[0:00] Let's turn again just for a wee while to Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 11.
[0:13] For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation.
[0:30] I will sing your praise. Hebrews chapter 1 deals with the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ over all others.
[0:45] And it's important for us that we ourselves will have Christ as supreme within our lives. He demands our allegiance, our affections, our love.
[1:00] He demands our heart, our life, our all. And I think it's at a time like this, and that's one of the great things when we come to church, that it gives us an opportunity of drawing aside for a wee while and having a focus upon God and the things of God.
[1:18] And it very often helps us to sort of discover where we are and who we are. Do we love the Lord or do we not?
[1:30] And it's often in the quiet times as we gather under his word and where the Lord is speaking to us and as we probe into our own hearts, into our own lives, that we have to always face up and challenge ourselves with regard to the word of God.
[1:47] And that question about the supremacy of Christ is a very important question. What place does the Lord Jesus Christ have in my life?
[1:58] Is he somebody that I'm interested in? Is he somebody that is simply a historical character who did a lot of good? Is he somebody that I would aspire to imitate in my life?
[2:11] Or does it go way beyond that and you see Jesus for who he is? And you see Jesus for what he did in making peace with God through his own death?
[2:23] And have we come to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our own Savior? So these are all very, very important questions that we have to ask ourselves. Now, as we know here, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead, is way superior to the angels.
[2:46] But for a time, he was made a little lower than the angels. And of course, these are great mysteries. And one of the things we've always got to remember about Christ, the second person of the Godhead, that he is, of course, superior to the angels because he is eternal.
[3:05] The angels are not eternal. The angels live in eternity, but they're not eternal. They had a beginning. So anything that has a beginning is not eternal.
[3:17] God alone is eternal without beginning and without end. The angels aren't, although their existence just now is, we turn, within the realms of eternity.
[3:32] So our text shows us here that the Lord Jesus Christ became one with us, or this section, not just our text, and that he took our nature and that he became one with us and that we have the one source.
[3:51] And it's really quite an extraordinary thing because if we had read through in chapter one, it would have given us a greater insight into just something of the majesty and the glory and the wonder of the second person of the Godhead.
[4:04] And then we come in chapter two to read that he and us, we are all of the one origin, and that he became one with us.
[4:16] He took our nature. He experienced, apart from sin, everything that you and I experience. And it really is, it's quite an extraordinary thing. But before we come to actually see what the Lord Jesus, his attitude to us, what he thinks of us, how he describes us, we want to see something of what he actually has done and is doing within us.
[4:45] And we see here that he is the sanctifier and we are the sanctified. Now, I think we've often said it before, and we know it to be true, that we often think of sanctification as something that just goes on and on within a person.
[5:01] And that is true. But there are two parts of being sanctified. And the first part is, as we know, to sanctify someone or something is to set that person or that thing apart.
[5:14] That is really what sanctify means, is to set apart. And that is what God has done in Jesus Christ with us.
[5:25] He has set us apart. The moment you become a Christian, you're set apart. Now, I know that that moment that you, and I'm sure many people will never be able to tell the moment that they say, well, I can tell you 100% the very moment, the very hour, the very minute when I became a believer, when I became a Christian.
[5:46] Most people can't say that. Very often it's a gradual process. However, that is the outworking in their own experience. But the fact is, there comes a particular point where God sets someone apart.
[6:03] The moment that you're born again, you are set apart. And at that moment, you are no longer your own. You belong to God.
[6:13] You belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that over and over again. You have been bought with a price. You are no longer your own. You have been bought with a price.
[6:26] So it's quite an extraordinary thing. So that's what happens at one level when we're sanctified. We're set apart. We term it. Theologians will call it definitive sanctification.
[6:38] But then there's the ongoing work of sanctification, where God is working in us. And his whole aim is to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
[6:52] This is the work of sanctification, becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now today, you may say to yourself, well, you know, I've been a Christian for many, many years.
[7:04] 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And you know, the one thing is that I feel an awful lot less like the Lord Jesus Christ than when I started.
[7:16] When I started out following the Lord, and that, just everything was so new and wonderful. And I thought to myself, this is, I am going to be such a wonderful Christian.
[7:29] And today, you may feel that you're, you're so, so far away from what you once thought that you, you would be. But you know, what we feel and what we are are two totally different things.
[7:45] I was going to remember that. What we feel and what we are are two totally different things. Because if we go simply according to our feelings, and we base our Christian life purely upon our feelings, we're going to struggle a lot of the time because our feelings go up and down.
[8:07] Our feelings are always going up and down. Some days we feel good. Other days we feel lousy. Some days we feel that we're close to the Lord. Other days we feel far away. But we've always got to base our Christianity upon where we are.
[8:23] And we base that according to what the Word says. And the Word of God tells us. This is what the Word of God tells us. That we are being conformed to the image of Christ.
[8:36] It's an ongoing work. But we are being conformed, being molded, we're being shaped. Now that doesn't mean that every single day we're progressing. It doesn't mean that we've never taken a little journey to the far country.
[8:51] The Lord will sometimes allow us to take these little trips. But always at a cost. It always hurts. We can never go to the far country without it hurting. But there are times that the Lord will allow that for His own purposes.
[9:04] For His own glory. For His own good. But all the time He is teaching us. He is molding us. He is shaping us. And He is sanctifying us. So that we are becoming more and more like Him.
[9:18] Our desires are for Him. And you know that's one of the things you can say to the Lord right now. Lord, You know. You know. You know all the mess of my heart.
[9:29] You know all the things even this week that I did that are wrong. That were wrong. But You know this Lord. You know it to be true. That I desire You.
[9:40] And I want to be more and more like You. Every day. Now, only a Christian has that desire within their heart. Other people don't.
[9:51] And that is speaking of a work of grace. Because if it is your desire. Your deep desire. That every day you'll become more and more like Jesus. Even if you feel that you're not.
[10:02] And even though you feel that you're. Some of your conduct. And some of your speech. And your thoughts are so unchristian. Yet this desire. Is showing.
[10:14] Who you belong to. And what is actually going on. Within your own heart. And. That of course is the great work that goes on. Is that the Lord is making us holy.
[10:26] And we're told in scripture. That without holiness. No man shall see the Lord. Be ye holy. For I am holy. And again it's one of the prayers. Surely that we make.
[10:37] Lord help me. To become a holier man. A holier woman. To become. To be holy is simply. To become more and more. Like the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll ask you.
[10:48] This is. Question right just now. What is your desire. Within your. Your own heart. Is it to be. Like Jesus. Do you want to be like Jesus.
[10:59] Or can you honestly say. Hand and heart. I'm afraid that's not. My desire today. I'm interested in the Christian faith. And all that. But. I'm holding Jesus.
[11:10] Kind of out there. I don't. Really. Want him. To rule my life. I don't want him. Lord of my life. Not yet. Later on maybe.
[11:21] But not right now. Or do you say. Lord. I. I really don't know. Where I am. But the one thing. I know is. I want you. And I would love to be.
[11:33] Like you. Well I would say. That if that's the way. You're thinking. That is. Because grace. Is in your heart. Grace. Is working. Within your life.
[11:45] And so. We find what the Lord. Is doing within us. But then we also now find. What the Lord. Says about us. And I find this quite. It's quite wonderful.
[11:56] That is. Why. He is not ashamed. To call them. Brothers. Brothers. That's. What Jesus. Calls us. Brothers. And sisters. Some people.
[12:08] Reckon that it's only after the resurrection. That Jesus. Uses the expression. Brothers. But. We find. And say. For instance. In Matthew 25. When Jesus is talking about. That great day.
[12:20] And the. About all. The people. Will be saying. When did we do this. And when did we do that. In your name. And he'll say. Well. When you. Even gave a cup of water.
[12:31] To one of the least of these. My brothers. You did it as unto me. So. The term brothers. Was. Pre-resurrection. As well as. Post-resurrection. Before the resurrection.
[12:42] He tended to call. His followers. Friends. Or servants. But particularly. After the resurrection. There was this term. Brothers.
[12:54] And so. We have to ask the question. Why. Does he call us. Brothers. Call us. Brothers. Well. I think. One of the. Basic things. Is that. God.
[13:05] Has given. Christ. Jesus. The Lord. Jesus Christ. He's given. Them. A family. And this is the most. Amazing thing. That God.
[13:16] In his love. Has given. Christ. A family. That's us. And he has given. Christ.
[13:27] To us. A two way. Transaction. God. Gave. Us. To Christ. Christ. Came. And died.
[13:37] For us. So. Here we have this. This marvelous. This marvelous. Interaction. Between. Father. Son. Spirit.
[13:48] And ourselves. So. We've always. Got to remember. That there's. There's this sense. Of family. We belong. To him. That is why. Jesus says. All that the father. Has given.
[13:59] To me. Will come to me. And him that cometh. To me. I will. In no wise. Cast out. That verse. Is one of the. The. Great.
[14:10] Verses. That encourages. Every single. Preacher. Because one of the. Things we know. Is that God. Has given his son. The Lord Jesus Christ. Millions.
[14:20] And millions. And millions. And millions. Of people. All. Over the world. The picture. And revelation. That is given to us. Of the church. In glory. Is a number.
[14:31] That nobody can number. Which is indicating. The extraordinary. Multitude. Just a vast. Number of people. That have been brought.
[14:42] Home to glory. So we don't know. And that is one of the. Wonderful things. About preaching. That we go forward. In the strength of God.
[14:53] Knowing that he. That the father. Has given people. To his son. And that the. Main way. In which. These people. Are reached.
[15:04] Is through the reading. And through the preaching. Of the word. Through the sharing. Of the word. Through the witnessing. Of others. Through the. Just this interaction. And so this is a great.
[15:15] Great encouragement. To know that God. Is at work. And God. Has provided the means. And so. We have this. This wonderful. Idea. Given to us.
[15:26] That. The father. Has given. Christ. To us. And given us. To the Lord. Jesus Christ. Christ. And we find.
[15:38] Here. That. In this. Particular. Section. That. It goes on. To say. That is why. He is not ashamed.
[15:48] To call them brothers. Saying. I will tell of your name. To my brothers. In the midst of the congregation. I will sing. Your praise. And.
[15:59] That. That's really. Quite an extraordinary thing. Because. Here it is telling us. If. This is going back. To Psalm 22. And Psalm 22. We know. Is a psalm. That is all about.
[16:09] The sufferings. Of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. The son of God. Came into this world. We couldn't take. His nature.
[16:20] But he could take. Our nature. And he came into this world. And not just simply. To experience. What humanity is like. Some people think that. That it was very noble. Of Christ.
[16:32] To come into this world. And to take our nature. To experience. What we're experiencing. Of course. He experienced all that. But that wasn't. His primary purpose. The primary purpose.
[16:42] Of his coming into this world. Was in order. To represent us. To stand in our place. To do for us. What we couldn't do. To make sacrifice. For sin.
[16:54] In order to make us. Right with God. And he did. All that. And Psalm 22. To us. A psalm. Which speaks of Jesus Christ. Upon the cross.
[17:04] And we know that. On the cross. Christ. Was working. A work. Where he was. Reconciling us. To God. And then.
[17:15] When he dismissed. His spirit. When he. Gave up. His spirit. And his body. Became lifeless. His body was. Taken down from the cross. And put into the grave. But the work of Christ.
[17:28] Didn't stop there. Because Jesus' work. Continued. By defeating. Sin. By defeating. Satan. By defeating.
[17:39] Death. By defeating. Hell. By defeating. The grave. Isn't that. Extraordinary. The greatest enemies.
[17:51] Known to us. In this world. Death. Sin. Satan. The grave. Hell. These are. They're awful words.
[18:02] That they. Bring pictures to our minds. That we just. Don't want to think about. And they're. They are destructive. In their nature. And Jesus has gone.
[18:12] Head on. Met them. Conquered them. Broken their past. Power. And yes. Through that. Has set us free. Is there.
[18:24] A greater message. That the whole world. Could ever hear. Than that. No. This is what baffles me. When people aren't interested. In the Christian faith. Or the gospel.
[18:34] Of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing. More wonderful. It is. A. Message. That is. Filled. With hope. That is. Holding out.
[18:45] For us. Things that the world. Can never. Ever. Give us. And so. Here we have. This quote. From Psalm 22. Because up until this point.
[18:55] In Psalm 22. It's all about. The sufferings of Christ. But then. Here we have. This moment. Of triumph. Where Jesus. Is then. Saying. I will. Tell of your name.
[19:05] To my brothers. In the midst. Of the congregation. I will sing. I will sing. Your praise. Isn't that wonderful. And that's what. The Lord Jesus Christ.
[19:16] Has done. And Jesus. As our verse. Our section. Here. In the whole. Chapter. Tells us. Verse 17.
[19:27] Therefore. He had to be made. Like his brothers. In every respect. So that he might become. A merciful. And faithful. High priest. In the service of God. To make propitiation. For the sins. Of the people. For because.
[19:38] He himself. Has suffered. Being tempted. He is able. To help those. Who are being tempted. Isn't that wonderful. Here you are today. And you have a brother.
[19:51] Who loves you. Beyond anything. You understand. Or know. He loves you so much. He gave his life. For you. And all the time.
[20:01] He's saying to you. Despite everything you do. Despite all your failures. He still says. I love you. I love you. I am your brother.
[20:12] And I am not ashamed of you. I never have been. And I never will be. Isn't that wonderful. He's a member of our family. And you know.
[20:23] Sometimes within families. Something can go wrong. And you'll sometimes hear people in the family say. Oh you know. I'm just so ashamed of him. Or ashamed of her. I'm almost ashamed to be called his brother.
[20:34] Well despite everything we have done. And you think over your life. Despite everything you've done today. Jesus is saying to you. I am not ashamed.
[20:47] To be your brother. To be called your brother. I find that. I find that just. Absolutely wonderful. I think one of the great illustrations of that.
[21:01] We know that in the Old Testament. As I've heard somebody describe the Old Testament. As God's picture book. Because. Many of the Old Testament characters.
[21:12] Some of their aspects of their lives. Give us a picture. Of Jesus. And I think one of the great ones. Is of Joseph. You remember how. Joseph was hated by his brothers.
[21:25] And there was this occasion. When. They were away from home. And Jacob sent Joseph. With his coat of many colors. To the brothers. And when the brothers saw him coming. They thought. Oh let's kill him.
[21:37] And one or two of the. Particularly Reuben. Said no. He was the oldest. He didn't want that to happen. But long and the short of it was. They stripped him of his coat. And threw him into this pit. And then they sold him.
[21:49] To some Ishmaelites. Who were passing. For twenty pieces of silver. And he was taken down to Egypt. And you know the story. It was a downward spiral. Ended up as a slave.
[21:59] Ended up in prison. He was in prison for years. We're not going through the story. But you remember how. Eventually he was released. As he interpreted.
[22:10] The disturbing dreams. That Pharaoh had. And Pharaoh was so impressed. With Joseph. And the remedy. That Joseph had. For what he had seen.
[22:20] In the dreams. That he appointed Joseph. To be second in command. Only to himself. And the whole of Egypt. So after Pharaoh. Joseph was number two. In Egypt.
[22:33] You remember how. A famine broke out. After the years were plenty. And the famine was. Not just in Egypt. But all over. And the brothers came down. Looking for grain.
[22:44] Looking for food in Egypt. Joseph recognized them. But they had no idea. Who Joseph was. They thought Joseph was long dead. Joseph recognized them.
[22:56] And again. There's a lot of. A lot of events went on. But there came this particular time. A very moving time. And Joseph is there. With his brothers. And there's Egyptians.
[23:08] Egyptians in. And in the end. Joseph said to the Egyptians. All Egyptians. He put them out of the room. And he was there alone. With his brothers. They hadn't the faintest idea.
[23:19] Who he was. And then Joseph. Said to his brothers. I am Joseph. Your brother. Who you sold.
[23:30] To Egypt. What did he do? He kissed them. And he talked with them. That moment. You could remember.
[23:41] It's hard for us to understand. Joseph had the power of life and death. In his hand. He could have destroyed his brothers. After all that they did to him. But he didn't. He kissed them.
[23:52] And he talked with them. And what a picture we have. Of our brother. The Lord Jesus Christ. After all that we have done.
[24:04] After the many times. That we have let him down. He still. Kisses us. And he still says to us. I love you. Surely.
[24:16] This is. The brother. That we should all want. The one who will never. Ever. Ever. Be ashamed of us. Let us pray. Oh Lord.
[24:27] Our God. We. We give you thanks. For. For the wonderful way. That you work with us. For your patience with us. Despite all that we are. And all that we do.
[24:38] And. Sometimes. Lord. We have to confess. That. We let you down. By what we say. And by what we do. And. We ask you Lord.
[24:48] To forgive us. For all our sin. But we pray. That this day. That you will enrich us. In the knowledge. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that you will give us.
[24:59] An ever greater hunger. For yourself. And that we may desire. That we might know you. More and more. The power. Of your resurrection. Press a cup of tea.
[25:10] And coffee in the hall. After. And. Ask Lord. That you will part us. With your blessing. Take away from us. Our every sin. In Jesus name. Amen. We're going to conclude singing.
[25:22] From Sing Psalms. In Psalm 22. In these verses. We have here. The tune is. Warrington. This is in Sing Psalms.
[25:33] Psalm 22. From verse 22. That's on page 27. Now to my brothers.
[25:44] I'll declare. I'll declare. The praises of your glorious name. Within their gathering. I will stand. And your renown. I will proclaim. Praise him. All you that fear the Lord.
[25:55] Give honor to him. Jacob's race. All Israel's children. Worship him. Bow down with awe. Before his face. He has not scorned. The suffering.
[26:06] Which on the afflicted one. Has laid. He did not hide. His face from him. But listened. To his cry for aid. You are the theme. Of all my praise.
[26:16] Within the great assembly. Lord. Before all those. Who fear your name. I will fulfill. My solemn word. These verses. Psalm 22. 22 to 25.
[26:27] The tune is. Warrington. Now to my brothers. I'll declare. Now to my brothers. I'll declare.
[26:39] The praise. The praise. The praise. The praise. The praise. And glory. Hême. With death.
[26:57] Lord. And hear me now, I will proclaim. Praise Him on you, and hear the Lord.
[27:16] Give honor to Him, Jacob's grace. All His best children worship Him.
[27:34] And with awe before His face. He has not stopped the suffering.
[27:53] Which of the affliction won His way. He did not hide His face from Him.
[28:11] But listen to His cry for grace. You are the theme of all my grace.
[28:29] With grace, my grace, our heavenly Lord. Before all those who fear Your name.
[28:47] I will fulfill Thy solemn word. Amen.
[28:58] Now may the grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen. Amen!
[29:12] Thank you.