Let's open our Bibles to the
book of Hebrews, chapter two. Hebrews, chapter two. This may
seem to be to some people a strange passage of scripture to speak
on the subject of the birth of Christ. And as I said, it's not
only his birth, but his life and his death, his resurrection,
I've entitled this message, The Real Story. And that's what the
Lord put on my mind to preach this morning from this passage. The real story of the birth of
Christ can really be found in one verse in this passage, but
I want us to start back at verse 10 for our Scripture reading,
because we'll be reading in the context of this. It says in verse
10 of Hebrews chapter 2, For it became him, or it was appropriate
for him, for whom are all things, 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, 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 again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Now this verse 17 is that verse that I was speaking of that tells
the real story of his birth. It says, wherefore for this reason,
In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor or to comfort them that are tempted." Let's pray. Our great and gracious Heavenly
Father, once again we come before Thee in prayer, seeking a blessing
from Thy Word, that You would teach us and inspire us and correct
us, that You would motivate us unto godly obedience out of love
and grace and gratitude, as You show us more of the glory of
the person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom
to know is life eternal, We thank you, dear Lord, for sending him
into this world as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer
of his people that you gave him before the foundation of the
world, and that he accomplished at Calvary all that was required
to establish the government of grace and glory. We pray you
would bless us today as we open your word, for it's in his name
we pray, amen. In Hebrews chapter 2 and verse
17 we have some significant words that we need to look at and understand.
And he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ here as the captain
of the salvation of His people. Back in verse 10 it says, for
it became Him. What he's saying there is that
what Christ did in all of His experience becoming incarnate. That's the theological way of
stating it. God the Son, the second person
of the Trinity, became flesh without sin. Back in John chapter
one and verse 14, it says the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And so when it says it became
Him, it was appropriate to the nature and the glory and the
character of Almighty God. It was becoming to Him. You might
have heard the expression of somebody would wear something
inappropriate. And somebody might look at that
person and say, well, that's not becoming to you. In other words,
that's not appropriate for you or your station, your looks,
or whatever. Well, whatever is happening here
in this real story of the birth of Christ, it was becoming to
the Father. It was appropriate to His glory. His honor, His majesty. And that's where we ought to
come from when we talk about any subject concerning salvation. How does it weigh with God? Does it glorify God? That's what
we're concerned with. Well, back over in verse 17,
before I get back into these other verses, it says, wherefore,
for this reason, in all things it behooved Him, to be made like
unto his brethren. Now that word behooved is an
important word. It's one of the words that the
scripture uses to describe sin. And what it means is a debt. It's the Greek word for debt.
A lot of times that word is translated in the New Testament as, oh,
you owe this or you're owing this. And that's one of the words
for sin. There's many words for sin. The
most common word for sin is a word that means missing the mark.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That
means we've missed the mark. And what is that mark? Well,
that mark is the perfection of righteousness that none of us
have and that none of us can work because we're sinners. We
fell in Adam. born into this world totally
depraved and spiritually dead and trespasses and sins, and
no matter how good we try to be, we'll always miss the mark. Well, what is the mark? The mark
is the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in the
person and work of Christ. Do you understand that? See,
that's the issue. How can a sinner be made righteous
before God? Well, the Bible teaches that
God before the foundation of the world chose a people and
gave them to Christ and laid their sin debt upon Christ, imputed
it. That's the scriptural word. He
was made sin. He took the debt and it was laid
to his charge, his account. And so, Who did he do that for? Well, the descriptions here,
look back up in verse nine of Hebrews two. We'll basically stay right here
in this passage. He says, but we see Jesus who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. Now that being made a little
lower than the angels refers to his sinless humanity. In other
words, there's the angelic beings, angelic by nature. Well, humanity
a little lower than the angels. For the suffering of death, he
had to die. That's the payment of the debt. The sin debt of God's people
having been laid upon Christ, he had to die to pay the debt.
For the wages of sin is death. That's what that means. the wages
of sin is death. So he's crowned with glory and
honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every
man. Now that word man is not in the
original, but that doesn't mean that he tasted death for everybody
without exception. That's not what that means. In
fact, a better translation would be that he tastes death for every
son, every son. How do you know that? Well, in
the next verses, he identifies who this every man or every son
is. Look at it. Verse 10, it became
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory. Do you see that? Who are those? The many sons are God's elect.
I quoted Galatians four and verse four a while back. And it says
that, in the fullness of the time, and actually we don't really
know exactly what day this happened, that Christ was born. I'm pretty
sure it wasn't in the winter, I'm pretty sure it wasn't December
25th, even though people celebrate that as such. But it says, for
in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. So for
whom did Christ die? Well, many sons who are gonna
be brought unto glory. And it says to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. The captain of our
salvation is Christ. He's the Savior. The government,
I read in Isaiah chapter nine verse six, the government was
laid upon His shoulder. That's the government of salvation.
The government of God's grace, the government of God's kingdom,
it was all placed upon His shoulders, not ours. If it was placed upon
our shoulders, it'd fail. Because we're sinners. But it
was placed upon His shoulder. He bore the burden. He bore the
weight. The debt was laid upon Him. And
He was to be made perfect through sufferings. The word perfect
there doesn't mean that He was made holy or pure. He always
was holy and pure. But perfect means the finishing
of the work. In other words, for Him to finish
the work of establishing the government of God's grace through
the salvation of His people, was made through his sufferings
unto death. He finished the work. Remember
on the cross in John 19 30, he cried out, it is finished. So it's the many sons. And then
look at verse 11, for both he that sanctifies and they who
are sanctified. He died for those who are sanctified. What does that mean? They were
set apart. Well, when were they set apart?
Before the foundation of the world. The Bible says that God
has a people whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of
Life, written before the foundation of the world. And so he set himself
apart to die on the cross for those whom God had set apart
before the world began and gave to him. And He says they are
all of one. There's a legal and a spiritual
and an eternal union of His people with Himself. And that's a beautiful
thing. That's a covenant. When Christ
did, when He came to earth, when He walked this land and obeyed
the law, when He died on the cross, when He was buried, when
He arose again, when He ascended into glory, He didn't do it as
a private person. He did it for a people whom He
represented, upon whom, their salvation having been conditioned
on Him. And that's why He died for our
sins. the iniquity of us all was laid
upon him. And so it says that they're all
of one for which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. They're his brethren. He's the
firstborn among many brethren. Verse 12, saying, I'll declare
thy name unto my brethren. How does he declare his name
to his brethren? Through the preaching of the
gospel in the power of the spirit. That's how he does it. When God
brings a lost sheep under the preaching of the gospel, and
in the power of the Spirit gives that sinner life, a new heart,
a new spirit, eyes to see, ears to hear, gives that sinner faith
to look to Christ, the gift of repentance, that's when the name
of Christ is declared to you. And he says in the midst of the
church, who's the church? That's the ones whom he redeemed.
That's the collective body of God's elect redeemed by the blood
of Christ. The word church means called
out ones. They were called out of the world
and into the fold. And he says in verse 13, again,
I will put my trust in him, and again, behold, I and the children
which God hath given me. Who did he die for? His children,
God's children, which God had given Christ. Remember in John
6, 37, he says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to
me, and him that cometh me I will in no wise cast down. Then look
at verse 14. For as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise in the same way took
part of the same." That is, the Son of God, the second person
of the Trinity, who is God himself, had to be made flesh because
the ones whom he was to redeem were flesh. Now the difference
between him and us is we are sinful flesh, but he was made
flesh without sin. That's why he was born of the
virgin, without the aid of man, you see. He was conceived in
the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit. That holy thing
the angel called. And that's not a term of derision.
That's just showing this is a unique person. There's nobody like Christ.
What is he? His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. His name shall
be called Emmanuel, God manifest in the flesh. That's the kind
of person it took to save sinners, to pay that debt. So he had to
take part of the same, that through death, in order to save us, he
had to die. And again, as I said before,
because the wages of sin is death. And that he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is the devil. Now, how does
the devil have the power of death? Listen, the devil does not have
the power to kill people or make people alive. He doesn't have
that power. Only God has that power. Job
said it, the Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive, blessed be
the name of the Lord. But what is Satan's power of
death? It's in his power as the accuser. In other words, think about it
this way. Think about you standing before
God in court, a court of justice. And the Lord asks you, why should
I let you into heaven or let you into glory? What are you
gonna say? What reason? Are you going to
say, well, I've tried to do the best I can? Well, the devil could
come up and say, now, this person's a sinner. And doing the best
you can, that doesn't wipe away your sins. That doesn't wash
them away. You say, well, I've tried to be a good person. I
made a decision for Christ. I got baptized. You can come
up with all kinds of things. The devil can answer you by just
simply saying, this person is a sinner. And he'll charge you. And if you stand before God as
a sinner, charged with your sins, what's gonna happen? You'll be
condemned forever. But what if the devil's charges
did not stick? Think about that. What if his
charges were empty and God looked at you and he
sees a righteous person? Then you'll be blessed forever.
How is that possible though? I'm a sinner, you're a sinner.
How can I stand before God? Well, here's the answer right
here. He took part of the same that
through death He might destroy him that had the power of death,
even the devil. My sins were charged to Christ. And His righteousness is charged
to me. And the Bible says in Romans
8.33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father
making intercession for us. You see, to a person, a believer,
a sinner saved by grace, the blood of Christ has washed away
those sins, paid the debt. And that's what that's talking
about. It behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.
He took my debt. It was charged to Him. And His
righteousness has been charged to me and my sins cannot be charged
to me ever again. That's what it means in the Bible
when God says, I will remember your sins no more. It means He'll
never hold them against you. Because He imputed them to Christ.
and Christ paid the debt. I always use an illustration,
and I don't know if you get tired of hearing it at all, but it's
kind of like, I use the illustration of being in debt, let's say,
to a local bank. Let's say that you find yourself
in debt to a local bank, $1 million. I hope you're not in debt to
a local bank for $1 million. But if you find, this is an illustration. And all of a sudden the bottom
drops out of your finances and you don't have one penny to pay
that debt. You're in trouble. So let's say
that you go to the bank and you want to meet with one of the
bank officers and you want to throw yourself on his mercy,
which we know how far that would get you, right? Not very far
at all. And so you go to the bank, and
you just say, I owe you a million dollars. I don't have a penny
to pay you. Well, the banker says, well, let's get the books
out here. And let's see your account. And he turns to your
account, and he says, is this your name? And you say, yeah,
that's my name. Well, it says here that your debt's been paid.
Somebody else came in long ago and paid that debt for you. Could
you imagine the relief that would come over you? First thing you'd
want to know is who is that person who paid the debt? I want to
go thank him. So you're not in debt at all. Somebody paid your
debt. So you get up and start to walk out and the guy says,
hold on, there's more to the story. Not only did that person
pay your debt, but he put a million dollars to the plus on your account. Boy, you'd really want to find
out who that is and thank Him. Amen. Well, that's what Christ
has done for His people. And we didn't even know about
it until we heard the Gospel in the power of the Spirit. My
debt's been paid. Satan can charge me from here
to eternity. But the charges don't stick.
Not only am I debt free, I'm rich in Christ. I have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice, and it was paid
for on the cross of Calvary with the blood of my Savior. And that's
how much God loves his people. And so in verse 15 it says, and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. Think about that. That's the
liberty that we have in Christ, right there. And so here's the
story. For this reason, wherefore in
all things it behooved him, he was indebted because he voluntarily
before the foundation of the Lord said, I will put their debt
on my, God gave him a people, he said, put their debt on my
account, I will repay it. And he had to be made like unto
his brethren, flesh without sin, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest." You know what the high priest in the Old
Testament did? He took the blood off the altar, the brazen altar,
the blood of the Lamb, and he took it and he presented it to
God in the Holy of Holies. That's what Christ does for us,
with His own blood, presenting it to the Father. It's not a
literal basin of blood. He's talking about the fact that
he died. His blood means he died. And
his death satisfied the debt. That's the story. It's not that
he just was born in a manger. That's true. All of that. It's
not that shepherds came to see him. That's true. All of that's
true and it's a beautiful story. But my friend, if you stop there
and you don't know the real story, it will do you no good. It'll
just make you feel good seasonally. He paid my debt, and he's my
high priest. He goes to God in my stead, presenting
the merits of his blood and his righteousness on my behalf. That's the real story. And look,
it says, in things pertaining to God. This is all about God's
glory. This is not about you and me
and how good we feel. Salvation is not conditioned
on sinners. It's conditioned on Christ. And
He fulfilled those conditions. Every one of them. and secured
the salvation for every sinner, every son, all of his brethren. He did it. And that's a beautiful
story. He secured our salvation. Back
up in, let me see if I can get this. Oh yeah, it says in verse 16,
read this. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels. He didn't die for angels. But
he took on him the seed of Abraham. Who is the seed of Abraham there?
Well, somebody says, well, that's the Jews. It's not the national
physical descendants of Abraham. It's the spiritual descendants
of Abraham. And who are those? Believers. Galatians 3 teaches that. Romans
2 teaches that. Other scriptures. Who are the
spiritual seed of Abraham? All whom Christ died for, all
whom the Holy Spirit brings to hear and believe the gospel,
brings to faith in Christ. And so look at verse 17 again.
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. Now look at this, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. Now what that means, reconciliation
means peace. God reconciled to his people
and his people reconciled to God. On what ground? On the ground of their decision?
No. On the ground of their baptism?
No. On the ground of their good works?
No. On the ground of the blood of
Christ. You see that? No other ground. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. He's the Prince of Peace. Back
over in the, I will have you turn to Luke 2. Back over where this familiar
story of the birth of Christ in Luke 2. And look at verse 14. Luke 2 and verse 14. The angel cried glory to God
in the highest. The birth of this baby is to
the highest expression of the glory of God, but only as it
leads to the cross, because on the cross we have the fullness
of God's glory revealed. And it says, and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men. Now that's not talking about
peace between human beings and between nations. If that were
the case, Christ failed. And literally this verse in the
original language would read like this, glory to God in the
highest and on earth, goodwill towards men with whom he is pleased. And who is God pleased with?
Not all of us by nature. Who's He pleased with? Only those
who stand before Him in Christ. That's it. Well, that's reconciliation. God at peace with sinners based
upon Christ's righteousness alone. And when we're born into this
world, we're not at peace with God. We're enemies of God. But under the preaching of the
gospel of peace, In the power of the Spirit, God brings his
people to be reconciled to him by faith in Christ. Go back to
Hebrews 2. That's the reconciliation. That's
the real story. And that's really the whole story
of the death of Christ, the birth, life, and death of Christ. And
he says in verse 18, for in that he himself had suffered being
tempted, being tested, He's able to succor, to comfort them that
are tempted. How does He comfort us? He gives
us the assurance of salvation, the assurance of peace with God
as we look to Christ and as we rest in Him. Plead His blood
in righteousness. There's where assurance, you
know the Bible says He is at perfect peace whose eyes are
fixed on Him. Fix your eyes on Christ. Run
this race of grace, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. I hope the Lord will make that
real to our hearts and our minds.