Who do men say that I am? - His Humanity

[0:00] We'll jump in here. I'm doing a series about Jesus Christ and who is he. And by the way, I guess one more thing, and this can really be part of the message, but Roger mentioned that it's Sanctity of Life Sunday, and that kind of slipped my mind, but our son Ethan was actually out in Washington, D.C. this week on Friday for the March for Life out in D.C.

[0:33] It's usually the biggest march of the year in D.C., the biggest event. You wouldn't know it by watching the news. This year, I think it got more coverage just because of what's been going on the last year with the Dobbs decision, striking down Roe v. Wade, and that's incredible.

[0:50] I didn't think that would ever happen, in my lifetime anyway, but it did. But that doesn't mean that there's no more battle to fight.

[1:01] There's no more that we can do to really fight for the right to life of unborn children. In some states, it's now against the law to commit violence through abortion.

[1:18] And I like to always pair those things together because that's what abortion is. It's an act of violence. But in many states, including the state of Ohio, it is still legal.

[1:31] And there's going to be a legal fight here in the state of Ohio. And we should look at opportunities and what we can do to speak up, to, I guess, vote, to petition.

[1:44] Because, you know, voting is just one thing. But we can do more than that. We can petition our leaders to do what's right. Not to just do what's easy. Not to do what's going to get you elected. But to do what's right.

[1:57] And so, this year would have been 50 years since Roe v. Wade was established. 50 years. And abortion has been a problem in this country for longer than that.

[2:08] But it was basically established as a, you know, as a right. You know, we call it 50 years ago through that decision. So, all right.

[2:20] Well, let's jump back into the scriptures. I asked John if he would open up with one of the same scriptures that we read last week to get us started.

[2:30] So, John, if you could read that scripture. Mark 8, 27 through 29. And Jesus went out, along with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

[2:46] And on the way he questioned his disciples, saying to them, Who do people say that I am? And they told him, saying, John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others, one of the prophets.

[2:58] And he continued by questioning them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said to him, You are the Christ. So, this question that was asked, that Jesus asked, who do men say that I am?

[3:16] And then he said, Well, what about you guys? You disciples in particular. Who do you say that I am? And Peter ended up answering with, Well, you are the Christ, which Christ means Messiah.

[3:28] You are the Messiah, the one who was to come. But we are focusing on the question. Actually, in two weeks, we will plan in two weeks, to actually focus on that role.

[3:40] Jesus came as the Messiah for Israel. And that is who he was and who he is today. He is still that. And that has, there's implications for the past, but also in the future.

[3:53] Actually, for all that Jesus is. But in a couple of weeks, we'll look at who he is as the Messiah. Today, I wanted to look at one aspect of who Jesus is.

[4:06] Last week, we talked about Jesus is God, our creator. Father, the one who created us, the one who has been from all of eternity, who always was.

[4:19] He is the foundation of all of reality, the one that upholds the universe, not just our world, but the whole universe, by his word. That's who he is.

[4:32] And that's something that people have disputed. Is this man really God? But today, I want to look at the flip side, at the humanity of Jesus Christ.

[4:46] You know, today, we, kind of the spirit of the age is materialism. Materialism is this idea that the only thing that is real is what you can touch and feel, matter, molecules, atoms.

[4:59] Things of the spirit are seen as unscientific. And that's kind of the idol of our age, right? Science. And we love science, and science is good.

[5:10] But science can only tell you so much about the world. It can only tell you about the things that you can see and hear and touch and feel and smell. The things that our five senses can detect.

[5:22] But obviously, there's so much more to reality than just those things. But, you know, 2,000 years ago, materialism wasn't the spirit of the age.

[5:33] Materialism wasn't the kind of thing that a lot of people really subscribe to. Back 2,000 years ago, during the early Christian period, there were all these debates and all these different viewpoints about who is this man, Jesus Christ.

[5:52] And we talked a little bit last week about this whole, there's a guy named Arius, and a movement, if you will, called Arianism. And the idea was, well, Jesus was a man, and he was a very special man, but he was not God.

[6:08] You know, that's kind of taking it too far, that God, that Jesus was a man. But there was also another movement, if you will, called Docetism.

[6:23] Anybody ever heard that word, Docetism? And it's spelled D-O-C-E-T-I-S-M. And I believe, I forgot to write this down, but I believe Docetism just means illusion.

[6:36] It's a Greek word that has the meaning of an illusion. And there were people who believed that Jesus was God, but then they dropped the man part.

[6:50] Said, well, God can't be a man, right? Just like a man can't be God. And so Jesus must, he can only be one or the other. Not both.

[7:00] I mean, that's kind of silly, right? That he could be God and man? That's how they thought about it. And so they would teach that, well, when Jesus came to the earth, it was more of just an illusion.

[7:15] It looked like Jesus was a man. It appeared that way. He was more like a ghost or an apparition or just some kind of illusion. And so that's what people taught.

[7:28] And why would people have trouble with this? You know, one of the things, one of the teachings that has been around for a long time, it was around before Jesus, and it's still around today. In fact, it even got mentioned in Sunday school this morning, is this concept that we call today Gnosticism.

[7:45] And Gnosticism has a few kind of teachings that go along with it. But one of the parts of Gnosticism is that, well, there's this secret knowledge that if you can have the secret knowledge, you can gain, whether it's salvation or some kind of benefit or blessing in your life by having the Gnosticism.

[8:05] But the other part of Gnosticism taught that physical matter, things that are physical that you can touch, is bad, and only spiritual things are good.

[8:18] You have the spiritual things that are good, and then everything that's physical is bad. There was another movement that was based on Gnosticism, kind of built on top of Gnosticism called Manichaeism.

[8:33] It was actually very popular for the first few hundred years of Christianity. In fact, one of the most prolific writers of the early church was Augustine.

[8:47] We call him St. Augustine, or people call him St. Augustine. We're all saints, so I don't like to call people, you know, there aren't specific saints. If you're a believer, you're a saint, right? But Augustine actually was a Manichaean for many, many years before he became a Christian.

[9:04] And the Manichaeans would teach this specific thing, that everything that is physical is bad, it's evil, it's corrupt, but spiritual things are good.

[9:19] And if you kind of follow these ideas kind of back, I think it goes back to Plato. Has anybody ever studied Plato and the Greek philosophers?

[9:32] So Plato had this idea, and I don't think he necessarily talked about things in terms of physical and spiritual as good and evil, but he did say that things that were spiritual were things that were not physical.

[9:49] He talked in terms of ideas, things like ideas and concepts. Those are real, whereas the physical world is more like a shadow.

[10:00] That was kind of what he taught. And so he's famous for this allegory that he gave, the allegory of the cave. Anybody heard of the allegory of the cave? And he said it's kind of like a man, and he's chained up in a cave, and he's looking at the back wall of the cave.

[10:17] And outside, where the opening of the cave is, there's bright sunshine. But he's chained, so he can only look one direction. And he sees, all he sees is what?

[10:29] Shadows. He sees his own shadow. He sees the shadows of people or animals or things going by. But he doesn't see the real thing itself.

[10:42] He just sees the shadow. And he said that is what our life is like. The physical is just a shadow of what is real. It's really just ideas, or he called them forms, that are real.

[10:57] So you have a pulpit, but that's not really real. What's really real is the idea of a pulpit. It's kind of confusing.

[11:07] But this kind of stuck with people, and it stuck around, and I think we still kind of see it even today.

[11:19] But this whole idea that the physical matter is evil and spiritual things are good kind of, I think, flowed from that. But what does the Bible say about that?

[11:34] Does the Bible say that things that are physical are evil? No. In fact, what does the Bible say in Genesis?

[11:47] And God said it is good. He created, God is the one who made the physical universe, isn't he? It wasn't the devil that made the physical universe. It was God himself. He made what is physical.

[12:00] And so it's not that the physical is evil, though you can see how people might come to that conclusion, right? You have these lusts of the flesh, and it seems to be that evil manifests itself in the physical world.

[12:17] But what does Jesus say about where evil comes from? Does it come from your fingers and toes? Does evil come from your lips or your earlobes or your nose? Where does evil come from?

[12:28] Jesus said it comes out of a man's heart. That's your inner man, your spirit. That's where evil comes from. And so though we see evil all around us and it seems to manifest itself in the physical, that is not the source of evil.

[12:44] Matter is not evil. God called it good. You know, in John, and we'll actually spend some time in 1 John, so if you want to open up your Bibles. In fact, let's open up to this one, 1 John chapter 4.

[12:58] John actually spoke to this Gnosticism. A lot of people actually think that John was speaking specifically to Gnostic teachings that were around even early on in the Christian period.

[13:11] 1 John chapter 4, the first three verses. 1 John chapter 4, verse 1 through 3. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God.

[13:26] Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. He's talking about people who may become as prophets or say that they're speaking for the Lord in some way.

[13:37] Whether it's as a prophet with a message from the Lord. Or just somebody who's saying, well, I'm just a messenger of God. Like any of us might be. He said this, And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world.

[14:07] If you flip over just a page or two over into 2 John, he says something similar. 2 John 1, 7. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.

[14:22] This is a deceiver and an Antichrist. He warned about it in two of his letters. This was a problem. An issue that was going around the churches. Deception.

[14:34] Jesus Christ wasn't really a man. He was God. And we want people to believe that. That's true. But then people would say, well, he didn't really come in the flesh.

[14:46] He just looked like it. And God can do some pretty cool stuff with illusions, right? God could do that, right? But is that truly what happened? Now in the Old Testament, the Old Testament teaches about God.

[14:59] And you can understand why some people would really have a hard time believing that God himself would become flesh.

[15:12] For Jews, do Jews think it's a valid idea that God would become a man?

[15:23] No, I mean, that seems an absurd idea to a Jew. Also, if you talk to a Muslim, that God would become a man, that Jesus was God, and he was a man?

[15:36] No way. The Old Testament says that God is invisible. Back during the time of Moses, and we won't necessarily turn here.

[15:50] I'm going to go through a bunch of scriptures, and you can write them down. I'll try to. I got some comments last week that I went a little bit too fast. So if you're taking notes, I'll try to give you some time. Moses was talking to God, and he asked to see God's glory.

[16:05] He said, I want to see your glory in Exodus chapter 33. In verse 20, this is what God said to him.

[16:17] But God said to him, you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live. And as the story goes, he said he put Moses in the cleft of a rock, and his glory passed by him.

[16:30] And he covered him, he says, his eyes. And he allowed him to see the back of him, not his face. And what does that mean, the back of him? I'm not sure. In Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 12, it says this.

[16:47] That's talking about the Lord speaking to Israel from the mountaintop.

[16:59] Even in the New Testament, there's a multitude of verses. We'll just look at a few of them that mention that God is the invisible God.

[17:11] In John chapter 1, verse 18, it says this. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

[17:22] So God, he's invisible. No one's seen God. John 6, verse 46, says this. Jesus said this.

[17:32] Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. He says, I've seen the Father. But no man has. 1 John 4, verse 12, says something similar.

[17:51] No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. So no one has seen God. You know, is it difficult to love someone that you can't see?

[18:10] It is, isn't it? In fact, the Bible actually seems to indicate that explicitly. In this same chapter of 1 John, 1 John chapter 4, verse 20.

[18:23] John says this. He says, he's talking about how important it is to love your Christian brother. You need to love one another. He says this.

[18:33] If someone says, I love God, and he hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen with his eyes, how can he love God who he has not seen?

[18:51] What does that indicate? If you can't love somebody you've seen, how can you love somebody who you can't see? What's the comparison? Well, it's so much easier to love someone you can see, isn't it?

[19:04] Someone who's right there, right in front of you, than somebody who's far off in the distance. Has anybody ever done, like, World Vision or one of these, you sponsor a child, right, somewhere out in South America or Africa or Asia or something like that?

[19:19] And sometimes people, you'll sign up and you'll give a monthly donation and they'll send you a picture, right? And you can pray for that child and you're supporting that child.

[19:30] And you have a certain amount of love for that child, right? But if you've never met or seen in person or heard or touched that child, it's more difficult to love them.

[19:44] It's difficult to love people long distance. I'll tell a story. So, when, back years ago, 20-some years ago, I was dating my wife Jamie.

[20:00] And we dated for a few months. And then after a few months, we separated. We had committed to being missionaries in different parts of the world. And she went off to Indonesia.

[20:12] And I went off to Vietnam. And we didn't see each other for 14 months. And I had really grown attached to her. And the only communication that we had was the occasional email or sometimes we could write letters.

[20:32] And that was special and that was neat. But it was so difficult to try to love somebody, to try to relate to someone that's not right there in front of you, that you can't see.

[20:46] And there were a few times, just a few, maybe two or three times over that 14 months that we had the opportunity to have a phone call where I could hear her voice. And just that sense of hearing, right, was just amazing, being able to hear her voice after so many months.

[21:03] And then I remember at the end of the 14 months, I came back to the States. She was already back for a couple months. I came to Ohio and flew. And she was at the airport.

[21:14] And I got to see her with my eyes. That was incredible. I got to hear her voice. Not over a phone, but right there through the air in person.

[21:26] And I got to give her a big hug and, you know, and feel her in that way. And it was just, you can't replace that. And that's the way that God designed us, isn't it?

[21:38] He designed us to relate to one another in those physical ways, through our physical senses. You know, it makes me think about the technology that we have today.

[21:50] And, you know, today we've had the telephone for a long time. And that's been incredible, hasn't it? And continuing relationships, to be able to call somebody up on the phone. You know, it's not, it's still not the same, but it gets you closer.

[22:03] And then we have now video calls. You know, you can call grandma and grandpa over a video and see them and hear them. But is it the same? Is it the same as being right there?

[22:15] It's just not, is it? Now we're getting into virtual reality, right? Where people put on these gloves and these goggles and, you know, explore worlds and interact with one another.

[22:25] And I think some people think they're improving on God's design. You know, we can have a virtual world where everything's fine and, you know, you can have whatever you want. But nothing will ever be like what God designed for human beings to be in the same room with one another, relating to one another.

[22:47] That's how God designed things to be. That's why during the whole COVID thing, where people were just meeting on Zoom meetings for church. I mean, if you have to do it for a while, that's fine.

[22:58] But after a while, that starts to, that starts to really impact your relationships with one another, doesn't it? It's not healthy. So there's this really, there's this real distance between God and man, the invisible God who we can't see.

[23:16] And he spoke to people through prophets and gave messages and wrote the words down. And we have the Bible today to know what he wants to say to us.

[23:27] And he communicates to us in that way. But did you know that God realized that there was this gap? And he did something.

[23:41] Turn to the book of 1 John, if you're not already there, in the first chapter. 1 John chapter 1, and we'll look at the first four verses.

[23:52] John refers to himself, if you read the end of the Gospel of John, he refers to himself as the disciple. It seems that he's talking about himself, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

[24:07] And if you read about the Last Supper, it talks about him leaning against Jesus. That John leaned against Jesus during that Last Supper.

[24:18] John, I don't know if it's his personality or what, but talks a lot about the senses and the importance of touch. But he opens up with his letter this way.

[24:32] He says, that which was from the beginning. Who's he talking about? Jesus, the Word. He talks about him as the Word in his Gospel. But here he says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard.

[24:45] We have heard his voice. Which we have seen with our eyes. Which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. Concerning the Word of life.

[24:57] That life was manifested. And we have seen and we bear witness. And we declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father. And was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard.

[25:10] We declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

[25:24] Here John is describing three physical senses. Three of the most, I think, important senses that we have. That of hearing, that of seeing, and that of touching.

[25:37] Jesus was not just an apparition. Not just an illusion. Jesus was somebody that these disciples and the people of that day could reach out and they could touch him.

[25:49] They could look into his eyes. They could hear his voice speak to him. This is God closing the gap. You know, I looked up the word touched or touching or, you know, all the forms of that word in the Gospels.

[26:09] And there were dozens and dozens and dozens of examples of it talking about people touching Jesus. Remember the woman with the issue of blood? She said, if I can just touch his garment, just his garment.

[26:22] Remember the children that came to Jesus? And why did they come to Jesus? Why did they send the children to Jesus? So that he could touch them, it says. Because people wanted to touch this man.

[26:37] You know, there are a few times in the Old Testament where we see what many people call Christophanies. There's these times where it seems like God had a physical presence in the world.

[26:49] But these were just temporary. In the garden it talks about, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. To Abraham, remember Abraham, these angels came and they said, we're going to go check out Sodom and see what's going on there.

[27:04] Abraham had this whole discourse with them and actually was an intercessor because of his nephew Lot there. But at the end of that exchange, it says this in Genesis 18, verse 1.

[27:19] Oh, excuse me, I didn't write it down. But Abraham says, somewhere there in that chapter, he says, I have seen the Lord. I have seen the Lord. And then, just one more example.

[27:31] Remember Jacob? He wrestled through the night with some man. And at the end of that, Genesis 32, verse 30.

[27:43] It says, so Jacob called the name of that place Peniel. And he says, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. God realized that there was a gap between us and him.

[28:01] And he wanted to close that gap. And so it says, here's a verse in Galatians, verse 4, chapter 4, verse 4.

[28:15] It says, but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman. When the fullness of time had come. It wasn't always this way.

[28:26] But when the fullness of time, when the plan was ready, when God was ready, he sent his son, born of a woman. And then, in John chapter 1, John's the one, again, who talks a lot about the humanity of Christ.

[28:44] And he says this in John chapter 1, verse 14. He says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[28:59] The word became flesh. He took on flesh and bone. Atoms and molecules. And then it says he dwelt among us. You know, that word dwelt.

[29:10] And if you like to write in your Bible like I do, you might put a little note in the margin. That word dwelt, and different translations might have different words, but it's actually the word for tabernacle.

[29:22] It's a verb form of tabernacle, the tent of meeting. He dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us. It's a picture back of the Old Testament in which, where did the glory of God, the pillar of fire and the pillar of smoke, where did it settle?

[29:38] Right there, the tabernacle of meeting. And then, eventually, later on, in the temple that Solomon built. That was then.

[29:50] And something new happened. And God tabernacled among his people. Right there, 2,000 years ago. Why did God become a man?

[30:04] I mean, why? Is it because it would be fun? It would be interesting, you know, try new things. We like to try new things, right? I thought of three reasons, and I'll list them here and give some scriptures.

[30:25] One, number one, I think he wanted to show himself to us. God's invisible. He's hard to see. It's hard to love him when we can't see him.

[30:37] Again, a lot of these verses are going to be from the Gospel of John. John, chapter 12, verse 45, Jesus said this, And he who sees me, sees him who sent me.

[30:49] God the Father, you've never seen him, but he sent me, God the Son, so that you would know God. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

[31:03] He's not invisible anymore. He's here right in front of you. John, chapter 14, verse 7. He says this, If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

[31:15] And from now on, you do know him. And you've seen him. That's what Jesus said of the Father. You've seen him because I'm standing right in front of you.

[31:31] And then a couple of verses later, John 14, 9. Jesus said to Philip, he said to him, Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip?

[31:43] Because what did Philip ask? He said, Jesus, show us the Father. Would you show us the Father? We want to see the Father. He said, I've been with you so long and you still have not known me, Philip?

[31:55] Well, I've seen you, but what about the Father? Has it been so long that you've been with me and you still have not known me? And he says this, He who has seen me has seen the Father.

[32:10] So how can you say, show us the Father? I'm standing right in front of you. In Hebrews chapter 1, which is also a very interesting, if you have the opportunity today after this service, read Hebrews 1 about Jesus, how he's different from the angels, but he was a man.

[32:35] It says in Hebrews 1 verse 3, Who being the brightness of his glory, it's talking about the Father, and the express image of his person.

[32:47] Upholding all things by the word of his power. We talked about that last week. Jesus is the express image of the Father. That's why he can say, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

[33:01] I am the Father. The Father and I are one, he says elsewhere. God wanted us to see him. He wanted us to see him face to face.

[33:15] Number two, Jesus became a man so that he could die. Now that's not something that, you know, someone would look forward to.

[33:27] I want to, you know, experience this new thing so that I can suffer. But that's why, one of the reasons why he came. He came to die.

[33:38] Some people ask, well, why did Jesus come to die? Why did he have to die anyway? I mean, couldn't Jesus just forgive everybody who asked for forgiveness and then it's over with? Why did he have to suffer?

[33:50] Why did he have to bleed? Why did he have to die? I think that was the, I think the Bible teaches us pretty clearly that that was the only way. Right?

[34:01] Remember Jesus suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane? I mean, if there's any other way, Father, can we do it some way else? Is there some other way? There wasn't.

[34:13] He had to suffer in order to purchase our redemption. Justice was on the line and he had to establish justice in order to atone for our sins.

[34:28] Atonement requires blood, which in blood represents what? Just one thing, death. You know, when you think about God, God can do anything, right?

[34:41] God can do anything. We talk a lot about his ability. He is almighty, the Bible says. He has all might. But before this, God was immortal.

[34:52] He didn't have the ability to die. So he said, you know what? I'm going to do that. I'm going to put on flesh so that I can gain a new ability.

[35:04] Something that I've never experienced before. The ability to die. Hebrews 2.14 says this. Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood.

[35:15] This is talking about Jesus. He himself likewise shared in the same. that through death, he might destroy him who had the power of death.

[35:27] That is the devil. He partook of the same. He partook with us of our flesh and blood experience so that through that, he could die and purchase our redemption to destroy the power of death.

[35:48] The third reason I think that God came and became like us to become a man was so he could sympathize with us. So that he could experience what we experience.

[36:01] Do you know, before 2,000 years ago, God didn't know what it was like to be a man. He said, I want to change that. I want to experience what these people who I love, I want to experience what they experience.

[36:18] Hebrews 4.15 says this. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are.

[36:33] Yet, he was without sin. Notice something. He doesn't leave something out. It says, we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but he was in a few points tempted as we are.

[36:51] Is that what it says? In all points. Jesus, who is God, the creator of the universe, the one that created not just the earth, not just the moon, not just the sun, but the entire universe, the one who stretched out the heavens, he became a man and he experienced all the things that we experience.

[37:19] And we have, as you read through the gospels, you see these things. And I'll just give a few examples. He was tempted. That's what, specifically what the author of Hebrews is saying here.

[37:33] Tempted in all points. He went out to the desert. He was super hungry. He experienced hunger and the desire to fulfill that fleshly lust for food, which is part of God's design.

[37:47] But he had an objective and that included fasting. And he was tempted to eat when he was so hungry. And he rejected it.

[37:58] Is that the only temptation? Those three? Were those the only temptations that Jesus experienced? No. All the temptations that we experience in life, Jesus experienced. Jesus experienced grief.

[38:14] Grief to the point of weeping. This is another story from the book of John. Jesus had a close friend, Lazarus. And he lost his friend.

[38:27] His friend died. And that's the shortest book or the shortest verse in the Bible. It's just two words. It says that Jesus wept.

[38:42] We also have that picture that was famously turned into a film called The Passion. What's the guy's name? Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson filmed.

[38:56] But that's a, it shows us the suffering of God as a man. Suffering as a man. His passion in the Garden of Gethsemane.

[39:09] Father, is there any other way? Is there any other way to accomplish this redemption for this people that we love? And there wasn't.

[39:21] And then the final and most important way that God experienced what we experienced is through death. Through the cross. there's nothing.

[39:35] You know, some people might be angry at God and say, God, you don't understand what I'm going through. Is that true?

[39:47] Ever true? Can't really say that, can we? He experienced all the things that we experience. So he did die on a cross and some people might think, well, that was the end of his physicality, right?

[40:08] Jesus died and his body rotted in the ground and then he rose, but he rose spiritually, right? Is that what the Bible teaches?

[40:22] No. In fact, in the accounts of Jesus' resurrection, the authors make sure to make it very, very clear that what these disciples saw, that all these people that saw him, that they didn't see a ghost, they didn't see an apparition, they didn't see an illusion, they weren't having dreams, they saw a man that they could touch and see and hear.

[40:49] Matthew chapter 28 verse 9 just has one little thing here. It says, and as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice.

[41:00] I can't remember the context here who had gone to try to find Jesus' body and they saw the angels and they went to go tell the other disciples and Jesus met them on the road back and said, rejoice.

[41:15] So they came and what does it say? They held him by the feet. There was his feet, physical right there and they could grab his feet and they worshipped him.

[41:29] In Luke, in fact, if you have a Bible, open up to Luke because these are a few verses. Luke chapter 24, Luke chapter 24 verse 36. Luke chapter 24 or 24 verse 36.

[41:53] Jesus appeared to his disciples and says this, now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you.

[42:07] But they were terrified and they were frightened and they supposed that they had seen a spirit and that would make sense, right? Jesus died, maybe he's appearing as a ghost.

[42:17] You know, there's lots of ghost movies out there and ghost tales and I'm sure they've been around for thousands of years, right? And we actually have instances in the Bible where it seems that spirits appear to people. That can happen.

[42:28] And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your heart? Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself.

[42:41] Handle me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

[42:54] But while they still did not believe for joy and they marveled, he said to them, because I think he wanted to prove even more, he said, have you any food here?

[43:05] I'm hungry. Does the spirit get hungry? No. So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb and he took it and he ate it in their presence right in front of them.

[43:17] Jesus rose with a physical body that you could handle, that you could touch, that you could see and you could look and you could still see the scars in his hand and look at his feet and still see the scars there.

[43:33] And then of course, we know that story of doubting Thomas in John chapter 20, verse 24, it says this, and stood in the midst, so just among them and he said, peace to you.

[44:14] Then he said to Thomas, hey Thomas, why don't you reach your finger right here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Touch me.

[44:26] Do not be unbelieving but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.

[44:37] Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. But then you might think, well, once Jesus was done kind of showing himself to everybody and he was ready to go to heaven because he said, I'm going to go and I'm going to send the spirit to you but I got to go to heaven.

[44:53] And we all know where's Jesus right now? The Bible says he's in heaven at the right hand of the Father, right? So he must have just shed off that earthly body right when he ascended into heaven.

[45:07] Put it away in storage or something. Luke chapter 24, verse 50, it says this, he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and he blessed them.

[45:22] Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. He was blessing them with his hands, them standing right in front of him.

[45:34] They were looking and watching and he started lifting up into the heavens. Flesh and bone, atoms and molecules up into the heavens.

[45:46] They kept watching even so some angels came and they said, hey guys, what you looking at? He's not here anymore. He's gone. Did you know that this indicates that Jesus has a physical body, not just a spiritual body.

[46:06] He has a physical body in heaven right now. The body that Jesus took on, it's a new body, it's different from the one he originally had, the one that could experience death.

[46:18] he now has an immortal body. But a body still the same, one that can be touched and felt. Is that incredible?

[46:30] Is that, that's hard. That's, even for me, thinking about it right now. Jesus is up in heaven with the Father in a physical body like ours.

[46:42] You know, the ancient believers had this kind of inkling that they knew that they would see with their eyes God. They had this inkling.

[46:53] So Job says, in Job chapter 19, and this is a, this is a pretty famous verse. Job 19, verse 25. Job says, for I know, Job suffered a lot, right?

[47:05] He suffered a lot, he went through a lot, but he continued to be faithful to the Lord and to know that the Lord was his God and even if he suffered all these things, that was okay.

[47:20] For I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, after this earthly body is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.

[47:37] whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another. How my heart yearns within me.

[47:50] And isn't, you know, thinking back to how I missed seeing Jamie and my heart yearned within me to see her with my eyes right in front of me.

[48:03] And that's a yearning that we all have, isn't it, for God? to see him with our eyes? And Job knew, he knew that I will one day, even when this earthly body is done away with, I will still have eyes to see and I will see him.

[48:21] He won't be invisible. I'll be able to see him. God revealed even more to Paul and Paul says this in Philippians chapter 3 verse 20.

[48:33] Philippians chapter 3 verse 20. For our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself.

[48:57] God revealed this to Paul. You know that body that Jesus got, that new one that's immortal, that can't experience death anymore. Well, God has those new bodies on hand waiting for us, for those who trust in him, for those who are his children.

[49:16] He will transform our lowly bodies. We will be transformed to have heavenly bodies, not spiritual bodies, physical bodies. physical bodies that will not, they will be renewed day by day, just like our spirit we talked about.

[49:34] I can't remember last week or a few weeks ago. Our spirit is renewed day by day. In the future, our bodies will be renewed day by day. And then in the book of Revelation, it talks about the future state.

[49:52] It says this in Revelation 21, verse 3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people.

[50:13] God himself will be with them and be their God. Remember what John said about Jesus coming? He tabernacled among us.

[50:28] That was what, 33 years? It wasn't a long time. I mean, if you were living back then, maybe it was a long time. It felt like a long time. But then he left. But in Revelation, it says that in that future state, God is going to tabernacle with men again.

[50:48] He will dwell with us. He won't be in the heavens invisible. He will be right there with us. So the scriptures indicate that God took on flesh and will maintain that body of flesh throughout all of eternity living with us.

[51:20] And when we go to him, it won't be that there will be a spiritual apparition that, you know, we'll be trying to relate with.

[51:31] We will see him. We will be as he is and he will be as us. We will be the same. we will be able to look into his eyes like we look into each other's eyes today.

[51:50] And he'll be able to look into ours. We'll be able to speak to him using our vocal cords and he'll be able to speak with us using his vocal cords. Our hands will be able to touch his.

[52:05] We'll be able to feel the warmth of his hands and the blood that he shed coursing through his veins.

[52:17] We'll be able to embrace him and him to embrace us and to feel the strength of his arms and even the beating of his heart.

[52:31] And I can imagine that we will also be able to see tears flowing down his face.

[52:44] Tears of joy I think and tears of love through these tear ducts that God designed in our eyes. God the Son has the same thing and he'll use his physical hand to wipe away those tears the Bible says.

[53:03] The last verse I have that I think of is kind of work through all this is from the Psalms.

[53:20] Psalm chapter 8 verse 4 the psalmist says what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him or other translations say that you care for him?

[53:41] Who are we? He didn't have to do any of this. But he's so good to us isn't he?

[53:54] he didn't just take on a human form and show himself just for a season. God decided I'm going to become like men and become like them from now all through eternity so that I can relate to them as I designed them to be so that they can love me and I can love them as I designed them to love, to look, to hear, to touch.

[54:33] He is good to us. I'd like to finish with a hymn like we did last week. If you want to pull out your hymn, we'll sing number 86 and we'll just do it acapella.

[54:46] it's an easy one but it's just a song about Jesus. It's one of my favorites.

[55:03] I love to sing about Jesus. God wants to repentance.

[55:21] God wants all men to be saved. He leaves it up to us. Take it or leave it. I'm offering eternal life. God wants to love. When we present the gospel, the option, we see the goodness of God.

[55:36] It's absolutely incredible how good he has been to us, isn't it? How could we reject him, his offer to live with him forever, when he has been so, so good?

[55:48] Some people still don't know. So, let's tell people every opportunity we can to let them know that they can know God, they can have life with him.

[56:02] Let's finish up with this song. Jesus, name above all names. Who knows this? Anybody? Okay, here's enough to maybe help everybody else.

[56:13] It's simple and we'll sing it a few times. It goes like this, I'll try to make sure I get the key right. Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord, Emmanuel, God is with us, blessed Redeemer, living word.

[56:47] Again, Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Savior, name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord, Emmanuel, God is with us, blessed Redeemer, living word, living word, living word, living word.

[57:20] Amen. Well, take the opportunity to tell the Lord you love him today, to sing to him and tell him how grateful you are for all that he's done for us, for all that we have to look forward to.

[57:40] Amen? Amen. All right, you're dismissed. You're dismissed.