In this sermon, the preacher reflects on Psalm 8 and the greatness of God's creation. He emphasizes the question posed in the psalm, "What is man?" and highlights the elevated position that God originally gave to humanity. However, due to the fall of man, humans lost their dominion over creation. The preacher then shifts to the topic of practical sanctification, explaining that God's will for Christians is to be set apart from evil and sin, as stated in John 17:17 and 1 Thessalonians 4:3. He emphasizes the importance of the Word of God in achieving this sanctification.

Let's bow in a word of prayer please. Our Father, again we thank Thee tonight for this book of Hebrews. We praise Thee for the truth of the fact that Christ is better than anyone or anything, and we pray tonight as we continue to study about Him that we may realize the wonderful position we enjoy because we are in Him and we are with Him. Help us, Lord, to understand that Christ died to bring many sons to glory, and where He is, His people are with Him. And so now, as we turn to Thy Word, may the Holy Spirit guide us and teach us. Lord, make the Word of God clear to us, give us alert minds, help us to take it in, help us to understand it, and to rejoice that we have such a wonderful Savior. We ask these things in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying for Thy guidance in His name. Amen. Now tonight we're in Hebrews chapter 2 again, and last week we got as far as what verse? I wasn't here, so I couldn't tell you. What verse did we get to? Pardon? Just got to verse 10, just before 11, was it? Yeah. And tonight we're starting in verse 11. Now last week we were talking about the fact that Jesus Christ is the kind of a Savior who is suitable to the character of God. Verse 10 says, For it became Him. That means that it suited God's character to make the captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings, and Jesus Christ is the only kind of Savior who is suitable to the God's character. There is no other, and that's why you can examine all the religions of the world and know this, that God's way of salvation, as it is in the New Testament, is the only one which is consistent with the kind of God we have. There isn't anything else. It's good to know that you're on the right way, isn't it? That's a wonderful thing. And you know it because this is consistent with the kind of God there is, that Christ should suffer, and in His suffering He demonstrates God's mercy and grace toward sinners, and in His suffering at the same time He pays completely all of the demands that God demanded against sin. It's all been done. Now, in verse 11, after it tells us about the completeness of the captain of our salvation who died to bring many sons to glory, in the 11th verse it says, For both He that sanctifyeth, and they who are sanctified are all of one. Now, I want to stop there for a moment tonight and do a little bit of explaining to you, which I haven't given to you in the notes, and that is on the subject of sanctification. And you've got a little piece of paper there, you can jot this down with you, because sometimes when you read the word sanctified and sanctification, you may not fully understand what it means. Now, the basic root meaning of the word sanctify is set apart. That's what the word sanctify means, and so you want to put that down, you can. The word sanctify means set apart. Now, you'll find generally in the Scriptures that when people were set apart, or when things were set apart, they were set apart for a holy purpose, and you'll find that holiness is associated with setting apart. But the root meaning means set apart, and it tells us here that the person who does the setting apart and those who are set apart are all of one. Now, in sanctification, when you're reading the Bible, you've got to understand what aspect of sanctification you're reading about when you read it, because every time you read the word sanctification, it does not always refer to the same thing. It has the same meaning, the word, but there are different aspects to sanctification. For instance, before you got saved, you were set apart. In other words, there was a setting apart work done by the Holy Spirit whereby you were brought to the place where you obeyed the gospel. Isn't that right? You were set apart for conviction. Now, I want to show that part for you, first of all. Now, put down, there are a number of things about sanctification. Put down, first of all, there is the sanctification of the Spirit. There is the sanctification of the Spirit. Now, when you get that down, I want you to turn over to 1 Peter chapter 1 for a moment, first epistle of Peter, and chapter 1 and the opening verses of that chapter. 1 Peter chapter 1 and the opening verses of the chapter. Now, here Peter is writing to the stranger scattered toward Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Lithuania. And then he says this about them in verse 2, "...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto," what? "...obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." So the sanctification of the Spirit is unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood. Now that's what happened when you got saved. You obeyed the gospel, and you were cleansed by the blood of Christ, and you got saved. That's how you came into the experience of being God's, what? The first word in the verse is what? Elect. How did you come into the experience of being God's elect? It was through what? Sanctification of the Spirit, which brought you on to what? Obedience, and the result was the what? Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now that's the first aspect of sanctification. There is the sanctification of the Spirit. This takes place before we are saved. Put that down. This takes place before conversion. Just put it that way. This takes place before conversion. And we need to understand that, because it brings us unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's one aspect of sanctification. And sometimes people, when they read a verse like this, they say, well now, this refers to the sanctification of Christians, that Christians need some experience after they're converted, whereby they are sanctified and begin to obey the Word. Now it's not what it's saying here. It's saying that we are the elect. That election, of course, in God's foreknowledge was according to foreknowledge of God the Father, but here's how we came into that experience. It was through the setting apart work of the Holy Spirit. It was unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. So put that reference down. 1 Peter 1, verse 2. 1 Peter 1, verse 2. This is how we were brought to salvation. All right, now I want you to go to another reference and go to 2 Thessalonians. The 2nd epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. And in the 2nd epistle here and chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, you'll find here in verse 13, Paul giving thanks for these Christians. Now here's what he says. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Now listen to this part. Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to what? Salvation through, now notice this part, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the what? Truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again he's saying this, that this salvation that we enjoy, we were brought to it through two things. Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the what? Truth. That's exactly how you get saved. The Holy Spirit set you apart in conviction and brought you to the place where you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you were saved. Now that's the sanctification of the what? Say it together, the Spirit. Now that's the first thing. And so it takes place before when? Conversion. It's the means whereby God brings a sinner to obey the truth and have the blood of Christ applied for salvation. Put that other reference on. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. All right. Now that's the first aspect of sanctification. Let me again go over this with you. What does the root meaning of the word sanctify mean? What? Set apart. And so the first setting apart work was of the what? The Spirit. Brought us on to what? Obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's how we get saved. That's the first aspect of sanctification. All right. Now the second aspect of sanctification is this. There is the sanctification by the sacrifice of Christ. First of all there's the sanctification of the Spirit, and then there's the sanctification by the sacrifice of Christ. Now this means that when you accept Christ as your Savior, you are instantaneously set apart from your sins through the offering of Christ. In other words, the offering of Christ has taken all of your sins and put them away, and because of that God is able to instantaneously sanctify you. That means set you apart from your sins. That's once for all. It's something that can't be repeated. It happens the moment you're saved. It can never be changed, and it is what is known as positional sanctification. Put down, this is positional sanctification. And it's sanctification through the sacrifice of Christ. This is positional sanctification. Now after you jot that down, I want you to look at a couple of references again. Now turn over to Hebrews chapter 10, the 10th chapter of Hebrews. And in Hebrews chapter 10 you'll find that the Old Testament sacrifices did not set people apart from their sins. In other words, their sins were not put away by animal blood. And it tells us in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 3 that in those animal sacrifices there is a what? Remembrance. Again made of sins every year. Then it says in verse 4, for it is not possible, it is absolutely impossible that the blood of bulls or of goats should what? Take away sins. And that simply means this, that it was impossible for people to be set apart from their sins through animal blood. Couldn't be done, because animal blood couldn't put away sin. Now then Jesus came, verse 5, wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. In other words, those animal sacrifices God would not accept as the means whereby sins were put away. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins thou hast had how much pleasure? No pleasure. God was not pleased with animal sacrifices to put away sins, and so then Jesus said, then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Jesus came to do the will of God, which the Old Testament sacrifices never did. He came to put away sin, making it possible for us to be set apart from those sins, and be perfect in God's sight. That's why it's positional. Not practical, it's positional. It means that the offering of Christ takes us and puts us in a place where our sins and iniquities are remembered no more. Now Jesus came and he did the will of God. Now by that will of God being done, we through his sacrifice are set apart. Now look at verse 10. Verse 10 says this, by the which will, that is by the will of God, which Jesus did, he came to do it, we are what? What is the root meaning of the word sanctify? Set apart, so we could say it this way. By the which will we are set apart through, now here's how we're set apart here, through the what? The offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. See there? Once for all. So that when you took Christ as your Savior, you put your faith in his sacrifice, then God because of that sacrifice sets you apart from your sins once for all. It's positional. You can't earn it, you didn't pay for it, Jesus paid for it. And so God gives you a sanctification which is positional. It cannot change because you never bought it in the first place. It isn't based on your perfection, it's based on a perfection which is given to you through the offering of Christ. See that? Now look at verse 14. It says in verse 14, here's what happens to those who are sanctified in this way. It says, for by one what? See it's through the sacrifice again. For by one offering he, that is God, hath what? Perfected along for forever. Whom? They that are sanctified. Verse 10 tells us who are sanctified. Who are sanctified? Verse 10. We are. Sure, it's simple as that, isn't it? So that's very logical. We are sanctified, and it tells you in verse 14 that we who are sanctified through the offering are perfect forever. Isn't that wonderful? We're perfect forever. Not perfect in ourselves, but we are given a perfection which was paid for by the sacrifice. See? That's the thing. And that can't change, that's positional. We were sanctified before we were saved by the what? Together? The Spirit. The moment we were saved, at that moment of conversion, we were sanctified through the what? Sacrifice. That is, by the blood. Now, turn over to Hebrews. Put Hebrews chapter 10, verse 10, verse 14 as a reference for yourself. Okay? So you get it done. Hebrews 10, and verse 10, and verse 14. And then turn over to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. And this is showing you sanctification through the what? Sacrifice. All right, now, in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 12, it says this, Wherefore Jesus what? Also. Is that the verse? Yes. That he might sanctify the people with his own what? Blood. Suffered where? Without the gate. And that means that Jesus went outside the city of Jerusalem, hung on the cross, shed his blood so that he might set apart his people by that blood. Okay? That's sanctification by the blood. That's by the sacrifice. So through the offering of Christ, we are set apart from our sins once for all. Hebrews 10, 10. We are perfect forever. Hebrews 10, 14. Jesus died that this might be so. Right? It says that he might sanctify the people with his own blood. He suffered without the gate. Now, that is positional sanctification. The other takes place before you're saved. Now, after you become a Christian. Then there's another aspect of sanctification we need to understand. Now turn over to John 17. And the third thing is, there is sanctification through the Scriptures. Put that down next. There is sanctification through the Scriptures. There is sanctification through the Scriptures. Now in John 17, verse 17, you have the high priestly prayer of Jesus for his disciples. And here's one of the things he prays to God for us. He says this, Sanctify them through thy what? Truth. Thy word is truth. And what he's praying is, and in this prayer he's asking that we might be kept from the evil which is in this world. He wants us to be holy, right? And he's saying the way in which we're going to be kept holy is through his word. How we're going to be set apart from the evil is through the Scriptures. That's why that's good for you to be here studying the Word of God, not just to get a lot of information, but you're here to study the Word of God because the Word of God has a cleansing effect upon your life, right? Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, Psalm 119, by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Jesus said in John 15, now you are clean through the word that I have spoken on to you. When you're studying the Word, and you're getting the word in, and you're memorizing the Word, the Word sets you apart, keeps you clean. Now that aspect of sanctification is not positional, it's practical. To put down this is practical sanctification. This is practical sanctification. It means that in the practice of your life, you are set apart day by day as you read the word, and you apply it to your life. That's sanctification. So that when someone comes to you, because there are ideas about sanctification which are very, very far from the Scriptures, and people will come and say, you know, three weeks ago I got sanctified. See? Well, there's nothing wrong with being sanctified three weeks ago, but I'll tell you, you ought to be being sanctified today, right? You see, sanctification is not an experience which takes place after conversion. Sanctification in the practical sense begins the moment you are saved, and as you study the Word and apply it to your life, more and more and more you become like Christ, and you're set apart from evil. See? Keeps you clean. And I'll tell you this, I don't know the way that you live today, but I'm sure that every day you live, you'll need to come to the Lord, don't you? We live in a dirty world, don't we? And we come in contact with defilement all the time, and we need to be sanctified, don't we? Every day. We need for the Spirit of God to take the Word of God and apply it every day, and that's why you see this sanctification is progressive. You see, it's practical, and as I read the Word and I apply it to my life, then the Lord sets me apart in my life, in my experience, unto God by the Word of God. Now that's practical sanctification. Now put down John 17 verse 17, and that's the practical aspect of things, you see. That's the will of God for Christians, that we should be separated, set apart from evil, and it's done through the Word of God, and it sets us apart from sin in the practical sense. That same aspect is found over in, where is it, 1 Thessalonians 4. Turn to that, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Here's another reference, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3, 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3. All right, now when you get that reference, here it tells you the will of God. It says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 3, For this is the will of God, even your what together? Well, what does that mean, that you should abstain from what? He's saying that you should be set apart from, you should not practice immorality, you should not engage in fornication, that you should be set apart from it, you should be separated from the unclean. That's true. But how does God set you apart? Through the what? The Scriptures. He takes the Word, just like Jesus, you remember, took a basin of water in John 13, and he washed the disciples' feet, didn't he? As they walked the pathway of earth, their feet got dirty every day. And when they came into the house, Jesus took the water and he began to wash their feet. He was applying the water to their feet. And every day we live, we need to come to the Lord again and let him take the water of the Word and apply it to our walk and make us clean. That's sanctification. That's practical. It isn't instantaneous, it's progressive. You see, you need to know more about the Word. I don't know all of the Bible. I didn't know all of the Bible when I got converted, and I still don't. And I need to know more of the will of God today than I did yesterday, and tomorrow I need to know more, right? And I need the Word of God to be applied to my life every day, so that I more and more and more and more am set apart in my experience from evil unto God. That's practical sanctification. And those are the three basic. And now there's another aspect of it, which, for instance, when the Lord comes back again, he's going to take us out of this world altogether, isn't he? And we shall be set apart completely. But that's in the second coming. We'll not deal with that. But these three basic aspects, let's go over them again. There is the sanctification of the what? Okay, when does that take place? Before conversion. And it brings us unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Secondly, there is the sanctification through the sacrifice of Christ. All right, it's what? Positional sanctification. It is once for all. It's through the blood. I don't pay for it. I don't earn it. God puts me in that position. My sins are gone. I'm saved. After I become a Christian, then begins a life of sanctification through the what? Scriptures. And the scriptures in my practical life are applied, and I'm set apart day by day. All right, now let's go back to Hebrews chapter 2. So we understand sanctification now. The word sanctify means what? Set apart. And that's the basic thing. And when you read the word sanctify in its root meaning, you'll find that that's true. It is associated with holiness. Yes it is. We receive a holy position, and we're set apart as a holy people, and the word saint is associated with it. But it doesn't always mean holiness. You'll find a bunch of fellows over at the end of the prophecy of Isaiah who sanctified themselves to eat swine's flesh and the abomination, unclean things. They were setting themselves apart for a wrong reason, but they were set apart. So you get that in your mind, and then people not be able to confuse you and say, if someone says to you, have you ever been sanctified? You say, yes, today. And yesterday. And the Lord willing, I hope I get sanctified tomorrow again, because I want to be clean in my Christian life. And yes, and how do you know you're sanctified? I'm sanctified through the offering of Christ. He died to set me apart from my sins. I am sanctified. And I was sanctified before I was saved. You know that. And the reason why people talk the way they do is because, you see, some people have preached and taught that sanctification is a second work of grace, subsequent from conversion, whereby your desire to sin is removed, you know. And I don't know about anybody like that. I've never met anyone like that. I've met people who said that they'd lost their sinful nature, but I didn't believe them. See? Now, I didn't believe them, not because I was doubting their word. It was because of the fact that the Bible says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and to what? The truth is not in us. Let's be honest. I remember a fellow came to me one time over in Grand Manana Island. I was having meetings there years ago, and he was asking me, he says he wanted to get me sanctified. He said, have you ever been sanctified? I said, I certainly have. He said, well, do you sin? Very straightforward question. Well, I tried not to. I seek by the grace of God to live a holy life, but I said, it's possible for me to sin. He says, you know something? I haven't sinned for five years. I almost took his picture, framed it, took it with me. I said, I haven't sinned for, that's right, he said, I haven't sinned for five years. I said, well, you haven't. I think that might be the first one, because it's a lie. He said, you know, no, I said, really, I haven't. He said, my wife has. Talk about pride. I was thinking, if it was fortunate his wife wasn't there, she'd have crowned him. It's ridiculous to make a statement like that. Now, I'm not saying it isn't possible to have victory over sin. God wants us to have victory over sin, isn't that right? Sure. But to make the statement that you've had an experience whereby you're now perfect in practice, you're being ridiculous. We're not perfect in practice. One day we shall be, thank God. We'll be taken out of the presence of sin. But we're perfect in position, right? Because the blood of Christ has put away our sins. That's positional sanctification. But I want to be more like Jesus today than I was yesterday. See, that's progressive sanctification in my practical life. Now, in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 11, when it says the sanctifier, that refers to Jesus. And the sanctified, that refers to us. Now, here we have the aspect of sanctification which is positional in this verse. In other words, we have been set apart through the offering of Christ, and Jesus died to take us to glory. In verse 10 it tells us that, that to bring many sons to glory. Now, here's what it says about the sanctifier and the sanctified. You see, what he's showing us here is this, that when Jesus entered heaven as the captain, he brought his people with him. We're with him. And if you don't get this in your heart, the devil will come to you now and again and try to indicate, well now listen, your position is based on your practice. It isn't. Jesus died, and he rose again, and he ascended into heaven, and every Christian is represented with him where he is. I'm where he is, in the sight of God. We are all of one. He's not ashamed to call us his brethren. That's an amazing statement, isn't it? It says, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. You see, when Jesus rose again from the dead, because he lives, we live. And when he ascended into heaven, because he ascended, we ascend. And the position of every Christian is the same as the position of Jesus Christ. It's a great truth. We need to learn that. Now, let me just show you a reference here that I've given you in your notes. And I'm going to give you a reference here on that in John. What chapter is it? John chapter 20. Now, turn to that reference. John chapter 20. Now, after Jesus rose again from the dead, and he sent a message to his disciples. It was a lovely message, in which he made this interesting statement in verse 17. When Jesus said to Mary, touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren. Now, Jesus never called his disciples his brethren before this time. Never. He called them his friends one time, didn't he? And they were his disciples, but now he calls them his brethren. And he says, go tell my brethren. Now, he usually tells them. This is the message to them. I ascend unto my Father, and what? You see, we're all one. His Father is my Father. Isn't that great? And he says, unto my God and your God. His God is my God. Tremendous thing. And we're his what? Brethren. He's not ashamed to call us his brethren. He became a man. He died on the cross, and I've given you a little phrase there, and it's this. The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that we, the sons of men, might become the sons of God. Isn't that terrific? You're not smiling any more than you did last week when I played them the tape. Did you hear me telling you to smile on the tape last week? Here, any of you were here. They could see you. But it's great, you know. That's a thrilling thing to me, because here I am, and Jesus is not ashamed to call me his brethren. And he's saying to me, he said, listen, my God, is your God. My Father is your Father. And that doesn't mean that his Father is my Father in the same sense, but in the same family. Not in the same sense. You see, God is the eternal Father of Jesus, isn't he? Jesus is the eternal Son of God. But God became my Father because Jesus became a man, right? And now the one who is his eternal Father is my loving Father too. The one who was his in a unique sense, his God, is my God. All because Jesus came down and became the captain of salvation and led me up to that position, to glory. That's where we are tonight. We sit where he sits. We're together. The sanctifier, who's the sanctifier together? Jesus. Who are the sanctified? We are. And we're all of what? One. That means that his Father is what? And his God is? And he's not ashamed to call us his what? Brethren, you see. He says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. And he said that after he suffered, after he died. You see, Jesus died not only to save us from hell. One of the things you'll learn in the book of Hebrews and many of these books in the New Testament is this. Jesus not only died to save you from hell. That's only one part of it. Jesus died to lift you to glory. Isn't that good? To lift you right up to glory. That's what it says here. To bring you up to the place where you're his brethren. And his Father is your Father. And his God is your God. And he's not ashamed to call you that. That's a tremendous position. And he wants us to see that we're together. You see, the captain ascended into the glory and he brings his people with him. And every Christian, saved by God's grace, is seated where Jesus is. Now he shows it in another way in the next verse. Now notice what it says in the next verse. Go back now over to Hebrews chapter 2, where he says this, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the, what? The church, will I sing praise unto thee. And I've given you here this combination, the singer and the saints. And it isn't the saints singing, really. Who's singing? Christ is singing. I think that's a marvelous thing. You see, we talk about us singing the hymn. But you know, the Lord Jesus is so happy that he's with his people. He's in the midst of his people that he's singing praises to God. And that shows you a tremendous truth. That the Lord is delighted that because he died, he now has a family. And he's in the midst of that family. And we're all around him because we're two or three are gathered together in his name. He's where? In the midst. And we're around his person. And Jesus is praising God in the midst of the saints that we're with him. It always amazes me that people would say, well now, the Lord Jesus, who went and died on the cross to save sinners from their sins, that he would allow them to be anywhere else except with him. Jesus died that we might be with him. And from the moment he rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he is, we are in the sight of God. And as God looks at you tonight, he sees you in Christ. And he sees you with Christ. And where Jesus is, we are. Can't be otherwise. Because we're in him, isn't that right? We're in Christ. I was talking to my Genesis class the other day. We were dealing with the ark. And I was telling them that fact. I said, you know, when the ark rose up with the waters of the flood, and Noah and his family were in it, and God shut them in, wherever the ark went, they went, whether they liked it or not. Right? See, Noah could be having a bit of a fight with his wife in the ark, possibly. He was there for about a year, you know. And it must have been terrible. I mean, it must have been. No, I mean, in those quarters, you know, and all of those animals. You can imagine all the animals in the ark, and Noah and his family, and they're in there for that length of time, and only one window. Oh boy. Right? And one door. There may have been a little bit of an altercation again, now and again. Noah was a human being. So was his wife. With three sons and their wife. May have been a little battle now and again. But in spite of the fact of what they were, or what they were saying to each other, wherever the ark went, they went. Because they were in it. Right? So when the ark rose up, they did too. Why they were in it. Be ridiculous for, if you'd gone to Noah in the ark and said, Noah, what's your position? Well, my position's way down there. Well, I mean, what are you doing up here? Well, I'm in the ark. But the thing is, I don't feel too good. Nothing to do with his feelings. It had nothing to do with the fact as to whether he could lose his temper or not. And he could, probably. So could you. To be honest. You're getting nasty now and again, aren't you? You ever get hard to live with? Sure you do. People look at you all the time. I'll guarantee this. There are moments that the people were to step into your presence that would start to be put into question whether you got converted or not. There's not a moment like that, isn't there? Let's be honest. There isn't. But you see, here's the thing we need to grasp is this. The grace of God is wonderful. God doesn't save us and leave us out here on our own to make our own way. He takes us the moment we're saved and he puts us in Christ. And then what we have is this. We've got a position. And where Jesus goes, we go. Just when the ark rose up and eventually rested up in the top of Mount Ararat, that's where Noah was. Because that's what the ark was. He was in it. You're in Christ. Christ rose up. What happens to you? You rise up, isn't that right? If you're in Christ, is that true? Christ rises up. What happens to you? Say it together. We rise up. Sure. When Christ sat in heavenly places and we're in him, where are we? In heavenly places. That's exactly what the Word of God says. In the book of Ephesians, it says we're made to live together with Christ. And we're raised up together with Christ. And we're made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places. That's where we are tonight. Not where we think we should be. That's where we are. That's why Jesus praises God. Because when he died and rose again, he brought every Christian up to where he is. That's where we are tonight. That amazes me, and I can't fully grasp it, but I thank God for it. Because I'd never make that position myself. Neither would you. You see, don't allow the devil to come along to you and say, listen, you'll get saved if you hang on. You are not saved because you're hanging on to Christ. You get the picture. Can you imagine Noah and the ark? You know what I mean? Let me just draw the picture for you here. In your mind, you've got, take for instance, say there was the ark. It had three stories and all that there, you know. And a terrific artist, you know. I should do this for a living, but I don't. And there's one door and window up here in the roof. Now, the ark was going through the flood. Here's a flood. And then you see, Noah and his family, God wants them to be saved from the flood. And you can just imagine them, you see. Here they are hanging on. You see? And all these little fellows hanging on here, you see. And there they are. See? The water's starting to come up above them. They'd last about five minutes. Get waterlogged first of all, then drowned. You see, Noah and his family were not saved by hanging on to the ark. They weren't hanging on, they were in it. Is that right? They were in it. They were inside here. And the reason why the water didn't touch them was because they were in the ark. They were in it. Now, let me just say this. You are not safe because you are hanging on to Christ, because you don't have a grip powerful enough to hang on to. Isn't that true? Haven't you learned that? You're safe because you're in Christ. In, those two words, in Christ. That's where we are. And when Christ rises up, we go with him. He's in heavenly places, we're with him because that's our position. That's where we are. That's why Christ is singing. He says in the midst of the congregation. Well, where's the congregation? The congregation's where he is, isn't it? He says, in the midst of this congregation will I sing praise unto thee. And then in that next verse here, let's look down at the next verse. You see, he's showing us we're together. It's great, you see. The captain brought us up to where he is. Verse 13, and again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath, what? Given me. You see, Jesus, with implicit trust in his father, when he died on the cross, knew that he would be raised from the dead, and he would ascend into heaven, and that God would be faithful to him, and those who were saved would be given to him. Quite a thing, too. It says, behold, I, that's the son, and the children, that's the sons, they're together, whom God hath given me. Now here's a wonderful thing. I can understand when God gives me Christ as my Savior. Isn't that good? And he gives me eternal life. I can sit here, stand here tonight and rejoice in the fact that all the Lord has given me, has given me peace, he has given me forgiveness, he has given me mercy, he has given me everything, literally all things to enjoy. And then I read a verse like this, he gave me to Christ. We are God's gift to Christ. That's quite a thing. Do you think he'd hang on to you? Oh, you're too precious, you know, for us to see this. You see, he took his people and he gave us as a gift to his son. He says, behold, I and the children whom God hath, what? Given me. We are God's gift to his son when he rose again from the dead. And that's a thrilling thing. It shows this, you see, that the sanctifier and the sanctified are together. The singer and the saints are what? Same thing. Say it? Together. The son and the sons are? Together. So if you want to know where you are in the sight of God, find out where he is. Right? Where is Jesus tonight? Right hand of God. Where are we? Exactly. That's good, you're getting it. That's great. The devil would try to make it otherwise, wouldn't he? He'd like to tell you that you're, well, positioning your way down here. Now, practically you're down here. I don't get any ideas about the fact that practically you're up in heaven because you're not. You're right here in this little room and listening to me. And I'm here. See, that's the thing. This is positional truth. What kind of truth is it? Positional truth. Practical truth is this. Practically, we're in the world. Practically, we're fighting battles. Practically, we fight against sin. Practically, we can change. We sure can. We can change. But positionally, we can't. Why? Because we're in who together? Christ. And the sanctifier and the sanctified are what? Together. And the singer and the saints are? Together. And the son and the sons are? Together. That's positional truth and it can't change. That's why Jesus became the captain. That's why he's such a great captain. He's the captain of our salvation and he died to bring us to glory to be with him. And positionally, that's where we are. One day, practically, we'll be there. But positionally, we are there because we're in Christ. Now, let's look at the, after you have the church and the Savior. That was the last telling we had there in your notes, I think. And now we come to the children and the Savior. We got that in your notes? Sure. Now, in verse 14, let's look at verse 14. It says, For as much then as the, what? Children are partakers of flesh and blood. Do you have his partaking with the children? What did he partake with the children? He says, He also himself likewise took part of the same. In other words, he participated in our humanity. Now, it doesn't mean that Jesus was always a man. He wasn't. He became a man. And he came down to live as a human being. And he did it for a reason. Jesus did it because of the children. Do you know what he says here? Because the children are partakers of flesh and blood. In other words, they're human beings. He also himself, what? Became a human being. That's what he did. And the marvelous thing is, as you enter these verses, that he became a human being and there was a purpose in it. You notice he says that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil. He came to destroy the devil on behalf of the children, to destroy Satan. And then to deliver slaves, verse 15, and deliver them who through fear of death would all their lifetime subject to what? Bondage. We were in bondage to the fear of death. Jesus died to set us free and he did. Death has no more dominion over you Christians. Jesus destroyed the devil. The devil is defeated. Now I know that the devil still exists and one day he'll be cast into the bottomless pit. But we do not need to back up from the devil anymore. We don't need to back down from Satan. We don't have to fear him either. We should fear God, right? You don't have to be afraid of the devil. Why? Because Jesus defeated him. And he became a human being that he might do that. He might die. You see, Jesus became incarnated. That means he entered a human body so that he might die. He couldn't have died if he hadn't lived as a human being. So he had to become a man. And he did die. And that death was sufficient to destroy the devil, to destroy Satan and to deliver slaves. And no longer are we in bondage to the fear of death. Why? You see, death doesn't only mean physical death. Death is worse than that. Death physically is the separation of your spirit from your body. Spiritual death is the separation of your whole person from God. But there's the second death. And the second death is a lake of fire and the second death is separation from God forever. And thank God we don't have to fear that. Now, that doesn't mean that a Christian looks forward to dying. It doesn't mean that at all. If I were to say to you tonight, you know, it's wonderful, you know, that the possibility you might die tonight. You're not running around saying, isn't it marvelous? See? Sure. Or if I'm in a car sometimes driving in the wintertime and things begin to turn in directions it shouldn't, and ice and so forth, and you say to the people in the car, now don't worry, we're all saved, we're going to heaven. They don't all start singing praise God to whom all blessings flow or anything like that. They're hoping the car will straighten around, they'll still be alive after we get out of it. See? There's a difference. None of us look forward to dying in that sense. But you see, death is no longer a terror to us. The fear's been taken out of it in that regard. And that's why you see that when Christians die there's hope in it, isn't there? The hopefulness is there because Christ died to deliver from the fear of death. You may not look forward to dying, but that doesn't mean to say you fear death. Death has no more dominion over you. The death of Christ has taken care of that. The death of Christ took the sting out of death, which is sin. And one day, even if we do die physically, when Jesus comes back again, the graves will open and Christians in glorified bodies will rise up in a moment in the twinkling of an eye out of them to meet the Lord in the air, and then it says death will be swallowed up in victory, and it's all because Jesus died. He conquered death. And we're delivered. And we'll be singing one day as we look down, if we die before Jesus comes, we look down into an open grave, and we'll be singing, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Because Jesus became a man and he died. We're set free. That's good, isn't it? That's a great thing to look forward to. You see, the purpose for the children was that there might be deliverance from slavery and the destruction of Satan. Now, let me look at verse 16 for a moment. It says, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Now, I said something to you in chapter 1, which I'm sure you would all remember and wouldn't forget. I don't know about all of you or not, because I asked the question on a test and some didn't remember it. And it was this, that when you find words in italics, it means what? Good, that's it. They were not what? In the original. They were not there, so they were supplied. Now, there's a whole lot of words in this verse which were not in the original. You see the words, him the nature of, and then the word him again. They're all in italics, see? Now, when you take them out, it reads like this, For verily he took not on angels, but he took on the seed of Abraham. See that? Now, if you have a marginal reference, you've got number five beside took on, not on. See there? And in the margin it gives you this, taketh not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold. Right? Now, you see, if you read it the other way, it means this, that Jesus did not take on the nature of an angel. He didn't become an angel, but he became a human being. Right? And that's true. That would be true. There's nothing wrong with that interpretation, but really because that's true. Jesus did not become an angel, he became a human being. But here's the great truth about this, that Jesus not only became a human being, but he became a human being so that he might take hold of us, believers. And the seed of Abraham is a very interesting phrase, because it is those who believe, those who are saved, who are Abraham's seed, not because that they're Jews or they become Jews, no, but because they have believed. Abraham is the father of those that what? Believe. And we, because we are in Christ, you see, Christ is Abraham's seed, and we're in Christ, and we are Abraham's seed. Nothing wrong with that phrase. But not by the flesh, but by faith we are. And it's saying that Jesus took hold of us, believers, not angels. No salvation provided for angels, but he took hold of us. He became a man. He destroyed Satan. He delivered slaves, and he took us to himself, the seed of Abraham. Now, just to prove another point to you a moment, turn over to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. And in Galatians chapter 3, you'll notice two verses I want you to look at in relation to Abraham's seed. Verse 16, first of all. Verse 16. Now to Abraham and his what? Seed where the promise is made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, unto thy seed, which is what? Christ. Okay, so we know first of all that Abraham's seed is who? Christ. All right, now look at verse 29. In verse 29 it says, If ye be Christ, then are ye what? Abraham's seed, and theirs according to the promise. In other words, if you belong to Christ, then Christ is Abraham's seed, and you put on Christ. You notice in verse 27 it says, For as many of you as have been baptized unto Jesus Christ have put on what? Christ. If you're in Christ, you belong to Christ, you're Abraham's seed, because Christ is what? Abraham's seed. Previously in that same chapter, you'll notice it says in verse 7, Know ye therefore the day which are of what? Faith. The same are the what? Children of Abraham. So the three verses there which indicate that Abraham's seed refers to first of all Christ, secondly those who belong to Christ, and they belong to Christ by faith. That's you and me. And so the Lord Jesus came down, became a man so that he might take hold of us, and we are his. Now, time's just about gone. I think I'll leave it there tonight because I want to deal a little longer with verses 17 and 18 on the priesthood for the children. What it means for Jesus to become a man with his children, to be the right kind of priest on our behalf. But I'm going to leave it there because we've got about five minutes, and I'm going to do a little something different tonight. We'll have a word of prayer, and then if you've got a question, I'm going to leave it open for you, any question up to this point, and we'll try to answer it for you. Let's pray. Our Father, now we thank thee for thy precious Word. We praise thee for its truth. Thank thee for these dear men and women who come here week after week, and we pray that the Word may have a sanctifying effect on all of us, that our hearts may rejoice tonight because we've been set apart from our sins. We are seated in Christ and with Christ, and we're all of one. His Father is our Father. His God is our God, and he's singing praises because we belong to him. This is amazing when we realize how sinful we are by nature. Bless thy Word to our hearts. In Christ's name, amen. Psalm 8. And in that psalm, you'll find he's saying this, when you look at the heavens, the work of God's fingers, the glory of it all. What is man, eh? The dark mantle of him. You know, when you stand, go out onto the stars. I was out onto the stars this morning about five to six, so James and I were out running up the road there in the highway, having a bit of a jog together to about four or five miles, and we were talking about this. Out there looking up into the heavens. It was beautiful this morning. Probably some of you never saw it, but anyway, it was nice. I'll tell you about it. Stars were out, clear, crisp, cool, lovely morning for running. You don't run every morning, unless it's God's grace. Out there we were. I'm looking up, just saw that very thing. When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, eh? What is man? Psalm 8. What is man? What am I? The dark mantle of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownedst him with glory and honor. Thou hast sent him over the works of thy hands. What a tremendous position God gave man in the beginning, right? And put everything, he says, subdue the earth, all the animals, all the cattle, all the creeping things, all the birds, all the fish. Control the whole thing. Have dominion. Well, does he have dominion? No. That's why it says, but now we see not yet all things put unto him. Why? Because man failed, and we're part of a fallen race, and the world is not in subjection to it anymore. And the animals are not in subjection to us. Some of the hunters wish they were this month. You know, if they see you first. What we have now is the fear of man is upon the animals, but man does not control them. No, no. He lost control, didn't he? He lost the crown. He lost the glory. But we're going to get it back, see? We're getting it back. Because Jesus not only died to save us from hell, he died to bring us back to glory, see? So that the world will be in subjection to us again, see? That's going to be a great thing. That's what it's teaching in these verses. And the time is gone. That's the way it goes. Time flies. But you know, the next verse says, but we see Jesus. And that pings us to a wonderful Savior. And of course, what a wonderful Savior he is. Now, we'll have a word of prayer, and then I want to give you some instructions about it next week. And it's going to be interesting. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, now we thank thee for this time spent together. There's so much that could be said about Christ, and about the wonderful position that you have given to men, which they have lost. And we thank thee, Lord, that Jesus Christ died to bring many sons to glory. As we go on through this book of Hebrews, help us to appreciate him more, to serve him better, to love him in a deeper way, and get to know this book in the way we should. Help us, Lord, to discover the gifts which were given as a witness to the Church, according to the will of the Spirit. Bless thy word to our hearts, we pray in Christ's name, for his sake. Amen.