Let's go back to the book of
Hebrews, where Brother Terry read from the second chapter. Hebrews, the second chapter.
And I hope God the Spirit will enable me to say a few words
to you this evening on the subject of our Savior who partook of
flesh and blood. Flesh and blood. The last couple of Lord's Days
in our Bible classes, we've been studying the subject, the great
subject of the sovereignty of God. That is a vital study. Lots of people who are willing
to speak about the love of God, the grace of God, and those are
worthy subjects to be spoken of, of course. But you don't
set forth the full character of God unless you also say that
He's absolutely sovereign, and that just means He reigns. That's when you say, well, the
word sovereign isn't in the Bible. Well, but that word reign is. And when we say we believe in
the sovereignty of God, we're just saying God reigns. And he reigns over everything. In the lessons, I define the
sovereignty of God as God's absolute independent right to govern all
of His creation according to His will. And it isn't only His
right to do that, but He does that. He actually does govern
in all things. He governs in all what we would
say are good things. He also governs in all things
that we would say are bad things. And I would just take you right
to Calvary. The worst thing that man has
ever done is when his God, his creator, came into this world. And men laid a hold on him and
murdered him. And yet they did exactly what
God ordained to be done. Nothing happened by chance. Nothing happened because God
somehow or another lost control of things? Our Lord Jesus is
said to be, He's the Lamb who was slain before the foundation
of the world. He's the Lamb foreordained unto
His death. Because God, if He would save
us, He had to satisfy His own justice. And so God reigns in
all things. He reigns in creation. I talked in Sunday school class
this morning about the gifts that God gives to people, they're
not equal. And we even have this issue raised
in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Who maketh thee to
differ from another? And I use an illustration in
my class this morning about the basketball game Angelina was
in the other night, where she stands all of, what, 5'3", maybe,
5'4"? Well, she's as tall as her grandmother
now. And she's a forward. She's a power forward. 5'4", and I said, why'd they
make you a forward? She said, because I'm the strongest
one on the team. She works out, pumps iron, all
that kind of good stuff. Well, she's guarding this gal,
and this gal's head and shoulders above her. And she's blocking
her out, and somebody took a shot, and the ball came down, and Angelina's
going up for the rebound, and this tall girl that she's boxing
out, She's doing a good job, this tall girl just reached right
over her head and grabbed that basketball. And the coach took
Angelina out and chewed her out. Well, she can't help that she's
short. Or that the other girl is not
short, she's tall. Here's the point. God made one
short, God made one tall. We don't all have the same gifts. We don't all have the same abilities. We don't all measure up equally
on everything. You know, well, they say all
men are created equal. That's not right. That isn't
right. There are not too many Einsteins
around. I wouldn't want to match my poor
puny brain with his. Intellectual abilities. There
are men who are strong and men who are weak. Men who can do
great things. Men who can preach. Men, if they stepped behind a
pulpit, they'd just shake to death and pass out. They couldn't
take it. There are men who can stand up
here and lead in prayer. I told Ron, I said, I appreciated
your prayer this morning. A lot. I look like I appreciate
your prayer. But everybody can't do that.
Everybody can't get up here and do that because God gives gifts
as he will. And everybody in the kingdom
of grace, though we're all equally the children of God, we're all
equally saved. But we don't all have equal gifts.
God is sovereign. He's sovereign in the distribution
of His gifts. He's sovereign in creation. He
made big animals. He made little animals. He makes
differences. That's God. Well, why'd He do
all that? Well, because He could and because
He would. And then God is sovereign in
what we call divine providence. And that's just God directing
all things to the end that He Himself has already ordained. This world needs to hear this.
God isn't making any new decisions. God is not reacting to us. We have such feeble ideas of
God. He's not like we are. This is
what God said to Israel. You thought that I was just like
you. He said, I'm not like you. And he said, you'll have to give
an account of your matters to me, but I don't give an account
of my matters to you. And God doesn't owe us any explanation
for anything that He does. He does what He wills because
He wants to. And in all things, He governs. He sends the storms. I heard
a preacher not too long ago, and he said, you know, he's talking
about the volcanic eruption over in the islands, over on the big
island. He said, God didn't have anything
to do with that. He said in the storms, God didn't have anything
to do with that. The floods that happened, God
didn't have anything to do with that. And I wanted to say to
him, why don't you open your Bible and read the last few chapters
of the book of Job? You'll see who brings all these
things to pass. All the calamities, God does
those things. When Job, Job was a wealthy man,
he had all of these things that he owned, he had wonderful possessions,
lots of it, he was a wealthy man. Satan took it all away. And then he had 10 kids. They all died in storm. And in all this Job worshiped,
he said, the Lord gave. Now here's what we'd say, the
devil's taken it away. No, the devil was just used by
God. He's used by God. He's God's devil. Somebody said
he's God's pit bulldog. You say of him what you will,
he's evil, I know that. But he's under the sovereign
realm of God. And Job said, the Lord gave,
the Lord gave me those ten children. And the Lord hath taken them
away. He gave, He took away. Who gave them? God gave. Who
took them away? Not the devil. Not fate. Not evil. God did. God did. And this is something
that most people don't know anything about. This idea of God being
absolutely sovereign. But He reigns, and as I said
to our Bible class this morning, you haven't really worshipped
God till you've worshipped at His absolute throne of sovereignty. The God who does what He wills
with His own. He's got the right to do that.
And He exercises that right at all times. And He's sovereign
in grace. He's sovereign in grace. You know, the Bible sets forth
two great falls. The fall of Lucifer and the fall
of Adam. Right? That's correct, isn't
it? Go to Isaiah chapter 14. We won't read there now, but
that talks about the fall of Lucifer. He was a very high-ranking
angel, but he failed. He failed. And he led a revolt
in heaven. And I believe, according to the
book of Revelation, one third of the angels joined in the revolt. Here's what Satan did. He challenged
God's right to be God. That's what he did. And then there's another fall
recorded in the Bible. That's the fall of Adam. He also challenged God's right
to rule. He also defied God. But to those angels, to Lucifer
and the angels who fell, God did not give them any mercy. There was no hope for their recovery. Is that fair? Well, sure it's
fair. They deserve to be damned. They
deserve to be put into everlasting darkness. Adam falls. Well, I guess all
of his offspring will meet the same fate as those angels that
they fell in Lucifer's rebellion. No, not all of them. And in this verse of Scripture,
in this passage of Scripture, it talks about those, look at
verse 16, Christ took on him the seed of Abraham. Notice in
verse 16, all of it. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels. Christ did not come to save fallen
angels. There was no mercy for them. And in the book of 1 Timothy,
you'll read, 1 Timothy chapter five and verse 21, you'll read
of the elect angels. There's only one reason to be
given as to why all of the angels didn't fall in that rebellion
of Lucifer. And they fell, by the way, without
a representative. And that's a very important thing
to remember. They fell individually. But not all of them, two-thirds
of them didn't fall. You know why they didn't fall?
God preserved them. God kept them. They were God's
elect angels. You don't have any difficulty
understanding that concept of election. What does it mean to elect, to
choose? God chose to preserve two thirds
of the angels from falling. And the other third, he let him
go. I don't have any problem understanding
that concept. He elect angels. Well, notice, for verily he took
not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed. Now watch, it doesn't say of
Adam. Does your Bible say of Adam?
Oh, he doesn't say that. That'd be universalism. He took
on him the seed of Abraham. The seed of Abraham. You see,
the seed of Abraham, that's all of God's elect. Yes, all men
fell in Adam's rebellion. And the Lord Jesus, he came into
this world and became a partaker of flesh and blood. Notice in
verse 14, for as much then as the children that God gave him
before the world began, for as much then as those children are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part, and
I'll tell you what that means. He took hold of and he pulled
it to himself. Write that down as a definition
of that. He took hold of it. He took hold
of flesh and blood and He pulled it to Himself. He who is the
eternal God, who rules over all forever and ever, the invisible,
the all-glorious God, He came down here and He took unto Himself. He, as it were, reached out and
grabbed hold of it, and He pulled flesh and blood unto Himself,
and He joined Himself to our nature. And I'll tell you in
a few minutes why He had to do that. And in taking hold of our nature,
He took hold of us He took hold of us to pull us unto Himself
to rescue us. That's why He came into the world.
But He didn't come to rescue everybody. Now one of two things is going
to be true right here at this point. If He came to rescue everybody,
He failed. Because everybody's not rescued. He came to rescue the seed of
Abraham and all of them are saved. That's what you're left with.
You see, the religion of this world presents a salvation that
is ultimately left into the hands of the sinner. It's up to you. And they talk about grace, and
they talk about blood, and they talk about salvation, but ultimately
it comes right down to it, not your choice. Well, we made our choice in Adam. He's our representative. I said the Bible says for two
falls. It also says for two representative
men. One of them's Adam. He came and
represented the whole human race. And when he failed, that's when
we fail. That's when all of us fail. That's
right, that's when we became corrupt. It happened about 6,000
years ago, give or take a few. That man, Adam, he stood, here's
a, men set it forth this way as our federal head. He was the
head of our race. He was a representative. You
see, I talked about Lucifer's fall. Lucifer didn't represent
anybody. He didn't represent any angel.
So they fell individually. I'm following this angel. I'm
leaving God. I'm following Lucifer. One third
of them did. They had no representative and
therefore they're held in everlasting chains of darkness. They have
no Savior. They have no grace. They have
no mercy. There is no possibility of any
salvation for any of the angels. Adam came. He represented all
of us. And when He died, we died. Something
awful happened in the Garden of Eden. I tell you, it's a whole
lot more than a man taking a bite of an apple. It's a man eating
that forbidden fruit in the face of God, defying God. I know what
you said, but I'll do it anyway. Because I'm going to be God. I'll exercise my will. He can't
tell me what to do. And he rebelled against God,
and when he rebelled, I tell you, the whole ship went down. We were all on board. We all
died. And Adam all died. But there's
a second representative in. Christ Jesus, the Lord. He represented
all of those the father gave him in the covenant of grace.
He's an able and a worthy representative because he's the son of God.
God chose a people under salvation. These who are said to be the
seed of Abraham. The seed of Abraham. God chose
these people out and He gave them to His Son before He ever
made the world. And He said, save them. And then
God made the world and it's on this earth that God brings to
pass the great drama of redemption. You see, the earth exists as
God's earth on which He will save and rescue and pull unto
Himself all the seed of Abraham. That's the reason the earth exists.
I know there's a lot going on at all times, but in everything,
God is working His purpose. He's doing that which is His
will to do, and He's drawing His people unto Himself. He's taking hold of us. He's
pulling us as brands out of the fire. He's pulling us. He drew unto Himself flesh and
blood. He joined Himself to flesh and
blood, God and man in one. And then this God and man draws
us unto Himself to rescue us. We've got to be rescued. Rescued. We can't do that ourselves. This
is what He's got to do. He's the Savior. We're the sinners. What we do is all the sinning.
Here's what He does, all the saving. We did all the running. He does all the pursuing. We
did all the wandering. He does all the seeking and the
finding. This is our great Savior. And he came to save the seed
of Abraham. Well, who is the seed of Abraham?
Let me give you a few references here. Go over to Romans chapter
nine. Look at Romans chapter nine.
This is not the natural seed of Abraham, but the spiritual
seed. Romans chapter nine. And verse
six, not as though the word of God have taken none effect, for
they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Well, that seems
real clear to me. I know there's a nation that
exists in the Middle East over there, but they're not the children
of God. They're not the children of God.
That's not the people that God came to save. He came to save
a remnant of them. but he's saving a remnant out
of every nation under heaven. Well, what does it say? But the
children of the promise, they are counted as the seed. Look at Galatians chapter three.
Look at Galatians chapter three. Verse seven, Galatians 3.7. And I'll read verse 6 too, Galatians
3, 6. Even as Abraham believed God
and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, are you of faith? Do you believe
God? Do you believe Christ Jesus?
Do you believe He's the Son of God with power? Do you believe
He's the Son of Man? Do you believe He redeems sinners? Do you believe His blood saves?
His righteousness saves? They which are of faith, that's
who the children of Abraham are. And you see, our Lord Jesus,
He came into this world and He took unto Himself the seed of
Abraham. He drew unto Himself this seed. So He didn't come to save angels.
And He didn't come to save all men. There is no such thing as
universal grace. There can't be. There is nothing to this idea
of universal salvation. And Adam all died, but in Christ
Jesus, all of his people are made alive. Our Lord Jesus laid,
he laid hold of the seed of Abraham. He didn't lay hold of the seed
of Adam. He didn't seize the seed of Adam. He seized, he laid hold of the
seed of Abraham. That's why we read, and so all
of Israel shall be saved. Understand this, the purpose
of God can't be overturned. That's impossible. If your God
makes some kind of plans, but they don't come to fruition,
you got the wrong God. You got too little. David said, the people said to
him, David, where's your God? We got our gods. Man, we got
them lined up on the shelf here. Look at them. Ain't they pretty?
The housekeeper comes in and dusts them off every once in
a while, all of our little gods. Where's your God? He said, our
God's in the heavens. And he's done whatsoever he's
pleased. That's why David said in Psalm 135, whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, in earth, under the earth,
all deep places. Hey, say, the God that you worship,
and you worship some kind of God, does He do anything He wants
to do? God of the Bible does. He does. I tell you, the purpose of God
cannot be overturned. The covenant of grace can't be
nullified. That covenant was established
before God made the world. You think you can do anything
to interfere with that? You think some peon man, or preacher,
or religion, or all mankind together, do you think they can nullify
God's everlasting covenant of grace? Well, that's just stupid
to think that. That's just crazy talk. And I'll
tell you this, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, it'll never
be a failure. Never be a failure. He redeemed
somebody. He bought somebody. He put away
the sins of somebody. He brought in righteousness for
somebody. And the way all of those somebodies
are identified, they're brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how you know who they are. You say, I wonder if God
loves me. I wonder if Christ died for me.
Well, I'll tell you this, is Christ Jesus all your hope? He's
all your salvation? He's all your righteousness?
He's all your life? He's all you look to? Yes, preacher,
He is. Yeah, you're one of the chosen
ones. You're one of the seed of Abraham. You're one of the
redeemed ones. And I'll tell you, the grace
of God can't be frustrated. You ever set out to do something,
some kind of project, and for whatever reason, You just had
one interruption after another, or one thing goes wrong, then
another thing. That happens a lot, doesn't it?
And he gets so frustrated, and you say, man alive, I wanted
to do this, but I guess I'll never get it done. And he gets
so frustrated. Well, the grace of God's never
frustrated. God never gets anxious about
anything. The Lord Jesus isn't up in heaven
looking over the banishers of heaven saying, man alive, sure
wish you'd do better down there. He sits on his throne in sovereign
regal majesty, never unnerved, never anxious, always satisfied because His
will is being accomplished. And I'll tell you, the intercession
of Christ Jesus will never be ignored because He's in heaven
now and He wears five wounds that stand for redemption, substitution,
satisfaction, and His hold on us can't be broken. He drew us unto Himself. He lifted
me up out of the deep miry clay. He established my feet. He drew
me unto Himself. He's not going to let me go.
Now in faith, we do reach out and take hold of Christ. But
it's not our hold on Him that keeps us safe. It's His hold
on us. He's made flesh and blood. Why? I'll give it to you quickly.
Number one, why did He take unto Himself flesh and blood? Everybody here, you know, this
time of year, we're talking about the Lord Jesus coming into the
world, born of a virgin, and bless His name. That's exactly
what happened. But here's the question. Why?
Why did He reach out and take flesh and blood unto Himself? Number one, to die. That's what
he says in verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part of the same, that through
death, through death, God can't die. God's invisible, God's everywhere. God's a consuming fire. God can't
die, but the God-man can and did. That's why he reached out
and took flesh and blood unto himself to die. Because we ought
to die. But he came and died in our stead.
He died that God might be just and justifier. And then here's
the second thing. Why did he take flesh and blood
into union to himself? Number two, to destroy the power
of the devil. That's what it says, the last
part of verse 14. That through death, he might
destroy him that had the power of death, even the devil. Tell you something happened on
that cross. Our Lord Jesus, he vanquished
our enemies. He defeated our enemies. Death, all the law that was against
us, He nailed it to His cross. Our sins and the devil, He defeated
Him. He destroyed the power of the
devil. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. That's what Christ said in John
chapter 12. Thirdly, why did he take? Why did he embrace flesh
and blood? Thirdly, to deliver those for
whom he died from the fear of death. Look at verse 15. And deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He took hold of flesh and blood. He took hold of our humanity
and drew it to his own Godhead. in order to deliver us from the
fear of death. Are you afraid to die? Are you afraid to die? Well,
if you don't have Christ Jesus, you ought to be afraid. You ought
to be scared to death. If you don't have a righteousness
that God approves of, you ought to be shaken all over. And I
hope God gives you no rest, no sleep. Hope He'll keep you awake
until you find rest in Christ Jesus for your soul. Because
if He's not your hope, if He's not your life, if He's not your
righteousness, you got every reason to be scared to death
of dying to meet a holy God. I tell you what the fear of death
is. The thought of standing before God Without a mediator. Without a go-between. Without
the blood. Without the blood. It's the blood
that makes atonement for the soul. No blood, no righteousness. I'd be scared to death. I wouldn't
want to go to sleep. Afraid I'd wake up in hell. But in Christ Jesus, He who died
in our stead, He takes away the fear of death. He's destroyed
the power of death by dying in our stead. He's destroyed the power of death
by removing our sins. And He's destroyed death by changing
its character. You see, for an unbeliever, death
is an awful thing. For the unbeliever, anything
this side of death is mercy. But for the child of God, death
is a great blessing. An old writer, John Trapp. I don't know if you've ever read
him or not. Sometimes he's a little difficult
to read, but every once in a while, Jim, that's G-E-M by the way. I get a little Jim, a little
jewel from him, but he said this, to those that are in Christ Jesus,
death is but the daybreak of everlasting brightness. He said
it is not the punishment of sin, but the end of sin. Death is
but a sturdy porter opening the door of eternity A rough passage,
but it leads to everlasting bliss. When Israel was ready to cross
the Jordan River, they wanted to go over into the promised
land. God told Joshua, He said, get the priests with the Ark
of the Covenant first. And it says that the banks of
the Jordan River was full that time of year, because it was
harvest time. In fact, the Lord said to Joshua,
told the people according to the Lord's orders, He said, are
you going to follow the Ark of the Covenant when it goes into
the Jordan River? But not too close. And they stayed roughly
a thousand yards behind according to God's instructions. And Joshua
said, now all of you people, listen, when you see the priest
down there carrying the Ark of the Covenant, what is that Ark
of the Covenant? What did it picture? Christ Jesus. He's the Ark of God. He's the
Ark of God. Everything about the tabernacle
pictured our Lord Jesus Himself. And he said, you don't go till
the Ark passes over first. And he said, when the priest
carrying the ark stood right there on the brink of the Jordan
and they took a step, something happened. The water just piled up on each
side. And they walked in on dry ground.
And then they said, now y'all come on. It's okay now. It's okay now. Ain't nobody going
to drown. And you can read in the book of Joshua chapter 3,
they all made it safe and sound to the other side. How were you
fair when you come to the chilly waters of the Jordan? Let me
tell you something, for the people of God, the way has already been
opened. Our Lord Jesus, the great Ark
of the Covenant Himself, He's opened the way all the way to
heaven. He's the forerunner who's entered in. We just follow Him.
He takes the fear of death away. When I was growing up in Bassett,
Virginia, I have an older brother, elder brother, Earl. And we played,
as boys do, in the woods, and we'd go out hiking, and we lived
not too far from the Smith River. And we'd go down to the river,
and he'd say, you want to go swimming? Let's jump off this
rock. You know what I'd always say
to my older brother? You go first. You go first! And he'd dive in. Okay, then
I'll go. And we'd go hiking or playing
cowboys or whatever we was doing. We might find a tree that fell
over a ravine. And he said, let's walk that
log. And it's what I'd always say.
You go first. And he'd go across and make it.
And I said, well, if my elder brother can make it, I believe
I can make it. Listen, our elder brother is
Christ Jesus. He's faced death. And He came
out from it. And He's gone to glory. He has
prepared for us a place in heaven by His death. Don't be afraid
to follow Him. He's your elder brother. He went
first. He went first. You see, our Lord
Jesus, He took hold of flesh and blood to deliver us from
the fear of death. You've got nothing to be afraid
of. Because death takes us directly
into His presence. That's what Brother Eric is facing.
Going into the presence of the Lord. And really, that's what
all of us are facing who know Him. Because none of us know
the day nor the hour when the Lord will come forth. Let me
get this to you quickly. Fourthly, he took flesh and blood
to himself that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. Look at verse 17. Wherefore in
all things it behooved him, it bound him, it obligated him to
be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and
faithful merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God. He couldn't be a high priest,
he couldn't offer a sacrifice for sin, he couldn't make intercession
for us, except he reached out and drew flesh and blood unto
himself. That's the only way he could
be a merciful and faithful high priest. He's got to be made flesh
and dwell among us. And then fifthly, He took flesh
and blood unto Himself to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people. That's what it says in the last
statement of verse 17, to make reconciliation, or literally
to make propitiation for the sins of His people. There's only
one other time in the New Testament where this word, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people, is mentioned. That's in Luke 16.
It's translated this way. public and said, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Be propitious to me. Be a reconciling
God to me. And I'll tell you, God's an only
reconciling God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, lastly, why was Christ
made flesh and blood? Why did He reach out and pull
flesh and blood unto Himself? Verse 18, so that he can help those that
are tempted. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted or tried, he's able to succor them that are
tempted. That word succor means to render
aid with great sympathy and with great feeling. And the Bible says He's touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. And I'll give you this. Look
at chapter 4 verse 14. Chapter 4 verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, this One who took hold of flesh and blood for us, this
One who took hold of us, who are flesh and blood and pulled
us unto Himself to rescue us. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He sympathizes with us. But it was in all pointed, tempted,
tested, just like we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. And I'll tell you, if
you've taken hold of Christ by faith, It's because He's taken
hold of you and drew you unto Himself. He talked about no man
can come to Me except the Father do what? Reach out and draw him. Draw him. That's what He's got
to do. And He gets all the glory for
it.