Verses 9 and 10. We'll look at
these two verses line by line, word by word this evening. But
I want us to focus our attention on just five words in verse 9. These five words are perhaps
the most profound words in human language. See if you can pick
them out. But we see Jesus He 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, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. Did you spot the five words?
I'm sure many of you did immediately. I'm equally sure that some will
be puzzled by the fact that I said these five words are perhaps
the most profound words in human language when I point them out
to you. Here they are. For the suffering
of death. The son of God became a man, the lowest of men, and made himself
by imputation to be, before God's holy law, the vilest of men, to suffer death. Amazing. Without question, the
most wondrous of all God's works is the work of redemption. I
wrote that down this afternoon and I thought, I wonder why it
is when this is the most wondrous of all God's works and almost
everyone who professes to believe the Lord Jesus Christ, who professes
to believe the word of God, who professes to believe that this
is the gospel of God's grace, most everyone would say redemption
is God's greatest work. And yet, most religious writing,
most religious talking, most religious thinking, and most
religious preaching deals with everything under the shining
sun but redemption. Isn't that amazing? When we attempt
to contemplate what this work involved, we're lost in astonishment. When we think of the unutterable
depths of shame into which the Lord of Glory entered to save
us, we must truly be awed and staggered to consider it. A. W. Peake expressed it so well,
listen to this, that the eternal Son of God should lay aside the
lobes 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
universe should tabernacle in this world and have not where
to lay his head, is something which no infinite mind can comprehend. But where carnal reason fails,
God-given faith believes and worships. God became a man. so that God in human flesh might
die for fallen men and bring us to glory. As we trace the
path of our Savior from the throne of life and glory to the tomb
of death and shame, we behold him who was rich and for our
sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.
And we cannot fathom the depths of the wonders of that statement,
much less of the act. We know that every step in the
path of our Redeemer's humiliation, everything he suffered, every
bitter dreg of the cup of wrath and death which he drank as our
substitute, was ordained in the purpose of God Almighty from
eternity. We understand that. Yet, it was
a path of immeasurable sorrow, unutterable anguish, ceaseless
ignominy, bitter hatred, and relentless persecution, that
at last brought the beloved son of God, the darling of heaven,
to suffer the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross. Whoever imagined such things
as these? Truly this doctrine, This doctrine,
unlike all religious notions, unlike all other forms of religion
in the world, this doctrine is the doctrine of God. Standing
at the foot of the cross, as I behold the Holy One nailed
to the curse tree, covered with his own blood, covered with the
spits, the excrement of the throats of a vile, enraged mob, made
to be sin, forsaken of God. by God his father. Yet realizing that all this is
according to the purpose of God, I'm utterly astounded. I'm lost
in astonishment. I'm filled with reverence and
awe I love the way the hymn writer expressed it. Yonder amazing
sight I see, the incarnate Son of God expiring on the cursed
tree and weltering in his blood. Behold a purple torrent run down
from his hands and head, the crimson tide puts out the sun,
his groans awake the dead. The trembling earth, the darkened
sky, proclaim this truth aloud, and with the amazed centurion
cry, this was the Son of God. Will you hear one more time these
two blessed statements of scripture? He, God the Father, hath made
him to be sin for us. God the Father made him who is
his darling son. who knew no sin, to be made sin
for us, that we, and the word that's so very important, this
is the only way Don Martin could ever be done, that we, who are
nothing but sin, might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse He was made to be sin. And being made sin, Rex, he was
made a curse. There's something more to that
than just to say he was made a sinner. Something more than
just saying he was made the object of God's curse. Oh no, the scripture
declares plainly, he was made to be sin. And he was made a
curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now, all as I am with reverence
for my crucified Lord, still there's a question I can't suppress.
A question that reason and sound judgment cannot fail to ask.
A question that I'm sure you have asked many times. The question
to which I hope you already know the answer, but a question that
will do your soul good to consider again. Why did the son of God suffer
such a death? Why did God Almighty so torment
his beloved son and kill him in such a horribly ignominious
way? Now if you want to find out just
how utterly ignorant this society is of the word of God, and the
gospel of God's grace. Get on your telephone tomorrow
and call any preacher you want to or as many as you want to
and ask them why. Just ask them. Why? Why? Was it to save my soul? I know that he did so in order
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 omnipotence to save a sinner? Was there no other way whereby
God almighty could save a sinner without sacrificing his son?
Was this done in order to demonstrate the greatness of God's love to
me? Oh, indeed it was. Could we with ink the oceans
fill? And were the skies of parchment
made where every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe
by trade? To write the love of God above
would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain the
whole, though stretched from sky to sky. God commended his
love. I was dating my wife. Trying
to convince her she ought to fall in love with me. I commended
my love to her best I could. Best I could. Made what sacrifices
of my time and energy and money I could. I was commending my
love to her. Putting myself and my love in
the best possible light. Listen to this. This is how God
Almighty commends his love to you and me. In that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now if that doesn't win
your heart, nothing will. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us, hereby perceiving the love of God, because he laid
down his life for us. Listen to this. In this was manifested
the love of God toward us. because that God sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. When
John made that statement, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he said,
herein is love. This is it. This is it. You want
to understand what love is? You want a pattern for love?
You want an example of love? Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Jesus who left his throne on
high, left the bright realms of bliss, and came to earth to
bleed and die, was ever loved like this. But surely, surely
God could have revealed his love to me in some way other than
this. Why did he slaughter his son?
And I use the word slaughter deliberately. What necessity
was there for God the Son to suffer the wrath of God and die
upon the cursed tree in my womb instead? There's frankly only
one answer that can be given. And when you find that answer,
you have found the key to the knowledge of all things spiritual.
Until you find that answer, you understand nothing in this book. Nothing. You see, the answer
is this. God slaughtered his son. God made his son to be sin. God poured out his heart and
wrath upon his son to the full satisfaction of divine justice,
because justice must be satisfied. Justice must be satisfied. Every way you read in the scriptures,
when it talks about God pouring out his grace on us, God sending
his son to redeem us, God giving us his salvation. As you read
through the Old Testament, read the Psalms, as you read the New
Testament, there's constant emphasis laid on this one thing, through
thy righteousness. Everything God does, he does
rightly, righteously, justly. If God's gracious, he's gracious
on the grounds of justice. If God's merciful, he's merciful
on the grounds of justice. If God is full of long-suffering
and loving-kindness, if God pardons iniquity, transgression, and
sin, he does it righteously. He cannot do it otherwise. You
see, there is no necessity for God to save anyone. Salvation
is altogether the free gift of God's sovereign grace. But having
determined to save his elect from the ruins of fallen humanity,
the only way God Almighty could save his people, the only way
God could forgive their sins, was by the death of his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture. You
can look it up later. Hebrews 9.22. It is indescribably more
important than any of us have ever yet imagined. Without shedding
of blood is no remission. Read the Old Testament. I recall
several years ago, Brother Charlie Payne, Elder Ashland, some of
you knew him, many of you did, dear friend of ours, he was talking
to someone and they said to him, you know, I've been reading the
book of Leviticus and I can't understand it. He said, read
the book of Hebrews and you will. That's exactly right. This book
will make you understand all the Old Testament sacrifices.
Why was blood offered constantly? Constantly, I mean from the beginning.
The first time God's ever shown anything about redemption, He
killed an animal and clothed the guilty pair with the skins
of that innocent animal. Why? Because without shedding
of blood, there's no remission. God will not, God cannot, God
shall not forgive sin, not one sin, except it be perfectly atoned
for by the blood of an innocent one who is capable of making
atonement. And that's what's pictured in
all the Old Testament sacrifices. The justice of God had to be
satisfied in order for God to save his people. And the only
thing that could ever satisfy the justice of God is Jesus Christ,
God's Son in human flesh. Therefore he said in Hebrews
10 verse 5, Abba, hast thou prepared me? Sacrifice and offering for
sin, they can never take away sin. The blood of goats and calves,
they can never take away sin. What you do, they can never take
away sin. But God prepared a body for His Son, and in His Son's
body, He suffers the wrath of God Almighty, and there He takes
away sin. Now, the subject of this text
that we have read, and we've looked at several times in the
last couple of months really, is the necessity of Christ's
satisfaction. I want to show you from the word
of God both the necessity and the blessedness of our Lord's
satisfaction of divine justice by his death on the cross. Now,
I make no apology for coming back to this again. As Paul said,
for me to write the same things to you is not grievous, but for
you it's safe. I make no apology for coming
back to this, because this is a doctrine of utmost importance.
It is the glory of the gospel and the glory of true Christianity. It is the satisfaction of justice
by the death of Jesus Christ that distinguishes Christianity,
true Christianity, from all other religions. Take away the cross,
and Christianity is nothing more than Hinduism, Buddhism, or Judaism. It is the cross of Christ, the
satisfaction of justice by the death of Jesus Christ upon the
cursed tree that makes Christianity vital and necessary. This is
a matter of paramount importance because without satisfaction
for sin, there could be no salvation from sin, no forgiveness of sin. We're often warned in the scriptures,
if you will turn to Hebrews 10, we're often warned in the scriptures
to beware of damnable heresies brought in by false prophets.
Among those damnable heresies, none is more common, none is
more destructive to the souls of men, none is a greater denial
of the glory of God than the denial of Christ's satisfaction,
the denial of Christ's effectual atonement. Here in Hebrews 10,
look at verse 26. If we sin willfully, willfully. Now when you look at that, that
throws a lot of folks. They say, well, if a man ever
commits any willful sin, then he's lost. The fact is, every
time you sin, it's willful. You are sin by nature, but when
you commit any act of sin, you do it on purpose. You do it on
purpose. But what's he talking about? If we sin willfully, after
that we have received the knowledge of truth. Read the context and
you'll find out what he's talking about. In verse 25, he talks
about forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as a
matter of some reason. He's talking about forsaking, abandoning the
gospel of Christ and the worship of God. Now, this is what he
says. You've heard the gospel of God's grace. Larry, you and
I claim to believe the gospel of God's free grace through Jesus
Christ alone. If we turn around and walk away
from it, if we turn around and walk away from it, after we receive
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins. Because you've walked away with
no more sacrifice than there is. You walk away from it all,
or you don't. But a certain faithful looking
for a judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy of the two or three
witnesses. Now that's how things were under
the law. If a man picked up sticks on the Sabbath day, two folks
saw him, you kill him. If a man was found guilty of
fornication, you kill him. Woman found guilty of adultery
and fornication, you kill her. Law says so and you do it. No
mercy. Now listen to this, of how much
soul or punishment, do you think that's bad? Adultery, murder,
lying with a beast, theft, you think, breaking the Sabbath?
Listen, of how much soul or punishment, suppose you shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God. and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, not inwardly
and inwardly, but in his life and in his outward profession.
He used to be a drunk, he quit drinking, he used to be a whore-monger,
he started living morally, he was sanctified. But now he counts
it an unholy thing. You know what the word unholy
is there? Common, ordinary, something everybody has part of. something
everybody equally shares. Counseling an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the spirit of grace. Perhaps Hebrews 2 verses
9 and 10 more clearly states the necessity of Christ's satisfaction
for sin than any other single passage of scripture. So I want
us tonight to look at these two verses together, and let me give
them to you just line by line, and I'll be very brief, but I
want you to see it one more time. We see Jesus. We see him with
the eye of faith. Not carnally, not historically.
Remember Paul said we now know him no more after the flesh.
We know him by the Spirit. We don't know him just as a historic
figure. We don't know him just because somebody told us about
him. We know him because he's come and made himself known.
We see Jesus. He's been revealed to us by the Spirit of God. We
see that he is Jesus, our Savior, the Christ of God. We see in
Him all the fullness of God, all the fullness of grace, all
the fullness of redemption, all the fullness of glory. We see
Him and acknowledge Him to be everything God requires and everything
God gives. Do you see Him? If you do, flesh
and blood hasn't revealed Him to you. Say, Pastor, I don't
know much, but I see Him. Bless God, I see Him. I see Him. God my Savior in human flesh.
Folks want to argue with me about it and I can't even think about
explaining it. I don't understand it, but I see Him. I see Him
full of grace and truth. I see Him by whom I have received
grace on top of grace on top of grace. I see Him and He's
all I have and all I want. That's what it's talking about.
He was made a little lower than the angels. He who made the angels
was made a little lower than the angels. He was made of the
seed of woman, made to be a man, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. And this is the reason for it.
This is why Christ was made a little lower than the angels, for the
suffering of death. God couldn't die. I couldn't
die. God doesn't change. He can't
change. He's God. He's immutable. He's not the
Lord. I changed not. How you gonna kill God? You can't
kill God. God can't die. But God, the Son,
was made a little lower than the angels so that God Almighty
in human flesh could die for sinners. Oh, infinite stupidity. infinite stoop and condescension,
infinite humiliation. He was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. Our Lord Jesus did not come here
to be an earthly monarch. He didn't come here so that those
folks over in Jerusalem would give him their little peanut
throne. He didn't come here to establish a new religion so folks
would sit around and talk about him for the next 2,000 years
and discuss his religious opinions and philosophies. He didn't come
here to be a moral social reformer. He didn't come here to be an
example of morality and virtue. The Son of God, Jesus Christ,
became a man so that he might take in his body the sins of
men and die as a man in the place of man. Now look at the next thing. Since he did that, now we see
him crowned with glory and honor. That man who died in our womb
instead, that one who suffered the wrath of God, that one who
cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Yonder he sits. Try to get a mental picture. He wears the crown of glory.
He sits on the throne of total sovereignty. He holds the reins
of universal monarchy. Everything bows to him. Everything
does his will. Everything accomplishes his purpose.
What for? The pleasure of the Lord is prospering
in his hands, because he earned it by dying for us. And what
is that? That he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Oh, if ever we could begin
to grasp in our hearts what we at least in this place know well
in our heads, that he who rules the universe is God our savior
who died to redeem us. We begin to quit murmuring about
what he does. He loves us! and gave himself for us. And
everything he does, has done or shall do, everything he permits
any man to do, any angel to do, any demon in hell or Satan himself,
is done according to his pleasure for the saving of his people.
And look at the next line. That he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man. Now let's look at this one
more time and consider it well. This statement, like all others,
must be interpreted within its context and in the light of the
entire Word of God. Is this a declaration that Christ
died for everybody without exception? Well, let's test it and see.
Let's test it. Somebody said one time, you take
any statement, any doctrine, any sentence, and just throw
it at the Word of God. Just throw it at the Word of
God. And if this book just swallows it up, you can bake on it, that's
so. But if it spits it out, it ain't
so. It ain't so. Now listen. Our Lord Jesus said, Father,
I pray not for the world. John 17, 9. You reckon he died for me? Our
Lord Jesus declares that he laid down his life for the sheep,
not for the goats. Our Lord Jesus declares to us
in the scriptures that he has hidden his works and his grace
from many. Matthew chapter 11. He said you've
hid these things from wise and prudent. He said you didn't reveal
these things to Solomon Gamal. You didn't reveal these things
to Tyre and Simon. You've hidden these things from them. You reckon
he'd die for folks to whom he would not even reveal his work? I kind of doubt it. Our Lord
Jesus declares by the Apostle Paul, by the Spirit of Inspiration,
that there are some vessels of wrath. Read the 9th chapter of
Romans. You can choke on it if you want
to, but it's there. There's some vessels of wrath.
Vessels of wrath according to this condemnation. Do you suppose
he laid down his life for those folks who from eternity were
said as vessels of wrath? Why such thoughts are nonsense.
Absurd. Such a teaching, such doctrine,
is not only a denial of the efficacy of Christ's atonement, it is
a denial of the very character of God. The very character of
God. Now stop and think. Where is
the wisdom of God? Where is the wisdom of God? If
he makes a plan of redemption and grace, which he knows is
doomed to failure, What is the month of God? Folks tell us God
loves everybody until he sends them to hell. Of course now some
folks, I had somebody tell me just a while back, I can't remember
where I was and I'm glad I can't remember who it was, said, well
you know God doesn't send anybody to hell, man sends himself to
hell. Who's going to volunteer? I believe, I'll be honest with
you, I believe. If it were up to me, if he said
to me, he said you're going to hell, I'd say no not me. Not
me. No, it's God Almighty who sends
folks to hell. Now where is the love of God?
Where is the love of God if he loves folks until at last he's
compelled by something they do or don't do to send them to hell
and turn his love to hatred? Where is the justice of God?
Where is it? I have over the years had a few
debts. Not many, but a few. the debts are paid. I've still
got a few, still got a few. They're paid as the law requires
and as my honor and responsibility requires. I'm not behind on anything.
But when the debts are paid, when the debts are paid, I defy
anybody to come try to get another nickel. It ain't gonna happen,
not unless I just happen to be real gracious, which I'm not
inclined to under the circumstances. There's nothing left. How come?
How are you going to forgive it? I've got a receipt. And I've
got to cancel checks. And they say it's paid. It's
paid. And justice won't let them collect
again. Now listen to me. Yonder on the throne of God is
my debt canceled. It's paid. And as long as God
Almighty doesn't cease to be just, He cannot demand satisfaction
from me for anything. Not for anything. Therefore,
David said, writing by inspiration, all the blessedness of the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. If Christ died for all men without
exception, where is the immutability of God? Who is it? These things are a
denial. This idea that Christ died for
everybody without exception. Died for folks who are in hell.
Died for folks who are lost as well as folks who are saved in
everlasting glory. Those things are a total denial of the character
of God. More than that, there's no hint
in scripture they're so. Our Lord Jesus died for every
man who shall be saved by him. Every man in this context, who
are called his sons, his brethren, who are called his church, the
children of Abraham and the seed of Abraham, and the children
of God. For it became him. You see it?
It was necessary. If God would save sinners, it
became him. If God would bring me and you
to glory, that the Son of God must suffer in our womb instead,
all that the law and justice of God could demand. The scriptures
plainly declare it. As Moses lifted up the serpent
of the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now you may ask, I understand this book teaches
that Christ died for chosen sinners. Christ died for his elect, and
he actually accomplished their redemption. How can I know he
died for them? I'll tell you how I know. I believe
it. I believe it. But what about
your sin? I believe it. But what about
your weaknesses? I believe Him. What about when
you fall? I believe Him. I believe Him. What about when you do good?
My goodness is sin, I still believe Him. I believe Him. And believing Him declares that
my name is recorded by the hand of God in the land's book of
life from old eternity. registered under the name of
him who loved me and gave himself for that. Amen. Let's sing Calper's great hymn
number 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. There is a fountain filled with
life.