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Okay, you can turn. Confessions 
of Faith to chapter eight. We're gonna complete the study 
on the person of Christ this morning, and then Pastor Butler, 
two Sundays from now, will lead you through the work of Christ 
from the same chapter, Lord willing. So finishing up the person of 
the mediator, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, closing off 
with continuing his true humanity. So I'm gonna read, paragraphs 
two, three, and seven. The Son of God, the second person 
in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness 
of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with him 
who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath 
made, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him 
man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities 
thereof, yet without sin. being conceived by the Holy Spirit 
in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon 
her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, and so 
was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham 
and David according to the Scriptures, so that two whole perfect and 
distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, 
without conversion, composition, or confusion, which person is 
very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between 
God and man. The Lord Jesus, in his human 
nature, thus united to the divine in the person of the Son, was 
sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure, 
having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom 
it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, to the 
end that being wholly harmless, undefiled, and full of grace 
and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished, Yeah, there's a spelling 
mistake there. Anyway, he might be thoroughly 
furnished to execute the office of a mediator in surety, which 
office he took not upon himself, but was thereunto called by his 
father, who also put all power and judgment in his hand and 
gave him commandment to execute the same. Paragraph seven, Christ 
in the work of mediation acteth according to both natures, by 
each nature doing that which is proper to itself, yet by reason 
of the unity of the person that which is proper to one nature 
is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by 
the other nature. So we're just going to continue 
looking at the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're 
going to look at some of these clauses in paragraph 8, specifically, 
and then, and largely, and then some that come from paragraph 
3 and paragraph 7 as well. The first thing we want to note 
this morning Well, maybe just briefly by way of reminder, last 
time we looked really just at the clause in paragraph 2 where 
it speaks of the fact that the Son of God did, when the fullness 
of the time was come, take upon Him man's nature. We had a look 
and considered the fact that Christ's coming into this world 
is one whereby He assumes man's nature. He became man not by 
subtraction, not by addition, but by the assumption of human 
nature unto union with himself. So this morning we want to then 
first start by looking at the human nature of Christ with respect 
to the clause concerning Mary and the Holy Spirit coming down 
upon her. The specific language there you 
can see sort of right in the middle of the paragraph being 
conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, 
the Holy Spirit coming down upon her and the power of the Most 
High overshadowing her, and so was made of a woman of the tribe 
of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David, according to the Scriptures. 
Now this clause that's included here in the Confession of Faith, 
that section doesn't appear in the Westminster Confession of 
Faith, and it doesn't appear in the Savoy Declaration. Not 
because those Christians didn't believe it, it's just that the 
Baptists, by virtue of being later in time, 1677, in reflecting upon the Bible, 
and reflecting upon certain heresies as well, added that additional 
information when speaking about the person of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Now, they are affirming biblical truth, and they're also 
rejecting particular errors in the history of the church, and 
actually some errors that were contemporary to them. In the 
17th century, there were Dutch, German, and Anabaptist churches 
that denied that Christ, that the Son of God, had his flesh 
by the substance of Mary. So, given that particular context, 
they're combating that particular error, but that was no new error. 
The Apollinarians in the fourth and fifth centuries, the Valentians 
also in the early church, denied certain important biblical truths 
concerning the son of God having his human nature by the substance 
of his earthly mother, Mary. This is Turretin on the birth 
of Christ according to the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, and 
sort of combating particular errors, and also dealing with 
some possible misconceptions that Christians may have. What 
does it mean that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, and maybe 
more specifically, what does it mean with regards to being 
conceived by the Holy Spirit? So this is Turretin. Christ was 
invisibly formed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin without 
the concurrence of man. The act of principle was not 
a man, but by the power and overshadowing of the Holy Ghost. Acting here 
not materially, so there's not some sort of divine material, 
if you will, being implanted in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Acting here not materially, but 
only efficiently by power. not by seed, by might, not by 
intercourse, so that he was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
not by the substance of the Spirit, but by blessing and consecration 
as the ancients express it." So we want to understand those 
important truths because people... outside of the church, or maybe 
even those with a measure of ignorance inside the church, 
might think, okay, is there some sort of divine substance? Is 
there some sort of, you know, material reality behind the conception 
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary? No, 
it is by power, by might, by blessing and consecration, not 
materially, but efficiently. Now, let's just go to our Bibles 
here for a moment to see where we find in our Bibles this particular 
truth. And you can turn with me to the 
Gospel of Luke. Gospel of Luke is a good place 
that speaks concerning this. And actually, the confession 
of faith is bringing out this language from the Gospel of Luke 
when it speaks concerning that clause or those clauses that 
we just read. Luke, excuse me, Luke chapter 
one. And when you get to Luke chapter 
one, we'll notice, beginning at verse 29. Luke 1, 29, but when she saw 
him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner 
of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, do 
not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And 
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son 
and shall call his name Jesus." Notice as well at verse 42, then 
she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "'Blessed are you among 
women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.'" Also, we could 
note in Luke chapter 2, there is much language there with regards 
to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Mary. And then, as well, we would want 
to note, and you don't have to turn there, Galatians 4.4, and it's 
language you hear often from the pulpit, both in preaching 
and in prayer, where in the fullness, when the fullness of the times 
had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman. And so 
we need to uphold the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was really 
born of a woman, the Son of God, according to his assumed humanity, 
was born of a woman, and this was not by the active principle 
of man. Remember, she is the Virgin Mary. 
It was not by some sort of divine material, but was, again, efficiently 
by power, by blessing and consecration. And we want to note that last 
time when we talked about the assumption of the human nature 
by the Son of God, We need to understand that the 
conception of the Lord Jesus Christ according to his humanity 
in the womb of the Virgin Mary was not separate from, in time, 
from the assumption of the human nature. In other words, there 
was no time where the human nature did not have personhood. Remember 
that the Lord Jesus Christ did not assume a person, he assumed 
man's nature. Because we have one person, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who exists in divine and 
human nature, or the divine nature and the human nature united in 
one person. So he didn't assume a human person, 
if that was the case, then Nestorianism would be true, that there would 
be two persons simply united by honor, by glory, by grace, 
engaging in some sort of harmonious mediatorial work. So, the conception 
and the assumption concur simultaneously. There was never a time where 
the human nature was without personhood, and the Son of God 
provides that very personhood to the human nature. So, all 
of that to come back to the blessed truth that the Son of God was 
born of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon 
her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her. And this 
speaks to the true humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's one 
of the reasons why a number of heretics opposed this particular 
truth or tweaked it in error was because they denied the true 
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We as Christians uphold that 
true humanity, and that is the blessed topic of our ongoing 
study here. He is, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of 
the Virgin Mary. Secondly, we want to note this 
language of essential properties and common infirmities. This 
language precedes that particular language of the Virgin Mary, 
the Holy Spirit coming down upon her. But you often hear this 
language from the pulpit, from Pastor Butler, especially as 
he's been working through the Gospel of John, where he's He 
talks about the Word that was with God, the Word that was God, 
taking upon Himself flesh, or He became flesh, the Word became 
flesh and dwelt among us. And Pastor Butler uses that language 
that Christ assumed our nature with all the essential properties 
and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin, taken from this 
very chapter and paragraph. So what does that mean, essential 
properties and common infirmities? Tracy, could you get me Kleenex? 
I don't know why. All week, I haven't had to wipe 
my nose. But when it comes to studying 
the confession, there's something with the confession of faith 
and wiping my nose. Sorry for anybody listening online, 
and sorry to all of you. Thank you. OK, so with all the 
essential properties and common infirmities thereof, what does 
that mean? Just to help us a little bit, 
and then we're going to consider some language from the Bible, 
but this is Turretin on this particular reality of essential 
properties. If Christ was not made like us 
in all things, as to identity of nature, he could not truly 
redeem us, since sin must be expiated in the same nature in 
which it was committed. So Christ needs to have the essential 
properties of humanity in order to redeem man. If he doesn't 
have true humanity, then men are not redeemed, men cannot 
be redeemed. Remember that sort of common 
maxim of the early church, that which is not assumed is not healed. So if Christ does not have true 
humanity, if he does not have the essential properties of man's 
nature, then man cannot be redeemed. So it's very important that we 
understand that. And as we study this, we ought 
to, at the same time as learning, at the same time as studying, 
we ought to be overwhelmed by the truth of the condescension 
of the Son of God. We ought to be marveling in the 
reality that the Eternal One took on finitude for our redemption. So essential properties first, 
and then we'll look at common infirmities, but essential properties 
of human nature, some things in the Bible, some language in 
the Bible where we see this, where we see his true humanity. 
And first and simply, he is clearly called man by the Holy Scriptures. Remember, not when he begins 
the preaching, but as Peter continues his preaching in Acts 2, in that 
section where he jumps into the Person of Christ, His deity, 
His true humanity, and His work, he says, men of Israel, a man 
attested to you. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested 
to you. So he uses this language of Jesus 
Christ, and he uses the language of man, and that that man was 
attested to that particular first century audience by miracles, 
signs, and wonders which he did in their midst. So the language 
of the Bible uses the language concerning Christ, and it uses 
the language of man. 1 Timothy 2.5, there is one mediator 
between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. So it refers to 
Christ as man, and rightly so. Secondly, he has and does those 
things that only men do. When we look at the narrative 
accounts in the Gospels, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, Son 
of God, truly God, yet having assumed man's nature for our 
recovery, he has and does those things that only men do. He wept. 
He walked, he ate, he bled, he died. And so he has and does 
those things that only men have and do. And this is wherein we 
ought to also just stop and pause to reflect upon that great condescension. It ought to be the heartbeat 
of the Christian that ever and always looks back upon or reflects 
upon the incarnation of the Son of God and rejoices in it. That's 
where our redemption lies. That's where Christianity is 
in the incarnation, the Son of God assuming our nature for our 
redemption. So as we rehearse the true humanity 
of Christ, we're not simply rehearsing doctrine for head knowledge sake, 
but we're rehearsing doctrine to glory in the blessed faith 
of Christianity found in the incarnate Son of God. Thirdly, 
he is referred to in terms of human descendancy. As we read 
our Bibles, we see that Christ is the seed and the son of Abraham. We see that he is the seed and 
son of David, according to the flesh. We read in Matthew 1 and 
in Luke, the genealogies with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
Matthew 1 and Luke 3, and we see that the Lord Jesus Christ 
is connected to genealogical history. As he is eternally begotten 
of the Father according to his deity, he is in time begotten 
of his earthly mother according to his humanity, and that with 
respect to the nation of Israel as the promised Messiah. Fourthly, 
he is said to be a partaker of flesh. Remember the language 
of John 1.14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Turn 
with me to the book of Hebrews as well, where we see this same 
language set forth with regards to Christ being a partaker of 
flesh. Hebrews chapter 2. First in verse 10, and then verses 
14 and 16. Notice in Hebrews 2 verse 10, 
for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom 
are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain 
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies 
and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason 
he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Verse 14, inasmuch 
then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself 
likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy 
him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And verse 
16, for indeed he does not give aid to angels, but he does give 
aid to the seed of Abraham. So he didn't take on the nature 
of angels, but he took on the nature of the seed of Abraham 
in order to redeem men. So he is said to be a partaker 
of flesh. Fifthly, he spoke and willed 
distinctly according to his humanity. You can turn to Matthew 26. So 
the essential properties then, in this case of man, is willing 
according to that particular nature. And in Matthew 26, Christ 
in the garden of Gethsemane, notice at verse 39, He went a 
little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my 
father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, 
not as I will, but as you will. So Christ there, speaking according 
to his assumed humanity, evidenced that he is human. He spoke and 
willed distinctly according to his humanity. Sixthly, he grew 
in wisdom and knowledge, and learned obedience. If you're 
taking notes, you can note Luke 2.52 and Hebrews 5.8. Luke 2.52, 
Hebrews 5.8. He grew in wisdom and knowledge 
and learned obedience. Of course, God, the Son of God, 
according to His divinity, His deity, doesn't grow in knowledge 
and doesn't learn obedience. In fact, it can be said of God 
that God is neither obedient nor disobedient because he is 
the glorious one, he is the law giver. And so, Christ, according 
to His humanity, grows in wisdom, grows in knowledge, and He learns 
obedience. And that learning of obedience 
doesn't mean that He moves from having been disobedient to being 
obedient, but the language in Hebrews is actually that He learned 
obedience through suffering. So being perfect in his assumed 
humanity, he learned obedience through the suffering that he 
went through, and that a substitutionary obedience for his elect. So he grows in wisdom and knowledge, 
and he learned obedience. That cannot be said of deity, 
but it must be said of true humanity. And this goes against the sort 
of the old Roman Catholic and the the errorist's approach that 
Christ's growing in wisdom and knowledge was simply sort of 
a turn of phrase. Or it wasn't really the case, 
it was just that Christ gave the semblance of this in order 
to be sort of an example and in a didactic manner to teach 
his disciples. He truly did grow in wisdom and 
in knowledge. Seventhly, and getting almost 
to lastly, he provides infallible post-resurrection proofs of his 
true humanity. Remember the blessed language 
of Luke chapter 1 and Acts chapter 1, the same author, Luke in Luke 
1 and Luke in Acts 1, where it speaks about the certainty, the 
infallible proofs, the evidences, Luke searching out those eyewitnesses 
of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, those eyewitnesses of 
his true humanity, and writing according to that. And Christ, 
in his post-resurrection doings, proving to his audience that 
he truly was the Messiah, and that he truly was man. This is Vincentius on this particular 
truth. He's an early church father. Be it the infatuation of the 
maniches, those preachers of hallucination, who say that the 
Son of God, God, was not a human person really and truly, but 
that he counterfeited the person of a man in feigned conversation 
and manner of life. But the Catholic faith, that 
is, small c, universal Christian faith, teaches that the word 
of God became man in such wise that he took upon him our nature, 
not faintedly and in semblance, but in reality and truth, and 
performed human actions, not as though he were imitating the 
actions of another, but as performing his own, and as being in reality 
the person whose part he sustained." So he provides those post-resurrection 
proofs of his true humanity. It's a wonderful scene that Luke 
In fact, there was an early church father, Irenaeus, who spent a 
lot of time in Luke 24, and using Luke 24 against the heretics 
of his day to argue for the true humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
And what do we find there in Luke 24? But the post-resurrected 
Christ, the resurrected Christ, meeting with his disciples, and 
he, Because for joy, the disciples still doubted that it was truly 
Christ, he says, look at me, handle me and see. First he says, 
see that it is I. Then he says, handle me and see 
that it is I. But they're still in a measure 
of doubt for joy. and he eats broiled fish and 
honeycomb before them. He's demonstrating that he truly 
is Christ. He's not a specter, he's not 
a phantom, but it is truly Christ, the one who took upon himself, 
humanity for our redemption and recovery. And lastly, he is prepared 
and equipped by the Holy Spirit for his mediatorial task. And 
that's the stuff of paragraph three. Before we get there, though, 
just to note a few things in a moment. When we consider essential 
properties, that language, turn with me to chapter two for a 
moment. because the language of essential 
properties we can use with regards to his true deity. Now, obviously 
they're not the essential properties of humanity when we're considering 
deity, but to understand the essential properties of humanity, 
just notice a few things with regards to essential properties 
of humanity. Deity. If you have a look at 
paragraph two, just after we see, just after we read a most 
pure spirit, notice invisible. An essential property of deity 
is, deity is invisible. And that's more than just can't 
see, but we won't elaborate on that. But Christ, according to 
his humanity, has the essential property of the fact that he 
is visible. Without body, an essential property 
of humanity is with body. In fact, the old creeds and confessions, 
and the language was continued by our forebears in the 17th 
century, simple Christian language, is that Christ assumed body and 
reasonable soul. So if we were to sum up essential 
properties, we could say a body and a reasonable soul. But notice, 
without body, Christ has body according to his humanity. That's 
an essential property. Parts. You know, the divine nature 
is simple. Christ, according to his humanity, 
is complex. That is, he is composed of parts. Passions. Christ, according to 
his deity, an essential property of deity, is impassibility. Christ, according to his humanity, 
is passable. Immortality is an essential property 
of deity. Mortality is an essential property 
of humanity. Christ, according to His humanity, 
has that. Immutability, it says here, who 
is immutable. The divine nature, Christ, according 
to His divinity, is immutable, that is, unchangeable. But Christ, 
according to His humanity, an essential property of humanity, 
is mutability or changeability. Christ has that. we could continue 
through that list and do that sort of juxtaposition or comparison 
with regards to the essential properties of deity and the essential 
properties of humanity. Now, on that last point, if you 
can turn to paragraph three with me, and that last point was he 
is prepared and equipped by the Holy Spirit for his mediatorial 
task. Notice paragraph three. The true humanity of the Lord 
Jesus Christ is evidenced by the fact that according to that 
true humanity, He is given the Holy Spirit above measure for 
the exercise of His mediation, His mediatorial task, His redeeming 
activity. Notice paragraph three, the Lord 
Jesus in His human nature, thus united to the divine. Another 
affirmation of the hypostatic union. In the previous paragraph, 
the language was joined together, inseparably joined together in 
one person. Here we see the specific language 
of united. The Lord Jesus in His human nature, 
thus united to the divine in the person of the Son, was sanctified 
and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure. This is a biblical 
truth. As we look at the Scriptures, 
as we look at the narrative concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, we see 
that the Spirit is given to Him. Remember that occasion in Luke, 
in the Gospel of Luke, where the Lord Jesus Christ basically, 
not basically, he does, read from Isaiah 61 concerning the 
fact that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And he speaks, he 
cites Isaiah 61, which is about the Son of God incarnate, the 
Spirit of God being upon him in order to bring blessings to 
humanity. So, the Holy Spirit is given 
to the incarnate Christ according to his humanity, and notice, 
it's for a particular purpose, but before that, notice, having 
in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now, we often 
use that language with respect to his deity, and of course we 
should. According to his deity, he has treasures of wisdom, and he has 
treasures of knowledge. But this is here specifically 
speaking with regards to his assumed humanity. Same with the 
fullness dwelling in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness 
should dwell to the end that being wholly harmed. And this 
is the end of the giving of the Holy Spirit to the incarnate 
Christ. To the end that being wholly 
harmless and undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might 
be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator in surety. So the Holy Spirit is given to 
the incarnate Christ unto the end that he might exercise to 
perfection the work of redemption and mediation. And I think it's 
a wonderful and blessed truth that is often neglected when 
we think about the Lord Jesus Christ and His incarnate ministry. 
That is, the role of the Holy Spirit, the fact that the Holy 
Spirit is given to Christ in order to exercise mediatorial 
perfection. It's a wonderful truth. This 
upholds the glory of the triune God in the mission of redemption. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
perfectly working out the salvation of a multitude which no man can 
number. And so we often speak about the 
deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the one person of 
Christ, but we should never do that to the neglect of the consideration 
of the Holy Spirit given to the Son of God according to his humanity 
above measure, to the end that he might be thoroughly furnished 
to execute the office of a mediator in surety." What a blessed reality 
we have in that language. Ferguson, Sinclair Ferguson, 
very concisely on this note says, from womb to tomb to throne, 
the Spirit was the constant companion of the Son. From that blessed 
conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary to the ascension 
of the Lord Jesus Christ to the right hand of the Majesty on 
High, the Holy Spirit was the without measure companion of 
the Son of God incarnate, that he might perfectly save a multitude 
of sinners from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. So 
that's essential properties. Now what about common infirmities? common infirmities of human nature. What does that mean? Well, to 
help us a little bit, we'll look at some Bible in a moment, or 
we'll consider some Bible in a moment, but just a quote from 
Flavel, or Flavel, or however you pronounce his name. Do you 
know, Jim? Okay, I like Flavel, too. Yeah, Flavel sounds better. Okay, so this is Flabel on this 
language of, well, largely on the language of Christ assuming 
a true human nature, but also speaking with respect to common 
infirmities. He assumed our nature as with 
all its integral parts, So with all its sinless infirmities, 
that's important, sinless infirmities, and therefore it is said of him 
that it behooved him in all things, that is, all things natural, 
not formerly sinful, as it is limited by the same apostle, 
to be made like unto his brethren. But here, divines carefully distinguish 
infirmities into personal and natural. Personal infirmities 
are such as befall particular persons from particular causes, 
such as dumbness, blindness, lameness, leprosies, monstrosities, 
and other deformities. There it was no way necessary 
that Christ should, nor did he at all assume. But the natural 
ones, and here we go, common infirmities, such as hunger, 
thirst, weariness, sweating, bleeding, mortality, etc. Which though they are not in 
themselves formally and intrinsically sinful, yet are they the effects 
and consequence of sin. They are so many marks that sin 
has left of itself upon our natures. And on that account, Christ is 
said to be sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, Romans 8.3. 
wherein the gracious condescension of Christ for us is marvelously 
signalized, that he would not assume our innocent nature, as 
it was in Adam before the fall, while it stood in all its primitive 
glory and perfection, but after sin had quite defaced, ruined, 
and spoiled it." It wasn't pre-fall Adam that 
needed salvation. It was post-fall humanity that 
needed salvation and redemption. And so Christ assumes true humanity 
without sin, but with essential properties and common infirmities. 
And we see some of those common infirmities listed or spoken 
of in the scriptures. And speaking to true humanity 
and common infirmities, we see Christ being weary. in John chapter 
4, verse 6. His weariness. He's tired. He's weary under the labor of 
journey. We see grief and sorrow. Surely 
He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Isaiah 53, verse 
4. And it's reiterated in Mark 14, 
34. Christ is sorrowful, even unto 
death. Christ weeps. He weeps over Jerusalem. He weeps at the death of Lazarus. 
And as Flavel noted, he hungers, he thirsts, he sweats, he bleeds, 
he dies. And so he is, Christ assumes, 
our true humanity with all the essential properties and common 
infirmities thereof, and yet without sin. Moving on then, 
we want to note that particular part of the clause, or that clause 
itself, yet without sin. So, Christ takes upon himself 
man's nature with all the essential properties and common infirmities 
thereof, and then of course, and blessedly, yet without sin. 
So notice the fact of his sinlessness first, and we know this, we glory 
in this, but let's just turn to our Bibles to a couple places 
in Hebrews in order to join together the theological conclusions that 
are the confession with the Bible that informs them. Hebrews chapter 
four, first of all, Hebrews chapter four. Notice in Hebrews 4 at verse 
14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed 
through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast 
our confession. For we do not have a high priest 
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points 
tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly 
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find 
grace to help in time of need. Verse 14 is essentially a summary 
of the book of Hebrews. If you wanted a one-verse summary 
of the book of Hebrews, it is, seeing then that we have a great 
high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of 
God, let us hold fast our confession. And that is the That is the stuff 
of Christian confidence and steadfastness today here in our lower world 
for Free Grace Baptist Church and for all of Christianity. 
that we have such a great high priest who was like us in all 
things, yet without sin, who died for us, who lived for us, 
who died for us, who rose again for us, who has passed through 
the heavens, therefore let us hold fast our confession, because 
in him we have such a blessed one. So he is without sin, as 
the apostle says here. And then in Hebrews chapter seven, 
Hebrews chapter seven and verse 26. Notice the language that we see 
there. For such a high priest was fitting 
for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, 
and has become higher than the heavens. A wonderful language 
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have the fact of His sinlessness, 
that He is without sin, but then we want to note the location 
of this sinlessness discussed because remember it's connected 
to his true humanity. He assumes man's nature as the 
Confession says informed by the Bible. with essential properties 
and common infirmities of that human nature, yet without sin. 
So it's connected to his human nature. We wanna note first off, 
of course, with respect to Christ's essential deity, that he is sinless. The confession of the prophet 
in Isaiah chapter six, the confession of the angels in Isaiah chapter 
six, is that Christ, the one who's, you know, Only the hem 
of his garment fills the temple. The angels cry out, holy, holy, 
holy. Christ, according to his deity, is, of course, sinless. He is holy, holy, holy. The confession 
of faith, speaking of an essential property or a perfection, better, 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to his deity, says that he is 
most holy. But with respect to the biblical 
grammar of sinlessness as it respects the Lord Jesus Christ, 
the location of it is to be considered with regards to His assumed and 
true humanity. We already noted Hebrews 4.14, 
we noted Hebrews 7.26, we could also note Hebrews 9.14, and 1 
Peter 1.19, that's wonderful language that we have in 1 Peter 
1.19, where it speaks of Christ as that Lamb of God without blemish 
and without spot. Excuse me, and that language 
isn't novel. It isn't new to the New Testament. 
Peter is drawing there from his knowledge of and from the Old 
Testament with regards to the spotless and the blameless, the 
spotless, the unblemished sacrifices, the animal sacrifices that were 
offered up to God in anticipation of the true Lamb of God, the 
true sacrifice that takes away sins that would come forth in 
due time. And Peter, speaking of Christ, 
says that He is a Lamb without blemish and without spot. So 
when the Bible, with regards to the mission, the mediatorial 
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of His sinlessness, 
it is speaking in reference to His true and assumed humanity, 
and that sinlessness which is for us. that blessed sinlessness 
which is rendered or which is displayed substitutionarily as 
our sinlessness imputed to us, received by faith alone. That 
is, for our righteousness imputed to us and received by faith alone. So Christ, according to His true 
humanity, has all the essential properties of humanity. He has 
those common infirmities, those sinless, with humanity, and He 
is without sin, according to His true humanity. Now lastly, 
we want to note the stuff of paragraph 7 here. I'm just going to read it again 
and then we'll just notice some things and make some observations 
regarding what it's saying and the blessed truths that it's 
conveying. So, chapter 8, paragraph 7, Christ, 
in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by 
each nature doing that which is proper to itself, Yet by reason 
of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature 
is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person, denominated by 
the other nature." Now that's, you know, it can be a sort of 
difficult language to track with, but hopefully with a little bit 
of explanation we can understand it a little bit better. But it's 
conveying the doctrine of Christ and it's protecting the doctrine 
of Christ from the assertions of error. So, regarding this 
paragraph, we're just going to call this section, The One Person 
of Christ in His Mediatorial Work and Some Helps to Speak 
Properly about Christ. So first off, we just want to 
note, he is mediator according to both natures. There is a debate 
in and around the turn of the Reformation there, against Roman 
Catholics by Protestants, well, between Catholics and Protestants, 
Catholics assert that Christ is only mediator according to 
his humanity. The Protestants argue, as the 
confession here upholds, that Christ, in his work of mediation, 
acts according to both natures. And so there's a Protestant assertion 
here against Roman Catholicism that Christ, in the work of mediatorship, 
acts according to both his divine nature and his human nature. 
So he is mediator according to both natures. In his work of 
mediation, he does not do the things proper to one nature according 
to the other nature. So he doesn't do divine things 
by the human nature, and he doesn't do human things by the divine 
nature. Notice the language here is that 
by each nature, doing that which is proper to itself. So Christ, 
according to his divinity, does divine things. Christ, according 
to his humanity, does human things. And those things are not confused. In fact, we could go back to 
the language of paragraph two to uphold this and to maybe understand 
it better, that Christ is that in In the one Christ, we have 
two whole, perfect, and complete natures inseparably joined together 
without conversion, composition, or confusion. So that's why we 
must say in his work of mediation, he does not do things proper 
to one nature according to the other nature. This is Nehemiah 
Cox. All that Christ did or suffered 
is properly referred to as person. But if we consider the immediate 
principle of the actions, some of them must be referred to his 
divine nature only, others to his human. So, for example, we 
say that the Lord Jesus Christ created the world. We wouldn't 
say that the Lord Jesus Christ, though, created the world according 
to his human nature. We say the Lord Jesus Christ 
died. bled and died. We wouldn't say 
though that the Lord Jesus Christ bled and died according to his 
divinity. Thirdly, the union of the two 
natures in the one person affords a manner of speaking concerning 
Christ. For example, we sing the hymn, 
And Can It Be, one of the stanzas is, Amazing love, how can it 
be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? So the language in 
the confession says here, yet by reason of the unity of the 
person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in 
scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature. 
And you can see the scripture verses there. One of them is 
John 3.13, where Christ says, the son of man who is in heaven. So, you know, the Son of Man, 
you know, a reference, you know, oftentimes it carries the weight 
of His divinity because in the Old Testament it's announcing 
a divine mediator, a divine Messiah, a divine Redeemer, and it uses 
Son of Man. But, you know, with regards to 
His humanity, He is, a son of man, and so Christ can speak 
of himself, and speaking with regards to the person denominated 
by his humanity, he can say that he is in heaven by virtue of 
the unity of person. Another example, and maybe an 
easier one here, is Acts 20, if you want to turn there with 
me. Acts chapter 20, the apostle Paul Excuse me. The Apostle Paul exhorting the 
Ephesian elders. And in Acts 20, notice at verse 
28. Therefore, take heed to yourselves 
and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you 
overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with 
his own blood." So this is an example where Christ, as denominated 
by one nature, God, something is attributed to him that is 
only true of the other nature, which is the shedding of blood. 
So by virtue of the hypostatic union, by virtue of the union 
of the divine and the human in the one Christ, we can sing, 
thou my God shouldst die for me, and we have biblical warrant 
for it. Now notice the text doesn't say 
that Jesus Christ, according to his divinity, shed his blood 
for the church. That would be different. Also 
we can note, and actually just turn there briefly, 1 Corinthians 
2. The confession doesn't list it here, but theologians throughout 
the ages have also cited this particular verse as an example 
of the same thing we're discussing. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 8. Backing up to verse 6, however, 
we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom 
of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to 
nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden 
wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which 
none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they 
would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And so it speaks 
there of the Lord of Glory being crucified. As if to say that 
it is God being crucified, similar to Acts 20, 28. But it's the 
one Christ as denominated by one nature, 
having things attributed to him that are true only of the other 
one. And that language or manner of speaking is legitimate, considering 
the unity of the person of Christ. And so maybe to understand this 
better and working to a close, and then if there are any questions 
after prayer, we can look at those. Fourthly and lastly, the 
ways we can and can't speak of Christ, given these truths. So, you know, by virtue of the 
unity of person, we can say Christ wept, Christ ate, Christ prayed, 
Christ bled, Christ died. Of course, that's an easy one. 
Speaking of the one Christ, in fact, with all of these, we're 
speaking of the one Christ. Secondly, by virtue of the unity 
of person, we can say God wept, God ate, God prayed, God bled, 
God died. We cannot say, though, connected 
to that last one, by virtue of the unity of person, we cannot 
say Christ, according to his divine nature, wept, ate, prayed, 
bled, died. We can say Christ is omnipresent, 
omnipotent, and omniscient. We can say that a man is omnipresent, 
omnipotent, and omniscient. We cannot say, though, that Christ, 
according to his human nature, is omnipresent, omnipotent, and 
omniscient. We cannot say the divine nature 
wept, or the human nature upholds all things by the word of His 
power. We should not say that the human 
nature wept, ate, prayed, bled, died, but that Christ, according 
to His human nature, wept, ate, prayed, bled, and died. Now if you want those sent to 
you afterwards to try to roll them around in your minds a little 
bit better, but suffice it to say that when we speak of the 
one Christ, we can say that that one Christ does all things according 
to his divine and human nature, doing those things which are 
proper to each nature. So Christ, again, upholds all 
things by the word of his power, Christ eats, walks, weeps, sweats, 
prays, bleeds, dies. We cannot say, though, that Christ, 
according to his human nature, upholds all things by the word 
of his power, because that's something that's only true of 
deity. We cannot say Christ, according 
to his divine nature, ate, wept, bled, prayed, died. And so hopefully 
we can gain a little bit of an understanding of how we can and 
can't speak of Christ. I mean, if we make a particular 
error in a measure of a lack of perfect knowledge, we're never 
going to have perfect knowledge, that's okay. But it helps us 
to understand the Bible, to understand our doctrine of Christ, to understand 
what our forebears are saying as they're arguing for and defending 
the doctrine of Christ, and to help as others speak to us about 
Christianity. What does this mean? What does 
that mean? You say that Christ is God, but 
it says that He ate, wept, slept, bled, and died. If He's God, 
how can that happen? Well, He assumed man's nature 
into unity of person for our redemption and recovery. You 
say God took on humanity, but it says that he upholds all things 
by the word of his power. You usually don't get it the 
other way. You usually get it the first way that we talked 
about. But we understand that Christ is very God and very man, 
yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man. And sort 
of to wrap all this stuff up with regards to how we can speak 
about Christ, the glory of his incarnation, and the glory of 
that incarnation being unto our redemption. This is Alexander 
of Alexandria, and we'll close with this. He was the mentor 
for Athanasius. What is this novel mystery? The 
judge is judged and is silent. The invisible is seen and is 
not confounded. The incomprehensible is grasped. and is not indignant at it. The 
immeasurable is contained in a measure and makes no opposition. The impassable suffers and does 
not avenge its own injury. The immortal dies and complains 
not. The celestial is buried and bears 
it with an equal mind. Praise God that the one who fixed 
the stars in place was fixed in place upon a tree for our 
blessed redemption, for our recovery, for our salvation. Praise God 
for the incarnation of the Son of God. Very God and very man, 
yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man. Let's pray. 
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth of our precious 
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in who he is, very 
God and very man, yet one Christ. We thank you that he is our Savior, 
our mediator, our redeeming King. We pray that you would help us 
with this knowledge of Christ to all the more glory in the 
truth of our blessed Savior, that we would glory in Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. that we would glory in the perfect 
redemption wrought by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that we would 
now go into worship singing your praises. We pray in the name 
of Jesus Christ, amen. Any questions about any of this? 
Yes, Leslie. Did you say that in these kind 
of conversations, humanity and personhood are used in different ways? Well, I did mention that Christ 
didn't assume a human person, but assumed a human nature. With 
regards to Christ, there's something unique about Christ besides his, 
and if you want to learn more, you can come to the next sessions 
in our book study that talk about the personhood of Christ. We wouldn't say that Christ is 
a human person. So he doesn't assume a human 
person. He assumes a human nature, and thereby, by that assumption 
and union, provides the personhood to that human nature. So the 
uniqueness of Christ is seen in the fact that he is, relative 
to the rest of humanity, that he's sinless, but also that he's 
the only instance of humanity that doesn't have human personhood, 
but provides the personhood to the human nature. So there, yeah, 
in that, but, or maybe going, maybe the part that you're talking 
about with regards to personhood and human nature has to do with 
the fact that, I don't know, did you say it was from the beginning 
or the end? At the beginning. Okay, I'm trying to think of 
what that might have been. But there's that. But we should say as well that 
it's always persons that do things, not natures. That's why one of 
the things that we say here is we wouldn't say the human nature 
ate. Because if I was to, if we were 
to just speak in normal parlance, and I was to tell you that I 
went out with Tracy on Friday night, I wouldn't say that I 
went out with a reasonable soul and body. and had dinner with 
her, I would say that I went out with Tracy. You know, it's 
always persons that do things according to a nature, not natures 
that do things. The properties belong to the 
nature, but it's always a person that does things according to 
that nature. That's why the confession of 
theologians have carefully used that language, according to. 
You know, the old Augustans, I think he may have started the 
language that was using that Philippians 2 language 
to speak of deity and humanity. So we would always say Christ 
does according to his divinity or his humanity. Or simply without 
having to do that, just say Christ does. And if someone needs qualification, 
then we can go beyond that. But because Christ is one person, 
the blessed unity of Christ, we don't want to always necessarily 
qualify. and say, you know, Christ, according 
to his humanity, walked on the water, or that sort of thing. 
We always, as often as we can, because the unity of the person, 
just want to say that Christ did things. In theological precision 
and articulation and in qualification for better understanding, so 
there's no confusion, we can then use the language of according 
to a particular nature. Anything else? him in all fullness or whatever. So then when he was baptized 
and the dove came down, what did that, was that just a symbolic 
thing or did it give him something? Well, I think that punctuated 
the reality and sort of inaugurated his earthly ministry. It confirmed 
that Christ as the promised one, and it connected back to Old 
Testament prophecy. Remember, you know, Christ in 
the waters of baptism says, you know, let it so be in order to 
fulfill all righteousness. So that's sort of the, you know, 
the inauguration of his earthly ministry. He goes into the waters 
of baptism and then immediately he's set out into the desert 
and he's tempted by the devil. And that, you know, that is the 
ongoing, you know, sort of the advent of his earthly ministry. 
So that, you know, that wasn't the giving of the spirit. That 
was sort of, you know, an extra measure or an extra signification 
of the spirit made known in order to in order to punctuate and 
inaugurate the earthly ministry of Christ. Any comment on that? Oh, yeah, yeah, that's that's 
a perfect that's a perfect argument for the Trinity right there a 
beautiful beautiful Image of the Trinity and that the old 
yet the old church fathers recognize that too I think is it the Augustine 
saying go to Jordan to see go to Jordan to see the Trinity. 
Yeah