OK, open your Bibles to Hebrews
chapter 2 with me. Hebrews chapter 2. Let's read
a few verses here. Let's look at Hebrews 2, verses
13 through 15. Hebrews 2, verses 13 through
15. Now, we believe the Apostle Paul wrote
this, and he is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is saying these very words here that were prophesied in
Isaiah, verse 13. This is what Christ says, and
again, I will put my trust in God and began, Behold, I and the children which
God hath given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he, that is, Christ, also himself
likewise took part of the same, that is, flesh and blood, 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. At verse 13, Christ
says, Behold, I am the children which God has given me. before the world began, chose
a certain number of individuals to say. He elected, he chose a certain
number of individuals to say. That's election. Scripture teaches that clearly. What most preachers are afraid
to say, what they don't believe and what they're afraid to say
are my opening remarks. But that's fine, because this
is what makes God God, his divine power and prerogative and sovereign
mercy and grace and sovereignty in all things, salvation especially. Now, before anyone argues with
that, God didn't have to save anybody. come far short of the glory of
God, and God didn't need anybody, didn't have to save anybody,
if he just saved one person, if he just chose one person,
it would be mercy. But now, wait a minute, the Scripture
says he has a people which no man can number. How could anybody
argue with God choosing whom he will? That's his prerogative. He didn't have to choose anybody,
but he did, and how could anybody argue with the fact that he chose
a number, the Scripture says, which no man can number. There
are so many, as the stars of the sky and the sands of the
seashore. No man can number them. Now, God can and did. He has their names written in
a book, the Scripture says, called the Lamb's Book of Life. Now,
that's sovereign election, all right? You can look at it for yourself
in Ephesians 1, verse 4 clearly tells it, Romans 9 and other
places. Well, God made a covenant before the world began. God made an agreement. God had
a purpose in all that he purposed to do and all that he has done.
He made an agreement with his Son, with Jesus Christ, before
the world began. God chose these people, and I
was talking about God chose these persons, and then God gave them
to his Son. Our Lord talked about this all
the way through the book of John, especially. Chapter 6, didn't
it? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Most people just know the second
part of that verse. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. But the reason he'll not cast
them out is because God gave them to Christ. And what he did
when he did that, God gave these chosen individuals to his Son
to come down to this earth and say, They needed saving, or would
need saving in time. And they needed two things done
for them that they could not do for themselves. They needed a perfect righteousness. God said, you're going to be
holy if you're going to dwell with me. But there's none holy. Never can be, no matter how hard
they try. No matter how they look or act
or what, it's not good enough. Christ did, he was perfect in
thought, word, and deed. I'm not just giving you doctrine
here by some man. This is what the scripture says,
that he established righteousness. That is, he lived a perfect life
as a man that God would accept for a man. But he didn't do it for himself,
he didn't have to. He came down to this earth to do that for
these certain individuals. They couldn't be righteous. Christ
could and did, as a man, live this perfect life. And what he
did, and I illustrate this so much, but it's the best one I
know how. It was like the Scriptures talk
about a robe of righteousness, that Christ worked out a perfect
life. as a man. And he took, as it
were, this robe off and wrapped all his people in it. That is, he made them look like
they were him. Made them look like they were
him. Holy and righteous. And that's how God can accept
things. You understand that? Righteous, imputed righteousness,
charged to our account, something we didn't have anything to do
with. He did it all. Scripture says righteousness
doesn't come by the deeds of the law. Can't do it. Christ alone, his righteousness. All right? Then there's something
else they needed. Now, this was the covenant. This
was the agreement that God and his Son made before the world
began. They give them all these people, and Christ would come
down here and live this life for them, and that God would
accept them on behalf of them. All right? But they're sinners.
They've committed sins, and God said, the soul that sinneth must
surely die. The wages of sin is death. That's
what the Scriptures teach us. Right? And that's why he said,
in talking about death, He said, without the shedding
of blood, no remission of sin. In other words, if you poured
out all your blood, you'd die, wouldn't you? Okay. I'm going
to have to die. I'm going to have to pay the
penalty for the sins that I've committed. That's what the Scriptures
teach us. Exodus 34 says, He will by no
means clear the guilty. He can and be God. He can't be
wholly unjust. I know our justices in this day,
our judges, let a man go, he committed murder in seven years,
he's out on parole. There's no justice there. But
God is perfectly just, and he says every sin will receive a
just recompense. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. So I'm subject to death. this
death, this spiritual death. You see that? That's what Paul's
talking about here in Hebrews 2. He says all their lifetime
is subject to and in fear of this death. And another death,
that dead in trespasses and sins. Paul talked there in Romans 7.
Remember us reading back there? He said, O wretched man that
I am, this sin that's got a hold of me. Who shall deliver me? Well, it's the covenant. God
said to his son, will you go down there and swap places with
these persons? You're going to have to. They've
got to die. Will you die for them, pay their
penalty? Will you do for them, give them
what you earned, what you've got coming to you? praise and
acceptance, and will you take their punishment? Will you take
their hell, as it were? Will you die for them?" The son
said, I will. This is what is called covenant
agreement. We weren't around. We weren't
around. It's called an everlasting covenant. eternal covenant, ordered in
all things and sure. And John, like David said there
in 2 Samuel 23, this is all my salvation. This is it. That when God Almighty and God
the Son shook hands, my salvation was sure. He said the elect would
be saved. How do you know you're elect? I believe this gospel. I believe
that my salvation rests upon this covenant. This is the gospel. And my salvation is totally dependent
upon Christ's righteousness and Christ's shed blood, period.
I believe that. Christ said, that's what faith
is. All that I chose, all that God
chose, all that I did this for, they'll believe that. They'll
all be taught of God, John 6.45. And they'll all come to me for
their salvation. They'll believe. Do you believe? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that Christ is all on your salvation? Well, look here at Hebrews 2.
So he says, this is what he means when he says, the children which
God gave me. You see that, don't you, Brother
Joe? That's what he means, the children which God gave me. Romans
9, and don't turn over there, You jot it down and look for
yourself sometime. Romans 9, verse 8 says, the children
of the flesh are not the children of God. All human beings are
not children of God Almighty. He says, but the children of
the promise. What promise? That covenant I was just talking
about, all right? And so Christ said, behold, in
the final day, in that last day. When it's all over, when this
whole shooting match is over, the Scripture says here that
Christ is going to present all of these chosen ones, all these
people, all these children to the Father and say, Behold I,
and they're the children you gave me. They're all here. None
of them are missing. None of them are missing. Why?
Because who did to save him? Because who God gave him to.
Christ. He's able. He's able. I hear preachers talk about,
God can save you. God can. Christ Jesus can. This and that and the other.
That's not the way Scripture reads. Scripture says he hath
obtained. I know he can. And I know he
does. I know he saves his people. Behold, I am the children which
God hath given me. Look at verse 14. And it says
here, and this is what I just tried to say in so many words,
verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. He became flesh and blood. He became flesh and blood, a
man. Why? Because man had to live
a perfect life. I have to. God's going to accept
me. And I can't do it. I can't do it. That doesn't mean
that, you know, I don't try. I do, but I'm not trying it so
I'll be saved. I'm trying to live right, so
to speak, because that's the right thing to do, because of
what God says and because I want to be like Christ. But I know
it's never good enough. I don't care how I look or act
or whatever. God looks. God doesn't see as man sees.
We can impress each other. Nothing impresses God but Christ. of Christ. And so Christ came
down and took the body of a man and did what he did for these
men and women and young people. Look at verse 14. It says he
took part of the saying that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death. That is the devil. Through death
he would destroy this power of death. And this is the subject
this morning. This power of death. It says
here the devil. says here, destroy him that hath
the power of death, that is, the devil. Is he responsible for killing
people? Well, let's be like the Bereans. Let's search the Scriptures. Let's compare Scriptures with
Scripture and see if that's what this is saying. Turn over to
the book of Job with me. The book of Job. Now, it is true
that Satan And we don't talk much about him because we don't
know that much, and it's a dangerous subject to deal with. Not like
these fools, these devil-bashers, you know, preachers that think
they can handle him. No man has ever
been a match. But it is true that Satan's purpose
is to kill and destroy, but he can't do anything without permission
from God. You know that? He has absolutely
no power at all except what God gives him. You believe that? Boy, I do, and I'm glad it's
that way. If it weren't, that means he's
just as powerful as God. Well, he's not. Look here at
Job chapter 1, verse 6. There was a day when
the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and
Satan came also among them. In other words, he had to report
too. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Whence comest thou? I love this passage of Scripture.
The Lord is mocking Satan here. That's exactly the way he's doing
it. He knew where he came from. He knew his every move. He couldn't
move without the Lord's permission. He said, Where have you been,
Satan? He said, Well, I'm from going to and fro in the earth
and walking up and down in it, looking for something to do.
Verse 8, And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my
servant Job as none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright
man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Satan answered
the Lord and said, he fears you for nothing. Does Job fear God
for naught? He fears you for nothing because
hast thou not made a hedge about him? In other words, you've got
him protected about his house, about all that he hath on every
side, everything he is, everything he has. You're protecting him.
You've blessed the work of his hands. His substance has increased.
And look here now. Satan is still talking. It says
in verse 11, And he's talking to God. Put
forth thine hand. If you touch him, talking to
God, if you touch him, touch all that he hath, he'll curse
you to your faith. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all
that he hath is in thy power. In other words, he gave him permission. And Satan was going to do whatever
God permitted him to do, Joe. He said, only upon himself, put
not forth that, don't touch him. Satan couldn't have if he wanted
to. Do you believe that? It's the same with all the children
of God. Do you remember when Christ, when this Lord walked
the planet, when this God walked the planet, he said to Peter
one day, Peter, Satan had the desire to be just like he did
Job, to sit you like wheat, and if
I turned you over to him, oh, he would sit you in no match
for him. And you know, a little while
later, the Lord let Peter alone, let Satan have him just for a
minute, and you saw what he did, remember? He denied the Lord. But, Peter, I pray for you. You're not going to fail, because
I've got you right here. Well, you remember how Satan,
the Lord, used Satan to kill all of Job's sons and daughters. Remember that? Well, James said he had the power
there. He can't kill anybody. Look over
at Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32. He can't kill
anybody unless God allows him. Look at Deuteronomy 32. And we'll
see in a moment what Hebrews is talking about. Deuteronomy
32, you have it? This may change your theology
if you've never seen it. Deuteronomy 32, verse 39. This is our Lord talking, this
is God talking, who does not change. You say, this is the
guy of the Old Testament, the Old Bible. No, it's the God who
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Verse 39, he says, But I, even I, am He. There's no God with me, no little
ruler, no little sovereign with me. I am God. I kill. And I make a lot. If anybody
dies, God did it. You believe that? You believe
Deuteronomy 32, 39? I make a life. Anybody lives,
God does. I wound. Anybody gets sick or
injured or hurt or whatever, God did it. Right? I heal. Anybody gets well is healed. God did it. He uses means, doctors,
drugs and so forth, but He did it. Is that right? say so-and-so contacted a certain
disease and so forth. Yeah, they did, but God sent
it. Right? Can you believe that? Let's look at another one. 1
Samuel chapter 2. 1 Samuel 2. Most of you know
these verses, and this is a very simple and straightforward message
this morning. In 1 Samuel chapter 2, the Scriptures
do not contradict themselves. The problem is in our understanding.
1 Samuel 2, verse 6. This is Hannah's wonderful prayer
here that the Lord caused her to write. 1 Samuel 2, verse 6. Do you have it? And what I'm trying to give you
is some freedom from fear of death, which all our life And
Hebrews says we're subject to and in bondage to it. All right,
look at 1 Samuel 2, verse 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth
down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor. Lost
my job the other day. Who did it? There's another scripture, I
think it's from the Proverbs, it says the Lord Promotion cometh
from thee, a demotion. The Lord maketh poor, the Lord
maketh rich, he bringeth low, he lifteth up, he raiseth up
the poor, lifteth them up, and so forth. The Lord does it. All
right, so what's this power of death that's talking about in
Satan's habit, all right? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, very quickly. 1 Corinthians 15. I'm leading
up to something here. 1 Corinthians 15. Why does he say this about Satan,
that he has the power of death? Why does he say this? Because
of this verse right here. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 56. Look at it. You got it? 1 Corinthians
15, 56. Well, I wish I could read all
of this. Verse 55 says, O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The sting or the power or the
poison or the pain of death is sin. Now are you with me? Now are
you hearing what Hebrews is saying? Satan's the one that God allowed
to introduce sin upon this planet, didn't he? Turn back to Genesis
3. Genesis chapter 3. Satan is the one whom God allowed
to introduce sin upon this planet. If he hadn't allowed it, it wouldn't
have happened. Isn't that right? He's God. And sin is what Satan uses on
men and women. And they become dead and trespassed
in sin. Dead. And He said to have this
power which keeps men dead. But Christ came to destroy this
power. What power are we talking about
now? We're talking about sin. Now, do you remember reading
that, Deborah? O grey, O death, where is thy
sting? And the next verse is the sting
of death is sin. This is the power that Satan
wields sin. All right, it's the power of
death, so to speak, and Genesis three, you know, this story,
everyone in here down to the smallest child knows this story
of the first man and woman. Look at verse 9. God said to
Adam, Adam, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked,
and I hid myself. God said, who told thee that
thou was naked? Now, understand, before this,
Adam wasn't ashamed of his nakedness. Adam wasn't afraid of God. Adam
wasn't, as we're going to see, he wasn't suspicious or jealous
of his wife. Read on. Sin had set in, he said,
sin, which Satan had enticed him to do. All right, look at
verse 11. Have you eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" And the man said, the
woman. See this blame, accusation, hatred, despise, sin. He wasn't like this before. Just
a little while before this, this woman came walking up, and he
always loved her with all his heart, mind, and soul. He said,
bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Now he said, it's her. She's the problem. And men have been saying that
ever since. She's the problem. Sin. Let's sit here. Read on. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? The woman said, The
serpent beguiled thee. What with? Sin. What did it do? Kill them. You see that? It made them, are
you with me? Not much. Are you with me? It killed them. Dead in trespassing
sin. Subject to this, Paul said in
Romans 7, this law of sin. He said, Teresa, he said, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? And all in Romans 7
there, he keeps saying, what I want to do, I can't do. He's
hounding me, and I'm hounding me. I'm just full of sin. Oh,
wretched man that I am. Sin! But wait. God says here. He's the first one to preach
the gospel. God's the first one to preach the gospel. Look here
in Genesis 3, verse 14. He pronounced a curse upon the
serpent. And I don't understand this,
nobody does, but I do understand verse 15. And look at what he
writes, what he said. He said, God says to this serpent,
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed,
the woman's seed. I'm going to put enmity between
you, Satan, and the woman's seed. Woman's seed. What are you talking
about? Women don't have seed. Seed comes
from man. The seed that comes from man
is what impregnates a woman. Women don't have seed. There's going to come a woman
someday. who's going to become pregnant without the seed of
man. He's called the woman's seed. And in Luke chapter 1, listen
to this, Luke chapter 1, when the angels came down to announce
the birth of Jesus Christ, this is what they said. The Holy Ghost,
talking to the woman, Mary, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you,
and the power of the highest shall overshadow you. And that
holy thing which shall be born of thee,
woman, that holy thing shall be called the Son of God, the
woman see. This is what God is saying right
here. He says, enmity shall be between you, Satan, and this
one born of this virgin someday. Why did Christ, why was Christ
born of a virgin? Act just like my daddy, my daddy's
daddy, my daddy's daddy's daddy, my daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy,
daddy, all the way down to Adam. I'm full of hatred and envy and
strife and accusation and shame and guilt and sin. But God's son, he had to be born
of a woman, didn't he? To be a man. But he's not just
an ordinary man. He doesn't have the sin of man
in him. See that? born of a virgin. God put his
seed in her. I don't understand this. I just
know it's so. God put his seed in this woman,
and what came out was a holy man without man's sin. But we read there in Romans 8
that says that he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh,
but he didn't have sin. that he's made in the likeness
of sinful flesh. He made a man like me. Why? He's going to do something for
me. Be a holy man. You see, that's
what God said in the whole first 20 minutes. Be a holy man. He walked this planet for 33
years until God finally one day said, that's my son. I'm well
pleased with this, my son, my child. I'll have him, I'll love him,
I'll accept him, he's going to come with me, I'm going to reward
him throughout eternity, my child. But the Scripture says he's the
firstborn among many brethren, many children. We read there in Romans 8, which
are children by virtue of him. He gave birth to these children.
When he hung on that cross, you women, when you gave birth, what
came out of it? Blood and water. What else? A baby. A new life. When Christ hung on Calvary's
tree, this soldier came by and split his side open, and the
Scripture says, out came blood and water. But that ain't all. His children. Scripture says we're in Christ,
born of Him, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, the
woman's seed, which is the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. Does anybody witness that you
understand what we're saying here? You see, the preacher, well,
look at the next line here, verse 15. It says, It, it, that holy
thing, don't rightly know what to call it. That's what John
said, that. John, the apostle, said that. Why that holy, what do you call
God, man? That, it. shall bruise, and he's
still talking to this serpent, it shall bruise thy head. John, the word here is break. Break your head. This woman,
see, talking to the serpent, he said, it's going to break
your head. It's going to step on your head.
How do you break, how would you break somebody's head? They lay
down at your feet, under your feet, and you just stomp their
head. That's what it says that Christ
did. You'll bruise his heel, though. You'll bruise his heel. The text should have been Genesis
3.15. Well, it is. It's the same text
in Hebrews 2.13, 2.14, 2.15. Same text, John. Genesis 3.15,
Hebrews 2.15. Same one. Look back there now. Hebrews 2. And I'll quit with
this. Hebrews 2. So it says, he himself took part
of the same, flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy,
crush the head, the power of death. What is it? Sin. Sin. He said, sin shall not have
dominion over you. The damning power of sin. See,
this is what's going to dam our souls. Christ came to destroy
that damning power. You know, this is the fear of
death. This is what people who do not
believe in God, or say they don't, this is the reason men fear death. Even though they're devout or
outspoken atheists or agnostics or whatever. They say they don't
believe in God or life after death. You watch them hold on
to their last breath with everything they've got. Why? Not just wanting
to stay here. There's something they fear.
That's what this Scripture's talking about. All their lifetime,
subject to fear. What's out there? I don't know. God's out there. But Christ said, I've been there. When Christ
went to the grave, he died as a man. But he arose again and
came back and said, nothing to fear. Death, where is thy sting? Where
is the fear of death, Deborah? I don't have to fear the unknown.
It's not unknown. Christ told me about it. I don't
have to fear facing God someday as a sinner. Why? Christ put
them away. You say, but I'm still a sinner
though. I know and I am too. And over there in Romans 7, I'm going
to quit. That's what Paul was talking about all the way through
Romans 7. He said, oh, what I do, I don't want to do. What I don't
want to do, that's what I do. He said, I find in myself a law
or something that goes on all the time. Who shall deliver me
from this body of death? The very next line says, I thank
God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Christ, listen to me, people,
I'm not what I want to be. The psalmist says, I think it's
Psalm Psalm 117, I'm not sure. The psalmist said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness. Remember that? David said, oh,
I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. I'm not what
I want to be. I never will be. Did you read
the article in the Bulletin by Brother Terrell? Growth and grace,
the more you come to know God and the more you come to know
the God of the Bible and the Christ of the Scriptures and
truth, the more you'll realize how far short you've come and
how sinful you are. And it doesn't get better. We
don't get better as this life goes on. I asked an old fellow, an old
believer, about 80 years old, I've been hearing and believing
this gospel for 50 years. I said, Brother, so-and-so said,
does the struggle with the flesh ever ease up any? He said, no. He said, if anything gets worse. But Christ said, wait a minute,
I'm not what I ought to be, and I'm not what I want to be, but I ain't what I used to be. I
know that much. I'm not what I used to be. I wish I had a big screen up here
to show you this prodigal son, what he was and looked like and the gutter he came out of. My
old cronies wouldn't recognize me. I'm not what I used to be. Scripture
says, and boy, I'll tell you, We never will be amount to much
on this earth. Never will. But here's the whole
thing about it. This is all in a nutshell. Christ
is all. He's all I need to amount to.
You hear that? Christ is all I need
to amount to. When I stand before God some
day, He's not going to He says there's some people, some are
going to stand there and he's going to say, why should I let
you into my heaven? And they're going to say, well,
we preach, we prophesy, we cast out death, we did many wonderful
works, we did this, we did that, well, I quit this, I quit that,
I dress this way, I dress that way, I did that, he's going to
depart from me. You workers of iniquity. Like
that pharisee, you remember those two fellows that came to the
temple? Pharisee and a publican. Pharisee said he looked the part,
he acted the part and all this. Real religious and moral, and
he said, he smiled at God, and there was an old publican that
came into the back, wouldn't even look up, just all he could
do was just pound his chest and say, God be merciful. Who did
God say was justified? And for every sinner, the only
thing we need to plead before God Almighty someday is Jesus
Christ. paid it all. Right there. Why should I let you in the glory?
Because Christ is my righteousness. What about your sins? He paid
for them. He died that I might live. He said He did. I believe Him. Come. Come on in. You believe
that? That's the simplest I can put
it. That's salvation. The only way
Christ is the way. All right. John Davis, would you come up
here, please? I want you to dismiss this in prayer.