Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn back with me to Hebrews chapter 2. Our text will be found in verse
10 and 11. For it became Him, for whom are
all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
to glory. to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. The title of the message this
morning is, The Fitness of Christ, Our Captain. The Fitness of Christ,
Our Captain. It says, It became Him. Another
translation of this says, It was fitting. It was appropriate
for Him. For whom are all things, and
by whom are all things." This one we are speaking of this morning,
this description that the apostle here gives refers to both the
Father and the Son. It could easily be fit both of
them, for both are said to be the creators and sustainers of
all things. In the beginning, God. created
the heavens and the earth. This speaks of the Father, because
in that section there, we read that God created, and He said,
let there be light, which is a picture of the Son, and then
the Spirit moved upon the face of the water. We have the blessed
Trinity there, that the Father created, the Son is the light
of the Gospel, and the Spirit moves. Well, this is also heavily
ascribed to the Son, who is Himself God. And this word for Him, for it
becometh Him, it is said in verse 9, but we see Jesus. So we know
this is not speaking of the Father, but rather the Son. The Son. We see Jesus. And it became Him. Who? Jesus. And what does the
Apostle say about Him? That He is the Creator of all
things. He is the Creator of all things. In Colossians, the
Apostle Paul says this of the Son, all things were created
by Him and for Him. And He is before all things and
in Him all things consist. The Apostle John in the beginning
of his book said, the Word, in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was made flesh, and the Word dwelt among us. And
he says this, that all things that were created, made, were
made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Now that excludes all doctrines
that believe that Christ is a created being. No, all things that were
made were made by Him and not anything was made without Him. Therefore, He must exist before
all things that were created. This is the One who is the eternal
Son of God, the eternal Son of God. Therefore, the apostle, by this
assertion, confirms his deity, confirms this one whom we're
talking about, Jesus of Nazareth, is none less than God the Son,
God manifest in the flesh. I remember there was a Unitarian
preacher who had a Baptist preaching brother. Of course, the difference
is they didn't believe in the Trinity. They didn't believe
that there were three distinct persons in the Trinity. And he
told his brother who was going to preach for him, he said, I
don't want you to preach anything controversial. And of course,
he meant not anything about the Trinity. And so he stood up and
he read that text that says, without controversy. Without
controversy. This is not controversial. God
was manifest in the flesh. And this is without controversy,
Jesus Christ is God. So when we speak of Him, we know
this, He is deity, God, a very God, Creator and Sustainer of
all things. And yet, consider this, consider
Him who was willing, who is God, very God, yet He was willing
to be made fresh. He was willing to condescend
from heaven to come and dwell among His people. This is what
the Apostle is talking about in this whole section, about
Christ coming down, being made lower than the angels. Jesus
Christ was willing to be made a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. You think you're familiar with
grief. There was no one more familiar with grief than Christ.
He was the only righteous man that ever lived among a world
of sinful men. Imagine if you could read every
man's thoughts, know every man's heart. How would you feel about
this world? And yet He is righteous. Sin
could not touch Him. We might be even allured by some
of the thoughts of wicked men. But He was not. He was only oppressed
by it. He was only wounded by it. He was a man of sorrows. And
our text says, yet it was fitting. It was becoming. It was appropriate
for the Son of God to be made flesh and to bring many sons
to glory. Why? Listen, because only God
could save. That's it. Only God could save. If there
was a possibility of some other way that God could save sinners
than sending His own Son into this world, no doubt He would
have done it. Yet, this being the only way,
is that God must work salvation for us. If there is to be any
salvation of men, God must do it. Salvation is no simple task. Salvation is, with you and me,
impossible. It is impossible for us. Scripture says this, that he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. That's not complicated,
is it? He that believeth? And we know
baptism is only a confession, that has nothing to do with salvation,
it's only a confession of faith. But consider this, faith is impossible. Faith is not possible for man. As a matter of fact, the Lord
Jesus Christ says, this is the work of God that you believe
on Him whom He has sent. John chapter 6, I believe it's
verse 29. He said, this is the work of
God that you believe. Only faith itself being the only
thing we need is something that we cannot provide, much less
all of the other things that salvation requires. Righteousness,
atonement for sin, Justification, sanctification, redemption, all
of those things none of us could provide. And yet, only God could
provide what we need. Therefore, it was fitting that
only God the Son should come and be made flesh. It was fitting. Second of all, it was fitting
because of this, because it was the purpose of God. It was appropriate
that Christ should come and be made flesh because this was the
will of God. from the beginning. God's eternal scheme of salvation
lies in the self-giving of the Son. It lies in the very free
and gracious gift of Himself, which is only consistent with
His nature. You see, God is the God of all
grace. So it's only becoming of God to be gracious. That's
just natural for God to be gracious and not just slightly gracious.
We're slightly gracious. I'm sure that somebody pulled
up a seat for these folks over here. How gracious of you. No,
that's not gracious. That's only slightly, only a
little bit. But God who is infinite, infinitely gracious. It is appropriate
then for God to display such graciousness so as to purpose
that His Son should be the only Savior for sinners. That He should
give Himself. It is only fitting that God would
be, of all grace, would be so gracious to give His only begotten
Son, the eternal object of His eternal love and affection. to take upon Him not the seed
of angels, but rather the seed, the nature of Abraham, the nature
of those that did not and could not ever merit His salvation." The Apostle writes this in Romans,
he says, you know, for a righteous man, some might die. For a good
man, some would peradventure, even more people might die for
a good man. But listen, God commendeth His
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. How much more gracious then is
it that God would send His Son for those who do not deserve
His Son? Those who could not by any stretch
of the imagination merit His sending His Son. Therefore, nothing,
I want you to let this sink in, nothing, nothing compelled God to send
His Son. Nothing obligated Christ to come
except His own sovereign free will. That's it. The only thing
that obligates God is God. The only thing that motivates
God is God. So for God to send His Son, it
was based on no merit in the objects of His love. In other words, God didn't send
His Son based on your deserving it or your meriting it. God sent His Son based only on
His sovereign purpose. Nothing except only God's sovereign
grace and love sent His Son. God is only obligated to save
then those that He purposed to save. In the eternal covenant
of grace, and none of those ever merited His salvation. None of them ever
obligated God to save them. See if I can show you this in
Scripture. Go to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 36. In this passage, this is a beautiful
picture of the covenant of grace. The covenant of God's promise. Ezekiel chapter 36. We'll be
looking at verse 22, but if you were to read this whole thing,
it says so many beautiful things. I will take you from among the
heathen. I will gather you out of the countries of your own
land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you. I will cleanse you
from all your filthiness, from all your idols. Will I cleanse
you? A new heart will I give you, a new spirit will I..."
Is that not salvation? That's salvation. Salvation is
God giving us, taking us from among the sinners, giving us
a new heart, sprinkling us with the clean water which is His
blood, speaking of His Spirit and His blood. And He gives us
a new nature. This is the gospel. But yet,
why is this given to us? Why are we objects of such a
wonderful, eternal purpose? Look at God says in 22, Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, I do not
this for your sakes, O house of Israel. Why do you
do it? For mine own holy namesake. which you have profaned among
the heathen, whether you went." Why is God doing what He's doing?
God does what He does because He's God, and He purposed to
do it. This salvation that we have is
a free gift of God. It is according to the eternal
purpose of God. Go over to Romans 9. Look at verse 11. Speaking of these two
men born of the same mother and father, He said, "...for the
children, being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said to her,
the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." When did God love Jacob and hate
Esau? Well, my Bible says before the
children were not yet born. Neither having done good or evil.
Why? That the purpose of God according
to election might stand. You see, everything God does
is for His own glory. Everything God does is according
to His own purpose in grace. His own purpose. Was there unrighteousness with
God? That's what you're going to ask me. Is that unfair? Is that unjust? It's what Paul
asked in the next verse. He said, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For He saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. What is the purpose of God? The
purpose of God is according to election. Why did Christ come
into the world? To save sinners? He came because
it was the purpose of God. It was befitting for Him to come.
It was appropriate for Him to come because God willed that
He should come. And what does He say? In the
volume of the book, it is written of Me to do Thy will, O God. By that will, the will of God
that Christ performed, You are sanctified. You're made holy
according to the purpose of God. We by nature, now we by nature
have only and always sinned. David said, I've came forth from
the womb speaking lies. I love my children. I did not
teach you to lie. They picked that up all by themselves.
So did I. So did you. Because by nature
we were dead in trespasses and sins. All we could do was sin
against God. By nature we were dead. The purpose of God's election
is grace and not works. If I were to lay a corpse in
front of you, do you suppose it would get better? Do you suppose
the corpse would get better? No. What is the nature of a dead
body? It is to decompose. It is to
stink. And that is what we are by nature.
Do you know what? You don't get better as you get
older. You don't get better. The nature
only becomes worse. You take a corpse and you lay
it out, it will not get better over time. You could take the
best teachers, the best instruction, and give it the brightest encouragement.
Will that change its nature? No. Dead is dead. Dead is dead. And it can only
remain so unless a miracle takes place. A miracle. So it is with man by nature,
we being dead in sins cannot by any power of self-righteousness,
by any appealing to God, can we ever take the first step towards
God. Because we're dead. We're dead. Yet this is the message of all
false religion is that you must do something to move God. You
must do something to earn God's favor. The message of false religions,
you must work to merit God's acceptance. You must exercise
free will, and God will respond to your decision and save you.
No, that's not what the book's saying. It's befitting that He
came because it was the purpose of God for Him to save. The Scripture
has said, there is none righteous, no, not one. Well, preacher,
what if somebody gets this book and understands it? What if they
understand it? Well, if they understand it,
God will save them. God will save them. But the Scripture
says none understand it. But what if a man really seeks
after God? Well, if he seeks after God, he'll be saved. But
you know what the Scripture says, there's none that seeketh after
God. They are all together become unprofitable. What if He does
His best? What if He does really hard and He works really hard?
Will He be accepted? No! Because He can do no good. There is none that doeth good.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in His sight. So, what then is the motivation
of God to send Christ? What was His motivation? If you
and I can do nothing, If nothing can move God, nothing we can
do, nothing we can merit can move God, then what moved God
to send His Son? The only motivation for God to
send His Son, the only reason for God to send His Son into
this world to ransom sinners is His own glory. You want to know why the world
spins? Why you're here? Why they're out there? Why this
message is being preached? Why it's not being preached in
other places? You know why? The glory of God! Everything
is moving for the glory of God. That's it. Not complicated. It's just the man by nature won't
believe it. God is doing everything according
to His glory. Second of all, for whom then did Christ come
to save? If it was befitting of Him that
only God could save, and God purposed to save, then who did
God purpose to save? Look at your text. Go back. For
it became Him, it was appropriate for Him, who is God, for whom
all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory." It was fitting for God to send His Son made in the
flesh for the purpose to bring many sons to glory. Who are these
sons? In Scripture, the sons of God
are revealed plainly to be the elect of the Father. The elect of the Father. In Matthew 20 and verse 28, it
said, The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many. In our text, it says that He
should bring many sons. Now, the eternal purpose of the
Father in sending His Son to give His life a ransom was not
for all men without exception. God did not send His Son to die
for all men without exception, but rather for many. For many. If it were the purpose of the
Father..." Listen very carefully, since God is God, and He says,
"...our God is in the heavens, hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased." God says, "...I am God, and there is none else,
declaring the end from the beginning, saying, All My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all My pleasure." It's in Isaiah 46. If God purposed to save all men
without exception, you listen very carefully, there would be
no hell. There would be no hell. But here in our text, we see
His purpose to bring many sons to glory. And these sons are
limited. They're limited to those that
the Father hath chosen before the world began." I'll make it good according to
the Word of God. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians
chapter 1. Paul says, blessed be the God
and Father, verse 3, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him. Chosen us in Him. When? Before the foundation of
the world. And for what purpose did God
choose them before the foundation of the world? What is His purpose? That they should be holy. All
that the Father chose, He purposed and decreed should be holy. They should be holy and without
blame before Him. And what is the motivation? Love. In love. having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children." So when were we to be sons? When were these sons chosen?
They were chosen sons before the foundation of the world. Now listen, all men are God's
creatures. All men are God's creatures. And no doubt, our
God is very compassionate toward His creatures. If you are living
today, that is a manifestation of His compassion. You know what
would have been just? When Adam sinned, God would have
sent him to hell and there would be no race. That would be just. That's what we deserve. But God,
by grace and mercy, does spread His compassion. Remember the
rich man who went to hell? Abraham told him, he said, you,
my son, have received of thy lifetime good. Where did that
good come from? It came from God's compassion.
So yes, God is compassionate to man. God, by giving them life
and any goodness they have, it comes from God. Yet, not all men are God's sons. Who are God's sons? Those that
God chose before the foundation of the world. Go over to John chapter 8. I'll
show it to you again. Another viewpoint of this. Who
are God's sons? They are those that believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who God's sons are. And not everybody is God's son.
Look what Jesus said to these Pharisees. Verse 44, John chapter
8. You are of your father the devil. Now, is he saying the devil created
them? The devil gave birth to them?
No, it's not what he's saying. He's saying they are after their
father, the devil. They follow their father. They
imitate their father. Which is what? They do not believe
on the Son of God. Jesus said, you are of your father
the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. All who believe
not on Christ have one father to claim, even the devil, even
because they imitate their father, the father of unbelief, the father
of lies. And they will not follow Christ,
but rather follow the lust of their own flesh. Jesus tells
him in verse 42, if God were your father, See, God's not your
Father, if God were your Father. Now here's a manifestation of
the elect. If God were your Father, you
would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither
came I of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand
my speech? I love that Jesus answers his
own question, even because you cannot. You who do not believe, you realize
this, you cannot believe. You cannot. I told you before, except God
give you faith, you can't. You won't. But all the sons of
God, those chosen of God, purposed of God, they believe on Christ because
God purposed them to be holy. The sons of God in the free covenant
of grace are adopted sons who were to be made holy, not by
their works of obedience in the flesh, but by the obedience of
Christ. Therefore, our text says, it
became Him in bringing many sons to glory because it was the purpose
of the Father that He do this. and to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. This is the divine covenant of
God's grace. The Lord Jesus Christ, in order
to bring many chosen sons to glory, God made Him to be the
captain of their salvation. Those that God chose, He made
Him to be captain. This word could be translated
champion. You remember David? David, when he stood before Goliath,
he represented all Israel. He was the champion of Israel. And Goliath, he was the champion
of the Philistines. And whoever won, the whole kingdom
won. Got that? It is a representation. He represented all of Israel. Even so, Jesus, God purposed
that Jesus should be the representative man of all His sons. You remember when Genesis 43, when there was a
famine in the land, And Joseph had stored up all that grain,
and he said, I won't give you any grain unless you bring Benjamin. And you remember Jacob, he had
already thought he had lost Joseph. And he said, that's Benjamin,
he's my only son left. I will not let him go. I love
him. I will not let him go with you. I let my other son go with you,
and he died. And you think I would let him
go with you? And you remember what Judas said? Judas said,
I will be surety for the lad. I'll be a guarantee. If I bring
him not to thee, let me bear the blame. as exactly what the Holy Spirit
intended was to show us Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says
this by prophecy, I will be a surety for thy sons. And if I bring them not all to
thee, let me bear the blame. You see, the captain of my salvation
took full responsibility for the salvation of those many sons. Those sons that God gave to Him,
He bore them all. He represented every one of them. And what does the apostle say
of his salvation? To make the captain of our salvation
perfect. It's just becoming. That the
Son of God should be made flesh in order to do what? Perfect
our salvation. Accomplish our salvation. This
is what He came to do. He came to accomplish salvation. Not make salvation possible.
If He made salvation possible, none of us would be saved. But
rather, Jesus came and accomplished salvation. He finished salvation. The giant is slain. Satan is
bound. Sin has been put away. Righteousness
has been obtained by His one offering. He has forever, forever
obtained eternal redemption for us. Hebrews 9 verse 12. what
the blood of bulls and goats could not do, what your righteousness
could not do, what your works could not do. Jesus Christ has
come and He has accomplished our salvation by the sacrifice
of Himself once for all. Once for all. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. This is our hope. This is all my hope, is that
the captain of my salvation was made perfect through His suffering. When God laid on Him the iniquity
of us all, when the vengeance of God fell on Him once and He
suffered, I know it appeared. to the world
and to Satan that he was a loser. Still appears that way to men.
But I tell you, it was only an appearance. Because he was victorious. You remember he said this with
a loud voice. It is finished. salvation that God required,
He provided. And all of this not based on
any merit in its objects, but rather only for His own free
and sovereign grace and glory He did this. He did it. He's finished it. The righteousness
of God Christ accomplished and merited He bore the reproaches
of all his people, the reproaches of them that reproached thee
fell on me, and God says of him, I'm satisfied." Satisfied. The victory of our champion.
So that when justice was exhausted, I like that, justice had beat
on him and punished him until it was exhausted. He didn't have
any more strength. He did it. It's done. And then
when God proved it, when He raised him from the dead and sat him
on the right hand of glory, let us lay hold of this by faith
that nothing he did was partial, conditional, or temporary. Do you get that? Nothing he did
was partial. He didn't leave anything for
you to do. He didn't leave anything for you to earn. It wasn't conditional
based on something you should do for Him. Nor was it temporary. It's not
something that He gives you and takes away. But the salvation
of Christ was accomplished through suffering, and nothing was left
to chance, nothing left to man's feeble decision or commitment. Jesus' work is finished. It is
a perfect work. And Jesus did save His people
from their sins. When He died 2,000 years ago,
He saved me from my sins. Now, I did not experience it
until recently. I did not know it until recently.
I did not know it until He manifested it to me. I like this Scripture
in Galatians. It says, Because you are sons,
God sent forth His Spirit into your heart, crying, Abba, Father.
Now, why did God send forth His Spirit into your heart, crying,
Abba, Father? Because you're sons. You see,
you're not sons because He sent His Spirit. You're sent His Spirit
because you're sons. Has He sent His Spirit into your
heart, crying, Abba, Father? Has He sent His Spirit to expose
your sin and incapability of saving yourself? Has He caused
you to turn to faith in Christ alone? That is a complete work
of God, as a work of grace, because you were already His sons. He
had already finished your salvation before you knew it. So then therefore, all that the
Father giveth me, Jesus said, understand this, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. I am so amazed of the surety
of His words. I can't speak like that, can
you? I am going to eat as soon as I leave here. Maybe, maybe
not. I don't know. I intend to. I
just can't speak that sure. But He said of salvation, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. I came down from
heaven. Not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me." And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all He has given me, I should lose nothing. I love that. Nothing. How many
will He lose? Nothing. Nothing. Why? Because He is the champion of
our salvation. He's the champion. He's won it. Victory is won. And what He is
doing right now upon the throne of God is He is moving all things
to call His people through the preaching of the gospel. That's
what He's doing. And you that believe, I'm going
to give you this and I'm going to let you go. I'm sorry, I know it's running
a little long, but I want to give you this for your comfort.
Verse 11, for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified.
Now, sanctification, a lot of people have an idea of sanctification
as something progressive. They think it's some kind of
progressive holiness, as though you are holy and you can be holier. No. Holiness is an all or none
principle. You're either holier or not. It's not a mediocre holiness.
You're either holier or not. Progressive sanctification is
a belief that God has started something by grace and finishes
it by your obedience. No, I just told you it's done.
The work's finished. Now, true, you grow in grace.
You grow in love. You grow in faith. You grow in
knowledge. You don't grow in holiness. Holy is that principle
that God purposed for you, Christ earned for you, and the Spirit
puts in you in the new nature. It's yours. You have it. And
surely we grow in this. But this sanctification that
is meant here is not the sanctification of our election, which we were
sanctified of God, set apart by God in eternity in election.
But rather this is the sanctification when the Spirit comes and quickens
us, gives us a new life. This is the sanctification. Therefore,
He that sanctified sanctified you in election. He that sanctifieth, and they
that are sanctified." Those who are sanctified by the Spirit
of God through belief of the truth. Isn't that what he says
in 2 Thessalonians? We are bound always to give thanks
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, that God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. So, you that have the sanctifier
and the sanctified. Now listen. You're all of one. This speaks of your union with
Christ. You are one with Him. One. You, the sanctified, are one
with the sanctifier. And what's the result of this
union? He is not ashamed of you. He's not ashamed of you. So often I'm ashamed of me. I'm ashamed of my sins, my lack of faith, my lack of
obedience to Him. But one comforting factor is,
God, He's never ashamed of me. I am not ashamed to call them
my brethren. Why? I'm one with Him. One with Him. Why? Because it became Him who
is God. to be made flesh, because God
purposed to save sons, which Christ came in the flesh, and
as the champion of our salvation, hath accomplished our redemption,
accomplished our righteousness, and now by His Spirit has sanctified
us through belief of the truth of this gospel, and we are one
with Him, and He is never ashamed of us." He'll never be ashamed
of me. Why? My righteousness is His righteousness. My atonement is His. He is all
my salvation and I am nothing. I recognize that. I believe that. Only by the grace of God. I pray
that God bless this to your hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.