Hebrews, we're in chapter two. I'm gonna read, we looked at some of these verses last week, I'm going to read again. 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 or drift away. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, And every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witnessed both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou 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 was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while 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 has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. And so he begins here with that we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. What have we heard? We have heard that God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. God has spoken unto us by his Son, through his Son, in his Son. We ought to give them more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, because the Lord has indeed revealed Himself in Jesus Christ in the day in which we live, in this time, in the last time, in these last days. And of course, as we've spoken many times, these last days is that period of time from when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. Those are the last days. This is the last time. There's not coming another. And Jesus Christ is the salvation sent by God. He's the spokesman sent by God. He's the prophet of God. There's not another prophet to come. There's not one who's going to arise. It's got a clearer message. This is the message of God. And we must give the more earnest heed, lest we let these things slip. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? How can it be? I mean, what's the remedy? If we turn a deaf ear to those things that Christ has said, what else is there for us to hope in? Where else are we going to stand? What can we believe? Now, many men pay no heed to those things that we have said. Many men look at this and say, oh, well, that's just your opinion. And one thing that I have learned over the few years that I've been alive is that you cannot convince a man of that which he cannot be convinced of. And there's no need to try. But what you can do is declare the truth, because God will take the truth, and He'll take it to the heart of a man like Saul of Tarsus, who couldn't be convinced, who would not be convinced. But he took that truth, which was in Jesus Christ, and he convinced Him. The Lord can convince men, and so we need never to shy away from declaring the truth of God. But we don't need to be thinking that through our wisdom and our ability to set forth something that we can change somebody's mind, because you can't. All you can do is tell them what the truth is. And the Lord, He will open the ears and the eyes of those whom He is pleased to give those eyes and ears to. And so the Lord is born witness, both with signs and wonders, with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. He has done that. Now some are intent, even in the present day, of seeing signs and wonders and those things. And, you know, they see them on every hand often. They see them in things that aren't there. They come up with things and create things because they think that by these things men will be persuaded. The Lord did do miracles when he came into the world. He didn't do miracles for the sake of miracles. He did miracles in order to testify to who he was. And then he sent his apostles into the world and he accompanied them with those same signs and wonders and miracles and those things because the testimony was not written down. It was not given unto men at that time. It has been given unto men in the present time of all those things that Christ has spoken. And so that we don't stand in the same place or the same place of need for the signs and miracles. In fact, the scripture, the Lord said, that an evil generation seeketh after signs. Now if the Lord is pleased to give us a sign, he will do so, but it is not We've not been given the command to go out and look for signs. You know, some people, they spend their whole life looking for a sign and wondering what it is, and this, that, and the other. We don't need signs and miracles. What we need, dear brethren, is an ear to hear the truth of God. spoken by the lips of Christ, and given through his messengers unto the world, declaring his truth. And those that are sent by him, they don't come bringing another message. I mean, we don't have, there's nothing new. You remember Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes, there's nothing new under the sun. Well, that's most definitely true when it comes to preaching the gospel. There's no new novel way that we can preach the gospel. Oh, we've come up with a new way we can really, you know, we'll take this little phrase and we'll do a bunch of commercials and we'll get people on TV to see this and people will just flock by the thousands to hear no. If the Lord doesn't open the ears of man to hear the truth of God, no device of man is going to accomplish that. It's only by the hand of Almighty God, the work of the Lord. But the Lord does indeed call unto His people. Of course, this whole chapter, the whole book of Hebrews is a book designed to set forth the glory of Christ in the eyes of the Hebrews, those who were steeped in the law and knew and understood the things that the Lord had taught. They understood these things insofar as they could go. They at least had the testimony of God in the law. But the Lord came with a greater spokesman than Moses. He came with a greater spokesman than all the prophets that had come before because he sent his son into the world to declare the truth of God. He made Him higher than all of the creation because He is the Creator. Now a lot of people, they don't think of Jesus Christ as being the Creator, but the Scripture plainly says that He is the Creator of all things and that by Him all things consist. Now the scientists of the world, they spend their lives just trying to discover how all things consist. And the most ignorant of men in the world who've been taught by the Spirit of God know why all things consist, and how they consist. They consist in Christ. He made them, and he holds them together. You know, one of the things that, in my simple mind, that I've never had anybody able, and I don't think it can be explained, is how does gravity work? Now, you know, if you got, if they tell us the planet, we live on a planet, and they tell us we don't live on a flat surface, but we live on a planet, and I have no reason to doubt that we live on a planet, and this thing's twirling around out here in the earth, in the space, and it goes around, it's 25,000 miles around it, and it goes around in 24 hours. So that means that the Earth is moving at approximately 1,000 miles an hour. And we're out here on the surface of this planet. Now anything that I know of that you turn around and spin around, the stuff that's on the outside of it goes off. Now I know there's scientists out there that's gonna say how stupid I am that I don't know this, but why does that work? Well, it doesn't work by any stretch of the imagination that man can observe and understand in my way of thinking, but it has to do, they say it's the gravitational pull of the earth. Well, where does that come from? I'll tell you where it comes from. It comes from God who made the world, and he made the world to have gravity. It's not some scientific process that causes gravity to occur. It's because God made it. That's a simple explanation, is it not? But it's nonetheless what the scripture says, by him all things consist. Now, if you want to go and study gravity, go ahead. I mean, but, you know, I'm content to rest in the wonders of the creator, that his creation is exactly like he wants it to be. And nothing's going to change it. Not all of the carbon, that people put into the atmosphere. It's not going to speed anything up. It's not going to slow anything down. It's going to go exactly according to the good pleasure of His will. How foolish it is. Now, should men be stewards of what the Lord has given us? Why sure we should. I mean, we would be unthankful if we were not. But then we most certainly understand that men are not going to change the course of the world. How foolish and prideful for men to think that they can. Oh, we're going to destroy the earth. No, you're not going to destroy the earth because seed diamond harvest will not cease unless the Lord causes it to cease according to the good pleasure of his will as he sees fit. And so he has not put the world in subjection to the angels. Now he's speaking about this world in which we live. But as we read in the scripture about the creation, the Lord made man and he made him to be what? The ruler over this world, have dominion in this world. That's what he made man as. That's what he says here. But one in a certain place testifies saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? What is man? What in the world? I mean, man is an insignificant creature in many ways insofar as the expanse of the heavens is concerned and the things we can see, and we're just a little speck out here. What is man that thou art mindful of him? Now, of course, the humanist says, why? Man is worth a lot. I mean, man has all these powers and he's got a free will and he can do anything he sets his mind to. He just gotta be in the right environment if we can get his environment right and we can do all these things. Man is just wonderful. He can accomplish anything. But the Lord says, what is man? And we say, Lord, what is man? That you are mindful of us. But understand this. And he says here, he didn't put the angels in charge of the world. Or that is, he didn't make the world to be under their dominion. Angels don't have any dominion in the earth. Now the Lord sends them from time to time to accomplish the things that he would have them to do, but he didn't give the general subjection of the world under them. They don't have any power apart from that which he gives them. But he said, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? Now why did the Lord take note of us? We can't really answer that. There's only one word that describes it, and it is grace. Grace, that's why the Lord has been mindful of us. That's why he created us as he did, in his mercy, in his kindness. Thou madest him, speaking of man, a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. Now there's a two-fold meaning in this, obviously, as he goes on to say. 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. Now this is a twofold truth here. He's speaking about in the creation, the Lord made man to rule over the rest of his creation of the world. He made man to have dominion over the creatures of the earth and to be even in his image as one who rules over that. But he says here, thus put all things, in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. And so it is that while this is speaking about man in general as being that ruler of the earth, he's primarily pointing out the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came as a man and was made a little lower than the angels in being a man. Because that's what men are. They're lower than the angels. And the Lord condescended to men of low estate and he came and he visited us and he walked among us because he loved his people. But now we see not yet all things put under him. Remember he said over here in 1 Corinthians, he said the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Now Christ is the destroyer of death. We sang about it a moment ago, death of deaths and hell's destruction. He is that one. Death, he holds death in his hand. He said, I kill and I make alive. I, the Lord, do all these things. So he's the God of life, he's the God of death. Death belongs to the Lord. There was no such thing as death until he instituted it. And he told Adam, he said, Adam, in the day that you eat this tree, you're going to die. He didn't say, now Adam, I made this tree, and buddy, if you eat it, you're going to die. He didn't say that. He said, Adam, you're going to eat this tree. And Adam gladly ate of that tree, wrongly, because God said, don't eat of it. Now, men get all up in arms. They say, well, well, Adam just did then what the will of God. Well, nay, but old man, who art thou that replies against God? You say, well, who hath been able to overturn the will of God? Nobody. But you see, God, who is God, he makes one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor, as it pleaseth him. Now what does that do? Well, it causes the rebel to rebel. And it causes the man in whose mind and heart the Lord has worked and humbled him before God, he falls down on his face and he says, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. See, a rebel's gonna be a rebel. The unbeliever is gonna be an unbeliever still. apart from the grace of God to open his heart and mind and show him the truth and to bring him into subjection so that he can't find one thing he can accuse God of. Now the rebels of the world, they find many things. Oh, we'll see all this suffering that's in the world and all these babies dying and all this stuff. It's just terrible. Why, if God was, you know, really who he said he was, he wouldn't be letting them do all this stuff. And the people of God just fall on their face and say, Have glory in all things. Humble our hearts before thee, O Lord. May thy will be done in the earth as it is in the heavens. But thou, we see not yet all things put under him. Because you see, even though he is the destroyer of death, he has not yet put death, physical death, out of the picture. For it's appointed unto men once to die. After this, the judgment. And we just laid to rest a dear brother yesterday. A man who walked with God. A man who confessed that he was a stranger in this world. A man who confessed that he was a great sinner. But a man who confessed that he had a great savior. A man who desired to worship God with his whole heart. And yet death visited him just as surely as it visited the most vile sinner that's in rebellion against God at the present moment. And God strikes him down just like that. Death is the same to both. And the Lord has not yet put that away. There is coming a day, however. when that is true, because that victory has actually already been won. It's just not the time has not yet come for that to occur. So we don't see yet all things put under him. Under men, in general, we don't have any control whatsoever over death. You know, men say, well, you know, I'm gonna take these vitamins so I don't die. Well, I take vitamins every day. But I don't take them with the notion that I'm gonna breathe one more breath than I would breathe if I didn't take them. Because I know that the one who numbers the hairs on my head also numbers the minutes of my life. My times are in his hand. And I can't pass that time. And I'm not mad. I'm glad. Because I'm glad it's not just some random thing that might occur one day. This might happen to me. Well, no, nothing might happen to you. Whatever the Lord has ordained to happen is gonna happen to you. And we just give God glory. And we don't use that as an excuse to do stupid stuff. And maybe we do stupid stuff. See, even the stupid stuff that men do, redounds unto the glory of God. You can't... See, the most vile rebel against God who breathes out threatens and slaughters against the people of God, who hates the way of God, he can't escape doing the will of God. He cannot do it. And he can't escape that he is going to fall down one day and give honor and praise unto God, even though he hates God with all of his heart. is going to happen. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. But we don't see all things yet put under him. Death is still a reality, but... I like the buts that's in the scripture. But... Here's what we do see. So we don't see yet all things done. We don't see yet that death has been put aside because we know that friends and loved ones have died, and we know if we're honest with ourself that we're progressing to that end ourself. Our days are numbered. I mean, when a child comes into the world, his days have a number upon them. I don't know what that number is, but the Lord does because he's the one that ordains those numbers to occur as he sees fit. And so we don't see death yet put under him, but here's what we do see. We see Jesus. Oh, what a glorious vision that is. Remember those men that the apostles came to, or they came to the apostles, and the apostles said, well, who are you looking for? They said, Sarge, we would see Jesus. We won't talk to you. And by the grace of God, we've been, he says here, we see Jesus. Now we see Jesus not just as the world sees Jesus. The world, many people, they know that there was a man who lived in this world and his name was Jesus. And the world has many celebrations that surround his birth. They surround his resurrection, dying on the cross, all those things. I mean, the world sees him. But that's not what the apostle's saying here. He says we see Jesus as the Lord has sent him, as that one who's the spokesman of God. See, there's many people that believe that Jesus existed, but they don't believe what he said. But we do. By the grace of God, we believe every word that He said. We believe that He spoke nothing but truth when He walked among men, whether we liked it or whether we didn't. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, the same fashion in which man was made, a lower creation. But he was made, he came and took upon himself sinful flesh, the likeness of sinful flesh, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. That's why he came, the scripture says. See, the death of Christ on the cross was not something that happened due to the wickedness of men, although it was something that happened due to the wickedness of men. But you see, that was ordained of Almighty God. He said, you have taken Him by wicked hands, but it's according to the foreordained purpose of Almighty God. Because see, He came into the world for this purpose. Now He didn't come just to randomly die. but he came that he might redeem his people. He came with that in mind and the angel told Joseph that you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. He didn't say he's gonna just try to do the good that he can in the world and hope somebody will be saved. He said he came to save his people. He's the savior of sinners. He's not the one who tries to save sinners. He's the one who saves sinners. His redemption made lower than the angels. Can you imagine that? The one who created the angels made himself lower than the angels. And allowed himself to be comforted in the garden under the greatest stress that any man could ever have placed upon him, pouring out his soul unto death. And he had the angels to come and minister to him. Can you imagine that? I can't. I can't even comprehend it. How it would be. But it pleased God. And He's crowned with glory. Him who was made lower than the angels and for the suffering of death, this man, whom men despised and mocked him. Remember there were two thieves on the cross and the scripture says that they both mocked him. Both of them. They said, if you're really the son of God, come on down. But we know what happened there. You see the grace of God was evident there on Calvary. Because here were two men, both of them equally worthy of destruction and death, equally rebels against God, lawbreakers, sinners. And yet suddenly, something happened to one of them and he turned to the other one and he said, you know, we're sinners and we're worthy of death. And he said, Lord, remember me. when thou comest into thy kingdom. Now how on earth did he all of a sudden know that this one whom he had been mocking was the Son of God, was the King of Kings, this one who was dying, pouring out his life's blood in a weak state just like himself. There was no beauty that we should desire him. There was nothing in him naturally that would be attractive to him. But he looked upon him and he saw him and he understood that he was the king of kings and the lord of lords. And he said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He knew he had a kingdom. Oh man, how can that be? Except that the grace of God was there. and opens the eyes of sinners even as he does at the present time while one grows up and he listens to the gospel and he hears it all his life and he goes and lives his life and he has no concern for it and yet another hears it and it's become precious to his soul and he cries out, oh God, have mercy upon me a sinner. How is that? It's the grace of God. It's the mercy of God. a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Because you see, that's how we see Him. Crowned with glory and honor. One of my most favorite hymns is crowned Him with many crowns. The Lamb upon the throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns. All music but its own. Awake my soul and sing of Him who died for thee. and hail Him as our matchless King through all eternity. We see Jesus, even though He was made lower than the angels, we see Him as one who's most high and lifted up. That He by the grace of God should taste death For every man, just like every man dies, he would taste death. A death that no man shall escape. And Christ, being identified with his people, would not escape it either. For it became him, or it pleased him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory. to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. This was in the plan and purpose of Almighty God. See, the death of Christ, you know, we've often all speculated, you know, about what would have happened if Christ had not died. Well, in the first place, that's a foolish speculation because there's no way that could have occurred because it was ordained of God to occur. There'd be no salvation had he not died. Because this was the means whereby the Lord would save his people. And he put all these things in motion. From the first day that he said, let there be light. When he said, let there be light. You see, that was a precursor to the fact that he said, my son is coming into the world as the light of the world. Let there be light. And in him is light and no darkness at all. Oh, what a glorious Savior He is. And then He did this to bring many sons unto glory. He didn't do it to try to bring some sons to glory, but He had some sons that belonged to Him. He said, these are my people. They're the sheep of my pasture, and I will save them. I will deliver them. I will bring them unto myself. They will hear my voice. they will come to me. In him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Oh what a glorious Savior he is dear brethren. Oh what a wonderful redemption that there is in Christ who was made lower than the angels. for the suffering of death. That's the purpose. See, the angels, we don't know of the angels dying. I've not read of any place where any angels died. Now, I do find in scripture that those wicked angels and their erstwhile leader shall be cast into the lake of fire. That is going to occur. But up to this time, I don't know of any of them that have died. They shall though, because you see Christ didn't die for them. And those men that have no desire to hear the word of God, who go on in their way, and they are cast in that same place. Why? Because their names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Nor did they have any desire that it be. because they loved their way and they had no regard to the Savior. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which has now been spoken by Christ? Oh, what a glorious Savior He is.