Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 9. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man. For it became him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons
under glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. For the suffering of death, that's
my subject this morning. For the suffering of death, the
son of God became the son of man. for the suffering of death. God stepped in to humanity for
the suffering of death. God became a man for the suffering
of death. God, the Word, was made flesh
and dwelt among us for the suffering of death. Without question, the
most wondrous of all God's works in the universe is the work of
redemption. When we attempt to contemplate
what that work involved, we're lost in astonishment. When we
think of the unutterable depths of shame and sorrow to which
the Lord of Glory stooped to save us, We are utterly awed
and staggered at the thought. Arthur Pink made this observation,
that the eternal son of God should lay aside the robes of his ineffable
glory and take upon him the form of a servant, that the ruler
of heaven and earth should be made under the law, that the
creator of the world should tabernacle in this world and have not where
to lay his head is something which the finite mind can never
comprehend. But where carnal reason fails,
God-given faith believes and worships. How can God infinite? incomprehensible God. God whom the universe cannot
contain. The infinite incomprehensible
God. How can God become a man? How can a man be born of a virgin? How can God in all his fullness
reside bodily in a human being. No mind can begin to enter into
the thought, let alone understand and explain the fact. But faith
rejoices to know it. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. As we trace the path
of our savior from the throne of life to the tomb of death
and behold him who was rich for our sakes becoming poor that
we through his poverty might be made rich. We're lost in the
depths of the very things we read and quote. We know that
every step in the path of our Redeemer's humiliation. was ordained
by the purpose of the eternal God. And yet, it was a path of
immeasurable sorrow, a path of unutterable anguish, ceaseless
ignominy, bitter hatred, and persecution. At last, it brought
the beloved Son of God, the darling of heaven, to suffer the painful,
shameful, ignominious death that he endured at Calvary, who could
ever have imagined such things. Having them revealed, who can
enter into the depths of these things? Standing at the foot
of Calvary, I behold that holy one nailed to the cursed tree,
covered with his blood, covered with the spit of men over his
body, an enraged mob laughing and mocking and throwing a party
as he is suffering the horrible agony of body, soul, and spirit
heaped upon him by men and by God, forsaken and cursed of his
father. I bow here utterly astonished
as he bear my sin in his own body on the tree. I'm lost in
astonishment as I am in reverence and awe. The hymn writer put
it this way, yonder amazing sight I see the incarnate son of God
expiring on the tree and weltering in his blood. Behold the purple
torrent run down from his hands and head The crimson tide puts
out the sun. His groans awake the dead. The trembling earth and darkened
sky proclaim the truth aloud. And with the amazed centurion
cry, this is the Son of God. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He who knew no sin was made sin. He who wrote the law, He who
wrote the law, being made sin for us, became
for us the curse of the law. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now all as I am by that fact,
filled with reverence as I am by that fact, there's a question
that constantly, constantly is raised in my mind. A question
that must be answered. Why? Why did God stoop to become a
man? Why did God take on himself my
humanity? Why did God become one of us? Why did God, the Holy One, in
human flesh having lived in perfect obedience to the Father all the
days of his life, why suddenly was he made sin, made a curse,
abandoned by God, and put to death under the wrath of God?
Was it to save my soul? I know that he did this that
I might live. He suffered the just for the
unjust, that he might bring me to God. But was there no other
way for God to save a sinner like me? Was there no other way
for God? We're talking God now. God, not
some stump, not some stone, not some angel, not some man. We're talking God. Was there
no other way for God to save me except by the death of his
son? Was all this done to demonstrate
the greatness of God's love for me? Indeed, it does that. Indeed, it does that. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends, and our Lord lay down his life for his enemies. God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. He laid down his life for us.
This is where God's love is known and revealed. God's love is revealed
in the sacrifice of his son. But surely God could show his
love to me and convince me of his love in some way other than
by sacrificing his son in my stead. Surely he could. Surely he could. You know I love
you and I haven't died for any of you. My wife knows that I
love her and I haven't died for her. My family knows I love them. I haven't died for them. Surely
God could convince me of his love for me in some other way.
Jesus who left his throne on high, left the bright realms
of bliss He came to the earth and bled and died. Oh, what love
is this? But surely we could have known
his love otherwise. Why did God slay his son? There must be some necessity.
There must be something that necessitated the death of his
son. Only one answer can be found
to that question. Here's the answer. Justice must be satisfied. Grace reigns, but grace reigns
only through righteousness. Don Renier, God cannot save you
except he save you justly. God cannot forgive your sin,
except he do so righteously. God cannot, and I use the word
with utter reverence, knowing who God is, God cannot defy his
own law. He can't do it. So you can't
say God can't do anything. The book of God says God cannot
lie, does it not? God cannot lie. Why? Because
he's holy. He's just. He's true. God cannot
do wrong because he's holy. He's just. He's true. God cannot
violate his own character. He cannot do that which is contrary
to his own perfections. God cannot save except he save
justly, except he save righteously, except he save in accordance
with the law that he himself has given. There's no necessity
upon God to save anyone. Salvation is altogether by God's
free grace, by God's sovereign will. There's no necessity in
God that he save anyone. I remember hearing just as a
boy, and I heard it, I've heard it throughout my life. People,
preachers, religious folks, people get a notion in their head. They
just have some kind of foolish notion in their head, and they
start spouting it off as though it, oh, it just sounds so good.
There was a great vacuum in God, because God is love. He must
have someone to love. And so he created man that he
might have someone to love. And God redeemed us to show us
his love. No. No, there was no vacuum in
God. God's self-existent. He is eternally
complacent in himself. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
There is no emptiness in God that we make up. There's no vacuum
in God that we feel. Oh, no. God chose to save because
he will. That's all. That's all. There's
no necessity that he should save anyone. But having chosen to
save, he must save in a way that's consistent with his own character. And so we read in the book of
God, without shedding of blood is no remission. The justice
of God had to be satisfied if God would save his people. And
the only thing that could satisfy the justice of God is God. The only one who can satisfy
the justice of God is God, not a man. Not many men, not all
men. Should God right now send the
whole world to hell and you suffer the vengeance of God's wrath
forever in hell, hell will continue to burn whatever the burning
of hell is forever because man cannot satisfy infinite justice. Understand that? You can't meet
God's requirements. God is infinite. We're not even
a speck before Him. You can't satisfy God's justice,
God's righteousness, God's truth. It cannot be done by man except
that man be God. Oh, glorious Redeemer! He who is our Savior is God in
our flesh. A man capable of suffering wrath
and death. and the fury of God's anger and
God's justice. A man capable at one time in
his body of suffering all the horrid wrath of God upon man
and making infinite satisfaction because of his worth as God. He is the infinite God. Now this
is a matter of utmost importance. the satisfaction of justice by
the sacrifice of Christ. It has often been said that the
death of Christ, the atonement of Christ, is that which distinguishes
Christianity from all other religions, and that certainly is true. I'm not looking for something
to say. I want your attention. But true Christianity is distinguished
by something far more than that. true Christianity is distinguished
by the satisfaction of justice in the death of Christ. Without
the satisfaction of justice, that which is called Christianity,
the Christian religion, is of no more benefit to the souls
of men than Hinduism Judaism or Islam. It is just another
belief system. It is just another religious
philosophy. It is just another religious
moral code. It has no benefit to the souls
of men until you understand that when Jesus Christ died at Calvary,
he accomplished something. He satisfied the justice of God
for his people. This is a matter of paramount
importance because satisfaction for sin is that which is necessary
for salvation. We often are warned in Holy Scripture
to beware of damnable heresies brought in by false prophets
in the church. Among those damnable heresies,
none is more common and none more destructive to the souls
of men than the denial of Christ's satisfaction of divine justice
for his people. Now that satisfaction, we stated
in many ways, limited atonement, effectual redemption, It is the
satisfaction of justice, not just the fact that Christ died,
but H-O-W, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. How did he die? He died in the
room and stand of his people under the wrath of God and fully
satisfied the justice of God in his death. The most damning
heresy in the world is the most common heresy in the world. And
that is the idea that though Christ died, his death didn't
really accomplish anything. He did not really put away sin. He did not really redeem his
people. He did not really make them righteous
before God. He did not really reconcile them
to God. He only made them redeemable,
savable. He only provided an opportunity. He only made it possible for
them to be saved. I've often told you about a local
pastor here in Danville. Years ago, this is back before
we ever finished the basement downstairs, I had an office here
A fellow pulled up one day and wanted to sell me some insurance.
He's a preacher. He's a businessman. He preached on the side. Sideline
preachers ain't much, but he preached on the side and dabbled
in everything. And he couldn't sell me any insurance, so he
asked me a question. He said, what's the difference
what you preach and I preach? What's the difference what your
church preaches when my church preaches. And I said, if you've
got a little time, I'd be glad to tell you. And he sat and listened
to me for a long, long time, long time. And I wound up asking
this statement. I said to him, if I understand
correctly what you believe, you believe that Jesus Christ, when
he died at Calvary, made it possible for all people to be saved But
he didn't really save anybody. He made it possible for all to
be justified, but did not actually justify anybody when he died.
He made it possible for all to be redeemed, but he did not actually
redeem them. He made them savable, justifiable,
and redeemable. And man, by his faith, gives
efficacy to the blood of Christ for his own justification, his
own salvation, and his own redemption. He said, yes, that's what I believe.
I said, that's damning heresy. For it makes man his own savior
and denies that Christ accomplished anything. Turn to Hebrews chapter
10. Let me show you this damning
heresy. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26. If we sin willfully, after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth. Now that sin willfully
refers right back to verse 25, where men abandon the worship
of God, forsake the assembling of ourselves together in the
house of God. A man sitting here, you sitting
here, Cody, there you sit. You've shown great zeal, interest
in things of God. God's revealed Christ to you. You decide, well, I've had enough
of that, and you walk away from it. You walk away from it. There remaineth no more sacrifice
for sin because you walked away from the only hope there is.
Read on. But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer
punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God? He walks on the Son of God like
you walk on dirt. Trodden underfoot the Son of
God. How is that? He hath counted the blood of
the covenant Wherewith he was sanctified, the blood of Christ,
wherewith he was sanctified. You mean a fellow can be actually
sanctified and then be lost? As the word is used here, yes.
The word sanctified used in this context obviously doesn't mean
made holy. It just means set apart or separated. Men get a dose of religion and
they separate themselves from other folks and they start acting
different and all that stuff. But these who despise the gospel,
who walk on the blood of Christ, they count his blood an unholy
thing. You know what the word means, Allen?
Common. They count it a common thing. Somebody said, well, he's common
as dirt. That means there's not much to him. He's just like an
old shoe. He's common. Common. Common things are worthless things. How come? Because they're common.
All you got to do is just go out and pick up a little dirt,
and you won't be able to get anybody to pay you for it. If
you get any money for it, you got to haul it in a truck that'll
haul about 40 tons. It's just common. Most everybody
says the blood of Christ is a common thing. It was shed for everybody. It didn't do anything. And it's
worthless. A common thing. And hath done
despite to the spirit of grace. The whole religious world around
us then. All who would tell you God loves
everybody, Christ died for everybody, the Holy Spirit's trying to save
everybody, hate God, hate the blood of Christ, and hate the
Spirit of God, despise the Spirit of grace, trample underfoot the
blood of the Son of God, and trample the very name and glory
of God under their feet. The most damning of all heresies
is the most common. Let's look at Hebrews chapter
2 now, verses 9 and 10. Here, the Apostle Paul, writing
by divine inspiration, clearly states the necessity of Christ's
satisfaction for sin, and perhaps does so here more than in any
other single passage of Scripture. Let's look at these two verses
line by line. We see Jesus. I never have seen him with these
eyes. Have you? I never did. He lived on this
earth a long time ago, and I've never seen a picture of him either. Those little silly, sissy-looking
pictures of some sissy looks, you'd think it was a pretty girl
if it didn't have a mustache and a beard. That's not a picture
of Christ. That's an idolatrous painting
of men. If you happen to have one, I
suggest you burn it. We've never seen a picture of
it. Nobody's got a clue what he looks like. Nobody's got a
clue what he looks like. Not a clue. Because there's no
representation of him reserved to men. We don't see him. Not
with the physical eye. We've not seen him in a vision
or a dream. If you think you did, don't pay
any attention to it. That's all we're talking about.
The word is perceive. We behold. We know. We perceive
Jesus. We see him with the eye of faith. We see him only because he's
been revealed to us by God the Spirit through the gospel we've
read here in his word. We see that he is Jesus. The
name means Jehovah who saves. He is Jehovah our Savior, the
Christ of God. We see in him all the fullness
of the Godhead. We see in Him all the fullness
of grace, all the fullness of all things for sinners. We see
in Him all the fullness of redemption. In Him we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. We see Him. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
1 for just a second. I quote this to you all the time.
It would be good to look at it again this morning. We see Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Christ, our Redeemer, the Son
of God, the Son of Man, the Lord, our righteousness. We see Him
as our all before God. First Corinthians 130. But of
Him, that is of God, are ye in Christ Jesus? How did you get
in Him? Fred, if you're in Him, God put
you in Him. It's that simple. You didn't
put yourself in him. If you're in him, God put you
in him. Put you in him in his decree from eternity. Put you
in him in his covenant. Put you in him in redemption.
Put you in him by the work of his spirit, creating life in
you, creating Christ in you and you in Christ. Of him are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God, who of God, not by our faith. Our faith doesn't make Christ
anything. Our faith doesn't add anything to Christ. Our faith
doesn't give anything to Christ. Our faith, given to us by Christ,
receives everything from Christ. Oh, what a difference. You listen
to the religious nonsense all around us. It makes you think
that it's a wonder God ever existed without your faith. God can't
do anything without your faith. That God walk on like dirt. That God mocked like Elijah mocked
the gods that the prophets of Baal pretended to worship. That
God's useless. He's useless. Useless as a bucket
without a bottom. God needs you. You must first,
before God can. And I don't care what you put
there. I don't care what you put there. If God's waiting on
you to do something, God's not in account to you. If God's work,
God's will, God's purpose, God's power somehow has to wait on
you, that's nothing. That's nothing. That God is nothing. Nothing. The whole world, I guess,
I've been a little more riled up than usual. Let's see if I can find words
despicable enough to describe what they called a holy pop over
there in Rome. The whole world gives that man
and a bunch of men like him look like men dressed in fancy drag. What fool! What fool! What fool! except to be blinded
by divine judgment, would imagine that those clowns represent God
and Saint Peter and that that old man is the vicar of Christ
on the earth. What fool would? Everybody who
can't see Jesus. They can't see Him, but we see
Him. We see Him and we see that of
God, we're in Christ. who of God is made unto us wisdom. He's the revelation of God. He's
the word of God. He is the word by whom God makes
himself known to men. He is the word by whom God communicates
himself to man. He is our wisdom with God and
our wisdom from God. He is that wise one who stood
as the word, the mediator word in eternity and was that one
in whom God's delights were. The triune Jehovah delights in
him, the wisdom of God, Proverbs chapter eight. And he made of
God unto us righteousness. Righteousness. A fellow wrote to me this week,
and some preacher who claimed to believe grace said the breastplate
of righteousness Paul talks about in Ephesians is our personal
righteousness. He said, that's not right, is
it? And I said, you're right, that's not right. Your personal
righteousness, a breastplate to defend you from what? I'd be like holding up a wet
paper bag to defend myself. Your personal right. No. Righteousness
is not something you do. Righteousness is not something
you perform. Righteousness is not something that depends on
you. It's not God doing his part and you doing yours. It's not
something God sort of provides and you make up the lack. Christ
is made of God unto us righteousness. And if you have any other righteousness,
He is not made of God unto you righteousness. And sanctification. And sanctification. You mean,
I thought we were sanctified by our works. I've always been
told, preacher, that God saves us and he puts his spirit in
us and he gets us started in the right direction and then
we pray and we dress funny and talk
funny and get people to look at us and say, my, my, ain't
he a fine Christian. Oh, he says such a pretty prayer.
Then we get more and more holy until at last we're just right
for heaven and now we're sanctified. Take that stuff and spread it
on your garden, it'll grow weeds or plants, either one. No. Christ is made of God unto
us, sanctification. He's our holiness. He is the
one who is our acceptance with God. He is the one who brought
us out of the world by his blood and by his grace and brings us
unto God. He's our sanctification and redemption
and redemption. He's made of God and to us, redemption. Well, is that talking about the
new birth or is that talking about the atonement or is that
talking about resurrection? Yes, that's what it's talking
about. Christ redeemed us with his blood at Calvary. He redeems
us by his grace, delivers us by his grace in the new birth. And he shall redeem us, redeem
these bodies from the dust of the earth in the resurrection
by his glorious power at his second coming. Christ has made
all this of God unto us. Do you see him? If you do, flesh
and blood Didn't reveal this to you. But my father, which
is in heaven. All right, look at the next slide.
Who was made a little lower than the angels. He who made the angels
was made lower than the angels. Wow. He was made a man. Made the seed of the woman. Made
under the law that he might redeem them that were under the law
This is the reason for the incarnation. This is why Christ was made a
little lower than the angels. What's this now? for the suffering
of death The Son of God came into this world for the purpose
of suffering death He didn't come to be an earthly monarch
in Jerusalem He didn't come to establish a new religion. I He
didn't come to be a religious reformer or a social reformer
or an example of moral virtue. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God,
came here as a man. He became a man so that he might
die in the place of men and redeem them. He came here to die because
there's no other way to save. We see this next thing too. Since
he suffered and died in the place of his people, The Lord Jesus
is now crowned with glory and honor. By his obedience as Jehovah's
righteous servant, by the things that he did on this earth, by
finishing the work the Father gave him to do, Jesus Christ,
the man earned the right to rule the universe, and yonder he sits. A man in glory, crowned with
glory, he's the Christ of God. And the Father has given him
power over all flesh. What's he doing? What's he doing? Why is he sitting on the throne?
What's so important about that? To give eternal life to as many
as the Father's given him. He sits on the throne of universal
monarchy in total sovereignty, ruling everything and everybody
all the time, saving his people from their sins. Distributing those handfuls of
purpose David sang about. Causing the lost Moabites to
come to him. The kinsman redeemer sits on
the throne and rules the universe to give salvation to his own. Now look at the next line. Christ
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. Now, what's this? That he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man. Oh, now, preacher, you're
stumped. You've been telling us that Christ
didn't die for every man. He didn't. You've been telling
us that there are some folks for whom he did not die. There
are. You've been telling us that all for whom he died, he redeemed.
He did. Well, what does this mean then
that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man? This statement, like all others, must be understood in
the context in which it's found. Now, understand these two things.
I'll give you three. These three things. Number one.
This book was deliberately written by God in such a way as to confuse
unbelievers. And you're not going to take
away the confusion. You can get on the internet chat rooms and
theological blog rooms and fuss and yack and debate and write
and spit scripture back and forth to folks till the cows come home.
You can just, you can talk to your wife or your husband or
your son or your daughter, your mother, your daddy, your neighbor.
Preach it. You can talk to them till your
face turns blue and he quits breathing. And you're not going
to unconfuse them. It ain't going to happen. It
ain't gonna happen only by the revelation of God in them do
men see light and understand his book. Number two, understand
the use of this word every in the context. The word most literally,
get any Greek text you wish to do so and look the word up. Nowhere
is to be found the word man. No reason here for it to be given,
except that our translators make the passage read more smoothly,
adding the word man. It should have been put in italics.
Why they did not, I have no idea. That he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every, every. And if you were writing
it out in modern times, as I often do, you'll say that he, by the
grace of God, should taste death for every period, period, period.
That means I've got some explaining to do. I want to tell you what
I mean by every. This statement is not a declaration
that Christ died for those for whom he refused to pray. Do you reckon you'd die for a
fellow before you pray for him? I don't think so. John 17 9 and
John 17 20, the Savior said, I pray not for the world. This statement is not a suggestion
that Christ died for those who are not his sheep. The Lord Jesus
said in John 10, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. And the Pharisees stood by and
said, we don't like that. He said, you're not my sheep.
I didn't expect you'd like that. You think he died for those who
are not his sheep? No, no. This statement does not tell
us that he died for those who are from eternity vessels of
wrath ordained to destruction. Romans 9 22. This does not tell
us that Christ Jesus died for those from whom God has hidden
things revealed in heaven to others. You've hidden these things from
wise and prudent, has revealed them to babes. This statement
does not tell us that Christ died for those who suffer his
wrath forever in hell. All of those suggestions are
totally contradictory. It certainly doesn't tell us
that Christ died for those he hates. And there are some folks in this
world by the name of Esau of whom he says, I hate Esau. No. Pastor, what does it mean? Here's the third thing. It's
referring to every person spoken of in the text. He, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man I'm about to describe. And then he speaks of every son
whom he brings to glory in verse 10. He speaks of every one of
his brethren of whom he's not ashamed in verse 11. He speaks
of every member of his church in the midst of which he will
sing God's praise in verse 12. He's speaking here of every one
of the children of the father given to him to save for whose
sake he assumed flesh and blood in verse 13 He's talking about
every one of the seed of Abraham. He came here to save verse 16
the We read in the scripture The whole world has gone after
him now. Wait a minute Wait a minute. I Know a lot of people had gone
after him. Don't you? I But the book says the whole
world's gonna ask after him. And whole world means whole world?
No, it doesn't. It's talking about the general
mass of men. And here it says, he, by the
grace of God, tasted death for every man. The Lord Jesus, by
the grace of God, came here and suffered death for the saving
of his elect. That's why he died at Calvary.
Now watch this. For it became him. It became
him. The word is necessary. It was
necessary for him, if God would save sinners and bring them to
glory, that the Son of God must suffer in their room instead
all that the law and justice of God could demand. The scriptures
plainly teach that there was a necessity for the death of
Christ. He must go to Jerusalem and suffer
many things. The Son of Man must be lifted
up as the serpent in the wilderness was lifted up. It was necessitated
by the decree of God who purposed it from eternity. It was necessitated
by Christ's covenant engagements who said in the covenant he would
redeem and save his people. Necessitated by the prophecies
of the scriptures. He said in Matthew 26 and repeatedly
that the scriptures may be fulfilled He suffers these things It was
necessary because of the election of grace because there's some
people chosen of God who must be saved for whom are all things
and By whom are all things? Oh, isn't that good this one
who is our Redeemer? He is that one for whom all things
were made God made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of judgment. For whom are all things, and
by whom are all things. Creation, providence, redemption,
grace, all things by him. Whatever comes to pass, by him. By him are all things. Who? He
who loved me and gave himself for me. Now watch this. in bringing
many sons under glory. That's an intimation of God's
gracious design toward his elect. Those whom Christ came to save
are many, many. They are already the sons of
God. We were God's sons before Christ
came. We're not made God's sons when
we experience adoption. That's our experience of grace
We were God's sons by election before the world began. He shall
save his people from their sins They were already his people.
He came to save them. We were already the sons of God
He came here to bring his sons to glory. I Faith, I repeat,
doesn't do anything for God. Faith is the gift of God by which
we receive all things from God. Now, the person by whom God's
elect are brought to glory is Christ, the captain of their
salvation. Ah, what a good word that is.
In Joshua chapter 2, Joshua saw a man with a sword drawn and
he trembled. And he said, are you for us or for our adversaries?
He said, I'm the Lord of hosts. I am a man of war for you. And Joshua fell down and worshiped.
He is the captain of our salvation. He's the one in charge of it.
He's the one responsible for it. He's the one who accomplished
it. He was made perfect through sufferings. You see that? Made
perfect through sufferings. What's that mean? made perfect. He made perfect, but he was perfect
before. Perfectly God. But as our mediator,
as our surety, as our savior, as our substitute, as our representative,
the Lord Jesus Christ was not complete until he said, it is
finished. He stuck hands with the Father.
But the surety ship is not ended until the surety ship's engagements
are all ended. This is what the Spirit of God
teaches us in Hebrews 2, 9 and 10. I do not say that the satisfaction
of Christ procures the love of God for us. It doesn't. His death
is the fruit of God's love. But I am saying it is the death
of Christ and the satisfaction of justice by his death that
opens the way into the embrace of God's arms for sinners like
you and me. God loved you, Merle, before
the world was. Christ loved you and came here
to redeem you. And now, through him who loved
you and gave himself for you, you can hug God like a A boy
hugs his daddy. And God hugs you. John Gill made a tremendous observation
on these two verses. Let me give it to you and I'll
quit. Let me observe to you something relating to experience, which
you would do well to lay up in your minds. Are you listening?
It may be of use to you hereafter. when you may be tempted to doubt
of your interest in Christ's satisfaction. I talk to friends
all over the world, almost day by day, by correspondence, telephone,
when visiting, traveling, talk to some of you, constantly struggle. How can I have any assurance? I'm so cold. I'm so dry. I'm so sinful. Bobby quit looking in Bobby.
There's nothing there to give you hope. You understand that? Quit looking in here. There's
nothing in here to give you hope. Gil goes on to say, have you
any reason to believe that you have at any time had communion
with God? But every time when you actually
did have God speak to you and you speak to God, in private
or in public, in your closet, or in the family, or in the house
of God, under any ordinance, either the ministry of the word,
or prayer, or the Lord's Supper, then you may be assured Christ
made satisfaction for you, or you would never have enjoyed
such communion. For the suffering of death Christ
came. And by his suffering and death,
soon I'm going to him. Will you now by his suffering
and death come to God? Amen.