In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of not weakening the gospel by leaving out the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross and the giving of his blood. The sermon focuses on the superiority of Jesus Christ, both as the Son of God and as the Son of Man. It highlights the three quotes in Hebrews chapter 2 that demonstrate the basis of Christ's oneness with humanity. The sermon also discusses the reason for Christ's death and resurrection, which is to overcome the power of death and the devil.

We are in section 3, the superiority of the person of Jesus Christ, and we've looked at a, he is superior to angels, and under that at one as the Son of God, greater as the Son of God, a greater position, and greater in rulership, and greater in person, and greater in authority. And then, number 2, as the Son of Man, a revelation of God's purposes. And then we looked at the guarantee of God's purpose, and the provision to fulfill the purpose is where we are commencing our work. And we put down as a title, the first provision this morning, the reason for his death and resurrection, finishing up with the fact that when it's stated that he was being made perfect through sufferings, that wasn't adding anything to him, but as a captain and a leader, one who's going in front of everyone else, the perfection was the realization of his end. In other words, it was a perfection of his work and not his person. A perfection of his work and not his person. Now in verse 11 of chapter 2 of Hebrews, for both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Now here you're seeing why Christ had to be brought to perfection. Sanctification, remember, means simply setting apart. There is no moral holiness in it in itself, but that is also included. Now let me rephrase that, let me restate it again, because people tend to presume that anytime you use the word sanctification, it automatically means some great moral holiness. No, no. Sanctification in itself simply means setting apart. But when a person's set apart for God, it means that God has more sway and control by his spirit in that person. Therefore, the outcome of more sway and control by the spirit in a person's life who's set apart is that there will be the outcome of a more moral holiness. But don't equate the two things as being synonymous. It's the setting apart that releases more of the divine control in the person to produce holiness. That's why we sometimes make the mistake, because when a person does commit themselves totally to Jesus Christ, does set themselves apart for his will in this world, then God can release his life through them. So the outcome is they will be more Christ-like, therefore they are more holy, and you're apt to jump to the conclusion the result of the holiness was sanctification. No, no. The sanctification allowed the holiness of God to be released in the life of the individual. So make sure you've got the definition for sanctification right. But remember that holiness, because of the release of the divine life within the person who is set apart, is included in it. So it's not just a cheap, oh I'm set apart for God, while you live like a pig. Pigs are not really indicative of the divine life of Christ. Now if you want to put down in your notes John 17. John 17. John 17. Verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. And so we find that it includes a holiness. It's separation. Look at Hebrews 9, 12 to 14. Hebrews 9, 12 to 14. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God. And so that separation, that sanctifying work through the blood of Christ, makes you a people whose consciences are purged and more capable of being used to serve the living God, releasing his life in you and through you. Look at the 10th chapter. Verse 9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Jesus Christ is the one who is the great sanctifier. Verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, set apart for God. Set apart for God. And if you look in Hebrews 13 and verse 12, 13 and 12, where for Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. So it's the sacrifice of Christ and the cross and the shedding of his blood that makes it possible for any person to be set apart for God. Now there is no setting apart of anybody for God unless they've been to the cross of Jesus Christ. I don't care what kind of a systemized denominational issue of theology that may be presented to people in a church to get them all sanctified and separated unto God for the release of his divine life. But if that sanctification propagated by a church is void of the cross of Jesus Christ and the blood of Jesus Christ, it is not a gospel and it's not a sanctification. And that's it. There is no sanctification setting a person apart for God apart from the application of the very life and blood of the Savior. And don't ever, if you get into Sunday schools or churches or pastoral ministry and you have that ministry to fulfill, don't ever weaken the gospel by leaving out the very essential basis of all theology for the recreation of a new creature in Christ. And that is the foundation of the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross and the giving of his blood. Now I want you to notice in Hebrews that there are three quotes in chapter 2 and verses 12 and 13. Three quotes. And these three quotes are to show the basis of Christ's oneness with man. The three quotes are to show the basis of Christ's oneness with man. Now in 212, you get the first quote. So put down in your notes, quote one, quote one, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church. Will I sing praise unto thee? Now that comes from the 22nd Psalm, the 22nd Psalm and verse 22, Psalm 22, verse 22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation. Will I praise thee? And that's speaking about his resurrection. You've already had in the Psalm that he's been pierced. In verse 16, they pierced my hands and my feet. Then they gambled for my clothes, but then it goes on to say he's going to be delivered. He's going to be raised. He's going to see, and he's going to declare the very fact of his name to the father with his brethren. Now that quote one in Psalm 22, 22, put down there a past relationship to the father, a past relationship to the father. Christ through death came to the throne. Christ through death came to the throne. So he is related on the basis of the resurrection. This Psalm shows that he's related on the basis of the resurrection. Now in chapter two, verse 13, put down quote number two, chapter two, verse 13, quote number two. And again, I will put my trust in him. I will put my trust in him. Now that's from Isaiah 8, 17, and it shows the present relationship to the father, the present relationship to the father. And he's putting his trust in him, remember, while he's in a state of advocacy, while he is an intermediary between sinful man and God. So his present relationship to the father is now, while in a state of advocacy, he represents you and I. Now in 2, 13, the second half, you've got quote number three. And again, behold, I and the children, which God has given me. Now that's from Isaiah 8, 18, Isaiah 8, 18. And that's the future relationship to the father, the future relationship to the father. In the Septuagint version, it states when he claims his own, when he claims his own. Say that again. The third quote is verse 13, the second half, and again, behold, I and the children, which God has given me, indicating the future relationship to the father. Now put down the second provision, the second provision. Chapter two, verse 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of the death, that is, the devil. And so put under that the reason for the incarnation and the cross, the reason for the incarnation and the cross. Now I want you to note this please under that, to overcome the prince of death, the devil, to overcome the prince of death, the devil. And then one of the most important things you have to understand in this particular issue is that if Christ is to become a man, he must die as a man. For Christ to become a man, he must also be prepared to die as a man. That's the whole reason, you see, he's tasting everything. And there is not an experience he's going to have where he's not going to be able to have people say on the earth, you wouldn't understand that because you never went through that. And for him to declare to us how a total man can be in a relationship to God and go through every pressure that we go through in life, even tasting death and then have resurrection, you are seeing a forerunner that gives us the hope that that's what we're going to have as well. In fact, you could almost tuck in here the excitement of the apostle John in one John one, when he said that which we have seen and heard and have handled of the word of life, that is what we're declaring unto you. In other words, he's excited that the fact that he saw the resurrected Christ, I've seen and handled and touched eternal life. And as he was truly man, and we knew him as a true man, a God man on the earth and saw him taste everything and John more than any in that he was the one that remains steadfast at the cross while the others fled. And he was the one that watched him tasting death and knew that this man had tasted every aspect that any other man would ever have to go through. And that is an essential qualification before he can become a savior perfected enough in his work, not his person to be the one that saves me. We would only be convinced that he could take us through to resurrection. If he's tasted death and gone through into resurrection himself. Now that's vitally important to understand that if he had not died, if somehow or other, he just had said, well, you know, I've taken care of sin and gone off back to heaven. You just say, well, you know, I don't believe in resurrection. Why he never died and rose again. And so he had to, he had to taste and be raised again to newness of life. Now under that put one man's partaking man's partaking for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood man's partaking that phrase there would be better understood as to share in common with someone else, to share in common with someone else. And secondly, number two, Christ's partaking. He also himself likewise took part or partook of the same. That's in verse 14. Now there it's different. The language is different when it's speaking about for as much then as man or the children are partakers of the flesh share in common with someone else. He also himself, likewise partook of the same. Now that partaking is to hold with, to hold with. In other words, he held human nature yet no, a sin additional to his own character to render inoperative Satan. In other words, he held, he held this humanity. It was God in hold of a physical body. He held human nature. That's what it means there by partaking. It was as though God held human nature, yet there was no sin additional to his own character there. And that was what gave him the right to render inoperative Satan, because he had no sin to deal with in his own life. He could be the sacrifice for the sin of others. Now put down the third provision, chapter two, verse 15, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And put under that the further reason for incarnation and cross. The further reason for the incarnation and cross, and it's to free man from the fear of death. Now I this is the method by which we are released from the physical frame in which the eternal spirit person lives that we might be with the Lord. So there is of a necessity and laying aside of the physical frame, but what he has, what he has done in his incarnation and the cross is to free us from fearing that final step, to take away its sting and its fear. Now to free man is used in ancient writings to denote a wife wanting a divorce, a wife wanting a divorce. And that's what's talking about here and deliver or to free them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And that deliver there, the word study on it is like that word used in ancient writings to denote a wife longing for a divorce. And we've got to understand that we have been divorced from death. When it says we have delivered from death, it's as though we were married to death, to the fear of death, but we've been given a divorce. Christ's life issues the decree of divorce. We are now separated from the fear of death. We've been divorced. We're liberated no longer under a cruel husband, no longer a cruel, dominating, nose-punching husband. That's brutal to a wife. The divorce papers have come through. You don't need to be afraid. He can't hurt you anymore. You've been divorced from death. And in 216, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Here you see the sphere of Christ's work, the sphere of Christ's work, and that is man. The sphere of Christ's work, man, not angels, man. In 217, wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. There you are seeing the scope of Christ's work, redemption. The sphere of Christ's work is man. The scope of Christ's work is redemption. And in the 18th verse, for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. And there you're having the application of Christ's work, the conflicts of our life, the conflicts of our life. So the sphere of his work is man. The scope of his work is redemption. The application of his work today is the conflicts of our life, the conflicts of our life. Now put down the fourth provision, the fourth provision. And once again, a further reason for the incarnation and cross, a further reason for the incarnation and cross. Verses 16 and 17, to be a faithful high priest, to be a faithful high priest. When in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest. So the fourth provision, to be a faithful high priest, to be a merciful high priest. And notice there in verse 16, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Now it's not the seed in this case. It's not the seed. Paul, when he speaks in Galatians about the seed of Abraham, he's referring to one seed, which is Christ. But here in the epistle to the Hebrews, the term, the seed of Abraham is not a reference to Christ, but humanity and mankind, the offspring of Abraham, mankind in general, the humanity and mankind in general. Now in 217, you get Christ's present ministry, Christ's present ministry. And you have to understand that priests always operated on the basis of the best sacrifices. Priests always operated on the basis of the best sacrifices. That's why Jesus went in and overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple, because it wasn't simply a means of making sure a sacrifice was perfect. They were being crooked about it. It was well known that, and even Josephus records it in his writings, that it was an industry. Some man came through the door with an offering. He had to go to a part of the court before he ever went to the temple or the altar, and he had to take his sacrifice there to be examined, to see if it was fit for a sacrifice. And they would take it, and even if it was perfect, they'd say, oh no, no, that's not good enough. And they'd put it over there and say, but we'll give you another one. We'll give you so much for that one. Bring this man a perfect sacrifice. And they'd bring one from a pen over there, and they'd bring it and they'd say, now that plus a little bit more, you can have the perfect sacrifice that the priest will accept. And he willingly paid for it, and off he went, and they took that one and put it in there. Next. And then came somebody else and came up, and they'd take a look at his lamb and say, hmm, got a little bit of a twisted foot, that one. Put it down there. We'll give you so much for that one, but we've got a better one over here. Bring that one over here, will you? If you like your brother, you can have that one. And we'll give you so much for that one plus a little bit more. And this was the crookedness of it. They were playing on the fact that it was laid down in the law that anything that wasn't a perfect sacrifice for a priest to offer as a blood sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty had to be rejected. And they were misusing that to make money all over the place. But it did teach us this much, that even right up to the cross of Christ, they held fast to this rule, that only the best sacrifices would ever be accepted by priests to make an offering for sin. And that's what Jesus did in offering himself. That was the best sacrifice God had. In keeping with his own word, Jesus is the best sacrifice God had to be making a reconciliation or a propitiation for past sins. Our past is taken care of at the cross through God's best sacrifice, the Lord Jesus. But the cross also takes care of the present daily sin of the believer. That cross not only took care of the past, the cross also takes care of today's sin, the sins you've committed since you got up this morning. You have a faithful and merciful continuing resurrected high priest that's constantly offering himself before the Father as the perfect sacrifice to forgive you today for the sin that you committed today. And if you confess your sin, he's faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So it's a present continuing ministry, the priesthood. Yes? Take your hand down and say it again. Yes, he is the one that forgives us for our sins of the past, present and future. But we are the ones that will render ourselves apart from him in fellowship by the not confessing of those sins. In other words, no believer has the right to say, well, if he's forgiven the past, present and what I'm going to do tomorrow, who cares? Let's go and do it tomorrow. No, because if we willfully continue in disobedience and sin, we will be quenching, grieving and quenching the operation of God within us through the Holy Ghost. And he will not be able to manifest his destiny, his will, his life, his purposes through a person who is willfully holding on to sin and committing sin and considering a theological right to do it because he's going to forgive it anyway. He watches the motivation and attitude of the heart. And if we are going to persist in saying theologically, well, in fact, as a matter of fact, this is why very often a person opts at time to become a hyper reformed Calvinist type of believer. Often milked down the gospel that he gives the impression to the person in the audience that if you just come to Jesus, you're going to be so new in a flash of a second and your old life gone and your new life come in that you're almost left with the impression there's no problems, no sin, everything in the garden lovely, and you'll be perfect. Well, they get up the next morning to discover when they turn on consciousness for a start, they're rather surprised what's coming out of the mind. And it's plain as usual old dirt. And they say, oh, dear me, oops, where did that come from? I'm a new creation. The preacher told me last night that I would be a wonder this morning. So where did that come from? Now, rather than as a baby Christian say, I better get into the word to check up if the preacher conned me last night. In their babyness, they don't. Because they trust the man as the voice of God, because it definitely spoke to them and brought them to Christ. But as babies, they don't realize that in his overzealousness to get them converted, he rather took the pill and covered it with pink sugar to make them take it. And so they go on through the Christian experience, and they've got sin that they commit daily, and they can't understand what's the matter with me. I was under the impression I was going to be perfect. Well, they weren't being properly instructed that there is the process of changing a person from what they were to what they're going to be. And that there has to be the release of the divine life and a walk in Christ that is going to enable a person, though they know what they are, not to give what they are a positive value, but to walk with the power of Christ, not to be what they are today. And in that measure, be a new kind of a person. Now, if a person's not taught that, and they find that they've got converted, and they're still sinning, first thing they do is the doubt. So they play with lots of doubt. And so when you doubt that you were really saved, along comes the little baggage man with the reasons why. And the first one up that comes up and says, well, it's no surprise you're like this, brother. Don't doubt your salvation. The trouble is you don't have our experience. You see, there is another step to the Christian life. And so he opens his suitcase, and he brings out his another step to the Christian life to show you how to get over this hump. And so he will say to you, you have to have a certain experience, a certain doctrine. And as a baby Christian with a whole heart, you say, great, let's go for that, because I'm only too keen to get myself right with the Lord. And so you sweep into that doctrine. And they all, when they hear you, sort of mouth it, phrase it, say you believe it, hallelujah, amen. They say, great, he's through. And then you get up the next morning, switch on your tape recorder of a memory and say, I'm still here. I'm still here. And you say, oh, good grief. Now I've had that experience, conversion plus that that man in his suitcase. And I'm still kind of sinning. So what went wrong? And the minute somebody sees you depressed, around comes the next merchant with his case and says, well, brother, it's the lack of theological discipline. And here are the 10 basic steps of discipline that you need to adhere to psychologically, mentally, the rest of your career in life. And if you ever break one of these laws, once I've shown you them, oh, betide you. And so he puts round your neck a theological chain of a severe discipline of so many hours in Leviticus every morning, followed by Chronicles for lunch. And you can just see the joy beginning to emanate as the weight of your faith is around your neck. And you begin to be really free and happy. And you say, this is not much of a life, but let's do it. And you see, as you're doing this and you get up the next morning and you say, boy, today's good with all this weight and all this discipline. And I've been through all these things this morning. I've been on my head before the cold open window. I've got my pneumonia, but I've prayed for five hours and I've read Leviticus. And oh, you know, and you say, no, I've got that out of the way. Let's go live life. I'll just turn on my consciousness. It's outside of my prayer life. And guess what? Please. I'm still here. Good morning. Good morning. Oh, well, you know, when you get tired of the merchants, they come around with a theological issues of freedom and you discover that you've had every experience, including exorcism to get rid of all the spirits. You see, you've even, you've even submitted yourself to that and you've got rid of the spirits and you've had, you know, the touch of the miracle healer and everything. You submit yourself sincerely to all of that and you find that you still sin. You then have to look for a doctrine that will excuse your sin and not deal with it. And one of the handiest ones is to have a hyper super over balanced idea of election. And you will alienate it from the word for knowledge. You will just grab the term predestined to be the elect of God, but you won't say according to the full knowledge of God, because it will suit you in your sin to see at the dawn of world history, God divided all the people yet to be born. He divided them so many to hell and so many to heaven so that the heaven law of the elect and that law for the trash can. But unfortunately God was a little bit misty eyed and not really on the ball when he picked me because I have a sneaky suspicion. I should have been in a garbage can, but since I'm now on this side of the cross and he's spirit witnesses with my spirit, I'm a child of God, which is true. If you've been converted and I know that my past sins are forgiven and I have this witness that I'm going to heaven. Then he's elected me, but unfortunately he didn't realize what he was electing. And since I'm one of these people that are just rotten, then he's elected on a rotten person and he can't go back on his word. And so you find that people having gone around the whole circle of all sorts of theological issues usually end up grabbing that one because it's very handy because it's a good scapegoat for sin to keep doing it. But all that's necessary is to tell the person, hey, come off it. The evangelist cheated you. He should have warned you the night you came to Christ, you will still sin. In fact, all the way to heaven, you're going to be a sinner, but you're going to be a redeemed sinner. And there's going to be the redemptive continued work of Christ in your life from now right through to eternity. But it will be necessary for you not to excuse your sin, but to have a positive attitude towards your relationship with God to the extent that each time you sin, you're going to call it sin. You're not going to excuse it. You're going to call it what God calls it. Even if you've done it 70 times, seven in a day, he guarantees you he'll still forgive you. But your attitude is the one. You don't just simply sit back and say, well, if he's going to forgive me in the future, forgive me anyway. Of course he will. But there are consequences to suffer here on the earth for a person who does not repent of a sin, seek continued cleansing for the sin. That means they're no longer set apart for God because you can't be set apart for God or sanctified if you're still adhering to and practicing willfully and enjoying and thinking you have a theological right to commit sin. And so, of course, I can say quite definitely to you, the sins you're going to commit tomorrow, he'll forgive. But you're going to have to, in committing those sins tomorrow, acknowledge the sin and tell God that I've done it again, and I'm calling it what you call it, and then unite forces with him to reduce the practice of that. And remember in dying on the cross, he did not take away sin. He was punished for it. And he broke his dominion, which means it's no longer the master of your life. You no longer have to do it because you've no alternative. You are a person who has had sin's dominion broken in your life. Therefore, if you want to cooperate with Christ, you will confess it. Now, the great thing about confession is that although I know in my mind theologically he will continue to forgive me, by coming each day to say I'm sorry I've done it again, and you keep getting these forgiveness, it begins to develop in you an attitude of wanting one day when you're not going to have to come and say that. Now, I have seen it in pastoral counseling, where some of the preachers that I've had to counsel have particular sin, and in dealing with that pastor, and knowing where he lives in the country, if in the course of my travel through the country I'm coming anywhere near his town, I'll write in advance and say meet me for lunch. And we'll sit down for a lunch, or a coffee if it's a morning when I'm passing through at some time, and he knows that I know the best about him and the worst about him, and I'm counseling him and helping him. And he knows that even if he has to say to me in that restroom, brother Billy, before you even ask me, I'm going to tell you yes, I'm sorry, I did it again two weeks ago. He knows I'm not going to smash him in the face across the restroom table and walk out and leave him to pay the bill. I'd love to walk out and not pay the bill, don't get me wrong. But what I do is I still stay there, and because he knows I'm not going to leave him, and he knows that once he's confessed it to me as his counselor, that hey, I've done it, and I told God I'd done it, and I confessed it, and I got my forgiveness from the Lord. It does something for him to know that there is another pastor that still accepts him as a brother in Christ that's weak, and assures him of the theological truth that if he confesses and repents he'll be forgiven, and still stays and finishes the meal. So much so that there are times when I will meet a person like that, and I can tell from the moment I see them in the street all the way to the restroom that they're wishing we would hurry up and get settled in, say I pray for our meal, and get down to having the fellowship, because they're dying to tell me they haven't done it since the last scene, because they've started working to be able to thank me for the fellowship, and not walking out on them when they're sinning, by saying to me, and by the way since last time, I haven't done it, you see, I haven't done it. And they begin to work, to want in love, not to do it, and I think that's one of the healthiest reasons behind our constantly confessing our sin. Not to encourage his love, he'll never alter, not to make him come back and face the cross again to forgive us all over. It's being dealt with past, present, and future, but it's teaching us to love him, and love his constant forgiveness, and his high priesthood, to the extent that we will want to go through a day where we don't do that again, so that at night we can say, Lord I relied on you today not to do it, because I wanted to be able to come tonight with a different kind of prayer than the one yesterday of having to say I've gone and done it again. That is to be your attitude in the face of the theological fact that the future sin is also taken care of. At the back, Ian. Because the election that is unbalanced is where people destroy a person's free will in the matter. In other words, it states that God created people to be sent to hell with no choice or opportunity of ever going to heaven. But you find that anywhere in the Bible, election is mentioned, it is always accompanied by foreknowledge. In other words, God knows those who by their free will, and to be made in the image of God demands that free will, they will choose to say yes to the gospel. And that's why in advance, knowing what you will do by your free choice, you will say yes, he can go ahead even before you're born and elect you to salvation. But it's not a unilateral choice of God, Ian's for salvation and that person's for hell. It's Ian's for salvation, because I can tell when Ian is cornered with the gospel, that he'll make the choice. I've often tried to explain election and predestination by, for instance, somebody saying we're having a dawn feast and we've invited Strachan up for a bit of a snack with us. And did you get that? A dawn feast and we invite Strachan up for a meal. Yes. Now, and so you're busy in the room getting it ready, you see, and you're humming away to yourself with a little frying pan in the corner or something. Somebody comes in and says, what are you doing? And you say, Strachan's come up for the dawn feast. What are you making him? I'm making him scrambled egg. And they say, hold on a minute, listen honky-tonk. I know the guy and I know he just can't stomach scrambled egg, but he loves turkey and chips. You see? Now, if you're polite, you now have knowledge in advance of my coming. I know nothing about the conversation. I just know that the piece of paper comes through the door saying, hey, we're having a dawn feast, you coming up? And I say, sure, I'll come up. And I know nothing about your foreknowledge of my eating habits. And so you don't sort of make scrambled egg for everybody, open the door, say, come on in, Strachan, there's your rotten old turkey. We're having scrambled eggs. That's very rude. But as a matter of fact, what you do do is you prepare two dishes. And then one, you have scrambled egg, and then the other, you have turkey and chips. And so I come up the stairs and knock the door and you've hidden, deliberately hidden, the turkey and chips. And somebody says, what are you hiding that for? You know, that's what he wants. That's what he likes. And you wait. You see him choose it. I'm electing him to choose it. And so I come in and say, thanks, guys, for inviting me up for the feast. Boy, the smell in here. It's not like it usually is. It's food, food. You say, sit down, we're going to have a bit of fellowship. And I say, what's for eating? And you come, deliberately, you've got the turkey and chips behind your back. But you come in with the scrambled egg and you say, the scrambled egg. And I look at it and I say, boy, scrambled egg. Oh, wowee. And you're saying to yourself, you rotten little liar. I have poor knowledge about you. You hate scrambled egg. And that's why I've prepared turkey and chips that I haven't shown you yet. And I'm not going to make you take the turkey and chips. You're going to choose to take the turkey and chips. But at the moment, you don't even know it's in existence, but I've got it. And so I'm sitting there drooling at the mouth about this scrambled egg. And I look up and say, that's great. And I look around and I say, is there a choice? And you say, well, it just happens to be some old turkey and chips here. And I say, well, let me see. And so you bring it around and you've got in front of me two choices. Scrambled egg, turkey and chips. And I'm sitting there deliberating. I say, no, scrambled egg, turkey and chips, no decisions. I'm just trying to be a good Catenry student that says, no decisions, guidance, oh, oh, nothing about eggs there. Nothing about turkey there. And Balaam's ass, no. And you can't find it, you see. No, no, I'm sitting there and I'm looking at this turkey and chips. And you're laughing because you know perfectly well I'm going to have the turkey and chips. And you're even leaning the scrambled egg a wee bit forward, just a little bit on the forward side. And I say to you, well, although this scrambled egg looks nice, I think I'll have the turkey and chips. And you say, great, that's why I made it. And when I leave the room, you say to the other, I say, I told you, he was elected to take turkey and chips on the basis of my foreknowledge. But you didn't make me take the turkey and chips. You left me with the exercise of my free will to choose. But you knew in advance what I would choose, therefore you prepared in the choice what you knew I would take. Whereas the hyper-electionist does not allow that choice. He believes that God just walks into the room with the turkey and chips and puts it down and says, that's for you lot. And then goes over here and says, scrambled egg for you lot. No choice. So that's what the difference is. Thank you for the diversions. You certainly made sure that we didn't get as far as we should get in our look at Hebrews. So let's have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for today and for all that you've been saying to us in and through all of the lectures today. And thank you too for the knowledge that you have dealt with death and you've divorced us from its fear and teach us to understand that our physical death is an accomplishment and it's an act of grace to release us into that great life we're having with you. And we've discussed tonight forgiveness of sin and our attitude toward it. Teach us not just to rest in theological fact that you've finished a completed work and misuse it and go out and do our own thing. Teach us always to treat it with respect and not to insult the work of the cross. And constantly come and confess our sins and be forgiven that we may stay a sanctified people through whom you can manifest your holiness and constantly keep us from imbalance. See to it that we always acknowledge that you made us in your own image and gave us a right of choice. But thank you in knowing the choices we're making. You've gone ahead with everything from a perfect program for our life to all sorts of other things and prepared them in advance because you know what we're going to say and that's yes to God. Have a great time in us and do your will through us that others may find him and for thy name's sake. Amen.