May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, chapter two, and we'll read verse
nine. The epistle of Paul to the Hebrews,
chapter two, and reading verse nine. But we see Jesus. who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man. You may remember that when Jesus
was on the earth, there were some Greeks which came to Philip
and they said to him, sirs, we would see Jesus. Well, of course,
that was a good and right and proper desire. And I hope that
all of us would have the same concern continually, that we
would see Jesus. Because without seeing him, we
have no hope of eternal life. But if we do see him by faith,
we're blessed with wonderful favors. Now, of course, those
Greeks, they wanted to see Jesus physically. Now today, we cannot
see Jesus physically. But here we have this statement,
but we see Jesus. So the apostle was clearly speaking
to the Hebrews, which of course were the Jewish people that he
wrote to, that by faith they did see Jesus. He did see Jesus. And how important for all of
us today that such a statement might be true in our lives. That by faith we may have seen
Jesus. Because it's a very positive
statement, isn't it? But we see Jesus. It's a very straight statement. And how perhaps very searching
it is for all of us to look into our lives and to see whether
that has been so, whether it is so, and whether we pray that
it might be so, that we see Jesus. What a blessing then if God gives
us living faith see the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not
just as a physical man. And those Greeks, they desired to see Jesus
as a real person. Well, we can't see Jesus as a
real person, but we can view him by faith. And as we view
him By faith, what does he mean? Well, we have a description really
in the remainder of this verse of what he means to the true
Church of God, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, being crowned with glory and honor. that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Well that's a tremendous statement
and how wonderful it is if it includes us in that statement
that what Jesus did was did for you and it was done for me. The first chapter in this epistle
to the Hebrews really sets before us something of the greatness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He really sets the scene in this
first chapter for us to be encouraged by and to realise that, as we're
told, that God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the world.' Sometimes we forget,
of course, that the world was created and everything in it,
and it was by the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on
to say, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high." And of course he purged
our sins, or removed our sins, or took away our sins by his
sin atoning death, when he did finish the work that his father
gave him to do at Calvary so many years ago. And then of course
when he rose from the dead and ascended unto his father and
then took his rightful place on the throne on the right hand
of the Majesty on high. And we're told then being made
so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. So here we have a brief description
really of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his greatness. As we go down in this chapter,
the Apostle speaks of the Son, but unto the Son he saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever a sceptre of righteousness
is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And then he says, And thou, Lord,
in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and
the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish. Everything
here on this earth one day will perish. He burnt up, but thou
remainest. The Lord God remains. He never fades away. He never
changes. He never gets old. We get old. The blessed Saviour never gets
old. He will remain in the same condition He is forever. And
this is the great God. that the Apostle is speaking
of. And as he then commences the
second chapter, he says, therefore, because of the greatness of God,
because of the wonder of the Saviour and his blessed work,
therefore, says the Apostle Paul, we ought to give them more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip. Now the Word of God is full of
the words that the Saviour has spoken. What a blessing, therefore,
if God gives us grace to lay hold of them and not to ignore
them and not to turn away from them and not to think they don't
have any relevance to us. The truth is that the Word of
God has complete relevance to every one of us. And it has an
eternal relevance to every one of us. The things of this world
will fade away and one day they will all be burnt up. But to
realise we have a God who is in heaven, a God who has created
all things, a God before whom we must stand and that God who
changes not. Therefore, the Apostle comes
down, having described, again in some detail, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he does tell us, just to stop for a moment, he
says, for if the words spoken by angels were steadfast, and
every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense or
reward, that means a payment, And the apostle, when he wrote
to the Romans, he said, the wages of sin is death. That's the payment that you and
I receive naturally for our sin. That is death. That means an
eternal death away from God in hell forever and ever. And therefore, he says, how shall
we escape? How shall we escape? that situation
if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. It's very easy to neglect the
truth of God's Word. We will really neglect the truth
of God's Word until the time comes when the Lord in his sovereign
mercy and grace speaks to our heart and reveals to us what
we are, undone, hell-deserving sinners of the earth, and directs
us then to the only Saviour, the only one who can save us
from our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ. And perhaps we have to
be ashamed that many, many times Many times we've neglected the
great truth of God. We've turned our back upon it
and we've therefore concentrated on our own little life. We've concentrated on the things
in this life. We've set our hearts and affections
upon things in this world. We've given priority to the things
of time. and we have not considered Him,
the Blessed Saviour. And therefore, perhaps such a
word like this, but we see Jesus, has failed to be true, is not
true in our lives. We haven't seen Jesus and we
don't see Jesus. On the other hand, what a mercy
today, if by his grace we have seen Jesus by faith. And that
means that Jesus would have been revealed to us by the Spirit
of God as the one thing needful, as the only one who can save
our souls, the only one who can redeem us, and the only one who
will look after us and take care of us through this world and
at last receive us unto himself. It is, we should never forget,
the truth there is before every one of us, an eternity. What a mercy if therefore we
are amongst those who are redeemed, amongst those for whom God has
gone to prepare a place. As he said when he spoke to his
disciples, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am there ye may be also. Now if the Lord has
blessed us with a view by faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
measure we will be looking forward to that glorious inheritance
which is incorruptible and which is undefiled and which we're
told is reserved in heaven for us we've been looking forward
to that situation and as we journey on through life and as we're
blessed by the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God what will
occur is this the things of this world which at one time we counted
very dear and we wanted this and we wanted that and we set
our hearts on this and we set our hearts on that but then by
the Spirit of God these things then become less attractive they
lose their shine, they lose their glitter as it were and in exchange
we are blessed with this concern about our spiritual home and
as to whether our souls are right with God and whether we are truly
worshipping him and that we are not left to neglect these great
things of God and placing the poor things of time in their
place. We need to be constantly reminded
that we have the devil who is determined to deceive us, who
is determined to turn us away from the truth of God, determined,
if he can, to destroy our soul. That's his continual concern
and desire. And he will do all he can to
all of God's people this side of the grave, you can be sure
the devil will never give up. But we are so thankful to know
that he will never succeed if we are amongst those for whom
Christ has died, if we are amongst those who by grace have seen
Jesus. And so today the great question
really is for us, have we by faith seen Jesus? And when we
say that, it does mean that we've seen him as the one who has given
his life that you and I might receive life. It's a wonderful
truth, isn't it? It's an amazing consideration
to think that the son of God The second person in the Trinity,
the one who is equal with God, the one who is God, gloriously
and wonderfully and graciously agrees to come into this sinful
world in order that he might save our souls from eternal wrath,
from eternal damnation. It's a glorious theme. It's a
wonderful meditation to ever come and consider what Christ
has done. We might say, well, what caused
him to come onto this earth? What caused him to live those
33 years upon this earth? What caused him to die upon that
cross at Calvary? Do you know what caused Jesus
to do that? You young people and children,
you know what caused Jesus to come and to do all those things?
The reason was very simple and the reason was very wonderful.
It was because He loved us. It's because He loved us with
everlasting love and because He's drawn us. Now you see, if
the Lord Jesus has come and drawn us unto himself, we will have
seen Jesus by faith, of that wonderful Saviour who so willingly
came to redeem our souls. The Apostle goes on in this verse,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. In the original, the
word man doesn't exist, but it's put there just to help us. But
what it does mean, it is for all of his people, the whole
Church of God. Not one is left out, not one
is ignored, and it is as we're told here by the grace of God. And that word grace is very precious
and it's very wonderful and it's very glorious. It means that
we receive that from God which we never deserved. It's very
simply put, it's the unmerited favour of God. And what a blessing
today if we have the evidence in our hearts And it is between
God and ourselves. You cannot tell anybody else,
I cannot tell anybody else, whether we truly possess the grace of
God. But you will know, before God,
whether God has come and shone into your hearts and blessed
you, therefore, with the grace to know that this same Jesus
is the one who has died for you to take away all your sins. Now, bless God. If the Spirit
of God has revealed to you that you are a sinner and the Spirit
of God will reveal that to you that you are a sinner. And if
you are a sinner, unless those sins are forgiven, we will never
enter into heaven. We will never enter into heaven.
There's no person in heaven who has any sin upon him, upon her. It's all been washed away in
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore to
think of this word, that he, or she of course, by the grace
of God, the Saviour, has received The grace of God should taste
death for every man, every woman, every child who has their name
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. What a wonderful blessing
then, today, if we are recipients of this grace of God. However bad we may feel to be,
and we will feel bad, you won't feel where you haven't sinned
very much. You know, some people, If you
accost them and say, well, do you realize you are a sinner?
They will say, oh, well, I may have done one or two wrong things
in my life, and I'm not perfect. But they won't recognize that
they are black and vile sinners before a holy God. And in them,
there's no good thing. There's no righteousness. They're
unrighteous. They deserve eternal punishment.
and to tremble then before a holy God, and yet to bless God when
we are shown the Saviour as our Saviour. And we're able then
to come and say, yes, but we see Jesus. And it comes to be
very personal, but by this God-given faith, I see Jesus. that one who died upon the cross
to deliver me from the curse of sin. But we see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels. And it's good to
realise the Son of God came down to this earth and made a little
lower than the angels, just below the angels, and willingly so. for the suffering of death. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
die. Angels do not die. Humans do
die. And they die really because of
sin. The Lord Jesus came and he died,
not because of his sin, but because of our sin. Because he stood
in our place. He bore the punishment that was
due to us. He bore the punishment instead. Our sins were placed upon Him. He was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. We can think naturally,
can't we? If somebody had lived a perfect
life with no sin, then why should they die? We would think it was
very unjust. We would think it was very unfair.
And yet, this was not an ordinary man. It was the Son of God. He took on him the form of a
man, that human nature of a man. And it was important and essential
that he did so. So he was just like you and I
are, in everything except sin. In everything he was the same.
He had infirmities as we do. Yes, and he suffered greatly. And of course the culmination
of that suffering was upon the cross at Calvary. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. The suffering by death. It was
the only way that you and I could be freed from the condemnation
of sin, because that condemnation tells us, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. Well, a very great truth, a very
solemn truth, and that's where we stand, naturally. If Jesus has not died for us,
if by faith we have not seen Jesus, we shall die in our sins,
we shall perish in our sins. And so it is very important for
all of us that we are blessed by faith to join with the Apostle
and be able to say, yes, we see Jesus. To think that we are part
of this, this we. The Apostle doesn't just say
here, I see Jesus, he says, but we see Jesus. What a mercy if
you and I are blessed then with this sight of Jesus. When the
Apostle wrote to the Philippians, he gives us a little view of
the Saviour. In the second chapter and from
the sixth verse we read, Who, being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. It's good just to think of that,
isn't it? Because so often we're very concerned about our reputation. We're very concerned about what
people think of us. It's good if we're more concerned
about what God thinks of us. Anyway, the Blessed Saviour,
He made Himself of no reputation. It took upon Him the form of
a servant and was found in the likeness of men. Being found
in a fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. What a mercy the Lord
Jesus Christ was willing to do this. Are we thankful today for
it. May we bless God today for this
wonderful Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we're told,
wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name which is above every name. What do we think of Jesus today?
Do we think of him as the great God, none less? The great God, that one who has
been highly exalted, He's worthy of it, is he not? When you think
that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died, that you and I might
receive life, what an exchange! We who deserved eternal death,
alienation from God, totally, forever, and yet to think the
Lord Jesus came and gave his life, that you and I might live
eternally in glory. You see, I suppose if we think
of it and ponder it, the reason that we've gathered here together
this morning to worship, it's surely not just come to think,
well I've come here to chapel this morning and well I think
that's the right thing to do and yeah here I am. The real
reason is that we should have come here this morning to hear
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And we should have come here
this morning to have that right understanding of who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. And we should have come here
this morning to realise our need we have of a saviour because
we're lost ourselves, we're ruined because of our sin. And where
shall we go? We come to hear this morning
the good news of the gospel. Have we come here this morning
to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ? Have we come here this
morning to hear that He is our great salvation, so that our
souls may be encouraged, so that our souls may be strengthened,
so that we go away from here this morning praising God for
such a Saviour? Let us not go away from here
this morning in the same way that we entered. just content
with the things of this world. And I hope this morning you're
not spending your time here thinking about the things of the past
week or the things you're going to do in the week ahead because
you may not ever see tomorrow morning. The great issue is whether we
know Jesus Christ and him crucified." Now quite clearly the Apostle
directs us here to a crucified Saviour. Because he says, but
we see Jesus. He tells us that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every man. He was a crucified
Saviour. He is a crucified Saviour. And how we viewed him by faith
as our crucified Saviour, so that we come within the bounds
of this word, we. It's a very small word, isn't
it? It's a very comprehensive statement,
we, this blessed Saviour. And you see, if we do, and if
we see Him dying for us, tasting that death for us, what a mercy
it is to realise it is true. and then to recognise He is crowned
with glory and honour. The risen Saviour is on the Father's
right hand in glory, crowned with glory and honour. This great Saviour died upon
the cross at Calvary so that we might receive a crown of glory. Not because of what we've done,
but because of what he has done on our behalf in taking our sins
upon himself and dying that perfect life, living that perfect life
and dying that sin atoning death so that we might possess the
glorious gift of eternal life. We said earlier The payment for
our sin is death. The wages of sin is death, as
the Apostle says. But he goes on to tell us this.
The gift of God. The gift of God. What do you
think the greatest gift from God is? You young people, what
do you think the greatest gift you can receive from God? It's
not a million pounds, it's not wonderful this, it's wonderful
that. The greatest gift from God is this. eternal life. What a mercy, if all of us receive
this gift, the gift of eternal life, to think that forever and
ever we shall be in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ, enjoying
all those things that he has prepared for his people. We don't know what they are,
We only have a little glimpse, a little view of it in the Word
of God. But we know it will be a place
of perfect happiness. No disappointments. You and I
have disappointments, don't we, in this life? There's no disappointments
in glory. And there's no trouble. We have troubles, don't we? We
pass through this life, there's no trouble in heaven. And there's
no disquiet. It's peace, wonderful peace and
wonderful unity. And we all join together in that
great body of a multitude that no man can number, of every kindred,
every race, every tongue, every colour, all join together to
praise God. What a wonderful blessing that
is. And there will be no disunity. There'll be no argument. No one
will seek to push someone out and say, that's my place, I deserve
to be there. Everybody will be gloriously
content and they will all be so thankful that by the grace
of God they have inherited that kingdom reserved for them. And it's all because of what
Christ has done. And it's all because of what
he has accomplished in taking away all our sins. So we shall
be found in that sinless environment. It's very hard, isn't it, for
us to imagine or envisage where there is no sin, where no one's
seeking to get one over someone else, no one's seeking to be
viewed as a better person, no one's desiring to have this above
anything else. No, there will be no pride, there
will be no hatred, it will be all love and peace. So it's a
wonderful prospect, isn't it, for the Church of God. And it's
a wonderful prospect therefore to believe that what the Apostle
tells us in this chapter, that we by the grace of God should
receive it. The Lord Jesus Christ has done
this on our behalf, that he by the grace of God should taste
death for us, for every man. What a mercy it is. Now the Saviour
then is truly crowned with glory and honour. And as you and I
are on this earth, as God reveals to us this Jesus
as our Saviour, we would desire to crown Him Lord of all. We will desire to do that. And
it won't be something that you and I will draw back from. Because He is worthy of all honour. He is worthy of all glory. And what a blessing it is when
you and I desire to crown Him. We desire to crown Him. We must
desire of course to honour Him in our lives and to acknowledge
that He is Our salvation. And because He is our salvation,
that we have viewed Him by faith as our blessed Saviour. We see
Jesus. I see Jesus as that One who has
not forsaken me. He hasn't cast me off. He hasn't
passed me by. And when the Holy Spirit shows
us what we are, we shall realise that we deserve To not be noticed. Why should God have noticed you
and me? Why should he have looked upon
us? Why shouldn't he have passed us by? As a person of no consequence. As a person that deserved no
notice. As a person that deserved to
be cut off. Well it was because he loved
us. He loved us so much that he was
so willing to give his life. There is no greater price to
pay, is there? When someone gives their life, they've given their
all, everything. It's not as though we can say,
well, I'll give this and I'll give that. If we give our life,
we can never give anything else because we are no longer. and think of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he gave his all, his life. Naturally, of course, he had
no possessions really on this earth, apart from the clothes
that he wore when he came to that crucifixion. What a blessing
it is, therefore, if we find ourselves seeking the eternal
blessings, far above the blessings of this passing world. and to
by faith view Jesus Christ crowned with glory and honour. So that
we have a right understanding of this blessed Saviour, crowned
with glory and honour. And it is a wonderful thing to
think that the Saviour is in glory and there He is today,
interceding for us. that glorious place he has as
our High Priest, to take our prayers and to plead to the Father,
his Father and our Father, that we might be received through
him. How do we view the Lord Jesus
then today? But we see Jesus. Well, it's
a very wonderful statement. It's a very important statement. And that none of us just pass
it by and think it doesn't have relevance to me. Every one of
us, by faith, must see Jesus while we are alive on this earth. And to see him as our great salvation. To see him who has paid the price
so that we are complete, that we are washed in the blood of
the Lamb, that we are redeemed by his precious
blood and that it is therefore well with our souls. You see I can preach here all
day. and it won't have any effect unless the Holy Spirit comes
and applies the Word and blesses us with a spiritual understanding. And you can sit here all day,
and you can listen all day, and you can never hear the Word of
God. You may say, well I do hear it.
In your heart. Now if God has loved you with
everlasting love, the word of God will be applied. There will
be a personal application so that you will know that such
a word applies to you and applies to me. And it's not something
which is irrelevant because the knowledge of this depends where
we shall spend eternity. All those who by faith see Jesus
will go to glory. All those who see him not will
perish in hell. So today we should be very thankful
that we have a statement like this, that we have the epistle
to the Hebrews, that the apostle was enlightened by the blessed
Spirit of God to write. We should be thankful for it
that it spells out to us some of the great truths concerning
our eternal state, and the great truths concerning our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And may he therefore in our hearts
be lifted up, so that we do see him as that one crowned with
glory and honour, and we desire to crown him Lord of all. Amen.