Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn with me to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2. My text will be found in verse
16 and 17. 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 behooved
him to be made likened to his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sin of the people. The title of the message this
morning is Christ's Sovereign Condescension and Reconciliation. Sovereign Condescension. He took not As you can see, this
is something that we are pressed to see throughout this book,
is the preeminence of Jesus Christ above all things. the preeminence of Jesus Christ
above all creatures, above the law, above the sacrifices. He must have the preeminence
in all things. This is what God has ordained.
And as you begin this book, he tells you that God in past times
had spoke to the prophets by visions, by dreams, but now the
fulfillment of those dreams, those types, those pictures has
come to pass because the Son is the anti-type. The Son is
the one in which all of these pictures pointed. And God has
spoken to us by His Son. By His Son. And now Paul, the
writer of Hebrews, his whole purpose here is to exalt Christ
and to show Christ to be preeminent above everything. And the first
thing he shows Him to be preeminent over is angels. Angels. I know we live in a culture that
is fascinated with demons and angels. Fascinated with them. Nobody knows much about them,
but they're sure fascinated by them. I tell you, I know very
little about them. I know this, they're servants
of God. They're holy beings. They're
powerful beings. But nowhere in Scripture does
God ever refer to an angel as a son. That's what the apostle
says. He being made so much better
than the angels, having obtained an inheritance, a more excellent
name than they, for which unto the angels said he at any time,
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. See thou, angels
are created beings. They're nothing less than created
beings. We are created beings, and so
are angels. But there is One who is not created,
and that is Christ. The Son of God was not a created
being. He created all things. He created the angels as well
as men. And God never called an angel
His Son, but Jesus, to Jesus He said, Thou art My Son. This
day. Now what day is that? What day
is this begetting? That was not 2,000 years ago
in the manger that He was begotten of God. No. That is an eternal
begotten. It's an eternal day. He was not
created, but rather the Creator. John says, all things, all things
were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made. That was made. So if it's made,
it was made by Him. It was made by Christ. The Son
of God always was in the bosom of the Father, always one with
the Father, and was daily His delight. But the angels were
not eternal. They're not eternal beings. But they were made just like
men are made, by Him. And these angels, these angels
though high creatures, though holy creatures and powerful creatures,
but listen, the Son of God is more powerful than they. Why? He made them and gave them their
power. And listen, He says of these
in verse 7, "...who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers
a flame of fire." That's what He does. These angels are for
His pleasure. They do His work. And I don't
know much about angels, but I know this, in the very last verse
of chapter 1, he said, "...Are not all ministering spirits sent
forth to minister to the heirs of salvation?" You know this,
that angels minister to you. They're sent to serve God's people,
to do His bidding for us and for our good. But listen, angels are no Messiah. Angels have no power to save.
And so our fascination with them is really should be limited to
what God says about them. And should not take it because
they're not meant to be saviors. Christ the Messiah was given
to be king over all of God's elect kingdom. It was given to
Christ, the anointed Son, that He should come to save His people so that
the world should come, should be put into subjection to us. Now, is that not amazing? He
came that this world should be put into subjection to us. Listen,
go over to chapter 2, and he says in verse 5, For unto the
angels hath he not put in subjection To the world to come. The world
to come. What is that but glory? Heaven. The new heaven and the new earth.
And when it comes, guess what? That will be put not to the angels'
subjection, but to us. It will be given to us. To the
heirs of salvation. And how is this going to be?
How is it that the world to come should be put in subjection to
you, to man? What is man? What is man that
thou art mindful of him to give him such an inheritance? The
only way you and I will enter into that world to come is through
Jesus Christ, through the work and person of Christ. This is
speaking of the gospel of Christ, how that He who was rich... How
rich is Christ? Well, He created all things.
He owns all things. All things are His. He who was
rich, God, very God, for your sake. became poor. Now what does that mean? He became
man, very man. For what purpose? That you, through
His poverty, might be made rich. Rich in salvation. Behold, then, the glory of Jesus
Christ, more excellent than the angels. He that is the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of His person, He was sent
to be a Savior. Now, it is true, angels are mighty
messengers of God. Scripture tells us in the very
first verse, the second verse, He said, "...the word spoken
by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward." Angels were ministers.
They were sent down on the Mount Sinai to deliver the law. They were given that. But I'll tell you this, God has
spoken now a better message than the law. A better message of
the law. And the Apostle says, therefore,
we ought to give more earnest heed. You ought to give earnest
heed to this because this is, if angels' words were steadfast,
how much more the Son of God? How much more steadfast is His
Word who created the angels and sent them with the message to
Sinai? You should take heed to His Word. How shall you escape if you neglect
so great a salvation? And this is our message, that
God was willing to save His people. This is our message, that God
was willing to save His people. Who are they? Not angels. For He took not The nature of
angels. How do I know that God is not
going to save angels from their sin? Because He took not the
nature of angels. This was a willing decision made
by God. It was a sovereign decision. God was willing to save men. to save His people, His sons. And that's something. None of
the angels did He call sons. He called His Son, Christ. But you know what He calls us
who believe? John says, now are you the sons of God. You, who believe on Christ, you
are the sons of God. And it was God's purpose to save
you, and that Jesus Christ, in order to save you, should be
made not after the image of angels, but rather take upon Him the
seed of Abraham. The seed of Abraham. Behold then
the sovereignty of God in salvation. that he would give no mercy to
angels who rebelled, but to men who rebelled against
God, that he has chosen to give some men unmerited mercy. Unmerited mercy. He chose some
by His eternal to be His adopted sons. He purposed to save some
through Jesus Christ. Our brother read it just a few
minutes ago in Ephesians 1. Scripture says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. He chose us according to his
own purpose in grace. Chose us before the foundation
of the world. For verily Christ took not on
him the form of angels, or nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham." You know, when Satan lifted up his heart
against God, he took many angels with him. Many angels rebelled
against God. And the Scripture says in 2 Peter
that they are bound in chains of darkness. It says in two places
in Peter, Go ahead and look in 2 Peter. Look in 2 Peter and
then we'll look to Jude. 2 Peter 2 and verse 4. For if God
spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down into hell
and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
judgment. And then look over in Jude. I'm
going to spend a few minutes here in Jude. Jude 6, it says, "...the angels
that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,
He hath reserved in everlasting chains of darkness unto judgment
of the great day." You remember that demoniac in Gadara when
the legion was in that man? What was his words to Christ?
Are Thou come to torment us before the time?" These were those angels
that fell. And there is appointed a day
for their damnation, that they shall be cast into everlasting
torments." And listen, there is no hope for them. No hope for them. Why? Because there was no Savior given
to them. No Savior. Now there are some angels that
were kept in their first estate. This is God's election of angels. He elected some to stay in their
first estate. And He truly showed mercy on
them, but to others there was not mercy, nor will there ever
be mercy, and none will be able to save them. They are damned,
damned, damned, damned forever. No hope. No hope. Knowing this
to be true, that God has reserved some angels and damned others,
how can any man believe that God then must save men? That He must. That He's obligated. This is the nature of man's thoughts
right here, that God is obligated to him. Lost men believe that. They believe God is obligated.
Because He is their Creator, He must do something. He must
save them. No, God's not obligated to you. You are obligated to God, but
He is not obligated to any man. If God passed by these angels,
how then is He bound or obligated to give salvation to man? He's
not. This shows us that salvation
is sovereign. It is by the sovereign election
and purpose of God that there is any salvation to those who
have sinned against Him. The Scriptures teach us constantly
that God is absolutely sovereign to give mercy to whomsoever He
will. And God is absolutely sovereign
to withhold His mercy. Listen, if God is obligated to
give mercy, then listen, it is no longer mercy. It's merit. If God is obligated to give you
mercy, then you are demanding His merit. You're demanding that
you have something to offer. But the Scriptures are plain. The Scriptures are clear. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, so then, it, salvation, election,
redemption, is not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth,
but God that showeth mercy." In our text, this is clearly
seen by God's sovereign grace to pass by these fallen angels
and send His Son to save Men, to save some of Adam's fallen
race, for he took not the nature of angels." And these words,
took on, in our text, took on means take hold of. Take hold
of. Jesus Christ did not take hold
of the nature of angels because He chose not to redeem them.
He chose not to obey the law and give them His righteousness. Therefore the angels who are appointed to a torment
have no hope of escape. So then if God passed by fallen
angels from heaven and spared not one that sinned, how can
anyone suppose that God should not pass by fallen sinful men? The truth is that God does withhold
mercy. God does withhold mercy from
some. Why? He's not obligated to give
it. He's not obligated to give it.
Look there in Jude with me, the same place it talks about those
fallen angels. Look at verse 4. He said, for
certain men crept in unawares. Now notice this. Pay attention.
Who were before of old Ordained to this condemnation. Ordained to this condemnation. These men, in verse 8, are called
filthy dreamers. He starts describing them after
he calls this out and says, yeah, there are some men that God is
not willing to show mercy to. They were ordained to this condemnation. And who are these men? Who are
they? Well, he describes them for us.
He says they're ungodly. They're turning the grace of
God into wickedness, licentiousness, and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. Who are they? Well, they're ungodly
men who will not believe on Christ. That's who they are. These men
ordained to damnation. Who are they? Ungodly men. They're
likened unto those Jews that crossed over and experienced
all the blessings of that old covenant. They went through the
Red Sea. They ate the manna. And yet,
listen, in verse 5 it says, "...that believed not." And then in verse
6 we have that about the fallen angels. He said they are ordained
to this condemnation just like the fallen angels. Just like
Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the ones that give
themselves over to lusts. And he calls them filthy dreamers
who despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. Verse 10,
they speak evil of those things which they know not But what
they know naturally as brute beasts, in those things they
corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! Listen, for they,
these that are ordained to condemnation, they have gone after the way
of Cain, ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, and
perished in the Ganges, saying, Of course, these filthy dreamers,
who are they? They're the ones gone after the
way of Cain. What's the way of Cain? Is that not works religion? Did not Cain bring the best of
his offerings to God? He worked hard, he got his fruit,
he brought it to God, and he said, God, here's my goodness,
here's my works. And God says, I will not accept
that. Why? He had already showed him
what he's accepted, the blood of another. Abel understood that. And he offered the blood. And
God accepted his offering. and rejected Cain. Are you going
after the way of Cain? Are you going to bring your goodness
to God? When you meet God, is that what you're going to bring?
Well, I went to a Baptist church. Well, I believed in Calvinism.
Is that the fruit you'll bring? Rejected. You'll find out then you were
ordained to this condemnation. Do you go after the way of Balaam?
What is that? Greed. Balaam was a prophet for
hire. He went after the riches of the
world. Is that what you go after? You go after the riches and pleasures?
Do you despise the gospel like Korah did? Korah, he's the one
that said to Moses, who are you? Who are you and Aaron to tell
us what to do? We're all the same. God said,
no, they're not. I ordained those men to tell
you what I said. And they perished. Everyone who preaches and believes
a false free will, works religion of this age and follows after
the lust of their flesh, who despises the grace of God, the
message of sovereign grace, these are all ordained to condemnation. Who are you to tell us that,
preacher? Who are we? I tell you because I know all
things. I do. I know all things. Scripture
tells me I know all things. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 20
says, you have an unction of the Spirit, the Holy One, and
you know all things. See, I know all things because
I know the Savior. I know who it is that saves and I know how
it is He saves. I know that. I remember when Peter was commanded
that angel, you remember he woke him up and said, you go and you
preach all the words of this life. What did he preach? Christ. All the words of this life is
Christ. And I tell you this, the Lord truly cometh to execute
judgment on all who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.
This is what is done by the doctrine of universal atonement. to preach
that Jesus died for all men without exception, to teach that God
loves all men without exception and desires to save all men,
if they'll just open their hearts to Jesus. If you'll just accept
Jesus. God wants to save you, but He
can't. That is a blasphemous doctrine. It's blasphemy. False gospel turns the grace
of God into a worthless message that God desires to save but
can't? That Christ shed His blood in
vain? That the Spirit, He's trying to get men by appealing to their
flesh? Isn't that what the false religion
is? Always appealing to the flesh. Always going after the flesh.
They say music, they say entertainment. All of that is very appealing,
isn't it? Sights and sounds and smells. And then they're trying
to use that as though the Spirit needs their help. That turns the grace of God into
lasciviousness. Listen, that's not our God. That's
not the God of this book. Our God is in the heavens and
has done whatsoever He pleases. So what has our God pleased?
Here it is. He took not on Him the nature
of angels, but took on Him the seed of Abraham. Now, when Adam, our father, died,
and I want you to see this. He took not... Go back to your
text. Look at this. Scripture says, He took not the
nature of angels, but took on Him the seed of Abraham. Have
you wondered why I said the seed of Abraham and not Adam? It says He took on the seat of
Abraham. Now, Christ is the second Adam. That's true. Adam was a representative
man. And even so is Christ a representative
man. In Adam, the Scripture says,
all died. Spiritually died with no hope. Now, when I described all those
things, about those who are ordained to condemnation. Can we not all
identify with that? Were we not all ungodly? Have
we not all tried to offer God our works? Have we not all despised
the gospel of grace at one time in our life? Yes! This is all
of us by nature. We're born dead in sins, living
only to sin. But praise God that Christ came
to take hold of God's people. This seed of Abraham shows us
that God sent Christ. He sent Christ to be the Redeemer
or the representative of Abraham's seed. the elect. Therefore, the believer,
the sons of God, we praise God the Holy Spirit for such quickening
grace, not by the fleshly excitement to appeal to our flesh, but He
came in power. He came in power to save us. He gave us a new nature. They
gave us a desire to be found only in Christ's righteousness. said of His Spirit, it is the
Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing." You see,
God sent His Son into the world to be made like unto the seed
of Abraham because He had a people. He had a chosen people. You know,
Abraham is a picture of the elect. And Scott in Luke, he just showed
us that when Christ came to Zacchaeus' house, you know what he said?
Salvation has come to this house for this man is a son of who?
Abraham. A son of Abraham. You see, God
sent His Son into the world to take on the flesh of His people. Abraham's seed. The seed of Abraham. And when Jesus Christ came into
this world in the flesh, He did it so as to represent His elect
people. Now I want you to understand
as He did that, He only represented His elect people. And when He
came into this world, He came to provide for us what we could
not provide for ourselves. Righteousness. Righteousness. Go to Philippians chapter 2. It says in verse 7, "...but made
himself." Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not
right to be equal with God, "...but made himself of no reputation,
but 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." over in Galatians chapter Chapter 4, it says in verse 4,
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth His Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou no more a servant
but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."
You see, Christ came to take our very nature. And by doing
so, He, through His work, earned righteousness. merited righteousness
by his perfect obedience to the law. And this, by being made
flesh, he was then also able to bear our sins in his own body
on the tree. In order to redeem us, in order
to reconcile us to God, he must have taken the seed of Abraham. And by doing so, he did reconcile
us to God. He reconciled us to God. Therefore,
I declare unto you that He is a successful Savior, a successful
Savior. Jesus Christ, He died for the
sins of His people. What a great blessing it is for
us that the Son of God took flesh and blood, took our flesh and
bone, made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, that He might
take the seed of Abraham, God's chosen race, that by His death
He might accomplish our redemption, and through His resurrection
that He might testify of our justification. And now then,
listen, our elder brother is in heaven. sitting down. Our text says that he should
be a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. Now
what does high priests do? They offer sacrifices to make the people acceptable
to God. This he did by the one offering. One offering. One offering. He has obtained eternal redemption
for us. by His one sacrifice. He hath perfected forever who? Them that are sanctified. All
that this high priest represented, He has redeemed them and reconciled
them to God. You know what? Zacchaeus was
already in the eyes of God redeemed. He was. Why? Because Christ is
as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. This was already
done. This was already done. And now our brother sits and
is moving all things in time and eternity for this one purpose,
to save his people from their sins. What is he doing? And notice this, you who believe,
you know why you believe? Because you are sons. Do you
get that in Galatians? He says, because you are sons.
The Spirit of God was sent to you, to send into your heart,
crying, Abba, Father. Because you are sons. And we believe because we were
chosen, because we were Christ's sheep. We were given to Him, and we
come to Him because we are His. And therefore, we do give praise
to God. We should thank God for this
Holy Spirit that has come to us. You see, there was no difference
between us and the others who He passes by. We all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Jesus says of His Spirit, it
is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, prophet of nothing.
Have you found that to be so? That which is born of flesh is
flesh. Isn't it still flesh? But that which is born of Spirit
is Spirit. I'm so thankful that the one will never contaminate
the other. Isn't that good news? That that which He has created
in us is holy and perfect. Even that old man cannot cannot
defile it." This is the good news of the
gospel, that God has sent His Son to take the nature of men,
the seed of Abraham, that He might reconcile His people. Now
then, in conclusion, what are sinners to do? With this understanding
that God has ordained some to condemnation and some to eternal
life, what's the question then? Which one am I? Which one am
I? What is a sinner to do? Listen. Repent and believe the gospel. Confess your sins before God. Confess your own depravity and
hopelessness. I was listening to Larry Criss
and he said, you know, he made a statement, he said, when God
got me lost, you know what, if God ever gets
you lost, That's a good place to be. Because everyone he gets
lost, he finds. And when we're lost, the only
thing we can confess is this, I deserve nothing but hell. Can you confess that? Do you
weep over your sins? You should weep over your sins.
that God would open your eyes to see the blackness and utter
ruin and hopelessness of your own soul that you cannot ever
earn His salvation. What should the sinner do? He
should detest his sin. Most sinners like to blame others
for their sin. Isn't that right? Well, it's
my mama's fault. My daddy's fault. It's everybody's
fault but mine. No, it's your fault. The only
thing you've got in this world is sin. That's yours. Everything
else is given to you. Sin is all your own. And you
know what? Sin, it brings nothing but sorrow
and trouble, and yet men still love it. You
should detest it. Death came by sin, so death passed
upon all men. You know, someone attacked my
family. attack my children, kill them. I would want justice. I want justice. How much more so God? Sin ruined His creation and He
demands justice. Next thing the sinner should
do is put himself in the means that God has chosen to save.
What is that? Right here. What we're doing.
This is it. This is the only means by which
God will save sinners. You're never going to go home.
You're never going to sit under there. You're never going to
just all of a sudden have an epiphany. No, this is the means. It's preaching the gospel. And
if you're lost, I suggest you put yourself under the only means
that God has chosen to do it. And what is the message of true
preachers? The message of false religion
is do. The message of true gospel preachers is this, done. He took on himself. the seed of Abraham. Done! Righteousness? Done! He died for sin? Done! Finished! What should the
sinner do? Believe on Christ. Turn from everything else and
fall at His feet for mercy. Repent and yield to God's sovereign
grace. Believe on Christ alone. You
see, faith in Christ is simple. It's not complicated. Faith is
nothing more than an empty hand that receives salvation. Receives it. No praise to the
hand. No glory to the hand. Matter
of fact, the power to receive comes from God. Faith itself
comes from God. It is to receive what Christ
has already accomplished. And faith, friends, is the only
evidence of our election and redemption. Those who believe, though we
were ungodly, though we did go after the way of Cain, though
we were not believers, now we can do nothing else. You know
what? I can't do anything else but
believe. I just can't. My flesh is always bringing up
objections. Does your flesh do that? Your
mind bring up objections? When you hear the gospel, God's
sovereignty, it often just flies up. And what must we do? Put
it down. I can do nothing else but put
it away. Turn from it because that's not true. Everything God
says is true. Let God be true. And every man
a liar. That's what we say. You see, my brother is a high
priest. He took on my nature so as to
save me from my sins as a representative. As a representative, he did everything
that I could not and should have done. He did everything. Therefore, he is a faithful and
merciful High Priest. That Scripture goes on to tell
us that He's even touched with the feelings of our infirmities. This should give us great hope
that God did not ordain us to condemnation, but eternal life. Through, only through Jesus Christ. I'm thankful that He took my
nature, that He did everything for me. And you know what? I
only want to be found in Him. I don't want anything else. Do
you? I don't want anything else. I want Him. And God ever blesses
to your heart.