The Incarnation Pt 2

Well, last week we just did what I would call a corporate gazing on God. We were looking specifically at the beauty and the unthinkable kindness that is the incarnation when God became a man. We talked about like that he didn't have to. We talked about that it really in some ways made no sense unless God Almighty had made a decision in his heart that said, no, I'm going to be with them.

And it was his desire that drove God Almighty uncreated outside of time and space to become a human. And that's a mystery. Last week we had Stephen up here playing and we just kind of had this moment to just stare at the mystery of the incarnation and hopefully get our hearts refascinated. Do you remember we talked last week about study of God theology being like an infant, studying for parent's face.

It's not furrowed, brow and angry. There's an invitation to explore something that you're never going to figure out. But it's the highest honor that you have to just try and just stare and to get fascinated. This week I want us to stay in that same zone as we just asked some questions about it and explore the incarnation a little bit.

So receiving a mystery does not mean that you've fully entered into the mystery. To be told that there's this outlandish gift, it doesn't mean it's the same thing as opening that gift. I think it's interesting that in the story of Advent, in the season as we're looking at the incarnation, we come across a story that shows us exactly this about how we can approach today as we step out of Stephen playing and it's more intentionally story and we apply our minds and our hearts a bit. We find this really interesting story where an angel appears to a human and utters a mystery.

And this happens twice. And the response is very, very different. You guys remember that the angel Gabriel approaches Mary and talks about this crazy birth that's going to happen. Angel Gabriel also appears to Zechariah.

Remember this? There's a miracle baby that's going to happen. Angel comes to two different people and says essentially the same outlandish truth to both of them. Obviously one was incarnate God, one was in either way.

It's this crazy miracle. And both of them actually respond the exact same way in their words. Both of them receive the news and say, how can this be? One of them gets a further explanation.

One of them gets struck mute for nine months. And he says, I'm going to say, what's the difference? It seems the same at face value. Here's the difference, friends.

Mary received the mystery with faith. And her, how can this be? Received the word and said, I just want to know more. There's curiosity and wonder while she accepts and receives the mystery.

Zechariah, it's more of a, how can this be? And there's unbelief. And there's a holding at arms length and less I understand this, then I don't know that I'm going to receive it. And the response is so different from the angel, right?

If unbelief enters into this miracle story, it's going to be a problem. So angel goes, why don't you not talk for nine months? And with Mary, with Mary, he actually rather than rebuke her and go, listen, it's just a mystery, okay? Just receive it.

He goes, okay, the Holy Spirit's going to overshadow you and you're going to conceive. Still mystery because she's like, what does overshadow mean, right? Like there's still mystery for sure. But the response from the angel is so different because the response of Mary is so different.

I want all of us, as we're looking today at the incarnation, to be like Mary. To receive it, to go, I don't understand this. This makes no sense, but let it be unto me according to your word. Yeah?

Okay. So incarnation is such a massive thing that for us to apply our minds to look into it is it's going to take way more than one Sunday night here. It was the primary driving question that drove the early church for 400 years. If you look at the first 400 years of church history, the defining question that the church is trying to look at, trying to go, how can this be?

It's the incarnation. So if you know anything at all about church history, you'll know that there's kind of two main heresies, two big bad guys, that the church is trying to combat. One of them is Gnosticism, the other one is called Arianism, okay? They looked at the incarnation and they said, Jesus was for sure God, for sure God, absolutely, because who else could do this?

But God can't be man. Spirit is good and eternal and all of these things, but mankind, it's material, it's broken, so it doesn't make sense. So let's say that God, through Jesus, appeared to be man, but he wasn't actually man because God is so good another than. Arianism on the other side, this guy named Arius, said, and Jesus did so many good things.

He was such an incredible teacher. He was actually, he was exactly what God wanted, but he's still a human. He's still created, so he's not really God. And it was these two heresies, one saying he was God, but not man, one saying he was man but not God, that drove the church to go, we need to figure this out, because when I look at the Bible that is not what this says, but how are we supposed to understand this?

And they came up with this and I see in Crete, we actually read this a couple of weeks ago, I came up on stage and read some of this, but when it's speaking of Christ, it says, in defining God as best as possible, it says that the Son of God is God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial or of the same substance as the Father. And it says, for us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man, 100% God, true God of true God. And he became man. There's no asterix, there's no, well, metaphysically speaking, we want to know.

Nope, he was God and he was man, and we need to receive the mystery and if you want, there are so many resources, the church meant 400 years writing about this. So if you're like, but I want to know the how as much as possible, I'm going to invite you to go get curious, use the internet, use your local library and study this out. What I want to do is receive that mystery and then ask God the question, but why? The how can be a whole journey and I think it's always going to be soaked in mystery.

Tonight I just want to ask the question, why? Not with cynicism, not with an arms like, not with a prove it, with love in my heart, fully receiving the doctrine of the incarnation going, why did you do that? I'm approaching God with that. There's so many different ways of Bible approaches.

There's so many ways we could go about this, but there are two ways specifically tonight that I want to highlight. We're going to be in Scripture a lot. Let that spark fascination enjoy, not boredom. Deal?

We're going to be in Scripture a lot. Because I want to explore first what it means that the book of Hebrews and other places, it calls Jesus our High Priest before God. I want to start there, okay? So quick recap.

We talked about this last week. God desires to be with his people. He is decided by an act of his sovereign will, I'm going to be with you forever, right? But then when mankind does the most unthinkably arrogant, prideful thing that we ever could, in our deception we said, you know what, I deserve more than you've given me.

I know that you, the God of all creation, said that you wanted to mark me with your image, but I think I deserve a little more. Sin enters the picture. And there is a very serious consequence for sin, right? So inside of humanity there becomes a fracture.

Something's not right with man. We are no longer in the image, meaning like we're not acting like God. We've now taken on attributes of the enemy, where we're lying. We're accusing.

We're covered in shame and guilt. We operate in fear. And there is a problem. And that problem is called sin.

So God is true to his word. And when God said, no sin is a big deal he meant it. When God said that there needs to be separation between something that's perfectly holy and something that's sinful, he meant it. So here's the thing that we need to first ask.

Sometimes we go, well, if God's all loving and God's all kind, why didn't he just wave a magic wand or do something that would have just cured the sin problem? He's all powerful, right? Why didn't God just take away sin? Why the need for the incarnation at all?

Why do there need to be a sacrifice? Didn't couldn't God just lifted it? Yes, he could have, but then he would have made himself a liar. And the justice of God would have been compromised forever.

It would have been unjust for God to do that, because he's the one that said there's a separation here. And if he just said, never mind, it's so insecurity into our walk with God because he might just change the rules. No, he's not a man that he should lie. So God says, this is serious.

Then we look at the sacrificial system because God's desire, though he says, this is serious. You have broken covenant. We are no longer compatible. Like that's serious.

Like we did this in that for a second. Man and God were no longer compatible because of the same issue. God's heart doesn't change, though. He's like, I want to be with you.

I want to be in your midst. I want to dwell with you on the earth. His desire has always been the same. But then, look, talk about last week, he says, I'm going to live in the middle of your camp.

Uh-oh, because there's still saturated in sin. There's a fracture on the interior of man, and there's zero chance that they're going to actually live without sin. So then he institutes the law in the sacrificial system. We're not going to go too deep on this, but here's an analogy that I found is helpful for me when understanding what the law and the sacrificial system did.

Imagine, Lord, this is so goofy. Forgive the weak analogy. Imagine there's a leaky faucet. There's a really leaky faucet.

There's water all over the ground. God has every intention to fix the problem, but he sets up a wet floor sign and goes, there's a problem here. And temporarily, there's a way for us to interact, but it's not the right way. It's broken.

It's not the way it was designed. The law was always meant to point us to the fact there's a problem, Paul says. The law was never meant to fix the problem. The law was meant to highlight, there's a big problem here that needs to be addressed.

And God is also saying, I still want connection. My heart is still for you. So here's a way, but it was always meant to be an intentionally temporary, not-for-sure permanent way. Right?

So he institutes the sacrificial system and in that process, he says, all right, so for my justice to be made fully complete for me to be honest in the way that God needs to be, because that's who he is in his character, one party of this covenant was faithful, the other was not. God can't do man's job in this relationship. Man has to be the one that represents mankind to God in a relationship. Right?

And if you're like, I know all of this, track with me. Deal? Track with me. Even if man wanted to though, the fracture is on the interior.

The way that they are is busted. They are unable to connect with God in the way that they even want to because they're broken and deceived still. So God has this system, he says, tell you what we're going to do, there's going to be a priest that represents all of you. So then he's serious, we're going to transfer the guilt temporarily onto a goat, God's wisdom, not mine.

But he says, we're going to do a work around. But the priest's job is to represent mankind to God and God to mankind. It's the role of the priesthood. The only way then is that there needs to be a priest that represents mankind to God and does the steps for a relationship to be healed.

But mankind can't do that. So then the priest also needs his own sacrifice and there's all these things. It's a wet floor sign. God's building rules and conditions going, this is broken.

The goal of God's heart is that mankind would be in a right relationship with him. And mankind couldn't be in a right relationship with him. They were busted. They were broken.

So we look at this then and we say the only way for God to be perfectly just and to be true to his word is for a man to represent themselves rightly in relationship with God. He says, tell you what, you'll never do it. The only way for me to get what I want is I'll become man. What do you mean you'll become man?

Welcome to the mystery of the incarnation. What's happening is that God is saying I am going to be their high priest. I'm going to be the one that represents them before God. Remember the priest's job represent man to God and God to man.

So he steps in as the priest. But I thought you said that he was mankind. Yep. So here's the deal.

Scott talked about this. The way that this is laid out is there needs to be mankind and God. There needs to be a priest that stands between and there needs to be a sacrifice to cover the seriousness. God's here and he goes, okay, the only way for this to really work and be unchangeable is I'll become man.

So now he's both parties and he goes, there needs to be a mediator. I'll be that too. I'll be the high priest. He needs to be sacrificed.

Got you covered. He steps into that. And he's fully embodying the entire process unto redemption, unto we're going to actually take care of this in issue. He needed to be dealt with, man had done wrong, so they had to make it right and they needed a sacrifice and he goes, I'll do all of it.

Because his heart is for restoration. Now many of us, and if you haven't heard that, by the way, it's the best news in the world, that the sin issue that we feel so trapped with, there's an answer provided by the mercy of God. Want to know how the justice and mercy of God come together? The incarnation.

How can God be perfectly justified? And be perfectly merciful. Study the incarnation with the Holy Ghost. How it's the perfect representation of God's justice and his mercy simultaneously.

But here's my concern friends. I think that as I was going through that whole last but whatever it was, 10 minutes talking about the sin issue, many of us go, yeah, I got it. Heard it before, amen. It's good news.

But I think that we get stuck sometimes by just observing what happened in a transactional way where we go, yeah, the legal price was paid. What we do accidentally, because we're so ingrained in this idea of a transactional legal I was guilty, then I was forgiven, and now I don't have anything on my track record. Now my, if you run the report, it says that I'm clean. We so anchor ourselves in the justification legal side of it, that I think many of us have a distorted image of what it's like to be with God.

In this, imagine that I don't deserve to be on, to get into that space, and I need to take it, I don't have a ticket. And then someone comes over to me and says, I got you a ticket, come on. And I get in. Is that merciful?

For sure. Do I deserve to be in there? No, it's good. It's amazing.

But how do I act once I'm in? I don't belong here. What happens in that space? And that's an analogy.

Let's integrate what we're actually talking about here. It's the throne room of God. This is not, I got into a club. This is, I, I'm me.

And I just got invited into the throne room and someone goes, no, you're good. Price is paid. What that doesn't deal with is my psyche. That doesn't deal with my emotions.

If I just leave it at a transactional standpoint where I go, no, it's okay that I'm in here. My heart is not connected. I'm looking at what's happening and I'm standing against the wall like a wallflower going. Trying to keep my head down because I'm still, I know that I'm, it's okay that I'm here, but I'm not connected.

I don't feel safe here. And I think many of us, because we don't understand what I'm talking about right now fully, we think we get it because we go, no, transactionally, I'm good. And we're missing what Jesus actually did as our high priest because we're missing the humanity of Jesus. We picture it like, we're the dummy in high school with our dummy friends and we got in the group project and there's the one star student who did the group project for us and we all got an A.

But we're not receiving anything really. Like I got the A, but I know I didn't earn it. I know, I still feel bad. Nothing's changed or different.

I just got the A. I think that's how we do this sometimes. I think we look at Jesus and we're like, yeah, I get that he's human, but he and I are not the same. He's different than me.

And I just kind of riding on his coattails. And it's creating a disconnect in our relationship with God. It's creating a lack of security in his presence because at the end of the day, we're still left with our own inner thoughts going, I really shouldn't be here. So let's look at the book of Hebrews together because I believe that what we've been taught about the transactional justification legal side is 100% true.

But I'm telling you, it's better news than you thought. It's safer. It's more connected. God is not just looking to manage the sin issue.

He managed the sin issue unto connection with his people. His desire was not how do we make this morally right again? His desire was, I want to be with you and have you know me and to know you. So we're going to turn to Hebrews chapter two together.

Hebrews two, the book of Hebrews, if you haven't just read the book of Hebrews in a while, it is an unthinkable gift to the church in this area as we're trying to figure out, wait, what? Why? What's happening? The way that he ties in all of this is unbelievable.

But I want us to go specifically to verse 17. Hebrews two, 17. This whole section, he's talking, I'm just saying he because we don't know who the author of Hebrews is. So the author of Hebrews is talking about this justification process.

But in Hebrews two, 17, we see something different. Verse 17, therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he's able to help those who are being tempted. Earlier in the chapter, in verse 11, it says that's why he's not ashamed to call them brothers.

We don't just have Jesus as our advocate as the one that got us the tickets in. We have a fraternity and a fellowship with him because he understands us. He had to be made like his brothers in every respect. What do you mean he had to?

Why? So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. God's desire is not just that we get the past to get in. It's that when we're there, we feel connected and safe and seen so there can be actual union, actual connection, not just proximity.

God is not just trying to get you into heaven to be with him in the same proximity. He wants to be with you, relationally connected to you. So you don't just need a priest to offer the sacrifice. You need someone that gets you.

You need him to not just be a high priest but a merciful and faithful high priest. Let's keep going in chapter 4, Hebrews 4. This is so good. This is unbelievably good news.

Hebrews 4, 14. He's continuing in the same line of thought. Hebrews 4, 14, he says, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are.

Pause. What? God who is able to empathize with our weakness, the one on the throne when we walk in, that goes, I know exactly what you're feeling right now. I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed.

I know what it feels like to be tempted. It says, he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. You don't just have mercy that goes you're forgiven.

You have grace in the time of need. You can approach the throne of grace boldly because of Jesus. Chapter 5, for every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God. Don't forgive some sacrifices for sins.

That priest can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness. We need to reframe this picture of God being our high priest through Jesus. It's not just you have access to get in. You walk in and you see the one on the throne and there's a fraternity and fellowship and you go, this guy gets it.

And you're brought in close because he has been tempted. He knows weakness. You guys, we don't think about this very often. Let's go on a little mental exercise.

Jesus has a memory of his time on earth. This has a perfect memory. So if you're feeling overwhelmed and it's just so human, when you're feeling the human limits of I can't do this anymore, I've hit my max. I don't know what to do.

I'm finite. I'm confused. Lord, help. You come into the throne room and Jesus is on the throne going, I remember God so many.

I remember crying out to God feeling so overwhelmed asking why God himself has memory of our humanity. We feel tempted and we feel so embarrassed because we think that God wants to just make us just so clean and different where I don't ever have temptation. And then you see that image and you're tempted. You see that opportunity for greed and you're tempted and you feel the pull of your humanity going, what if we did it our way?

And the son of God goes, I know what that feels. I know what it feels like. So when I walk into the throne room, I'm like, here in the presence of God, I don't shrink back in shame. I don't shrink back because I'm going, oh, we're just so different.

We're so different. I'll just be here in the corner. You've got Jesus on the throne. I'm like, I get it.

It's not just that he became man so he could fulfill some legal obligations. He became man so that we could have a deep breath of relief when we come into the throne room. Hebrews 7, therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him because he at all times lives to make intercession for them. We have a merciful high priest who empathizes with our weakness who's sitting there when we're in our humanity feeling so disconnected and so broken and he's praying for you.

We think of God as being the judge and he is, but that picture gets refrained through the incarnation. God was not up in heaven. Hear me on this because it's going to challenge some of us. God was not up in heaven.

Just angry and bitter and offended going, someone's got to pay. Okay, well, I guess I have to do it. And then Jesus stepped in and then he crushed him and then goes, all right. Well, let's have fellowship together.

I guess now we've dealt with the problem. So come on in. That's not how the father is. Jesus is refrained in what the father is like.

He's always just wanted to be with us. And he knows that if I just took away their sin, hear me. If all Jesus ever had to take away our sin, he's worthy of worship forever. I'm not minimizing that.

Jesus took away our sin. But I'm saying the good news is even better than we thought. But it wasn't just a removal of sin. It was God goes, I'm going to wash their conscience clean.

Hebrews 10. We're just going to camp in Hebrews. Hebrews 10, verse 19, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened up through the curtain, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The way that we approach God is not just, I got the get out of jail free card so you can't be mad at me. Jesus entered the throne room as a human. He's up there, up there. I get that it's not outer space.

But for the help of the sake of us getting understanding, he's in heaven. In a body, he's a human. So when we approach as humans, we actually have fellowship with God. We actually have a sigh of relief going the distinction between God and man was erased in the incarnation.

It makes sense that a human walk into the throne room now because there's one seated on the throne. It changes our perspective and it's because Jesus became a man. Yeah? So I said there was two things that I want to talk about.

He's a merciful and faithful empathetic high priest. But the thoroughness of God and his desire for connection with us goes beyond just, I'll clear the debt. I'll make a way for them to be with me. I'll even give them all the comfort in the world telling one of them sitting there, beckoning them in.

The good news is even better than this. How is that possible then? Well, because the Bible calls Jesus the second Adam or the last Adam. What this means is that he has recreated humanity.

The goal in God's heart was not just the removal of sin. It was not just righteousness and justification. He's like, I want to be one with you. The heart of God is revealed in John 17 where Jesus starts to cry out, I want them and me and you and them and you and me and you get lost reading John 17 because of how much union he's talking about.

He's going, I don't just want proximity. I don't just want it to be okay. I don't just want them to feel good in my presence. I want to be one with them.

I want to experience me and experience them. I want union. When we talk about union, I get that's a foreign concept for some of us. But it's like it's two have become one.

It's not just where buddies. It's not just we can hang out together. It's not just I feel safe in your presence. He's after more than that.

The goal in God's heart was union. I am in you. You are in me. What God has brought together, let no man separate.

I thought that was about husband and wife though. Yeah, and Paul very clearly says, I'm speaking of the mysteries and if you're able to understand, I'm talking about Christ in the church. Paul is laying out this picture of marriage going, it's like that, but better. It's not just that you're separate, you're becoming one.

It's more than that because now you'll have the mind of Christ. You'll think his thoughts. How can I get this? Okay, you'll be seated with him in heavenly places.

What? Where's Jesus in his own room? Let's not be afraid to go here. Where's Jesus in his own room?

He's on the throne. Am I saying that we've become divine in the sense that we're ruling over the universe? No, but I think it's interesting that he said, I want to be with you, you in me. And then Paul later says that we're seated with him in heavenly places.

I can't explain this. I'm not saying at all that we're going to become the ruler of the universe or that we're somehow going to become God, but I'm saying there's a mystery here that we don't feel safe going to because it sounds too outlandish. And I think that's when we're getting close. I think that the incarnation is an invitation for us to look at this thing and go, what do you mean union with God?

I think that the key that we can see this in Scripture is when he talks about Jesus being the second Adam. There's a big passage in Romans 5. I'm just going to summarize it. But in Romans 5 Paul lays out this line of thinking where he says sin entered through one man.

He's talking about Adam here. He said that there's Adam. Sin entered through one man. And because sin came, death came.

Then he says, this is before even the law of Moses. So the wet floor sign. Before there was even anything accusing you of being sinful, death is still the problem. Even if there was nothing here, that's even if there was nothing to accuse you of doing the wrong thing because there wasn't a law.

He's saying from Adam to Moses, death still rained. There's a problem. There's a fracture here. Then he says, but just as sin and death entered through one man, the second Adam is not like the first.

The first Adam introduced sin. And by his one trespass, everyone became guilty and liable to death. But Jesus, the second Adam, this new form of human Adam just means man. Adam in Hebrew literally just means man.

Same word. So there's a new man that comes in and though there's a multitude of transgressions, he's one act of righteousness unlocks it all. So there's a different way of relating when we receive through that man. Okay.

Track with this. Jesus in John 3 talking to Nicodemus. He says, listen, you need to be born again. Nicodemus is the person like us who's going, come on.

I love that the scripture records. Nicodemus going, are you saying I'm supposed to go back into my mother's womb? It's like, obviously not my guy. But Jesus says, no, I'm telling you that there's an invitation to be reborn by the spirit.

This language of rebirth is all throughout the New Testament. This language of new creation is all throughout the New Testament. And I think that we get used to it and we don't understand the ramifications of what it's saying. Jesus came as a human.

This is the incarnation. He came as a man and started to walk out the steps of mankind in a completely different way. And we had ever been able to do. He's filled with the spirit of God.

So Adam gets presented with this fruit to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You know best, don't you? The first Adam takes it. The second Adam is in the garden being presented with the same fruit.

And he says, it's not my will, but yours be done. It's different. Adam, in the garden, there's a snake who deceives him and tempts him and goes, I think that I have what you want. Jesus is in the wilderness.

The liar and the tempter comes again and goes, I can give you what you want. And he says, it is written. And he stands firm that he knows exactly who he is. He's not going to make me a son of God by proving it with bread.

I know who I am. And he's re-walking the steps of Adam, redeeming it every step of the way. What is Adam? Treat his wife.

He accuses her and says the woman gave me the fruit. How does Jesus treat us? He gave himself up for her. Washer.

In every step, Jesus is modeling a new way to be human. He's a man born of the Virgin Mary. But his lineage is different. God Almighty is his father.

So when we stand as a human, we go, yeah, I've been made clean, but look at all the stuff I've done. Look at my track record. Look at my history. This is humanity.

How am I ever going to rise above this? Jesus goes, that's that kind of man. That's Adam, man. You'd be reborn into me, into my family line.

You have an entirely different lineage. There is no generational curse when you're born again into the family of God where God is your father. It's only generational blessings now. There's a different way to be human.

Let's first Corinthians. Let's just go there. First Corinthians 15. This is such good news.

It's unthinkable that I'm talking like this. We're used to it because we're church people. This is unbelievable. What do you mean I had a different way to be human that I can be free?

I can read from sin. It's because God became man and said, I'm not trying to deliver you from your body like some sort of Gnostic weirdo that says that material stuff is bad. He goes, I'm in the process of redemption. I'm going to take this body that I committed to and I'm going to be faithful to it.

I'm going to take humanity as they are and be faithful to my promise. But you better believe I'm going to remake humanity in my image. First Corinthians 15. We'll start in verse 45.

This passage pulls appearing into the mystery of our resurrected bodies. That's fun. But in verse 45, he says, thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. But the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

It's not the spiritual that comes first. It's the natural, not spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven.

As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust. As is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. You're going to be remade.

You are not in the line of Adam. You accept Jesus and say, I want to be born again. He goes, now you look like me. You bear the family resemblance.

He's transformed humanity. So when he says that he's the second Adam, what he means is there's a different way to be human. What this means, friends, think of the implications of this. Again, what's God's desire?

What is he after the whole time? Connection, union, I and you and me and me and them and all of us together. That's what he's after. He's going so deep for us.

Going, you don't even have a conscience of sin anymore because I've still thoroughly remade who you are. You're not going to come into my presence and wonder if you should be there because you know that this is your dad's house. You're not going to wonder what's going on and go, is he mad at me today or is he not? You've been born into the family.

You've been remade as a new kind of human. When Jesus became physical matter, he transformed what was possible. Hear this. Hear this.

This is, God did not just return us to the state that Adam was in. He did not just say, let's go back to the beginning. He goes, I'm going to make it even better. I'm not just going to breathe my spirit into you.

Now, when your physical frame gets filled up with the spirit, you get to look at me and see the God man and go, we're in this together now. God breathed into Adam and gave him life. And he's still, hear this. He's still made of dust and made of earth.

And the promise of God, because of the incarnation, is I'm going to be raised up as the first born Jesus said so that many sons can come after me. I'm going to remake their physical bodies to be glorified with me forever. I'm going to be with them in that type of thoroughness where even their flesh is remade and reborn into the likeness of the Son of God, not of Adam. Think about the implications of this.

We talk about Jesus returning to the planet. He walked on the earth. He knows people. And his commitment is so thorough that he's not just going to roll up heaven and earth.

We're going to, we're just going to be up in heaven. It's better up here. He's going, no, I've made myself one with these people. New heavens.

Matter. Physical. Forever. It's a guy named John of Damascus.

He's in the 600 AD. He said, I respect all matter because of the incarnation. The way that I interact with the things around me is different because matter was redeemed and restored because of the incarnation. It's not just the garden where God's walking the cool of the day.

He's filling his creation with himself. The Eucharist only makes sense of friends if we understand the power of the incarnation. What do you mean I'm eating his body and drinking his blood? I know what that is.

It's a cracker and grape juice, buddy. We don't have time to go into this, you guys, but no, it's not. Because of the incarnation, physical matter can be transformed into something that it's not. I get that some of y'all are like, wait, what is he saying?

I'm not going to go into it right now. I'm just saying there's a mystery. There's a mystery about physical things now being redeemed and restored because God became a physical thing. This is insane.

That I just said from a pulpit, God became a physical thing makes no sense and it offends the majority of the Western church. I'm telling us this is the glory of God revealed. We need to be provoked going, I'm not the, it's not the problem. I'm not the problem.

God is so thoroughly redeemed and restored all things. But right now I see in part that I'm going to see an whole. There's mysteries here. And if we give ourselves, I'm really churchally going, what does this mean that God became a man?

I just wonder what fresh fascination could strike our heart, what freedom is available for sons and daughters when they meditate on the fact that God has a body just like them. What's possible in our connection with God when we remember that the God man ever lives to make an obsession for us? What's possible in overcoming our sin propensities when we go, he's pempted in every way and yet he was faithful and didn't sin. I've been reborn into the lineage of Jesus himself.

He's the firstborn from the dead. He's keeping his body forever, thanks. What does this do for those of us that struggle with self-mutilation? When we say that God man loves his body and he's called me to be like him.

There's a reframing of every part of being human if we can just fixate on the incarnation. I get that I'm saying things, it's like, wait, what? And it's confusing. Well, say more about that.

Nope, we're not going into the how. I'm just going into the why. The why that I want to anchor us on. How can this be?

I want us to be like Mary approaching God and receiving this and going, why? And I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to, the reason that God did this. The reason that he was so thorough. The reason that he went through the sin process and the fellowship process and the remaking of humanity, the reason he did it was because he wanted to be with us forever and to have it be enjoyable.

It was his goal from day one and he's been faithful to that promise the entire way through. I want to be with them. I want us to be one. And if I have to do all of the heavy lifting so be it, it's a joy because I'm true to my word says the Lord.

It's a woman named Julian of Norwich. 1600s England, the first ever book written by an English woman, fun fact, was hers. She's this nun. And she captures in her writing this vision that she had.

She was in the place of prayer and she was wrestling with the thing that we all wrestle with and we try to get close to God. Us. I want to be with him. I want God.

You're saying that you want, you know, I feel like David, there's one thing that I've desired and she's wrestling with this thing going, I, as much as I can, I want you. But I'm butting up against my humanity every time in prayer. What do I do? How can I be close to you?

How is this ever going to work with me being me? And the Lord in his kindness brings her into a vision and she sees the God man. She sees Jesus. And with a smile on his face, the Lord says to her, all shall be well.

All manner of things shall be well. And God's answer to the longing heart that goes, how can I be close to you? Is the man Jesus? That's how.

Because there's a man sitting on the throne. There's a man who understands. There's a man who has empathy for a weakness. He doesn't resent us.

There's a man who is making every concession going, no, you can be close. You can be close. There's a man who isn't like us, but it's so much like us and goes, where there's differences, you can just be adopted into my family. I'll read per you.

There's mystery here. But what I feel confident saying is that God became a man so that we could be with him and enjoy him forever. And we can spend the rest of our lives exploring what that looks like. But what I want to do right now is give us the opportunity to just process a little bit.

It's a bit of a fire hose. There's a lot of things. Wait a second. What is that?

And what does that mean? What does that verse mean? I'm a verbal processor. And I can appreciate something from a distance and go, that seems good and then leave.

But if I just talk it out a little bit, I start to actually give the Holy Spirit room to root something in my heart. I'm not just observing a seed growing over there. He plans a seed in my heart. And so I want us to just take a couple of minutes and turn the people next to go.

I became a man. The best thing I'm talking about is what stood out to me. Here's what the Holy Spirit highlighted. And just share for a couple of minutes.

Yeah. What I also want is as I'm talking about God giving people the opportunity to be reborn, to be born again, Jesus actually taking all of this in and dealing with it. Jesus creating a pathway where I can walk into the throne room of God and take a deep breath because I'm home rather than feeling fear of judgment. If that's something that you want to respond to, we're going to have people up at the altar afterwards.

Please don't miss the opportunity. There are people in the room that you've never experienced regenerate birth by the Spirit. And Jesus wants that for you. It's meant that desire of his heart since before creation was to so thoroughly redeem you that you can be close to him.

For real, for real. Yeah? See, let's take a couple of minutes. I just want you guys to have the opportunity to process and talk with each other and I'll pray and commission us out.

But don't miss this opportunity because this is where the Lord's going to find some seats. Yeah. Faithful God, he's with us. Go ahead.

Turn and discuss what stood out to you. What was the Holy Spirit highlighting? If you're willing, I'd invite us all to pray this way. We're going to look up and we're going to smile as we pray.

Oh, they were so thankful for all that you've done. We're so thankful for your pursuit. Jesus, we look at you now and we say that you're the only one for us. There's no other way.

You're the one that we've always dreamed of. Holy Spirit, I ask that as we leave this place, you would remind us of the things that Jesus had did. I ask you to anchor this truth in our hearts that as we leave, we're not just leaving as us, we're leaving as new creations transformed into the image of Jesus. Holy Spirit, buy your power.

Would you remind us continually this next week of what it means that we have an advocate and a high priest that's praying for us and understands our weakness? God, I thank you for reminding us that we've been made brand new because of the sacrifice in the life of Jesus. Holy Spirit, I commission all of my friends out of here to go and be the hands and feet of Jesus as they show the entire planet what it's like for man and God to be bound up in one person. It's an honor and a privilege to represent.

I thank you Lord. We love you. Amen.