One of the glorious things about
meeting together as the Church of God and hearing from God's
Word is that we have the opportunity to have our eyes taken from the
things of this world. And you, probably like me, have
been through the experience to so many of the Lord's people.
The more we look at social media and the more we look at the news,
the more concerned we get. The more we look at the Scriptures
and the more we look at the Lord Jesus Christ, the more comforted
we are. And so the Lord said to his disciples
on that night before he went back to glory, and he went back
to glory by all the tribulations of the garden and the mockery
and the tribulations of the cross. But he says, these things I have
spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world
you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. We gather together that we might
find ourselves trusting Him. Trusting Him as He gives grace
and He gives this grace in the time of need. Hebrews 4 has that
glorious verse about this throne of grace. If ever the Lord's
people were brought to a place of need, it is going to be and
has been and will continue to be in these days. We have a high
priest that's passed into the heavens. That's where we go,
Hebrews 4.14. Jesus, the son of God, let's
hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He's touched,
I just love that expression. He's touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. So no matter what happens, what
happens today and into the future, there is nothing that happens
to any of you people, you children of God. where you can say the
Lord doesn't know and the Lord doesn't understand and the Lord
doesn't feel. Let's not dishonor him. Let's
not dishonor him. by being unbelieving in the midst
of what he has brought to this world. But verse 16 is glorious,
isn't it? He says, let us therefore, on
the basis that he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
on the basis that he is the son of God and he's passed into the
heavens, on the basis of his feelings for us, we come boldly,
we come with confidence under the throne of grace that we might
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So God's children are called
upon to look to him and look to him in faith, to look to him
as he is. So we trust him. And we are called upon in these
times when, more particularly than any other time, the news
becomes out of date in a matter of hours often. And all of the
pronouncements of men become out of date in no time at all.
We, children of God, as we look to Him in faith, we're called
upon to wait on Him. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage. He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. The other thing that I'm going
to touch on a bit later on is that because he's on that throne
of grace and because we've come to this throne of grace to obtain
mercy and find grace in time of help, when doubts and fears
surround us, when troubled circumstances befall us, our nation and this
world, tell him, talk to him, Tell him, tell him what's going
on. He knows exactly what's going
on in the hearts of you and everyone else in this world. That's why
I love what Peter said in 1 Peter 5, 7. He says, cast all your
care upon him. Well, he wouldn't ask you to
cast all your care upon him unless you had cares. So you are gonna
have cares. But we cast all our cares on
him, why? because he careth for you. And the other thing that I hope
we'll see as we go through this passage in Hebrews is that we
are called upon by our God to be thankful. There is so much
that the children of God need to be thankful for. We need to
be thankful most of all for the fact that he's revealed himself
to us as he really is. And we've got to be extraordinarily
thankful that he's revealed us to ourselves as we are, just
sinners, helpless, hopeless sinners in need of grace and in need
of mercy. We are to be thankful for the
fact that this is his universe and this is his world, and he
has been given power over all flesh that he might give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given him. This is the world
of the Lord Jesus Christ and we'll see it again as we go through
Hebrews. This is his world. This is his virus. The people
here do not own their own lives. The lives of every human being
that's ever existed on this planet are lives that are owned and
controlled by the Lord Jesus Christ. And if he has chosen
to reveal himself in mercy and grace to us, we have so much
reason to be thankful to him. This is not out of control what's
going on now. This is under the very, very
direct control of our God. If our Lord Jesus Christ can't
control a little microbe that we can't see, Then what does
he control? He sits on the throne of this
universe. He controls every single last one of them. He determines
where they'll go, what impact they'll have, and what will be
the effect of that in the lives of people. We have so much to
be thankful for because we know him. We know him. We know the one that's in control. We know now that governments
aren't in control. We know that the medical system's
not in control. We'll know that our political
system is going to fall in all of this economic certainty that
we've built up. We'll see it to be a house of
cards. God is always in the business of humbling the pride of man. And he does it. He does it that his people will
be benefited by all of his works. He's working, it says Romans
8, 28, he's working all things for the good of them that are
loved of him, called according to his purpose. There is in the
purpose and sovereignty and the plan and purpose of our God,
there is good in this. And we may not see it. That's
what Hebrews 2 verse 8 says. We don't see it now. We don't
see all those things under his control. And we'll spend a lot
of time thinking that it's out of control. But we have reason
to be thankful. The end result of this, the end
result of everything that's happened in this creation is going to
be the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of the new creation
is going to be a song. and a revelation and a delight
in enjoyment and living in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
who's reigned over these things as he will over all of those
things. We have a God of promise and we have a God who calls on
us to comfort each other in our time of need. You'll receive
comfort from God and Lord willing you'll have the opportunity to
share that comfort with others. And we wouldn't need comfort.
And we wouldn't need to have a comfort that we have to share
with others unless there was distress. and danger and all
the other things that cause discomfort in this world. Our God will be
seen to have been faithful to his promises, faithful to his
covenant, faithful to his people. Okay, let's turn in our scriptures
to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9. I wanted to look at, I'll just
read the words before us. But we see Jesus, who is 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. There are several things I want
us to see here. There is, there is a we. There is a we. And I want to be included in
that we. I want to know who that we is. And I want to see. I want to
see. That word see is present and
active. I want to see now is what this
person is saying. I see right now. And I want to
know who you see. If the we are going to see, and
they're going to see right now, they're going to be seeing a
particular one. And this is one of the most glorious
passages in scripture, which describes the Lord Jesus Christ,
both in the glory of his deity and in the glory and the humility
in that glory of his humanity. And the question that's before
us, isn't it, is have I seen him? Do we need to do this or
can't do anything about it? Okay. The question is, I'm happy
to speak a bit louder for a few minutes. Is it fine? You're happy? Okay, good. Yep. Have I seen him? Am I among the
we in that verse? Have I seen him? And very briefly,
what's the fruit right now of seeing him? See this lovely word, but, is
a contrast, isn't it? And it's a contrast that all
of us now see and feel. The end of verse eight says,
but now we see not yet all things put under him. But it says at
the beginning of that verse, that thou hast put all things
in subjection under his feet. All things, everything. For in
that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that
is not put under him. Therefore everything is under
him. But that's not what we see, brothers and sisters. Most of
the time we don't see it. And that's this contrast, isn't
it? The contrast that's used several times in Hebrews. There is a high priest. We have
a high priest, says Hebrews 4.15, we read it earlier. We have a
high priest who was We don't have a high priest that cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. The old high
priests couldn't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
You might remember Hannah turned up to Eli the high priest, and
he thought she was drunk. And yet she was blessed of the
Lord, and the fruit of all that was Samson, honoured of the Lord
as his prophet. It speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ
in Hebrews 7.14 with another but, doesn't it? It says, he was made not after the law
of a carnal commandment. All the other priests were made
after the law of a carnal commandment. But this priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ, this priest after the order of Melchizedek, this priest
was not made after that law, but after the power of an endless
life. There is a great contrast. We
don't see. We don't see very much in this
world with any great clarity at all. But if the Lord Jesus
Christ would cause us to see the Lord Jesus in the midst of
all of what's going on around us, we'll walk away from here
and we might, as we go through this time, I trust that we might
be reminded again and again that we see him. There is a we in
this world, as I said earlier. There's a special we. They are,
in verse 14 of chapter 1, just there, they are the heirs of
salvation. They are the recipients of an
inheritance. They didn't get to be an heir
because of anything they did. They are those, in verse 3, who
believe the testimony They believe, chapter two, verse three, they
hear and believe the testimony of God. They were, in verse 13
of chapter one, they were enemies. Our God is so sovereign and wonderful
that he takes his enemies and he makes them his footstool.
We were enemies of God in our hearts and in our minds and in
our actions. enemies by our sin, enemies by
our desire to reign and rule over all things and he makes
us he makes us to be his footstool and we love sitting at his feet
like that woman who came with that alabaster jar and she broke
it and she shed tears at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ
he brings us to his feet in humility The verse before us says that
we see Jesus, we see him, and we'll look at that a little bit
more. But the we in verse 10 of chapter 2 are the sons, the
sons of God. They are the sons that are brought
unto glory. They are a particular group of
sons. They are, in verse 12, they are
the church. He'll sing in the midst of the
church. He'll sing praises. Our God sings praises over us
and sings with us. Verse 13 describes the we very
much, doesn't it? And very clearly. He says, behold
I and the children which God hath given me. They're the we. a particular
group of people that God the Father, before the foundation
of this world, took as a special gift and entrusted them to the
Lord Jesus. And when he saw the bride that
the Father had given him, he was in raptures of delight over
her. God sent his Son into the world
because of that love. because we are children. God
sent the son of his love into this world to verse 15 of chapter
2 to deliver. He came as a deliverer, deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. He delivered the captives. It's
very natural for man to fear death. But only real Christians,
only the we, fear death. Because we understand that death
is the result of the sin. People are going to die in this
world, and have been dying in this world, since Adam left the
garden. And they die for one reason.
They die because of sin. They die because of their personal
responsibility for their sin. That is why they die. And God's
children are brought to a sense of the fearsomeness of death.
Not only that we die, but when we die we face our God. It's appointed unto man to die
and then the judgment. We're delivered to be set free,
to be at liberty in the midst of this world. Verse 16 describes
them again. They are the seed of Abraham. You can read about the seed of
Abraham in Galatians chapter 3. They are the faith children
of Abraham. They're the faith children of
God. They live in this world as Abraham
did, with God as his shield and his exceeding great reward. They
live as friends of God as Abraham was. They are the seed of Abraham. They're not the seed of Adam.
They're a particular seed. The we are a particular people.
They're sons. Verse 17 says the we are the
ones that have been reconciled to God. To be reconciled. And in verse 18 there's a great
description of the we again. at the end of that verse it says
they are tempted they are tempted they are tested they are tried
by the circumstances of this world but also the we suckered
the we are suckered that's a lovely word it means that the one who
does the suckering which is our Lord Jesus Christ he runs to
a cry is what it means he runs to a cry he's able he's able the we the
we on our pulpit for this last 10 years or more now, we have
this verse from John 12, 21. Sir, we would see Jesus. We would see Jesus. So how do we see him? How do
we see him? Moses, in Hebrews 11.27 says,
Moses saw him who is invisible. How do you see someone who is
invisible? Turn with me quickly to Ephesians chapter 1 and we'll
show you how you see him. This is Paul praying for these
Ephesians. He says in verse 17, he's praised
that the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father
of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him. They have a spirit of wisdom. He is our wisdom, but you will
know him, you know him and you see him by faith and you know
him and see him by revelation. You'll know him and see him as
he reveals himself to his people. Paul, we read in Acts chapter
22 verse 16, Paul was promised that he was going to see the
just one. And the apostles and those of
Jesus' day did see the just one. But you've got to remember that
possibly millions of people saw him. Tens of thousands of people
saw the most remarkable miracles this world has ever seen. They
saw God in human flesh for three years. And they didn't see him. They didn't see who he was. The people in Nazareth had been
with him for 30 odd years and had never seen him lie. They'd
never seen him do anything that even resembled sin. And he declared who he was to them.
You can read about it in Luke chapter 4. He declared who he
was. as God and Savior, as God who
determines the salvation of people, as God who holds people in his
hands, and the people of Nazareth who had seen him for all of those
years and seen all of those remarkable things and had witnessed remarkable
miracles. Their response to him revealing
himself was to kill him, to throw him off a cliff, to be rid of
him altogether. There is a seeing, there is a
seeing, a seeing by wisdom and a seeing by revelation. Let's
go back to Ephesians chapter 8, that the eyes of your understanding,
that's how we see him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. when he brings light, when he
sheds light. I love that verse in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, isn't it? For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There is a light
in the preaching of the gospel. There is a light that shone upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he reveals himself in that
light. No wonder the high priest came
out from the temple. In Numbers 6, we looked at it
a couple of weeks ago, didn't we? In Numbers chapter 6. And
he says that remarkable prayer. that he was to bless the people
of God with. And he says, the Lord bless thee
and keep thee. The Lord, number 624 and following,
the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto
thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee. If he lifts up his countenance
upon you, he'll give you peace. And they shall put my name on
the children of Israel, and I will bless them. These are difficult and challenging
times, but if we see the Lord Jesus Christ as he is described
in these scriptures, if he by a spirit of revelation brings
us to see him, We will, like the psalmist in Psalm 17, 15,
he says, when I behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be
satisfied. When I awake, there is an awakening
at the end of this life, isn't it? There is an awakening, there
is awakening from the darkness and despair of unbelief. that
plagues us, plagues us while ever we live in this body of
flesh. But the psalmist said, I shall be satisfied, Psalm 17,
15, when I awake with thy likeness. Oh, behold his face, behold his
face. We'll see him, we'll see him
one day. But now the greatest honor he
can receive in this world is for you to see him by simple
faith. Looking to him. So who do we
see? There is a we that sees. The
we that sees has a contrast. The we that sees sometimes lives
in this world and they can't see what's going on and it seems
like darkness and it seems so often that he's not on a throne
and who's controlling all of these things? And then they see,
they see. And who do the we see? We've already said that they
see by the hearing and the preaching of the gospel. They hear as he
speaks. You just listen for the number
of times in this passage of Hebrews where we have a God who speaks. It means that God is alive, and
it means that God is active. His speaking means that men are
responsible, chapter 2, verse 1. But listen to the speaking.
God, verse 1, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners
spake in time past, hath in these last days, verse 2, spoken unto
us by his Son. See, the last word of God to
this world is Jesus Christ. The first word of God to this
world is Jesus Christ. Let there be light. He's the
light of the world. And listen to what it says about
Him. He's going to be your speaking
God. If you're going to hear Him, you'll hear Him as He speaks.
If you're going to see Him, you'll see Him as He speaks to you.
Verse 3, it says, He being the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his
power. That's what we see when we see
Jesus. We see that he upholds all things
by the word of his power. That sun is shining up there
because the Lord Jesus Christ is upholding it by the word of
his power. You have life and light to see. because he's upholding
all things by the word of his power. You're sitting on a bit
of dirt and it looks like a stable. I promise you it's very fragile.
He's upholding all things by the word of his power. He's upholding
those branches that are up above you now. He's upholding the stars. He's upholding everything by
the word of his power. This is his universe. He upholds
it by the word of his power. When you see him, you'll see
him as one who speaks. You'll see him as one who speaks. You'll see him as one who preaches. I love what it says in verse
12. It says, I will declare he's a speaking God. He's the one
who preaches. If you are going to see him,
He will be the one who preaches to you. The Blessed Holy Spirit
says you take the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and he'll reveal
them unto you. You'll see them. It's a promise
from God. He says, I declare thy name unto
my brethren. He came as a preacher. If you're gonna see him, you'll
see him in his word. I'll declare thy name unto the
brethren. In the midst of the church, I will sing praise unto
thee. He's the one who speaks. If you're
going to see Him, if you're going to be part of the we that see
Him, you're going to see Him as one who speaks. And you're
going to see Him as the Son. He's spoken, let's look at verse
2 briefly. Spoken to us by Son, by His Son,
whom He has appointed heir of all things. He is as Jesus in
his humanity. He is as Christ in his office
capacity as both God and man in one. He is both an appointed
heir and he is the one in charge of all things. So that's the
problem that's so confusing for people, isn't it? They think
that because these verses declare him to be the heir and to be
the one that's been made, that therefore he's not God. And the
church in the 4th century had a remarkable time of great opposition
where almost the entire church of the Lord Jesus Christ was
battered by the Aryan heresy where these people were saying
that because of verses like these and other things that they had
worked out of their own imagination that the Lord Jesus Christ was
only a created being. And it still goes on today. They
miss the entire point of the passage, and in all situations,
they also have to distort it. Athanasius stood as one man against
all of that wicked heresy of the Arians, and there are plenty
of them around today. And he stood as one man in the
most remarkable contest. And he used these verses out
of Hebrews to establish the fact that these verses are declaring
the Lord Jesus Christ to be God. That's what it is to be the Christ.
You can't be Christ unless you're God. And that's why verse 8 says,
under the sun, so he's the sun. He's God the Son. Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. See, if you see Him, you'll see
Him as an appointed heir of all things. You'll see Him as God
over all, blessed forever. You'll see Him as the creator
of all things. He made the worlds, it says at
the end of verse two. He made the worlds. Viruses and
doctors and food and nations. He owns it, He made it, He rules
it all. It says, In verse 3 it says,
and he's being the brightness of his glory. If you're going
to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of God,
you're going to see him. That's what Philip said, show
us the Father and we'll be happy. He says, you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen
God. He's the brightness of his glory,
is what we see of the glory of God. And it says, and the express
image of his person, which means an exact representation. perfect copy and he upholds all
things by the word of his power if you're going to see him you're
going to see that he upholds all things by the word of his
power and if you're going to see him you're going to see him
as a savior look what it says in verse 3 when he had and you
can't help if you're a sinner you can't help but love these
next verses this next words when he had He didn't try when he
had by himself purged our sins. By himself, with no assistance
from you whatsoever. And when did he do it? Revelation
13 says that he did it from the foundation of the world, and
he did it manifestly on the cross of Calvary. And he did it all
by himself, there was no one there to help him. And he did
it a long time ago. and all of your sins were future
sins when he did it. To be purged is to be washed
clean. That's what Isaiah says, isn't
it? Even though your sins are scarlet. Only believers, only
the wee see their sins as scarlet. They'll be whiter than snow.
They're washed in his blood. By himself purged our sin. He
sat down. If you're gonna see him, you'll
see him seated, seated. He's not wandering around wringing
his hands saying, how on earth am I gonna get this thing sorted?
He's in control and he's sitting. that one piece of furniture missing
from the tabernacle and the temple was a chair. Those priests went
in and out and in and out every day, and there was never any
place to sit anywhere, because their work was never finished.
The moment they stepped out of the temple, they had to start
getting ready for the next sacrifice. He sat down. He's sitting down
right now, brothers and sisters. Sin's gone. Sits down at the
right hand of the majesty on high. You're going to see him. You're going to see him on an
eternal throne. That's what Isaiah said, isn't
he? In the year that Uzziah died
in Isaiah 6, I saw the Lord. If you're ever going to see him,
what are you going to see? High and lifted up. And if you
see him, if you're one of the wee that see him, you'll cry
out. Woe is me. And if you're one
of the wee that see him, he will come. There'll be a live coal
taken from that altar. That altar represents his sacrifice,
that purging of their sins. And what do you say to Isaiah?
This has taken away your sins. If you're gonna see him, you'll
see him on a heavenly throne. You'll see him, verse 8, thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness,
verse 9, and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. One of the things that's most
difficult, isn't it, for us when we contemplate ourselves and
contemplate this world. It's so hard to picture, except
through the eyes of faith, to realize that God is pleased.
God is pleased with his people. He rejoices over them with singing
right now. It says in Hebrews chapter 12,
verse two, for the joy set before him, he went to that cross and
he endured all of that pain. If you're going to see him, If
he reveals himself and you see him, you'll see him anointed
with the oil of gladness. You'll see him, verse 10, as
Lord of heaven and earth. He's laid the foundation of the
world, and the heavens are the work of thine hands. See, heaven,
heaven is here for a time, isn't it? Heaven is the place where
God's throne is. But there is a glorious time
coming when heaven, heaven and earth will be one. This earth
is going to be wrapped up. That's what he says, doesn't
he? He's so much bigger than we imagine him to be. He laid
the foundation of the earth. They have a time, they shall
perish, but thou remainest. If you're gonna see him, if you're
gonna be the we that see him, you're gonna see that he is Lord
of heaven and earth and these places, this creation that we
see now is destined to perish, every last little bit of it.
The elements will be burnt up in the heat and he'll take his
children out of here before he does and when he comes back there's
going to be a glorious creation and it'll be a real creation
and a physical creation. and you just look to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the things that he did when he
came back and you'll see something of the glory of the new creation.
He walked with people and he talked with people and he ate
with people and he communed with them and he brought them, he
brought them in his resurrected body, those glorious words, he
says peace, peace to them is what he says. Our God. When we see him, we'll see him
reigning on a throne. We'll see him... has lord of this universe. Look
at verse 12. It's remarkable, isn't it? It
says that this universe, this whole creation is like a vesture. It's like a cape that you wrap
around your shoulders, like a scarf that Jenny has around her shoulders.
He wraps this universe up with the effortlessness that you wrap
a shawl around your shoulders is what he's saying. He just
wraps it up. If he's so big, brothers and sisters, don't worry
about the little things. See him, see him. He's Lord of heaven and earth.
see you'll see him speak through angels he brought the law as
administration through angels and we don't have time to delve
into that very far but if you see him verse 3 of chapter 2
we'll see him as a great savior it's called a great salvation
it's a great salvation it needs to be a great salvation
because we are great sinners and we have a great and holy
God that we must be reconciled to. It's great in every way,
isn't it? It's great in its operations
from before the foundation of the world. It's great in its
power. The preaching of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It's great in the effect that
it has on the children. It's great in the glory that
he gets. It's a great salvation. It's a great salvation. Let's go down to verse 7 and
we'll try and spend some little bit of time that we have remaining
in these these verses that lead to chapter 2 verse 9. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crown'st him with glory
and honor and did set him over the works of thy hand. Thou hast
put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that's not put
under him. Please don't think in unbelief,
brothers and sisters, that there's anything that happens in this
creation, whether it's big or small, that's outside of his
subjection, that all things are put under him. And that's not
what we see. That's not what we see. You've
got to remember that this was written in troublesome times.
If you read the history of Israel and the history of the Roman
Empire, these Jews at this time, they lived in troublesome times.
You can read about the troubles they had in chapter 11. They
had all sorts of troubles. The children of God have always
lived in times of trial. We are now suffering and struggling
because we've had in this last 40 or 50 years some of the most
remarkable times this world has ever seen. We've had three generations
that haven't known serious deprivation at all in the Western world.
Since the Second World War, we've had almost continual progress
in all sorts of remarkable ways. But the children of God children
of God throughout history lived in trouble sometimes and they
didn't see it and it's hard sometimes isn't it with our unbelief and
with this flesh which will continually assault us and continually fight
against the faith that God puts in us continually there will
be a war between the old man and who never changes and the
new creation which is in us. And it's only the children of
God that see that and feel it. We don't see things under his
control. But, but we see Jesus. We see Jesus We see him. We see him as he's described
just there. We see him who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. We see him
crowned with glory and honor. All glory goes to God, isn't
it? All honor goes to him. We see him. We see him having
finished. We see him having finished that
work, but we also see him crowned with glory and honor because
of the depth of the ignominy he suffered. Made him a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. He was made
as a man that he might die. He was made as a man that he
might have blood to shed. He was made as a man under the
law and born of a woman. that he might take on our humanity,
that he might be one with us. So if you see him, you're going
to see him in union with his people. You're going to see, you're going
to see that union most gloriously worked out in the things that
he suffered. that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man. We've already looked at the we.
We know from the context of the rest of Hebrews that this is
not talking about that he tasted death for every single human
being. It's for the children of Abraham, the seed of Abraham. It is the ones who are his brethren. It is the church. There's no way in the world that
the God who sits on a righteous throne can put his son to death for the sins of all of humanity
and then punish those sins again in hell forever. It was a righteous
act of our God. It's a just one. You'll see the
just one, Paul was told. He's crowned with glory and honor
now. He tasted death. It's extraordinary
isn't it? In the depth and the reality
of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. He tasted death. And he tasted death by the grace
of God. If you turn to Philippians chapter
2 just briefly, there's this glorious description which echoes
the description of the Lord Jesus in Hebrews. He says in verse 5, Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God
but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found
in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death even the death of the cross wherefore God also has highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. He was, he was humbled. And remarkably, he was sustained
in that bitter experience. To taste death is to taste something
by bitter experience. You can look at salt and see
that it's white. And you put salt on your tongue
and you taste it by bitter experience. He tasted death. Not just dying,
but he tasted death. And I... for want of time can't
take you back to the garden of Gethsemane but if you just go
and read and contemplate and see him in that garden with those
great drops of blood falling to the ground and see him being
treated and abused as he was in those courts of men in those
religious courts and in those secular courts of men he tasted
death he tasted it He tasted the sting of sin. It was the law of God, injustice,
that put him to death. But little words in the scriptures
are glorious words sometimes, and that word for, he should
taste death for every man, that word is a word that means on
behalf of. It means to be standing over
bending over as the one who would defend or shield. The picture is beautiful, isn't
it? There is the wrath of God, which injustice should fall upon
you. And our Lord Jesus Christ comes
in and he stands over and he shields his own. And all of the
infinite wrath of God that was ours by our sin and
our rebellion against him fell upon him should taste death for
every man. Every distasteful experience
of dying was Christ's experience. And he was strengthened and sustained
by the grace of God. When you read the Psalms, you've
got to remember that they are the prayers and the cries of
the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost. We love Psalm 23. You've got to remember that the
Lord Jesus Christ prayed Psalm 23 for all of those years. The
Lord's my shepherd. The Lord's my shepherd. He was
sustained. He was sustained in all of that
by the grace of God. He was sent here because of the
grace of God, and he was sustained by the grace of God. He says
in Psalm 108, he says in verse four, thy mercy is great above
the heavens and thy truth reaches under the clouds. Be thou exalted,
O God, above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth,
that thy beloved may be delivered. Save with thy right hand and
answer me. And God spoke in his holiness. By the grace of God, he tasted
death. And if he's tasted it, brothers
and sisters, we will never taste it. That's the glory of the gospel,
isn't it? We've passed from death to life. We've been transferred from a
kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light. The Lord Jesus keeps
saying to his brethren in the gospels, he says, do you believe
this? Do you believe this? He comes
to Mary and Martha in all of the stress that he had brought
upon them in the loss of their brother, and he loved them. And
he says, do you believe this? Do you believe that if you believe
in me, you'll never die? You've passed. Your death has been died, brothers
and sisters. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. You have it as a possession now
and it can never be taken away. This is God's word, isn't it? Isn't it glorious that we can
proclaim, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. The
name of the Lord is his character and his being. And his character
and his being is reflected in his word and in his works. I say unto you, he that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation. but is passed from
death to life. The hour is coming, says our
Lord Jesus Christ, and now is when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Did you see him? Have you seen
him as a saviour? Have you seen him as a sovereign? the grace and love and mercy
of our great God for his elect, for the children. I love what
it says in verse 13, behold I and the children thou has given me. Behold him, see him. He's saying that, behold I and
the children which God has given me, a glorious bride. What's the fruit of seeing him? We looked at it a little bit
earlier, didn't we? At the end of this passage in Hebrews 2.17,
He was made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest. He's ever living there now to
intercede for us, isn't he? Right now in heaven, the Lord
Jesus Christ is representing all of his people before God
the Father. And right now in heaven, the only marks that we've
ever made on God are seen in heaven. Those nails in his hands
and that wound in his side and in his feet are there and will
be there forever. He's gone into that holy of holies
with his own blood. And God is satisfied, this great
high priest. to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people, to put those sins away so they no longer exist. That's what he's done, brothers
and sisters. That's what it is to be saved. That's why it's
a great salvation. They are gone. As far as the
east is from the west, they are gone. They're hidden behind God's
back. He'll remember them no more. But he did it. He did it through
all of this extraordinary humility and suffering. See, such greatness,
such greatness reveals the greatness of our God, the greatness of
the depths of our sin, and the greatness of his glory. But the real greatness is seen
in the fact in verse 18, isn't it? Such greatness. This one
who rules the universe and controls and rules all things. Such greatness
is revealed to us personally. It's revealed to us particularly. It's revealed to us with caring
and with feeling. Listen to what it says. For in
that he himself has suffered being tempted, being tried and
being tested, he is able, he is able to succor them that are
tempted. He is able. I'm not sure, and none of us
know, what lies before us in this world. All we know is that
all of the predictions of men are coming true about the darkness
that will befall so much of what happens in this world. But the
fruit of seeing Him is to find our rest in our comfort in the
fact that in the trials and in the testing, in the temptation,
in the unbelief, that will crowd out our joy and our peace in
Him. Our God will come and He'll succour
His people. He'll run to the cry of His people. He'll rejoice over them. He will
work all of these things for our good, brothers and sisters.
We may have the most remarkable opportunities that we don't normally
have when things are so good, we might have the most remarkable
opportunities to bear witness to him, but especially to care
for each other, to pray for each other, to, in some way or another,
bring the comfort of the gospel to each other, to, in many ways,
bear with the frailties that we'll all feel at these times. and remind ourselves again and
again that our God reigns. There's one verse that I am very,
very fond of in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. To see Him, to see Him is to
delight in who He is. to delight in his deity, to delight
in his humanity, to be in awe at what happened on the cross
of Calvary, to be in awe and wonder and look forward with
amazing expectation to what is the reality of all of those who've
gone before us who are now in heaven. But it says, now, verse
17, now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding,
seeing, gazing upon, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image from glory to glory. Look at him, look at him and
be transformed in the midst of the darkness and in the midst
of the uncertainty. Turn off the television and look
to Him for a while. Let's finish in 1st John chapter
3. It says, Behold, look again,
this is seeing Him. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons
of God. The remarkable thing about us
being called the sons of God, therefore the world know us not. The world will never understand
you, don't expect them ever to. Because it knew him not. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. Beloved. And it doth not yet
appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. for we shall see him as he is may our God grant you the faith
to see him to see him is to know Him, to see Him, is to rest in
Him. We might finish singing, but
I'd like to read these words that we sing at the end of our
services, isn't it? Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence
of His glory, with what? Exceeding joy. To the only wise
God, our Saviour, no question about the deity of our Lord Jesus
Christ, he is God. Be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and forever. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank
you that our times and our lives are in your hands. and we thank
you and praise you, Heavenly Father, for the reality of the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray that you continue
to open our eyes, that we may see Him, Heavenly Father, to
see Him reigning and ruling, but also, Heavenly Father, to
see Him personally coming to us in our times of trial and
succoring us. and see Him calling upon us,
Heavenly Father, yet again and again to cast all of our care
upon Him because He cares for us. Oh, our Father, open our
eyes again and again that we might see the Lord Jesus Christ.
We might see Him in the reality of His being and then we might
find ourselves at rest in His arms. We might find ourselves
as Isaiah said, carried in his arms through the trials and things
of this world. Bless your word to our hearts,
Heavenly Father. Make your son precious to us. Make his blood to be the thing
that we rest in the fact that when you see the blood, you'll
pass over us, Heavenly Father. We do pray for wisdom as you
guide us through these times, Heavenly Father, that we might
cast all our care upon you and that we might lean not on our
own understanding, but look and trust to Him. and believe that
you will direct our paths direct our paths into faithful love
for our redeemer in faithful love to our brothers and sisters
and in faithful love to this world that you've put us in for
this time and for these circumstances our father may your son get great
glory heavenly father May your spirit come and be our comforter. And may all the praise and glory
and honor rebound to our dear and gracious Savior, in whose
name we pray and commit ourselves, our Father. Amen. Thank you,
Noel.