Hebrews 2:10-18 Jesus - Made Perfect

The speaker starts off with a prayer thanking God for the time to study and reflect on His word. They then discuss the book of Hebrews and how Jesus, being made lower than the angels, humbled himself and took on flesh to become our substitute. The motive behind this was God's grace and love for us. Jesus experienced ultimate humiliation and suffered on the cross, but as a result, he was crowned with glory and honor. This was all part of God's plan to bring us to glory and reveal aspects of His character, such as wisdom, holiness, power, love, and grace. Jesus' sacrifice perfected the author of salvation and paved the way for us to have a relationship with God. and we'll begin our study. But thank you so much for coming everyone. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this time together to reflect upon you and your word. We realize that the only thing that counts in life is faith in you, expressing itself through love. So help us to continue to learn from the book of Hebrews how to express truth and speak truth in love this day and every day, everyone we meet, greet and serve. Because the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, divides to the soul and the spirit, joins in the marrow, is a discerner of the motives and intents of the heart. So help us to read and study your word from our hearts and from yours to us and us back to you and to one another. We pray these things to Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. It starts off with, for it was fitting for him for whom are all things. And it starts off with that word for. Well, that word for ties back to verse 9. So on your handout for your scripture passages, I have verse 9 and this is the last verse we covered last week. And so it reads, 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. So that word for ties back to verse 9 where God's plan for using Jesus to restore man to himself is summarized. It includes the following. Made for a little while lower than the angels. When you consider, I didn't put it down, but Philippians 2 says that Jesus, who was equal with God, saw equality with God as something he didn't have to hold on to. He opted to let go of his glory and rights and privileges as divine God and take upon himself flesh in obedience to the Father's will. So when God himself takes upon himself flesh, now watch what I'm doing with my hands here, right? Here's God. Somewhere in here is the angels, right? And then down here is man. So for a little while, God, Jesus himself goes, I'm going to let go of this and I'm going to take on this. And it's for a little while lower than the angels. The word that Paul uses in Philippians 2 to describe that attitude and action by Jesus is called humility. He humbled himself. He humbled himself. Now, when he humbled himself, not only did he take upon himself flesh, he also ultimately took upon himself something far worse than that. What would that be? What would that be? Let me just give a hint. All right. Use my hands again, right? So if I go, say it again. Sin. Sin. Gold star. We've got a gold star here. Okay, let's go. Sin. The holy took upon himself unholiness. He didn't become unholy, but he took upon himself unholiness. All right. Paul says he who knew no sin was made sin in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And we're going to get to that verse later. I'm getting ahead of myself. But I want us to understand this humiliation. It was more than just dropping down lower than the angels. It was ultimately experiencing the ultimate humiliation. Can you imagine anything being more humiliating than what he went through his last day upon this earth? Can you imagine that? Falsely accused, sham of a court, wrongfully convicted, beaten, made fun of, crown of thorns jammed into his head, spat upon, jeered at, nails driven into his wrists and into his feet, on a pole, on a wooden tree trunk of some sort that when he was jammed into the earth, you can imagine what it did to his back and to the rest of him. Taunted, rejected. That's a gold star Carol. Rejected. The ultimate in humiliation. I don't think anyone has ever had that kind of humiliation. Now, there's people who have experienced humiliation, right? It's when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, right? And you get you get your just reward for that. Right there. You can you can be shamed. You can be caught and be made and be shamed for things you do or things you say. You can be humiliated in that way. But this humiliation was the ultimate humiliation, where the perfect God, Jesus himself, willingly takes upon flesh and goes to the cross and experiences what he experienced for you and me. Man. So first you see humiliation made for a little while over in the angels. The divine took on flesh. Now, what was the motive? What's the motive? That by the grace of God, that by the grace of God, you know, grace, grace, God's grace, right? Freely bestowed on all who believe. Oh man, God's grace. Which came out of what? His character. His character is a character is the number one character trait that Ron likes to talk about. Don't you want to go ahead and kick him off for the night? Ron, what's that? What's that trait of God's that brings on grace? Oh my gosh. It starts with an A and ends with an E. Agape. Okay. Yeah. Agape. Agape. For God so agape the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life, right? Agape, the motive is a grace. Why did he do that? To be our substitute. So he might taste death for everyone. So the purpose was to be a substitute. To be a substitute. I don't know about you guys. But I'm awfully, awfully glad he took my place. Right? What a blessing to know that the creator God of this universe became my substitute. Wow. The purpose to be our substitute. And finally, when he did that, Paul says Philippians, God was so pleased with him, right? Because of his obedience, even unto death, death on the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee shall bow both in heaven and earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The result is that he is crowned with glory and honor. Justifiably so, right? That's the least he deserves. But boy, he got crowned with glory and honor. So there's the for, for it was fitting for him. This man who did this is fitting for him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering. So Jesus was made perfect to bring us to glory, fulfilling God's plan, in line with God's character. It was fitting to perfect through sufferings. So now we're going to look at aspects of God's character, and how they're perfectly revealed at the cross. The first aspect of God's character is divine wisdom. What did the cross, how did the cross display God's wisdom? Alright, let's try it this way. We got a problem. We have a holy God who created a human being for the purpose of having an eternal relationship with him, in harmony. And the human being was created by God in such a way that he had a will. And unfortunately, the human being was influenced by the enemy, and bought the lie, and committed the sin. Now he can no longer be in the presence of holy God, because God's holy. There is no, sin cannot be in his presence. And now you got a man down here, he wants to have in his presence, but man can't get there because his sin won't let him go. We got a problem, don't we? Can man solve this with his wisdom? Can angels solve this with their wisdom? No, God's wisdom solved it. Yeah, yeah. What a phenomenal solution. No greater solution. A perfect display of God's divine wisdom. Now let's look at his holiness. How do we see his holiness at the cross? I just gave you a hint a second ago. What cannot be in his presence? How do we get rid of the sin, so that we can still be in his presence? By the blood. What has to happen? The sin has to be judged. It has to be punished. So he's a holy God, and he had to deal with sin, and he dealt with it perfectly at the cross. So his holiness is seen at the cross. What about his power? How is that displayed at the cross? Oh my goodness, think about that. The resurrection, right. But even on the day of the crucifixion, how is his power displayed? Think about that for a second. Think of some things that happened that day. Darkness. Darkness. What's another one? People were raised from the dead. People were raised from the dead, right. The moment he said it is finished, to tell us die, and he breathed his last, the earth quakes, and the dead come out of the tombs, and something unexplainable happens in the temple. What is that? The curtain. That thick, dividing curtain between the holy place and the holy of holies is ripped in half from top to bottom, thereby showing we have access to the Father through the Son. Wow. What an amazing display of power. But now back to Tom's point. Didn't the earth rumble? Yeah, earthquake, yeah. Earth rumbled, yeah. And back to Tom's point about the resurrection, three days and the third day, right. On the third day, what kind of power is displayed? Death has held us, and no longer. No longer. The power over death is gone. So, is there a greater power, I'll put it this way, there is no greater power than that which conquers sin and death. He endured for about six hours what it would take unrepentant sinners an eternity to endure. No greater power. We've already talked about that characteristic that Ron loves to talk about, that word agape. And I've already referred you to the verse that I was going to refer you to, right. God's love was displayed on that cross. John 3, 16. God's love was displayed on that cross. And God's grace. What is grace? Unmerited favor. Who said that? Okay, it's a gold star, Joyce. You know, don't be shy. Unmerited favor. A plus infinity and beyond. I'm just saying. God's grace. Unmerited favor. He willingly took our place to experience what we deserved. That's grace. Wow. Unmerited favor. So, Jesus made perfect to bring us to glory. Fulfilling God's plan in line with His character. Leading the way. Now, this is an interesting word study we're going to do. To perfect the author of salvation through sufferings. To perfect translates to the aho, which means to make perfect, to complete, to accomplish. How was Jesus made perfect to accomplish God's plan? Well, let's look at Hebrews 5, 8 and 9. Somebody start reading tonight. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obeyed Him the source of eternal salvation. So, how was He made perfect? Through what? Through obedience. With the things He suffered. Exactly. Obedience with the things He suffered. If He doesn't go through the suffering, you and I aren't meeting tonight. It's that simple. But because He went through the suffering, you and I have eternity to spend with Him in glory. So, He was made perfect through suffering. And that word author translates to the Greek word ahegas, which means the chief leader. One who takes the lead and sets the example. A pioneer. One who blazes a trail for others to follow. Captain. Tom, what were some other words that you came up with from other translations? Pioneer, Captain, Founder and Source. Founder and Source. And so, I focused on that pioneer. What trail did Jesus blaze for us to follow? Let's see what John says about that in verses 11, 25 and 26. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Yeah. So, what is that? He blazed the trail from what? Let's do it this way. He blazed the trail. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. But He made us what? Alive together with Him. From death to life. From death to resurrection. He blazed the trail. So, at that moment of death, no longer, and we're going to get that. I'm going to get ahead of myself again. In essence, He takes us by the hand and He walks us through death into life. He blazed the trail. Let me show you the way to eternity, He says. Come follow me. Isn't that good? Man, that's good. So, He's the author of salvation. Alright. Jesus made perfect to bring us to glory. He's made perfect to sanctify us. 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 I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, behold, I am the children whom God has given me. That word sanctifies translates hagyatzo. Again, one of Ron's favorite terms. Which means to make holy. To separate from profane things. Dedicate to God. To purify. So, I ask the question, since we still sin, how are we holy? How are we holy if we still sin? Hebrews 10, 10, and 14. Carol, do you want to read that? By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering He has perfected for all times those who are sanctified. Okay. So how? Are we made holy? Right. And by what He did for us, right? 2 Corinthians 5, 21. I've already alluded to that. He made Him who knew no sin. Right? To be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So now, since we still sin, I'm still asking the question, then how are we holy? So, I had this experience one time. My dad and I used to greet at a door in the Enforcer Center. And I loved that time with my dad. That was a special time. One Sunday, a guy named Stan Dobbs. Some of y'all know Stan. Stan's walking in to the worship center, and as he walks to me to shake my hand, he says, Hello, Holy and Righteous Reverend Ingram. How are you today? I go, Whoa, Stan! He said, Well, you are, aren't you? I said, Well, positionally I am. Right? Positionally I am. Now, that doesn't mean practically I am, but positionally I am. Why? What's been credited to my account? The righteousness of Christ. That's why I'm holy. So, Christ's righteousness has been imputed to our account. It's the doctrine of imputation. Anybody understand that? Ed, you're going to have to help me. Where's my marker? Alright. So, I'm going to give this a shot. Alright. I think you can see it from here. We'll see. Anyway. So, if you had a T-chart, alright, the way I am before Christ. I have this problem called sin that's on my asset side. It's actually a liability. Right? But since the word's credited, I'm going to use it as an asset this time. All I can boast about is my sin. If you know accounting, I've got sin on the asset side of the T-chart. Okay. Alright. Well, Jesus had on his T-chart, he had righteousness on his side. Okay. Now, at the cross, when I put my faith in what he did for me. According to 2 Corinthians 5.21. Right? All of a sudden, that righteousness is transferred to my account. Here's David here. Alright. And that righteousness now is credited on the credit side. Now. What we know about his righteousness is grace. It's greater than all of my sin. Right? It outweighs my sin by a long shot. In essence, though, what God did is he credited Christ's righteousness to my account and my sin is done away with. So now when Jesus, when God looks upon me, what he sees is what's been credited in my account. Instead of seeing my sin debt, he sees the righteousness of Christ. Well, what happened was my sin got assigned to his account and he paid the price at the cross. If I could say it that way. Does that make sense? So there's two imputations that happen. One is my sin gets imputed to him. Again, he doesn't become sinful in nature. He's always holy. But he takes on my sin. And he pays the penalty for my sin. My sin is imputed to his account. And his righteousness is imputed to mine. Does it get any better than that? How's that? Did I do alright? Okay, it makes sense. I was making sure I don't miss anything on this doctrine of imputation. Yeah, there is. Alright, so now, on the handout. Because we've been sanctified, what do we have in common with Jesus? We have the same father. We have the same father. You are, you're on a roll tonight. That's another gold star. Alright, Amy, that's a great answer. We have the same father. The same father. Because we've been sanctified, what is Jesus happy to do? Look at the end of verse 11. For which reason He's not ashamed to do what? To call us brothers. To call us brothers and sisters. Because we've been sanctified, what is God happy to do? Let's look at Hebrews 11, 16. Hebrews 11, 16. Can we read it? Go ahead, Ed. Thank you. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, the heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. You know, the moment that you and I said yes to Him, we started, we were looking for something that wasn't here. Do you all understand that? What were we looking for? That's what we're looking for. We're looking for an eternity with Him. Right? And because we're looking for an eternity with Him, God is not ashamed to be called our God. He's happy to be called our God. Why? Because we have put a premium value on being rightly related to Him and spending eternity with Him. And that's why He created us to begin with. He wants us to be in relationship with Him. Isn't that good? Wow. So while Jesus was on earth, whom did He trust through total obedience? Well, it says, and again, I will put my trust in who? Him. The Father, right? We know that, again, I've already talked about Philippians 2. It says the same thing in Philippians 2. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the Father, even unto death. So while Jesus was on earth, in whom did He trust through total obedience? The Father. He knew when He willingly allowed those nails to be driven into His wrists, He trusted that on the other side of death, He was going to be raised victorious in the resurrection. He trusted the Father to the max. So for us to be... I have a question. Go ahead. We don't know who the author is, but why didn't the author just say all this? Why did he quote Psalms? Why is the Old Testament scripture here? I need to say it. Why didn't I quote Psalms here? Why is he quoting Psalms? What's your question? Why did he? Why didn't he just say what he had to say? Okay, he was quoting Psalms because he's writing a letter to Jews, and he's making a point out of their scripture. See, their frame of reference is their scripture. The New Testament didn't exist. So he's making his point out of their scripture, because that's what they held on to. Okay. That's a good question. For us to be considered brothers of Jesus, what must we possess and how should we live? Colossians 2.6 tells us that. Tom? Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so all can Him. So how do you receive Christ as Lord? By what? Initially by asking. Which is by faith, right? So how do you walk in Him? By following. By following, by faith. So as you receive Him by faith, you walk in Him by faith, or you live by faith. So it was faith that brought you into spiritual life. It is faith that sustains and grows you in spiritual life. It is faith in what He does in you and through you. He is righteous by faith, trusting God, and living in total dependence upon Him. That's what that means. You have to trust Him. You have to depend on Him. Just like Jesus did, we should do it. So Jesus made perfect to bring us to glory. He's made perfect to sanctify us. Flip the page. He's made perfect to free us from the fear of death. To free us from the fear of death. 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. There's no greater fear than the fear of death. Do you all agree with that? Do you think there's a greater fear? I have no fear of death. Oh yeah, but I'm talking about... We're going to talk about that, right? He has freed us from that fear. You're absolutely right, Kim. But if there's no Jesus in the mix, right? Have you ever seen a family walk through the shadow of death without Jesus in their midst? Have you seen the fear in their eyes? Right? And the hopelessness. And the hopelessness. Yeah. Yeah. The fear of death for those that are not believers is real. And what Jesus did for us is He was made perfect to free us from that fear. So, share translates the word koinonia, which means to have fellowship, communion, or partnership. What common nature do we physically share with each other, we who are the children of God? What do we physically share with each other? Flesh and blood. Flesh and blood. Right? Now, when it says, He himself likewise also partook of the same, that word partook is not koinonia. It's meteho, which means to take hold of something that's not naturally one's own kind. What nature did Jesus take on that was not naturally His own? And we've already talked about that in Philippians 2. Again, what does He take on? He takes on flesh and blood. Right? I'm sorry? Amy? Sin. Yeah, I'm talking about... Yeah. What nature does He take on? He takes on this flesh and blood nature. Right? It's not natural. He's God. That wasn't the way... You know, He's existed for eternity as divine God. But for a little while, He partakes... He takes on flesh and blood. So, why? 2 Peter 1.4 tells us why. Ron, read that for us, would you? Yes. For by these... For these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. So, why does He do this? Why does He take on flesh? So that we might do what? Take on His divine nature. Exactly! He takes on flesh so we can take on divine nature. I think that's a fair deal, don't you? For us. It didn't cost us nothing, did it? It cost Him everything. He takes on flesh and blood so we can take on the divine nature. Wow! That's a nature that doesn't belong to us. We rejected that nature a long time ago. But we get to take it on. That doesn't mean we become God. We take on His nature in terms of the things that He created us with to begin with. All the aspects of His character. The ability to love perfectly. The... I'm trying to think of all those things in the creation, you know. The perfection that existed in creation. The divine... The will. But here we're going to have a will that's going to be perfectly in harmony with Him. All those things. The divine nature. So... Whose power over us had to be broken for us to be brought to glory? It says right there in the middle of the verse 14. He Himself likewise put to shame that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death. Who is that? The devil. We have to break the devil's power. We can't break it. He had to break it. What's the devil's main weapon? We've already talked about it with the word death. Now, death has three aspects to it. You have physical death. You have spiritual death. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. What death is he talking about when he says that? He's not talking about physical death there. He's talking about spiritual death. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. But that wonderful word that Paul uses there in Ephesians. But... Right? The cause of the great love that He has for us. He has made us alive together with Christ. I love that word but right there. I just love that. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. But because of His great love that He has for us, He made us alive together with Christ. Wow. So... There's physical death. There's spiritual death. And then there's eternal death. What is eternal death? It's when you die physically and you're spiritually dead when you die. So until someone breathes their last, there's the opportunity for that person to become spiritually alive. Once they breathe their last, if they're not spiritually alive at that moment in time, then they're eternally spiritually dead. Now that word dead in eternity is related to being separated from the presence of God. And it has an aspect to it of punishment and torment. What we call hell. That's why it's so important that we share this opportunity for people to become spiritually alive with Him when we are given that opportunity. They need to know you don't have to live dead. You can be alive. So Satan's number one weapon is death. So what has to be destroyed to make the devil powerless over us? That weapon, right? Death. What weapon does Jesus use that's far more powerful than death to defeat death? Now, trick question. Well, it's His death. But because He died, He provided a way to have what? Eternal life. Eternal life overpowers death. It defeats death. That's the weapon He used. How was it accomplished? Well, first of all, Jesus had to experience death Himself. Secondly, God resurrected Him because His death was perfect and was in obedience to the Father. God resurrected Him and He was brought back to life. So He overcame death. And thirdly, He lives eternally and because He lives, so do we. That's how it's accomplished, His death, His resurrection, and because of that, He lives eternally and so do we. So I ask the question, what's the greatest fear people face when living? We talked about that while ago, death. How do we view death because of Jesus? Well, let's look at Philippians 1.21. Kim, since you said that while ago, I'm going to let you read it. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So there is no fear of death for you? Why? Because I know where I'm going. And to die is what? Gain. Gain. Eternal life. Eternal life. Right. And then one other verse there is 1 Corinthians 15.55. One of my favorites. Go ahead. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? There is no more victory or sting in death for us. Right? So to live is Christ, to die is gain. Death's been defeated. We're no longer in its grip. There is no more sting. Again, we go back to the theme tonight. Jesus made perfect to free us from the fear of death. And finally, He's made perfect to help us when tempted. For surely He does not give help to angels, but gives help to the descendants 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, big word, 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 age of those who are tempted. So one more reason is given for Jesus being made a little while lower than angels and taken on the physical nature of man in verse 17. So that He might what? Become a what? A merciful and faithful high priest. Ed, you can tell us, what does a high priest do for us? He intercedes for us. He intercedes for us. That's the number one thing He does. He intercedes for us. Even though we are now priests, right? The high priest interceded. He is the one that went to God in behalf of man. He was the intermediary. He was the way to have access. Right? And so we are going to see what else the high priest does here in a minute. But intercede. Alright? So for Jesus to be merciful toward us when we are tempted, what did He have to experience? Hebrews 4.15 Whoever has a chance to read that. He was tempted in all things. Yeah, right. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. Carol went straight to the punchline, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. So He had to experience, fully experience every temptation that mankind would ever face. Otherwise, how can He be my representative? How can He be my intermediary? How can He be my intercessor? If He has never experienced what I have experienced. What's really interesting about this is He experienced temptation far beyond what you and I ever do. You know why? Because we give in a lot quicker than He did. He never gave in. Right? So He endured temptation to the max. To the max. There's been times, and I have to confess, right? There's been times, and it's recent, when something happened at the office, and all of a sudden some words start to come out of my mouth. Right? And I'm going... It's all I can do to hold those words in, even though I'm thinking them up here. I've already assassinated the character of the person I'm thinking about. Right? In my mind. But I know if I blurt those words out now, I've done it verbally. It's even worse. Well, that temptation Jesus experienced and passed the test with flying colors. I mean, help me Lord, right? Sometimes that's what you say. You just have to say, help me Lord. Help me. Don't let me say what I'm thinking Lord. Keep me from doing this. Oh my. One thing I'm thinking about. Oh, I've got you thinking about it. Okay. One thing I'm thinking about. We keep getting the test until we pass the test. He doesn't give up on us. Spoken by a kindergarten teacher right there. You keep on testing until you get passed. Until you pass the test, right? I think you're right Carol. I think there's a lot of that. That's the way we grow. Is we get tested. Because last year when I was with my grown children, when I was like in my 40's or something, I had something to say. And now, I just let them talk until it sizzles out. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Alright. So, Jesus to be merciful had experienced every temptation that mankind ever faced. What did Jesus physically experience while on earth? So let's look at what he experienced. I'm going to rattle off some things and you all add to it. He experienced hunger. He experienced thirst. He experienced thirst. He experienced fatigue. Exhaustion. Growth. You all think of anything else? Suffering. Physically. Suffering. That would be pain. Right? Pain. He wasn't thinking this is fun. Right? That ripped his flesh. He experienced pain. Humility. So what did he experience emotionally while on earth? Well, I mean, on the positive side he experienced love. Right? Sorrow. Sorrow. Gladness. Compassion. Anger. Anger. Rejection. Rejection. Gladness. Joy. How about indignation? You remember how he was indignant? He goes into the temple and the temple is being violated. Wow. He wasn't a happy camper that day, was he? Grief. Forgiveness. Troubled. Overcome with emotion. What did he experience socially? Well, he experienced friendship. Right? He had friends. Abandonment. I put the word betrayal. Same thing. Abandonment. Misunderstanding. Distrust. He was considered an outcast. Adoration. Adoration. He did have that, didn't he? Thank you, Tom, for getting us back to the positive side. Adoration. How about spiritually? What experience on earth? Well, we've already listed several things. Faith, right? Faith in the Father. He trusted God. Reliance upon God's Word. Prayer. Compassion. A heart that aches for others. Anguish. Anguish. Anguish. Now, have we missed anything that perhaps you and I might have experienced that he didn't experience? You can think of things he's experienced that I have not. You can think of things he's experienced that I have not. Okay. I agree with that. What were you going to say, Ed? Well, I mean, I don't see it anywhere in Scripture where it says he would struggle with this, but when he did everything right to have all this power, it's easy to have spiritual pride. He could have. But, you know, and we have a list of them, sexual temptation, which is a biggie for human beings. Yeah. Which is kind of hard to imagine, but it's, you know, obviously he experienced all of our temptations. That's right. You know, we'll take God at His Word that he experienced that. Yeah. But again, he doesn't give into it. At all. Carol? I don't know how to say it, but when he picked Matthew, Matthew was actually a Jew. His mother and father were Jews. But he saw Matthew, and he picked Matthew as one of his disciples. And, of course, the Jews didn't want that. Well, Matthew was considered a traitor. Yes. Because he was a tax collector. But Jesus saw him healing. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yep. Yep. So, because he experienced everything to the max that we have ever experienced, what is he able to do when we come to him seeking his help? He can understand. He can sympathize with our weaknesses and come to our aid. So he's made perfect. Made perfect to bring us to glory, to sanctify us, to free us from the fear of death, and to help us when tempted. So I have this one big reflection question. When you get in front of the mirror in the morning, or the night before you go to bed, ask yourself this question. While still alive on this earth, we're in the process of being practically sanctified that we might live holy lives and point others to Jesus. That practical sanctification is the process of becoming who we already are in Christ. See, we already are positionally righteous. But while on earth, until the time comes that we breathe our last, we're in the process of practically becoming righteous in our daily life. That's practical sanctification while on earth. What exists in my life is impeding my sanctification. What is it that I'm struggling with is not letting me become righteous. What temptations do I struggle with on a frequent basis? Like I told you about just a second ago, right? It's amazing what a little pressure in an office environment can do. But you'll keep having this headspace passage? Oh yeah, yeah. To what extent have I sought Jesus' help and asked Him to come to my aid so that I can overcome? The key is leaning into Him and asking Him to help. That's the key. Okay. Are you ready? I'm ready to go home. I'm ready to go home with Jesus. That's what you're teaching and that's really what is so important. Because the big question is, why does God do what He does in our lives? Why does He put us into the mix? Why does God put us into a sort of a cauldron of barnyard fertilizer which smells and stinks? So why does God do that? We realize that He wants to aim for sanctification, which has helped us to be holy because He's holy. And sanctification means to be set apart for God's plan and purposes for us. So why does He make life easy and just help us to put on wings and a halo and live through life like that? Why does He stick us into hot water? Because when you choose to follow God and choose to follow faith throughout all of that, it brings glory to Him. Amen. A plus to infinity. When you think that it's easy, there is no glory because it's easy. It's doing the hard that brings the glory. So what's so hard about it? Well, it's not only hard, it's impossible. But why does God do this? What does He try to cultivate in our hearts so that we respond in such a way that would bring honor and glory to Him? What are your thoughts? I go back to thinking about being forged in fire. The steel is so much stronger when it's gone through the heat and the forging and the folding and all the things that have to go through making that steel to be hardened. And when you're strong, you have to go through those things to be strong. If you've gone through no tribulation, you don't have the fortitude to prevent walking the wrong path. Yes. So being forged is to burn out the impurities of our life. A plus to infinity and beyond because now we realize that God can only use a pure person. What would have to happen in our hearts for us to be willing to be forged, to be willing to go through all that barnyard fertilizer? Like in the Gospels, Matthew 16 and Mark 8 and Luke 9, Jesus asked the question, Who do you say that I am? Peter answers right. You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then he gives a challenge. And the challenge is if any man will, let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me. Now, all of that forging process is right at the very beginning, denying ourself. So Jesus denied himself by becoming from his Godhood and he set aside his Godship to become a man. So what do we do? What is God asking us to deny ourself of? I guess it depends on our weaknesses. Yeah. Some people talk more than others and they have to learn how to live alone. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Those are great insights, Carol, because now we realize that God wants us to place ourselves in a place where we're being willing to be forged by God. The idea is that we have to be willing to do what he asks us to do in Romans 12. 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present or offer yourself a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable, which is our reasonable service of worship. So when we place ourselves in a position to worship God, then verse 2 happens. That's a passive tense in Romans 12. 2. Therefore be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may know and understand the good and perfect will of God. So as we study scripture today, I'd like us to think in terms of how we read scripture. Remember, I put up the acrostic soaps. The S is called scripture, and the O is the observation of God's word. What does it say? What does it mean? And then we have the A is the application, and the P is prayer, and the S is to share. Now, the idea now is, when we look at God's word, I'm very guilty of this. I look at scripture for my information. In other words, I look at scripture linearly. Here's the beginning of the chapter, here's the end. And I want to get through as fast as I can, from beginning to end, so I can see what's ahead. But that's reading scripture for information. So for me, it's a shallow way of approaching scripture. So what do you think we ought to be looking at scripture? How should we be reading scripture to change or transform our hearts and our minds? Help us know God's will for us. Yes, amen, amen. Ed, what are your thoughts? I don't know if I have any additional thoughts on that. I think you're right on that, yes. Well, you know, I think that I was reading a text, and it was by Merton, who was talking about, well, how do we read scripture from the standpoint of information versus formation? So the idea that he said was, when we read scripture just to say, hey, I finished reading the Bible in one year, or I finished reading the Bible in so many months, is that really the way to look at life from the standpoint of quantitatively? Because we can start thinking quantitatively, but what happens is that it makes God's word to be not as meaningful as it was meant to be. So he's speaking to our heads. So head knowledge is good because all of us have memorized scripture and things like this, but sometimes I quote scripture and sometimes people take offense at that because of the fact that, oh, Ron's just spouting off God's word to just impress me. And see, that's a shallow way of looking at God's word. But God wants to see our hearts change. So he's asking us to consider looking at God's word vertically. So we have to take a breath like, Salah, stop, look, listen, be still and know that I'm God, like Psalm 46.10 says. So he's asking us to consider looking at the word more deeply and not having to look at the word of God and say, oh, I have to finish this book like I want to read Hebrews in a year. It's a long and arduous book as David's been teaching so well on. But to get the true meaning of scripture, to look at God's word from the standpoint of really what he's saying to our hearts. So why should one open one's heart to take God's word into it so that we now would be available to be willing to offer ourself a living sacrifice? What has to happen in there? Because it's a movement from information here to God's word here. Now all of you have done this, because I've done it too, but the problem is I need to stay more there. I need to stay more here. So what do you think that issue is? Because I vacillate into reading God's word this way versus this way. And then sometimes I get off into my normal rabbit trail and I think of God's word more this way. And that's where I need to be, but that just takes more time. So he's not thinking in terms of quantitative, thinking quantitatively about how many scriptures we know or how many books we've read. He's looking about what the quality of life would be. So now he's asking us to consider looking at the scripture from the standpoint of how God is changing our hearts. So what would be the evidence of a changed heart? Compassion and love. A plus to infinity. Compassion and love. Yes, and what else? Not giving up. A lot of people give up too easy. Amen, amen. And so we know that in the Christian life, life is so challenging and so difficult. A lot of Christians just back off. They say, this is not worth it. I'm not going to do this anymore. So we tend to drift. That's one of the things that we're going to be talking about in Hebrews. So why do we drift? What happens? What happens here? Not only here, but here. It's a both and. Because we need to cultivate our minds to take in God's word accurately like David so excellently provided for us. To look at, well, what does it say? And now what it means is this movement from here to here. But to make it really ours from God's word is when we start sharing that which we've learned in his word. What's the thing that really, what do you think it is? Why would we want to be transformed anyway? Why would we want to be compassionate and loving and not give up? It exemplifies God through us to others and helps bring them to God. And that's what our purpose is as Christians. Yes. Yes. What is our purpose? Well, you just paraphrased Romans 8, 28, 29 perfectly. Okay. I thought it was good of you according to scripture. I admire that. Well, let's see. But when you paraphrase it, that means you understand it. That means it's come here. See, and that's what's so important, isn't it? Because, you know, what does God cause? He puts us in a garden of fertilizer for one purpose. He says, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. And what is that? Verse 29, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined for us to be conformed to the image of his son, Jesus Christ. See, but it goes on. For whom he foreknew, he also called. And those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified. So what can we say then? If God is for us, amen. See, God is for us. Who can be against us? So we know that God, in his foreordained will, he knew that what needed to be done for us is to have a mediator. His name is Jesus Christ, the superior one. And because of his mediation of love and grace to us, he demonstrated his love by going to a cross for us. And by going to the cross for us, he cleared the way for us to have a perfect relationship with God. But, but, we have to be willing. See what that is? So how does God work it out so that we are willing to do that? To die to ourself? Like, you know, we read earlier in Philippians 121, you know, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So what do we gain by dying? I keep looking at Ed because I know he knows the answer. The eternal life. Amen, amen. But you see, this is the way of God's way of thinking with us. He says, you know, there are three ways of dying. You know, you can die physically, you know, you can die spiritually, and you can die eternally. So the challenge is to come to Jesus' moment. How does one, why would one want to prepare their heart for eternity? And for us spiritually and for us physically? Because we know that Jesus is the supreme answer to everything. He's superior to the angels, he's superior to the prophets, he's superior to the priests. Even the high priest in the order of Melchizedek. So come to Jesus' moment does all three things for us, doesn't it? So why cultivate that? And how do we get out of, by cultivating it, how do we keep away from drifting? In the word. Say that again? In the word. And I have to say, my husband, sometimes I like to keep on it and on it. And when I taught, I had a, I'm just going to share this, I had a little 3x5 card. And if I got a scripture, I would write the date and write the scripture. And every time I stopped at a red light or at a stop sign, I would get that little card up and keep it and just keep it. Every time. And that's, I have it now, I pull it up and there's the word. Because it says heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away. Amen. I may have a lot of books and I have, if anybody needs any books, I have books that I guess would just get rid of them. And I thought, you know, I have so many good, good books and they're all spare. But now I just want the word. Yes, amen. And I always did, but I thought they were good. So Carol's answer to our question, how do we keep from drifting? She said the word of God. And she even makes cards with God's word on it to remind her. Repetition, repetition. And now my husband, you know, he said, I can't, we've only been married 58 years. Okay. But anyway, he said I can't memorize. I asked Siri about, evidently memorized isn't in the Bible. But she said meditate, which is a Hebrew word which means to just mutter it, you know, just to keep saying it. You know, whatever it is. Okay, on the table from Carol, if rightly so, is she says that we should meditate on God's word. She just paraphrased. Yeah, you just keep speaking and speaking. And it's kind of funny because for the last, what, two years that we got, we never missed, you know, being in work, never. If it's 2 o'clock, it doesn't matter. We do it. And now he almost has to memorize. But he always says, you know, I can't memorize. I didn't say anything. Yeah. And at the end, we say, you know, 75th Psalm 34. Yeah. But, you know, there, this is, Carol just shared very quickly her, the navigator technique of looking at God's word. We have five fingers. Well, the thumb included for five points. The first point is when we hear God's word. We remember maybe 20, 30 percent. When we read God's word, we remember maybe 40 to 50 percent. When we study God's word, we remember about 70, 80 percent. When we memorize God's word, we remember about 80 to 90 percent. But when we meditate on God's word, 100 percent. See, that's why you tricked your husband. And what I didn't know when I was younger, I mean, I was always in church, but I didn't know it. And in Psalms 100, you know, how many times have I read that? A lot. But it says, come before his presence with singing. And I told Wayne, my husband, I said, it says to do it. Is that a command? And so now we just make a joyful moment. But, you know, because he'll be 85. Yeah. There's a bunch of his minions. And I said, is that a command? And now, you know, we just make it because it says that. You know, how many times have I read that? But it's new revelation. And when I get new revelation, I just get excited. I don't know if that's the correct word, but I get excited. And most of the people don't get too excited. Yeah, that's right. But we do that. And then when my son, we lived in Midland, he was with some very bad people. And, of course, we went to First Baptist Church. And I was at home. They were in school. I was just praying, praying, you know, oh, Lord, get him away. And when I finished praying, I was more down. I was, how can this happen? I'm praying. And I was, I don't know, depressed or whatever until I got here. And then I read it in Psalm 100, which is a short one. I don't memorize like you do. But it says, come before his presence with thanksgiving. And all of a sudden, all of a sudden, after all those years we've been here long, since 88, it came to me. I didn't come before his presence with thanksgiving. And so now, every morning, I'm telling you, thank you, Lord, for this day. Thank you. And I just, and I learned from that. And so I was in Sunday school. You know, we didn't call it connection. But I was in Sunday school. And we don't try any names. And it was just, I was so excited. I was probably 40. And I said that, no one acted excited. I thought, I will never speak again. But that excited me because I didn't come before his presence with thanksgiving. And now, I'm just thankful. I'm just thankful for everything. Good. Yeah. But that's, you know, that's both Old and New Testament. Because in the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 15, or 5, 16, 17, 18 says, Be joyful in all things. Be prayerful in all things. And be thankful in all things. For this is God's will for your life. Referring back to the Old Testament, you know, Psalm 118, 24 says, This is the day that the Lord has made. That we will be glad to rejoice in it. Because of him. See, this is a, the Bible is a hymn book. It's an H-I-M book. It's all about Jesus. So, both Old and New Testament. He sings very little songs. And if I stop, he stops. Yeah. But it also says, you also remind us of Joshua 1, 8, and 9, where it says, This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night. Amen. For then you shall be able to do all that is written therein. For then I, God, shall make your way blessed. And I shall give you good success. Be strong. Fear not. For I will be with you wherever you go. Amen. I'm a good amen. Yes, but see, fear not appears how many times in the Bible? A lot. A lot, yes. Amen. It's 365 times. See, I'm a numbers guy. So, Psalm 90, verse 12 says, Dear Lord, this is Mosaic prayer, the only prayer of Moses. He says, Dear Lord, help us to number each moment of every day aright, so that we would gain a heart of wisdom. See, now God's talking about heart issues. When we take God's word to heart, we'll talk more about this as we go along, because this is a major issue of how we read God's word, head knowledge or heart knowledge. But it's actually both. But how do we make sure that we have spiritual formation in life? Why would we want to read with our heart God's word? Now, David's encouraging us to do that. So, we really want to make sure that we take God's word to heart. So, how do we read God's word vertically? So, we're going to be talking about that more as we go along in our study. I've never heard of that. Okay, but... Vertically. Vertically, okay. Seek first the kingdom of God. And His righteousness. And His righteousness, and all these things will be added horizontally. You see how that works? So, now there are lots of promises in Scripture. Do you have any idea how many? I bet you do. Well, I think I do, but I don't really. Because I really haven't counted them, okay? So, time-life has counted them. Now, the guy I asked was Chuck Swindoll, who knows everything about the Bible. So, I said, Chuck, you mentioned how many promises there are in Scripture. Where did you get that? And he said, I got it from time-life. Now, how in the world could you... Well, okay. But the number that time-life gave was 7,494 promises in Scripture. Now, is that really right? And I think not. Because I don't think they really counted. But if we started counting, I bet it would be more than that. So, how many do you think, David? I have no clue. Okay, well, a lot. But you know, this is the value of being in Scripture. Ed, I'm sure you can be sure to vouch on this one. Because being in Scripture opens up the footprints of God's grace. And we're learning more about God's grace. Every time we meet, every time you open God's book, you open God's grace. And how wonderful is God's grace, David? Well, it's beyond what we could ever really fully grasp or understand. Amen, amen. A guy last night, he was talking about fear not. And he was saying that fear not was mentioned, I forgot how many times. 365 times. Okay. That's what he was saying. Yeah. But see, Carol, the whole issue is we don't have to fear anymore. Because Jesus paid it all. Once and for all at the cross. Because we now know that we can have life eternal with Jesus. You know, like 1 John 5, 13 says, God the Father says, These things have been written to you that believe on the name of my Son, Jesus Christ, that you may know for certain that you have eternal life. How about that? He answers the question. So with that, we know we're close. Because things are going to get better. It's because David has a wonderful next lesson for us. And that's the fact that Jesus is the builder of this temple of the Holy Spirit of our hearts. So he's talking about the heart. So we're going to talk more about the heart, how we open it up to really listen with our hearts so that we can love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. And trust the Lord with all our hearts. I was in the emergency room. I had to be in the emergency room last night. Yeah. And it was like a test. Because three little young girls came in. One was a doctor. And she was only... I said, I've been doing this a long time. I said, how old were you? She said, 35. The last one came in was an African-American. And all of a sudden, like I said, I just heard a joyful noise. And I couldn't sleep. When they come in for the ER, what's the one that comes in last? They come in last and do something. I don't know what they do. Well, usually it's the resident doctor who is in charge of the emergency room. It wasn't? Okay. No. The discharge nurse? When you get discharged? Yeah, she came in and had a little thing and was asking questions. I'll tell you about it. But all of a sudden, now I don't sing anymore. I started singing a song. And she said, well, I said, are you a Christian? Well, I've never used it, and not that blood. And I said, are you a Christian? She said, yes. And this song, and I don't remember the song. And she said, that's my grandma's favorite song. Wow. It made me so happy I felt better. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Sure. But you know, that's one thing that we have to learn in medicine, to be more compassionate. And we're going to be talking about that, too. That's one of my other favorite words. Compassion is agape love in action. So we're going to be talking about that. So let me close in prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this time that you gave us this evening. And it was a time to reflect upon your goodness and grace. And we thank you that we're realizing that the only thing that counts in life is faith in you expressing itself through love. So help us to continue to be speakers of your love this day and every day to everyone we meet, greet, and serve. Because the secret and mystery of life, again, in Colossians 127, says, The secret and mystery of life is Christ in us, the hope of glory. So help us to continue to proclaim you, teaching and admonishing everyone with all wisdom, so that we would be able to present everyone that we meet, greet, and serve to be perfect and complete in Christ Jesus. Help us to remember that all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness, that the men and women of God may be thoroughly equipped to do every good work. We thank you for your word. We praise you for Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.