there would be no gospel, only the God man can save. 00:05:22.570 --> 00:05:25.530 Who else would be sufficed for it? 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:30.585 No one, only the God man, only Jesus Christ can save. 00:05:30.905 --> 00:05:34.185 And that's why the title of my sermon is Jesus only saves. 00:05:34.585 --> 00:05:58.245 And to explore this fact that Jesus only saves and the essential fact that He is both God and man there are two questions that I want to ask as the very basis of my message this morning and the two questions are these, why did He have to be man And then secondly why did He have to be God? 00:05:58.405 --> 00:06:06.085 So those are the two major headings that we're going to take, the two major questions that we're going to consider as we think of Jesus. 00:06:06.405 --> 00:06:08.565 Jesus only saves. 00:06:08.565 --> 00:06:10.565 Jesus alone saves. 00:06:12.110 --> 00:06:16.270 So let's look at this question, why did He have to be a man? 00:06:16.270 --> 00:06:17.470 Why did He have to be a man? 00:06:17.470 --> 00:06:28.815 Well there are a number of reasons why He had to be a man and the more we consider Christ's work the clearer it becomes that He had to be fully human to be our Savior. 00:06:28.975 --> 00:06:34.175 And we can only mention six reasons and each of these is vital. 00:06:34.175 --> 00:06:39.040 They're full of encouragement but we only have time to look at six but there are many more that we could look at. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:44.640 Theologians have written a 100 reasons why Christ needs to be man. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:50.720 So first of all, He had to be man to obey in our place. 00:06:51.125 --> 00:06:53.605 He had to be man to obey in our place. 00:06:53.685 --> 00:06:57.765 In the covenant of grace, Jesus of course represents His people. 00:06:58.005 --> 00:07:01.605 What He has done is counted as done on their behalf. 00:07:01.605 --> 00:07:03.285 He obeyed in our place. 00:07:03.650 --> 00:07:13.010 If you remember Adam in the Garden of Eden, he was our representative in the covenant of works and his disobedience plunged the whole human race into sin. 00:07:13.090 --> 00:07:18.885 And we are sinners by nature and by practice because our first representative failed. 00:07:18.885 --> 00:07:26.405 In contrast, the Lord Jesus Christ represents all who trust in Him and renders perfect obedience in their place. 00:07:26.725 --> 00:07:29.605 The obedience that we can never give. 00:07:30.085 --> 00:07:37.970 And even as Christians, our best efforts are really poor and Christ has abated perfectly for us and what a contrast. 00:07:37.970 --> 00:07:48.975 Adam representing us plunging the human race into sin and Christ representing His people and leading them into salvation and His kingdom. 00:07:49.375 --> 00:07:54.975 And Adam was tested if you remember in the garden and the field that set out for us in Genesis three. 00:07:55.295 --> 00:08:02.780 And Christ was tested in the wilderness and He stood firm even in the face of the enemy. 00:08:02.780 --> 00:08:07.660 He didn't flee as we read about in Luke chapter four last week. 00:08:07.900 --> 00:08:10.780 And the representative principle works both ways. 00:08:10.780 --> 00:08:13.260 Adam's failure brings condemnation. 00:08:13.685 --> 00:08:16.245 Christ's obedience brings blessing. 00:08:16.245 --> 00:08:25.125 And that's why Paul writes in Romans chapter five in verse 19, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 00:08:25.125 --> 00:08:26.965 And that's the heart of salvation. 00:08:27.125 --> 00:08:32.140 Human obedience was needed and Christ provided that human obedience. 00:08:32.140 --> 00:08:34.780 He obeyed in our place. 00:08:35.660 --> 00:08:41.020 And second, he had to be a man to be a substitute sacrifice. 00:08:42.275 --> 00:08:46.355 Taking our place meant becoming a sacrifice for our sins. 00:08:46.355 --> 00:08:49.155 To be saved we need someone to pay the price. 00:08:49.395 --> 00:08:53.555 We need someone to redeem us, someone to make atonement for us. 00:08:53.555 --> 00:09:03.990 And our sins against God are so grieved that they require of course the death of the Lord Jesus himself in the place of his people. 00:09:04.150 --> 00:09:09.430 And at the heart of his obedience is obedience that really took him all the way to the cross. 00:09:10.015 --> 00:09:11.295 And he had to be man. 00:09:11.295 --> 00:09:16.655 Only a man could atone for man's sins and the Savior had to share our nature. 00:09:16.895 --> 00:09:21.215 That's why we read Hebrews chapter two verse 17 if you remember. 00:09:21.295 --> 00:09:31.570 And we mentioned this last week, it says there that He had to be made like His brothers and sisters in every way in order to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 00:09:32.290 --> 00:09:35.970 And only by sharing our nature could He deal with our sins. 00:09:35.970 --> 00:09:38.530 Our substitute must be fully human. 00:09:39.195 --> 00:09:49.435 And Hebrews stresses that the animal sacrifices of previous centuries could never take that away, could never take sin away. 00:09:49.675 --> 00:09:53.275 And it required the death of one who shared our very nature. 00:09:53.275 --> 00:09:56.550 He was our substitute sacrifice. 00:09:56.550 --> 00:09:57.830 That's the second reason. 00:09:58.230 --> 00:10:03.830 And then the third reason he had to be a man was to be the mediator between God and man. 00:10:04.070 --> 00:10:11.185 And the mediator who stands between sinners and a holy God must share our human nature to bring God and man together. 00:10:11.185 --> 00:10:15.905 He must also share the nature of God, and we're gonna look at that a little bit later. 00:10:16.305 --> 00:10:25.920 But Paul writes in first Timothy chapter two and verse five, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. 00:10:26.160 --> 00:10:29.520 And he had to be a man to represent us. 00:10:29.520 --> 00:10:32.960 All these reasons revolve around representation. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:36.720 What he did, he did in our behalf for our benefit. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.920 There was obedience, there was sacrifice, there was mediation. 00:10:40.615 --> 00:10:44.295 He the only mediator between God and man. 00:10:44.695 --> 00:10:47.255 He died for us and He was man. 00:10:47.975 --> 00:10:52.855 But then the fourth reason He had to be man was to rule over creation. 00:10:53.790 --> 00:10:57.230 And this appears in our reading in Hebrews chapter two. 00:10:57.470 --> 00:11:03.150 Adam with Eve was given the task of ruling creation and exercising godly dominion. 00:11:03.150 --> 00:11:05.550 We read that in Genesis chapter one, They had failed. 00:11:05.915 --> 00:11:10.395 And human beings still do not exercise dominion as they should. 00:11:10.395 --> 00:11:17.435 Everything of course is twisted and corrupted by sin and yet we have one fully qualified to reign. 00:11:17.675 --> 00:11:28.170 And the writer to the Hebrews in chapter two here quotes from Psalm eight and shows that while the human race fails Christ succeeds. 00:11:28.570 --> 00:11:46.145 Because we read in verse nine of Hebrews chapter two we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death and because He suffered and died for sinners and rose again the God man He reigns over all things. 00:11:46.705 --> 00:11:49.910 After His resurrection Jesus declared Did He not? 00:11:49.910 --> 00:11:56.550 In Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 00:11:57.510 --> 00:12:04.795 And then Paul writes that God placed all things under Jesus' feet and appointed Him head over all things. 00:12:04.795 --> 00:12:07.355 We're told that in Ephesians chapter one. 00:12:07.515 --> 00:12:14.875 And Christ exercises the dominion that Adam failed to exercise and that we fail to exercise. 00:12:15.430 --> 00:12:17.110 Jesus is King. 00:12:17.190 --> 00:12:26.550 In Him we already begin to reign and we look forward to the day when He returns in glory and we will reign with Him forever in the new heaven and the new earth. 00:12:26.790 --> 00:12:28.870 And that's the prospect for every Christian. 00:12:29.255 --> 00:12:32.935 He had to be man to do what Adam failed to do. 00:12:33.575 --> 00:12:36.295 Who failed to rule over creation. 00:12:36.695 --> 00:12:41.095 And the fifth reason why he had to be man was the pattern for our living. 00:12:41.790 --> 00:12:45.470 Some reduce Jesus to a mere moral example. 00:12:45.470 --> 00:12:51.950 He was a great teacher and they say the world would be better if everyone were to follow Him and follow His example. 00:12:52.670 --> 00:12:56.110 But we mustn't lose sight of the fact that He was more than a teacher. 00:12:56.595 --> 00:12:58.435 He was more than a moralist. 00:12:58.515 --> 00:12:59.875 He's the savior of the world. 00:12:59.875 --> 00:13:05.635 He's the reigning Lord yet a savior He is also the true pattern for human living. 00:13:06.115 --> 00:13:09.635 And you know what it means to live a fully human life? 00:13:09.635 --> 00:13:10.675 Do we really know that? 00:13:11.760 --> 00:13:18.640 Well to see a fully lived perfect human life is to look at none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 00:13:18.640 --> 00:13:24.560 His life was marked by joyful obedience to His Father's will and He delighted to do God's will. 00:13:24.845 --> 00:13:28.125 And if we belong to Christ we are to imitate him. 00:13:28.605 --> 00:13:38.400 That's why John wrote in his first epistle in chapter two in verse six, whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:41.520 And that's a powerful description of the Christian life. 00:13:41.520 --> 00:13:45.920 Walking as Jesus walked and of course some things were unique to him. 00:13:45.920 --> 00:13:54.455 We're not called to die on the cross and make that atoning sacrifice but he sets that moral pattern for godly living. 00:13:54.695 --> 00:14:01.975 And God has not only given commandments, He has provided one who lived them out perfectly in the details of life. 00:14:02.295 --> 00:14:09.890 And Paul writes in two Corinthians three eighteen, We are being transformed into His likeness. 00:14:09.970 --> 00:14:12.370 And what does the Christian really look like? 00:14:12.370 --> 00:14:29.845 Well, at our midweek meeting we have been thinking about the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians chapter five verses twenty two and twenty three and that describes the fruit of the Spirit, that describes a Christian love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. 00:14:30.710 --> 00:14:33.350 And who's described there in fullness? 00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:38.790 Well we've always started off looking at each fruit by saying Christ is the example. 00:14:38.790 --> 00:14:40.550 He's the fullness of this fruit. 00:14:40.550 --> 00:14:42.790 He exemplifies the fruit of the Spirit. 00:14:42.790 --> 00:14:51.525 We bear that fruit insofar as we become like Him and if we want to know what godliness and holiness is like we look to Jesus. 00:14:52.005 --> 00:14:54.725 Fully man He is the pattern for our living. 00:14:55.870 --> 00:15:01.790 And the sixth and final reason He had to be fully man was to be a sympathetic high priest. 00:15:02.110 --> 00:15:09.470 And of course reference to Him being a sympathetic high priest is set out for us in Hebrews chapter two and Hebrews chapter four. 00:15:09.795 --> 00:15:13.795 We have a Savior in heaven who knows what it is to be human. 00:15:13.955 --> 00:15:26.810 He still has a human body, now glorified, that endured temptation He knows human life from the inside, He passed through childhood and youth and manhood, He understands our struggles. 00:15:26.810 --> 00:15:28.410 He understands our battles. 00:15:28.650 --> 00:15:32.810 At every point it was essential that the Savior be fully man. 00:15:33.370 --> 00:15:37.210 And we must allow no compromise on the humanity of Christ. 00:15:37.210 --> 00:15:37.770 It's vital. 00:15:38.475 --> 00:15:41.755 If he is not fully man there is no gospel. 00:15:41.835 --> 00:15:43.835 There is no salvation. 00:15:44.315 --> 00:15:50.555 And why did he have to be made man for the six reasons that I have just outlined. 00:15:51.590 --> 00:15:53.990 Six reasons but there are many more. 00:15:54.310 --> 00:16:00.230 But that leads us to address this second question, why did he have to be God? 00:16:00.710 --> 00:16:02.150 Why did he have to be God? 00:16:03.715 --> 00:16:07.555 It's not enough to say that he's a perfect man. 00:16:07.955 --> 00:16:11.635 We have to take it a stage further, why must he also be God? 00:16:11.635 --> 00:16:20.890 And again, there are many reasons, but I've taken three reasons this morning, three important and special reasons why he had to be God. 00:16:21.530 --> 00:16:25.850 And the first is this, He had to be God because we need a divine Savior. 00:16:25.930 --> 00:16:28.810 He had to be God because we need a divine Savior. 00:16:28.810 --> 00:16:34.570 We need a Savior who is fully human yet we need a Savior who is fully a divine Savior. 00:16:35.635 --> 00:16:40.995 Wherever we look in Scripture, salvation is the work of God. 00:16:40.995 --> 00:16:44.355 No human being can save himself from the beginning. 00:16:44.755 --> 00:16:46.435 Deliverance is from God. 00:16:46.435 --> 00:16:48.995 That's why we've got the great examples of the Old Testament. 00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:52.060 Go to the Exodus, you've got a picture of salvation. 00:16:52.220 --> 00:16:54.380 God led His people out of bondage. 00:16:54.380 --> 00:16:56.780 Israel did not save itself. 00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:58.220 God delivered them. 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:03.180 And that pattern runs through the Scriptures and it reaches its climax in Christ. 00:17:03.595 --> 00:17:13.275 And Jonah learned in the belly of the wheel did he not exclaim, 'Salvation belongs to the Lord.' And that's always true when we consider what salvation involves. 00:17:13.595 --> 00:17:16.235 Who but God could ever accomplish that salvation? 00:17:16.830 --> 00:17:18.590 We're all sinners ourselves. 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:20.670 We can't save anyone else. 00:17:20.910 --> 00:17:23.070 I can't contribute to your salvation. 00:17:23.070 --> 00:17:24.750 I need to be saved myself. 00:17:24.750 --> 00:17:28.430 And a mere mortal cannot deal with the sins of others. 00:17:28.430 --> 00:17:38.995 Only God could save the vast multitude of those who were to be redeemed and Scripture says that when the whole church is gathered only God will be able to number them. 00:17:39.795 --> 00:17:42.995 Who but God can make the dead alive? 00:17:44.060 --> 00:17:52.300 Who but God can come to those dead in sins, in hopelessness, in powerlessness and make them alive? 00:17:53.100 --> 00:17:54.860 God alone regenerates. 00:17:55.180 --> 00:17:59.625 Remember Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again or better. 00:17:59.625 --> 00:18:01.465 You must be born from above. 00:18:02.505 --> 00:18:04.345 And God must save. 00:18:04.425 --> 00:18:06.665 We have got to be born from above. 00:18:06.665 --> 00:18:08.105 It's got to come from God. 00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:17.250 And that was the picture given in Ezekiel chapter seven if you remember in Ezekiel's Valley of Dry Bones it teaches the same lesson. 00:18:17.250 --> 00:18:20.210 Only God could perform that miracle. 00:18:20.210 --> 00:18:21.490 No mere man could. 00:18:21.490 --> 00:18:26.485 It's a picture of God giving life to those dead and sinned and only God can save. 00:18:26.565 --> 00:18:35.685 And we find that divine Savior, the divine Savior alone is Jesus Christ, the God man and we need a divine Savior. 00:18:35.685 --> 00:18:37.845 That's why He must be God. 00:18:39.570 --> 00:18:45.010 But then second He had to be God because there's an infinite penalty to pay. 00:18:45.330 --> 00:18:48.690 There's an infinite penalty to pay. 00:18:49.250 --> 00:18:52.895 And this is tied of course to the greatness of salvation. 00:18:52.895 --> 00:18:54.575 Think of what our sins deserve. 00:18:54.975 --> 00:18:58.815 Our sins deserve nothing but the eternal wrath of God. 00:18:59.295 --> 00:19:02.255 And that's the penalty due to each and every sinner. 00:19:02.255 --> 00:19:07.860 Our sins against the Holy God are so grieve that His wrath is infinite. 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:14.100 In other words we could never pay it even through eternity under judgement. 00:19:14.420 --> 00:19:18.740 If we are to be saved God Himself must intervene. 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:21.300 Many protest, Well I haven't done the worst of things. 00:19:21.925 --> 00:19:24.085 I'm not like such and such a person. 00:19:24.805 --> 00:19:32.005 And yet the darkest sin is to live without regard for God who made us and to whom we are answerable. 00:19:32.005 --> 00:19:33.685 That's the darkest sin of all. 00:19:34.325 --> 00:19:39.630 And want to live for self instead of God and by nature we're children of wrath. 00:19:39.630 --> 00:19:43.710 That's what Paul emphasizes very clearly in Ephesians chapter two. 00:19:44.030 --> 00:19:46.350 Eternal punishment hangs over us. 00:19:46.510 --> 00:19:53.135 Only a Saviour who is fully God could bear the weight of God's wrath against the sins of a vast multitude. 00:19:53.535 --> 00:20:07.270 And Paul writing in second Corinthians chapter five and verse 21 says, For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that at Him we might be made the righteousness of God. 00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:10.950 Who but a divine Savior could bear that weight? 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:13.830 His own wrath as the Son of God. 00:20:14.070 --> 00:20:19.925 A mere human would have been crushed and Christ bore it because He is fully God. 00:20:19.925 --> 00:20:23.525 His deity gives infinite value to His sacrifice. 00:20:23.525 --> 00:20:33.180 He needed to be a human to make the sacrifice but He needed to be God so that that sacrifice would be sufficient to save His people. 00:20:33.980 --> 00:20:40.380 In Isaiah chapter 53 and verse six it declares, The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 00:20:41.020 --> 00:20:48.335 Who but the Son of God made flesh could bear the iniquity of all who would be saved. 00:20:48.335 --> 00:20:55.055 There's an infinite penalty for your sins and mine and only a divine Savior can pay that. 00:20:55.935 --> 00:21:00.815 And then thirdly, He had to be God because we need a suitable mediator. 00:21:01.570 --> 00:21:03.490 We need a suitable mediator. 00:21:04.050 --> 00:21:12.290 We've already quoted first Timothy chapter two in verse five, there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. 00:21:12.690 --> 00:21:17.575 And he must be man to belong to our side and he must also be God. 00:21:17.575 --> 00:21:22.775 He represents both God and man and brings us together in salvation. 00:21:23.175 --> 00:21:29.575 And no mere human mediator can fill the space between God and man or be that agent of our salvation. 00:21:29.575 --> 00:21:44.580 We only need and we have only need of one who is both God and man, and God and His love has given Him even before the very foundation of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly that one and He has done that work. 00:21:45.025 --> 00:21:49.665 First Peter chapter three and verse 18 speaks of Christ brings us to God. 00:21:49.665 --> 00:21:51.665 God the Son deals with our sin. 00:21:51.665 --> 00:21:54.945 The infinite penalty is paid and we're reconciled to God. 00:21:54.945 --> 00:22:03.700 And what a wonderful mediator and savior we have fully equipped to save us from sin, to give us eternal life, and to redeem us. 00:22:04.100 --> 00:22:11.140 And the more we understand Christ as God and man, the richer our grasp of salvation becomes. 00:22:11.975 --> 00:22:29.200 It should comfort us and fill us with thanksgiving that God would do this for sinners like you and me, that the God, the Son of God would take on human nature and the union with Himself, suffer and die and rise again so that we might be saved. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:35.040 And we will marvel at it throughout eternity, and we will never exhaust the wonder of it. 00:22:35.520 --> 00:22:37.680 Only the God man can see it. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.480 He had to be God and He had to be man. 00:22:41.015 --> 00:22:45.575 And praise the Lord He is the perfect Savior and the perfect salvation. 00:22:45.975 --> 00:22:49.175 And I say to you, make sure you're trusting in Him. 00:22:49.495 --> 00:22:56.295 He's able to see if any sinner who comes whatever the sin or burden of guilt, only the God man can see it. 00:22:56.810 --> 00:23:08.090 The Lord Jesus Christ is the God man and only He can save and we need a suitable mediator and the Lord Jesus Christ is that mediator. 00:23:08.410 --> 00:23:09.450 So what have we learned? 00:23:10.275 --> 00:23:12.595 Doctrine is not cold. 00:23:12.915 --> 00:23:15.475 It's not distractive from Christian living. 00:23:15.555 --> 00:23:25.635 It's the very root of living and the very witness, the very basis for our witness about Christ and growing for Christ. 00:23:26.330 --> 00:23:28.970 At the center stands the person of Christ. 00:23:28.970 --> 00:23:34.570 He had to be fully God to obey in order to die for us. 00:23:34.570 --> 00:23:36.170 He had to take our place. 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:39.850 He had to die as our substitute sacrifice. 00:23:40.355 --> 00:23:43.155 He had to mediate between God and humanity. 00:23:43.155 --> 00:23:46.115 He had to reign over creation as the last Adam. 00:23:46.115 --> 00:23:52.515 He had to set the pattern for holy living and he had to be that sympathetic Savior who knows our freedom. 00:23:53.620 --> 00:24:18.775 And He had to be fully God because salvation is always the work of God because only a divine Savior can give life to the dead, because only He can bear the infinite penalty of God's wrath against our sin and because only one who is both God and man can truly mediate and reconcile us to God and remove either of these natures and there is no gospel. 00:24:19.220 --> 00:24:23.700 Only the God man can save and he's done everything necessary. 00:24:24.100 --> 00:24:29.380 Now the challenge comes especially to any who are still on save this morning. 00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:35.765 You may admire Jesus as a great example and as a great teacher, but really that's not enough. 00:24:36.245 --> 00:24:38.645 You stand under the wrath of a holy God. 00:24:39.365 --> 00:24:42.005 If you're not saved this morning, you're dead in your sin. 00:24:42.405 --> 00:24:44.085 You're unable to save yourself. 00:24:44.725 --> 00:24:53.280 No effort, no religion, or no amount of religion or moral improvement can pay the debt or give you new life. 00:24:53.280 --> 00:24:55.520 Only the God man can save you. 00:24:55.520 --> 00:24:57.440 He abid where you failed. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.280 He died in the place of sinners. 00:24:59.280 --> 00:25:02.815 He rose again and now reigns with all authority. 00:25:02.975 --> 00:25:07.935 And He is able and willing to save any who come to Him. 00:25:08.655 --> 00:25:09.855 And it's the coming. 00:25:11.055 --> 00:25:12.335 You see your need. 00:25:12.575 --> 00:25:22.760 And if you see your need, you plead that the Lord would give you the ability to repent and the faith to believe in Jesus as Savior. 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:25.240 And I admonish you to do that. 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:26.120 Don't delay. 00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:29.560 Turn from your sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. 00:25:29.925 --> 00:25:36.005 Trust in the God man, the only Saviour and call upon him today and you'll be saved. 00:25:36.325 --> 00:25:47.599 There's no other name, there's no other way, only the God man can save and make sure He is your Saviour.