When the God-Man Walked Among Us, Part 2

This might be the most controversial New Testament for passages that answer these two good questions.

And it's fitting to do so, even when his friends and family were somewhat confused. Chuck titled his message, When the God Man Walked Among Us. He's come out of the grave, he has victoriously risen in bodily form, and he is speaking to his disciples. I find it most intriguing that in Luke 24, 44, Jesus goes back into the Old Testament and draws from words out of the Old Testament, words concerning himself. He said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. This is one of the few times Jesus took people through the scriptures and explained himself to them.

From the law, from the psalms, and from the prophets. You see that? That was a reference to me. You see this? That's spoken of me. You see what the prophet said?

I fulfilled this. And he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He said, Thus it is written that Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things.

Men, you have been in the privileged position to be in transition. You've seen me carry these things out, now I've come back from the grave and I'm declaring to you this is truth. I am who I claim to be, very God, very man, in one person. Or as John writes it, next page, chapter 1, the Gospel of John, verse 14, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The word dwelt is the word for tabernacled or pitched a tent.

I've heard people paraphrase it. The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us for 33 years. And the disciple says, We beheld his glory. It was glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh, God became man, and as man he lived among us and we give him glory.

He is the Son of God. Now you may be sitting there listening to this information and facing the evidence that is undeniable, and you may be saying, Okay, you got my attention. I can see enough in what you've already said that they were confused, but when push and shove came together, he evidenced himself as God and man.

I'd like to see more evidence. So for your sake, we're going to take one example from each of the four Gospels. And we're going to do it all so quick you can't believe it.

Flash Gordon here, we're going to move right through this. Matthew chapter 14. I want you to see in juxtaposition, humanity and deity rubbing shoulders together. I want you to see in one breath the display of humanity followed immediately by a display of deity.

Maybe you've never made such a study. I'm limiting it to one per each Gospel writer. Matthew 14 verse 22. And immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And after he sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray.

You will never read of a place where in the heavens God prays. This is an act of mankind. We pray. Prayer is an expression of need. It is a declaration of adoration. God adores no one. There is no one higher to adore. He is in himself, self-contained, self-sufficient.

All glory resides in him, but mankind prays because of an expression of need, to worship, to ask for strength, to request assistance, guidance, or whatever. And that's what he's doing. He shows himself man.

Keep reading. When it was evening, he was there alone. But the boat was already many stadia away from the land, battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, I love this, the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. Out of nowhere he comes walking on the sea and they look across the sea and they see him coming and they say, Fantasma! Fantasma! That's the word Matthew uses.

We get our word fantasy, or fantastic, or phantom. It's an aberration! It's a ghost!

Look! And so naturally, Peter says, let me do it! So he stumbles out in the water and he goes under.

He can't pull it off. Look over at verse 32. Good old Peter. When they, both of them, one was wet and one was dry, I might add. When they both got into the boat, the wind stopped. That in itself is remarkable. And those who were in the boat worshiped saying, you, singular, are certainly God's son. Only God walks on water.

Only man prays. But that's just one piece of evidence. Mark chapter one is yet another. Humanity is seen in verses 40 and early part of 41.

Mark 140. A leper came to him. Jesus is in the swirl of activity. He's been going from morning till night for more than a day. He's been saving and helping. He's been healing and assisting. And the leper, now out of nowhere, stumbles through the crowd and shuffles up to him.

And he beseeches him, falling on his knees before him and saying to him, if you're willing, you can make me clean. I don't know if you've ever seen leprosy. I have seen it.

In my days in the South Sea Islands, I was in a leprosarium for a while as we in the military were entertaining them and encouraging them. And I've never seen some tragic scenes. Hands are stumps and sometimes bleeding stumps. And often shoes are not worn.

And they're just stumps for feet or for toes. And I can just see this tragic man just with his stumps saying, if you're willing, cleanse me. Scripture never speaks of leprosy being cured or healed. Always cleansed.

Because leprosy is the biblical picture of sin. We are never cured or healed of sin. We're cleansed of it. We're cleansed.

He says, you can do it. I know you can heal me if you're willing. I know you can cleanse me. That's the word he uses.

You can make me clean. As a man, verse 41, he is moved with compassion. The old King James Bible on occasion, years ago before the new King James came out, spoke of one being moved deep within his own bowels of mercies. It's the best expression the old English had of that pit of the stomach where you churn. One writer calls it our churning place.

He churned down deep in his, if I may, in his gut. Man does that. Woman does that. When you walk by a scene that is tragic, when you view one on the television screen, when you read of one in a magazine or a newspaper, you are moved with compassion. That's the human mercy within us.

That's humanity. But he doesn't stop with just humanity. He stretched out his hand. He did the unspeakable. He touched him. And then he did the unbelievable.

He said, I am willing. Be cleansed. And immediately, the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Only God can do that. For all I know, there were suddenly toes on the feet, fingers on the hands. The hemorrhaging stopped.

The bleeding was over. And God in man had done his work. Luke chapter 8. Another great story on the sea.

Starting in verse 22. It came about on one of those days. I like that. You ever told someone that?

How are you doing today? Oh, it's one of those days. Maybe it was one of those days that he got into a boat, he and his disciples, and they launched out, it says, let us go over to the other side of the lake, and they launched out, and as they were sailing along, he fell asleep. I've not done much sailing, but the little sailing I've done, I've always fallen asleep.

It's the most natural response to the rhythm of the sea as it mixes with the weariness of your bones. But it's never said in scripture that God sleeps. In fact, it says specifically, he neither slumbers nor sleeps, he who watches over Israel. But man sleeps. Man must sleep or he dies. Here, as a man weary from the day, according to this passage, in the lake, in the boat, he falls asleep, and a fierce gale of wind descended upon the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. This is a great scene. And they came to him saying, master, wake up, wake up, we're going to die.

Isn't that amazing? They've already had the feeding of the 5,000, and each one had a basket of food left over, but they hadn't learned a lesson. They'd seen the healing of the leper or the cleansing of the leper, but they hadn't connected the two. So here they are in a boat with God, and they say, we're going to sink. You don't sink with God. They didn't get that.

They didn't put that together. But he's master, so far, so good. Being aroused, he rebuked the wind and surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. Now, I've done a lot of fishing in my day, and I can tell you, I have occasionally seen the sea, what we call, in fisherman's terms, a slick. It's an eerie sight, an amazing sight, especially the ocean.

So slick that if you flipped a penny into it, you could study and count the ripples that move away from the penny. But that's never occurred suddenly. From the storming, raging wave, and sea, and wind, all of a sudden, you could hear your own breath. Look at the disciples' response.

It's great. They were fearful and amazed. They spent half their life fearful and amazed, didn't they? Saying to one another, who is this?

Doesn't that sound like strong, believing followers? Who is this? Can't you see Peter, the fisherman, saying, even the winds and the waves obey him. This is God. This is God. The one you woke up a moment ago, he is God, Peter. He is God. Never you doubt it. In the tragic storms of life, he specializes in calming waves.

It'll just shock you sometime. See him in it. Finally, John 11. You can't let me leave out John 11. His friend Lazarus has died. We've seen Jesus in prayer as a man, walking on water as God. We've seen him with compassion as man, cleansing a leper as God. We've found him asleep on a boat as man.

We've seen him calming the sea and the wind immediately as God. Now we see him as he grieves over his lost friend who's gone on. In fact, he's been dead four days. Jesus comes alongside the grieving family.

It's bad enough to be blamed. If you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But to face the grief of his friends, look at this. Verse 33, John 11. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit. He was troubled.

You'll never read of God's being troubled. That's the man part of him. That's humanity on display.

Where have you laid him? They said, Lord, come and see. And he wept. You'll never read of God weeping. That's a human trait. Not even animals weep.

It's a human trait. He wept as he grieved over not only their unbelief, but the loss of his friend and the sorrow of his companions. It was a scene where you cry. And he cried. They came to the cave.

Verse 38. The stone was lying against it. He said, remove the stone, Martha. The sister of the deceased said, Lord, by this time, there will be a stench.

He's been dead four days. He said to her, do I not say to you, if you will believe, you will see the glory of God? And they removed the stone. You don't argue much with Jesus. You notice that. Maybe one line, that's all. I said, move the stone.

So they moved it. You see, he's not going to resurrect Lazarus. He will resuscitate him. If he would have resurrected him, the stone could have stayed. Because in resurrection state, the whole molecular structure of your body changes and you can pass through wood, stone, glass, or space with no problem.

It's a whole different person. But you've got to move the stone out of the way if you're going to bring a man back from beyond and resuscitate him. So he says, move the stone. They moved the stone.

I love it. Jesus raised his eyes. Father, I thank thee that thou hurtest me.

I knew that thou hurtest me always, but because the people standing around, I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me. And when he said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And I love the old country preacher's comment, if he hadn't limited it to Lazarus, everybody in the tomb would have come forth. So he said, just Lazarus this time.

Just Lazarus. And this is a great scene. We've got a mummy walking out of the tomb, verse 44. He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with the cloth. He's stumbling out of the tomb like this, and Jesus naturally says, I'm buying him and let him go.

And a great moment. Wouldn't you love to have had supper with Lazarus that night? How was it, Lazarus? Only God can raise the dead.

And he will. G. Campbell Morgan, he was the God-man, not God indwelling a man, of such there have been many. Not a man deified, of such there have been none, save in the myths of pagan systems of thought. But God and man, God and man, combining in one personality, the two natures, a perpetual enigma and mystery, baffling the possibility of explanation. John says, the last of his book, if I were to take all the things Jesus said and did and put them in a book, all the books in the world couldn't contain it. But I've selected these few.

Why? That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name. I could have gathered up materials the world over and would not have had enough paper to write the stories with convincing, irrefutable evidence that he is who he claimed to be, very God, come in human form to die, to be raised, that you might see how awesome he really is. Some time ago I had a lady write me a true story from a Christian school.

I want you to hear the story. A kindergarten teacher was determining how much religious training her new students had. While talking with one little boy to whom the story of Jesus was obviously brand new, she began relating his death on the cross. When asked what a cross was, she picked up some sticks and fashioning a crude one, she explained that Jesus was nailed, was actually nailed to that cross, and then he died. Little boy with eyes downcast quietly acknowledged, oh, that's too bad. The very next breath, however, she related that he arose again and then he came back to life and his little eyes got big as saucers. He lit up and exclaimed, totally awesome.

Isn't that great? You don't know the story of Jesus if the end of his life is, oh, that's too bad. You know the story if the end of it is totally awesome.

Awesome. In fact, the only awesome one I have ever met, the only awesome thing I've ever seen, is the Lord Jesus. And so as we come to a conclusion, it is my privilege to introduce you to an opportunity to know this awesome one, this Savior, Jesus Christ, who is in fact the God-man. He not only walked on this earth, He has been nailed to the cross and raised from the dead miraculously bodily so that He lives today to develop a relationship with you by faith. And so I ask you today, have you ever come to know this totally awesome Savior? Have you ever known the experience of His changing your life?

You can know that. You can know Him today by faith in His name. In God's Word we read that as many as received Christ, to them He gives the authority to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

That's it. Believing in His name. If you will do that, you will be able to say with so many others, I know this God-man. I know this one who walked on the earth.

I know this one who was raised from the dead. I know Him as my Savior and my Lord. Father, we realize today there are many who hear these words who have never come to Christ, and therefore it's for them especially, I pray, that you will bring them to a place of understanding, repentance, and acceptance. May they know you and have that kind of assurance of eternal life that others of us know and enjoy today.

Thank you for what we have heard, for the truth that has been declared. May it make a difference in how we walk on this earth, because the God-man has walked before us and now gives us the power to walk as He walked. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Savior.

Amen. Today's sermon from Chuck Swindoll embodies what Insight for Living is all about. We open the book, the Bible, and tell the undiluted story about the God-man who walked among us.

After doing so, we invite anyone and everyone to step into the waiting arms of Jesus. If you made the life-changing decision to follow Jesus today, or if you're ready to take your next steps with Him, you'll be glad to know that Insight for Living provides a wide variety of free resources that are designed to guide you. For instance, did you know that Chuck provides a daily devotional by email? It's absolutely free when you sign up at insightworld.org slash devotional.

And while you're online, you can read articles on Christian living or even study the Bible by clicking on the Searching the Scriptures tab. Well, one of your fellow listeners wrote and said, Pastor Chuck, my wife and I, both in our mid-30s, recently had our first child, a little boy. My father was the one who introduced me to your app. I've been listening to your sermons for the last four to five months now, starting with your series on the family.

And then this new father added, Every Sunday, we spend the day at my parents' house. My dad and I talk about and bond over your messages. You have been such an influence on both of us. We are closer than ever before. Wow, that is a beautiful story. We invite you to share your story with us as well.

You can reach out today by going to insight.org. . Cruise ships leave the harbor for Alaska all the time, but there's only one that's hosted by Inside for Living Ministries. You're invited to travel with Chuck Swindoll this summer. Every moment of your vacation is thoughtfully prepared and protected so that you can enjoy the perfect balance of rest, adventure, relaxation, sightseeing, and just plain fun, all in the company of those who share your respect for God's word and God's creation.

Yeah, I'll put it this way. God had a very good day when he created Alaska. I was awestruck by the majestic mountains, the wildlife, the quaint little seaports. All my life, I've wanted to see a glacier.

When I stepped out on the deck of our ship and witnessed the massive wall of ice, wow, it was truly breathtaking. Escape with Inside for Living Ministries to the great frontier, July 1 through July 8, 2023. Call 1-888-447-0444. That's 1-888-447-0444. Or learn more at Insight.org slash events.

The tour to Alaska is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us next time when Chuck Swindoll continues his series called Growing Deep in the Christian Life, right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, When the God Man Walked Among Us, was copyrighted in 1985, 1987, 2005, and 2011, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2011 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.