We'll be in the book of Hebrews
this morning. If you'd like to turn. Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two. And our
text is found in verse 10 through verse 18. And it will be the
same for both hours. Let's read this together. Hebrews
chapter two, verse 10. For it became him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth
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. 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 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
hath 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 has suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted. Here we have the word children
mentioned twice. The word children says that Verse
13, I will put my trust in him and again I and the children
which thou hast given me for as much then as the children
are partakers of blood. We have the word children twice.
What is it we hear so often in the world pertaining to God and
pertaining to his children? Have you ever heard the expression
we're all God's children? I've titled this message, Who
Are the Children of God? And I want to ask the question,
who are the children of God? Is everyone, without exception,
a child of God? Man's argument would be that,
well, he created all men, so that makes them all his children. But there are many Antichrist
spirit in the world, brethren, that because of being Antichrist,
they have preconceived notions of God, who God is, what God
has done, what God has purposed. These notions are preconceived
because of their nature. Men by nature, left to themselves,
comes to the same notion, the notion I just mentioned, that
we're all God's children. It's not true. It's not true
that we are all God's children. Some base these notions, this
is a scary thought, it was for me, that some of the notions
men base their ideas on are biblical facts. You have biblical facts
that Jesus Christ is the son of God. They don't believe that.
They haven't been given faith to believe that, but they declare
that. That's true, isn't it? That's true that he's the son
of God. But what's not seen, they take that truth and then
they add to it by saying, all you have to do is this, and you,
and you will be saved. And it's not true. This is where
it has to be through and by faith that we believe in God. We believe
not just about him, but we believe on him. These are they who only look
with the natural eye and if not careful will. If left to ourself,
that's what I should say. If left to ourself, we'll see
the Bible as everyone sees the Bible, as biblical facts about
moral standards, about what you must do to have eternal life.
That's what men view the Bible as. It's a good book. Most people
will say that. It's a good book. It's the oldest
book that's written in our society, to my knowledge, and you know
another one, you can let me know, but it's not just facts. It's the living word of God,
and the only way we can believe that is if he causes us to believe
that. Men have by nature arrived at
the conclusion God made everybody the same. That means he must
love everybody. That means we must all be God's
children, right? That's the natural perception
of men. But are we though? Are we the,
all the children, are we born the children of God just because
we're born into this world? Into this world? Who taught us
this statement? Would be the first question I'd
ask. Did God teach us that? What does God say about that?
We're going to know the truth about God. We got to hear from
Him. We want to know His truth. We have to hear from Him. Otherwise,
we just believe what men tell us. If one man can talk us into
something, another man can talk us out of something. You ever
been to a car dealership before? They'll start by telling you
why you need that new car. And it'll start sounding better
and better and better. And I'm guilty. I've bought a
car off of a lot. We dropped off our car to get
an oil change one time. We ended up leaving there with
a brand new, not a brand new car, but another car. It was
the car we're driving now, 2013. It was all the Lord's providence
in it. But you understand the man talked us into it. I'm surprised
I was that easily manipulated. It wasn't hard because I really
liked that car anyways. He didn't have to do a whole
lot. And that's what men do by nature when it comes to things
of God. They talk other men into something. They say, well, here's
what it's saying. Well, this is certainly how it has to be.
God loves everybody. Jesus died for everybody. That's
how it has to be, right? Because men don't know what they
are by nature. By nature, they believe that
God is not just. God is not sovereign. God is
not holy. If they believe those facts about
God, they would have been given faith to believe that. God demands
perfection, and you and I can't produce that. He only loves those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's who his children are. That's who his children
are. A man told me recently, it's amazing,
somebody finds out you're a, you believe the gospel, especially
if you're a pastor, they'll, just like they did to the Lord,
whenever the Lord was talking to the woman at the well, as
soon as she perceived that he was a prophet, she immediately
showed him her righteousness. She said, well, here's my righteousness,
we worship in this mountain. And what'd the Lord say? You
don't, you worship you know not what. You don't know what you
worship. You don't worship God. Men and women will immediately
become very religious and they'll tell you what they know and they'll
tell you what they've learned of other men. They'll tell you,
here's my righteousness. This is what we do by nature
if we're not of the Lord, if we haven't been taught of him.
And I was told John 3.16 and I've driven around town and see
signs that say John 3.16. Do we believe John 3.16? Absolutely.
It's not complicated. We believe every word of scripture.
How much of the Bible do you have to believe to be a believer?
Every word of it. Every word of it. We believe
it, don't we? For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. Do I believe that? Yes. Absolutely. This was a conversation between
a religious Jew who had a righteousness about being a Jew because the
Messiah was supposed to be given to the Jew. In his mind, the
Jew only. But as we'll see later on in
the message that they are not all Israel that are of Israel. It's not the physical, it's not
the bloodline. It wasn't what this man had learned
or known or because he was just born that made him a child of
God. Now he said to him, no, it's
not just the Jew, it's the Greeks too. It's the Gentiles also,
it's the world. Every nation, every tribe, every
kindred will be represented whenever we die and are conformed to the
image of the Lord. We'll see that election was not
based in nothing about us, not our bloodline, not our race,
not our heritage. It's all of grace. That's what
he's telling Nicodemus. Then he says, for whosoever believeth
on him should not perish. But then he tells him later on
that the wind bloweth where it listeth. You can't tell whether
the wind blow or whether it comes. So is everyone born of the spirit?
Nicodemus response to all this wasn't, okay, well, I'm going
to choose to believe you. His response was this. How can
these things be? Is that not what we come to an
understanding of naturally when we hear the truth? How can these,
that can't be the way that it is. How can this be? The Lord
gives faith, and we say truth, Lord. Truth, Lord, that's it. If I'm gonna believe, you're
gonna have to be the one that calls me to be birthed by the
Spirit. You're gonna have to be, calls
me to be born again in your truth. I had nothing to do with my first
birth, I have nothing to do with my second birth. And those who
are born again, born of His power, born of His will, born according
to His purpose, they are the children of God. Men say, you have to choose to be born again. That's not what the Lord told
Nicodemus, was it? He said, you must be born again,
born of the Spirit. That's not a decision. Nothing
about salvation is contingent upon you and I. That makes the
flesh mad and it makes the new man rest. It makes our flesh
angry that we have nothing to do with it, but it causes our
new man to rejoice in Christ alone. It causes us, that's our
only peace. I have nothing to do with it.
I can't mess it up. I have no power. He has all the
power. The Lord doesn't say choose. The
Lord said you must be born again, born of the spirit, not of us,
but him. Tells us that if you're a child of God, I did that. That's what he told Jacob. I
have bought you, I have redeemed you, I have made you mine. Fear
not, Jacob, I did all those things. This is all by his doing. Turn back to John chapter one.
We were in conversation that Nicodemus was having was in John
three. And I had us turning there and opportunity. But look what he says in John
1, this is just too, we talked about believing every word of
the scripture, nothing contradicts itself. Nothing contradicts itself. Look at John chapter 1 verse
11, Christ Jesus came to his own and his own received him
not. But as many as received him to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, the children of God, even to them that believe
on his name. A lot of men, that declare their
gospel, which is not the gospel, they stop right there. But do
you see that colon at the end of that? Do you see that little
two dots right there? Do you know what that means?
That's not the end of the thought. What else does he say? Which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. Who are God's children? They
that have been born, not of the will of the flesh nor the will
of blood, but of God. God's the one that wills it.
God's the one that performs it. God's the one that does it. This
isn't this isn't that. We choose to believe on him. No, he has to give power. Look
what he says in verse 12. But as many as received him a
reception, that's because we're made empty vessels able to receive. Otherwise, we're dead. Can a
dead man receive anything? No, we're born and we receive
by his power. That's what he says. To them
gave he power to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe
on His name, even the believing, He gets all the glory for. We
believe because it's according to His will. Salvation is of
the Lord by Him. Those that are called are called
according to His purpose. These are the children of God.
Who's the children of God? The ones that are born according
to His will. Not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of the will of God. These are the elect before time,
given to the Son in the covenant of grace, redeemed by the Son's
blood on the cross of Calvary, and then birthed, made alive,
born again in time by the Spirit. You will not find in the scripture
anywhere that says we are all God's children. I can tell you
that, among other truths, I can tell you where it says he hates
some. I can tell you that he doesn't love everybody. I can
tell you why he hates, because there's none good that doeth.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. There's none that
seeketh after God, none that seeketh truth. I can take us
to many verses, but unless the Lord makes us conscious of the
deep pollution that we are, we won't believe it. Unless he gives
us faith to need the Lord Jesus Christ, We will kick against
his truth. He must open our understanding
or we won't believe him. We'll believe man, we'll believe
Satan, we'll believe flesh over God. Only God can reveal the
truth. You remember what Paul told Timothy
whenever he was charging Timothy? He said, continue thou in the
things which you have learned, being assured of whom you have
learned them." Is he talking about Paul? Is he saying, remember,
you learned this from me, so don't forget it? No. Is he saying,
well, remember, you've learned it from so-and-so, so don't forget
it. No, he's talking about God. Isn't that what the scripture
says in John 645? It is written, in the prophets,
they all shall be taught of God. Every man therefore. Now somebody
would say, well, if everyone's taught of God, is that what he's
saying? No. Every man, therefore, that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. This is the work of grace. The
Lord is the one that teaches his children. The Lord is the
one that gives his children ears to hear, eyes to see. The Lord
is the one that doeth it according to his purpose. Does the Lord teach everybody?
No. teaches his children. Do you
teach everybody's children? No. Teach your own, don't you? You'd like to teach some other
people's children, wouldn't you? No. Can't do it. Can't do it. I'll get in trouble if I start
trying to teach somebody else's children something. If I start
trying to discipline your children, that ain't going to work out,
is it? No. No, we love our children,
and the Lord loves His children, and He chastens His children
according to His own will and His purpose. Who are God's children? Those whom He loves, those whom
He died for. Go back to our text in Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter two. Look in verse 13. And again, I will put my trust
in Him, And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given
me. Now that's a quote from Psalm 22. I'm not gonna turn there
this hour, next hour we will, but what he says in verse 12,
that's the beginning of the quote, this is the Lord Jesus Christ
is who this is. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. He calls his people his brethren.
He's talking to the Father. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him, in God. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. He's saying that his children
are going to trust God. How is it you and I are able
to trust God? Well, we're enabled to, we're
enabled to. We're unable, naturally speaking,
because God is a spirit, but he enables us. How does he do
that? By giving faith, by blowing the
breath of life into our spirit, by causing us to be born again. We believe God. These are the
children of promise that he's speaking of, the children of
promise. These are the ones that are born of him, born by him,
that are taught of him. These are his children, according
to his own purpose and will. He tells us as a description,
the children which God hath given me. God hath given me. That means the ones that the
Lord hath given unto his son, they are the children. They are
the children of the Lord. Listen to first John three, verse
one, behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. And he says, brethren,
now are we the sons of God? Who's he talking to? Anytime
you read scripture, who's he talking to? Is he talking to
everyone without exception? No. Brethren, now are we the
sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall
be made like him for we shall see him as he is. Brethren, behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. This is
not the bestowing upon everybody without exception. This is the
ones that the Lord chose to redeem. Everybody else he left to themselves.
These are the ones that the Lord loves. The Lord doesn't love
everybody, but he loves with an everlasting love. And those
that he don't love, he hates. And he hates with a holy hatred.
And you and I, we can't understand that because our hatred is, is
ugly, and our hatred, his love's holy. Our hatred is ugly, his
hatred is holy, it's true, it's good, it's just. We don't hate
that way. Everything about him is good.
We can't fathom that, can we? Can't understand that, but we
believe it. We know it's true, because we've been taught of
him. The brethren John's speaking about, the ones that's been given
the love of God. They are the children of promise,
the children born not after the covenant of works, but of the
covenant of grace. I want us to look at that in
Genesis chapter 17, if you'd like to turn there. Now, I would remind us of the
situation that's happened thus far and what's going on in Abraham's
life. Abraham was a idol worshiper. Abraham was an idol worshiper.
And then God appeared unto Abraham. And that's all that we are by
nature. We're idol worshipers left to ourself. We can put the
name Jesus Christ on our idol. We can put our name on our idol,
but we're still idol worshipers until the Lord reveals himself. And that's exactly what he did
for Abraham. He tells Abraham, you're going to have a son. You're
going to have a son. And he's gonna be a child of
promise. It's gonna come in your old age.
And you remember Sarah laughing in her heart? You remember Abraham,
he couldn't understand. He thought, scripture says, he
thought in his mind, how can I, when I'm 100 years old and
Sarah is 90, have a child? It's not possible, but you and
I, and Abraham was made to believe, with man it's impossible, but
with God all things are possible. Labraham decides, and Sarah decides,
to do what every human being does when they hear the truth
of the Lord's word and they're left to themselves. They take
matters into their own hands. And Sarah said, well, here's
my handmaiden. We gotta help God out. That's what, they didn't
say it that way, but is that not exactly what it is? We're
gonna have to give God a hand. There's no way I can have a child.
There's no way, I'm 90, I'm past time to have children. And what
took place? Well, the handmaiden bore a son
unto Abraham and they named him Ishmael, Ishmael. Well, that's
exactly where we are right here in Genesis chapter 17. And Abraham was 90 years old
and nine. And the Lord appeared to Abraham
and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou
perfect. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham
fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me,
behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations. Neither shall thy name any more
be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham. For
a father of many nations have I made thee, and I will make
thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee,
and kings shall come out of thee. and I will establish my covenant
between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations
for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy
seed after thee. Now, do you see anything contingent
that's entirely based upon Abraham here? Or do you read the same
thing I do where the Lord says, I will, I will, I will, I will. It does say at the very beginning,
I am the Lord Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect.
Now how are we gonna walk before God perfectly? How is it we can
walk before, think about that, we can't. If we know anything
about ourself, if the Lord's revealed anything about our nature,
there is none good. And if none is good, they're
definitely not perfect. So how is Abraham gonna walk
perfectly before God? How is it you and I are made
to walk perfectly? The only way we can do that is
be found in Christ. That's the only way. That's the
work of God. If we are found walking perfectly,
it's because we're found in Christ. Not walking according to our
flesh and our will, but according to God, causing us to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute. That's the only way.
So again, I would ask, what's contingent based upon Abraham
of God honoring this covenant here? Nothing. God chose. Left to himself, Abraham would
still be worshiping idols. Left to themselves, Ishmael would
have been plenty. They wouldn't have worried about
anything else, would they? But God came and said, I am the Almighty
God. I like how they capitalized that
A. That's his name, Almighty. Almighty God. He tells him, I'll
make a nation of you. You're gonna have a son. Let's
read on here. Calls it an everlasting covenant.
It's never had a beginning or end. Verse 15. And God said unto
Abraham, as for Sarah thy wife, thou shalt no longer call her
Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and
give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her and she
shall be a mother of nation. Kings of people shall be of her.
And then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in
his heart, shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years
old and shall Sarah that is 90 year olds bear? And Abraham said
unto God, oh, that Ishmael might live before thee. And God said,
Sarah, thy wife shall bear thee a son, indeed. And thou shalt
call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold, I have blessed
him. I will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly.
12 princes shall he begat, and I will make him a great nation,
but my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall
bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And he left
off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. Now I want you to notice something. If you'll turn over to Genesis
22, what the Lord says about Ishmael after that. He says,
I'm gonna establish a covenant with Isaac, not Ishmael. establish
a covenant with Isaac, not Ishmael. Why? Because Isaac represents
the covenant of works. Ishmael, they took matters into
their own hands. Isaac represents the covenant of grace. Ishmael
represents the covenant of works. Isaac represents the covenant
of grace. Look what he says here in chapter 22, verse one. It
came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and
said unto him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here I am. And
he said, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land Moriah and offer him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. Thy only son, Isaac? thy only
son. God didn't acknowledge that Ishmael
was Abraham's son. Why? Because Isaac is the son
of the promise. Isaac is the son of the covenant
of grace that Sarah could not have conceived and had a son
at her old age. Abraham was past time. God had
to do everything. That's the exact point. Who's
the children of God? Those that are born according
to his promise. His will, it doesn't make sense
to the flesh. When we hear about it, we'll
laugh at our heart. That's what men do, they laugh
at the gospel. They get angry at the gospel. But it's the best
news to a dead dog sinner because it's, I'm past time, I can't.
There's no way that I can, I'm dead. Lord, you're gonna have
to make me alive. And he says, I will, because
I am according to my will. He does it all. He does it all. Isaac represents the Lord Jesus
Christ being born supernaturally by the spirit of the Lord, born
of a woman. We see that picture of Isaac
being offered up. We see the picture of the covenant
being fulfilled. Abraham got to witness that,
didn't he? The Lord, they took, you remember the account. They
went up on the mountain. Abraham was to offer up Isaac
unto the Lord. The Lord was tempting him, is
what the scripture says, testing him, trying his faith, if you
will. And what happened? The Lord said,
spare your son. Hurt not thy son, thy only son. Calls him his only son again.
Hurt not thy son, thy only son Isaac. Hurt not the lad. And
then what happened? Well, a substitute was found
for Isaac. Because of the everlasting covenant
of grace, the substitute was found for the Lord's people in
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. A ram was caught in the thicket.
Lord Jesus Christ became a man. The ram, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the lamb of God. His horns, his glory was caught
with the thorns, the thorns, which are the curse, our curse
found in Genesis chapter three. That's what was placed upon his
head, our curse. He bore it in his own body upon
the tree. And there he bowed his mighty
head after shedding his precious blood, offered himself up unto
the father and said, it is finished. Every person that he did that
for is his children, every single one of them. Everybody else are
accounted as Ishmael. They're just children of the
covenant of works. They have no hope, no promise. They're still fighting over the
land over in the Middle East. They didn't ever reconcile. Isaac
and Ishmael, they couldn't strive together, could they? Why? It
was works and it was grace. It was all about the promise
and all about man's works. How only Isaac was the son of
promise and only the Lord's people are the children of promise. We've been made to know that
we have been saved by a promise, not our promise to God. but the
father's promise to the son and the son's promise to the father
and the spirit's promise to regenerate all those for whom the father
elected the son redeemed their promise. The promise where he
says, I will, and you shall. The Lord is think about the words
of the Lord. I will establish my everlasting
covenant with you. That it's already established.
It's everlasting. Think about the wording there.
Something that's everlasting, never had a beginning and never
had an end. So how is it that he's going to establish it? Well,
it's not that he's establishing it because it's not established.
He's letting you know about it. He's letting us know about it.
That's what faith believes. That's what, that's what being
born again is, is he's established the covenant. He says, live,
we see it. He just lets us in on, he says, I'm going to, He
tells us what he's gonna do. Think about it this way. He tells
us what he's gonna do. He tells us what, that's what the scripture
was all written for, is to tell us what the Lord has done. But
he said, this is what I'm going to do. And then he tells us what
he's done. That's pretty much how it works,
isn't it? It's all of him. It's all of him. It's the covenant
of grace before time ever began. Tells us what he's going to do.
Tells us. Then he came and did it and he
tells us he's done it. It is finished. That's our hope. The father elected a people.
To redeem them for the purpose of them being conformed to the
image of his son, not based upon them. Based upon the finished
work of Christ, completely all agree all of grace. The sun became
a man. Son became a man, redeemed all
that the Father gave to him, lived the perfect life. We could
not shed his precious blood, washing away his people's sins,
his children's sins. Father resurrected his son, didn't
he? Father was pleased with his son. And the spirit regenerates
in time, births, literally births his children to his family. We
have never nor ever will we be able to do anything against or
for salvation. We will never or have we ever,
will we ever or we can't do anything for or against salvation. Salvation's
of the Lord and salvation is finished. Turn with me to Romans
chapter nine. Look in verse six, not as though
the word of God had taken none effect, for they are not all
Israel, which are of Israel. And this is what he's explaining
here. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they
all children, but in Isaac shall thou see be called. Why Isaac?
Because he's the child of promise. Not Ishmael. He's saying, no,
it's coming through Isaac. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. What did he
just say? They that are the flesh are not
the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted
for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac, For the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or any evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth,
it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Why did
God love Esau? Jacob. Why did God hate Esau? Because Jacob was of the promise
of God. Jacob was elect according to
the purpose of God, according to the foreknowledge of God.
Jacob was one whom was a child of God. This is who the Lord
loves, is his people, given to his son in the covenant of grace.
This is God's choice. This is his doing. Who are the
people of God? Who are the children of God?
Spiritual Israel, not physical. Spiritual Israel, they that are
born of the promise at His word, at His choice. And I love the
fact that it's not contingent upon you and I. None of it's
based, none of it's presented contingent. This, we got that,
We got what I described to you earlier in the mail for the church,
and they didn't say contingent if you do this or contingent
if you do that. No, it was just a gift, just a gift. That's exactly
how it works with salvation. The Lord says live. We receive
the gift not contingent upon us, but it was completely based
upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was completely
based upon the promises made between the Lord himself. It's
completely based upon him honoring everything that he said and he
did. He sat down as the successful redeemer. Successful redeemer
of all God's children. Look at verse 25. He saith also in Osi, I will
call them my people, which were not my people and her beloved,
which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people.
There shall they be called the children of the living God. Isaiah also cried out concerning
Israel. Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved
for he, here's our hope right here, brethren, for he will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. As Isaiah said before,
except the Lord of the Sabbath had left a seed, we would have
been a Sodom and been made like Gomorrah. of salvations, all
of grace, the Lord will finish it. Otherwise we would be a Sodom
and Gomorrah. He's the one that's gonna have to do it all, isn't
he? And he did, he by himself purged our sin, uniting us back
to God. Now in closing, I just wanna
point out something quickly back in our text, Hebrews chapter
two. Now based, On what we've spoken thus far, let's look at
this text again in that light. For it became him, verse 10,
chapter two of Hebrews, 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 suffering.
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are
all of one. We heard about that last Sunday.
For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. 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 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
hath 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 the nature 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 all things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted. He is the true promised seed. given to Abraham. He's the one.
He was the one that's the true child of promise. He's the one
that we are all birthed into by him alone. Otherwise, we're
not. We're not a child unless we're
found in him. He's the fulfillment of the everlasting
covenant. He's the sum and substance of
the promise, the promise made to redeem the people of God. He's the sum and substance of
it. And by his finished work, by his purpose, we are born after
his righteous seed. We're not born of our own self
anymore. We've been bought with the price, the scripture says,
born after him, therefore, Who are the children of God? Those
that are given to Christ Jesus before time ever began. Those
who are redeemed in time by the Lord Jesus Christ and those who
are made alive by his spirit in time. They are the children
of God. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you. Promised
and cannot lie and you kept your promise to redeem your people.
Calls us to be found in Christ in his name, Amen. Let's take
a break.