Jesus The God Man - [Luke 2:39-52]

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I had Luke with me, my son, and I took him to the place that I grew up, the house where we grew up, and I thought it sure looks small.
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I didn't know we were that poor. And I showed him the neighborhood a little bit, and I showed him this is the place where I beat up that one kid, this is where the kid beat me up, etc.,
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etc. And it made me think of my mom when I went home. Lots of good memories about my mother, but one in particular, when she was sick or not feeling well, she always rehearsed the attributes of God alphabetically, and she would just begin to think about who
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God is, and A, He's all -knowing, and He's almighty, and He's all -powerful, and she'd work through A, and then she'd get to B, and she'd think, well,
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He's beautiful, He's bold, etc. C, He's compassionate and caring, and work her way through.
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And I like to do that myself, but I'm wondering if we've ever worked through the alphabet, thinking about ourselves before the
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Lord without Christ, alienated from God, blind, corrupt, darkened, evil, foolish, going astray, hateful, impenitent, and the list could go on.
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Knowing that, what do you think is going to happen on the day, that great day,
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Judgment Day? We stand and meet God, what will happen? Luther said, there's two days in my calendar, today and that day.
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When you have to stand before God to give an account, would you like to stand before God alone?
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Would you like to have somebody with you? Would you like to have a good lawyer with you? If you could pick anybody to stand with you, when you have to meet
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God the Father, holy, holy, holy, who would you pick? Johnny Cochran?
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Right, Alan Dershowitz? You want somebody to represent you, you need to have someone to stand with you.
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If you said, I hope not to stand before God alone, that's the right answer. And the mediator that you need, the
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Lord picks. Did you ever think of that? I would probably pick wrongly if I needed a mediator. I would probably pick
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John Calvin. Maybe you would pick Mary, Virgin Mary.
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But I have good news this morning. The Lord God picked the sinless mediator and advocate,
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Jesus Christ, for you. So when you stand before God, you're not standing before Him alone.
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You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And if you'll take your
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Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 2, we're going to learn more about this great God -man today.
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There's a mediator, and his name is Jesus, and he's the God -man. And we want to focus on Jesus, the man, this morning.
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Of course, he's the God -man, but he is human, because you're going to need a human representative.
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Not an angelic representative, not some phantom representative, but to stand before God, as it were.
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The mediator puts one hand on God, because he is God, and one hand on you, because he is human.
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Jesus is the God -man. I'm thankful that the Father has chosen our mediator and Savior for us.
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Because as Luther would say, did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing.
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We're not the right man on our side. The man of God's own choosing.
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You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus. It is He. And we are going through the
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Gospel of Jesus according to Luke. Verse by verse, we're going to finish, Lord willing, today,
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Luke chapter 2. And as I've said many times, if you like to hear about Jesus, you're in the right church.
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Because every single week, we are going to open up the Scriptures in the Gospel of Luke, and take a look at our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And you're going to see Him as a mighty warrior, and you're going to see
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Him as a little baby, and everything in between. We need to have a
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Savior that's human and divine. If you look at church history, the first few centuries, people said, yes, we know
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Jesus is God, but He's not man. These days, it seems to be the other way around.
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We think He was a real man, but He wasn't God. I wonder what Luke is going to try to teach us here in the
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Gospel of Jesus according to Luke about Jesus the human, Jesus the infant,
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Jesus the boy. When we come to Luke, the Gospel of Jesus according to Luke, we think big picture before we get into chapter 2.
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It's all about the Lord Jesus, and it's put together by Luke the physician. And he does it in a way that's, might
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I say, detective -like. Sorry for all the old Nebraska stories now, but I just grew up and we loved watching detective movies and detective shows.
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Columbo was something we loved, and I'm going to just show you how old I am when I say things like Beretta and Mannix and MacLeod and Rockford Files.
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If you don't know what I'm talking about, Sherlock Holmes, that will work. Luke in Luke chapter 1 tells us,
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I'm going to write in an orderly account like a doctor would. I'm going to investigate like a doctor or a detective would.
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I'm going to go back to the beginnings like a detective or a doctor would so that we might know for certain that this is the right
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Jesus. Lots of Jesuses out there, are you worshiping the right Jesus? And the answer today is, yes you are if you're worshiping and believing a
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Jesus who is perfectly God and perfectly man.
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And I think you might be surprised how much of a man Jesus was as we look at this passage today.
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Our passage will be verses 29 of chapter 2 through the end of the chapter.
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Excuse me, verses 39 through 52. Verses 39 through 52, super simple outline.
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The summary and the humanity. The summary and the humanity. Two points, very simple.
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The summary and the humanity. Asking these two questions,
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Is Jesus the perfect law keeper? And is Jesus truly a human? Now what we're going to see in this passage is kind of exciting because this tells us something about Jesus when he was younger.
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Matter of fact, this is the only place in all the scripture where we get to understand a little bit about the youthful years of Jesus.
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We also hear in this passage, get to hear Jesus speak for the first time in the Gospel of Luke.
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What were the first words that our Lord ever said revealed here in the Gospel of Luke? We find that out today.
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And we also notice, this is the last time we hear about Jesus' stepfather, Joseph.
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After this, he's just off the scene. So today we're going to look at the summary and the humanity.
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Number one, let's look at the summary of our last section, verse 39. Jesus, the law keeper.
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Everywhere in this last section, five times matter of fact, law is used. Law, law, law, law, law.
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Verse 39. And when they had performed everything, talking about Mary and Joseph, according to the law of the
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Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
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And so remember, in this whole section, you've got to have Jesus the right savior. If someone were to look at Jesus and they would say, you know what, he's not even circumcised, he's a
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Philistine. We can't have that. And so God in his sovereignty makes sure that Jesus has the right parents,
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Mary, the stepfather, Joseph. And they were devout and they were godly and they made sure that Jesus was circumcised not on the seventh day, not on the ninth day, not uncircumcised, but he was circumcised on the eighth day.
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The perfect Jew. They made sure that Jesus was presented in the temple and redeemed for five shekels like Numbers 18 said.
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Everything that needed to be done for Jesus to be under the law, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under law.
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Why? To redeem those under the law, us. Everything was done. Even before Jesus could make a decision, his parents are still making the right decision.
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So he's perfectly, perpetually obeying the law of God. And you say, well this kind of skips ahead a little bit.
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There's nothing here about wise men. That's true. There's nothing here about zipping down to Egypt to make sure that Jesus isn't killed by Herod who wants to kill all the firstborn because he wants no competition for other young kings.
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This doesn't have anything about the return from Egypt. That's true because Luke is focused on something else and right now he's focused on Jesus is the law keeper.
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I remember last week I said that's important because to get into heaven you need to perfectly keep the law.
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And Jesus is going to be our representative perfectly keeping the law and he's also our substitute because when we didn't perfectly keep the law he paid for those sins.
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That's the first point, the summary. You say we're going pretty fast, this is going to be a 10 minute sermon. Well it just might be.
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I said before the longest sermon I think I've ever preached on a Sunday morning was 92 minutes. Cassettes were 90 minutes in those days but technically they were 92 minutes, 46 minutes on each side.
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So flip the cassette over and keep going. So by the way Josh, back in the sound room if I do this, flip that digital tape over for me please.
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The summary of our last section Jesus is under law because he needs to save those who are law breakers and now we move to the humanity of Jesus.
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Jesus isn't a phantom, he's not a spirit, he's not some ghost, he's a real human.
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So everything in this section verses 40 through 52 is about the humanity of Jesus. God, through Luke, wants you to realize that Jesus is a man.
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Perfect man, true man. There's one mediator between God and man, the man,
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Christ Jesus. To get to heaven you need to have a man represent you. That's the man on your side, the man of God's own choosing.
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Is he the God man? Of course. But the focus here is on the humanity of Jesus. Now he frames this interestingly, look at verses 40 and 52 and see how similar they are.
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Verse 40, the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him.
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And then verse 52, it sounds pretty similar, does it not? And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
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It's like Luke has given us a clue. Dear reader, you're going to be reading something in this section that might make you think
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Jesus is wrong. That might make you think Jesus was not having the right attitude with his parents.
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That might make you think, you know what, Jesus should have gone along with Mary and Joseph but he didn't and that's shame on Jesus.
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So to give you a little hint up front, Jesus knows who he is, the
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Messiah, and he's perfectly obeying and that will give you a little hint as we interpret this passage.
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Let's just walk through the text. It's fascinating, it's wonderful, and I hope tonight when you get home you re -read the passage and think, oh, that's my
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Savior, the Lord Jesus. Verse 40, I wonder what happened from the infant Jesus in the manger identified by the shepherds, pointed to by the angels,
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I wonder what happened until he grew up. Well, here's a summary of basically 12 years of Jesus' life.
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And the child, verse 40, grew, became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.
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Oh, but I want to know more about Jesus than that. You mean you're skipping just 12 years of his life? I want to learn what else he did.
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And here are the scriptures. Don't let us know. We have to kind of regulate our curiosity.
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What did he do? He grew. What do you mean he grew? He was an infant and then before you know it, he could roll over.
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Before you know it, he could roll over the other way. Before you know it, he didn't just have breast milk, he could chew things.
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He teethed. He had two teeth come through. He could sit up.
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He could crawl. He could walk. He's growing. There's a heresy out there that basically says forget about the humanity of Jesus.
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He's just God. That's it. And the scriptures want to make sure we realize that what a normal little one would do,
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Jesus did through the stages of his life from infant in the cradle to 12 years old.
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Just growing. Hormones, puberty, Adam's apple.
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Like what? This is weird. He's a human. One of the commentators said, you could almost imagine
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Mary and Joseph on the side of their wall having like a little growth chart for Jesus. Like the little growing bean chart you're measuring.
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Daddy, am I growing kind of thing? I have a little grandson as you know and his name is
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Amos. I have a rule that if I talk about my children during a sermon, it has to be in a positive way and they get one dollar.
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But there are no rules for little Amos yet. He's too little to know. But when Amos gets excited, he does this.
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Left hand. And so we just call him Bam Bam now. And pretty soon he's going to be able to take his fingers and not just hit things.
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He's going to be able to say please and thank you and he's going to be able to take his fingers and walk through things and take puzzles.
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Put the puzzle shapes in there. The big animals. And he's just going to learn and grow and that's what you expect. That's what's happening with Jesus.
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He's truly human. Also, what's the text say?
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He became strong. That's what babies do. They get bigger and they become stronger and eventually
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Jesus is going to be walking and walking and walking all through and around Israel, is he not?
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He's taking over for his father's business and he's in the carpentry business and he is getting bigger.
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P .S. Bodies aren't bad. Never think to yourself, oh remember, spirit good, body bad.
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That's a heresy. Bodies are good. Yes, tainted by the fall, that's true. But there's nothing wrong with bodies.
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Matter of fact, in heaven we will have a glorified what? Body. Bodies are good.
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Right here we see it. The Lord Jesus. The perfect man. What else happens? He's filled with wisdom.
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So Jesus has knowledge, right? You put knowledge into people. This is like the trivium in Latin.
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You give them data first, grammar. Then you have logic. How do you put the data together? Then you have rhetoric.
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How do you take the data, put it together, and then talk about it? Jesus is learning all that.
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I'm sure it's starting off with the fear of the Lord as the beginning of what? Wisdom. And he is grasping that.
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He's understanding. He doesn't have knowledge. Only has wisdom. And when you're two, you have a little bit of knowledge, but no wisdom.
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And all of a sudden, five, ten, fifteen years old. Remember Jesus. The eternal son becomes flesh.
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So we have the divine nature, and now we have human nature. Two natures, two wills.
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Jesus has a human mind. Jesus has a human body. And it has to develop. One writer said
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Jesus had a human mind subject to the same laws of perception, memory, logic, and development of our own.
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He observed, and learned, and remembered, and applied. That's the Lord Jesus. Now there is one difference that you probably need to work through in your mind.
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Jesus wasn't tainted by sin. So that means Jesus wasn't lazy when it comes to learning and wisdom.
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That means since Jesus is not hindered by depravity, he has his intellect advanced to the highest degree.
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Still a human, that's true, but not constrained by and confined by something that might make him less than a true human.
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I'm not trying to say Jesus' human mind was omniscient. I'm not saying that at all. But I'm saying it's not affected by sin, and his development was not affected by sin.
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Jesus is learning. Jesus is growing. Sometimes people think, well, you know what? Let's think about Jesus the
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God -man, and that means the man always just knows everything that God knows. In his humanity, that's not true.
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Jesus could not figure out algebra at age 3. He could not do difficult cues at age 5.
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How many WPI students do we have here? Any left? Graduated from WPI? By the way, what's the mascot of WPI's name?
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The goat? Oh, brother. You say, well, sometimes we see
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Jesus knows things that nobody else knows. Yes, we'll get to that. There's a supernatural knowledge of Jesus, divine, but here we're looking at his human nature.
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And what's the text saying? The favor of God was upon him. Of course, he's the perfect man.
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He's the perfect obedient one. He's close to his Father. He does what the
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Father wants him to do. Yet, he gets tired. Yet, he has to eat. Yet, he has to take a nap.
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Normal development. By the way, let's see. I'm trying to see how many children we have here.
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Sometimes people think, well, Jesus he doesn't really know about my troubles. I'm ten years old and Jesus doesn't know what it's like and I have to deal with my parents and I have to do this, that, and the other.
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Isn't it amazing? Have you ever thought about it? Jesus can sympathize with every age. He knows what it's like to be a five year old, an eight year old, a twelve year old.
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He knows what it's like to be a man. Older. And what we don't see in this passage is all the weirdo accounts of what
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Jesus did as a boy that was miraculous. What was the first miracle that Jesus ever did?
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By the way, it's found in Scripture. It's found in, not Luke 2, but John 2. He takes what?
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Water and turns it to welches. Remember? That water into wine. So when people come along and say, do you know what?
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When Jesus was in the manger, he talked. No, that's not true. When Jesus was in, when he was a young man, he didn't like what a guy did to him, so he turned him into a donkey.
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That's in there. Not in Scripture, but in weird accounts. He'd make a clay bird and he'd clap and it would fly away.
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That's not in the text. He takes some of his old bath water and sprinkle it on them and they'd be all better healed from their diseases.
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Just be careful of all those. Those are not true. And those weird accounts tell us more about the authors of those accounts than they do the
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Lord Jesus. Well, what did Jesus do? Let's come to the passage now and keep going.
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We see him in the temple. He's not a child anymore. He's not two. He's not three. He's older.
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And my question to you as we approach this next section is this. Out of everything that Luke could have told us, why this?
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This must be important. If there's so much information we could learn about Jesus, why would he put this here?
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Is this important? Yes, it is. It must be specially important for us to take a look at.
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He's selective in what he does. He's investigating. He's looking at everything. There's got to be a deliberation here.
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And that's true. Verse 41 and following. Now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the
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Feast of the Passover and when he, Jesus, was 12 years old, they went up according to the custom.
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So, you're in your small little dinky hometown and now you're off to Jerusalem, the big city.
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How exciting would that be if you're 12 years old? The Passover! You have the Passover feast and then seven days of the
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Feast of Unleavened Bread and you were required by Mosaic law if you were a father to go to Israel three times a year.
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And this is the big one. Of course, you can bring your wife with you. That'd be good. Mary's godly. You can bring your son along and off to Jerusalem we go.
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Can you imagine? Hundreds of thousands of people. Hundreds of thousands of lambs to be sacrificed.
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How wonderful. This big city. I don't know. I wasn't trying to be like people in the Bible, but at 12,
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I took Haley to India. At 12, I took Luke to Germany. At 12, I took Matty to Israel and at 12,
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I took what's my other kid's name? Gracie to Greece. And they're excited and they're getting ready.
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They're ready. Okay. And now Jesus is going to go. Can you imagine? The Passover lamb, Jesus, is going to Passover.
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I wonder what's going to happen. How God even protects these families and their property when they obey
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God and go to Jerusalem. Jesus, the substance of all these shadows that are happening in Jerusalem.
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One rabbi said, let a man deal gently with his son until he becomes 12 years old.
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But from that time, let him descend with him and do his way of living. So at 13, you have a bar mitzvah.
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You're a son of the commandment. But at 12, okay son, it's about time we start taking you places.
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And we're going to work through this together. Well, what happened? Verse 43.
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I mean the feast, the people, the excitement. Eight days of the feast total.
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And when the feast was ended, verse 43, as they were returning, the boy, Jesus, we're not talking infant anymore, are we?
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Stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it.
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But supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances.
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I could tell you lots of stories about large families here at the church, having two different cars.
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The dad driving one and the mom driving the other, and then getting phone calls. They thought the one took the other kid, the other took the other kid, and they're showing up and there's a child wandering around Bethlehem Bible Church by themselves.
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That would never happen to our family, by the way, ever. Just want you to know that. Couldn't find
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Luke one day. He was up sleeping on the couch in the youth room. I thought he was with you.
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I mean, we're at home. There's no Luke. Now back in those days, you would travel for protection in big groups, big caravans sometimes the scripture translates.
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And so, certainly this is, well, the father thinks that Jesus is with the mother, and the mother thinks
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Jesus is with the father. I mean, they're not thinking Jesus has done anything wrong up to this point because Jesus is the perfect child.
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And so why would he not do the right thing, they're thinking. And so they don't know where Jesus is.
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And if you've lost a child for a short time, you know how frantic that must be and what's going on in your heart.
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We're looking for Jesus. Verse 45, they couldn't find him. They returned to Jerusalem seeking for him. Was it not said that Mary, you're going to have your soul pierced by the
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Lord Jesus? Is this it? Is this the piercing of my soul Mary must be thinking?
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Is this what it means to have my soul pierced with grief and with sorrow and with anguish? Jesus is gone.
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Where's Jesus? Have you seen him? Of course, Jesus doesn't have a halo.
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He looks like a 12 -year -old boy like any other 12 -year -old boy would be back in those days. Verse 46, after three days they found him in the temple.
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What's he doing, I wonder? Goofing off playing at the swimming hole. After three days they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, not teaching them, but listening to them and asking them questions.
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Probably should have looked there first. But the temple area is a big area.
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And if you've been to the Temple Mount, you can remember how big that is. And how there's different sections. When I say temple,
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I could be meaning the Holy of Holies. Well, Jesus wouldn't be there. I could mean the Court of the Gentiles.
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I could mean the Court of the Women. This big, huge place. And in the Temple Mount, you've got people buying and selling things for sacrifices.
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You've got people instructing. And now Jesus here is asking questions. That's how they taught back in those days.
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You'd have maybe a circle of some of those in the Sanhedrin and those who would teach. And Jesus would sit at their feet and He would ask questions.
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And they would ask questions of Him and He would answer. And they find Jesus, the true human, learning.
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It's like a little mini -seminary for Jesus. Asking questions.
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Listening. Understanding. Learning. As Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel, here
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Jesus sits at their feet. Verse 47, and all who heard
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Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. So Jesus is asking questions.
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They're giving answers. And now they're asking the student questions as well. And they're amazed at His understanding and His answers.
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I mean, and all this is pushing to humanity. We're not jamming in somehow the divine mind into the human mind.
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That would be a heretical thing to do. Some psalms are really long.
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And so they make it easy for you to memorize by using an acrostic. The longest psalm is Psalm what? 119.
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It's for kids to memorize by the way because it's got ABCDs. It's got the equivalent of what we would say our
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English alphabet. Does this strike you now as I read it in Psalm 119? I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
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I understand more than the aged for I keep your precepts. And that's exactly what's happening here.
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And people are amazed at Jesus. That's a theme in Luke by the way over and over.
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Luke 4. And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming out of His mouth.
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And they were astonished at His teaching for His word possessed authority. And they were all amazed and said to one another, what is this word?
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And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch Him in what He said, but were marveling at His answer and they became silent.
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They're amazed. And the text suggests it's an ongoing thing. Verse 48, and when
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His parents saw Him, they were astonished. And His mother said to Him, Son, why have
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You treated us so? Behold, Your Father and I have been searching for You in great distress. What are
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You doing? Like a good stereotypical
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Jewish mother making Jesus feel guilty. Right? That's what's happening. We've been looking for You.
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We've been searching for You. We've been anxious to try to find You. And You're here, just there watching, listening.
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And now we come to the first recorded words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. And He said to them,
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Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My, capital
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F, Fathers? I'm not even surprised you've come back to try to find
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Me. I'm just surprised you didn't know where to look. I mean, the angel said to Mary in Luke chapter 1,
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Jesus will be great and called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father David.
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Mary knew that, but it's been 12 years, has it not? And Jesus said,
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I have to do this. By the way, when you see that language by the Lord Jesus, I must do something, it's the language of, the
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Father has sent Me. I have come to do the Father's will. My food is to do the
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Father's will. And I have been sent by the Father from the council in eternity where I'm going to go rescue the bride.
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I have to do this. I must. Luke 4, I must preach the
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Kingdom of God. Zacchaeus, I must stay at your house today. Jesus had to pass through Samaria.
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Jesus, He said He must go to Jerusalem and suffer. Everything about the
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Lord Jesus, foreordained. And this is what I have to do, and I have to be in My Father's house.
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And by the way, He didn't say, I had to be in Our Father's house. Nobody talks like this.
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I had to be in My Father's house. You would say Our Father, speaking of God. You could say
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My Father, talking about your earthly Father, but never My Father, speaking of God Himself.
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I always do what's pleasing to the Father, and what's pleasing to the Father is to be in His house to learn the Scriptures. I'm under obligation to do that very thing.
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I'm executing God's will. I'm the last Adam. The last
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Adam disobeys God's Word. I learn it, and I'm obeying God's Word as the ultimate
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Adam. Verse 50, and they did not understand the saying that He spoke to them. They didn't understand.
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They should have understood. And here's what Luke wants you to say. Stop the presses. Don't go any farther.
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They don't understand. Here's what Luke wants. Do you understand? Do you see what's going on?
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The reader of the Gospel of Jesus, according to Luke, is coming face -to -face now with who is
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Jesus? Jesus would later say, did He not, who do you say that I am? Jesus is the
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God -man, and He's truly human. Yes, He's truly divine, but we're talking about His human nature right now.
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They don't understand. Do you understand? That's the point of the Gospel of Luke right here. Move not forward until you understand the fact that Jesus is truly
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God and truly man, because without that, you have no Savior. He's the
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Son of God. They didn't understand, but we want to make sure to understand.
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Just a side note here. This is one of the reasons why I know the Scripture is authoritative, inerrant, infallible, trustworthy, and sufficient.
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Because who would ever put such an account in here to make maybe people think, well, I don't know, maybe Jesus wasn't submissive to His parents.
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Maybe He did the wrong thing. Verse 51, to make sure we realize that Jesus does honor
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His parents and is submissive to them, and has never broken the fifth commandment. He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.
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And His mother treasured up all these things in her heart. Jesus, the God -man, submitting to His parents.
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And now we come to the part that's interesting. The other part was interesting, that's for certain.
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But even more interesting, verse 52. And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God.
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This verse is chock -full of minefields with heresies everywhere you go.
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You have to be very careful when you come to this verse, or you're going to think, okay, what is going on? Jesus increased in wisdom,
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He increased in stature, He increased in favor with God, He increased with favor in man. What are you talking about?
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Well, before I discuss it a little bit, many times we, many times
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I think to myself, Proverbs 3, trust in the Lord with all your heart, me not in your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge
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Him and He'll make your path straight. Great! What are the verses before that, though, in Proverbs 3? My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments.
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For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you.
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Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so that you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart. This verse right here, verse 52, needs to be understood properly, but before we do that,
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I want you to know this verse is where 4 -H rural agricultural clubs got its name.
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I was in the 4 -H club, is anybody here in the 4 -H club? Well, not many other grew up on a farm or was raised in Omaha, Galilee.
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Some were. 4 -H clubs. Organization for rural youth in the
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United States and in Canada, and I did mainly dog training when I was in 4 -H. Here's the 4 -H pledge.
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My head to clearer thinking, that's the first H, my heart for greater loyalty, my hands for larger service, my health for better living.
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For my club, my community, my country, and my world. It's from Luke 252.
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Head, wisdom, heart, favor with God, hands, favor with man, and health, stature. You're welcome.
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Except only one person, Elaine, went to 4 -H clubs. Jesus is advancing in these things.
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He's increasing. This is, I'm in a sailboat, and I've got to go against the wind, but I'm making progress.
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That's the word here. This is language of I have an army, and I need to get through the woods.
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I need to go through the forest, and I have to cut down all the trees to advance. I'm in the
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Ardennes, and it's World War II. Cut down the trees. That's what he's talking about here. Now let's just look at each of these.
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Some are easy, some are hard. Increased in wisdom. I talked about that a little bit more before, but Jesus is truly human.
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And therefore, he has to increase in wisdom, and he'll learn. And it's going to be hard for a three -year -old little
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Jesus to work in the carpentry shop with his father and cut angles at right angles.
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But he learns. He grows. He's growing in spiritual wisdom.
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He's understanding more and more what it means to fear the Lord, and to reverence Him, and to trust Him. He's wiser at 19 than he was at 12.
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He's wiser at 15 than he was at 8. He's increasing. It's a text that means over and over and over.
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He's increasing. Matthew Poole said, if any ask how He who is eternal wisdom of the
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Father, who is the only one God increased in wisdom, they must know that all things in Scripture which are spoken of Christ are not spoken with respect to His entire person, but with respect to one or other nature united in that person.
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He increased in wisdom as He did in age with respect to His human, not divine nature.
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Well, He grows as well in stature. He's filling out.
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He's bulking up as He got bigger. He could eat more. He could lift more. That's what humans do.
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Let's skip with God's part here and go to the one at the very end of the section, and with man. Growing in favor with men and women.
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You could get to know Jesus. You just like Him more and more and more. And you like Him more at 10 than you did at 5 because there's more of Him to like.
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He's more mature. Sinless? Yes. Without sin? Yes. But learning and growing.
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We've got to have a law keeper and we have to have a human law keeper. And Jesus is truly human.
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Perfectly human. I don't like to use the word fully God and fully human and 100 % human because those tend to be language of quantity.
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I'm talking about quality. If you say fully God, fine. I know what you mean. But it's true humanity.
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And now here's the one that you have to think, what in the world increased in favor with God?
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How can that be? Well, He used to be kind of sinful and now He's less sinful? May it never be.
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He's sinless. He's pure. He's without taint. Without spot. Remember even the
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Holy Spirit hovering over Mary's womb to make sure that there's no taint of sin in the baby
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Jesus. He's never less than human, but He's never more than human in His humanity.
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He's the God -man. Jesus got to know God better.
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Jesus studied more. He thought more about Scriptures. He's growing in God's Word so He could live out the principles of God's Word like in Deuteronomy 6.
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All these words I command you today shall be on your heart. Jesus is learning and growing in favor with God.
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If you don't believe that, you've got the wrong Jesus. You've got some false theology in your head. Sinclair Ferguson said, here's what
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Luke is saying. The test and temptations that Jesus experienced increased in severity as He grew from infancy to childhood, to adolescence to manhood.
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More demanding obedience was called for. More personal sacrifice was required. And as He became ultimately obedient to death, even the horrible death of crucifixion,
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His Father's favor toward Him increased correspondingly. There was more reason for the
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Father to favor His Son in our flesh because His Son's obedience expanded to the point where He was willing to die on the cross in obedience to His Father.
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And at the cross, even Sinclair Ferguson, he's not stoic, but he's certainly
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Scottish, he said, it's like the Father sang quietly through His tears when
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Jesus was on the cross, My Jesus, I love You. I know You are Mine. If ever I loved
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You, My Jesus is tis now. Jesus isn't fake man.
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He's not pretend man. He's not ghost man. He's truly man. And in this section, we have answer to this question.
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What was Jesus doing from 12 years old up to His public ministry? He's growing. He's understanding the
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Bible. He's studying. And may I say, congregation,
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His parents helped teach Him the Scriptures. The God -ordained way for Jesus to learn was
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His parents teaching Scriptures. And if you think, well, my 12 -year -old is too young to really understand these thoughts about God, I'd like you to read this passage.
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I'd like you to think of your parents. You know, the number one thing I can do with my children, while I think
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I need a good pediatrician, and I need a good school, and I need this, that, and the other, is to teach your children the
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Scriptures. God the Father didn't put the Bible into Jesus' brain,
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His human brain. In His humanity, Jesus had to learn the
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Scripture, memorize the Scripture, meditate on the Scripture, taught by His mother and His stepfather.
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You have to be teaching your children. As a matter of fact, if you don't teach your children, well, today's a good day as a dad, especially, to go home and say, children,
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I haven't been teaching the Bible as diligently as I can, and I'm sorry, please forgive me, but today we're going to start.
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Pouring your life into your children. Sitting around the dinner table. At our dinner table, it was simple. We got done eating.
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Dad, may I please be excused? No. You may not. Because Dad is going to teach you the
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Bible now. Mom had the harder job. She was trying to get all the kids to just be still and wrangle them at two years old and four year old and eight year old and etc.
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And then, open up the Bible and tell them the truths about Scripture. That's what needs to happen.
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I know many of you do it, and I say praise the Lord. For those that don't, if Jesus had to learn and to grow, and you had to put that information into his human mind, don't somehow think that the divine mind and the human mind are somehow conglomerated and mixed into one component part.
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The Bible, Jesus the human had to learn. So you need to teach your children.
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Matter of fact, I'll even make it easy for you. I should try to make it hard, but I'll make it easy. Joel Beakey put a little booklet together called
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Family Worship Bible Guide. Every chapter in the Bible, including
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Isaiah 26, summarizes and has some questions that you can ask your family about that passage.
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Where was that when I needed it? Joel Beakey. Jesus had to learn.
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He had to study. His parents had to teach him. Mary and Joseph pouring the
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Bible into Jesus. The word made flesh. I hope you teach your children the
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Bible. One of the greatest atrocities, I think, in all the world is we think, you know, our children can't understand these abstract thoughts about who
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God is when the perfect man, Jesus, is learning. Those are some of my favorite times, by the way, when
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I was a dad, teaching the children the Bible and the light goes on and understanding Scripture.
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I'll take that as a yes. Can you imagine Jesus made those cries?
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Never fall for it. No crying he makes. That's a heresy. He's truly human. A lot of crying he made.
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Not sinful, but because he needed to be burped or changed. Uh -huh, that's right.
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We don't care. I'd like to finish the sermon with Hebrews chapter 2, please.
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Why is this all so important? St. Mikey gave a few exhortations to teach my children the
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Bible. Made some exhortations about don't confuse Jesus' humanity with his deity.
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But remind me one more time why it's important that Jesus is truly human. Hebrews gives us the answer.
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You need a milliman. You need a mediator. You need an advocate to stand with you before the
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Father. And yes, Jesus is truly
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God, Hebrews 1. But he's truly man, Hebrews 2. And if you'd like to have a high priest who's sympathetic and knows what you're dealing with and has gone through every trial that you've gone through yet without sin,
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Hebrews reminds us of the great God -man focusing on his humanity here,
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Hebrews 2 .14. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, that's us.
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He himself, Jesus, likewise partook of the same things. Flesh and blood.
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For what purpose? That through death, his death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.
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That delegated authority that God gives Satan temporarily, Jesus' death, of course confirmed by the resurrection, destroys it.
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Verse 15. You need a God -man. Do you not? What does he do? Verse 15.
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And deliver all those through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. By the way, don't you see that in this culture?
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People are scared out of their minds about dying. COVID. RSD.
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All these things, they're freaking out. And do you know, since you have the God -man on your side, since you've got the advocate, since you've got the mediator, that idea of fear of death for your entire life is over.
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Don't be a slave to it anymore. Jesus is alive. He's human. Verse 16.
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For surely it's not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
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It means he reaches down, he grabs, he seizes. You're ice skating with your child and all of a sudden, they break through the ice and you grab them and rescue them.
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That's what Jesus does. Because He's truly human. Verse 17.
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Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in every respect. Learning, growing, favor, stature, increasing with God, increasing with man in every respect, so that He might become a merciful.
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He knows what it's like to live on this earth, so He gives mercy. And faithful, high priest in the service of God to make satisfaction or propitiation for the sins of the people.
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For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
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He's not a ghost. He's not a phantom. He's not only God. He's truly God. That's true.
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But He's truly human, so He can identify with us. And then it goes on to say in chapter 4, does it not?
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Verse 14. Hebrews 4 .14. Since then, we have a great high priest who's passed through the heavens not just through the holy of holies, but passed through the heavens.
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Jesus focusing on His humanity. The Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
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White -knuckle it by faith. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.
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Why? Because He's truly human and He has been tempted in every way that we have, except He never fell.
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But one who in every respect, because He's a human, He learns, He grows, He applies wisdom. Who in every respect has been tempted as we are, but don't forget it, yet without sin.
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And because of that, what do we do? Let us then, with confidence...
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Yes, but I sin. Let us then with confidence. Yes, but I haven't obeyed God well this week.
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That's true. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. Sin shouldn't make you run from God, it makes you run to God because you have the
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Mediator, a true human. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of...
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No more thrones of judgment. Everywhere you go in the Bible, throne of judgment, throne of judgment, throne of judgment.
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But because of the high priest that you have, dear Christian, run to the throne of grace. And what comes out of the throne of grace?
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Grace! That we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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One day, you'll stand before God. And Christian, you already have the
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Mediator. God chose him for you. And you can stand before God with boldness, not shrinking away.
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And if you're here and you're not a Christian, not one single thing I said here today in terms of comfort should be for you because God is coming after you in full fury and vengeance.
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And there's only one way of rescue for you. And that is hiding in the Savior's arms by faith and by faith alone.
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To confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. And then you too have an advocate.
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The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is truly human. Let's pray.
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Father, thank you for your words today from Scripture. What a chapter!
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What a Savior! What a friend! We struggle with sin, anxiety, fear of the future, all kinds of things,
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Father. We're more than sorry. We want to be repentant. Would you help us in spite of sin to go to our high priest who's without sin and come to the throne of grace asking for forgiveness and mercy, but finding grace too because we have needs.
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Would you please help us? Would you please help us to be reminded that Jesus, the