Hi friends and welcome
back to our continuing study
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Books Of the Book.
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The book of Hebrews Chapter 1.
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We are picking up
where we left off, the theme
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"Something Better".
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It's incredible, James,
that we have noted that Paul
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makes this colossal
declaration that Jesus Christ,
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Who is God in the flesh,
purged our sins by Himself.
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That's right and what is
this I mean, this is quite a
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statement, what is
it mean that He did this
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all totally by Himself?
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There is a lot of gospel here.
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Paul is leaping right into it.
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What he is basically
saying, the word purged means
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to cleanse or to do.
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It is very similar to the
terminology that Paul uses
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in Ephesians 5, were he
talks about washing with water.
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It kind of like washing clothes.
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Apparently there is a lot
of gospel in doing laundry.
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He did them, we were
dirty, we were sinful,
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and He cleansed us.
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But the point I think
that you are directing us to
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here "by Himself" in
other words, we didn't do it.
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We didn't help Him, we
didn't. add to this salvation,
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it's a gift from
God, He did it by Himself.
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He's the only
one that could do it,
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angels couldn't do it.
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Man couldn't do it.
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God had to do it.
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Therefore, it is paramount
that Paul establishes Christ
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as God, before he
establishes Him as a man.
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This is such an important
point, it distinguishes the
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biblical revelation of
God from all pagan religions,
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from all of the
various religions in the world,
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because the God that we
encounter in Scripture is
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making a self-sacrifice
for our salvation.
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So Paul says, please
understand that Jesus
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is better than angels.
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I mean, just imagine
for one moment, what if
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hypothetically, God were to
say, the human race has sinned.
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I need to venture
on a salvation plan.
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So I'm going to sacrifice
an angel, or 10 angels,
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or all angels.
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I think the
Angels would volunteer!
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Yeah, and I mean their
selfless in their own natures,
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you know their
governed by Gods love.
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But think about this,
if God were to give all the
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angels of heaven as a sacrifice
for our sin, God would have
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come short of giving
Himself for our sins.
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It wouldn't work.
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The only way that
humanity could be saved is for
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us to encounter God
displaying His love for us,
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In giving His life for our sins.
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That's all that will
turn our hearts back to Him
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away from rebellion.
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That is the point
on a relational level.
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The point is, it is
God that is doing this.
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Another point that is really
important is in relationship
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to this, God is the only
One who actually can do it,
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because the
satisfaction for sin is death.
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Consequence of sin is death.
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In some way, we will see
here more fully developed,
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God is the only One,
love is the only thing that
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can survive that consequence.
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That can take that
penalty upon itself.
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The person who could
do that and survive the
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consequence of that.
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Yeah, pass right through
death, gain victory over it and
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emerge in resurrection
life to give that resurrection
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life, by virtue
of His love to us.
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Pure, unadulterated
holy love, cannot be held
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captive by death.
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James, we mentioned briefly
this idea of the biblical
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revelation of God
being distinct from all other
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religious ideas in history.
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There is a three
party view of the atonement,
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what happened at the cross.
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And the two party view of
what happened at the cross.
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The three party view is
common to all religions, and
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it simply says that at
the cross we encountered three
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parties, God, who
is the offended party.
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Then we encounter the
sinner, who one who has done
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the offending, and then
we encounter a third-party
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sacrifice that
God vents His wrath on
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or makes a sacrifice.
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Okay, that is one view,
the other view says, No!
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What we actually encounter
at the cross is a two party,
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atonement and that is God
and the sinner and the One
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who is making the sacrifice.
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The one hanging on the
cross is not a third-party
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sacrifice, but none
other than God Himself.
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Absolutely!
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Making the sacrifice.
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And that distinguishes
Christianity from all
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other religions friends.
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That makes Christianity
what it is the good news
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about who God is.
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God is not one who requires
sacrifice, like other pagan
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deities, from us or
from some third-party.
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God is the One who
Himself, gives sacrifice.
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In other words God takes
the responsibility for our sin.
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God is the One that
purges our sins by Himself.
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God is the One that
makes the sacrifice.
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This is a picture in
Hebrews 1 of a better God.
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Another part of Paul's
logic here, that is just really
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powerful, it said in
these first four verses,
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the apostle Paul
draws a direct link between
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creation and salvation.
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In other words, the
only one who could save us
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is the Creator, because
there is a sense in which,
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James, that salvation
is an act of re-creation.
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I mean think about this, in
Psalms 51, yes, in Psalms 51.
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I was thinking that David
sins, he said, with Bathsheba,
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he committed the act of
murder in order to take this
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woman into an adulterous affair.
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He was conscious-smitten
and David comes to the Lord,
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in Psalms 51, and he
prays a prayer of repentance.
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It is very interesting in
this prayer of repentance,
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how he marries
together creation language
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and salvation language.
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He says "create in me a
clean heart Oh God, and renew a
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right spirit within
me", that's verse 10.
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And then in verse 12, he
says, "restore unto me the
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joy of your salvation. "
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So in one breath he says,
God create me a new God save me.
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Creation and
salvation are accomplished
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by the same power.
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1 Corinthians 5:17,
"if anyone is in Christ,
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he is a new creation is a
new creature in Jesus Christ. "
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My absolute favorite creation
redemption verse, James,
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is in Ephesians
Chapter 2, where we are told,
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in verse 8, "for by
grace you have been saved
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through faith and that
not of yourselves, it is the
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gift of God, not of works
lest any man should boast. "
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And then verse 10, "for
we are his workmanship. "
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Created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God has
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for-ordained that
we should walk in them.
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Very clearly, Paul says
verse 8, we are saved by grace.
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Verse 10, how are we
saved, God created humanity all
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over again in His image in
the person of Jesus Christ.
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So he invites us to enter
into that whole new humanity.
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This is why it is vital and
Paul picks up this theme very
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clearly in Chapter 1 is
vital for us to understand that
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Jesus Christ is God.
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Now, I just want to
give an outline of this Ty,
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for viewers and our listeners.
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In Hebrews Chapter 1
verse 2, Jesus is the One who
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made the worlds.
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In Hebrews Chapter
1, verse 3, Jesus is the
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brightness of God's
glory, the express image of His
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Person and He upholds all
things by the word of His power.
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In Hebrews Chapter 1,
verse 4, He is made much better
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there is our theme
again, than the angels.
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In Hebrews 1 verse 5,
Jesus is the Son of God.
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In Hebrews 1: 6, let
the angels worship Jesus.
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In Hebrews 1:8,
God calls Jesus God,
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the Father calls Jesus, God.
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In Hebrews 1 verse 10,
God calls Lord and Maker
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of heaven and earth.
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In Hebrews 1 versus
11 and 12 God describes
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Jesus as eternal.
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And in verse 13, God
calls Jesus, to sit down at
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His right hand were no
angel, at any time can sit.
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Yeah, it is just amazing
to think about this James.
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We have here in Hebrews 1.
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You can see it in the
quote marks, in most versions,
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that the Father
is addressing Jesus.
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And the Father says
to Jesus, You are God.
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You are the Creator
of heaven and earth.
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The father says you are
the Lord of heaven and earth
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and the Father says
to all the angelic host,
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bow down and worship Jesus.
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This is God, Jesus is none
other than God in the flesh.
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And so this truth
comes home to the heart now.
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This is where it is amazing.
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In fact, there
was a hymn written
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by Charles Wesley and
it was called, "Can It Be?"
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This was the name of
the hymn and in this hymn
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there are a couple of lines in
the go like this "amazing love,
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how can it be, that thou
my God should die for me?"
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Wow! that's powerful, as my
daughter Leah would say it's
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Fantabulous!
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Good, good Leah, that's great.
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But some have been
afraid of such a thought.
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The idea that God can die.
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I mean, it's not really
in the biblical, the Bible
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there is no verse
actually says that God died.
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How do we understand
that God can die for me?
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How can we
understand that God died?
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This is what Paul
picks up as we move into
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Hebrews Chapter 2.
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How is it that God
becomes mortal and is able to
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to die for the
sins of the world?
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This is the rational, and
the logic for the incarnation.
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I mean, we began with the
premise that the person we're
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dealing with in Jesus Christ
is none other than the God
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of the Universe, the
Creator of the second member
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of the triune Godhead.
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Because were trying
to prove that because
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He's become a man, He still
is God, He still remains God.
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Yeah, Paul moves us through
this idea, he established in
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Chapter 1, Jesus is God.
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And then we're left with
the question, Wait a minute,
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wait a minute, you mean
this person that we are dealing
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with, this human
were dealing with is God.
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And Paul says
exactly, that's the point.
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The only way that this
plan of salvation could work,
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the only way God can pull
this off, would be to step
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from His position as
the God of the universe and
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condescend into our humanity
so that He could experience
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our temptations and
resist them, and finally resist
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to the point of death.
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Absolutely,
because in other words,
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God has to become mortal.
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Somehow He has to divest
Himself of His immortality.
00:10:11.28\00:10:15.50
And I want to say the
divest in the sense of allow
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that to be
enshrouded with mortality.
00:10:18.57\00:10:20.52
Allow that to be hidden
in the mortal human body that
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is subject to death in
order for Him to justly take the
00:10:23.18\00:10:26.56
consequences of our sins.
00:10:26.59\00:10:27.97
He has to do that in
the form, not of an angel,
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but some other created
being, He has to become
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part of the
corporate body of humanity.
00:10:31.94\00:10:34.59
Here's the thing, when
we are encountering Jesus,
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we are encountering, as we
said earlier, a revelation,
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not only of
Jesus as God but of the
00:10:41.31\00:10:44.12
father's heart as well.
00:10:44.15\00:10:45.35
When Jesus came to
this world, one of the most
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incredible things He said was in
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John Chapter 16. Verse 27.
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When He said the
Father Himself loves you.
00:10:51.96\00:10:56.75
A favorite author
of ours has put forth a
00:10:56.78\00:11:00.67
hypothetical situation in
order to drive this point home.
00:11:00.70\00:11:03.11
And this author says,
hypothetically, "what if the
00:11:03.14\00:11:08.63
roles were reversed and
the Father had been the one to
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condescend into
humanity in the incarnation?"
00:11:13.58\00:11:16.52
And what if it was the
Father that took on human flesh,
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and the question is
asked by this author, she says,
00:11:20.69\00:11:24.45
"What will you, what
would we have witnessed?"
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The answer is, we would have
witnessed exactly the same thing
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because there is no
dichotomy between the character
00:11:30.71\00:11:33.35
of a Father and His love
for us and the character of
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the Son and the, Holy
Spirit for that matter,
00:11:36.47\00:11:38.51
and their love for us.
00:11:38.54\00:11:40.29
We would've witnessed
exactly the same thing.
00:11:40.32\00:11:42.28
Jesus did not come here to
persuade us, to persuade God
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to love us, to persuade
us, He came here to reveal the
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love that God has
in His heart for us.
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"God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son. "
00:11:50.62\00:11:53.01
It's a powerful truth.
00:11:54.01\00:11:54.98
So the love precedes the giving.
00:11:54.99\00:11:56.24
He loves us,
therefore, He gives the Son.
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He doesn't come to a new
position of loving us because
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of the sacrifice the Son.
00:12:04.22\00:12:05.57
And this is a vital truth,
this is a vital truth friends
00:12:05.60\00:12:08.39
for us to understand.
00:12:08.42\00:12:09.39
That God loves us so He gives.
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Love motivates God to give, and
when Christ came to this earth,
00:12:11.98\00:12:15.46
Christ reveals to us, what
is in the heart of the Father.
00:12:15.49\00:12:18.65
You need to know that, we
need to know that in order for
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us to be reconciled
in this relationship.
00:12:21.19\00:12:23.22
We need to know that God's
love is never changed for us.
00:12:23.25\00:12:25.96
God's love has
never changed for you.
00:12:25.99\00:12:27.44
It is the same
unchanging down through time.
00:12:27.47\00:12:30.48
Down through the
history of the human race,
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His love remains the same.
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The mountaintop of
Scripture, James, repeated
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over and over again.
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It's like a series of mountains.
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You are going along
through Scripture and you are
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encountering over and over
again, this escalating idea
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that God is love and God loves
you and God loves me with a
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depth of love and a passion
of love that knows no bounds.
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Even to the point where God
Himself was willing, more than
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willing, eager to
die for you and me.
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And this is going to be a
continuing theme that we are
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going to be touching on as
we move through the book of
00:13:06.92\00:13:08.56
Hebrews because it
is the basis of Hebrews.
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So stay with us continue
to study this book with us.
00:13:11.21\00:13:14.30
We look forward to
learn more about this.
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God bless!
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