second chapter Hebrews chapter 2 Hold your finger there. Another scripture that just comes to
my mind that I want to read maybe. We look at the Lord Jesus and
we see a few things throughout this passage here that I'd like
to kind of make some notes about. The scripture I was trying to
think of, and I can't remember the verse offhand, but great is the
mystery of Godliness. God became man. I mean, it's
a mystery how the heavens of heavens can't contain our God,
but yet he confined himself and became flesh and blood. And whenever
we look at Christ coming, becoming flesh, taking on manhood. Most times we think that Christ
took this on just whenever he became born at Bethlehem, but
yet we see the scriptures teach throughout that Christ was brought
forth from of old. God manifested himself in this
mediatorial state in this mediatorial body from before the foundation
of the world. He has been set up from everlasting
as our surety, as our husband. He has been set up from before
the foundation of the world as our representative who we have
been put into, we have been united in. In spiritual seed, we are
seminally in him before the foundation of the world. And this mediatorial
ship in God becoming flesh and mediating between him, self,
and us, which the Bible clearly says that there is only one mediator
between God and man, and that's the man, Jesus Christ. So that tells me that as long
as Christ has stood as our surety, as our mediator, he has stood
as man, because it's the man, Jesus Christ, who is the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, who is the mediator on God's behalf.
That's why there's the two two natures of Christ, the divine
nature and the human nature that has been brought together into
one person. He's not half God and half man,
but he is fully God, fully man, two natures comprised into one
person. And that one person is the manifestation
of all who God is, but he is also brethren, the true representation
of all his people. So he represents all of the deity
and he represents all of the elect children of God, his brethren.
And we see this found in Hebrews chapter 2, this beautiful, eternal,
vital union and the purpose for which Christ came, the purpose
for which he took on blood. What makes Christ so special
in the work of salvation is that he did take on as God took on
the nature of man so that he could be a perfect salvation
for us. And we'll kind of see that as
we go through our verses here. Look with me if you would. I'm
gonna start reading in verse nine. I'm gonna read down to
verse 18, and then we'll go back and make some observations that
the Lord will be pleased to help us. It says, but we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels in 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." There's that Bible union
that we're talking about. Christ was separated for the
work of redemption. separated for the work of making
God known. He was separated for making the
Father known to all his people. He was separated for the work
of redeeming his people to himself. And so here we see that him who
is sanctified and we who are the sanctified are all one. We are one in him. 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 while 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 them 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,
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 all
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 them that are tempted."
So here we see, brethren, the passage here in Hebrews that
tells us that Christ Jesus became man so that he might finish the
work of redemption for his people that God had sent him to do. If you'll notice though, let's
start in verse 9 and we'll work our way down. It says, but we
see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels. One thing
we need to keep in mind whenever we read this is that this does
not mean that Jesus was lower than the angels, okay? This surely
isn't talking... about angels being superior to
Christ Jesus. Matter of fact, as you read through
Hebrews, especially the first part of Hebrews, you will see
that Jesus is superior to everybody. There is nobody that Jesus is
subservient to. Matter of fact, if you see in
the verses just right before where we started reading, we
see in verse six, but one in a certain place testified saying,
what is man if thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that
thou visited him. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownedest him with glory
and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou
hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. So that tells me that even the
angels are under the Lord Jesus Christ. However, in the work
of redemption, in Christ, in what we call his condescension,
where he took on the flesh and blood of his brethren so that
he could be their redeemer, so that he could be their substitute,
he was made a little lower than the angels in that status, in
that he was being subjected to the decree and the will of God
in salvation, okay? And so he was made lower, he
wasn't lower, but he was made lower in the fact that he became
like man. Now we would say that the angels
are far more superior than us. They are angelic beings and we
are not. So in that regard, they are higher than us. But when
Christ became like us, then that would make him lower than the
angels in regards to his manhood. Now that is just in his role
as the Redeemer, not in his divinity, not in his importance, not in
his authority, not in his power. All those things he still retained. He is God manifested in the flesh. He never ceased being God. He's
always been God. He's been God for everlasting.
He is the first, he is the last, he is the alpha, he is the omega,
he is the beginning, he is the end. All things were created
by him and for him. Matter of fact, it said that
right there in our verse in another way of saying it, but in verse
10, he said, for whom are all things and by whom are all things.
For by him are all things and to him are all things. Be glory
forever, right? So Jesus here is not subservient
in the fact that he is made less, in his abilities or in his authority
or in his power or in his Godhood, but he is made lower in his work,
in his office that he is carrying out as the substitute and the
mediator for his people. And so it says here, for the
suffering of death. So that tells us the reason why
he is made lower. The reason that he was made lower
than the angels was for the suffering of death. Not because he had
done anything wrong, not because he was, again, deficient in any
way, but he was made lower, being put into this body, so that he
might suffer death. We know that God is divine and
God doesn't die. God cannot die. So he had to
take on himself a body that was prepared that could die, so he
could suffer death. And I think we're going to see
here in a minute that this suffering of death is what was the perfection
that verse 11 is, excuse me, verse 10 is talking about. He
says, 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. So here again, we see the purpose
for why he took no flesh was that he might take, taste death
for every man. Now, brother, I don't think I
have to tell you guys here, I think you're pretty well understood
in the scriptures enough to know that whenever he says, taste
death for every man here, he isn't saying what all the modern
churches out there are saying, that there's this universal death
that Jesus died for every person, man, woman, child that's ever
lived on the face of the earth. That every man that he's talking
about is within the context, not only of Hebrews, but also
within the context of scripture itself. We know that all throughout
scripture, the Bible tells us that Jesus has died for his people
that was given to him from the father. And those are the people
that he has represented, that those are the people that he
took on Matter of fact, it's going to say it in another term
here, that he took on the seed of Abraham. That's talking about
the faithful. That's talking about the people
of God, the spiritual people of God. The seed of Abraham is
the spiritual people of God. And Christ took on for himself
the seed of Abraham. He didn't take on the seed of
the reprobate, okay? He took on the seed of Abraham,
okay? And I'll kind of maybe explain
a few things on that if we get there. But it says here that
he was tasting death for every man, that every man here is in
context of what we see here, the brethren. If you'll notice
here, he said that, verse 11, that he is not ashamed to call
them brethren, those who have been sanctified. Those are the
ones that are in context here. We also know through other parts
of the scripture That's what he is talking about as well.
But I don't want to spend a whole lot of time going through there
because we're pretty understanding of those things, that this every
man is every man that has been given to him by God. But look
at verse 10, it says, for it became him for whom are all things
and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory.
There again is another context that it's not everybody. in bringing
many sons to glory. Number one, you have the term
many, okay? The term many. Well, whenever
you say many, that is to the exclusion of all, right? If I
said many people are here today, that doesn't mean everybody is
here today. Daniel's not here today. Brother
Ed's not here today, okay? Whenever we talk in terms of
many, many is a term that is defined by the amount of people
that are included, right? That's what many means. Now,
many does mean a lot of numbers, but it means a certain amount
of people, not all people. And so it says many, but it also
says many sons under glory. So that right there is the delineation.
See, sonship, A child of grace, their sonship was determined
before the foundation of the world. They were made sons before
the foundation of the world. Now, the Reformed people will
tell you that you become sons at faith, but that's not true. The Bible says, because ye are
sons, God hath sent his Spirit into you, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father, right? We were already sons. We were
sons before we were ever born. Whenever we were born and before
we ever come to know the Lord Jesus, before we are ever given
understanding of our salvation, we were already sons and daughters
of the King. We are sons and daughters because
we have been united in Christ Jesus from the foundation of
the world. We're his spiritual seed. We were in Him. And so,
there again, we see the context of tasting death for every man
is made clear by the fact that Scripture clearly says it's many,
not all, and it's many sons. It is His sons. It is His generation. It is His seed. It is His lineage. It is His people that are in
Him that are the ones He is bringing into salvation here. He says,
for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all
things. Now just think of that, brethren.
Here is Christ Jesus who has been made a little lower than
the angels, who has taken on flesh and blood. Now, I don't
know, I don't understand, I don't know about you guys. I can only
speak for myself, but I don't know how anybody can bear to
understand or think, if they can even understand or comprehend,
how that a majestic, almighty, eternal, holy God could take
on flesh and blood. I mean, that's infallible. Now,
to some people, that may not be of any importance. To them,
it's like, what could he do? He did. But I mean, if you think
about it, Again, as I said a while ago, the Bible says that the
heavens of heavens cannot contain this God. The Bible says that
He is omnipresent, that He is everywhere. There's nowhere that
you can go that God is not there. The Bible says if you go into
heaven, He is there. If you descend into the lower
parts of the earth, He is there. No matter where you go on the
face of the earth, He's there. God is everywhere. You can't
get away from God. He's an eternal spirit that is
everywhere. and that's eternal. God is also
omnipresent. He is all-powerful. He is all-holy. He is all-righteous and all-wise
and all His attributes. And yet He has confined Himself
into a body and made Himself of lower reputation. He has brought
Himself down to our level and become flesh and blood. Here
the Scripture says all things were created by Him. All things
were by Him. And all things are for Him. Meaning
that He is over all things and all things have been brought
into existence because of Him. He created it. He was there before
there was nothing. And then He created the nothing. And then out of the nothing created
everything. Jesus is the one who did that. And I believe it
was Jesus, in His manhood, did that. He stood. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And all things were made by Him. Not anything was
made that has been made, that He didn't make it. He has spoken
it, and it has come. Whenever the Bible says, in the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and He said, let
there be life, I believe that was Jesus that said, let there
be life. That was Jesus. God manifested in bodily form
all the fullness of the Godhead in Him. The Word speaking. The Word of God speaking, let
there be light. And this has condescended to
become man like us. For us. For you, if you're His
children. He became man for you. He took
on flesh for you. so that He might bring you unto
glory. Ephesians 3.9. My wife is reminding me of a
verse in Ephesians 3.9. Here we go. So then to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ
to the intent that now into the principalities and the powers
and heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold
wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who has made all things. He is God. Whenever the Bible
speaks of Jehovah, speaks of Yahweh, the great I Am, it's
speaking of Jesus Christ. And He has taken on that flesh
for you. It says here, to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Now brethren, I had
a hard time with that phrase for a long time. How can you
make God Perfect. He's already perfect. And even
whenever we speak of the Lord Jesus in this manhood, in His
humanity, whenever we speak of that, He was perfect. The Bible says that He did no
sin, that He was without sin, that there was no guile found
in Him. So how is it that this says that
The captain of our salvation was made perfect through sufferings.
Obviously that word perfect must mean something else than what
we think it means, right? Because if we think that he became
perfect, and stay with me on this thought here, if you're
saying that Jesus was made perfect in the fact that he progressed
into something that he was not, then that means he was deficient
of perfection. If Christ had to be made perfect,
that means he was deficient in something. He was lacking something. And there was a progression that
he had to go through to get to the point of perfection. Now
we know, brethren, that that is not true, as I just said,
of his divinity or his humanity. He was not deficient of anything
as far as holiness, as far as righteousness, as far as that
is concerned. So we need to dig a little bit
deeper. Let the scriptures determine to us what this is, right? Well, let's look. What's the
context that we're reading here? The context is that Christ has
come and took on human flesh so that he might be able to procure
for us a salvation that we couldn't do on our own. We had to have
a representative come because we are sinful people. Therefore,
we could not be a perfect sacrifice unto God. We have broken the
law, therefore we need somebody to be our surety for us, to go
in our place, to stand in our stead. We need somebody who has
kept the law for us, so we need a substitute, right? So Jesus
had to come as a substitute. So for Jesus to complete the
work of redemption, He had to start and begin and have the
full plight of what we are. as men. That's why he came as
a baby in the manger. And he lived alive and he experienced
everything that we have experienced in growing. All the temptations of life he
experienced as he grew. You know, a lot of times we just
think of the last three years of Christ's life and what all
he done. Listen, he was born of a virgin. He came into this world and experienced
sucking from his mother's breast, from being a toddler, growing
up, probably having to do chores, following his earthly dad around
to, you know, the carpenter shop or wherever he was out working,
picking up trash and whatever he had to do. I mean, he was
going through all these things. Never cease in being God. Never
cease in being man. Being fully both. And yet he
experienced these things. And then as he came into his
ministerial work, we began to see that he began to experience
everything that the prophets had prophesied about him. How
he would come and he would heal the blind and he would heal the
sick and raise the dead. and that he would be an example
and a prophet and a priest to his people, and that he would
eventually be a sacrifice for them. But brethren, what was
the thing that had to happen for him to fully experience,
from beginning to end, the plight of the people that he's taken
on? It was death. See, he has to experience death
for a couple reasons. Number one, for him to be our
great high priest and to succor them that are tempted, he has
to go through and know what the experience of death is. Him being
God cannot die, but him being man, bringing and taking on a
body for himself is able to experience that death that his people are
going through. Every one of us, the Bible says
that it's appointed unto man who wants to die. All of us are
gonna die. On the face of this earth, everybody
is gonna die eventually one of these days. We're gonna die. And Christ has went through that
process of death and knows how we feel going through that process. He knows how it feels coming
up and leading up to that process. That's why I believe that God
recorded Gethsemane in the scriptures for us to know the heartfelt
desire, the heartfelt, wrenched out soul that knew he was about
to experience death, so that we too might know. So that whenever
we come upon death, hey, it's not strange to feel the anxiousness
of death. in that it's something we've
never experienced before. It's something going into unknown,
even though the Bible gives us some things to let us know what
might be happening once we lay down this body and what's happening
in the future. But brethren, we still don't
know. None of us has ever experienced it. And to be honest with you,
at least my opinion is nobody's ever went and came back to tell
us what it's like once you go through that, you know? So we
don't know. And so Christ went through that
for us. But also Christ had to suffer that death because that
death that he died was also the payment for our sin. He had to
suffer that death to pay in the full payment of sin for our behalf. So that is how he became perfect
through his sufferings. It was through the sufferings
of Christ that culminated the whole experience of life lived
for His people. The substitution of birth to
death for His people. A full life lived, experiencing
everything that we experience as His people, going through
everything that we have gone through, and in all things, being
tempted just like we are. but without sin. To prove who
he was, he was God. To be what he was, our sin sacrificed,
the perfect Lamb of God. And so that is how he was made
perfect through suffering. This word perfect, whenever you
look at this word, it's used in other places in our King James
Bible to mean fulfilled. It means to be accomplished.
So it's basically saying here that he was made to make the
captain of our salvation fulfilled through suffering. He fulfilled
everything on our behalf. He was the fulfillment of substitution
for us through his sufferings. That is what culminated his whole
work, the reason why he came. I think we'll see that as we
continue on here. Look, brethren, if you would.
He says, for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are
all one. See, God is directly tying our
union with Christ to what was said just right before. Christ
going through these sufferings, going through all these things
for his brethren, is us going through all these things. He
did it on our behalf. And so he ties that in, for both
he that sanctifyeth, or the one who sets apart the people, and
the ones who are set apart are all one. We're one together.
So whenever Christ lived that perfect life, we lived that perfect
life. Whenever Christ died that death,
we died that death. Whenever Christ rose from that
grave, we rose from that grave. And whenever Christ conquered
death, death was conquered for all his people in him. So that
in union with Christ Jesus, we have, in essence, done everything
that was needed for the law to be satisfied. Although we didn't
actually do it, Jesus did it on our behalf. But because we
are in him and he is our representative, and we are his people that are
being represented, we We get the goody from the representation. We get the result of the representation. So, it says, for both he that
sanctified and they who are sanctified are all one. For which cause? For which cause? Now again, this
is tying back to something else. For which cause? For what cause? For the cause of bringing many
sons to glory. See, Christ has come in flesh
to bring many sons to glory. He's come to bring his people
back to God, back to where they came from, back to where they
originated. And he's bringing them back to
God, and so for this cause, he's not ashamed to call them brethren.
Now brethren, I don't know about you, once again, as much as I
am enamored With the fact that God became man, it's even more
amazing that God calls this sinner his brother. That he loves me. He sent his love on me. I am
the vilest of sinners. I can't quit sinning. My thoughts
and my deeds every day betray the title Christian. Every day. And God became me. for me and knowing who I am still
loves me. I don't understand it. I can't
fathom it. I can't put into words in it.
I could never repay that. I can never give God anything
that's equal in value to what he's given me. All I can do is,
as the old Armenian preacher that I used to listen to a long
time ago, take and say thank you. That's all I can do. Now,
that's not an endorsement of him, by the way. True statement,
though. All we can do is take and say
thank you. Verse 12, it says, saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the
church while I sing praise unto thee. Now, brethren, these are
all quotes of Old Testament scriptures, okay, that were speaking of Jesus. saying, I will declare thy name.
That's one of the purposes of Christ and his mediatorial work. You remember a few months ago,
I preached a sermon about Christ's mediatorial work and how he mediates
God to man, but he also mediates man to God, okay? Christ comes
and mediates God to us. We can't know what God is like
except through Christ Jesus. No man knows God, but Christ
has made him known unto his people. That's what Jesus even said to
those. He said, you think you know God, but you don't know
God. If you knew God, you would know me. If you knew God, you
would love me. Why? Because I am the Father
and one. I'm God manifested in the flesh. And Jesus said, I'm
the one who is here making God known. If anybody knows anything
of the Father, I'm the one who's making it known. The only thing
that you're going to know of God or know of the Father is
what I reveal. Christ is the testimony, is the
revealer of God. And he is revealing God to his
people. And so we come to love God because
of Christ. And so Christ says here, I will
declare thy name unto my brethren. Isn't that what Jesus I said,
in John chapter 17, whenever he prayed, he said, he said, I have manifested thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. He says,
for I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and
they have received them. and have known surely that I
have come out from thee, and they have believed that thou
didst send me. Jesus also said, I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. So we see Jesus here has manifested,
or has made God known unto his people. He says, I will declare
thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, will
I sing praise unto thee. He says, and again, I will put
my trust in him. And again, so all these again
are quotes, brethren. speaking of the work of Christ
Jesus on making God known to His people and Him coming as
the fulfillment of the redemption of God, the perfection of the
salvation that God has purposed for His people. He said, again,
I will put my trust in Him. Again, behold, I and the children
which God hath given me. You notice that Christ didn't
leave anybody out. He didn't just say, I came to
glorify myself." Which, ultimately, all of salvation is going to
be to the glory of Christ Jesus. But yet he said, I have the children
thou hast given me. He's not going it alone. He said,
I have come to do thy will, O Father, and thy will is that I should
lose none that thou hast given me. So everyone that has been
given to Christ Jesus, this man is going to represent, this man
is going to take on the full brunt of God's wrath for sin
and is going to make a complete salvation on their behalf. Not a partial salvation. Christ
didn't come to make salvation possible so that they in turn
have to pick up the rest of the slack. Christ didn't come and
lay the provision down and now you have to come and do your
part to enact the contract. No. God made a covenant of himself
to save his people. And that covenant isn't a two-way
covenant or a three-way covenant. That covenant is a covenant by
God to do everything to save his people. And he gave that
people that he loved to Christ Jesus to save. And Christ Jesus
surely did the saving in completion, in fullness. It is finished to
perfection as verse 10 says. He perfected all of salvation
through His sufferings. He finished the work. He accomplished
all of salvation for His people. Other places in Hebrews, the
Bible says that He saved us to the uttermost. That everything
that He did, it was to completion. It was to its fullness. That
it was once for all time. And that He did because He came
and took on flesh. Look at verse 14. He says, For
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, or since, since then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. So Christ took on flesh and blood.
Again, why? For what purpose did God take
on flesh and blood? That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil. See that's
why I was saying down in verse 10 when it said he was made perfect
through sufferings, He had to come through the whole completion
of our plight, death being part of it. Because what is the one
thing that all men fear? Death. I don't care if you believe
in Christ Jesus, or if you believe in the devil, or you believe
in nothing, or you believe in the great spirit in the sky that
made everything through the Big Bang, or the evolutionary process,
whatever will be will be, or nothing's there, there's nothing,
or all this whole thing is a facade, we're all just living in a simulation.
Whatever you believe, I don't care what it is, one thing is
for sure, men are afraid to die. When their time of death comes,
fear comes upon man, and they are afraid to die, they are afraid
of what's on the unknown. Whether they believe there's
something beyond the unknown, or it's just a cessation of life,
they fear the unknown, they fear death. But what was the purpose
that Christ came in the flesh? It says here that he through
death might destroy him that hath the power of death, that
is the devil. Now, does that mean that the devil can kill
anybody he wants to kill? Is that what that meant? The
devil had the power to kill whoever he wanted to kill? You know, when I was a kid, I used
to think that. You gotta watch out for the devil,
boy, he'll kill you. But the devil can't kill nobody.
You realize that? Even before Jesus came on the
cross, the devil couldn't kill anybody. If he could have, he
could have killed Joe. But God said, you can do anything
to Joe, but you can't take his life. You can't kill him. You
gotta spare him. The devil has to have permission
to kill anybody, if he kills anybody. So what does this mean
that the devil has the power of death? Well, brethren, the devil was
surely instrumental in bringing death into this world. Whenever,
through the serpent, the devil seduced and enticed Eve to eat
of the tree that she was told not to eat of, and she ate, He
surely was part of bringing death into the world. Now, Adam is
the one that the Bible gives credit for bringing death and
sin into the world. But brethren, the seducing of
Eve came through the devil. And through that, the devil also
brings fear upon all those who are going to die. But what does it mean here whenever
he says to destroy him that had the power of death, that is the
devil? Well, if one is able to go and to die and to bring themselves
back alive, death no more has power over him. If I were to die and was able
to resurrect myself, and we talked about this a few weeks ago, Christ
resurrected himself, right? Christ resurrected himself. If
I was able to resurrect myself, guess what? I'm not going to
fear death no more. I've been there, done that. Got
the t-shirt. But what am I going to do? Well, if I die, I'm just going
to resurrect myself again. But if I die again, what am I
going to do? I'm going to resurrect myself. Well, wait a minute. The Bible says that he laid down
his life willingly, though, right? Nobody took his life. When Jesus died, nobody killed
him, made him die. He gave up his life willingly.
He died willingly. Me or you, we don't know if we're
gonna die by the end of the day. We can leave out of here, fall
down those steps, break our neck, and die before the end of the
day. One of us can choke on one of those donuts that Heather
brought this morning and die today. One of us could spill
our coffee in our lap and get third degree burns and die from
an infection. We don't know. There's an unknown in death.
But here's one thing that we do know now. Because Christ has
conquered death, all those who are in him, his brethren, he
has conquered death on their behalf. He says, because I live,
you will live also. Death has no more dominion over
you. Death can't end you. Death can't end you. Because
he said, I am the resurrection and the life. That's what he
told to Mary and Martha, right? Whenever Lazarus died. And they
came and he'd been in the tomb for four days. And he'd started
to stink. And Jesus came, and by the way,
Jesus came late on purpose. He let Lazarus, his friend, die.
He let him sit in that tomb for four days and start stinking.
That the glory of God might be seen. And whenever he showed
up there and Mary and Martha said, we know that you're the
resurrection. We know that you're alive. But if you would have
been here, our brother Lazarus wouldn't have died. Jesus said,
I am the resurrection and the life. Because he is the resurrection
and because he is the life, We have no more fear of death. Now
that doesn't mean our flesh ain't going to have some anxious thoughts
going into it. But brethren, the child of grace
will be strengthened by the Spirit of God to know that whenever
they pass from this life to the next, it's not done. We are going
to be with the Lord. Absent from the body is present
with the Lord Jesus. And He will raise us at the end.
He's going to raise us up. and give us a new body. That
there is life beyond this place for us. And so he said that he
destroyed the power of death, that is the devil. The devil
can no longer control our thoughts and our faith. See, whenever Christ gives us
faith to trust in Him for eternal life, The devil can't overcome
that. He says, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
See, we were in bondage to death, we were in bondage to the fear
of death, but Christ has come to deliver us from that. Whenever I see a brother in Christ
or a sister in Christ on their deathbed, we can rejoice The Bible says,
the Bible says, how does the verse go? That Christ, that God
rejoices over those who are his that die. How does that verse
go, brother? I can't remember how it goes.
That death is swallowed up in victory. That Christ loves the
death of his saints. Why? Because it shows for this
glory that the death of his saints ends in a resurrection, a triumph
over death. See, the one thing that everybody
in the world has succumbed to, which is sin and death, has been
conquered. The greatest enemy is not the
devil. The greatest enemy is sin and
death. And Christ has conquered sin
by His work of the cross, and He has conquered death by His
resurrection. In dying and resurrecting, Christ
has conquered and subdued and controls and now gives rest to
His people in the very two things that are their greatest enemy,
which is sin and death. We no longer have to fear our
sin because Christ has taken our sin upon himself and has
bled in our stead, and that blood that he has shed has cleansed
us from all sin. Therefore, God does not view
our sin in our account, even the ones that are in the future.
And the death that looms over every one of us still is not
going to stop us. because Christ has overcome death.
Our two biggest enemies, brethren, have been conquered by Christ
Jesus. It says, verse 16, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but
took on him the seed of Abraham. If you'll notice, those words
are in italics, him, the nature of, and him, the seed of Abraham,
the word him and him of nature, the nature of. It's in italics. The translators added that in
because the translate from the Greek to the English, it was
kind of awkward because the words didn't line up just exactly to
our words. And so they added some words
in to make the flow of it go a little better. Okay. I'm not saying that the Bible's
wrong or anything like that, but I think there's a different
understanding that can be brought out of that than took on him
the nature of angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham. If
we look at that, just not looking at the italicized words, it says,
for verily he took not on angels, but he took on the seed of Abraham. When Christ became a redemption
for his people, and I think the scriptures will back up what
I'm saying here, whenever he took on the salvation, he didn't
take on salvation for angels. If you remember, When God created
the angels, he created elect angels, he created non-elect
angels. The non-elect angels followed
right after Satan whenever Satan was cast out of heaven because
Satan himself was a non-elect angel. Satan didn't become Satan and
then decide to turn all the other angels into demons and devils
and all like that. No, there were elect angels and
non-elect angels that God had created for his purposes. They're
all created for his purposes. The non-elect and the elect angels.
The non-elect angels are the angels that God had purposed
to follow Satan and to become his servanthood in all the things
that Satan was purposed to do. But, brethren, God never intended,
just like in the people the elect and the non-elect, God never
intended to bring into salvation the non-elect angels. He never
intended to redeem Satan and his people. Look all through
scripture and you'll find there's not one place ever that it talks
about God's desire for Satan to be redeemed or the angels. Matter of fact, the Bible says
that when God created hell, he created hell for Satan and his
demons. So God never had a purpose in
redemption for Satan and the non-elect angels. And the elect
angels, they have no need for redemption. There is no redemption
for them. So Christ's coming is not for
angels. It's not for non-elect angels.
It's not for the reprobate. So the only one that Christ came
and took on himself as this representative that we see here in these passages
is the seed of Abraham, the faithful one of Christ Jesus, the people
of God, the spiritual people of God. And so I think this verse
here is not necessarily that he took on him the nature of
angels or took on him the nature or the seed of Abraham, because
if he took on the nature, he took on the nature of the people
that are not the seed of Abraham too. See, if you notice that,
he said he took on him the seed of Abraham. It's not talking
about taking on the nature, it's taking on as a representative
here. So that's why I think that adding
those italicized words in there kind of murkies the water a little
bit. You have to kind of get out of
that, what he's talking about, through the context. The context
isn't exactly clear in how that was worded there in our English
language. But again, God's Word is true. God's Word is here.
It's there. It's in the Scriptures preserved for us. We just got
to do a little more praying about it and searching the Scriptures
to see what things are true. For verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels, which He didn't, but He took on Him the
people of God, the seed of Abraham. He took on them. Wherefore, or because of this,
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be, that he might be, so that he might be, so the
purpose of him, again, all this is the purpose of him coming
in flesh, is so that he might be made perfect through sufferings,
so that he might taste death for every man, so that he might
overcome the power of death, and here again, that he might,
be merciful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, so that he might be able to reconcile
his people back to God. He had to come in flesh. For
in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to
succor them or aid them that are being tempted. Because he
has gone through our whole plight from birth through death, not
just to death. Brethren, he didn't just come
to death, he come through death. He went into it and came out
of it, and now he is able to aid us through every area of
our life, from every point of our life, because he has substituted
in our behalf. He has lived it, he has been
perfected, or he has accomplished it, and therefore, All of the
good of it that he did is laid to our account. We reap the benefits
out of that. Why? Because we're his brethren.
We are the joint heirs with him. Because he is the heir, we are
also heirs to all that salvation brings. Because he went through
it, we went through it. And because he came out on the
other side, we come out on the other side. And because he will
be glorified in it, we will also be glorified with him in it.
Not because of anything that we've done, but because of what
it started out with, because of the grace of God. Verse nine, he was crowned with
glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man. It is by the grace of God that Christ has tasted death
for you, child of grace, that he has went through your sufferings
in perfection from beginning to end so that you didn't have
to be perfect in it. He did it for you. And so that
he also overcome death so that you will no longer have a fear
or a bondage to death and that your sin has been taken away.
And then also so that he might also know how you feel in all
your temptations through this plight in the flesh. And he is able to aid you in
those things. Oh, brethren, we have a wonderful
high priest. And that's why I say, but we
see Jesus. We see Jesus. That's why we preach
Jesus. That's why we harbor on Jesus
all the time. because he's the one that's been
given to us to know God, to see God, to experience God, to relate
to God. It's through Jesus Christ. We can't know those things if
it weren't for our great mediator. All right, does anybody have
any questions? All right. God is everywhere. And you said how he lives also
in heaven and on earth. Does that also mean that he is
also in hell? Yes. Okay. He is everywhere. Okay. Just wanted to... Matter
of fact, there's a scripture that even says that. It says,
if I rise up into the heavens, you were there. If I descend
down into the lower parts of the earth, you're there. No matter
where I'm at, God's there. So yes, God is everywhere. He's been everywhere, man. All right, let's pray. Father,
we thank you this morning for the Lord Jesus Christ. And once
again, we thank you for the testimony of scripture that shows us our
great high priest, our substitute. We thank our Father in heaven
that he has revealed himself in Christ. that has made himself
known through our Lord Jesus, and that we have been able to
feel, not just know, but to feel the love, the grace, and the
mercy, and the compassion of our God through the spirit that
indwells us. All of God minister to his people
because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we can't comprehend how
all of this works, We can't comprehend how you became flesh. We can't
comprehend how you died. We can't comprehend how you rose
from the dead. We don't comprehend what takes
place after this life other than what you've revealed in dim light
to us in this scripture. But Father, we do know that we
can trust your promises and that we know that you have given us
power over all things as it pertains to death and the time in this
life because of our substitute Christ Jesus. We don't have to
fear death. We don't have to fear condemnation
because of our sin. We don't have to fear the devil.
We don't have to fear the wickedness in this world. We don't have
to fear all the antichrists that are prevalent in this world today
and rising even more and more, who are throwing their fist in
your face, who are turning the things of God upside down in
the way of the family, in the way of government, in the way
of the church. Father, we don't have to fear
these things because Thou art with us. Thou art our stronghold. Thou art our buckler. Thou art
our redeemer. Now at our succor, you have aided
us by your spirit to comfort us, to keep us, to preserve us,
to teach us, to grow us in the grace and knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to bear witness with our spirit that we are yours.
So Father, we thank you for your great and mighty work on our
behalf. And so it's in Christ's name
that we ask these things. Amen.