Humanity of Christ in the Gospels, Part 2

Recap: Person and Work Stand or Fall Together

0:00 The Christ of the Bible and the salvation of the Bible stand or fall together.

0:12 The Christ of the Bible and the salvation of the Bible stand or fall together. Now that's just another way of stating the fact that the person and work of Christ are inseparably joined in the revelation of God to sinful men. And in this morning's series of studies entitled Here We Stand, I'm attempting to set before you the major issues of biblical truth by giving a broad doctrinal overview of the primary issues of the Christian faith. Having directed your attention to the nature of the book we believe and obey that we commonly

0:59 called the Bible, several broad lines of truth concerning the God whom we worship and confess, we are presently concerned with the salvation we receive and proclaim. Having demonstrated from the scriptures that the objects of this salvation are primarily sinful men, and in a secondary sense, the earth itself, we have been concerned for a broad category concerning this salvation, namely the central figure in that salvation, the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the truth of my opening statement, namely

1:47 that the Christ of the Bible and the salvation of the Bible stand or fall together, I have deliberately been disproportionate in the emphasis and thoroughness with which we are treating the subject of the person of Christ. Thus far we have seen that any understanding of who Christ is that does not include these three elements is sub-biblical, if not actually anti-biblical. We must understand him to be, number one, truly God. Secondly, truly man.

2:30 And thirdly, one person in the two natures forever. Having looked at five groups of witnesses to his deity, and having come to the conclusion that the Bible sets before us a Christ who is nothing less than true God, that is all that can be said of God can be said of Christ, we are now concerned to demonstrate that He is truly and essentially man. That is all that can be said of man as man can be said of Christ, sin accepted. And what we've done in attempting to bring together the total witness of the Bible to the humanity of Christ is to consider that material as it actually

3:20 comes to us in the scriptures, that is chronologically. We looked at the witness to Christ's humanity in the period of preparation. That's the Old Testament, the period of preparation. And we saw that from Genesis 3.15, the first announcement of the Savior, right through into the later prophetic books, every single prophecy points to the fact that the Redeemer will be a true man. He will be more than an ordinary man. He will be more than even an ordinary and extraordinary man. He will be God himself. But every prophecy points to the fact that he will also be truly man. Then we began to consider last week the period of manifestation, that is the

4:07 Gospels. Everything is prepared for His coming, and in the language of the Scriptures, in the fullness of time, God sends Him. And in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have a record of how Jesus Christ manifested Himself in space and in time. And I suggested that the witness to Christ humanity in the period of manifestation, that is in the Gospels, breaks down very naturally into three divisions. Those events surrounding his conception and birth, those events surrounding his infancy and boyhood up to manhood, and those events surrounding his life from the inauguration

4:53 into his ministry to his ascension. We looked at the first two last Lord's Day, and we saw that the total witness of scripture in every event that focuses upon his conception and birth points to the fact that he was a true man. He underwent a true conception, albeit supernatural, but a true conception and a true birth and a true circumcision. There was nothing in the events surrounding his conception and birth to undermine the biblical concept that he was truly man. Likewise, in the record that Luke gives to us, particularly Luke 2.40 and Luke 2.52, we are given to understand that from infancy to manhood, he grew and developed in all the lines of natural human growth and

5:45 development. The scripture says the child grew and increased in wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Again the scripture says he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man and though this was growth beyond what any other human being had known for there was no impediment of sin upon his mind, upon his social development, upon his physical development, it was still growth and development as truly human growth and human development. Now we come this morning to that third section of the period of manifestation from his inauguration into ministry to his ascension.

6:28 What is the picture we are given of our Lord? Well, as we come to the biblical materials, let me remind you of two fundamental principles. Number one, do not divorce what we now consider from everything that preceded concerning his Godhood. The same gospel records that set forth Jesus Christ as God. The same records which it handled honestly bring us to the place where with Thomas we fall before him and cry out, my Lord and my God. The same records bring us to the place where we say, here is true man. But now that the spotlight is upon the humanity, please do not

7:14 forget all that has been established with reference to his deity. Everything said today and expounded today assumes what has preceded. And then secondly, I remind you of what we are asserting when we say he is presented as a true man. That is, he has a true human body with bones, with veins, with sinews, with organs, with blood, a true human body, and secondly, a true human soul, composed of mind and ability to think, affections, ability to feel, and a will, ability to choose.

A True Human Body: Hunger and Thirst

7:55 Now, with that behind us, let us turn to the biblical record. What kind of a Christ is set before us in the period of manifestation. We've seen that conception and birth, it's a true man. Childhood and infancy to manhood, it's a true man. Now when we behold him as a full adult male, or a fully adult male, a mature man, what kind of person is set before us? Well, I suggest that we can gather together the biblical materials in the following way. First of all, these records describe him as possessing all the properties, functions, and necessities of a true human body.

8:41 When we turn to the gospel records and trace out the life of our Lord from his inauguration into ministry at his baptism, to his ascension in the presence of his disciples, we find that a Christ is set before us as one possessing all the properties, functions, and necessities of a true human body. Now let's look at some of the illustrations of this. First of all, he is described as one who becomes hungry and thirsty. One of the most elemental needs of human beings is that which in many ways likens us even to God's lesser creatures, the beasts of the field,

9:30 who must eat to sustain their lives, who must drink to sustain their lives. The scriptures are not at all embarrassed to set forth a Christ Who though truly God is yet so truly man That he hungers and he thirsts Turn please to Luke chapter 4 In the fourth chapter of Luke We have the record of our Lord's temptation Beginning in verse 1 In Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led in the spirit in the wilderness during forty days being tempted of the devil. And he did eat nothing in those days, and when they were completed,

10:19 he hungered. Now this is not a playing of games. When it says he did eat nothing, it is saying that the human body of our Lord received no natural means of sustenance, and at the end of that time he hungered. This is why the first strand of temptation was aimed at this very real hunger which our Lord experienced in his very real human body. And in the 19th chapter of the Gospel of John, we have the record of our Lord thirsting. He who could say, I am the living water, if anyone drinks of me he shall never thirst. This one gives a plaintive cry from that Roman cross upon which he hung as his body was dehydrating.

11:13 for this was one of the physical results of crucifixion a terrible process of dehydration and we read in this simple plaintive cry John 19 and verse 28 after this Jesus knowing that all things are now finished that the scripture might be accomplished said I thirst some would spiritualize this but the context precludes any spiritualization. Verse 29, There was set there a vessel full of vinegar, so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop and brought it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said,

12:00 It is finished. A man so thirsty that he receives the vinegar of Palestine, which was the sour, spoiled wine, upon his parched lips, but so thirsty that even this was welcomed to assuage something of that burning experience of excruciating thirst. Not only is he recorded as becoming hungry and thirsty, but the scripture records the fact that he eats and drinks as the normal manner of supplying these fundamental needs. Turn to Luke chapter 7. He who was God did not meet his hunger and thirst by, as it were, drawing upon the infinite resources of his divine nature. When he is hungry, that need

12:51 is met by eating the food that any common Palestinian would eat. When he is thirsty, he meets that need by drinking the common beverages of every Palestinian. And this was one of the stumbling blocks to his claims. Luke chapter 7 and verse 31 and following.

13:13 Luke chapter 7 and verse 31. Wherefore then shall I liken the men of this generation? And to what are they like? They are like unto children that sit in the marketplace and call one to another who say, we piped unto you and you did not dance.

13:29 We wanted to play happy time. And you said, nah, I don't feel like playing happy time and playing party. I want to play funeral. So the kids say, all right.

13:39 So they start wailing like the professional mourners and say, let's play funeral. And they say, nah, no, I want to play party. He said, you're just like children.

13:49 Indisposed to cooperate with their playmates. And then he draws the application. For John the Baptist is come, eating no bread nor drinking wine. John the Baptist was a Nazarite.

14:02 John the Baptist did not eat common bread nor drink the common drink of Palestine. John the Baptist lived upon locusts and wild honey. He lived the life of ascetic. And they said, he's weird.

14:12 He crazy Look at him He doesn eat our kosher food He out there popping locusts He crazy He weird He got a demon His lifestyle is so contrary to ours. But now look, look. The Son of Man has come doing what? Eating and drinking.

14:33 That is the common Palestinian fare. He eats your food at your tables. He drinks your beverages at your tables. And what do you say?

14:42 and you say, look at him, gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But the point that I extract from the passage is that our Lord's way of supplying the need of hunger and thirst was so common to everyone else that this very thing became an occasion of stumbling to those who looked upon him. That's true humanity. that hungers and thirsts, and then that meets those basic needs by eating and drinking the common food of the people of his day.

Weariness, Sleep, and Strengthening

15:16 Thirdly, he is pictured as one who becomes physically weary with a true weariness. John chapter 4, verses 4 through 6. And he must needs pass through Samaria, So he cometh to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there.

15:40 Now will you let something of the force of this break in upon you? Jesus, therefore, not feigning weariness, so that somehow we might think he's something like us, it says, Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. Physical weariness so overtakes him that he says, I must have a breather. I can't continue in the journey.

16:08 And he allows his weary frame to rest in some convenient place there by Jacob's well. And so often we're caught up in the fact that here he's on the mission of rescuing this poor woman besottened with her sins of lust. And that's wonderfully true. We get so caught up in the glorious statements of himself as the water of life, which if any man drinks, he has an inner fountain bubbling up to everlasting life, that we miss the force of John's description, being wearied.

16:42 The one who has God is the water of life, as man is weary by a well from which he seeks a drink. When he said to the woman, give me to drink, he wasn't just opening up a conversation. in order to witness to her. He was thirsty.

17:01 He was weary. His lips were parched. This is true humanity, sitting thus by the well. Fourthly, the weariness is alleviated by rest and sleep, or by supply of strength from without in the ministry of angels.

17:21 But there is never a record that our Lord sustains Himself in physical necessities by some kind, I don't know how else to say it and I hope I'm not irreverent, dipping into the infinite resources of His omnipotence as God. When He's tired and weary, He is strengthened by rest. Granted, in this very passage, he knew the physical invigoration that came from the service of God, but that was nothing that is strange to his servants. Many of us can testify to that.

17:55 When we've come mentally and physically weary to preach the Word, and as our spirits and minds have been caught up in the glory of that truth, some of the vigor of the mind has spilled over and animated the physical frame. That's all you have in John 4. thank God for that but that's a human phenomena not a divine phenomena our Lord's weariness is alleviated by rest and sleep or by the supply of strength in the ministry of angels from without there in the same gospel of John in verse 6 how is our Lord to alleviate his weariness by resting by a well in Luke chapter 8 it's one of the most astounding descriptions and you have it in the other gospel writers we could choose Matthew or Mark.

18:44 But in Luke chapter 8 we read beginning with verse 22.

18:52 Luke 8 and verse 22. Now it came to pass on one of those days that he entered into a boat himself and his disciples and said unto them, let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. but as they sailed he fell asleep.

19:10 It wasn't his intention apparently to just spread a mat out and say well fellas I think I'm going to take my nap for now and then I'll do my watch. No, apparently the drift of the language intimates that in the midst of no conscious purpose to rest his body is so weary that sleep overtakes him. He fell asleep. Now notice how deep was that sleep.

19:36 As they sailed, he fell asleep, and there came down a storm of wind on the lake. And when you read those who describe something of the violence and suddenness of those storms upon that lake in Palestine, they were violent storms that could take a lake as calm as glass and turn it into nothing but a sea of turbulence and agitation in a matter of moments. And that's what happened here. And they were filling with water and were in jeopardy.

20:05 Now get the picture. A lake so turbulent that water is splashing up over the sides and it's about to capsize. And what is our Lord doing? He's still asleep.

20:16 Still sound asleep. So weary under the drain upon his humanity that once he went into the jaws of sleep, it was as though nothing would bring him out. He's held by a sleep that borders on a stupor. So weary was our blessed Lord.

20:34 and so dependent for the refreshment of his physical and nervous system upon the natural means of sleep that once he entered sleep, it was as though he would not be released. They came to him and awoke him saying, Master, we perish. And then we see the other side of who he was. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was a calm.

20:59 And he said, Where is your faith? And being afraid, they marveled saying, one to another, who then is this? And the language of the other gospel record is more germane to our point. They said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him? We cannot deny that he's man. A few moments ago, he is so wearied and he needs sleep so much that even the raging sea does not awaken him. But once awakened, he can speak to that sea and it obeys his voice like He was its Creator, which He was.

21:37 Do you see the point? He's refreshed in sleep. He's refreshed by those means that His creatures know in their refreshment. You have the record in Matthew 4, 11 and Luke 22, 41 to 33 of the weariness that comes in spiritual conflict and our Lord is strengthened by the ministry of angels, one of the most pathetic passages in all the gospel records as he enters into the agony of Gethsemane it says there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening him and I take my stance with Dean Alford and Lenski and other commentators that the textual problem there is not one rooted in a real problem of text but people who are fighting the Aryan heretics

22:23 and the Aryans love to use this verse to say aha, how could he be God? He needs angels to strengthen him And so it was an embarrassment to the Orthodox party when they began to expunge it from their manuscripts. But we glory in it. We glory in the fact that he who is our Redeemer is so much a man that in the agony of spiritual conflict, one of his own creatures, angels, must come to strengthen him to face the ordeal of the cross.

22:53 and then finally he possesses a substantial body with all the physical characteristics of such a body and now I'll just quote the verses and give you the reference in the interest of time he has sweat glands Luke 22 in verse 44 he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground he has flesh and bones for he never could have been supported upon a cross by the ropes and the nails. He has blood and bodily fluids. John 19, 34, when the soldier thrust the spear into his side, there's not just the sound of expiring air as though he just had some kind of an ethereal spirit

23:40 floating in a shell. It says, Forthwith there came forth blood and water.

23:47 He had a lifeless body which would be carried and laid in a tomb. Luke 23, 50. And even after the resurrection, although new factors enter into that body, still a human body with flesh and bones and teeth in a digestive system. For we read in Luke 24 and 36, he comes amongst them and says, See, I'm not a spirit. A spirit hath not flesh and bones.

A Substantial Body Even in Resurrection

24:11 And some of them are still there scratching his head. He says, Give me a piece of fish. And so he chews, he masticates, he swallows a piece of fish. Why? Not particularly because he was probably hungry.

24:21 but he was saying I want you to know that in my resurrection body I still have a true human body give me a piece of fish the scripture tells us in Luke 24 50 that it's that very Lord whose true humanity is described in that chapter that lifts his hands and ascends up from them into heaven and the promise of the angel in Acts 1 this same Jesus shall so come right now in heaven He possesses the properties, functions, and necessities of a true human body, but in a state of glorification. Now, we don't know what that means, but it's a true human body, the pattern of our resurrection body.

25:08 Now, what do we say by way of summary now to this first consideration? If the reality of Christ's true humanity is of no real consequence, then why did the biblical writers give us these details which indisputably and repeatedly assert that humanity? Now, follow closely. The biblical writers do this because they're convinced that our salvation is as much dependent upon the genuineness of our Lord's humanity as it is upon the genuineness of our Lord's deity.

25:44 and since humanity involves a real body they are concerned to describe our Lord as having a real body for without it there is no real humanity and without a real humanity there is no salvation.

A True Human Soul: Introducing Temptation and Prayer

26:01 Right back where we started the person of Christ and the work of Christ stand our fall together. But that humanity of our Lord was not only the possession of a true body, but our Lord possessed a true human soul. And it's here that most of us have a tendency to err. We assume that inhabiting that human body is a divine soul or person, voluntarily chained to the limits of that body, but not really a true human soul.

26:40 I've heard many Christians say, Yes, I believe our Lord had a true human body. Or the Son of God had a body. He had more than a body or He was not true man. If He has no more than a human body now, He is not true man in the glory.

26:57 He possesses right now and did from the incarnation not only a truly human body, but a truly human soul. You see, the liberals have lost the God in the man. We evangelicals have lost the man in the God. Whereas the Bible sets before us in all of its pristine vigor and glory, the one who is the God, man.

27:26 Just as much God as though he'd never been man, just as much man as though he'd never been God. now we tread on the borders of bright mysteries when we consider the reality of our Lord's human soul but we do not come to those borders by speculation every single step is laid by explicit statements in the Bible and therefore we'll walk that path how do we know that he had a true human soul let me give you two evidences in general and then we'll look at the specifics as time permits two evidences in general Number one, he experiences those things peculiar to a human soul. The two that I would lay before you are these, the reality of temptation and the necessity of prayer.

The Reality of Temptation in the Wilderness

28:19 The reality of temptation and the necessity of prayer. No sooner is our Lord inaugurated into his mission in a formal way than in the vigorous language of Mark he is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil Mark chapter 1 and verse 12 Straightway the Spirit driveth him forth into the wilderness.

28:48 He was under unusual compulsion of the Holy Spirit to engage in this intense time of temptation. and all Mark says is this when he was in the wilderness 40 days tempted of Satan and was with the wild beast and the angels ministered unto him Luke and Matthew give us the details of that temptation there is some variation in the details as far as the order that's not important to our study this morning but this much is true in the light of what the scripture tells us in James 1.13 God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempted he any man. The focal point of the temptation in the wilderness

29:36 was the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. God as God cannot be tempted with evil. And the devil knows better than to make an appeal as it were to the divine nature of our Lord. No, that is not the proper object or subject of temptation.

29:56 But now the devil comes to him, and temptation comes focused upon our Lord's humanity. Now think with me for a moment. In temptation, what is the real focal point of the tempter? is it not to gain the acquisition or to gain the consent of the human will to violate the will of God?

30:25 Isn't that what temptation is? An inducement of the devil to gain the consent of our wills to do something that is contrary to the will of God. Now, that appeal often comes through our physical senses as it did with our Lord. Our Lord was hungry.

30:44 And He says, look, don't those little stones remind you of bread? Doesn't that make you salivate? If you're the Son of God, show your stuff. Prove it.

30:52 Turn those stones into bread and eat. So you see, the avenue of the temptation, in a very real sense, was a human physical need. He was hungry. But you see, temptation did not terminate upon the physical senses.

31:07 It was through the senses to the soul. there was an effort to get from our Lord a consent to do something contrary to the revealed will of His Father.

31:20 Now, no one believes more firmly than I in what the theologians call the impeccability of Christ. That is, it was theoretically impossible for the second person of the Godhead when joined to a true humanity to sin. But, that does not negate the reality of the temptation. And if he's not a true human being with a true human soul, then the temptation is a mere mirage.

31:49 It's a form of spiritual charades.

31:53 But my Bible says he was tempted in all points like as we. In other words, there is a similarity and a parallel between temptation in the redeemed sinner and temptation in the Son of God. Now, when you are tempted to evil, is that real?

32:16 Is it real? Well, sure it is. No matter what the avenue of temptation is. When there is that pressure upon your will to disobey God, it's real.

32:29 And that's why the Scripture says, in that he hath suffered being tempted. And if Jesus Christ does not have a real soul, a real human soul, he had no real temptation, then he made no real conquest on the devil's ground, and he's not a real and compassionate high priest at the right hand of the Father. And the second experience peculiar to the human soul Is true of our Lord and underscores the reality of his humanness As to his soul is the necessity of prayer What is prayer? Well when you boil it all down

The Necessity and Pattern of Prayer

33:15 Prayer is essentially the language of human dependentness Prayer is the spiritual posture Of acknowledging need And dependence upon another Prayer is not just turning inward Upon yourself Now people may call that prayer But that's not prayer Prayer is the creature Having dealings with the Creator The dependent one Having dealings with the one Who is the giver of every good And every perfect gift The Gospel writers are very careful to understore the eminent prayerfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me very briefly give you a sweeping panoramic view of this.

34:06 When he would stand in Jordan's waters officially set apart for his ministry, he is to be imbued with the spirit of wisdom and might and power in a special way for his functions as Messiah the scripture tells us in Luke chapter 3 and verse 21 an oft overlooked account peculiar to Luke now it came to pass Luke 3 21 when all the people were baptized that Jesus also having been baptized and praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove. Granted, every prophecy indicated that the servant of Jehovah would be clothed with the Spirit,

34:57 the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, He hath anointed me. But as a man, as well as God, our Lord stands in Jordan's waters and in the posture of dependentness, the posture of a supplicant before the throne of God, he is pleading for the fulfillment of all the promises concerning him. And in answer to his prayer, the Spirit comes upon him in this bodily form, equipping him for the tasks to which the Father had appointed him. What was true in this initial endowment obviously became his daily pattern.

35:39 The gospel writers describe his prayerfulness in a manner that somehow impresses upon us that this was not the exception. This is simply a descriptive phrase giving an index of the normal pattern of his life. Mark chapter 1 and verse 35. after healing into the night hours for we read in verse 32 at evening when the sun did set they brought unto him all that were sick and possessed with demons and all the city was gathered at the door and he healed many that were sick and cast out demons suffered not the demons to speak because they knew him and in the morning even though the hours for rest were cut

36:28 short. In the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. Now what is this? Is this playing games? Now the Jehovah's Witnesses, they just have a ballpark with things like this. They say, ha, ha, ha, ha. Who's he talking to himself? You say, Jesus is God. Who's he praying to? Talking to himself? My friend, don't give a person who talks with that attitude, don't answer the fool according to his folly. Solemnly charge them that unless they humble themselves and fall before God and cry for mercy, they'll hear the words of that one whom they mock, depart from me, and then leave them. Don't give anyone an

37:13 opportunity to mock the holy things of God in that way. He went out and he prayed. And to whom was he speaking? The man Christ Jesus in all the dependentness of humanity is praying to his Father.

37:29 And what is he seeking from his Father? Wisdom, grace, strength, power for the tasks that are laid upon him. Wisdom and grace and power that will come to him as they come to any man by the Spirit in answer to prayer.

37:50 Luke chapter 11. We have Luke's account very similar in its flavor. Luke 11 in verse 1. And it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray.

38:09 You see what happened? They recognized in the whole climate of our Lord's prayer there was something that struck the depths in their own hearts, something of true dependentness, may I say it reverently, something of such an identity with creatureliness that they realized that prayer could be to them what it was to Him. You catch that? If prayer was something so wholly different to our Lord than what it is to us, they never would have said, Lord, teach us to pray.

38:42 There's something in your communion with the Father that draws from us the realization that that's the pattern of what our communion ought to be. Here is true humanity in prayer. You see it in that account in the sixth chapter of Luke. Our Lord has an important decision to make.

39:01 Whom shall He choose among the multitudes of the disciples to be with Him, to be His special representatives? And again, I do not mean to be irreverent, but I want to underscore this. Does he, as it were, draw upon his full omniscience? Does he draw upon that tremendous knowledge that is his of all the decrees of God from eternity?

39:28 No. If he would know the Father's will concerning the twelve, what does he do? Verse 12 of Luke 6. It came to pass in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray.

39:42 Now notice the emphasis. And continued all night in prayer to God. This was not something subjective. He was not just tuning his own soul.

39:53 He was praying to God. Why? Because of what was to follow. And when it was day, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve.

Gethsemane: A Truly Human Soul in Agony

40:02 Our Lord had to gain wisdom and discernment. for important spiritual decisions the same way we do as he prays. And then, of course, the classic example of this is Gethsemane. As our Lord knows that the time for the great ordeal draws near, what does he do?

40:22 Matthew chapter 26 and verse 36 gives us the answer. Matthew 26 and verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them into a place called Gethsemane, and saith to his disciples, Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray. And what's he going to pray about?

40:44 And the mystery is such that it almost seems profane to read the record, but since it's given for our edification, we must read it. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Abide ye here and watch with me.

41:06 And he went forward a little and fell on his face. As he's playing games, there's some weight upon him that the moment he has the opportunity to be alone, he throws himself upon his face. Not only the language of dependentness, but the very posture of abject dependentness upon the Father.

41:30 And his prayer is, My Father, if it be possible, Let this cup pass away from me. In his humanity he shrinks from what is before him. There is fear. There is shrinking.

41:42 There is drawing back. But in that perfectly sanctified soul there is a resolute commitment to the will of God nevertheless. Not as I will, but as thou wilt. He cometh unto the disciples and findeth them sleeping and saith, Peter, what could you not watch with me one hour?

42:01 Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The second time he went away and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away except I drink it, Thy will be done. He's not playing games, dear people.

42:20 This is true prayer. And this is the prayer rung from a truly human soul. All being a human soul. A soul elevated in its sensitivity to communion with God beyond that which any other mortal is known but.

42:37 It is a human soul in the throes of spiritual agony. Agony so great that he could not go forth to the cross until as Luke says an angel came and strengthened him We turn the prayer life of our Lord into a charade unless we see that is the prayer that is wrung from a truly human soul that must be upheld by divine supplies in answer to prayer. A human mind instructed in these decisions as light is given in answer to prayer. A human soul strengthened for spiritual ordeals in answer to prayer.

43:24 That's a human soul.

Why the Gospel Writers Insist on True Humanity

43:30 I had hoped to go on, but God willing that will be our subject for next week. To demonstrate the manifestation of the actings of a human soul in specific areas. We're going to look at his human mind, his human emotions, and his human will. but this would be a convenient place to break off our study this morning and give me just a few moments for application.

43:56 The main bulk of our application must await the period of explanation. The epistles. See, we're still just in the Gospels now. And though I cheated and quoted one verse from the epistles, I've deliberately tried not to do so.

44:11 It's not been easy. All during my preparation, Verses from the epistles keep flashing into my mind. And I say, now you've got to wait your turn. You've got to wait your turn.

44:20 You've got to wait your turn. Now, why? Why do the gospel writers give us such a detailed presentation of Jesus Christ as true man? The Christ of Scripture is a true man because we see him with a body that has all of the faculties and necessities and actings of a true human body.

44:48 We see Him with a true soul that has all the faculties and necessities and actings of a true human soul. We've looked at just half of the evidence now. Temptation and prayer.

45:02 The only illustration that came to mind this morning, and though it's rather crude for the subject, I hope God will use it. you see Christ is just this kind of Christ because no other Christ could have suited our need this is the time of year when all the car manufacturers are coming out with their new models there's a great brainwashing job going on to try to get you dissatisfied with that set of wheels that's been just fine until the new cars came out and if you're sucked in by the brainwashing job you'll end up down at the car dealers and you're going to see a sticker on the window that says base price and then optionals, extras. Now the extras are the things that are really not necessary for a car to fulfill its fundamental function,

45:48 namely to be a means of transportation from one place to another. So the tinted windshield and the fancy stripes along the side and the spoked wheel covers and a lot of the other stuff, they're considered extras. But now if you start pulling off one of the wheels, you've cut into the essentials. For a car to function as a car it must have at least sufficient number of wheels properly located as to make that car mobile.

46:18 It must have an engine and some kind of a drive train that will take the power from the engine to the wheels and I hope it will have some kind of a steering mechanism. So you can take it precisely from the point where you are to the point you want to be.

46:33 Now you can throw out a lot of extras But for a car to function as a car, it's got to have at least those fundamental ingredients. Now my point is this. For Jesus Christ to function as a Savior, God did not put in one option. Not one option.

46:52 Everything revealed of Christ is the bare bones of necessity. God would not have subjected his son to one iota of humiliation beyond what was necessary to accomplish his mission he loved him too much to do it therefore if the Christ whom God sends to us is presented not only as true God but as true man with a true human body and a true human soul joined in the one person in the two natures forever. Oh, dear people, it's for one reason. That's the only kind of Savior

47:38 that could suit your need and mine.

47:44 Though the opening up of this in detail must await to further study, suffice it to say this morning, if there was not that true human body, then the obedience of Christ to the law would not be true obedience of one who is under the law. And if he renders no true obedience to God as under the law, where shall I turn to find a perfect righteousness with God? If he has no true human body in which to die, If he has no true human soul in which to feel the pangs of true spiritual death, separation from God, where shall I find a substitute who will bear for me what I must bear because of my sins?

48:38 if he is not a true man where shall I find a sympathetic savior I cannot escape my humanity from my conception in my mother's womb and into eternity I was conceived a man born a man I've lived a man I'll die a man and I'll be in heaven forever as a man not an angel not a semi-god I'm going to be a man now thank God There are a lot of things about my present humanity that aren't going to dog me there. But my manness is going to be with me forever. And your womanness will be with you forever. Our humanity is with us.

49:22 And here in this present state, where the work of redemption is just in its earnest, its down payment, and we are still in suffering, in tears, temptation, spiritual struggle. To whom shall I look for a sympathetic ear? They say, look to your fellow men. Well, they can sympathize with me, but the big problem is once they've cried in their beer with me, what can they do to lift me out from what I am?

49:53 They can weep with me, but they have no arm of omnipotence to succor me. Thank God you see here The two natures in the one person Becomes a glorious truth For my Lord can not only weep with me He can console me And undertake for me With the arm of omnipotence Finally Where shall I look for a true example Thank God for those fellow mortals Who in some measure are so conformed to Christ that I may obey what Paul says. Mark those, he says, which so walk as ye have had us for an example. Thank God for those fellow human beings in whom the work of grace is so advanced

50:39 that we may, in emulating them, emulate Christ. But they are sinners still. Well, there is a perfect example. And the thing which makes His example valid is that it's the example of a true man.

50:54 If Christ's prayer life is qualitatively different from mine If it operates in a different realm And on the basis of different principles Then when I read that a great while before day He rose up and he prayed Facing tremendous decisions Gives himself to prayer Facing spiritual agony he prays If his prayer life operates in a realm Totally different from mine Governed by principles wholly other than those which govern mine. I have no true example of what it is to pray. But if that's the prayer of a true human soul in conscious dependence upon God, if that's the agony of a true human soul, then I have a perfect pattern of prayerfulness in my Lord.

51:43 I have a perfect pattern in every other area of life. And the Scriptures set forth Christ as the pattern of His people because he is one with his people in the true humanity. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk, even as he walked in that sheer mockery if he was less than true man. Oh, do you see something, Christian?

Application and Closing Prayer

52:07 I've just, as it were, pointed in the direction of all the implications this great truth has for our salvation. And I say to those of you sitting here this morning who have never in brokenness fallen before the living God and sought mercy in Jesus Christ. Do you see how seriously God takes the problem of human sin? Only the mind of God could conceive of a way of deliverance for sinners that would involve this great mystery of the incarnation, the second person of the Godhead, without losing one fraction of the integrity of Godhead joining to Himself, assuming to Himself a true humanity

52:55 with a true human body, a true human soul so that He is one person, yet two natures. All to what end? That needy sinners might not join the rebel angels and be consigned to hell forever but that out of the great mass of humanity God would do something that He did not do out of the great mass of fallen angels. He bypassed them, chained them up for the day of darkness, Jude tells us.

53:24 But God has determined that out of the mass of fallen humanity, there would be a great multitude whom no man could number, out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue and nation, in whom God would so work as to form a just basis of forgiving them, receiving them as sons and daughters, sending His Spirit into their hearts and refining them until when He is done. They will stand in His presence delivered from every last vestige of sin and everlastingly confirmed in righteousness to serve Him forever in the new heavens and the new earth. And the only way He could do it once He committed Himself to the task was to give us a Savior who was not only true God,

54:10 but truly man. Oh, dear friend, if you've never fallen before that glorious person, may the Holy Spirit give you such a sight of him as will cause you to fall at his feet and cry, my Lord and my God. And dear Christian, if you've been guilty of the sin of losing the man in the God, you need fear nothing by facing squarely and receiving without embarrassment every testimony to the true humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him is your salvation.

54:54 In Him as God. In Him as man. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess once again that we are driven back and baffled by the great mystery of the Incarnation.

55:22 And our feeble, finite minds cannot begin to encompass what is revealed. O Lord, with our minds reverently subject to the Scriptures, we would receive and believe all that is said concerning Your Son.

55:43 And O Lord Jesus, we would direct our worship to You this morning. you should love us so much as to take on yourself the limitations of a true humanity and not only bear humanity but humanity in a sinfully disordered world you should have a true soul that felt the pangs of sorrow and grief and fear all to the end that you might be an adequate Savior for needy sinners such as we are.

56:24 Oh Lord Jesus, we love you for your willingness to take upon yourself a true humanity. We worship as the God-man and our only mediator.

56:41 We pray that you would help us in gazing upon your perfect humanity as well as the glory of your deity to be transformed by the Spirit into your likeness.

57:00 And now, our Father, we pray that by the Spirit you would be pleased to seal the word to our hearts and to our minds. and from that word bring praise to yourself and profit to us your people hear us as we come through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen