here today. We've got April the 16th. We've got Glenn, Brother Glenn's got a birthday coming up here in just a few days. And then next Sunday, on Easter Sunday, we've got Brother Danny Rawson has a birthday next Sunday. And so be praying for these. And of course, Mr. Dowers, he's got one coming up later on the end of the month. And so a number of birthdays, number of folks to be praying for specifically and especially this month. Open your Bibles if you would this afternoon as we prepare. And I want to continue with you looking at this topic that I started some weeks ago about the topic of the grace of God. As I mentioned, when I started this topic, it was a series of four messages understanding the grace of God. But to understand the grace of God, you can't do so in just one or two or four messages. There is more to the grace of God than I think probably anything else. in the world because the grace of God is immeasurable. You cannot measure and we cannot contain the grace of God. But we're going to continue in looking at this topic today. So open your Bibles to the book of Hebrews and we're going to find chapter number two. I was excited this morning when I saw the pastor was preaching from Hebrews chapter 10 and I said, oh, that's fantastic. I wonder if he's going to jump over to chapter 2. He did not, but that would have been okay, too, because, you know, it's especially exciting, I think, when different preachers will be led of the Spirit to jump into the same scriptures. I think that's fantastic and it's exciting and we see how God works from different perspectives. But today we'll be in Hebrews chapter 2 and we'll see that in just a minute. Now I did a search As I was studying, I've got one of these digital Bibles on the computer and things, it's a King James Bible, and I did a search on that Bible for the phrase, grace of God, for that specific phrase. And I also did a search for this phrase, by grace. And so, it really was not too much of a surprise to me at all to find that those specific phrases are not present in the Old Testament. Is that surprising to you? by grace and grace of God. Those specific phrases are strictly in the New Testament. Now that is not to say that grace, the word grace, or the concept of grace, the topic of grace, is not to say that it's not found in the Old Testament. Indeed, it is found in the Old Testament. The word grace is found 37 different verses in the Old Testament. So, by contrast, the word grace, and including these other two phrases that I mentioned, is found almost four times as much in the New Testament as it is in the Old. 122 verses in the New Testament has the word grace, but these two specific ones, by grace and grace of God, they are relegated strictly to the New Testament under the person of Jesus Christ. Now, while it may not be particularly important to know those details, I know people are saying, okay, well, where is he going with this? Well, it's not specifically important that we know the details, but it is important to understand that the grace of God has always existed, even from the very beginning of time as we know it. So this is not a new thing for God to extend his grace to mankind, even though man's relationship with God was so drastically changed when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God's direct command. about this, as we know, about the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden. The relationship was drastically changed between mankind and God. It is also wise to understand that the grace of God is much more readily accessible and available now because of Jesus Christ. It was accessible and it was available in the Old Testament before Jesus walked the earth. But do you understand that Jesus Christ is the reason that the grace of God is spoken of and taught throughout the New Testament so much more profoundly? Because of Jesus Christ. Now we know from the scriptures that we have nothing in and of ourselves that would or could be considered worthy of God's favor. There is nothing in us naturally worthy of God's favor. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're not worthy of God's glory. Now God also told us though in Romans chapter 5 and verse number 8 that He commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That's why God says in Ephesians 2.8, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. God's grace is a gift through Jesus Christ. So, for anyone to think that there should be a way of being good enough, there should be a way that if I do enough good things, God will look favorably on me. The unfortunate truth is that that is a foolish and a misguided thought. The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. You see there is no way of considering how God can or will be gracious or extend his grace toward us without understanding and acknowledging that he will only do so because of Jesus Christ. Thus, because of that, there is no possibility of eternal life outside that place called hell except by believing on and receiving Jesus as our Savior. Now given that introduction, let's read together if you would. Follow along as I read our source text in Hebrews chapter 2. We're going to start in verse number 3. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number 3 the Bible tells us here, 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 divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. The question is how should we escape if we neglect it? Verse 5 goes on and says 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 wert 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 subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. Verse 9 says, 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. So from this text today, I want to briefly look this afternoon at three points. I promise I will try to keep them brief. I'm going to look at the plan, I'm going to look at the perplexity, and then the provision in this message that I have titled, for those who may be taking notes, Made Worthy by the Grace of God. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, as we look to your word today, Father there is no possibility of us understanding what you have preserved for us, except that the Holy Spirit, whom you have given us, Lord, will work mightily in our hearts to open our understanding. Lord, to open the darkest areas of our heart, Lord, to expose them to your grace. And Lord, for your light of truth to shine and to cleanse and to purge. and to give us that understanding. God won't you work mightily in us today. Help us Lord as we look at your word and help us to see your plan. Help us to see how we are made worthy by your grace through Jesus Christ. And oh God, not just so that we understand it for this hour, for this next 30 minutes, whatever it might be, but Lord that we'll understand it so deeply that Father we take it with us when we go and we share with all those who need to have the same understanding. God we are not worthy, but You loved us. And through Jesus Christ, shedding His blood on the cross for us, you have made us in Christ worthy. God help us today, we ask it now in Jesus' name. Amen. So we look first at the plan, which is pretty simple. We all understand, I think, the plan of salvation. We're looking at the plan that God had from the very beginning. Now what beginning is that? That's the beginning. I don't know if you've got a different beginning, but from the beginning it was God's plan that Jesus would be our substitute sacrifice to atone for our sins. Even before Jesus walked the earth, even before Adam and Eve were made, even before the foundations of the world, it was God's plan that Jesus would be our sufficient sacrifice to atone for our sins. 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 20 tells us this, for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Peter's telling us here that it was before the foundation of the world that Jesus was ordained to be the perfect sacrificial lamb, for you and for me. That's a pretty good plan for us. That's pretty amazing for us, that God would think that far in advance. It was by God's grace Do we understand that it was by God's grace that mankind was not completely obliterated in the flood of Noah's day? Even though God said, and you can find this in Genesis chapter 6, even though God said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. And then he goes on to say in that same verse, for it repenteth me that I have made them. It grieved God in his heart that he made mankind. Why? Because the Bible tells us that God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. You see after Adam and Eve chose to disobey it got worse and worse, and it just spiraled out of control until God was grieved that he ever made mankind. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8, however God records, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Well let's fast forward a couple thousand years because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now we fast forward and outside of a few exceptions God saw once again that the wickedness of man had grown to fullness. Yet God had made a covenant that he would not destroy every living thing on earth again like he had done. And because God loved us, we are his creation. You know, let me ask you this. If you make something, you decide you go get all the materials together, and you put in the effort, and you make something, don't you cherish that, whatever it was that you made? That's yours. It's absolutely yours. It belongs to you. And if anybody else destroys it or damages it, boy, I'm going to tell you, there's going to be some conversations then. We were made by God. And even though God got to that point where it repented him and it grieved him in his heart because we went so bad, God loves us. The Bible tells us Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And even though, once again, we got so off base, so wicked. Friends, as you see our society today, I don't have to tell you about the wickedness. Take a look around anywhere. We know that our society is wicked. We know that mankind has gone really, really bad in some cases. But God loved us. And so, because He loved us, by His grace, God sent His Son just exactly at the time that He had purposed. Now understand that this was no afterthought or contingency plan just in case mankind gets bad again. Remember we talked just a moment ago, we saw from Scripture just a moment ago that this was from before the foundation of the world ordained that this was going to happen. God knew because God is eternal. God knew the heart of man. He knew what we would do, what we were capable of doing. And so he has always had this plan in place. This was, it is, and it always will be the only plan that satisfies God's holiness and righteousness and accomplishes God's will. What plan is that? That Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. That's the only plan that works. So as Jesus came, as Jesus grew, the Bible tells us that he was full of the Spirit and he waxed strong in the Spirit. So Jesus began speaking. He began his ministry. He began teaching. He began to preach the plan of salvation as we read. And we'll read it again. Look at verses 3 and 4. Hebrews chapter 2 says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at 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 divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will." You see, when Jesus started speaking about how it was that God was going to provide a way to reconcile us, his plan, he made it absolutely clear as Jesus was speaking and he said, I am the way. I am the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus said. No man cometh unto the Father but by me, said Jesus. Now part of the reason for this, I believe, is found in verse number five. Look at your scriptures, verse number five. And it says to us, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. Now consider this. As the redeemed of the Lord, we have been adopted into the family of God. And God has said that we will reign together with Christ. That only happens in the world to come. That's not happening yet. Now we do have dominion over the natural things that God created here in the world. But if we consider what verse 5 tells us, that under the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, that tells me that according to God's plan and if we are going to co-reign with Christ, all things will be put under subjection and we will be part of the reigning royalty. And that's what verse 5 tells us. Friends, it is by the grace of God that we are an integral part of God's plan. Have you ever felt lonely, like you don't matter? Have you ever felt like you could be gone from this world and no one would ever notice? God will notice. God sent Jesus to die for you. God sent Jesus to die for me. God will notice. Because friends, as redeemed of the Lord, we are an integral part of His forever for us. Which brings us to the second point, the perplexity. So that was God's plan. What about this perplexity? What is that all about? Well, and we consider the enormity of this plan of God. It is no wonder that King David's words from Psalm chapter eight were recalled and recorded here again in our scripture text, verses six through eight. Read with me what that says. Verse six says, but one, that was King David, in a certain place, that's Psalm chapter eight, 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 hast set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. See that's what David wrote in the eighth psalm as we have it recorded. Think for a moment of what mankind has done since creation. Oh, we've done some great things. Oh, well, you know, God's given us some grace, and yes, God's allowed us to do some great things, but think of what really has man done since creation. We started out just fine. We started out innocent. But it wasn't long before our most ancient ancestors disobeyed a direct command of God. And things have only gotten worse as time goes on. The original charge to Adam regarding having dominion over God's handiwork was made before Adam chose against God. So he was given that dominion when he was still innocent. But as we look at it from David's perspective, King David, a man after God's own heart, the Bible tells us. If we look at it from King David's perspective, it was next to unbelievable that God would uphold that promise. It makes it unbelievable that God would think of mankind so highly as he did. Now keep in mind though, God is not so short-sighted as we are. God knew And God knows that one day those who choose to believe God and choose to accept Christ as our Redeemer, one day we will be made like unto Jesus. We heard it this morning and we read it in the scriptures. The Bible says conformed to the image of his son. and we would indeed be reconciled to God's righteousness through Jesus Christ to attain to that dominion over all things, as we read right here in our scriptures, reigning alongside of our Savior by the grace of God. But we're not there yet, are we? Nope, we're not there yet. It's coming one day. And God has great things in store for us. But we better be part of the family. We better have written that letter to God asking for his forgiveness. Because without that, we will be among those that someone has the dominion over us and we'll never get free from that. In fact, that time will always be spent in the eternal fires of hell. God doesn't want that for us. God said, I have a plan, and I have provided you my son, which brings us to the third and closing point today, the provision. Until God has finished his work to prepare us for that day, he has given us, provided for us if you will, a visible token of his purpose. that is this same Jesus Christ. He is a visible, tangible of sorts, token of God's provision for His plan, of which we are an integral part. Look with me at the first part of verse number 9. It says, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory, and honor. Now hold on a minute. That description right there is exactly the same description of position that mankind has back in verse number seven. Look once again verse number seven says thou has made him a little lower than the angels thou crownest him with glory and honor. Verse nine but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor. Boy that sounds exactly the same to me. Now friends, listen. Jesus took on himself the very same physical nature and characteristics that we have, but with one absolute difference. Jesus had no sin. Ever. Yet, he was made like unto us, the Bible says, for the suffering of death. This is what Paul wrote to the Philippians also as he wrote the letter to them. We see it in as what we have is chapter 2 of Philippians verses 7 and the first part of verse 8 and he writes, but Jesus made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Well, verse 9 goes on to show us that Jesus had also the same glory and honor that man has. In other words, Jesus lived as a man on this earth as any other man lived in terms of a physical life. So that the Bible tells us he, by the grace of God in verse 9, should taste death for every man. Boy, those are some hard things to understand. They're not really. Let's break them down just a little bit. You see the word taste here. It says, so that he, by the grace of God, should taste death. I can't believe death tastes very good. But the word taste here really carries the meaning of experiencing. When you partake of something, when you taste something, when you eat something, you are experiencing that thing. And that's the meaning here. That Jesus should experience the same death that we will all experience. Experiencing death. Jesus was made to physically experience the suffering and the death that we will. all experience. The word or phrase here that goes on and says, for every man, because the Bible says that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. That last phrase really means on behalf of, or in the place of. So if Jesus was going to experience death on our behalf, what does that mean? We should never have to die, right? That's not what that means. Clearly, we still die physically from this earth. So what is God talking about? Well, from a physical sense, there is nothing that we can experience in life or death that Jesus does not understand or feel. All of the fears that we may face, Jesus faced them. If we're weary of, if we're afraid of, if we are fearing death, Jesus experienced the very same death. He understands how we feel. When things seem like they're at their worst for us, even if no one else can feel your pain, whether it be physical or emotional or otherwise, when no one else understands, there is one. He understands. It is our Savior who knows how you feel. And He will help you and me through those times. Now, on the spiritual side of things, the Bible tells us that Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. In other words, He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, paying the price of atonement for, or on behalf of, every man. Now look with me in Hebrews chapter 2, jump down to verse number 14. We haven't read this yet, but I want you to see this. Verse number 14 of Hebrews chapter 2, the Bible here tells us, For as much then as the children, that's you and me, are partakers of flesh and blood, he, Jesus, 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. Now friends listen, Satan wants nothing more than to defeat us through the finality of death. Because once we die, it won't matter anymore how you may have used to be a good witness, because once we die, we can no longer be the witness for Christ. So Satan just wants to defeat us. He wants to kill us. He wants to get rid of us. Jesus, however, wasn't quite the same in that regard because Jesus in John chapter 10 verse 18 said this about the finality of death ending his life. He said, no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment, Jesus said, have I received of my father. Jesus said, yes, I want to take on your form. I want to understand death from your perspective. Because that way, when I take up my life again, I can help you through this whole process. I can understand what you're feeling and I can take you through and show you that death is not the final act. We then have this comfort in the second part of verse 14 through the end of the chapter. Let's read that together. He says in verse 14b 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, or truly is what that word means, 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. Verse 18 says, For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor or to help them that are tempted. Boy, isn't that some good news. It doesn't matter what you're going to face. I don't want to face horrible things. You don't either. Nobody wants to face horrible things. But friend, can I tell you that because there are horrible things coming, we don't have to fear that. Because Jesus faced all the same things. While we have nothing inherently that makes us worthy to be reconciled to God, we have, through accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we have been made worthy by the grace of God to escape the eternal damnation. Because in and of ourselves and on our own and outside of Jesus Christ, there is already our destination. We're already condemned. But by accepting Jesus Christ, our destination is now changed. And God's taking us north instead of south. Now I shouldn't say that. He's taking us to heaven, not allowing us the condemnation in hell. Though we are tempted daily Though we face many, many things, we have an advocate. We have a helper. We have our Savior who is able to see us through and deliver us complete and reconciled to God the Father in heaven. Amen. Pastor, would you close the service? This would probably be a good time if we knew the Course, if we had the Course. What a great God we serve. Yes. We have it somewhere probably, don't we, somewhere? We do somewhere. I'm not sure if we have it by memory, but... Planning ahead. There you go. What a great God we serve. Amen? Yes. Father, we thank you for this time that we be together. Lord, being reminded today of the blessings that have been bestowed upon us, those who undeserving we are. You have loved us with an everlasting love. And to call us children, to call us sons and daughters. Lord, I'm not so sure we understand the full impact. Sinners who have been saved by grace and who are now saints by grace. Father, thank you for so great a love. Lord, may we go forth today and love you with as great a love as we can possibly muster. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. God be Godly, sir.