Hebrews 2. I'm going to pick up on verse 10, finish
out this chapter, Lord willing. The title of the message, we
have a complete Savior. We have an able Savior. We have
a willing Savior. Now you know where I'd put this
title, this long title up here. Just put a complete Savior. But
we do have a complete Savior, an able Savior, and a Savior
who became one with us and one of us. He became one with us,
And he became one of us. And that's why sinners felt so
comfortable in his presence. Publicans, harlots could sit
down with him and eat. Why eateth your master, the Pharisee
said, with publicans and sinners? Well, the reason why is because
He became one with us. Not in sin. Not in sin. But He became one with us in
nature. He knows what it is to be a man.
He knows what it is to be human. He knows what it is to be human.
He knows what it is to be tried and tested. He knows what it
is. Now in verse 9, We look back there, it begins
with, but we see Jesus. The purpose for the whole Bible,
the whole Word of God, is that we might see Jesus Christ. Not that we might know how to
live, but that we might know a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of the whole
Word of God. The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus Christ. If
you miss that, you miss the whole purpose of the book of Hebrews. In fact, if we miss Jesus Christ,
we miss the whole purpose of everything. Everything that exists,
we miss the purpose of it if we miss Christ. All things were created by Him
and for Him. It's all for Him. Now in verse
10, let me read it. For it became Him, for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect or
complete. You just write over top of that
word if you can, complete. He is a complete Savior now. But He is to make the captain
of their salvation perfect or complete through sufferings.
Now the first person spoken of in verse 10 is the Father. That's who He's speaking of.
For it became Him. He's speaking here to the Father.
The Father is the first cause of all things. He's the first
cause in creation. The Father purposed creation. He's the first cause of providence.
Everything that happens is purposed by our Heavenly Father. It's
not just happening, it's purposed to happen by our Heavenly Father. And He's the first cause of everything
in salvation, from His planning, His beginning, to ascending,
to us, to us being saved, to us being brought to glory. That's
what's going on right now. The Lord is preparing to bring
us to glory. He's preparing us for glory and
preparing to bring us to glory. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.18,
all things are of God. All things. And Paul is telling
us here that it is just like our Heavenly Father to bring
many sons to glory. That shouldn't be amazing. That
shouldn't surprise us. When God saves a sinner, it shouldn't
be surprising because it's just like Him to do it. It's just
like our Father to bring many sons to glory. The Scripture
says God is love. And that being so, it's just
like Him to save sinners. It's just like Him. Someone said that I was reading,
we need to think large when it comes to God saving sinners. You know, heaven is spoken of
as a country. As a country. Hell is spoken
of as a place. He's called the Lord of what?
Hosts. He's not called the Lord of a
few. John said, there's a number.
He said, I saw a number that no man could number. I think
it'll be surprising to us because in this life we think so little
of God as we... compared to as we ought to think
of Him. It'll be surprising how many are saved. You know, when
the angels fell, only a third part of them fell. God chose most of them to keep
their first estate. We need to think large when it
comes to God. Our God is a great God and our
God is a great Savior. Now, the second person spoken
of, mentioned here in this verse, in verse 10, is the captain. of our salvation. The leader,
in the Greek it means the author. It's the same over in Hebrews
12. Turn over to Hebrews 12. Hebrews chapter 12, it has the
same meaning. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus,
the author. He's the captain. He's the author.
He's the beginner. He's the captain of our salvation.
We know this person who is the captain of our salvation is none
other than the Son of God. God Himself is our captain. You
can't lose when God's your captain. Now, you can't lose the war when
God's your captain. And he's called a captain because
he's the chief leader in this warfare. Paul said, we war not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.
We are in a warfare. You know, I recognize this, and
I hope I recognize it as I ought to, because I preach to you each
week. And it's my responsibility to
remind you that you and I are in a warfare. We're not just
going through this life trying to make a living until we die.
We are in a spiritual warfare. And our captain, our leader,
is Jesus Christ. He's our leader. He's our king.
He's our king. If you go back, back in history,
when they went into battle, the captain would lead, he would
lead the charge. He didn't get into the back and
then tell them what to do. He led the charge. And that's
the idea here. He is the leader. He's leading
the charge. The scripture says, the Lord
said, the battle is the Lord's in the Old Testament. The battle's His. He's leading
the charge. And He's already got the victory.
The victory's already won. Now we are in a warfare, but
the victory is won. We are assured of victory. God
said in Isaiah 42, Behold My servant, he shall not fail. He
shall not fail. We have the victory in Christ
already. As I said, as our leader, He
goes before us, as He did in Israel when He led them out of
Egypt, the Lord went before them. And when Joshua led Israel over
into the land of Canaan, Joshua went before them and led them
over there. And we are under his care. We
are under the care of the captain. We are under the charge of the
captain, but we're under his care, listen now, to bring home. That
gives me real comfort. I am his responsibility to bring
home. Then the third person mentioned
here are many sons. Many sons. They are sinners. They are ungodly. They are fallen
in Adam. They come into this world totally
depraved. They come into this world like everyone else. A carnal
mind, enmity with God. That's why they come into this
world. But yet they're sons, they're chosen in Christ. Chosen
in Him. When did I become a son? I'll
tell you when I became a son. When God chose me in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now my experience of becoming
a son happened when I was born of God. That's my experience. But now, as far as God's concerned,
every one of us whom the Lord has saved became sons of God
before the foundation of the world. You see, the Armenians
have it that God is saving a sinner, and then He writes his name into
the Book of Life. No, that's not when you become
a son or a daughter, son or daughter. It's when the Lord chose you
in Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ became responsible in
bringing these many sons whom he represented to glory. To glory. These are God's elect. God's
chosen many sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ, the
one who is the captain of their salvation, is going to bring
them to glory. That didn't hit me until a little
while ago. It doesn't say He's going to
bring them to heaven, though He is. He's going to bring them to paradise.
That's what He said to the thief on the cross. Today shalt thou
be with me in paradise. He's going to do that. But this
really... I was reading this terminology of glory. He's going to bring them to glory.
He's going to bring them to the sum of all excellency. Whatever glory is, I can't put
into words what glory is. When you start to describe that,
I know. I know when a person starts to
describe glory, they're out there in left field. They've never
seen it. But I do know this. Glory has to do with God. Making you, in Christ, the sum
of everything that is excellent. That's what He's doing. He's
going to bring us to glory. And He's going to bring us there
spotless. We're going to stand before God
spotless, without fault. Paul said in one place, confess
to one another your faults. But He's going to present us
to God spotless without fault. Without fault. You know, in glory
you will not be able to find one spot or blemish in any child
of God. Not one. It's gone. All the traces of sin, all the
marks of sin, all the scars are gone. They're gone. He says here in verse 11, For
both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all
of one, for which he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Our Lord is the one who sanctified
us, set us apart. He's the sanctifier and we are
the ones sanctified. But he says this, this is interesting. They are all of one. They all
have one Father. We have the same Father as Jesus
Christ. They are of one nature. He came
into this world and partook of our nature. And through the new
birth, we are made partakers of the divine nature. We are
of one nature. He said in John 17, 21, I pray
for them. Father, look over here. Let's
look. I want you to read it. Sometimes
I quote these things and read them and I forget to have you
to turn to them. John 17. No matter how many times we read
something in the Word of God, let's read it one more time.
You'll be surprised what you get out of it. But let me see. Let me find my place. John 17,
21. Well, look at verse 20. Neither
pray I for these alone, these disciples, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word. This prayer is for
us. This prayer... Do you want to know... Are you interested in how Christ
prays? Have you ever thought... I have thought of that before.
I want to hear. When the disciples heard Him pray, they heard Him
pray. He'd pray all night. And they
said, Lord, teach us to pray. You know, when you hear the Son
of God pray, you realize, and I know they realize, man, I can't
pray. But here, listen, the point is
this, I'll make it. Here we get to listen in on Him
praying for us. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one. You know, this is salvation.
This is salvation. Not God saving me from a place,
but God making me one with Him again in Jesus Christ. Being
made one with God. United to God in Christ. That
they all may be one as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee,
that they also may be one in us. That the world may believe
that Thou has sent me. Go back over here to verse 11.
For he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified, they're all
of one. They're one Father, one nature, one love. We love the
same things. We do. Now, our love is not perfect
in this flesh. We know that. But we love the
same Father. The righteous Lord loves righteousness.
If you've been born of God, you love righteousness. You love
it. You love it. The God and Father
of the Lord Jesus Christ is our Father, the same One who created..."
And this is what he's saying, I believe here too. The One that
created the man Christ Jesus in the womb of Mary is the same
One who created us in Christ Jesus. We are one with Him. The same one that created him,
I'm talking about his manhood, is the same one that we are born
of, the same one. And this is why he's not ashamed
to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to take any one of his children,
take any one of you who believe, Doug, Judy, Ray, He's not ashamed
to go before the holy presence of God. God who is a light to
which no man can approach. He's not ashamed to bring you
before God's presence and say, this is my brother. This is my
brother. This is my sister. He's not ashamed
of me. He's not ashamed to take John
Chapman before the throne of glory. as His brother. This is my brother. And because we're one. Because
we are one. We are one in Christ. Now verse
12-15 shows Christ's oneness with His brethren. Look here. Saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. That's what's going on right
now. Listen. Where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst. Right? If this is a true worship
service, if this is of God, right now, Jesus Christ is declaring
the Father's name. He's doing it through me, He's
doing it through His Word, He's doing it through His Spirit. Even now,
He's declaring His Father's name to His brethren. You're not hearing
a lie. You're not hearing a lie, you're
hearing the truth. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in
the midst of the church. I will sing praise unto thee
in the midst of the church." Who really led the singing tonight?
Who really did? Really? If it was of God, if
the Spirit of God is in this, He led the singing. He said,
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. He's
the leader in our worship services. He's the leader in it. And he uses clay crack pots like
me as a pastor and I stand here
and preach, but he's the one, he's the leader. He's the leader. And again, I will put my trust
in him. Here he is speaking as a man.
He's God, yes, He's God. But here He's also speaking as
a man. I will put my trust in God. That's
what He's saying. This is the man Christ Jesus
saying, I will put my trust in God. And again, behold, I and the
children was God's given to me. or as much then as the children
of partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of the death, that is, the devil." He said, I'll declare thy name.
What does a name reveal? Well, if you don't know the person,
it doesn't reveal much of anything, does it? But I can say to this
group, I mean, I can mention Tommy's name, and immediately,
you who know him, you know his character, you know his person,
you know him, you know about him. He's not a stranger to you. A name reveals a person. That's
what a name, it reveals a person. When we talk about preaching
Christ, we're preaching a person, we're not just mentioning a name.
We're not just throwing out, we're not name dropping. We're
literally preaching a real, true, living person. That's what he's
saying. I declare thy name. How did you
come to know God? You know God. If you believe
the gospel, you know God. How did you come to know? I'll
tell you how you came to know Him. The Lord Jesus Christ revealed
Him to you. He declared Him to you, revealed Him to you. That's how you know. Christ had
declared the Father to us, His Father and our Father. Listen
to John 20, verse 17. John saith unto her, Touch me
not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren
and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father. and to my God and your God. Our elder brother, listen now,
our elder brother has already ascended into heaven. Our elder
brother has taken possession of heaven for us, for the rest
of the family. He's already taken possession
of it. Verse 13 there tells us that
Christ, as a man, believed God, and He believed God as He is
to be believed. It's a great mystery. As God,
He knows all things, and as a man, He believed God. He believed
what He read in the Scriptures, and He believed Him perfectly. And this is extremely important. And I'm going to read you some
scripture here. In Romans chapter 3 verse 22 it says this, Even
the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Now many wants to say it's by
the faithfulness of Christ. That's true, it is. The righteousness
that we are saved by is by the faithfulness of Christ. But now
listen. It's also by the faith of Jesus Christ. He believed
God perfectly. And that is imputed to me, has
come to me for righteousness. It's unto all and upon all them
that believe, for there's no difference. Now, in Galatians
2.16 it says this, Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. By his faithfulness, yes, he's
faithful. He's faithful over the house
of God, as it tells us there in Hebrews. But it was justified by the faith
of Christ. Our elder brother, our elder
brother, believed God perfectly. And that's imputed to us. That's
given to us in Christ, in my elder brother. I believe God
perfectly. In my representative, in my federal
head, I believe God perfectly. He says, Paul says, even we have
believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the
faith of Christ. And not by the works of the law.
While the works of the law know that they should be justified. He goes on further there in verse
13. He says, Again, behold, he stands
before the Father, I and the children which God
hath given me. This is a prophecy that was fulfilled
here by Christ out of Isaiah 8.18. But the saints are called
the children of God. The children of God. When the Lord rose from the grave
and He walked over by the sea, Peter and Emmett went fishing.
Peter said, I'll go fishing. The others said, well, we're
going to go with you. He spoke to them when they were on the
boat. He said, children, these men were in their forties. Something maybe older. He said,
children, have you any bread? Have you caught anything? Children of God. I stand here
and preach. I look at you. And I'm telling
you, I'm reminded often. I'm preaching to the children
of God. These children were given to
Christ to bring to glory. And I assure you, He's going
to do that. Now, since the children who were
given to Christ, here in verse 14, were partakers of human nature,
then Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God, also took part of
the same. The Son of God really became
a man. He really became one of us and one with us. And the reason
he did this, that he might go through death. And by doing so,
he would destroy him who had the power of death, that is the
devil. But it says here in verse 44, as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, like that's us, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy. What was the great weapon? that
Jesus Christ used to destroy the power of Satan. His death. It was his death. They said, He's the Son of God,
let Him come down off our cross. He saved others, let us see if
He can save Himself. If He's going to save me and you, He
can't save Himself. If He's going to destroy the power that Satan
had, He's going to have to die. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. Don't you think, don't you know that Satan is constantly
saying before God, he's called the accuser of the brethren.
He's always saying, that's death. That's death. That's cause for
death. That's cause for death. Oh, you
know he is. But not anymore. Not anymore. Our Lord has put that away. He
put that away. Our Lord went through death,
and by doing so, He destroyed him who had the power of death.
Satan is said to have the power of death because he's the one
who introduced sin. He introduced sin, and when sin
is conceived, it brings forth death. That's what it brings
forth. But now, now death, death has no power over God's
children. Death is not something you and
I need to fear anymore. We don't need to fear it. You
see in verse 15, "...and delivered them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Can you imagine
being under the law and every day you're concerned with, did
you do it right? Did I do that right? Did I keep
this? Always subject to bondage. The
law brings nothing but bondage. You break a law, there's laws
that carry the sentence of death with them. That man that picked
up sticks I told you about. On the Sabbath day, God said,
kill him. God said, kill him. And the fear of death is
something we fear before the Lord saved us. Now, I'm telling
you, Until God saves a person, people fear they don't want to
die. You let a person walk into the doctor and the doctor says,
you've got cancer, you've got six months to live. I watched
this happen to two men within one year while I was working
before I came here. I watched two minutes. But I'll never forget,
the first one came in and the second one came in about three
months later with the same diagnosis. And it was like watching their
countenance melt. That day, the next day they came
into work, I remember one of them came over to the shop and
told me about it. He walked around the rest of the time like a zombie.
I mean, just whatever a zombie walks around like, but he walked
around like a zombie. I mean, it was just, I'm telling
you, the life was drained out of him. It was drained out of
his face. I mean, he was just, he looked like a shell. He knew the sentence of death
had just been passed on him. You and I don't need to fear
that no more. We don't have that fear of death. I used to be afraid
of that. I kid you not, when I was a teenager
growing up, probably 19, 20 years old, I was afraid of dying. I didn't want to die. I had my
best friend died in a car wreck, 19 years old. The year I graduated and the
year after that, my senior year, there were seven people in our
school that died. Seven young people from the ones
that had graduated a year or two before and the ones in my
class. Seven of them died. And it was
the rumor going around, the talk going around was, who's next?
Who's next? I'm telling you, they were scared
to death. Who's next? Now it's like, come quickly Lord
Jesus. Now I understand this, I understand,
I'm getting along here, I understand if young people have kids and
they want to raise their kids, I understand that. You want to
live and raise your children. There are some of those things
you want to do. But as we get older, I understand more of what
Paul said when he said, for me to live is Christ to die as gain. To die as gain. Our Lord put an end to sin. He
put an end to the power of sin, and by doing so, He destroyed
the power of Satan and the power of death. And verse 15 tells us that Jesus
Christ has delivered us from the haunting fear of death that
held us in bondage throughout our lives. You go over and read, when you
have time tonight, read 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51 through 57. O death, where's thy sting? O
grave, where's your victory? Read that tonight. That's to
us. That's to us. Listen, I got this from Henry
today. It's not death to die. It's not
death to die. Brethren, we're about to live
what we're about to do. And verse 16 tells us that Jesus Christ
did not take on Him the nature of angels. It means this. He did not run to their help. He didn't run to their help. They have no Savior. We do. We do. But He did not take on the nature
of angels. He didn't die for them. He took
on Him, and this is worded just right, the seed of Abraham. Not the seed of Adam. The seed
of Abraham. That promised seed that was promised
before the world began. That's the seed He took on. That's
the nature He took on Him. That's the ones He says, I and
the children that thou hast given Me. These are the ones. These
are the ones. And because of Christ becoming
our Savior, our High Priest, it was necessary for Him to be
made like His brethren in every way, that He might, first of
all, be a faithful High Priest to God, that He might have atonement,
be able to make atonement and propitiation. God required this. God required it. And that he
might be able to identify with his brethren in their afflictions.
It's written in Isaiah 53. He was oppressed in Isaiah 53,
7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted.
Tormented. In Isaiah 63, 9, this is written. In all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. He was afflicted. Now, let me close. I haven't
even... Now, I can go back. I realize this today. Now, I
can go back and take one verse at a time. One verse at a time. I've covered all these verses,
but I can go back and take one verse at a time. And just... More than we can comprehend. But in closing, because of His
human identity with us, because of His becoming one of us, because
He was tried in all points as we are, because we have such
a high priest, He can run to help us when we cry. He can run to help us. You see
what a complete Savior we have? We have a complete... He is a... You see, as God only,
He couldn't die. As God only, He had no blood
to shed. But as a man, He can die and shed His blood. And suffer. Well, we should suffer. He can do that. As a man, He can be a mediator. As a man, He can be the perfect
sacrifice. He can be the high priest. He
can be absolutely everything I need. In Jesus Christ, we have a complete,
a perfect Savior. Alright.