I'm going to be working my way
toward Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 for our text, but let's
begin back in Isaiah chapter 45. Faith in Christ is described,
defined, and represented by many things in the scriptures. It's
portrayed as walking with Christ. It's set before us as clinging
to Christ, laying hold of Christ. And faith in Christ is often
described, defined, and represented as looking to Christ, seeing
Him. If we would be saved, we must
be found looking unto Jesus. Look here in Isaiah 45 and verse
20. The Lord God, our Savior, speaks. And he describes himself as being
God over all. He describes himself as being
that one God who is the true and living God. He says in verse
20, assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge, no spiritual
knowledge, no knowledge and understanding of spiritual things that set
up the wood of their graven image. Folks who carve gods out of natural
things. Folks who make gods for themselves
have no understanding. They may be smart as a whip in
physical things, in natural things. They may be nuclear scientists,
but they have no understanding. They pray to a god. You see this? that cannot save. Almost everybody does. They pray
to a God that's as useless as a rotten stump. He cannot save. They pray to a God that's just
like a good luck charm in their pocket. He can't do anything
without them. Tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together,
bring all the gods of men, all of them, all of them. Let them
all take counsel together. Who hath declared from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Where is the God who has declared
from the beginning everything that comes to pass? Here he is. Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me. Who am I? A just God. A just God. A God who must and
will punish sin. A God who will by no means clear
the guilty. And a Savior. What a word. This is God's description of
himself. I am that God who declares the
end from the beginning. I am that God who before anything
was declared everything that must be. I am that God who alone
is absolutely, inflexibly, unbendingly, immutably just. And I alone am
God who saves. A just God and a Savior, there
is none beside me. Now what a word he gives, this
great glorious God. Look unto me. Look unto me, not
the church, not yourself, not something you do. Look unto me. What for? And be you saved. Look to me. Look to me like a
child looks to its father. Look to me like a wife looks
to her husband. Look to me for every need to
be supplied by my hand. Look to me and me alone with
confidence. Look to me for everything your
soul needs and be you saved. Here's his word. As surely as
you look to me, you have my salvation. Look unto me and be you saved.
Who's to look? All the ends of the earth. Look
to me, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever your circumstances.
Be ye saved. For why look to him alone? For
I am God, and there is none else. Now there are many illustrations,
but the most prominent one is that of the brazen serpent. You
remember when the children of Israel were bitten of fiery serpents
in the wilderness because of sin and they were perishing.
The Lord God commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass and
attach it to a pole and lift it up high in the camp of Israel.
And he said everyone in Israel who looks to that serpent will
live. And our Lord Jesus describes
that as being a picture of himself in John chapter 3 in verse 14.
Turn there if you will. Just as those Israelites who
were bitten of fiery serpents found life by looking to the
serpent of brass, so we can and will be saved only by looking
to Jesus Christ, God's Son, crucified as the sinner's substitute. John
chapter 3 and verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up for this
purpose. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Now here's the cause of
all that. For God so loved the world. Obviously not all men in the
world. There were multitudes in hell
when these words were spoken. He loved the world of his elect.
His elect scattered throughout the world. The world of lost
sinners chosen of God. God so loved the world that he
gave what a gift his only begotten son for this purpose there's
no other way that God in justice could save a sinner but he gave
his son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life now that brings me to our text again Hebrews
chapter 2 and verse 9 but we see Jesus every sinner in the world who
is born of God every sinner in the world who is taught of God
sees Jesus Christ 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 Now without question, in this text of scripture, the Holy
Spirit is speaking to us about seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith upon the throne of grace and glory as our all-sufficient
Savior. But all who see him by faith
see him in a multitude of places and in a multitude of ways. The
longer we see him, the more clearly we see him. The more clearly
we see him, the more fully we see him, the more fully we see
him, the more we see him in every place. Now let me just go over
some things with you tonight that I trust will be blessed
of God to your soul for comfort, edification, and instruction. You don't need to turn to all
these texts, but turn to this one, 1 John chapter 5 and verse
7. Seeing Christ by faith essentially
involves seeing him as God our Savior. We see Jesus in the eternal
Godhead as the second person of the Holy Trinity. Here in
1 John 5, 7, the Apostle writes by inspiration and says, there
are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word,
the word. We'll look at it in a moment
in John 1. That's the term used for the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the revelation of God. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Now this verse is scripture.
I refer to it frequently because it is the text which most often
men will jump on and try to tear from the scriptures and try to
demonstrate does not belong in the scriptures. But this text
is scripture. is the one text given in the
New Testament by which the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is plainly
stated. Now there are many illustrations
of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Trinity is taught throughout
the scriptures, but here and here alone the doctrine is plainly
and concisely stated. And it is for that reason this
text is often under the attack of Satan, for men would have
us to believe that Jesus Christ is somehow something less than
God. Jesus Christ is himself God. One with the Father, one with
the Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity. He is the second person of the
Blessed Trinity. It is he who said, before Abraham
was, I am. He often speaks of himself as
being Jehovah. He is called Jesus, that is Jehovah
who saves, Jehovah our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, this man,
is that one in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I don't begin to think about
understanding the doctrine of the Trinity. But this doctrine
of the Trinity is clearly taught in this book. We bow to it. Here,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. And yet this one God
exists in three distinct persons from eternity, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. And Jesus Christ, the Word, is
that one in whom the triune God makes himself known to men. Jesus
Christ is our God. That means he cannot fail. Jesus
Christ is our God. That means he's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Jesus Christ is our God. That means that what he puts
his hand to, he accomplishes. Jesus Christ is our God. That
means what he does is of infinite value and infinite merit for
the saving of our souls. Turn back to Proverbs chapter
8. As we see Jesus Christ to be
God the Son, we see him in the covenant of grace as our everlasting
surety. Before the world began, there
was a covenant made. A covenant of redemption, a covenant
of grace, a covenant of salvation. And Jesus Christ stood to be
our surety. And as our surety, he assumed
the totality of responsibility for our souls before the world
began. We don't use the term surety
much in our modern vernacular. We talk about a surety as being
a cosigner on a debt. That's not a surety. An absolute
surety is not a cosigner. A cosigner is one who goes up
to the bank with you and he signs a note and that means if you
don't have enough money, something happens to you, you can't pay
them, we'll come get it from him. But an absolute charity is one who
assumes total responsibility regardless of your circumstances. And our Lord Jesus Christ, before
the world began, assumed total responsibility for the saving
of our souls, knowing ahead of time we would have nothing with
which to pay our debt before God. He stood as our surety in
the covenant. He said, I will go. I will fulfill
righteousness. I will pay their debt. I will
bring them safe to glory. And the Father trusted his sheep
to the hands of Christ as our good shepherd. Now here he is
portrayed in Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 30. Then I was by
him. Now the passage is talking about
wisdom. Wisdom. But when you talk about wisdom,
real wisdom, Real wisdom. You ain't got any. Not a fallen,
depraved human being. Wisdom personified here is more
than just an instruction about how to live wisely in this world.
Christ is made of God unto us. What's the first thing? Wisdom.
Here he is. Wisdom speaks. He says, Then
was I by him as one brought up with him. Now that doesn't speak
of him in his eternal deity, it can't. He's the eternal son
of God. The eternally begotten son of
the eternally begetting father. But as our covenant surety, he
was brought up, and I was daily his delight. This is my beloved
son, in whom I am well pleased. Rejoicing always before him,
lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. The law and will of God
written on his heart, and with joy he comes to do it. Rejoicing
in the habitable part of the earth. Look at this now. And
my delights were with the sons of men. Before the world began,
before anything was made, Jesus Christ looked upon Bob Punter
and delighted to be his Savior. My delights were with the sons
of men, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame." What joy? The joy that he's talking
about right here! The joy of having us with him
forever, made in his likeness, the sons of God. Alright, now,
in John chapter 1, I told you we'd look at it in a moment.
We see the Lord Jesus creating all things by the omnipotent
power of his sovereign will as God. This man, who is God our
Savior, is the God who created all men. He is the God from whom
all things came into existence. He is that God who upholds all
things with the word of his power, without whom was not anything
made that was made. And this is how John describes
him in John chapter 1 and verse 1. In the beginning was the word. The word. John uses this term,
as we've seen already, to describe the Lord Jesus, the revelation
of God, that one by whom God makes himself known to men. And
the word was with God. The word actually means face
to face with God. With God as one who is on par
with God. Who thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, for he is God. And the word was God. You see that's the very next
statement John says. He said he was with God, but more than
that he is God. The word was with God and the
word was God. Quite literally translated, God
was the word. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made. Jesus Christ, our God,
is the creator of everything. He is our covenant surety. Oh,
now, we're learning something about looking to Him. We see
Him. To see Him, is to understand,
to believe, to have confidence in His eternal divinity, His
everlasting suretyship, His sovereign creatorhood. He is the creator. Folks like to argue and fuss
and argue and fuss about creation, whether or not God created the
world. Now you can fuss and argue all you want to about how He
did it, but every believer understands Jesus Christ is God our creator.
Every believer understands the world we're framed by the word
of God. Every believer understands that this thing is God's handiwork. Alright? Turn to Acts chapter
10 if you will. Acts chapter 10. We see the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see him in all the types, all the shadows, all the promises,
all the prophecies, and all the doctrines of all the scriptures. Now let me give that to you again.
Seeing Christ, we see him in all the types, all the shadows,
all the promises, all the prophecies, and all the doctrines of all
the scripture. And there is no understanding
of anything revealed in scripture until you see how that thing
reveals Jesus Christ, God our Savior. Let's see if that's not
so. Listen to what Philip said. Philip found Nathanael. And he
said to Nathanael, we have found him. Not we found one, he said
we found him. We found him of whom Moses in
the law and the prophets did write. Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph. Now look here in Acts chapter
10 verse 43. To him, to him. And the language
is grown up in such a way, Gary, as to make us understand to him
alone. to him exclusively, to him universally,
to him give all the prophets, all of them, all of them, all
of them, to him give all the prophets witness that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission
of sins. Jesus Christ is the one of whom
the book of God speaks. He is the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end of Holy Scripture. When you read
the book, you'll be starting Saturday on your new reading
schedule for the year. When you read the book, as you
read, ask God to show you Christ in the book. This is not just
a book about morality. It is not just a book about science.
It is not just a book about creation. It is not just a book about law. It's a book about Christ. It's
a book about Christ. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
in the fullness of time coming into this world to save his people
from their sins. We see him made of a woman made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. As a
man, he is God come to save. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. He came here to save sinners,
of whom I am chief. We see the Lord Jesus Christ,
according to Romans 5.19, as a man, living before God as our
representative. Living here. This man who is
God the Son, this man of covenant surety, this man our divine creator,
this man of whom all the scriptures speak, this man who came into
the world, came here to establish, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
because God demands it must be perfect to be accepted. That
means if God Almighty will look on Sam Wall and Don Fortner and
receive us, we must stand before him holy and perfect. This is
what he said. Be ye holy for I am holy. One of the writers translates
it this way. Be ye perfect for I am perfect.
It means the same thing. You can't be accepted of God,
except you be perfectly holy. And you can't be perfectly holy,
except someone with infinite worth, who is himself God, fulfill
all righteousness in your stead. And Jesus Christ came here to
do just that. This is what the book says. Wherefore
as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by
one man's obedience shall many be made righteous." We are made
righteous then by Jesus Christ fulfilling all righteousness
for us. He fulfilled the law, and he
fulfills everything represented in the law. You remember how
he gave a word in the Sermon on the Mount, he said if a man's
got two coats and his neighbor has none, give your neighbor
one of them. He did it. He has a coat of righteousness
as God Almighty, and he has a coat of righteousness as a man. And
this man who is God has a coat of righteousness as a man of
infinite value. And every time he meets a naked
sinner, he gives him that coat. He gives him a coat of perfect
righteousness. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that one who finds
a sinner hungry and needy, and he has food with which to feed
him. We see the Lord Jesus Christ dying upon the cursed tree as
our substitute. What a glorious sight this is.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, writes the Spirit of
God, whom you know said, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. The Son of God, bearing our sins
in his own body on the tree, died under the penalty of sin
and by his death He put away the sins of his people forever.
But that's not all. He didn't just die for us. We
see him rising up from the tomb, triumphant over death, hell,
and the grave. He was delivered for our offenses,
but he was raised again for our justification. Now, brethren,
the scripture says that it's not saying that our justification
was accomplished when he arose. Oh, no. It was accomplished when
the debt was paid. When he said, it's finished,
the sin was brought out. Well, what does it mean then?
He was raised again for our justification. He was raised to testify justification
accomplished. Same thing Paul says when he
says he was justified in the Spirit. When he was raised up
from the dead, quickened by the Spirit, God the Spirit justified
him from the sin and the charge of sin that was imputed to him
when he died as our substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
arose from the dead, broke asunder the iron bars of death. He took
the keys of death and of hell, and he locked the doors of hell
forever, shut them against his people forever, so that there's
no possibility that one of his should be taken captive of Satan
again. He led captivity captive as he
rose to life, liberty, and power as our representative and mediator. And we see the Lord Jesus ascending
on high. Exalted as Lord over all, to
be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance and remission
of sins to his people. Turn to Acts 5, Acts 5 verse
31. We see Christ God Almighty. We see him, our
covenant surety. We see him as that one who created
all things. We see him in all the book. We
see him, this God, our covenant surety, come into the world.
We see him as our obedient representative walking before God. We see him
dying, rising again. And now we see this very same
one. seated on the throne of sovereign dominion, seated as
God Almighty on the throne of God, the man Christ Jesus. Look at Acts 5 31. Him hath God
exalted with his right hand, what for? To be a prince, a king,
and a savior. For what? To give, what a word,
to give repentance to Israel. and the forgiveness of sins."
Where on earth does a sinner, a stiff-necked, hard-hearted
rebel, one who spent his days from his mother's womb with his
fist shoved in God's face, where on earth does he find repentance
when the Prince and Savior gives it to him? That's where he gets
it. And when he gives repentance, he also gives the remission and
the forgiveness of sins. But sin's forgiveness was accomplished
at Calvary. How can you say it's in present
tense? Because we experience it when he gives it. The pardon
may be written out a hundred years before a man experiences
it. He's been in prison for a hundred years, he may be old enough,
and suddenly a man comes and brings him the pardon, and he,
oh, my sins, my crimes have been pardoned. Our sins, our crimes
were pardoned, Bobby, when Jesus Christ died as our substitute.
And one day he sent his spirit and spoke peace to our hearts
and he said your sins are forgiven you. Forgiven! He gives repentance
and forgiveness of sins. We see him this same Jesus who
made the world, this same Jesus who is God over all, blessed
forever. We see him in Hebrews chapter
7 sitting upon the throne of glory as our great high priest
and advocate at the right hand of God, making intercession for
us. And the apostle tells us he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by
him, He's able to save, since this is so, he ever lives to
make intercession for them according to the will of God. Jesus Christ
sits in heaven's glory, not wringing his hands, not pacing the floors,
not wondering whether or not God's going to pretty please
accept what he did. Oh, no. He pleads the merit of
his finished work, and he's able on that basis to save all who
come to God by him. Come to God by him, and you have
salvation on the merit of an all-prevailing advocate and high
priest. I love the words of that hymn
we sang last week, Arise, my soul, arise! Shake off thy guilty
fears! A bleeding sacrifice in my behalf
appears! Before the throne my surety stands,
my name is written in his hands. Five bleeding wounds he bears. Received on Calvary they pour
effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O
forgive, they cry, nor let that ransomed sinner die." I'll tell
you somewhere else we see him. Turn over to Isaiah 43. I've
got a lot more to could and should be said, and I'll say it another
time perhaps, but here in Isaiah chapter 43, we see the Lord Jesus Christ
in the midst of the storms through which we must pass in this world. Bob read the Psalms back in the office
where David spoke of his troubles. And he concluded the psalm saying,
O Lord, redeem Israel out of all his troubles. Believers in this world are here
described by the Lord God. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, thou worm Jacob, fickle, shifty, cunning,
conniving Jacob. That's our name. He dethroned
thee, O Israel! That's what grace has done for
us, made us a prince with God. He says, Fear not, and here's
the reason, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. He didn't say if. He said, Skip,
when? When? You're going to pass through
them. Another place he said, I've chosen you in the furnace
of affliction. I will be with thee and through
the rivers they shall not overflow thee. You're going to pass through
them. When thou walkest through the
fire, sometimes believers Following Christ, no full well, the next
step is going to take them into deep, deep trouble. It's going
to cost you dear. It's going to cost you dear. But we follow him. That means,
Lindsey, you just walk right into the fire. And the Lord said,
don't be afraid now, look at it. Thou shalt not be burned. Neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. How come? For I am the Lord thy
God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for
your ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for you, since you were precious
in my sight. Thou hast been honorable, I've
made you honorable. and I have loved thee." I often
write to friends in trouble and I say to them with all earnestness
and sincerity, if I could I'd take the trouble away. I was looking at this text just
before I got up to preach a little bit ago and I I thought concerning
Marvin and Linda, man if I could I'd take the trouble away. I
would. But I always add this in writing
to believers. He who loves you infinitely more
than I can ever imagine loving you has sent the trouble. And he sent it for a good reason.
He said I've loved you. I've loved you. Therefore will I give men for
you, people for your life. Fear not, fear not, for I am with thee." And to the extent that we are
able to see him with us in the midst of the raging sea, in the
midst of the fiery furnace, in the midst of the dark valley
of the shadow of death, we walk in peace, for we see Jesus. God help you to see Him. God
help you to see Him. Amen.