Turn our Bibles together to Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews 2. Look with me beginning with verse
11 of Hebrews 2. For both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one. For the witch calls, he is not
ashamed to call them brethren. Say, and I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church. I will 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." Now there's two
people mentioned in verse 11, two specific people. He that sanctify and they who are sanctified. And this verse of Scripture says
they're one. They're one. Sanctified, it means set apart,
consecrated, holy. He that sanctifies. Who is that? Well, Scripture declares it is
threefold. In Jude 1, we read we're sanctified
by God the Father. In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2, we're
sanctified in Christ Jesus. And then in 1 Peter 1 verse 2,
we read through the sanctification of the Spirit threefold. Here in our text, we read of
Him that sanctified. We read of He that sanctified. This speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And again, we read they who are
sanctified. A picture here of the union of
the Lord Jesus Christ and His people. He says they're one,
they're two separate things, but they are Why? Christ is Himself
the whole. He's the sole cause of sanctification
of His people. We read in Hebrews 10 verse 10,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ, listen to this, once for all. Once for all. The believers sin. has been put
away. We are made holy. Let that sink in. Those of us who know anything
about ourselves, the thought that we are made holy, made holy
and accepted, accepted by Almighty God as a result of the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ's people, we have absolutely
no holiness apart from that which is received from Him, received
from Christ, sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ again, once for all. His body offered on the cross,
His blood shed Scripture says He died for our sins. His people, those sanctified
ones, they're chosen to be holy, chosen to be without blame, again,
in Christ. When? When did He do that? When a man or a woman made a
decision When a man or a woman walked the aisle, when was he
pleased to do that? Scripture says, from before the
foundation of the world. Turn with me to Ephesians 1.
Hold your place there in Hebrews, but turn to Ephesians chapter
1. Look at verse 4 of Ephesians
chapter 1. According as he hath chosen us
in him from before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us, he hath made us accepted. in the Beloved, in whom we have
redemption. Through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. His people are
redeemed from all iniquity, all iniquity,
by Him. He gave Himself for us, that
He might redeem us from all iniquity. All our sins taken away. Our sins, that chorus, our sins,
they've all been taken away. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. His people are regenerated by
the Holy Ghost. We're made new creatures in Christ,
a new creation, born again. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5. Look at verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things become new. A new nature, a new man, a new
principle of grace and holiness that was never there before.
Remember, Brother Henry, you say, under new management, under
new management. And listen, we read in God's
Word, that Christ, Christ is made of
God to them, made of God to his people while we walk this earth
till grace is finished in glory and forever. Wisdom, he's made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He that is sanctified. Speaking of God's people, He
that is sanctified, He that is made holy, chosen to be holy,
without blame, redeemed from all iniquity, made new creatures
in Christ, a people who the Lord Jesus Christ is our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. That's His people. That's a description. That's a description of every
one of His sheep. How's that possible? How is that
possible? Who did all this? What are we
reading here? He that sanctifies. He that sanctifies
the Lord Jesus Christ who is all and in all. He that did the
work. He did all the work. Listen. Those for whom He did the work. Listen to this. Listen. I was
going to say listen to me, but just listen to God's Word. We
just read it. He that sanctified and they who
are sanctified are all of one. You can't look at one and tell
it apart from the other. What a great mystery that is. That we could be made like Christ. Made like Him. Turn with me to
John chapter 17. Look beginning with verse 21. Listen to our Lord's prayer to
the Father here. He says that they all may be
what? One. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. That the world may believe that
thou hast sent me. and the glory which thou gavest
me, I've given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. And the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them. How much? How much does the Father love
His people? That thou hast loved them as thou hast loved Me. As much as He's loved His precious
Son. One of the commentators wrote
this, he said, when God dwells in the Son, and He, through the
Spirit, dwells in the believer, Then, naturally, these believers
become partakers of all the riches that are in Christ Jesus. We're partakers of the divine
nature. Pardon, righteousness, love,
joy, knowledge, wisdom, all ours in Christ. And when all the members of the
church become partakers of these blessings, His people will be
one, just as the Father and Son are one. I was thinking, you
know, when there's division, when there's division, that can
only result from an absence of Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
he said, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all do what? Speak the same thing. And that there be no division. No division among you, but that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. What about misunderstandings?
What about differences which we're all prone to in this flesh? It comes to us naturally, doesn't
it? When that happens, you know what
scripture says? It says hatred stirs up strife. What's love do? Love covers all
sins. It did at Calvary, didn't it?
1 Peter 4, 8, above all things,
have fervent charity. What's that word charity mean?
Love. Have love among yourselves. For charity, for love, what does
it do? It will cover a multitude of
sins. You know, that's true in the
home. That's true in the church, that's
true among God's people. It's just true. Love covers a
multitude of sins. Our Lord, was there any greater
example than when He bore our sins on the cross? For God so
loved, what did He do? He gave. He gave His only begotten
Son. walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor." Christ came to save because God
loved us. And we're to be one. We're to
be one. He that sanctifies, and they
who are sanctified are all of one. And this union, it's declared. Back in our text, let's go back
to Hebrews 2. Verse 11. both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren." He's not ashamed. He's not ashamed. Think about that. He's not ashamed
to call us his brethren. Isn't that an amazing thing? I mean truly, the Lord is not
ashamed to call his people his brethren. He's not ashamed to
be identified with them. I recently read an article Brother
Paul Mahan wrote on Joseph. It's got me thinking about him.
Consider Joseph. Think about his brothers, what
they had done to him. Back there in Genesis 37, maybe
this afternoon, find some time to read that, that passage of
Scripture, that account. Football season's over. We ought
to have a little extra time to read, shouldn't we? Scripture says that Jacob, Joseph's father Jacob, he loved
him more than all his children. He was the son of his old age. That's the explanation we get
there. And listen, Joseph's brethren, they absolutely hated him. They could not stand him. Joseph
had done nothing wrong to them, yet they hated him. They hated
him without a cause. That sound familiar? Our Lord wrote the same thing. He said, they hated me without
a cause. He spoke to a group of men. He
said, many good works have I done. Many good works have I showed
you from my Father. For which of these do you stone
me? He said, we're not stoning you for
your good works. We stone you because you make
yourself to be God, but listen, they hated him without a cause.
They hated Joseph for his dreams. They said this, shall this man,
is he going to reign over us? That sounds familiar too, doesn't
it? Going to have dominion over us?
and they hated him more and more and more, and they conspired
to slay him. So many parallels in this account
of Joseph with our Lord. Remember, they took counsel. Those men took counsel together
on how to put our Lord to death. So many parallels here. And Joseph's
brethren, at first, they cast him into that pit. They were going to leave him
there. And eventually they sold him. They said, well, why should we
kill him if we can make some money off of him? So they sold
him into slavery. And he was a servant for a while
until his master's wife made some false allegations against
him. Think about that again. False witnesses rose up against
him. That's the same thing happened
to our Lord, wasn't it? False witnesses rose up against
him. And listen, then they cast him into prison. But Scripture
says, yet in all of this, all of these horrible things happening
to Joseph, the Lord was with him. The Lord was still with
him. And eventually Joseph interprets
some dreams there in the prison. And eventually he's going to
interpret Pharaoh's dream. You know, Joseph lived a very,
very difficult life. Maybe his whole life, but certainly
from the age of 17 up here till 30 years old. I wonder how many
times he went to bed at night asking the Lord, Why? Why? But yet the Lord's going
to raise him up. At the age of 30, he stands before
Pharaoh, and Pharaoh says to Joseph, Without you, not a man
in Egypt is going to lift up his hand or foot. Joseph was
highly exalted. That's true of our Lord, too,
and he is highly exalted. And in time, there's gonna be
some fellas that come seeking corn from Joseph. That's the
only place to get it. That was the only place to get
bread was to come to Joseph. And you know they can't live
without that bread. Got to have bread to live. Joseph's father,
Jacob, he knew there was corn in Egypt. That's what he told
his boys. He said, why do you sit there looking at each other?
I don't know why. I picture that in my mind. I
picture if they had a living room just kind of sitting in
there doing nothing, and he walks in, or maybe they're out in the
barn sitting on a bale of hay doing nothing, and he said, why
do you sit there looking at each other? There's corn in Egypt. Go get it. Go get it that we
might live and not die. Behold, I've heard there's corn
in Egypt. Get ye down thither and buy us
for this. Again, there's only one place
that it to be found that we may live and not die. If we don't
have corn, if we don't have food, we're going to die. We're going
to perish. I read that a person can live about Maybe, and I can't
imagine this, but two or three months at the most without having
food to survive. That's true physically, and you
know that's true spiritually. We must be fed. We must have him. Why do you
sit there looking at each other? There's corn in Egypt. Well,
they went. They went. And you know each
time they went, they were fed. Each time they went, they came
back with more than what they asked for. Their sacks were full
and the money that they would have used to buy it, it was put
back in the sack. They didn't have to work for
it. They didn't pay for it. They didn't earn it. They didn't
merit it in any way. And they were certainly, at least
in my mind, the least deserving of it. In Isaiah 55, we read, Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. He that hath no money,
what's he to do? Come. Come you buy and eat, come
buy wine and milk without money and without price. What is that? That's God's free and sovereign
grace. Nothing, nothing in my hands
I bring. Well, eventually it's revealed
to these fellas who they've been dealing with, who this one is
that has provided for them. Consider again what they had
done to Joseph. Consider how they had treated
him. But listen to this passage from Genesis 45 verse 4. He says, I am Joseph, your brother. I'm Joseph, your brother." Joseph,
could anybody blame him if he would have took just all of them
and cast them into the pit for what they'd done? I'm Joseph. He could have said,
I'm Joseph, your king. He said, I'm Joseph, your brother. Joseph was not ashamed to be
identified with his brethren. He wasn't ashamed to call them
his brethren. Consider our condition. Dead in trespasses and sin. Have
we not all said the same thing? We will not have this man to
reign over us. At Calvary, No, we were not there,
but listen, is there any doubt in our minds we would have been
one of the loudest ones yelling and screaming, crucify him. Let his blood be upon us and
our children. Yet, it's those that he has sanctified. It's those that he has made holy. Those that God has chosen to
be holy and without blame, redeemed from all iniquity, made new creatures
in Christ. A people who the Lord Jesus Christ
has made wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Those who are sanctified. And he's not ashamed. Boy, we
would be, wouldn't we? Anybody did me that way, I don't
think I'd ever call him my brother. He did. Not ashamed to call him
brother. I know there is, but is there
a more blessed scripture for a sinner to hear than that? He's
not ashamed to call me." Every child of God can say that. He's
not ashamed to call me His brother. And though I may be ashamed of
my sin and myself, He's not ashamed to call me His
brother. Ezekiel wrote this. He said,
you're going to remember your own evil ways. and your doings
that were not good. And you're going to loathe yourselves
in your own sight." Why? For your own iniquities and your
own abominations. Yet, he's not ashamed to call
them his brethren. Isn't that all the more reason
that we would be identified with him? Isaiah 8 verse 18, Behold I and
the children whom the Lord hath given me. Any doubt these are more than
just the words of the prophet Isaiah? These are the words of
Christ. As clear as it is from our text
this morning in Hebrews 2, the words of Christ who has a seed
He has a spiritual offspring to whom He stands in relation
to His Father, a people given Him of God out of the covenant
of grace for whose sake He took upon Himself flesh and blood.
Christ was made a man and He died and He's going to gather
His people together that were scattered abroad and He redeemed
them. out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, and tongue, that they might receive the adoption of
children, and who being regenerated, given
life, believe Him and rest in Him. Those who from eternity,
before the foundation of the world, were given to Him, effectually
called to Him, brought to Him, received by Him, Listen to our
text. Both he that sanctify and they
that are sanctified, they're one. They're one. And he is not ashamed to call
them his brethren. One. In Ephesians 5, let's just
listen to the words of Paul. He said, For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his
wife and the two. Do there remain two? He said
they shall be one. They're going to be one flesh.
This is a great mystery. But he goes on to say here, I'm
talking about Christ and His church. The marriage of a man
and a woman, that's a great mystery, but he said, I'm talking about
Christ and his church. I'm talking about union with
Christ, being one with him. Paul compares, again, marriage
to this Christ's union with his church. The Lord Jesus Christ, he left
his father's house and he came to this earth. And he loved his
bride with an infinite affection. And he and his bride, he and
his church are one. One. And that bride, he provides
for her. He protects her. He gives her
his name. And he does that forever. And we love... Any problem being
in subjection to Him? A union that is eternal. Let me just close with reading
to you from Romans 8. This is a familiar passage. Romans
8 verse 38. Paul said, I am persuaded. How strong is this union? I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature. That covers it all, doesn't it?
None of these things. shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Will sin continue to dwell in
us? As we walk this earth, is sin
going to continue to dwell in us? Yes. Will we continue to suffer persecution? and affliction and weakness and
trial. Yes. Will we battle with enemies
from within and without? We certainly will, won't we? But listen, being one with Christ,
we have great reason to rejoice knowing that we are eternally
secure in Him, secure in our Redeemer's love. How is that
possible? Because both He that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are one. One. And he's not ashamed to call
them his brethren. We're one. We're one. Through
a living, personal, intimate union with the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Isaac, come lead us