Turn again in your Bibles to
Hebrews chapter 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
hath the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. Now there are some things that
are important when you study or read the book of Hebrews,
and it's necessary. First, this book is not written
to the Hebrews or the Jews in a generic or a general sense. This is not for all the nation
Israel. That's not who this book is written
to. It is written to Hebrews, Jews, who were believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ. or at least professed faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And these were folks who came
to Christ with a lot of religious baggage. They came with a lot
of religious baggage. And this book was designed, and
is designed, to rid them of that baggage. Now to draw a comparison
to most of what is in religion in this day, in the world in
which we live, the same thing goes for the preaching of the
gospel. We are dealing with people, if they live in this nation especially,
who come with a great deal of religious baggage, even if they've
never been a part of a local assembly or a part of some church. Even if they've not, they've
been raised and cut their eye teeth on Americanism and Christianity
and sometimes you can hardly tell the difference between the
two when you read the writers when they write about it But
people have cut their I.T. so when we preach the gospel
we're dealing with the same kind of folk or the people with the
same kind of things going on that that the writer of the Hebrews
did when he wrote this book under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Now secondly this epistle is written in contrasting language
in a in the diametrically opposing form of dialogue. The contrasts
were about that religious baggage and being freed from that religious
baggage. That's what this whole book is
about. That's what this whole book is about. The religious
baggage was the old covenant and the principles of traditional
salvation, and that is salvation born of the flesh and contrasted
with the true salvation, which was accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. This book starts out by addressing
those things that these folks in religion held dear. In the
very first verse, they held the fathers and the prophets, the
patriarchs to be of high order, and that's who they wanted to
hear from, the fathers and the prophets. Our Lord starts this
book out saying, The Lord in past times spoke unto the fathers
by the prophets, but in these last days has spoken to us in
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He has made heir of all
things, by whom He upholds the world, by His word. And when
He had purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the
Father on high. This book is about Jesus Christ being better
than all that religious baggage you brought into this situation.
That's what He's talking about. Traditional salvation is not
really salvation at all. We were talking a while ago out
on the back porch about Walter Groover and where he really ran
into trouble in Mexico. And he'd been there and in trouble
for about 55 years or so preaching the gospel. But he didn't run
into trouble when he would go into a little village and hook
up a generator and show a movie and then preach the gospel. He
didn't get in trouble with that. He never had trouble from the
Roman church down there until he baptized the first person
who confessed Christ. When he baptized that person,
The priest began to go against him and began to call the law
and began to try to get him thrown out of Mexico. Why? Because when
that person was baptized, he was confessing Christ as his
Savior. and the Catholic Church had already
baptized him or sprinkled him and said you're a member of the
body of Christ. What the Roman Church did for him was traditional
salvation. In other words, he didn't have
anything to do with it. He was brought in by his mom
and dad and they sprinkled him and now you're a member of the
church. Don't ever doubt that. It's well, we'll confirm you.
We'll sprinkle you again or do something to you or put a cross
on your head or something and then you'll be okay for the rest
of your life. All you got to do is go to the priest to get
absolution, and then if you're really bad and you die, we'll
pray or pay you out of purgatory. And that was the way it was.
That's traditional salvation. The Jewish salvation was like
that. It was a traditional salvation.
It's not really salvation at all. It's rather being naturally
born into a religion. I told the story of Maurice Montgomery's
son who was a captain. in the Marine Corps, fought in
Desert Storm, and also fought over in those Slavic countries. And he met a Muslim girl there.
And he's a believer in grace, and she's a pretty thing, and
he liked her. And so they liked each other,
and they began to talk. and begin to talk, and she would
read from the Quran to him, and then he would read from the Bible
to her, and they would discuss these things. Well, after a while,
probably because she was sweet on him, and wanted to marry him,
and be his wife, and come back to America, she says, I'm going
to convert from being a Muslim to a Christian. And he says,
honey, you can't do that. You can't convert from a Muslim
to Christianity. It just can't be done. But he
married her. They came back to the United
States and she sat under the gospel for about a year. Maurice
never said a word to her, but one day they were driving out
to see his daughter. And he looked over at her out
of the corner of his eye and said to her, he says, what do
you think of Jesus Christ? She says, I'm not worthy to speak
his name. He says, about time you be baptized
and confess him. She just couldn't convert from
being one religion to another religion. She could have. In
what is called Christianity today, she could have done that. She
could have become a Muslim to a Catholic or a Muslim to a Baptist,
but that's not being a child of God. That's not being a child
of God. The Hebrews were not regenerated
or converted by Christ. When they proceeded from their
mother's womb, they were Hebrews. That's what they were. They were
Hebrews. They were born into that religion
and indoctrinated in its practice and its laws throughout the days
of their life. And their salvation or blessing from God relied on
their obedience to the precepts of the covenant under which they
lived. And the historical record of the effects of that covenant
on the people was summed up in the book of Malachi. And if you
read the book of Malachi, you know it didn't really turn out
well, this covenant of works. It didn't really turn out well.
That covenant actually saved no one. By the blood of bulls
and goats, there are no sins that are remitted. And it didn't
save anyone by design. And humanity, even humanity given
special privilege like the Hebrews were, with a representative before
God and access to God through that representative, they never
lived up to the requirements of that covenant, which began
with these words. Thou shalt have no other God
before me. Thou shalt have no other God.
Thou shalt love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul,
and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Nobody ever lived
up to that. You and I don't live up to it either. But we're not
under that covenant, thank God. That covenant and those who adhere
to it failed because it was never designed to save, but rather
it was designed to reveal that man in his natural state could
not obey God and that the law served only to condemn him. And
true salvation, however, was by a new and better covenant,
which Hebrews talks about over and over again. And the mediator
of that better covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the new
covenant is in His blood death. This is a new covenant we'll
say this afternoon when we take the Lord's table. I'll read the
passage. This is the new covenant in my blood, in my death. That covenant not only did not
require the participation of humanity, it did not allow humanity
to participate in it, that new covenant. Except in the singular
one man, the better humanity, the incarnate Christ who is fully
man and fully God. That's the only human being that
participated in the new covenant. And he only participated with
one other character, and that was God the Father. Between him
and God the Father. And that covenant was designed
to eternally save those for whom the covenant was made and executed. That's what it was designed for.
And it was ratified by Christ and accomplished by Christ between
Him and His Father for the salvation of the elect when our Lord gave
His life on Calvary's tree. And that covenant, that better
covenant, set aside the old covenant, it says in Hebrews 10. Lo, I
come in the volume of the book that is written of me, to do
thy will, O God, and take away the first in order to establish
the second. And the new covenant involved
men and women who were eternally adopted. They didn't know. But
this is who was involved. The salvation and deliverance
under that old covenant was conditional and proved temporary at best.
The new covenant was an eternal covenant. It had always been
a covenant. So the words old and new are
kind of, you just use them as a reference to time, not to eternity. The old covenant, the covenant
of law, the covenant of works is called the old covenant, but
it really what? It was just older in time as to revelation. The old, old covenant is an eternal
covenant and that's the eternal covenant of grace. The old covenant
was for the children of Israel. That was the twelve tribes of
the sons of Jacob and their progeny. The new covenant was for the
children of God. And I say that very clearly now.
Listen to what I'm saying. The new covenant was for the
children of God. Those children who were adopted
eternally by Jesus Christ unto God. Now when you read the word
adopted in scripture, don't think of adoption like it is today.
Adoption like it is in our world, you take a child who you don't
know and who's not a member of your family and make him a member
of your family. That's not what this is. These
children were always children. The children of God. That's important
to understand. Though in time, these included
in this new covenant would be born into the kingdom. They were
regenerated by the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.
They were born from above because they were adopted in eternity. Now some will poo-poo eternal
salvation and say, well, it's just not so. It is so. It is
so, and this text declares it to be. In fact, the new birth
and regeneration took place so that those of that new covenant
would be made aware by God-given faith of the eternal adoption
and salvation by God. That's what the Gospel tells
you. What God did. Jesus Christ came into this world
for those named in that new covenant as heirs of salvation. Heirs
of salvation. That's what he talks about in
verse 14 of chapter 1. Talking about the angel sent
to minister to his people. Who are his people? Remember,
Jesus Christ was named Jesus for he would save who? He would
save some and then they would become people of God? I know
what it says. He shall save His people from
their sins. Now were they His people before
He saved them? Of course they were. That's why
He saved them. They were His people. They were
His people. And this is the same language.
All the angels, and that includes Satan's angels and the angels
that have fallen, are sent into this world to minister, to minister,
sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation. Somebody is going to inherit
salvation. And the angels, both good and bad, are used of God
for their good and for His glory. Christ came to redeem them, to
save them, and save them He did. Every one of them. And He came
because His adopted brethren, the children of God, for whom
the covenant with God was made, to redeem. This is the language
of the passage that I've read this morning and indeed the entire
subject matter of the Word of God. What is this book about?
This book is about the glory of God in the salvation of the
elect by the substitutionary, propitiatory, successful work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's about. No matter
how you come at it, that's where you've got to end up or you've
ended up at the wrong place. This is the language of this
passage. Verse 14 begins with the word
for as much. For as much. This means since. Since. And immediately requires
us to address something about chronology. Or timeline. For as much. Since. Since. Since when? What are we talking about? When
we add the word for as much, we have to address this matter
of chronology or timeline. Since the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, the chronology is that those referred to were
children before they partook of flesh and blood. Isn't that
what it says? How else could they partake of flesh and blood
unless they existed to partake of flesh and blood? One cannot
partake who does not exist. Since the children are partakers,
they took it, are partakers of flesh and blood. So Christ did the same. One cannot
partake who does not exist. One does not become a child of
God when he is saved. He is saved because he is a child
of God. That's why he is saved. These children are called by
several names in this context. Let's look at them. Verse 10,
they are called sons whom Christ will bring to glory. But we see
Jesus who made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. That's why He was made a little lower than the angels.
So He could die. Angels can't die. Angels are
eternal, created beings. They can't die. Crowned with
glory and honor that He should, by the grace of God, taste death
for every man. The original text usually says
taste death. The words for every man are not
in the original text at all. But you don't need to fuss about
that because you've got to look at every man and see who he's
talking about in the rest of the context. He's already said, many sons
unto glory. For it became Him who are all
things by whom all things in bringing many sons to glory. Now were they glorified before
they were sons? No, they were sons before they
were glorified. This is the language. You see
the chronology here. Also in this passage of scripture
he calls them brethren who are sanctified in verses 11 and 12
for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all
one for which cause he's not ashamed to call these Brethren
Brethren they are his brethren How are they sanctified? They
are sanctified by the will of God. They are sanctified because
God has made Christ to be sanctification unto them, according to 1 Corinthians
1. In verses 13 and 14, they are called children. Children. And again, I will put my trust
in Him and again, behold, I am the children which Thou hast
given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood. In verse 17, they are called
the brethren. the brethren. In verse 16, they're
called the seed of Abraham. And we know from Romans chapter
9 that all that is of Israel is not Israel. And Isaac shall
thy seed be called. And just because they're born
of Abraham doesn't make them Abraham's seed. Abraham's seed, according
to Galatians, are those who believe in Christ. And if ye are Christ's, ye are Abraham's seed, it says
in Galatians chapter 3. They are children or seed of
Abraham. And they are called children by eternal adoption. And adoption is eternal. Turn
with me to Ephesians chapter 1. The first six verses of Ephesians
chapter 1, beginning with verse 3 especially, deal with the eternal
matters of election, predestination, and acceptance before God. In verses 4 and 5 we read these
words, according as He has chosen us in Him from the foundation
of the world that we should be holy, there they are, without blame
before Him and love, having predestinated us to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ according to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His own will. In Galatians, back one book in
Galatians chapter 4, it says this in verse 4 through 6, but
when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
We might receive it. Receive the knowledge of it.
Understand it. And look at verse 6. And because ye are sons, God
sent forth His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son, into your hearts,
crying, Father, Father, or Abba, Father. Because you are sons. You're no longer servants, you're
sons. And because you're sons, you receive the Spirit. Does
receiving the Spirit make you a son? No, you receive the Spirit
because you are one. For as much as the children were
partakers of flesh and blood, What he's talking about here
are those who are eternally the children of God. In John 6, verse
45, it says, All shall be taught of the Father. And all them who
are taught of the Father and learned of the Father come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. They shall all be taught of God. And it
says before, it says, As it is written. And where it is written,
is Isaiah 54, verse 13. It says, All thy children shall
be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of thy children.
Who's God going to teach? All His children. All His children. The eternally chosen, predestinated,
sanctified children partook of flesh and blood. The second chronological
aspect is seen in the advent or the incarnation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Back in our text it says this,
for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
He, Christ, also Himself took part in the same. He also Himself
took part in the same. That's talking about Jesus Christ
coming to this earth as a human being. Christ likewise partook
of the same. They were children before He
came to this earth and because they were, He came. He was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. That's
why He came. That's why He came. He did not
come to this world on some colossal crapshoot of universal intent. He came for God's young'uns.
That's who He came for. Just like you would. There's
your young'uns. And they needed saving, you'd
do everything you could to save them. You might not be able to
save them. That's not a problem with God.
Whatever He puts His hands to, it gets done. Nothing's too hard
for Him. Why did Christ come to this world? He came to save God's young'uns.
His young'uns. His brethren. He came as a man
to die and save God's children. His brethren. And He saved them. Every last one of them. Well,
how did He do that? He saved them through His death. Through His death. Verse 14,
through death. Through death. He might destroy him that hath
the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through
the fear of death were all their lifetime in bondage. That through
death to deliver them. How? He delivered them by destroying
him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Now somebody
is going to jump on that and say, well the devil can kill
you. Listen to me very carefully. The devil can't do squat. unless
he's allowed to by his Creator, God Almighty. He touched Job,
but he had to ask permission. Twice he asked permission, and
God permitted it twice. He wanted to sift Peter, and
the Lord let him. The Lord also prayed that Peter's
faith wouldn't fail him, and it didn't. What is this power of death that
the devil had over the children? Said to be fear that engendered
bondage. Fear that engendered bondage. In Ephesians chapter 2, our estate
naturally is set forth as we who have been quickened who are
dead in trespasses and sin. Here's how we're described in
nature. Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience." Now that there is a very telling
little phrase. He goes on to say, among whom also we had our
conversation. We were right along with them
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of our mind, and were, two words very important, by nature, the
children of wrath even as others. We were never children of wrath.
We were always children of God, but we were born with the same
nature as the children of wrath. There's no difference between
me and Osama bin Laden. There's no difference between
me and the worst person burning in hell right now. By nature
we are exactly the same, but not by grace. It goes on to say
in the same chapter, but by grace you are saved. By grace, you
say, through faith in that not of yourself, it is a gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Satan's power is
limited and it is derived. It is not absolute or it could
not be destroyed. And it says right here, Christ
came and destroyed the power of the devil. His power of death
has to do with his realm and his influence and his authority
and it operates in his ability to convince men of the big lie
by promising them victory over death if they will obey him and
do what he says. Sound familiar? I think he might have said something
like that in the beginning back in Genesis chapter 3. In Genesis 3, these are His words
to Eve. After she says, we can't eat
of that tree, God says, well, die. Listen to what He says.
Verse 4, And the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not surely
die. For God doth know that in the
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods. The word is actually singular.
It's Elohim, the God, knowing good and evil. That's a lie. It's a lie straight out of hell.
The devil sat on the eggs, as one old man used to say. But
that's how he works. That's his power of death. That's his power of death. The lie has become more elaborate
and it's become the mother of numerous religions spouting from
that awful womb all kinds of necromancy. But it's still the
lie and it's still born in darkness. It's still the lie. It's the
lie he uses. His realm of operation is religion. Men like to put him in the bars
and the bordellos and the whore houses and places like that.
The crack houses And out there in Vegas or up on 19 in the casino,
they like to put the devil everywhere but he is. The devil's in the
pulpits of this land and in every pulpit, whether it be an imam
or a Baptist preacher. And he's teaching men one thing,
one simple, false, horrible why to put them at ease somewhat
about this matter of death, which they know they must face. It's religion, and he brings
men into bondage by playing to their vanity and their pride
and their intrinsic lust to be God in their own lives. He promises
that they will not die if they can achieve goodness that will
merit acceptance with God. And the fear that engenders this
bondage is that when death comes, they will not have been good
enough. That's where the fear is. And
I always knew that. Didn't you know that in religion?
Didn't you know that you were never good enough? You never
could. live up to what they said you're
supposed to live up to. It's a scam. It's a flimflam. It's a bait and switch. And the
devil pulls it over men's eyes and gives them tasks and things
to do. Pray more, read more, do more.
And then when they've been lulled into thinking that they've measured
up, he becomes their accuser. He tells them they've not measured
up and must try harder and do better. And so they're in bondage. You see, the devil's theology
is legal religion. Our Lord said to the finest legalists
of His day, who believed without a doubt that they were God's
children and were not, but they believed they were. He said,
you are of your father, the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning.
He lives on lies and so do you. What was the lie they were living
on? That I can by my own merit put myself in such a place as
to be accepted by God. That's the devil's message. His
business is bondage and business is good. Business is good. Look over at Exodus. A good example
of this is Pharaoh. In Exodus chapter 5, And also
in chapter 8, in Exodus chapter 4 and 5, when Moses said, let
my people go. And they began to talk about
the freedom of going out and worshipping God. And that word
worshipped here in Exodus is really an interesting little
word. Moses said, let us go out in the wilderness and we will
worship God. The word there means to dance around and be happy.
Now these folks were slaves, and they were making bricks with
straw. And some jackleg comes out of the wilderness carrying
a staff with his brother, a fellow that he can't talk very much,
but his brother talks pretty good for him. And they said,
let my people go. We can go out and dance and play.
And here was Pharaoh's response. In chapter 5 of Exodus, I've
got Genesis. I wonder why that didn't look
right. In chapter 5 of Exodus, verses
4 and 5, it says, And the king of Egypt said, Wherefore do you,
Moses and Aaron, let the people from their worst get you to your
burdens? Have you ever heard people talk
about the burdens? Have you ever noticed when they
do, their voice drops about an octave, the burdens? The burdens
of this life. I hear preachers talk about it
all the time. I get so upset with preachers when they talk
about burdens. Our Lord said to those false prophets, you
don't have a burden. Stop saying you have a burden.
Just quit saying that. It says that in Jeremiah chapter
6. Just quit saying you have a burden. Quit saying you have
a dream. Quit saying you have a burden. People talk about burdens.
I was preaching at a conference not long ago and I was just filled
with preachers. I said, there's just something
wrong with a man standing behind this desk. All he does every
week is stand up three or four times and read a book and try
to explain something about it and the people buy him a house.
I said, you got a lot to complain about. Burden? Please. Religion puts you on burdens. Christ said of the Pharisees,
they heap burdens upon you and will not lift one finger to help
you. Get them back to their burdens. Pharaoh said, Behold, the people
of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their
burdens. What kind of deal is that? These
are slaves. They are in bondage. Do you want
to go at them and have them rest and dance and be happy? Get back
to them bricks. Get back to them bricks. Then
in verses 8 and 9 it says, In the tale of bricks which they
did make of the two, you shall lay upon them, and shall not
diminish thereof. For they are idle. That's what
people, that's what legalists say about those who trust Christ.
What do y'all do down there? Well, we gather, worship Christ,
go home. What do you have, programs you have for your children? Well,
we try to get them ready to die because they're going to. They're
going to meet God. We try to tell them about the God they're going to meet.
But don't you have some kind of A little program for them
to do? No. We have the gospel. They are idle. Therefore you
cry, let us go and sacrifice. Lord, you're lazy. You're no
good. You want to go out and dance
and rest and sing and be happy. Let more work be led upon the
men that they may labor therein and let them not regard vain,
empty word. Let them not listen to that stuff
about rest and worship Rejoice and don't let them listen. Those
are vain things. We're going to work until Jesus comes, bud.
That's how it's going to be. That's how it's going to be.
Let's sing that. Let's go. Galatians chapter 5. The same
thing. Our Lord warned the Galatians
church through Paul about Getting away from the liberty that is
in Jesus Christ. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made you free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. And we know that bondage was
legal religion. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
if you be circumcised, that is, that as you go back to the law,
Christ will profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he's a debtor to do the whole
law. He's got to do it perfectly in order to be accepted, and
he can't do it because he's already a sinner in Adam. Christ is becoming
of no effect to you, whosoever you are justified by the law,
you're falling from grace. Now, most people think falling
from grace is, I used to be a drunk, and I quit drinking, and then
I fell off the wagon and started drinking again. That's not falling
from grace. Falling from grace is saying
you trust Christ and going back to the law. That's falling from
grace. And when you do that, you're
saying, Christ, what he did on Calvary Street? It don't matter. It don't
mean anything. Nothing to me. I didn't get anything
out of it. That's what you're saying. Whether
you say it openly or not. Satan's business is bondage.
And business is good. And then when his power of death
was destroyed, what does that mean? His right to rule. in the realm that he is over
the children of God is discontinued, is discontinued. He has no right
to rule over you. He has no authority to do so.
God placed you under his authority for a little while, temporarily. You walked according to the prince
of the pie there. But now that authority has been
removed. Now our problem is, sometime we listen to our old
captain. That's our problem. Sometimes we do. When I mustered
out of the service in 1970, got on my little Honda motorcycle
in my backpack and headed out, never going to see that outfit
again. I loved the service, but I hated
the politics and I didn't like officers. But at any rate, I
had to deal with them all the time. But I expect, had I been
riding around Perimeter Road at Pope Air Force Base and some
general had stopped his car in front of me and would have automatically,
I would have had to stop mine. He got out and said, come here
soldier. Even though I was mustered out, I'll bet you, in civilian
clothes, I would have listened to everything he told me and
I would have probably done it. Why? Because I'd been used to four
years for some guy like that to tell me what to do and I had
to do it. Now did he have a right to do that? No, I had my discharge
papers. I had my DD-214s. I was out of
that outfit. Did he have a right to tell me
what to do? No. But I'd been so long under his
rule that when he hollered at me, I'd snap too. Sadly, that's
often our condition with the devil. Sometimes he hollers and
we snap too. We snap too. But listen to me.
He has no right to rule over you. Not if you're a child of
God. He has no right. Because Christ
has come in the flesh and died. And by His death has destroyed
the realm in which He operates. When Christ voluntarily died
and gave up the ghost, having finished salvation for His children,
they were released from the bondage of doing anything at all. What
do you have to do to be saved? Well, I didn't do anything. What
are you going to do? I can't do anything. What are you going to do to keep
it saved? I can't do anything. It's all of grace. The gospel informed
the children that they were no longer under
the power of the devil. They did not have to listen to
him and were free from the bondage of sin and sinful religion. And
I'll tell you, one of the sweetest, happiest, lightest days of my
existence was when God taught me that all that garbage that
had been laid on me in the form of burdens all my stinking life
from the time I was a baby until the time I met Christ, they didn't
mean anything. And they counted for nothing.
And they were no longer a part of me, nor was I a part of them. They're free from the fear of
death because Christ has died for them. Died in their room
instead. Died in their place. Died instead of them. And they're
standing on burnt ground. When they hear the gospel, they
were made aware that they will never die because they've already
died in Christ and rose from the dead in Christ and ascended
with Christ and are sitting in heavenly places in Christ. And
they find out that they are dead and their life is hidden in Jesus
Christ with God. Which they gladly confess in
baptism and partake in the Lord's table. You're baptized unto His
death. You're saying, I died when He
died. And when He died, I died. And I no longer shall die because
I'm already dead. The dead can't die. They're dead. You are dead and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. Dead. And when we take this table this
afternoon, we're going to take that bread and eat it, and take
that wine and drink it. And we're seeing with that, we're
showing forth His death until He comes again, and thereby rightly
discerning the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
therefore, able to partake of this table. with the child of God, they do
not fear not being good enough. They don't fear not being good
enough. If you ask them, they'll tell you, I ain't good enough
for nothing. They don't fear that because Christ is their
righteousness and their holiness, their sanctification. They do
not fear judgment because Christ has been judged in their place.
So when they lay their head down to die, They lay down their head to die
in peace. Don't mean they won't struggle. Don't mean they won't
be in pain. Pain is life. If you live long enough, you're
going to be hurting. But they don't fear judgment because they're going to be sitting
in a judgment seat. They'll judge the nations. They don't fear
judgment because Christ has been judged in their place. There's
no more judgment for them. Perfect love casts us out of
fear, Scripture says. And we don't fear the judgment,
because as Christ is, so are we in the world. 1 John 4, verse
17. And all we can say to this, as
we look at the fact that we were always children, didn't know
it, adopted a long time ago. And one day God sent somebody
to tell us that we were children of God, by the blood of Jesus
Christ. All we can say is to God be the
glory. Great things He has done. Father,
bless us for understanding. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.