Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 2, 14 to 18. Hebrews chapter 2, 14 to 18. Reading out of the NASB, "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, and he himself likewise also partook of the same, it might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

For surely he does not give help to angels, but to give help to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he 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.

For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." Let's pray. Gracious and merciful Father, we thank you so much for not only today, but this whole season Lord God, that we take time off to remember, to spend time with family.

But above all Lord, help us to understand the significance of what this day represents. I pray that you would renew our mind, renew our appreciation for what it is that we have. Knowing Father God that the throne of grace has been opened to us, that we may enter with confidence, so that what we know and what we hear, Father God, would cause us a longing and desire, Father, to connect with you.

And so we pray for that blessing. We pray, Father, that your word would go forth and would not return until it has accomplished its purpose. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, a couple of weeks ago I got together with my old college roommates. And even though I was roommates with them for about four or five years, majority of them, of the five, three or four of them, are more than 10 years older than me.

And so they're right now, they're spread all over the world. I have a missionary friend who's in Kenya, another one goes back and forth to China, another one in Indonesia. And I remember when we were back in college, we would have dinner together and they would always talk about their aging parents, because they were older than I was.

And so I would just sit there and listen, because obviously I wasn't at that stage yet. But now when we get together, they're always talking about retirement, you know, because they're a little bit more closer to retirement. And so, you know, the conversations they have, and I usually sit there and just listen.

And last time we met, they talked about preventing Alzheimer's and how if you eat curry, that somehow that helps with the Alzheimer's. And I said, okay, I'll take a note and I'll remember that for the future. This time we got together and they're kind of talking about, you know, the steps that they're taking for retirement, because they're 60, 61.

And so the Indonesian friend is coming back in about a year. And then he's not retiring, but he's retiring from mission field in Indonesia, and then he's going to be doing work back here. And same thing with my friend in Kenya, he's kind of taking steps as he gets closer to 63, 64, and he's coming back.

But you know, every time we gather together, you know, I've had many friends in the past, but those roommates that I had, you know, every time, whether we meet once a year or every couple of years, when they come back in furlough, you know, it's like old times, you know, back when we lived together, we spent about three to four, maybe five years together, living together.

So we have obviously very specific memories that we have, praying together, witnessing together, spending late nights just talking. So again, even though they're significantly older than I am, they're good friends that we're probably going to keep in touch for the rest of our lives. And again, it's special because they were roommates at one point in my life, even though it was a short period, it's been many years ago.

Christmas that we celebrate is a day that we celebrate the God of the universe made a dwelling among us. In John chapter 114, it says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The word dwelt literally means to pitch a tent. To pitch a tent at that time is not talking about how they took some time off and went camping, kind of like the way we would look at tent.

A tent basically means a dwelling, a place, a home. So when it says that Christ came and made a home among us, He didn't just come and visit us for a period. It means that He stayed. He became roommates, intimate roommates with mankind. That's the day that we celebrate in Christmas.

But the natural question that we should be asking, because the world is most likely asking that question, do you actually believe that? That the God of the universe took on human flesh and He dwelt here for a period before He was resurrected and ascended? Do you actually believe that?

If you have even a little bit of doubt of that, you're not alone. Because according to scripture, even Jesus' closest companions had a problem. They had a difficult time believing it. We see that even His brother, in John 7, 3-5, when Jesus' ministry just started to take off, they came to Him.

His brother comes to Him, brothers come to Him and says, "Leave here and go into Judea so that your disciples also may see your works which you are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.

For not even his brothers were believing in him." His own brothers. As Jesus' popularity was growing, started doubting, "How can you? We saw you all our lives. How can you all of a sudden show up and say you're that Messiah?" His hometown people in Luke chapter 4, 22. People are speaking well of Him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's son?

They knew His humanity, but how can this man that we knew, we know His father, we know His mother, how can He be any different than us?" So Jesus' closest companions were the first ones who doubted Him. Mark chapter 3, 21 to 22, He says, "When His own people heard this, they went out to take custody of Him." So some of your translation says His own family members.

It basically means somebody who was very close to Him, whether it's family members or His hometown people. When they began to hear and see what He was doing, again, they were the first ones who rejected Him. He said, "He's lost his senses. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, 'He is possessed by Beelzebul and casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.'" So generally across the board, when we look at the gospels superficially, we think like everybody was running to Him, believing Him and wanted to make Him king.

But when you take a closer look at the gospels, it is the historical record of a systematic rejection of Christ all the way up to the cross. It is summarized in John chapter 1, 10. It says, "He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him.

He came to His own and those who are His own did not receive Him." So if you have any doubts, if you've ever questioned the story of Christmas, that is this actually real, you're not alone. Because even Jesus' close companion, even the ones who knew Him the best, in the beginning asked those questions.

But if you look at the gospel account, you'll see that that trend changes radically after the resurrection of Christ. So clearly, after the resurrection, you see tens of thousands of people coming to Christ because there's hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw the resurrection and Thomas being the first one saying, "My Lord, my God," and began to worship Jesus and that began to spread.

Everywhere they went, Apostle Paul went, there were already Christians there beginning to share the gospel. It began to spread like wildfire. And as His deity was confirmed through His resurrection, the second stage of problems that they had was, clearly He must be God, but how can He be man?

So they began to come up with this theory that maybe He only came in the form of man, but He wasn't really man. Maybe there was an illusion of a man, but He wasn't really man. But because how can God be man? So the epistle of 1 John and 2 John, those two letters are written to deal with that problem.

That if you reject the humanity of Christ, that He came in the flesh, that you will reject Christ. And then again, tens and a decade and a couple centuries go by, and then the resurrection of Christ and His miracles just become stories. And so the next stage of church history, they go back to the beginning, and it's clearly Jesus, the historical figure, we know Him because there's evidence of Him.

But did He actually resurrect? Was He really God? So for a long stretch in church history, they began to debate again, was He really God? Maybe He was a created being. Maybe He was something like that. Maybe He was kind of like God, but maybe He isn't God. And so this went back and forth all throughout church history.

Was He truly human? Was He truly God? Understandably, we can understand why they ask this question. They ask this question because the paradox that we find in Christ. Because to be human means to be imperfect. Isn't that what we mean when we say, "Oh, He's only human," right? Or you make a mistake and somebody accuses you of something, you say, "Well, I'm only human." Right?

What we mean is we're imperfect. You couldn't have possibly expected perfection from me or from you because we're only human. So the very nature of saying that somebody is a human being, he's imperfect. Now on the other spectrum, we could say, "You think you're God? What do we mean by that?

You think you're perfect? You think you're above everybody else? You think you're holy?" And so you have these two spectrums, just even in our average use of our language, to be human means to be imperfect. To be God means to be perfect. So how can someone who is perfect take on an imperfect form?

And that's the paradox of Christmas. That this God who is perfect took on human form and He walked among us. I want to look at a passage together with you in Hebrews chapter 2, 14 to 18, to dive into the significance of this paradox and how it explains to us why this was necessary and how Jesus took this on.

So Hebrews chapter 2, 14 to 18, I read this already so I'm not going to read it, but there's three observations that I want to emphasize with you this morning about this paradox of Christmas and what it teaches us. First of all, it says that Jesus took on human form in order to sympathize with our weakness.

In order to sympathize with our weakness. Hebrews chapter 4, 15 says, "In every way He became like us, except," what? He didn't sin. Except He didn't sin. So where that paradox that I just explained to you falls apart is, when we mean I'm only human, we're referring to the fallen nature of man.

The Bible describes Jesus Christ coming as the second Adam before the fall. So in every way He was human except sin. And He says He came in this way in order for Him to sympathize with our weakness. In every way Christ experienced what you and I experience without sinning.

We know that He went hungry, the Bible describes that. We know that He was tired, fatigued. Fatigued to the point where there was a storm and His disciples thought that they were going to die and Jesus was so tired He couldn't even get up. I don't think He was playing a trick.

I don't think He was sleeping with one eye open saying, "I'm going to teach these guys something today." I think He was that dead tired. He experienced fatigue in ministry. He actually was marveled when He encountered certain people's faith. Now you don't see that. My God of the universe who's omnipotent, why should He marvel?

He knows all things. But Jesus in His humanity at times He marveled at people's faith. We saw Him in anguish before He went to the cross. In His humanity, even though it was ordained, even though He volunteered, He lays His own life down and He raises it back up.

Before He goes to the cross we see Christ agonizing over the pain and the separation that He knows is coming. In His humanity He experienced this anguish. He experienced sorrow. We see Him before the tomb of Lazarus after His death, Him weeping in sorrow. He's headed down to Jerusalem and He sees all of the city and He knows the judgment that's coming upon them because of their rejection and He is weeping over the city.

He has experienced physical and emotional isolation and loneliness and everything that you and I experience in this fallen world, Jesus took on human form that He may be a sympathetic high priest toward us. There's a reason why when Jesus speaks parables, He would teach a lesson about the kingdom and then He would teach a parable and typically the parables centered around what?

Agriculture. I mean I don't know how many of you were raised in a farm but the majority of us probably were not. So we kind of have to imagine what it was like on the farm but at that time in order to relate what He was saying about the kingdom to them, He would use the illustration of the farm, whether it's raising sheep or trees or whatever it may be and He talks a lot about different seasons because that's where the farmers were used to.

And so He went out of His way to be able to relate to them as they can relate to Him. So every Sunday when I give a message, you know I have to do the same thing. So I have this truth that I've been studying and so after I study, so people usually ask me, "Are you done with your sermon?" Sermon, anybody who's ever given sermon on a regular basis, you know sermon is never done until you preach it.

And the reason why is because you can take the truth but then taking the truth and applying it to the congregation, there is no science behind that, it's more art. Like how do I get this so that our congregation can understand this? The easy part is to know the truth but how do you get this truth to you?

So I have to think what are things that I can relate to that could help you to understand? So sometimes I'll think about like movie illustrations, which I think are current, oftentimes they're not, right? And I make sure that I use language that I think people can relate to.

There are certain things that I know that it's easy for me to make connection because we have common experience, right? Any PKs in here? Those of you guys who aren't PKs, don't even know what a PK is. Pastor's kit, basically that's, if you're a PK, you grew up in a PK home and all the stuff that you saw growing up, I immediately, I know where you come from because that's our experience.

Any middle children in this room? Middle children? Okay. If you're a PK and middle children, I get you, okay? I asked this in the first service and if you ask how many firstborn children, the arms go up immediately, like in pride. Yes, I'm responsible. Is that what you're asking?

Like that's what they hear. But if you say any middle children, any stubborn people in this room that have a hard time getting along, right? That's usually what they hear when they say, "Oh, he's a middle child," right? If you're a middle child and you're a PK, I get you, right?

There's a lot of things that I have an easier time relating with you because of your experience and my experience. You're a Lakers fan? I get you, right? The suffering that we've been through, right? We're slowly coming out of it. We're not there yet, but we're getting there, right?

I stayed home with Jeremy, my firstborn son, for about a year and a half because, you know, Esther had to work and we had to make a living, and that was the only income that we had. So I know what it's like. And again, one and a half years doesn't make me an expert in that, but I experienced just enough to know that it wasn't for me, right?

Yeah, I would have ruined my kids if I kept this up. I mean, other than feeding him and changing him, I did absolutely nothing. My goal was that he doesn't die. Like that was my goal every single day, you know? And then Esther came home and she delivered him every single day.

So I understand. Even on the surface, it looks like, "Oh, they're just feeding the kids and they go to sleep and they can do whatever they want." There is no break. Like, zero. You could be dead sick. If the child is sick, you have to work. There is no break.

You know, I've worked, I've had jobs before where if you're tired, you're just not a good worker that day. You take 20-minute bathroom breaks. You go to coffee maybe 15 times. There's a ways to adjust how, you know, when you're tired. But when you're at home with your kids and your kids are sick, there is no break.

I get you, right? Even though it's been, it was only for a year and a half, right? I taught ESL in school for about a year and a half. No, not a year and a half, five years, sorry. Right? I tried to block that out of my mind. So I understand.

I never drank coffee until I started teaching. Really, I never drank coffee. I didn't feel the need for it. I didn't have a taste for it until I started teaching. And I realized like when you teach, you know, a lot of people say, "Well, when you teach, you're only there for like five hours and you get three-month break." But when you teach, you know what it felt like?

It felt like preaching a five-hour sermon every single day. That's what it felt like. I was exhausted because I had to sit there. You have to, your mind has to be alert the whole time you're up there. You can't just casually. And again, just like watching kids, you can't just take a 30-minute break.

You know, when you're teaching, you have to be alert or you're going to lose the class and you're not going to be able to teach well. So that's when I started checking coffee because I had to be alert. Right? So there's certain things that I've experienced that helps me to understand where you're coming.

I've had small businesses, you know, and the frustration that comes with that. Any minimum wage jobs, you know, that paid really bad and had to work hard, I have a lot of experience in that. So I know where you're coming from. So every week when I'm preparing a sermon, I'm kind of thinking through these things like how can I relate to the congregation?

So Jesus himself, you could tell even the way he teaches, he's always trying to relate to the people. But Jesus didn't do this from a distance. He didn't just think through his personal experiences and I'm going to teach you about agriculture to connect with you. He according to scripture, came off of his throne.

The highest being took on the lowest form and he actually made a dwelling amongst us. We pitched a tent that he may be able to relate and sympathize with us. It says in verse 17, "Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things." Sometimes because we imagine Jesus to be more God than man that we think like I can't relate to him.

He was God. He doesn't understand my temptation. He doesn't understand my frustration. See, sometimes we think that we kind of cross this God and man back and forth and when we have a hard time, it's like Jesus can't possibly relate with me. Well, the Bible says that he was man in every way without the sin.

In every way he was a man without sin. Those of you who have sibling problems, Jesus knows. He had siblings. Brother or sister that aggravates you or says the wrong things and always taking your stuff. Whatever situation you may be in, maybe even as an adult. I already told you that Jesus, his brothers were the first ones who rejected him.

Can you imagine the frustration and loneliness possibly that he felt that he came in knowing what he came to do and his own brothers stood and says, "Why don't you go do it over there?" Sarcastically, "Why don't you go and do this with your disciples?" They were the first ones who rejected him.

So do you think that Jesus didn't experience aggravation and frustration, maybe even anger? Now you have to understand, anger in and of itself is not described as sin. In Ephesians 4.26 it says, "Be angry and yet do not sin." Be angry but yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger.

So do you think that there are many times when Jesus was dealing with his brothers, just angered by the frustration? I mean, think about that. Jesus was constantly surrounded by sinners who were being selfish. And do you think that didn't bother him at times, was aggravating? The temptation to want to quit and maybe pack up his bag and leave earlier?

You think that temptation wasn't there? He said he was tempted in every way. He just didn't give in to his sin. If you're a student, it's like, "I can't possibly understand as a student, like all the finals and all the stuff that we go through." I mean, the scripture says that he became an infant and he was at the temple and he was learning.

And he grew in favor and he grew in wisdom. Now, if you really think about the context of that. The same people that he submitted himself to, to learn, to ask questions. The scribes, the Pharisees, the priests. These were the same people, later on, was going to reject him and crucify him.

Jesus was infinitely more wiser than these people. Jesus was infinitely more knowledgeable than these people. And yet he humbled himself and he sat there asking questions as a young man. And he began to grow in wisdom, just like any other human being. So you think that he doesn't understand the frustration of being a student?

Probably better than us. He sympathizes. How about as a worker? It doesn't take long for work to become work. There's nothing new under the sun. You start in as a freshman, everything is fantastic, you know, and you're enjoying your college life. By the time you get to junior year, you start to see the students who are disciplined versus the non-students who are disciplined start to break away.

And then all of a sudden you're taking 25 units to graduate, you know, because you got to make it and you graduate and then you're praying for jobs. So there's a bunch of you guys sitting in here about to graduate, praying, praying, "I got to look for a job.

I got to look for a job." And then you find a job. Fantastic, right? Sometimes it lasts maybe four months, five months. If you have a really good job, maybe a year. But after that period is out, even if it's your dream job, it eventually becomes labor, right? And then you start to wrestle with this thought of like, "Is this it?

This is what I'm going to do the rest of my life?" Think about the athletes, you know? I mean, they're living our fantasy, average male fantasies to become an athlete. He makes millions of dollars playing the sport that we play. We would pay money to play. And then when they retire, they ask them, "So why did you retire?

You're playing so well." And you often hear the question, "I just didn't have the love anymore." Right? You're playing basketball. You're getting millions of dollars. Every city you go, they treat you like a rock star and you said, "You just lost the love." So even basketball can become labor.

So obviously, anything that you and I are involved in eventually becomes labor. It just becomes work. The frustration that also comes along with that. What does this mean? Is this the rest of my life? And that's why people go through midlife crisis because they get to a certain point in life.

And because they've been asking this question for so long, and now all of a sudden, it seems like possibly this might be it. You've been living all the way up to that point that's like, "At some point, I'm going to have to change. At some point, I'm going to do something different." But you get to a certain stage in life, and at that point, you're like, you're going to have to accept it because maybe this is it.

And so they go through a midlife crisis. When we think about Jesus, He came as a carpenter. He didn't come as the Caesar of Rome. He didn't come as a captain of an army. He came as a lowly carpenter. You know, oftentimes I hear people talking about how Jesus, because He was perfect, every furniture He made was perfect.

He probably didn't even have to measure. He just cut it, and it was perfect. He just boom, boom, boom, boom, and all of a sudden, He put it together, and it was perfect. I hear people saying that because Jesus was God. Never made any mistakes, right? And then imagine Mary saying, "Why can't you be like your older brother?

Because He's perfect," right? Jesus was man just like us, and it's not sin to make bad furniture. It's not sin. He said He was tempted in every way. So He didn't have a prestigious job. He worked with His hands, and my guess was at times, He probably got tired.

And I, again, you know, I had a business for a period just to make ends meet, and I was doing car detailing, just manual labor, you know? And I remember this one particular time when it was probably about 100 degrees outside, and each car took about four hours to do.

And eventually I realized the math didn't add up. You know, I could work my tail off, and I would only make maybe a couple thousand a month. But at that time, it was enough. But I remember this one particular lady asked me to come and wash her car, and I was charging me about $60, and it took me about four hours to detail this car.

So those of you who don't know about detailing, you say, "Why would it take four hours?" Because it's hand wax. You have to hand wax it, and inside you have to make sure all the grease in the engine is out, and then you take like a fine-toothed brush, and you have to brush between every little crack.

And so when you're detailing, you're literally detailing, which is torture for me because I'm not a detail-oriented person. If it looks good enough, it's good. But I had to learn to be detailed because of that. So it took me four hours, almost 100-degree weather, and then after it was done, I went up and I went to get paid.

He said, "Well, let me check out the car." She comes down, and then she sees a tiny little sap sitting on the hood. And she made a stink about that. And that whole time I was thinking, you know, during the time that I finished, I went up to get and bring her down, something fell from the tree, and it was just an easy wipe.

All I had to do was wipe it off, but she was making a stink. What is this? You ruined my car. And I was going back and forth with her, and eventually she felt bad, and she gave me the money, but I remember coming away from that and saying, "Wow." You know, even if she tipped me, this is not worth it.

Do you think that Christ as a carpenter maybe ran into some people who thought that the table wasn't exactly what they wanted? You know, because He's living among sinful people. He experienced the frustration of working. He was tempted in every way, in every way, without sinning, without crossing the line.

So oftentimes we think of Christ that He can't possibly relate with us because He did everything perfect. Everywhere He went, everybody danced and sang and appreciated Him. That is not what we see in Scripture. He experienced all of that. He said, "Well, He was never married. He couldn't possibly understand me.

He understood me right up until about 33, and then we get married, and He doesn't understand that." The whole illustration in the book of Ephesians about marriage ultimately is to tell us about the marriage between Christ and His church. So the church was made holy, white, because of His sacrifice.

I mean, between husband and wife, right? Sometimes the greatest joy comes from marriage, and sometimes the greatest aggravation also comes from marriage. You know, men have a tendency to be insensitive. I know some of you guys don't fall under that category, right? And if you are thinking that right now, you're probably the biggest problem.

Because we think big picture, you know? Typically, most men think we pay the bills, right? We wash the car, we lift heavy things, and then if a bad guy comes into the house, it's my responsibility. So therefore, I'm doing my job. We think big picture, right? And then ladies typically are kind of looking at the small things, right?

You didn't call me, you went, and you didn't text me, or whatever it might be. And so the common complaint from the wives to the husbands is, "You don't care. I don't think I matter to you." That's a common complaint that you hear. Maybe it's not you. That's a common complaint that you hear.

I've had enough marriage counseling that I know that this is kind of a universal issue, right? But typically, wives have a right to say that because we're not perfect, and we do make mistakes. And the husbands, sometimes we get frustrated, but our frustration is not warranted because, yeah, there are things that we need to fix.

But Christ never sinned. And yet, the church is constantly asking, "Where are you? How come you don't do this? How come you don't do that?" Do you think Christ understands that frustration? Probably much better than we do. He's never had children, so he couldn't possibly know. I mean, who are we?

We've become co-heirs with Christ. Never adopted children. You think God understands what it's like to raise sinful children? I mean, you know what it feels like, you know? Having children, the greatest joys that you've ever experienced in life is because of your kids. And the most angry I've ever been in my life was also because of the same kids.

Frustration, raising sinful children. And I know some of you have experienced that. Some of you may be experiencing that now. That frustration of, like, at your wit's end, you don't know what to do, and yet you love them so much. You think God doesn't understand that? You think God doesn't understand your frustration?

He says He experienced everything that you and I experience in this fallen world without sinning. He did all of this to draw near to us so that every emotion, every problem, every situation that you are in, we can look up to Him and say, "He knows." He didn't just throw out a net and say, "Hey, everybody come." He came to get us.

See, He came in order for Him to be a sympathetic high priest. But the second thing that this says is Jesus' primary reason why He came, why He came to be a sympathetic high priest, was to deliver us from the fear of death and all those who are subject to slavery because of this death.

Now, let's take a step back and ask this question. How many people do you know who are living day to day enslaved because they're afraid to die? I don't know that many. Unless, unless you know exactly when you're going to die, I don't know that many people who are every day living enslaved because they're afraid that if they don't do this or that, that they're going to die tomorrow.

You have to understand what He means here. Because the word for life in the New Testament isn't living forever, bios. It's the word zoe. So every time the scripture talks about how Jesus came to give life, it's talking about zoe. And zoe means to be alive. So zoe basically means to be united with the author of life where the living water is constantly flowing into that person.

In season and out of season, there's food coming in to revive you, renew you. The Bible says that because of our sins, we've been separated from God and so we no longer have this zoe, this life coming in us. So Christ came to renew that zoe. So the Bible when it talks about life is talking about zoe, not bios.

So when He says death, it's the opposite of zoe. Let me give you the Bible dictionary definition of this word death, thanatos. In the New Testament, this sense is applied with more definitiveness to the gospel plan of salvation. And as zoe is used to denote the bliss and glory of the kingdom of God, including the idea of joyful resurrection, so thanatos is used for the opposite.

Exclusion from the bliss and glory of the kingdom of God, exclusion from zoe. Now let me cross this bridge and try to relate to where you are. So basically what he says here is FOMO. You guys know what FOMO is? You have to hang around with the right people if you want to know what this is.

FOMO is what? Fear of missing out. So if you don't have social media, this is why you need to get social media. Or else these things are coming fast. I learned it this year. So I'm going to keep using it until you know what it is. Because it's related to the incarnation of Christ.

So thanatos is an exclusion from the bliss and glory life of Christ. So thanatos is the fear of missing out, of zoe. Now think about it. Think about it. Man's rebellion is seeking to find life outside of Christ. And he desired, God created us to want to live. From the moment that we are born, we're sucking, we want to eat something, we want to breathe.

If we see danger, we stay away from it. God has innately put in us a desire, an instinct to live. But man's rebellion is seeking that outside of God. And this fear of missing out, of life, is what causes us to seek the world. Think about it. Why do immigrants come to the United States?

To seek a better life. People go to school to get good jobs. For what? To have a better life. We work hard and make money to do what? To have a better life. We eat, we travel, we desire different experiences to what? So that we can feel alive. And this fear, fear of missing out, has enslaved people all their lives to chase after things that has nothing to do with real life.

And so Christ came to deliver us from that fear. He says in John 10.10, "I came that they may have life and that have it abundantly." Again in John 14.6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." Jesus came to restore this life.

Third and finally, Jesus came to deliver us ultimately from our sins. The reason why we were excluded from this life was because of our own sins. In verse 17, "Therefore he 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.

The word propitiation, I don't know about you, but first time I heard the word propitiation was in seminary. And I remember they were saying, "Oh, propitiation, propitiation." I remember thinking like, "Man, I should have studied in high school." That's the first thing I thought. Because it's one of those SAT words, it's a theological word, basically means to have your sins atoned for.

Meaning that Christ took on our sins that you and I deserve to be punished for, and as a result, we were freed from the penalty of sin. That's what the word propitiation means. Now the reason why Christ came, that is he lived a sinless life in order that he could take our place and absorb our sin to himself to give us new life.

The common experience of all mankind who's ever been born in this world, if you're sinned against, what's your natural response? It's like, "Turn the other cheek." Yeah, right. That's when you memorize scripture. That's where we want to try to present ourselves. I'm talking to be honest. If somebody slanders you, what's your natural response?

Slander them. If they cheat you, what do you want to do? You cheat them. If they hurt you, what do you do? You hurt them. So if they hit you on one cheek, your natural response is not to turn the other cheek, but to bring up a fist. See that's the experience of all mankind.

The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." All have sinned. Every single one of us were born into sin. Every one of us has sinned against somebody else, and every one of us has been sinned against from other people. And so we're living in a world filled with people who have sinned and have been sinned against.

So our natural response is to cheat and to slander and to covet, because that's what we experience. And this is the cycle of mankind. And every human being that comes into this perpetuate this further. So you know, talk about, you know, get a bunch of sinful people into a room and we're going to be all united.

No. A bunch of sinful people in the room sin against each other even more, because that's what sinful people do. It's not in theory. We know that because we experience that. Christ experienced everything that you and I experienced, yet did not sin. He's the only one who's been sinned against who absorbed our sin upon himself.

He didn't react with the fist. He was the only one who would have been justified. He would have been the only one to take out vengeance, because he never sinned against anyone. He would have been the only one who could have smashed us and stood before the Father and would have been completely justified.

But the only person who was justified to take vengeance came, the Scripture says, that he took the sin upon himself. He absorbed it. Not only does he absorb our sins, he dies and he resurrects and he gives us new life. So that those who believe, those who have been forgiven, can no longer say, "I sinned because I've been sinned against." They say, "No, we love because he first loved us." That's what this incarnation is about.

Christ came to reverse the curse of man. And only Christ and his death and resurrection has the power to do that. In 1 Peter 2.24, "He himself bore our sins and in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds you have been healed." So Christmas is about him delivering us from this bondage of sin.

He's the only one. He's the only one who lived a perfect life, who was without defect, who is capable and who is willing to absorb our sins and to give us new life. Isaiah 53.46, "Surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was pierced through for our transgression.

He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him. And by his scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him." I want to conclude with application for two different applications.

For those of you who are here and you have never tasted the goodness of God, you've never asked the Lord to forgive you of your sins. He said if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of all your unrighteousness. He's willing to bear your sins, the punishment that you and I deserve upon himself and to give you new life.

If you've never come to the Lord and done that, I want to encourage you this morning. You don't need to come through me. You don't need to come through the church. You only need one mediator, Christ, who understands us perfectly, understands God perfectly, and he's the perfect ambassador. If you would just come and confess, "Lord, I've been living a life rebelling against you.

I'm a sinner and I need your forgiveness." I want to encourage you to take time in the time of prayer. Just come before God. It doesn't have to be religious and fancy words. It just needs to be honest. Ask God to forgive you of your sins. Ask God to open your eyes.

I remember the day that when I asked the Lord to come into my life, it changed everything. Everything, every bitterness, every hatred I had in my heart, just overnight it just made sense that the God of the universe is real and that he cares for me. So I pray that this morning, that if you're here not knowing the Lord, that you would open your heart and ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins.

Then come and ask us. If you have any questions, our welcome team will be available for you. The leaders will be around. So if you want to come and just ask questions, we'll be here for you. Secondly, I want to talk to the brothers and sisters who are in this room.

You know, every year we talk about the incarnation of Christ and such an encouragement and comfort to know that he understands us. But I want to challenge you this morning to move beyond yourself. Move beyond yourself. Don't stop in your relationship with God saying, "God is great because he understands me," and yet you have no idea who he is.

You don't make any effort to understand him. What do you think he's feeling? His children who confess him once a week go back and read the rest of the week like he doesn't even exist. We celebrate him coming to us all for the purpose to bring us to him, and yet we stop with the celebration of him coming.

I want to challenge you this morning. As we celebrate his incarnation, him drawing near to us to draw near to him. Think about what he's thinking. Think about what he's feeling. Think about how broken our God must have been that he would send his only begotten son and torture him that way that we may be adopted as children.

So I pray that this Christmas season that we will go beyond just he loves me to I love you. Let's take some time as our worship team comes up. Again, I want to encourage you to take this time, not just this morning, but this whole Christmas season to reflect upon the verses that we covered this morning and to really redeem Christmas, not just for us, but for the world.

You know, more and more, you know, this is a Judeo-Christian country, at least in history, but more and more we're becoming more and more like China where we have the form of Christmas but nobody knows the significance. So as Christians, let's redeem this, that we don't just get caught up like the rest of the world, just giving gifts and then forgetting about what it is, but as a church, as a community, let's redeem this for his glory.

So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.