Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
two? Hebrews chapter two, as I understand
it, Doris Daniel got through the surgery very well. I saw
her this week and she's home and I'm very thankful for that. She's such a dear, dear lady.
Hebrews chapter two. beginning in verse six, but one
in a certain place testified saying, what is man that thou
art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest
him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of
thy hands. Thou has put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now
we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus. Do I? Do you? We see Jesus. Let's go on reading. "...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, in bringing
many sons into glory." to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause? He's not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto
thee. And again, I'll put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily, he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that
he himself hath suffered, being tempted He is able to suffer
them that are tempted. Back to verse nine. We see Jesus. This is true of every believer
without any exception. We see Jesus. Now we don't see him physically. Peter said whom having not seen. You love. But we see him. Some may see him more clearly
than others. But all of his people see him. They have a spiritual saving
sight of him. Faith itself is described as
seeing the sun. We read in John chapter 6 verse
40. This is the will of him that
said me that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on him
might have everlasting life. It is by looking unto Jesus. That we run with patience. the
race that is set before us. We see him. Now, when I say that,
every believer can say we've seen the Lord Jesus Christ. I dare say everybody here has
asked themselves the question while I was saying that, have
I seen him? Have I seen him? I think that,
well, with the Lord's blessing, we'll leave this place knowing
if we've seen him. We see Jesus. How do we see him? Look back
in verse nine. We know this is not a physical
sight. No one has seen him physically. Lynn asked me while I was driving
over here, we were driving over and I told her what I was going
to preach on. And she said, do you ever think about what the Lord
looks like physically? And I said, not much. Not much. I mean, I have some conception
from the silly pictures I've seen that tell us absolutely
nothing. I wish I'd never seen one of
them, to be honest with you, don't you? I just wish I'd never seen
one of those things, given us those notions. But I don't think
much about seeing him physically. I look forward to seeing him
physically. I love that him face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face, what will it be? I look forward to seeing him.
But I don't think that much about what he looks like physically.
But what does he look like spiritually? Well, look at verse nine. But
we see Jesus. Who was made? A little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death. No angel ever experienced
that. Crowned with glory and honor
that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man. First, we see Jesus. as the grace
of God. He is the grace of God, the reason
that God could look in favor toward this sinner talking to
you. is because of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the grace of God. The grace of God is not just
a doctrine. It's not just a theory. It's a person. Of His fullness
have we all received in grace for grace. The law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. If I ever
see Him, I'm going to have some understanding as to that the
only reason God will have anything to do with me by way of favor
is because of Him. He is the grace of God. If we see him, let's read verses
9 again, 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. We see him as the substitute. He suffered death. He tasted death for or in behalf
of every man. Now, what's that mean? He tasted
death for every man. I have no doubt that he died
only for the elect. He didn't die for every man.
So what does this mean, he tasted death for every man? For one
thing, the word man, anthropos, is not in the original. It's not there. It's literally,
he tasted death for the whole. For the every. And who that every
is, is defined in the context of this passage of scripture.
If you want to know who he tasted death for, here's who he tasted
death for. Those folks that he died for.
For it became him for whom are all things, verse 10, and by
whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory. Who did
he taste death for? The many sons he brought into
glory. to make the captain of their salvation, the folks who
are saved, perfect through sufferings, for both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one. every that he died for,
the people that he sanctified, the people that he is one with,
the people he's not ashamed to call brethren, saying, I'll declare
thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I'll put my trust
in him. This is believers. And again, behold, I am the children
which God hath given me, the elect. I mean, you go on reading
in this passage of Scripture, the every man, the every is every
believer. The whole, every single believer,
this is not saying that he tasted death for every individual, but
he tasted death for the every, for every single one of his children. He tasted death. Now why did
he taste death? As the substitute. Now if I ever
see him, I'll see that the only way that I can be clean before
God, is because of the substitutionary atonement, the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I truly see
Him with spiritual eyes, I have some understanding that my life
comes from His death. And I see that. What does it mean to see Him
as the substitute? It's to rely on Him in His substitutionary
death as how I am made righteous. and accepted before God. Now,
that's seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. I am relying on Him. I'm relying on His life. I'm
relying on His death. I'm relying on His resurrection.
I'm relying on His intercession, His presence before the Father
right now as my complete acceptance before God. And I don't need
anything else, and that makes me plumb happy. I'm relying on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that sense, I'm carefree.
I'm carefree. I'm not worried about a thing. I'm accepted in the Beloved. Now, if you ever see Him, you'll
see Him as the substitute. And look in verse 9 once again.
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 all things, in bringing
many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings." Now, if I see the Lord Jesus
Christ, I see Him as successful. He's crowned with glory and honor. And here's what His success is.
Whoever He died for, they're saved. Every single one of them. There isn't anything that aggravates
me more than to hear someone speak of an atonement that doesn't
atone. As if the Lord Jesus Christ could die for somebody and that
might end up being damned anyway. There's no gospel in that message.
He is the successful Redeemer. Everybody He intended to save,
He saved. He's the successful Redeemer. He brought many sons into glory. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should lose nothing,
but raise Him up again at the last day. Look in verse 10, in
seeing Him, for it became Him, for whom are all things, and
by whom are all things. We see Him as the Sovereign of
the universe, the one for whom, for His glory, By whom is everything? He's the first cause behind everything.
Hold your finger there and turn to Colossians 1. Now, if you ever see the Lord
Jesus Christ, you will see the Sovereign Christ. And if you
don't see the Sovereign Christ, you haven't seen Him, period.
That's who He is. Look in Colossians 1, verse 16.
For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence, for it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And when we see the Lord Jesus
Christ, that is how we see him. When we see him, we see him as
the captain or the author of our salvation. Turn back to Hebrews
chapter 2. For it became him. It glorified him. It was appropriate
for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, and
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain. And that
word is generally translated the author. the captain of their
salvation, the author of their salvation, perfect through sufferings. He is the author of my salvation. You know what that means? That
means it begins with Him. You know, He said, all that ever
came before me, the thieves and their robbers. You see, everything
begins with Him. When we talk about election,
where do we begin? The Lord Jesus Christ. When we talk about redemption,
where do we begin? The Lord Jesus Christ. When we
talk about faith, where do we begin? The Lord Jesus Christ.
He is before all things. He comes first in everything.
He is the author of our salvation. If I ever see Him, I see Him
as the author of my salvation and the finisher of my salvation.
Look once again in verse 10, For it became Him for whom are
all things, and by whom all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect. And that word
perfect is the word that's also translated finished. the captain
of their salvation, he finished their salvation through his sufferings. Now I see him both as the author
of my salvation and the one who finished it. What were his last
words for the cross? It is finished. Are there sweeter words than
that? It is finished. My salvation was finished. by what the Lord Jesus Christ
did, completed outside of even my experience. And that makes
me happy. I see him as the author and the
finisher of my salvation. Look in verse 11. For both he
that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. If I ever see the Lord Jesus
Christ, I see him as the one who sanctified. Now, sanctification,
what's the word mean? It means to take something common
and ordinary and to set it apart for holy purposes. He is the
one who is described as He that sanctifies. This is His work.
He sanctified me in eternal election. I was chosen in Him. He sanctified
me. He caused me to be holy on the
cross when He paid for my sins and put away my sins. He sanctified
me when by His Spirit He gave me new life. He is the one who
sanctifies. I'm the one who sanctifies. It's
His work. Both He that sanctified and they
who are sanctified, you see Him as the great sanctifier of your
soul. He is your sanctification, isn't
He? You really believe that? And when you see the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's how you see Him. And note this in verse 11. It
says, For both He that sanctified and they who are sanctified are
all of one. We see Him as one with us. Now, let me tell you, this is
the... is the most mysterious, glorious thing, I suppose, in
the Scripture, and yet it's the simplest, being one with Christ. That's what we confess in baptism,
isn't it? When I'm baptized, I confess that my hope of salvation
was the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my righteousness
before God. His death is my sin payment. His resurrection is
my justification. I'm confessing at that time that
my hope of salvation is being one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is a great mystery.
The two shall be one flesh, is what Paul said. The two shall
be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now, I want you to
listen to this real carefully. Being one with Him, is not being
added on to Him, or joined or glued to Him, or bonded or cemented
to Him, or fused or merged with Him, here's what it means to
be one with Christ. In 1 John 4, verse 17, we read,
As He is, so are we. in this world. I'm not just real close to him. I'm not glued to him. Here's
what this means. I'm going to hear God the Father
say to me on judgment day, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Now how in the world am I going
to hear that? Did the Lord Jesus Christ do
well? Is He a good and faithful servant? Is He the good and faithful servant?
Then so am I. Because I'm one with Him. And
what He hears the Father say, I hear the Father say. If He
says to me, well done, thou good and faithful servant, you know
what? I am a good and a faithful servant. How can you say that?
Because I'm one with Christ. Is He good and faithful? I am
too. Is He righteous? I am too. Is
He holy? I am too. Is He accepted by the
Father? I am too. And if I ever see the
Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith, I understand that my only hope
is being one with him. Both he that sanctifies, he's
the one who does it. I realize that. I know it's his
work. Both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are
all of one for the witch cause. He's not ashamed of me. He's
not ashamed to call me his little brother. I'm his little brother
through the oneness that I have with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
listen to me, every believer, don't think it would be a thing
of presumption for you to hear the Lord say to you, Well done,
thou good and faithful servant. If you're a believer, you're
going to hear it. Every believer in here is going to hear that
from the one who is the proper judge. And if he says, well done,
thou good and faithful servant, that means well done, thou good
and faithful servant. That's how real being one with
Christ is. I'm one with him. And that makes
me his little brother. Do I understand this? No. Do I believe it with all my heart? I'm one with the Lord Jesus Christ
and we see him as our elder brother for both he that verse 11 for
both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of
one for the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren
saying I declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of
the church will I sing praise unto thee. We see him as the
elder brother. We have the same father. You
know, he said, I go to my God and your God and my father and
your father. We have the same father, but
he is the elder brother. He's the firstborn among many
brethren, and he is not ashamed to call us his brethren. That's
true. He is our God. He is our Lord. He is our Master, He is our Savior,
He is our King, and He is our Brother. He is that Brother that's
born for adversity. When we see Him, we see Him as
the Elder Brother. And I like what this says in
verse 12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Now this is speaking of the Lord
Jesus. in the midst of the church, singing praise to his God, to
his Father. And we get to sit there and watch.
Now, can you imagine what kind of song that must be? You know,
he says, I rejoice over thee with singing. And what a singer
our Lord Jesus Christ must be. Can you imagine what his voice
sounds like? It's described as the voice of many waters. But
I know what he's singing about. In his singing, he's declaring
the name of God the person of God, the attributes of God, the
gospel of God. He's saying, I'll declare thy
name in singing praise to thee. I declare thy name unto my brethren. And look in verse 13. And again. I will put my trust
in him if I see the Lord Jesus Christ, if I have a spiritual
side of him, I see him as the object of faith. I will put my
trust in him. Now, this can be understood several
ways, all of which are right. First, God the Father put his
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That we should be, Paul said
in Ephesians 1 verse 12 or 13, I can't remember which it is,
it's that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ. He trusted Christ to save our
souls. The Father trusted him. And who
else trusts him? I trust him. I trust him to save
my soul. And. He's the only one who ever really
trusted completely. He's the only one who ever really
believed God totally. I want to, don't you? I want
to. I want to trust him so much. I think of that passage in John
chapter four with that fella, he first comes up to the Lord
and he said, come heal my boy, he's sick, he's going to die.
And the Lord said, go your way, he's healed. And the scripture
says the fella believed the word of the Lord. He believed what
he said. He didn't have any evidence that
it happened, but he believed what he said. He had a long way
to go to get back to where he was. Why didn't he send a servant
to find out what was so? Because he believed what the
Lord said. He simply believed it. If Christ said it, is he
worthy of complete trust? Is he worthy of complete, absolute
trust? He said, believe me, he's the
object of faith. And he's the only one truly who,
you know, we talk about faith, I want to believe perfectly,
but I don't. I have to say continually, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. It's always right there with
me. But he never said that. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. He said, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him. He trusted the Lord completely. And really, we're saved by his
faithfulness. Paul said, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We
see him as the great object of faith. And we see him, look in
verse 13, as the cause of election. And again, I'll put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given
me. Now, election is one of the foundational
truths of the gospel. God chose who would be saved
before time began. That's what the Bible teaches. But what is election without
Him? Behold I and the children which
God hath given me. This is the will of Him that
sent me that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing
but raise it up again at the last day. Now if I look at election
simply as God arbitrarily choosing something, I'm going to pick
this one out and I'm going to damn this one. I don't get any peace or joy
or comfort out of that. That's just a cold heart. That
doesn't do anything for me. But what does the scripture teach?
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. And I can't understand election
or grace or anything else unless I see it in light of him. Let's go on reading verse 14. He's the mighty conqueror, for
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, bone of our
bones and flesh of our flesh, that through death, through his
death, he might destroy him that had power of death, that is,
the devil." Now, to me, this is one of the most awesome thoughts
in all the world. When our Lord was nailed to that
cross, Satan thought, Got Him. I defeated Him. When our Lord
bowed His mighty head and gave up the ghost, Satan thought,
I've won! And that was his complete defeat. The Lord Jesus, by His death,
completely defeated and annihilated Satan. Satan thought he had Him
whipped. And he didn't realize that what
he thought was winning was actually his great loss. And the Lord
Jesus Christ completely destroyed Satan. He destroyed him that
had power of death, that is, the devil. And through his death,
we see him as the deliverer of those who are afraid of death.
Look in verse 15. And deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
You're afraid to die. You afraid of death? Sure you
are. Sure you are. Yeah, but if you
have faith, are you still afraid of death? Yeah. Yeah. And the
reason we still have fear regarding death is because our faith is
not perfect. And we still think about this
thing called sin, and it still scares us. It shouldn't. My sin
has been put away. But every time I think about
my sin, I just think, what if, what if? I mean, that comes up. And as soon as I say I'm not
at all afraid of death, I start being afraid of it. But here's
why he delivers those who through fear of death for all their lifetime,
it says, all their lifetime. There wasn't a time when they
were completely delivered from this all their lifetime. They
were subject to bondage. But what is it that causes us
to fear death? There's only one thing. If I have no sin, there's absolutely
nothing to fear. And what did the Lord do? He
took away my sin. And even though I have these
fears, there's no ground for them because I have no sin and
therefore no reason to fear death. We see Him as the one who delivers
us from the fear. of death. Look in verse 16. For
verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. Now that word took, not, on is
literally laid hold of or apprehended. He apprehended not angels, but
he apprehended the seed of Abraham. It goes something like this,
hail sovereign love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen
man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who ruled
the sky, I fought with hands uplifted high, despised the mention
of His grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. enwrapped in
thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness more than light.
Madly I ran the sinful race, secure without a hiding place,
but thus the eternal counsel ran. Almighty love, arrest that
man." I was apprehended. I was taken over. I love the story of Mephibosheth.
David said, is there yet any of the house of Saul that I can
show the kindness of God to for Jonathan's sake? And the servant
was brought up and he said, yeah, there's one left. His name is
Mephibosheth. He can't help you. He can't work.
He's lame on both of his feet. You know what David said? Go
fetch him. Go fetch Him. Fetching grace. He apprehended me. Oh, beloved, we all see Jesus
in that light as the sovereign Savior of our souls. Now, let's
go on reading. Verse 17. Wherefore, in all things
it behooved Him to be, don't miss this, made like unto His
brethren. In all things. It behooved Him
to be made like unto His brethren. Are His brethren flesh? He was
made flesh. Are His brethren sinful? He was made sin. In all things it behooved Him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest who is touched by the feeling of our infirmities. In all things he was made like
unto us. Verse 17, Wherefore, in all things
it behooves him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Now,
if I see him, if I see the Lord Jesus Christ, I see the one who's
made reconciliation. I love thinking about this. Romans
chapter 5 verse 10 says, For if when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more Being reconciled,
we really are reconciled. God doesn't have a reason to
be mad. The reason for anger has been removed. Much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life, by His intercession
as our merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining
to God. Verse 18, For in that He Himself
hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them, to
help them that are tempted. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
4, verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest, He's my high priest when I'm
aware of it and when I'm not aware of it. He's my high priest
at all times. He's not my high priest if I
do anything. He's always my high priest. I
love that scripture. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens. He's not in some
confessional booth in some creepy building. He's in the very presence
of God. Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our confession, our profession, for we have not a
high priest which cannot be touched. moved to sympathy with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. Now, how can he be moved by the
feeling of our infirmities if he never sinned? Because he was
made sin. No, he never sinned in his person,
but he was made sin. And when I feel so sinful and
weak and I feel my infirmities are so great, He's touched. He's moved to sympathy. He understands me much better
than I understand myself. You know, that's glorious to
think, I don't understand myself. I really don't. I mystify myself. You do too. But he understands
me. He's my great high priest. He's touched by the feelings
of our infirmities and all points tempted like as we are. Let us
therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. How does he help? He gives us
grace to help in time of need. We see him as the great helper
of our souls. I've not seen him physically.
But I've seen him like this. I have seen the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of these days, I'm going
to see him face to face. David said in Psalm 1715, ask
for me. I will behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. Let's pray together.