If you will, take your Bibles
and turn back with me to Hebrews 2. And our text will be found
in verse 16. The title of the message is,
The Sovereignty of God's Mercy. The Sovereignty of God's Mercy. The Scripture says, For verily,
he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham." Now, in this chapter of the book of Hebrews,
we've been studying in this a few times in the last month, we are
pressed to see this, that Christ is of all importance. That's what this book is all
about. It is about how that Christ Jesus is better than all the
Old Testament types and shadows. He is better than the angels
who are God's servants. Paul reminds us that nowhere
in Scripture Does God ever refer to an angel as a son? But rather, they are ministering
spirits. Angels are servants of God and
servants of the heirs of grace. Look back in verse 14 of chapter
1. He said, Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? The angels are not better than
Christ because Christ made the angels. Christ made all things. He is the eternal Son of the
living God. He saith to Christ, Thou art
my Son. This day have I begotten thee."
What day was that? Can anybody tell me what day
he was begotten? It's an eternal day. He was the
eternal begotten son of God, because he is equal with the
Father and the Spirit. He is himself God. Therefore, he made all things.
And John says, without Him was not anything made that was made. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
created. He is the Creator of all things. And He sustains all things by
the word of His omnipotent power as He sits on the throne of heaven
as a man. The universe spins. at His will. The rain descends at His will. The grass grows at His will. The wind blows at His will. And men do whatsoever He wills. Men do whatsoever He wills. He
has made all things He was in the bosom of the Father, and
He was daily God's delight. Daily. From eternity, He was
God's delight. But the angels were not eternal.
They were made of Christ. Christ made them, just as He
made man. And as it is written of God in
His Word, that the Messiah, the Savior, was given to be the King
of all God's elect. It was given to Christ, the anointed
Son, that all things should be subject to him. It's what we
read earlier. He says, what is man that thou
art mindful of him and the son of man, thou visitest him, thou
madest him a little lower than the angels and crownest him with
glory and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands.
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him, but we see Jesus, whom that text testifies of,
made little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor.
Jesus Christ, he became a man, but he himself is the eternal
Son of God. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ tells us of the great mercy of
Christ's condescension. The scripture says, though he
was rich, how rich was Christ. How rich was Christ in all the
praise of the holy angels. How rich was Christ in the praise
of all creation! When He had created all things,
all things praised Him. God put all things in subjection
to Him. He was ordained to be the Savior
of God's people. And yet, God willing to save
His people, He put them in His only begotten Son from eternity. This is the mercy of God that
He would actually save any of Adam's fallen race. It's mercy. It's mercy. And because of his great love,
because of his great love wherewith he loved us from eternity, he loved us and
chose us in Christ, whom he loved. and that Christ should be made
subject to the law of God to save the souls of men, and not to save anyone else. God has sent Christ to save His
people from their sins. Behold the sovereignty of God
in our text. Look back at your text and behold
the sovereignty of this, that Christ, who was rich in glory
He came and took on Himself flesh and blood. Scripture says, for
verily He took not on Him the nature of angels. The sovereignty of God in His
salvation. That God would have no mercy
whatsoever to fallen angels. You remember in the beginning,
before the creation of the world, the angels enjoyed praising God,
but yet there was one Lucifer, the son of the morning, the most
beautiful of God's angels he had created, and his heart was
lifted up with pride and said, I will ascend to be like the
Most High. And not only did he raise his
heart in pride, he took one-third of the heavenly host with him. One-third of the angels in rebellion
were cast down with Lucifer, cast down with Satan. What did God do for those fallen
angels? Absolutely nothing to save them from their damnation. He sovereignly did nothing. For verily, Christ the Savior,
the Redeemer, the only hope for sinners. For verily, Christ did
not take hold of the nature of angels. Why? Because God sovereignly
chose not to show them mercy. Hold your place here, flip over
a few pages to Jude. Jude, verse six. Well, let's read verse five.
It says, I will therefore put you in remembrance. Remember
what? Though you once knew this, how
that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
afterward destroyed them that believed not, and the angels
which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,
he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, under
the judgment of the great day." Do you see the sovereignty of
God in this? the fall of these angels? Yes,
there are elect angels. In other words, God sustained
two-thirds of his angels for himself, and one-third God sovereignly
allowed to rise in pride against him. Why? That he might show
himself sovereign. You see, everything God does
is for his own glory. If man would stop thinking so
highly of himself and start seeing God as the all-powerful, almighty,
omnipotent God, then we would understand that God does all
things for himself. God does all things for his own
glory. Oh, that God would bow my stubborn
heart to that, truly understand His greatness. The sovereign mercy of our God
was given to two-thirds, but the other third that fail, they
are right now and have been from the beginning in chains of darkness
waiting for judgment. Why? There is no hope for them. I think we have this mindset
that all things are possible. In this society, in this culture,
we say, well, there's got to be a way. There's got to be a
way. I understand that ingenuity.
People say, well, man, this has got to work. This has got to
fit somehow. We can do this. We can if we
just put our minds to it. Friends, no matter how hard the
angels that fail try to relieve themselves of these chains, no
matter how hard that they would, if they would turn over a new
leaf and they would from now on be holy, God would still have
them in chains for the one act of rebellion. Forever. Forever. No hope. No hope. No hope. And knowing this to be true,
how can any man believe that God must save anyone? Knowing that He keeps these angels
in eternal damnation, ready for eternal damnation, How can any
man blaspheme God and say he must do something? God must do
only his will. That's what God must do. Because
only his will is good. Only his will is right. If he passed by these angels, how then can man bind God to
save him. The Scriptures teach us constantly
that God is absolutely. And I mean that with as far as
you can take that word, take it. Absolutely. Completely. Perfectly. As far as we can understand
that word, God is absolutely sovereign in all things. in all things. He says, I will do my own will.
Who shall stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? You? Me? No. None of us. In Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter
9, This is very explicit, very plain. In verse 15, it says,
for God saith unto Moses, I will. What will God do? I will have
mercy. Praise God. I'm so glad that
he will have mercy. That's good news, because I'll
tell you what, I need mercy. I need mercy. But I also recognize
this, he will have mercy on whomsoever he will have mercy. I have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, salvation is not of him that
willeth. How can people miss that? Well,
if you're just willing. If God is willing. If God is willing. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. What is running? Works. Religion. The exercise of vain,
empty ceremonies. Vain and empty promises. That if you will do this, then
God will save you. If you do this, then God is bound
to save you. What a lie! God is not bound
to save you. If He saves you, He does it because
He graciously will. sovereign mercy. In this text, we can clearly
see by God's sovereign grace that He passed by these fallen
angels and sent the only Savior, His only chosen Savior, to save His elect people which
are from the sons of men. I am so thankful that Christ
took not on Him the nature of angels. Why? Because if He took
on Himself the nature of angels, He could not have represented
us. He could not have saved us. We needed a substitute. We needed
a mediator. We needed someone to become a
man so that He might be our federal head and redeem us from our corruption. And if He was an angel, I'm not
an angel. And I know you mean well when
you call my children little angels, but they're not either. They're
not angels. I'll tell you what, praise God.
Praise God. God came to save men. See, God truly would be gracious
to save angels, but how much more gracious is He to save man?
What is man? What is man? What are we? Nothing but full of sin and unrighteousness. Our every thought is wicked. Our every action by nature is
against God, and yet he still will have mercy on the sons of
men. He took not the nature of angels,
but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. He took hold. Again,
to take on means to take hold. It means to grab out of. You see, God sent His Son to
grab us out of the justice that hung over our heads. He grabbed
us as a bran out of the burning. of the same lump. He has made his children vessels
of honor according to his own sovereign mercy. Jesus Christ
took hold of our nature. He took hold of our nature so
that he could redeem us. I want you to see this. I know
it's out of the way, but I need you to see this. Look over in
Jude again. Flip over back there. If you're lost this morning,
I pray that God, by His Spirit, would really send this to your
heart, because this is so. For there are certain men crept
in unawares, who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of God
into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Did you catch that? He said there
are certain men crept in. Well, what does that mean? He
said there are certain men who come in seeming religious. I
mean, you know, if someone came in and they were vilely wicked
and you had a reputation, you'd know it. But these guys didn't
have a reputation for evil. They crept in under the radar. These were religious men. Yet
they were before of old ordained to this condemnation. And these men, they turned the
grace of God into a great evil. These religious men are filthy
dreamers. Filthy dreamers that defile the
flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. These are those that go by the
way of Cain. Look at that in verse 11, woe
unto them. For they have gone the way of
Cain. What is the way of Cain? Is that not works religion? Did
Cain not bring forth the fruit of his own works? And God said,
rejected, I will not take your cursed sacrifice of your hands. Everyone who believes that salvation
comes by works or that salvation is made effectual by the act
or will of man has gone the way of Cain. And if they continue
in that, they've been ordained to condemnation. Everyone who preaches the false
gospel of freewill works religion, they've gone the way of Balaam.
Who is Balaam? He's that false prophet that
preached for gain. Preached for gain. To be recognized. You see, the
false religion of this world desires to have your flesh. They desire to have your works
to prove their ministry. Well, look at the multi-millions
of people I have. Surely I must be sin of God.
No. No. There's no outward evidence
of that. God sends the only evidence that
a man has is he preaching the gospel. Is he preaching the gospel? Is God's people giving him an
audience? Does God's people hear the message
of the gospel and feed off of it? Then we know that we are
called of God. Not by outward circumstances.
I'm not here to gain wealth or prosperity
or fame. God's men. preach the gospel
of God's grace. But I'll tell you, some men are
filthy dreamers. And some have gone the way of
Korah in speaking out against the gospel of God's grace. Remember,
Korah is the one. He rebelled against Moses and
Aaron. He said, Who are you? Who are you? Aren't we all the
same? Don't we have all the same gift?
Are we all the children of God? No, we're not. We're all God's
creation. We're not all God's children.
Jesus told those Pharisees, he said, you are your father, the
devil. I had a man ask me the other
day, he said, who are you? to claim that you know how it
is a man can be right with God. Who am I? Nobody. Nothing. But God says, thus saith the
Lord. That's what Moses said. He said,
hey, I'm not going to argue with you. Let God decide the fact.
Let God decide. And sure enough, God swallowed
that man up. Truly, the Lord will execute
judgment on everyone who has gone in these ways and not believed
on the gospel of God's grace in Christ. This is what is done by the doctrine
of universal atonement, to preach that Jesus died for all men without
exception and to teach that God loves all men because of their
will. He is frustrated. And the blood
of Christ was shed in vain for their sins. That's blasphemy. That's not another way of looking
at the gospel. That's completely another gospel,
which is not another. Their God is not God. Their Christ is not Christ. And
their spirit is not the Holy Spirit. Why? Because their father's
frustrated, their Christ failed, and their Holy Spirit can't do
anything without your will. What a pathetic God that is. Not worthy of any worship. But
our God. Our God sits in the heavens and
does whatsoever he hath pleased. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a successful
Savior. When He took hold of us, He accomplished
our redemption forever. Forever. Even before I was born, my sins
were put away. I just didn't know it yet. Now I do. Now I do. And I rejoice in him. What a
great blessing that he took on our flesh and blood for such
wretches as we are. He's our elder brother. Do you
know that I have God the Son as my elder brother? And he's
not ashamed to call me his brother. He's not ashamed to call us his
brother. Who is he that sticketh closer
than any earthly brother? It is our heavenly brother. I'll tell you what, talk about
having some pool. Talk about it's not what you
know, it's who you know. Guess who I know? I know God. And everything he does is well with
my soul. Everything. And our elder brother, he comes
and sends his spirit to save his people from their sins. Praise God for the Holy Spirit
that truly quickens dead sinners. I'm so glad that we don't need
to deceive anybody to believe in Christ. I'm so glad we don't
have to entertain souls so that we'd see something precious in
Jesus. No, when the Spirit of God grabs
ahold of a man, He doesn't let him go until he comes in the
presence of God himself, righteous, holy, without sin, forever. And he does this because he will. There's nothing in us that would
ever move him to do such great things. The only thing big enough to
move God to do anything for us is God. I imagine you catch me at a low
point, you wouldn't walk across the street from me. But the Son of God condescended
Himself and took upon Him the seed of Abraham and died in my stead. And he is now in heaven doing
all things, all things for me. Why? because he would do it. There is no other reason given
to us in holy writ. Is he not worthy, then, of all
our praise? What could we give him in return
for what he has given us? Can you think of anything? If I were to give my son, that
would add nothing to his great work. If I were to give my own
body, that would do nothing to add to his great work. And yet,
he's worthy of my son, he's worthy of my daughter, and he's worthy
of my life. Why not give it all? It's His
anyway. It's His anyway. And this is
not our home. Praise God! This is not all that
there is. That my God has loved me, He
is loving me, and He shall love me forever. The sovereign mercy of God to
quicken whomsoever He will. Are you quickened? Did God save
you? Are you His? Is God for you? Scripture says, God be for us,
who can be against us? Who can be against us? Is God for you? I tell you, if he's not, you
should sue him for mercy. You should beg for mercy, because
that's what you need. And how great is he? He's never
cast one in need of mercy out. If you come without anything, he embraces you. Believing only in his precious
Son. And there's life. There's hope. I pray that God would bless this
to you. That God would touch your hearts with this and encourage
you and strengthen you to know that our God is sovereign and
does whatsoever He pleases. And His pleasure was to save
us from our sins. Will he not do it? Will he not
finish what he started? He will. He will. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.