Turn to Hebrews chapter 2 and I'll be reading verses 14 and 15 in your hearing. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same. that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. And let us pray. Father, thank you this morning for the time we've had to worship and praise thee and acknowledge your incomparable excellency and beauty and purity. And these moments as we turn our minds to this section of your word, I would pray for the help of your blessed Holy Spirit to assist me, not only to bring honor and glory to thee, but I would pray to do good to the souls of each one that is here. And I would pray as well that you, by your precious Holy Spirit, who knows the hearts of all men and women, would give us all insight and understanding into your word to perceive your purpose behind it and to know how to put it into practice in our own lives. Might it all redound to your glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, good to see you folks. It's Lord's Day morning. This is one of those kind of unique Sundays where people come to church with a certain expectation, anticipation for some focus on this Sunday on the birth of Christ. And it has been at least my pattern over the years. to accommodate or conform to that anticipation. However, the verses that I read in your hearing might not be the first one that comes to your mind when you think about Christmas or when you think about the birth of Christ, but they do clearly bring out the purpose of the incarnation. The incarnation is a term that refers to the second person of the Trinity taking on human flesh and coming into this world And these particular verses very clearly deal with the incarnation of the person of Christ, Him coming into this world, taking on human flesh. Probably the first verse that would tend to come to your mind when you think about the incarnation, and one that is I'm sure being used in many pulpits this morning, would be John 1.14. It says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So that is a text of scripture that brings out the fact of the incarnation in very glorious terms, and it makes it clear that the second person of the Trinity, especially if you look at the whole chapter, it makes it clear that the second person of the Trinity became something he had never been, which is a human being. He took on human flesh without ceasing to be what he always has been, which is the eternal, pure, holy son of God. But whereas John 1.14 discloses the fact of the incarnation, This text, I think, is very helpful because it brings out the purpose or the reason for the incarnation. Why is it that Jesus took on human flesh? Why is it that he was born? In fact, this brings out a two-fold purpose. One, if you want a couple of key words, the first would be nullification, and the second word would be liberation. But the twofold purpose of the incarnation would be, one, to render powerless him who had the power of death, which is the devil, and secondly, to deliver those who through fear of death were subject to bondage all their lives. So when we ask, what is the purpose of the birth of Christ? What is the reason that he took on human flesh? This text, these two verses are very helpful. They give a twofold reason or a twofold purpose why it is that he was born. Number one, to render powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil. Number two, to deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. So I felt like this text has two great advantages for a day like today. On the one hand, it immediately clarifies and gives us the purpose or the reason why it is that Christ was born into this world. That's this twofold purpose. And then also, it's immediately relevant or pertinent to each one of us. I suppose one of the criticisms of preachers is that we're answering questions that nobody's asking. You might have heard that one at some point in time. or that we're dealing with issues that are not germane to my life. Somebody comes to church, they listen to a sermon, and go home and think, that has nothing to do with what's going on in my life. It's irrelevant to what I am struggling with. Well, such is not the case with this particular text, because it deals with the concept of death. And not just the concept of death, but the fact that each one of us has to personally deal with that issue. Now, we are aware as we go through life, there are some people that have a significant, maybe health issues all their life, and we hope that's not our lot in life, and it may never be. We go through this world and we see some folks, they work very hard, and yet they're always in economic difficulty. They're living just from paycheck to paycheck, and we look at people like that and think, I hope that's not my lot in life, and it may never be. But we can look at the obituary page, and there's pictures of people of all different ages, and we can't look at that and say, I hope I never go through what they did. I hope I never have to experience what those people have gone through. We all do without exception. Each one of us in this room, we have an appointment with the dark messenger of death, whether we want it or not. So this is, from my perspective, this is relevant. This is pertinent because it applies to every single one of us. No one escapes. the reality of death. So it's extremely relevant because it is a universal, unavoidable reality. So I believe, and my hope is this is an appropriate text for our time together this morning. So I want you to, I want to think about the incarnation from three perspectives this morning. The incarnation or Christ taking on human flesh from three perspectives this morning, looking at verses 14 and 15. In the first place, We notice that this text very clearly simply conveys the fact of the incarnation. And we're now thinking of verse 14, where it says, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same. The word children here has reference to a common humanity or human nature of all of those whom God has given to Christ, refers to common human nature. And then the term, Flesh and blood, it's a regular description of the human condition. We find that in other places of the New Testament. In Ephesians 6.12, Paul wrote, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness. Peter O'Brien, who's a helpful commentator on Hebrews, said together the terms, that is flesh and blood, together the terms point to the weakness and frailty of humankind. Now, I would suggest to you under this first heading, this part of the text is significant in three different ways. Number one, it emphasizes what we could call the genuineness of the humanity of the person of Christ. It presses the point that he really became a human being. He himself also, or likewise, partook of the same, that is, human nature. William Lane, another very helpful writer on the book of Hebrews, comments on the force of the word likewise in the text. He actually translates it in just the same way. He says it signifies total likeness. It underscores the extent of the identity of the Son's involvement in the conditions of human experience common to other persons. Just kind of a little bit of a historical sidelight here. This was very significant in the first century because it undermined a heresy that is called docetism. Wayne Grudem in his very helpful theology, systematic theology, said any theological position that says that Jesus was not really a man is called a docetic position. And then he comments on Actually, a couple of the verses have already been read this morning, 1 John 4, 2, and 3. He says, when John wrote his first epistle, a heretical teaching was circulating in the church to the effect that Jesus was not a man. This heresy was known as docetism. And so serious was this denial of truth about Christ that John can say it was a doctrine of the Antichrist. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God, that is the spirit of Antichrist. So anyone who comes along and says that the second person of the Trinity did not take on human flesh, John is saying that is the spirit of the enemy, that is the spirit of the Antichrist. The Apostle John understood that to deny Christ true humanity was to deny something at the very heart of Christianity so that no one who denied that Jesus had come in the flesh was sent from God. So the language here, about the humanity of Christ is very clear and very emphatic. One author noted that the two verbs here, share and then partook, that they're synonymous in meaning, and say that they both describe participation in a shared reality. And here the shared reality is human nature. So Jesus identified completely, saved the sin, with those that he came to save. I think we'll say a bit more about this in a few moments, but this is what qualified him to be an effective sacrifice for sinners on the cross. That is, the fact that he became fully man qualified him to be an effective sacrifice for sinners on the cross. You might just drop down to verse 17 of Hebrews chapter 2. He, that is referring to Jesus, had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Propitiation is a term that refers to that aspect of our Lord's work on the cross where he turns away the reality of the wrath of God because of our sin. The effect of his death was a propitiatory sacrifice, the turning away of the wrath of God. But to be qualified, one of the things that qualified him to do that is he had to become like his brethren in all things. He had to become fully human. and he identified with those in that way that he came to save. Well, secondly, under this first heading, this phrase, which brings out our Lord's full participation in the human condition, it also bears upon his transcendence or his pre-existence. Now, there are other verses that I think are probably a little clearer about this, the pre-existence of the person of Christ, like in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, but this text also speaks to the pre-existence of the person of Christ, and that's brought out by the, so the point is a bit more nuanced, it's brought out by the tense of the two verbs here, The first one, translated, share. Again, William Lane comments, the significance of this is it marks the original and natural state of humanity. The original and natural state of humanity. And then the second verb, translated, partook of the same. He writes this, it's in what is called the aorist tense in the Greek language, emphasizes that the sun assumed human nature at a fixed point in time by his own choice. This is especially brought out by the words, he himself. So he himself decided to partake of human nature. You and I don't do that. No one else determines that they are going to partake of human nature. What puts him at a unique category is he himself determined that he would partake of human nature. Well, then thirdly, we can add this indicates that his coming into the world was voluntary. It was not by coercion. It was not against his will. Philip Edgecombe Hughes wrote, that the Incarnation was the Divine Son's free act on our behalf. So what we notice in the first place is this verse conveys the fact of our Lord's Incarnation very clearly, His true humanity. Now, the next two points that I want to make bring out the specific purpose of the incarnation. Okay, we know that he was born, we know that he became human in the fullest sense of that term, apart from the sin. What is the reason for that? What is the purpose and significance of that? So the next two points relate to the purpose and the significance of the incarnation And you will notice they are both related to the concept of death. So the second point is this. He came in the flesh to nullify the power of the devil. He came in the flesh to nullify the power of the devil. He came to die, we are told, in such a way that it would render powerless him who had the power of death, which is the devil. Philip Hughes writes, the purpose of the incarnation was specifically that the Messiah might die. We've already sung about that to some extent in our hymns this morning. So he is born for the purpose of dying. And then again, Hughes writes, this assertion of the common humanity by which Christ is linked to us and we to him, is followed by a statement of the primary purpose of the incarnation, namely, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is the devil. And again, to quote William Lane, the identification of the tyrant as the devil exposes the depth of the human plight. If I might just pause for just a moment here. This is very instructive, it seems to me. about the spiritual dynamics that are operating in this world. That is the reality of the devil, the reality of Satan. It moves our minds to the event back in the garden where Satan deceived our first parents, and the result of that deception was that sin and death entered into the world. For example, read in 1 John 3.8, this is what the devil was like prior to the fall. 1 John 3.8 says, the one who practices sin is of the devil. And then it says, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. He has sinned from the beginning. In John 8.44, Jesus said to some, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning. So sin and death entered the world through the diabolical influence of the enemy of our souls. And I suppose it's fair to assume that there are many, if not most, who don't believe in the reality of the devil. I didn't check on any surveys. I would just presume that most people don't believe in the reality of the devil. Maybe they use the term in the latest joke that they have heard. But if you read the Bible, you get a completely different picture. It not only reveals the existence of the devil, but also his designs, also his purposes. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, he refers to him as the God of this world, who has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. So it's like before the concert starts and the curtain is drawn, you can't see what's on the other side. The activity of the devil is to obscure the gospel, particularly the beauty and the purity and the glory of the person of Christ. It's hard to imagine anything more heinous than thwarting the gospel, which results in the eternal salvation of a soul. But God, in his word, he wants you and I to understand we're at war with the powers of darkness. In Ephesians, It says, put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. And then it says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Now, if we ask the question, in what sense does the death of Christ render powerless the one who has the power of death? I would make three points. In what sense does the death of Christ render Satan powerless. Three points with respect to this. Number one, the power of death that is wielded by Satan is to be thought of in a secondary sense and not a primary sense. Again, to quote Philip Hughes, He writes, in considering these questions, it should be recognized that the power of death is held by the devil only in a secondary and not in an ultimate sense. Death is indeed the dark reality of his tyranny, but God is still supreme in his sovereignty. Unfailingly, it is for him and by him that all things exist. Death is not a sphere that is broken loose from God's command. And then secondly, that Satan is rendered powerless is a function of the kind of death that Christ died. Satan is rendered powerless by the kind or the sort of death that Christ died. Peter O'Brien indicated this term powerless means to deprive something of its power. But I think to kind of feel the force of the text, I would just remind you that when you think of the death of the person of Christ, when you think of his dying on the cross, one of the first thoughts that should come to our minds, it was a substitutionary death. He died in the place of others. He died in the place that he came to save. So when you think of the death of Christ, you should think this is a substitutionary death, but then we should add this substitution was not marked by moral equivalence. It was not one holy being in the place of other holy beings. It was not one godly person in the place of other godly person. It's not marked by moral equivalence. Sometimes in a in a football game, one player may not be performing up to par, and so the coach sends in a substitute. But there's a level of athletic equivalence between the two. But here, there is no spiritual or moral equivalence between Christ and those that he came to save. Rather, the substitution is marked by extreme moral incongruity and disproportion, and that's simply because Christ, who is dying on the cross for a people, he is an infinitely pure holy being, and he is dying for those who were sinners from birth. So there's massive incongruity, moral and spiritual incongruity, in his substitutionary death of the person of Christ. So at the cross, Satan, in a measure, he's deprived of his power. So when the accuser comes along and he tells us about our own imperfections and says something like, well, you could not be a Christian. Think about some of the things that you have thought and some of the things that that you are doing. Our response, at least to our own heart, is we're not relying on our own moral and spiritual perfection to be accepted by God. We're relying on what Christ accomplished in our behalf on the cross. We're relying on His holiness, His moral perfection, His perfect obedience to all of the law of God. We're relying on what Christ has accomplished in our stead. So Satan is deprived of his power in some measure by what Christ accomplished on the cross, followed by being raised from the dead by the power of his Father. So the great victory for the eternal salvation of our souls took place on the cross. The power of darkness and the salvation of our souls was accomplished then. Now someone might object at this point. and say, if Satan was defeated at the cross, how come he wreaks so much havoc? Doesn't he prowl about like a roaring lion now, seeking someone to destroy? If he was defeated at the cross, how come that is the case now? Maybe two thoughts with respect to that. Number one, his ultimate destiny is set. We know his doom is sure. Revelation 2010, the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And secondly, although he does prowl about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to destroy, his power is limited. It is limited. Raymond Brown wrote a very helpful little commentary on Hebrews. He was a principal of Smurgeon's College in London. He wrote, ultimately, the devil will be destroyed completely. But until then, believers need to recognize that his power is in a limited sense. Then he talks about an event that was helpful to his own thinking process. I thought I would share this with you. He said, in my early 20s, I used to be a postman. One day I had to deliver a letter to a house I had never visited before. I opened the garden gate only to find myself confronted by the largest and most vicious dog I had ever seen. It barked furiously and then leapt towards me. I stood there helpless and terrified until, to my immense relief, I saw that this massive, angry dog was chained to a huge stake in concrete. The chain was a long one, and the dog had considerable freedom, but not enough to reach me. I saw I could easily deliver the letter and did so. The incident became like a parable to me. As a matter of fact, whenever I had to visit that house in the course of my work, I took little notice of the aggressive dog. I always kept my eye on the strong steak. At the cross, the enemy of souls, the devil, was made powerless, limited, and chained down." So the idea here is that we keep our eye on the cross. We are accepted by God based on the work of the cross and not our own works. So His power over death was deprived to a great extent by Christ's death and what He accomplished on the cross. Well then in the third place, I just want you to think for a moment about the second reason for His incarnation. The second reason for His incarnation, why it is that Jesus took on human flesh, and that is found in verse 15. and he might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. He might liberate or free those who were subject to fear all of their life because of the reality of death. And what I want to do under this third heading is just give you four kind of bullet point reasons why this, at least to my own thinking process, this is at the heart of the glory of the gospel. The effect of Christ right here to me is at the heart of the glory of the gospel. I want to give you four reasons why that is the case. Number one is because of the very nature of the kind of fear that is brought out here. I'm quoting a little bit here from a Puritan by the name of John Owen, and he writes about the kind of fear that is found here. He says that it's an agitation of mind arising from the apprehension of a future eminent evil. And the greater this evil is, the greater will be the agitation of mind. So it's the idea of being disordered or disturbed in the soul because there's some sense that there's a great evil that I have to deal with. because of the very nature of this kind of fear. But then secondly, he brings out what is the reason for this fear? Why do people experience it? Well, he brings out that in some sense, there is in the soul that death is a punishment for sin. So he makes the point Unsafe people have this fear all their lives because in their heart there is some sense that the reality of death is a punishment for sin. Now we know that's biblical because the wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth it shall die. But it does presuppose that kind of a statement that a sense in the soul that death is a punishment for sin, that has to presuppose that all men and women are created in the image of God, that they have the law of God written in their hearts, and there's some awareness in their soul of the character and the nature of the being of God. And someone might say, now, wait a minute, Doug. Hold everything. I know people who deny the reality of God. I know people who are atheists and they would deny that even God exists. Well, my response to that is that my understanding of Romans chapter 1 is that unsaved people suppress the knowledge of God. I've said before and I'll say it again. There's no such thing as a true atheist. There's just people that are suppressing the reality of God. The law of God is written in their hearts, and so they suppress it and hold it down. There's two days left till Christmas. I hope you've got your shopping done. If you haven't, one of the things that you might consider for a little... I don't know if they sell this anymore, but one of the things you might consider is a jack-in-the-box. Everybody knows what a jack-in-the-box is, not just where you get a burger, but a little box like this. You can buy it for a kid, and I don't know if they still sell them or not, but the idea here is you turn this, there's a handle on the side, and it plays music, and then the lid pops up, and then this kind of scary little puppet-like figure pops up, and it startles you. But if you want to, you can turn the handle and play the music, and you just hold the lid down, and so you keep Jack in the box. You keep him from popping up. And my point is simply this, that men and women, they do that with the reality of God. They suppress the reality of God. They hold it down. They know in their souls there is a God that they have to deal with. They know in their souls there is a God that they will have to meet. And then in the next place, the text indicates that this reality brings men and women into a state of slavery or bondage. And Owen indicates this is involuntary. Nobody chooses this, and this perplexes the mind. He says it's a troublesome state and condition of mind arising from the apprehension and fear of death to be inflicted, attended with fruitless desires and vain attempts to be delivered from it and escape the evil feared. This is the condition of sinners out of Christ. And then in the fourth place, we notice here, this subject to slavery is perpetual. Men and women are subject to the fear of death all of their life, and so they are brought into a state of bondage or slavery. One says they They are to continue in this state all their lives. They had no way to free or deliver themselves. Now, I think the main thing I wanted to communicate to you this day is the gospel is the only message that delivers men and women from the fear of death. There is no other power. There is no other person. There is no other message that delivers anyone from the fear of death. It is only the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you have equivocated and then unyielding and repenting and coming to the person of Christ by message to you is that you need to repent and you need to turn to Christ. That's the only place where there's assurance of joy, assurance of life, and the knowledge that when you die. To be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. That assurance is only found in the person of Christ. May he be your Lord and your Savior. May you trust alone in him as your Lord and as your Savior. And shall we pray. Father, I would ask that you would take what we have considered Apply it to each of our hearts for your honor and your glory, and we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.