Jesus, Son Of Man 1-11-26 AM
I. The reality of the incarnation.
a. The New Testament clearly teaches that God came to earth in the form of a human.
b. Coming to earth in the form of a human, He was both human and deity.
c. John makes this very plain.
i. John 1:1-3, 14.
ii. 1 John 1:1-3.
iii. 2 John 1:7.
d. Paul attested to it.
i. Gal. 4:4.
ii. Php. 2:5-8.
iii. Col. 1:15-17.
iv. Col. 2:9.
e. Notice what the Hebrews writer stated (Heb. 1:1-3 – the express image of His person).
f. Jesus stated the fact of His incarnation:
i. John 6:38.
ii. John 8:58.
iii. John 17:5.
g. When you look at the life of Jesus, it shows that He was both human and divine.
h. Jesus had human emotions and needs.
i. Jesus was hungry after fasting for 40 days.
ii. Jesus was tired and slept, evidenced by sleeping in the boat during a storm.
iii. Jesus wept because of His love for Lazarus.
iv. Jesus loved His mother enough to look out for her while on the cross.
i. Jesus performed miracles that showed His deity.
i. He had power over sickness and disease.
ii. He had power over nature.
iii. He had power over spiritual beings in the form of demons.
iv. He had power over death.
v. He appealed to people to believe in Him as the Messiah because of the miracles He performed (John 10:37-38; 14:11).
j. All of these point to the incarnation as biblical truth.
II. The refutation of false ideas.
a. As has been mentioned, this doctrine has long caused problems for many.
b. Numerous false doctrines have arisen trying to deal with this issue.
c. Some of them still exist today.
d. The first false idea is known as Docetism.
i. This is the idea that all flesh is evil so there is no way that deity took on flesh, He just appeared to be human.
ii. If Jesus was not fully human, He could not suffer as a man or die as a man.
iii. Someone has said about this that if there is no real humanity, there is no real atonement.
iv. John 1:14, Luke 24:39, and 1 John 4:2-3, and other passages, all refute this.
e. Another false idea is known as Adoptionism.
i. This teaches that Jesus was just a man who was later adopted by or given power by God.
ii. This denies His eternal existence and makes Jesus just a really good man.
iii. If Jesus is not truly deity, then He cannot be a sufficient Savior.
iv. John 1:1, Php. 2:6-7, and other verses, refute this idea.
f. Another false idea that is still in existence today is Arianism.
i. This false idea teaches that Jesus was the first and greatest created being.
ii. It is still seen in Jehovah’s Witness teaching.
iii. If Jesus is not God, why are we told to worship Him, which would be idolatry, which is condemned in scripture?
iv. John 1:3 says all things were created by Him and we know Jesus could not have created Himself.
v. Hebrews 1:8 shows that the Father calls the Son God.
g. Another false idea is Monophysitism.
i. This teaches that Jesus has only one nature, which is a mixture of divine and human.
ii. This idea destroys the teaching of Jesus being both fully divine and fully human.
iii. If Jesus is not fully both, He cannot represent man to God or God to man.
iv. Heb. 4:15 shows Jesus to be fully human in that He was tempted just like you and me.
v. Col. 2:9 shows Jesus to be fully divine in that all the fullness of Godhead dwelt in Him bodily.
h. A newer false idea about the incarnation can be called a functional denial.
i. This teaches that Jesus may be divine in influence or symbolism, but was not literally incarnate.
ii. To those that believe this, the incarnation is just a metaphor.
iii. Metaphors don’t cry, hunger, or bleed and symbols don’t rise from the dead.
iv. 1 Tim. 3:16 tells us that God was manifested in the flesh.
v. 1 John 1:1 says that the Word was seen, heard, and touched.
i. The 2nd Person of the Godhead came to this earth, took on flesh, and lived, died, and was resurrected among us.
III. The reasons for the incarnation.
a. A good question to ask is “Why was there a need for God to come to earth?, or, “Why was there a need for the incarnation?”
b. One reason is that it fulfills prophecy.
i. Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7.
ii. Mic. 5:2.
iii. Gen. 3:15 is the first one that indicated the incarnation.
c. Another reason is that the incarnation reveals God to us.
i. John 1:14.
ii. John 14:8-9.
iii. John 10:30.
iv. Heb. 1:3.
d. Another reason is man’s redemption depends on it.
i. Jesus came to offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
ii. Matt. 20:28.
iii. Heb. 2:9.
e. Another reason is to defeat sin and death.
i. Heb. 2:14-15.
ii. Jesus coming to earth in bodily form allowed for Him to experience death and then be resurrected, which 1 Cor. 15 shows to be the destroyer of death for us.
f. Another reason is the establishment of the kingdom, or church.
i. Jesus prophesied He would build a church (Matt. 16:18).
ii. It took His blood to purchase it (Acts 20:28).
g. Another reason is to model perfect humanity.
i. Jesus, by taking on flesh, models perfectly for us how we should be living.
ii. Php. 2:5-8.
h. Another reason is to sympathize with us.
i. Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15.
ii. He knows what we are going through and is able to appeal to God on our behalf because of that.
IV. The results of the incarnation.
a. When you take all this into consideration, there should be two results that come from the incarnation of Jesus.
b. The first is that we should obey Jesus in everything.
i. When we think about what Jesus gave up to come here, we should be awed.
ii. When we think about what Jesus suffered, we should be crying.
iii. When we think about what is ours because of this, we should be obedient.
c. The second takes us back to the start and finish of Psalm 8.
i. Ps. 8:1, 9.
ii. We should worship God.
d. He is the One who provided the Savior for us and we should worship Him with all that we are.