As you all know, we give no credibility
whatever to any sense of holy days or special religious days. December 25th is no holier than
June the 10th. There's no special significance
concerning it, but it is a marvelous thing in God's providence that
he has arranged it so that every year, this time of the year,
the whole world, everybody in the world is compelled to deal
with the fact that God himself stepped into humanity 2,000 years
ago. Everybody has to deal with that. Either denying it, refusing to
bow to God's revelation, or rejoicing in it. But everybody is confronted
with that fact, and I'm delighted that it's so. More than that,
I'm delighted that I'm reminded. I'm reminded of our Lord's marvelous
advent to redeem and save His people. His accomplishments on
our behalf. And I want to talk to you about
that this evening. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
2. If God will enable me to preach
it, he's given me a message. Why did Christ come? Why did Christ come? Everyone
in this town, with few exceptions, are celebrating this week the
fact that Christ came. There are very few people who
know, who even have a clue, as to why Christ came into this
world. Why did the Son of God assume
our nature? Was there any necessity for the
incarnation? Surely there must have been one,
else he would not have come. If there is such a necessity,
what is it? What compelled the Son of God
to come into this world in our nature. And I ask those questions,
not with irreverent carnal curiosity, but with utter reverence for
God, my Savior. If he who is God, over all, blessed
forever, stepped into humanity, came down here and became one
of us, if he who is God stoops to become a man, If he who is
rich in mercy makes himself poor for our sakes, if he who is Lord
of all becomes servant for our sakes, surely there must be some
great necessity for such condensation. What is that necessity? Surely
the answer to the question will inspire our hearts to worship
him, to trust him, to serve him more fully. Surely it will. Surely
the answer to that question will enable us tonight to see something
of His majesty and His greatness and His goodness as God our Savior
and compel our hearts to His throne, bowing to Him and worshiping
Him. And the answer isn't hard to
find. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2 if
you haven't already found it. It's written out plainly in this
book. You don't have to guess about
why Christ Jesus came into the world. It's written in many,
many places and written in detail in many places. We're told in
Hebrews 10 that our Lord Jesus came here to do the will of God. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
my God. So he stepped into the world.
He came in time and assumed our nature in a real human body to
accomplish the will of God. Which will is the salvation of
His people? He came here to accomplish the
will of God for the glory of God and the saving of His people.
He came here to save His people from their sins. And Brother
Allen just mentioned in his prayer, Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. His name is
Emmanuel. God with us. God in our nature. He came down here to save his
people. Those who were his people long
before he came into this world. To save them from their sins.
Now either he did it or he's a failure. and blessed be His
name, He is no failure. It is written of Him, He shall
not fail. Our Lord Jesus came here to die
that God might be just and the justifier of all who believe
on Him. Christ came here so that God
might be a just God and a Savior. The Lord God Almighty could never
show any sinner mercy. The Lord God could never save
any sinner except by the sacrifice of his own darling son. If there
had been another way by which God could save our souls, then
the Apostle Paul writes by divine inspiration and says, Christ
died in vain. But of all places in Scripture,
None gives us a more detailed view of the reason for our Lord's
incarnation than Hebrews chapter 2. I want you to just hold your
Bibles open here at Hebrews 2. We'll begin at verse 9 and go
through the end of the chapter. In these verses of Scripture,
God the Holy Spirit gives us five distinct clear answers to
this question, why did Christ come? I'm going to deliberately
spend the bulk of my time with the first answer. The others
will follow in order. First look at verses 9 through
13 and understand this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, God the
Son, came into this world assuming our nature. He became one of
us for the suffering of death. For the suffering of death. Verse 9 begins with But we see
Jesus. What a way to begin a message.
But we see Jesus. Paul had been describing how
that God made the world and made man to rule over the world and
put all things in subjection under the feet of man. Even the
angels themselves made to be ministering spirits sent forth
to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. But
we don't see all things put under the feet of man. What does man
control? What does man rule? What's in
subjection to man? Nothing. Nothing. But there is
a man seated in glory under whose feet God has put all things and
he shall soon put all things under the feet of all who are
in him. We see Jesus. How do we see Him? Not by visions and dreams, not
by idolatrous pictures of a wimpy effeminate looking man that folks
have drawn, but rather we see him the same way that Abel and
Abraham and Noah and Enoch and Job saw him. We see him by faith. By the revelation of God, the
Holy Spirit, through the book of God. Our Lord Jesus said,
Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Believers are people who by God-given
faith see Christ as He revealed in the book and really see Him. We see Him. We see Him as our
mighty Savior incarnate. God in our nature. God come to
save. People laugh and poke fun and
say, how can you believe such a thing? I believe it because
it's revealed in this book. And I believe it because the
God-man, my Redeemer, is the only one who could and did put
away sin. I believe him because Christ
has made himself known in me, giving me life his own life,
making me partaker of the divine nature. Now, I can't persuade
anybody else to see that. I can't persuade you to see that. Some of you look a little bit
glassy-eyed, like I don't understand that, preacher. I pray before
this hour is over, you will. I pray before this hour is over,
you will. We see Jesus. We perceive Him. We apprehend
Him. We know Him. We possess Him. We live in Him. We see Jesus,
this one who came to save His people from their sins. We see
Him because He saved us from our sins. We see our Lord Jesus
Christ as the only and all-sufficient substitute for sinners. We see
Him totally successful in His work as our Redeemer. Verse 9
now, look at this. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels. Watch this. For the suffering
of death. He was made lower than the angels
for this purpose. He was made to be a man for this
purpose. For the suffering of death. We
see Him crowned with glory and honor. But he was made lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. God's darling Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, came here as a man, came here as one of
us, assuming a real human body and a real human soul, made in
all things like we are, sin alone accepted. that he might be in
a condition to suffer death. He said in Hebrews 10 verse 5,
a body hast thou prepared me. A body hast thou prepared me.
A body in which to live. A body in which to die. A body in which to obey God unto
the full satisfaction of justice by my death. body and wished
to rise again. He became lower than the angels. He became lower than his father,
subjecting himself to God voluntarily as Jehovah's servant. He became
lower than the angels for a while, made in the likeness of men,
so that he who created the angels makes himself a man lower than
the angels. More than that, He became a man. He stooped to become a man. And he stooped to become the
least of men. The lowest of men. You ever wonder
what our Lord meant when he said concerning John the Baptist,
among all that are born of women, none is greater than John the
Baptist. But I tell you that he who is least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. Well who was that? Who was that? That one who is least in the
kingdom of God is he who stooped to be made sin for us. That he
might suffer all the wrath of God in our room instead. He came
into this world in our humanity. He stooped to become a man. That
he might stoop to be made sin. That he might stoop to die. Otherwise
we could never have been redeemed. That he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man. He came here to save, but in
order to be our savior, he had to become our substitute, our
sin offering. He had to die, but he couldn't
die except to become one of us. Therefore, that he might taste
death for us, that he might suffer under the wrath of God, he became
one of us. Now this was the necessity. Look
at verse 10. For it became him. It was necessary for him. It
behooved him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. Look at the rest of this chapter.
And you see those words every man. Understand two things. Understand two things. This book was written on purpose by God
to confuse men who will not believe God. You don't have to answer and
you don't have to know the answer. You don't even have to concern
yourself with finding the answer to all the objections being raised
to the doctrine of the gospel. Well, what does that mean if
Christ just died for his elect? What does that mean if by the
grace of God she takes death for every man? God put that there
just on that purpose. Just that purpose. But the context
explains exactly what the every man refers to. Understand, first,
the book is written to confuse unbelieving men. But understand,
secondly, that every passage of Scripture understood in its
context is perfectly clear. And there's no place in this
book that even gives a hint that Christ died for every person
in the world. What does this every man refer
to then? Every man spoken of in this context. Every son of
God. Every era salvation everyone
of the seed of Abraham. Let's look at it and see the
first reference here is to God the triune Jehovah Father Son
and Holy Ghost it became him it became him Salvation was an
act worthy of God Salvation, the redemption of our souls,
is an act worthy of God, displaying all the glorious attributes of
God, but it's an act accomplished only by the sacrifice of God's
own Son. The second reference in this
passage is to God's elect in bringing many sons to glory. These sons are those sinners
chosen and predestinated to the adoption of children, redeemed
by Christ, called by His Spirit, heirs of heavenly glory. There
are many of them, many out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue who shall be called, redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ, chosen of God in eternity, and they shall be born again,
many sons. The third person mentioned in
our text is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. the incarnate God. Here he is called the captain
of their salvation. What a great word for him. He's
the captain because he's the author of it. He's the captain
because he's the guide and leader. He's the captain because he's
Lord and King. By the Father's purpose and love, and because
of the Father's righteousness, justice, and truth, the Savior
must suffer perfectly. all that the law and justice
of God required if God would save His people. The only way
Christ could redeem us is in a way that's completely in agreement
with all the attributes of God. Justice and truth, mercy and
grace, righteousness and peace, wrath and love, all the attributes
of God must be satisfied in the sacrifice of His Son. Our Lord
Jesus Christ tells us that he died for our sins according to
the scriptures. That is, as all the sacrifices
of the Old Testament. Why did God require all those
sacrifices? For 2,000 years, all those sacrifices. Every morning, every day, every
night. Why all those sacrifices? Why
did God send judgment? Judgment upon nations. So He
commands His people under His Word to invade a land and destroy
every human being in that land. Now you try explaining that.
You try explaining that. God is love. God said kill them
all! God is love. How can you explain
that? He who is love is justice and
truth. And he will by no means clear
the guilty. And he will and does punish sin
and he tells us over and over and over again Day after day
after day men stop there is and say shut up. I don't want to
hear it God tells you every time you read of any crime every time
you read of any sickness every time you read of any death every
time you read of any violence pestilence disease earthquake
Tornado war whatever it is God says i'm going to punish sin
prepare to meet God, you're about to die. You're about to die.
Christ Jesus, if He would redeem us, must redeem us in a way that
displays and satisfies completely all the attributes of God. Let
me just give you two. God commendeth love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Oh my soul, what amazing love. Christ Jesus died in our stead. He came here because of God's
great love to redeem and save our souls. And God, when he made his son
to be sin for us, cried, awake, O sword, against
the man that is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd. And our
Lord Jesus, the Son of God, for the suffering of death, became
a man that he might endure all the hail of God's justice at one time and satisfy it completely. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
who knew no sin, made sin, suffered all the wrath of God because
of the love of God for His elect. and because of the justice of
God that must be satisfied. All those that Christ came to
save, all for whom he tasted death by the grace of God, all
his chosen brethren are the gift of God to him. Look at verse
12. I'm sorry, look at verse 11, but don't miss this. Christ
is both our sanctifier and our sanctification. Watch this. For
both he that sanctifieth And they who are sanctified are all
of one. More literally, both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all one. All one. For which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. The Son of God is not ashamed
to look down here on this earth and call such things as you and
me his brothers. He said, behold, my mother and
my brother and my father and my sister. Behold, these are
my family. He's not ashamed to call us brethren.
Our Lord Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren. Brethren
given to him in covenant mercy. Look at verse 12. Saying, I will
declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. There he quotes from Psalm 22.
And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold I and
the children which God hath given me. And there he quotes from
Isaiah chapter 8. How is it that Christ receives
his people? He received us, his children,
as the gift of his Father given to him in electing love before
the world was when the Lord God trusted all the household to
the firstborn Son, trusted all the care of the house to the
firstborn, trusted all the care of the house to that One who
is the firstborn, who is the Good Shepherd, who is the surety
of the everlasting covenant. And there He is by blood atonement. He redeemed us. Purchased us
out from the bondage of iniquity out from the curse of the law
out from the pit of destruction And then he has them given to
him at the appointed time of love the Spirit of God comes
and Gives the chosen redeemed sinner into the hands of the
Savior Effectually causing sinners loved and chosen and redeemed
of Christ to come to him to believe him All right, that's the first
thing. Our Savior came here for the
suffering of death, that he might die the painful, shameful, ignominious
death of the cross. Second, our Lord Jesus came here
as a man for the purpose of destroying
the devil. Look at verse 14. For as much
then as children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself
likewise took part of the same, that he through death might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Now I've got
to look at that word destroy this afternoon. Commonly the
word has the idea of just complete annihilation. That's not what
our Lord came here to do. He didn't come here to annihilate
Satan. He came here to destroy him. destroy his power, to destroy
his intent, to destroy his influence, to overturn everything Satan
had done of harm and evil in God's creation, to turn it all
back on him and make him suffer for it. In Genesis 3 15, this
is our God's word to Satan. Let's do it. I will put enmity
in between thee and the woman. I will put enmity, God said to
the serpent, between you and the woman. This is God's doing. I will put enmity between Satan
and the woman, between the child of God and the child of wrath.
I'll put enmity between the church and the world. I'll put enmity
between you and the woman. between thy seed and her seed,
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Since those whom our Lord redeems
are of human nature, Christ became a man, but he became a man that
he might deliver us from the power of Satan, and in delivering
us that he might undo all the evil Satan had done, that he
might destroy Satan. As John put it, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. And that's what he did. He came
here and destroyed Satan. He's that mighty angel who came
down from heaven with a great chain in his hand and he bound
Satan. and cast him into the bottomless
pit, and put a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations
no more until he's loose for a little season, and that too
by God's order and God's decree. And so our Savior came here,
that one who has power over death. That doesn't mean that he has
the power to take anybody's life. No, no, no, no, no. Satan can't
kill a flea. Satan doesn't have power over
death. He is that one who by the instigation of sin is the
cause of death. And Christ came to overturn the
cause. Christ came to make an end to
the cause. Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to
destroy him that had power over death. That one who was like
a black hooded hangman. God gave him power. Satan otherwise
couldn't kill or destroy anything. comes in his grace and destroys
his power over us. As he did with Lazarus when Lazarus
was raised from the dead. So he comes to his old in resurrection
power and destroys the work of Satan in us. He binds the strong
man and cast him out. Third, look at verse 15. The
Son of God came down here to die for us that he by the merit
of his blood and the power of his grace might deliver us from
the fear of death. He came to destroy the devil
and to deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. Fear of death. Oh, how men fear
death. The great dreaded enemy. How people fear death. I've seen
people, religious and otherwise, get news they've got cancer,
or get news they've got heart trouble, or get news they're
real sick and about to die. Oh my, how things change. How
things change. get rid of television start reading
the Bible all day and start to act different and they Start
going to church real regular and everything is just real real
Real religious because they're afraid of death and then when
the fears over They've maintained a little Similarity to religion,
but it's all gone because folks Fear death they fear death But
there's no reason for you who are gods to fear death. There's
no reason for us who are redeemed, who live with Christ and in Christ,
washed in His blood, made the righteousness of God in Him,
born of His Spirit, saved by His grace, no reason for us to
fear death. There's absolutely no reason.
God, give us grace. upon the death of this body,
God give me grace to look upon the dying of this body of flesh
as a thing to be desired. As a thing to be anticipated. As a thing to be rejoiced in
for the believer when he drops this robe of flesh. Forever drops
in death his old nature and lives unto God. Number four, look at
verse 60. The Son of God came down here.
He became a man. Because before the world was,
he took hold on a covenant people and pledged himself their surety
to redeem and save those covenant people and the father Trusted
those covenant people into his hands. They say that's all verse
16 says For barely he took not on him the nature of angels Weren't there some fallen angels Don't you remember reading about
some fallen angels in Revelation 12 and Don't you remember reading
in Jude about some fallen angels? Well, why didn't God show them
any mercy? Why didn't the Lord Jesus take
hold of them? Why didn't He come to save them?
Because He purposed not to do so. He purposed not to do so. He
left them in their ruin. They fell and He left them. held
in chains of darkness reserved to the day of judgment. He took
not on him the nature of angels. Now watch this next line. But
he took on him, that is, he took hold of the seed of Adam. You know what it says, isn't it,
David? That's not what it says. He took on him, he took hold
of the seed of Abraham. Why didn't he say Adam? Because
he didn't take on him the seed of Adam. He didn't take hold
of all Adam's seed. He didn't take hold of all the
human race. But rather he passed by the reprobate
and took hold on God's elect and said, I'll come and redeem
and save my covenant people. And so he came here to become
a man. And he came here to suffer and
die and rise again to accomplish redemption for Abraham's chosen
seed. He passed by the fallen angels
and the multitudes of Aaron's fallen race. But bless God, he
would not, he could not, He did not pass by Abraham's chosen
seed. They're called in Romans 9, vessels
of mercy. Vessels of mercy. Vessels of
mercy prepared by God himself for glory. All right, look at
verse 17. Here's the fifth thing. Our Savior,
the Lord Jesus, came down here in flesh and blood He lived and
died, rose again as a man, just like us, so that he could be
just the Savior we need. Look at verse 17. Wherefore in
all things it behooved him. Strong word. It was compelling
to him, compelling to him. Oh no, nothing could compel Him
to redeem us. Nothing could compel Him to save
us. Nothing could compel Him to have mercy on us. But having
mercy on us, if He would save us, the only way He could do
it is to die for us. It behooved Him to be made like
unto His brethren. I love these next words. That
He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God. to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. Christ came here that he might
be a merciful. But God was merciful before,
yes. But the God-man has mercy. How can I say this? How can I
communicate this? The God-man has mercy for sinners
that God outside humanity cannot have. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. A merciful and faithful high
priest. I suppose it's got a lot to do
with age, but Shelby and I frequently, while we're having coffee in
the mornings and frequently before we turn the lights out at night,
comment about God's great faithfulness. Oh, how he's proved himself over
and over and over all these years. The God-man, our Redeemer. That one who is merciful, faithfully
rules the universe for us, and exercises faithfulness in all
he does for us. He didn't become a man just for folks to sing about
at Christmas time or talk about at Easter time. Had he not become
a man, he could never have been a high priest to make a sacrifice
and atonement for sin. Had he not become a man, he could
never have had anything to offer as a sacrifice, he would have
had no blood to shed. Had he not become a man to obey
the law of God for us, he would have had no righteousness as
a man to plead as our mediator in the court of heaven. Had he
not become a man, he could never have been made sin for us. Had
he not become a man, he could never have died for us. Only
by becoming a man could the Lord of Glory become a great high
priest who has himself endured and prevailed over all the temptations
we face. Verse 18, for in that he himself
hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that
are tempted. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common with man. But God will with the temptation
make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. And that
way of escape is Christ the Lord. In the midst of your trials,
in the midst of heartache, in the midst of trouble, in the
midst of pain and confusion, I'm going to give you the wisest
counsel you'll ever get from any man. Look to Christ. Worship the Son of God. Trust
the Savior. No matter what the trouble is,
no matter what the pain is, no matter what the heartache is,
look to Christ. Trust the Son of God, your Savior. He was tempted in all points,
like as we are, yet without sin. But he who knew no sin and did
no sin was made sin. So that the crucified Christ,
the Christ who sits upon the throne of heaven, The Christ
who holds the reins of the universe was tempted in all points like
as we are. Nothing excepted. Behold Him
in Gethsemane. Behold Him on Calvary and understand
that He is a great high priest in heaven Touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. That means, Mark Daniel, nothing
touches you that doesn't touch Him. Nothing. Nothing. The Lord Jesus saw Mary and Martha. Mary weeping at her brother's
tomb. She was just crying convulsively. Said, we ought not do that. That's
all right. That's all right. When he saw
her crying convulsively, he wept. He wept. It wasn't that Mary
didn't believe him. No, no, no. She knew. Lord, if you'd been here, my
brother wouldn't have died. Nobody ever died in his presence.
She knew that. She knew that he was going to
raise him from the dead. She didn't know what was about
to happen, but she knew he was going to do it. She knew he was
going to do it. She wept convulsively because she loved her brother
and knew what an empty place was left in her life because
Lazarus was taken away. Now, that's just fact. That's just fact. We don't have
to act like stoics. Don't feel anything. Well, I
want to be manly about this. No, no, no, no, no, no. The Lord
Jesus saw her weeping and he wept. But he didn't weep convulsively. He didn't. He wasn't just sobbing
and sobbing and sobbing. He wept because he's touched
with what's touched Mary. My brother, my sister, God, your
Savior, is touched with what touches you. And he's able to
succor, to help with compassion them that are tempted. My older sister, we used to,
you folks who are younger, you can't appreciate this. Most of
us here can. We used to go to the clinic in Western Salem and
get vaccinated for everything. We had to get shots all the time. My sister is four years older
than me and she's still scared to death of a needle. When we'd go get vaccinated,
I would help those nurses and those orderlies hold my older
sister still so they could get a needle in her. And she'd scream
and squawk, and it didn't bother me a bit. She's my older sister. I didn't mind seeing her scream
and squawk. When I said that the other day at the table with
Doug and Will, he said, he said, when Arden Grace had to have
some work done, he said, I had to hold her. He said, I sure felt that. I
sure felt that. Not like the Son of God feels
our infirmity. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmity. Here's the difference. Wasn't
one thing Doug could do about it. Not one thing he could do about
it. Christ can, and he does. He who is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities quickly delivers his own. Oh, thank you, blessed
Savior, for coming here in my nature, for redeeming me, calling
me by your grace, for ruling the universe for me, for interceding
on my behalf, for the blessed promise that soon you shall complete
your deliverance of me exactly according to your purpose. I hope you can enter into that.
And if you can, I'll send you home with this word. Oh, merry,
merry, merry Christmas. Blessed is your life if you have
a life in the Son of God. Amen.