Let's pray together, please. Father, we give you thanks for the light of your holy word. May we receive his truths with faith and love, lay them up on our hearts and practice them in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Please turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter two, verses 14 through 18. So we're gonna close out at chapter two. Hebrews chapter two, verses 14 through 18. Hebrews 2 verses 14 through 18. This is the word of God. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendant of Abraham, Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. May God bless the reading of his holy word. And the passage that we looked at previously in Hebrews 2, 10 through 13, we saw the emphasis there on our common humanity with Jesus. You may recall from that passage in Hebrews 2, 10 through 13, right before this one, Psalm 22 was cited there. And then there are two citations from Isaiah 8, where believers are actually referred to as both Jesus's brethren and as God's children. There's many things about the truth about God and man and sin and grace and salvation as revealed to us in the Bible that are utterly unique in the world religious landscape. I was thinking about this as I was reading this passage. What we see here in Hebrews chapter two has no parallel anywhere in the world. For example, every religion on earth, including the phony Christian ones, all teach that ultimately we save ourselves in some way by our works, our piety, our something. In biblical Christianity, salvation is a free gift. It's received by faith alone, not by our works or any change in us at all. No religion of the world teaches that the eternal creator God of the universe actually took on a true body and a reasonable soul in order to save lost people from their sins. God himself personally entered history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth to save his people from their sins. The cross is also completely unique. No religion has God sacrificing and suffering himself. to take his own judgment upon himself and instead in place of undeserving sinners. The bodily resurrection of the God-man Savior is also completely unique among man's religions. We stake everything that we believe and hope for on an event that took place in space-time history. Jesus actually died. Jesus is now today, right this moment, alive from the dead. Paul the Apostle even said in 1 Corinthians 15, 12, that if Jesus really didn't die in time and space and really did not come back to life. And Paul said, I'm a false witness because I claimed he was alive. So are all the other apostles who said he's alive from the dead. Our faith is in vain. We're still in our sins. And we above all people in the world, people should feel sorry for us. But Jesus did rise from the dead in direct fulfillment of God's promise. And you notice the calendar, even among all of man's other religions, follows the birth of Christ. It's 2025 in every nation on this planet. He's alive right now in glory, interceding for us, ruling over and protecting his church. The religions of man have nothing like any of this. But there is one more way the truth differs from all else. True believers in Jesus as Savior and Lord are called God's children. and we're called Jesus's brethren. By the great legal act of adoption. Once the enmity is taken away, once the wrath is gone, once our sin is nailed to the cross, God then takes us into his own family. Westminster Confession of Faith. I've always loved this about our confession. It has an entire chapter devoted just to that topic of adoption. Chapter 12. When a sinner believes the gospel, they're justified and then they're adopted into God's family. And he's forever unashamed to call us his brethren. And God's children were forever identified that way. No religions in the world have such familiarity with their deities. None of their deities were unapproachably holy in the ancient world. The Roman and Greek deities were nothing like that. In fact, the gods of ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, and Canaan, they tended to be every bit as evil as the humans that invented them. They were not holy. They were not really to be feared. They were powerful, but overall they were not interested in people. The Canaanite deities in particular tended to be rather temperamental and their mood swings could destroy harvests and bring terrible weather and stop fertility and things like that. The deities invented by humanity are as more aloof cosmic powers and forces than anything personally concerned about us. The true God, the God that really exists, the God that really made the world is deeply concerned about humanity. Buddhism has no deity at all, no God whatsoever, but calls us simply to live by the impersonal force of karma. The true God, however, is personal, and he's holy and righteous and just. Thankfully, he's also compassionate, loving, fatherly, merciful, and kind. The human race that he created, however, since we rebelled, we've become very wicked, very sinful, and we are the ones that have no interest in him. God takes an interest in His people. We have no interest in Him until He comes and gets us. In fact, man's religions seem to have one common goal, and that is to run from the true God and hide our sins, just like Adam and Eve did after they rebelled. They went and hid. They heard the sound of God coming towards them in some kind of physical form. He must have had fellowship with them on a regular basis, and when they heard the sound of Him coming, they ran away. They were afraid. They hid themselves. That's really what mankind's been doing ever since, hiding. Indeed, God the Son, the infinite, eternal, unchangeable God, He dressed Himself in fallen humanity. And He became exactly like us in every way, flesh and blood, so that He could redeem us and save us and bring us to be with Him in heavenly glory. So He could call us His brothers. So He could call us God's children. All of this was paid for by the same God who, in the person of Jesus, underwent the very wrath and punishment due to us so we could enjoy Him for eternity, free from the sin that we plunged ourselves into. And so I ask, what God is there among man's religions who is like this? In this passage here, we see this son, this divine son who is addressed by the father in the Psalms as, your throne, oh God, is forever. This son who is worshiped by the angels. This son who we're told in Hebrews two, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning. This son who created the heavens with his own hands and who will remain long after the heavens have perished. This divine son, Our creator dressed himself in a true body and a reasonable soul in order to do several things that are spelled out in this passage. I've given you an outline there in your bulletin. He came to destroy, to set free, to help the seed of Abraham, to make propitiation and to aid us. He did those five things. And so we're gonna see all five of those in this great passage. So let's look at the first thing. He came to destroy something first. Verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless, the ESV says destroy, him who has the power of death, that is the devil. Okay, stop there. Remember last week we looked at verse 11, for both he who sanctifies, that's Jesus himself, and those who are sanctified are all from one, that's the children of God. Because of that, because he took on the same nature that we have, he's not ashamed to call us his brothers, his sisters, for which reason he's not ashamed of that. He was just like us in every way, and therefore he says, that one's my sister, that one's my brother. He's not ashamed of us. What a remarkable truth. The God man, Jesus, is not ashamed of me, not ashamed of you. Why? Because He's dressed us in His own righteousness. He's dressed us in His forgiveness. He became exactly what we are, except sin. And verse 14 here is an expansion of that theme raised in verse 11. Jesus will come on the last day before God the Father with all of his redeemed children in tow and will say, as was quoted there from Isaiah 8 there in verse 13, you see chapter two, verse 13 there, behold, I and the children whom God has given me. He's not ashamed to call us brothers. He's not ashamed to call us God's children. So now in verse 14, you see it. Therefore, since the children, these children that he loves, that he's redeemed, he's presenting to the father, they share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless or destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. Isn't that a comforting thing to know? Jesus came to destroy the devil, to destroy his work, to destroy murder, to destroy death, to destroy lies and deception. The only path to doing this was to partake of the exact same nature that these children have partaken, flesh and blood. And we have emphasized a lot in these sermons on Hebrews that Jesus is one person with two true and fully intact natures. He's God the Son, and He's also Jesus of Nazareth. He is of the seed of David. He has that human nature. There's no mixture, there's no confusion, no mingling together of those natures in the incarnation of God the Son in Mary's womb. As I've told you before, when I took systematic theology in seminary, we had to memorize all the Trinitarian and all the Christological heresies. There's so many, I had to make flashcards for them. The fact is, those debates consumed most of the available energy of Christian theologians and thinkers. When they weren't on the run from persecution, when they weren't in danger of fire, lions, and other horrifying forms of death, they were busily defending who God is, that God is three persons, that Jesus Christ is one person with two true natures, true humanity, flesh and blood, just like it says here in Hebrews 2. And yet he's also your throne, oh God, is forever and ever. He's also the one who created the universe. Every conceivable false teaching about God and Jesus was afoot back then, and guess what? They're still afoot today. It's essential for us as believers to understand and confess that God the Son really did take on true humanity, a true body, and a true reasonable soul. He was just like us in every way except sin. He partook of exactly what his brethren, these children, partook of. Flesh and blood, as it says there in verse 14. It was humanity that had rebelled against God and Eden. It's humanity that's under the death sentence of God for its sin. So to be redeemed from that penalty and curse, He had to be what we are. He had to take on that flesh and blood. He had to be like us in every single way except sin. And again, this is why the biblical doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ is so essential. I remember learning when I was in seminary that J. Gresham Mason's largest book was on the virgin birth of Christ. And I thought, that's a pretty easy thing to understand, isn't it? I mean, it's fairly self-explanatory, isn't it? And yet at the time, there were so many people that said, oh, we can all get along. I know wonderful Christian missionaries that are doing wonderful work for the Lord. And they don't even believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. And Mason said, this is essential. If he wasn't born of a virgin, we don't have a sinless redeemer then. And that's why he wrote a large book on it. Jesus starts his life in this world in the exact same condition that Adam did before the fall. And the reason he's able to do that is he doesn't have a human father. The virgin birth of Christ, the virginal conception of Christ is a miracle. Mary's humanity joined to God the Son. It was the seduction of the devil that drew Eve into sin. But Adam, always remember this, Adam just flat out rebelled. Adam wasn't tricked. He just went at it. He just said, I'm gonna eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I don't care. Adam knowingly disobeyed God and brought sin and misery upon all of us, upon the whole human race. And that is the reason that all of us grow old. All of us have ailments. All of us are fragile and we get hurt and we get sick and eventually we're all gonna die. But God didn't create us to die. Death is the unnatural separation of our bodies and souls. Satan, the devil, did everything in his power to encourage and attempt our first parents, Adam and Eve, to sin against God. So look at verse 14 again. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. The destruction of the devil is a major theme of the Bible. In redeeming lost mankind from sin and bringing man forgiveness, God is in effect destroying Satan and destroying his work in this world. The first announcement of the gospel contains a statement that God's going to destroy the devil. He told Satan that the seed of the woman is going to crush your head. in Genesis 3.15. And we see that come up again and again in scripture. 1 John 3.8, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Colossians 2.15, Jesus Christ at the cross disarmed the principalities and powers, the demons. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. John 12, 31, he says, now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out because as the gospel goes forward, the lies, the deception, the murder, the wickedness is expunged with him, is cast out with the devil. Romans 16, 20, one of the last verses there in that great letter to the Romans, Paul throws in there at the end. And by the way, the church at Rome and God, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. And there's a sense in which all of the effects of man's sins are also part of the work of the devil in the world. Paul even said to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11.3, I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The specific power attributed to Satan that's brought up in Hebrews 2.14 here is death. We're told that Satan had the power of death. Now that's not teaching that Satan has or had the ultimate power of death in his hand, as if he's the Lord of life and death. John Owen said this about that, quote, he had the power of death as the executioner of the curse of the law, holding men under fear and bondage by reason of sin, end quote. As long as man remains in his sins, though, listen, as long as we're unconverted, before we come to know Christ, before man is reconciled to God and is in bondage to slavery, to sin, Satan, in a sense, has the power of death over that person. That person is a captive of Satan, having been taken captive by him to do his will. But Jesus, having not just died to satisfy the wrath of God against all of his people's sins, all of them together, but he's also risen from the dead, that power of death. That power of death has now been taken away from Satan entirely. The Christian people ought to be safe. We should not be reckless in the way we live our lives. We should take care of ourselves. We should fight against death as an enemy because it's still an enemy, but its sting and its power are gone from us forever. Remember that great passage where Paul explains the fact that Jesus was dead and came back to life in 1 Corinthians 13? He ends that great chapter on the resurrection by crying out to death. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? In 1 Corinthians 15, 54 and 55. Oh death, where is your sting? He says. You see, the devil who has the power of death, the one who, in a sense, brought death into the world by urging man to rebel, he's been disarmed, he's been destroyed. Jesus took the penalty, died, and is risen from the dead. He who had the power of death, he who had that power, has had it taken from him. And although we still die, we will live again in glorified, confirmed, eternal life, which will never end. free from a body without pain, free from a body without any ailments at all, free from the effects of sin and the curse, that astonishing miracle that closes our Lord's public ministry in John's gospel. You remember that one? The resurrection of Lazarus and John 11 has one of the most wonderful and heartwarming and comforting statements that Jesus made in all the Bible. When he is talking to Martha there, And she's sad, and Jesus is groaning, it says, as he's walking towards the tomb. And she says, yes, I know he'll rise again in the resurrection. And Jesus says to her in John 11, 25, I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, which we will, he shall live, he said. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? And of course Martha then confesses, yes, I believe that you are the Christ. Jesus then calls to his dead friend, decaying and smelling in the tomb. Remember when he told them, move away the stone. Remember the King James said, but he stinketh. And Lazarus walks up to the, or Jesus walks up to the tomb and says, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus's rotting, smelly, dead body comes back to life, fully healed, whole. His soul returned and he walked out of that tomb, healed and whole, yet not glorified yet. When we come back to life and when our brothers and sisters in Christ who have died and come back to life, it will be in glorified, confirmed, perfect, whole, physical and spiritual life. The devil, Jesus said in John 8, 44, when he described him, said that death is his speciality. Jesus came to destroy him and to destroy death. Jesus said Satan was a murderer from the beginning. He wanted Adam to sin. He wanted Eve to sin because he wanted them to die. He wanted to kill them. Jesus came to destroy him and to destroy death. And to do this, Jesus had to have the very same nature of flesh and blood that his children have, that his brethren have, all who would believe in him have. The justice of God's holiness and wrath are satisfied by Christ's death in their place, and his resurrection abolishes death. Jesus came to destroy something. He came to destroy the devil, to destroy him who had the power of death, and to, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 1, 8-12, to abolish death, to bring life and immortality to light through the gospel. So that's the first thing Jesus came to do, his great mission, was to destroy something, to destroy the devil and to destroy death. Okay, second verse 15, to set free. Verse 15, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Stop there. The introduction of fear to human experience was a terrible thing. It was a terrible thing. The first thing Adam and Eve feared after they sinned was God himself. They heard him approaching and they were afraid and they hid. He whose glorious presence had never been anything to them, but a source of joy and happiness. Now they're afraid of God. They're afraid of what he said would happen if they did what they knew they had done. They feared that punishment. They feared his justice. And while execution was certainly an order for both of them. God instead makes a promise. One day I'm going to send a savior. He's going to undo all this. And he tells the devil, he's going to kill you. He's going to destroy you and crush you. And this rebellion is not going to have the last word. I'm going to partake of flesh and blood myself. In effect, God is saying, and I'm going to take the penalty away myself. Can you imagine living with no fear at all? No fear of anything. When I was 14 years old, my dad, I remember this conversation so distinctly. He took me on the back porch. He said, son, have you ever been really afraid of anything? I said, yes. And he said, you'll never know fear until you have your own children. Until you see one drive off in a 2,000 pound machine either. He was right in some ways. But it's hard to imagine living with no fear. Even imagining living with no fear, it's almost impossible for us now. Aren't you afraid of things? Don't you fear things? I do. Now humanity is not only subject to death, we're slaves of a fear of death. Until Jesus takes that from us, the day we're saved. So Jesus, because his beloved brethren and his father's beloved adopted children, because they partook of flesh and blood, Jesus also did, in order to destroy the devil, to satisfy divine justice, to clothe us in his righteousness, and to free the captives of the fear of death. Fear of death. I'm sure you're all aware there's many surveys that have been done over the years. People fear public speaking more than death. Did you know that? Death is like fourth or fifth on the list, but the number one thing people are afraid of is public speaking. Our culture hides death from people. Churches used to have cemeteries in their front yards and their side yards, but that practice has long been abandoned. What an image that would be though, wouldn't it? If we walked past the headstones and the burial plots of people that we used to sit next to in here, whose funerals we went to. You think that would change our perspectives on things a little bit? Occasionally while driving through the rural countryside, you'll drive past the little church sitting there in a field and you'll see the headstones right there in the front yard or the backyard or right across the street. I remember when we toured Reformation Bible College down there in Sanford, Florida. before one of my children went there for a couple years. And getting the tour, we got the tour of St. Andrew's Chapel. I was completely unprepared for the fact that R.C. Sproul is buried right near the front door. And walking up there, there he is. And I thought, wow. Stop for a moment. I read so many books about that guy and he's laying right there. And I remember hearing him talk about death so many times. And I remember my favorite Sproul quote about death. He said, I have no fear of death. It's the dying part that scares me. How's it going to happen? I mean, we wonder, how is it going to happen? That's probably true of most of us here. Death is the silencer of all humanity. It's what no one can cheat or outrun, isn't it? It's the moment everyone faces God. No more pretending, no more excuses, no more postponing, no more procrastination, no recourse, no running, no hiding. Whether you like it or not, the day that you're gonna die, when it gets here, you're not gonna live past that day. We die once and then we face God, whether we're eager to or reluctant to. Those that are hidden in Christ. Those that are hidden in this one who, because his children partook of flesh and blood, because his brothers and sisters partook of flesh and blood, he himself partook of the same to destroy the devil, to destroy their fear of death so that we can welcome it when it comes. Not be reckless with our lives, I'm not saying that, but when it's coming, we know this is the time we're gonna be released from all the effects of sin and at last be with the Lord. Those that are hidden in Christ, we have no need to fear death. It's been destroyed. The devil's been destroyed. Judgment already happened for me, for you if you're hidden in Christ. It happened at the cross. Our legal status was changed there. I'm no longer condemned by my sin. Jesus was condemned in my place, in my stead. Now I'm just a child of God waiting to go be reunited with my dearly beloved brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers in the faith who've gone before me. As Jesus said, when he gets there to heavenly glory on the last day, and all his children are raised from the dead, and they're standing there in glorified bodies, and they're completely righteous because they're clothed in his righteousness, and all their sin, it's already been judged. The hell they deserve is already gone. He's gonna say, behold, he's gonna present himself with his church right here to the Father. Behold, here I am, and here are the children that you have given me. That's why we have nothing to fear. Is that not glorious to know? God saves his people from their sins. Death's gonna get every one of us here in this room. It's the will of God that every true believer not be afraid of death. Don't be afraid of death. Yeah, fear the disease or whatever, the accident, whatever it's gonna be that takes us out of this world. That troubles me, yes, but death itself is destroyed. Jesus rose from it. He's taken away from his brethren and his father's adopted children, every cause to fear death. He took our very same nature, flesh and blood, except sin. When you read the gospels, when you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you see Jesus moving about and healing and withstanding temptation, that was for our salvation, he did all of that. He took flesh and blood, except sin, that through his own death on the cross, he would destroy the devil's power of death and free us from fearing it. You see that in that passage in verse 15 there? Those who were all their lifetime subject to a fear of death, Think your trust is in Christ alone. The justice of God smiles and asks no more. Jesus destroyed death. He destroyed the devil. And now he's gathering his church in order to present them spotless, blameless, forgiven, righteous, adopted to his father, to the glory of his name. There is nothing to fear for the true believer in Jesus. He has by dying in our place, by taking the judicial punishment of God away, he's released us and forever freed us from our fear of death. That's what he came to do. to give aid to Abraham's seed. So let's talk about verse 16 now. Look at this, verse 16. For assuredly, he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendant or to the seed of Abraham. Now, what does he mean by this? Who is the seed of Abraham? That's the whole church. That's all believers in Jesus Christ, Jew or Gentile throughout all of history. The seed of Abraham is all true believers. This is the heart of biblical redemption. This is what we call covenant theology. Covenant theology. There's one people of God. Jew and Gentile together are the children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. Remember Genesis 15, let me read this passage to you. Remember this. This is the beating heart of covenant theology, of what we in our circles call covenant theology. Genesis 15, one. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me? Seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. Then Abram said, look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. And then he brought him outside and said, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And God said to Abram, so shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. That phrase, so shall your descendants be. When he takes Abram outside and says, Abram, look at the stars. Look at the stars and count them if you can. That's how many descendants you're going to have. That's how many children you're going to have. And he's talking about his spiritual children. The apostle Paul in Romans chapter four says that is fulfilled every time someone becomes a Christian. A Jew or a Gentile, we are the true Jews. We are the Israel of God. We are the children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. Galatians 3, 7. Therefore know that only those who are of faith, anyone Jew or Gentile that trusts in the finished work of Christ, are sons of Abraham. He doesn't come to save the angels. The angels that fell, they have no plan of redemption, but he comes to give aid to the seed of Abraham, to all that would ever believe in him. God's elect people through all the ages of time. These are the undeserving sinful people chosen unconditionally by name, individually by God the Father from before the foundation of the world, given as a love gift to his son in eternity past. That's why he says when he gets there on the day of judgment, behold, here I am and the children you gave me. The Father gave these people, the seed of Abraham, to Jesus in eternity past, and then he takes on human flesh. He comes into the world to destroy the devil, to free them from death, to free them from the penalty of sin, and then to present them to his Father. Here I am and the children you gave me. So shall your descendants be, God told Abraham, meaning that's the church through all the ages of time. Jew or Gentile, anyone, no matter what color they are, where they're from, what nation, what language they speak, those are the children of Abraham. because of the great love with which he loves this church. Even while we were dead in our sins, entrenched in our rebellion, loving and living for wickedness, he partook of flesh and blood. He became just like them in order to destroy death, to destroy him who had the power of death, the devil, and to deliver them from the fear of death by saving their eternal souls and giving them the gift of eternal life. Because of this love, look at the first part of verse 17. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. That phrase, things pertaining to God, that refers to the priestly service that God requires. Things pertaining to God are the worship of God in the heavenly places. Please remember this, dear ones. This is why. It's a really bad thing if Christians are really hoping for or looking for another temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. If that ever happens, y'all need to know something that has nothing to do with the Bible, nothing to do with Bible prophecy either. Why would we do a giant U-turn and go backwards to types and shadows when Jesus has entered heaven itself for us already? Look at verse 17. Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. Now listen, this is explained much more fully in Hebrews 9. I just want to read this to you. This is in your thoughts for Sabbath meditation. Please go over these questions. In light of everything political going on today, please go over the thoughts for Sabbath meditation together today and read these passages. Listen to Hebrews 9.23. Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, with all those Old Testament offerings and bulls and goats and everything else, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ, listen carefully, for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, in other words, the temple, the tabernacle, he's not talking about that, which are copies of the true, but he entered into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God for us. He appears in the very presence of God for us, not in the Holy of Holies in a building in Jerusalem somewhere, but that was simply pointing forward to what Jesus would do in the actual presence of God in heaven. Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another. He would then have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, as it is appointed to men to die once, but after this the judgment. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin. for salvation. So think about that, dear ones. Listen, when this passage, verse 17, talks about him being a high priest in things pertaining to God, it's talking about Jesus doing the priestly work in heaven itself, in the very presence of his father, not in an earthly tabernacle or in a temple in Jerusalem, but in heaven itself. That's why that passage in Hebrews 9, 23 through 28, it's gospel gold. He's made just like us in every way. He's a real true human being. He's able to be sick, to bleed, to cry, to thirst, to hunger, to sleep, and indeed able to die because his death was perfect and truly did appease the wrath of God. We're now saved from that wrath and judgment if we believe on Christ alone, because he's entered into heaven itself and has presented that finished work to his father. The father has accepted it. Anyone who believes in him is saved forever. No sin can ever be brought against them again. That's why Romans 5.9, much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 1 Thessalonians 1.10, and to wait for a son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. And dear congregation, that's why we're free from fear of death. Because the judgment of God's already happened for us. If we trust in Christ, God, there's no charge of wrongdoing will ever be brought against me. Judgment against sin is gone forever. Remember the line from that laminated hymn that we sing? Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live. Remember that stanza from the hymn, It Is Well? My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. They're getting that directly from Colossians 2. 13. And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. And once that work is done, Jesus enters not the tabernacle, not the temple, but into heaven itself. The very thing that the temple and the tabernacle pointed to, and he appears in the presence of his father for us. Here I am, and here's the children and my brothers that you've given to me. Their sins are gone. Nailed to the cross, we bear them no more. In the second half of verse 17, you see it there, 17B, the last phrase of verse 17, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. That term, propitiation, the Greek term there, halaskamai, one of the most important words in the New Testament. Halaskamai means a sacrifice which turns aside divine wrath. That's what the word means. It's used four times in the New Testament. The sacrifice which turns away the wrath of God. Why? Because of the cross, Jesus takes the wrath on himself. He takes that justice upon himself. He makes propitiation. He makes a sacrifice by his own death, his own shed blood, to turn away the wrath of God from the sins of the people, it says. God is infinitely loving, merciful, and kind, but we have to know He is also just, and He's also righteous, and He has to punish sin justly and fully. And that's why, dear ones, the incarnation and the cross of Christ were absolutely necessary if we're gonna be reconciled to God and be with Him forever in heaven. I always think Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Well, the next day, He got His answer, didn't He? There's no other possible way. It had to be done. That Greek word is such a rich term, haloskema or halosterion, a sacrifice which appeases the very justice of Almighty God, so that between me and God now, once I believe in Jesus, there is nothing but perfect shalom and peace forever. By one offering He did this. That's why we have a table to remember that offering. We don't offer sacrifices. The only sacrifice I give to God now is a sacrifice of my life. Whatever I've got left, I'm gonna live in gratitude to God for saving me. Because it's a perfect salvation. He's made propitiation for my sins. The wrath is gone. I'm reconciled to Him. I'm a child. I'm Jesus' brother in the same family. He has the same nature as I have. And therefore, all is well between me and God. I don't need to be afraid of death. I don't need to be afraid of judgment. It's already happened. Payment had to be made. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow, as that great hymn says. That satisfaction, that appreciation, that is alone what saves us, dear congregation. We play no role in that at all because we can't play any role in it. Only a perfect sacrifice will appease God's judgment. Only a sinless divine person, Jesus Christ, true God, true humanity join together. can accomplish this for us and on our behalf. So Jesus came to destroy the devil, to destroy death, to set us free from death, to set us free from fear of death, to help the seed of Abraham, to give aid to them, to bring salvation to them, and to make propitiation. for our sins, to make a sacrifice that would turn away God's judgment forever from us. Just like the lamb that was sacrificed in Old Testament Israel, when the angel of the Lord saw the blood, he passed over that house. Paul said that Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us. When he sees that we're trusting in the blood, the death of Jesus, the wrath of God passes over us too, because it already fell on Christ. It already fell on the true lamb of God. And finally, because he's done all this, and because he's just like us in every way, was tempted in every way and suffered in every way, he can aid us, he can help us, because he's one of us, he's a human being like us, except sin. Look at verse 18, this is wonderful. For since he himself was tempted in that which he suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Not only does our Lord save us from the judicial punishment of our sins and gives us eternal life, He suffered too. And He was tempted in the ways that we suffer and are tempted also. Many object to this. I've heard this objection. I've made this objection myself. Well, Jesus really wasn't tempted the way that we are, right? Because He doesn't have a sinful nature. How can he actually sympathize with my inward battles with sin? How can he sympathize with our war against ongoing corruption? He never had corruption. I read this great comment, Richard Phillips wrote this quote. The answer to this is that far from Jesus knowing less than we do about temptation because he never fell into sin, the opposite is the case. Jesus knows far more about temptation than we do because he endured far beyond the point where the strongest of us would give in. B.F. Westcott is surely right when he observes, sympathy with the sinner in his trial does not depend on the experience of sin, but on the experience of the strength of the temptation to sin, which only the sinless can know in its full intensity, end quote. So his temptation was on a different level than ours, because he was sinlessly perfect. Sin is kind of our home. It's where we live because we still have a sinful nature. His experience of temptation was raised to a much higher level because he was perfect. So was he really tempted? Yes. And he never ever gave in to sin. Did he suffer? Did he actually really truly suffer? Oh, yes, he did. He suffered physically, he suffered one of the most brutal forms of execution and torture ever devised by the sick mind of wicked men. But Jesus also suffered betrayal from friends, just as many of us have. He suffered abandonment from people that he trusted, just like we often do. He was described in the old prophecy in Isaiah 53 as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you ever describe yourself that way? I'm a person of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Dear ones, if we're going to be conformed to the image of Christ very often, that's what our lives are going to be like. They're going to have sorrow and grief in them, because that's how we become more like Jesus. In the wilderness after fasting 40 days, was He really tempted to change stones into bread to forego the cross? Yes, He was tempted. But His commitment to righteousness, to His mission, to that which was more important than His hunger, his love for his people, his mission to save them from their sins, to destroy the devil, to destroy their fear of death, to bring these beloved people, so undeserving, all the way into heavenly glory, it drove him never to sin. To withstand all the temptations that we withstand and fail, he withstood them and was righteous. We need not ever doubt that in our hour of greatest weakness, when you feel at your most vulnerable, when you are the most hurting, when you feel the most alone, He is able to sympathize with you and to come to your aid when you suffer, when you are tempted, no matter what it is or how it is. If only we would call upon Him for help when the subtle suggestions of sin first enter our minds, when it's a subtle suggestion instead of a strong imagination, if we call upon Him earlier, then it's easier for us to get out of those things. So I want to say to myself, to all of us, call upon Him when you're first tempted. when the rebellious thought first gets started. Call upon him immediately. Lord, help me, I'm not up to this challenge. Help me put this to death. Help me to put this far away from me. I don't want to sin against you. Help me. You were tempted and withstood it, and I'm hidden in you. Give me the strength in you to overcome. Yet we still fall, don't we? We still sin. But that's why he died, because we do. He was tempted, he suffered. When you suffer, when you're tempted, you have a friend. You have the greatest older brother anyone could ever have. You have a high priest, someone who's entered not a earthly tabernacle or temple, but has entered heaven itself, who is standing by, who's ready to come to your rescue and to help you, to give you peace that passes understanding. So Jesus came to destroy, to destroy the devil and death. to set us free from death's curse and fear of death, to aid the seed of Abraham, to aid his church, all who believe the gospel, Jew or Gentile, all the children of Abraham, to satisfy God's wrath, to make propitiation for us, and to help us. You are never alone. Our culture is a lonely culture today. So many people are alone. I did a search on on YouTube was looking for something and this video popped up and this fellow popped up and he said, the video was titled, I'm 40, I have no friends and I've wasted my life. And follow my video, after video, after video. I'm 25, I have no friends, I have no life, I have no savings. I'm 45 years old, I've not done anything. And it's all these non-believers talking about how lonely they are. They don't have anybody. The world has lied to us, they say. You just think Jesus came to set us free from living like that. You have brothers and sisters in the family of God. You may be disowned by your family, but you have brothers and sisters in the Lord. You have a father in heaven who never leaves or forsakes you, who never fails you, who never lets you down, who will never abuse or hurt you. And so because we have this great savior, this one who is God, this one who also took flesh and blood to bring his children, his brothers into heaven, why would we ever turn back to Old Testament types and shadows? Why would we ever think that the rebuilding of the temple would be a good thing? Jesus entered what the temple symbolized. He's gone into heaven itself. There's no need for a sacrifice anymore. Why would anyone Jew or Gentile that names him as their savior ever turn away from him? So I want to say to you all, hold fast your confidence in Christ to the end and know with a little bit of effort, a little bit of work, you can be close to your brothers and sisters in your church. Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers. We shouldn't be ashamed to call any of us brothers, any of you sisters. We're brothers and sisters adopted into the same family. Hold fast your confidence in Christ to the end. all who believe on him for salvation have never and will never be disappointed. Let's pray. Father, we bless your name and we praise you and thank you for your grace and mercy. We thank you that Jesus, because his brothers, because his children partook of flesh and blood, he did the same, so that he'd be the high priest, so he could destroy the work of the devil by dying in our place, free us from fear of death, Aid the seed of Abraham, make propitiation for our sins, and help us anytime we suffer, anytime we're tempted. Indeed, what a Savior, what a Redeemer, what a brother, what a friend we have in Jesus Christ. May our hearts rest in His finished work and rejoice in Him on the Sabbath day we ask in His name, amen.