WWUTT 1813 Made Like Us In All Things (Hebrews 2:14-18)

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Jesus Christ is the God -man. He left his throne in heaven, put on flesh, and dwelt among us.

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He lived a perfect life, died for us, rose again from the dead. He became like us, so we might become like Him when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the Word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We've been in Hebrews 2 this week, finishing up the chapter today.

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As we come back to our passage in verses 10 through 18, I'll begin reading from the

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Legacy Standard Bible. This is the Word of the Lord. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

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For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,

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I will recount your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly I will sing your praise.

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And again I will put my trust in him, and again behold I and the children whom

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God has given me. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

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For assuredly he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the seed of Abraham.

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Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

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For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to help those who are tempted.

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Yesterday we finished with verse 13, where there was a couple of Old Testament references here, one in the

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Psalms and the other in Isaiah. I will put my trust in him, and again behold I and the children whom

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God has given me, showing here how we are brothers and sisters with the

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Lord Christ. And so that same word children that's used there in verse 13 carries over into 14.

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Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same.

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And remember the reference to children here, that's us. We who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have been adopted into the family of God by faith, we are his brothers and sisters, he being our older brother.

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I referenced Mark 3, where Jesus says, who are my brothers and sisters? They who do the will of my

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Father. So since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also took on flesh and blood.

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This reference to flesh and blood here is not about communion, it's about literally what we're made of.

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We're made up of flesh and blood. So when Jesus became incarnate, when the

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Son of God put on flesh and dwelt among us, as it says in John 1, he partook of the same.

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Remember the argument here, as I mentioned on Monday, is that in God's plan of salvation to bring many sons to glory, it was fitting for him to perfect the author of our salvation, who is

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Jesus, through sufferings, that he would become like us and experience life like us.

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And through this suffering, by faith in him, we're even united with him.

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It was necessary for God to become the God -man, to bridge the gap between sinful man and holy

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God. That gap that's there because of our sin and our rebellion against God. Jesus was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, that's

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Romans 8, 3. God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

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That doesn't mean Jesus is sinful, or that he's ever been sinful. Not even for a single moment, a microsecond of his life, was he ever sinless.

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He is the only perfect man who has ever lived, kept the law perfectly, perfectly submitted to the will of the

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Father. But he certainly looks like sinful man, right? He looks like us.

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In every way, Jesus was made like us. When we say that he was fully God or fully man, or vera homo vera

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Deus, which is very God and very man, we mean that he was every bit

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God, never gave up his deity, but he was also actually human. And there's mystery to that, and it's baffling to try to contemplate the incarnation.

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That's the doctrine that we refer to of Christ putting on flesh and dwelling among us. It's the incarnation.

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The word incarnate means God embodied in flesh. And so Christ takes on the look of sinful man.

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He is born of woman. That's what is it, Galatians 4 .4. When the fullness of time came,

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God sent forth his son born of a woman, but he's not conceived of man.

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He's conceived of the Holy Spirit. So that when Jesus is born from his very conception, he is sinless.

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All of us are conceived in sin. That's Psalm 51 .5, David saying, in sin did my mother conceive me.

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So from the moment of our conception, we have a sin nature, having inherited the sin nature of Adam.

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But Jesus Christ being born of a virgin, conceived of the Holy Spirit, Adam is not his federal head.

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So he's able to be born sinless, whereas we can't be. But Jesus was from his conception to his death.

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He's sinless. Now, of course, in 2 Corinthians 5 .21, it says he became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

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But that's said in a way as though he becomes the atoning sacrifice on our behalf, the penal substitution in his atonement, that our sins would be placed upon him and his righteousness imputed to us so that our sins are atoned for and his righteousness is given to us.

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We wear his righteousness as followers of Jesus. We should be walking in righteousness.

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But it's Jesus being born in the likeness of us, being born in human flesh, that he becomes the

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God man and the one who bridges the gap between sinful man and a holy

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God. He fulfills that in his perfect life. He fulfills that in his perfect death, his atoning death, and then in his resurrection, the first man to be brought back from the dead in a way that, you know, in a way that he will not die again like others had been brought from the dead.

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Certainly, Lazarus was raised from the dead. Jesus raised a little girl from the dead. There were apostles that raised the dead, but only

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Jesus rose from the dead and would never die again. He was the first. And so the rest of us who die, we have the promise of resurrection as well because our older brother,

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Jesus Christ, is the firstborn of many brothers, as it says in Romans 8 29. So Jesus shares in our flesh and blood.

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He partook of the same that through death going on in verse 14. Did I finish this part? I guess

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I didn't. We're still on the first half of verse 14. So he says through death, he might render powerless him who had the power of death.

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That is the devil. Now in first John 3 8, it says the one who does sin is of the devil because the devil sins from the beginning.

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The son of God was manifested for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil.

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The works of the devil we see demonstrated at the first in Genesis chapter three when he tempts the woman to eat the fruit that God told

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Adam and Eve not to eat. She ate it anyway. She shared it with Adam. He ate and and now having sinned against God, death enters the picture.

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Death becomes the consequence for sin, as also said in Romans chapter five. And so because of sin, we die.

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That is the work of the devil. And again, necessary for us to recognize how how grievous sin is, how serious it is.

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Sin is the reason we die. So the work of the devil is manifested in this way.

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The death that we see going on in this fallen world all around us. Jesus said in John 8 44, he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

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Whenever he, the devil, speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

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And so through this work that Satan did in the Garden of Eden and ever since then, he brought death.

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This is the work of Satan, the power of death. But here in this statement in verse 14, it says that Jesus rendered powerless him who had the power of death.

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I believe it's in the King James Bible. It says that that Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death.

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Now, the devil has not been obliterated. He's still around. He won't be completely destroyed until Christ returns.

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But as far as this statement goes, it means that Jesus ultimately has the power of life and death.

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So he he took whatever keys, whatever power the devil had in a sentence of death.

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He took that away from Satan. Jesus is ultimately the one who holds the power of life and death.

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Now, that's always been the case, really. And Matthew 10, 28, Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul.

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Rather, fear him, referring to God, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

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So God has always had the authority over death. But it is because of the work of Satan that death even entered the picture at all.

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Therefore, he is the one, it is said, who has the power of death. He's got the power of death in his tongue by the lies that he speaks and people who believe them go to their deaths.

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And so with Jesus seizing the power, undoing the work of Satan, it says in verse 15 that he will free those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives.

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They have the fear of death, but Jesus came to free us from that. There's not a reason for us to fear death any longer because the power of life is in Christ.

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We have the promise of resurrection from the dead. And though our bodies will die, they don't remain there.

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Our soul goes to be with the Lord. But even the body itself will be raised on the last day, as we read about in First Thessalonians four, in First Corinthians 15 and in other places,

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Philippians chapter three, where Paul says our lowly bodies will be transformed to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

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So even though we will die, we have hope, as Paul said in First Thessalonians four, we do mourn, we grieve, but not as those who have no hope.

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When you lose loved ones, when you lose friends, when brothers and sisters in the

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Lord pass away, we certainly grieve their deaths, but not without hope, for we know that they are with the

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Lord and we likewise will be raised from the dead and enter glory, dwell with him forever in the new heavens and the new earth.

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This is our hope and it is our comfort that we have in Christ Jesus. So we do not have fear of death.

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And even the cause of our fear has been vanquished. He has freed those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

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We are born in sin. We live in sin. The consequence of our sin is death. And if that's it, if Christ is not part of this thing, if Jesus had not come and died and risen again from the dead, then all we have to look forward to is death.

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As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. If none of this is true, if Jesus didn't die on the cross, if he didn't rise again from the dead, then enjoy yourself because tomorrow we're dead and that's it.

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We perish in the presence of God. We dwell in hell forever for there is no one to ransom us from the consequence of the sin, the rebellion that we have committed against God.

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And I'm speaking as if Christ has not come and he did not die and he did not rise from the dead, but we know that he has.

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And so, therefore, we don't have fear. We are not subject to this slavery any longer, the enslavement to our flesh and the enslavement to fear of death.

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We are set free from this. We are forgiven our sins and given the promise of everlasting lives.

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Verses 16 to 18 now, for assuredly, he does not give help to angels.

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Christ's incarnation doesn't give help to angels. He was like the angels in the sense that he dwelt in holy spiritual perfection in heaven forever.

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And he stepped down off of his throne to put on human flesh. And in doing this, the incarnation of Christ is not a help to the angels.

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He does not give them help. He doesn't give them the promise of forgiveness of sins and resurrection.

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As I said a couple of weeks ago, God has no plan to redeem the angels, the angels that are fallen, the demons,

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Satan, those that have been cast out of heaven, they're out. All they have to look forward to is judgment, because that's it.

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That's all that's coming for them. They will not be redeemed. And I drew that conclusion previously from the statement that we have at the end of chapter one.

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Angels are ministering spirits sent to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.

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Those who will inherit salvation is us. We who believe in Christ, the angels will not be redeemed.

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Those that are holy, that are in the presence of God, they will remain there. But those that are fallen. Including Satan and were cast out of heaven, they will remain out of heaven forever and they will be destroyed forever in the place.

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The lake of fire and brimstone that was prepared for the devil and his angels has talked about, as Jesus mentions in Matthew 25, 41, and all who went along with the ways of the devil who didn't believe in Christ but continued in lies and sin and in death, they will end up in the same place that was prepared for the devil and his angels because they followed him there.

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So they will burn in the lake of fire and sulfur. Jesus talks about that once again.

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And in Matthew 25, Jesus death does not give help to angels.

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Salvation is guaranteed for us. We who believe in Jesus, he gives help to the seed of Abraham.

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Now, remember once again that the audience here is Hebrews. That's why the book is called

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Hebrews. So showing to the Jews how Christ is the fulfillment of all these things that have been talked about in the

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Old Testament. And there is no one better. Even the blood of bulls and goats was not enough to redeem us of our sins.

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Even the law itself could not have redeemed us. But one greater than the law and prophets has come.

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He who died once for all when he offered up himself, Hebrews 7, 27.

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So showing to the Jews, there is no one greater than Christ. There is no other way to have forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God than by faith in Jesus Christ.

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So this reference to Jesus giving help to the seed of Abraham, that is particularly relevant to a

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Hebrew, but it is also relevant to Gentiles. We who are not born in the line of Abraham, we are born again in Christ.

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And therefore, in Christ Jesus, we are Abraham's seed. As said, we just finished up the study in Galatians, Galatians 3, 27.

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All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither

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Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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And if you will, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed heirs, according to promise.

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So if we're in Christ Jesus, we are children of Abraham. Jesus gives help to the seed of Abraham.

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Therefore, verse 17, he had to be made like his brothers in all things.

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So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

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You know, references to Christ as priest come up only in only three places in the

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Bible in Psalm 110, in Zechariah six, and here in the book of Hebrews.

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In fact, his priesthood is expressly discussed here in Hebrews. So we're going to come back to this subject again, especially as we're going to have references back to Psalm 110.

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But Christ is our priest in the sense that, you know, what the what the priest did in Israel is he sacrificed on the day of atonement on behalf of the people.

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Will Christ sacrifice himself on our behalf? He makes atonement for us.

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And so in that way, he is our priest. And it's through the sufferings that he endured in his life that he is perfected for that resisting temptation, obedient to God, fulfilling the law.

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And in this way, he becomes being perfected. He becomes the perfect spotless lamb to make atonement for us.

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He is merciful to us in that what we deserve is death. But what Jesus gave us was his death so that by faith in him, we would be forgiven and given new life.

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He is our high priest and there is no one higher. He is a faithful high priest.

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He's merciful toward us. He is faithful in that he is he is perfectly submitted to the will of God, but also faithful to us.

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Jesus, even now. Is interceding for us before the father, was it yesterday or the day before I finished up with first John three verse one, that if we do sin, we have a great high priest who is interceding for us.

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He is advocating for us, our advocate before the father, and he makes propitiation for the sins of the people, meaning that by his sacrifice, the wrath of God is satisfied and the people that he dies for are the seed of Abraham.

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That goes back to the previous verse. He gives help to the seed of Abraham. He makes propitiation for the sins of the people.

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And once again, that's hope for us, because all who are in Christ are the seed of Abraham.

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Last verse we have here, verse 18, for since he himself was tempted in that which he suffered, he is able to come to help those who are tempted.

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Now, that doesn't mean that if Jesus had not gone through suffering himself, that he would not have had the power to be able to help those who go through sufferings.

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But now through this, this perfecting that he has gone through, remember back to verse 10.

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God has perfected the author of our salvation through suffering. So through this perfecting process that he has gone through, he's now qualified to sympathize with us.

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From the very fact that he himself also endured these trials. Jesus certainly would have been powerful enough to help us or deliver us out of those trials, even if he had not gone through them himself.

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But now he has endured them as we endure them. And so he's able to sympathize with us.

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And we know that when we call upon the Lord, we are calling upon someone who also suffered in his flesh, yet still completely submitted to the will of the

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Father so that we may have helped to do the same. We know that when we call upon the

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Lord Christ for our benefit, this is for our sake. Remember this going back to verse 10, it was fitting for him, for God, through whom are all things, for whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of our salvation through sufferings.

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And so as Jesus is perfected in this, we call upon one who has gone through the same things that we did and yet remain fully submitted to the will of the

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Father so that we also when we suffer, when we are tempted, we may have the power of Christ upon us so that we can resist that temptation.

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We can endure in the midst of suffering. We can continue to obey and submit to the will of God, just as Jesus did.

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This is power that we are given through Christ. We would not have had without him. This was this was for our benefit.

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Again, back to 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for our sake, he became sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

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Jesus became like us so that we could become like him. Is that not the amazing grace of God?

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for the goodness of what we've just read today, that Jesus left his throne in heaven and put on human flesh and even suffered in life and in death and was raised again so that we who go through suffering, who resist temptation, who draw near to the

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Lord, we would indeed draw near to you. We might be able to come near to you because the

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God man has bridged the gap of separation between sinful man and a holy God. And now we can be called the children of God and receive all the wonderful blessings that you've promised to the son we receive as well.

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We deserve death. You have given us life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Teach us to live in his righteousness today in a way that is honoring of our father in heaven.

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It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an

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Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an