seeking once again the help of God. I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read together, Hebrews chapter 2. And the text you'll find in verse 11. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

There are some parts of the Word of God which are outstanding, which are not able to really be grasped by human comprehension. Although the whole Word of God is like a beautiful diamond, there are some parts of that diamond that shine more brightly. And this is one of those parts.

As the scripture speaks to us of the one who sanctifies, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who are sanctified, which are his dearly beloved people, they're described as being one. They're described as being so knit together there doesn't seem to be any way to divide them. They're described as being knit together as one like a husband and a wife. They are described as being so united. that there's almost no way from the scriptural sense to divide them and yet we have a perfect Lord Jesus Christ and you have an imperfect church that is perfect in the Lord Jesus.

Every single one of the Lord's people are both sanctified, justified, righteous and yet sinful at the same time. All because of the finished work and the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ's life and his sacrifice and his resurrection. They are both one. And because they are both one He's not ashamed to call them brethren. Such is the relationship that Christ has accomplished. that those who were sinful and enemies of God has he so reconciled that they become brethren, brothers and sisters, not only between one another but also between them and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He has purchased them by his own heart's blood and he has brought them into the family of God. They are adopted. into that family. They have been grasped or snatched from the brink of destruction, from the brink of hell and they have been made nigh by the blood of the Lamb.

And as we come now to this time of year when everybody's mind looks back to the way by which the Lord Jesus Christ entered into this world, as he put on flesh his incarnation, when he made himself a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, yet he is crowned with glory and honour. And so as we come to this time of year and we come to remember the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and so much emphasis is placed upon Jesus Christ being a baby, yet that this baby, what he came to accomplish was a work that no man, woman, boy or girl could ever accomplish.

Sometimes when we look at babies when they are born, we wonder well what is this one going to achieve in his life? maybe or she is going to achieve in their life. And maybe they may grow up to be a member of parliament. Maybe they can grow up to be a successful surgeon or doctor. Maybe they may grow up to be a businessman, a business lady. Maybe they'll grow up to be a minister or a deacon or a Sunday school teacher or however it will be. Their life is spread out before them and they may accomplish many things in their life. but none of those things will ever come near to what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished in his life.

His life was designed by God to bring about the salvation of millions and millions of people, all who would ever trust in him. he came to do a work he is the one that sanctified he is the one that brought people from the darkness he is the one that dealt with the guilt of sin in their life he is the one who who makes those who were once sinful sets them apart for God he makes them holy he sets them aside for the use of God they are sanctified verse 9 it tells us there 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.

Verse 14, 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 has power of death, that is the devil. and to deliver them who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren. It was necessary for him. He couldn't come as an angel, He couldn't come just as God, but it was necessary for him to be made like his brethren, so that he could be the perfect substitute for their sin, that he could be the perfect Lamb of God, that he could be the perfect high priest for his people. It behoved him. It was necessary for him. to be made like his brethren and the only way that Jesus Christ could be made like his brethren was for him to be conceived of the Holy Spirit within the womb of the Virgin Mary and to be born into this world. A wonder of all wonders.

Hebrews, sorry, Isaiah 53, it tells us there, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. So I've written the wrong reference, He made, somewhere it says there, he made himself of no reputation, was not forced upon him. As we looked the other day of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was his food, it was his meat to do the will of the Father. It was what he longed for, what satisfied him, to do the will of his Father. He made himself. was not forced upon him to be born of the Virgin, to be born under the law of God, but he made himself of no reputation for the suffering of death. He made himself a little lower than the angels, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, both his human nature and his divine nature combined into one flesh, born as a baby, just like every single one of us.

The only way into this world is to be born of a woman. And to be born of a woman means to be born under the law of God. We are immediately subjects of the Almighty God falling underneath his law. And he grew up just like every single one of us. There was no difference. As Mary held him, there was no difference. You could not see any difference in him than any other baby. He was just like every other baby. He was fed. He was clothed. He was nourished. He grew up as a young boy. No doubt he played. He fed. His body functioned like every other body that is on this earth. He was made like his brethren. By all appearances, there was no difference. Even they said when he was ministering, is not this Joseph's son? Whose brothers and sisters we know. How has he learned these things? His appearance was the same as you and I. Yet his behaviour was different. If you remember when the Lord Jesus and Mary and Joseph and all the family as they descended upon Jerusalem for one of the feasts, the Lord Jesus was left behind and as he was there in the temple reasoning with the scribes and the doctors, Mary and Joseph were searching for him and they sought him sorrowing.

Luke chapter 2 verse 49 it says, And he said unto them, How is it that you sought me? Wist ye not that I should be about my father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man.

So it tells us there that the Lord Jesus Christ, although he was about his father's business from a young age, as he dealt with the, as he was asking questions in the temple, yet when rebuked by his father and mother, he subjected himself to them. He fell under their authority. authority that was theirs given to them by God as his earthly parents and so Jesus's behavior was different because he was here upon this earth to fulfill the whole law of God to love God with all of his heart soul and mind and his neighbor as himself to fulfill the whole law of God therefore part of that law is that children were to obey their parents.

And so Christ in his humanity submitted to the authority of his parents in order to fulfil the whole law of God that he could become the perfect sacrifice for sin, that he could become the perfect high priest. But his obedience alone did not sanctify or save his people. Jesus could not just live this perfect life without shedding his blood. It was not just the obedience that God was looking for. wasn't just the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have to rest in. The obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't cancel our sin. It doesn't cancel our debt, our guilt, which we owe to God. It just shows us that the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect, a righteous, holy man of God. We are lawbreakers and therefore for us to be sanctified, for us to be redeemed, justified, that law that we have broken has to be fulfilled, has to be satisfied.

And so therefore the sin which you and I have committed has to be imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you remember on the Day of Atonement, when Aaron or the high priest was to conduct that ceremony there at the Holy of Holies. He was to take two goats. One he was to slaughter and take its blood into the holy place and to sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and the Ark of the Covenant and upon the floor around about. but one he was to confess his sin and the sins of the people of Israel. He was to place his hand upon the head of the goat and that symbolically that sin was taken over by that goat and that goat was taken away far far away into the wilderness and that sin was done away with, a type, a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so as we see the perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we see the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified upon the cross. It is there that our hope lies, that our sin was imputed to Christ Jesus, our debt was imputed to Christ Jesus, and Christ paid the debt of death that we owe to God. And so it's not just his complete obedience to the law, but it is his sacrificial death upon the cross which deals with our guilt of sin. It's his death upon the cross which deals with what we owe God. The soul that sins, it must die. Satan said to Eve, you will not surely die. God says, you will die. And so those who are outside of Christ will experience that double death, the death of the body, then the death of the soul in hell.

But Christ Jesus, for his people, dealt with the death of the soul upon the cross at Calvary by experiencing the full wrath of Almighty God, contracted to a space of a few hours as he was there upon the tree. And it is there he drank up the cup of wrath. It was there. that he made an offering for his people and he became the one who sanctifies, the one who makes holy.

Hebrews chapter, if you read the whole of Hebrews actually, it has a lot to do with Christ's finished work and his sacrificial death and the effect that that death has had upon his beloved people. But Hebrews 10 verse 10 it says, By the which, or verse nine, then he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. By his death upon the cross, as God the Father punished his son for the sins of his people, as that wrath is finished, as that debt is paid, as Christ cries out, it is finished, His people are sanctified, their sin has been dealt with once and for all. There's no need for that continued sacrifice anymore at the temple, at the Holy of Holies. For Christ's sacrifice was far greater, was the fulfilment of all of the other sacrifices.

In Romans chapter five, And verse one, sorry, goes from chapter four, verse 25, who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we see there are these two words that the scripture uses. that Christ is the one who sanctifies his people but he is also the one who justifies his people. They are sanctified by his death but they're also justified by his death. Justification is their legal standing. If you remember that we have broken the law of God and therefore we are guilty before God. That law stands as broken. So Christ takes away the guilt of our sin. Christ removes the guilt from us by dying and paying the debt that we owe to God. Satisfying the law because the law cries you must die. You must spend an eternity in hell because of the consequences of your sin. That is our just reward for our sin. The wages by which we heap up over a life of sin.

But Christ pays that debt. Therefore that law is now complete. The sin is eradicated because the fine or the punishment has been dealt with. So we can legally be declared justified. because payment has been made in full, that the slate that is before God of our sin has been wiped clean by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand as sinless before the law. That's why Jesus says, or the word says, I cast your sins behind my back and I remember them no more. They're done. We're justified. We go from guilty to just. Therefore our state is that we are righteous.

The state, the condition of the believer before God is that we are sanctified. We have been made holy. It's what Christ has made us. for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified they are one. If you remember we looked at the Lord Jesus Christ dealing with those who were sick and especially as he came to those with leprosy. as other people backed away from that illness that would make them unclean before the law, unclean for worship. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ steps forward and instead of him being made unclean by the uncleanness, those with the leprosy are made clean. And so it is with Christ's sacrifice

We stand as lepers, we stand as guilty before the law of God. And Christ who is the one who sanctifies because he is holy, because he is perfect, he's able to sanctify the uncleanness, he's able to purify those who are defiled, he's able to raise the dead to life. And the effect of that justification and sanctification on the believer is that they desire to live a holy life. They desire to stay clean. They do not delight in sin or uncleanness. They desire to follow the Lord Jesus Christ because of all that he is to them. He is the one that has redeemed them. And such is their relationship with him that they are one. One with Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18. and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. And so not only is the believer one with Christ, not only is the believer one with each other, but the believer is also one with God. That God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself. It was God. God was the one who made the way of salvation. God was the one who thought up the plan of being able to satisfy his own law by sending his own beloved son into the world, by putting on flesh, by being made like unto his brethren so that he could die upon the cross to be that substitute for sin. The saviour of the world. And that he died for all, that they which live should henceforth not live unto themselves, but unto him which died for him. That is the effect of Christ's love bestowed upon his people. That as he lived and died for them, so they live and die for him in return.

that as they see themselves in Christ Jesus, as they see that God reconciling the world unto himself through the Lord Jesus Christ, they stand back in awe and they marvel and they say, could ever there be love like this? Could ever there be love like this? That he who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are of one. for he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

So I thought on that, you know, Ruth and Boaz that we looked at recently. Boaz was a wealthy man, able to redeem. Ruth, a foreigner, a poor girl, previously married, from her idol worshipping background had really nothing going for her, naturally speaking, for a rich wealthy man to buy her and to bring her to be his wife. Yet Boaz laid aside all of those imperfections and brought her to him. He was not ashamed of her. She was a foreigner. There were many things that he could have been ashamed of. But he chose not to be ashamed and saw in her that she was a faithful woman, that she had chosen the Lord to follow the Lord. and he took her to be his wife.

Sometimes in life we say oh I'm ashamed to be with that person or I'm ashamed that I said that or I'm ashamed of my previous life. Are there any things that we are ashamed about? And if anyone should be ashamed of us, it should be the Lord Jesus Christ. All that he has done for his dear people All that he has, that he made himself lower than the angels, that he humbled himself to be born of the Virgin Mary, to live a life that was in poverty and in despise and being rejected of men. that in his actions it was obvious that he was God yet by his miracles and yet by his life he lived a life of humbleness for his people.

When the time came for him to die His apostles were ashamed of him and they ran for fear. Jesus should be ashamed of us. None of us live the perfect Christian life. None of us shine as brightly as we could shine. None of us put to death sin in our lives as best we can. Often there are times we want to get as near to sin as possible as to be as worldly as possible. And it's Jesus that should be ashamed of us.

Yet he says that he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Peter was ashamed of Jesus when he denied him. I don't know him, never met him. Yet Jesus was not ashamed of Peter. He brought him, or as he looked upon him, Peter was brought to repentance over the sin that he had committed.

Christ understands our weakness, as we have read, that he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. He's able to be our high priest. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's able to succor them that are tempted. But he says, I'm not ashamed to call them brethren.

We sing, don't we, often at baptisings, ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend of whom my hopes of heaven depend. Are you ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you embarrassed to be called a Christian? The Lord Jesus Christ should be embarrassed of us because we're such failures to him. Yet he says, I'm not ashamed to call them my brethren. I have purchased them. I've redeemed them by my blood. I've brought them into my family. They are my brethren. And I'm not ashamed.

Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church, I will sing praises unto unto thee. And so the relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is him. It is all him. He is the one that sanctified his people. He's the one that made them holy. He's the one that set them apart by his complete obedience to the law of God. He's the one that justified them by his resurrection from the dead as Christ, as God the Father, dealt with our sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ, dealing with our debt, raising him again from the third day.

And all that he has done for us, he says, I'm not ashamed to call you my brethren. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.

Our final hymn is from Gatsby's 322, to the tune 806. 3-2-2, my soul now arise, my passions take wing, look up to the skies and cheerfully sing, let God be the object in praises addressed, and this be my subject, tis all for the best. 3-2-2.

Close your eyes, my passions take wing
Look up to the skies and cheerfully sing
Let love be the object and is me my subject, it is all for the best.

Search all the world through, make them in a sea, and what canst thou view more suited to thee
And this declaration in Scripture express,
That God thy salvation does all for the best.

O year, day by day, His love shall
Upon thee to lay his fatherly rock,
Yet be not dejected, however oppressed,
Though sorely afflicted. The beams of His grace are passing over
The smiles of His face are heaven on earth
Wintery He shows Him what joyful minds
When free from my claim, I'm bound to the skies.
Then gladly I'll enter my heavenly abode.

Almighty God, we do thank thee for the willingness of Christ Jesus to put on flesh that it was needful for him to be made like unto his brethren and we thank thee for that perfect work upon the cross at Calvary. We thank thee for dealing with the law. We thank thee, Lord, for the positive effects that it has upon thy people, that we are both justified and sanctified in thy sight. We pray that thou help us then to live a life that proves that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do then forgive us, we pray, of our many sins and help us never to be ashamed of the Lord Jesus and ashamed of thee. And Lord, we pray that Thou would dismiss us then with Thy blessing. Bless us as we meet together this afternoon.

And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with you each now and for evermore. Amen.