Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. You know, in the infinite wisdom
and purpose and mercy of Almighty God, The Lord was pleased to pass by angels in redemption
and to show mercy unto men. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that He was going
to show mercy to men? He loved the order of man. The Scripture says that his delights was with the sons of men. David said, What is man that
thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest
him, scrutinized him, Almighty God redeemed all that He had everlastingly
loved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty dealt
with him in absolute justice. Isaiah 45, 21, and there is no
God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside
me. For the Lord to redeem His people, and He did, and to read in the Scriptures
of the rejoicing that He has in the redemption of those that
He has everlastingly loved is joy unspeakable. I think about
when we read and studied in the book of Song of Solomon how the
Lord would speak of His bride with such love and tenderness
to realize that all that He does for us in this world, in the chastening of His loving
hand, He meters everything that He does with absolute tenderness. The Scripture says Verse 7 of
this Hebrews 2. We're going to look at verses
10 and 11 in a minute. But thou madest him a little
lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor that set him over the works of our hands. In humiliation, he humbled himself. I've tried to think on that, looking up that humble. He humbled himself. Made himself of no reputation. You know it wasn't a false humility. He truly humbled himself. walked in absolute obedience
before His Father, walked by faith. As the representative of His
people, He walked by faith. Suffered. And He tasted death, the Scripture
says. Verse 9. By the grace of God, he tasted death, that he should
taste death for every man, that he should actually experience
it. And that which he experienced,
he experienced being forsaken of His Father. He experienced actually what
we deserved. He was made sin. Now this evening, for all that sit here tonight
that know Him, you have within your being, you
have the joy and the peace and the comfort that He'll never
leave you and He'll never forsake you. You have the privilege of knowing that He will in no wise cast
you out. And the Lord Jesus Christ died
forsaken of His Father. And the reason that he was forsaken
of God was that he paid what we deserved. And he put away
our guilt. And the Scripture says that that
putting away was by the grace of God. Tasted it, experienced it. Now verse 10 tonight says, For
it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. I have two points tonight. Here's
the first one. The necessity of His death. The necessity of it. For it became Him. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the captain of our salvation. He's the author of it. He's the
prince of it. He's the finisher of it. Author
and finisher of our faith. All that have been committed
to Him by the Father, all that were given Him by the Father
before the foundation of the world, He has ever stood for
them as their surety. He has ever looked upon them
in mercy and kindness. He said in Song of Solomon, He
said, You have ravished Me with one of your eyes. I told you
what that means. He said, You have stolen My heart. Can you imagine? You've stolen
my heart. I'm heartless. I look upon you and He sees His
bride as He has made her to be in His righteousness. The Father chose us in Him that
we should be holy. and without blame before Him
in love. And so the Father sent Him into
this world. The Lord said in John 5.36, But
I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the
Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do. He
bear witness of Me that the Father has sent Me. Now, it was by the
grace of God that we just read in verse 9, by the grace of God
that the Lord Jesus Christ should taste death for every man. As
I said last time, you know it doesn't mean every man without
distinction, but it means every one that the Father gave Him. I lay down my life for the sheep. But it became Him. That is, the Father. He is speaking of
the Father. It became Him. It was suitable
to the Father. It was proper to divine wisdom
and in the requirements of justice. It was within the economy of
God's grace and mercy. It became Him. to send the Lord
Jesus. That's who He's talking about,
the Father here. It became Him, the Father. For whom are all
things and by whom are all things? By the Lord Jesus Christ who created all things. It was
by the Father's good pleasure. All things were committed into
His hands. He who by the Lord Jesus Christ made all things in creation and
providence and salvation, He made them for Himself. The Father
chose a people, gave them to the Son, and committed all things
into the hands of the Son. He trusted Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world being sent by the Father appointed
the great High Priest. He was made. He was appointed.
And the Father sent Him into this world. It became Him. It was proper to Him in bringing
many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. Now, the word perfect there It
means to be qualified. The sufferings that the Lord
Jesus Christ endured perfectly qualified Him to be the Redeemer
of His people. It showed Him to be who He was. That word doesn't mean that He
needed to be made perfect. He's perfect. Here is God Almighty assuming
flesh and blood, but it is shown to be qualified is what that
word means. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. But the sufferings that He endured
completely, perfectly qualified Him for that which the Father
had eternally purposed for Him to do." He was obedient is what
I'm saying. He was obedient, obedient, obedient. He actually wrought out a righteousness. Almighty God had eternally purposed
to bring many sons unto glory, and by His sufferings, the captain
of their salvation made perfect, rendered qualified through sufferings. By his sufferings he absolutely
satisfied the law of justice. He was made sin, though he himself
perfect, holy, harmless Lamb of God. Made sin As I said before, not made a
sinner. A sinner has to do with disobedience. Sin is the transgression of the
law. But he was actually made sin. That's higher than a man can
enter into. But I will tell you this, as
God Almighty, I've told you this before. You write this one down
in your mind. Talking to Brother Scott one
day about that passage of Scripture, and I asked him, I said, tell
me something about that passage. He said, we want to be absolutely
careful and never disrespectful when we speak of the Lord. But
he said, never take away the glory of that which He said He
did. He was made sin. Whatever that
entails, whatever the depth of that, there was God Almighty
dealing with God. As Brother Scott said one time,
God doing something for Himself before He could do anything for
me. It became Him. It was proper to the Father.
It was proper. It was good. It was right. for whom all things, and by whom
all things, in the bringing of many sons into glory, to make
the captain of their salvation qualified through sufferings." He satisfied
God's law. God's law has absolutely been
satisfied. by the Son of Man, the Man, Christ
Jesus. By His sufferings, He put away
our guilt. He put away the guilt of all
that the Father had given Him. Cast Him as far as the east is
from the west. The thought of this world is
always dealing with retirement. It's always dealing
with one of these days. The believer in that quiet time
of blessed meditation when a believer can settle down for just a moment,
God settles him down. I was reading something today a
man named William Jay. And he was saying, he was talking
about sickness. And he was saying that, he said
often, he said some will die, he said quickly, just quickly,
just gone, gone. But as a general rule, in the
mercy of God, he said he allows them He says to be weaned away
from this world and to see that which is unprofitable, unnecessary. How often we're made to remember
this is profitable. He put away my sins. By His suffering, He became perfectly
acquainted with the sufferings of His people. He knows what
it is to suffer. And we've never suffered as He
suffered. Never. As the God-man mediator, He was
rendered perfectly qualified to be our Savior and our representative. Here is the great high priest. Here is the one that's absolutely
qualified. He's been there. You know, if I want to talk to
somebody about something, I want to talk to somebody that's been
there. If you've never experienced something and I talk to you about
it, then really you don't know what to tell me. But if you've
been there, If you've experienced some things and you speak from
experience, then you know what? You're a good witness. You've
tasted it firsthand. You know what it feels like. He was made perfect through suffering. It was pleasing in the Father's
sight to make the Captain of our salvation
perfect through suffering. Here the Apostle Paul reveals
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God that the Lord Jesus
Christ was shown to be our true representative. I want you to
turn to Isaiah 53.10 and 11. He suffered. He suffered bearing
the weight of the guilt of his people's sin. He suffered bearing
the wrath of his people. He suffered being forsaken of
the Father. Look at Isaiah 53.10. Yet it
pleased the Lord. Jehovah. Capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital E. It pleased Jehovah. The triune God. Now you think
about this. Think about what it's saying.
It's talking about the Father and the Son and the Spirit here.
It pleased the Father, Son and Spirit. It pleased Jehovah. It
pleased the Lord. Of whom the Lord Jesus Christ
is Jehovah. God made in human flesh, taken
upon Him flesh. Yet it pleased the Lord in that
everlasting covenant of mercy and grace to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief when
thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days in
the pleasure of the Lord. shall prosper in His hand." That
which the Lord was pleased to do in the redemption of His people, that prospered in Christ's hand. He shall see the travail of His
soul and shall be satisfied. And by His knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many For he shall bear their iniquities." And secondly, back in Hebrews
2, we looked at the necessity of his death. Here's my second point. Why he
had to die. You say, well, aren't those two
the same thing? No. Now, one of them was absolutely
necessary, but why? I made a statement. One of them is necessary. Why
is it necessary? Why? Why did he have to die? It was necessary that he be proven
to be qualified. to be the captain of our salvation. Here is the second point, verse
11. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. For him to call us brethren. He must be made a little lower
for a season. He must be made a little lower
than the angels. Why? Because that is the way
we are. We are flesh and blood, and He
partook of the same. Made as we are in our nature,
He took upon Himself our nature and all of the frailties of it.
yet without sin, made like unto His brethren. For Him to redeem us, He must
be one with us, same nature. He must identify Himself with
those He came to redeem. It became Him, that is, the Father,
it was suitable and proper to make the captain of our salvation
perfect through suffering, to show Him to be the qualified
Redeemer, because He that sanctified, He who makes them holy in Himself, and they who are sanctified,
the elect, are all of one He came and dwelt among us. He
tabernacled among us. I read that back in 1 John when
John said that which was from the beginning. Our eyes have
looked upon, we've held, touched in Him's life. He was made one with us. I've said before, He promised
that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He said,
I'm in the midst of you. Oh, the blessed presence of Him
who is here, who sees and knows, hears. And He's pleased to, by His Holy
Spirit, as the words that we preach concerning Him, that the
Spirit of God blesses those words. And we hear His voice right now. But He who is one with us has
made us one with Him. When this vapor of life is over,
we're going to hear that voice. that those apostles heard, those
men heard after He was resurrected. That body that He walked in,
that voice that He spoke with, that voice that those apostles
heard just before He was ascended up into heaven, that one that the angel said,
you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing into the heavens?
The same Jesus. shall return in like manner." In the coming time, we're going
to hear His voice. You're going to hear Him. And you'll see Him
and be like Him. He was made one with us. Both He that sanctified and they
that are sanctified are all of one. All that the Father gave Him
in electing grace. All that the Father set apart,
sanctified for holy use. When you get right down to sanctification,
you say, what does that mean? Set apart for holy use. Concerning God's sanctification. Set apart for holy use. Both He that sanctifies and they
that are sanctified. all of one, for which cause He
is not ashamed to call them brethren." He who calls us brethren is to us our Lord and Savior. He that humbled Himself and lifted
us up in Himself is not ashamed to call us brethren. And we are not ashamed to call
Him sovereign. In all things, it became Him. It was pleasing
in the sight of the Father. It was right. It was just. It was proper. To make the Captain of our salvation
perfect through sufferings, He came into this world being sent of the Father, the
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this world, and by His suffering, through
His sufferings, it was proven, shown, this is the proper Savior. He pleased God. He's altogether lovely. That's
what you said, Brother Scott. He's altogether lovely. Oh, that
the Spirit of God would make Him so to me. For Christ's sake. Amen.