Lord is in the midst of us tonight. Isn't that amazing? It's wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
You know, I was told a long time ago, just one sheep. That's right. Just one sheep. If one sheep comes to hear a
message, you preach like there's a thousand there. Amen. Amen. Okay. Let's look at our our scripture tonight. Open your
Bibles, if you would, to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. The name of the message is, Given
to Christ. Given to Christ. I want you, beloved of God, to
think about when you were a little child. When you were a little
child, did you ever think that God the Father had given you
to Christ in eternity? Did it ever even enter your mind? Did you ever even contemplate
it? Was that truth ever known to
you? And I ask you, beloved God, when
you became a teenager and then a young adult, did this wonderful truth that
the Father gave a people to Christ And that Christ came to this
earth to redeem them, to purchase their eternal souls. Did that
wonderful truth ever even enter into your imagination? Did you
ever hear about it? I never heard about it. I had never heard about it. I
never heard about it in my young years. I never heard about it
in my teens. I never heard about it as a young
man in my twenties. But then by God's grace and by
God's mercies in my 30s, I heard something. I heard about a Savior
who came from glory. I heard about He who is the Word
of God, the second person of the Trinity. I heard that He
became a man. And I heard He died for sinners. And by God's grace, I cried,
I'm a sinner. Because I'd never thought that before. But by God's
grace, I cried, I'm a sinner. Surely Christ died for me. And then I read that all that
the Father gave Him shall come to Him. And then I read that
He'll not turn one away. He'll not turn anyone away who
comes to Him by faith. Wow. My, and by God's grace again,
I was given faith to believe on Christ. And I ran to Him. I fled to Him. But I must confess
that I never imagined in my teens, in my young age, in my teens,
in my life as a young adult, in my twenties, I never imagined
such a wonderful truth that God the Father had given me the Christ
before the foundation of the world. Did you ever think of
that before the Lord saved you? Amen. We didn't know nothing,
did we? We were dead in trespasses and sins. No life. Had no idea
about this marvelous truth that the Master himself proclaimed.
It's one thing for one man to say something, but it's another
for God in the flesh to say something. And I never ever thought of such
a wondrous event. I never thought of this wonderful
fact, this wonderful truth. It never entered even into my
imagination. In my wildest dreams, I never
ever thought of this, that this could be true. My thoughts were
not of God, like the scripture says. Therefore, I never thought about
this. I didn't want to read the Bible.
Did you want to read the Bible before you were saved? No, we
didn't, did we? People say, you should read the Bible. Ah, yeah,
I got lots of time for that. Oh my, oh my, what mercy, what
grace God shows we who are unworthy sinners in Christ. And when the Holy Spirit was
drawn us to Christ, Then we began to have an interest. We began
to have an interest in this man called Jesus Christ. We began
to hear things that you're a sinner and so is everyone else. And
by God's grace we believed. We began to have an interest
in the things of God when we never had an interest before. I ask you, who made us to differ? Yes, only God, only Christ. He
made us to differ. He didn't leave us in that state
that we were in, being dead and having no thoughts of God. Well,
we may have had thoughts of God when someone spoke to us about
God, but then our thoughts of God then in our natural state
was not thoughts of the God of the Bible. They were warped by
our own human standards of who we thought God should be. Well,
God don't work that way. He doesn't work that way at all. And I encourage you, if you've
been given an interest in Christ, I encourage you, if you've been
given an interest in Christ that you never had before, flee to
Him. He's the only Savior of sinners. And He will turn back
no one who comes to Him. No one who comes to Him. Cast yourself wholly upon Him.
He is the only Savior of sinners. And every one of God's people
can say, Amen. Because we're the ones who He
saved. We're saved sinners now. My let's read John 17 verses
1 to 7 and we're see that the Lord Jesus Christ He's speaking
of the fact that we were given to him Given to Christ by the
Father and marvel at this wonderful truth as we read these words
Let the fact that if you're one of God's people that this is
speaking of us and this is just incredible these
words speak jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said
father the hour is come glorify thy son that thy son also may
glorify thee as thou has given him power over all flesh that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him
and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only
true god in jesus christ whom thou has sent I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do is done. Oh hallelujah. And now father
glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory with which
I had with thee before the world was. And here's our verse tonight. I have manifest thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were. and thou gavest them me, and
they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. Now all believers in Christ,
we see here in this text, in verse six, look at the first
part of this verse. All believers in Christ were
given, were given to Christ by the Father. We were his possession. We were His by His choice. And
all we are is unworthy sinners. That's all we are. There's nothing
in us that would merit this favor. There's nothing in it that would
merit this grace. It's God who made us to differ
from one another, from anyone else in this world. I was talking
to Norm this week. Oh, Norm. Today I was talking
about... He said something. I got to repeat
it to you all. He said, you know, there was the only difference
between Judas and Peter? was the grace of God. That's it. Peter denied Christ
three times. Judas denied Christ, sold him
for silver. The only difference is Christ
said, I prayed for you, Peter. He's praying for us right here,
beloved. He's praying for you and I as God's people right here.
He's prayed for us, beloved. You know the only reason we don't
fall away and go off back into the world and do horrendous things
that we might have done before the Lord saved us? Is the grace
of God in Christ. That's it. That's it. That's the only difference. And
look at this in the first part of this verse. I have manifest
thy name unto the man which thou gavest me out of the world. And we looked at this wonderful
truth last week, how we were the Father's possession, and
He gave us to Christ. Do you know, as I was studying
this, He gave us to Christ as a gift? We sinners are a gift from God
to Christ. Oh my goodness! Sinners are a
gift from God the Father to Christ? Absolutely! Isn't that wonderful? Whoo! You can't get any better
than that, can you? It is it's amazing grace, isn't
it? It's amazing grace This is this is incredible when we when
we start to think about it and meditate upon this. It's absolutely
amazing They were the we were the father's possession and he
gave us to Christ. Look at the next portion thine
they were So we were the father's possession beloved And now look
at the latter part of the verse, which is what we're going to
look at tonight. And thou gavest them me. We're a gift. He gave
them to us. Or he gave us to Christ as a
gift. And thou gavest them me, and
they have kept thy word. Do you know what they have kept
thy word means? They believe the gospel. Isn't
that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? We're going
to look at that later on tonight. Both Gil and Calvin, bring that
out. We believe on Christ. We believe what the Father said
about His Son. Oh, it's wonderful. And that
only comes by God-given faith, doesn't it? So tonight we're
going to consider the latter part of this verse. Our Lord
is praying to the Father. And remember this, the Father
chose to have mercy on us. He chose to have mercy on you
and I, beloved, as God's people. He didn't have to. He could have
passed us over, didn't he? Couldn't he? But you know why?
You know why he chose us? Because he purposed to do it.
Because of his eternal love that was set upon us. If the son loves
us and he does, then the father loves us and the Holy Spirit
loves us too, because they're all God. Oh, it's wonderful. It's just wonderful. And in giving
us to the Son and giving us to Christ, we now become Christ's
charge. He has an obligation to care
for us. He has an obligation to bring us home, to be with
the Father. Why? Because He's purchased us. So we're not only His charge,
but we're also His possession. Isn't that wonderful? I don't
mind being the Lord's possession. That's wonderful to me. Oh my. Some people say, well, how can
you say that? Because we're the bride of Christ. He purchased
us. He created us. So he has a rightful
claim on us as the creator. And then Christ has a rightful
claim on us because he purchased us with his precious, precious
blood. That was shed for you and I, for my sins, for your
sins. He made atonement for our sins.
How many of them? All of them. Every single one
of them. Look at this. Now gavest them
me, and they have kept thy word. The Father has given us to Christ.
When? Before the foundation of the world. His eternal love has
ever been set upon us. And you know the Word of God,
Christ, He's loved us for eternity too. You think of that. You know,
Love for human beings can wane over years and stuff, but God's
love never changes for us. It's everlasting. How do we know
that? Because he chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Based upon absolutely nothing
in us. Unworthy sinners. showing grace and mercy. And
how did the word of God, how did the word of God express this
eternal love that he had for us? How did he express it? By
coming to this world and dying for us, beloved. Do you know
at Calvary's cross, the greatest manifestation of the love of
God occurred at Calvary's cross? Christ giving his life for his
bride, his eternal love was manifested. Right before our eyes and we
see it in scripture now by faith. We look back and say look what
christ has done for me Praise his mighty name What a savior
My oh my he became a he became a man god became a man to die
for unworthy sinners such as I and such as you Because of his eternal love And His great eternal love for
those who the Father gave Him again was fully manifest when
He died as our substitute. Why did He die? To obtain eternal
salvation for us, to save us from our sins. But He obtained
that salvation, how? By the shedding of His precious
blood, the giving of His life. Now, when did the Father give
us to Christ? When did He choose us in Christ? Let's turn to the book of Ephesians,
chapter 1. When did God the Father choose
to save a people? Well, religious folks will say,
well, when you profess Christ, then God writes your name in
the Lamb's Book of Life. That's a lie from the pit of
hell. God's people's names have been written in the book of life
from eternity. From eternity. We who are God's
people were chosen in Christ from before the foundation of
the world. Do you know what that Greek word for foundation means?
Conception. Before the conception of this
world, before the laying down, the foundation of this world,
God chose us in Christ. That is incredible. Me, an unworthy
sinner? Yes. Well, that's the greatest
news I've ever heard in my life. And then to find out that the
Word of God, who's loved me from eternity, died for me? That's
the greatest news too, isn't it? It just gets added on top.
This news just gets better and better and better, doesn't it?
And then He's going to take us home to glory, to be with Him
forever? Hallelujah! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus
Christ, my Lord! It's amazing! It's absolutely
amazing. Look at this in the Ephesians.
Do you know, you ever hear the saying, don't put all your eggs
in one basket? God put all his eggs in one basket,
beloved. That's Christ. He put all his
eggs in one basket. How can you say that? Well, look
at this. Lesson B. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse three of Ephesians chapter one. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
God's put all those eggs in one basket, beloved. All God's blessings
are in one basket, and that's Christ. That's Christ. Isn't that wonderful? So if you're
in Christ, you have all spiritual blessings. All of them. Justification,
sanctification, Redemption. Oh, it just gets better and better
and better. It's absolutely wonderful. And then look at this. According
as He has chosen us in Him. That's in Christ. Before the
foundation of the world. Before the world was laid down.
Before the conception of the world. Oh my. that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love. Sinners by birth, nature,
and choice are to be holy and without blame before God in love. Notice the in love there. That's
eternal love, beloved. Look at verse five. Having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, Why
are we saved? According to the good pleasure
of His will. Have you ever asked yourself,
we all do, why, why Lord did you save me? There's the answer
right there, beloved. According to the good pleasure
of His will. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Oh
my, it don't get any better than that, does it? And then look,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Is there any wonder
why we praise Him? Is there any wonder? where and he hath he
hath made us what accepted in the beloved that's accepted in
christ beloved we are accepted in christ in him alone see again
god put all his eggs in one basket didn't he we see that and we
see that in verse three and we see that in verse six and that
that baskets christ oh so i ask you did we have anything to do
with this choice of god choosing us in christ did we have anything
to do with it anything. Nothing, hey brother, nothing.
Yeah, we were sinners, but we weren't even born at this time.
We weren't even conceived. God knew who we were, but isn't that amazing? Oh my, this
is wonderful. And then I ask you, were we even
alive at that time? No. No. Does it say anything about us
other than God choosing us in Christ? Does it say anything
about that God looked down through time, saw who was good? No, God
didn't look down through time and saw who was good. He saw
us all dead in trespasses and sins. But it doesn't say we did
anything, does it? It just says God chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. Oh my, this is
wonderful truth. No, the answer to why God chose
us in Christ, it's seen in verse four there. That we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. We sinners made holy without
blame before him in love. And again, it's all according,
verse five, to the good pleasure of his will. Whose will reigns
supreme? God's. God's. People say, well, God gave me
free will to do this, to do that. No, your will, like my will,
is bound to the nature. And if you got a dead nature,
if you're not born again, all you're gonna do is sin. Now I'm
saved and I'm still a sinner, but I got a new nature now that
wars against this flesh now, right? Now I know what sin was. I never had a clue before. And
I know how powerless I am against it. but for my great savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know the truth. Have we
not all been taught that without him we can do nothing? Nothing,
just fall on our face. If he let us go, we'd just, we'd
be gone. Like Don says, we'd be a gone
Jesse. We'd be gone. We'd take right off. My, oh my. That's what we would. God in eternity past determined
to have a holy people. He determined that. To populate
a new heaven and a new earth. Therefore, he chose us in Christ
out of Adam's fallen race. All because it pleased him to
do so. Just pleased him to do so. Pleased
him to choose us, Brother Dave. Oh my! Thank you, Lord is right. We can't get over it, can we?
So marvel at this fact presented to us in scripture tonight. God
foreordained the persons, the means and the end, or goal of
redemption according to the good pleasure of His will. He's the
Alpha and the Omega, isn't He? He's the beginning and the end.
He's everything in between too. And we see in verse six that
the only way that we can be accepted is in Christ, through Christ.
Therefore the Father accepts us in Christ, which is understood
of our persons as righteous and redeemed and sanctified. We can
only be that in Christ. We cannot make ourselves righteous.
We cannot sanctify ourselves. We can't redeem ourselves, but
Christ did it all for us. Oh my, it's wonderful. Turn if
you would, turn if you would to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians
chapter 2. We'll look at a couple of places
here. Wonder of wonders. Do you know we're already seated
in the heavenly places in Christ? Already there! Oh my! Look at this wonderful truth
brought forth here. Ephesians chapter 2, 4. Starting
in verse 4. Now in verses 1, 2, and 3 he
talked about us being dead in trespasses and sins, have no
hope. We couldn't do anything. We're dead. Graveyard dead, that
means too. Look, I love verse 4. Mountaintop,
but God. But God, there it is, happens
in every believer's life. But God, but God, who's rich
in mercy for his, look at this, for his great love wherewith
he loved us. Let us believe what the scripture says. He loved
us. How long? From eternity. It's
truth, that's truth. That's truth right there before
us, isn't it? This is a fact. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together. That means to be born again.
Again, by grace are you saved. Look at this. And hath raised
us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Because the heads in heaven,
we're going to be there too. We're as good as there. Isn't
that wonderful? Now, why did He do this? Look
at this. Look at this. Why did He do this? That in the
ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
and kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. We will be monuments
of God's grace and glory, beloved. Oh, my goodness. And then, again,
look at verse 7 again. This is all done for the eternal
praise and glorious grace of God, that in the ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace. Oh, we've tasted
how gracious the Lord is, haven't we? In His kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord marvel, marvel. We are not the fathers merely
by creation, because that's true of all the people of the world,
right? Everyone was created by Him. But we are the fathers by
electing love, by God's choice. It's incredible. It's absolutely
incredible. My, by his electing grace, which
is the act of the father in Christ, he chose us in Christ, unto salvation by him through
sanctification of the spirit. And these are chosen to be his
people. They're called the elect of God. And we're given to Christ before
the foundation of the world. And it is they who Christ is
praying for in John 17, 6. That means it's me. That means it's you, brother. Every believer can say, that's
me. He's praying for me. He's praying for me. Christ prayed
for me? Yes, He did. Oh, it's wonderful. And if you're of that number,
be amazed, because this is truly God's amazing grace, that He
would love a sinner such as I. And you can put your name in
there too, that He would love us. And that love, that grace
is being bestowed upon us from before the foundation of the
world. We are God's people by His choice. And by his purchase,
he purchased us. He bought us with his precious,
precious blood. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. He bought it for us, beloved,
by the shedding of his blood and the giving of his life in
our room and place. Scripture says this but christ
being common high priest of good things to come by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle Not made with hands that is to say not
of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves But
by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having
obtained eternal redemption for us It's done And be amazed ephesians 5 20
said we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones
Marvel at that. That's all by God's choice. He's
the head and we're the body. Ephesians 5 30. For we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Let's go back to
our text in John chapter 17. Marvel at this blessed truth
before us, that none are given to Christ but those who were
first the fathers. Marvel at that truth. None are
given to Christ who were not first the fathers. We were the
father's possession. And then we're given to Christ.
How do we know that? Look what's being bought forth
in this verse, John 17, six. I have manifest thy name unto
the men, which thou gavest me out of the world. And that's,
we know, he's speaking about the apostles there, but we know
this also has far reaching scope to all men and all women who
are given to Christ. Because look at this, gave us
me out of the world, thine they were, and thou gavest them me,
and they have kept thy word. Now note the latter part of this
verse in John 17 6. Christ says to the father as
he's praying to them that the father has chosen them and given
them to him that in that they have kept kept thy word. Calvin brings forth of the phrase
in this verse the word of God flows to the reprobate but it
takes root in the elect. And hence they are said to keep
it Beloved you remember the parable
of the sower And he's out there he's sowing and he sows that
sows that seed he just casting the seed out No, that's what
gospel preachers do. We just cast the seed out the
Word of God. We just cast it out All right and some of that
Some of that seed falls on rocky ground, stony ground. Some falls
on thorny ground. But some falls upon good ground. Ground that's already been tilled. Ground that's already been prepared
to receive that seed. Who does that? God the Holy Spirit
you know he tills the soil of our hearts and when that word
is preached by the preacher at the time of our time of love
for us we're born again and given faith
to believe that seed finds good ground doesn't it isn't that
amazing it's all God's work It's all because we've been born again
by his almighty power. And John Gilb brings forth this.
I like what Gilb brought forth too on this. They have kept my
words. He means the gospel of salvation in and through Christ.
And he comments this way. This means the gospel. Not only
in their memories, because we remember it, right? And we think
about it. But in their hearts. And having
publicly professed it. We profess Christ is the only
way of salvation. He's our savior. They defended
it valiantly against the enemies of it. We see Paul doing that
in our study in Galatians, when he's writing to the Galatians.
He's defending it valiantly, the gospel of salvation in Christ
alone, by the free grace of God alone, against the enemies of
that gospel, and kept it pure and incorrupt. This shows that
the gospel is meant by the name of God manifest to these persons. See, works mongers get a hold
of that and they say, oh, you see what you got? Keep doing all
this stuff. One thing I noticed too, Norm Wells brought this
out today again, Norm. He said, you know, there's two
portions of scripture that religious people don't ever like to preach
on. It's Ephesians chapter 1, which
brings forth that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And he says, John 17, because
this chapter is so full of Christ saying, you've given them to
me. You've given them to me. They're
mine. And he also says, I don't pray for the world, but I pray
for those you gave me. Those you gave me, Father. Oh
my. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. We're going
to look at a little portion of scripture here. It has to do
with this portion of it. They kept my words. So we know
the name of God. We know who He is now. And what
we know, we see through a glass darkly. We don't know a whole
lot, but what we know, we're just in awe of. We're just amazed
at what we know. Look at this here in Hebrews
chapter 2. We're starting verse 9. And this is an absolutely
wonderful chapter here. all the word of God. I say that
about every chapter don't I? We go to because it's true. It's
all wonderful. Look at this though in Hebrews
chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. 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. for it became him for whom all
things for whom are all things and by whom are all things in
bringing many sons on the glory to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings now note note our wonderful merciful
Savior here is called the captain of their salvation so the Lord
Jesus Christ we confess I confess this and and I'm sure you do
too that the captain of my salvation is Christ the Lord Jesus Christ
he is the captain of my salvation And inside of him, I don't have
no salvation at all. But in him, all praise be to
God, I have all spiritual blessings in Christ. Remember we looked
at that in Ephesians chapter one? Oh, it's wonderful. And
beloved of God, our Lord is called the captain of our salvation
because he's the author of it. And he's the finisher of it.
You know, he's our guide and our leader all through this world.
He's ever with us. He'll never leave us nor forsake
us. He's our shepherd, amen. He's our shepherd. And do you
know this is all according to God's purpose and will? All according
to His purpose and will. All because the Fathers loved
us from eternity. And it's also the Father's will
that the Savior must suffer all the law and justice that God
required of us. The wrath due us must be poured
out upon Christ, because we have sinned. Therefore, The only way
that Christ could redeem us in agreement with the attributes
of God was to suffer. And that, in a perfect manner.
He had to be perfect. He had to absolutely fulfill
the law of God. And beloved, our sins were taken
and imputed to Him. Just placed upon Him. And He
died in our room and place, beloved. And His righteousness is imputed
to us. It's wonderful. The sinless, perfect sacrifice,
giving His life for sinners. And he did that for all who the
Father gave him in eternity. All of them. Every single one
of them. Now look at Hebrews 2.11. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one for the which he is
not ashamed to call them brethren. Note we're sanctified in Christ.
We cannot sanctify ourselves. we are sanctified in Christ.
And those He sanctifies have one Father, and they stand in
relationship. They're brethren in Christ. And Christ is the firstborn of
many brethren. This relationship acknowledges
and believes on Him. We have a relationship with God
now, and we believe Him. We believe what He says about
His Son. We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our all-in-all,
beloved. He's everything to us. And we
trust Him for the salvation of our souls. In Christ we have one Father.
We're one family. One body, right? He's the head,
we're the body. He's God over all. And yet He's
not ashamed to call us brethren. Isn't that marvelous? Christ
is not ashamed to call us brethren. Even though he's God over all,
he became a man to die for us. And he's not ashamed, the scripture
says there, to call us brethren. Oh, now let's read verses 12
and 13 of Hebrews chapter 2. Saying, I will declare thy name.
He's going to reveal his gospel to us, isn't he? And he has. Unto my brethren in the midst
of the church will I sing praise unto thee. See how this ties
in to what he said here when he says they have kept thy word?
Look at this. saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren
in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee. And
again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and
the children, which what? God hath given me. Oh, what's he say over here?
I have manifested thy name unto the man which thou gavest me.
out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me and they
have kept my word or they kept thy word oh it's wonderful it's
wonderful beloved so note Christ here receives all all who the
father gave him as a gift of love that's where I said we're
a gift to Christ beloved the father gave us as a gift we're
a gift from the father and he receives us He receives us as
a purchase paid for by His own blood. He receives them from
the Holy Spirit as they are called and regenerated, born again.
And what do we do? We come to Him by faith, don't
we? Oh, we flee to Him. We flee to Him. Now look at verse
14. 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 the hymn that had the power of death,
that is, the devil. Now, since those He redeems are
of human nature, which is what we are, right? He's divine. He's a divine nature. We see
then that Christ also became a man and assumed a human nature
like ours. Yet He's God too. In Him all
the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. He took flesh and blood. He was subject to temptation
and infirmities and death, but Christ took His nature of a virgin
and was without sin. See, He was conceived by the
Holy Spirit of God. We're conceived from the seed
of our fathers. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. We were under the sentence of
death because of sin. In order to take this judgment
and sentence upon Himself to redeem us, Christ now has to
become a man. In order to have our sins imputed
to Him, He must become a man, right? Because the judgment due
you and I is going to fall upon Him in our room and place. And
in order for that to happen, the Word of God has to become
a man. He has to. So He can endure that wrath and
judgment for our sins. And God cannot die, can He? God
can't die. So the Word of God becomes a
man who can die. who can die. God in the flesh can experience
death. Satan cannot kill him or destroy him except by permission.
He can't do anything to him except by permission. But it says here,
look at the note that says here that he said to have the power
of death because, you know why? Because he introduced sin, which
bought death. Which bought death. Sin is the
sting of death. And sin is the force and power
of Satan's kingdom. And Christ Jesus our Lord destroyed
this power and force over all His people. He destroyed it,
beloved. We're set free! We're set free! Sin is the sting of death. My! And He said... Death has no more
sting, does it? He took it away. He's gone. That's
just the doorway for us to go to glory. Oh, it's wonderful
Turn if you would to to john chapter 11 and we'll look at
these words of martha And we'll see then the words of christ.
This is bought forth in the gospel of john And then keep your finger
in hebrews because we'll go right back there. Keep your fingers
there in hebrews Look at this in john chapter 11 verses 23
to 27 See christ. He's the great conqueror He's
the resurrection and the life He is the resurrection life.
Look what he says here to Martha. Verse 23 of John chapter 11.
Jesus said unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Remember, Lazarus
is dead. Say, no, no, your brother's gonna rise again. And she thinks
he's talking about the second coming, because Martha said unto
him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day. Now notice that? Bingo, brother. The last day. Doesn't say anything about a
period in between, does it? last day Jesus said unto her
I am there's another here we go another I am statement here
we go I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in
me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die Believe us all this there's a
question for all of us believe us all this there it is I And
he's speaking here of the second death, isn't he? Because we're
all physically going to die, but he's speaking that we're
not going to die as the second death, but to be cast into hell.
Oh, my. She said unto him, by the grace
of God, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which hath come into the world. Look at that. Now
turn back to Hebrews chapter 2. Isn't that wonderful? Oh,
it's so wonderful, isn't it? Look at this in Hebrews chapter
2, verse 15. He came he became a man. Why
did he become a man and deliver them? Who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bonds? I was terrified of
death before the Lord saved me. I was absolutely petrified I'll
tell you why I was so terrified death. Sometimes I laid laid
awake at night thinking about it And I had no idea where I'd
go. I Because you know why? Yeah, I knew where I was heading,
but I was in denial because I thought, well, if I'm just good enough,
well, no, that don't work that way. Because there's none good,
no, not one. See, the problem with men and women is they don't
believe what the Bible says. And the Bible says there's none
good, no, not one. I had a discussion with someone
this week telling them about Christ. And this young lady,
she said, well, I'm good. I said, no, you're not good at
all. I said, you're just like me. You're a sinner. You need
Christ. I said, you just need to look
to Christ. You need to look to Him and Him alone. He's the only
Savior of sinners. And look at this. Rejoice. This
sentence here is applicable to all believers. What hope we have.
What hope. Death is just a doorway for us,
but I'll tell you why. For those outside of Christ,
they have no hope. And death is a certain fearful
experience. Now, we know that because we
just have to know how we used to think about death. Oh, it's
terrifying. How can any person who has no
hope of pardon, forgiveness, and eternal life look upon death
without fear? They can't. They tremble. I'll
tell you that. They tremble. They tremble. They don't have
no idea where they're going. Oh, my. But this scripture is especially
spoken concerning the Jews under the law of Moses, which was a
bondage, right? And constantly spoke of death
because they were daily transgressing those ceremonies and laws without
Christ. Think of this, without Christ,
the law of God, the Ten Commandments, right? All it does is speak death. Because it says, you have to
do this. Right? Well, none of us can.
But praise be to God, Christ did it as our substitute. Isn't
that wonderful? Oh, it's wonderful. The law offers
no hope. It offers no hope at all. It
offers death. But what does Christ do? He offers
hope, life. It's in Him. In Him alone. Let's
look at verse 16. For verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.
Look at that. There's no plan of salvation
for the fallen angels. No. No plan of salvation for
the fallen angels. But look at this. He took upon
him human nature. He became a man. This is wonderful
news. And derived from Abraham. For
the Messiah was the spring from Abraham's seed, wasn't he? Right? He's the promised seed
of his in whom all the nations would be blessed. Oh my. I ask you this. Does this verse right here, does
this verse in verse 16 not show us the distinguishing grace of
God in Christ? For verily He took on Him not
the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.
Then look at verse 17. 44 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. Why? To make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. He made reconciliation for my
sins. And if you're a believer, he
made reconciliation for your sins. Who did we sin against? God. He made reconciliation between
us and God. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. And He's merciful,
isn't He? Oh, we could talk for days about
His mercy, weeks about His mercy, years about His mercy and still
not exhaust how wonderful and how merciful our great King is. We see here then, it was necessary
for Christ to become a man. For unless he was a man, he could
not be our high priest. He couldn't offer the sacrifice
of himself if he didn't become a man. We'd have no substitute
for sin. We'd have no perfect lamb of
God. We'd all perish in our sins.
But look at this. He makes intercession for us
as a high priest, and he was taken from among men. And also,
if Christ didn't become a man, we'd have no sacrifice to offer.
We'd have no blood. Can't offer ourselves up. We're
just a bunch of sinners. I can't pay for one of my sins.
You can't pay for one of yours. We're in a hopeless condition
then. But praise be to God, Christ became a man and died in our
room and place, beloved. And then He could not be a faithful
high priest or a meat-eater. And He could not We we could not have a perfect
righteousness if Christ hadn't become a man Because he wove that coat of
righteousness for you and I well he lived on this earth and when
he died on the cross We'd be standing in front of God in our
own righteousness wouldn't we and he'd say the part for me
My oh my what mercy beloved what mercy and look at look at verse
18 and For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he
is able to secure them that are tempted. Beloved, our Lord could not sin.
He's impeccable. He could not have sinned. You
know how I know that? Because he's God. God can't sin,
can he? God can't sin. But he was tempted
like us, as a man, he was tempted like us, but yet without sin.
He suffered like we do. He hungered like we do. He thirsted
like we do. He was despised as we've often been before. He's
a man of soils and acquainted with grief, and yet He never
sinned. He never murmured against God. He never said a word that
way against God. He was fully submissive to the
Father. He is the perfect, sinless substitute,
beloved. That's what He is. He is the
Lamb of God. And I'll tell you what, what
a high priest we have. What a high priest we have, beloved.
He is able to emphasize, empathize with us. He knows everything
we go through. Everything. He's able to aid us in all our
infirmities because he knows what we go through. He's the
God-man mediator. So marvel at this wonderful verse
we've looked at tonight and let it, this week, let, we got a
little bit of time left in this week till Sunday, right? Let
this verse fill us with awe. We are the Father's possession
by His choice. By His choice. We are given to
Christ as a gift. A gift from God to Christ. It's amazing. He gives sinners
to Christ the Word of God. He gives them sinners and Christ
rejoices. You know why? Because He purchased
us, didn't He? It's marvelous. I'll tell you what, there's no
better news than this. Oh my, He gave us as a gift to
Christ, and what else is He giving us? He's giving us faith to believe,
right? We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. He gives
us faith. We can't muster it up, He gives it to us. It's wonderful. All by the Holy Spirit's regenerating
power, He gives us faith to believe on Christ, to look to Him, to
trust Him. to rest in him. You know why? Because it pleased
the Father to do so. Let's close with this verse.
John 17, 6. I have manifest thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were. And thou gavest them me, and
they have kept thy word. Amen.