If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews, the second chapter. Hebrews chapter 2 and our text
will be found in verse 9. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9. And the Scripture says, 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." The title
of my message tonight comes from our text, But We See Jesus. But We See Jesus. Now, before this verse in verse
9, Paul goes on here in the previous verses, and he tells us that
the Lord Jesus Christ is now reigning in heaven. that He is
now ruling upon the throne of heaven, and all things have been
subject under Him." Have been made subject under His feet. We read that Paul says that in
verse 8. It says, "...Thou hast put all
things in subjection under His feet, for in that He put all
things in subjection under Him, He left nothing." Nothing that
is not put under Him. Is that clear? That's as clear
as he can make it. Everything is put under the Lord
Jesus Christ. But Paul goes on to say, or the
writer goes on to say here in verse 8, but. But now. But now we see not yet all things
under Him. You see, the Lord God of heaven
has put all things under Christ. He is ruling and reigning right
now on the throne. Yet, with these physical eyes,
we have a problem. We can't fully see all things
are put under Him. We look. at the condition of
this world every day. Every day you cannot tout on
the news, you cannot pick up a newspaper, you cannot read
anything in this world without seeing the condition of this
world. The condition of this world is
pretty bad, isn't it? It's pretty messed up. The condition
of this world is a mess. It's all confusion and disarray. We see war. We see death. We see injustice, and men are
getting worse, they aren't getting better. The things of Christ
and the Gospel that once were uplifted in this country are
now despised in its very churches. The sovereign grace of God in
this nation, at one time God had let the Gospel loose in this
nation and set men's heart on fire for the Gospel of Christ,
and now it is but a pile of ashes barely burning in this nation. If you listen to the talking
heads on television, they're telling us to fear, aren't they?
They're trying to get us to fear. The ozone layer is depleting.
The ice caps are melting. We're all fixing to drown. They're fixing to overflow us
with water and meteors are going to come and destroy this earth
and throw it out of its orbit and we're going to be spinning
off into space. If you listen to them, it's all in confusion,
isn't it? Disarray. Chaos. Everything runs by chance, according
to this world, doesn't it? Oh, what happened? Why did you
get this? Well, I was just lucky. Just
by chance I got that. You see, they don't see anything
in control. They see everything out of control.
And if we look with our physical eyes, that's what we see. If
we look by our human nature, that's what we see. It's all
out of control. Famines, storms, floods, great
disasters. We see violent and wicked men
ruling kingdoms. Radical, rebel men gaining possessions
of nuclear weapons. If this world is so out of control,
If this world is so in chaos, how then is it possible that
we say Jesus Christ is reigning? Someone comes to you and shows
you all of these things. They show you the wars, and they
show you the death, and they show you the decay, the famine,
and the wickedness of men, and then you say, Jesus Christ reigns! What is your answer? How do you
answer such a thing? How can we answer such a thing
unless we say, thus saith the Lord? How can we answer anything
without Scripture? We must go to the Word of God
to see what is really happening. Because our eyes deceive us. Our eyes are very deceptive.
We must go to the Scriptures. The Scriptures declare this.
In verse 8, as we read, "...Thou hast put all things under His
feet, in that He put all in subjection." Under Him, He left how much? How much did He leave? Not in
subjection to Christ. Is there anything He left? Was there one thing that is out
of His control? No, He left nothing. out of His
control. All things are subject to Christ.
So believers in Jesus Christ, you that believe Christ, listen,
take comfort of the Scriptures. Don't trust your eyes and your
ears. You trust the Word of God. All
things are under His control. Everything. Everything is under
His direct authority and control. But as verse 8 says, but now
we see. Not yet all things put under
Him. This physical eye, we see many things under Him, and some
people can agree. The sun and moon, you see that?
Goes up, goes down. Goes up, goes down. Faithful,
isn't it? We could say, well, that's under His control. But
when we see things happen in our life, when our own flesh
is tormented, when our own body aches, when our own family dies,
then comes the test of what we truly believe. Do we believe
what we see? Do we count evil what God has
purpose to do? reign over all flesh, all flesh,
all the universe. If there is famine, make no mistake,
the Lord Jesus is the root cause. He is the principal cause of
it. If there is pain in our lives, Jesus Christ has ordained these
things. Why is it that the Gospels rejected
in mass, the masses today, had not Christ ordained it so? Remember Sunday, when we were
talking about Zacchaeus? Jesus Christ, when He began at
Jericho, what did He do to all those people in Jericho? He passed
by them all to come to the place where Zacchaeus was. You see,
Jesus Christ is saving exactly whom He will. The Gospel is being
rejected because Christ is passing by the masses. And He's coming
to His lost sheep. You see, these people are the
ninety and nine which need no repentance. He passes by them,
goes right to the person that is lost, His sheep, because He
is in charge of all things. Believer in Christ, this is the
sight with the physical sight of our eyes. But we are to believe
the Word of God and not base our judgment on what we see. Why is that? Because, believer,
you are to walk by faith. You see, the Scriptures are clear.
The just shall live how? How shall you live in this life?
By faith you shall live in this life. The just shall live by
faith. We walk by faith, not by sight.
We're not to judge the actions of Christ based on what we physically
see. If we were to do that, we would
be like everybody else. Everything's in chaos. Nothing's
in order. Oh, but my friends, we walk not
by sight, but by faith. We believe Christ. We believe
God's Word. This world sees chaos, confusion,
and decay. But you know what we see? Verse
9, but we see Jesus. We see Jesus. And how do we see Jesus? How
is it that we see Jesus? We see Jesus by faith. We believe
Him. We trust Him. And how is it that
we trust Him to be ruler over all things? How is it that we
are not to trust our eyes and we are to trust this man Jesus?
Why is it that we do that? Well, the first thing I have
is that we see Jesus as the God-man mediator. We see Jesus as the
God-man mediator. First, we see Him as God. You
see, I'm not going to trust my physical eyes because I see Jesus
as God. Now, Scriptures are very clear
that He was God from all eternity. From all eternity, He was God.
Jesus, according to John, says, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And all things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. He is God, a very God. He is God and He rules over all
things. He is God from all eternity and
He, by divine right, has the power over all flesh. Is that
not right? If He is Creator of all things,
then He has, by divine right, power over all His creation. This world was created by Jesus
Christ and it continues to spin according to His will. The only
reason this planet, the ozone doesn't melt away, and the ice
caps don't melt, and we don't drown, and meteors don't hit
this earth, and the reason this earth doesn't spin off into space
is because Jesus Christ is causing this world to spin on its axis.
He started it spinning and He'll keep it spinning as long as He
wills. You see, I see Jesus as God.
And from the beginning, He was God. Is this not His own words? Did He not tell the Pharisees
before Abraham was? I am. I am. The Jews picked up stones to
kill Him. Why? Because He said, Thou makest
thyself equal with God. You make yourself God. No, He
didn't. He was God. He was God. Before Abraham was, I am. He
said, I and my Father are one. He is God. And when I see Jesus,
you know what I see? I see God. I see God. He who is the eternal Son of
God, who created all things and by divine right has the power
over all things, He also purposed. to become a man. He became a man. That's what
I see next. We see Jesus as the God-man. The God-man. Verse 9, read our
text. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels. Now, I'll tell you what, and
this is no surprise to anyone here, we all are born lower than
the angels. Isn't that obvious? I mean, that's
just simple. A child can understand an angel
has more power and more glory than we have when we're born
into this world. We are born lower than the angels. Why? Well, at one time, your
father and my father We in Him were the crowning jewel of God's
creation. When God made man, He made everything
else, God said it was good. But when He made man, He said,
Behold, it is very good. Very good. You see, God created
man in His image, in His likeness. He was the crowning jewel of
His creation. Even above angels, He was His
crowning jewel. And man had full access to God
at that time. He was created righteous, innocent,
holy, and He communed with God face to face. I know that's something
that we long to do. We long for that day when our
faith will be washed away in sight. Right now, we have to
live by faith. We must live by faith. We call
to God and we speak to God and we speak to Him by faith. But
Adam didn't speak to God by faith. He spoke to God by sight. He
actually spoke to God. But you see, our Father who was
created so very high, when He fell, He fell so very low. He who was above the angels at
that time now was cast down lower than they. And we, through our
Father, through His evil heart of rebellion, we all lost our
first estate and were made, were born lower than the angels. But
this man, This man, Jesus Christ, He was not born lower. He was made lower than the angels. What does that mean? He made
Himself lower than the angels. He subjected Himself and became
a man. A man. Believer, let us see this tonight,
that Jesus, let us see Jesus by faith who was God, blessed
forever, and came down and united Himself with humanity. He took
upon Himself human flesh and bone and blood. Verse 14 of chapter 2 says, "...For
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
He also took part of the same." Just as much as you are human,
just as much as you feel pain and hurt, so did He. Just as much as we are weary
and tired and hurt, so is He. There is nothing that you have
ever felt that He has not felt a hundred times over. He alone
could feel the magnitude of sin. Why? Because He had none. Have you ever been accused of
something that you didn't do and punished for it? How bad
does that make you feel? That's one thing if you do something
and you get punished. Yeah, you're kind of mad on the
surface, but when you don't do something and you're punished,
how enraged do you feel? You feel like it's injustice.
Whoa! The injustice. Whoa is me. I
have been accused of something that I didn't do. That's everything
he did. He felt that way. But you see,
he never made himself of any reputation. He never murmured
under the weight of being a man. Philippians chapter 2 and verse
6 and 7, who being in the form of God. Scripture says, now that
word form means nature. He being the express image of
the Father, He being of the nature of God, fought it not robbery
to be equal with God. He was not robbing God of His
glory, was He? No. He was not robbing God. Because He was God. But He made
of Himself. He subjected Himself. He humbled
Himself. And made Himself of no reputation
and took upon Him the form. That's the same word as the form
of God. He took upon Him the nature of
God and the form of a servant. The nature of a servant. and was made in the likeness
of men." Why? When you look at Jesus and you
see the God-man, you see God and you see how He came down
so low that He would make Himself of no reputation and take upon
Him the pains of human flesh and the hurt and the weariness
that we feel. All that weariness and pain that
you want to get rid of, He took on Himself. He subjected Himself. Why? Why
did Jesus do this? Why did God, who is sovereign
over all, subject Himself to such great pains? Look at that in verse 9. For the suffering of death. This is the reason Jesus became
a man. So when we see Jesus, we see
Him as God, we see Him as man, and we see that He became a man
so that He might suffer and die. Believer, I know that these things
are not new to you. But these things that I'm expressing
to you tonight are safe for you. Why are they safe? Look at verse
1 of chapter 2. The writer says, therefore, we
are to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. How fast does
the Gospel go out of our minds? How fast does this Word go in
our ears, through our minds, and how much of it actually gets
to our heart and stays? Our minds are leaky vessels at
best. They're at best leaky vessels. I was talking to Joanne. I told
her I was going to use this. I was talking to her yesterday,
and she said she listened to a message that I was preaching,
and she was rejoicing in the message because she knew what
was next. She could remember what was next. And then when
she got done with the whole message, she forgot what it was about.
She forgot what it was about. That's how fast we let these
things slip. This is nothing new, but this
is safe. This is good. That we see Jesus. That He is
constantly put before our eyes so that we see His person. We
remember His person. And we remember His suffering.
It's vitally important we remember His suffering and His death.
This is the great salvation that we are not to neglect. That He who was God became man
for suffering of death. We, because of our sin, were
subject to bondage. Look at that in verse 15. It
says, "...and to deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetimes subject to bondage." You see, we all by
nature were under the condemnation of God, weren't we? We were under
the condemnation of God. The Scripture says in John 3,
336, He that believeth on the Son hath the everlasting life. He that believeth not on the
Son hath not life. But the wrath of God abides on
him. All that do not believe Christ
have the wrath of God hovering over their heads, waiting for
their last breath. All who do not believe Christ
are condemned and the world is their cell. The universe is their prison. and their holding cell waiting
for the sentence to be executed. Go where you will if you are
lost and do not believe in Christ. You can hide in a castle or in
a cave. You can hide in palaces or huts. You can go to the deepest part
of the ocean or the vastness of space, and yet you are still
under the condemnation of God. How shall we escape, Paul says. Verse 3, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great a salvation? Is there any escape? Is there
any escape for those that are lost? No. And my friends, those
that profess faith in Christ and go away, is there any escape
for them? No. No. You cannot escape God's sentence
of death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. The wages of sin is death. This is the sentence of men born
of Adam. But God who is rich in mercy,
God who is rich in mercy, where do we see that mercy? In Jesus
Christ. We see Jesus. We who were dead
and are now alive, we see Jesus. We see Jesus. We see Him as the
mercy of God. And He has determined to show
mercy on some. How is He determined to do that?
He purposed His Son to take on the seed of Abraham so that He
might, through death, conquer death for all that believe. You
see, we were subject to death. And Jesus Christ subjected Himself
to death so that He, through death, might conquer death for
every man that believes, for everyone that believes. See,
Jesus, in His great sovereign mercy that He did not only become
a man, but He became a servant of God, so that through His servanthood,
He might obtain the righteousness we need, the righteousness of
God. And by His death, He obtained
redemption and bought us out of death. This world that was
our prison cell and sin that was our chains have now been
loosed and the world is not our prison, but it is our inheritance. It is our inheritance. The world
that held us in captivity so long is now no longer our cell,
but part of our inheritance that we will inherit because He subjected
Himself through death. It was by His blood He obtained
redemption. Hebrews 9, 12, Neither by the
blood of bulls or calves, but by His own blood He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. You see, Christ, when He entered
into death, He didn't just die hoping somebody would be saved.
Did he? He didn't die just hoping Fred
would be saved. Oh, I just hope that he'll be
saved. No, he obtained my redemption. And he obtained your redemption.
He bought it with his own blood. It's secure. And my friend, because of his
death, I do not see my hope in this world. I do not trust my
eyes, for they are deceptive. I do not see everything that
God's doing. Do you? Do you see everything
God's doing? I have no clue what He's doing
sometimes. I have no idea. And just when I think I do, He
turns and He does something different. I don't know what He's doing.
I don't know what He's going to do next. But I do know this,
I see Jesus. I see Jesus who subjected Himself
to death so that through death I might be delivered from such
a bondage and such a fear. He suffered the shameful cross
and carried all my grief. He bore my sins, my nature, my
person in His own body on the tree, my sin in the mystical
transaction of God. It became His own and God poured
out His wrath on Christ. He poured out that wrath that
was due me. Why? 2 Corinthians 5.21, For he, God,
God, hath made Him, Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin. If there is one thing I've studied
ever since the Lord called me to the pastorate, it has been
this text. And the more I study it, the less I understand it. God became a man and bore in
His body my sin. Yet he still knew no sin. I cannot fully explain the mystical
transaction between God and His Son. And I say, if any man says
they can't, I don't think they've studied it enough. God took our sins and imputed
them to Christ so much so that He was made sin for us. Yet He remained the impeccable
Christ. My friends, can we not see how
great this salvation is? Can you not see how much it cost When Jesus Christ paid the price,
it was a great price. It was a great price. It was
the price of His own blood. And by that blood, He has set
us free from Satan, sin, the world, and guilt. I am free in Christ. If the Son
shall set you free, you shall be free indeed." That's what
he says. And my friends, Jesus Christ,
through His death, now is ruler over all flesh. And I see Jesus, who was made
flesh, made sin for us, and by His death delivered us out of
our bondage, who were subject to sin and death. But now, by
the grace of God, through faith in Christ, I see my Lord, my
Savior. My Lord, God, and man. My Savior, through His blood
and suffering on the cross. And lastly, I see Jesus as my
brother. How can you say such a thing?
Jesus is your brother? Absolutely. How do I know? Because
He calls me His brother. He calls me His brother. I see
Jesus my brother. Look at verse 11. It says, for
both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of
one. For which cause? He is not ashamed
to call them brethren. Brethren. See, believer, we have been set
apart. The word sanctified, set apart
is the easiest way to understand it. You have been set apart in
Christ. You are the sanctified. Who is
He that sanctified Christ? We are sanctified in Christ.
We don't sanctify ourselves. Don't believe that for a minute. God sanctifies. And we are sanctified
and we are set apart for the worship and the service of Christ,
in Christ, and we are set apart and the Scripture says we are
all of one, of one God. You see, Christ God is my God. Christ's Father is my Father,
and He's your Father, and He's your God. And therefore, because
He took upon Him human flesh, He became our brother, our federal
head and representative. And my friends, in this idea
of sanctification, we give ourselves no credit. I give myself no credit
in this. Scripture says, who maketh thee
to differ from another? Why are you sanctified and not
somebody else? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Or what hast thou thou not received? God separated us. God separated us. He separated us in Christ. And
because He has separated us and took on our nature, we are now
one with Him. In John 17, verse 23, He says,
"...I in them, and thou in Me, that they may be perfect in one,
even Himself." See, my dear friend, look to Jesus, the Apostle and
High Priest of our profession. Look at Him and see that He is
not ashamed to call you His brother or sister. He's not ashamed of
you. He's not ashamed of you. He receives
you to Himself as His brother. Now, I know many times I feel
ashamed. I know many times we feel ashamed
because of our sin. I know many times we feel our
unworthiness, our unfaithfulness. And we say within ourselves,
how is it that He can still love me? How is it possible that He
can still even know my name, much less receive me as His brother? I cry many times within myself,
O wretched man that I am. Evils come upon me and my soul
begins to doubt and fear. Trouble, pain, hurt cause me
to not believe in my Lord. Sometimes I wonder if God is
still in control. And yet, even in my unfaithfulness, He still is not ashamed to call
me His brother." He's not ashamed to call me His
brother. When you feel such a thing, when
you see the world in chaos and you see your life in disarray,
and you see your pains and hurts as though they have no rhyme
or reason, take your eyes off of them and see Jesus. See Jesus. In the morning when I rise, in
the morning when I rise, give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. And when I am afraid, oh, and
when I am afraid, give me Jesus. And when I come to die, oh, and
when I come to die, give me Jesus. My friends, we are not to walk
by sight in this world, but let us ever look to our blessed Savior,
who took upon Himself our bone, our flesh, and our blood, so
that He, through death, might deliver us unto glory. For that's what he says in verse
10, For it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons to glory. That was His purpose. That was
His reason. And my friends, we do not worship
a Christ who is a failure. This world sees Him as a failure.
They see Him as a weak, effeminate Savior who cannot save anyone. But I see Jesus who is a victorious
Savior who has accomplished salvation so that He might bring many sons
to glory. So that He might bring you to
glory. My friend, let us hold this fast
for our comfort, For our joy, and no matter what our eyes see,
let us look by faith and see Jesus. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.