Turn to Hebrews chapter 2. And I do miss coming up here,
or down here from south of Ashland, isn't it? But I have told Vicki,
I miss this place and I miss coming here preaching for Tom
when he's gone. has been an easy place for me
to preach. I'm hesitant to use that word
easy, because preaching is not easy. I've never found preaching
at all easy. Vicki said to me the other day,
she said, as long as you've been doing this, you'd think it wouldn't
be so hard. I said, it just... You know, I was telling the congregation
last week, I said, the older that I get and the more I see
of Christ, the harder I find the vocabulary to describe what
I see. It's just more difficult to put
into words what you read, Gary, to substitute. It's just more
difficult. But I thank God for you and the
opportunities I've had over the years. You know, I got to see
you grow gray. I'm getting there too. I'm older
than you think, just genetics. Alright, Hebrews chapter 2, let
me read some verses here. I'm going to go ahead and read
from verse 1 down through verse 9 or 10. Therefore, we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard.
The gospel that's been preached here for years. Give heed to
it. Meditate it. You know, David
speaks about meditating upon the Word of God. Don't let it
just slip by, like drift. Drift by you. But, think about
it. When you hear it, go home and
think about it. Lest at any time we should let
them slip. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord,
and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him? God also
bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will.
For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to
come, whereof we speak. 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 crownedest Him with glory
and honor, and didst set Him over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast 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." Now we understand
Psalm 8. We understand who he's talking
about in Psalm 8. 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. Him bringing many sons
unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect or
complete. We have a complete Savior in
Jesus Christ. We have in Him all that we need. We have in Him wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. We have in Him a High Priest.
We have in Him a Mediator. We have in Jesus Christ a complete
Savior. Complete. And He made Him complete
through sufferings. That finished it. He put away
sins. Apart from the Word of God, this Earth and our existence
upon it is a mystery. It's a mystery. Scientists have
been trying to figure all this out and they're still baffled. They are still just as baffled
as ever. Only when one turns to the Word
of God and sees the man Jesus Christ, can the mystery and purpose
of man's existence on this earth, our existence, be cleared up. When we turn to the Word of God,
He said, but we see Jesus. We see Jesus. The Scripture tells
us all things were made by Him and for Him. things now the writer
picks up in verse 5 on the angels you see in verse chapter 1 he
showed the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ over the prophets
over the angels and he picks up on the angels here again and
it has to do with the world to come front of the angels hath
he not put in subjection the world to come wherever we speak
The world to come is a very real world. It's a very, very real
world. This is not a fairy tale now.
This is not Greek mythology. This is true. This is true. It is written in the scriptures
over in chapter one that this world is going to pass away.
It's passing away. Every day we get up. We should
realize and think and consider that this earth, this world is
passing away. So I don't want to put too much
time into it. I don't want to put too much
interest into it because God's going to burn it up. You want global warming? I can
give you global warming. God's going to burn it up. There's
your global warming. He's going to burn this place
up. It says in Revelations 21.1, And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away. That's the one you and I are
standing on. It's the one that we were made from, from dust.
Adam was made from dust. And there's not going to be a
trace of this dust when God puts it away. Now he says here that
the angels have no rule over the world to come. It's not designed
for them. It's not given to them at all. It's designed for the man, Jesus
Christ. That's who it's designed for,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul is showing the superiority
of Christ over the angels and that he only is to be worshipped
and that ultimately through this man, Jesus Christ, man will be
saved. But not every man. Humanity will
be saved, but not every human. The animal world was saved in
the ark, right? But not every animal in the world.
But the animals that God chose and called into that ark were
saved. And we have the animal world right now from the animals
that were saved in the ark. Man's going to be saved. Humanity's
going to be saved. But it's going to be saved through
the man Jesus Christ. But not every man's going to be saved.
Not every human being's going to be saved. There's a race,
there's a multitude of sinners that God chose out of Adam's
race, and they are going to populate heaven. That new heaven and new
earth. They're going to populate it. That's what they're going
to do. Now here's the question. But
one in a certain place testified, and that's David over in Psalm
8, saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son
of man that thou visitest him? Here are the three points I want
us to look at. What was man before the fall?
What is man after the fall? And who is this man, Jesus Christ? That's what I want to look at.
Now I know what man thinks he is. I know what man thinks he
is. He thinks he's the greatest thing ever. He thinks he's the
greatest thing since sliced bread. That's what man thinks of himself.
In fact, man thinks he's so great that he believes and thinks that
God is like he is. It is written over in Psalm 50,
21. These things hast thou done,
and I kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as thou said, altogether, not kinda like me. But you think that I am altogether
just like you. You couldn't have a lower thought
of God than that. And you couldn't have a higher thought of yourself
than that. to think that God is like you, like me. That's
what man, that's what natural man thinks. In his imagination,
he thinks God is like himself. He thinks God is like himself.
Now what was man before the fall? Well, first of all, he was the
chief of God's creation. Adam was the chief of God's creation.
Nothing in creation was created in the image of God, but man,
Adam. Scripture's not, now listen,
when he talks about being created in the image of God, he's not
talking about physical, because God is spirit. He's talking about
spiritual. No other creature was given the
intelligence that man was given. Adam was a true genius. We can't
comprehend how intelligent that man was. We can't comprehend
that. Now he was intelligent, but now
listen, Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. Big difference. Big difference. But Adam also, listen, Adam named
all the animals. Whatever name he gave them, that's
the name they had. He could reason. He could love. Adam could express his thoughts.
He could speak, communicate his feelings. He could be joyful. He could
plan. I just can't comprehend How intelligent,
and just to imagine this man that God created. God created
in his image, in his own image. Adam was king over all creation.
It says in Psalm 8, verse 6, let me read you a few verses
here. He says, Thou madest him to have
dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet. When God created Adam, he gave
Adam dominion over the whole of creation. All of creation,
all sheep, oxen, yea, and the beast of the field, the fowl
of the air, the fish of the sea, whatsoever passes through the
paths of the sea, thou hast put under his feet. Now here in a little bit, we're
going to see that in the man Christ Jesus, everything put
under his feet, even the angels. But we'll get to that in a minute.
Nothing in creation was off limits to Adam. Everything God created,
he said, here, you're the king of it. This is your domain. Reign over it. He told him to
subdue the earth. Reign over it. Adam was created upright, he
was created pure, innocent. Innocent. He knew no sin, not
by creation. Not by creation. Sin did not
come from a flaw in creation. There was no flaw in God's creation.
At all. He had fellowship with God like
none of the rest of creation. He enjoyed God. He enjoyed God. This was man before the fall,
created in the image of God. What is man now after the fall? You know, it's, I can't explain
it, but right now we have light. After the fall, it's like turning
these lights out and it's pitch dark. Just blackness. What is man after
the fall? He's a fool. Adam thought he
was going to know good and evil and he became evil. He knew the
good, he knew God. No good but God, he knew good.
But he wanted to be as God. And when we talk about being
as God, rather there's nothing wrong with being as God in holiness. Love? I want to be as... Did
you want to be as God in love? Be holy as your Father which
is in heaven? Be holy for I am holy? Don't
you want to be like that? I want to be like that. But he
wanted to be as God in being independent and sovereign, equal, if not above. If not above. He wanted to be
his own God. The fool, listen, the fool has
said in his heart, there is no God. But a better translation
is this, the fool has said in his heart, no God for me. I'll
be my own God. That's exactly why men get upset
when you preach the sovereignty of God. The reason men get upset
and they despise it is because it takes the crown off of their
head and puts it on God's head where it belongs. Man became a fool. You can't
be a bigger fool than to rebel against God. The man's a liar. I was watching this program, and they said that scientifically,
whatever that means, but scientifically it's proven that when two people
start a conversation, in less than a minute, one of them's
lying. In less than a minute, somebody starts lying. It might
be a little twist, or just like Satan when he spoke to Eve, it
was a little twist. I tell you what, just an ounce,
just an ounce of a lie, just a little twitch, and it's not
the truth no more. It's not the truth no more. He's a liar. Paul said, God forbid,
yea, let God be true, but every man And I can put my name right
beside that, including me. In my Bible here, where it says
there's none good, no, not one, I put beside of it, including
me. Yeah, I'm not talking about my neighbor, let's talk about
me first. You know, when the Lord said to the disciples, He
said, where are you going to betray me? And you know what
they said one by one? Lord, is it I? He didn't say,
I know it'll be Peter. I know it'll be Judas. I just
know I've been watching him. No, he said, Lord, is it I? Is
it I? Let God be true in every man
a liar. And then man, since the fall, is enmity against God. Man does not love God. Henry
said one time, he said, if a person says they've loved God all their
life, he said, that's just too long. That's just too long. You and I did not come into this
world in love with God. We literally come into this world
with an enmity, poison of asp under our tongue, despising the
very nature of God, the very person of God. Romans 8, 7, "...because the
carnal mind," and that's what every one of us was born with,
"...is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be." Enmity means this, to have a
deep-seated hatred. It says, "...because the carnal
mind is enmity," I can read it like this, "...because the carnal
mind has a deep-seated hatred of God. And I had that at one time, and
you had that at one time. And what is man? After the fall,
he is pure sin. He is, I don't know if I can
use that word pure or not, but he's sin through and through.
He's absolutely sin through. That's what I am. That's what
I am. I am one mass of sin. That's why it's written in the
scriptures, He was made to be sin. Because that's what I am. That's what I am. And what is man, Isaiah said
in Isaiah 40? He's grass. I just mowed grass
yesterday. He just grasps. And the glory
of man is like the flower of the field. It flourishes for
a while, and everybody says, oh, isn't that pretty? Isn't
that beautiful? And then a few weeks go by, fall
comes along, and you see that thing just die. Man's glory is so brief. It's
so brief. It's cut down. It's cut down. What is man? He's a worm. That's
what he called Jacob. Thou worm, thou maggot, Jacob. This is why the gospel is so
offensive. Because it's so truthful with us. The gospel tells us
the truth. And that's what you want. Tell
me the truth. God's not going to save you by
a lie. He's going to save you by the truth. We've got to have
the truth. Tell me the truth, no matter
how much it offends me. Tell me the truth. What is man? I'll tell you what
he is. He's miserable. We are the biggest pill-popping
country in the world. You would think we're the richest
country in the world, but we pop more pills in this country
than any country on earth. Miserable. Miserable. Someone was telling me, this young person, wanting to
get a job when they get older, so they might want to make a
lot of money. I said, you want to do something that you're going to
enjoy? I don't care. I really want to
make a lot of money. Solomon said, he that loves silver will
never be satisfied with it. You chase that all your life,
and you'll never be satisfied. You'll never be happy. Happiness
comes. when you are really, genuinely
content in Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ is enough,
that's when you'll find real happiness. That's when you'll
find it. And listen in verse 7, And thou
madest him, that is, you made man a little lower than the angels,
thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him
over all, set him over the works of thy hands, Now man was made
a little lower than the angels for a little while. This is what
he's saying, for a little while. He was made a little lower than
the angels. God has a greater purpose in doing this. And we're going to see this purpose
fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the man Jesus Christ. But, he says in verse 8, but
thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he
put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that's not put
under him, but now we see not yet all things put under him. How devastating. How devastating
was the fall. God said Adam have dominion over
all of it. And now creation. Creation is
an absolute rebellion against us. Against man. That's right. You go out there in the woods,
you got the thorns and the thistles. You know what they're saying?
They're saying, stay out of here. Stay out of here. The animals
attack. The animals attack us. They poison
us now. Creation has turned on us. It's
turned on us. But all is not lost. Well, the
mystery begins to unfold in verse 9. Here's where we want to get
to. To understand what is man, that God is mindful of him. Well,
the Son of Man that God would visit or help him, that He would
help him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angel. Here is the Son of God, What condescending grace! The Son of God 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. The fulfillment of God's eternal
purpose for man is fulfilled in the man Jesus Christ. The
very purpose of creating Adam And this human race is for this
man, Jesus Christ. This man, Paul said, behold the
man. This man is the reason for absolutely
everything. Absolutely everything. We see
Jesus. Who is this man? He is the God
who created man. In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. That's Jesus Christ. That's who
that is. He's the man that shall reign
over all now. You know, things are not just
going along willy-nilly. There is a man seated at God's
right hand that's absolutely ruling and reigning over everything
that moves in the universe. An angel can't even move without
Him. Can't even move without Him.
He reigns now, and this man is going to reign over that new
heaven and new earth. You know, right now, angels have
a lot of power. More power than you and I've
got. You know, you go over and read the book of Revelation,
they can just take one seal and wipe out a third of the earth. They are powerful, powerful. But in that new heaven, new earth, the only one above man is God,
is God. He's the man that reigns over
this earth now and that new heaven, that new earth. This is the man
whom God originally, this is the man whom God purposed. This
is the man whom God purposed to reign before the world began.
Adam was just a type. He's just a type. Jesus Christ
is the real. He's the real. He's the one who's
going to reign and rule over all things. Turn over to 1 Corinthians.
I want you to read this one. 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Look in verse 24. 1 Corinthians
15 verse 24. Then comes the end when He, that
is Christ, shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority
and power. That's what's going on right
now. That's what's going on right now. Jesus Christ right now is
putting down all rule and all authority. He's conquering all. He must reign till he hath put
all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his
feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it manifests
that he is accepted as the father which did put all things under
him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall
the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things
under him, that God may be all in all." Right now there's a man in glory
that is subduing all things, not an angel, not a created spirit,
a man, seated. at God's right hand. And He has
absolute dominion over every demon, over Satan, over every
human being. Nothing happens without Him.
You know, when you and I see wars going on out here, you know
there's a spiritual war going on behind the scenes that you
and I can't see. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
in control of it. God has turned absolutely everything
over to this man as the mediator to run, to rule, and to bring
to a final end what he has purposed in this man. Now it says here, "...who was made
a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death. We see why man was originally
made lower than the angels. Here's why man was originally
made a little lower than the angels. It has everything to
do with the God-man dying and putting away sin. Now, I can't
dive into the mystery of sin. That's beyond me. That's beyond
me. But God purposed in this man
that this matter of sin is going to be put away once for all,
never to be dealt with again. It's done. It's done. God put it away through Jesus
Christ, who is God himself. God himself satisfied his own
law. That's what he did in the person
of his son, in the flesh. Christ was made lower than the
angels in his state of humiliation for a little while, for a little
while, so that he could die and he could redeem man, but not
every man. Humanity, but not every human.
Not everyone. He never ceased to be God at
any time, but as God only, he couldn't die. He couldn't die. That's why he said, a body hast
thou prepared me. A body to walk on this earth
as a real man in every way, to keep the law, and to die and
satisfy God's law. Adam, you eat that tree, thou shalt
surely die. The day you eat of it, thou shalt
surely die. And he did. He ate of it and
he died. And the only way to bring us
back is for God himself to become a man, satisfy his law, go to the grave and rise again
for our justification and ascend back to glory. I'm over my head right now, I'm
telling you. That's why I said in the beginning
of this, I struggle, I do, I struggle for words to describe what we
have in Christ. To preach the man, Christ Jesus,
this glorious man who's God. my soul. Now this man, it says, is crowned
with glory and honor. He is the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. That's who he is. That's who
he is. Every knee is going to bow. Every
tongue is going to confess. that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. He's crowned. When He hung Him on a cross,
He was crowned with that curse of thorns. He said, the earth,
it'll just bear thorns and thistles. They drove that crown down on
His head. Now He's crowned with glory.
The glory of who He is. His person. God. Man. Redeemer. Savior. and honor. There's a man seated at God's
right hand, ruling over everything, including the angels. Including
the angels. This man is everything God purposed
for man to be. This man, through him. Through
Him, God's purpose for creating man is fulfilled. God's purpose
is. He's holy. He's harmless. He's undefiled. And this man,
this man, not created in the image of God,
he's the express image of God. Adam was created in the image
of God, but this man is the express image of God. He is the expression
of God. He's all of God you and I will
ever see. Whatever I know of God, I'm going
to know Him through this man, Jesus Christ. And it says here, and I'm going
to close. It says that he tasted that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man. That word taste means experience.
He experienced death. It was by the grace of God that
Jesus Christ tasted death. That he experienced death. He tasted death by rebellion.
Men taste death by the result of his rebellion and their own.
But Jesus Christ tasted death For every man, every man whom
he represented, by the grace of God, he tasted
death for every one of his children. The death of Christ was an act
of pure grace on God's part. He tasted death for everyone
whom he represented. Look over in verse 14. And these
are the ones he represented. 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. This is who he died for, the children of God. The children of God. In closing,
Turn to Revelation 21. Let me read to you our future. You want to know the future?
Open the book. I'm going to read to you our
future. This is what's coming. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. Chapter 21 of Revelation. Verse
1. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them." God's going to dwell with us
in the man Christ Jesus. He's going to walk among us on
that new earth in the man Christ Jesus. And they shall be his
people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he
that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful." You can count on it. You can
count on it. In the man Christ Jesus, we are
going to reign on that new earth wherein dwells righteousness.