Made to Glorify Christ

Take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 2. We will be reading verses 5 through 12 together. I want you to think with me on this subject: "Made to glorify Christ." You have been made to glorify Christ. You have been made by God and for God. Today I want to lead off with this question, which perhaps you have had said to you before, or maybe you have asked somebody this question in a demeaning way. But I ask you in a sincere way: "Who are you? Who do you think you are?" Have you had that said to you before? Well, the text will draw that out today. Who do we think we are?

I think a lot of our problems internally come from too high of an estimation of who we are and what we deserve. Do you think too much of yourself? Do you think that you deserve more than what you have? Sometimes we inwardly get discombobulated because of the wrong estimation of who we are. If we would just simply know that we do not get what we deserve, we will be better off. We know what we truly deserve as wretched men and women deserving of separation from God for eternity. Yet by His grace, God has reached down to mere men to save, to sanctify, and to glorify. This brings God glory, so you have been made to glorify God. Let us see this in the text today and read together in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 5 through 12. I will be reading from the New American Standard Translation.

Hebrews 2:5 says, "For He did not subject to angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere saying, 'What is man? That You remember him, or the Son of man that You are concerned about him. You have made him for a little while lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor, and have appointed him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet, for in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him, but we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom all are all things, and through Him are all things, and bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father. For which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 'I will proclaim Your name to My brethren in the midst of the congregation, and I will sing Your praise.'"

Let me pause with you for a moment of prayer. Lord, this is a rich passage. Help us to extract some of the truths today that would be meaningful for us, and even some history that would help us to appreciate what is accomplished in the text today. Lord, we love You. It is in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Now, as I begin to open up the passage to you, I would like for you to turn and hold your place here in Hebrews. Turn to Matthew 26, and we will read verses 38 and 39 here in a moment together, because Christ drank the cup of suffering for men. I ask you the question: "Who are you? What is man?" the text says. But He drank the cup of suffering for men, and He tasted the bitterness of dying for men. Have you ever thought that you were dying? There are some of us who have been afflicted by, perhaps like myself, a parasite on a mission trip in Peru, when I actually thought I was going to die. I believed that in my mind. And so I ask you the question: Have you ever truly thought that you were going to be dead soon, that you were actually dying?

Perhaps you have had someone hold you up and mug you and rob you and had a gun pointed to your head. I have had that done before. I did not think at that point I was going to die. But have you actually thought that you were going to die? Christ has endured the process of dying in every way, according to the text, for men. He experienced the separation from the Father for men. He also took on the curse of sin for men to bring many, by grace through faith, to salvation and onto sanctification and eventually glorification. And so to God be the glory, to Christ be the glory, and to the glory of the Holy Spirit, our triune Father. And so we see that Christ tasted death in our text in Hebrews 2:9.

This is further spoken to where you are now in Matthew chapter 26, verses 38 and following. "Then He said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with Me.' And He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and praying, saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not My will, but as You will.'"

So back to Hebrews. Hebrews 2:9 talks about how Christ tasted death. This is rich imagery here. Tasting death was a Jewish idiom commonly expressed to help everyone understand this idea: one who was tasting death was experiencing all of the process of dying. If you think about the process of dying, some of you have perhaps been by the bedside of someone who was passing. You know the process is sometimes elongated. You know the process that Christ went through and heading to the cross—all of those torturous trials, beatings, batterings, bruisings, and eventually crucified and died. You know the process that He went through and endured on the behalf of those who would repent and be saved.

And so this idiom is helping the Hebrew audience to understand: Christ tasted death. It was bitterness inside His mouth all the way down to His soul, His heaviness and agony, like when He was praying in the garden, "Lord, take this cup. You drink out of a cup." He drank the cup of suffering. Tasted death—rich imagery—is painting a picture for you to be able to see and feel and hear all that Christ has gone through for you. And yet in Hebrews chapter 12, He says, "For the joy set before Him He endured the cross." We will get to that and how you can apply that to your life. But for now, taste the bitterness that Christ endured by understanding the imagery here. These are things that Christ endured. He endured the dying process, the sting of death, the brutal sufferings, and even the punishment for our sin.

And so in the text, the Bible says, "What is man? What is man? Who are you that Christ would die for you? What is your worth that He would go to such an extent? What is man that You would remember him?" Hebrews 2:6 says. And I say to you today that we have been made and saved to glorify our Maker. Point number one is that Scripture is God's Word.

This is an interesting verse here in verse 6 of Hebrews 2:6. It seems that it is a statement from a preacher preaching a sermon because he is not slowing down to go back in the scroll and find out where the reference is. He says this: "Listen, but one is testified somewhere saying." It is like an off-the-cuff statement. And now the writer is recording exactly what the preacher has said. You have to ask yourself: "Why? Why has that even been included?" And so there is a great answer here. Let us kind of work our way up to this.

Somewhere this has been quoted in the Bible. And obviously we have done our research. If you have a reference Bible or a Strong's Concordance or a study Bible, or you know the Scriptures well enough to see where this next quote is in the Bible, then you would know that it is quoted from Psalm 8, verses 4 through 6. We will go there in just a minute. Before we get there, I want to address this ambiguous verse.

What is verse 6? "But one is testified somewhere saying." Okay. Well, there were no chapters and verses throughout all of Scripture yet. And so the scribes had started putting paragraphs inside of Scriptures early on. But now let us just kind of use a ramp through history and review some things that have happened. There was an archbishop and his name was Stephen Langton. He installed chapters in the Bible in the early 1200s. And so fast forward through biblical time of Jesus and when Hebrews was actually penned and go all the way to the 1200s—12 centuries later—chapters would be installed in the Bible. And then the Wycliffe Bible was the first Bible to use these chapters in 1382. So it took another 100 plus years to even implement that in a Bible. And then, as well, the Jewish rabbi named Robert Estienne, who is known as Stephanus, he created verses in the Bible in 1551. That is interesting. And so now you have chapters, and a couple hundred years goes by. Now I have verses. And the Geneva Bible standardized chapters and verses in 1560. And so now you have nearly 15 centuries that have gone by before you even have chapters and verses. And you can get beyond the clay tablets and the scrolls with no paragraphs, no verses. And so the original manuscripts were long and continuous—no paragraphs, no spaces, no punctuation.

So besides all of that interesting history, perhaps that has helped you to value what you have. The Hebrew author quotes the psalmist anonymously. He does not say who wrote this next quote from which he quotes. And this leaves the listeners then to value the quote that is being quoted as divine inspiration. And this is strategic on behalf of the preacher's point here. And so the listeners would have been very familiar with the Psalms and the Scriptures due to their culture and practice of memorizing Scripture. And as soon as he quoted the Scriptures, their minds would have been triggered. And many memories would have come back when they memorized these Scriptures. Thus, it was very common for the Hebrews then to ignore the human author, would not even give the human author credit because they wanted God to get all the credit. They wanted the Scripture to have the authority of God upon it when they were quoting Scripture. And so the focus was kept on God in His glory, which is just tremendous.

And so now you look at this verse in verse 6—this ambiguous verse. What is this verse here for? "But one has testified somewhere saying," and you see a whole lot more heart behind the practice. They wanted the focus to be on God, and it was. And so thus it was very common for Hebrews to ignore the human author to stress divine authorship. Oh, this is great. Now, how do you stress divine authorship when you are quoting Scripture? How do you stress this in your life when you say, "This is what the Bible says?" Do you say, "Thus saith the Lord?" Do you say, "It is not my opinion, it is what God says?" You know, Jesus stressed divine authorship as well. In Matthew chapter 4, verse 4, it says, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." And so you see the Bible saying these types of things: "Thus saith the Lord" and "Has not God said?"

That is interesting. I like verse 6. Point number two then, I would like to draw out a comparison. And this is an interesting comparison drawn from a body of verses here. And you will have to follow along with me to kind of get this. But up front, I will give it to you and then we will explain it. And so point number two is the depravity of man compared to the heavenly glory. Depravity was expressed in an old French word. And it meant at that time extreme degradation. And it was also carrying the meaning of emphasis—infamous, atrocious wickedness. And so to be a villain or to commit villainy, and this old French word was to be depraved. And so if you want, at point number two, to substitute depravity with depravity, you can. The depravity of man is compared to the heavenly glory—perfectly synonymous. And so yes, we have been born depraved. We have been born villains, criminals, and such.

Now, this is what the word meant in the 1200s, but it morphed a little bit into the 1300s and depravity meant just simply rudeness—like it is rude or just courteous or even a bit of deceit. And so that is what it kind of crept into being. Now, I am obviously referring to the definition of the 1200s in that we are criminals against Christ. We are completely depraved as men. We have been subject to sin and we have voluntarily double-crossed a holy God. And so in our fallen state, we have been born in sin. That means that all of our mind was tainted with sin. All of our heart was tainted with sin. All of our motives were tainted with sin. We did not have good motives within us, so to speak. There is one that is good and that is God alone. And if you ascribe even a small ounce of goodness as to as if you could be good enough to do something good, to earn your own salvation, to choose God, to believe in that way, then it in fact reduces a bit of God's glory and His process. So it is important to realize that we have been born sinners. It is complete and total. And so knowing that, we need to be completely saved. That is the reason why Jesus completely died. He did not partially die. He completely died. And so we are in that depravity state.

Now the problem with secular psychology is its starting point with man is not that we are wretched, wicked villains, but that they would say we have a good heart. Now if you can detect Bible preaching on the subject or the doctrine of man, then you know the difference between psychological, motivational, and emotional pep talks, who would say, "You are okay. You are good. I am just going to convince you on how to be better, teach you how to be better, to enjoy life better, to wrap everything around your life so that you can enjoy life better because everything really revolves around you anyway." Man is the end all. Man is good. We just need to elevate the status of man. That is worldly. Secular psychology is crept into much of preaching, which nullifies it, makes it not preaching at all.

And so now that the question has been asked in the text—"What is man?" in verse 6, "That You would remember him. What is man?"—well, we have discussed that. I want to give you a point of hermeneutics as well in verse 6, and that the Hebrew author does not mention the context here. But we gain the context for what is man from the author's use of the Old Testament. And you could simply call this authorial intent. And so I am saying to you today that you will not get the full context of Hebrews chapter 2 unless you understand where the author is coming from, because the context is not given for what is man. You have to go back to the quote here in Psalm 8. So let us do that. Psalm 8 gives us the context of what is man. And now you are going to see from the author of Hebrews the context for what is man. And this comparison to His works and His glory really puts us in our place.

And so in Psalm chapter 8, in verses 4 through 6, the Bible says, "What is man? That You would take thought of him. And the Son of man that You care for him. Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty, and You make him to rule over the works of Your hands, and You have put all things under his feet." Now we see from this text here, from the context of Psalm 8, the emphasis that is being made by the Hebrew author, because the context of Psalm 8 is bringing into account the heavens and the work of God—the works of His fingers. Psalm 8 is a hymn to God, magnifying God, glorifying God, esteeming God, acknowledging God and His creative works—the heavens, the moon, and the stars, all of this context, all of Psalm 8 put together. Then as compared to man, mere man, all of God's glory—the sun, the moon, the stars—the glory that you see when you see a sunrise and a sunset, and the fact that everything works together is gorgeous, it is beautiful, it is all inspiring. God's glory on display as compared to your filth in your original state—before Christ.

In Genesis 1:27 it says that man is created. He is a created being, and thus just like a painting reflects the painter, so does man reflect the Creator. So to the extent for which God has made us and we reflect Him determines our worth, our value, and our usability. And so in Psalm 19, verse 1, the Bible says, "The heavens are declaring the glory of God. That being true, then we ask the question, well, what are all these things? Well, the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars—since it is being compared to man—let us look at them. They are just simply elements of hydrogen, helium, carbon, magnesium. And yet when God puts these elements together and He makes a star and He makes a sun and He makes planets, puts it all together and puts it in motion, it is incredible. It is all inspiring.

When He puts these in motion, it is magnificent. And so these elements in themselves do not have intrinsic value. But when God with His fingers makes something of them, arranges them and puts them into motion, now you have the painter's fingertips all over it and it is glory. And so God created this awe-inspiring order. Psalm 83 says the heavens are the work of Your fingers. Hebrews 1:3 says He upholds all things by the word of His power. Psalm 104:24 says, "How manifold are Your works? You have made them all." John 1:3 says all things were made through Him. Colossians 1:16 says, "For in Him all things were created." And so all of these things are absolutely amazing—the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the sand, the air, the trees, the water, the animals. And with God putting them into motion and controlling them, it further illuminates His glory.

Point number three is this: that man's value is in Christ. Man's value truly is in Christ. And what are all these created things? We just started to discuss them from their basic elements. Well, they are exactly what God created them to be. And they are doing exactly what God created them to do. Its value is not in the rareness of the metals or the elements. You cannot take a star apart or a planet apart and sell those parts and they be what they are in regards to how valuable they are. The value is not in buying and selling them. Their value is in their reflection of the Maker. When you are all inspired by them, it is pointing you to the Maker, the Creator. That is where the value truly is. And their value is in reflecting the intellect and the ability and the glory of their Maker. And so to the extent for which these things are used and sustained and controlled and reflect God determines their value. So their value is not truly in themselves. Their value is in the ability for them to reflect God's glory.

And so is man. So is man. Our value is not in dicing you up and selling you for the parts that you have. That is not where your value is. Psalm 91:1 says, "What is man?" Well, man is only what God has created him to be and to do. And so man's value is in reflecting the Maker as well. The composition of human beings are made ironically of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, a few other things. Our skin, our hair, our bones, and our blood. They do not make us valuable and glorious in and of themselves. But when God's hand takes these elements and puts them together and sustains them and makes them to work and to be and to do, then we are extremely valuable.

And then beyond all of that is being image bearers. We go on to be saved by Him to further glorify Him, and to be sanctified, conformed to Him, further glorifying Him, ultimately to our glorified body to experience glorification for which many of us are waiting. We do not have to deal with the dying ourselves all the time. We are in process and we realize along the way that our skin is only skin deep. That our hair, that our face, our teeth, our bones, our blood—it is a temporal body. Salt, sorry, Hollywood. It is our glamour magazine. It is our world that brings all kinds of value to how we appear to look. This is so temporal and so shallow. People's value is not in these surface, temporal things. Their value is in reflecting Christ and serving Christ, being transformed by Christ, being owned and operated and sustained and reflecting Christ.

There was a son of a billionaire who could not do anything without his father. By himself, he seemed or felt or was described as a worthless being, but because of who his father was, he was priceless. So are we—completely dependent upon the Father. By ourselves, we are not very capable of doing a whole lot of things except perhaps messing everything up. But infused with Christ, bought by Christ in His precious blood, we are now invaluable. So are we.

Point number four is that men are made to glorify Christ. Back to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 6, the Bible says, "What is man that You would remember him? A mere man? Well, You have made man to be and do what You have created man to be and do. We are what You have created us to be. And so man's dignity is truly wrapped up in God's glory. When you reflect God in His glory, your dignity and your worth and your everything is wrapped up in who God is. That is why it is so sinful to be an individual, to have an individualistic mindset, to be an island to yourself and think of yourself, your ways. "I am going to do it my way. I am the king of my castle. I am the captain of my soul. I am going to do things my way. I have earned this. I deserve this." What a fleshly mindset that is in opposition to submitting to a holy God who purchased and bought you. How sinful it is to think inwardly, "What? Like as if your worth is of anything. What is of worth? It is Christ in us, the hope of glory." That is where the worth is. Colossians 1:27-29. "Christ in us, the hope of glory." So whenever we refer to ourselves and our pride, we err.

"What is man that You are mindful of him? God." In the context of Psalm 8, we see that David is contemplating the infinitely wise and wonderful Creator God—God of all creation, God of all greatness, God of all power, God of all glory. And yet He condescends to care about mere man. "What is man that You are mindful of him?" Ask yourself the question: "Why, God, do You think about me? Why, God, do You want me? What is it of me that You want? Why do You want to set me apart to hurt Your heart? I am going to let You down. Why do You care about mere man? He is only going to disappoint You, God. God, why do You want company with those who are guilty? Why do You want to spend time and have company with villains? Villains, criminals, wretched thieves, blasphemous, adulterous, idol-worshippers, constant sheep who stray every single day? What do You want to do with us? Perfect and pure being of whom You are, want to spend time with dirty sheep. We are just like pigs. We wallow in our own filthy mud all the time. We go back to our sin just like a pig goes back to the mire. We go back to our grotesque sins just like a dog that throws up eats its vomit."

2 Peter 2:22. We are that filth. We are not worthy or worth much of anything apart from Christ. This is the comparison that we see in the text. And so now we know it is not about us. It is about the holy triune God, according to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, where it says, "Let Us make man. Let Us make man." God has made us. And so we and our value is in whom made us, not the particular particles of which make us up or our opinion or what we want to do or what we can create and what we can esteem and what we can say and what we can think and how much we can remember, how much we can quote, how many research papers we can write, what we can accomplish, how much we can build, how many employees we can have, how much money we can acquire, what we can do in this world with just temporal, silly stuff. He who dies with the most toys still dies.

And so now when we see God in His glory, in the right estimation of who man is, oh glory be to Christ when you see how far He descended, descended down and condescended down to spend time and to take on our filth and to bring us in His pureness brought in our filthiness. So Christ is what this passage truly is about. If you read it too fast, this quote from Psalm 8, if you read it too fast, you will read it in a man-centered way. But it is truly ascribed to Christ. "What is man?" Not what this passage is about. The passage is about Christ. And so it is not lifting up man.

Some have interpreted this passage erroneously and thought that this passage is elevating man to a position just a little bit lower than angels. Humor me for just a moment and let us read into this text. We will let Elder Howe said in his wonderful message and teaching back on interpretation—let us add 9 on hermeneutics back on our systematic theology. He said, "Mr. Isa Jesus or Mr. Mr. Not the exit Jesus, but I said Jesus. So I am going to read into the text, read into the text and erroneous thought with me real fast. What is man? Let us think about it being man. What is man that You remember him? Okay. And keep this idea of it being man and not transferred to Christ. For the Son of man that You are concerned about Him, and You have made Him for a little while lower than angels. Some have said man has been made for a little while just lower than angels, like as if they were elevating man out of the cesspool of sin that they are born into up to the good, wonderful, powerful, able point of just below angels. Do you think that of yourself? You would err if you did. So a quick man-centered reading would err in the atrocities that get worse as you go through the text. This is most certainly a Christ-centered text.

And so Christ in verse 7 is crowned with glory. Christ is over all the works of God's hands. Christ is over all things and all things have been subjected to Him in verse 8. And so who would send a very clean King to a filthy, man-centered garbage heap to save? Certainly it is not about the garbage heap. It certainly is not about the man. It is all about God. It is about the Sender who would send an innocent King, a pure Son to be found guilty of atrocities, things that He did not commit, and then be murdered for man, mere man. Who would send their Son to suffer for those who are guilty?

By way of application, if you would turn to 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 1. Christ has demonstrated the willingness to be humiliated. Christ has demonstrated the willingness to take up a cross. It was not His cross. It was the cross that we deserve to die on. Christ demonstrated the willing to condescend from heaven to earth. Christ demonstrated the willingness to suffer. Christ demonstrated as an example for His children on how to live a paradoxical lifestyle. He said to His followers: "You find your life, you will lose it. But if you lose your life, you will find it." Seriously, if you find your life in the flesh as a man—like "I have arrived, I have got my castle, I have got my money, I have got my control, I have got everything dialed in the way I want it. My life revolves around me."—if you find your life, you are going to lose it because at the end of the day, it is not going to pass the test of fire and judgment. It is temporal. But if you lose your life and you count it all as rubbish for gaining Christ, then you find it.

Jesus spoke in these parabolic ways to make us think. And if we think about these things, perhaps we can apply them to the volition of our being and live them out and have a right estimation of things in this world, a right estimation of man, a right estimation of things, and a right estimation of embracing suffering. Look with me in 1 Peter 4, verse 1: "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose." Oh, what a challenge. "Take on the purpose of suffering as a tool. Take on the purpose of suffering as a means to spread God's glory. Take on the means of soul agony experience and ministry. Take on the means of dying to yourself as God's purpose in you to sanctify you to glorify Him, to polish you up, to help you better reflect Him. Take on this as a means, as an avenue, as a way to fulfill God's will in your life."

And so take home truth number one: if you are taking notes, embrace suffering as a means to serve. Christ was a servant and He subjected Himself to the cross and He died for us, mere men. Who are we? And now when you go to embrace suffering, accusations from lost people, when you go forth like Christ to embrace sufferings, being reviled from lost people, when you go forth to take on sufferings like Christ did on the cross to die to yourself daily, then you will be like Christ and you will embrace this self-denial.

And so embrace the suffering, and the way that you do that is by realigning your stinking thinking. We really have the wrong view of suffering. We think suffering is bad every single time. "Oh, what did I do wrong?" Everybody start murmuring and complaining. But when you get away from a man-centered approach to these divine means, then you truly see that these are intended for your good and God's glory.

And so stop the complaining and stop the inward murmuring. That is what the Bible says. Look with me in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 9: "without complaint." All of this is designed to get the sin out of you. All the sensuality, all of the coarse joking, all the lust, all the drunkenness, all the carousing, all the drinking, all the partying. That is verse 3. Verse 1 summarizes it with the lust of men in the flesh. It is designed to get the sin out of you. And then you recognize in verse 5 that, yes, evildoers will give an account to God. God is the judge, so we do not have to worry about them. And then in verse 7, what a wonderful, wonderful mindset. "The end of all things is near. Christ is coming again." Man, rejoice and be happy. Do not worry about all of these different things. Embrace the hardships in life. My wife says it like this: "You can do hard things."

And so do it without complaint. Embrace this biblical worldview of suffering. Christ gave us an example. Now we take up our cross daily as a method to spread Christ. Has Christ given you a way to deny yourself to spread the gospel? No. If you see it clearly, then you have spiritual eyes that are open. If you do not see that, wake up. This is how we are as Christians. It is by the way of the cross that people were saved. And if you are going to spread the gospel and make disciples, it is by the way of your cross that you are going to take up your cross and follow Christ. Deny yourself. Deny, deny, deny, deny. Say yes to Jesus.

He gave us this example. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 31, it says, "I die daily." Most describe the Apostle Paul as perhaps one of the best saints whom was more sanctified and able than most—highest intellect, the most service, willingness to spite persecution and sufferings. Yet at the same time, the super saint, if that is what you would describe Him to, says to himself, "I die daily." What a model. What an example. 1 Corinthians 11, he says, "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ." Paul imitated the crucifixion in his own life when he dies daily.

Point number two—I want to take home truth. I just simply say: "Be saved." You are not saved to be saved. Here in verse 9, the Bible says, "But we do see Him who was made a little lower in Jesus while lower than angels, namely Jesus. You see this? Jesus. It is about Jesus. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. So that—you guys know this is two of my favorite words in the Bible—so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone."

There is that Hebrew idiom for embracing the bitterness and suffering. He drank this bitter taste, fully experienced death. "For it was fitting for Him, verse 10, for whom are all things, through whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." Through sufferings. So many would ascribe in verse 9 that Christ died for everyone. If that was the case, then everyone would be saved. Not everyone, without exception, in this verse is the right context, but those who repent and believe. In context, verse 10 clarifies that Christ bought many sons for salvation. And so verse 9, the last phrase, that He might taste death for everyone. We have to put our theological thinking caps on here and realize that verse 10 clarifies, further explains who He tasted death for. "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, and bringing many sons—not all sons, not everybody—many sons to glory."

So Christ fully tasted death then, and it would be further clarified if you continue to read down to verse 13. "And again, 'I will put My trust in Him, and again, behold, I am the children whom God has given Him. The children whom God has given Him.'" What clarity. Jesus said it like this in His high priestly prayer in John 17, verse 6: "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word."

True Christians keep God's word. That is the reason why John 8:31 is our favorite verse around here. "Continue in the Word, and so prove that you are disciples of Mine," Jesus said. Now the Hebrew author is quoting here from Isaiah chapter 8, verse 18, in the context is God's power to bring His children out of bondage, out of Egypt, and to save them. So the context is driving this salvific passage home is quoted from Isaiah 8:18. And so now in Isaiah 8:18, we see that there are two children that are signs, and they are symbolic children for the believing remnant.

If you would like to purchase a New Testament, connecting Scripture is a great one to purchase. And you see my way of allusions and references, this rich imagery brought to the surface so that we can comprehend the authorial intent in the passage. It really takes some background research and some study to comprehend, truly grasp what the author is driving home. And so be saved. Are you a believer and a keeper of God's word? Have you repented and believed in the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ?

I talked to so many people who say, yes, I believe. I really believe. I believe, believe, believe. "Believe God exists. I believe that Jesus died on the cross. I believe." But they are not keepers of the Word. And so I ask you the question: Are these Christians according to God's word? The ones who are saved are keepers of the Word. They continue in the Word. And so I would say to them, James 2:19 says, "Even the demons believe." And so you can believe that God exists. You can believe that Christ walked incarnate. You can believe in the historicity of Jesus Christ. You can believe in the virgin birth. You can believe even in the cross. You can believe all these things, but have you been saved? Because if there has been a salvation, there has been a change. There has been a U-turn. There has been a repentance. There has been an embracement of God's word as your law. He is your Lord. He is your Master. Jesus, according to Acts chapter 2, verse 36, is both Lord and Savior. And so you cannot cut Christ in half and say, "I am saved. I got Him as Savior, but not as Lord." He is both.

And so the life demonstrates this authenticity. Have you been saved? The verification is your heart's desire to follow God's word and your conformity to it. The evidence of your life, the fruit of your life, verifies that God has truly saved you. You do not just believe. No, you truly have been converted from the inside. Got a new heart, a new motive, a new desire in life to deny yourself. What man, mere man in the flesh, unsaved man wants to deny himself? No, he wants to enjoy the flesh. He wants to stir up the flesh. He wants to party, get drunk, all these types of things. Would he continue to be self-centered? Only true Christians who have been converted have the desires to deny themselves and take up the cross and follow Christ. Only true Christians really hear what I am saying and understand. Only true Christians have the desire to continue in God's word to submit to this law book, this Word of God, the authority of Scripture. Unsaved people want to be their own God.

So have you transitioned from being your own God to having a God and having one who not only loves you but leads you? Do you love submitting to Him? Do you love finding out what His word says and you want to submit to it? Now granted, sometimes sanctification takes a while. It takes a little while to see the fruit in people's life. I understand that. I am not calling for immediate conformity, but I am calling for us to understand that by and large we have seen easy believeism create false converts in our day by the masses. We would think or say that they do not really, truly have Christ.

And so by way of application through a take-home truth, we say to you today: come to Jesus and be saved. Embrace the sorrowfulness of the sin that you have committed against Jesus. Let that sorrowfulness and heaviness of your soul bring you to repentance. And then that repentance is unto salvation. This is 2 Corinthians 7:10. Godly sorrow leads unto repentance, unto salvation. This inseparable chain of concepts happens, whether you are little, whether you are a young adult, whether you are an elderly person.

When God saves you, you comprehend your offense towards a holy God. And you feel bad that He, in His glory and His purity, had to come down and endure your punishment for filthy sin entirely. He tasted it all, the whole dying process from beginning to end, on your behalf, a substitutionary death. And so when you comprehend that, there is nothing other than a sorrowfulness that overcomes the soul, that produces repentance. "God, forgive me, save me, a wretch like me." And then you can be saved, gloriously saved.

Let us pray together. Lord, thank you for this passage. And truly, it is all about You. And we give You due glory, honor, and praise. And if there be one here that has never been saved, I pray to Jesus that they bow in their conscience, that they would literally lower their face. I pray that they would bow the posture of their heart, that they inwardly would submit to You and repent of their sin and be saved. Dear Jesus, thank you for the salvations that you have already done. We get to celebrate three baptisms next week. So excited about that. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would continue to save, sanctify souls here at Bethel Baptist Church through the lives and the proclamation of the Word of God, through not only the preaching, but the Bible teaching. And the members here continuously spread the gospel and make disciples as a regular part of their life. And I pray, dear Jesus, that saved souls would come and be biblically baptized and join this church and learn how to study the Bible for themselves, and then go forth and make disciples. You have a great commission. God, we love You and we thank You. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.