{"id":19393,"date":"2017-12-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-24T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/why-god-became-man-2017\/"},"modified":"2017-12-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-24T06:00:00","slug":"why-god-became-man-2017","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/why-god-became-man-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Why God Became Man – 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[103],"series_event":[440],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19393","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-hebrews","series_event-christmas-sermons","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Why God Became Man - 2017","sermon_date":"20171224","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":"","sermon_slides":5270,"sermon_mp3":5271,"sermon_id":"122417946405","series_or_event":440,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":103,"chapter_and_verse":"2:5-18","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWhy God Became Man\n\nChristmas Message\n\n12-24-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hebrews 2:5-18\n\nGood Morning everybody.\u00a0 Merry Christmas to everybody although it\u2019s a little early for that.\u00a0 Merry Christmas Eve, how\u2019s that?\u00a0 My daughter asked me last night, what date it is and I said\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0it\u2019s Christmas Eve Eve and she thought that was pretty funny.\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Hebrews, chapter 2.\u00a0 You say Hebrews, I thought we were the Daniel church.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be finishing Daniel, don\u2019t worry, but today is a special day as you know, and tomorrow, where we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. And as Ed Jones mentioned in the announcements I invite people to come back this evening at 6:00, actually let\u2019s make it 5:45, shall we, (Christian Standard Time), and we\u2019re going to be dong a short service of some traditional songs and a short devotion from myself. \u00a0You might wonder why we celebrate Christmas on December 25.\u00a0 Have you ever wondered that?\u00a0 There\u2019s no evidence that Jesus was born December 25; what\u2019s this December 25th<\/sup> thing about.\u00a0 We\u2019ll talk about that this evening.\n\nBut for this morning the title of our message is Why God Became Man.\u00a0 This time of the year, Christmas, what we typically think of is the virgin birth of Jesus, the entrance of God into our world.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really crazy about the phrase virgin birth; I think the better terminology is the virgin conception.\u00a0 At a particular point in time the Holy Spirit miraculously, as you know, touched the womb of Mary, the virgin, and she became pregnant with God incarnate.\u00a0 And it \u00a0was at that point that Jesus Christ\u2026 at the point of the virgin conception Jesus Christ, the eternally existent Second Member of the Godhead, a being that\u2019s fully God and a being that has always existed eternally, at that point of the virgin conception is the moment humanity was added to eternally existent deity.\n\nAnd this is something that many people think was an exchange.\u00a0 A lot of people have this idea \u00a0that well, Jesus took off one jacket, the deity jacket, and he put on the humanity jacket.\u00a0 A lot of people look at it as a subtraction, Jesus stopped being God and He started being man.\u00a0 And NEITHER of those ideas is what the Bible teachers. \u00a0\u00a0The Bible teaches that the incarnation of Jesus Christ was not a subtraction, it was not a substitution, it was not an exchange, but it was an addition.\u00a0 At the point that Mary, the virgin, became pregnant with the Lord Jesus Christ is the moment eternally existent deity had something added to it\u2014humanity.\u00a0 And this is what we \u00a0would call the incarnation; that\u2019s the fancy word for this.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, you might recognize in that word \u201cincarnation\u201d the word carne, or carnivorous which means what?\u00a0 Meat; have you had any chili con carne lately?\u00a0 Chili with meat.\n\nThe incarnation is the enfleshment of God and if you want the very fancy name for this we would call this the hypostatic union.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 It means Jesus Christ became, at that point of the virgin conception, the unique God-man, 100% God, 100% man in a single individual.\u00a0 And of course something like this has never happened before in the history of the world, in the history of creation and something like this will never happen again.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we are busy celebrating this time of the year, the enfleshment of God, the virgin conception.\u00a0\u00a0 So a lot of people will overstate this or they will understate this.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of confusion about this.\n\nLet me give you this statement for Dr. John Walvoord, in his book; he\u2019s a long time professor, President of Dallas Seminary, in his book, Jesus Christ our Lord.\u00a0 He says this: \u201cThe act of kenosis<\/em>,\u201d now kenosis<\/em> means emptying, and that is dealt with very aggressively in the Book of Philippians, chapter 2, that\u2019s what he\u2019s commenting on.\u00a0 \u201cThe act of kenosis<\/em> as stated in Philippians 2 may therefore be properly understood to mean that Christ surrendered no attribute \u00a0of deity, but that He did voluntarily restrict their independent use in keeping with His purpose of living among men and their limitations.\u201d\u00a0 [Jesus Christ Our Lord<\/em>, 143-44]\n\nAt no point following the virgin conception of our Lord Jesus Christ did Jesus ever stop being God.\u00a0 I could take you to passage after passage after passage in the New Testament where Jesus over and over claims to be God.\u00a0 He claims to be the great I AM, a divine title, John 8:58.\u00a0 [John 8:58, \u201cJesus said to them, \u2018Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 He says, \u201cI and the Father are one,\u201d John 10:30.\u00a0 Jesus never stopped being God at any point following the incarnation, beginning with the virgin conception.\u00a0 What He relinquished was not deity\u2026 watch this very carefully, but the privileges of deity.\u00a0 He temporarily set those aside; He temporarily gave them up.\u00a0 He never even gave up His independent use of His attributes, His attributes of \u00a0God.\u00a0 Jesus, had He asserted Himself could have stopped the whole crucifixion dead in its tracks but He did not do that because he restricted the independent use of His attributes in submission \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to the will of God the Father.\n\nSo this is what we would call a crash course, if you will, on the incarnation, the enfleshment of God, the hypostatic union, and it began with the virgin conception of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we are celebrating today and Christmas morning, specifically tomorrow.\n\nSo what I would like to talk you through today is simply this: why was this necessary? Why was the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which began with the virgin conception, why did it have to work this way? Why was it necessary for God to work in human history in such a way that the incarnation of Jesus Christ would take place?\u00a0 Why was it necessary for the enfleshment of God?\u00a0\u00a0 And so what I\u2019d like to share with you are eight reasons for that.\u00a0 All of these reasons are taken right out of your Bible and my Bible, right out of Hebrews 2 beginning at verse 5, traveling to the end of the chapter, verse 18.\n\nAnd I think as we walk through this list we\u2019re going to walk away from here this morning with great appreciation for the virgin conception, the beginning of the incarnation or the hypostatic union or the enfleshment of God.\u00a0 Why did it have to work this way?\u00a0 Reason number 1 is given \u00a0in verses 5-8, the incarnation was absolutely essential, number 1, to restore God\u2019s original purpose for mankind.\u00a0 Take a look, if you could, at Hebrews 2 and look at verses 5-8.\n\nHebrews 2:5, \u201cFor He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.\u00a0 [6] But one has testified somewhere, saying, \u2018WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM?\u00a0 [7] YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;\u00a0 [8] YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.\u201d\n\nNow as we read those verses you\u2019ll notice that they\u2019re in quotations here.\u00a0 Most of our Bible translations, the NASB anyway, through capitalization they make it very clear that the author \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of Hebrews is quoting something else.\u00a0 And what he is quoting from is the Old Testament.\u00a0 He\u2019s quoting Psalm 8:4-6 which is probably the greatest verses in the whole Bible, other than Genesis 1, which reveals God\u2019s original purpose for man.\n\nWhy does man exist?\u00a0 Why did God create this planet?\u00a0 Why did God create human beings?\u00a0 The answer is in Psalm 8:4-6, which is alluding back to Genesis 1.\u00a0 Have you ever wondered that?\u00a0 What are we doing here?\u00a0 Why do we exist?\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to read far in God\u2019s Word to discover this, you get the picture at the very first book, very first chapter, very first page.\n\nGenesis 1:26-28 reveals God\u2019s original purpose for man and woman.\u00a0 Verse 26 of Genesis 1 says, \u201cThen God said, \u2018Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule\u201d look at that, \u201cover the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 [27, \u201cGod created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.\u201d]\u00a0 Down in verse 28, \u201cGod blessed them; and God said to them, \u2018Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe fact of the matter is you, humanity, myself, when God brought us forth had in mind authority.\u00a0 He had in mind dominion.\u00a0 He had in mind ruling and reigning.\u00a0 And here\u2019s what the original equation was supposed to look like.\u00a0 God the Father, God was to rule over man and woman, and by the way, it\u2019s \u201cman and woman\u201d that are both co-rulers under God.\u00a0 Certainly the place of headship within marriage belongs to the man and there are different roles for men and women within marriage but with both of them, if you look at this language very carefully, were given authority because it says, \u201clet them\u201d over and over again.\u00a0 Who?\u00a0 Adam and Eve, let them rule, \u00a0\u00a0let them have authority.\u00a0 So God was to rule over our forbearers, Adam and Eve, and they were to govern creation for God.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Adam and Eve were brought forth.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the human race exists.\n\nAnd that takes you from Genesis 1 to Genesis 2 and then we have a problem in Genesis 3.\u00a0 In Genesis 3 you discover where things got lost because what happened is our forbearers stopped governing creation for God but they started listening to creation.\u00a0 I like to say they became at this point animal activists, not that I\u2019m not in some sense an animal activist; I don\u2019t promote cruelty\u00a0\u00a0 to animals at all.\u00a0 But you see what\u2019s happening in our society is animals and creation is being elevated to a place that God never originally gave to it.\n\nAnd so that mistake is made in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve start listening to the voice of creation, \u00a0in particular they are listening to a talking snake and in the process they rebel against God.\u00a0 Satan was so good at the beginning, how he inverted God\u2019s original design.\u00a0 And the moment that happened is the moment that our forbearers lost authority over the earth.\u00a0 And who became the ruler of this world?\u00a0 The devil.\u00a0 The Bible is very clear about this; this is why he\u2019s called \u201cthe prince of this world,\u201d Satan is.\u00a0 [John 12:31, \u201cNow is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.\u201d John 14:30,\u00a0 \u201cHereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me..\u201d \u00a0John 16:11, \u201cOf judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.\u201d]\n\nThe god of this world, the prince and power of the air. [Ephesians 2:2, \u201cin which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.\u201d]\n\nHe is the one that the believer wrestles with, you can see all the verses there, you can look up those on your own, He is the one roaming about like a roaring lion seeking someone to have a glass of lemonade with\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cseeking someone to devour.\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 5:8, \u201cBe sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:\u201d ]\n\n1 John 5:19 says, \u201cthe whole world lies within his power.\u201d\u00a0 [I John 5:19, \u201cWe know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.\u201d]\n\nAnd it\u2019s at this point that the planet was put into change; it was put into bondage.\u00a0 And this is exactly what Romans 8 tells us about the bondage that planet earth is now in.\u00a0 Romans 8:19-22 says this: \u201cFor the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. [20] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [22] For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.\u201d\n\nWe are living in a world that is not what God designed originally.\u00a0\u00a0 We are in a world where the authority that God had given to man has been usurped.\u00a0 We are in a world that is controlled by the devil himself.\n\nWhat, then, is the goal of history?\u00a0 What is the whole Bible about?\u00a0 It\u2019s about how to restore what was lost in Eden. God\u2019s design is to bring back what was lost in Genesis 3.\u00a0 He\u2019s trying to get the human race back to Genesis 1 where God the Father will rule over a man and that man will govern creation for God.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the doctrine of the millennial kingdom has to have a dominant place in how the Christian thinks.\u00a0 The millennium, the one thousand year reign of Christ, what is that all about?\u00a0 It is the restoration of what was lost in Genesis 3.\n\nCharles Ryrie, a great theologian, says this: \u201c\u201cWhy is an earthly kingdom necessary? Did He\u201d that\u2019s Jesus\u00a0 \u201cnot receive His inheritance when He was raised and exalted in heaven? Is not His present rule His inheritance? Why does there need to be an earthly kingdom? Because He<\/u>\u201d that\u2019s Jesus \u201cmust be triumphant in the same arena where He was seemingly defeated.<\/u>\u00a0 See that? \u201cHis rejection by the rulers of this world was on this earth. His exaltation must also be on this earth<\/u>. And so it shall be when He comes again to rule this world in righteousness. He has waited long for His inheritance; soon He shall receive it.\u201d\u00a0 [Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, Page 511]\u00a0\u00a0 How can you restore what was lost to the first man unless God Himself becomes a what?\u00a0 A man; unless God becomes a man what was lost to the first man can\u2019t be restored.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s disobedience affected all; Christ\u2019s obedience blessed all.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus is called the last Adam.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[1 Corinthians 15:45, \u201c\u2026The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.]\n\nLet me introduce\u00a0 you, if I could, to the two most influential people in world history.\u00a0 Do you want to meet them?\u00a0 Who are the people in world history that have exercised the most influence ever?\u00a0 The first man is named Adam, his single action of disobedience involving a tree (the tree of knowledge) brought in a universal curse.\u00a0 The whole world has been cursed because of what the first Adam did.\u00a0 And we are born into that physical curse through physical birth.\u00a0 At the point of our physical conception we are in the cursed lineage of Adam, whether we like it or not.\u00a0 And so Adam in the Scripture is referred to as the first Adam.\n\nBut then the second most influential man in the history of the world, I\u2019ll introduce to is Jesus Christ, because of His single action of obedience (death on the cross)\u2026 by the way, also involving a tree\u2026 the cross is call a \u201ctree,\u201d Galatians 2, had a universal impact, a universal blessing and yet people are not encapsulated into that spiritual blessing until they\u2019re born not physically but what? spiritually.\u00a0 [Galatians 3:13, \u201cChrist redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, \u2018CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE.\u201d]\n\nAnd that happens at the point of personal faith in Christ alone for salvation.\u00a0 The moment that happens\u00a0 you are ushered out of the curses of the first Adam that universally affected everything into the spiritual blessings of the last Adam, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus Christ is called the last Adam. \u00a0[1Corinthians 15:45, \u201cSo also it is written, \u2018The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.\u2019 The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.\u201d]\n\nFor\u00a0 years and years\u00a0 I called Jesus the second Adam; the Bible, to my knowledge, never uses that expression relative to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Jesus is not the second Adam because if \u00a0He\u2019s a second Adam there could be a third one, and a fourth one, and a fifth one.\u00a0 What Jesus did is so universal that He is not referred to as the second Adam, He is simply called \u201cthe last Adam.\u201d\u00a0 And yet if the Second Member of the Trinity, God the Son, did not become a man He could not have qualified to reverse the curses introduced by the first man.\u00a0 The reason Jesus came into this world is: number 1, to restore God\u2019s original purpose for mankind.\n\nBut there\u2019s a second reason why Jesus Christ came into our world.\u00a0 There\u2019s a second reason for the incarnation and that is number 2, \u201cto taste death for every man.\u201d\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Hebrews 2:9, \u201cBut we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death\u201d notice, \u201cfor everyone.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Notice how this verse here mentions \u201cdeath\u201d twice; in reference to Jesus Christ\u2019s suffering and death, in reference to Jesus Christ that he might \u201ctaste death.\u201d\u00a0 Now \u201ctaste\u201d does not mean licking a lollipop; it means the full experience in death.\n\nAnd why was this necessary?\u00a0 The simple answer to that is sin has a price tag.\u00a0 Somebody\u2019s got to pay; sin is expensive.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul, in Romans 6:23 tells us, \u201cThe wages\u201d a wage is a cost, isn\u2019t it, \u201cThe wages of sin is death.\u201d\u00a0 And Adam and Eve, prior to the original sin, were warned very clearly about this.\u00a0 Genesis 2:17, before sin entered the picture, before you eat from this tree is the day\nyou shall will\u201d what? \u201cdie.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 2:17, \u201cbut from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.\u201d]\n\nWell, they ate, and they began to die; they died at that moment spiritually and the process of physical death began.\u00a0 And so what we learn in Genesis 3:21 is someone\u2019s got to pay the price for this.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:3, \u201cbut from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, \u2018You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 3:21, \u201ctherefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.\u201d]\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Genesis 3 closes with God taking animal skins and using those animal skins to clothe Adam and Even.\u00a0 And you say well, where did those animal skins come from?\u00a0 Obviously right there on the spot an animal was killed.\u00a0 You say well, what did the animal do wrong?\u00a0 Nothing, the animal is a sinless, innocent sacrifice.\u00a0 God killed that animal because sin has a price, and He used those animal skins to clothe Adam and Eve.\n\nAnd what we learn from Hebrews 2:9 is the price of sin is so high and it is such an affront to God, it is such an eternal insult to God that God Himself has to die to rectify this problem.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:9, \u201cBut we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death<\/u> crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death <\/u>for everyone.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s why \u201cdeath\u201d is used twice there in Hebrews 2:9 in reference to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Can I ask you a simple question?\u00a0 How does God die?\u00a0 I mean, how do you kill God exactly?\u00a0 There\u2019s only one answer to that; God has to become a man.\u00a0 And so Jesus Christ was born into this world with a death sentence hanging over His head to die and to reverse what the first Adam had done.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice the end there of Hebrews 2:9, I\u2019ve made reference to this earlier; it says, \u201c, so that by the grace of God He might taste death <\/u>for\u201d who? \u201ceveryone.\u201d\u00a0 What is the Christmas message exactly?\u00a0 Here\u2019s what\u2019s the Christian message: that the world today, as I speak, is savable because of what Jesus did.\u00a0 Every single human being on planet earth today is savable.\u00a0 Now they\u2019re not saved until they trust in what Jesus has done but they are savable.\u00a0 You say well, isn\u2019t that obvious to everybody?\u00a0 It is not obvious; there are people today, because of an aggressive Calvinistic Reformed Theology have removed from evangelism this line, Jesus died for you.\u00a0 Why would they do that?\u00a0 Because they\u2019re not sure if the person they\u2019re talking to is one of the elect.\n\nJay Adams, I have a lot of respect for Jay Adams as counselor.\u00a0 He brought in Bible based counselling.\u00a0 But on page 70 of his book he lets his Calvinistic theology start to control his reading of the Bible.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBut counselors, as Christians, are obligated to present the claims of Christ. They must present the good news that Christ Jesus died on the cross in the place of His own, that He bore the guilt and suffered the penalty for their sins. He died that all whom the Father had given to Him might come unto Him and have life everlasting. \u00a0As a reformed Christian, the writer believes that counselors must not\u2026\u201d counselors must NOT \u201c\u2026tell any unsaved counselee that Christ died for him, FOR THEY CANNOT SAY THAT<\/u>. No man knows except Christ Himself who are His elect for whom He died.\u201d [Competent to Counsel<\/em>,\u00a0 70.]\n\nNow, what do you want to believe here?\u00a0 Do you want to believe Jay Adams or do you want to believe what the author of Hebrews says, that Jesus died for every man.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:9]\u00a0 This is why this whole issue of Reformed theology, and Reformed theology is just growing by leaps and bounds.\u00a0 People think oh, it\u2019s just a pie I the sky debate.\u00a0 NO it\u2019s not!\u00a0 It relates even to how you share the gospel with people.\u00a0 I hope you leave here with complete and total confidence that people that you evangelize this week, and I hope you do because that\u2019s God\u2019s will for your life, that you will tell those people that Jesus died for them, without apology!\u00a0 Without reservation!\u00a0 I hope you tell them that when Jesus was dying on that cross He was thinking about them individually.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t just thinking about humanity generically, He was thinking about them personally because that\u2019s what the whole incarnation is about.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the virgin conception, which started the enfleshment of God, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we are celebrating.\n\nBut there\u2019s a third reason why God became man and that is, number 3, to bring many to glory.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Hebrews 2:10-13.\u00a0 \u201cFor it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons\u201d you should underline that word \u201csons\u201d \u201cin bringing many sons<\/u> to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. [11 ]For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father;<\/em> for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,\u00a0 [12] saying, \u201cI WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 13, \u201cAnd again, \u201cI WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM.\u201d\u00a0 And again, \u201cBEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME.\u201d\n\nIf you look at verse 10 the child of God are called \u201csons\u201d of God.\u00a0 What is a son?\u00a0 Remember what the Apostle Paul said, Galatians 4:7, \u201cIf a son, then an\u201d what? \u201can heir.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0As a child of God you are legally entitled, in fact, they\u2019re legally yours, certain rights or benefits, that you have not necessarily entered into yet to enjoy but they\u2019re still\u00a0 yours nonetheless.\n\nAnd one of the rights of the\u00a0 child of God is divine glory.\u00a0 In fact, this is why Jesus Christ came into the world, verses 10-13, to bring many sons or inheritors to glory.\u00a0 Your glorification in Jesus Christ, my glorification in Jesus Christ is not a matter of debate; it\u2019s a closed deal.\u00a0 In fact, the issue is so closed that Paul, in Romans\u00a0 refers to our glorification in the past tense, as if it\u2019s already happened.\u00a0 You remember Romans 8:29-30, Paul says, \u201cFor those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become<\/em> conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also\u201d what? \u201cglorified.\u201d\n\nPaul here is talking to people that are believers in Rome and he\u2019s talking about the things that God has already done for them.\u00a0 He foreknew them, past tense.\u00a0 He predestined them, past tense.\u00a0 He called them, past tense.\u00a0 He justified them, past tense.\u00a0 And although they had not yet entered glory he says by the way, your glorification is past tense as well, it\u2019s already happened.\u00a0 It\u2019s a legal fact although you have not entered into that blessing to enjoy it yet.\n\nThere\u2019s a big difference between enjoyment and ownership.\u00a0 And people today are trying to tell me that the Christian can lose his salvation.\u00a0 What a ridiculous thought that is considering the fact that our glorification in the mind of God is already an accomplished reality.\u00a0 Now why is it an accomplished reality?\u00a0 Going back to point 2, because Jesus tasted death for every man.\u00a0 The sting or the debt has been paid for and therefore when you place your personal faith in Christ God looks at you as if you\u2019re already glorified and you may not feel glorified.\u00a0 You may not look glorified.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how glorified you all look out there today; I don\u2019t know how glorified I look, but the reality of the situation is it\u2019s a done deal legally.\u00a0 We just haven\u2019t entered into the enjoyment of it yet.\u00a0 You see all of these things, these blessings that have been triggered through the virgin conception?\u00a0 None of these things could happen without the process beginning with the virgin conception of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nBut there is a fourth reason why God became man.\u00a0 Number four, to break Satan\u2019s rule over humanity.\u00a0 Notice if you will chapter 2 and verse 14.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore, since the children share in the flesh and blood, He Himself also likewise partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless\u201d let me say that again, \u201cthrough death He might render powerless him who had the power of death,\u201d well who would that be?\u00a0 The author of Hebrews says well I\u2019m glad you asked, \u201cthat is, the\u201d who? \u201cthe devil.\u201d\u00a0 The devil has been rendered powerless because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross 2,000 years ago and His resurrection from the dead, something that could not have happened without the incarnation of Christ beginning with the virgin conception of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nYou recall point 1, He came to restore God\u2019s original purpose for man.\u00a0 Why did He have to do that?\u00a0 Because the world, ever since the fall of man, is in a state of bondage.\u00a0 Satan, as we mentioned before, is ruling this world and the world system by and large loves it that way.\u00a0 Everybody loves it that way other than God Himself.\u00a0 Everybody loves it that way other than God\u2019s people.\u00a0 The world, and I like this picture here with the globe with chains on it, that\u2019s how you have to picture our current condition, the world in a state of bondage as we saw earlier, Romans chapter 8.\n\nBut Jesus Christ, through His enfleshment, through His incarnation, which set into motion His ultimate death and resurrection from the dead laid the foundation for not just the present defeat of Satan but his future defeat.\u00a0 Because of what Jesus Christ did we have complete and total optimism that one of these days in God\u2019s providence these chains are going to come off this planet and the bondage will stop.\n\nAnd that, beloved, is the significance of Revelation 5, which begins with the seven sealed scroll.\u00a0 You say well, what is that?\u00a0 The seven sealed scroll is the most important legal document in the history of mankind.\u00a0 There is no more important legal document than the seven sealed scroll because the seven sealed scroll is the title deed to the earth which was handed over to Satan himself in Genesis 3.\u00a0 And what happens is we have a revelation of that seven sealed scroll, and\u00a0 yet nobody can open it.\u00a0 Nobody is qualified to open it.\u00a0 So John the Apostle, when he sees this (Revelation 5:2-4) starts to sob uncontrollably.\u00a0 He starts to cry and cry and cry.\u00a0 You can read all about it in those verses.\n\nNow why is he crying?\u00a0 Because what John sees is as long as that seven sealed scroll remains rolled up and unclaimed the title deed to the earth remains in the devil\u2019s hands and John, in just a moment, visualizes what that would be like if that scroll is never opened.\u00a0 He sees the world going on and on and on and on and on in that state, that state of bondage.\u00a0 So he begins to sob, he begins to cry.\u00a0 But then his composure, his countenance dramatically changes in Revelation 5:5-6 because he discovers that there is someone who is qualified to open the scroll and therefore liberate planet earth.\n\nRevelation 5:5-6 says this, \u201cand one of the elders said to me, \u2018Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.\u2019\u00a0 [6] And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if\u201d what? \u201cslain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 There is someone qualified to open it\u2014Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because of His sacrificial death and His resurrection from the dead, something that would be an impossibility without the incarnation because how do you kill God?\n\nAnd so Christ takes the scroll, verse 7.\u00a0 He starts to open it.\u00a0 Now as you go through the Book of Revelation, you say well how come so many of these judgments sound like the Book of Exodus? Have you noticed that?\u00a0 It mentions frogs, it mentions the sea turning to blood and locusts and all of these things.\u00a0 And you say well, why the similarity?\u00a0 It\u2019s deliberate similarity. God took His people out of Egyptian bondage in the Exodus through ten plagues.\u00a0 Every plague that hit the grip of Pharaoh over God\u2019s people was weakened; that is a type, that is a prefigurement of the ultimate exodus that\u2019s about to happen in the book of Revelation, where God is not going to just take His people out of Egyptian bondage for 400 years.\n\nHe\u2019s going to take this whole planet out of the bondage that it\u2019s been in ever since Genesis 3.\u00a0 And every time a judgment hits the earth with an opening of a new seal the grip of Satan on the world gets a little weaker and a little weaker and a little weaker and so by the time the whole thing is opened the seals are going to trigger the trumpets, the trumpets are going to trigger the bowls and what can heaven do?\u00a0 Chapter 5, verses 8-14, the only thing they can do is just start praising the Lamb, praising Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that something to praise the Lord for?\u00a0 The fact that He is qualified to take this whole world out of the bondage that it\u2019s been in ever since the fall in Eden.\n\nThat is true worship.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even think we know what worship is today folks; we think worship is the liver-quiver; worship is my esthetic needs getting met, worship to us is an emotion, it\u2019s a feeling.\u00a0 That is NOT the biblical definition of worship.\u00a0 Worship is a response to truth.\u00a0\u00a0 And what heaven just got hit with here is truth.\u00a0 And this scroll is going to be opened and the planet is going to be liberated from bondage.\u00a0 And what can people do other than just praise the Lord and glorify His name.\n\nThere is a sevenfold defeat of Satan; I wish I had time to go into all these.\u00a0 The first three have already happened; the last three are yet to come.\u00a0 And right in the middle of the first three defeats of Satan and the final three defeats of Satan is the cross of Jesus Christ because the cross of Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead laid the foundation for not just the past defeats of Satan but the future defeats of Satan as well, something that would be an impossibility without the virgin conception and the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd I want you to put yourself, if you could for just a moment, in the mind of the devil.\u00a0 Where are you living in all of this?\u00a0 In the legal system today there\u2019s a big difference between conviction and sentencing.\u00a0 When someone is accused of a crime they are tried by a jury of their peers and if they\u2019re proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt the jury makes that person a convict at that point.\u00a0 And typically that person will come before the same judge at a later point in time for sentencing.\u00a0 That\u2019s where Satan is; he\u2019s living in between conviction and sentencing.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Bible over and over again portrays him as a defeated foe.\u00a0 This is why the Book of Revelation, chapter 12 and verse 12 says the devil has gone to the earth knowing he has but what? \u201ca short time.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 12:12, \u201cFor this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.\u201d]\n\nI want you to understand something about Satan.\u00a0 Satan\u2019s goal is to take as many people to hell as he possibly can.\u00a0 He\u2019s going down, why not take everybody else down?\u00a0 And the reality of the situation is Satan will do whatever he has to do to keep people away from Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And if he fails in that assignment and that goal then he does whatever he has to do to neutralize the effective\u00adness of the Christian.\u00a0 We talk over and over again about how God loves\u00a0 you and has a wonderful plan for your life.\u00a0 I agree with all of that.\u00a0 But let me tell you something else.\u00a0 Satan hates you and has a terrible plan for your life.\n\nJohn 10:10 says, \u201cThe thief comes only to steal and kill and\u201d what? \u201cdestroy;\u201d and it\u2019s related to where he\u2019s living, in between conviction and sentencing.\u00a0 And yet the good news, the Christmas message is this is just a temporary arrangement.\u00a0 The foundation has already been laid for the ultimate defeat of Satan, thank you the incarnation of Jesus Christ which began with the virgin conception.\n\nThis takes us to a fifth reason why God became man.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Hebrews 2:15, to remove the fear of death. \u00a0Hebrews 2:15 says \u201cand to release those who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to its bondage.\u201d [Hebrews 2:15, \u201cand might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.\u201d\u00a0 NASB]\u00a0 Notice what has plagued and notice what has haunted the human race from the beginning.\u00a0 What happens after the grave?\u00a0 Death obvious is a reality.\u00a0 What happens when I leave this realm and enter the next realm, that without the Word of God I have no knowledge of.\u00a0 And so consequently the human race, for all of these millennia has lived in a state of bondage to the fear of death.\n\nAnd yet what does Hebrews 2:15 say?\u00a0 Jesus came into the world to take those chains off of us.\u00a0 Why did He do that?\u00a0 Go back to point 2, \u201cHe tasted death.\u201d\u00a0 Go back to point 3, your glorification is a done deal.\u00a0 If He already tasted death for me and I\u2019m already on a fast track to glorification what in the world am I wasting my time there for, being afraid to die?\u00a0 People today are just afraid to die.\u00a0 We\u2019re gripped by this.\n\nDuring the brief time I\u2019ve been the pastor here there have been multiple people that are no longer with us; they have died, for various reasons and causes.\u00a0 Death is something that has affected this congregation.\u00a0 Many of you are looking at doctor\u2019s reports, you\u2019re looking at health reports and you\u2019re having to eyeball, perhaps for the first time in your life the actual fear of death.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s time we started talking about what the Bible says about death.\n\nListen to me very carefully.\u00a0 If you are afraid of death as a Christian then you are living way beneath your privileges.\u00a0 You can go on and be in bondage to this if you want to but Jesus came into the world to take that fear away.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because I\u2019m on a fast track to glory.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I love about Paul.\u00a0 Paul had his life threatened so many times and what did he say?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 And he prefaces that by saying, \u201cWe are of good courage.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 5:8, \u201cwe are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.\u201d NASB]\u00a0 The person without Christ, the person without a knowledge of the Bible has no courage in the face of death.\n\nAnd in fact, historians have documented the differences between an unsaved person dying and a saved person dying, it\u2019s documented.\u00a0 When I was with Dr. Randall Price around 2014 in the land of Israel and we actually entered into coliseums where the Christians were thrown to their deaths amongst these ravenous lions.\u00a0\u00a0 And the difference of a Christian dying versus an unsaved person dying, a marked difference.\u00a0 The unsaved person, the pagan, would go to their grave pleading for mercy until their last possible breath.\u00a0 The Christian goes to their grave praising the Lord Jesus Christ because of Hebrews 2:14.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:14, \u201cTherefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.\u201d]\u00a0 Paul, the apostle has zero fear of death.\u00a0 In fact, when you read Paul carefully Paul is basically let\u2019s get this show on the road here; something he was looking forward to.\u00a0 Death is not the end for the Christian, it\u2019s the beginning.\u00a0 Death is not the end, it\u2019s a transfer.\u00a0 It\u2019s a promotion.\n\nWhat does Paul say there in Philippians 1:21-24? \u00a0Philippians 1:21-24, \u201cFor to me, to live is Christ and to die is\u201d what? \u00a0gain. [22] But if I am<\/em> to live on<\/em> in the flesh, this will mean<\/em> fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. [23] But I am hard-pressed from both directions,<\/em> having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that<\/em> is very much better; [24] yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.\u201d\u00a0 If I had my way, Paul says, I would just check out of here and go into the presence of the Lord, but you people keep me here (you see a little resentment there) because God is using me to build you up in the faith.\u00a0 But if it wasn\u2019t for you I could be with Him.\u00a0 That\u2019s a different way of looking at your pastor, isn\u2019t it.\n\nAnd what are people talking about today?\u00a0 I\u2019ve looked at the news, looked at social media, what\u2019s everybody talking about today?\u00a0 Are we going to have another shooting.\u00a0 I mean, after all, I heard a rumor of a rumor of a rumor of some group, ISIS, whoever, planning some kind of terrorist attack somewhere and everybody is on their guard.\u00a0 Everybody is living on the edge, nerves are high.\u00a0 Maybe they should be to some extent but I think we get out of focus really fast.\u00a0 You know, we prayed for these folks, didn\u2019t we, earlier, that were killed in Texas and we weep for their families but you know the fact of the matter is that assassin that went into that church, he might have done those people more favors than he ever thought possible, because of Hebrews 2:15.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:15, \u201cand might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.\u201d]\n\nThis takes us to number 6, there\u2019s a sixth reason why God became man.\u00a0 Number 6, to become our merciful high priest.\u00a0 Look, if you will, at Hebrews 2:16-17, it says, \u201cFor assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.\u00a0 [17]\u00a0 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, [to make propitiation for the sins of the people].\u201d\n\nHave you ever asked yourself this question: what is the job description of a priest?\u00a0\u00a0 What do priests do exactly?\u00a0 The simplest definition I know of is they represent man before God and God before man.\u00a0 Job\u2019s cry\u2026 what\u2019s the oldest book of the Bible?\u00a0 Job.\u00a0 Job\u2019s cry, which begins divine revelation, is I don\u2019t have a priest; I don\u2019t have an umpire.\u00a0 He says in Job 9:32-33, \u201cFor He<\/em>\u201d that\u2019s God, \u201cis<\/em> not a man as I am that I may answer Him, that we may go to court together.\u00a0 [33] There is no umpire between us, who may lay his hand upon us both.\u201d\u00a0 If I, Job says, you remember all the afflictions of Job, if I could just get into heaven and present my case before God maybe God would listen but I can\u2019t do that because I\u2019m just a man, and He is an omniscient, omnipotent all powerful holy God. I\u2019m finite and He is infinite.\u00a0 And the rest of the Bible is answering Job\u2019s plea.\u00a0 Just stick around Job, wait for subsequent revelation to come because you\u2019re going to start to learn about somebody who\u2019s going to answer that prayer for a priest or a redeemer; the answer is the God-man, Jesus Christ.\n\nHow do you represent man before God and God before man unless you\u2019re what?\u00a0 Both God and man.\u00a0 The fact that Jesus is 100% deity, 100% humanity, watch this very carefully, uniquely qualifies Him to be humanity\u2019s priest.\u00a0 1 Timothy 2:5 says, \u201cThere is one mediator between us, both God and men,\u201d and who would that be? \u201cthe man Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Can we please stop with the total foolishness that there are many ways to God\u2026 utter foolishness!\u00a0 There are many paths\u2026 you can\u2019t have an intermediary or channel between God and man unless\u00a0 you go through the God-man.\u00a0 The last time I checked there\u2019s only one of those.\n\nAnd so people that say well, Jesus is your way but I\u2019m getting to God my way, they don\u2019t have the foggiest idea what they\u2019re talking about.\u00a0 They don\u2019t understand that only the virgin conception and the enfleshment of God accomplished that channel and those two attributes have never existed in any single person\u2026 ever!.\u00a0 That\u2019s why your Bible says over and over again, Jesus is the only way.\u00a0 John 14:6, Jesus says, \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.\u201d\u00a0 Acts 4:12 says there is no other name under heaven \u201cby which we must be saved.\u201d\n\n[Acts 4:12, \u201cAnd there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.\u201d]\n\nLet me tell you something; this is what brings the wrath of the world on us, this very doctrine that I\u2019m giving here, the exclusivity of Christ!\u00a0 And listen to me very carefully; as God is my witness, Christians in America, at some\u00a0 point, are going to start having to pay a price (if they\u2019re not already) for believing this doctrine.\u00a0 And as we are paying the price we need to understand what the doctrine is rooted in.\u00a0 It is rooted in the hypostatic union, the enfleshment of God, something that only Christ\u2019s incarnation could accomplish.\n\nThis takes us to a seventh reason why God became a man.\u00a0 Number 7, to make a complete purification for sin.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Hebrews 2:17, we\u2019ve already read most of it, \u201cto make propitiation for the sins of the people.\u201d\u00a0 Notice this word \u201cpropitiation.\u201d\u00a0 The Greek for propitiation is the noun, hilasmos<\/em>, it\u2019s used here as a verb, the verb is hilaskomai<\/em>. \u00a0What does that word even mean?\u00a0 Propitiation means the satisfaction of divine wrath.\u00a0 Divine wrath has been satiated; it has been appeased, it has been placated for our sin and Adam\u2019s sin, going back to Genesis 3, because of what Jesus has done.\u00a0 Propitiation is a doctrine that starts to be developed very early on.\u00a0 I already showed you the animal sacrifice, Genesis 3:21.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the whole tabernacle is about, how the high priest one day a year, on the Day of Atonement, called Yom Kippur, read about it in Leviticus 16, would go into that inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, and he would sprinkle on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant the blood of the sacrificed animal\u2026 propitiation!\n\nBut what could that do?\u00a0 It kicked the can down the road for one year.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they had to do it the next\u00a0 year, and the next year, and the next\u00a0 year.\u00a0 And this goes on for one thousand five hundred years; that\u2019s a long time, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 America has only been in existence for a little over two hundred years.\u00a0 Think about one thousand five hundred years where God is kicking the can down the road year after year in Yom Kippur, the day of covering. Why is it called \u201cthe day of covering?\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what You Kippur means: You\u2014day, Kippur\u2014covering, because what was happening here was prefiguring something but it never solved the issue.\n\nThis is why the author of the Book of Hebrews, chapter 10, same book, quotes Psalm 40, written by David 1000 B.C., which says, \u201cIN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE.\u201d This system was the best they had but it never pleased God, as David, through the Psalms God says I\u2019m not pleased with this.\u00a0 Why was God not pleased with it,\u00a0 God gave it?\u00a0\u00a0 Because it never solved the problem.\u00a0 It postponed the day of reckoning for a year but it never solved the problem until what?\u00a0 The virgin conception leading to the virgin birth, thanks to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, who grew up, became a man, died on the cross and you recall Christ\u2019s final words on the cross?\n\nJohn 19:30, \u201cTherefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, \u201cIt is finished!\u2019 And He bowed His head and\u201d as the King James say, \u201cgave up the ghost.\u201d\u00a0 Death!\u00a0 The material and the immaterial separated at that point, which is death.\u00a0 And just before He died He said \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 Which is actually a translation from one Greek word, tetelestai<\/em>.\u00a0 What does tetelestai <\/em>mean? \u00a0It means paid in full; tetelestai<\/em> has been found in Greco-Roman documents all over the Mediterranean world as an accounting term, when someone paid their bill, tetelestai<\/em> was written on it.\u00a0 Everybody knew in the Greco-Roman world exactly what tetelestai<\/em> meant.\n\nBy the way, tetelestai<\/em> is in the perfect tense.\u00a0 You say what difference does it make?\u00a0 Plenty, the perfect tense is a one-time action in the past, a singular action with ongoing benefits.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s coming out of Christ\u2019s mouth just before His death.\u00a0 And this is why God was never pleased with the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle and even the temple system, and the whole Levitical system because it never fixed the problem.\u00a0 Jesus did permanently fix the problem.\u00a0 The tabernacle, the temple, the Levites are just shadows, prefigurements of what Christ will do.\n\nThis is why He came into the world; it\u2019s done!\u00a0 Religion is at the top of the screen, it says Christ did 90%.\u00a0 You kick in 10%; I bought lunch, you leave the tip.\u00a0 We laugh at that but people today are in total bondage to religion because they really don\u2019t think Christ did enough.\u00a0 He did a lot, He didn\u2019t really do enough.\u00a0 And so if that\u2019s the way you think how do you\u00a0 know whether you\u2019re doing enough?\u00a0 And you live your whole life without the assurance of what?\u00a0 Salvation.\u00a0 People get to the very end of their life\u2026 you ask people, if you died right now would you go to heaven?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m about 95% sure.\u00a0 Kind of like the weather report, which is never right by the way.\u00a0 What God wants for you on Christmas is total assurance because of the bottom of the screen.\u00a0 [God says:\u00a0 Christ did 100%.\u00a0 This is salvation by God\u2019s grace]\n\nThere is nothing you can do.\u00a0 But pastor, you don\u2019t understand, I made a commitment to God.\u00a0 Let me let you in on a little secret, folks; you\u2019re not even going to be able to keep your New Year\u2019s resolutions let alone a commitment to God.\u00a0 Salvation is not like some business deal where God sits on one side of the desk and I sit on the other and we start to barter and God says well, if you do this I\u2019ll do that, and I agree, and God sticks out His hand and says \u201cwe got a deal\u201d and shakes my hand.\u00a0 Is that salvation?\u00a0 That\u2019s not salvation.\u00a0 If that\u2019s what you think salvation is you don\u2019t understand the rudimentarys of the grace of God.\u00a0 Salvation is He did it all, tetelestai<\/em>,\u00a0 \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\n\nYou say well what do I do?\u00a0\u00a0 You receive what He did as a gift.\u00a0 Well how do you do that?\u00a0\u00a0 You do it by faith alone; that\u2019s it.\u00a0 No strings attached, no fear that oh boy, maybe the carpet is going to get ripped out from under me.\u00a0 May God rescue us from religion.\u00a0 May God rescue the human mind from a religious mindset, and help us\u00a0 understand the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 By the way, some think that would be an impossibility absent the what? Virgin conception.\n\nAnd this finally takes us to our last point, the eighth and final reason why God came into the world as a man is to sympathize with those being tested.\u00a0 Anybody here being tested this week, this month, this year?\u00a0 You might be emerging from 2017 and saying that was the worst year of my life, everything that I thought would go right has gone south.\n\nWell, I have good news for you; the good news is Hebrews 2:18, which says, \u201cFor since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.\u201d\u00a0 What does a priest do?\u00a0 We already gave the definition in point 6.\u00a0 Here\u2019s another definition\u2014a priest can sympathize with our struggles.\u00a0 You know, when I played basketball I had two kinds of coaches; I had coaches that had never played the game, hardly dribbled the ball.\u00a0 I had other coaches that had played and so when a coach is screaming and yelling at you to endure, to work harder, to lift weights, to run the laps, what coach has your respect?\u00a0 What would the guy that\u2019s never played before know anything, know ANYTHING about the pain I was in?\u00a0 but the coach that had played had gone through the rigors, he could sympathize with my weaknesses having experienced them himself.\n\nThat\u2019s who Jesus is; He\u2019s the coach that\u2019s played the game.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because of the incarnation and the enfleshment of God because humanity was added to deity, Jesus entered our world and He knew suffering and heartbreak the same way you experience it.\u00a0 He knew\u2026 and I wish I had time to look at all these verses.\u00a0 He knew what labor was. He was a carpenter.\u00a0 Mark 6:3\u00a0 He knew what it was like to come home at the end of the day fatigued.\u00a0 He knew what distress was like.\u00a0 Luke 22:44.\u00a0 He knew what being troubled was like, John 12:27.\u00a0 He knew what it was like to thirsty, John 19:28.\u00a0 He knew what it was like to be hungry, Matthew 4:2.\u00a0 He knew all about fatigue, John 4:5.\u00a0 He knew what it was like to have His heart broken, John 11:35.\u00a0 He knew what it was like when you look up at God and you say what in the world are You doing in my life, I mean, the things that are happening in my life are so perplexing I just don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 Jesus experienced that same thing in His humanity.\u00a0 Jesus, Matthew 24:36, didn\u2019t even know when He was coming back.\u00a0 He knew what it was like to experience temptation, Hebrews 4:15, Luke 4:1-13.\n\nThe author of Hebrews wants us to understand this because the author says in Hebrews 4:15-16, \u201cWe do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.\u00a0 [16] Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d\u00a0 When you go to Jesus with your problems.\u00a0 You\u2019re not praying to some disinterested deity that doesn\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to suffer.\u00a0 You\u2019re praying to someone that knows exactly what it\u2019s like to suffer, having endured circumstances far worse than most of us will ever endure.\u00a0 To my knowledge this is something that is totally unique to Christianity.\u00a0 You do not find this in the doctrines of Islam.\u00a0 You do\u00a0 not find this in the doctrines of Buddhism or any other world religion.\u00a0 All of those deities are just removed from the people having never entered human history the way Christ did and suffered and yet how different Jesus is.\u00a0 He is unique as our priest because He suffered as we do.\n\nYou know, you go to someone with your problem; who are the best counselors in the midst of a problem?\u00a0 People that have had that same problem in the past and have moved out of it victoriously.\u00a0 Who better to counsel someone in the midst of a divorce than someone who\u2019s gone through it?\u00a0 Who better to counsel someone in the midst of a bankruptcy than someone that\u2019s gone through it?\n\nWho better to counsel someone in the midst of a health scare than someone that\u2019s gone through it?\n\nThey always know the right thing to say, how to say it, when to say it, what to say, what not to say.\n\nWhat would the person that\u2019s never gone through that circumstance, what would they know about it?\n\nAnd yet that\u2019s who Christ is, that\u2019s what it means when it says He is our sympathetic and merciful high priest.\u00a0 And let me just reiterate without the incarnation you couldn\u2019t have that, could you?\u00a0 Why did Jesus come into the world, as we reflect upon this at Christmas time?\u00a0 To restore God\u2019s original purpose for man.\u00a0 To taste death for every man.\u00a0 To bring many to glory.\u00a0 To break Satan\u2019s rule over humanity.\u00a0 To remove the fear of death.\u00a0 To become our merciful high priest.\u00a0 To make a complete purification for sin.\u00a0 And to sympathize with those being tested.\n\nIsn\u2019t that something to celebrate at Christmas time?\u00a0 And the virgin conception is the ball that got everything moving.\u00a0 What a tragedy it would be to hear something like this on a special holiday like this and just sort of let it go in one ear and out the other without ever experiencing personal salvation.\u00a0 But at the same time what a phenomenal thing it would be to hear something like this, this time of the year, to be born again, to move from Adam\u2019s lineage to the spiritual lineage of the last Adam, and that happens (as we\u2019ve tried to articulate today) through a simple condition that God has given to the human race which is to believe. \u00a0Believe is a synonym for receive, receive is just like Christmas where you receive something as a gift.\u00a0 It\u2019s an open heart, you reach out for it, you take it, you acknowledge the giver.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the only step the Bible has ever erected to come into a right relationship with God; it\u2019s to receive, to believe.\n\nJohn 1 says \u201cas many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, not born of human will but born of the Spirit of God.\u201d\u00a0 The Spirit of God has come into the world to convict us of our need to do this; our exhortation to you at Sugar Land Bible Church is to do it right now, where you\u2019re seated or if people happen to be listening, on the computer or whatever, to receive what Jesus has done.\u00a0 Receive it as a free gift.\u00a0 It\u2019s really a matter of privacy; it\u2019s a matter of quietness between you and the Lord where the Spirit convicts you and at that point you place your faith, not in yourself, not in\u00a0 your works, not in your church, not in your New Year\u2019s resolution but in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nIt\u2019s something you can do right now in the privacy of your own mind and the quietness of your own heart as I\u2019m talking.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of a better Christmas gift to receive than this.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more help or explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for this very special time of the\u00a0 year. We\u2019re grateful for what it means, we lose sight of it very fast, help us to keep these realities in our hearts and in our minds as we celebrate Your birth this week.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t