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And then if we go over to first Peter, so you're going to keep turning to the right, you're gonna get through all of Paul's letters, you're going to get through the book of Hebrews and James and then you're going to find first Peter and we're going to first Peter three, verse 15, where halfway through the verse he writes, always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you and accounting for the hope that is in you. The Eastern church rejected this they didn't like that they held to the Father holding all the deity really and truly and they were they were fine with saying the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Sun but they did not want to to say that the Spirit was from the Father and from the Sun so that's where that controversy lies that is part of the schism that was created between the Eastern and the Western churches but it's not the only reason and and truly the split came in in about 1054 when when those two churches finally the the patriarch of the Eastern church and the Pope of the Western church excommunicated one another so so that came a little bit later but this was part of it and this was in 381 when they started adding in that Holy Spirit article so moving on to what we're studying today that was just a brief overview of what we had last week with the creeds today we're going to talk about Jesus human nature okay Athanasius said for salvation the correct faith is necessary not only regarding the divine nature in Christ but also regarding the human and if we look at the creeds and take just what they state about the humanity of Christ we can see that it's built right into those creeds so the Apostles Creed says that Jesus was born of the Bible and Jesus was buried those are things that happen to all human beings we are all born we all not all of us are crucified clearly but we all have sufferings we all have pain we all die we will all be buried right so those are very human things that happened to him the Nicene Creed says incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate he suffered died and was buried very similar in those statements and then the Athanasian Creed says that our Lord Jesus became flesh he is man born in the world from the beginning of from the being of his mother existing fully as man with a rational soul and a human body he has taken humanity into himself he does not transform deity into humanity so he's not exchanging one for the other he is completely one in the unity of his person without confusing his natures for as the rational soul and body are one person so the one Christ is God and man he suffered death so that's getting a little more into the nitty-gritty that there are two natures there is a human nature it talks about his birth it talks about his death and that he is fully fully in the flesh fully man so there were some early claims against Jesus's Jesus humanity and and really no one in the very early church no one really denied his deity that seemed to be a given today it's a little bit different today more people deny his deity than his humanity but but it's interesting because the early church they couldn't quite believe that he was human that he had actually been a bit had actually been a human so they would say that Christ's body was not human that it had the appearance of a normal human it had it had the look of what a human has but it's actually a specter it's not a real true human being it looked real but it was more of a celestial substance this was taught by by several groups those who believed this then they also taught that Jesus actions all that he did and all that he suffered or went under or went through those were also fantasy they didn't actually happen so the sufferings that he underwent they only appeared to happen which we know is not true and we do not confess that we confess that he in true human form in his humanity suffered under Pontius Pilate so they taught that he was kind of a kind of a ghosty type thing right but let's open up to Matthew 14 this is the first gospel Matthew 14 so open up to the New Testament and we will see we're gonna look at 26 this is when Jesus is walking on the water chapter 14 verse 26 but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified saying it is a ghost right they they thought he was a ghost and they cried out in fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them and said take heart it is I do not be afraid he would not let them believe or claim that he's a ghost he's saying it's me I'm here in the flesh let's go over to Luke 24 so we're gonna go past Matthew past Mark go into Luke the third gospel this is after Christ had been killed this is after he had risen from the grave and he is appearing to his disciples we're gonna go to verse verses 36 through 39 so he's coming to his disciples and while they were talking about this Jesus himself stood among them and said to them peace be with you they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost so this is after he's been resurrected they're thinking again they're seeing this ghost and he said to them why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in your hearts look at my hands and my feet see that it is myself touch me and see for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have so even after the resurrection Christ is coming back when anyone could possibly say it's a ghost it's a ghost and he's saying no even now I am not a ghost I have flesh I have bones we see in the gospel of John where he's eating food post resurrection he was a human he is a human it was very interesting I came across an article from a what would be considered a reputable source or reputable reputable publication it's an article from 2014 right before Christmas it's amazing how many articles come out right before Christmas to say Jesus isn't real it's amazing uncanny just watch for it this year there will be articles that come out trying to deny Christ right before we celebrate his birth but this man the author of the article he wrote did a man called Jesus of Nazareth walk the earth discussions over whether the figure known as the historical Jesus actually existed primarily reflect disagreements among atheists believers who uphold the implausible and more easily dismissed Christ of faith the divine Jesus who walked on water ought not to get involved so to discuss Jesus the historical accuracy of Jesus the person of Jesus this writer is is telling his readers that anyone who believes in Jesus really shouldn't be involved in this discussion I want to invite you as believers in Jesus to be involved in the discussion for those of you who have not been to service yet that's what it is that that's our sermon that you'll hear today that we are a part of this discussion this is what we are called to bring and to be a part of is the discussion of God and who God is and so I thought that was really interesting so yes Jesus actually walked on this earth I have a host of and we're just gonna dive in because we have time and I and it's gonna seem a little like wow we have so many Bible verses but this is just a sampling of where we find Christ walking the earth where we find him as a true human that can support anytime someone questions whether Jesus really was real or not really a human you can go to any of these verses and say no no look here here here tell me when you get tired here here right so there's a lot of biblical proof here so we're gonna just start with John 1 so that's the gospel of John so if you flip over probably about one page from where you are in Luke and you find John the first chapter we're looking at verse 14 and the word who if you go to the very beginning of John we're told that the word was with God the word was God and we know that to be Jesus which we will get more into in a couple of weeks but the word verse 14 became flesh and lived among us the word became flesh and lived among us let's jump back to Luke chapter 2 we're gonna jump around in chapter 2 for a moment here so we're gonna start in verse 6 so the gospel of Luke chapter 2 starting in verse 6 while they were there that's Mary and Joseph while they were there the time came for her to deliver her child and she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn she gave birth to an actual human being to a little boy so there is a man or a boy being born let's jump down to verse 21 after eight days had passed it was time to circumcise the child and he was called Jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb so this little infant is taken in the ceremonial custom and he is circumcised and he is named humans well not all of them get circumcised but humans have bodies which things are done to right and we are given names that is a very human thing happening here then let's jump down to verse 40 we're just gonna read the first little bit here the child grew and became strong Christ had a childhood he didn't just appear as a man he was born of a woman he had a childhood and he grew in that childhood let's go back to or go over to Luke chapter 4 we're gonna look at those first two verses Luke chapter 4 verses 1 and 2 Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil he ate nothing at all during those days and when they were over he was famished if a human does not eat for 40 days he will be hungry God doesn't need food man does right so Jesus was in the desert constantly being tempted I don't know about about any of you if you if you know this too but humanity is tempted we get tempted as human beings so so we've got two things here he is physically physically famished hungry needing food wanting food right but he's also being tempted which the devil was trying to tempt him in his humanity now let's go over to John so we're just gonna go over one more book John 11 John 11 verse starting in verse 33 so Lazarus who was a good friend of Jesus Lazarus died and he went and he saw the sisters and picking up in verse 33 it says when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with him were also weeping he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved he said where have you laid him they said to him Lord come and see Jesus began to weep he mourned his friend he mourned he felt that he he wasn't this unemotional having no feeling man or being in his humanity he had feelings he had those feelings of love and he was mourning and weeping for his friend for his friends who were mourning so there's another human element to him let's jump over to mark so we're gonna go back a couple of gospels it's the second gospel mark two and we're gonna go to verse 16 mark 216 when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he that is Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors they said to his disciples why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners Jesus as a man ate here he's eating with tax collectors and sinners he's eating he needed food again that's that humanity if we jump back into the Old Testament Isaiah so if you go to the middle of the Bible you'll find Psalms and if you flip to the right you will find the prophets after Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon you're gonna find Isaiah and we're going to Isaiah 53 verses 2 and 3 Isaiah 53 verses 2 and 3 and this is prophesying about Jesus for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground he had no form or majesty that we should look at him nothing in his appearance that we should that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by others a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity as one from whom others hide their face he was despised and we held him of no account this is telling us that people around him he didn't have an appearance that that looked majestic he didn't have anything special about his look but this is also giving him an appearance we know that Jesus had flesh we know that he had a look he wasn't just this ghosty type being he wasn't celestial in in his form he was a man he had an appearance nothing nothing that that anyone should desire to look at him which I think is really interesting um okay so let's go over to Hebrews so this we're going back into the New Testament we're gonna pass the Gospels pass the letters of Paul and then we're gonna come to Hebrews and we're going to the second chapter Hebrews 2 verse 14 Hebrews 2 verse 14 since therefore the children share flesh and blood he himself likewise shared the same things Jesus shared with mankind the same things of flesh and blood he was a physical human being let's go over to Galatians or back to Galatians you're gonna go back through the letters of Paul if you've got Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians and then you've got Galatians uh Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 when the fullness of time had come God sent his son born of a woman born under the law we are all born of women and we are all born under the law we are all born into the same condition not house or family but we're born into the same condition as human beings as Christ was also born of a woman under the law and let's go back one more to Romans this is the last one but you'll see I mean do you see how there's it's just verse after verse after verse that is proving the humanity of Christ we're going to Romans chapter or verse yeah chapter 1 verse 1 Paul a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures so he's promising God promised this gospel this good news through holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh he descended from David according to the flesh again just putting that humanity right there so this is a relatively long list that we've gone through but you'll see as you flip through scripture it is not hard to find proof from scripture from the Bible that Christ indeed was a flesh and blood man he needed to eat he needed to sleep oh we didn't even get to any of his sleeping right we he needed to function or he did function as a human did because he was a human he was a man so what about the people that say oh that's nice but you're just going to the Bible I don't I don't just go to the Bible that's not for me well there are historical historical accounts of Jesus also so we know that he was a human that walked the earth we have historical sources so the first one is from Tacitus or Cornelius Tacitus he he was a Roman senator and he was considered to be one of the best if not the best Roman historian so this was a history guy right and he studied he studied people he studied cultures he studied cultural phenomenon and and he wrote in this is in the context of a great fire of Rome it went for six days this fire burned it burned a lot of the city in 64 AD during the reign of Nero and he wrote this is Tacitus writing neither human effort nor the Emperor's generosity nor the placating of the gods ended the scandalous belief that the fire had been ordered by Nero therefore to put down the rumor so Nero there was a rumor that Nero started this fire or had this fire going so to put the the rumor down Nero substituted as culprits and punished in the most unusual ways those hated for their shameful acts whom the crowd called Christians the founder of this name Christ had been executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate suppressed for a time the deadly superstition erupted again not only in Judea the origin of this evil but also in the city Rome where all things horrible and shameful from everywhere come together and become popular so Tacitus in this is presenting four four pieces of accurate knowledge that we have about Jesus he said that well he called him Christus or Christ this was used by Tacitus to refer to Jesus he thought it was a name he didn't realize that it was a title but but he used it as a name but he called him Christ he talked about Christ being associated with the beginning of the movement of the Christians right for for the origin of this grouping that this man was executed by the Roman governor of Judea and that the time of his death was during Pontius Pilate's governorship during the reign of Tiberius so we have these four points of historical documentation that he's given us he is not a Christian he was a Roman senator a Roman historian and what he has told or what he has given to us is in line with what we have in scripture there was a Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and he was writing about James who is the brother of Jesus he's writing about his execution and he wrote let's see here there was a meeting of judges called and brought into it the brother of Jesus who is called Messiah James by name and some others he made the accusation that they had transgressed the law and he handed them over to be stone so Josephus had mentioned or mentions at least 12 other that are named Jesus because Jesus was a rather common name and so he's specifying which Jesus he was referring to as James brother so he used the one called or who is called Messiah Jesus who is called Messiah he also had a longer passage in a book that was called Jewish and equities and it refers to Jesus there was a Christian apologist who named Eusibius who added who some people think added some Christian claims in this text of Josephus Josephus wrote around this time there lived Jesus a wise man if indeed one ought to call him a man for he was one who did surprising deeds and a teacher of such people as except the truth gladly he won over many Jews and many of the Greeks he was the Messiah when Pilate upon hearing him accused by men of his highest standing among us had condemned him to be crucified those who in the first place came to love him did not give up their affection for him for on the third day he appeared to them restored to life the prophets of God had prophesied this and countless other marvelous things about him and the tribe of Christians so called after him have still to this day not died out now I don't know for certain if Eusibius added anything or not but all of the surviving manuscripts of this testimony or testament that are in Greek they contain the same version of this passage there are no significant differences which is very interesting that more than one source of this passage says the same thing Josephus also was not a Christian he was a Jewish historian the Celseus was a platenist philosopher he considered Jesus to be a magician who made exorbitant claims so he he didn't believe that Jesus was the Christ he didn't believe that Jesus was the son of man but he gives an account of a man named Jesus who did things that he thought were magical right Pliny the younger a Roman governor and friend of Tacitus wrote about early Christian worship of Christ as to a god little G god Soutenuse a Roman writer lawyer and historian wrote of riots in 49 that were among the Jews in Rome which might have been about Christus but which he thought were incited by the instigator of Christus whose identification with Jesus is not completely certain but this Roman writer is talking about these riots he thinks that at the very least it's linked to this group or this man Christ right um Mara Barcerapione Mara Barcerapione that's a fun name Mara Barcerapione a prisoner of war that was held by the Romans he wrote a letter to his son that described the Jewish the wise Jewish king in a way that seems to indicate Jesus but it doesn't specify his name but again we have that that non non-Christian source talking about a Jewish wise king so we see that there is a case to be made from scripture certainly for the humanity the flesh and bones of Christ but we also see that it's not just the biblical text we have outside sources we have historical sources that were also referring to Christ not Christians themselves but writing of a man who who had a group of followers a man who was crucified under Pontius Pilate so we have these historical these historical sources as well so what's the deal okay we can say yeah okay Jesus was a person he was a man that's great but why is it so important to hold this as absolute truth and to confess it in our creeds have it as a part of our common confession and that's what we're going to talk about next time we don't have class this next Sunday but the following Sunday we're going to dive into why the humanity of Christ actually matters in salvation or for salvation Today, I want to explore with you more images of heaven, and specifically we want to focus on the book of Revelation today. I'll tell you one piece that for myself that has sat with me for years now, years, is Psalm 51, verse 10, creating me a clean spirit, oh God, and renew a right, or creating me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me, and it sits with me, and it works on me, and sometimes it really convicts me, and sometimes it gives me great hope and great joy, because I know that my spirit is not always right, and my heart is not always clean, and I know that I'm also not the one that creates that clean heart within myself, and I'm not the one that gives myself that right spirit, and so that gives me great hope, and when I'm feeling or thinking, not super-Christianly, I go to that verse constantly, and it continues to work on me and in me, and it's so amazing that we have that from the Lord, and it seems just from the nods that everyone, or most of you, have experienced that, where you have a verse or a story from scripture that comes to mind, or it works on you, have you ever had a piece of scripture that works on you that you wish it wasn't? Does that sound kind of familiar to you right whatever communion is done you got the words of institution is based on Matthew chapter 26 Luther maintained and I think correctly so that the verb is means is that scripture doesn't say it represents it doesn't say it symbolizes that when Jesus birthed holy communion there just before the cross he says this is my body this is my blood let's go over to 1 Corinthians the 10th chapter 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 16 the cup of blessing that we bless is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ the bread that we break is it not a sharing in the body of Christ so the question that us Lutherans say is how can you participate in the in the body and blood of Jesus Christ if he is not present there in the cup and in the bread you can't say as scripture says here that we are participating in the very body and blood of Christ so you've got an historicism then 5th century swingley comes along he's got the same problem with the with the natures of Christ that plays out in communion and there you see this this birthing of the understanding of the memorial understanding of communion so let me let me hear the the three understandings of communion and we'll see if we can guess which one is the correct one here okay so you've got we've got three three understandings one one understanding is that there is no bread in communion there's no wine in communion what you have is you have the body and blood of Jesus and the key word is changed into so this is the belief that in in communion you don't have the the bread and the and the wine you have the body and blood of the Lord Jesus that that indeed he is he is present and the key is changed into can anyone guess what denomination this is yep there you go we got some former Catholics here that that recognize this true or Piscopelian I would say for you Marcy or Catholic too okay okay yeah this is this is the view of what's called a transubstantiation that's the Catholic view that when you when you look at the at the elements in communion they may look like bread and wine but they have lost the property of bread and wine they only have the appearance of that that's that that's the Catholic view the Lutheran understanding the little phrase maybe back to your confirmation days if you've grown up a Lutheran that Jesus Christ is truly present in the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins that's a small catechism and the little phrase that Christ is present in with and under the the bread and wine that's just that's just a little phrase that that is going right after transubstantiation to to refute transubstantiation because Luther said no in scripture Jesus highlights that there's bread and there's a cup and he says body and a blood so Luther said that the Holy Communion is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins okay now here's the here's the second one bread and communion you've got bread and wine you have the body and blood of Jesus Christ and the key word is is okay who's that that's us right that's us and and that's scripture what the scripture says that indeed you've got bread and wine body and blood the key word is is okay there's another understanding in communion you've got bread and wine no body and blood yeah key word is represents and symbol yeah yeah that's yeah Baptist right it's that's Baptist it's great you say here you go there you go yeah so you got you've got three different understand you got transubstantiation you've got bread and wine here and the key word of is and then you've got represents and the symbol okay let me let me approach it this way here which one of these is correct the two becomes four the two remain two or the two become two and what is meant here is bread and wine so which one is the is the is the correct understanding here the two becomes four the two remain two or the two become two yeah it's number one right what is holy communion holy communion is the body and blood of Jesus Christ given with bread and wine for the forgiveness of sin which one is this yeah that's Baptist theology memorial understanding and which one is this it's Catholic understanding right right yeah yeah yeah there's there's nothing that affects a sacrament by what a Lutheran pastor does in fact that was a a big deal when the denomination we were formally a part of was merging in for altering pulpit fellowship with the Episcopals Episcopals believe that at one's ordination the priest is given special power by the fact that they are ordained to make the sacrament than a sacrament in the Lutheran Church we say is absolutely nothing about us that that makes the sacrament the sacrament know what makes the sacrament the sacrament is can you guess the word right it it's just the it's just a word that's what makes the sacrament the sacrament and so there were a bunch of us that when that was that was coming about we we said this is an absolute denial of our of our Lutheran doctrine here and and of course the response that we that we got was you you you don't have to believe it you just have to do it I kid you not that was a response that came out of the bishops office on that and and really in the agreement it was it was waiting for months our our term that we put on ourselves months like myself that were not ordained in historic succession which the Episcopals say you have to be ordained in in order to get this special power they said we'll enter into this agreement until people like Ible die off you see and then everybody's going to be in historic succession so that the Episcopal understanding of communion then is what what dominates I mean that was that was just the early seeds of a denomination leaving the authority of the word of God abandoning abandoning a doctor on that yeah right that was that was the plan that that was the plan because we lost we lost the vote on that and and the understanding of of communion then was was was changed yeah in terms of of how communion is made efficacious in in the in the Lutheran understanding sometimes you will hear this word uh banard about with with the Catholic understanding you've got transubstantiation and sometimes you'll hear people say the the Lutheran understanding is con substantiation that's actually not not true because con substantiation means that that a a whole new substance is is formed so so con substantiation is is not a correct terminology to put on on Lutheranism um sometimes you'll you'll hear what's called impanation i m p a n a t i o o n which means that the that the body of Christ is is localized inside the bread as if you kind of tunnel in you could you could get to it that's not phrase is in with and under the the bread and wine so that as we receive the bread and wine we receive the body and blood of Christ that Christ is truly present um in that bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins and how is that possible if Christ at this very moment is exalted in heaven itself and he is there divine and human it's possible because you've got the communion of the properties you've got the communion of the two natures that you don't have two we yeah because because you're getting right at the heart of the of the sacrament that indeed Christ has established a stack sacrament for the purpose of the delivery of the assurance of our forgiveness through Christ and so when we come to the table if communion is simply that which is a mental exercise for us to remember back to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ that offers no comfort because you're throwing someone back upon themselves to their own mental approach which interestingly ties into the whole synergistic understanding of I'll pick on our Baptist brothers and sisters here again the whole synergistic understanding of cooperation in their salvation which in the end throws you back on yourself and the decision you make as opposed to the decision that God has made for you um if you if you deny the real presence of Christ then you also don't have any comfort for someone when they receive the the sacrament which is that concrete way of God saying your sins are forgiven swallow it you know it is for you yeah so it's the denial of the sacramental nature that makes this a really important issue in the life of the church I've got like two more minutes I'll let me just wrap this up and can I get you later on Bruce okay when we receive holy communion the sacramental action only pertains to when we are are eating and drinking so in other words if if we went into the words of institution in holy communion and then we said never mind we wouldn't have the sacrament there because the sacrament only occurs when you are consuming it that's why at the end of the of the service you you don't have the the bread and the body and blood of Christ taken off and and going to the sacristy and as it is on the plate there you still have the body and blood of Christ know what do you have you've got remains of the bread right you've got the remains of the wine that's very various practices that that churches do some will say out of respect for how it is how it is used we'll spread it on the ground other churches will we'll just consume the rest of the of the bread because why why let it go to waste or take the remaining wine and and pour it into the reserve to be used next time but it's not as if you have the the bread and the wine or the body and blood Christ still remaining that's why just as a little aside we don't have an acolyte coming along side in case any crumbs are spilled at the at the at the communion rail right because it it only occurs in the in the actual eating of the sacramental action that you've got the the sacrament so when you go all the way back to the storyus that had implications on swingley that then has implications for how communion is understood because swingley was basing off of the storyus in the understanding of the lack of communion of the two natures and conceived of the two natures as a board stuck together um I'd encourage you to to read the Athanasian creed it's an incredible creed gets at the whole understanding of the Trinity gets at the one god three persons one essence well we're going to continue next week and we're going to say who were the Utakeans who are the Utakeans what were they all about and what the world did they believe we'll continue next week Grace the Heavenly Father, we with joy, we approach today. Would you open your Bibles, please, with me, to John the first chapter for our time in God's Word today, if you're using a Pew Edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that in the New Testament on page 80, John the first chapter. To know His benefits is to know Christ to know that Christ entered into humanity, that Christ entered in living a perfect life, sinless, righteous, to know that Christ suffered death on the cross, taking the iniquity bearing the sin, the transgressions of every single one of us, to know that Christ rose triumphantly from the grave, to know that He walked with these two disciples teaching them, leading them, guiding them, to know that Christ washes us clean in the waters of baptism calling us as His own, to know that Christ feeds us with His own body and blood in the hour sins, the tangible grace of Christ, to know the benefits of Christ is to know Christ for us.

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