This Man

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

The Bible teaches that God is sovereign over all creation, reigning in power and authority, as stated in Isaiah 52 and Romans 8:28-30. The sovereignty of God is a central theme in Scripture, emphasizing His ultimate authority over all creation and His ability to accomplish His will without needing human consent or contribution. Isaiah 52 reminds us that God reigns over all, providing believers with comfort amidst life's trials. Romans 8:28-30 further illustrates that all things work together for good for those who love God, highlighting that His plans are always in motion for our benefit, driven by His purpose and grace.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is both God and man?

Jesus is affirmed as both fully God and fully man in the New Testament, particularly in Hebrews 2 and 3. The dual nature of Christ as fully God and fully man is foundational to Christian doctrine. Hebrews 2:16-18 emphasizes that Jesus took on human nature to become a merciful and faithful high priest, experiencing our struggles yet remaining sinless. By being fully human, He can relate to our suffering, while His divinity seals His authority in salvation. This profound mystery is celebrated within the church, as it emphasizes our mediator who understands our human plight while having the power to redeem us. Thus, as highlighted in Hebrews 3, we are encouraged to look to this man, Christ Jesus, for all that we need.

Q: Why is faith important for Christians?

Faith is essential for Christians as it enables us to trust in God's promises and the person of Christ for salvation. Faith serves as the foundation of the Christian's relationship with God. In the sermon, it is emphasized that walking by faith, rather than by sight, allows believers to navigate life's challenges with assurance in God's sovereignty and promises. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Without faith, one cannot fully embrace the grace and salvation offered through Christ, who is the object of our faith and hope. This call to believe is not merely intellectual; it involves a deep trust that God is working all things for our good.

Q: How does Jesus intercede for us?

Jesus intercedes for believers as our high priest, providing affectionately understanding support in our struggles. As our high priest, Jesus has a unique role in mediating between God and humanity. Hebrews 7:24-25 assures us that Jesus’ priesthood is eternal and unchangeable, unlike the Old Testament priests who had to be replaced due to death. He intercedes for us with intimate knowledge of our weaknesses and struggles, having experienced life as a man. His intercession is described as affectionate help, affirming that He not only bears our requests to the Father but also empathizes with our trials. This is a profound comfort for believers, knowing we are supported by someone who understands our plight fully.

Let's open our Bibles to Hebrews chapter three. Hebrews chapter three. There is a message that we must continue to declare to God's people. The Lord told the prophet Isaiah, say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. So much confusion caused by sin in our hearts, our affections, our thoughts, our minds in this world. And believers are greatly comforted by being reminded that the God that they worship, the God that they serve reigns sovereign, over all the armies of heaven and over all the inhabitants of the earth, and he hath done whatsoever he wills. Speaking with a brother just last night who recently lost a six month old child and, uh, he confessed to me. There's hard days, but I see the hand of God and the Lord the Lord has given us peace.

Only a reigning God can do that. Only one who believes that their God works all things together for good for them that love him and those of the called according to his purpose. And more importantly, only a reigning God can save without my contribution or without my agreement. Only a God who is sovereign can settle the matters of eternal justice without consulting me and without dependent upon me to contribute to that.

That is the God that we serve. A God who has saved his people. Salvation is of the Lord. And a God who reigns in the providential affairs of everything. We are greatly comforted to rest in this God. Our lives in this world and our life in the world to come is in the hand of a sovereign, omnipotent God. What comfort, what hope. Not left up to the will or the whims of men, not left up to my works, But I can look in faith to a God who reigns.

Just as true as that is, and just as comforting as that is, there is another side to our God. and that is his humanity. He is God, and he reigns as the sovereign deity of all things. The world doesn't believe that we do, but he has also revealed himself not only as being fully God, but being fully man. So that We have not a high priest in the heavens which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all ways tempted as we are, yet without sin.

We come before the throne of grace boldly, to find mercy and help in our time of need from this God, this God who knows by experience what it is to be a man. Isaiah said in Isaiah 52, a man A man shall be a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, the storms of life and the ultimate storm of God's wrath in judgment. There's only one place. There's only one place where we can hide, and it's in a man. A man. He is the man of sorrows. He is the man who is full of grief. He is that man you just read about, Don, in Isaiah chapter 53.

There is one God in the heavens, but there is a mediator between God and man, the man. Christ Jesus. The word of God, which was God and is God was made flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father. I want I hope the Lord will encourage our hearts this morning in believing that the Lord Jesus Christ, yes, he is fully God, but he at the same time is fully man.

You have your Bibles open to Ephesians, I mean to Hebrews chapter 3. I want to back up into chapter 2 just a moment. And let me remind you that the book of Hebrews was written originally. It is God's word written to us. I hope that the Lord will enable us to receive it as such. But it was written originally to dispersed Jews, thus the name Hebrews.

These Jews were forced out of their homes. They were forced out of their jobs. They were forced out of their land. They were refugees scattered about, dispersed throughout the world, suffering persecution as a result of the confession that they had made that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. A persecution that I know I have never experienced, and I suspect that most of you have not either. So these words were being written to those who were suffering in this world beyond what you and I suffer as a result of the gospel.

And some of them were entertaining the thought of going back, of returning to that which was familiar. That which is familiar is always that which makes me feel safe. And there's certainly no safety out here. And so the book of Hebrews was written to encourage them to continue on. Whatever the cause, whatever the reason, perhaps you and I have those thoughts of returning to that which is familiar.

This walk of faith is difficult. We don't walk by sight. We're like the father of the faithful, Abraham, who was told to leave the Ur of the Chaldees to a land that he did not know. And each step of the way, he was directed by the Lord, not knowing what would come next. That's the believer's lot. in this world. Through the wilderness, as the children of Israel did for those 40 years, following a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, that pillar was Christ.

It's easier in the flesh to walk by sight Sight is something we can see. It's something we can understand. It's something we can experience. This matter of walking by faith, well, it's impossible to do apart from the Spirit of God. It's impossible to believe God, to take to walk our lives in this world according to what God has said, even though our experiences oftentimes contradict what we know is true. This is where these believers were that the Lord is addressing. And to some degree, this is where every believer is.

The way of the Lord is through the seas. The seas are often stirred by our God who reigns to cause us like Peter to cry out. After having considered the waves and the wind and drowning in the sea of unbelief, we cry, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Brothers and sisters, is there any prayer that you pray more often than that? Lord, help me. Lord, save me. Well, there is a man. There is a man. Yes, he is the God of heaven. He is the creator and sustainer of all things. But look what we have written for us in Hebrews Chapter two, beginning in verse 16.

For verily, truly, he took not on him the nature of angels. God did not come into this world as a spirit being. He was made after the likeness of sinful flesh. He hungered, he tired, he was born of a woman, he was born under the law, in order that he might have a body that would be able to die in our stead. He took not in him the nature of angels. This isn't a ethereal God who must just be imagined.

This is a God who left heaven and came into the world. This is that man that the Lord told Adam and Eve The seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. And when Eve gave birth to Cain, what did she say? The Lord has given me a man. Now in the original language, the indefinite article A is not in the original language. So it's not, literally speaking, it's not God has given me a man, God has given me the man. The definite article.

He thought that Cain was the fulfillment of the promise that God made to bring them a savior, to bring them back to the garden. As horrible as it was outside of this ship, They had left paradise and were now in a land that was producing thorns and thistles and they were working by the sweat of their brow. Now the man.

And the story of Cain and Abel is the story of all of humanity. Abel's actually the type of Christ. Abel's the type of the believer. Cain is the unbelieving world. He wasn't the man. He was the one, he turned out to be a murderer, didn't he? And what has man done ever since, Cain? Raise their fists to heaven and say, I'll not have that man reign over me. And when God gave man, ability to kill God, kill the Son of God, I should say, that's what they did. It's what we did. He did not take on the nature of an angel.

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 the things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." The man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. He is a merciful and faithful high priest. because he was made according to the seed of Abraham. He had to walk by faith. He walked by perfect faith, trusting his father every step of the way. He is the faithful high priest.

Verse 18, for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to sucker. And that word sucker means unaffectionate help. It's not just, well, he's our helper. No, he's coming in and affectionately, lovingly providing the help that we need in our time of need.

He understands by experience all that we're going through. He is that man. When we come to Christ, we are coming to a man that knows all that we deal with in this world. Chapter 3, verse 1, wherefore, in light of the fact that our Savior is a man. He was a man, and he is a man. There's one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. He's seated in heavens as the God-man. He came into this world as a man.

Wherefore, holy brethren, how are we holy? union with Christ, partakers of the heavenly calling. When God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, he called us to see that Christ Jesus the Lord is our life. And that being found in him, not having in our own righteousness, we have life. We have the life of God in Christ.

Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider, consider. This word consider, it means to behold and take notice, to be still and know that I am God. This considering Christ is not something that can be done with a passing glance. It is something that has to be stopped for. We must cease from all of our labors and look.

Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle. He is the apostle. He is the word of God. And he is our high priest. He's the high priest of our profession. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is our profession. He intercedes for me. He is my priest before God. We'll see that in a moment. Verse two, who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all of his house. Now remember, the Lord's writing to Jews who grew up under the Mosaic law.

And perhaps some of them were thinking about returning to the law. You say, well, how could that be? How many times have you found yourself using the law to measure your spiritual progress? How many times have you found yourself using the law to motivate you.

We do it. We're all recovering Pharisees. And there is part of us that will revert back to the law. rather than looking in faith to Christ. You see, living by the law is easy. I can, here's what the law requires. This is what I'm doing. Paul said concerning the law, I was blameless. I was monitoring my life, measuring my life, motivated my life by the law. The law is easy. It's black and white.

Looking to Christ now, that's a spiritual work of grace that God must enable me to do. That's not something I can do. Looking to the man? I can look to the law, but to look to the man? This man was faithful. Oh, he was faithful, unlike Moses. They gloried in how faithful Moses was. But Moses' salvation was not dependent upon his faithfulness. He had to look in faith to one who would be faithful for him.

And here's our text, look at verse three. For this man, and that's the title of this message, this man. We're gonna briefly go through four more verses in the book of Hebrews where the Lord is calling us to look to this man. And there's only one way you can look to this man, and that's through the eye of faith. Lord, you're gonna have to enable me.

But for this man was counted worthy of more glory than of Moses, inasmuch as he who buildeth the house hath more honor than the house. And every house is builded by some man, but he that buildeth all things is God. Moses barely was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after, but Christ as a son over his house, whose house are we if we hold fast to him. the confession and the rejoicing of hope firm to the end.

It's hard to walk by faith. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickednesses in dark places. This is a spiritual life. It's easy to measure your religious life or your worldly life, your relational life by the law, by outward appearances. But what does the Lord tell us? Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgments, judge spiritual judgments.

This is only can be done by faith. This is a work of grace in the heart that only God can do. The natural man walks by faith, walks by sight, we walk by faith. If we hold fast the confession, what were these Hebrews considering? Well, let's just go back to the law. We feel comfortable there. We can keep track of things there. Look what walking by faith is costing us. It's costing us everything. Hold fast. Hold fast the confession of your faith.

Don't go back to the law. Don't go back to Egypt. Don't go back to the taskmasters. You're not under the law. You're under grace. Yeah, but the law helps me with my sin problem. No, it doesn't. It only aggravates sin. The Bible says the strength of sin is the law. If I go back to the law in order to try to motivate my sin problem or away from my sin problem, all I do is add to my bad behavior self-righteousness. That's all I'm doing. Just adding self-righteousness. Plus, as soon as I hear a word that says, thou shalt not, that's the very thing I wanna do. Oh, there's only one power over sin, and that's grace. That's Christ.

He's the only one that can cause us to turn, turn from our sin. I know, child of God, we're sinners by nature and everything about us is sinful and in us there dwelleth no good. I'm talking about the sin that does so easily beset us every day, that sin of unbelief that causes us to be, well, causes us to loathe ourselves, doesn't it? And what's the Lord saying?

This man, this man. Turn over a few pages to chapter seven. Now, the Lord is talking about Abraham. Not only did these Jews exalt Moses, but they has also exalted Abraham. And to the point to where you remember those unbelieving Pharisees when they, when the Lord said to them that God would raise up children of Abraham from the stones, they said, well, we'd be children of Abraham. We've never been in a bondage to anybody. The Lord accused them of being bondage to their sin. We're not in bondage to anybody. We're children of Abraham. No, you're not children of Abraham. Your father's the devil.

But the Jews, by nature, would depend upon their traditions and their bloodline for the hope of their salvation. And so now the writer of Hebrews is going to bring up Melchizedek, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus. When Abraham came back from the battle of the kings, he meets the king of Salem, who was without father and without mother and without descent, the king of peace. He was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus himself, Melchizedek. He comes on the scene. Abraham paves ties from the spoils of battle that he had just won to Melchizedek. And Melchizedek blesses Abraham.

And so the Lord is clearly saying to these Hebrews who were looking to their traditional relationship with Abraham, this man. Look at chapter seven. At verse 4, now consider how great this man was in italics. Now consider how great is this man. That's the literal meaning there. He's greater than Abraham. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. Melchizedek blessed Abraham. And surely the greater blesses the lesser. Why are you looking to your traditions? Why are you looking to your family tithes? Why are you looking to anything other than Christ?

He is the greater. Consider again. It's the same word that's used in our chapter three, verse three. Behold, stop, stop. Don't look to the law. Don't look to your experiences and to your traditions. Look to this man. Look to this man. He's greater than all of Abraham. This man, it's easy to hang on to past experience.

That's what they were doing. They were hanging on to, well, I was like Paul said, I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was circumcised that day. I was a Jew of Jews. I was, you know, concerning the laws, but he looked at all of his traditions in Judaism.

And once the Lord revealed this man to him, He said, that which I thought was gained to me, I now know was my loss, because I was dependent upon those things for my salvation. And now I know that this man. How much easier it is for us to look back to an experience, look back to a past, even a true grace that God gave us. Even a true experience, an enlightenment that the Lord revealed.

And yet that's yesterday's manna. That's yesterday's manna. You can't live on yesterday's manna. You try to save yesterday's manna for today and it breeds worms. No, walking by faith means that you depend upon Christ for your daily bread. That manna has got to come from heaven every day.

That's the walk of faith. We find ourselves in so much conflict and in so much turmoil. We find ourselves like these early Hebrews, wondering if it's all worth it because we are walking by sight. But when the Lord enables us to see this man, then all is well, all is well.

I can feed my soul on this man. He is my sustenance. He is my life. He is my love. He is my hope. He is my resurrection. He is all of my salvation. Not the idea of him, not doctrine surrounding him, but he himself. I am Martha, the resurrection and the life. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. This man, is the man. Yes, he's God. Yes, he's God. But he was a faithful high priest who is able to sympathize with our afflictions and with all of our weaknesses.

Look at verse 24 in this same passage. Now he's talking about those Old Testament priests. Okay, so he's better than Moses, he's better than Abraham, he's better than the sacrifices that the priests made. All those sacrifices, all those bulls and goats and sheep that were, that blood was shed, they never put away sin. Verse 22, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament, and they truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. This man, He never changes. We change, our circumstances change, our needs change, our troubles change constantly. I am the Lord and I change not.

Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed by your change and by all the troubles of this life. The man, Christ Jesus, our mediator, our surety before God, is not like those Old Testament priests. By reason of death, they had to be replaced. They had to be changed.

He changes not. He's immutable. He's the rock of our salvation. His priesthood is eternal. He ever lives to make intercession for us. We have Christ as our righteousness before God. My little children, John says, I write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He's never changed, never changed. This man, look at it again, verse 24.

This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost, all the way to the end. His salvation is not just a temporary fix. It's not just to get you out of a trouble that you're in. No, it's to save you eternally all the way to the end. He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him.

This man, this man, what a man. God's perfect man and man's perfect God. What a glorious man. Turn with me to chapter eight. Verse one, now of the things that we have spoken, this is the sum of it. This is the sum of everything that we've been saying.

We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pits and not man. There is a tabernacle in heaven. You see these Jews were looking to the tabernacle on earth. They were looking for something that, how often we do that? Again, we look to that which we fashioned with our own hands. We look to that which is physical. We look to that which is temporal. We judge things based on what we can see by sight.

For every high priest, verse three, was ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices wherefore it was of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer This man had to have a gift to offer. Turn with me to chapter nine. Look at verse 14. This is a very important question and a very important glorious truth concerning the Lord Jesus. Who did he offer this gift to? We know that he was the gift, he was the sacrifice. When Isaac asked Abraham, father, here's the fire and here's the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? What did Abraham say to his son?

God will provide himself a sacrifice. God will do the providing. God will provide the sacrifice, he will make himself the sacrifice and he will provide the sacrifice to himself. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did. Look at verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself not to us, he offered himself without spot to God.

This priest had to have an offering and the offering that he made of himself to the father purges our conscience from dead works. What is a dead work? A dead work is a work that man thinks he can perform as an offering that will make him acceptable to God. What can I bring God that will that will merit me favor with God. God says that's a dead work.

The offering that Christ made of himself is the offering that will deliver your conscience. My conscience needs to be delivered from my dead works because if I'm an honest man, every time I do something that I think might credit me some blessing or some favor with God, my conscience convicts me wondering if I did it right, or what was my real motive behind it. And the more I look into my motives, the more I discover that they're never pure. And so I'm convicted in my conscience, did this work really work? No, it didn't. But I have one, an offering that was made by this man that is acceptable to God. It was without spot. It was perfect. God saw it. And God said, that offering I accept. And I accept you on the basis of that offering. No other offering.

Turn with me to chapter 10 at verse 12. Five times the writer of Hebrews points our attention away from our trials, away from our attempts to fix our own problems, and reminds us that this man who can only be seen by faith is our hope, all of our hope. Verse 12.

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. There's no rest for the weary that are trying to earn God's favor and merit their salvation based on anything other than this man. But this man sat down. And the only time we are able to sit down, the only time we are able to rest and cease from our labors is when by faith we look to this man.

Verse 13, from henceforth, from the moment that he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, from henceforth, expecting. Now we've all had expectations that weren't fulfilled. Would it be possible for the Lord Jesus to expect something from his father and it not be given to him? No, what is he expecting? He's expecting all of his enemies to become his footstool. And that will be his reward.

All men come into this world at enmity with God by nature. That's our sinful nature. And for some who look to this man, for all the hope of their salvation, they find themselves, as we're doing right now, sitting at his feet and choosing, as Mary did, that one thing that is needful, to hear the voice of this man. Others in the day of wrath will find themselves eternally at enmity with God. It all hinges on this man.

Verse 14, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Yes, our God is holy, he is sovereign, he is omnipotent, he does what he wants, when he wants, with whomever he wants, however he wants, and everything he does is always right. He's God. And we worship him because he's all-powerful and he's deserving of all worship and glory. But the other side to our God is that he became a man, that we might have help in our time of need, that we might have a high priest who is touched by the feelings of our infirmities, that we might have a man that we can come to that will affectionately, lovingly, understandingly help us in our time of need, having been tempted in all ways that we are. Yet he was without sin. What a God Christ Jesus, the Lord, the God man, fully God and fully man. Tom. Number 40, let's stand together. In the spiral hymn book, help me to sing this a capella. He is Lord, he is Lord, he is Lord.

This Man

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know that Jesus is both God and man?

Why is faith important for Christians?

How does Jesus intercede for us?

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About Greg Elmquist

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This Man

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know that Jesus is both God and man?

Why is faith important for Christians?

How does Jesus intercede for us?

Sermon Transcript

About Greg Elmquist

Comments

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