In His forlifting character and
shadowed in the grace Then in a lonesome leader's song
I'll sing my heart to stay I'll sing my heart to stay I'll sing
my heart to stay Then in a lonesome leader's song That song never grows old. Thank
you, Sherry. Good seeing you. Let's ask the Lord to bless the
town. Our Father, we thank you that
there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's vein. And sinners such as we, whom
you, by your mercy and grace, plunge beneath that blood, lose
all of our guilty stains. We thank you. We thank you. of the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, for our sin-atoning sacrifice, promised by our great high priest.
Now, lift him up before our eyes and
draw us to him. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy
3 verse 16, Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. Many cannot understand this,
that God became a man. and they refuse to believe it
because they can't understand it. And many encompass sea and
land to try to disprove it. I saw some of these fellows the
other day in their uniforms and their black pants and white shirts
and black ties going from door to door to disclaim that Jesus
Christ is God. attempt to disprove and what
they disbelieve and what they despise is my greatest cause
for joy, that God became a man. I don't understand it either,
but I believe it. God became a man, and I find
great comfort there. God became a man so man can become
the Son of God. And here in Hebrews chapter 2,
this is what he's talking about in verse 4. For as much as the
children, God's children, Christ's children, are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself, Christ, likewise took part of the same. He took flesh and blood. Why? Read on. That through death,
you remember back there we saw where it says, we see Jesus made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Well,
verse 14 says that through death, his death, he might destroy him
that had the power of death, or the sting of death, or sin,
that is. that he might destroy him," that
is, the devil, to destroy sin and death. Verse 15, "...and
deliver them," these children that were given him by the Father,
"...to deliver them, who through fear of death," of sin and death,
"...and all their lifetime were subject to bondage." this bondage
or captivity to sin, Christ led captivity captive. And if we
quote this book of Hebrews, we're going to be quoting verses that
are all through here. If that's all right, we'll get
way ahead of ourselves as these scriptures come to mind. Now,
I have verse sixteen, and so he says, Truly, it barely means truly,
truly, Christ took not on him the nature of angels, but he
took on him the seed of Abraham. He took not on him. Now, this
is truth, he said. He didn't become an angel, but
he took on him the seed of Abraham. Now, here it is again. Right
off the bat, a clear declaration of God's sovereign electing grace,
right here. What we saw this morning, didn't
we? In 1 Peter and here again. Now, I look over at the book
of Jude with me. The book of Jude is right before
the Revelation. Next to the last book in the
Bible. It says here, he didn't take on him the nature of angels.
Christ did not become an angel. So therefore, no angels will
be saved. What are you talking about, preacher?
Well, here in Jude, verse 6, look at this. Jude 6, the angels,
which kept not their first estate. That is, obedience and holiness
unto the Lord. "...but left their own habitation. He hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Now,
this is what happened here that Jude is talking about. There
were angels. Back before the world began,
there were angels. Before man, before mankind was
created, there were angels. Lucifer, that means son of the
morning, he was a high title. He apparently was a high angel
in wherever he was. They were angels. And some of
them, led by Lucifer, rebelled against God. I don't understand
it, but I know it's so. Scripture says so. In Isaiah
14, it talks about the fall of Lucifer, the days that fell. All right? The angels rebelled
against God, and it says here in Jude that God put chains on
them and threw them in darkness, and they're reserved right now
to the last day of judgment, where they're going to be cast
into hell with everybody else that will be cast there. All right? God didn't say, one
angel. Not one. He didn't. Not one. He says, be angels.
Every one of them that rebelled were Chained up and cast into
hell. Now, Satan's an angel, isn't he? He was one of these rebellious
angels. So what does that mean about Satan? He's got a chain
on him, doesn't he? A leash. He's on a leash. You know what about a dog on
a leash, don't you? Some dogs are tied up real short, aren't
they, on a leash. They can't go five feet. You've
seen them on these, what do you call them, Rick? The running
leash, don't you? God just let Satan's leash out a little further
than the rest of them, but he's on a leash. All right. But God
didn't save one of those angels. They're all reserved for this
destruction. Now, do you hear anybody in the
world today crying out, unfair? about the angels. Have you ever
heard somebody you talk to, it's not fair. I don't think it's
fair. God ought to save one person,
ought to give one of them a chance to be saved. Have you ever heard
anybody but him argue that? Not fair. He ought to give them
a chance. No, nobody's crying out there. Yet man has done the same thing
as the angels. Mankind has done the same thing,
only worse, people. Man has done worse than the angels.
How so? God became a man, and man took
him and killed him. Now, that's worse, isn't it?
Satan said, I will exalt my throne to the stars. Satan said, I will,
I will. God said, you will not. And God
put a chain on him and the rest of his cohorts, okay? Man said
the same thing. Adam and Eve said the same thing,
and all men by nature say the same thing. My will, free will,
they put it across the church building, so to speak, don't
they? I will, don't they? Same thing, and same thing. And then when God came down here,
Christ said, I'm God. Well, you better bow and you
better believe me. He said, we will not. And they
took him and killed him. That's worse. Man's worse than
the fall of an angel. And perhaps that's why God became
a man. That's why God saved some men. Why? He saves the worst. He gets more glory that way,
he said, in saving the worst. Brother John, another man named
John Bunyan, that is. has a sermon called, Jerusalem
Sinner Saved. You want a blessing, read that
message. You've got about three days,
because it's long. But he used the text where Christ said, go
ye in all the world and preach the gospel, beginning at Jerusalem. He said, start there. Those were
the ones that killed him. Isn't that mercy? Great mercy. And great. God saves the worst,
chief of sinners. He says, start at Jerusalem.
That's the worst there is. Start there. Well, all right,
so Hebrews says he didn't become an angel, right? Didn't save
any angels. But he became a man. All right? Christ became a man for all mankind. No. Look at it. Look here in Hebrews 2, verse
16. Verily he took not on him the
nature of angels, but he took on him," now here's a lecture,
the seed, and every word is significant in that rhythm, the seed, singular,
of who? Abraham. Abraham. I turn over to Romans 9, Romans
chapter 9. started just a little bit earlier
tonight, so we could have a little more time, but we still won't.
I won't keep you long, but this is good if God will make it good
to us. Now here again is a declaration
of electing grace, God's sovereign electing mercy and grace, Romans
9. So God sovereignly chose human
beings over angels, didn't he? He didn't choose He chose human beings, all right?
And God sovereignly chose Jews over Gentiles, didn't He? Look at verse 4, Romans 9, verse
4. Who are Israelites? They are
Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption, or that is, they're
called the sons of God, the Jews, and the glory, and the covenants,
and so on and so forth. And He began with a fellow named
Abraham. I'll shorten the whole story
for you, OK? The father of the Jews was named
Abraham, OK? He was the first Jew, though
he wasn't a Jew by birth. He wasn't born in Jerusalem,
wasn't he? Isn't that a picture? He was made a Jew. He was declared
a Jew. But at any rate, you know the
whole story. Abraham and all his posterity
were finally ended up in Israel there. All right? Abraham, a Jew. OK? But wait, now. Not all of Abraham's
seed. Not all of Abraham's sons. Abraham had two sons. His first
son was named what? Ishmael. Ishmael. Remember that? That was a boy
that Abraham and his wife got together and they decided to
have a boy. Didn't they? They got together of their own
free will and had them a son. Made them a son, all right, so
to speak. God rejected them, said, cast
him out. Why? That's not the sons of God. It's not what man does, it's
not man's will, not of him that will it, is it? It's God's choice. God said, you will have a son,
I'll make him a son. Look down here at verse 7, neither
because they're the seed of Abraham, now he's talking about Ishmael,
neither because they're the seed of Abraham are they all children,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, now he goes
on here, verse 8, they which are the children of the flesh. That works two ways. Children,
those who make themselves, you know, decide for Jesus or accept
God, let go and let God, you know, consecrate, dedicate, you
know, get born again and all that. The flesh, they get it,
they do it, they decide, they will, they're not the children
of God. Neither are all people of flesh
and blood on this earth the children of God. Who are the children
of God? The elect. Look at it, verse
8. The children of the promise are
counting for the seed. Just like Isaac was a miracle. Isaac was a miracle. Who made
Who gave birth to Isaac? Who caused Isaac to be born?
How was Isaac born? He was born of God. Right? Sarah was dead. Her womb was
dead. Abraham was dead. He didn't have
any sperm. He was dead. He was 100 years
old. Then how'd they get this boy? God's slave would come. And God caused it. God's purpose,
God's choice, God's doings. Without man's will, or man's
strength, or man's cooperation, or man's help in any way. Matter
of fact, when God said he was going to do it, they laughed.
Well, yeah, it can't be done. Watch. Go into Sarah. That's a useful. Electing sovereign grace, that's
how it was said. And then verse 8 said, Not all
Jews are the children of God. That's still further down here
in Romans 9. I hope we get out of Romans 9. Well, no, I don't
hope that. It's fine if we stay there anyway. This is my favorite passage in
Romans. Verse 10, he said, Not only this now. Now, wait a minute. We're talking about God's sovereign
electing grace. Teresa, are you following me?
He didn't save any angels. He chose human beings. All right,
but not all human beings. He went to the seed of Abraham.
But not all the seed of Abraham. Isaac. But wait a minute. Keep
going. Look at verse 10. Not only this,
but when Rebecca, that's Isaac's wife. When Rebecca was conceived
by one, she had twins in her womb. Now God's really going
to show His sovereign electing grace here, isn't He? Twins,
born of the same woman, two boys, identical in every way. Now look at this, verse 11, "...and
before they were born," verse 11, "...the children being not
yet born." neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand." Election, not works. It's of him that called it. It
was said unto Rebekah. God said this to Rebekah before
the boys were born. Two boys are in your womb. The
elder will serve the younger. Read on. As it is written, verse
13, Jacob have I set my sovereign love on, my love, that Esau have
I hated. And right there it is. Right? Well, what shall we say then?
Paul says, what shall we say then? That's what he says, Brother
Rick. Is there unrighteousness with God? That's not fair. God
won't be happy. Why? Verse 15, because he said
to Moses, he said this a long time before that, Exodus 33,
I will have mercy. Now stop right there. When these two boys were born,
now, go back to Abraham. Let's go back to Abraham. Well,
it's no further than that. Go back to Adam. If I was God,
I would have stepped on Adam's head right there. Just, just,
just, just, you're good for nothing. I don't need you. I'm not God. And he's more merciful and gracious,
and he knew what he was doing, and he's going to get great glory,
and the end is going to be much better than the beginning. But
God chose certain ones, not the angels, but became a man, all
right? Abraham is an idolater, seventy-five
years old. An idolater, that means him and
he was worshiping the idlers, little totem poles. Little totem poles, bowing down
and worshiping, seventy-five years old. When you're seventy-five,
buddy, you're a... There's no hope for you. Sixty-seven,
there's no hope for you. You're setting your ways, I mean,
you're good for nothing. Nobody. You can't be changed,
nobody's going to change you. Right? God can and does. Seventy-five, Abraham. But God,
rich in mercy, chose Abraham. Is Abraham? All right. Abraham's son, Isaac. Yes, you know him. All right,
Isaac was born in sin. We saw the problems in Isaac's
life. He did just what his daddy did
and denied his wife. Remember that? All right, come
down to Jacob and Esau. Which one would you have chosen? Hard choice, isn't it? Huh? Which one would you
have chosen? I wouldn't have chosen either one. Would you? But if I was going to choose
one of the two, it might have been Esau. Esau appeared to have
just, humanly speaking now, a little more integrity than Jacob. All the way through. Except for
the fact that he sold his birthright. That's serious. But God chose
Jacob. He was the worst. All right? So God says, I will
be merciful. Why? Because I'm merciful. See? Because he's merciful. All right? He said, I will have
mercy. Now that's amazing right there,
isn't it? OK? Nobody deserved it. So therefore, can't he have mercy
on whom he will? Nobody deserves it. Can't he
have mercy on whom he will? If he's just merciful to one
human being on the face of the earth, wouldn't that be wonderful? Right? All right, that's what,
is he unrighteous? No, no, no, no, no. Verse 15 says here, I have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will. So then, verse 16, so then, it is not of him that willeth. This thing is not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. Not of him
that runneth, or worketh, or trieth, or doeth, but of God
that showeth mercy. Salvation is God showing mercy,
sovereign electing mercy and grace. All right, now back to Hebrews.
Back to Hebrews. So you see, in this passage and
in all the Bible, We just went through all the Bible, didn't
we? In every case, in all the Bible,
we see sovereign electing grace. That's how people are saved.
Elect, according to the pure knowledge of God, through sanctification
of spirit and obedience and sprinkling of blood. Elect, that's where
it starts, with God's election. All right? Not angels, but men.
Not all men, but Abraham's seed. Not all of Abraham's seed, but
the elect. Verse 17, back in Hebrews 2. Verse 17, Wherefore, in all things
it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest. and things pertaining
to God. In all things it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest." Now, what does this mean? What is this
high priest all about? Well, stay tuned, because the
whole rest of the book of Hebrews is about this high priesthood.
The rest of the book, that's what it's about. Every chapter
is about this high priesthood. Must be very important. It is. You can't do Look back at Exodus 28 with me. Exodus 28 is where God started
this thing of the high priest. Now, this is not where the high
priest began, because there was one before this. In fact, there's
always been one. The high priest. What is this
all about, this high priest? It's pretty important. We're
going to see how important it is. You can't be saved without
one. There are three things. When God came to Moses on the
mountain, he said, there are three things you're going to
have to have in order to worship God. Three things. You're going to have to have
a sacrifice. You're going to have to have
a priest to make this sacrifice. And you're going to have to have
a tabernacle for him to make an end. Three things. These three are
one. These three are in one, one person. All right? Now, the high priest
here in Exodus 28, the high priest, look at verse one. We have to
stay here, Sam. All right, Sam says that's OK.
All right, verse 1, he says, Take unto thee, he's talking
to Moses, take unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with
him from among the children of Israel. that he may minister
unto me in the priest's office." All right? All right? The priest. Take Aaron, and he'll
be the priest. Now, there's only one high priest. Aaron's sons were just priests,
common priests. That means they cut firewood
and and made braveness, swept the floor, and washed pots. That's
what they did. It's an honorable thing, but
they weren't high priests. They were just commoners, all
right? There was one high priest who did one thing. One thing. One thing. That's all he did. One thing. All right, look out
here, Exodus 28, verse 10. Now here's a description of what
he was to wear. Oh, my. Thou shalt make holy
garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And
then it goes on to elaborate on these garments, everything
about them, the design of them, the color of them. what was on
them, and everything about them, meticulously described, these
garments that Aaron was to wear. Why? Why? Just so he'd look good? It's
his for glory and for beauty, yeah. But why? Because it all
represents the character of Jesus Christ. Every facet of his personality. Every characteristic of him,
every attribute is seen in his garments. This is the life. You
see, God said, make a garment for Aaron to wear. Christ, when
he came, he said, a body has to be made. Not clothes. Clothes didn't make this man. Clothes made this man. But when
that man came, clothes didn't make him. It's his body, a body of self-prepared
man, which all these things represent. Now, let's run on down through
here. Verse 29, and Aaron, here's what
Aaron's going to do. Aaron, the high priest, shall
bear the names of the children of Israel. Who? The names of
the children of Israel. All of them? No. Twelve tribes. period. Elect. There ain't no
name. Is this particular atonement
or what? Huh? Particular redemption? Who's
ever going to do this service? Twelve tribes of Israel. The names of the children of
Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when
he goeth into the holy place. All right? That's what he does.
All right? God put these names on his breastplate. And he was going to go into the
holy place. The holy place. I don't have
time. There's a tabernacle, you know,
out of court, and then there's the holy place. And that's representative
of earth and heaven. You've got the outer court and
the inner court, and then you have the inner inner court, the
Holy of Holies, where only God is. And anybody going to try
to go in there, they'll just be killed and dead, except, I
pray, one man. We're already in chapter 9, people.
One man. One man was going to go in the
Holy of Holies. He was going to have names. He's representing his neighbors,
and he's going in there, but he better have something with him. He better not try to go
in there without one thing. He's going in there to do one
thing. And you better go in with blood. Look at verse 36. You put a plate of pure gold
and engrave on it, like the engravings of the signet, holiness to the
Lord. Put it on the mitre, or that
is on the forehead, verse 38. It will be on Aaron's forehead,
holiness to the Lord. That's Christ's righteousness.
on our behalf. Verse 38, and Aaron will bear
the iniquity of the holy things. What does that mean? The broken
law. The broken law. Aaron is going
to bear the whole burden of going in, look at it, verse 38, which
the children of Israel shall have in all their holy giving.
It should be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted
before the Lord. to offer something up for the
sins of his people before God. He's got holiness on his head,
but names on his heart that blood and sin. And he's going in there. I have back to the text here,
and that's what our text says in Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2. You get the picture here? He's
going to be accepted. But the people may be accepted. All right, and here in Hebrews
2, that's what it says here in verse 17. He's going to be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. All right, he's got to sacrifice,
but it's not man's or bull's or goat's. It's his own precious
blood. Of course, a lamb's blood can't
take away my sin. I'm a man. How can killing a
lamb take away my sin? It can't. It can't. A man's blood's got
to be shed. So God became a man. Okay? I just got the blood. His
own precious blood. He's the high priest, but he's
not of the tribe of Levi. Now here we are in Hebrews 7.
He's a priest forever after the world begins. A priest forever. He always has been this priest.
He was Aaron's priest. Right, Joe? Aaron had to have
been a priest. He had one. Always had had one.
Forever, that's the order of Melchizedek. If I have a tabernacle,
he tabernacled among us. It's his own body. That's where
the sacrifice was made. In his body, on the tree. And so we have a merciful, and
the last line says, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. A
peace offering. A peace offering. Merciful and
faithful. Merciful and faithful. You know, God kept telling Moses and Aaron. Over and over again, he kept
telling me, see that you do it according to the pattern. I went
back and looked several places in just a minute, where he kept
saying, you see that you do it according to the pattern now.
See that you do it according to the pattern. Now why is that? Because it represented Christ,
that's why. And Christ, when he came, he
had to fulfill every title, every picture, every thread on that
garment. You see that? So we know this
is the one. This is that we got the right
one. This is the priest we were looking
for, the high priest. But you know, God was highly
displeased with her. Wasn't it good? Highly displeased. God killed her. Because Aaron wasn't faithful.
He was not a faithful high priest. God said to him, I'm going to
kill you because you didn't sanctify me before the children of Israel.
Remember that? Aaron made them a calf, a golden
calf and whatever. And God killed him because of
it. He wasn't faithful. Oh, but our high priest is faithful.
He said, He fulfilled every jot and tune. He sanctified God for
the children, didn't He? You know what that was? Thank
you, for me in fact. And I said it, he said, that
we might be accepted. He was well pleased with Christ.
And I said this, that Christ, the High Priest alone, was to
do one thing. And, you know, we might not get
to Hebrews 9, so we'd better turn there. We might not. Stan,
we might not make it. Christ might come, so we'd better
read this thing. Hebrews 9? We'll talk about it. Hebrews 9. Like I said, I'm
just afraid we just might not get to this, so let's go ahead
and look at this. Hebrews 9, verse 7. It says,
intersected with the high priest alone, once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself, but there as a people. But wait
a minute, verse 11, Christ being come, and high priest with good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of a building, neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he, our
high priest, entered in once, one time. into the holy place,
that is heaven itself, and what did he do? Having obtained eternal redemption
for the children. He did it. He put away sin. Once he found sacrifice of himself
in the end of the world. That's it. One time. No more
priests. No more priests. Having taken
away his wedding, taking away that collar, he didn't even call
him one, but no more priests. No more. There's going to be
a priest if you have to offer a sacrifice, right? You've got
to be a tabernacle, you've got to have blood, and you've got
to offer that sacrifice. You know, every day of every week.
No more. Christ said, one hand. Put it away, all of a sudden.
He put it away. Joseph didn't have any more students
to put it away. There's going to be a priest.
That's plain as day to me. I'll have Dr. Hebrews tell you
in the close of this last verse, all right? Don't need to preach. And millions of people go every
day into a little booth. Every day, all over the world,
millions, maybe billions of people, go into a little booth. The whole
thing is just a spectacle, when you think about it. Going into
a little box. They're in a room full of idlers,
and they go into this little booth, and they close the curtain,
and there's a screen there, and you can't see it. There's somebody
behind that screen, and you can't see it. He's got his bowed ear
up to that screen, and they confess their sins to this man. Don't tell him what that fellow's
doing. And they confess their sins to
this man. There we go. Sadly, that man can't do anything
for them. In fact, he's adding to their
condemnation. Go into a little booth. Can you imagine? Oh, thank God
for them. You know, people have no education
the way they have been. Smarter than we are to do the
thing, isn't it? And I've done a job. God to high heaven that
we're not going in your booth, but we can come. It's just as you say, boldly. We've got a place to turn to
confess our heart. There ain't no booth. It's the
throne of grace to confess our sins. It's not
a dark little room. It's full of light, and we see
you sitting there. The great scriptures call him
the great high priest forever. If we confess our sins to him,
to Henry, he can do something about it. He can put him away. That little
man can't do anything. But that one, that man, he can
put him away. The Pharisees said this in derision
of it, who can forgive sins but God? That's right. So, I go to the black man with
the first message, don't you? And he forgives him. He says,
look, God's sins were forgiven, look. That earthly so-called priest,
he'd sprinkle all over wherever he wanted to. He couldn't do
anything for him. Christ sprinkled his blood on
him. He said, yeah, see? He's a high priest. And next Wednesday, we're going
to look at how he was tempted, as we are. And we're going to
consider this high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.
And all of the rest of these chapters, that's what it is,
a consideration of this high priest of ours. We've got to
have one, and thank God we do. All right, let's stand. I've given the talk, and we thank
Jesus. You have hidden the light. You've shined in our dark hearts
to give the light and the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of our great high priest. You've not left us in darkness
even as others. You've enlightened our hearts
and our minds and our eyes and ears to see our great high priest. whoever it is to make intercession
for us, of whom we can come to boldly and have our sins forgiven. Thank you. We give thanks. And we do confess our sins to
our head, upon the head, upon our scapegoat. We lay hold, we
have laid hold on the bones of the altar which is Christ himself.
We lay hold of him by faith and confess our sin. And we know
that in him our sins are forgiven. We're accepted by our great high
priest who is holding us under the law. We thank the Lord. Now
let these studies, I think, was a particular, particularly special
blessing to us, rivet our attention upon them, cause us to study
them, prepare, look into them, because this is salvation. Yea,
Christ is salvation. So prepare us to receive this
indepth of glory, which is Christ himself. In his name we pray,
let together this day. Amen. So.