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Sermon #2254 — Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: Why did Christ come?
Text: Hebrews 2:9-18 Date: Tuesday Evening — December 22, 2015 Subject: The Necessity of the Incarnation Readings: Cody Henson and Allen Kibby Introduction:
The title of my message tonight is WHY DID CHRIST COME? Why did the Son of God assume our nature? Was there any necessity for the incarnation? If so, what could the necessity have been? I ask these questions, not with the irreverence of carnal curiosity, but with utter reverence for God my Savior?
If he who is over all God, blessed forever, stoops to become a man, if he who is rich makes himself poor, if he who is Lord of all becomes himself a servant, there must be some great, divine necessity for such condescension. What was that necessity? Surely, the answer to that question will inspire the hearts of ransomed sinners to love, worship, and serve him all the more. Surely, to discover the answer to these questions will be edifying to our souls.
And the answer is not at all difficult to find. It is not tucked away and hidden in some secret code. This Book is not the hiding of God, but the Revelation of God. Why did Christ come? · He came to do the will of God (Hebrews 10:5-14). · He came to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). — “Jesus!” — “Immanuel!” · He came to die, that God might be just and the justifier of all who believe (Romans 3:24-26).
Many, many passages of Scripture are specifically devoted to telling us why Christ came. There is no reason for anyone to be in the dark about the purpose of our Lord’s incarnation. But there is no place in the Word of God where the purpose and necessity of our Lord’s incarnation is so fully explained, especially in the light of the Old Testament Scriptures as it is in the Book of Hebrews. Here it is explained to us in many ways. — Christ is better! He is better than… · The Angels. · Moses. · Aaron. · The Carnal Ordinances. · Carnal Promises. · The Priests. · The Old Covenant. · The Old Sacrifices. · The Tabernacle.
Tonight, I want you to hold your Bibles open on your laps at Hebrews 2:9-18. Here the Holy Spirit gives us five answers to the question – WHY DID CHRIST COME? Here are five reasons, five necessities for the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To Die
1st — Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God came into this world, assuming our nature, “for the suffering of death.” (v. 9-13)
“But we see Jesus!” — What a way to begin my message. — “But we see Jesus!” — How do we see him? · Not by dreams and visions! · Not by idolatrous pictures of a wimpy, effeminate looking man! Every believer sees the Lord Jesus Christ the same way Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham did, by faith, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). We see him as he is declared throughout the pages of Holy Scripture. — “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). True God-given faith believes the record of Holy Scripture (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Job said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:5). By God given faith “we see Jesus”… · As God our Savior incarnate, the Word of God, the Son of God, God the Son made flesh! — “Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.” We see him leaving glory and coming to this sin cursed earth “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10; Philippians 2:7-9). We see him as the God-man Mediator performing perfect righteousness for us by his faithful obedience to the law of God (Hebrews 2:15-17; Romans 4:6).
· We see the Lord Jesus Christ as the only substitionary sacrifice for sin, “that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (every one he represents). I’ll say more about this in a minute, but verses 10-17 describe those for whom the Lord Jesus suffered and died, whose sins he put away by the sacrifice of himself. The “every man” (or the every one) spoken of here are God’s elect in, Christ’s “brethren,” the “seed of Abraham.” Christ died for their sin, not to make their salvation possible but rather to make it certain and eternally secure (Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 9:11-12; 10:14-17).
· We see the Lord Jesus Christ as totally successful and absolutely victorious, “crowned with glory and honor.” He is “the Captain of our salvation.” He was delivered for our offences and raised because he accomplished the perfect, full, complete redemption and justification of his covenant people (Romans 4:25; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 12:2). His resurrection and enthronement is proof, pledge, ground, and guarantee that all for whom he suffered and died as Surety (Hebrews 7:22), Mediator (1 Timothy 1:9), and Representative (Romans 5:19) will be glorified by him, in him, and with him (Ephesians 2:4-6).
Hebrews 2:9 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
God’s darling Son, our Lord Jesus Christ came down here as a man, as one of us, assuming a real human body and a real human soul, made in all things like we are, sin alone excepted, that he might be in a condition in which he could suffer death. As once Joshua saw the sun go back ten degrees, here the Sun of Righteousness went ten degrees backward. · He became lower than his Father by voluntary subjection to him, as his Servant. · He became lower than the angels, for a while, being made in the likeness of sinful flesh. · And he became the lowest of men, the very least in the kingdom of heaven, that he might save his people from their sins. · He who is greater than all became the least of all, that he might give us all! — Why?
“That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man,” — He came here to save. In order to be our Savior, the Son of God had to become our Substitute and our Sin-Offering. He had to die. But he could not die, except he become a man. Therefore he became a man that he might, by the grace of God, die for men, under the wrath of God! — Justice had to be satisfied (v. 10).
Hebrews 2:10 “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
The first reference here is to God, the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. — “For it became him.” — Salvation was an act worthy of God and characteristic of his nature of love (for God is love). He is the first cause of all things in creation and grace, and they are all for his glory and good pleasure.
The second reference is to God’s elect. — “In bringing many sons unto glory.” These sons are those sinners chosen and predestinated to the adoption of children, redeemed by Christ, called by his Spirit, and heirs of heavenly glory. There are many of them out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue (Romans 8:28-31; Revelation 5:9).
The third person mentioned is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God. — He is here called, ”The Captain of their salvation.” He is called the Captain of our salvation because… · He is the Author of it. · He is our King and Lord. · He is our Guide and Leader.
By the Father’s purpose and love (John 3:16) and because of the Father’s righteousness and justice, the Savior must suffer perfectly all that the law and justice of God required of us (Romans 3:19-26). The only way that Christ could redeem us in agreement with the attributes of God was to suffer, and that in a just and perfect manner (Luke 24:26-46). Thus, he “died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
The only way justice could be satisfied for us, the only way Christ could sanctify us, was by he himself becoming one of us and one with us (v. 11).
Hebrews 2:11 “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.”
Hebrews 10:14 — Christ is both our Sanctifier and our Sanctification; and all who are sanctified by him have one Father. We are, as the chosen, adopted sons of God, his dear brethren. Christ is the first-born among many brethren; and he is not ashamed to acknowledge this relationship with us (Matthew 12:46-50; John 20:17). In Christ and with Christ all believers have one Father, we are one family, we are one body, and we are beneficiaries of one covenant. Though he is God over all, he is not ashamed to own us as brothers. Imagine that!
All those Christ came to save, all for whom he tasted death by the grace of God, all his chosen brethren, are the gift of God to him (vv. 12-13).
Hebrews 2:12-13 “Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” — 13 “And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.”
The apostle quotes these words from Psalm 22:22 (without doubt a psalm of Christ) as proof of what he said in verse 11. The quotation in verse 13 is from Isaiah 8:17-18.
Psalms 22:22 “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.”
Isaiah 8:17-18 “And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.”
How is it that Christ receives his people as the gift of God? · He received his children as a gift form the Father (John 17:2). · He receives them as a purchase paid for by his blood (1 Corinthians 6:20). · He receives them from the Holy Spirit as those who are called; they come to him in faith (John 6:37-45).
Destroy Satan
First our Savior came into this world “for the suffering of death,” that he might die the painful, shameful, ignominious of the cross… · As our Substitute! · As our Sin Bearer! · As our Shame Bearer!
2nd — The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as a Man, so that he might crush the serpent’s head, as the woman’s promised Seed (v. 14).
Hebrews 2:14 “Forasmuch 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 had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
This is what was promised back in Genesis 3:15.
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Since those whom he redeems are of human nature, Christ also became a man and assumed a human nature like theirs. He took flesh and blood upon himself, and became subject to all the temptations and infirmities we must endure, and even became subject unto death. But Christ took his nature from a woman, not a man, so that he might be entirely free of sin until he was made sin for us.
We were under sentence of death because of sin. In order to bear our sins and the wrath, judgement, and justice of God for us, in order to redeem us, Christ had to become a man (1 Corinthians 15:21), a man who could die as a sinner under the law. God cannot die, but God in the flesh can and did.
Satan is called, “him that had power over death,” not because he has power to do anything on his own, but because, like a black-hooded hangman, God gave him the power. Satan cannot kill or destroy anything, or anyone, except by God’s permission. He is said, to have the power of death, also, because he introduced sin, which brought death. Sin is the sting of death, and sin is the force and power of Satan’s kingdom.
Christ destroyed his power for us. He crushed the serpent’s head, and bound him with the chain of his omnipotence (John 11:25-26; Revelation 20:1-6). — “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Deliver Us
3rd — The Son of God came down here to die for us, that he might, by the merit of his blood and the power of his grace, deliver us from the fear of death (v. 15).
Hebrews 2:15 “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
Since the Lord Jesus has taken away our sin and guilt, since he has fulfilled all righteousness for us, since he has paid all our debt, since he has destroyed Satan, since he has taken possession of heaven for us, as our forerunner, believers have no reason to fear death.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again for us, for redeemed sinners, for those who are in Christ, death is the dawn of eternal day. It is not for us a punishment for sin, but the annihilation of sin. Death is, for ransomed souls, the door to eternal bliss, the gate to glory. — I do not understand how any sinner can die with his senses without Christ. But for those who are in Christ, all fear of death is most unreasonable.
Our Surety
4th — The Son of God came down here and became a man, because he had become the Surety for all God’s elect in the covenant of grace, because he laid hold of God’s covenant seed in old eternity and promised to save them (v. 16).
Hebrews 2:16 “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.”
· He passed by the fallen angels (Jude 6). · He passed by the multitudes of Adam’s fallen race. · But he would not, he could not, and he did not pass by the chosen seed of Abraham, God’s elect! · Romans 9:11-26
Our Savior
5th — The Lord Jesus Christ came down here in flesh and blood, lived, died, and rose again as a man, just like us, so that he could be the Savior we need (vv. 17-18). — There was no other way for God to save us (v. 17).
Hebrews 2:17 “Wherefore in all things it behoved 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.”
· Had he not become a man, he could not have become our High Priest to make a sacrifice and atonement for sin (Hebrews 5:1). · Had he not become a man, he would have had nothing to offer as a sacrifice for sin, no blood to shed (Hebrews 9:11-12). · Had he not become a man, to obey the law of God for us, he would have no righteousness as a man to plead as our Mediator in the court of heaven (Romans 5:19). · Had he not become a man, he could never have been made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). · Had he not become a man, he could not have died.
Only by becoming a man could the Lord of Glory become a great High Priest who has himself endured and prevailed over all the temptations we face (v. 18).
Hebrews 2:18 “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”
The Lord Jesus was tempted in all things. — He suffered. He hungered. He thirsted. He was despised. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Therefore he is able to sympathize with us and aid us in our infirmities. · The Wilderness! · Gethsemane! · Calvary!
1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
The way, the only way, by which we escape every trial and temptation is Christ, our great Savior. What more can I say? — “THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT!”
Amen.
Don Fortner
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