The title of my message this
evening is The Glorious Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. You
will find my text in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 5. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
5. Let me read the first four verses
so that you'll see the connection with the opening word of our
text. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would
they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore? Because there was no other way
of atonement whereby God could be what you read him to be, a
just God and a Savior. No other way whereby God could
both justify the ungodly and manifest his strict justice and
righteousness in maintaining his holy law. There was no other
way for God Almighty both to forgive our sins and to be consistent
with his own nature except by the sacrifice of his son. Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, Now, the language is precise,
exact, exactly at that moment in time when God the Son entered
into that holy thing prepared in the womb of the Virgin, precisely
when Godhood and manhood came together. At that time, he said,
sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. That is, the blood of bulls
and goats will never satisfy God. The sacrifices men make
will never atone for sin. The sacrifices established and
fulfilled in the Old Testament typical ceremonies of the law,
God was not pleased with. They could never satisfy his
justice. But, but, because God found a
way, he said, deliver him from going down to the pit. for I
have found a ransom. He has laid help upon one that
is mighty, because God in his infinite wisdom found a way whereby
a holy God could forgive sin by the sacrifice of his own Son. For the glory of his grace, a
body hast thou prepared me, because it pleased the sacred triune
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to make an external manifestation
of his glory, the Lord God was pleased now to prepare a body
in which he would show forth his glory. And therefore when
our Lord Jesus came and walked upon the earth, the Apostle said,
we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. A body was prepared
for God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Virgin
Mary, so that God could save sinners whom he loved with an
everlasting love. Read the text again. Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took unto himself an indissolvable
union with humanity for the saving of our souls. Now I want you
to see just two things from this text this evening. First, the
body prepared for our Redeemer, and secondly, the assurance given
us because of our Lord's incarnation. First, look at the body prepared. Now, here is the great mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The scriptures do not teach that
God became a man or that man became God. The scriptures declare
that God and man are joined together in one glorious person in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that when Christ the Son of
God assumed our nature He is as fully God as though he were
not man, and as fully man as though he were not God, so that
neither his Godhood is compromised, nor manhood exalted beyond perfect
humanity. Jesus Christ is perfectly God
and perfectly man. The incarnate God, as we consider
it given here, is that which we ought to consider with utmost
reference. As Moses was commanded in Exodus
chapter 3 when he stood before the burning bush to take off
his polluted shoes because he stood on holy ground. So we certainly
must take off the polluted shoes of carnal reason and curiosity
as we stand before this one of whom the burning bush spoke.
Let's stand here on the bare feet of reverence and faith. worshiping our God. I have no
intention to answer the cavils that men raise against the person
of our Redeemer. I have no intention to try to
speculate about the wondrous mystery which no man can comprehend.
I simply want to declare to you for the comfort and edification
of our souls, for the strength of our faith, the wonder of the
incarnation. A body hast thou prepared me. J.C. Philpott expressed it so
succinctly in these words. He said, the sacred humanity
of the blessed Lord consists of a perfect human body and a
perfect human soul, taken at one and the same instant in the
womb of the Virgin Mary under the overshadowing operation and
influence of the Holy Ghost. Now this is the meaning of the
angel's message in Luke chapter 1. You don't need to turn there,
but listen. The angel said to Mary, the Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing, this is what it's talking about
here, that a body hast thou prepared me. This is that holy thing prepared
in the womb of the virgin in which God the Son has come into
the world. Wherefore, that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Now let
me show you several things here. First, a body was prepared for
the Son of God in old eternity, in the purpose of God, in predestination,
in covenant grace, in the arrangements of the covenant. Our Lord was
not a man before he came into the world. Understand that clearly.
Our Lord's humanity is not eternal. He became a man in time. But he appeared in the Old Testament
frequently in the form of a man. Manoah and his wives saw the
angel of the Lord. Abraham entertained an angel
who stood before him as a man and worshipped him, calling him
his Lord. Our Lord frequently appeared to men in the form of
a man, because from old eternity it was arranged in the covenant
of grace that he would come here in human form, assuming our nature
as our covenant head and representative. Our Lord's human body, his human
nature, was prepared in divine predestination. Turn back to
Psalm 139. Look at this with me. You know,
of course, David was in his life an example and type of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And while the words that are
spoken here in Psalm 139 certainly apply to David and apply to you
and I in a great sense, these words must be understood with
reference, in the ultimate sense, to our Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm
139, verse 13. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. You remember back in Psalm
22, David spoke these words when he was speaking with regard to
our Savior, God made me to hope upon my mother's belly. Here
he says, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. Verse 14,
I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret. and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth, thine eyes did see my substance being
yet unperfect or unformed, and in thy book were all my members
written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them. Now those last words in verse
16 have reference not only to our Lord's physical being as
a man, They have reference to his spiritual body as well. We
are the members of his body, known to God from eternity, the
substance of his mediatorial character, his mediatorial body,
which he is continually fashioning by the power of his grace. And
we'll see that in the conclusion of the message this evening.
I've told you repeatedly that our Lord's incarnation has always
been in the purpose of God. Back in Genesis chapter 1 and
verse 27, when the triune God says, let us make man in our
image and after our likeness, there's much, much more involved
in that than most have yet considered, and certainly much more involved
in that than you and I yet understand. But it certainly means this.
Not only did the triune God make man in the moral image of God,
so that he is intellect, emotion, and will. Not only did he make
him in his moral image so that he was created in uprightness
morally. But the Lord God made Adam the
first man in the image of that last Adam, the second Adam, who
was already established before the world began. He made Adam
in the image of Christ who would come after Adam. He made him
in the image of that one who alone is described as being the
image of God. Now let me show you. Come back
to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. When the scripture
says, let us make man in our image and after our likeness,
the image of God is Jesus Christ the God-man, that one who was
our covenant head before the world began. The first Adam was
made in the image of the second Adam. He was made both in his
image morally, uprightly. He was made in his image as a
covenant representative, and he was made in his image physically.
So that when Adam was created in the garden, he was created
walking on two feet, a man of intellect and reason standing
before God. This idea of Man being some kind
of a crawling creature at some state of caveman existence is
utter nonsense and blasphemy. Adam was made in the image of
Christ. Look here at Hebrews 1 verse
3. I missed it. Let me go back up
to verse 1. God, who at Sunday times and in divers manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these
days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness
of his glory," look at it now, "...and the express image of
his person." Those words are not used with regard to any angel
or any man except the God-man. Jesus Christ is that one then
in whose image Adam was made. He is the image, he is the embodiment
of the invisible God. He is that one in whom dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Turn back to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5. Now I want
you to see that Adam was made specifically to be a representative
and type of the Lord Jesus Christ as our covenant head as well.
Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. Paul is dealing with this business
of justification. And he declares to us in verse
12, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sin. Now notice beginning at verse
13, you have a parenthetical mark right at the beginning of
the verse. It goes all the way to the end of verse 17. Now,
a parenthesis found in the middle of a sentence or in the middle
of a paragraph is given to give a word of explanation. Now, please
don't misunderstand me. Verses 13 through 17 are an inspired
word of explanation. But if you want to see the context
in which it is found, read at the end of verse 12 and pick
up at verse 18. Let's read it like that. Verse
12. Wherefore, as by one man, Adam, Sin entered into the world,
and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. Verse 18. Therefore, as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men to justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience,
that's what was described in verse 12. By the disobedience
of Adam, by his sin against God as our federal head and representative,
many were made sinners. We became sinners by what Adam
did in the garden when he violated God's holy law. So, by the obedience
of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the last Adam,
shall many be made righteous. We are made righteous by the
obedience of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto death as our
covenant head and substitute. Look at one more text in this
regard, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The only way on this earth God
ever purposed to save sinners, and the only way God in his holiness
can save sinners, is by a substitute. And God always deals with all
men through two men, through two covenant heads. He deals
with men either through the covenant work of Adam as our representative
in the fall, or he deals with chosen sinners in the covenant
head Christ Jesus as our representative who has obeyed God for us, having
established righteousness and brought in everlasting righteousness
by his death, bearing our sins away in his body on the tree.
All right, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 21. Since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead. Four, here's the
similitude. As in Adam, all die. Everybody
who was in Adam died in Adam. Even so, in Christ shall all,
all who are represented by Christ, shall be made alive. So Adam
then was made in the image of Jesus Christ who is the image
of God. In the fullness of time God prepared
a body for his son in the womb of the Virgin by the supernatural
power of God the Holy Spirit. Turn with me if you will to Matthew
chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. This is one of those texts of
scripture that is so commonly read during what men call the
Christmas season. It's read and memorized and recited
and sung about so commonly that often we fail to behold the wonder
of it. Begin with me in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this Not the birth of God the Son. There's no such
thing as that. He's God the Eternal Son. Unto
us a son is given. Unto us a child is born. He's
talking now about the manhood of our Savior. And this is how
it happened. When his mother Mary was his
spouse, engaged to Joseph, before they came together, they had
never slept together. She was a virgin. She was found
with child of the Holy Ghost. That word of means out of, as
to source. It means of in the sense as being
by. She was found pregnant with the
child that came out from the Holy Spirit by the operation
of God the Holy Spirit. Read on. Then Joseph, her husband,
being a just man and not willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privately. He didn't know what was going
on. He was totally ignorant of it. And yet he was a gracious
and kind man. He didn't want to have her put
to death. He didn't want to make a spectacle of her. So he was
thinking about just breaking off the engagement, putting her
away, the espousal being broken. Verse 20. But while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife. For that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. The angel tells her exactly where
this thing came from, that holy thing prepared in her womb. All
right, verse 22, or verse 21 rather. And she shall bring forth
the Son, and shall call his name Jesus. For he, this one who is
conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit, This one who is
the one spoken of in Genesis 3.15, the promised seed of woman,
he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was
done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child.
Now that gives us an understanding of Isaiah 7.14. A virgin shall
be with child and shall bring forth a son. And they shall call
his name Emmanuel, that is, God with us. Verse 24, And Joseph
being raised from the sleep, did as the angel of the Lord
had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. And he knew her
not, that is, they never slept together, until the Lord Jesus
had come forth from her womb. Now I recognize that papists
make a big deal trying to demonstrate that Mary remained in perpetual
virginity all her life. That's just nonsense. Our Lord
had several brothers, perhaps some sisters as well. But Mary
and Joseph were not living together in celibacy the rest of their
days. He didn't know her until the Son of God came out of her
womb. He knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn
son, and he called his name Jesus. Now our Lord's real human body
and human soul were prepared by God in eternal grace before
the world began, being purposed of God from eternity. And they
were prepared in the virgin's womb by the miraculous conception
of God the Holy Spirit forming him in her womb by his almighty
power. His body and soul came forth
from the virgin's womb in perfect holiness. in perfect uprightness,
in perfect righteousness as a man, so that he, being a man, might
live in obedience to God for his people. God the Holy Spirit
prepared the body of God the Son in which he would be able
to do what neither God nor man could do otherwise. by being
himself both God and man. He is able both to fulfill the
law as a man and satisfy the demands of the law as God for
now that which he does as a man is of infinite merit and virtue
because he is God in human flesh. Oh wonder of wonders, mystery
of mysteries, who can comprehend this? Our Lord really did assume
our nature. It behooved him, Hebrews chapter
2. He took on the seed of Abraham,
took hold of Abraham's seed. Therefore it behooved him to
be made like us. If he would save Larry Brown
and Don Fortner, he's got to live here in our nature. Can't
do it any other way. It behooved him. Our Lord's body
then, his nature, body and soul, truly were a real human body
and a real human soul. Let me just look at one or two
texts with you. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans the 8th chapter. Don't miss the wonder of this.
You remember the promise given to Eve back in Genesis 3.15 when
God was about to expel Adam and Eve from the garden? He said,
Now I'm going to send one, the seed of the woman, who will crush
the serpent's head. The opening words of Genesis
4. When Eve brought forth her firstborn son Cain, she said,
I've got him. I've got him. She called him
Cain because she thought she had gotten the promised Messiah.
She understood. More than we can imagine, she
understood when our Lord made that statement to her. She said,
when Cain was born, I've gotten the man the Lord promised. She
didn't understand. He was going to come a long time
down the road, but she understood the promise. And here in Romans
chapter 8, we read the fulfilling of the promise. Verse 1, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
the law could not put away my sin. The law could not punish
me to the satisfaction of justice for my sin. The law could not
make me holy. The law could not give me righteousness
before God. What the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own Son,
look at it now, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
because of sin, condemned sin in the flesh. God sent his Son,
not in sinful flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh, He sent him
because of sin so that he in his son might condemn sin in
the flesh. And our Lord Jesus Christ assumed
this nature of ours forever. When Christ took into union our
nature with himself, God and man became one forever. He never ceased in any way to
be God. Never. I'm beyond what I can
describe to you. But he who came into the world
through Mary's womb, while he was in her womb, depended upon
her body for his life, as much as my future grandson, in God's
providence, depends for his life upon my daughter's body right
now. He drew his life from Mary's life fluids. When he came forth
from her womb and nursed at her breast, he depended upon the
milk of her breast just like any other baby depends on its
mother for the milk from her breast. And yet, while he's in
her womb, Mary worshiped him as her God, and he's the one
who supplied the fluids of life in her womb for his body. While
he nursed in her breast, he is God who causes the milk to flow
in the breast. When our Lord walked upon the
earth, he lived here and grew in wisdom and stature as a man.
He was obedient to his parents even as he went about doing his
father's business. While he grew as a child, he
was subject to his parents in all things. And yet he's God
who made his parents. While he hung upon the cursed
tree, he did not in any way cease to be God, but rather he'd manifest
his manhood in its fullness, and he's God Almighty who teaches
the soldiers and gives them the strength to drive the nails in
his hands. You understand what I'm saying? I know you don't
understand it, do you get it? He's God and man in one glorious
person. That means that what he has done
is of infinite value. He obeyed the law as God in human
flesh. He is not one who is partially
God and partially man, but rather he is the God-man, the man-God,
sitting yonder in glory, having finished his work. And so fully
perfect is his obedience to God as a man, that he is the end
of the law for righteousness. No man could ever fulfill the
law and bring it to an end. No mere man. Were he even a perfect
man? Not even Adam in his innocence
could do such. But Jesus Christ has perfectly
brought in righteousness, fulfilling every demand of the law for infinite
worth for all his people. As a man, our Lord Jesus Christ
hung upon the tree. and died for our sins. But that man who died is God
Almighty. Look at Acts 20, 28. Acts 20,
28. Listen to these words from the
Apostle Paul as he's giving his farewell message to the elders
at Ephesus, declaring to them the message he preached. He urges
these elders, these gospel preachers, He says in verse 28, take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to the flock of God, over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, look at it now, which he, who? Which he, God, has purchased
with his own blood. But God's spirit, he doesn't
have parts. He didn't have hands. He didn't
have eyes. He didn't have a mouth. He didn't
have a body. God's spirit. But the God man is God in the
fullness of his being. So that when he died at Calvary,
buddy, the blood he shed for you is the blood of a man who's
God. That makes it worthy of God's
acceptance. That makes it worth something
before the infinite God for the satisfaction of justice for all
his people. Our Lord God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, in forming this holy thing, the human body and
soul of our Lord Jesus Christ, has done so as in all things
done by the triune God in unison. The Father purposed it in eternity. The Spirit formed it in the womb
of the Virgin. The Son said, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. This human
body and soul of our Lord Jesus is perfect, perfect in holiness,
incorruptible, immortal, an immortal humanity, an immortal humanity. But Pastor, he died, didn't he?
Of course he did. But the psalmist said, Psalm
16, verses 9, 10, and 11, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
Thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. When our
Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary, his body went to the grave. But
he, the God-man's soul, entered into paradise, and as our mediator,
obtained eternal redemption for us. And three days later, his
body is raised from the grave. His human nature is so intrinsically
holy that he did not sin and he could not sin. You remember
when Satan came to tempt him? Our Lord said, he found nothing
in me. Nothing in me. He tempted him
with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of
life, but nothing in me. Nothing in me with which to work. Nothing in me with which to find
cooperation. Nothing in me to be inclined
toward his temptation. Now when it comes to temp Bob
Pottser, he finds everything in you by nature inclined toward
his temptation. Everything in you by nature susceptible
to his power. Everything in you by nature susceptible
to corruption. But in the Lamb of God there
is no susceptibility to corruption. He is the holy, immaculate God-man. Perfectly holy. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, then, is the perfect substitute for his people. Turn
now to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Let me wrap this up. I've got to hurry. 1 Timothy
chapter 3, verse 16. Back up to verse 14. These things write I unto thee,
hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God. He says, now Timothy, he says
to me, Don Fortner, preacher, pastor, this is how you ought
to behave in God's house, and he's giving us instructions for
it. Which is the church of the living God. This is what you
are. His church, the church of the
living God. The pillar and ground of truth.
The church of God is that pillar and ground by which God preserves
his truth from one generation to the other. And now he's going
to tell us what that truth is. What is that body of truth which
we must tenaciously hold to and pass along to the generation
to come? And without controversy, Great
is the mystery of godliness. All that I've said is no improvement
on these words. God was manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ is God manifest
when he came into the world. God manifest when he walked through
this earth. God manifest on the cursed tree. God manifest seated on the throne
of glory. God manifest to eternity. Read
on. God manifest in the flesh. Justified in the spirit. Now
what's that talking about? Romans chapter 4, he was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Declared
to be the son of God with power. He was made to be sin for us
at Calvary. Buried, when he had died, buried
out of God's sight, buried in the earth. Symbolically out of
God's sight because sin must be put away, that accursed thing,
buried out of sight. But on the third day he proves
himself to have put away sin by his one sacrifice. For he
arose without sin and ascended up into heaven. Read on. Scene
of angels. Scene of angels. Scene of angels
when he came into the world. Scene of angels when he ascended
up on high. Scene of angels right now. Right
now. Angels of God visit with God's
assemblies seeking to know something of the wonders of redemption. They meet with God's saints as
we sing his praise and listen and observe the wonders of sinners
redeemed by his blood, saved by his grace. Read on. Preached
unto the Gentiles, thank God. Jesus Christ, this one who is
God manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
has been preached to us, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on
in the world, and Yondri sets, received up into glory. This
is the great mystery of godliness. All right, now let me give you
one more thing. All this, the incarnation of
our Lord, declares this blessed word of assurance to God's elect. This and many other things, but
certainly this. He who came here and assumed
our nature will certainly save the people he came to save. As
the Lord God prepared a physical body for our Lord Jesus Christ,
in which he fulfilled all righteousness and accomplished eternal redemption
as our federal head and representative, he also prepared a mystical body
Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. I'll give you this and I'll quit.
Ephesians chapter 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is a mediator. And he has a mediatorial body.
A mediatorial body which he must possess in totality. He must. For if one member of his body
is gone, he's a maimed mediator. If one member of his body is
missing, he cannot be complete. Now look at the language of the
Holy Spirit. This is not a matter of speculation or philosophy. This is just a matter plainly
revealed in Scripture. Because Christ came here to save a people
who is his body, the church, every last member of his body
must be saved or he can never be complete as our mediator.
Look at it now. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
22. and hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church."
Christ is the head of his church, and he's the head of all things
to his church, and he's the head of all things for his church.
Now what is his church? Look at it. Which is his body. His body. A body has now prepared
me, which is his body. the fullness of him that filleth
all in all." What on earth does that mean? This is what it means. It means that sinners chosen
of God in everlasting love, given to Christ in covenant grace,
for whom he came as a mediator, are the completion of him who
is the fullness of all. Jesus Christ is all in all. He is that one who fills all
things. He is the fullness of all things. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. But he's complete when all his
members are with him in glory. That means every sinner given
to him in covenant grace he'll have with him an everlasting
glory. That means every sinner redeemed by his blood at Calvary,
he'll have with him in glory. That means every sinner saved
by the power of his spirit, he will keep and preserve and have
with him in glory. That means every sinner whom
he purchased, he will call and he will raise up to glory. This
is his body. Guaranteed because he can not
fail. That's our security. Jesus Christ
is the God-man mediator who saves his people from their sins for
the glory of God. Okay. God give us grace to trust
him. Give us grace to honor him. Give
us grace to preach him. Ladies and gentlemen, lead us
in the hymn if you will.