You want to turn your Bibles
to Hebrews chapter 2. I think next week will be the
last sermon from this chapter. It's hard to leave it. There's so much still to be gleaned
from it. By God's grace, we're going to
look at it one more time. I want to look specifically at
verses 14 and 15 of Hebrews chapter 2, which I will read. And then
we will pray and ask the Lord to help us in our thoughts as
we consider his own word. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 says,
for as much then As the children are 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 death,
that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. So I wanna consider
these verses with you after we pray, let's pray. Dear Father, thank you that you
have seen fit in your perfect will to make the captain of our
salvation perfect through sufferings so that by his sufferings we
have eternal salvation. And part of that will, part of
that purpose of your will was to destroy our great enemy, the
devil, and to save us from death and from the fear of death by
saving us from our sins and bringing us to God. Thank you for this
purpose. Thank you for the fulfillment
of it in our Savior. Lord Jesus, we thank you for
being our captain. We thank you that you have entered
in and taken possession of all that you promised in the eternal
covenant of your grace. And you've done so by your own
blood, all for us, all to the glory of God. And without our
help, you've done it all. What a captain, what a savior. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I was thinking of these words. in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse
14, where it says, because the children were 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 death, that
is, the devil. And it makes us ask this question
and it is good that we ask it this time of the year as we consider
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ because taking on flesh and blood
is another way of saying that the Lord Jesus Christ was born
and he took our nature, he became man. And that happened when he
was born. It says in Hebrews chapter 10
that he says, a body thou has prepared me. Now that body that
God prepared for him, he prepared for him to do the will of God.
This is why he came, to do the will of God. And that will was
to do what the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament and all
of the Old Testament and the law could not do. Nothing we
could do, but the Lord Jesus Christ did it when he partook
of flesh and blood. And he did that because we were
partakers of flesh and blood. Now these two verses here tell
us about the great conquest of the Lord Jesus Christ over our
great enemy, the devil. And also how the Lord Jesus delivered
us from death, and not just death, but the fear of death. And so
I've entitled our message today, No Fear in Death, or No Fear
of Death, both of them. We have, as believers, no fear
of death, and because of that, by God's grace, we are not to
have fear in death. But I want to consider just briefly
with you the things that God has said from his word, not all
of it, but some of the things why the Son of God took flesh
and blood. Now, when we sing songs, this
word often appears, especially in songs about his birth, is
incarnate. And sometimes we wonder, what
does that word incarnate mean? Well, it just means that he was
clothed or he took on flesh and blood. It means he was embodied
in a body, in a soul of a man, in the very nature, our nature,
human nature, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when Matthew chapter
one and verse 23 says, his name shall be called Emmanuel, he
says, he adds this interpretation of that word, Emmanuel, by saying
God with us. And this is the reason he came. The Son of God, who is God, came
and took on flesh and blood for these reasons, according to scripture.
First of all, in Hebrews 2.9, it was to taste death for every
son. To taste death. He, himself,
took part of our nature in order to die. And his dying was, instead
of us dying, the death that he died. And that death that he
died was a death that was the punishment for sins. The punishment
for sins is the pouring out of God's wrath upon us. We deserved
it. He didn't, but he bore our sins. Therefore, bearing our sins,
he had to take our penalty for our sins. But he couldn't do
that unless he had taken our nature, taken flesh and blood.
Another reason, it says, that he came in scripture was to fulfill
the promises that God made to the fathers. The promises he
made to the Jews, the promises really that he made to the elect
of God in Christ. And all those promises were fulfilled
when the Lord Jesus Christ came. in our nature and shed his blood
to make remission for our sins and to fulfill the everlasting
covenant of God's grace. We also read in Hebrews 2, verse
10, that it was to bring many sons to glory. This is why the
Lord Jesus came. And we also read, it was in verse
14 where we just read, was to destroy the works of the devil,
to destroy the devil himself. and to overcome him and to spoil
his goods, to take from him all that he thought he had. And then
another reason he came was not only to destroy the devil and
his works, but also to deliver us from death and to deliver
us from the fear of death. It says in Matthew 121, he came
to save his people from their sins. This is a faithful saying
and it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. of whom I am chief," the apostle
Paul said, and everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ feels
they must be the chief of sinners, don't you? And another reason
he came was that we might live through him. First John 4.10
says that God sent his son that we might live through him. And
also, it says in 1 John 4, 9, I think it says that, it also
says in John chapter 10, verse 10, that Jesus Christ came that
he might give life and to give it more abundantly to his people. That they should have life and
have it more abundantly. He came to fulfill the law, according
to Matthew 5, 17. I didn't come to destroy the
law, he said, but to fulfill it. He came to remove the curse
of the law, that curse that was against us. God's law cursed
us. And he said he came as a light
into the world that whoever believes in him should not abide in darkness,
but should have the light of life. He also came to bring us
to God, which I just mentioned. In short, he came to reconcile
us, to redeem us, to ransom many, to make remission for their sins,
to cleanse us from our sins, and to forgive us all of our
sins. This is why the Lord Jesus Christ came. This is why he took
on flesh and blood. He also said in John 12 that
as a seed falls into the ground, so he must fall into the ground
and die in order to bring forth much fruit to God. which is signified
by the fact that he suffered in a garden. Remember, it was
in a garden that man sinned. It was in a garden that death
entered into the world. It was in a garden that death
began to reign over men because of their sin. And it was a garden
from which we were barred by the justice of God with that
flaming sword held up by the cherubim. And yet, it was in
a garden that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second and last Adam,
obeyed in his submission to sufferings and death, and by his obedience
and death, he has brought forth much fruit to God out of that
garden. And it also says in 1 John 4, 9, he died to make known the
love of God in his own giving himself, the love of God. Because
God's love for his own, because of Christ's love for his own,
as we just read in Revelation 5, he redeemed us. out of every
kindred tribe, every kindred tongue, people and nation in
the earth, redeemed us by his own blood. And then it also says
in Hebrews chapter 2 that he came into the world to sanctify
his people by his own blood. So all these reasons and more,
we could go on, was to save us from our sins, to bring us to
God, to present us to God holy and without blame, all by his
blood. only possible because he shed
his blood in order to save us, and which he had to do by taking
on our flesh and our blood, our very nature. And when he took
on flesh and blood, it says in Romans chapter 8 verses 3 and
4 that it was in the likeness of sinful flesh. Flesh and blood
has to do with frailty and weakness. Flesh and blood means that he
was subject to sorrow, subject to tears, subject to sickness
and the plague that came upon him of our sins. It says in Isaiah chapter 53
verse 4 that he bear our sicknesses. and our plague. He bore our griefs
and our sorrows. And this is only possible in
the body of a man. all that we bear in life in himself,
the consequences of our sins. He didn't sin himself, but he
bore the consequences of our sins. And this is very, very
comforting, not only because he took away our sins, but because
he is able now to run to the aid, or as it says in Hebrews
chapter 2, a little later, verses 17 and 18, he's able to succor
them. that are tempted to run to their
aid because he himself was tempted in every way we are. Every trial
we go through, every sorrow that we experience, every trial, every
temptation, every disappointment, all suffering, even death itself
and the grave, the Lord Jesus Christ endured those things.
as our captain, the captain of our salvation. And therefore,
we see that he took on flesh and blood in order to do those
things. And where he has gone in all those areas where we,
in some sense, experience it, but in a much less significant
way, he experienced it to the maximum. And we experience it
only in part. But he did that in order that
we might know and have this confidence that where the Lord has gone,
Where God has gone, our Master and our Savior, then He has overcome. He, as our Captain, has gone
there for us. And therefore, we shall surely
be brought through those things because He's gone there for us.
He knows what it is. to suffer and endure everything.
And one of the things we see in this, and I want to bring
this out, because it endears our Savior to us so much, is
His great condescension. He took on flesh and blood. Notice
here the beauty of our Savior in His great humility. His great
humility. In the Proverbs, in chapter 13
and verse 7 of Proverbs, it says this, And think about these words
now. The Proverbs were written by
the Spirit of God, inspiring King Solomon, who was the wisest
man that ever lived. They were written in a way that
has a deeper meaning to them. The meaning is not just on the
surface, although we can understand it somewhat on the surface, but
there's a deeper meaning. And here we see this in Proverbs
13, 7. It says, there is that maketh himself rich, yet hath
nothing. Who did that? Who made himself
rich? Well, we can think of Adam. We
could think of Satan. He grasped after the place that
was Christ's alone. Only Christ was worthy to occupy
that place as king in the kingdom of God. Satan grasped after it. He tried to make himself rich,
and yet what does he have now? Because he was destroyed by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has nothing. And what about
ourselves in our self-righteousness when we grasp after things? We
try to make ourselves rich, don't we? And yet we have nothing. But listen to the Proverbs. There
is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing, but there is
that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. And who is
that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in 2 Corinthians 8, 9,
for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though
he was rich, Yet for your sakes he became poor, that you, through
his poverty, might be rich." What a rich word that is, isn't
it? The scriptures are so rich in the grace of God. The condescension,
the humility, the beauty of our Savior in his condescension.
He took part of the same. Because his brethren were partakers
of flesh and blood, he himself took part of the same. What a
condescension this is. And I want you to see that when
you look upon the Savior in His humiliation as He hung there
on the cross, think about the thief hanging there next to Him.
When you think about Him in His apparent weakness, realize that
He did this willingly. He made himself of no reputation. He was equal with God, and yet
he laid aside his reputation as God. He took upon him the
form of a servant, and he was made in the likeness of men,
and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
That's humility. That's a humble man, isn't it? More humble than any man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. What a beauty we see in humility.
There's nothing more beautiful than humility. Now this is a
very crass example of this, a very coarse one and vulgar one, but
I want you to see this because we can identify with these things
because of the weakness of our flesh. But think about this. Why do men, or people in general,
like dogs? Why do people like dogs? Because
dogs are so humble to their master. They're always admiring their
master. They find their greatest delight
in pleasing their master. They'll sit and they'll look
at their master's face. What do you want me to do? Fetch
the ball. He fetches the ball. And when their master is unhappy,
there they are, putting their head on his lap. When their master
is angry, they still sit there at their feet, at the master's
feet. You see what a dog is? A dog
is faithful to his master, and the dog is loved because he's
so lowly. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
lower than any man because he took our nature and bore our
sins and he took all that our sins deserve. He did this in
love, he did this in humility and his humility in doing this
is the greatest beauty that we see in our Savior, isn't it?
When he was in the room with his disciples before he went
to the cross he Knowing that God had given all things into
his hand, he laid aside his garments, he took his clothes off, and
he put a towel around himself, and he took a towel, and he took
a basin of water, and he washed his disciples' feet. In fact,
he washed their feet after he had already, in the purpose and
will of God, according to his own will and voluntary will,
had cleansed them from their sins. So now he's washing their
feet. He stoops as the master to wash the filthy feet filled
with the mire of the streets of his own disciples, those who
were his followers. He steps down and he takes the
place of a servant to wash their feet. And he says, you call me
master? Do you know what I did to you?
He says, you call me master and Lord. And you say, well, for
I am. If I then your Lord and master
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
This is humility. There's nothing more odious to
God than pride. And yet there's nothing more
beautiful than a humble and a contrite spirit. And this is the humility
we see in our Lord Jesus Christ Pride is an unjust, a self-conceited
estimation of ourselves. It's a hateful thing to God. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one of whom Isaiah spoke of, I believe, and all of God's
people, when he says in Isaiah 15 the following words. I'm going
to turn here with you. I was looking for it on my printout,
but I'm not finding it quickly, so let me just turn there and
read it to you. In Isaiah 57 and verse 15, we find this amazing
condescension of God Himself when He says this. He says, For
thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity,
whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy
place, And listen to this, with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit. That's amazing, isn't it? God
of glory, the one in whose eyes the heavens are not clean, the
moon doesn't shine, and the sun won't shine before God because
he is light itself. He is holy. There's nothing impure
in God's eyes, and yet the angels are unclean in his eyes. And
he says, here I, the Lord, the high and lofty one, dwell in
eternity with him that is contrite, humble in spirit, contrite, and
that's our Lord Jesus Christ. He made himself of flesh and
blood. He took our nature. He stooped
so low. We can't measure the distance
that he came, can we? He is infinite God. infinite
God, and yet He made Himself, He took on our nature, flesh
and blood, and He did it, that He might destroy our great enemy,
that He might deliver us from death, that He might, in our
place, fulfill the law of God, and be made a curse under that
law, and take that curse from us, and remove our sins, and
so save us from our sins. And there's nothing more beautiful,
I say, in my own thinking, than this humility of our Savior.
And he tells us this in scripture, whoever exalts himself shall
be abased. That's what we are, naturally.
We exalt ourselves. But he warns us, if you exalt
yourself, you'll be abased. The Pharisee stood and prayed
with himself. He trusted in himself and he
despised others. And Jesus said that man did not
go to his house justified because he exalted himself. But the Lord
Jesus Christ did not exalt himself. He actually made himself of no
reputation. In the epistle of the Apostle
John, the third epistle, 3 John verses 9 and 10, it says this,
in contrast to our Savior, a man named Diotrephes, who loves to
have the preeminence among them. This is a man whose characteristics
and behavior of his life was to exalt himself in the church. Is this anything like our Savior?
Of course not. It's the very opposite of our
Savior. That is the way of the wicked. That's the way of Satan,
is to exalt himself. And that's the way of his children.
But the Lord Jesus Christ did not do that. Oh, what an example.
of humility our Savior is to us. Let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the very form of
God, that being equal with God, counted it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
That's our Savior. So many things we could speak
about this, in scripture. One of the things you see is
in Matthew chapter 5 where the Lord says, blessed are the poor
in spirit, the poor in spirit. He also says this, blessed are
they that mourn and blessed are the meek, and blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, blessed are the
merciful, and blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the
peacemakers. These are all things that have
to do with lowering ourselves and making ourselves a servant
of all. If Christ made himself the servant
of his people, what a privilege it would be for us each one to
make ourselves a servant of Christ by making ourselves the servants
of his people. And this is what our life should
be. And so we see this in the Lord Jesus Christ. He made himself,
he took upon himself flesh and blood in order that he might
redeem us. Now, there's a question raised
here. Essentially, in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14, where
it says that because the children were partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself took part of the same, that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. Here's the question. And we need
to face this question. There's a good reason to face
this question now while we're in this room, while we're alive.
Here's the question. Am I afraid to die? Are we? Are we afraid to die? The Lord
Jesus Christ came to deliver us from the fear of death. Are
we afraid to die? Why would we fear death? There's
lots of reasons, and they're just reasons. They're legitimate
reasons why we should fear death, aren't they? For one thing, we
deserve to die. We deserve the wrath of God.
It says in Luke chapter 12 and verse 4 and 5, the Lord Jesus
tells his disciples, don't fear him that has the power to kill
the body. But I will tell you, I'll forewarn
you whom you should fear. Fear him who has power not only
to kill the body, but to raise up the body and kill the body
and the soul in hell. Fear Him. That's what the Lord
said. We have a good reason to fear, don't we? Because we deserve
the wrath of God. We deserve that unmitigated,
that unrestrained fierceness of God's wrath to be poured out
on us without mercy for all eternity. We have a good reason to fear
death, don't we? The Lord himself was the first
one to speak of death in Genesis 2. He says, in the day you eat
thereof, you shall surely die. That's death. God who created
us knows us. He knows how to torment us. And he said, in the day you eat,
you shall surely die. And we naturally and legitimately
ought to fear death. Because the death that God has
in view is the death Jesus described, the one where he who made us
has power to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now this is
a reason to fear. There's several reasons to fear
death. First of all, when we die, we die individually, don't
we? Have you thought about that?
When you die, who are you going to meet? Who's going with you? Don't you die alone? Don't you
die and face God in judgment? Isn't this a cause for concern?
And when we die, we don't know when we're going to die. It comes
upon us suddenly. We may be laying there at night
and suddenly feel the grip of the tightness of our chest. And
we wonder, is this my time? Is God taking my life from me
now? Or that throbbing pain in our head, and we wonder, is this
it for me? Is life being taken from me?
Nebuchadnezzar's son, in Daniel chapter 5, he took the things
that were holy and he allowed his concubines to drink out of
them, and he himself, and they were partying, and a hand appeared
and wrote on the wall, and he didn't know what it meant, and
he called for Daniel to interpret it. And Daniel told him in Daniel
5, 23, he says, the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose
are all thy ways thou hast not glorified. And you know what? When he saw that handwriting
and he heard the interpretation, his knees, Nebuchadnezzar's son's
knees knocked together because he was so afraid. That's the
fear of death, isn't it? The fear of facing God in judgment
and receiving in that judgment the condemnation that we deserve,
eternal judgment and wrath from God. We fear death because it
comes upon us suddenly, because it's permanent. There's no escaping
it. We have no power against it.
Our own corrupt natures call for God's wrath upon us. And
God himself has promised, the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The wages of sin is death. And all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. So there's a good reason for
us to fear death, a legitimate reason. But the Lord Jesus Christ
condescended, took on flesh and blood for his people in order
to deliver us from death and the fear of death. Are we afraid
to die? We should be. We should be afraid.
But there's another reason why we shouldn't be afraid, if we're
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Lord who kills. It's
the Lord who brings down to the grave. It's the Lord who also
raises up, according to 1 Samuel 2, verse 6. The Lord kills, the
Lord also makes alive. And that's why we ought to not
only fear death, naturally, But by God's grace, see Christ who
overcame death and therefore not fear death. Are we afraid
to die? We ought not be. But there's
only one way we can not fear death. And I want you to think
about this. How is it that we come to this
place where by God's grace we cannot fear death, or that we
don't fear death? There was a man who wrote on
his, had written, he didn't write it, but he had it written before
he died on his tombstone. He says, so that when people
would come to the cemetery, have you ever been to a cemetery?
Some people don't like to go to cemeteries. It's a very sobering
thing. I actually encourage you to go
to a cemetery and walk by and look at the headstones. Here
was somebody, a mother, she lived a young life, maybe 30 years
old, and she died and left children. Or a father, an old man, a young
child died in infancy. You see all these things in the
cemetery. This man had this written on his grave, please view my
grave as you pass by. You who walk by my grave, view
my grave, look at it. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, soon you must be. So make your plans to follow
me." That's what he had written on his tombstone because he wanted
us to understand the brevity, the uncertainty of life, and
the certainty of death. How can we not fear death if
death is permanent? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
Remember his condescension? Remember what he did? Who was
it that was conceived in the womb of Mary? Who was it? That holy thing. God with us. God was conceived in the body
of a baby, in the womb of a virgin. The Spirit of God came upon Mary
and in her womb, conceived in her womb, the body that God the
Father prepared for His Son. The Son of God was born through
the conception of the Spirit of God. God was in that womb,
and God was born to that woman. Not, he didn't begin to be, but
in the body of the baby there was God. It says in Colossians
2.9, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when he lived as a man and
he walked this earth, God was walking on this earth in the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered, he was tempted,
he knew sorrow, He experienced the scorn of men and the mocking
of men and the humiliation of having our nature as his own
nature. He endured all that. God was
there in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then when he
was hung on the cross next to two thieves, God was there. God hung on the cross in the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ. And God, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
God didn't die, but the Lord Jesus Christ did, and God was
in his body. In the body of our Lord Jesus
Christ who died, God was in his body. It says in Acts 13.35 that
thou wilt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thine
Holy One is the Holy Son of God in Acts 13.35. He speaks of that
from the Psalms, and he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ,
God incarnate, clothed in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate
deity. God was in the Lord Jesus Christ
when he died. And God was in Christ when he
was put in the tomb. God was in the body of Christ
when he was in the grave. God was there. And when he was
there, do you know what happened? God raised his body from the
dead. Now, it is because God was in
Christ, because the Lord took on flesh and blood, that in all
these things, the captain of our salvation, the master, our
master, our savior was there. Our captain went before us. Therefore,
in all of our sufferings, in even death itself, in the grave,
The Lord was there before us and he overcame it. I was thinking
about this just this morning. And think about this. I was trying
to think of an example. You probably have seen many TV
shows and movies, but it's probably hard for you to think of one
where the hero actually went into the place
of the captive and took the place of the captive. And then when
he was taken, he did it without the enemy knowing. But he came to the enemy and
submitted himself to him as one who the enemy took as captive. And he went into the prison.
And then when he was in the prison, He came out totally victorious
and let go all the prisoners. I couldn't think of a good example
of that in Hollywood stuff, but there's actually a really good
one in scripture. In the life of Samson, you know Samson was
given strength by the Spirit of God. One time they captured
him and put him in a city. Do you know what happened at
midnight? Samson took the gates and the bars of the city gates,
huge gates, Not a single man could lift those, but he took
them and he put them on his shoulders and he carried them some 20 miles
away at night. Can you imagine what the Philistines
who took him and captured him thought? Who let Samson in here? Who let Samson in here to empty
this city and to break the bars of this city? But Samson didn't
just do it once. He did it many times. Remember
when Delilah tried to get him to tell of his great strength? And they put these different
things. First it was, bind me with new ropes. So they came
in. The enemies bound him with new
ropes. And he woke up. He just broke the ropes like
they were nothing, like a spider's web. Another time, he said, you
need to weave this into my hair. The whole loom was all, his hair
was woven with this cloth, and the whole loom was still attached
to it. And they came in, and he just got up, and he walked
out and carried the whole sewing apparatus with himself. Didn't
even faze him. And then that other time, when
they made him angry because they took away the woman that he loved
and gave her to his friend, he caught 300 foxes and tied their
tails together and put firebrands between them. And they went and
destroyed all the fields of the Philistines. Another time, the
Philistines were so angry after the field was burned down, they
send an army after him. And the men of Judah, the people
of Samson, went to him and said, these Philistines are come against
us. He said, well, promise me that you won't kill me. But he
said, bind me. So they bound him. And when the
Philistines came, Samson broke the things that were wrapped
around him by his own countrymen. And then he found the jawbone
of an ass. And with that jawbone, he killed 1,000 men. Can you imagine what they were
thinking? Who let Samson in here? And then that last time when
Delilah finally found his true strength was in his hair, at
least that's what she understood it to be. They came in and they
shaved his head and then they made him bald and they poked
out his eyes so he couldn't see. And they forced him to grind
like an ox to grind out the mill. And they left him alone. And
God made his hair to grow. And as he was grinding there
in his blindness, they finally decided to make sport of him.
They took him into this place where all the Philistines were.
And he found the pillars of the building that the temple of the
Philistines was built upon and is founded on. And he laid his
hands on them and he prayed to the Lord. He said, Lord, let
me die. But let me destroy these Philistines."
So he leaned against them and the Spirit of God came upon him
and he brought down that entire house and over 6,000 Philistines
died. And he killed more in his death
than he did in his life. Who led Samson here? You see,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He took our nature. Satan and
the kings of this world didn't know that he was the Lord of
Glory. If they had known it, they would not have killed him.
But he came to his own, and he was taken by them. He said, if
you seek me, let these go their way. And they took him, and they
bound him, and they mocked him, and they scorned him, and they
spit upon him, and they hit him, and they beat him. And they nailed
him to the cross, and they pierced his hands and feet. And then
they divided his garments, and they thought, if he's truly the
Lord's, why doesn't the Lord save him? And they thought he
was weak. And then he died, and he went
into the grave. And then they realized, who let
God here? Who let God in the grave? He
promised he would destroy the grave. He promised he would empty
death. He promised to destroy it, and
he did it. He rose from the grave. Our Savior
in our nature went there. and he absolutely destroyed death,
and because our Savior went there, then we have no fear of death,
because death has been conquered. Satan was deprived of his captives. It said in Ephesians chapter
4 that he who ascended first descended into the lower parts
of the earth. He descended first, but then
he ascended. When he ascended, he led captivity
captive. It has to do with the kingdom
of Satan, because they held his people captive, and they were
the captivity of his people, and Christ took the captivity
his people were in, and he led them captive. He spoiled Satan's
kingdom. He emptied Satan's kingdom of
his people. He brought his sheep out of it,
and he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it in
the death of the cross. Who let him in here? He let himself
in. He came in our nature and he
bore our curse. He took our sins and bore all
the consequences for it. And he overcame our mighty Samson. The Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty
God, was in that tomb. Now, how are we delivered from
death? By him. It says that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death. You see
how the Lord Jesus Christ conquered death? He lowered himself. We think of captains overcoming
our enemy by great power. But the Lord Jesus Christ's power
lay in his humiliation. in his condescension, in his
being made weak, in submission to the will of God unto death,
even the obedience of the death of the cross. He submitted himself
in obedience to God, and he didn't seek his own. He made himself
of no reputation. He gave himself a ransom for
many. And because he did that, God
destroyed his enemies. They couldn't touch the Holy
One of God. Corruption couldn't touch him.
The grave couldn't hold him. Death couldn't hold him because
he had no sin. He was this holy, spotless, undefiled
Son of God. And so he destroyed death by
dying. He didn't die for his own sins.
He died because of ours. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities. But by his substitutionary death
on the cross, that cursed cross, he was triumphant. Triumphant
over death and over the grave. Triumphant over Satan. Satan
thought and his design to murder us, he thought to murder us at
the hand of God. He knew that God would keep his
word, in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die, so he brought
us into sin. He tempted us, he deceived us,
he made us think that God hadn't given us good, that God wasn't
good himself. He withheld from us, he was deceiving
us, but it was Satan who was deceiving us. And so we listened
to Satan. We submitted ourselves in obedience
to Satan in Adam and in Eve. And Satan seemed to have the
victory. God did bring the sentence of death upon us. We spiritually
died in Adam. And we die in our body. Our body
is subject to death. In Romans 8, 10 it says the body
is dead because of sin. So we are subject to death. But
the Lord Jesus Christ overcame in a way Satan never conceptualized. He didn't realize that by his
humility and weakness, he was actually coming into that prison
to release us from it by taking our curse, bearing our sins before
God, answering God to his satisfaction, answering the loud cries of God's
justice to bring unmitigated An eternal death without mercy,
the Lord Jesus Christ bore that in himself. Let me read to you
from Psalms chapter 88, these words. Psalm chapter 88, it portrays
this in the language of the prophet David, who spoke of Christ here
in Psalm 88. He says this, describing his
experience as our suffering substitute, who had taken our nature. He
says, O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before
Thee. Let my prayer come before Thee.
Incline Thine ear unto my cry, for my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draweth near to the grave. I am counted with them
that go down to the pit. I am as a man that has no strength. You see how death We have no
strength against death. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
no strength against death, because he bore our sins. Free among
the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest
no more, and they are cut off from thy hand, thou hast laid
me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth
hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Thou hast
put away mine acquaintance from me, far from me. Thou hast made
me an abomination unto them. I am shut up, and I can't come
forth. Mine eye mourneth by reason of
affliction, Lord. I have called daily upon Thee.
I have stretched out my hands to Thee. Wilt Thou show Thy wonders
to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise
Thee?" You see, he's praying for the resurrection here. Shall
thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness
in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in
the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness,
which is what the grave is? But unto thee have I cried, O
Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee, or go
before thee. Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest
thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die. From my youth up, while I suffer
thy terrors, I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me. Thy terrors have cut me off.
You see what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here? He experienced
the fear of death because death actually came upon him. The wrath
of God came into his soul. Verse 17, they came round about
me daily like water. They compassed me about together,
lover and friend, hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance
into darkness. This is the prayer of our substitute. And because he feared, he was
heard. The Lord Jesus Christ was delivered
from death. God raised him from the dead.
He overcame death, He overcame the grave. He put away our sins
and He took away our curse. That's the reason we're delivered
from death. Like Brother Ramel was saying
earlier, He Himself was cursed and He Himself removed our curse.
It's a done deal. It's happened. The Lord Jesus
Christ delivers us. He delivers us from death and
he also delivers us from the character of death. You know
what death is like in his character. For the unbeliever, it's a horrible
thing. But, and it's an endless thing. There's no coming out of it. It's sudden. And we have no power
against it. And to think that we do have
power against it is the height of foolishness, isn't it? And
so men live their lives thinking, well, the judgment of God never
comes. It's delayed, there must not be any judgment, and they
live their lives, they sear their conscience, and we go to the
grave, and it's only then when we realize that we didn't prepare
to meet our God. We didn't prepare. Ask anyone
in hell, did you think you would be here? What do you think they're
going to say? No, I didn't. I didn't expect
really the terrors of hell to come upon me. The rich man in
Luke chapter 16 tells us about this. He didn't think he would
be there. He lived his life sumptuously every day and had no thought
of death. But when it came, that's all
he could think about. That's the character of death
by nature. But the Lord Jesus Christ changes the character
of death for his people. You see, a believer in Christ
really never dies. Now we say that, but we don't
really, we don't understand it really. But the Lord Jesus said
that he who believes on me shall never die, shall never die. Because the death we deserve,
he has already taken away. So that death to the believer
is no more punishment. It's actually an evil, that we
deserved that's turned to our good. Because when Lazarus fell
asleep in death, the Lord Jesus said that. He said, our friend
Lazarus sleepeth. In other words, death in the
body is just a going to sleep. For the believer, it's a going
to sleep, it's a rest, it's waiting until God raises our body again
and changes it to be like Christ's glorious body. Christ who went
into the grave, God in the grave, rose again undefiled, holy, and
he ascended to heaven not in flesh and blood, like we have
here, but in a glorious body, a spiritual, a heavenly body,
not subject to corruption, a body that can never die, never suffer,
never know sorrow. Never no tears. So God has changed
the nature, the character of death for the believer so that
it's like a shadow where once before it was our great fear.
Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death,
I will fear no evil. Thou art with me. Remember Psalm
23? And he says in Hebrews chapter
13 verses 4 and 5 that we have no need to fear because he has
said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The unbeliever
dies alone. The believer dies with Christ.
The believer dies in Christ. The believer doesn't die in his
sins because Christ has borne our sins. Therefore, the sting
of death has been removed because it stung. It came upon our Savior. The Lord, according to Psalm
27, is my light and my salvation. Therefore, whom shall I fear?
Whom? Right? He said in In this psalm,
in Psalm 85, since we're close by there, he says, "...Lord,
thou hast been favorable unto thy land, thou hast brought back
the captivity of Jacob." Describing how Christ redeemed us out of
sin and death and the grave and the power of Satan to bring us
into fear. and to tempt us and bring us
under the condemnation of God's own wrath. He says, thou has
forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou has covered all
their sins, thou has taken away all thy wrath. Here's the Lord. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry
with us forever? Wilt thou draw up thine anger
to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee? Surely show us thy mercy,
O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and to his
saints. You see, here the Lord is describing
the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. God took away his own wrath in
our Savior, therefore the nature of death is changed. It's no
more a portal to eternal damnation. It's a portal to life. When we
die, all of our sins are finally separated from us in our body.
Our body goes to sleep and it'll rise again. Not as it was, not
a corrupt body, but a glorious new body. It will be the dawning
of an eternal day when we rise again. Death is not to be feared. Death is actually to be welcomed.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Psalm 116 verse 5. He says, blessed in Revelation
chapter 14 verse 13, I think he says, blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. You see, therefore when the Lord
Jesus says, the believer never dies, he says, I'm the resurrection
and the life. Whoever lives and believes in
me shall never die. Because we never experience that
death that the unbeliever experiences. We have no reason to fear it,
because death's character has been changed for us. It's a release. When we die in our body, All
of our prayers are answered, aren't they? All of our prayers,
all of our tears, all of our sorrow is taken from us. The
sins that we long to be free from are finally separated from
us in our body. The weakness is gone. The cause
of sorrow is removed from us. We're with the Lord. All these
things teach us how God has changed the character of death for his
people. And it's a beautiful thing because God was there. God took it from us in our Savior. Death to the wicked is just the
execution of God's justice. But death to the believer is
the deliverance from sin and sorrow and death itself, death
in our body. To the worldling, death is the
beginning of sorrows, but to the believer, death is the beginning
of glory. Think about that. It's the fulfillment
of all of our hopes. Through the Spirit of God, we
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. And we realize that
hope when we die and the Lord then raises our body. And so
we have to ask this question now. Do we want to be free from
this fear of death? Do we want to be free? How do
we become free? Well, we just described how the
Lord Jesus delivers us from death and his own death, how he overcame
sin in his own, bearing our own sins in his body on the tree,
how he overcame death in the grave and Satan's kingdom, and
robbed Satan of his prey, and took it from him. But how will
we be free? By looking to him. We begin in
life looking to Christ. We walk in life looking to Christ. And we end our life, by the grace
of God, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And how shall we then
awake after death? We will see Him as He is. And
when we see Him, we will be like Him. He says in Psalm 17, 15,
I will be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. And in 1 Corinthians
13, verse 12, it says, now we see as through a glass, darkly,
but then face to face, then we shall know even as we are known. Think about that. How will we
know when we die, when we go to glory? How will we then know?
Even as we are known. How are we known by God now?
Well, we're known in Christ. And what shall we see when we
awake when our body, when our spirits are with the Lord? What
will we see? We'll see the face of our Savior.
We'll see Him as He is. We'll know Him as He is. And
we will know that God sees us in the one we see. The one who
has overcome all, who reigns as king. Our Lord has become
our servant and was made our captain because he overcame by
his humility and humiliation. He conquered death. He was bound,
but he tore away the bonds of death by his righteousness, by
overcoming our sin. And when we see him that way,
Then we will be known. We will know even as we are known.
We'll see what God sees of us, that what we are in Christ. We'll
see that then. And then we'll know. And what
a day that will be. What could compare to that? I
want to read to you 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 1. He says,
for we know that if our earthly house, of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. For in this, in this house that
we have now, this body, we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being
clothed, we shall not be found naked. Not like the unbeliever. When the unbeliever dies, he's
unclothed. He stands before God in the terror
of his own sins, naked before God, exposed to the light of
God's all-seeing eye, but we're clothed. We're clothed in Christ's
righteousness, therefore we're clothed with a new body at the
resurrection. Verse four of 2 Corinthians 5.
He says, for we that are In this tabernacle, our body,
do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed. We don't want to just be without
a body, but we want to have the body God is going to clothe us
with. But clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed
up of life. You get the picture, don't you?
The grave that thought to swallow us up, we had no power over,
with the gaping mouth of eternal torments of hell, awaited us. That grave has been swallowed
up by the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he says that mortality
in our body might be swallowed up of life. The grave couldn't
hold Christ because he's the life. But verse 5, of 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Now, he that wrought us for the
self, same thing, is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest
of his spirit. which is the Spirit of God in
us, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Therefore, we are always
confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we
are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. We are confident, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we
labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of
him." You see? This is describing the certainty
of the resurrection of our body. Therefore, death is not a terror
to us. Death is not a terror to us.
He says in Isaiah 26, 19, thy dead men shall live together
with my dead body. They shall arise. Awake and sing,
ye that dwell in the dust. For thy dew is as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. This is the resurrection of God's
people, so death has no terror of us. How can we live as those who
are not afraid to die? Well, one thing we must realize
is that we should live every day thinking about our death
and what it means to die in the Lord. We should think about that
every day, shouldn't we? You know how comfort comes to
us? It's thinking about, realizing
the very truth of what God has said about our place in Christ,
so that even death itself has no power over us. He says in
1 Corinthians 15, verse 57, that in all these, let me read
this to you, I'll get it wrong because I'm mixing it up with
Romans 8, but in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, I'll read from verse
54, he says, so then this corruptible,
this body of corruption, shall have, when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. Christ has taken away our sin
by fulfilling and enduring the curse of the law. But verse 57,
but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why we don't fear death.
We already have the victory. How do we know we have it? Our
captain has entered. Our captain has gone before.
He rose. He ascended. He sits in glory.
And so he says this also in Romans chapter 8. And I'll end with
this, because I know that we can only take in so much. But
Romans chapter 8, he says, Verse 29, For whom he did foreknow,
God foreknew us, he also did predestinate us to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren, our captain, the firstborn. Verse 30, Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Already, already glorified, In
Christ, what shall we then say to these things? If God be for
us, who shall be against us? Go ahead. Where are you? There aren't any that can be
against us. not even death, not the grave.
Verse 32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him
up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things? Life is yours, death is yours,
the present is yours, everything is yours. Verse 33, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword, or COVID, as it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter, nay. In all these things we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us, for I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities,
nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Death
has no power over the believer. Death has been changed. Death
will be the realization of all of our prayers and hopes because
Christ went into death in the grave. Our God has come out and
now in his glorified, resurrected body has entered into our inheritance
for us. Our captain sits in the right
hand of God and we are now risen with him. Let's pray. Lord, thank
you for the earnest of your spirit that teaches us that our savior
has conquered death and we're more than conquerors through
him that loved us. Thank you that you console us knowing that
you go with us, Lord, in all things, nothing. You will never
forsake us, no, never. And that even death itself is
ours. It has been made, has been changed
from the evil that it was to us when we were in our sins. It has been gutted, swallowed
up in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, our mighty conqueror,
our captain. who has entered and taken possession
of all things for us, all the blessings of heavenly places
for us. Help us, Lord, to ever be mindful
of the great truth that you've revealed in the gospel of our
Savior, how that all our Savior did, He did with us and for us. We died with Him. We were buried
with Him, and we rose with Him, and we are now ascended with
Him. We're now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Help
us to live by faith and hope in Him, and so know that we have
no fear of death, and look forward to death, to being with our Savior.
But while we're here, help us, Lord, to humble ourselves as
He did, and to endure all pain and suffering, knowing that He
went before us. He went lower than we did, and
He's raised up to the highest place. Help us to look for Him. We pray You'd bring us to Yourself
according to His own prayers and His will, that we would be
with Him and we would see His glory. In Jesus' name we pray,
amen.