If you would, go back to Hebrews
chapter 5 with me. I want to read one verse to be
our text for the night. Verse 9, And being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him. Men, when they get a little bit of
a thought of wanting to seek after God, wanting to have a relationship with God,
not knowing what they're seeking, they make a mistake, and they
look to themselves. They look to their own righteousness.
These men think that they need to change something about the
way they live, act, do. Deeds and habits are important,
but they're not unto salvation. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. We see the Apostle Paul. That's what he had to say about
his fellow brethren in Israel. He said that his heart's desire
and prayer to God was for Israel that they might be saved. He
wanted his brethren saved. He said, for I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
They were out to establish their own. They thought they had to
live a certain way, do certain ordinances, do certain things
for themselves. And Apostle Paul knew of this. If you look at Philippians 3,
verses 4 He said, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh that he hath
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. He said, these
things were gained to him. Down in verse seven, he said,
these were what was gained for him. And he goes back, verse
five, he says, he was circumcised the eighth day. Of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as
touching the law of Pharisee. concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
He considered himself blameless. He was ignorant at that time.
The Lord had not revealed himself to him. When the Lord stopped
him, he wrote this. He said in verse 8, he considered
it all dumb. It was nothing. Christ is all. That's what we need to look to.
Christ is all. We see that there is no righteousness
in the flesh. Romans 3, y'all don't have to
turn. I wish I could quote a lot of
these. It says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall
be no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the
knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. That's Christ. Christ is the righteousness,
is our righteousness. And he also said in Titus, Titus chapter 3 verse 5, he says,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. So we see there, it's not works
of our righteousness. It's Christ. It's Christ's righteousness.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness. He is Jehovah
Sidkenu. He is the Lord our righteousness. And I have a few points to make
tonight. One, who made Christ the Savior? Let's look at who made Christ
the Savior. Let's go back to our text. In
Hebrews, first few verses there, it says,
For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins. These men had compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for he himself
also was compassed with infirmities." Our Lord was compassed with infirmities. He wasn't a sinner. He had no
sin, but he was tempted in all points as we were but without sin. These men, they
were ordained of God to be priests. And we see that they did so,
but they had to offer, it says in verse three, it says, by reason
hereof, he ought as for the people, so also he himself to offer for
sins. This high priest had to offer
for the sins of the people, but he had to offer for his own sins
too. They were, it was never completely put away. The Lord
blessed them at the time, but it had to be done again. And then you see in verse 4,
it says, No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is
called of God, as was Aaron. Aaron didn't choose to be a high
priest. He didn't just up one day decide that he would be the
high priest for God's people. God chose Aaron. He chose Moses
to lead his people. He chose Aaron to be their high
priest. He chose the Levites to be where the high priest would
come from, the lineage of the high priest. And Christ, he came
from Judah's lineage, but he is the high priest. And the reason
he's the high priest is that in verse five says, so also God
glorified not himself to be made a high priest. He didn't come
here and claim he was a high priest. He come here as a preacher.
He come here put on flesh, just like us, as a sinful man without
sin. He lived that perfect life we
can't live. He did it for His people. But
He that said unto Him, which is God said unto Him, Thou art
my Son, today have I begotten Thee. God made Him our Savior. God made him our Savior. It says
in verse 10, he was called of God a high priest after the order
of Melchizedek. Our God and Melchizedek was just
a representation of Christ to Abraham. He came to Abraham as
a high priest, a king and a high priest. But God called him to be a high
priest. Today have I begotten thee. called
of God and high priest. Christ was ordained by God for
all eternity to be our representative, to be our substitute, to be our
surety, to be our redeemer. He took on all these. He was
the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He had to come
here as a man. He had to live a perfect life. He had to be bruised by the Father, wounded for our transgressions, but he did it for his people.
He did it that everyone that he's chosen will be saved. It was God's purpose and his
eternal plan was to substitute before the world's foundation
were ever laid or sin entered in the earth. He made Christ
that lamb slain to bear the sins of the guilty. He was chosen to be our representative
in surety before man was ever put on this earth. We've sinned
against our God, only against our God. That's what David said
after the Lord revealed to him his sin when he had to sin with
Bathsheba and Uriah. He said, against thee and thee
only have I sinned. And that's who we've sinned against.
That's who we need salvation from. We owe him a debt. We're debtors to God. It's a man that owes a debt. The debt
collector sets the terms. He dictates the terms of how
we're saved or how we pay that debt back. That man would go
out and buy a car. We don't tell them how we're
going to pay it back. They tell us how we're going to pay it
back. They're the ones giving us the debt that we have to pay
back. Well, God dictates the terms.
of how his debt is paid. And he chose Christ to be that
debt collector, to be the one that everything would happen
through, that would take on a body like ours, to live a perfect
life. God did all that. He sent his
son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was wounded for our
iniquities and bruised for our transgressions. I may have had
that backwards. But God has exalted him. He's
exalted him to have a name above every name. God exalted him to
set at his right hand. God committed to have all power
and all authority and all judgment put into the hands of the Son.
Christ is our Savior. He's our Judge. He's our Substitute. And if we're going to do business
with this God, we have to do it on His terms. We have to be
redeemed the way he tells us that he's going to redeem us.
We have to be reconciled to him by his representative. That's
our God. Again, he was called to be a
high priest. But in our text, it says that
he became the author of eternal salvation. An author is one that he designs
what he's going to write. He plans it out. He writes it
from page one to the last page, puts the end on it, puts his
name on it, has it printed. It's his book. He's the author. That's what Christ did for us.
He's the author in that he's the designer. He's the creator. He causes it. He provides it. And he finished it. Christ did
it all. From beginning to end, Christ
created everything. All things were made for him
and by him. It was all for his honor and
his glory. And he's an author in that he
purposed it. I want to look at a couple of
passages here on him purposing it. As the author, he purposed
to do what he willed. In Isaiah 46, verse 11, he says, calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel
from a far country, He said, yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Whatever, whatever he purposes
is done. That he will do. In Ephesians
chapter 1, which my dad was gracious enough
to read for us this evening in the study, Says in verse four, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. The
only way that we can stand without, that we should be holy and stand
without blame is if we're in Christ. There is no other way
to stand before a holy God. He's angry with the wicked every
day. But he loves his people with an everlasting love. He's an author in that he purposed
it. He's an author in that he purchased it. The angel came to Joseph and
told him, said that you call his name Jesus. That son you're
going to have, you call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people. He purchased it. He had to come
into this world as a man, in the flesh, live a perfect life,
live and fulfill the law of every jot and tittle, something we
could not do, something we cannot do. We're told in 1 Peter chapter
1, Verses 18, for as much as you
know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold, no man has ever gotten to God by anything from this
earth that's corruptible. From your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He was perfect. He was our Savior. He was our
substitute. He did it all. Even going to
the cross, man did not put Him there. God put Him there to punish
sin. He punished our sin. He purchased salvation with His
own blood. He paid the debt that we could
not pay. We wouldn't be able to pay it
in an eternity. But he purposed it, he's the
author in that he purposed it, purchases it, and then he applies
it. He has to apply it. He done all
the work, all the work done by Christ for us, and he also does
all the work by Christ in us. Some men may think that Oh, they
got a little religion. Maybe they think the Lord saved
them. But then they turn around and think, oh, yeah, he does
all that. He does it for us. But he also does it in us. We
don't even have that. We would not sit here right now,
tonight, and be here, and want to be here, if it wasn't for
his spirit bringing us. His spirit gave us a sense of
sin. We're all sinners. His spirit gives us a desire
for God. We're enmity, our minds and our
bodies. The natural man is enmity against
God. He led us to repentance. Even
repenting is not of ourselves. Once he shows us our sins, we
will repent. But it's only because he gave
us repentance. He shed abroad God's love in
our heart. The only reason we love God is
because He first loved us. Only reason. And He brought the
wonderful gift of faith to us. He done all that because He's
the author and He applies it to us. And then He's the author
in that He presents us to the Father. He presents us to the
Father blameless. Let's turn to Jude chapter 24.
Not chapter 24, verse 24. I have
some of y'all looking for that. It said, now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, not only
is he able to present us to God. He does it with great joy. It says, to the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and ever. Christ is the faithful one. He's
the one that is able to present us. He's the one that's able
to cover us. It's His blood that hides our
sins, put away as far as the east is from the west. And then back in our text, it says He's the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey Him. Obey Him is to trust Him. We have to trust our Lord. If
He's done a work in us, We have no choice but to follow Him,
to trust Him, to believe Him. Every time we look to ourselves,
we're going to fall. But He's able to save us, to
retrieve us, to bring us back. In John chapter 6, verse 28 the jews asked him said
then what what shall we do that we might work the works of god
here's the here's christ answer to the works to work the works
of god this is the work of god that you believe on him whom
he hath sent we're told to believe on christ we can't even do that
unless he gives us that belief. Unless he puts that in us, we
cannot even do that. Everyone that trusts him will
obey him. John said that if any man sins,
we have an advocate. Christ is our advocate. We're
sinners till the day we die in this flesh. And this flesh is
corrupt. But we have a Savior that cannot
be... He can be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but He can't be touched with our sin. And
He cures our sin. He gives us this faith. He is
the faith. We're told that we're saved by
grace through faith, and that's not of ourselves. That faith
is Christ. And faith brought the blood sacrifice
when Abel and Cain came to the altar. Christ put that blood
sacrifice there. That was a representation. That
was how they were taught, that to look to the Lamb. to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, or faith, built the
ark. Noah, as a man, built the ark,
but he did it because Christ gave him the faith and the knowledge
to realize that God was true and every man a liar. God lifted up, or faith lifted
up the brazen serpent. Faith laid Isaac on that altar.
Faith put the blood on the door. And faith will lead a man to
obey Christ in confession, in baptism, in holiness, and honesty. If a man is ever honest with
himself, he will see that he is nothing and Christ is all. But that takes the faith of Christ. It takes Christ's faith to do
that in us. For without faith it is impossible
to please God. That statement right there, without
faith it is impossible to please God. That has to be Christ. Because without Christ, it's
impossible to please God. He has to do it all. Every little
bit. If we have a glimmer of wanting
to know our Lord, it's because He done it. He done it and He
put it in us. Philippians 2 tells us, says,
for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His
good pleasure. It's all for the glory of God. God gets the glory in all, and
man none. Because if man gets any glory,
he would have word of the glory of God. But he doesn't. The very will to do the will
of God is the will of God. The very will to believe on Christ,
that's the will of God. The very will to come to Christ,
that's also the will of God. No man can come to the Father
except he is drawn. And 1 Corinthians 4 tells us
this, well, who maketh thee to differ? What have we except what
we perceived? Our God gives it all. He gives it freely. His people
that He's chosen, that He sent His Son here for and died as
a substitute, He's coming for them. He's going to take them
home. We have to give God the glory
for everything. For our desire to come to Christ,
we come to Christ. We can only give God the glory
in that. The will to believe, we have to give God the glory
in that. It's all Christ. He is all in all. He's the author
in all of it. He started it. He finished it.
It's done. Romans 7, 8 tells us that in
the flesh dwell no good thing. But Christ in us is perfection. We're not perfect, except in
Christ. And in Christ, if God will not even see us,
He will only see His Son. That's the mercy and the grace
we need is to be found in Christ. God gets the glory in everything
if we have a glimmer in our hearts to even think about Christ. God
put it there. He that cometh to Christ He must
declare that He is God. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He's our blood sacrifice and
substitute. We can only come to the Father
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way we can come
to the Father, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we try to get
there by any other way, it will not work. We will fail. And a
man that has been shown that can't look to anything other
than Christ and His work. Christ did it all. We're told
to believe. We're told to come. We're told
to seek the Lord. We can't do any of that unless
the Lord seeks us first. It says we were sought, that
he sought us when we weren't seeking him. We had no thoughts
of our God when he found us. We might have thought we did,
but we weren't looking to the God of this universe. We weren't
looking to the God that created all this, to Christ. Martin Luther, I actually was
supposed to have read this someplace and I forgot, but I see it now. The second verse of Martin Luther's
hymn, Our Mighty Fortress is Our God. Did we in our own strength
confide, our striving would be losing. Were not the right man
on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that
may be? Christ Jesus, it is he. Our God, Christ as our God, set out to
make a design where He would allow sin to enter this earth
so He could save His people. He could save a people from it.
Nobody deserves it. We're all sinners. If God sent us all to hell, we
would deserve it. But that's what mercy and grace
is, is not getting what we deserve. If we stay out of hell, it will
die by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our only hope,
is that the Lord Jesus Christ calls us, has done this work
for us, keeps us, makes us love him. That's the only way. I know myself,
I'm prone to wander, but it's Him that keeps bringing me back.
He gets all the glory every time I show up here. It's because
of Him. Anytime I want to sit down and
read this Bible and look for Christ, it's His doing. It's
all for His honor and His glory. I get none of it, and I don't
need any of it. We need not to seek our unrighteousness,
we need to seek His righteousness. He is, the Lord is our righteousness. Y'all would stand with me.