So good to be back here and good
to see all of you. Please be turning to Hebrews chapter 2. While you're turning there, let
me just thank you for being so kind to my family. They talk very highly of you
and your care and fellowship with them, and I appreciate you.
treated them so well. I've got the rest of them in
the back. I think I wound up a little bit surprised yesterday
when my youngest daughter came in as well and brought my other
grandchildren. So I've got the whole pile here
this time. All right, let's look at Hebrews
chapter 2 and read verses 5 through 9. For unto the angels hath he not
put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak? But one
in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou
art mindful of him, or the son of man, that you visitest him? You made him a little lower than
the angels. You crowned him with glory and
honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast
put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he
put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put
under Him. But now we see not yet all things
put under Him, 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. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful that
you have not left us in this world alone, just sinful sons
and daughters of Adams trying to make our way through and trying
to find out what's best and trying to figure out what's going on.
We're thankful, Lord, that you have blessed us and have given
us this reassurance that all things All things are under the
feet of your divine son. We pray this morning, Lord, if
nothing else is accomplished, that you would bless us that
we may see him in his power, we may see him in his glory,
we may see him in his rightful place on the throne, and that
we may leave this place with the comfort and the joy and the
knowledge of being found in Christ. Or we pray you'll bless us just
now and we pray in the name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
amen. Speaking out of Hebrews chapter
two, and I would like for us to read verses five through nine
together. For under the angels hath he
not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak, but
one in a certain place testified saying, What is man that thou
art mindful of him, or the son of man that you visit as him? You made him a little lower than
the angels, crowned him with glory and honor, and did set
him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now
we see not yet all things put under him, 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." Obviously, I'm speaking
this morning on the theme of all things under his feet. Aren't you so glad? Aren't you
so glad that it's not under the president's feet? It's not under
your boss's feet? I had the first time in my life
I got laid off last week from work. And it startled me for
a day or two. And then I realized that all
things are under his feet. And I'll be OK. I'll be better
off if I leave this world. Everything is good because it's
all under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a passage
then about the absolute authority of Christ in all things. And
in particular, it focuses on his work of redemption. Now,
in order that we fully appreciate the depths to which the Lord
Jesus plunged himself to redeem lost sinners, the scriptures
reveal to us something of the infinite height from which he
condescended. His, the Lord's descent was not
merely a change of location, a descent from heaven to earth,
not merely a change of status from king of glory to the servant
of men, but his was a change of being. His was a change of
nature. His was a change of his very
essence and that a permanent change. The apostle Paul summarizes
this mystery in Philippians chapter two, verses five through eight.
Let me read that passage to you. He writes to the Philippians
and says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus, who being in the form of God, and that word form simply
refers to his external appearance, that which strikes the eye, being
in that divine form, he thought it not robbery, That is, he thought
it not a thing to be held on to and grasped at all costs to
be equal with God. Now, since the meaning of Rob
is to seize, the focus here is grasping, taking by force, holding
on to something so valuable that you don't want to let go of it.
Christ did not cling. He did not cling at all costs
to the glory and honor of his divine nature. He didn't try
to snatch it back from his father's eternal decree. Wherefore, when
he comes into the world, he says, sacrifice an offering you did
not want, but a body you have prepared for me. Then said I,
this is the word, these are the words of the Lord Jesus. Then
said I, lo, I come. I come in the volume of the book
it is written of me. I come to do thy will, O God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Deity is his true nature. It
wasn't something that he had to grasp at or try to worry about
getting it back. It was his nature. Deity is his
nature. Jesus Christ is God Almighty.
He's not a lesser God. He's not a little God. He's God
Almighty. He has all power and all authority. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. It wasn't something that was not his already.
Deity is his true nature. But by the grace of God and for
the glory of God, he emptied himself. Not of his deity, but
he did lay permanently aside his divine form. I don't know
what God looks like. I don't know what Christ looked
like before he became a man, but I'm sure it was, I'm sure
it was wonderful. I'm sure it was full of splendor.
I'm sure it was a sight to see. God's darling son in all of his
beauty and glory. He laid aside that divine form,
taking instead the physical form of a servant, and was made, the
text says, in the likeness of, in every way the same as, men,
human beings. In him dwells all the fullness.
In that body, in that human body, dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead. And being found in fashion, that is his manner of being,
Being found in that condition as a man, that means he walked,
he talked, he ate, he drank, he slept, he laughed, he rejoiced,
he cried, he sorrowed, and was tempted as a man. Being found
in that condition, he humbled himself, I would say. I would
say. Someone who is God Almighty in
every sense that God is, that God the Father is. And he humbled
himself. and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Now here are the great spiritual
rules of redemption. This is what it takes for you
and I to become a child of God and to be saved from our sinfulness.
First, it takes a real man to become a substitute for sinful
men. That's why all that happened.
That's why all that happened. God can love us, and he does.
He loves his people. God can interact with us, and
he does. Thank God he speaks to us, and
he leads us, and he guides us. But God cannot be a man. God
the Father is God. I don't know what he looks like.
I don't know what God looks like. I'm actually not that concerned
about that. But it takes a real man to become
the substitute of sinful men. God the Father could not meet
that requirement. but the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, man's Redeemer
must possess the full measure of deity in order to satisfy
God's holiness and justice. He truly has to stand between
us. Look at us. He has to stand between
creatures like us and God Almighty and he has to be able to fully
represent them both. He can't cut any corners on either
end. And third, eternal redemption relies on the continuation The
continuation of an eternal Redeemer. One who is eternally God and
eternally man. The Apostle Paul was inspired
to sum it up this way. There's one God and there's only
one mediator between God and man. Only one who can actually
stand between the two and fully represent them both and cut no
corners, the man. What a title, the man in Christ
Jesus, God Almighty. It's in this context then that
we must approach our text here in Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 5 says, He did not subject
the coming world about which we're speaking to angels. He
did not subject it to angels. God made extensive use of His
heavenly servants, the angels, in Old Testament days. in the
old world of the law. It seems when you read through
there that almost every Old Testament account, in every Old Testament
account, God sends his message on the wings of an angel. And
speaking of the giving of the law in verse 2 of this same chapter,
the writer reveals that angels played a major role in its revelation,
referring to the law as the word spoken through angels. Stephen
Likewise, at the close of his final message in Acts chapter
7 verse 53, defies the Pharisees with this statement, you who
received the law by dispositions, by decrees of angels and did
not keep it. And in Galatians chapter 3 verse
19, Paul asks, why therefore the law? It was added because
of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise
was made being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Verse
5 refers to the coming world of which we're speaking. Let's
pause there just a minute. I really probably ought to read
the rest of the text before I get too far along. Let's go back
in there and look at Hebrews 2 and begin with verse 5. Let's
just read that down through verse 9. I'm going to read my literal
translation. You follow along in your King
James. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God, this word form means, speaks
of the external appearance, that which strikes the eye, what you
would see if you could see God. He thought it not robbery. Nonetheless,
something that had to be held on to and clung to at all costs,
Christ didn't count it anything like that to be equal with God.
He was equal with God and he had nothing to do to keep it
that way. Now, that word rob, as I said,
means to seize, grasping, holding on to something so valuable that
you don't want to lose it. He didn't try to snatch his glory
back from the Father. Wherefore, when he comes into
the world, sacrifice an offering you did not want, but a body
you've prepared me. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Now, we continue on. Verse five
of our text says he did not submit to angels the coming world about
which we're speaking. It says, this coming world of
which we're speaking, refer at the same time, I'm sorry, I'm
a little lost here just a minute. Okay. Here it is. At the time of this
writing, the world of the gospel of grace was just beginning to
dawn. The writer had just written of
a great salvation, which God had revealed through Christ himself,
not by the intermediation of angels this time, but through
his own darling son. And it was even then being spread
throughout the known world and was being authenticated by the
power of the spirit through all kinds of supernatural manifestations. Angels, as I said, have always
been in this world as ministering spirits sent forth to minister
or to serve for those who shall be heirs of salvation. But the
present age, the age of the gospel, has not been given to angels
to administer. No, this present world in which
we live has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's totally
in subjection to Christ. And though we might not see it
when we live in this world and look around in this world, all
things truly are under his feet. Most folks read verse six and
do one of two contradictory things with it. They either use it to
preach the utter sinfulness of man. What is man? Why, he's just
a sinner. Or to proclaim his potential
greatness as, oh, what is man? This is some kind of special
creation here. Look at all he can do. The first
then say, what is this loathsome, despicable creature that God
is mindful of him? Or the sinful son of man that
you look out for him? Then they proceed to beg sinners
to not let God's graciousness go to waste. You've got potential,
young man. You've got potential, young lady.
You should not let that go to waste. Let's read on. What a
pitiful God. What a pitiful God they serve
who can't save helpless sinners unless they cooperate. What a
powerful sinner who can actually, he thinks, prevent the saving
grace of him who says, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
And I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Do you
think you and I have anything to do with that? I don't. I don't. On the other hand, I listened
to a very long lecture one time. This is where I think most religionists
find themselves. It was from a man who used this
same text. I think he went on for about
an hour. He marveled at the one creature who had been made in
the image of God. and possessed God-like qualities,
he said, of love and intelligence and free will. Oh, what a marvelous
creature, he kept saying. We're just such a marvelous creation.
Look at all the things that we can do. Why don't we put all
our wonderful potential to work for God? That was the impetus
of his whole message. Surely people like us, we need
to do more for God. And in the end, that false preacher,
like the First, finished by subjecting the will of Almighty God to a
lump of proud sinful flesh. Both schools of thought arrive
at this horrendous conclusion because they are mistaken as
to whom the word man in this passage refers to. What is man? But everything we need to identify
the subject of the question in verse six, what is man, is found
in verses seven and eight. You made him a little less than
angels, a little less, a little less. Believe me, if you know
anything about yourself, you know there's a huge difference
between the elect angels and our sinful race. We who drink
iniquity as innocently as we drink water and think nothing
of it. Those who consider themselves to be a little inferior to an
angel understand the question, what is man, to refer to themselves.
But those who know something about our own capacity for evil
understand that those words couldn't possibly fit us in verse six. Here's a little help in determining
the identity of the man in this passage. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ in verse six. What is this man? What is this man? We've never
seen one on the planet before like this. What is this man that
God thinks continually of him, of him? Even the son of man that
you watch over him. Now the word little in that verse
can mean not much or not long, for a little while, for a little
you were made less than the angels. That could be a little less in
terms of your being or a little less in terms of the length of
time. The emphasis here isn't being
placed on the degree to which Christ's human nature is inferior
to angels. I believe that our fallen race
is vastly inferior to angels. The Lord became a sinless man,
the only one of his kind. He nonetheless had a frail fallen
body like Adam's, subject to fatigue, thirst, and hunger,
and pain. Now I believe that the word It
means in this place a little while. You are for a little while
made a little lower than the angels. Placing the emphasis
on the fact that his humiliation was only temporary and it couldn't
be forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
over all. We don't come and sing little ditties about Jesus. We don't come and talk about
Jesus like he lives next door. and just talk about him like
he's just another person on the street. We come and we bow. We bow before the Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ, God Almighty. You made him less than angels
for a little while, which flows very naturally into what follows
after a little while, with glory and honor you crowned him. Yes,
he walked among us, Yes, he got weak. Yes, he got thirsty. Yes, he was tired. And he was
only that way, though, for a little while, 33 some odd years. After that, with glory and honor,
he was crowned. Our eternal savior is so infinite
in all his divine attributes that he endured over the space
of several hours, several grueling hours, what would have taken
all eternity if we were to bear that load for ourselves. And
even then, we still would have not even begun to satisfy our
debt of sin. What an amazing feat. Before
those several dark hours on the cross, he actually succeeded
and put sin away. The Apostle Paul gives an idea
of the excellence of Christ after his resurrection when he wrote
to the Philippians, our citizenship is in heaven. For whence, indeed,
we anticipate the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform
our lowly body, conformed to his glorious body. So the question
in verse 6 isn't concerned with Adam, either before or after
the fall. Neither is it inquiring into
the present condition of Adam's descendants. Either to wonder
why God would have pity on such worthless sinners or as others
who would twist the passage by thinking there must be something
in us worth redeeming for God to be mindful of us and to remember
us. But verse 7 won't allow us to
apply the question, what is man to ourselves? Because mankind
has obviously not been crowned with glory and honor. And if
you have that mistaken view of yourself, you really should pray
and ask the Lord to straighten up your view. And if intelligence,
and if you would be among those who interpret glory and honor
as reference to our intelligence and ingenuity, just if you're
like me, look around and tell me if you see much sign of intelligent
life anymore. You don't see it much on the
street and you don't see it much in me. Verse eight closes the
door with finality. on the argument for a mere man,
sinful son of Adam's race as being this man that's being spoken
of as the subject of this passage. What is man? Because it says,
you have put all things in subjection under his feet. All things. For in subjecting to him all
things, he left nothing unsubjected to him. Now, I can think of a
lot of things that aren't in subjection under me. My mind,
I can't get that thing under subjection. My heart, my heart
is not under subjection. Not to me. My will, I want things
I should not want. I cannot get my will into subjection.
My thoughts, oh my, they're wild. They're wild. And I cannot control
them. My thoughts are not in subjection
to me. My feelings are not in subjection. My desires are not
in subjection. As a matter of fact, I can't
think of anything Honestly, I cannot think of anything that I am the
master of. But verse eight teaches that
there's nothing in this universe that Christ, God Almighty, the
Lord Jesus Christ, nothing that He's not the master of, except
God the Father only. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul
to put it in this way when he spoke to the Corinthians in 1
Corinthians 15, verses 24 through 28. Let me read that to you. Then comes the end. Whenever
he delivers the kingdom to God, even the Father, whenever he
puts an end to all rule, that word rule is literally those
who would take the first place, he puts an end to that. And all
authority, that speaks of the right to rule, he puts an end
to that. And all power, that speaks of
the ability to rule, the strength to rule, for he The Lord Jesus
Christ must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. And the last enemy overcome is
death, for he subjected all things, even death, under his feet. But when He says that all things
have been subjected, it's evident that He who subjected all things
under His feet is not included. God the Father is not under the
feet of Christ. They're co-equal and co-eternal. They're both
fully God. But whenever it is all subjected
to Christ, then also the Son Himself, the Bible says, will
be subjected to the One having subjected all things to Him in
order that God be all in all. Now, with a glorious certainty,
of that thought, of all things being under his feet, fresh in
our minds, let's turn our attention to that greatest enemy of our
Lord Jesus, and that's death. Look at the last part of verse
8 in our text and what follows in verse 9. But now we don't yet see all
things having been subjected to him. We don't see it, but
they are. But we see the one having been
made for a little while inferior to angels. He served that way
for some 33 and a half years. He was a man. Men are inferior
to angels. Having been crowned with glory
and honor because of the suffering of death. Let me point out a
few verb tenses in that passage. Did you notice the past perfect
tenses? Having already been made. Having
already been crowned. The Lord Jesus Christ has always
been God Almighty. He was crowned from eternity
as God Almighty, the successful Savior of His people. And this is the reason why all
of these things are spoken of in that past tense, having already
been made, having already been crowned. And the reason why these
actions are spoken as already completed is because the suffering
of His death is finished. There's nothing more for him
to accomplish. When we come and worship God, we don't worship
a God who's still in process. We don't worship a Christ who's
still trying to straighten things out. That looks awful crazy,
doesn't it, in this world. It's alarming to me at times. By virtue of my sinful nature,
I worry about a lot of things that are going on in this world.
But not the Lord. Not the Lord. He's been in control
since the day He made it. He is the Great Creator. He put
all, He put all of everything that's on the world, He put Adam
and Eve on the face of the planet, all the animals and everything
else. Everything in this world is under His absolute control.
That's why, again as I say, that these are spoken of as already
completed because the suffering of His death is finished. Nothing
can go wrong. Even death cannot thwart his
program. He's going to save all of God's
people. Everyone God chose from the foundation of the world will
be saved, must be saved. If he missed a one, if he missed
a one, he'd absolutely have to step down. He could not be the
master of the universe. He won't miss a one. Everything
that was ever foreordained, The mind of God is surely a mystery,
and I make no pretense to understanding God's mind. I see a few glimpses
here and there in the scriptures that I read, and I see the glory
of God, and that's about as close as I get. But nothing, nothing
has ever slipped through the fingers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not a single, not a single one of God's elect got missed. Not
a one. All down through the ages of
time, Everyone that God chose from before the foundation of
the world, he's not lost to one. And the ones that are still in
this world living like heathen, living in defiance to God, he
won't miss a one. Not a one. He will accomplish
everything he has planned. Though physical death is all
around us and the specter of eternal death looms large before
us, death has already been vanquished for God's elect. For Christ has
already paid the eternal price and is even at this moment seated,
not standing, seated, victorious, crowned with the highest honor
and the greatest glory, that the writer in the passage says,
but we don't yet see it. We don't yet see the full evidence.
of his irrevocable success. We see a lot of chaos and we
see a lot of people who are seeming to have to make great gains in
religion and make great gains in this world and they're evil
people. How can you say that God's in control? Don't trust
feeble sense. Don't trust your eyes. Don't
trust your thoughts. God said it's under control.
I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go to bed tonight and rest
because I believe it's under control. I think it's coming
along just exactly as he ordained. I don't think it ever missed
a step. I don't believe he ever missed a dot on an eye or the
period at the end of a sentence. I believe it's all proceeding
just exactly as the Lord God Almighty has planned. And it's
in good hands. It's in good hands. It's in the
hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. What can go wrong? Oh, how we
should live in peace. In the midst of a storm, we ought
to be in peace. Not because the storm is not bigger than us.
It can do harm to us. All the things that are happening
can do great harm to us. But they're not the captain.
The Lord Jesus is the captain of our salvation. And we're in
good shape. We're in good shape. Never been
better. We've never been better. We rest all our hope in him because
of the irrevocable success of what he has done. He's the victor. I'm going to stick with him.
But even though it's true that our heathen hearts, our sinful
natures do reign, do rage, and in our religious delusions we
do, I don't know about you, but I have all kinds of fearful things
go through my mind. In our religious delusions we
do imagine vain things. There's still undeniable evidence
of Christ's absolute reign over sinners. Now I'm not speaking
just now. of the fact of Christ's reign
over all his enemies. Though not one of them will escape
his final word, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who
work iniquity. No, if that's the extent of his
reign, it would have required of him no condescension to become
a man, no death on the cross, no burial in the tomb. God could
have spared his son from infinite suffering and sent us all to
eternal torment without his anguish and pain, had he so chosen. But the greatest evidence of
his absolute reign is this. He will save all of his people,
and he will not miss a one. And he'll save every one of us
against our will in spite of our sinful nature, and he will
do it all by himself with no help from us. That's the only
way God saves. There may be someone here this
morning. I don't know you folks that closely. Maybe someone here
this morning that are relying on something you did, some nice
deed you did, some good practice that you do on a regular basis
of kindness and goodness and graciousness. That's very good. I don't speak against those things,
but they won't save you. God won't save you because of
your efforts and good deeds. Some folks are very faithful.
They come to church all the time. They pray regularly. They read
their Bible. And they rely on their faithfulness. They rely
on what they perceive to be their own internal goodness and dedication
and efforts. God won't save you for that.
And if you dared, if you dared, present them to God the Father
as the reason why He ought to save you. I can promise you with
all the sincerity of my heart, he will slam you straight in
the pits of hell. You can't compete with his son.
His son's already done it all. It's so much better to look to
the one that you know, that you know has put away sin, the one
that you know has redeemed all his people, the one that you
know is going to take a great number, a host that no man can
number, and he's going to save them all. Who said you could,
that you might not be one? Oh, we should all look only one
way for salvation. It's only to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me get back to where I was. That's the greatest evidence,
then, of his absolute reign, that he will save all his people.
He'll do it against our will. He'll do it in spite of our sinful
nature. And he'll do it all by himself. Now, I can think of
five clear evidences in this regard that demonstrate how all
things have been subjected under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
First of all, I'm so thankful for this. Our total depravity, our inability to cease from being
sinners, Those things we think and say and do that we know we
shouldn't and we do anyway. Those things that are contrary
to the law of God, contrary to God's will, that we do them anyway
and can't stop ourselves. Can't keep ourselves from being
that way. That's our total depravity. I'm so thankful that even our
total depravity. I turned 60 this last time. I
struggle with my total depravity for 60 years. You know, and I've
never improved it that much. I can't fix it. I can't even
change it. All it does is it seems to get
worse year after year. I figure out new ways to sin,
and I'm coming up with new ways to disobey, and I'm coming up
with new ways to not honor God, and it gets worse all the time.
That's my total depravity. Yours may be like mine. If it
is, take heart in this. Our total depravity is under
his feet. If you're one of God's, even
your total depravity is under his feet. That is our absolute
inability to save ourselves. Our undying rebellion against
his reign of grace will not hinder the master's ability to transform
us from sinners into saints at his command. Oh my. Paul wrote
to the Romans, he said, but thanks be to God, you were slaves of
sin. But you obeyed from the heart,
a form of teaching unto which you were delivered. Not that
you figured out, but God delivered you to it. And being set free
from sin, you were enslaved to righteousness. I'll be that slave. I'll volunteer for that crew.
Put me on whatever galley you got, and I'll row that oar. I
want to be on that one. enslaved to righteousness. I'm
quite convinced that that's the only thing that keeps me from
being the biggest sinner I could be, is that I've been enslaved
to righteousness. And my master will not let me
go over. He keeps me by his power. You know, everyone likes to think
they're a good person. Everyone likes to think they're on the
up and up. No. No, we would do anything Given
the right circumstances, given the right impulses, given the
right forces pushing against us, there's nothing in this world
that we're not capable of. I would just rather be in bondage
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Being in righteous bondage sounds
good to me. I'd be glad to stay right there.
Just put me in jail. Our election is under His feet.
He said, the psalmist said, thou hast covered me. You overshadowed
me in my mother's womb. Thine eyes did see my substance
being yet imperfect while I was still being formed in her belly.
You set your love on me. That's what he was saying. You've
set your love on me before I was ever born. And in your book,
all my members were written. which in continuance were fashioned
just all along during that development of the baby in that womb. All
those were fashioned even when as yet there were none of them.
That's the way God saves his people. Most many of you may
be like me, spent most of my life in religion, seeking a false
god and doing my own thing. And yet all along that way, he
had named the time of my birth, my new birth, And he had guaranteed
that everything would be formed just the way it ought to be.
And every one of God's children are that way. We come out with
the mind of Christ. How much better can you get than
that? That's top of the heap. You come out with the mind of
Christ. We come out with the very heart of God. We feel like
he does. We want what he wants. Now I
know our flesh struggles against that. But in my new man, I want
to be just like Christ. I really do. I want to think
just like God thinks. I want to know what He knows
and I want to be like He is. I want to be just like that.
Not only then is our election under His feet, but the pardon
of our sins is under His feet. Isaiah writes and says, it pleased,
it satisfied the Lord to crush Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has put Him to grief. When you shall make His soul
an offering for sin, When he shall stand in the place that
I should be standing in, he, God Almighty, shall see his seed. That speaks of success. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied, and by
his knowledge, his union with his elect, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, will I divide with
him an inheritance with the great, and he shall divide the spoil
with the strong, because he has poured out his soul unto death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors. and bore the sins
of many." Now, the pardon of my sins is under his feet. I
need not fear. The writer of Hebrews says, but
now once, literally once and for all, one good time and it's
all it took, in the end of the world he has appeared to put
away sin. I like that. It's simple words. It's an easy way to say it, but
oh, what a heap of meaning behind that. He put away sin. I'm a man standing before you
today who's as sinful as anyone in the building and anyone who's
been in this world. And yet I stand before you with not one sin,
not one sin to my account. And you know, I can't count a
second. I can't count a second without being aware of some sin.
something that I'm doing or something I'm failing to do. No, he put
away my sin by the sacrifice of himself and I'm resting in
that. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say in chapter 10, by one
offering, here's how good it is, by one single offering, Terrible
offering, a terrible period of time on the cross that the Lord
Jesus hung there carrying the sins of all God's elect of all
the ages. But by that one offering, he
has perfected, I like the sound of that, he has perfected forever,
it's an irrevocable perfection, those who are being sanctified. Everyone God saves, He sanctifies. Don't be confused by that with
what the Pentecostals have done with that word. Sanctified is
made perfect. Perfect. God finds nothing wrong
with me. I find everything wrong with
me. I find everything I say should really be corrected. Every thought
that goes through my mind, I wish I could grab it back and fix
it. God looks at me and says I'm perfect, just exactly the
way He loves me and wants me to be. All right, let me see
if I can finish up here. Not only that, but our coming
to Christ, likewise, is under his feet. Paul wrote to the Ephesians,
and he put it this way, in love predestinating us. I say it's
under his feet, not mine. In love, he predestinated us
unto the placement of sons unto himself. by Jesus Christ just
because he wanted to, according to the good pleasure of his will. Free will Baptist was the domination
I unfortunately grew up in. In free will Baptist, you have
to do several things for God to save you. You have to, and
then even if you go through the steps and do all the things you
can still end up not say. You can still end up lost. I
worship the one who has put all things, all things that pertain
to this sinner, he has put them under his feet. My salvation
cannot be taken away because he's put all those sins under
his feet. All my evil thoughts, all my
evil desires, all my bad intentions, everything that's wrong with
Mark Daniel, I trust the one who's put them under his feet.
I'd say if they're under his feet, they're gone. I'd say they're
gone, and I'm resting in that. And finally, our continuing faithfulness is
under his feet, and aren't you glad? I don't think I'm looking
at a single face of someone who thinks they can keep themselves.
No, not for a second. Too much sin still in me. Too
much Adam still in me. Thoughts I would never, I would
never think to think and would blush to tell anyone about still
go through my mind. But our continuing faithfulness,
my continuing faithfulness is not up to me. It's in the hands
of Jesus Christ, God Almighty. Union with Christ is not just
a piece of theology. It's everything to me. I want
to be found in Him so much so that nothing's wrong with me.
That His perfection is my perfection. That His thoughts are my thoughts.
His will is my will. Everything about Him, I want
it to be mine, and I do not want it to be mine without Him. All
that the Father gives me, he says, all who continue faithfully,
all that the Father gives me shall come to me. And him that
comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent
me. There's some filthy, rotten sinners he sent me to get, and
I've come to do that. And this is the Father's will
who has sent me about all those rotten sinners. Of all whom He
has given me, I should lose nothing, nothing. Are you the least among
the saints? Don't worry about it. You'll
lose nothing, not one. Turn with me if you would for
one, well, we won't even turn there. I just want to say that
I'll finish all this up by saying this. I agree with Peter's brief
statement that he said in Acts 10, verse 36, surely this one,
this Christ who saves this way and who keeps this way, surely
this one is Lord of all. I'm glad he is. Let's pray. Father, it seems like such an
inappropriate thing. It's so little, it's so small,
it's so short. But Lord, to thank you for your
grace in Christ. Lord, we have no words to express
appreciation like that. He is everything to us. All of
our salvation, all of our life, all of our, if we have a good
mind, it's our new mind that we have in Christ. Everything,
Lord, that we enjoy, everything that we possess that's worth
anything to us is your son. It's in your son. And how we
thank you, Father, for him. For there's not a soul in the
building this morning that would be here apart from him. Not a
soul that would have ever thought to bow before him had it not
been for the Spirit of Christ. Father, how we thank you for
your predestinating grace. We thank you for your calling
grace, and we thank you for your keeping grace. Be glorified in
us, Lord, and grant us in our feeble way to glorify you with
every breath. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.