The Man Christ Jesus (part 2)

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Our father in heaven lord, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the opportunity we have to Look at your word to see how you have

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Worked through the life of your son the lord jesus christ To save us how he lived a perfect life in our place and father

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What an amazing work that is Father we thank you for his perfect death

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And the resurrection but father this morning as we look at the life of jesus christ I just pray that we would be reminded

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That there really is a trinity at work in our salvation Father son and spirit lord, would you bless our time in christ's name?

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Amen Well, we began last week this series i'm calling I'm, why am

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I calling it the man christ jesus? Oh because it's all from a book I read and i'm stealing it.

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I I mean i'm adding certain things to it because I want to expand on it a little bit but um

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And I asked a question, you know, why is it important to understand the humanity and we're going to develop the humanity of christ

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We're going to Expand on that this morning But we talked about uh

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The kenosis or we began talking about the kenosis And that's a fancy greek word.

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And what does it mean anybody the kenosis? Self -emptying very good.

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Somebody was listening Or somebody knows a lot, which is good self -emptying

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And it's important to think about that because it was not something that was done to jesus jesus determined to Empty himself and we began talking about that and what it means

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Um, anybody want to explain the self -emptying of jesus? What does that mean?

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He poured himself out, but what is it? What is that? That what does that mean?

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Okay He set aside the exercise Of some of his attributes um

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He he limited himself. I think would be a right thing to say right by taking on a human nature in addition to his

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His I want to say his god nature his deity he also took on a human nature

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And I I think we're going to develop that some more this morning exactly the implications of that because I I don't think we really

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Think about it rightly. I know I didn't all the implications of it when we fully develop it are pretty

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Pretty heavy we talked about last week it's uh You know to use

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Kind of a little phrase here He takes on a it's addition by subtraction.

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What do I mean? Well or subtraction by addition or addition by subtraction whichever one however, you want to look on it when he takes on that human nature

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He doesn't cease being god. He ceases Exercising the attributes the privileges of being god in in many respects and he takes upon himself the limitations of being a human being and we talked about the example of being a

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Like a lamborghini a super expensive car And then adding mud onto the lamborghini, you know while you're driving around on that test drive where the guy is just screaming in horror right the salesman

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It doesn't ultimately damage the vehicle jesus doesn't become less god

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Would be the picture just because he takes on a human body but he ceases exercising those attributes he is

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I guess it'd be fair to say Less attractive, you know, just like when you put mud on the lamborghini.

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It looks less attractive But it doesn't change the the ultimate nature of that car and it doesn't change the ultimate nature of jesus it just adds an additional nature one that is less

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Exalted I think it's fair to say so We're talking about that now

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Now It's important for us to see how This impacts jesus whole life and ministry because If we understand that rightly we understand that when he faced temptation

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Well, how did he face it? Let me just get to the the rub here when we think about jesus perfection

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Well, how do you explain it how is it that jesus faced temptation and never sinned Anyone He didn't have a sin nature to begin with okay true

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But he's still mortal he's still subject to temptation he still feels those temptations

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But he didn't have a sin nature in other words he he had the ability to choose not to sin that's true

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Any other thoughts He perfectly applied scripture true

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What would you think about this statement let's just see if you would agree with this or not Jesus resisted temptation because At the core of it he's god

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Would you agree with that Everybody agree with that that's wrong. I decided to throw it out there

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It's true, right? He is god But it's false that he resisted those temptations because he's god

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He came to earth as a Man, he laid aside the exercise of his divine attributes

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So, how does he do that? And you know what where wrote this?

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And and I think this is uh Let me see if I can Okay, here it is

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He says, uh, why did jesus who is god in human flesh? Oh, no, that's not it. Anyway, let's just let's just follow out his thinking here

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He says just like the king if he is going to live life Remember, we talked about the king who decides he he has empathy for these poor people and so he wants to live just like them

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Well keep that illustration in mind as we think about jesus. What did he do? He is the king

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He's the sovereign he leaves the father's side Comes to earth and he lives just like us

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Subject to gravity mostly Subject to uh all the

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The germs the disease the the fact that he got tired and hungry all these other things

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These are all around him and he's not impervious to them Now just like the king if he is going to live life as a beggar without any exceptions

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So that he could never call from hell from the palace He can't jesus can't draw on his privileges

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In order to live as one of us from beginning to end Part of the beauty of realizing this where writes

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Is that christ called us to follow in his steps to live life? as he lived it

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And we can't back away from that now and just say well, that's not fair because he was god He didn't you know, the temptations came and he was just like I don't care

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It doesn't bother me What did what did the writer of hebrews say he was tempted?

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And it had absolutely no impact on him or he was tempted in every way just as We are

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So, how did he do this? Well, let me ask you this question.

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Maybe this will bring some light to it Why did jesus who is by the way fully god in human flesh

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Why did he need the presence of the holy spirit? Why do we read over and over again?

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The spirit was upon him. The spirit was upon him. The spirit was upon him. Why? because He was a man flesh and bones

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In need of the spirit's empowerment To resist temptation

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I was thinking about this last night What does it say in ephesians 5? Do not be drunk with wine, right for that is dissipation, but what's the

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Be filled with the spirit is it fair to say

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That jesus was filled with the holy spirit I think it is

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Isn't much made where rights of the fact in scripture that he was anointed with the spirit

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In fact scripture says he went into galilee into the spirits and the spirit led him now

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You ask the question what can or you might be thinking well, what can the spirit of god add to the divine nature of christ

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What can he add to christ as god? Well, what can he add to christ as god? The answer is nothing

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But what can the spirit of god add to the humanity of jesus? How about empowerment?

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enlightenment Think about it again. He laid aside exercise of his divine power

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But we see him exercise divine power. How does he do that? By the holy spirit by the power of the spirit

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The holy spirit gives all things All power by which he carried out his mission

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So the good news is That when jesus leaves he says what he is going to send the holy spirit

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And so how do we live out or how are we to live a life? Like we'll never be like perfectly like jesus in this life.

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But how can we have any hope at all? of Following the steps of jesus of emulating jesus

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It's only by the power of the holy spirit, but that's the power that he lived by Where writes all of a sudden you realize that you can

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Read the life of christ and you can read it for seeing how we should live our life Does that mean you're going to walk on water?

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No, no But the basic principles are that we can do these things by the power of the holy spirit

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Let's talk about the obedience of christ. Let's go back to philippians 2 again the kenosis the self -emptying

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But I want to read philippians 2 verse 8 And we're going to talk about how this is possible would somebody read philippians 2 8, please

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And where writes in his book he says we see here the ultimate reason or purpose of the self -emptying of the eternal son

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And what's the ultimate reason? obedience obedience to the point of death even death on a cross

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You know, what is it if I ask you this question? What is the most important thing that jesus did on earth?

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What what would you say? What's the most important thing he did? Obeyed god.

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I think that's a great answer What else He died on the cross another great answer

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Now some people might say the most important thing he did was heal people I mean they spent all their time in healing services and all that kind of thing

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Some people might say his miracles Some people might say his teaching But I think the most important thing we can

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Say that he did on In his human life One was to obey perfectly the father's will

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Which is what we are commanded to do and we don't do And the second thing is he died a sacrificial death in our place

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Now Where writes the ultimate purpose of the son's coming was to obey the father to the point of death

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Well, why is that so important? Again, he had to obey perfectly because we don't he had to die sacrificially because No one else there's no one else who can do this.

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Listen to matthew 20 28 Even as the son of man speaking of jesus came not to be served but to serve

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And to give his life as a ransom for many Now this is talked about, you know, why doesn't jesus just show up on friday right good friday

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Be put to death and then rise from the dead on sunday. Well, why not because we need his

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Righteousness we need his perfection He had to be the spotless sinless lamb whose sacrifice whose death

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Would ransom his people would pay the price He had to resist temptation he had to live perfectly in order to redeem us now

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Well, let me ask it a different way than I have my notes Is the only example we have in scripture of jesus being obedient?

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His humanity his perfection during this life is that the only way we would know that jesus is always obedient to the will of the father

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How else would we know that His resurrection, but I mean, well, let's put it this way

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Is there any indication that even before His life. Yes Yeah before his humanity he agreed to do what?

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He agreed to come here he agreed to create in fact, let's look at first corinthians 8

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And it's just important. We're going to talk a little bit about the the nature of the trinity And it's important that we understand a couple things here one is and i'll and i'll go back over this here in a minute one is that the three persons of the trinity father son and spirit are

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All equally god there is no Sense in which we should see the father as More god than the spirit

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But there's what's called an economy of the trinity and again, we'll talk about that more in a minute I just want to introduce this where they each play a separate role

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Sometimes they overlap But the point is that there's there's almost a hierarchy like in in terms of a marriage

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Husband and wife are equal But the husband is said to be the head of the wife

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Well, why is that because one is going to be accountable and that same way we read that the father

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Is over the son or the son submits to the father? And in fact, we would see that the spirit submits to the father and the son uh

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We could we could develop this more fully But I don't I don't really intend to if you look it up you'd see that the father sends the son

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The father and the son send the spirits, but it's never said that the spirit Um sends the father we would see that the spirit impels the son out, but that's the human son out into the wilderness

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But I just want to introduce that concept and then let's read first corinthians 8 verses 5 and 6

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Would somebody read that please? Yeah, I will Okay Now let's take the easy one first.

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What do you suppose it that paul means when he says that there are many gods? Is this is he speaking of the mormon pantheon of gods, you know, there are many gods throughout the universe

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Everybody runs their own little world No, what does he mean by that? idols fake gods

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You know you see here in the in the text it has a small g there are many So -called gods we would see that in the old testament too many things that are worshiped as god

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But he says yet for us that is for believers. There's one god the father from whom all things

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Are all things but then he also says jesus christ through whom all things are and through whom we exist

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There's an indication there that what everything has its origin maybe in god the father but Jesus christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

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In other words. He is the creator He created at the direction of the father we would see in colossians 1

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That jesus christ is the creator and that he's upholding all things Um So is the second person in the trinity there there's a there's a difference in their roles but listen to what uh, one

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Websites and I can give you the website address if you want it later Says about the trinity the trinity is a christian teaching that god consists of three simultaneous

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Or eternal persons the father son and the holy spirit each of the three persons are equal in their attributes in nature

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But differ in how they relate to the world and to each other When we say that they are equal in nature and attributes we're speaking of what is called

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Strap in the ontological trinity That just means that they're equal in essence each of the three persons in the godhead are

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Divine and have equal attributes omniscience omnipresence, etc When we speak of how they relate to each other.

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We're speaking of the economic trinity Uh to be over simplistic we could say that the ontological

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Trinity deals with what god is and the economic trinity deals with what god does

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All that to say that the son is not less than the father. Jesus is fully god, but he submits to the will of the father so Getting back to this whole idea of jesus obedience

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He was obedient to the father in coming to the earth. In fact John 6 38 says

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For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but The will of him who sent me jesus was sent or Dispatched the greek word would mean by his father to do the father's will

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Where writes the eternal son submitted to and obeyed the will of his father prior

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To his becoming incarnate exactly what we were saying His obedience to the death or the point of death even death on a cross was a whole new dimension of obedience where writes

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He humbled himself to accept obedience of a kind He had not known previously and he did so Fully knowing that the cost to his own life and well -being what it would be

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What a servant he was indeed He made himself remember. He took on the form of a servant

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And it isn't just when we see that word form as we mentioned last week It doesn't just mean that he appeared to be a man

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But that he actually organically was a man and he took on the form of a servant He didn't just appear to be a servant he was actually a servant servant of all mankind as it were so why would where say that he

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Took on a obedience of a kind that he had previously not known.

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What does he mean by that? When he comes down to earth, he's been obedient to the father in times past Before there was time he submitted to the will of the father

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In fact, he came to earth to submit to the will of the father But what did he do during his life that he had previously not done?

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How was that obedience different? faced temptation

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And ultimately he knew that he was going to face something else which was death all the time

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Constantly being closer and closer to his death and he didn't shirk from it

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He didn't shrink from it. He went straight forward even though We'll see later that he didn't

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In his humanity, it's not what he wanted. But in fact, that's a great example of submission, right?

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I'll hear people say, you know, especially in a marriage. Well, I I don't agree You know with my husband and uh, you know, he's wrong and this that and the other thing and okay

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What did jesus pray in the garden of gethsemane If it be your will right, you know, he he didn't want the cup

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He knew what was coming and he didn't want it humanly. But what did he say? nevertheless Not my will but your will be done

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I'll do what you want I don't particularly like it I'm, not looking forward to suffering

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But i'm willing That's submission um

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And here's something else to think about, you know in what way? Well, let me phrase it this way

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To obey to the point of death on a cross something had to change in jesus.

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What was that change that had to take place? He had to become human

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The whole purpose of philippians 2 we see that self -emptying that's setting aside of his divine attributes. Well, one of those attributes is what?

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Eternal life Self -self -existence For him to actually physically die on the cross it took something different God could not go to the cross and die but a god man could go to the cross and die he had to have that body of flesh and bones in order to Flesh and blood in order to die on a cross

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He had to obtain we could say it this way the ability to die Where says this he says jesus took on our human nature precisely

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So he could undergo the suffering affliction rejection crucifixion and death that he experienced

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All because the father had sent him to fulfill the saving mission Then he says

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What a savior is our lord. Jesus christ How amazing was his obedience and how great was his love?

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Knowing that the cross was in his future Knowing what this would be like he did in any way where writes in terms of application he says without Comprehending the profundity of the purpose of the incarnation as paul describes here in philippians 2

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We will inevitably trivialize what it means to do what jesus would do Or to live like jesus

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He says how trite Until we see the heights from which he came and the depths to which he descended in coming as the suffering servant

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Who would bear our sin? He says may our minds be granted greater comprehension

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So that our hearts may be filled with deepened affection when you think of all that he went through All planned all known ahead of time but Demanding complete obedience only then

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Will we move in the direction we need to go and falling on our faces before this servitude

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This obedience that surpasses all others in all time It's amazing

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We talk about amazing love, but when we when we really think about this jesus christ, we've known perfect relations with the father perfect Harmony with the father

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Well, the father says here's the plan and jesus says i'll do that Willingly comes on takes on a human body all the restrictions

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All the weaknesses of a human body All the temptations that would come up on him and perfectly obeys and goes to the cross

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Paul calls us to action where writes he says we are called To look to that example to inform ways to which we can by his grace

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Seek to model our lives after him This is not works righteousness in other words

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And and i'm sorry, but i'm always drawn to mormonism, you know The idea that jesus became god and that we can become god just like he became god.

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That's wrong We're never going to be perfect. We're never going to be perfectly obedient as jesus was

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But if we're spirit -led and spirit -filled we will become more and more like him And of course, we know that'll be finished in the life to come

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But it's not works righteousness rather this is worked out righteousness It's in light of what jesus christ has done for me.

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How should I think about him? And then how should I? Shape and fashion and live my life

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He asked this question and i'll ask you what are some aspects of jesus life and work that were central to his mission?

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And which could only be brought about because he was in fact fully human. Well, we've talked about some of them

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Um Any other thoughts about them? I mean, obviously we've already said that he could not be tempted

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He could not be tried as we are unless he took on the limitations of humanity he could not obey

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The law unless he set aside his attributes of deity the exercise of them

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He could not Uh Obey to the point of death on a cross.

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He could not even die unless he was human. Am I missing anything? I mean Yes, will

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He wouldn't feel hunger. He wouldn't feel any of these things. He could not really he could not empathize

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Even as the writer of hebrews says he could not empathize with us as a high priest Understand perfectly what we go through if he did not take on humanity if he did not take on Uh all the limitations of what it means to be a human being any other thoughts a lot of time in prayer a lot of time in prayer why

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Communicate with his father and I and I think it's I think that's a great point because you know, we tend to think Well, why do you even pray, you know, he knows everything that the father wants him to do well

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Again, we have to understand that there's not this perfect Communication why because he's laid aside the

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Full exercise of his attributes as deity and he is empowered by the spirit And so yes, he understands what he ought to do and ought not to do and he makes choices, you know based on the holy spirit

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This is all true but he's praying as a Son to his father and he's praying as a man to god

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He is fully human even though you know, sometimes and I think I fall into this trap. I think most of us do

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You know, we think jesus is god. Well, that's true But we also need to think jesus was a man

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And you know sorting out those things is not always easy But this is what we're called to do and I want to talk about how he was empowered by the holy spirit

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How he was empowered by the holy spirit I already tipped my hand to this but let me read what where says how did jesus live his life of obedience resisting temptation?

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And carrying out perfectly the will of his father and again, I think the typical answer is because He was god

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And then where writes if jesus was perfectly obedient because he was perfectly god Then how can we his followers be called to live like him to follow in his steps?

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First peter 2 21 says that we ought to live like jesus He says when he was a kid

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He's listening to this message, you know be like jesus live like jesus kind of thing and he says that's not fair, right?

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He's he's god and i'm not I I can't do that Where writes is it possible that the humanity of christ?

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Has more to do with how he lived his life day by day than many of us have thoughts and I think

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It's probably true Jesus is fully god and fully man thus the god man

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But how did the god man live his life carry out his ministry and perform his work? Let's look at hebrews 4 15 to just kind of remind us what the writer of hebrews said hebrews 4 15 if somebody would read that please

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What does it what does it mean? And and really I sympathize okay Empathize maybe better because when you sympathize with someone you just kind of feel sorry for them

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When you empathize with someone what's the difference between empathy and sympathy? To put yourself in their place mentally to just kind of you know

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Like it's the been there done that only it's a little deeper than been there done that you know uh

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You really get a sense of I mean, it's like, uh somebody's parent dies

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I can relate to that Because my parent died I can I can read what they're saying or I can hear what they're saying and I could go

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I know what I felt like When my dad died Okay, so that's empathy and the difference between Sympathy is you know, let's say 20 years ago.

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If somebody told me that their dad died or their mom died I might go I'm, really sorry about that Empathy is when you start getting choked up because you know that that person's going through exactly what you went through That's the difference in it and we have a high priest in jesus who empathizes with our weaknesses

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And look at that in every respect tempted as we are yet without sin

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How can he understand our weaknesses if he did everything in his capacity as the second person of the trinity

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In other words as fully god, how can he empathize with us? How can he have some sense of I know exactly what you're going through I feel your pain

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I feel your pain Well, no he wouldn't Where writes this although he came as one who was both fully god and fully man

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He also lived his life as one indwelt with and empowered by the spirit of god.

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That's the the secret ingredient Apart from his full and integral humanity

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We cannot account for this central and pivotal feature that jesus manifested namely that he lived his life obeyed the father and so fulfilled his calling all in the power of the

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Spirit who was upon him. Another man wrote this and we'll discuss it here in a minute.

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The Holy Spirit's presence and work in Jesus' life is one of the most significant biblical evidences of the genuineness of His humanity.

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For the significance of the Spirit in His life lies precisely in this, that the Holy Spirit was the divine power by which

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Jesus overcame His human limitations, rose above His human weakness, and won out over His human mortality.

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How could Jesus not... I mean, when we read that He was in the

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Garden of Gethsemane and He sweat out, as it were, drops of blood, well, how is that possible?

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Do you think, you know, that it was easy knowing what was in front of Him and then even, you know, carrying

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His cross when He got weak, right? All these things,

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He suffered, He bled, everything was genuine, was real, and He did not...

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This was not... If He was... If this was the second person of the

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Trinity in charge of everything, if He was in control the whole way, and does

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God feel pain? Can you afflict God? Can you cause

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Him injury? Can you drive nails through His hands, as it were? The answer is no.

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He had to have a human body, and in order for Him to suffer more than any man has suffered,

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He had to be fully human. And how did He do these things? How could He face this? It was only by the power of the

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Spirit. Again, what could the Holy Spirit do for the deity of Christ?

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Nothing. What could He do for the humanity of Jesus? Everything. Let's look at Isaiah chapter 11.

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Somebody read verses 1 to 3, please. Now, you know,

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I'll just give away the ending here. This is Jesus. He comes forward, you know, out of the line of David, right?

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And look at verse 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. Now, can we get a greater sense of the kenosis, of the import of the

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Spirit residing or resting upon Him during His humanity, during His work here as the

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Lord Jesus Christ, His human form? Can we get that? I mean, it's very obviously, you know, what does it say here?

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It shall rest upon Him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the

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Lord. Did He live in light of the fear of the Lord? Yes. Did He have knowledge? Yes. Did He have counsel and might?

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All these things. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, how? Not by some surreptitious use of His divine power, but by relying on the

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Holy Spirit. In fact, again, as I was contemplating this,

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I just thought, just think about Galatians 5. What are the fruits of the Spirit?

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I'll just cheat and I'll read it to you. But the fruit of the Spirit is love.

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It's talking about the Holy Spirit. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

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Against such things there is no law. This is the life of Jesus Christ. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

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This is His life. How do we live that kind of life?

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By being Spirit -filled, by being controlled by the Holy Spirit, by not giving in to temptation.

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Do we sin? Yes. And when we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us. But this,

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I think, in Isaiah 2, or I'm sorry, Isaiah 11, and in Genesis, or Galatians, I speak for a living,

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Galatians 5, we have a picture of Jesus, of His life, of His human attributes, but we know also that they're fully informed, fully shaped, fully molded, and fully aided by the

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Holy Spirit. Any thoughts or questions?

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Okay. Let's, we'll look at Luke chapter 4.

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And we'll need to close here. Luke chapter 4, verses 14 and 21.

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And just listen, and listen carefully. And Jesus returned in the power of the

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Spirit to Galilee. And a report about Him went throughout, or through all of the surrounding country.

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And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all, being praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as was

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His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet

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Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

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The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

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He has sent me, this is the Holy Spirit, He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the

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Lord's favor. And He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

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And He began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

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This is the Holy Spirit at work in the life of the man Christ Jesus. Commenting on Isaiah 11 and 61, kind of tying this together with Luke, where it says this.

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So when you put these two texts together from Isaiah, you realize that the role of the Spirit in the coming

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Messiah will be to empower His inner life and character, and to fill His mind with knowledge and wisdom, but also to empower

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His ministry. So now we've begun to, I guess, kind of unfold the power and the work of the

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Holy Spirit in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to close in prayer. Father, we just thank

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You for the work of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, and even in the humanity of Jesus in His ministry, in His entire life, seeing the important role of the

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Holy Spirit in protecting Him, in informing Him, giving

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Him the strength to do what in His humanity alone He could not have done.

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Father, He needed Your Spirit, and Father, we praise You, as we can see that You have granted us now the presence of the

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Holy Spirit, that we might be able to resist temptation, that we might be able to please

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You as we humble ourselves, as we are filled with the

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Holy Spirit, as we put off sin and put on righteousness. Father, make us a people that long to be filled with Your Spirit.

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Father, again, we praise You for the perfect life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what a wonder it is to think that He became like us in every respect, that He might have empathy for us.