The Incarnation

Text: Selected Scriptures

Introduction:

  1. Swindoll: "Take the year 1809. The international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about babies. But the world was overlooking some terribly significant births...For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England's finest statesmen. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. The child would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner. On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Mass. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit, tragic, life. It was also that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, KY. The baby's name? Abraham Lincoln. If there had been new broadcasts at that time, I'm certain these words would have been heard: "The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today." But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news¾ when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all: the birth of the Savior." Many don't mind the babe of Christmas, but they do not want the Savior of Christmas
  2. They adore Him as a baby, but abhor Him as Lord
  3. They are enamored with His birth, but ignore His life
  4. They accept Him in a manger, but reject Him in their lives

Transition: I want to share with you the fact of Jesus' humanity and the importance that He be human as well as divine.

  1. Humanity of Christ
    1. Scriptural References
      1. He was born, not created or descended spiritually
      2. He had a body that could be "sensed" with the senses (1 John 1:1)
      3. Grew mentally, physically, emotionally (Luke 2:32)
      4. He had physical desires, needs, limitations
        1. Hungry (Mt. 4:2)
        2. Slept
        3. Fatigue (John 4:6)
      5. Personality traits
    2. Erroneous Views
      1. Docetism
        1. Definition: Denial of His humanity. Jesus only appeared human.
        2. Flesh was considered evil, or less perfect than the spiritual. \Jesus could not have had a real physical body, but only appeared to have one.
      2. Apollinariansim
        1. Jesus was part man, part God as opposed to being fully man and fully God
        2. He took on human flesh & mind, but not soul (spirit)
        3. Denies the two natures of Christ
        4. Practical significance: It would be difficult for Him to "understand all our troubles" if He was not fully man
  2. Significance of the Humanity of Christ
    1. Significance in REVELATION
      1. Heb. 1:1-2 "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son..."
      2. Jesus "shows us the Father" (John 14:6-10)
      3. Two Types of Revelation
        1. General revelation
          1. Conscience
          2. Nature
        2. Special Revelation
          1. Son
          2. Word
    2. Significance in ILLUSTRATION
      1. Gave us an example to follow
      2. Impeccability of Christ
        1. Paradox: How could He be fully human and still not sin?
          1. First, it is a mistake to measure His humanness by our experience as humans. We are "sub-human" in that we have fallen from what we ought to be.
          2. We should be comparing ourselves to Him, not vice versa. We can't excuse or deny His humanity by trying to bring Him down to our level.
        2. Explanation of his impeccability
          1. Illus. You could tempt me with alcohol. The temptation would be real, yet I would have no desire. Thus, I have been tempted, but I have no desire to even succumb to it
          2. Illus. Only someone who has overcome the full force of sin can truly understand temptation in its totality
            1. Jesus was tempted in all points does not mean He faced ever conceivable temptation, but that He faced the strongest onslaught sin had to offer and overcame it.
            2. If a dam can withstand the Colorado River, then it can withstand a trickling brook.
            3. Jesus knows the full force of temptation and withstood it. A person who succumbs to temptation never really faces it at its strongest because he falls before the strongest level is reached.
      3. Example of all that a human being should be
        1. Love in that He gave
        2. Righteousness in that He never sinned
        3. Truth in that He never wavered or compromised
    3. Significance in Association
      1. Heb. 4:14-16
      2. His humanity allows Him not only to sympathize, but to empathize with us
      3. He suffered shame, temptation, rejection
        1. We you are feeling low, remember that Jesus understands
        2. Song: "No Not One" #186 in hymnal
        3. When rejected by a loved one, He knows

          4. "He came into His own and His own received Him not"

        4. When betrayed by a friend

          5. "Mine own friend hath lifted up his hand against me"

        5. When misunderstood or accused falsely

      "As a lamb before her shearers is dumb, He opened not His mouth"

    4. Significance in SALVATION
      1. Kinsman Redeemer
        1. Qualified to redeemer (near kinsman)
        2. Willing to redeem
        3. Able to redeem
      2. He was born to die
        1. Greatness of the incarnation is not in the manger, but on the cross
        2. 2 Corinthians 8:9 "For our sakes He became poor"

Conclusion: