Welcome to our program. Today's
message is entitled, We See Jesus. I took that title from the book
of Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 9, where the Apostle writes,
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Hebrews
chapter 2 and verse 9. I'm going to begin back up in
verse 5 of this message. We see Jesus, but let me begin
this way. Now, one man said one time that
salvation is in a look. Always has been, always will
be. And of course what he meant by
that is this. It's the look of faith. Looking unto Christ. Back in the Old Testament there
was a picture given In reality, and I mentioned this last week,
about the children of Israel who had disobeyed God, they murmured
against God, murmured against God's prophet, God's appointed
leader, Moses, and some of them tried to take Moses' place, and
God sent fiery serpents, poisonous snakes among the people to bite
them and kill them, and Moses interceded for them. And God
told Moses to make a serpent of brass, a brazen serpent, and
set it upon a pole, lift it up, and tell the people, all who
look upon the brazen serpent shall live, all who have been
bitten by the poisonous snakes, the poisonous serpent. If they
would look, they would live. Now that's a picture of Christ
and salvation by Him. You see, Christ is the brazen
serpent. He said that in John chapter
3, he was talking to Nicodemus. He said, for as Moses lifted
up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish,
but have everlasting life. Christ is that brazen serpent.
See, that brazen serpent was a picture, a type of Christ. lifted up on a pole lifted up
high Christ was lifted up on the cross to save his people
from their sins to die in their place to having their sins charged
to him imputed to him he felt the infirmities of their sins
and he suffered and bled and died on that cross lifted up
on the like the serpent lipped brazen serpent lifted up on the
pole Christ was lifted up on the cross and everyone who looked
to that brazen serpent in Israel among the Hebrew children in
the wilderness there, they live. Well, everyone who looks to Christ
shall live. And there's that picture in the
Old Testament. Over in the book of Isaiah, chapter
45, God, in speaking to the prophet Isaiah, identified himself as
the living God, a just God and a Savior, a God who saves sinners
in such a way that he can be both a just God as well as a
merciful God. A holy God as well as a gracious
God. A righteous God as well as a
loving God. Well, the only way God can be
just and justify the ungodly is by Jesus Christ based upon
His blood and His righteousness alone. It's by grace, not by
works, not by our works. But it's by Christ doing the
work that He was sent to do. And he says there in Isaiah 45,
he says, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth, for I am God and there is none else. Look unto the God
who saves sinners by his grace through Christ. Over in Hebrews
chapter 12, he speaks of running a race, and he says that believers
are to run the race looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. That's the look. So that with
this in mind, we who know Christ, we who trust in Him, we who are
washed in His blood, clean from all our sins, we who are justified
by His righteousness charged to us, imputed to us, we who
have life by the Spirit, who have been born again by the Holy
Spirit, who have faith in Christ, we see Jesus. We see Him as He
is. Not just as we think He is. Not
just as we imagine, but as He reveals Himself in His Word,
as God-Man, the Anointed One, the Messiah, Sin of God, who
saves His people from their sins. Not this weak, pitiful, poor
Jesus who is being preached today who is just hoping that somebody
will accept Him. That's not Him. We see the true
Christ. We see the Lord of glory, the
sovereign Savior. And that's what Paul's talking
about here. Now back up here in verse 5, he begins again showing
how Christ exceeds in glory above the angels. The angels who were
ministers of the old coven, who were servants of God and who
are still ministering spirits even today to God's people. And
he starts out in verse 5, he says, For unto the angels hath
he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. Now, this world to come includes
the future heavens and earth, but it also includes the world
we live in today under the New Covenant. In other words, what
he's saying here is that Christ exceeds in glory over above the
angels because the world to come, the New Covenant, the Church
of Christ, and the future eternal world, the new heavens and the
new earth, was not to be subject to the angels. The angels are
not rulers over this world. They're not rulers over the new
heavens and the new earth. They don't rule the church. Christ
is the head of the church. Christ is the sovereign king. He's the Lord of lords. He's
the king of kings. He's been exalted to a place
on the right hand of the Father to rule and to reign and to dispose
of all things to the glory of the Father and the good of His
church. That wasn't given to the angels. The Father, in eternity
past, chose a people and gave them to Christ, sinners who could
not save themselves. He put all of the salvation,
the responsibility of their salvation, upon the shoulders of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All of salvation, all of their
salvation, was conditioned upon Christ, and He became responsible
for them. As the scripture says, the elect
of God were espoused to Christ, to be married to Him. And He
came as their representative, as their substitute, and as our
surety. And He did all that God required
of us. Christ, everything that God required
of me, I find fulfilled not by me, not by angels, but by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He bought His people. And
he became the head of his church. He's the Lord of lords and the
King of kings. Every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess that he's Lord of heaven and
earth. So all of that was given to Christ, not to angels. So Christ exceeds them in glory. Now he begins to quote from the
Old Testament, the book of Psalms, Psalm 8. And he says in verse
6 of Hebrews 2, But one in a certain place testified, saying, now
he's talking about David who wrote this psalm. God the Holy
Spirit wrote this psalm by David. And here's what he says in Psalm
8. Now listen to the language of this very carefully. He says,
What is man that thou art mindful of him? What is man? Now you think about this. This
is an awesome thought. Here's the God of glory. The
God of the universe. The God who created this world,
the God who is sovereign, God who is holy, who can by no means
clear the guilty, who cannot even look upon sin. God who must
punish sin. And then here's these creatures,
man, us, mankind, who in Adam we fell, rebelled against God. We don't deserve the least of
God's favor. We don't deserve the least of
God's mercy. We don't deserve salvation. Listen,
we don't even deserve consideration from God. And that's what he's
saying. What is man? Sinful, pitiful,
wretched, spiritually dead, rebellious, hateful man that God Almighty,
holy and just and righteous is mindful of him. Why would God
even even consider us? You know, by nature, we really
think we're something. By nature, we think so highly
of ourselves. We think we deserve everything
we get and more. We complain about not having
enough. That means we think we deserve more. That's us by nature. Well, my friend, when it comes
to God and our relationship with God, here's the point. We don't
deserve anything from God but wrath. The Bible says the wages
of sin is death. I hear people all the time talking
about what they can earn from God. And they may not come to
the point of saying, well, we can earn salvation. But then
they'll talk about, well, we can earn our rewards. My friend,
what is man that God is mindful of? We don't earn anything from
God. The only thing we can earn is wrath and condemnation. That's
right. Hell. That's all we can earn.
And then you'll hear people talking about how salvation is conditioned
on the sinner. My friend, that is not so. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's of God. If God considers
me in grace and mercy, let me tell you something, that's the
most humbling thought that we could ever come across our heads,
our minds, our hearts. What is man that thou art mine
for? And then he goes on, he says, or the son of man that
thou visitest him. Now, the son of man, there is
an Old Testament, is a reference back to the Old Testament to
the Messiah. And I believe the thought that he's putting forth
here is this. When we consider how high God
is above us, how wretched and rotten and puny we are in ourselves,
in our rebellion, in our sin, it is an amazing thought, it's
an amazing, overwhelming thought to consider that God visited
us through His Son. that he sent the Lord Jesus Christ,
the second person of the Trinity, down here on this earth. And
later on, he's going to say, to take on him the nature of
Abraham, the seed of Abraham. That's God's people. That's the
church. That's God's children of promise. Think about it. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. What is man? that this great
and high and holy God is mindful of us, and even to the point
to where He would send His only begotten, well-beloved Son into
this world to take upon Him the likeness of sinful flesh, subject
Himself to untold weaknesses and infirmities and agonies,
even the derision and the hatred of men whom He created that He
could crush just with His breath. What is man that God is mindful
of him? And the Son of Man that thou
visitest him. Look at verse 7. Now he goes
on. He's talking about the angels. And he says, Thou madest him,
that is the Son of Man, Christ, the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Now what's that talking about?
How was Christ made a little lower than the angels? In his
humanity. When Christ took on human nature,
the Word was made flesh in His humanity for a little while,
He was made lower than the angels. But it didn't stay that way.
Look here. Thou madest Him a little lower than the angels, thou crown'st
Him with glory and honor, and didst set Him over the works
of thy hand. Now, remember what He said? He
never promised the angels that all things would be put under
their feet. But he considered man, God in his sovereign creative
glory, saving glory, considered man. How did he consider man?
In divine election he chose a people and he sent his son to be made
like unto them, to take unto himself human flesh. He visited
us. Now, he didn't say the angels
would be over creation, over the world to come, but he considered
man in the person of his son. And here's the thought. He made
his son a little lower than the angels, but he crowned him with
glory and honor and did set him over the works of his hands.
He gave him all power. Remember Christ said to his disciples
before he sent him out to preach the gospel, he said, all power
and all authority has been given unto me. God the Father gave
it to the Son as God-man. Now, as God absolutely considered,
He already had all power. He already had all glory. It
couldn't be given to Him because it's His by nature. But as man,
as God-man, it was given to Him. So the incarnation of Christ,
He lowered Himself to be made like unto sinful flesh, resulted
ultimately in the glory of Christ as Governor, as King, as Lord
of Lords. Now, how did that all come about?
Well, it says in verse 8, now look here, he says, Thou hast
put all things in subjection under his feet. Now, that's the
Father has given all things over to the Son. And it says here,
for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that
is not put under him. All things are under his feet.
His glory. All things are under His governing
power. All things are under His authority.
All creation, all providence, all salvation. You see, He is
the sovereign ruler. He is the sovereign King of Kings. Now, this is Jesus, Joshua who
saves, who shall save His people from their sins. This is how
we who know Him, who see His glory, who believe in Him, this
is how we see Him. So he says, for in that he put
all things in subjection under him, he left nothing that is
not put under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him. Now, from our limited point of
view here on this earth, sometimes it looks like things are out
of control. We see disasters. We see great, great disasters
happening, this tsunami that killed so many people, and it
looks like we're out of control. You know, some people even believe
that Satan's in control, but he's not. And what he's saying
here is this. We don't yet, in our limited
view of things, as we look out on circumstances, we see death,
we see sickness, we see murder, we see sin, all of these things.
We don't yet see all things put under his feet. But here's what
we do see. Look at verse 9. We see Jesus. In Christ, right now, we know,
we see, and we are assured that all things are under his control.
And that's difficult for us to see because we're so limited. As I said, we look around, we
think all things are out of control. But my friend, rest assured,
God is in control. God is sovereign. Christ is on
the throne. He's seated at the right hand
of the heavenlies, the right hand of the Father. He's making
intercession for his people. He's ruling. He's controlling.
I know people don't understand these things and they don't want
to see it that way. They say, well, if he's in control,
why does he do this or why does he do that? I'll tell you the
answer. He gave Job. He said, Job, you think you're
my counselor? You think you're my advisor?
Did I consult with you when I made the worlds? Did I ask your advice
when I hung the stars in space? When I created the oceans and
the whales and the great beasts that are there? Did you have
anything to do with that? Then you just rest assured, here's
the answer to all things. God is sovereign. He's in control. And He's working all things after
the counsel of His own will. And He's working all things for
the good of His glory, of His grace. And where do we see that? We see it in Christ. We see Jesus. He's in control. And it says
in verse nine, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than
the angels. Remember, that's his humanity. Why was he made
a little lower than the angels? He tells us right here. For the
suffering of death. Now, in order for Christ to save
his people from their sins, he had to die. He had to shed his
blood as payment for our sins. You see, the Bible tells us,
the soul that sinneth must surely die. It tells us the wages of
sin is death. Where sin is charged, death must
be the result. The Bible tells us plainly that
without shedding of blood, that means death, There is no remission
of sins. There's no forgiveness. Without
obedience unto death, there is no righteousness. You see, God
cannot save us apart from righteousness. Righteousness has to be established.
Law and justice has to be satisfied. Why? Because God is holy. God
is just, and He cannot cease to be holy and just in order
to save us in mercy and grace. He must be just as well as merciful. He must be holy as well as loving. He must be righteous and just
as well as gracious. He must be a just God and a Savior.
Therefore, the soul that sinneth must die. So in order for Christ
to be our Savior, He had to die. He had to suffer death. Somebody's
got to die for sins. And if you don't have a mediator,
if you don't have a substitute, if you don't have a sin-bearer,
then you'll have to die the second death, which is eternity in hell,
which means it'll never be paid for. So Christ had to die in
order to save his people from their sins. Now, in order to
do that, he had to assume true humanity. He had to be made a
little lower than the angels. He had to take into union with
his deity a perfect, sinless humanity. body and soul. You
see, God cannot die. God is life, everlasting. But
this person who is God, Jesus, whom we see, he did die. And that's to be attributed to
his humanity. So we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, to
bring forth everlasting righteousness whereby God could be just and
justified. And this same Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, we
see him crowned with glory and honor." He's crowned with glory
and honor. Again, we've said it so many
times, but it's subtle. How do we see him crowned with
glory and honor? Well, he's not laying in a tomb somewhere. He is in the heavens ruling and
reigning. He rules in the hearts of his
people. He's omnipotent. He's omnipresent. He is everywhere,
but he rules from heaven. And we see him crowned with glory
and honor. And it says that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. Now, this phrase here
has been abused by quite a few people. They use it to teach
the awful doctrine of universal atonement. That if Christ tasted
death for every man, then therefore every man must be saved. But
that's not what it's saying. First of all, the word man is
not in the original text. It should read this, that he
tasted death for every son. And we know that by the following
scriptures. But here's what it's saying.
Salvation is by the grace of God. That he by the grace of
God, it's a free gift. We can't earn it. We don't deserve
it. It is totally by the grace of God. Now Christ, by the grace
of God, He tasted death. Now that word taste is a Jewish
phrase that means this, that Christ in His humanity experienced
the full extent of death. He really died. It wasn't just
a sham experience. He died. He said on the cross,
it's finished. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. He gave up the ghost. He died.
He was buried, and he lay in the tomb three days. That means
he died. He was buried. Now, the grave
could not hold him. He came out of the tomb. Well,
he experienced the full extent of everything that death is for
the sins of his people, and he did it for every man, every son,
everyone whom he represented. Now, who are they? Now the next
few verses identify who they are. It's not all without exception
now. People want to believe that,
but you've got to go by the scripture. Who are the everyman? Who is
the everyman here? Well, he says it. Now look at
verse 11 or verse 10. He starts off, it says, For it
became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in
bringing many sons. unto glory, to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through suffering." Now, this identifies
the everyman. First of all, it begins with
God, for it became him. What that means is this, this
great salvation wherein we see accomplished in Jesus, Christ
the Lord, whereby he was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, that he should by the grace of God
taste death for every man, every son, everyone whom he represented.
He calls them his sheep. John chapter 10, he said, I lay
down my life for my sheep. Well, how do you know who his
sheep are? He says this. He says, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. Do you hear his voice in the
preaching of the gospel? If you do, you'll believe in
him. You'll trust in him. You'll follow him. You'll submit
to him and his righteousness and repent of your own. You see
that? He calls them his church. He
gave himself. He purchased his church with
his own blood. And what does the word church
mean? It means called out ones. They've been called out by the
preaching of the gospel. Well, he says this salvation
became God. It was fitting to the character
and the nature and the glory of God. You see, in the matter
of salvation, the first and main issue is this. Does it glorify
God? Does it tell the truth about
God? Who God is? Well, how can I know if it does?
Well, does it represent God as being both a just God and a Savior? Well, this salvation does. He
says, it became Him for whom are all things, all things for
His glory. By whom are all things? All things
by his power. In bringing who? Who is the everyman
here? Many sons unto glory. They are the sons of God. And
that includes all men and women who are chosen of God, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, given life in the new birth, regeneration,
given life, and called out by the Spirit of God. They are many
sons. How many are there? I don't know. I know there are a bunch. I'm
not going to try to count them. The Bible doesn't tell us. It
just says they are many, many sons. And they're sons by election. God chose them. They are sons
by redemption. Christ bought them. They are
sons by adoption. God brought them into his family.
They are sons by new birth. The Holy Spirit gives them life.
And they are sons by calling. he calls them into the kingdom
by his grace through the preaching of the gospel. And these many
sons, now look here now, verse 10 of Hebrews 2, you see, he
tasted death for every son, every man, every man who is among the
many sons who are brought unto glory. You see, Christ did not
taste death for anyone who finally ends up in hell. These many sons
are brought unto glory. And what he says here in this
next verse, and he goes on to identify in these other verses,
but we'll get to them next time. But he says this, to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. Now what does
that mean? Is that saying that Christ began
imperfectly and that when he finished he was perfect? No,
this is not speaking of his person. Because in himself, he is perfect,
always has been, always is, and always will be. In his deity,
you see Christ is one person with two natures, divine and
human. In his deity, he is perfect by
nature. And in his humanity, he knew
no sin and did no sin, perfect. What does it mean to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through suffering? It means he
completed the work.