There's a gentleman named Stuart Strachan who tells the story that when he took a trip to the Grand Cayman Islands, which I got to go one time, uh, with life, it was awesome. Got to swim with the stingrays, which is pretty cool. Um, well, this guy Stewart, he went and he scuba dived but not only did he scuba dive, but he scuba dived at night. And so they were giving him a flashlight and he was thinking to himself, well, I'll be able to see under the water. I don't really need a flashlight. Um, but he took it anyway and he went under the water and he was amazed at how dark the ocean was at night that how very little the moonlight actually goes through. And so he's now under the water and when you're, when you're scuba diving, you, you, you reach that point of buoyancy where you're not moving up, down left or right. He's in the middle of all the coral and he lost the group that he was scuba diving with. And he said he started to panic because he became very disoriented. He didn't know what way was up. What way was down and he couldn't see in front of him to the side or behind him. Now, eventually he would discover his group and they would make it back to shore and all was ok. But when he had a conversation with his scuba instructor, he shared this interesting insight. He said that no matter how disoriented you feel, you can always tell which way is up by feeling the bubbles. And so when you breathe out and through the mask, it produces some bubbles, but the bubbles will always float up. And so when you feel disoriented, you, you're surrounded by darkness, you don't know which way is up, you can feel the bubbles and become realigned and know where you are. And I thought that was interesting because that's what happens to us when we study theology, theo theology is really the study of God. And that today's message is gonna be quote unquote a deep one if you will and taking a look at a deep topic where in Hebrews chapter one, we looked at what was called the Divinity of Jesus that Jesus was the son of God. Well, today, our message is entitled, was Jesus human. And so we're looking at the humanity of God. And the reason it's important for us to study theology and deep topics and big life questions is that when you study the Word of God, when you study who God is, it allows you to feel the bubbles it allows you to realign your life to know which way is up. And when you learn more about God, you actually better understand life and more specifically you understand your life and your role in that. So last week, we looked at Hebrews chapter one Hebrews like the 19th book in the New Testament. We don't quite know the author, but we do know that it was written to a group of Jewish Christians written in like the sixties ad. And in Hebrews chapter one, Jesus is described as the Son of God. And it's all about Jesus being God. And we said that the life of Jesus is the language of God. The life of Jesus is the language of God. And the reason that's important because in these past days or in the Old Testament, Jesus spoke through prophets in various ways, but in these last days, God has spoken to us by his son. So here in America, we speak English in Germany, they speak German God. And in Christianity, we speak Christ. So the question is number one, are you listening to God with what He's saying? And then number two, with how you live, how do you or what are you saying? How are you speaking to the people around you? Well, before we jump into Hebrews chapter two, which really talks about the humanity of Jesus. There is this transition passage that gives a warning, there's about six or so warnings in the book of Hebrews, but there's this one found in Hebrews chapter two. And so we pick it up here in He Hebrews chapter two verse one. So therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. Lest we drift away from it. That word drift is really from a Greek word that is used to describe a boat drifting away from its anchor or moorings or, or the shore. And when something drifts away, it's typically done. So really in a subtle way, it's done so in a silent way. And it's done so slowly, right? Like no one panics when there's drifting. It's like, oh no, we're drifting. It's, it's usually what happens is that you don't realize that you're drifting. It is a slow movement away to where you eventually look up. You're like, wait a second. How did I get here? Right. If you spend any time in the ocean with Children or boogie boarding or just playing in the ocean, I'm sure everyone has had that experience where you look up and you think, oh no, somebody stole all our beach gear and you look up like where is it? And then you realize, oh, actually it's like half a mile down that way. And so you didn't realize, but your body was drifting in the ocean. It was slow, it was silent. It was subtle. What the writer is saying here is that we much, we must pay attention and I like that phrase, pay attention because it shows that number one, your attention is valuable. And then number two, your attention will cost you something that you have to pay attention to the word of God. Lest we drift from it. Verse two, it says for since the message declared by the angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. What he's saying there is hey, in the Old Testament, when God spoke through angels and prophets, there were consequences for your choices. So he says, if there are consequences for not believing the prophet now, verse three, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation, how much more so will there be consequences if we ignore the message of Jesus himself? It says that it was declared at first by the Lord and then it was attested to us by those who heard and while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will, what he's saying here, it's this idea that we have to pay attention and, and that the word of God almost serves like an emissions test does for your car. If you've had to take your car in for an emissions test, you go in and it measures the pollutants coming out of the car. When you read the word of God, it's, it's testing your heart and it, and you are testing what's coming out of it. And it uses two words there, it uses transgressions and disobedience. And so just like an emissions test here, transgressions is considered a sin of co mission. In other words, when you do something that you're not supposed to do, right, that's called a transgression, then you have the other side, a sin of omission, which is called disobedience. That's when you don't do what you're supposed to do, right? We've seen these and we've done these and we've experienced these that we do things we're not supposed to do and then we don't do the things that we're supposed to do. And the writer is saying that in all situations that we have to pay attention to the gospel. And so the warning is this, if you're taking notes that lifting your focus keeps you from drifting in faith, lifting in focus keeps you from drifting in faith that when you study who God is, that's similar to feeling the bubbles in the mask and it reorients your life and you pay attention and you, and you lock in to who you are and it keeps you from drifting. So lifting your focus will keep you from drifting in faith. And so what, what are we actually paying attention to? We're paying attention to the story of Jesus. And it shares in these verses four things it says, first of all, the gospel, the story of Jesus was declared by God there again, we see that Jesus is the language of God. So when Jesus came down, it was God speaking to us saying, hey, pay attention, this is it. And then it was dispersed by the apostles. And so the early disciples spread the message of the good news. They were preaching around. That's why we have the New Testament and they started churches and then even wrote letters to the churches. And so we have the word of God because of the dispersion of the apostles. But then third, we see that the gospel was then demonstrated through miracles that as Jesus performed miracles and then the disciples before miracles, they showed you that Jesus had the power to forgive sins. So for example, if a lame person can walk, Jesus can forgive your sentence. If a blind person can see Jesus can make you spiritually see if a dead man can rise again, then we who are spiritually dead can rise again. And so the gospel is actually demonstrated through the power of miracles. And then lastly, it was displayed in the church through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So the church launches and then Christians are given gifts of the spirit. And when we operate within our gift set, when we operate, and we build each other up and we encourage one another towards good works. You can see the Gospel on display. And so all these things, the writer is saying, hey, pay attention to this, don't miss this lest you drift away. And so what is this deep truth that we're gonna try to break down? What's this? Jesus was both fully God and fully man? Jesus was fully God and fully man. Now, it almost seems blasphemous to say that Jesus was a man. Uh But I think we miss this oftentimes in church because it is crucial to understanding the gospel. So we're gonna break this idea down. Why is it important to believe that Jesus was fully human? How did it come to be? And then how does it apply to us? So hang with me for a few minutes while we break this down from a theological 30,000 ft view. And because at the end, we're gonna land the plane and I'm gonna show you why this is important and how it directly applies to our Monday morning lifestyle, right? Like how does it apply to us this week? See Jesus being fully God and fully man. It's called the hypostatic union or in Philippians chapter two, there's this concept in, in churchy world, the seminary world known as kenosis and where the emptying of Jesus out that he took on the form of man. So if you picture God, Jesus being fully God, when he came to earth, the Christmas story, OK. He took on the limitations of a human body. And so he didn't give up his deity. He didn't stop being God, but he willingly obeyed God. The father came down and took on the limitations of a man. So let me just run through some of the examples of where Jesus was human. And these I have scripture references to back this up. If you want to see them, I'll happily share those with you after service. But for time's sake, let me just run through this list. Uh Jesus was born uh he partic of flesh and blood. He was circumcised. He increased as a child in wisdom in his stature. He wept, he hungered, he thirsted, he slept, he became tired. He was a man of sorrows. He was beaten. He en endured difficulties. He was scorched. He, he was nailed to a cross. He died, he was physically pierced in his side. He was buried, he resurrected. He shared in our humanity made in our likeness in every way that's coming from our Hebrews two passage that we're gonna talk through today. And then he was made in human likeness that one comes from Philippians 27. And so this idea of the humanity of Jesus is actually really important. Back then. There were people in that uh ancient near east who were called gnostics. And so they were proponent or opponents to Christianity and they believed in the reality of Jesus, but they just denied his authority. And so oftentimes leaders were writing in response to these gnostics saying that Jesus was a spirit that he was God, but he really didn't physically die. But we want to show you why it's important that Jesus was God. Think about Jesus, OK? As a shoe. That's a weird analogy. But just go with me. One shoelace is that Jesus was fully God. The other shoelace is Jesus was fully man. And that the knot in the middle is the, is the Holy Spirit kind of tying these two concepts together that both can be true. And so we want to break this down because, and the reason this is important and if you have notes, you can write this down is that Jesus being fully human, gives us hope for tomorrow and then help for today. It gives us hope for tomorrow and help for today. And so the humanity piece is actually very important and one not talked about often in church world because it feels blasphemous. But, but it's actually not, it actually ties us more directly closely to the being part of who Jesus is. And, and we're gonna see how Jesus gives us hope. And then Jesus also gives us help. Now we don't have time to break down the entire chapter of Hebrews chapter two. But let me just give you a little bit of structure. So he gives us the warning and then he goes through four principles here. The first one here in verses 5 to 9 is that Jesus restores Dominion. In other words, Jesus is gonna reign over all things that while currently we live in a broken messed up world. At some point, Jesus will reign over all things and we will get to reign a rule with him. And that in a sense, humanity has Dominion over the earth as we know it. And so that comes from Jesus then, and he actually quote Psalm eight to describe that. And then the next passage, verses 10 to 13 talks about how Jesus shares in glory. And in verse 10, it says for all things ex exist by and for Jesus. So he created all things, he sustains all things, he has authority over all things. And so this incredible power. And then he moves into how then Jesus chooses to use that power because in verses 14 to 16, it says that Jesus and his humanity actually disarm Satan. So he defeats Satan. So in a UFC cage match Jesus for Satan. Jesus knocks him out and defeats death as we know it. And the last thing then is that while he was on this earth, that Jesus actually overcame difficulties. And so I wanna focus in on those last two in the passage and throughout it, he's quoting old Testament stuff. He quotes Psalm eight, he quotes Psalm 22 he quotes um Isaiah chapter eight. And so he's connecting all these ideas together. But let's just jump into verse 14 and you can kind of see why the humanity of Jesus is important for you and me since therefore, the Children share in flesh and blood. He himself. Jesus likewise partook of the same things that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. In other words, you are more valuable than angels. That's pretty cool. Right? Like if you had the title of angel, you'd be feeling pretty good. But Jesus didn't die for the angels. He actually died for you. And for me, he cares more about you than even heavenly beings. That's pretty awesome, right? And he continues verse 17. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. We're gonna explain that role in a second in the service of God to make the propitiation or the payment for the sins of the people for because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. He's saying in here that Jesus at his core, he gets us, he under stance, he knows he lived, he conquered and then he invites us to do the same. And there's this role of a high priest in the Old Testament. And the role of a high priest was this that he was a representative from the people that was responsible for restoring the relationship between man and God. So there was a tribe called the Levites, someone who was like the best person out of the Levites. If you will, was then drafted or selected to say, OK, you are gonna represent us. So think hunger games, but like spiritual morality and like it was an honor to be selected kind of thing. And so this person then would speak to God on behalf of the people and then would speak to the people on behalf of God. And because we are messed up and we are broken, they would continually offer animal sacrifices as a payment for or atonement for the sins. And so God would then give them forgiveness and they would go on, they'd mess up again and then have another sacrifice, another confession, another thing moving forward and this process kept going over and over. And then there is a great high priest or a big high p uh high priest where this person once a year would go into the holy of Holies, represent all the people and basically beg for God's forgiveness. So this is an important role, right? You're, you're representing your community to God and then you're also representing God to your community with the goal of restoration. The problem is everyone's messed up including the priest. And so it didn't actually fulfill an eternal need. So Jesus comes down and actually is considered the great high priest. This is why we don't necessarily in, in church world, you still see the role of priests in certain denominations, right? There's ones of high view, high respect. And so I understand that's where it came from. But in Christianity at large, you don't see this as much because Jesus himself was the once and for all that, he didn't offer a sacrifice. But actually he was the sacrifice. And it's important that Jesus was fully God and fully human because that means that he could be a representative of us, right? It was a word it was taken from among us. And then it was important that he was fully God because then he could redeem us that it was per he was perfect. He lived roughly 33 years on this earth did not sin, experience suffering, experience temptation, and he experienced all these things and yet lived a perfect life. And so here we have a high priest that gets us. You know, there was a song that went viral recently about a good old country boy who sang a song uh displaying his displeasure about politicians. And I'm not gonna make reference because we can get into a political talk and and I don't even wanna talk about either side of the aisle. The reason that song itself went viral is because there is a large group of everyday people that feel like government leaders don't understand, right? It same thing happens if you, if you've ever interacted or seen a clip of a super rich person try to go through everyday life stuff and they don't know how to use something or get groceries or pump gas. And you're like, oh man, they don't even know. Ok, how much more so do people view God as separated from man? Right. We view God. Well, he doesn't understand. Of course, God could be perfect because he was God. Right. We asked the question, well, what would Jesus do? Well, that's not fair. Jesus was God, but we have to remember that actually he lived out of his humanity, right? He had the divinity uh credit card, bank card that was fully loaded, but he never swiped it. He never dipped into his deity to live out his humanity that he he experienced the two main realities of what it means to be human. Here's the two main realities and they're kind of depressing, but we can connect. Number one is suffering to be human, is to suffer. Now that seems super encouraging. Have a great day. Ok? Um But I wanna be real with you, right? That's why the Prosperity Gospel doesn't work because when someone tries to tell you believe in Jesus and everything is gonna get better. It doesn't happen that way. Sometimes when you believe in Jesus, your life actually gets harder because we live in a broken world. Thanks a lot, Adam and Eve. Ok? But because we live in a broken world, we experience suffering there is not a single person in this room whose life could not dramatically be turned upside down in a single phone call. Right? It's a car accident, there's cancer, there's job loss, there's betrayal. So many things can happen and our life at its core is fragile. And we have to note that, but you don't have to believe in Jesus to suffer actually, is that every single person is gonna go through a difficulty of some kind. But it says in Hebrews two, that the suffering of Jesus actually made his ministry perfect, which means it doesn't mean that it wasn't perfect before, but rather means that it was made complete that Jesus suffered too. And I don't know about you. But there's something comforting knowing that someone went through what I went through. You know, the best person to support someone who's grieving the loss of a loved one, someone who lost a loved one, the best person to bring comfort who's battling an illness is someone who's gone through that illness, right? There's a relatability that comes when you have somebody who went through what you went through. And we have a savior who didn't just sit up in a cloud and stay back, but actually came down, lived among us and he suffered. And then number two, he experienced temptation to be human, is to be tempted. It just is we want what we want and we drift by default that we don't pursue health unless we intentionally choose. So, and we have a God who loves you so much that he came down, willingly took on the form of a human being and all its limitations. I mean, isn't it crazy to think that Jesus who created the world spoken into existence at some point woke up with a backache because he slept on a rock, right? It seems almost blasphemous to say that Jesus used the restroom or that he ate or that he walked or that he got tired. I think that's why people connect so much with that TV series. Now that the chosen because you get to think and visualize what it could be like to have interacted with God that he laughed, he cried, he ate, he spoke, he was betrayed, he was hurt, he died, but he rose again, meaning he defeated death itself. And it says in there that we have a high priest, someone then who has mercy and faithfulness. What do those mean? Number one, the mercy of Jesus means that he has compassion towards you. He sees what you're walking through. He sees your difficulty in your situation and he says, I get it right when a small child falls and hurts themselves. If a parent is like uh fall again, like it wouldn't be very sweet, right? And if you just ignored it at times, it wouldn't be very sweet. We don't want, we don't have a God who ignores hurt, who ignores pain. In fact, we have a God who endured more pain than you could ever know. And so when you hurt, he hurts, when you are sad, he is sad. The reason we long for empathy and sympathy from a relationship is because we have an empathetic and a sympathetic God that doesn't make him weak, that makes him authentic, right? And so God's mercy shows us compassion. But second, he's faithful, meaning he's consistent that he shows up every single time. Some of you in this room or watching online might struggle with relationships because at some point in your life, somebody that you cared about didn't show up when you needed them. Maybe you were the one that didn't show up when you were needed. Aren't you glad that we have a God that shows up every single time that even when we have been faithless, Jesus remains faithful. And that when we battle addiction, when we battle anxiety, when we battle the struggles of life, we have a God who looks down and sees their son, their daughter as a loved one says I get it. I love you. And I'm here so often in religion, we sit back and we judge wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. In some cases, it's truthful right, call it what it is. But let's start with col what it is in our own lives first and saying that no one deserves the grace of God. That's why it's called grace. But we have a God who understands so that when we pray He's connected to us, and that's because of his humanity. The fact that Jesus is with God means that He can redeem us. But the fact that Jesus was human, it gives us hope for tomorrow and help for today. Hope for tomorrow and hope for today. Hope for tomorrow means that Jesus is our messiah that his check cleared that when he died on the cross, that that payment was paid in full, right? He can save us. He was perfect. But we also have help for today because Jesus is also our model. He shows us the blueprint. He says I am the way the truth and the life. So he's our messiah. Yes, our hope for tomorrow. Yes. But he's our help for today saying you can overcome anything that you're facing right now on your own. No, but with Jesus living the way Jesus did. Yes, because he did not dip into his duty to live out his humanity. In other words, he faced every suffering that we could face. He faced all the temptations that we could face and yet he held true and was holy and perfect, which means that you can hold true and you can overcome any suffering or temptation that you are battling right now. He is the way the truth and the life and he is our model that we can base our life off of. We look at this Bible. And like, well, of course, Jesus did that. He was God. Of course, Jesus could do that. That's cool. I would do that too. Right. It was not good. If I had the power of Jesus, I'd be dipping into that deity all day. Right. Like I'm hungry. Boom, food. Someone says something mean to me, you're gone. Right. Like there'd be so much power, it would be amazing. And it's good that I'm not. But Jesus used that power to serve others and to sacrifice and provide the way for us. So he gave us a better way. He gave us a way to lead our families. He gave us a way to act in marriage. He gave us a way to parent. He gave us a way to treat one another to speak the language to the world that desperately needs it. And what was available, Jesus to Jesus is also available to you and me. What was available to him? Number one is the Holy Spirit. If you want an interesting study, read the gospels and look for the word spirit, especially the gospel of Luke because over and over again, you're gonna see that Jesus himself lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Three examples. Luke chapter three verse 21 at the baptism of Jesus right before he's baptized. It says the spirit of God came down. He comes out of the water. Luke chapter four verse one, and it's the spirit of God that leads him into the wilderness where he's tempted. And then a couple of verses later, Luke 414. It's the spirit of God that leads him to begin his preaching ministry. So you have the shoelace of Jesus as God, the shoelace of Jesus as man. And it's the Holy Spirit. That's the knot in the middle. What this means is that you have, if you're a Christian, you have the spirit of the living God, you have the spirit that conquered death itself inside of you. That's why Paul can make bold proclamations like second Timothy 17, that he says that for God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self control. In other words, you have eternal power burning inside of you that when you recognize that, that there is no difficulty that you cannot overcome on your own. Absolutely not with God. All things are possible. And not only did he have the Holy Spirit, Jesus routinely prayed. And if Jesus prayed to understand the will of his father, doesn't it make sense that we would pray as well? And his prayer life must have been so dynamic because when the disciples could have asked Jesus one question, they didn't go, hey, Jesus teach us how to do miracles. No, Jesus teach us how to preach like you preached. No, Jesus teach us how to wash feet. No. Is that Jesus teach us to pray. So they understood that prayer unlocked everything else. Another thing Jesus had available to him was scripture. Now then it was the old testament, but routinely he was quoting things so that when Satan tempted him, use the word of God as a weapon, how much more should, should we do that? Knowing that we've got the full picture. He had the Holy Spirit, he had prayer, he had scripture. And the last thing is he had a relationship, he had friends and family, a community life is too tough if you're going to go through this alone. But if Jesus was victorious, we can be victorious. The same things that were available to Jesus are available to you today, which means you can be victorious today. That yes, you might be suffering and yes, you will be tempted. But you have a God who knows you, who has compassion, who consistently shows up even when you don't and then gives us forgiveness and eternal life, giving us hope for tomorrow. And then he gives us the model, the blueprint to be help for today that he gives you the strength to fight and then the tools to fight it with. I'm about to pray and we're gonna take communion. But understand when they took communion, they physically did that around a table together. That was a symbol for what then Jesus would then physically die. The weight of eternity on his shoulders, experienced on the cross for you and for me and then rose again on the third day, giving us eternal life. And then he says, go and live as I did, go and love as I did, I give you the blueprint. So church be encouraged that Jesus is God. But also remember that Jesus was man and he gives us the way to live as he lived. Will you pray with me dear heavenly father as we get ready to take communion together? I pray that we can remember all that you've done for us. We love you and we reflect on the sacrifice you gave for us. And it's in sense that we pray.