The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, demonstrating Christ's true humanity. The sermon explores evidence for Jesus' humanity through his physical life, including his birth, growth, hunger, thirst, weariness, and death, as well as his emotional life, showing love, anger, sorrow, and joy. Further evidence is presented from his spiritual life, marked by temptation, prayer, worship, and trust in God, and his natural life, where he exhibited genuine human knowledge and limitations. This humanity underscores the depth of Adam's fall and the necessity of the new birth for transformation, highlighting that only through Christ's sacrifice and imputation of righteousness can humanity be redeemed.
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We're turning this morning to the Gospel by John chapter one. John's Gospel chapter one and verse fourteen. We're continuing our series on the humanity of Christ. John one verse fourteen and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father. full of grace and truth. The identification of this expression, the word became flesh. We go back to verse one, where we read, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made. It was made. in him was life and the light was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not again verse fourteen and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory is of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth let's pray together Our Father, we thank you for the word of God. And we thank you not only for the written word, but we thank you for the living word, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank you that he became flesh. He was made flesh and that he dwelt among us and that his glory was beheld, especially on the Mount of Transfiguration. as we speak of him by whom the world were made, as we speak of him who gave himself for our sins on Calvary's cross. May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, our strength and our redeemer, we pray for Jesus' sake and glory. Amen.
In the opening verses of John's Gospel, we learn that our Blessed Lord is co-equal, co-eternal, and co-extensive with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have the fact established immediately in John's Gospel of Camp that our Lord Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God. But our Lord is also a true man. in every sense of the word. And we have been examining the humanity of Christ. That which the Holy Scriptures declare concerning him as a man.
Now, down through the history of the church, when you think of heresy, there is one particular heresy that attacked the deity of our war. Arianism. It is still with us today. It is that which the Jehovah's Witnesses proclaim from door to door that Jesus Christ is not God. But down to church history, there have been far more attacks on the humanity of Christ than upon the deity of Christ.
in the first century it was the doceti or those known as the doceti and John wrote his first epistle to offset their doctrine that and their heresy that our Lord was not a true man that he only appeared and of course you have the first chapter of Colossians also dealing with this and closely related To the docetists of the first century, there was a heresy of the agnostics. And the agnostics that were there in the Likus Valley where Colossi was.
But in the fourth and fifth century, there was the heresy known as Utaitianism or monophysitism, which declared that our Lord was neither, was a combination. the nature of the Lord. Monophysitism speaks of one naturism, that the two natures of our Lord, which we acknowledge, were fused into one, making a third. In other words, he wasn't a true man, according to the teaching of Utaicis. And then also in the fourth century was that man Apollinarius.
Apollinarius taught that the root of sin was in the human nature or the human spirit. And he taught that Jesus had a human anatomy, but not a human psychology. To him, Christ was a soulless person. And you and I are living in a day when many of those who would seek to portray Christ, not only Do they not portray him? But what they do is a real perversion of the truth. Now, we're working out of John one, fourteen.
The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And there are three things in this expression that we're going to work at. We worked with the first one last Sunday night. Jesus. became a man. And we proved that he was a true man. He was a man. He was not part man and part God. Nor was he a mixture of them both. Nor was he God in human skin. But when we talk about the humanity of Christ, we're talking about the fact that he was a true man.
Now keep in mind, when we're talking about the humanity of Christ we're not denying his deity he is true God he's the one who created all things by the word of his power Ephesians three verse nine says God created all things by Jesus Christ Colossians one sixteen says the same thing our Lord had a human body He had a human soul and he had a human spirit. He is true man. And this has very definite ramifications for us when we consider this.
So last Sunday night we looked at the fact that God became man. This morning we're looking at the fact that Jesus was a man. And tonight we're going to look at the fact Jesus ever remains a man. There's a man in the glory today. And we need to know that. And we need to recognize that for the epistle to the Hebrews is laid upon that great foundation. Hebrews chapter two that we examined last Lord's Day morning. And chapter four and chapter five.
And then when you get to the end of chapter seven, we read such a high priest became us, who is holy, who is harmless, who is undefiled, yet separate from sinners, but made higher than the heavens. Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. And the humanity of Christ has such real meaning to us. So this morning I say to you, Jesus was a man. And the evidence from this, and as I go through four areas of evidence that Jesus was a man, I'm limited in time.
And we're talking about the infinite Son of God and Son of Man. And I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures. We won't be able to read them all. It would be wise if you had a... took time to jot them down. For this is important to me. We're talking about the greatest person in the universe, the one who is God manifest in the flesh. Our text says, and the Word became flesh and tabernacle among us, and we beheld His glory. First of all, Jesus was a man, and first of all, there's the evidence from his physical life.
When our Lord Jesus was born on the eighth day, he was circumcised in accordance with the Old Testament law, just like any other Jewish boy. So we read in Luke's Gospel, chapter two. Now the growth patterns of our Lord are also mentioned in Luke two, verse fifty two. The scripture says he grew in wisdom. and in Thatcher. He grew up just like every other boy. And as he grew up, he also grew in wisdom. And we must remember Hebrews chapter five, verse eight.
It says of him, though he were a son, yet learned he obedient by the things which he suffered. Hebrews chapter five, verse eight. In Luke's gospel chapter two, that great chapter that we spend a little time with at Christmas time it speaks of him in three ways it speaks of Christ as a baby in verse sixteen it speaks of him as a child in verse forty and it speaks of him as a boy in verse forty three now like any other human being any other physical human being he was dependent upon food and upon drink he was dependent upon it in Matthew twenty one verse eighteen we read he was hungry and remember when he looked at the fig tree it only had leaves but no fruit nothing to eat he was hungry and when the scripture says that he was that he's able
to succor them that are tempted for he himself was likewise tempted yet without sin when we are very very hungry and we do get hungry we must remember he did too he got hungry just like we do more than that in John four verse seven he was thirsty He said to the woman at the well, give me a drink. And she marveled that he, and she said to him, you have nothing to draw with. And the well is deep. But she marveled more that he was willing to drink out of her cup. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritan.
Not only was he thirsty, but in John chapter four, verse six, he was tired. The word of God says, he being weary with his journey, he sat thus on the well. He was weary. He was tired. And more than that, he was thirsty. And finally, in John chapter nineteen and verse thirty-one, we read that he died. And after he died, a soldier pierced his side, and blood and water flowed out. And that blood and water that flowed out. Medical experts tell us that this is exactly how a layman, one who...
does not use medical terms would describe a blood clot and serum flowing from a post-mortem rupture of the heart. And when the soldier pierced his side, the very thing happened that would happen to you or me as we were crucified and died the way he did, blood and water would come out. So there is evidence from his physical life. Jesus was a man. But more than that, there is evidence from his emotional life. Evidence from his emotional life. Our Lord Jesus not only had a physical soma, a body, but he had a human psyche, a soul, and he had a human pneuma, a spirit.
He is spirit, soul, and body. just like you and just like me. And the evidence of this is seen in his emotional life. He knew how to love people. He loved people. The Word of God tells us this in John eleven. And the example is the way he loved Lazarus. Mary and Martha could say to him, he whom now love us is sick. That's the message they sent to him. He whom you love is sick. How do they know I loved him? He expressed it by his emotion to them. And in John fifteen on the way to the cross, our Lord said to his friends, to his disciples, he said to them, greater love hath no man than this, than a man laid down his life for his friends, and you're my friends.
Well, that's the emotional life of our Blessed Lord. But our Lord Jesus also knew what it was to be angry. In Mark chapter three, when the man was in the synagogue with a withered hand. And the Pharisees were watching him to see whether he would heal the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day. Our Lord looked about upon them with anger. And he asked the question, is it awful to do good on the Sabbath day or to do evil? And he said to the man with a withered hand, stretch forth your hand.
And then of course they wanted to put Jesus to death. Because he healed the man on the Sabbath day. He knew what it was to be angry. At the tomb of Lazarus. He was deeply troubled. And we know he was. And he showed real emotion. The scripture says Jesus wept. Calvin said this about the humanity of our Lord. concerning his approach to the tomb of Lazarus, he said Christ approached the tomb as a champion who was prepared for conflict. Oh, I love that.
I love that expression. He approached the tomb as a champion prepared for conflict. It's amazing, you know, there's no record in the Gospel accounts of our Lord laughing or even smiling. But it would be very foolish to suggest that he didn't do either one of them. For the little children loved him. But our Lord was on a rescue mission. And our Lord knew that he would be successful. I like what Warfield said. B.B.
Warfield. Benjamin Reckinridge Warfield. One of the greatest theologians of America ever produced. Worfield said, he came as a conqueror with gladness of imminent victory in his heart. And I believe that he smiled. And I believe that he laughed. How do I know? Why would I say that? I say that because of what is written in Luke chapter ten verse twenty one. When the disciples came, we turn from a fruitful preaching mission. We read that Jesus being full of joy to the Holy Spirit He was a man full of joy remember what he said in John ten verse twenty seven My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world give it give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid in John fifteen he said to his own my These things I've spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full now friend you can't give to somebody else what you don't have yourself if he gave them his peace he gave
them his joy oh there's evidence from the emotional life of our Lord and when our Lord was confronted with a dumb and deaf person in Mark chapter seven verse thirty four the scripture says he sighed with a deep sigh talk about the emotional life of our Lord in Gethsemane as our Lord faced the cross he said my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow even to the point of death Mark fourteen verses thirty three and thirty four anyone who would ever imagine that the Son of God was exempt from human passion, did not truly and seriously acknowledge that he's a man.
There's evidence from his physical life. There's evidence from his emotional life more than that. There's evidence from his spiritual life. The Word of God says, tells us that he was tempted. He was tempted. Not only was he tempted, friends, in that head-to-head confrontation with the devil in the wilderness. But to what he's like, for the scripture says he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews chapter four and verse fifteen. He was tempted, in other words, no less in the New Testament than twenty-five times Do we learn that he prayed?
He prayed. In fact, there are times that he spent all night in prayer. And what does that indicate to us? He needed the prayer. And prayer is something that is true of man, but it isn't true of God. Do you know that that's one thing that man can do that God doesn't do? We can pray. And the scripture says, man, always the prayer and not the faint. What a privilege prayer is. He prays. More than that, when you think of the spiritual life of our Lord, he attended public worship.
Luke in chapter four, verse sixteen, it tells us that it was his custom to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. More than that, he studied his Bible. Our Lord studied his Bible. He constantly quoted the Scripture, and every time except one from memory. And that one time he didn't quote the Scripture from memory, he knew where it was written, and he could say, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. That's the passage in Luke four, where it was in the synagogue at Nazareth. More than that, he trusted God in his spiritual life.
In Gethsemane, he could pray, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. He trusted God. There's evidence that he was a man from his spiritual life, not only his physical life, Not only his emotional life, not only his spiritual life, but there's evidence, friends, from his natural life. There's evidence from his natural life. You know, no matter who we meet as people, we find men who are truly intelligent.
One of my favorite TV programs is Jeopardy. I love to sit and see how many questions I can answer when Jeopardy is on. And I find there are people on Jeopardy that are very intelligent. They know an awful lot. But you know, they don't know them all. Some of those intelligent people make mistakes. Do you know that there were things our Lord Jesus did not know? in his natural life. In Mark chapter five, verse thirty, as he was making his way to the home to raise a little girl who was told to be, was sick and then they told the man that he died.
The woman with the issue of blood touched his clothes and he said, who touched my clothes? He realized virtue had gone out of it, but he wanted to know who it was. He didn't know. In Mark six, verse thirty-eight, when he wanted to feed the multitude, he said, how many loaves have you? He asked a question. And then over in Mark nine, verse twenty-one, to the father who brought his demon-possessed boy to him to be healed. He said to him, how long has he been like this? These are important questions.
And you and I who believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable for doctrine, this is part of the Holy Scripture. And it's evidence of the fact that Jesus is a man. You know, when we look at this passage, the same person at the same time was both infinite and finite. At the same time he was both omniscient and ignorant. He was both omnipotent and yet powerless.
And you say impossible. And I ask to whom? To whom? There were times when our blessed Lord chose to use his divine attributes. But every time it was at the will of the Father and never to authenticate himself and never for his own benefit. When we come down to the cross, he said, I could call twelve legions of angels and be delivered. but he didn't do it.
And we sang this morning, alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? Beloved, the Lord Jesus became flesh. The Word became flesh. and dwell among us. He was a man. Now what does that mean to us? What are the implications? Application number one. As we examine the humanity of our Lord, we see how far Adam fell in sin.
Remember when Adam was created, he came from the hand of the Creator perfect. How far Adam sinned in his rebellion? What did we learn about our Lord this morning? We learn from Luke chapter four. He grew, it's Luke two, the ending of the chapter, I'm sorry. He grew in wisdom. Adam would have grown had he simply obeyed God in the garden. He would have grown. He would have grown in righteousness.
He would have grown in obedience. And he would have grown as a child of God. For Adam, the first Adam in Luke's Gospel chapter three. I think it's the last verse. He's called the Son of God. Here our Lord comes in the midst of an environment that has been boiling in sin for years. And here is one who grows in wisdom and in stature. Oh, how far did Adam fall when he sinned?
The wisdom that man has, he doesn't use it for others. He uses it for himself. And Romans chapter one, which declares unto us the depravity of man and the departure from God in sin, the more we study the person of Christ in his humanity. Now we're not saying that he isn't God. He is God. But he didn't use the divine attribute apart from the will of the Father. He was a man and he lived as a man among men.
And it just shows how far we fell in Adam and how totally depraved the human nature is. How totally depraved Adam is and all his descendants apart from God. Who do you would try to haunt the most? I'll tell you. You see that person every day when you look in the mirror yourself. Who did our Lord live for? oh how far man has fallen in Adam Adam's and our choice to do our own thing and we can say under our breath ha ha so I'll do it my way no matter what like my brother when he'd be whipped I remember he he always says he got whipped for all of us but no one was quite as bad as my brother.
He'd say under his breath, I'm smarter than any one of you. We smile at that. But I tell you, it shows how rebellious the human heart is and how depraved we really are. We need to take another good look at the Son of God. His life of obedience and holy. But that brings us to application number two. The humanity of Christ proves that not only, or it proves that only, not only, but only, only the new birth will ever transform any of Adam's fallen creatures.
All we need to do is look at the humanity of Christ. And what do we learn? We learn how far short we have fallen, and we can cry out in the words that were so popular when I was a teenager, hitch your wagon to a star. The problem is, there is a star, but down here is my wagon, and I don't have the wherewith to hitch it. And neither do you. The new birth is an imperative, friend, except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God.
He cannot enter. There's such a vast chasm between us and our blessed Lord that, oh, I thank God that it's the cross of Calvary Hill. There the Son of God was willing to give himself for the likes of me. In order that the Spirit of God could come. That's what I read in Galatians three. Christ had to redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians three thirteen. Being made a curse for us as it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.
That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles. that we might receive the Spirit through faith. And the Spirit of God comes to us when we believe. And friends, the new birth is what pictures my wagon to the star. The star is the Son of God. He earned a righteousness in his life. And when he died for our sins on Calvary's cross, he then takes that righteousness and imputes it unto us.
Only the new birth, friends, can ever undo what Adam did when he fell in the Garden of Eden. That's why the scripture says, neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved I don't know if you're as thrilled as I am it is subject of the humanity of Christ but John one fourteen says and the word was made flesh and tabernacles among us throughout among us and we beheld his glory Jesus became a man Jesus was a man as we learned this morning that those that come back tonight Jesus remains with us.
And he ever will throughout eternity. Well, this has been a great weekend, friends, at our house. My wife's favorite adopted son came home with his bride. We're happy to have our brother David and his bride. Grace with us this morning. And I thank God for them. I thank God for the gift that he's given this young man, and also for the gift that he's given grace. And we have to hear something from David. So I'm going to ask David if he'll just dismiss us in prayer.