["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Hi, great singing. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church in the Wednesday evening Bible study.
Let's open up in a word of prayer.
Father God, thank you so much for this church, Lord.
Thank you for these people who come out here on a Wednesday evening to serve you.
I pray that our singing would glorify you, Lord.
I pray that you would bless the service and the preaching and come.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Please turn to your song books, page number 294.
Page 294, we're going to sing Stepping in the Light.
["Stepping in the Light"]
Page 294, Stepping in the Light.
And let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior,
trying to follow our Savior and King,
shaping our lives by His blessed example,
happy how happy the songs that we bring,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
stepping in the light, stepping in the light,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
let in paths of light.
Page 294 on the second,
pressing more closely to Him who is leading
when we are tempted to turn from the way,
trusting the arm that is strong to defend us,
happy how happy our praises each say,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
stepping in the light, stepping in the light,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
let in paths of light.
Walking in footsteps of gentle forbearance,
footsteps of faithfulness, mercy, and love,
looking to Him for the grace freely promised,
happy how happy our journey above,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
stepping in the light, stepping in the light,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
let in paths of light.
All right, now let's finish it strong on the last.
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior,
upward still upward we'll follow our guide,
when we shall see Him, the King in His beauty,
happy how happy our place at His side,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
stepping in the light, stepping in the light,
how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
let in paths of light.
Great singing.
Amen, and we want to welcome you to the midweek service here at Verdi Baptist Church.
We call it the most encouraging service of the week.
And we are glad that you are here.
We'll go ahead and look at our announcements quickly.
If you need a bulletin, I think we've got a few,
so if you need a bulletin just raise your hand and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Philippians 4-7,
and the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
And that's a good verse there, we like that.
If you open up your bulletin you'll see our service times,
Sunday morning service, 1030 a.m.
And we do of course invite you to be with us on Sunday morning
on the Lord's day for church.
Sunday evening service is at 6 p.m.
And then we have additional sowing times on Thursday and Friday normally.
This week the additional sowing times are going to be postponed
because we've got workdays on Thursday and Friday.
But we have the 2 p.m. Sunday sowing time is still going forward.
So make sure you are aware of that.
So because we are postponing some of these sowing times
we don't have as many available.
So make sure you are there on Saturday mornings for the main sowing time,
the main sowing rally, and then on Sundays at 2 p.m.
If you are a first time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church,
we're so glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building tonight.
If you go out on our main foyer or if you go out on our secondary foyer
you'll see a little table set up and on that table
you will see these little gift bags.
And we'd like to give one of these gift bags to you as a gift for being our guest tonight.
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have.
One I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made.
It's called Big Baptist, very well made.
Very interesting, we think you'll like it. We want to give this to you as a gift.
So please make sure you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out.
And if you are a guest, we of course ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card
which is inserted in your bulletin.
And if you need a pen, just raise your hand.
One of our ushers can run you by a Verity Baptist Church pen.
And you can drop this card in the offering plate as it goes by.
If you look at the announcements there, we of course are a family integrated church.
What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the service.
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason.
We do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience.
All of the rooms have comfortable seating.
They have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it.
So if you have a child that's been distracted during a service, if you need some privacy,
we would encourage you to use those rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized, please let us know on the back of your communication card.
You can check off that you'd like information about baptism.
And we'll follow up with you in regards to that.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events,
of course we've got our sermon series on Sundays.
We're going through a study through the book of Numbers.
We call it Wilderness Wanderings.
We're going to continue that this Sunday.
And then on Wednesday nights we're going through the book of Hebrews verse by verse.
And we're going to continue that tonight, of course.
This week we have our workdays coming up on Thursday, October 19th,
Friday, October 20th, and Saturday, October 21st.
So this starts tomorrow.
It's the second real week and a lot of work got done last week.
But there's more work to be done.
So starting tomorrow at 8 a.m., pretty much from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
there's going to be work being done at the building on Thursday, Friday, and on Saturday.
Now, you don't have to be there from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
We have three different shifts for each of those days.
There's a morning shift, an afternoon shift, and an evening shift.
And we've got clipboards in the foyer where you can go and sign up to be part of one of those shifts.
And, of course, we could use your help.
There's some slots that are available, and specifically there's a couple of slots available on Friday.
And if you could help on Friday, any time during the day, we could really use your help.
Also, there's a lot of slots available on Saturday, which doesn't really make sense
because Saturday is probably the day we had the most people out there.
But maybe because of that you guys are thinking that we wouldn't need it, but we need it.
All right, so if you could help us with that.
On Saturday, I think there's like four or five slots available.
So if you could help with that.
And on Saturday, of course, there's no morning shift because we have so many in the morning.
But from 1 to 9 p.m. there are shifts available.
And we're just trying to get that work done as soon as possible so that we can move in.
And we need the space.
We need to move into that auditorium, obviously, to help us.
I don't know why, but we have 217 in church tonight on a Wednesday night, which is a great number.
But we need the space.
So help us get in there, especially you guys.
We appreciate your help with that.
And go by the clipboards.
Then we have the Harvest Party, Tuesday, October 31st, 6 p.m.
We've got the annual chili cook-off, $100 gift card for the first place winners,
$50 gift card for second place winner, bag of treats for every child in attendance.
Games, of course, the Harvest Party is always a fun time.
So make sure you sign up or put that in your calendar to come.
And if you can sign up to bring cornbread or dessert, we would appreciate it.
Of course, the chili will be the meal for the evening, but we need cornbread and desserts to go with that.
So there are also a couple of clipboards in the back to sign up for that.
And I realize we're asking you to sign up for a lot of things and asking you to do a lot of stuff,
but it's the work of the ministry, so we appreciate your help with those things.
Homeschool group, they've got P.E. class tomorrow at 10 a.m., so don't forget about that.
The homeschoolers, ladies that have a weight loss accountability group on Wednesdays,
they meet at 6.15 p.m. in the Mother Bay room closest to the foyer.
So if you would like to be a part of that, ladies, you're welcome to be a part of that.
There's other things there for you to look at.
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of October.
This week we had Brother Matt and Miss Casey's anniversary was on Sunday, October 15th.
Today is Brother Adam Gessler's birthday, October 18th, so happy birthday to Brother Adam.
And Brother Edgar has a birthday tomorrow, October 19th.
And so does Miss Nicole Johnson.
And Brother Oliver Ardican has a birthday October 20th.
And my brother, Brother Abraham and Miss Karen Jimenez, have an anniversary on October 21st.
Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at.
And I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So we're going to go ahead and take our song books and we're going to go to page number one hundred.
I'm trying to look at it. One hundred seventy five. Is that right? One seven five.
And we're going to sing just like his great love. One hundred seventy five.
And there's there's there's so many of you here, you might as well just sing it out.
All right. Sing it out like you love the Lord Jesus Christ. Sing it on the first.
A friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true.
And never fails how e'er to strike, no matter what I do.
I've sinned against this love of his.
But when I knelt to pray, confessing all my guilt to him, the sin clouds rolled away.
It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. Like Jesus to keep me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way.
It's just like his great love. Good. One hundred seventy five. Sing it out on the second.
Sometimes the clouds of trouble be dim the sky above.
I cannot see my Savior's face. I doubt his wondrous love.
But he from heaven's mercy see, beholding my despair.
In pity burst the clouds between, and shows me he is there.
It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way. It's just like his great love.
When sorrows, clouds o'er take me, and break upon my head.
When life seems worse than useless, and I were better then.
I take my grief to Jesus then, for I go in vain.
For every hope he gives that cheers, like sunshine after rain.
It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way. It's just like his great love. Good. Sing it out on the last.
Oh, I could sing forever of Jesus, love divine. Of all his care and tenderness.
For this, for life of mine, his love is in and over all. And wind and waves obey.
When Jesus whispers, beats me still, and rolls the clouds away.
It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day.
It's just like Jesus all along the way. It's just like his great love.
Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight.
Lord, we pray that you'd bless the offering, the gift of the giver.
We pray that you'd bless the time set aside for prayer and, of course, for the study of your word.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We pray that you'd bless the time set aside for prayer and, of course, for the study of your word.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen. All right. Well, let's go ahead and take our prayer sheets tonight and we'll go through our prayer list.
If you do not receive a prayer list on your way in, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a prayer sheet, just put your hand up and we will get one for you.
And, of course, I want to remind you that the way you add a request to the prayer sheet is through your communication card on the back of the card.
There's a place for you to write down a request and make sure you mark whether it's private or public.
If it's private only, I will see it. If it's private only, I will see it. If it's public, we'll put it on the prayer sheet.
If you don't mark it, we'll do our best to figure it out, but we usually don't put those on there.
And we do add them in the order that they are received and they are removed after a couple of weeks.
So if you'd like it to be on there longer, you'll have to make sure to fill out another prayer request card.
And I would like you to notice in the back, under the safe and healthy pregnancies, that Ms. Ruby Roldan's name has been added.
So congratulations to Brother Aidan and Ms. Ruby on expecting a baby and I praise the Lord for that.
Let's go ahead and take these requests to the Lord and I ask that you would follow along in your mind and your heart and let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you tonight asking for these requests from our church family.
And Lord, we begin with these requests regarding salvation.
We pray for Ms. Natalie, who's praying for the salvation of her husband and family.
Also, Ms. Brandy Barrett, praying for Kaylee's salvation.
For the Ron Edwards, praying for his mom and his family's salvation.
And Hermalisa, praying for her family's salvation as well.
Ms. Christine Ortiz, praying for her family's salvation.
Ms. Docma, praying for her daughter and her family's salvation.
And Lord, again, we bring these individuals to you.
We're holding them up in prayer asking, Lord, that you would work in their hearts.
Lord, that you would work in the circumstances of their lives.
That you would do whatever needs to be done in their lives to bring them to a place where they'd be willing and ready and open to hear the gospel.
Lord, we ask that you would also, in your providence, send a soul winner to communicate the gospel clearly to them that they might be saved.
Lord, we also pray for these that have physical requests, financial requests.
Ms. Brandy, praying for her career endeavors.
And also, Ms. Christine Ortiz, praying to be able to find her own place.
For the Salvador, praying for finances and work.
Lord, we ask for these individuals.
We pray that you would help them and be with them.
That you would open doors and that you would guide them regarding these requests.
We also pray for these that have health requests.
Noah Deakins, praying for the church family to stay healthy.
And Ms. Christine Ortiz, praying for her sister Judy's health as she battles cancer.
For the Salvador, praying for his health.
And Ms. Dogma, praying for her pain.
Brother Edgar and Ms. Selena, praying for little Uretzi to continue to be healthy and strong.
And of course, we continue to pray for our missionary, Dave Cabuntala's wife, Angel, who's undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
And Lord, we ask for all these individuals.
Lord, we pray that you'd put your healing hand over them.
We ask that you would be with the doctors and nurses dealing with them.
Lord, help them to all recover and get better.
We also pray for the ladies in our church that are expecting Ms. Selena, Ms. Melody, Ms. Victoria, Ms. Julissa, Ms. Krista, and Ms. Ruby.
And Lord, we're asking that you would give them all healthy pregnancies with no issues, no complications.
Lord, we also pray for Ms. J.C., just praying for travel mercies as she travels on a vacation between October 19th and October 30th.
We pray you keep her safe, bring her home safely, help her to have a good time.
We also pray for Ms. Patricia Courtney, praying for comfort for Mitchie Jane, who lost her husband of 27 years.
And also the Somerville family and the Moore family, who are mourning the loss of their granddaughter.
And Lord, we ask for comfort for these individuals.
We pray, Lord, that you would be with them.
We ask that you would just be real to them, and we pray that you would draw them closer to yourself.
Lord, we also pray for Ms. Ruth, who's praying for her son, Edosa Omid, who's battling mental illness and is also missing from his recovery home,
asking that he be found and that he be safe and fine.
We pray for Brother Salvador, praying for his family as well.
Lord, we ask for all these individuals. We pray you'd help them and be with them.
And then we pray for these that have requests regarding their walk with you.
Franca Kara Jones, praying for her faith and walk with you with God.
And Ms. Christine Ortiz and Brother Salvador, praying for their faith and walk with God as well.
Lord, we ask that you would help these individuals as they draw close to you, that you would be with them and guide them, help them to grow in grace.
We pray for these that have unspoken requests as well.
Ms. Natalie, Ms. Andrea, Ms. Brandy, Brother Ron, Brother George, Ms. Ruby, Ms. Kimi, all having unspoken requests.
Brother Salvador, Ms. Docma having unspoken requests as well.
Lord, we ask for these individuals. We ask for the prayers that they're asking for.
You know what they're asking for, and Lord, we ask that you just answer according to your will.
Lord, we also pray for our church.
Brother Ron, praying for the men working at the new building.
And of course, we're praying for a transition, a smooth transition into our future building.
Lord, we ask that you would help this weekend, Lord, and the work that's going on this weekend, this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Lord, I ask that you would help us to have the amount of men that we need to be able to get the work done that needs to get done.
Lord, I pray that you would keep all the men safe, and Lord, I pray that you would help us to be able to have very productive workdays,
and to be able to just get further ahead into the projects and the things that need to get done.
Lord, I pray that you'd bless these men who are taking time out of their busy schedules.
I know they're busy, and I appreciate that they love you and love our church enough to give of their time.
Lord, I pray you'd bless them and bless their families as a result.
Lord, we pray as well for our ministries. We pray for the prison ministry that you would continue to bless,
the mail that goes out and the sermons that go out every month to all the prisoners,
hundreds of prisoners all throughout the country who get sermons from our church.
We pray that you would help them to read them and to learn that they might get saved, that they would be disciples.
Lord, we pray you'd bless their families. We pray for our churches in the Philippines as well, Manila, Pampanga,
and it would be cool that you'd continue to bless those locations, and Pastor Stuckey and his family.
And of course, Lord, we pray for our church here in Sacramento. We ask that you would continue to bless our church and help our church.
And I know there's a lot of transition going on right now, and with that comes tension, but Lord, I pray you'd help us.
And I pray that you'd meet with us tonight as we open up your word and study the Bible together, help us to learn, help us to draw closer to you.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Amen. Please open our eyes to Hebrews chapter 2.
Hebrews chapter number 2. If you do not have a Bible, please put your hand up and I'm not sure if you can bring your Bible.
Hebrews chapter number 2. We will read the entire chapter as our custom.
Hebrews 2, beginning of verse number 1.
Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, 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 bringeth a 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, wherever 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 crownest 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, who is made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons 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, O 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 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 also had suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word,
and for our church and for the book of Hebrews. I ask that you please give us all a tender heart to the message.
I ask that you please read our passage tonight to strengthen him and to feel in your spirit.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. All right, we're there in Hebrews chapter number 2.
And of course we've been going through a Bible study on Wednesday nights through the book of Hebrews.
We're going verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the book of Hebrews.
And tonight we find ourselves here at the end of Hebrews chapter number 2.
And just quickly to remind you and to kind of recap, if you remember in Hebrews chapter 1 there was a theme.
We spent several weeks looking at Hebrews chapter 1, but the theme was the deity of Christ,
the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh, and that was emphasized in Hebrews chapter 1.
And then in Hebrews chapter 2, this is now the second sermon in this chapter.
This is going to be the last sermon in this chapter.
And if you remember last week we went through verses 1 through 8,
and we saw that there's a second theme in chapter 2, and that theme is the humanity of Christ.
So what we saw in chapter 1 was the deity of Christ, and what we saw in chapter 2 was the humanity of Christ.
And I won't take the time to go through the first nine verses of the chapter.
If you missed that, then I'd encourage you to check that out on our website and you can get caught up.
But I do want to remind you that verses 1 through 8 were pretty much kind of setting us up for this idea of the humanity of Christ.
And the writer of Hebrews spent eight verses giving some foundational thoughts and ideas to bring us to these verses, verses 9 through 18,
when we're going to look at this idea of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think the book of Hebrews is a perfect book to study on Wednesday night.
Wednesday night, of course, is supposed to be our Bible study, although I'll let you in on a little secret.
Pretty much every service is the same. We just go verse by verse through books of the Bible.
I teach at all the services. I preach at all the services.
But Wednesday night is our Bible study night, and this is a highly theological book.
It's hard to say that because every book in the Bible is a theological book.
But some books are more practical than others. Some books are more narratives than others.
This book, Hebrews, is very doctrinal.
And especially at the beginning, I believe the writer of the book Hebrews is the Apostle Paul,
and it kind of seems like his style where he spends half of the first part of a book laying down some doctrinal foundation
and then has more practical stuff at the end. There's definitely some practical stuff at the end.
But this is highly theological, this idea of the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ.
And tonight I'd like you to notice three thoughts that the writer of Hebrews has for us regarding the humanity of Christ.
Because you may not have given the humanity of Christ a lot of thought.
And oftentimes when we think of the doctrines of Christ, we often think about the deity of Christ
and the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh, and we know that the cults will fight that and believe against that.
But you may not have thought a lot about the humanity of Christ.
But we need to remember that Jesus was just as much God as he was man.
He was 100% God and he was 100% man.
You say that doesn't make any sense. I can't compute that in my mind.
But we accept it by faith. He was the God-man.
He was God who became flesh and dwelt among us.
And there's a reason for that.
And there's actually three different thoughts or three different ideas that are set forth in this passage as to why,
what it is that Jesus accomplished through his humanity and why it is that he had to come down and become a man.
So I'd like to highlight those for you.
If you notice there in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9, we see this little phrase.
And this is kind of a transitional phrase in the chapter because he's been talking about Jesus up to this point.
And really, even in chapter 1, he was talking about Jesus, of course, the entire time.
But up to this point, he's been referring to Jesus as the Son and he's been referring to him by different titles and different ways.
And here in verse 9, we see the first time the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in the book of Hebrews.
And he plainly says, but we see Jesus.
I love that little phrase. We see Jesus.
This will be a theme. The book of Hebrews has all sorts of themes.
And it will be a theme we get back to at the end of Hebrews when he talks about that we should keep our eyes on Jesus,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
And here he says, but we see Jesus the first time that the name is used in this book.
And it'll be used 14 times in this book, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the writer of Hebrews says, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels.
Now, if you remember chapter 1, we spent chapter 1, an entire sermon on the subject of the angels and about the fact that Jesus was better than the angels.
And this might seem a little bit like a contradiction because in chapter 1, he says Jesus was better than the angels.
And then in chapter 2, he says that he was made a little lower than the angels.
But the idea is that he was made lower than the angels in his humanity,
that he was made lower than the angels when he was robed in flesh because we human beings are lower than the angels.
And we talked about that last week.
The fact that positionally God has put all things under the subjection of humanity,
all things on this earth and even angels are subject unto human beings and they are ministering servants.
We talked about that last week.
But regarding our person or power, we are lower than the angels.
They are stronger beings, more powerful beings than we are.
And this is what the writer of Hebrews is saying, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels.
Now, he was made lower than the angels when he became man, when he became human being.
And his person, he limited himself to the limitations of humanity 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.
And we're going to come back to all of that here in a minute.
But I'd like you to notice that the Bible is telling us here and if you're taking notes,
and I encourage you to take notes on the back of your course this week, there's a place for you to jot some of these things down.
Let me give you three points tonight regarding this idea of the humanity of Christ.
And the first point is this, that through humanity, Jesus could connect with mankind.
Through humanity, what we see in verses 9 through 13 is that the reason that Jesus became a human,
the reason he became a man, the reason he came to earth as a baby was because it was needed and required.
Jesus, through humanity, Jesus could connect with mankind.
And what we're seeing here in verse 9 is that he became a man.
We see his humanity here in verse 9.
But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
We'll talk about the death in a minute.
Crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
And we'll talk about his death in a minute, but I do want to just highlight this real quickly.
And I'm not really preaching on this, but I want you to see it.
The Bible says that, last part of verse 9, by the grace of God should taste death.
Notice these words, for every man.
You know what that tells us?
That tells us that God is not a Calvinist.
Jesus, the Bible tells us, he tasted death for every man.
He was a sacrifice for every man.
He paid the sin debt of every man.
Of course, not every man is saved because they must choose to call upon Christ in faith for salvation.
But every man has the option to be saved because Jesus tasted death for every man.
But what we see here is the humanity of Christ.
And with the humanity of Christ comes this connection.
And it's often connected throughout the Bible.
When you see the humanity of Christ, you also see the humility of Christ.
Look at verse 10.
For it became him.
And notice what it says.
We're being told in verse 9 that we see Jesus.
And when we see Jesus, we see him made a little lower than the angels.
And we see him suffering for death.
We see him tasting of death for every man.
But the Bible says that when he became human, or when we see his humanity,
we also see his humility because the Bible says for it became him, verse 10,
for whom are all things.
See, the Bible tells us that for Jesus, the whom there, the him there, is referring to Jesus for.
If you remember, we talked about this in Hebrews chapter 1.
When you see the word whom, you think of the word of him.
You can replace the word whom with the word him.
And if you're ever confused about whether it's whom or who, you replace whom with him,
and you replace who with he.
And when you look at this passage here, it says for whom are all things,
we could say for him, referring to Jesus, are all things.
And the idea is this, that all things are for Jesus.
The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that we were made for his pleasure,
that all things were created for his pleasure.
Here we're told for whom are all things, notice, and by whom are all things.
So here we see that everything was made for the pleasure of Jesus,
and everything was made by Jesus.
We talked about that in chapter 1 because Jesus is God.
For whom are all things, and by whom are all things.
And the writer of Hebrews is trying to bring this idea out that here you have God in the flesh,
for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
and God chose to become a human.
We see his humanity, and in that he chose to humble himself.
We see his humility because for him all things were made,
and by him all things were made,
but yet he chose to subject himself to humanity, to mortality, to the death,
even the death of the cross.
Keep your place there in Hebrews 2.
That's obviously our text for tonight.
Go to Romans, if you would, towards the beginning of the New Testament.
Romans chapter number 11, and we've got of course the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts,
and then the book of Romans.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then the book of Romans.
Romans chapter number 11, and look at verse 36.
Let me just give you some cross references so you can see this.
Romans 11, 36, notice what the Bible says here about God,
and of course we know that Jesus is God in the flesh.
Romans 11, 36, for of him, the word of is a reference to the source,
meaning it all comes from him.
For of him, notice, and through him and to him are all things,
to whom be glory forever. Amen.
That's a wonderful verse.
The Bible says that everything is of him, everything is through him,
everything is to him, everything is for him,
for whom are all things and by whom are all things.
So we see the position of the Lord Jesus Christ in his deity,
and we see that in his humanity he also accepted humility
because of the fact that he was made a little lower than the angels.
We see that he was made and brought down,
he allowed himself to be brought down to the humanity,
the humility of mankind.
Go to Philippians.
Keep your place in Romans.
We're going to come back to Romans several times tonight.
I'd like you to be able to get there quickly,
so put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in the book of Romans,
and then go to the book of Philippians if you would.
Philippians chapter number 2.
If you're in Romans, you're going to pass 1 and 2 Corinthians,
pass Galatians, pass Ephesians into the book of Philippians.
Philippians chapter 2.
Romans, 1, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and then the book of Philippians.
We're seeing that he became man.
We see his humanity, and then I'd like you to notice his humility.
This is highlighted in Philippians chapter 2.
Look at verse 5. Notice what the Bible says.
You know these verses, they're well-known verses.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
What is that?
That's the deity of Christ.
That's the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
What does that mean?
It means that when Jesus made himself equal with God,
when he made statements like before Abraham was, I am,
when he made himself equal with God,
he was not robbing God or stealing from God
or taking something from God that did not belong to him because he was God.
So, being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but, verse 6, we see deity, verse 7, we see humanity, verse 7,
but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant
and was made, notice the humanity of Christ, in the likeness of men.
Verse 8, and being found in fashion as a man, notice the words,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
So, we see that he became man.
We see his humanity and we see his humility.
Go back to Hebrews, chapter 2, if you would.
Keep replacing Romans and go back to Hebrews, chapter 2.
I'd like you to notice that in verse 10, we see why.
In verse 9, we saw his humanity and his humility.
We saw that he became a man.
In verse 11, and really verses 12 through 13, we see the reason for this.
And the reason for this is this.
He became man to reach man.
That's pretty much it.
I mean, that's the main emphasis.
He became man to reach man.
Now, notice the relationship that we now have with Christ,
that we now have with God in the flesh.
Look at verse 10.
For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, that's his deity,
in bringing, you say, why did he do it?
Why would he do it?
Here's why he did it.
In bringing many sons unto glory.
The purpose of Jesus becoming the second member of the Godhead,
the son of God, becoming flesh, being made of a woman,
the reason for that is that he might bring many sons unto glory
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.
See, he became the captain of our salvation.
He became our captain because he came down and he became a mediator between God and men.
Look at verse 11.
For both he, talking about Jesus, that sanctifieth and they, who's a they there?
That's you and I. That's us.
Those who have become sons through the Lord Jesus Christ.
For both he that sanctifieth,
so there's one party, there's he that sanctifieth,
and they whom are sanctified, notice what he says, are all of one.
Now if you want to cross reference for that verse there, that phrase there, all of one,
you don't have to turn there, but you can just jot this down in your notes.
I'll read this for you from Galatians 3.28.
The Bible says there is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
We see that in Galatians 3.28 we are told that we, for the Galatian believers, are all one in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 2.11 says 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.
I want you to notice that.
I want you to notice the relationship that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the relationship that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ is this,
that the Bible says that he is not ashamed to call them, the them there is referring to us, to call them brethren.
The Bible says that Jesus calls us brethren.
Now go back to Romans if you would, Romans chapter number 8.
And wouldn't that make sense?
Since Jesus is the second member of the Godhead, we know that the first member of the Godhead is God the Father.
We know that Jesus came to reveal the Father unto us and he taught us about the Father.
He told us to pray. He said when we pray that we should pray, our Father which art in heaven.
But Jesus as the second member of the Godhead, which is the Son of God,
and because we are adopted into the family of God, we are brought into the beloved,
and we are all sons of God and children of God,
what that makes Jesus is our brother.
Now he is not a brother like you are a brother.
He is a way better brother than you are.
And he is a way better brother than I am.
But he is our brother.
Now he is the only begotten. He is the first begotten.
There is a different status there.
But the idea is this, that in heaven we have the first member of the Godhead, our heavenly Father,
and then we have the second member of the Godhead, our heavenly brother.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our brother.
Now think about this.
This goes against oneness doctrine.
When the Pentecostal oneness group says, well Jesus is the same member, it's just one person,
there aren't two different individuals or three different individuals, there's not God the Father,
that's a separate person than God the Son.
It's just one guy who sometimes calls himself this and calls himself that.
These verses wouldn't make any sense because the Bible says that his official title,
obviously he's God in the flesh, he's co-eternal, we understand all that,
but in the same way that God, the first member of the Godhead is our heavenly Father,
the second member of the Godhead is our heavenly brother.
The Bible says that he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Look at Romans 8, 29. Romans 8, verse 29, for whom he did foreknow.
Romans 8, 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Notice what it says, that he might be, that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren.
So we see that Jesus was the firstborn among many brethren, but he is our brother
and the relationship we have with him is that of brethren.
Keep your place there in Romans, we're going to come back to it, go back to Hebrews 2, 11.
I want you to notice there at the end of verse 11 that he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
He's not ashamed to call us brethren.
That's an interesting thought, that Jesus is not ashamed to call you brother, to call you sister.
And I can't help but think this, that if Jesus is not ashamed to call us,
if Jesus is not ashamed of us, then maybe we should not be ashamed of him.
And if he's willing to identify himself with us as our brother, as our heavenly brother,
then we should be willing to identify ourselves with him as well.
What we then see in Hebrews 2 and verse 12, as we leave verse 11 and we head into verses 12 and 13,
what we see is three different quotes about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And these quotes have to do with his brethren and with salvation.
And they're quotes from the Old Testament, and I'll give you the cross references so you can have them.
The first quote comes from Psalm 22.
Now, I would like you to notice there, Hebrews 2, 12, the writer of Hebrews says this, saying.
And when he says saying, the next thing he's going to do is quote.
When he says saying, he's telling us the Old Testament says this or somebody in the Old Testament said this.
In this case, the psalmist said this, and here's what the psalmist said.
Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.
Because remember, he's not ashamed to call them brethren.
And then he's giving, because remember, the book of Hebrews is written to people who are ethnically descendants of Abraham.
In the New Testament, first century context, it's written to Jewish believers.
But they're a little confused about how we transition from the Old Testament into the New Testament.
And how we correlate the Old Testament and the New Testament.
So what he does is he brings up these concepts and these principles, these doctrines.
But then he backs them up with Old Testament teaching to show them, hey, this isn't just something new.
Although it is new and it's in the New Testament, these things were referred to in the Old Testament.
That's what he's doing, and that's what he's proving.
So he just got done saying, Jesus is your brother and he's not ashamed to call them brethren.
And then he proves that from the Old Testament by saying,
Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee.
Now let's look at these quotes real quickly.
Go to the book of Psalms if you will, Psalm 22.
You open your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely following the book of Psalms.
Psalm 22 and look at verse 22.
Hebrews 2 to 12 says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee.
I'd like you to notice Psalm 22 and verse 2, here's what's being quoted in Hebrews.
Psalm 22 and verse 2, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation while I praise thee.
Now I want you to notice that when you see a quote from the Old Testament and the New Testament,
often times the quotes are not 100% matches.
And you would think that, well if the writer of Hebrews is quoting Psalm 22, wouldn't it just say the exact same thing?
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation while I praise thee.
But that's not what it says in Hebrews 2 to 12.
It says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee.
Now the reason for that, and I just want to take a moment to help you understand this,
there's a logical reason and there's a spiritual reason and I'll explain both.
The logical reason for the fact that the translation is not just word for word the same,
first of all if you speak another language then you know that often times things don't get word for word translated from one language into another
because there might be different expressions or idioms or things can get lost in the translation.
Not that something is lost, not that the word of God is lost in the translation,
but you can't sometimes just use these exact same words because it won't make sense in a different language.
But even more than that, what I want you to understand is when you and I are reading in our King James Bible,
which is the inerrant, inspired, perfect, preserved word of God,
when we're reading the Old and New Testament, we're reading English versions of an Old Testament that was originally written in Hebrew,
primarily written in Hebrew, also Aramaic and different portions of it, small portions in different languages,
but primarily written in Hebrew, and then we have a New Testament that was written in Greek.
So what we're reading, so what I want you to understand is that the writer of Hebrews is writing in Greek, quoting in a Hebrew verse,
so the writer in Hebrews is translating that verse from Hebrew into Greek and then quoting it in our New Testament.
It's being translated from Hebrew into Greek.
Then on top of that, for you and I to read it, that Hebrew text is translated into English.
That Greek text is translated into English.
So what we're really reading when we read Hebrews chapter number 2 and verse 12,
saying, I will declare that Amen to thy brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee,
we're reading an English translation of a Greek New Testament that is translating a Hebrew Old Testament.
So logically, that's why you don't see just these, it's not like the writer of Hebrews is just, you know, can just go,
he's writing, he's typing in English, and he's got an English Old Testament, he just copies and pastes,
saying Psalm 22, verse 22, copy and paste here.
That's not how it happened, which is why you see that.
That's the logical reason. Let me give you the spiritual reason. Why did God do that?
Well, God is the creator of languages.
If you remember, at the Tower of Babel, God is the one who gave us languages.
He is the creator of languages.
And I believe that one of the reasons that God allowed the Bible to be written in different languages
and for all these translations is because what we now have is the ability to compare spiritual things with spiritual,
and the Bible can often become its own dictionary.
The Bible can define for you what words mean.
So whenever you translate, whenever you compare an Old Testament quote and a New Testament quote,
and they don't match perfectly, don't think to yourself, well, this is a problem and this is an issue.
Think to yourself, this is God allowing the Word of God to be its own dictionary,
and we can learn something from this, and God is trying to teach us.
And here's a perfect, I go into all that, we could look at a lot of examples of this, but we have one right here.
This is a perfect example of that because in Psalm 22 and verse 22, the psalmist wrote,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
But in Hebrews 2 12, the same verse is quoted and it says,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
So what can we learn from that? Here's what we can learn.
The word church means congregation.
A church is a congregation.
And here, look, did you notice I did not have to go to any Greek word and explain any Greek word to explain?
I can just use the King James Bible and show you that the word church means congregation.
Now, if we wanted to go to the Greek and talk about the word ekklesia and that means called out assembly and whatever,
all that stuff matches as well, but you don't even have to do that, and you don't speak Greek anyway,
and I don't speak Greek, but here we can just see that the word congregation means church.
And by the way, a church is a congregation.
And listen to me, I am very excited about the fact that we're moving into this new building over there,
and it's a beautiful building. It's going to be even more beautiful by the time we're done with it.
It's going to be an amazing place. I think you're going to like it. You're going to be impressed.
I think guests are going to show up and be impressed at how nice it is.
But let me explain something to you. That building over there is not a church.
And this building isn't a church. The church is you. The church is me.
We are the church when we come together, when we meet together.
And oftentimes, and I'm not always, you know, 100 percent, sometimes I don't say this,
but oftentimes when I refer to this building, I try not to call it the church.
When I'm talking to the staff, I'll say, hey, can you go by the church building?
Can you go to the building?
Because this building is not a church. And you might be thinking like,
well, I knew this building wasn't a church. Good night. It's sitting next to a methadone clinic.
Okay, but look. But when we're over there and we have a building that has a beautiful steeple
and beautiful Corinthian pillars and pillars and the high ceilings and all those things,
just remember this. That building is not a church either. It's the church building.
It's the church house. It houses the church. But never forget that the church is the congregation.
And if we're meeting in a beautiful building or if we're meeting under a tree,
we would be a church because the congregation, in the midst of the congregation,
will I praise thee. In the midst of the church, will I praise thee.
So you see this quote, and really the quote's not about that. It's just something we can learn.
The quote is about the fact that the Bible says about Jesus, because he's our brother,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. That Jesus is going to declare his name unto my brethren.
How is Jesus going to do that? In the midst of the church.
You know that Jesus is present with us right now? You know that Jesus is present with us every time we have church?
Whenever we have service here, I get text messages on my phone that tells me what the attendance is.
Tonight, we have a high Wednesday night attendance, which I'm thankful for. Praise God for it.
According to the text message, we have 231 in church tonight.
But the truth is this. There's 232, because Jesus is here.
And by the way, let me just say this. He's not here because there's 231 people here,
because when we used to meet in a living room and there were six of us, Jesus was there.
Because in the midst of the church, will I declare thy name unto?
I mean, and think about that. And by the way, let me just say this.
The next time you plan on skipping church, you ought to ask yourself, I wonder what Jesus is doing?
Because Jesus says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation, in the midst of the church.
You know, it's his church. He's the head of it. He builds the church. He died for the church. He paid for the church.
It's his church. And here we're being told that when you and I meet together,
when we meet together to sing praises, Jesus is there.
And when Jesus is there, he says, I will declare thy name, God, to my brethren when?
In the midst of the church. Because the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
It's the house of the living God. The pillar and ground of the truth.
So we see that Jesus says, Jesus says, I am not ashamed to call them brethren.
And then the proof text is this. I'll tell you why he's not ashamed to call them brethren.
He shows up to every church service. You know, Jesus is three to thrive. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren is what Jesus said.
He says, when will you declare your name? The name of God unto your brethren, Jesus.
In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Next time we sing praises, remember that Jesus is singing with you.
Christ in you, the hope of glory is what the Bible says.
So we see a quote, the first quote, Psalm 22 and verse 22.
Then there's a second quote. I'd like you to look at it quickly.
Psalm 18 and verse 2. Now you go to Psalm 18 and verse 2. Let me read to you from Hebrews 2, 13.
Hebrews 2, 13, and again, I will put my trust in him and again behold I am the children which God has given me.
So here we see that I will put my trust in him is a quote from Psalm 18 and verse 2.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower.
So we see that for your notes. Hebrews 2, 13 and again, the again there, he said, I'm going to give you another quote, and again, I will put my trust in him.
That's a quote from Psalm 18 and verse 2, in whom I will trust.
And then there's a third quote there in Hebrews 2, 13 as well. That comes from Isaiah.
I'm not going to have you turn there. You go back to Hebrews, but I'll just read to you from Isaiah.
There's a third quote. Notice that they're at the end of verse 13, and again, so we've got the third quote.
Behold, I am the children which God has given me. I am the children which God has given me is a quote from Isaiah, if you want it for your notes.
Isaiah 8, 18. Behold, I am the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord host which dwelleth in Mount Zion.
So I want you to notice that Jesus is not only our brother, the first begotten brother among many brethren, but he's our elder brother.
He's our older brother. In fact, he's a lot elder than you and I because he's from everlasting.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
But he's our elder brother, so the situation between us and Jesus is kind of like some new IP families, you know.
You were out in the world, and you had your one or two kids, and then you got saved, and you started learning what the Bible says,
and you realized that God wants you to be fruitful and multiply, so then you had a bunch of other kids, but you got this gap.
You've got like the older kids and a bunch of little kids. Well, that's kind of how it is.
God has this gap. There's Jesus, the older brother, and then all of us, and then Jesus, he's our brother,
but he looks at us as children, and he says to God, Behold, I am the children which God hath given me.
So he's like an older brother that's looking out for us, and he's caring for us, and he takes care of us,
and he uses these terminologies. A quote from Isaiah 8-18, but it's an endearing terminology.
Jesus looks at us and talks to God, and he says, Behold, I am the children which God hath given me.
By the way, let me say this to you older siblings. Be nice to your younger siblings.
Be like Jesus. He's nice to his younger siblings.
So we see that he became human. He became man to reach man.
We saw his humanity. We saw his humility. We saw our relationship to him. He's our elder brother.
He's our heavenly brother. He's our everlasting brother. We see these quotes that he's not ashamed of us,
and he will declare himself among us and with us. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 2.
If you're there in Hebrews, if you go backwards, you go past the book of Philemon, past the book of Titus,
past the book of 2 Timothy, into 1 Timothy. Now you have your place in Romans,
and I'd like you to continue to keep your place in Romans, but also keep your place in 1 Timothy.
We're going to go back to both of those in a little bit, and I'd like you to be able to get there quickly.
1 Timothy chapter 2, and let's just talk about this real quickly.
The fact that Jesus could connect with mankind through humanity.
He became human that he might connect with mankind.
1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5. Notice what the Bible says.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Now I want you to notice, first of all, there's only one mediator.
What does that mean? That means you don't need Mary. You don't need the Pope.
You don't need a priest. You don't need anybody to mediate between you and God.
The Catholic Church calls Mary the mediatrix. That's blasphemous.
There is one God and one mediator between God and men.
Now I want you to look at the verse. There's several concepts being said here.
There's one God, deity, and there's one mediator, go-between, between God and men.
Who is the mediator? The man Christ Jesus.
Why is it that Christ Jesus could mediate, could be the go-between God and men?
Why? Because he was the God-man.
Because he was God and he was man, he could mediate between God and men.
I'm not going to have you turn here for sake of time, but let me just read this to you from the book of Job.
Job 932 says this, for he is not a man. This is Job speaking about God.
And Job in the Old Testament is wishing that somebody would mediate on his behalf.
He does not yet know the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as we would know them.
That's not just humanity, but here's what he says, for he is not a man as I am.
This is what Job said. Job said, I need someone to go between me and God because God is not a man as I am,
that I should answer him and we should come together in judgment.
And then he says this, Job 933, neither is there any days-men.
The word days-men is an older archaic word. We don't use it today, but it means a go-between.
It's an arbiter. It's someone who referees or disputes.
And Job says, neither is there any days-men betwixt us.
And Job is saying, between God and me, for he is not a man, God, as I am.
And he says, because he is not a man and I am a man, there is no one, Job is saying,
and he's wrong about this, but he's saying there is not a days-men betwixt us that my lay,
this is a terminology that Job uses, that my lay his hands upon us both.
And what Job is saying is, I wish, he says, there's me and there's God. I'm a man and he's deity.
And Job is saying, I wish there was a days-men, I wish there was an arbiter,
I wish there was a go-between that could lay both his hands on God and his hands on man.
And the idea is, someone that could put, you know, if you ever are trying to referee
or help somebody come to some sort of agreement, you might, as a show of the fact that I'm for both of you,
maybe we'll put your hand on this person's shoulder and put your hand on this person's shoulder and say,
Hey, I'm here for you guys. And that's what Job is saying.
Job is saying, I wish there was somebody who could put their hands on God and put their hands on man
and be the days-men that would go betwixt us.
And what Job did not understand, that what he is asking for is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And Jesus in his humanity could both touch God and touch man and come between both and mediate on our behalf.
I got to move quickly because I'm out of time and I'm only on point number one,
but let me give you the point number two real quickly.
Through humanity, Jesus could connect with mankind, verses 9 through 13.
And through humanity, Jesus could conquer mortality, verses 14 and 15.
In verse 14, we see that Jesus took on the ability to die.
Look at verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood.
Remember, who are the children? We're the children.
He says, because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, that's humanity, that's you and I,
he also himself likewise took part of the same.
Jesus became flesh and blood. What does that mean?
It means he became mortal and it means that he took on the ability to die,
that through death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is the devil.
If you remember in verse 9 we saw, 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.
See, Jesus in his humanity took on the ability to die.
You say, why would Jesus take on the ability to die?
Remember Philippians 2 and verse 8? Don't turn there.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Why would Jesus take on the ability to die?
He would take on the ability to die that he could take on death.
Do you understand what I just said?
Jesus needed to conquer death and in order to do that he had to be able to meet death,
he had to be able to experience death so he took on the ability to die
that he might die and meet death and beat up death and conquer death.
That's what the Bible says. Look at verse 14, last part of verse 14.
That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil.
I wish I had time. I don't have time. I'm just going to have to skip a bunch of this.
The Bible says that Satan had the keys of death.
The Bible says that Jesus, when he conquered death, he conquered the devil.
He conquered the power of death.
I'll just read these for you. If you'd like to jot these down for your notes, you can do that.
1 John 3.8, He that committed sin is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.
2 Timothy 1.10, But is now made manifest by the appearance of our Savior Jesus Christ
who hath abolished death and had brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
1 Corinthians 15, the famous resurrection chapter, verse 54 says,
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you understand that Jesus came and became a man that he might reach man
and he became a man that he might conquer death that you and I might never die.
He conquered Satan and he conquered death. He beat Satan and he beat death.
Let me give you the last point.
Go back to Hebrews 2 or if you're there, look at verse 16.
I said number 1, through humanity Jesus could connect to mankind.
I said number 2, through humanity Jesus could conquer mortality.
And then number 3, through humanity Jesus could care as a mediator.
Look at verse 16, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels.
Remember he's better than the angels and he became a little lower than the angels.
He did not take on the nature of angels. Angels have a different nature than human beings.
They're a different type of being. They're angelic beings.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
This is telling us that Jesus became a descendant of Abraham.
Now he's bringing this up for a reason and he says Jesus became the descendant of Abraham, verse 17,
wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Now let me just real quickly show you a verse to help you understand this.
Go to Galatians chapter 4 if you would. Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4.
If you get to a place in Romans, after Romans you have 1 and 2 Corinthians and then Galatians, Galatians chapter 4.
And what the writer of Hebrews is explaining to the Hebrew Christians at this point,
he's answering this question, why was Jesus even born a Jew?
Why was he born a Hebrew?
What was the reason for that? And he's explaining the reason.
He says in verse 16, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
He's not saying that he took on him the nature of humanity, although he is saying that,
but specifically he's saying he became the seed of Abraham or the descendant of Abraham.
Obviously there's a lot of things we can talk about there, the Abrahamic Covenant, all those things.
The Abrahamic Covenant, by the way, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
It's not fulfilled in a bunch of anti-Christ, synagogue of Satan believers.
It's fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But here's why the writer of Hebrews is telling us, he became, he took on him the seed of Abraham,
that he might be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest.
We're going to learn in the book of Hebrews that Jesus becomes the great high priest.
But in order to do that, he had to be of the seed of Abraham.
Look at Galatians 4 and verse 4.
But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, that's humanity, made under the law.
See, not only did Jesus have to conquer death, he had to conquer the law.
Because remember, I read it for you from 1 Corinthians 15, the strength of death is the law.
Where there is no law, there is no transgression, there is no sin, there is no death.
So Jesus was born, he was made of a woman, and he was made under the law, he was made of the seed of Abraham,
meaning that he was born under the law of the Mosaic law, that he might conquer the law.
He kept the law, and he conquered the law. That's the answer to the question that he might be a great high priest.
You say, well, why should I care about that? Well, we're going to get into it in the book of Hebrews,
but let me just quickly give you a thought on that and we'll finish up. Go to Hebrews 2, look at verse 18.
We see his ministry, that he became a descendant of Abraham so that he could become the high priest.
That's his ministry. He is the high priest.
But I want you to notice that we also see his credibility. Look at verse 18, Hebrews 2.18.
For in that, he himself suffered being tempted.
See, the Bible tells us that the reason that he became human is to reach mankind,
to be that dasement between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
He came to conquer mortality, to meet death and conquer death that we might be given eternal life.
But then he also came for this ministry.
Jesus could care for us as a mediator. He could care for us in his ministry.
We see his ministry as a high priest, and we see the credibility, what makes him such a great high priest.
That he himself has suffered being tempted. In humanity, he was tempted.
And you know the story of Jesus. He was tempted by Satan. In humanity, he suffered.
Isaiah 53 tells us all about the sufferings of Christ. He lived the human life.
And he suffered being tempted. Look at verse 18.
For in that, he himself has suffered being tempted. You say, well, why should I care about that? Here's why.
Because in that, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
The word succor means to give assistance, support, aid.
Here's what the writer of Hebrews is telling us in verse 18. He suffered so he could succor.
He suffered so that he could help, so that he could lend aid.
Go to Hebrews chapter 4. I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself in Hebrews, but I want you to see it because it's all connected.
Hebrews chapter 4. We're going to be done in two minutes.
Hebrews 4, look at verse 14.
Hebrews 4, 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest.
That's his ministry.
That is passed into the heavens. He's our heavenly brother. He's our heavenly high priest.
Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Look at verse 15.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
In school you're taught to not use two double negatives, but the Bible can do whatever it wants,
and it uses the double negatives, and I think it's beautiful how it's worded.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
The idea is that we have an high priest that has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Here's what the Bible is saying, that Jesus was in all points tempted like you and I have been tempted.
Jesus was in all points. He suffered like you and I have suffered.
So whatever you've suffered, whatever pain you have, whatever you've gone through,
whatever temptations, whatever humiliations, whatever victories and whatever defeat,
all of that, Jesus has experienced that.
The only difference is, when he experienced it, it was yet without sin.
He was tempted without sin. He was betrayed without sin. He was lied about without sin.
He was hurt without sin. He lived the human life without sin.
And as a result, he is now an amazing high priest who knows and understands what you and I have gone through.
So here's what the writer of Hebrews says, verse 16.
With that, with that idea, he says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
See, through humanity, Jesus could connect with mankind.
Through humanity, Jesus could conquer mortality.
And through humanity, Jesus could care as a mediator.
And he cares for you and for me, which is why the Bible says,
casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
And I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you're dealing with.
I don't know what pain you have. You're caring, what burden you're carrying.
But I can tell you this, that we have not in high priests which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
He has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
He was on all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
And you and I have the ability to now, and Hebrews is going to develop this,
the writer of Hebrews is going to develop this,
that because he is a high priest, he has made us priests,
and now we have the ability to come and boldly into the throne of grace
and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And this is not just spiritual talk.
The Bible is saying, whatever your burden is, take it to Jesus.
Go to him in prayer. He knows what you've gone through.
He knows what you're dealing with. He knows how you're feeling.
And he can help you.
I often think of this song, I'd like for us to sing it if it's okay.
I'd like you to take your song books to page number 335.
I often think about how little we use the power of prayer, but this is the idea.
The idea is this, that Jesus became a human being.
That he might mediate on our behalf.
I just want you to see these words.
Because I feel like, and this is kind of, I often think about this song
when I think of prayer and how little prayer we do.
When I think of prayer and when I think about the fact that we often don't pray.
I gave you the wrong number, I think. I said 335. That's not what I wanted.
I wanted what a friend we have in Jesus.
Let me see if I can find it. If somebody knows it, tell me.
355? Thank you.
355.
These song books are all ripped up.
355. I just want you to notice these words. Look at them.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
Here's a part that often convicts me. It's this.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh, what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Jesus became man to help us carry our burdens.
He became our faithful high priest that we might go to him in time of need.
But how often do we do it?
How often do we go to him?
What a friend we have in Jesus.
What a brother we have in Jesus.
What a faithful high priest we have in Jesus.
Let's make sure we go to him in prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. We thank you for this passage of scripture.
The humanity of Christ.
The fact that God would become man, that he might connect with us.
Lord, we thank you for that. We love you.
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to utilize prayer to come boldly into the throne of grace.
To obtain mercy and help in time of need. We love you.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
I'd like you to take your song with you and go to page number 355.
I'm going to mess you up, Brother Christian. I'm sorry, I apologize for that.
Can we sing this song together?
Brother Moses, I'll have you lead the third stanza.
Okay, so be ready. 355. What a friend we have in Jesus. Let's sing it together.
Here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to slow it down.
I'd like us to slow it down. I want you to sing these words and think about these words on purpose.
Sing it out on the first.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh, what needless pain we bear.
Oh, because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Listen to these words. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Let's sing it out on the second.
Sing it with purpose on the second like a great army. Sing it out.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Sing it out.
Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Good. Sing it out on the last 355. On the last.
Are we weak and heavy laden? Convered with a load of care.
Moses, lead us.
Take it to the Lord in prayer. Sing it out.
Do thy princess vise forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Then what arms he'll take and shield thee? Thou wilt find a solace there.
That's a hard act to follow. Can we have Brother Grant close us in a word of prayer?
Father God, thank you for this day. Thank you for this message. Thank you for the church.
Please bless the rest of the week. Bless the work for the rest of the week and bring it back for soul winning on Saturday.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Thank you.
.