Now, Hebrews chapter 2, if you haven't noticed already,
we are going through the book of Hebrews. I didn't announce that because
when we started, I just wasn't sure. But the more I read it, the more
sure I become. We've chosen the right subject, the right scripture, that is.
The subject's the same no matter where you turn. Charles Spurgeon, a well-known
preacher, a hundred and fifty years ago, once told his young
preachers who were studying under him, he said, He said, if you
have trouble knowing what to preach, get out of the ministry. Get out. God didn't call you. He said,
if you have trouble knowing where to preach, then that's different. You see, we always preach the
same subject. Always. The subject I'm speaking of is
from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. This is the Word of God, and
Jesus Christ is the theme of it. He's even called the Word,
isn't he? I would say to anyone, everyone,
visitor or whoever, if you've heard us preach once,
you've heard us a thousand times. All we preach is Christ. Why
is that? Because I just told you, He's
all this book is about. I recognize there are practical
things, there are practical instructions, but those won't do you any good
unless you know Him. God won't accept them anyway,
our good deeds and so forth. Christ is all. The sooner we
know him, the better off we'll be. The sooner we know Christ,
the better we know Christ, the happier we'll be. The sooner we see that Christ
is on the throne and Regulating all things according to his all-wise,
sovereign will, the happier we'll be, the better off we'll be. And I'm reminded of what that
person said to Brother Richardson, a friend of ours, a preacher.
Some woman came to hear him preach four or five times in a row. She finally came up to him after
one of the services, and she wasn't being nice. She was
saying this in a derogatory way. She's saying, all you preach
is Christ, Christ, Christ. She said, I've written it down
here. I've got it down here. All you, Christ, last week, this
week. He said, would you put that on
my tombstone? That's what the Apostle Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 2. He said, I'm determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Why? Because He's all. He's all the
power of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God. We preach verse
by verse through this book, the Word. Don't do anything else. Don't have a fancy choir here. Don't put on Christmas, Easter
pageants and plays and all that. I don't dance. Play the guitar
every now and then, you know. Don't want to do that. Because
most of the time people go away remembering the song, you know.
Oh, what a good song. I don't want to remember that
song. God never saved anybody by a song. It's just preaching of the Word,
it's what God said he uses. So this is what we're going to
do. Verse by verse, because the Word is the power of God. And
we go verse by verse because I don't know every case in here.
I don't know what everyone in here is going through. And so I can't take a subject,
you see, today we're going to deal with this subject, and it
won't apply to everybody necessarily, would it? So if we go verse by verse, God
knows who needs what, and he applies it accordingly. I know
this much, I know what everyone, I know who everyone in here needs. I sure do. So if I draw that bow, Brother
Rick, if I draw that arrow and shoot that arrow, it will hit
somebody if the Lord is pleased to use it. The scriptures are
clear that in heaven there are no relationships
as there were on the earth. There are no fathers and mothers.
My father is not going to be my father in heaven. My mother
is not going to be my mother. My wife is not going to be my
wife. My daughter is not going to be
my daughter, if they are there, if she is there. And scriptures
are clear about that. They asked the Lord that one
time about a woman who had been married seven times. Remember
that? And they said, wife will she
be? And he said, you do err not knowing
the scriptures nor the power of God. He said, for in heaven
they are neither married nor given in marriage, but they are
as the angels of God. And in another place it says
there is no male or female. Right? Why? Because there are no different
levels of No degrees in glory. My father, I'm subject to him.
I won't be there. I'll have a father all right. My wife, as a woman should be,
is subject to her husband. He's her head and all things.
That's the way it should be here on this earth. But in glory,
I'm not going to be her head. She's got a husband. Now you get the picture. I'm going to be somebody's child
in glory, but it ain't going to be Doris Mayhem. And you know, the scripture says, everyone
in glory is a new creature. Old things pass away. And you
know, this eliminates, Christ said there will be no tears in
glory. Right? We won't miss so-and-so
that's not there. We'll just be tickled to death
and just as happy if somebody else is there. We're all going
to be brothers, all brothers. And in heaven, Jesus Christ is
all. He's the Father. We're not going
to see God. We're going to see Jesus Christ. He's the Father. He's our Husband. There in Isaiah 54, I believe
it is, it says, Thine Maker is thine Husband. The Church is
called the Bride of Christ, isn't it? We're all the weaker vessel. We're all going to be female
in heaven. Only Christ is going to be the
Head, the Ruler. And what I'm trying to say here
is the sooner we know him that way now, the better off we'll be. The less disappointed and heartbroken
we will be now. You understand what I'm saying?
Because these relationships we have now, they break our hearts. They disappoint us. They absolutely
bring us down, down, down. Very, very little encouragement
we get. Friends, even. Brothers, children,
parents. Right? But there is a friend
who sticketh closer than a brother. There is a Father who will never
leave you or forsake you. There is a brother, an older
brother. And this is what this Hebrews 2, There are two relationships
that are described here in Hebrews 2, that Christ is to his people. Not everybody. I'm not telling
the world that God is their Father. No, sir. No, sir. Romans 9 tells us plainly it
is not. The children of the flesh are
not children of God, but the children of the promise. If you
believe and know and love the Lord Jesus Christ and trust him
and worship him, then these things are for you. And he describes
these two relationships that he has with his people. Look
back at verse 9 there in Hebrews 2. He says here, we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels. for the suffering
of death, but he is crowned with glory and honor now. Paul is
saying, we saw a man. There was a man who lived on
this earth. His name was Jesus. He was a
man, and he worked in a carpenter's shop, and he lived in Nazareth,
and he had appeared to have an earthly father, Joseph, and a
mother, Mary. a man in a body a little lower
than the angels. In other words, he didn't have
wings, he wasn't a spiritual creature, he was flesh and blood.
He said, we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels. He said,
why? Verse 9 says, for the suffering of death. That's why. We looked
at that all last Sunday morning. And perhaps I'll just stay right
there the rest of this morning. God became a man. God manifests
in the flesh. Why? Because man, if God's going to
have anything to do with us, we're going to have to be as
holy as he is. And nobody can do it. I don't
care how you wear your clothes or your beard or what you drive
or where you live or how you live. It's not good enough. to a God who sees right into
the heart. Never could be. Scripture says
all have sinned and come short of it. Every one of them comes
short of the glory of God. Well, then who can? Psalm 24
says who can get to heaven? Psalm 24 says who can ascend
unto this holy hill of God? Who's going to get to heaven?
It goes on to say, well, he that hath clean hands never ever sinned. And a pure heart, as we have
a pure heart that never even thought of any sin, never
lifted up their soul unto vanity, never gone after anything but
God, and never sworn deceitfully or never told a lie, never Ever
said anything out of this mouth but praise and thanksgiving?
Who? Who? Who then? He said, Who can have
sinned? Has only one man ever lived that
did that? All those things. Jesus Christ. And God said from
heaven out loud, said, That's My Son. I'm well pleased. You better hear Him. He said,
You better hear Him. You better come to Him. And that's
what Christ said, oh, you labor and heavy laden, you're sinning
and all, come unto me. I'll get you there. I'll take
you with me. You can't get there on your own,
but I can take you. If I cover you in my righteousness and cover
you with my blood, you'll get there. Only if I do it for you. So Christ became a man. That's
the only reason he became a man. All right? He's not just a man
anymore. He's not a man anymore, per se. That's what Paul's saying here.
We see Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death so he could die. God can't die. God's a spirit.
God took a body and God died on that cross. Why? Because that's what man deserves.
So God became a man and died for some men. All right, but he says now he's
crowned with glory and honor. It's the reason I just detest
calling him Jesus. Oh, no. We call him, we use his
title, we use all three names, Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord now, crowned with
glory and honor. He's not a meek and lowly man
anymore. He's high and lofty and seated
on a throne. And many people, those who think
of Him only as Jesus now, you know, you see all these pictures
on people's walls and little figurines they wear around their
neck or hang on to their rear-view mirror, you know, of some poor
fellow hanging on a cross there or kneeling down and praying. It looks like Brother James,
it looks like Wild Bill Hickok, you know. A little pointed beard,
and I don't know where they got that. description of him because
there's nothing in the scriptures that describe him. Those who know him like that,
who just call him Jesus, they don't know him. Those who know
him worship him as Lord and know that he became a man in order
to die for them. All right, look at verse 10.
It says, It became him, it became him, verse 10. It became him. That means it was becoming of
him. And we saw this last Sunday, how that, you know, when somebody
wears something and you tell them, that's very becoming to
you. In other words, that looks good
on you. It became him. It was becoming
to him. It's just like him. It looks
good on him that, look at it, verse 10, for whom are all things. and by whom are all things, and
bringing many sons unto glory." In other words, God in Christ
created this whole world. That's what John 1 says. He created
all things. Without him was not anything
made which was made. And it was for his glory, for
him, by him and for him. So it's just right that he do
all the saving, too. It's all of it. God didn't consult
me when he made this world. I wasn't around. He didn't ask
me what I thought about the moon, where I ought to put it, or how
hot the sun, or whatever. He didn't ask me. I wasn't around.
He just made it. I wasn't around when he thought
this thing of salvation up, either. Or I'd have blown it, right?
But he purposed it. He willed it. He planned it.
He chose whom he'd save. It's just right, isn't it, becoming
him? It ought to be. You shouldn't
save anybody. If you're going to save anybody,
it ought to be up to him. That's what this is saying. It became
him, and bringing many sons unto glory. Now, here's the picture
here of Christ as the Father to his people. Bringing many
sons unto glory, and he calls him also the captain of their
salvation. Last week we looked at him as
captain. I'm not careful. I'll stay right there again.
I love this picture of him as captain. Like I said, I used
to read, as a boy, I used to read those Ocean Going. And the
captain, boy, Stan, the captain was always, he was toughest,
he was strongest, he was smartest, he was, those sailors were just
a bunch of dimwits, you know, but the captain, but he was That's
what Pilate said, didn't he? Behold the man who's at the helm
here. He ain't no co-pilot. He's at the helm, and he decides. Thank God he decides. And just as God put all things
into his hands, the captain to make sure the ship got to shore?
You know, a good captain never sinks, a ship never sinks on
a good captain, does it? That fellow Titanic, I don't
care what they said about him. He wasn't a good captain, was
he? Huh? A good captain now would get
that boat to shore. That's our captain. And a father
here. Here he's a picture of our Father.
It says here, look at it, "...in bringing many sons unto glory."
Christ is called our Father here. Our Father. And He's also called
our Brother. We're going to look at both of
these things here in the next few minutes. Our Father and our
Brother. Alright, let's look at verse 11. It says, both he that sanctified
and they who are sanctified are all of one. In other words, Christ
is the one that sanctifies, and we are the ones who are sanctified.
It says all are of one. That is, God is the one that
purposed this. God is the one that decided who
would be the Savior, and God is the one who decided who would
get saved, who would be saved. The word sanctify means set apart. That's what the word means. Set
apart for God's use. God's the one that decides who's
saved, who he's going to use. He's the one that decides. Here's
a wonderful picture of him first as our brother. Look at verse
11. Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause? For that is, since God sent Christ
to save his people, those he chose, those he elected, he is
not ashamed to call them brethren." In other words, he's saying,
Christ, since God sent him down here, and don't get Nobody can
rightly understand how there's God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, yet they're all one and the same. Nobody
can understand that. I can't explain it. It can't
be explained. I'm not even going to try it. Spurgeon once said, if you have
a God you can figure out, he's no God at all. But that's what Scripture teaches,
doesn't it? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
but yet they're one and the same. Christ. And here he says, since God purposed
salvation and God sent Christ the Son down here as a man to
accomplish salvation, to be their captain through sufferings, and
both he that sanctified Christ and they who are sanctified are
all of God. for which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren." Stick it closer than a brother
is. I like that saying, you remember that little girl that went home
one day, her name was Edith? You've heard this before, that
little girl went home one day from church and told her dad,
said, Dad, the preacher found my name in the Bible. He said,
Edith? I don't think so. I don't think
Edith is in the Bible. She said, yes it is. He read
where it says, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. See, my name's in the Bible.
Mine was, too, in that verse. Did you see your name there?
Huh? It's a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners. That's what they said about those
self-righteous. Now, the holy and righteous and,
you know, the fellows that wore the robes and this and that and
the other, they said, we'd be not sinners. Remember that? And if we think that means everybody,
that Jesus loves all sinners, ask them if they are. Just ask
them. Oh, we'd be not sinners. Well,
I quit this and quit that all a long time ago. ain't no sinner,
then Christ ain't your friend and he didn't die for you. But
this man receiveth sinners. He's the friend of publicans
and sinners. That's me, John. And he's my
friend. He's my brother. He's not ashamed
to call me brother. He ought to be ashamed. I told you about one of our ladies
whose brother was a forlorn fellow. He grew up and gave his parents
nothing but trouble from early on. Turned out to be a real disgrace
to his father and mother. Just gave them nothing but grief
and heartache and trouble. And he had a sister, one of these
ladies in here. And while he was down in the
gutter, just a real sad fellow, you know, to see. If you'd see
him on the street, everybody would look at him and say, oh,
what a pitiful fellow that is. She went to meet him one day
in the airport, a public place. And he came in and he looked
bad. But she went up and ran up to him and hugged him around
the neck. That's my brother. I'm not ashamed
to call him my brother. And people, I am the off-scouring
of the earth. You say you look pretty good.
Ah, it might be to you, but not to me. I know me. What about
you, Henry? What about you? What do you think
about you? We know ourselves, we'd say,
he ought not to have anything to do with us. Right, John? That's
what we'd say if we were honest. He ought not to have anything
to do with us, but he's not ashamed to call you, to put his arm around
John David and say, this is my brother. And he says this too, John, don't
let anybody say anything about him. To the accuser of the brethren,
he says, what do you say about my brother? He's a... I died
for sinners. Yet he's no good. But I am. He ought not to be, but I ought
to be. If he ain't worthy, I am worthy. I say he's worthy. He's
my brother. Like that harlot there in Hosea,
Nancy. And Hosea took that gomer on
his arm and prayed to her down the street. Everybody just, well,
there's a former harlot. Is that your wife? Yes. You own her as your wife? Yes. She's my wife. He's my brother. Did that hit you like it hits
me? He's not ashamed to call them
his brother. If you know yourself, that hits
you. You know, a brother is a nice
thing to have. It doesn't matter, really. It's
just nice to have a brother in it. Hannah, I bet, would like
to have had a brother. And some of you who are only
children would like to have a brother. I did. I was blessed to have
two older brothers. And I was the youngest of four. Three boys and a girl. And I
had two older brothers. And, man, if you've got two older
brothers, you've got it made, Rick. You can go through school
and not worry about anybody. School bully or anybody. You
know, no matter... Is Robbie Mahan your brother?
Yep. Oh, well. Okay. You're all right, man. I'm with you. You know what I
mean? I had two older brothers. And
my oldest My older brother was eight or nine years older than
me, and boy, he was my hero growing up. He could do no wrong. And he was a good brother, wonderful
as a brother. Oh, he took me places. When I couldn't touch the pedals,
he'd let me sit on his lap and drive his 57 MG convertible. He's my brother and this is his
car. Oh, he'd do all sorts of things
for me. And he was captain of the football team. I thought
he was bigger and stronger. He was only 5'8". But I thought
he was bigger and stronger than anybody else. And he went into
the Army and he was. He was quite good at everything
he did. a hero, and he's my friend, my
big brother. He went off to war, finally,
and he wrote me letters, wrote me letters to his little brother,
telling me all about what he was going to do when he got home,
where he was going to take me and all that. But he didn't come
back. Well, I have an older brother named Jesus Christ. And he is
all those things and more. He is bigger and stronger than
anybody. Oh, yes, he is. He is my hero. He is my captain. He went off to war, too. He fought
all the battles for me. And he died. But he didn't stay dead. He rose,
and he said, I'm coming back to get you. I'll take you home
with me. My older brother is coming back
to get me. The picture of a brother is just
wonderful. And Christ said, I'm their brother. Look at verse 12. Now, he says,
saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst
of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will
put my trust in him. And look at this, he says, Behold
I and the children which God hath given me. Children. And now Christ is shown here
as a father to his people. The children. Behold I and the
children which God hath given me. They're all here. This is
what Christ is going to say in that day. Behold I and the children. that God elected, God chose,
God gave to me, I came down here as a man, did everything necessary
to save. I saved them. That's my name. And I'm going to bring them all
home. Everyone I saved, they're going to get home. I'm going
to bring them home. All you gave me, Christ says,
they're here. They're here. Every single person
whom God foreknew, foreloved, Who God elected will be saved. Why? Because of who he gave them
to. Did you get that? Every one of them
will be saved. Why? Because who did the saving? A fit man, an able man. And Christ is going to present
them all someday and say, they're all here, present and accounted
for. Not one missing. Why? Because
I'm able to save. I've told you this story before,
too. I've forgotten it. When my daughter was just a very
young girl, about, oh, maybe eight years old, she had a swimming
party. Where was that? I forget where
it was. She had a swimming party and
invited eight other little girls. Just girls there at that time,
thankfully. Recently, she had those two-legged
animals called boys in the pool. You know, I told her, well, let's
just go on. Let's get off of that. But anyway,
before, she had eight other little girls, so you know, there's nine
girls in that swimming pool just playing around and all that.
And I was watching over nine girls, the apples of some mother and
father's eye. I know I had one. Nine girls. What if? I asked her, what if all the
parents came to get those girls after it was over? And I said,
they all came to get their daughters. I got eight out of nine. Pretty good. Watch her. I did a pretty good job. Eight
out of nine ain't bad, is it? You see the absurdity of that?
I wouldn't be much of a lifeguard, would I? And Jesus Christ wouldn't
be much of a Savior, either. If one whom the Father gave to
him to save, he couldn't save him, didn't save him. And Joe,
someday he went to glory and said, almost all of them are
here, but one, he was a tough one. He was too bad a sinner,
but he didn't let go and let God. You know, he didn't let
me have my way. That ain't it. That's not salvation. Salvation is in the Savior, not
in the one being saved. And because it is who that saved
them, he's going to say they're all here. Every one of them that
you gave life, present and accounted for. And that's the reason that
the cry is going to go up through now and eternity unto him that
loved us and washed us from our own sins in his own blood, the
Savior. The Savior. Christ did the saving. He saved them all. And this relationship
of a father here. I have a loving, caring, kind
father who was a good protector, a good provider, and we have
such a one. Believers have such a one. And again, let me just say this
in closing. What parent in here What parent in here who loves their child would not do everything within
their power to save that child? Huh? What if it was within your
power to absolutely keep that child from harm and trouble? and ensure that everything turned
out all right for that child. What if it was within your power?
Huh, Jeanette? What if it was totally within
your power? You love that child, and it's
totally within your power to absolutely make sure that child
turns out all right. Would you do it? You say, it's
ridiculous. Of course we would. Case closed. If God loves his
children, he's going to save them. Is that right? Not like these pitiful pinhead
preachers who say, you know, oh, he wants to and can't. Oh,
if he wants to, he will. Yes, sir. Why? Because he's God. He's our Father. If he loves
us as his children, It's going to be all right. Count on him. And that's our
brother, and that's our father. All right, Brother Joe, you have
a song. Him, pick it up. 127. Sing a couple of verses
of that. 127. Number 127. Stand with me. Let's sing the first second and
the fourth standard. First second and the fourth. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Mary's name has taught me to,
in my place come give me to, seal my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Lifted up was he who died, in
infinity from his pride. Now in heaven exalted high, hallelujah,
God has made you whole. I don't know. I don't know. you. I don't know. I don't know. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not going to do that. I don't know. I don't know. I'm Thank you very much. I don't know. Thank you. I'm sorry.