turn with me back to Hebrews
chapter 2 Hebrews 2 and verse 9 says that we see Jesus who was made a little Lord in
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. 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
sufferings. For both he that sanctifies,
and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren." You notice there in
verse 10, it says, For it became him. I want to talk about the
salvation that became God. The salvation that became the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when it says became him,
it means suited to or in accord with his character, God's character. Became him, necessary to his
character. Necessary to honor him. Necessary, suited to what kind
of salvation he would provide. That's what it means. The salvation
that would bring the most glory to him. You see, it says about
in Hebrews 7.26, for such a high priest became us, one that was
necessary for us suited to our needs, suited to the condition
we were in. And the salvation that becomes God, the salvation
that became our Lord Jesus Christ, let me tell you a few things
about it. It must be perfect and it must
be complete or it wouldn't become Him. It wouldn't be so today,
would it? It must be in strict accordance with all of His attributes
before there can be a salvation for sinful, sinful man. God must
first, must first be true to Himself, must first bring glory
to Himself. That's the first thing that has
to happen. God is saving a sinner. His love
must shine. must see it. His power must be
made manifest, brought to bear. His holiness, His very nature,
which is holy, must be glorified. His justice, see all of His attributes,
His justice, His strict accord with His justice, it must be
satisfied. His holy law, His holy law that's
perfect, just, and good, and holy, it must be upheld. It must be fulfilled to every
jot and every till. And His grace and His mercy must
be put on display as they are. Absolutely undeserved of sinful
men. Nobody deserves the grace and
mercy of God. And then something else that
must become his, his infinite wisdom, all the wisdom of God,
must be made real, real, real to the hearts of sinners. That
their mouths may be shut, their mouths may be stopped, and they'll
stop all of their boasting. They'll never ever mention their
free will and their souls be brought down to bow and worship
the Lord Jesus Christ who is on his throne right this minute.
And a salvation that becomes him his righteousness must be
brought out for everybody to clearly see. And we must guard
that righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ so that men should
know that the judge of all the earth must always do right. And he must be brought to know
that God is just. And the only way he'll justify
a sinner is through faith in his blessed Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We gotta have a salvation like
that. Now who in the world, only God can provide a salvation like
that. For you and me to have the minutest idea of the salvation that becomes
God suited to Him according to His character, according to His
nature. We got to understand this, that the ultimate end of
all that He does is according to His own will and to the praise
of the glory of His grace. Whether anybody is ever saved
ever again, we got to understand that. The purpose of the church is
not to win souls. The purpose of preaching is not
to win souls. The purpose of preaching, first
and foremost, is to bring glory to God in the praise of His grace.
And if God in mercy lets a person see their need of Christ, oh,
what a wondrous thing that is. But until a person sees God and
sees Christ as they are, in a salvation in accordance with His nature,
in accordance with His character, they won't be interested in salvation
whatsoever. And all the salvation that becomes
Him, and I know that there is a salvation, that our God purposed,
that God provided, and God will preserve in and for those whom
He saves by His blessed grace. But I know this, it must be perfect
and complete in every way. Perfect and complete in every
way. He has to give life because men are dead spiritually. There
has to be peace established because men's at war with God. Got his
sword drawn out, got his gun in his pocket, got his fist raised
up like that. I don't want God as He's been
manifested there. If He ain't love, I don't want
Him. If He don't take my righteousness,
I don't want Him. If He won't accept my choice
of Him, I don't want Him. If it's not in my power to choose,
I don't want Him. If He don't give me a chance,
I don't want Him. Got their fists raised right
up there. And oh, I tell you this, there
must be power sexually brought to bear upon a sinner's heart
because they resist Him. Oh, how men resist Him. They
resist Him. They resist Him every day that
they live until He breaks power, the effectual power of the gospel
to bear upon their hearts. And there must be in this salvation
that becomes him an unending, listen to me, an unending conquering
love made to bear upon the hearts of sinners. You've got to come
unending and conquering because sinners hearts are full of hatred
and enmity towards God and he must slay that enmity. And oh, listen, this has got
to, this is salvation that must become him. There must be a complete
forgiveness of sins, past, present, or future, or men would despair
of guilt. I myself would despair of guilt
if I didn't know that. And I tell you something else
got to happen. Since God is holy, and men's unholy, God must provide
a perfect and complete sanctification. He got to make men holy because
men by nature is unholy. Oh, we got to have a salvation.
I'm talking about salvation that becomes Him. Not a salvation
that man come up with. Not a salvation the church provides.
Not a salvation based on our works, but a salvation that became
Him. That became Him. And I tell you
there must be given A righteousness, the very righteousness of God
must be provided for sinners before they can be accepted before
God Almighty. Well how in the world, how will
this salvation be provided? How will it be accomplished?
That will be consistent with God's character, be consistent
with God's nature. That will bring glory to His
attributes and in the end of it being to the praise of the
glory of His grace. How is it going to be done? Let
me ask you a few questions. Well everything I've said has
been a question so far. But let me ask you, this salvation
that our Lord would provide that became Him, would it be, you
know, He comes to you and then when He comes to you, you cooperate
with Him and then you'd be saved? Would it be that kind of salvation?
Would it be a salvation that He would offer to sinful men
to accept or reject? Is this sinner? I'm going to
save you and then you got a foot race to run with the devil till
you get inside glory and if you don't make it I just hate it
for you. Is this sinner save yourself? Is it like I've heard several
people talking especially when they get sick, get ready to die
and they have no interest in God till then? Is this I'm going
to straighten up and I'm going to make a change and I'm going
to do the best I can? Is that the kind of salvation
God would become God? Now I give you my law and you
keep my commandments and you do your works and you shall be
saved at the end? Is this a salvation based upon
God having to owe you the right? And then make salvation agreeable
to your free will and whether your will is in cooperation with
Him? Is it based upon your will and
the freedom of your will? Is this salvation because Him
is in a salvation by chance and God got to give you a chance?
And if by chance, You happen to be at the right place and
the preacher's preaching and chance comes along and God gives
you your chance. Is that how salvation is? Is
this salvation because God generally loves everybody? Or is it a conditional salvation?
And this is where most folks really think it's at. condition
if you meet the conditions that God lays out but what are the
conditions if you repent enough and believe enough then God will
save you oh my beloved the salvation that becomes
God the Lord of heaven and earth The one who does according to
his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and nobody can stay his hands. The God who declared
the end from the beginning, saying all my purpose shall stand and
I will do all my pleasure. That's got to have salvation
that becomes him. And I tell you this, I know this,
it must start with God and it must end with God. It does start
with Him and end with Him. And look what it says here in
Hebrews. Let me go through these things. Look what it says. But we see Jesus, verse 9, who
was made a little Lord of the angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God,
should taste death should taste death and for every man let me
say this before everybody says that means everybody explains
for every man he was the next verse for became him and bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captation of their salvation
he that sanctifies and they are sanctified all are one those
are the men he's talking about and here we see Jesus and he
calls them brethren and I tell you what Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
seed of angels, believed on in the world, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world and received back up in
the globe. Now he's talking about our Lord Jesus Christ becoming
a man. He didn't take upon him the nature
of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham. God became
a man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and tasted death. Death, I don't, I know one thing,
it has a profound effect on you. The disapproachment of it. And
our Lord has said here, our Lord Jesus Christ, whatever taste
it had, He tasted it. He tasted it. And what it tells
us here is that the Ancient of Days became the Infinite Days. He who made a woman was made
of a woman. He who made man became a man. He who made the angels became
lower than the angels. Angels ain't able to die and
this is why our Lord became lower than the angels so that He could
die. Angels are eternal. Our Lord
Jesus Christ became a man and that's why He's made lower than
the angels that He could taste death. And I say, he who gave
the law to Moses on the mountain was made under that law and bore
its awful curse. He who was Abraham's Lord became
Abraham's seed. He who was David's Lord became
David's son. And I tell you what, the Scriptures
tell us that our Lord Jesus Christ was God that tasted death here
on this cross. And every attribute of God was
manifested in our Lord Jesus Christ. Omnipotence, all power,
He said, is given unto me. Omnipresence, He said, I'm with
you always. Omniscience, He knew their thoughts. And I tell you, beloved, He was
holy because He knew no sin. He had an eternal existence because
He said, I am seven different times. He is the Creator because
He said all things that was made was made by Him. He has all power
to give life. He says God gave Him the power
to give life to all that the Father gave Him. And He's the
only one who can forgive sins. And no wonder Thomas bowed down
and says, My Lord and my God. And he tasted death. Tasted death. Why? It says here, for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor. The tasting of death
and the suffering of death was His crown. That was His glory. That was why God crowned Him
with glory and honor. That was His glory when He came
into this world. That was the glory that He's
going to bring to the Father. Here's what men need to understand
clearly. Need to understand this clearly.
That before a sinner can ever be saved, before any of you here,
me or anybody else can be saved, God must first be satisfied in
His justice, in His holiness, and in His righteousness. He
must be. God must do something for Himself
before He can ever do anything for us. And there's two things
essential to the salvation of a sinner like you and I. We've
got to have a substitute. One that God Himself will accept. And when God accepts that substitute,
that He's satisfied with that substitute. And when God is satisfied
with that substitute, then you believe that substitute, you
trust that substitute, then God will be satisfied with you in
that substitute. We've got to have somebody that
God will accept. who can bear our sins, who can
bear the wrath of God, who can satisfy the justice of God as
His sword is plunged into His heart, who is able to bear our
sins and put them all away, and then beloved come to God himself
and God says I'm satisfied I saw the travail of your soul I saw
the death that you bore I saw the serpent you endured and I
saw you die and now I'm gonna raise you from the dead because
I'm satisfied with everything you did now if you go to that substitute
you come to him And you say, that one bore my sins, that one
suffered my wrath, that one satisfied God, that one fulfilled the law,
that one obeyed God in my stead. I'm going to believe Him. And
you know what God will do? He'll treat you just like you're
His own son. Ain't that what he says there
in verse 11? For both he that sanctifies makes
holy, that means makes holy, that means to set apart and they
who are sanctified, Christ sanctifies and they who are sanctified,
what does it say about them? All of one! One! But there was after he takes
death and look what he says, he brings many sons to glory
He brings us to the glory of His salvation. Brings us to the
glory of His Son. Brings us to the glory of our
sins being pitted away. Brings us to the glory of election.
Brings us to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in
Him. And then because we're warned
of what He says, He's not ashamed to call us brethren. Here's where righteousness and
mercy kiss each other. Righteousness comes down. in
the person of Christ, mercy come and may kiss one another and
righteousness and mercy met there on our blessed Savior the Lord
Jesus Christ and now we have both righteousness in Christ
and mercy from God the Father who provided us that righteousness
and just as that Passover lamb was roasted with fire so our
Lord Jesus Christ was roasted with fire He set His face to
Jerusalem. He actually died and look what
it says here in verse 9 that he by the grace of God should
taste death. The grace of God? The grace of
God? Our Lord Jesus Christ tasted
death by the grace of God? What do you reckon that means?
That means this That you and I didn't deserve
Christ coming into this world. We certainly didn't deserve Christ
dying. We didn't deserve Him tasting
death. We didn't deserve Him bearing
our sins. So everything He did was by the
grace of God so that we would understand That everything's
all of grace, even what grace it is for us to see Christ die
for us. It takes grace to understand
grace. It takes grace for you to see
grace. It takes grace for you to appreciate
grace. Ain't that right? Anybody ain't never experienced
grace, they don't appreciate grace. Anybody don't know nothing
about grace, don't appreciate grace, but anybody knows anything
about grace knows it's sovereign, knows it's free, knows it's full,
knows it's perfect, knows it's complete. Oh, listen, he said he tasted
death. Why? Because it became him. He
wasn't ashamed to call us brethren. Listen to what he brought. When
he's brought many sons to glory, And He's not ashamed to call
us brethren. There was war, He brought peace. There was enmity,
He slew it and brought love to bear on our hearts. There was
death, He brought life. There was sin, He brought holiness
and righteousness. There was deafness, He brought
us some hearing. There was uncleanness, He made
us holy. There was blindness, He gave
us sight. There was doneness. He brought
sight and song to sing. There was hunger. He brought
us that bread from heaven. There was thirst. He filled us
with that righteousness that satisfies us. There was darkness. He was the light that shined
in that darkness. There was ignorance. He brought
understanding and wisdom. There was poverty. He brought
us the riches of His blessed grace. There was nakedness, and
He come and clothed us with His robe of righteousness. There
was the storm of God's awful wrath, and we went into that
ark in Christ. And He bore all the wrath for
us. Salvation is something He did, and He did it all. All to Him alone. Huh? Oh my! Oh, why did this become God?
Why did He taste death for us? Why did He suffer for us? Why
was the Captain of our salvation made perfect through suffering? He was already perfect. But it
shows the Captain of our salvation that He goes before us. He defeated
all iron and he sees the captain of the army, the captain of the
Lord's host. And if he's made perfect through sufferings, then
that means, beloved, we'll never have to suffer, because his perfection
is ours. Oh, wisdom. Listen, it became
his wisdom. This is all to bless his holy
name. Wisdom. God's wisdom. Christ the wisdom
of God. Found a way at Calvary. For justice
and mercy to be perfectly harmonized. Now, justice, God said, I will
but know me to clear the guilty. And yet he clears the guilty.
How did he do it? He took the innocent and the
just and made him guilty. And wisdom says, this will satisfy
me. And mercy said, oh I delighted
in such a salvation, now I can come and manifest myself to those. Oh my, how was it possible for
righteousness to uphold the claims of God's holy law and yet for
grace to be given to those who transgressed it? How could that happen? Oh God, this salvation became
His holiness. God is the opposite of evil. He hates sin. And listen, the
white light of His holiness shined brighter at Calvary where God
smote His own Son redder than His people by their own sins. God saw Him and He saw all of
His electivity. And he said, I'd rather my sons
suffer their sins as for them to suffer eternally. And so God himself, it pleased
the Lord to Bruce. God himself come down and said,
Awake, O sword, smite my fellow. Smite my fellow. And God's hand
smote him. And it was such an awful scene,
such an awful act, that God refused to let the sun shine for three
hours. He said, I'll not let anybody
look on this, look on my son while I'm smiting and beating
him, and he's enduring my wrath, suffering, and six hours on the
cross. He was able to endure all that
you and I would have to endure and never satisfied for one sin
for all eternity because that's how glorious His person is. That's how worthy and how much
merit He had. He could bear all the sins of
all of His people for all eternity in six hours on the cross. And oh, why would you want a
salvation like that? Why would you want a salvation
like that? A salvation that becomes
God? Oh, this salvation became His
power. God's power was displayed in
His Son. Oh, when God Put him on that
cross and yet he wasn't destroyed. Wasn't destroyed. Nothing but
the power of God could have failed his son. And I tell you, beloved,
this salvation became his love, became his grace. We have a salvation right now,
those of us who know Christ, those of us who believed in Him,
that God's grace is wrought in our heart this wonder salvation.
This made us appreciate it, made us love it, made us need it,
made us desire it, made us rejoice in it, made us glory in it. This
salvation, We stand here and say, Lord,
this is the salvation that became you, that's suited for you, necessary
for you, that only you could provide. And I'm going to reach
out and take it and say, I want it all. And you know what? You'll get it all. Huh? Oh, listen. Do you want Christ to say, look
what Christ says about His people? that he sanctified, that he made
holy, saying, I'll declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. You know what that says? Our
Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm going to declare your name right there
in the midst of all that church that's already in glory. Right
in the midst of the church, I'm going to sing praise to you. And look what else it says, and
this is Christ speaking again, and again, I'll put my trust
in Him. God Christ said, I'll put my
trust in Him. The Father has never ever left me, our Lord
said. And again, behold I and the children
which God has given me. And I'll tell you, Now, you know,
bringing us to glory, bringing many sons to glory, that has
to do with us being brought to glory right now. You know, we're brought to the
glory of Christ, we're brought to the glory of God's grace.
We're brought to the glory of the blood of Christ, we're brought
to glory in this salvation. But yet, there's going to be
one of these days You know, He does it just constantly, continually.
There's many sons being taken back home to glory. Right now,
are you wondering how many sons of Christ, how many sons of God,
how many sons that was given to Christ, right now is being
taken into glory. How many are going right to glory,
right this moment? Huh? Here comes the Lord, there goes
another one to glory. Who brought him? Christ brought him. And then when he gets there,
I said, I'm going to sing your name. That new name I gave you. I'm going to sing it. Oh listen,
what's the fruit of this salvation that becomes God? I'll tell you
what. It brings an acknowledgement
of God. The effect of this salvation
brings an acknowledgement of God. We acknowledge God. God
you're holy, you're righteous, you're just, you've got all power,
you've got salvation. It's of you from start to finish. He's blessed over all. Amen. I'll tell you what else it brings.
It brings rest, peace, and contentment. Don't it? Oh, it brings such
contentment and rest in this blessed salvation. If salvation
is what He did, and I have nothing to do with it, then I've missed
it. I can be content with it. I don't
have to look for anything else, anywhere else, anytime else,
or anything else, or anybody else. My faith has found a resting
place, not in device. I've got no devices. No altar
calls, no raising the hands, no sinner's prayer, no taking
the bread and wine, not in any device, not in any creed. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. And I'll tell you something else
it'll produce. It'll produce confidence. Not in you, but it'll
certainly produce confidence in God. It'll produce confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It'll produce confidence in this
salvation, and it'll cause praise. It'll cause you to praise Him. It'll cause you to bless Him.
It'll cause you to acknowledge Him. It'll cause you to say,
Lord, oh Lord, blessed be your name for a salvation that became
you that you tasted death that you are crowned with glory and
honor that you sanctify us and when you sanctify us we're
one with you and we bless you that you're not ashamed to call
us brethren Thank you, Lord. Blessed be your name. Amen. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior.
Our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, who can tell out? Who can
begin to tell out? Who began to tell a salvation
so so full, so complete, so perfect. Who can begin to describe our
Lord Jesus Christ and His worthiness, His holiness, His perfection
of His blessed work? Who can tell how righteousness
and mercy, justice and grace, sin and righteousness can all
be reconciled there on that cross,
there in that blessed Son of God, there in our blessed Savior.
Lord, I'm so sorry that I can't, I don't have the abilities, the
abilities to tell it like it is. The Lord is not in my talent. It's in the Spirit of God making
it real. Oh Lord tell Holy Spirit take the things of Christ. Make
them alive, make them real, make them vital. Bless the saints. Save those who are not saved,
if it pleases you to do it. If you'll do it to the praise
of the glory of your grace, bring glory to yourself in doing it,
do it. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Turn to 125. We'll stand together and at the
end of this year there'll be a liberty to go. 125. I hear Thy strength in this morn Child
of weakness, watch and pray Time in need be thine all in all Jesus,
take it all All to Him I owe And left the prison's many-beating
horse in white as snow. Lord, now indeed I want Thy love. Amen. And mail, mail, mail. the heart of stone. He obtained it all, all to Him
I owe. Still, as at the crimson strain,
He washed it white as snow. In good heaven, where by thy
grace to claim I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's
Lamb. Jesus made it all, all to Him
I owe. Singing in heaven and earth, Now listen, before we sing this
then, if you don't stand complete in Him now, you will not stand
complete before Him before the throne. You've got to stand complete
in Him right now. Right now. And if you don't,
you won't stand complete there. That's when you want to get to
that throne, and you'll be there. And if you're not complete in
Christ, Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew. Alright. And with me o'er the throng,
I stand in him humbly. He doth die, my soul to save. My death shall still remain. See you tonight, seven o'clock,
God willing.