Hebrews 2:5-18 Accepting His Divinity/Humanity

Dr. Terry emphasizes the supremacy of Christ over angels, the law, Moses, and the high priest. He explains the importance of Jesus in the redemptive process, contrasting it with the limitations of the sacrificial system. He highlights the shift from earthly to heavenly sanctuaries, emphasizing the believers' bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. The lessons show Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice and the way to salvation, surpassing the previous Hebrew beliefs and practices. Good morning. How you all doing? Happy birthday, Jim. You get so tired of birthday wishes before it's over with, it's great. So glad to see you all here this morning. Thanks for being here. This lesson this morning, as Brother Jimmy and I have been talking about these lessons, these lessons in even one chapter begin to get kind of dicey. And if we don't get through with one, be sure you take the notes and read them, OK? Because if we don't get through with them, what we would have said will be in the notes. And we're trying to keep it to a chapter a week so that we can do a chapter. So we get through by the second week in January with a couple of weeks that we have to kind of bow out in December and January for Christmas and New Year's. We kind of lose a couple of weeks, so that throws us two weeks into January. But if we keep on our schedule, I'm doing chapter two this morning. Next week, Brother John will do chapter three and then four. And then Jimmy will do five and six. Then I'll pick up again with seven and eight. And then nine and 10, 11, 12 after Christmas and 13, it's over. So the book goes pretty quick. So kind of keep your head in it. That's kind of interesting how the writer of the book of Hebrews, whoever it may have been, since we don't know, there's no need trying to decide who it is, had an interesting approach in chapters one, two, three and four. The approach was the supremacy of Christ, how Christ is supreme. Now, let me have your mind just a minute and let me turn your mind from being a Westerner and a born again believer and a Christian. Let me turn your mind. Let me let your mind become Hebrew for just a minute. The Hebrews, the Hebrew worship and the Hebrew denominational activities had two major points of emphasis. And these two major points of emphasis were very important to Hebrew people. The first is God speaks. That was their major point. Everywhere the Hebrew people went, God spoke to them in many different ways. Many times audibly, many times in signs and wonders, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But one of the major activities about the Hebrews was God spoke to them. Not only did he speak to them, but he was. He is. He never was not. He has always been. And so he had two major theological premises. He is. And he spoke. Well, it's kind of interesting. When Jesus came here, he began by saying, I am a go. I mean, and he began to say, I am and he is. And then guess what he started doing? He started speaking and he spoke of all kinds of things. On one occasion, he said to his disciples, I am the bread of life. I am the water of life. I am the door of the sheepfold. I am the sheep. I am. I am. I am. I go. I mean, I am. I am. What did the what did the bush say to Moses out in the wilderness? Who do I say? Moses said to the bush that I tell these people you are. And what did the bush say? I am that you that you tell him. And there it is. He is sort of the Hebrew people. God always was. And he always is. And to the Hebrew people, he always spoke. And so Jesus comes along and he's doing the same thing because he and the father and the Holy Spirit are one. And since he is here now in his flesh, he is speaking to us. Not only is he speaking, but he's telling us who he is. In fact, one day Thomas said, Lord, we don't know where you're going. We don't know the way. Jesus said, hey, go on me. I am the way. Hey, go on me. I am the life. Hey, go on me. I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the life. And he said, I am. And Jesus was the I am all the way through and continues to be the I am. Now, it's kind of interesting. You've got to understand a Hebrew mind when you're looking at the book of Hebrews, because, as I said with you last week, there are probably three books in the New Testament that are purely Hebrew in nature. One of them is this book, the book of Hebrews. It is purely Hebrew in nature. Another one of these books is the book of James. It is of pure Hebrew nature. And there is a third one that you're going to be surprised. It's the book of Matthew. Matthew is the gospel of the kingdom. And it begins with a lineage, begins with the lineage of Jesus Christ through all of the Hebrew people. And all the way through, you see the theme of the book of Matthew. The theme of the book of Matthew is the king, the glorious, redeeming, God sent king. It is the it is the gospel of the kingdom. And so the book of Matthew is a very strong Hebrew book. Jude is iffy because Jude kind of vacillates between the two. And if there was a fourth, it would probably be the book of Jude, who was the half brother of Christ. His real name was Judas, but he didn't want to go by Judas because that wasn't a very popular name. So he just kind of dropped the S and called himself Jude. And so his book is kind of iffy. If somebody said, well, what about first and second Peter? Well, sorry. Although Peter was Jewish, his book went to the Athenians, which was up in Asia Minor. So he was probably he was primarily writing to the Asian Christians who were up in the northern part of Galilee, of Galatia, up on the other side of Galatia in Bithynia. So these are the Hebrew books. Now, this is a very Hebrew book. Let me tell you something about the Hebrews. And let me tell you something about their relationship to God at Sinai. And to Moses at Sinai, where you see in chapter one, we're going to talk about angels. And Jesus is going to become the supremacy of angels. He is better than the angels in chapter two. We're going to talk about Jesus is supreme in his redemptive process. In chapter three, we're going to talk about Jesus as a relationship to Moses. And in chapter four, we're going to talk about Jesus in relationship to the high priest. Now, all four of these were very important Hebrew people, angels, redemption, Moses and the high priest, because they were receiving redemption through sacrificial systems. They were receiving redemption through the sacrifices. They were receiving forgiveness of sins on Yom Kippur on the day of at one minute when you become at one with God. And so they were working with the and these angels were very important to the Hebrew people. Now, in order for Jesus to be supreme, he has to be better than angels. He has to be better than the redemptive process of the law. He has to be better than Moses and he has to be better than the high priest. Now, get it wrapped around your head better than the high priest, because the high priest was the only one who could go into the Ark of the Covenant, period. So he had to be a pretty popular person and he had to be pretty responsible and he had to have a great relationship with the people. So he had those four. That's what's going to be carried on in chapters one, two, three and four. And you're going to talk about angels, you're going to talk about the redemptive process or the law. By the way, you remember that Paul wrote in the book of Romans, chapter 10, Jesus Christ is the end of the law. He didn't say that Christ negated all the wonderful social activities of the law. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not tell false witness, thou shalt... He didn't say he negated all that, he simply said that Jesus Christ became the end of the sacrificial law. And in Jesus Christ, he became the sacrifice. So you see, these four things, angels, the law, Moses and the high priest, these Hebrew people had to have something proven to them that the person for whom they have dedicated and committed their lives vis-a-vis Jesus Christ is better than what they came out of. You see, they came out of all four of these. They came away from angels. They came away from the law. Paul said Jesus Christ is the end of the law. They came away from Moses. He was no longer the great leader. Jesus Christ became more greater than he. And who is going to become our great high priest? You got the picture? So that's what these four chapters are about. Now let me tell you what's happening to these Hebrew people. Can you imagine all of a sudden having had this particular activity of faith in your lives? All of a sudden, some guy comes along whose name is Jesus and he introduces all of this wonderful activity to us. And by the way, the redemptive process is going to be introduced in chapter 2. That's going to be most of what we're going to do from this point on. To see what the redemptive process in Jesus Christ is like. The law could never save anybody. All the law could do is tell you what your sins were. It could not help you get away from your sins. God did make provision at Yom Kippur to get rid of your sins annually. But it had to be done every year. And by the way, we get to chapter 9 in the book of Hebrews. You're going to see the upper level of the kingdom of God in the throne room of the eternal God, Jesus Christ, sitting at his right hand. And you're going to hear them talking about now the sacrifice has been made and the throne room is no longer on the earth and it is no longer among men. It is now in Jesus Christ in the throne room of God. Chapter 9 is going to tell you about the great sanctuary of God. No longer on earth. The temple was destroyed in 70. We don't have a temple. We don't need a temple. For Paul comes along later on and looks at all of us and he says, Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost which dwells in you? And you are not your own. You have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body which belongs to him. God owned you through redemption. He saved you. He redeemed you. He forgave you of your sin. He washed you cleaner than snow. He made you fit for heaven. Now that word fit is an interesting word. It's in the Bible a lot, F-I-T, fit. It means when you get an army fit, what's the army ready to do? They're ready to go at it. But you've got to get them fit. Now there's a great old song that says, Let not conscience let you linger. Nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is you feel your need of him. You want to get fit for the kingdom of God? Feel your need for the redemption of Jesus Christ. Then you'll be fit. Okay. Now, because of that, believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, the Jewish people and the Hebrews believed, and it is scriptural, that the law was brought to Moses by angels. If the law was delivered to Moses by angels, would not an angel be a pretty popular activity guy? Let me read you a scripture. That's kind of interesting. I want you to turn to the 33rd chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. I want you to turn with me. I want you to see this. And I want you to look at the second verse and follow me. Deuteronomy 33, 2. And I'm going to read it to you. The Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir. He shone forth from the Mount Parham, and he came with ten thousand of his angels. From his right hand came the fiery law for them. Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sit down at your feet. Everyone receives your words. Moses commanded the law. Now, do you know why the Hebrews had such great respect for angels? They brought the law. They came with God. Therefore, somewhere along the way, angels have to be put in subservience. Somewhere along the way, the law has to be put in subservience. Somewhere along the way, Moses has to be put in subservience. And somewhere along the way, the high priest, who only once a year can go into that arc of redemptive propitiation, has to be put in subservience. And by the end of chapter four, all four of them will be subservient to Jesus Christ. Amen? Now, that's what these chapters are all about. And if you don't understand that about Jewish people, you don't understand these chapters. Before I did study in Hebrewism, and before I did study in Judaism, I'd read these chapters and they were very, very confusing to this very simple Louisiana mind of mine. And I never could quite get them all together. And then when I began studying Judaism and began to understand what I was talking about, then I understood what he was talking about here. And I want to help you understand it so that you don't go until you become 38 years of age and then find it out. I'd like for you to find it out now when you're 62. Okay. Now, hang just a minute. I got one more word. There's a word in verse. The word in verse three, three and four. For if the word spoken through angels, isn't that interesting? Chapter two, verse two. For if the word spoken through angels proves steadfast, every transgression and disobedience received a just reward. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, God being the witness with miracles and activities. First one. Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest they slip away. Now, this is not to you Christians. This is not to Western Christians. This is to Hebrew people. This is the writer of this book talking to these Hebrew people. What these Hebrew people were doing when they would get discouraged and the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ was not operationally active as they thought it should be. They had a tendency to do what? Go back. By the way, there was no churches on the day of Pentecost. They went to the temple. They were in the temple on the day of Pentecost. It's kind of interesting. On the Mount of Ascension, ten days before Pentecost, when Christ in that fortieth day met with his disciples up on the Mount of Olives, and while he was there, he said to them, All powers given unto me both in heaven and on earth, go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them. Yadda, yadda, yadda. You remember Matthew 28, 19, 20. And you remember Acts 1. At that Ascension, the disciples asked Jesus the wrong question. They said, Master, when are you going to restore Israel? You remember? I want you to go to the book of Acts. I want you to look at that with me. I lie not, neither do I steal. But I want you to go to the book of Acts. Just a minute. And if you go to the book of Acts, Jesus tells him, you go there, and it is not for you to know the facts. He said, what's going on here? I want you to understand what I'm getting ready to tell you. And he said, they said to him, Being assembled together, he commanded them not to depart from him, but to wait for the Father. John truly baptizes water. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked this question. Wrong question. Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? Where were they? Still back there. Now, folks, give them a break. Give them a break. They had not seen any of the epistles. They hadn't seen any of the Gospels. None of this had been written. All these people had for years and years was all this activity in Judaism. It was a whole lot easier to go back to the comfort than it is to stay in the uncomfort. And so Jesus said to them, they said, Lord, is it right now that you're going to restore the kingdom of Israel? And Jesus said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which are in the Father's hand at his own authority. But, here's what's going to happen to you. You're going to get changed. But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you shall be my martyrs to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Guys, the old school is gone. Don't slip back. When you get uncomfortable in what you are in, don't run back to your sin. When you get uncomfortable in redemptive life because it's too pinching and it's too hurtful and it pushes me where I don't want to be pushed. I used to like it where I was out there. I'm going to slip back. That doesn't mean I'm falling away from salvation. Brother Jimmy will talk about that in chapter 6. What it means is, when I get uncomfortable with the kingdom of God, I may want to go back to an old comfort zone. That's what these people were doing. And that's what he said here when he said to them in the book of Hebrews, Unless you let it drift away, don't slip back. You don't have anything to go back to. There is no more loss. Now ladies and gentlemen, Jesus has been crucified. He's resurrected here. It's over. The kingdom of God is at hand. And Jesus then is lifted up from them in a cloud. And he's taken back into heaven. And these two men are standing there in white garments. They say, you men of Galilee, why are you standing here gawking into heaven? This same Jesus who's taken from you will come in like manner. First Thessalonians 4.13, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven in a shout in the clouds with the archangel in the trumpets of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Amen? Amen. Even so, Lord Jesus. Amen. Okay. He's telling them, You're getting a new comfort zone. And you may not like it at times. And you may have a tendency to want to drift. Somebody said, If you are not as close to the Lord today as you were the day you were saved, you are backslidden. I have to look that puppy in the face every day. You do too. You see, we have a tendency to drift. That's what these people do. Don't criticize these people until you look in the mirror. Okay, so let's see what we're going to hear from this man about, again, angels and redemption. Do you think that God would use an angel to redeem the world? Answer me. Of course not. Okay, look at verse 5. He has not but the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying, By the way, this is David. This is the psalm of David. It is a messianic psalm. There are 16 messianic psalms in the book of Psalms. Two and eight are two of the more popular. Why do the heathen raise, why do they do such things in bunkers? I shall make him your footstool. Remember Psalm 2? This is Psalm 8. I can see David on a hillside in the dark night, beautiful stars. And he's looking up into the stars and listen to what he says. You have made this man that you are mindful of him. Or the son of man that you would take care of him. You made him the son of man, Jesus Christ, the redeeming Lord. You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. David is talking about the coming of Jesus Christ 2,000 years later. This is somewhere around 10. Jesus comes in the fullness of time. Oh, there's an interesting passage that says, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And you shall call him God with us. Emmanuel. God with you. Isaiah chapter 9, 7, 9. Where he talks about a virgin shall conceive. David said, you have made him a little lower than the angels. Now, Jesus was put in subjection when he came here, ladies and gentlemen, in the flesh. Why did he have to come in the flesh? Why couldn't he just come here and say, done? Which he could have. Because one day, he and God and the Holy Spirit stepped out into nothingness. And in chapter one of the book of Genesis, he said, And God created the heavens and the earth. Didn't take long. He didn't. If he can do that, couldn't he just step out here and save all of us? But you see, he's too much of a gentleman. He's too gracious. He has more grace and love than that. He would not force any of us to do anything. And so he says, for in that he put his son, Jesus Christ, of whom in chapter one he talked about, You are my son, this day I have begotten you, chapter two. I have put all of your enemies under your footstool. All of chapter two, the Messianic Psalm, in verse, in chapter one. Now he's in chapter two. Now he's talking about the heavens and the earth. And he has made his son the one who's going to be the Redeemer. And for that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. But it is not under him. Yet. It's gonna be. It's not here yet. He has a promise. By the way, do you know what the promise that everything is going to be under Jesus' subjection eventually? You know what the promise is? Look at the open tomb. The promise is the resurrection. For the Apostle Paul said in the 15th chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians, Jesus, the first of those who died. He is the first fruit of them that slept. And like him, each of us in our order. God has an order. And as Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the day of his resurrection, someday our order will come up. Yesterday, this past week, a beloved friend's order came up. And John Moore was ushered in his order into the presence of God. Ladies and gentlemen, you and I have a number. And when that number comes up, it doesn't really matter where you or I are. You're going to heaven. That's not bad. And so it says, but we see Jesus. I love the way this writer says that. He hasn't put everything under subjection, but we know who Jesus is. Isn't that wonderful? We see Jesus. We saw him. We read about him. We heard about him. We saw him cry. We saw him weep. We saw him heal. We saw him do miracles. We saw him walk on the water. We saw him beat food out of nothing. Little bitty baskets of nothing. We saw Jesus. We know who he is. We have to know about him. We know who he is. But we also know something. We saw Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels. For not one angel ever suffered death for your sin. He was made a little lower than the angels in suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for you and for me. That's the most wonderful part about redemption. Do you know what the big problem was in the past? And he's going to talk about it in this chapter. The biggest problem of the whole world was death. Because you know who ruled death? Satan. The devil. Later on he's going to talk about the devil in here. In fact, in verse 14, it says, And so now, because he became flesh, lived among us, we beheld his glory, even as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, full of truth. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him, and if you haven't done that yet, you need to do it, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, ever. He's getting your perishness gone. Shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Now look at verse 10. I love this verse, because I love the word fit. You all know I have a thing with fit. I tell Barbara now, you're just not fit for it today. Have you ever said that to anybody? Look at verse 10. For it was fitting for him, for whom all are all things, and by whom all things in bringing many sons to glory, to make him the author, the hero, the leader, the perfector through suffering, our redemption. It was fitting. Jesus, when he got here, was fit. And he was fit for the redemptive process. Could it have been an angel? No. Could not have been an angel. It had to be, you are my son. This day I have begotten you. Period. Got it? For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one. And because he has sanctified us, Jesus is not ashamed of us. Now, you may be ashamed of some of your ungratefulness. And you may be ashamed of some of the other things. But there's one thing you cannot be ashamed of. You can never be ashamed of Jesus. And Jesus will never be ashamed of you. So what happens now? Well, the writer goes back to the book of Psalms. And he goes back to Samuel. And he goes back to Isaiah. Isn't it interesting that the writer is going back and picking up all of these Hebrew passages? And he's trying to help these people understand there is nothing to which you may go back. Do you understand that? It's dead. There is no law. There's nothing to which you can go back. There is no sacrifice that will save you from your sin. It's over. And so he says, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will sing praise to you, Psalm 22. And again, here am I and the children whom God has given me. Ladies and gentlemen, when Jesus came here, he had no brothers. He had no sisters. He was the only one of a kind. The only one of a kind. No brothers, no sisters. But now he has multiple millions of brothers and sisters. And that's what he's talking about here. Here am I and the children whom God has given me. And the Son of God has a family. And you and I are adopted into the family. How did you get there? By adoption. What does adoption mean? Adoption means, in reality, exactly like the master who was born. Ladies and gentlemen, in the Hebrew world, adoption was never done for a child. Did you know that? No children were ever adopted. And there's a reason for that. If you want to know what the reason is, go look at the book of Ruth. Because if there is a brother and he dies, then if they have children, then who do the children belong to? The next brother. The next brother is to take his wife. There was never adoption in Hebrew life of children. Because it was the responsibility of another brother to take that child. So there was never any adoption of children. But there was a lot of adoption of adults. Do you remember when Abraham was trying to get a son? And it just appeared that it wasn't going to happen? He had already messed up with Ishmael. And he didn't want that to happen again. So looking at his age, late 90s, he kind of felt like, you know, it doesn't appear that I'm going to... I'm going to adopt my best servant. You remember? Eleazar? He wanted to adopt his best servant. And he wanted to make him his son. Now here's an interesting part about adoption in the ancient times. If a person was adopted into a family, and if that family had an original son, and this adopted brother and or sister came in to live with that original son, all of them lived under the same aegis as the original son. There was no difference made between and among any of them. They were all just alike. What does that tell you about your place in the kingdom of God? You are joint heirs with whom? You are joint heirs with whom? If you are joint heirs with Jesus, what position do you have in the kingdom of God? You have a joint heirship with Jesus Christ to God the Father. Now here's the interesting thing. In ancient Hebrew, if you had an adopted son or daughter, and you wanted to get rid of them, if they really fouled up and you didn't want to take them anymore, in order to get rid of them, you first had to disown your own biological child. That's how you got rid of them. Some of you say, well, do you think God wants to get rid of me? If you're a joint heir with Jesus Christ, who does he have to get rid of first? See? It kind of puts the Hebrew people in an unusual situation. And it puts us Christians in even more of an unusual situation. And so he says here in verse 14, Inasmuch as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself, Jesus Christ, likewise shared the same through death, he might destroy him who had power of death, that is, the devil. So in the redemptive process, Jesus Christ overcame sin, death, hell, and the grave. All four. Now, there's a kind of an interesting scripture. And that interesting scripture is found in... Let me get my notes here in a minute. It's found in 1 Corinthians 2, 6, 8. This is interesting because it says this in reality. If the Arknata... Arknata. Now, what is the Arknata? The Arknata is the supernaturally conceived rulers of this world. Do you remember what Paul wrote in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6? He said, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the world, against evil wickedness in high places. He was talking about the Arknata. This was the supernatural world, ladies and gentlemen, that's there. And when I say there, we're here. It's there. God's there. Third heaven. There is a second heaven. If you don't think it, go read the book of Daniel. In the book of Daniel, you see where angels tried to come down through that second heaven, and they had to fight their way down through the second heaven because it was full of wickedness in high places. Paul called it the Arknata. Supernatural powers in high places. Now, here's what I want to point out about this verse in Corinthians. It says, If these people had known the wisdom of Almighty God, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Because in the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory, what did Jesus do? He destroyed 14, the devil. And if these people, in heavenly places, had known the mind of Eternal God, they would never have crucified the Christ. Because in doing so, they sealed their own faith. And they are now under the rulership and the foot of the redeeming Savior, Jesus Christ. He has destroyed him who has the power of death, that is, the devil. And released those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. Now, look at verse 16. It's kind of interesting. For indeed, God does not give aid to angels. Oh, by the way, in chapter 12, when we get there, do you all know that you're going to spend eternity with angels? Oh, and do you know in chapter 12 you're going to spend eternity with each other? I hope you like me here. I'm going to have to put up with you for billions and billions of years. I hope you like it here. I hope you like us. I hope you enjoy this fellowship. You've got it for eternity. Sorry about that. Oh, and all of the great saints of the Old Testament, who by faith and Jesus will be there in God. That's it. That's it. There's nobody else in heaven. Chapter 12 says, and it begins with a myriad of angels and the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, and to Jesus, the ark of our covenant, and to faithful saints whose souls have been pure by faithfulness and by God. That's it. You want to know with whom you're going to live in heaven? That's it. Nobody else. Everybody else is gone. And so, he says, he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. How interesting. God wanted to reward the flesh who was redeemed by the power of his Son. You know, there's two things that you really need to think about. The first is, you ought to love God with all your heart, and you ought to serve him eternally with all of your being. If you do that, we'll have a happy time here on earth. Jesus said it this way, serve God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and take care of your neighbor as whom? You know why? That's who you're going to live with in heaven. And so, he says here in 17, as we come to the close of this chapter, and I'm going to get through before 11, therefore, in all things, he had to be made like us. He had to be made like his brethren. In order that he might be a merciful and faithful, now here comes the next one, high priest. In things pertaining to God, to the order that he, rather than the Ark of the Covenant, that he, rather than a human high priest, that he might be able to go into the throne room of God and sprinkle his blood on the holy of holies in heaven, and God accepted his sacrifice as redemption for your life and my life, and he made us free. We are free from sin, death, hell, and the grave. Because we have been redeemed by his propitiation. What does propitiation mean? Blood covering. There's a great old song that the kids used to sing years ago. It was called Tell It Like It Is. Remember that song, Jimmy? You remember that little musical? Tell It Like It Is. In that song, there were two antiphonal portions. Antiphonal means singing to each other. And half of the choir was over here, and half of the choir was over here, and this half would sing to this half, and this half would repeat, yadda yadda. The Hebrews did a lot of antiphonal singing. When they went on the Mount of Ebal and Gerizim, remember half of them went on Gerizim, half of them went on Ebal, and they sang to each other, Who is the King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty. He is the King of Glory. Who shall be? You know, they did a lot of antiphonal singing. And in this song it says, one side says, God can see you. The other side says, God can see me. This side says, yes it is true. The other side says, true as can be. And then they come together and they say, God can see us, see us alone in Jesus the Lord. That's how God sees you. And how He sees me. For when He looks at you, when He looks at me, He doesn't see you. He doesn't see me. He sees on us propitiation. He sees us covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. We are propitiated. We are blood covered. And God can see you. God can see me. Yes it is true. True as can be. God can see us. See us alone in Jesus the Lord. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to aid those who likewise were tempted. Now folks, are you as close to the Lord today as you were the day you were saved? Or have you ooched a little bit? Are you ooching a little bit? I had a dear friend who is with the Lord now, who is a magnificent artist, tremendous musician, outstanding churchman. His name was Bob Oldenburg. Bob was a dear friend of mine. He ministered in our church in North Richland Hills when I came back from Hardin-Simmons and we were members there again. And Bob and I did a lot of music together. We did a lot of singing together. And Bob wrote a song. And Bob called me one day and he said, Jack, I want you to come over here. I want to teach you this song. And then I want you to sing it for me. And I want you to sing it next Sunday morning at church. It'll be the first time this song has ever been sung. I said, okay. So I went over to his house. He used to live over there in North Richland Hills. And I went over and he all learned the song. Don't worry, I'm not going to sing it to you. I can, I can, but I'm not, okay. I want to read it to you. Bob came into a magnificently wonderful personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He's one of the few men, Jimmy, like our friend Beasley and others, who really learned how to live in the 20th century as a true Christian believer. He was a WWJD. What would Jesus do? Anytime Bob did anything, he'd always ask himself, what would Jesus do? And then he proceeded to do it. And that's what this song says. And he was saved, but he came to a relationship where he moved from what David called enter into the gates in Psalm 1, and later on into the courts with praise. You see, we don't just get in the gates of the kingdom, ladies and gentlemen. We've got to go into the praise. You've got to get out of the gate. All there is in the gate is dust and dirt. Get out of the gate, go into the courts that are clean and full of eternal God. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, but get into his courts with praise. Here it is. Life had only begun when I gave him my heart. T'was the dawn of the day. It was only the start. God's law was satisfied by his Son crucified. I was saved, was reborn in my heart. But there's more, so much more than that first sweet day. More, so much more every passing day. For the life I now live, Christ is living through me in each thought, in each deed, each day. In my life, there was peace that the world could not give. There was joy, boundless joy in each day that I lived. I can be what I ought in each deed, in each thought. It's not I, but it's Christ who lives. But there's more, so much more than that first sweet day. More, so much more every passing day. For the life I now live, Christ is living through me in each thought, in each deed, each day. If you're not as close to the Lord today as we were the day we were saved, we're backslidden. Don't act like the Hebrews. Lucy, catch up. Get into the courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name for the Lord is good, His mercy endures forever, His truth endures to all generations. That's what Psalm 100 says. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Heavenly Father, we're not what we used to be. Thank God we're a whole lot better than we ever were. And thank You, Father, that You redeemed us from our ugly sin. And Father, we often ask You to forgive us of our trespasses as we try to forgive those who trespass against us. And at the same time, we're thanking You for a life in Jesus Christ who no longer is out there, but is in here. He now lives, abides, dwells in my life, in my heart, in my being. And in the life and heart of being of every person who has said to Him, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. Come into my life and save me. And He does forever. And He will never, ever leave again. Thank You, Father, for the redemptive process of Jesus Christ who came like a man among men to demonstrate how a person who is full of the Spirit and love of eternal God can live in a filthy, dirty, ugly world and be at peace and be in joy and see happiness. And for that redemption You gave us, thank You, Father, for saving us. Thank You for bringing us into Your kingdom, into Your courts with praise. Thank You, Father, for our beloved brother Jesus Christ joint heir with us and with You, Father, as we walk, live, love, and enjoy our Master, our God, our King. Thank You. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. See you next Sunday. John, it's all yours next Sunday, bro.