me, if you would, to the book
of Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. When our pastor was just praying,
speaking, verbalizing what we feel in our heart, when he said, may there be some
semblance of worship, I thought to myself, oh, that
God would grant us that tonight. The most amazing thought is that Almighty God is pleased through preaching to comfort His people to save
His elect. And we stand here this evening
and we come here and sit and listen. And an amazing thing is taking
place. God Almighty is fellowshipping
with us. God is here. Now that's a sobering
thought. Hebrews 2, verse 14 and 15, For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject
to bondage." Now tonight this passage deals with the revelation and the explanation of the sons coming into this world, that
He did it and why He did it. This is the revelation of that
truth. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also likewise took part of
the same. Now here's a fact of the matter. The surety of the sheep, the husband of the sheep, the
Savior of the sheep, He existed, has existed eternally. He's always been. Now as we said before, in time
He was made flesh, but He has always existed. He said, I was
ever before Him. I was ever His delight. And our delight, He said, was
with the sons of men, ever pleased. ever rejoicing in the redemption
of His people. Now you think. Our delight was with the sons of men. You know, in our little fickle
brains, we would wonder, I wonder what was the delight of Almighty God. Our delight was with the sons
of men. His delight was with the redemption
of His people. The bride of the Son. It was
not good, the Father said, that the man should be alone. He was
talking about Christ. God Almighty said it was not
good that the son should be alone, the man should be alone. He gave
him a bride, chose him a bride. The children, his bride were
partakers of flesh and blood, the lost sheep. That's who the
children are that's being spoken of. Those that He's everlastingly
loved, they're partakers of flesh and
blood. That means they reside in a body,
a human body that's frail and weak and that's subject to die. It's perishing. The children, the children for
takers. They've always been His children.
They've always been His own. I've always loved you. There's
never been a time that God Almighty didn't love His people, His elect. He's always been the bridegroom.
They've always been the bride. They've always. You think on that. He's always
looked upon his people with delight and pleasure as a man that looks
upon his bride and cares for her and loves her and cherishes
her, desires her, desires her best,
wants the best for her. Hosea 2.19, I will betroth thee
unto Me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
Me in righteousness and in judgment and in lovingkindness and in
mercies. Can there be any more tender words than for the
Lord to speak unto His bride? I will betroth thee unto me forever." Always. He that I have never seen in
any other way but by the eyes of flesh. There were very few
in this world that has ever walked this earth that ever actually
looked on Him with corporal eyes. that actually saw Him. The vast majority, just 33 something
years, right in there, 33, 33 and a half. You think of all
the way back from the beginning, Moses, Noah, Abraham, all the
prophets, He was here. He was made flesh. John, one
of the few that saw Him, said, We saw Him. He was made flesh. And our eyes
beheld Him. Touched Him. I heard Him. I heard
Him talk. He was taken up. And now we see
Him by faith. But oh, what the eyes of faith
behold!" Talked about Him being here. I am telling you more surely
than I am standing in this pulpit, He is here. Two or three are gathered together
in my name for my honor, preaching my gospel. I am in the midst
of you. I will betroth thee Unto me forever
in righteousness." That's the way His bride will be to Him,
in righteousness, because His righteousness is her righteousness. I don't know if I said that. Her righteousness is His righteousness.
That's what I meant. Her possession of a perfect righteousness
is imputed from Him to her. And in judgment, I will betroth
thee unto me. In judgment, this marriage is
right. She does not owe anything to
God's law. I will betroth thee unto me in
judgment. All the judgment that she owed
to the law of God because of disobedience in the fall of Adam,
He paid. A man marries a woman, he takes
her debts. What does she owe? I'll make
them mine. They're mine. I'll pay them.
Why? I love her. She owes something,
I owe it. You've got a debt, that's my
debt. I will betroth thee unto me in
righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in
mercy. Oh, the compassion and tenderness
that accompanies His betrothal to her. Loving kindness and mercies.
You know, everything that He does for His own right now is
in loving kindness and in mercy. Whatever comes the way of the
Bride of Christ, it is not for her hurt. All things work together
for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. They work together
for good. How can that be for my good?
It is. And a believer believes that. And I will even betroth thee
unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. Faithfulness. I will betroth thee unto Me in
faithfulness. His faithfulness. His faithfulness
in the fulfillment of that everlasting covenant that He purposed to
fulfill for those that He everlastingly loved. And thou shalt know that
I am the Lord. You are going to know that I
am a faithful God. So the revelation of the truth that He is going to redeem His
people, save His people, Here is the revelation of it. They
were flesh and blood. So He likewise took part of the
same. For God's elect to have any hope
of redemption, salvation, for God's elect to have Him, He is
going to have to be made like them. How did He do it? Here is the
explanation of it. The Scripture says, he himself
likewise took part of the same that for the reason of, that
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He had to render
void. He had to destroy. He had to
nullify the power that held his people captive.
Now see, we're captive now because of the fault in being born in
Adam. We're captive. Captive to sin. Captive to God's law. Captive. They're captive. And he had to deliver his elect
who were subject to that bondage. Now, he destroyed that which
held his people captive. That was the first thing. The
fact of the matter is, because they were flesh and blood, he
was made flesh and blood. Why? Well, that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death. He took part of the
same. The Lord said in Matthew 12,
29, or else how can one enter into
a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind
the strong man and then he will spoil his house? In the fall, man died spiritually. His heart is hard as a stone,
a rock, dead, dead. Satan's stronghold, this old
heart, had me held captive. That heart that rebels against
God, that despises God, that's enmity against God, and in absolute
power and mercy and grace and compassion. He who is God Almighty
that came in and just took that which was binding me
and just absolutely bound the strong man that held me, the
devil, entered in and just removed a heart of stone that I couldn't
have possibly gotten rid of. I will remove that heart of rebellion,
and I'm going to give you a new heart. How does one come into
my very heart, buying the one that I Submitted myself to one
that had seduced me in the garden. That's what happened. Satan seduced mankind. Satan
rebelled against God and fell. God cast him out. Satan came
in and seduced mankind. Come on over to my side. Get on my side. We were war against
God. And we were all children of wrath,
even as others. Not that God's wrath was against
us, but we had a wrathful attitude against God. We were children
of wrath against God. We were enemies in our minds.
That's what Paul said. You who were enemies in your
mind, but never in God's mind. And Almighty God, by His grace
and power, came in and bound the strong man and took that which was truly
His, His people, redeemed them. He took and bound him through
death. How does Satan have, what does
it mean for Satan to have the power of death? I know that it doesn't mean that
he can kill or destroy at his own whim. I know that. This scripture, Deuteronomy 32,
39, see now that I, even I am he, there's no God with me. I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal, neither is there any that can deliver out of mine
hand. but to have the power of death. The Scripture says that
He came and took part of the same, that through death He might
destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil.
Devil, Satan, Beelzebub, he was the instrument by which sin and
rebellion was introduced. That's what it means. He had
the power of death. I know that God Almighty Kills. Here's what he said. I kill.
I make a life. Nobody lives out of my hand.
But Satan introduced, brought in to rebellion by rebellion in the garden. As
by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin. So
death passed upon all men for all men of sin. send in Adam. Death was the dominion of Satan.
Death entered into this world. But through death, the Scripture
said, he took part of the same, likewise, flesh and blood with
his people, that through death he might destroy him, nullify. That's what it means. It doesn't
mean destroy, meaning bring him out of existence because you
know that in the book of Revelation, Satan's going to be cast into
a lake of fire. But he nullified it. He has no
power. Satan cannot stop God Almighty
from delivering His people. He can't. But how did Christ
deliver them? The Scripture says, through death. Through death. Why did He die? because I was subject without
a substitute. I would have to die. I am the
rebel. I am the sinner against God.
He was made flesh and blood that threw death. Death has got to
sting. Sin. The law of God is the standard
by which we judge sin. The law of God is the standard. Death has no power to injure
except there is sin. I am a sinner. Sin pardoned for
the believer, death is harmless. It is harmless. We don't think
that way. Humanly speaking, we think of
death. Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?
Death for the believer is the transition from a lower state
to a higher. Oh, but for an unbeliever. Death
is the transition from the best that they're going to have right
now to everlasting separation from God. He partook of flesh and blood
that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death,
that introduced death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. There are two things that are
absolutely necessary for a sinner to be delivered from the penalty
of sin. His debt must be paid, but he must possess a righteousness. that will be accepted by God. Not the self-righteousness. Not
the best that I can do. Not the best that any man born
in Adam can do. It must be the righteousness
of God. He hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God. Stop and consider somewhat, if
we can, the wondrous glory of that blessed verse of Scripture. Through death, He nullified and made void him
that had the power of death that introduced Death through sin,
the devil. The law had me bound. I was in myself subject to death
being a sinner. I had transgressed God's law.
Any infraction held this condemnation, death. Wages of sin. How much sin? All of it. Any
of it. One. death. Because I was a partaker of flesh
and blood, God Almighty came into this world made of a woman,
made under the law, made Himself subject, humbled Himself. No
reputation, made Himself no reputation. I can't even enter into the depth
of that. made himself subject to the penalty
of his people. He, that is God Almighty, made
him. The Lord Jesus Christ submitted
to it. Set his face as a flint. Go to
the cross. For this purpose came I into
the world. That's what he says. In the garden. He sweat, as it were, great drops
of blood. The Scripture says in that evening
in which his disciples went to sleep, he asked them, he said,
couldn't you pray with me? Couldn't you stay awake an hour?
Couldn't you? And the Scripture says being
in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And I'm thinking, it wasn't that
he didn't pray earnestly before. But here is the one that was
made flesh and blood like His people with the vital contemplation
of being made sin and forsaken of His Father. See, we don't
know anything about being forsaken. Because He said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. And He was going to be forsaken
of His Father. And He knew it. He who was one with His Father,
who was ever the delight of His Father, I was always His delight.
This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. and being in agony, my soul is
exceeding sorrowful even unto death. And here He is to deliver those that He has
everlastingly loved through death. He is now in that garden praying
and being in agony He prayed more earnestly. I can't even enter into what
He was there doing for me. Just the thought. But the Scripture
says that through death He came to destroy him that had the power
of death and deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. Almighty God delivered His people who through the fear of death.
You know, I know this. The Scripture says in 1 John
4, 18, there's no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out
fear. because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love." I know that for the
regenerated saints, there's no fear of judgment. And we're frail creatures. I heard Brother Scott has said
this, and this is right. Man was created to live forever. God Almighty made man, made him
out of the dust. He made man to live forever. And here's the thing. He will. He's going to live forever. He's
going to either live forever in heaven or he's going to live
forever in the lake of fire. He's going to live forever. But because of the fall, fear, fear entered. First time fear was ever mentioned. The Lord in Genesis 3, 9 and
10 called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And
he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid
because I was naked, and I hid myself. He wasn't afraid because he was
naked. He said that he was afraid because
he was naked. He had always been naked. Sin. made his nakedness shameful
and stripped his soul of purity and innocence before God. Man
is afraid. He is a fearful creature. Man by nature is afraid to die. There are two natures There's
two natures in a man that's regenerated by the grace of God. That new
man, the Scripture says, there's no fear in love, but perfect
love. Not my love for him. Perfect
love. His love for me. That's the love. Perfect love. Casteth out fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of eternal
separation. Perfect love casteth that out. I know, I know that being found
in Him that I have no fear of separation. I believe that. By faith, I believe
that. But there is an old part of me Anybody that says, I have absolutely
no fear whatsoever of death, you're not being truthful. Man by nature is afraid of pain. He's afraid of the unknown. He's
afraid of loneliness and darkness of the grave. He's afraid of
the day in which he's going to leave this world. But I'm telling
you For the believer, he knows. He knows by faith. I have no fear concerning God's
judgment. He put away my debt. He came to deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. By nature, we're possessors of
fear. But all this passage reveals
something that we've been delivered from. The fear of eternal judgment. You think about this. There's
men and women that's walking this earth tonight that have
absolutely No fear, no respect of God. They don't even have
the capability of knowing. A believer knows that perfect
love has cast out fear of judgment. I know what the Scripture says. To be absent from the body, present
with the Lord. And in that, I find some comfort.
It will be like that. But it still does not deliver
me from the frailty of this old flesh. We are just prone to want to
hang on to it as long as we can. But thanks be to Him because
His children the children were partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil." I know that that is so. I know that Satan who
had the power of death has been nullified on behalf of the children. by the Lord Jesus Christ, and
deliver them, redeem them, bring them to Himself, present them
to Himself a spotless bride, holy, accepted in Him, who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Oh, the grace of Him! who has everlastingly loved us. Listen to this last verse of
Scripture. By faith we believe this. Isaiah 49, verses 24 and
25, shall the prey, that's us, shall the prey be taken from
the mighty, that is the devil, shall the prey be taken from
the mighty or the lawful captives delivered Now we were captive
lawfully. I mean, let's just be honest
about it. We were subject to bondage, subject
to captivity, subject to sin because we absolutely rebelled
against God. Shall the prey be taken from
the mighty or the lawful captives delivered? But thus saith the
Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and
the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend
with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children." Isn't that a wonderful, blessed
passage of Scripture? Will Almighty God contend with
him who contended with me? Will God Almighty deliver me
from Him that held me captive? Will the Lord Jesus Christ come
in and bind the strong man and spoil his goods and take captivity,
me, captive to Himself? Yes, He will. I shall call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people. May the Lord add His blessing
on the preaching of the glorious deliverance of His elect for
Christ's sake. Amen. Gary, would you come?