WWUTT 1812 He Calls Us His Brothers (Hebrews 2:11-13)

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By faith in Jesus, we are forgiven our sins and given everlasting life.

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More than this, we are adopted sons and daughters of God. That means we are brothers and sisters of each other and also of Jesus.

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When We Understand the Text. This is

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When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ. For He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Hey, once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study of the book of Hebrews chapter 2. And as with yesterday,

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I'm going to begin by reading verses 10 through 18 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

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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 one, for which reason

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He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will recount your name to my brothers in the midst of the assembly.

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I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold,

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I and the children whom 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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So yesterday we were looking at verse 10, and I said that's kind of the leading statement of this particular passage, for it was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory in this plan of salvation that he has.

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It was fitting for him to perfect the author of our salvation through sufferings.

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And so as Christ has suffered, he has sanctified suffering for us, so that when we suffer, we might through that suffering draw near to Christ, and it grows us in holiness and in Christ -likeness, even when we endure suffering.

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Every stage of the life cycle, Christ has experienced and therefore sanctifies.

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So whenever we as Christians make an argument that life begins at conception and ends at natural death, we are making an argument from the incarnation of Christ.

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Yes, there are passages of scripture that back that up. I've got a recent what video about that even. But we are arguing from scripture, from Christ's incarnation, the doctrine of his incarnation.

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That life begins at conception because Christ's life began at conception, and it ends at natural death because his life ended at natural death.

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As Christ experienced all of those things in his incarnation, he who put on flesh and dwelt among us, every part of the human life cycle has been sanctified.

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It is something sacred. It is something that Christ himself went through. Whenever we read in Psalm 139, you knit me together in my mother's womb.

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A work of God is happening on the life of a child in the womb that is being grown.

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He is working even in the womb to bring this life into existence.

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So how wicked is it of human beings to play God and think that we can determine when life begins and when it ends, and that we can put a life to death early just because it's unwanted?

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And that's the abortion movement. That's the, or even the pro -choice movement, however you want to label it, that's going on in the

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United States of America and around the world. Not seeing life as sacred, not understanding the incarnation.

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If we had a right understanding, a good doctrinal understanding of the incarnation of Christ, then we would recognize that all life is sacred from conception to natural death.

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And it's through Christ's incarnation that he became a brother to us.

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As we consider in this next section, we're looking at here of Hebrews chapter two in verse 11.

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It says for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one.

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For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers. So he who sanctifies is

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Jesus. And those who are being sanctified, that's us. Consider in Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse 25, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her.

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Christ sanctifying us, the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

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So once again, he who sanctifies is Jesus. And those who are being sanctified, that's us.

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And we're all of one, meaning that we are all of the father.

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We have the same father. Isn't that amazing to think about? We have the same father as our

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Lord Christ. Coming back to Ephesians again, chapter four, verse four, there is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling one

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Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

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And yesterday, as we were finishing up, I read from Romans 8, 29, those whom he foreknew.

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He also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined.

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He also called those whom he called. He also justified and those whom he justified.

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He also glorified. So we who are in Christ Jesus, we've been adopted into the family of God.

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There's a there's kind of an indirect reference to the doctrine of adoption here in Hebrews to 11.

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But we've been adopted as sons and daughters of God. And our older brother is

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Jesus Christ. He is the firstborn among many brothers again, as said there in Romans 8, 29, because he was the first to rise from the dead.

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And there are many others who are going to rise from the dead. Also, he was the first to be perfected through suffering.

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And we are likewise being sanctified. We're being perfected through suffering.

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And so we share in these things with our older brother, he who has been made like his brothers in every respect that's coming up here later on in chapter two.

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And we see that statement made in chapter four as well. So for this reason, since we are of one, since we have the same father for this reason, he

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Christ is not ashamed to call them brothers. He calls us his brothers.

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He called his disciples brothers. Consider the story in Mark chapter three, where Jesus is teaching in verse 31, his mother and his brothers arrived and standing outside.

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They sent word to him, calling him and a crowd was sitting around him. And they said to him, behold, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.

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And Jesus answered them and said, who are my mother and my brothers? And looking about it, those who were sitting around him, he said, behold, my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.

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So we can be inclusive here and say brothers and sisters by brother, we mean brotherhood.

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You understand what we mean by that, right? So, yes, even the women are sisters of Christ, sisters of the brotherhood.

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We are brothers of Christ. We are related to Christ spiritually in that we have been adopted into the family of God and not just that.

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And it's not like Jesus is the reluctant older brother.

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He loves to call us his brothers and sisters. He is not ashamed to call them brothers.

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So we go on into verses 12 and 13, and we have a few Old Testament references here.

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I will recount your name to my brothers in the midst of the assembly. I will sing your praise. And again,

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

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God has given me. What we have here are three Old Testament references, two from the

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Psalms and one from Isaiah demonstrating how it had been prophesied even hundreds of years before Christ came that we would become his brothers through his incarnation.

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The fact that Jesus is very God and very man. He is God in human flesh who dwelt among us, who endured suffering.

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He didn't just die and rise again, but he lived a perfect life.

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And in his suffering, continued to submit himself to the will of the Father, lived perfectly, sinlessly, to be perfected as that spotless lamb, the sacrifice who would take away our sins when he died on the cross for us.

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But it's in his incarnation when we put our faith and trust in Christ that we become his brothers and his sisters.

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He who is who has endured the same things that we have endured so that we have a good and faithful high priest who was made like his brothers in every respect.

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He's not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters, saying, I will recount your name to my brothers in the midst of the assembly.

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I will sing your praise. That's our first Old Testament reference. And that comes from Psalm 22.

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That's the psalm that Jesus prayed from the cross as he was dying.

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Remember, in Matthew 27, he prayed in Aramaic, Eli, Eli, Lema sabachthani, which means, my

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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's in that same psalm.

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Further down in verse 22, I will surely recount your name to my brothers in the midst of the assembly.

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I will praise you, you who fear Yahweh, praise him, all you seed of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him.

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All you seed of Israel, for he has not despised and he has not abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him.

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But when he cried to him for help, he heard just as Jesus cried to the father for help and the father delivered him, raised him up from the dead.

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So we can know that we also can cry to our father in heaven for help.

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And he will hear us. And the same deliverance that he gave to the son, he will give to us.

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Now, consider verse 23, that verse that was right in the middle there, you who fear Yahweh, praise him, all you seed of Jacob, glorify him.

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Remember back in Mark three, where Jesus said, who is who are my mother and my brothers?

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Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and my sister and mother.

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So Psalm 22, 23, you who fear Yahweh, praise him, all you seed of Jacob, glorify him.

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You do the will of God and you are the brothers and sisters of Jesus and stand in awe of him.

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All you seed of Israel. You might read that. And if you're thinking, hey, well, that pertains to us as brothers and sisters in the

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Lord, verses 22 to 24. But it only mentions Jacob and Israel there.

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Where is the church? Oh, the church was mentioned. There's only one people of God, folks.

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The true Israel is Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled everything that Israel failed at.

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Jesus succeeded at. Remember that I mentioned yesterday, his suffering when he was in the wilderness. Israel failed in the wilderness, but Christ succeeded.

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So he accomplished and fulfilled everything that Israel did not. He becomes true and faithful Israel.

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And likewise, everyone who is in Christ is Israel, Jew or Gentile.

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His church is his people, Israel. There's only one people of God. There's not two people of God.

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There's not the church and Israel. There's only one people of God. Remember one father and one savior, one

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Lord over us all. And so through Christ, we are his brothers and his sisters.

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All these promises that we read that God will bestow these blessings upon Israel. Those are blessings for us.

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Verse 24 again, for he has not despised and he has not abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.

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When he cried to him for help, he heard. So we have this reference of Psalm 22, 22, right here in Hebrews 2, 12.

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I will recount your name to my brothers in the midst of the assembly. I will sing your praise. Next reference in verse 13.

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And again, I will put my trust in him. That comes from Psalm 18, right at the very beginning of the

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Psalm. This is talking about putting trust in Yahweh. Psalm 18, 1. He said,

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I love you. Oh, Yahweh, my strength. Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

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My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

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I call upon Yahweh who is worthy to be praised. And I am saved from my enemies.

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Don't you know that Jesus was delivered from his enemies? And in fact, we read that all of his enemies are being placed under his feet as a footstool.

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And so as the father had delivered the son when the son trusted in the father.

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So we know that the father will deliver us when we trust in the father.

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Christ, our older brother, demonstrates for us that perfect trust of God that we are to have.

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And so just as Jesus put his trust in the father, remember his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.

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Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, not as I will, but as you will.

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And so likewise, we pray the same. Lord, if it be your will that you would deliver me out of this trial, then please deliver me from this trial, but not as I will, as you will.

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We trust in the father just as Jesus did. I will put my trust in him and the father will deliver us as we know he delivered our older brother.

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Then we have one last reference here, this one from Isaiah. So we've had two references from Psalms. We have a third one here from Isaiah.

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Behold, I and the children whom God has given me, I will put my trust in him.

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That was the reference from Psalm 18. And then from Isaiah 8, I will put my trust in him.

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I and the children whom God has given me. This is from Isaiah 8 verses 17 and 18.

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I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob and I will hope for him.

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Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me for signs and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.

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This is the word of Yahweh that had come according to what is in Isaiah 8, 8 or sorry, 8, 5.

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Again, Yahweh spoke to me further saying, then we have the words of Yahweh that also say,

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I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I and the children whom

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Yahweh has given me will hope for him. And so we put our hope and our trust in the father just as we observe

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Jesus doing. So we also trust in the father for our deliverance.

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Consider these words. This is from Alexander McLaren, who was a famous Baptist preacher in Scotland in the 19th century.

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He said, so dear friends, it all comes down to this. There is one way to know

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God and only one. He that hath seen me has seen the father.

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That's the word of Christ in Matthew chapter 11. All else is darkness. There is one life, noble, pure, worthy of humanity, and only one, the life of trust in Christ, who is at once the object and pattern of our faith and believing in whom we believe in the father.

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Also, there is but one fountain of life opened in the graveyard of this world.

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And that is in the sun drinking of whom there shall be in us a fountain springing up to life everlasting.

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There is but one way by which we can become sons and daughters of God through the elder brother who grudges the prodigal, neither the ring nor the feast, but himself has provided them both.

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So listen to him declaring the name, say, I will put my trust in him for you trust

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God when you have faith in Christ and then be sure that he will give you of his own life that he will invest you with the spirit of adoption and the standing of sons that he will keep his hand about you and never lose you.

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Them whom thou hast given me, I have kept. He will say at last pointing to us and there we shall stand.

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No wonderer lost of family in heaven whilst our brother presents us to his father and ours with the triumphant words.

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Behold, I and all the children whom thou hast given me.

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And so as we have this example in our in our older brother Christ, let us therefore follow it, remembering again what

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Jesus said in Mark 3, 35, whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister.

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In 1 John 2, 1, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

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And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

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And by this, we know that we have come to know him. If we keep his commandments, the one who says

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I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

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But whoever keeps his word truly in him, the love of God has been perfected by this.

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We know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.

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That was 1 John 2, 1 through 6. Now, notice there in verse 5, whoever keeps his word truly in him, the love of God has been perfected.

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What did we read in verse 10? In Hebrews 2, 10, for it was fitting for him in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

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And so likewise, in the love of God, we are being perfected unto the day of glory, being conformed to the image of the son.

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Heavenly father, thank you for making us sons and daughters of God. How great a love the father has given to us that we would be called children of God.

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And so we are. And so as your children grow us in these things that we have read today, that we would become more like Jesus, that we grow in holiness and righteousness as we resist the things of this world, the temptations of our flesh, the schemes of the devil.

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And we hold fast to Christ, our older brother, he who rose from the dead first so that he might be the firstborn of many brothers.

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And then we who are in Christ will likewise rise from the dead and be with you forever in glory.

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Thank you for your goodness and your grace to us in Christ Jesus. In his name we pray.

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Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Gabriel Hughes. Pastor Gabe is the author of 25

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Christmas Myths and What the Bible Says, examining some of our most common Christmas beliefs and traditions and bringing them back to the truth of scripture.

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You can find this and other books at our website, www .wtt .com. Join us again tomorrow for more