The book of Hebrews chapter 2.
I want to begin reading here in verse 9 and read this chapter
to us again. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor,
that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, and bringing many sons into glory, to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both
he that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified, are all of
one. For which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren, and in the midst of the church will I sing praise
unto thee. And again I will put my trust
in him, and again, behold, I am the children which God hath given
me. Forasmuch 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 secure, or aid, or deliver those
that are tempted. We began a study last time on
this chapter, and I've got off just a little bit, but we looked
at, we're going to look at three things. We looked at the extent
of the atonement of Jesus Christ, and tonight we want to look just
a little bit at the design and its effect. And one of the reasons
I began to look at this to start with was here in verse 9 where
it said that He by the grace of God should taste death for
every man. And in our studies of these things,
we sure don't want to forget that the death of Jesus Christ
is indeed a substitutionary death. That's the most important thing
about His death. He died as a substitute, as a
surety for others. He tasted death for every man
in the room in the stead and in the place of others." He tasted
death for, for every man. This is a Hebrew word they tell
us, a Hebrew phrase, that tasted death. And we find it different
places in the Scripture. And the Lord Jesus made mention
of it. He said when He was going to
reveal Himself, His glory upon the Mount of Transfiguration,
we call it. He said, Some of you shall not taste of death.
until ye have seen the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." And
that means physical death. You're not going to die physically.
You're not going to experience physical death until you've seen
Me coming in My glory. Of course, he was referring to
the Mount of Transfiguration. This phrase, taste of death,
also has another meaning and a more awful meaning. It means
eternal death. It means death because of sin. The wages of sin is death. He was telling us over in Hebrews,
or Revelations 20, about death and hell delivering up the dead.
And death was cast into the lake of fire. And he said, this is
the second death. That's the awful death. That's
a death from which there is absolutely no deliverance. The Lord Jesus said, if a man
keep my sayings, he shall never taste of death. That's the death
that he was talking about. It wasn't physical death. When
he made that statement, the Pharisees said, well, you've got a devil.
Abraham's dead, and the prophets are dead, and you say if a man
keep your saying, he'll never taste of death. But Christ wasn't
talking about physical death, was he? He's talking about this
death that comes as a result of sin to the soul. That's the
bitter death. That's the sting of death. And
on Calvary, Christ experienced both of these deaths. He experienced
this physical death, but He experienced death because of sin. To be our substitute and die
in our stead, then He must suffer what would have been required
of us. The wages of sin, he tasted of that. Death is a result of
sin. And he said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful even unto death. And the Bible says Christ died
for our sins. He was made a sacrifice for our
sins. And so he tasted this death. He tasted death. He experienced
death. Not just physical death. I doubt
seriously if our Lord would have sweat drops of blood in the garden
on a cold night if all he faced was just a simple dying physically. There's been people that's died
in great peace that just died physically. A lot of saints died
that way. What was it about his death that
was an agony to him? It was this death because of
sin, not his own. but as a representative of his
people, of other people. And he died the sting of death. The sting of death is sin, and
that's a painful death, isn't it? Boy, that would be a painful
death. And the Apostle Peter was talking
about that in Acts 2, and he said that he died this death,
but God raised him from the dead and delivered him from the pain
of death. from the pains of death because
it wasn't possible that he could be holden of it. The death could
not hold him, and the reason death could not hold him is because
of who he was. He was the Lord of glory, the
Lord of life. He was too full of merit, wasn't
he? Too full of power. So he atoned for those sins. That way this sting of death
could not grip him and hold him. And He was the Lord of life.
He arose from the dead and defeated death, abolished death. So He
suffered the pains of death, that sorrow of it and the gloom
of it. But Peter says, God loosed the pains. He loosed the pains
of death. But it's a substitutionary death,
as I said, in the place and room instead of others. Well, verse
9 says, He tasted death for every man. So in our study, we started
last week to look at the extent of this substitutionary death
of Jesus Christ. How far-reaching is the substitutionary
death of Jesus Christ? Was it for everybody without
exception? Or was it for every elect soul
without any distinction? Whether he's a Jew or Gentile,
bond or free, old or young, who was it for? How far-reaching
is it? You know the apostles were amazed how far reaching
the death of Jesus Christ was when they began to preach. They
had no idea the death of Jesus Christ extended to the Gentiles.
And when Peter went down preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he was
talking about God sent Christ to Israel, preaching peace to
Israel. He's Lord of all. And when Peter
began to preach the death of Christ and the resurrection of
Christ, while he preached, the Holy Ghost fell on those who
believed the message. And the Bible says not only Peter,
but all of those with him were astonished. They were astonished. They could not believe the death
of Christ extended to these Gentile people. And John, when he wrote
his epistle, that's why he wrote that Christ is the propitiation
for our sin. and not for ours only, but for
the sins of the whole world. It extends to the world outside
the Jewish nation. So that was a mystery to them. I'm not asking tonight how far
reaching the death of Christ is. I'm not asking what was accomplished
by it. I can't answer that question.
I don't know what all Jesus Christ accomplished by His death. I
don't know how far it extends. It extends to Satan, not the
redeeming aspect of it. But we're told here in verse
14 that through death, through Christ's death, He destroyed
him that had the power of death. That is the devil. And John said
that Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.
The death of Jesus Christ, what it extends to sinners in its
redeeming aspect, boy, it yielded a death blow to the head of Satan
from which he'll never recover. So it extends probably farther
than you and I will ever know. In Romans chapter 14 and verse
9, the apostle said this, To this end Christ both died, He
arose and revived again, that He might be Lord both of the
dead, and living. And Rolf Barnard was given his
commentary on that passage and this is what he said. He said
Jesus Christ as a man and mediator between God and man by His own
death earned the right to be Lord both of the dead and living. And he said the dead in sins
are those who have been quickened in the Spirit and given life.
Are the dead physically or those who are alive physically? He
said Jesus Christ died and as a man he earned the right to
be Lord of everybody. Of everybody. That was his comment
on this. We know that Jesus Christ has
been exalted above all names. His name is above every name.
He is exalted above all rules. Everything is under His feet.
Everything that's seen and things aren't seen. And we know that
God put all judgment into His hands. He has power to execute
that judgment. Men will either be damned by
Him or saved by Him. Everything is under His feet.
And that came out of His death. He being found in fashion as
a man humbled himself and became obedient to death. Therefore
God has highly exalted him and given him a name. So I don't
know how far reaching the death of Jesus Christ is. I don't know
what all he has accomplished by it. But what you and I are
studying is about this substitutionary death, the atonement of Jesus
Christ and how far reaching that death is. I don't know what all
he's accomplished. We saw last time that where the
Apostle Paul said, you're the every man. He tasted death for
every man. And we looked at that and we
saw that that don't necessarily mean every man without exception,
does it? And we looked at all. And if
you apply all to everybody without exception, then you'll get in
trouble. And the whole world doesn't mean everybody without
exception. So we couldn't determine by looking at those passages
how far reaching the atonement was, who all it extended to. If you go to those places, all
and every man in the whole world, you've got to look at its context
that it's in. Either the immediate context
or the whole Bible, the context of the whole Bible. But when
you look at every man here in its context in chapter 2, in
verse 10 for instance, who does every man involve? Who is every man? Well, it could
include verse 10, many sons. He's going to bring many sons
to glory. Let's just keep it in this context. He tasted death
for every man. And then in verse 10, for it
became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in
bringing many sons unto glory. So every man is probably every
son. And then, Verse 11, for both
he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified. Who is every
man? It is simply limited to those
who are sanctified. And then we go on down to verse
14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
who is every man? The children. And then we go
on down in verse 16, For verily he took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. And I don't think he's speaking
there just of the natural seed of Abraham. I think maybe he's
speaking of the spiritual seed of Abraham. He took on him all
the elect of God. And then in verse 18, for in
that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's able to secure
those who are tempted. So every man would would include
those whom He secures, those He aids and those that He delivers. So that would keep something
in its context, wouldn't it? And that's what we're wanting
to see, things in its context. But all I've said about this,
it doesn't settle the issue with some people. It just doesn't
settle the issue with some people. And we looked last week at that. It doesn't settle the issue.
So what was the intent? Let's look at that for a few
minutes, the intent of Christ's death. What is the effects of
it? We look at those two things together. Some people say the intent of
Christ's death was just for the example. That would be the universal
Unitarians. He was a good example. Well,
that's so. He suffered, leaving us no example. But I tell you,
the death of Jesus Christ is a substitutionary death. And
as a substitutionary death, it reaches farther than just being
an example. We're told in the Bible of the
intent and of the effects of the redeeming death of Jesus
Christ. We're told of that even before
He died. And this is why, if you want
to see the intent of the death of Jesus Christ, go look in the
Old Testament. and look in the New Testament
in the Gospels before he died and see what the Bible tells
us about what the intent of that death was going to be. There
was a purpose in it and the Bible tells us of that purpose. Then
I said last week if we find out what the intent was, we can probably
find out how far it extends, can't we? It's sort of like a
carpenter He comes up to you, and he says he's going to build
a house, and he hands you the blueprint to the house. And you
opened up the blueprint, and man, there's this beautiful house.
You see it, and you let down the blueprint and look out over
the field where he's going to build a house, and there's nothing
there. I mean, the stakes aren't even there. The footer's not
done. And how do you know What intent
he has is for us to build a house. You have to look at the print,
don't you? That's what reveals his intent. You can't just look
at his work because it's an ongoing work, but you look at the print. And when you see the print, you
say, oh, here, he's drawn up the print. Here's what he's purposed
to build. And that's the same way in the
Bible. If we go to the Old Testament and go to the Gospels, even before
Christ died, We can find out what the intent of His death
was all about. What the intent of that substitutionary
death of Jesus Christ is about. Let me go at it this way and
maybe you can see what I'm saying and study this out for yourself
if you haven't already. We read in the Old Testament,
in Isaiah chapter 19 and 20, they shall cry unto the Lord
because of the oppressors. And He shall send them a Savior,
a great one. And listen to this. Here's the
intent now of Christ's death. And He shall deliver them. What is the death of Christ about?
It's about deliverance. That's the purpose of it. Deliverance.
It sounds something like our text here in Hebrews chapter
2 verse 15, doesn't it? Deliver them. Through His death
He delivered them. who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage? What is the atoning
death about? What was its purpose? Why did
Christ come? To deliver. To deliver. Isn't that simple? Isn't that
simple if we just start right there? If it doesn't deliver,
then don't call it a deliverance. If it doesn't save, then don't
call it salvation. If it doesn't redeem, don't call
it redemption. Let's find out what the intent
of it is and then we can be sure of the intent, the extent of
it. Did Christ death deliver? Listen
to some of these places. Here's the effects of it. Colossians
1.13, He hath delivered us from the power of darkness. The intent
was He shall deliver them. What's the effects? He hath delivered
us from the power of darkness. 1 Thessalonians 1 and 10, He
delivered us from the wrath to come. Galatians 1, 4, Who gave
Himself for our sins in order to deliver us from this present
evil world. But now you are delivered from
the law, from its curse, from its demands. You are delivered. What's the first thing we find
out about the atonement of Jesus Christ? What's the purpose of
it? It's a deliverance. It's a deliverance. And you know, we're still crying
for deliverance, aren't we? We are still crying for deliverance.
We're still praying to that end. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? He hath delivered
us from so great a death, and we trust that He will yet deliver
us. He's going to deliver us from the bondage of corruption
and to the glorious liberty of the children of God. So that's
the first thing about this death. Its purpose is to deliver. And then Zechariah chapter 3
in verse 8 and 9, it has to do, its intentions with the removal
of iniquity. That's the death of Christ. That
was the intent. God sent His Son to deliver from
iniquity. Listen to Zechariah 3 and verse
8. Behold, I will bring forth My
servant the branch, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove
the iniquity of that land in one day. Now, He don't tell us
there what that land is. We have to go other places to
find that out, but He does tell us this, that in one day He is
going to remove the iniquity of that land by the death of
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They had a day of atonement under
the Jewish economy. They'd bring the blood of bulls
and goats and sprinkle it, but that didn't take away any sin,
did it? What was it that removed the iniquity of the land So suddenly,
that was Jesus Christ by His death upon the cross. By one
sacrifice, one sacrifice, He had put away sin forever. He by Himself purged our sin. So there's the thing that we
see about the intent of The death of Christ that was spoken of
before He ever came. In other words, He gave us the
blueprint. He says, here's what I intend to do. And we opened
it up and what it says, I will remove the iniquity of that land
in one day. That was the intention. That
was the intention. Listen to Isaiah chapter 53 verse
11. Brother Moose preached on this
just the other night. This was the intent of Christ's
death. It was intended by His death that justice be reimbursed,
justice be satisfied. Isaiah 53, 11, He shall see of
the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. God was offended, wasn't He?
The Bible in Romans chapter 5 and verse 18 teaches us that God
was offended by Adam's sin He offended God. Justice was
offended. And God had to be reconciled. Justice had to be reconciled.
God's love didn't have to be reconciled. Love would have covered
a multitude of sins. Mercy didn't have to be reconciled.
But there was something in God that had to be reconciled. And
that was justice. That was justice. And that's
what the death of Jesus Christ did. It satisfied justice. And listen to Isaiah 52 verse
14 concerning the death of Christ. His vestige was more borrowed
than any man, and is far more than the sons of men. So shall
He sprinkle many nations, and kings shall shut their mouth
at Him, because that which they had not known shall be told them. He shall sprinkle many nations. And listen to Micah chapter 4
verses 1 and 2. In the last days it shall come
to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted
above the hills, and people shall flow into it. And many nations
shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach
us His ways, and we will walk in His path. For the law shall
go forth out of Zion, and the Word from Jerusalem. And you know, that's what's happened
in the last 2,000 years. That's what we're doing here
tonight, isn't it? We've all got together and said, come,
let's gather and the Lord is going to teach us of His ways.
And we're poor dead dog Gentiles. We're not even among the natural
Jews, are we? But He sprinkled us. And this
has been taking place in all nations since He turned to the
Gentiles. So the death of Jesus Christ
and its purpose was to sprinkle nations. A man asked Spurgeon
one time, and I've thought about this so often, he asked what
Christ intended by His death, and he said, what's He doing?
And we've got the advantage over even the apostles. We can look
back now, can't we? And these prophecies in the Old
Testament, He's going to sprinkle many nations? And look at the
nations of people that He's been sprinkling for all these, well,
almost 2,000 years now. He's been sprinkling. They've
been going up to the house of the Lord, gathering there to
worship. Listen to Zechariah chapter 9
verse 10 through 11. The death of Christ was intended
for another purpose, to send what He calls prisoners out of
the pit where there was no water. Zechariah 9 and 10, I will cut
off the chariot from Ephraim, I will cut off the horse from
Jerusalem, I will cut off the battle bow, and he shall speak
peace unto the heathen. His dominion shall be from sea
even to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. As
for thee also, he said, my son, by the blood of thy covenant
I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no
water. turn you to the strongholds,
you prisoners of old. Back there before Christ ever
died, He laid out the blueprint. And He says, Here is what I am
going to do with my dead. I am going to send men that I call
my prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water. I remember that
pit, don't you? Some of us was in religious pits.
Some of us were in open and propane pits. But there was no water
of life there. But this blood of the covenant
assured us that Christ would say, come forth out of that pit. I've redeemed you by the covenant
of my blood. And listen to Psalms 130 and
verse 7 and 8. The intentions of this substitutionary
death of Jesus Christ was not only to redeem from sin and bring
us out of the pit and regenerate us, but it was also to give a
good hope. It was to give a good hope to
the hopeless. Psalms 130. Let Israel hope in
the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous
redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquity. Redeem Israel from all his iniquity. Let Israel hope in the Lord. And that's the hope we have today,
isn't it? We hope. We're looking for the blessed
hope. and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior who
gave Himself to redeem us from all iniquity. And we go over
to the Gospels in just a couple of Scriptures in the Gospel before
the Lord Jesus died, the very first thing that is said of Him
in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21, He shall save His people
from their sins. What is the intent of Christ's
death? the salvation of His people. And what does salvation intend? What does it mean to be saved?
You know, if a man isn't raised up at last and given a new glorified
body and spend eternity with the Lord, then he can't be salvation
kept. It can't rightfully be said that
he saved a man from his sins. To be saved from your sins means
saved to the uttermost. It don't mean a temporary salvation.
Temporary healing, it means eternal salvation. And the death of Christ
obtained eternal salvation for His people. He said in Matthew
26, 28, this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for
many for the remission of their sins. That's His intent of it.
John 6, 51, the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will
give for the life of the world. So what was intended? All of
these things that we've been talking about. And we just hit
on very few of them. And you can find more and better
text probably than I read to you. But you can find in the
Bible the purpose of His death in ten of them. The death of
Jesus Christ on the behalf of sinners has a definite purpose
behind it. It's not a mere attempt. It's
not an effort. It's not an offer. Or it doesn't
put all men in a savable state. We hear all these things today. But it was intended all along
to redeem a great host out of every nation to do for them what
they could not do for themselves, to satisfy for sins, to reconcile
to God, to wash the guilty conscience, to justify from all iniquity,
to bring in a perfect righteousness, to give a good hope here and
eternal life hereafter. All of that was the intent of
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Hebrews chapter 2 and verse
10 tells us the intent of the atonement. Look here in our text
again in verse 10. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. It became him for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons into glory. That's the intent. of the death
of Christ, in bringing many sons into glory. And Moose made a
statement the other night. He said that we know what many
means concerning the atonement of Jesus Christ. It means more
than a few, but it doesn't mean all. But there's many, many brethren,
and that's the intent of His death. And as you and I read
our Bibles, we see than eternal purpose. God is not up in heaven
waiting to see how things are going to turn out, is He? He
has a purpose. I have purposed it, I'll also
do it. He has an eternal purpose which
is purposed in Jesus Christ the Lord. And among other things
that He's intended in this purpose, there is a purpose of eternal
redemption of a great host of sinners, fallen sinners out of
Adam's race. And that atonement of Jesus Christ
has fixed their redemption. It has forever settled and they
have no reason to doubt. If you are here tonight and your
faith is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, your hope is in Him
and God will bear witness to it, then your redemption is fixed. Your eternal salvation is fixed
and there is no reason to doubt. If He is your salvation, He's
earned it. He's purchased it. He's won it. Then you have no reason to doubt
if your faith and hope is in Him. And I said last time we
studied on this that when I come here, I wasn't prejudiced. I didn't have any system to defend. But I am somewhat prejudiced.
I'll have to admit, I am somewhat prejudiced about the atonement
of Jesus Christ extending only to those who are redeemed by
it. I am prejudiced, and the more
I read, the more prejudiced I guess I become. I try to keep an open
mind about this, and when I read, and when I talk to people, I
try to keep an open mind. But I cannot grasp a redemption
that does not redeem. I cannot grasp the Son of God
being a substitute for those who were in hell when he died.
When I go to the Scriptures, I don't like to take that notion
with me. I want to leave an open mind
about it. But everywhere I go, I see that. I see the extent
of it. It's limited. Limited. Not in its power, but its intent. Its intent. Charles Spurgeon
said a general redemption, a general atonement was like a bridge that
goes halfway across the river. Everybody may get on it. And
that sounds so wonderful, doesn't it? Everybody get on this bridge.
It's going to get everybody across. It's for everybody. It's for
anybody. But a general atonement gets
a person halfway across the bridge. And that ain't good, is it? I
want something that goes all the way across. And as we look
at the intent of this atonement, this is what we see. It really
atones. It really redeems. And you can
put your trust, you can put your faith in a Savior like that.
You can put your trust in Him. Remy, would you be pleased to
dismiss us?