A Little Lower Than The Angels (Hebrews 2:5-9; Psalm 8)

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We read together verses 5 through 9, Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews 2 verse 5.

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For he did not subject the angels of the world to come, concerning which we are speaking, but one has testified so far saying,

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Which man did she remember him? Or the son of man, that you are concerned about him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels.

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You have crowned him with glory and honor, and appointed him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.

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For in subjecting all things to him, you have nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him, but we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely

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Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might face death for everyone.

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Praise the Lord. Father, it is with joy that we are here this morning after worshipping you with full hearts.

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We join you, O Christ, to be able to open your Word, and to hear your voice of our God through pages of Scripture.

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We thank you for an Old Testament that bears witness to the coming Messiah, a New Testament that has recorded for us all that he said and did, and is necessary for us to know him, to be saved.

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We thank you for this son of man who was made for a little while lower than the angels, but now we see him crowned with glory.

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We pray that together, as a result of our study of your Word, that we may see Christ arise in our spirit, that we may, with hearts filled with joy, be longing and willing to be able to thank him for everything that he has commanded of us.

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We pray that you would encourage us and edify us today in your Word, by your grace and the power of your Holy Spirit, to ask him in Christ's name.

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Amen. I know this is our first Sunday in our new building. We're just going to do what we have been doing all along, which is going through the book of Hebrews.

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For some of you, that might be something that surprises you, that you expect something you do or you need. Others of you know people enough to know that Tim's going to preach about death on Mother's Day.

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He's just going to continue preaching. Whatever it is that he happens to be preaching through, even though we're at a new facility.

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There are a large number of people that are here today, and we're grateful that you're here. Some of you have come from a long ways to be with us, because you've been part of our church through years past.

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We're grateful to have you here. Others of you are here because you were part of the graduation service on Friday night, and your family was naive to hear you.

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So you're here in worship service with them. Whatever it is, we're grateful that you're here. We've been studying through the book of Hebrews, and we're in the second chapter.

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I know that for many of you, this may seem like we're just jumping into the middle of it. We're trying to bring everybody else up to speed.

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I'll do this as quick, I think, in a timely fashion. One of the main themes that runs all the way through the book of Hebrews is the theme that Jesus is greater than.

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Throughout the book of Hebrews, the author makes the case that Jesus is greater than the angels. Jesus is greater than Moses. He is greater than Aaron.

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He is greater than David. He is greater than the old covenant, the blood that he shed. He is greater than the blood of Moses and Joseph, the sacrifice that he offered.

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He is greater and better than all the sacrifices of the Old Testament. The covenant that he has initiated and secured by his own blood is a better covenant than the old covenant.

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The priesthood that he fulfills is a better priesthood than the Old Testament covenant priesthood. And so that is how the argument of the book of Hebrews goes, is the author brings up one comparison after another.

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The comparison that we're looking at that occupies chapter 1 and chapter 2 is the comparison between Jesus and the angels.

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At the beginning of the book, the author says in chapter 1, verse 4, that Jesus has inherited a more excellent name today, and that's the conclusion of a series of seven statements that the author makes regarding Jesus Christ.

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He is the creator of all things. He is the heir of all things. He is the sustainer of all things. He is the exact representation of the nature of God.

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He is the radiance of God's glory. He is the main purification of sins. And he is sat down at the right hand of the

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Messiah. Those seven statements. And then the author in verses 5 through 14 and the rest of chapter 1 cites seven different passages from the

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Old Testament. All of them except for one of them come from the book of Psalms in order to show that all of these magnificent statements that he has made about Jesus Christ are not doctrines that were invented in the minds of a few fanatical followers out in the middle of the desert around the airplanes.

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But these doctrines are, in fact, the very things that were revealed in the Old Testament that we should expect in the coming

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Messiah. We ought to expect one who was the divine son. We ought to expect one with divine character. We should expect one who would come and take the throne of Israel.

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So all the way from chapter 1, verses 5 through 14, he makes the case from the Old Testament passages of Scripture.

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Then in chapter 2, the comparison is still the same thing, Jesus with the angels. But in chapter 2, he compares the punishment that would come under the

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Old Covenant, mediated by angels, for those who would disobey the word clearly revealed.

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It was a severe punishment, and it was a certain punishment. How much greater than is the punishment deserved by one who would ignore the revelation given to us in the

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Son? If the Son is greater than angels, and you were punished for denying or rejecting or neglecting the salvation that was announced through angels in the

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Old Covenant, how much greater will be your punishment? How will you escape if you neglect or deny the revelation of truth that is communicated through the

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Son? That's the comparison. Jesus is greater than the angels. His covenant, his offer of salvation is greater and more clear and more certain even than what was revealed through angels.

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And then beginning in chapter 5, that brings us to the passage that we're looking at today. Beginning in chapter 5, through the rest of chapter 2, there are two objections that the author answers.

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And here's what we're going to do today. You'll notice when we read verses 6 through 8 that that is a quotation from the

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Old Testament passage. That Old Testament passage is Psalm 80, which we read at the beginning of the service today.

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So here's what we're going to do today. I want to kind of give you an overview of the rest of chapter 2 and show you that there are two objections to all this that the author is dealing with.

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He's answering these two objections, and then we're going to turn back to Psalm 8. We're going to look at Psalm 8.

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We're going to set the context so that next week when we come in and jump back into verse 5, we'll understand what the passage is teaching here that the author is quoting from.

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So you're either going to get half the message or you can come back next week and get the rest of it. So that's what we're going to do.

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I'm going to show you, first of all, the two objections that the author is answering. Now, every preacher or author or teacher should desire to try his best to answer objections that might come up in the mind of the student.

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I'm aware that as I stand up here on any given Sunday, right, as I'm writing an article or a book or something of that nature, that the people who read what

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I write or people who listen to what is preached will not always agree with everything that I have said. And so in my mind, in my heart, as I'm preparing to preach here on a

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Sunday morning, I'm trying to anticipate what objections might come up. Somebody might say, well, what about, or if that's true, then how is it that?

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And I try to anticipate what those are and then answer them in the course of presenting this material. The author and the readers are doing the exact same thing.

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There are some objections that would come up in the mind of the hearer, the mind of the listener, that the author is now going to, in the rest of Chapter 2, answer these two pertinent objections.

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Now, here are the two objections that he's going to deal with. The first one is this. Doesn't the incarnation demonstrate that Jesus was not greater than the angel?

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See, that's a good question to ask. Doesn't the incarnation, doesn't the fact that he became a man demonstrate that he is lower than or lesser than the angels?

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Because man, as the text in verses 6 and 8 recognizes, man is created more than the angels.

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We are a lower class of beings than the angels are. We're greater in power. We're greater in glory.

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We're greater in intellect. We're greater in strength. We're greater in holiness. We're greater in all kinds of capacities than mankind is.

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We are a lower creation than the angelic hosts. So, if man is lower than the angels, and Jesus became a man, doesn't that demonstrate that Jesus is lesser than the angels?

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You see the objection? It's a valid question. It's a good question. And it's one that the author is going to deal with.

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In Chapter 1, he has said in his person that this one, named

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Jesus of Nazareth, is the exact radiance of God's glory. He is the exact representation of God's nature.

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He is the one who has created everything, and he, even now, while you sit here, he holds it all together, keeps the world's state, the universe in existence, simply by the work of his power.

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He sits at the right hand of the Father, even today, in that position of glory and honor.

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If that is true, don't we also say that Jesus was made a man, that he is the man

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Christ Jesus? Wasn't he born of a virgin? Did he have to learn to walk? Did he have to learn to talk?

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Learn to read? Learn the Old Testament scriptures? Wasn't he tempted at all points out of the yard? Didn't he have to experience the things that humanity experiences and the limitations of being a man, and then getting his feet dirty and getting his feet washed, getting under his fingernails and cutting his fingernails, and all of the things that we experience, and learn to be a man, didn't he have to learn all those?

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If he did, if he was made a man, if he was genuinely a man, if a man is lower than the angels, how can we say that he is the exalted son, that he is glorious, that he is

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God himself? It's a good objection. And so that is what is dealt with, actually, in verses 5 through 9.

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And we'll see, I just want you to see in verse 9, we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, the name of Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.

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He was made for a little while lower than the angels. There's a temporary station that he took. Without forfeiting the nature of his deity, without forfeiting the reality of his divinity, he was for a period of time made in station, and made an appearance as a man, and took upon himself humanity for a little while lower than the angels.

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But he's been crowned with glory and honor. So the author is dealing with that objection. No, the incarnation does not demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth was lesser than the angels for a period of time.

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The second objection is similar. Doesn't the death of Jesus demonstrate that he was lesser than the angels? Now that's a good objection.

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Angels don't die. Angels are not subject to mortality. Angels don't suffer affliction and pain and anguish, and go through all that, and then die and be buried.

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Angels don't suffer that. Angels are higher than men. Men are moral and subject to death.

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But if Jesus died, doesn't that demonstrate, does death demonstrate that he is lesser than the angels? Of course, the answer to that is no.

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And that's what the author deals with beginning in verse 10 and all the way through the rest of chapter 2. It was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to protect the honor of their salvation through suffering.

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Verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also preserves the same, that through death he might render power, as him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and he might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

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There is a purpose in the incarnation, and there is a purpose in the sufferings of Christ, that make him demonstrate that he is greater than the angels.

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In other words, he was made for a little while lower than the angels, but that doesn't demonstrate that he is lesser than them, and his suffering does not demonstrate that he is lesser than the angels, because through his incarnation and through his suffering, he accomplished something that was necessary, and he accomplished something that demonstrates, again, that he is greater than the angels.

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In other words, the nature of the incarnation and the nature of his sufferings accomplish something that can only be accomplished by one who is greater than the other.

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So those are the two objections that are in there. And then the second thing we want to do is deal with the Book of Psalms, Chapter 8.

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So I want you to turn back to Psalm 8, because this is a passage that is dealt with in verses 6 to 8.

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We're going to set a little bit of context in the background here from Psalm 8, and then next week we'll jump in at verse 5 and see how it is that the author deals with that objection.

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So the rest of our time here is going to be spent with sort of an overview of Psalm 8 from Hebrews, Chapter 2.

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What I forgot was how the author introduces Psalm 8. He says in Hebrews, Chapter 2, it has a someone set somewhere.

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Did you catch that? In verse 6, before he cites the psalmist, he says a someone has set somewhere, and he kind of wondered who.

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Did he forget? You read his quote? And where did he start? What was going on there with that citation?

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It's a very common way in ancient times for people to make citations, and it's in fact the way that the author of Hebrews typically cites scripture all the way through the

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Book of Hebrews. And if you've been with us and you are familiar with the Book of Hebrews, you know that this book is loaded with all those

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Old Testament citations and references, right? It even loses no justice. It is an exposition of the

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Book of Leviticus and Psalm 110, all kind of wrapped into one. It's a very Old Testament passage, and yet the

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Psalms, as far as I can find, there's not once in all of the

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Book of Hebrews where he cites the human author. Instead, he says things like, as God has said, or as the

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Holy Spirit has said, it is as if he ignores the human author entirely. Not that he didn't believe it was a human author, but it is as if he is intending to demonstrate to us and to remind us, this is the testimony of God himself concerning his own.

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So there's an emphasis there, even in how he cites the Old Testament pastor. All right, so we're in Psalm 8, and though the author of Hebrews says, as someone has said somewhere, we know it's

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Psalm 8, and we know who said it, from the prelude to the psalm, we'll find out that this is the psalm of David.

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Psalm 8, and let's just read, I want you to look at verse 1 and verse 9, and they are very similar.

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O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who have displayed your splendor above the heavens.

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Look at verse 9. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Notice that the psalm begins and ends with the same declaration, of the majesty of God.

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It's kind of like a majesty sandwich, right? On the top is this declaration, the majesty of God. On the bottom, at the end of the psalm, is this declaration of the majesty of God, and it's displayed above the whole earth.

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And then in the middle, there's a demonstration or a display of the majesty of God. So he begins with this declaration.

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God is majestic, and his name is majestic in all of you. And then he gives us all the reasons, both big and small, why

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God is to be praised, why he is majestic. And then the psalm ends with another declaration, that's the majesty of God.

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So we have in verse 29, the majesty of God declared. Then we have in verses 2 through 8, the majesty of God displayed.

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What is it that displays God's majesty? The word majesty suggests the splendor or magnificent. And notice that it is the name of God that is called over time, majestic here.

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How majestic is your name, how magnificent and splendorous is the name of God. The name of God is sort of a way of referring to majestic.

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He is to be praised, and he is to be lauded, because he is full of splendor and glory, and his name is majestic throughout all of the earth.

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Everywhere we turn, everything we see, we see in it the handiwork of God. All of creation displays the glory and the majesty of God.

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Now, if anything is full of your creation, it's illogical to see the majesty or the glory of God. That's because you're blind.

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Because you do not have eyes to see. As a Christian, I look at my creation as the splendor of God in everything, constantly.

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But if you're an atheist, all you see is the rainbow of vision of all of us. But I don't expect an atheist to see the handiwork of God throughout all of creation, any more than I expect someone who is physically blind to be able to describe to me the majesty of a waterfall, or sunset, or the pattern of the clouds in the sky.

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They don't have eyes to see. If they were an atheist with all that is in the earth, they don't have eyes to see anything, so they don't see anything.

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They can't see anything because their spirits are blind. Because their eyes have been opened up and they see the handiwork of God everywhere and everything.

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Spurgeon said this, Unable to express the glory of God, the soulless utterance of a note of exclamation,

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O God our Lord, and we need not wonder at this, for no heart can measure, no tongue can utter the half of the greatness of God.

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The whole creation is full of his glory and radiant with the excellence of his power. His goodness and his wisdom are manifested on every hand.

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The countless myriads of terrestrial beings, from man the head to the creeping worm at the foot, all are supported and nourished by the divine bounty.

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The solid fabric of the universe leans upon his eternal arm. Universally he is present and everywhere is his name excellent.

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God is at work ever and everywhere. This applies not just to the name of God, but to his very person, his power, his glory, his majesty, his grace throughout all the earth because of who he is.

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The reasons now are given in verses 2 through 8, and I want you to notice that there are two things that are contrasted here.

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One thing is something rather small and weak and helpless, and the other thing is something that is quite large and quite majestic.

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First is the small, weak, and helpless thing in verse 2. From the mouth of infants and nursing babes, you have established friends, because of your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

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He gives a very simple, small, weak, and helpless type of an example to demonstrate just how majestic God's name is.

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Even in the mouth of a nursing babe, God is first. And how is God praised in the mouth of a nursing babe?

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God is praised in the mouth of a nursing babe, and if you're a parent, if you've ever seen childbirth, you understand what this is like.

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If you've ever seen childbirth, you never want to see it again, but if you've ever seen childbirth, and once this happens, you know what this is like.

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That baby is born right at the perfect time when it is hungry, and it is able to suffer somehow.

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A miracle of evolution. It is able to suffer, and its mother is able to provide exactly what that baby needs, exactly that.

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So God has provided in that baby an instinct to feed and a hunger to feed at that moment.

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Of course, if you had to eat for nine months, you would be hungry too. But the baby is able to eat right at that moment, and it needs a certain nourishment, and the nourishment that God has provided to its mother is perfect for that baby right at that moment.

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Wondrous isn't it? Look at that. You see the wisdom and the power, the magnificence, the grace of God in displaying to a little baby, a weak and helpless baby.

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So much so that the display of that majesty, and that glory, and that power of God is enough to shut up his enemies, his pursuers, to silence the adversary, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

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That display of power is enough that all the enemies of God should shut their mouths and still themselves, and bow down before him.

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Because that display of God's wisdom and magnificence and his majesty, that should terrify nobody.

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Of course it doesn't, because they're blind to the truth. Then he gives an example of something that is true.

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By considering your hands, and the words of your hands, the words of your fingers, the moon, the stars, and the shoes of Lord David.

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That David goes from gazing upon a newborn infant and the majesty, and the wisdom, and the glory of God that is displayed in that.

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Then he lifts his eyes to the heavens, and he sees the majesty of the heavens above him. Now David did not have the benefit that we have of our larger telescopes, and infrared imaging, and all the other stuff that we know.

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He says, probes out into space, and gets in the outer reaches of our own solar system, and look out beyond where we've never been able to look before, but take high resolution photographs of all kinds of different light spectrums, and see what's going on in the far reaches of our own universe.

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How fast is it? And David was able to appreciate that just to look up. Out of the desert, in the land of Israel at night, and to see the splendor of those stars, and he knew, this is enormous, this is massive, this is beyond anything

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I could even comprehend. And we know even far more than David did. I think the earth is a big space fly.

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I think our planet is a big space fly. It's home to 7 million people, and you can climb up on top of the mountaintop in any one of the regions around here, and you can look 360 degrees all the way around, and you can see the mountains in the distance.

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You look on for what feels like forever. It's great business and great views that we have, and yet if you zoom out, you realize that everything you can see from the top of that mountaintop is just a tiny little dot on a map of discovery, and it's even smaller on a map of our universe.

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It's a tiny little dot. And our earth isn't that big. You know it's not even the biggest planet in our solar system.

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Our earth is dwarfed by our sun, which is 1 ,300 ,000 times larger than our earth.

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That's incomprehensible. It's incomprehensible. And our sun is not all that great shapes. Our sun is good enough that big compared to other stars even in our own

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Milky Way galaxy. There are suns and stars out there that dwarf our own sun by comparison. There are stars and suns out there that are billions of times larger than our sun.

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The enormity of that is incomprehensible. Our little ball of dirt rotates around or revolves around the sun at 93 million miles an hour.

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That's the distance to this unfathomable earth. Again, we throw these numbers out as if they mean something, and we can kind of grasp them, but we really don't even understand what that's like 93 million miles.

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And our earth is pretty close to our sun because Pluto, which I still think is a planet, you all know that, Pluto is 3 .6

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billion, with a peak 8 billion miles away from our sun. The ray of light that's traveling 286 ,000 miles per second that leaves our sun takes nine minutes to get to earth.

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It takes 13 hours to reach Pluto. And that's just our own solar system. Our own solar system is just a little tiny speck in the

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Milky Way galaxy. And there are a billion other stars like our sun in this

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Milky Way galaxy. And this galaxy, the Milky Way, it's 100 ,000 light years across.

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The beam of light that leaves our sun would travel 100 ,000 years before we reach the other side of the

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Milky Way galaxy. And our Milky Way galaxy is only one of at least a billion other galaxies just like it.

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And the nearest galaxy to ours is 2 .5 million light years away. And that's just the universe we know.

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From our vantage point in the Milky Way, we can only see a small portion of the known universe. We can't even see all that there is.

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Does that not bother you, Brian? Do you feel small? You should. Look at verse four.

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And what does it mean when you say positive? What does the sun mean when you hear it? This is magnificent, says it.

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We look at that and we think, we are just a speck of dirt.

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On a speck of dirt. Rotating around a little ball of gas. And we're only a speck around the other side of the galaxy.

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And our galaxy is only a speck of no universe. What does it mean?

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God's life for him. That's true. And yet on this terrestrial ball,

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God's working out his plan of redemption. This is the center stage of all of creation.

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What does it mean? God cares about you? Who are we that you would be concerned to provide for our needs?

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To sanctify us? To send the sun to save us? To love us? To make a covenant with us? To make us and this planet the stage upon which he works out his redemptive plan so that he can be glorified amongst his people and by the angels for all eternity.

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What are we? And how is it that God is mindful of us? You see how overwhelmed David is by this? How small we are?

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And then you consider that God in verse five has made man a little lower than the angels.

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And you crown him with glory and majesty. And you say, hold on a second. I read that God has made him a little lower than God.

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Not the angels. But Matthew 2 says God has made him a little lower than the angels. But Psalm 8 says you've made him a little lower than God.

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What's going on there with lots of different translations? That's the one thing over the next week. We're just going to skip over it for today.

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But it is somewhat significant. You've made him a little lower than God and you've crowned him with glory and majesty. Now David wants to recount all the ways in which

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God has demonstrated goodness to man. And it has to do with God giving to man dominion over all of his creation.

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We talked about the scope of this new universe. The fact that on this earth God is working out his plan of redemption so that he can be glorified.

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This is the stage upon which he is working in all of human history. He is not just somewhat concerned.

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He is intimately concerned in all of the details of all of human history, in all of our lives. He is right here.

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He is working them out by his providence. And that should just stun us. And Spurgeon said something like this concerning this past week.

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If this world upon which we live were to dissolve and go into nothingness, it would not diminish the glory of the universe any more than a single being falling in a forest would diminish the glory of the forest.

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And yet this is where it doesn't work. Is that not honest? Is that not honest?

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What has God done for man that awed David so much and has to do with God giving him the victory?

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Look at how God's concern is described in verses five and six and seven. You have made him a little lower than God.

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I almost said angels there, but the fact that you used that too. You made him a little lower than God. You crowned him with glory and majesty.

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You made him to rule over the works of your hands. You put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, but also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes in the paths of the sea.

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That should remind you of Genesis chapter one. God placed a man in the garden and said, you shall have dominion.

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That man is the highest of God's creation. He's managed over the birds. He's over the animals. There's no similarity between chimpanzees and apes and man.

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Do you know why? Because the chimpanzees don't have us in cages looking at us. We have them in cages and we look at them.

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We are a higher order of being. They're animals and they're not infinitely lower, but they are much smaller than we are.

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We, mankind, is the highest of God's creation. We bear the image of God.

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That was God's intention. We are rational. We are creative. We are spiritual beings. We have a capacity to regeneration, to be in relationship with God, and a capacity which he has granted to us and he gives us eternal life.

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We can be in community with him. Our ability to create, our ability to think and reason and be rational, our emotions, our sense of justice and righteousness and brightness, all of these things are remnants of the image of God and God has created men to rule over the works of his hands.

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This is what the psalm says. Now, back in Hebrews chapter 2, the author quotes this passage in the psalm.

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God has given the kingdom to mankind, but then the author says, though God has made all things subject to him, that is mankind, we do not yet see all things subject to him.

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And this is a cause of great perplexity. Perplexity, that's the language that we're going.

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This is a brand new facility. There's so many words that I just make up on the spot. This is the cause of great frustration to us, that God has created us to rule, but we don't rule.

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We don't rule creation like we should. We don't rule creation like we were created to rule creation.

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Creation sometimes rules us. Tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, natural disasters, earthquakes, disease, pestilence, predators, and death.

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We fear all this. It should be how it is. We should rule the works of God's hands.

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That's what he created us to do. But that is not, in fact, what humanity's experience is, aren't we?

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We don't, in fact, rule in that way. What has gone wrong? There is this loneliness of man in the scheme of all creation, yet we've been given this great status to be the highest of God's creatures and be created to rule the works of his hands.

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But we don't rule on the works of his hands. Something has gone wrong. What is it? It's sin.

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This has destroyed the world. This has ruined it. Death, disease, destruction, famine, all these things that plague us to the result of the curse of God upon the same curse that followed the world.

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Because the first Adam rebelled against God in the garden and he plunged all of his race into rebellion.

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Do I know what's wrong with creation? We don't. This is not going to make us good. We're the highest of God's creations.

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God is mindful of us in this whole story. We deserve the wrath of God. Some of you may say, well, look, it's not me.

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Other people may be. Other people are what's wrong with creation. I mean, I see them. They drive by me.

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They cut me off. They stand in front of me on the line. It's other people that are wrong with this creation. Other people who've ruined this perfectly good universe.

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But not me. Are you really going to suggest that you don't need forgiveness? That you don't need redemption?

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You don't need a savior? You're really going to suggest that you don't deserve the justice of God? You ever sinned?

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One sin. One sin against an infinitely wise and benevolent and gracious and loving creator is enough to deserve all of the wrath and punishment of an eternal

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God. Forever and ever and ever. One sin is enough. Because he is so benevolent and he is so good.

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He is concerned about us and yet we rebelled against him. All of humanity does. All of humanity did out of his calling.

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What's wrong with this creation? We are wrong with this creation. Right? Every liar deserves his part.

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His part in the lake of eternal fire. Forever and ever. The eternal lake of fire. Every liar deserves it. You ever lost an act of something that didn't belong to you?

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Or someone who didn't belong to you? You deserve hell. Blasphemy?

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A pride? A rebellion? Disobedience? He created this various image.

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And what type of an image have you borne in your sins before that holy God? How have you displayed his image before a watching world?

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Have you communicated by being an image bearer? Have you communicated that God himself is a lying, thieving, stealing, blasphemous, adulterer, lustful, and a covetous fornicator like you are?

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Like I am? In our heart? That's the type of image that we have displayed to the world. We should be damned just because we have not displayed the image of God in us as we should.

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We are what is wrong with creation. Let's just assume for a moment that you have only committed five sins a day since the age of 15.

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Since you were 15 years old. Five sins a day. That would be roughly 1 ,900 sins a year.

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From the age of 15 to the age of 20, you would have sinned 9 ,125 times. By the time you're 25, you would have sinned 18 ,250 times.

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If you're 40 years old, you've committed five sins a day of your life just since the age of 15. It's not that possible. I had it before, but let's just count.

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15 on. If you're 40 years old today, you have a rap sheet that states 45 ,000 plus crimes against the

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Holy God. Let's be honest. Five times a day? That's before we're done with the first couple of comments.

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Let's just say for the sake of argument, it was only five times a day.

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That's a big rap sheet, isn't it? Are you really going to suggest that you're not the problem of the world?

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That we're not the problem of the world? That you don't deserve justice? What should

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God do with you as a man of God? Take you to heaven? Send you to hell? Not what you want to do, but what should he do.

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He should send you to hell. A lot of sinners will say, I think God is loving.

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He's going to take you to heaven. When a judge does not get to give people what they deserve, you call that loving?

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When a judge says to a murdering rapist, you know what? Because I'm a loving guy, I'm going to let you go. No punishment, no penalty.

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He'll let you go. You look at a judge like that and think, that's loving. Or is there something in you which is the image of God?

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A sense of justice that says, I do not like when guilty criminals go free. A lot of sinners are counting on the goodness of God to deliver them on the day of judgment.

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And it is the goodness of God that is going to damn them on the day of judgment, because a good God will do what is good, and right, and just.

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He will punish guilty sinners. And we will praise him for his goodness in doing so. But because God is good, he has sent his son, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who is the second person of the Trinity. He's God of human flesh. He stepped into history.

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He lived a perfect life. He never sinned. He provided a simple sacrifice. All the spotless lands of the

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Old Testament, they looked forward to and anticipated that great sacrifice. He lived a life of perfect sinlessness, so that the death that he could die could be a substitution of a death.

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So that he could die in the place of sinners, as a perfectly sinless substitute for sinners.

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And so in salvation and in the gospel, God provides for me two things. Forgiveness for my sins and righteousness.

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It's not just that my sins are washed away, but that he gives to us in Christ a perfect righteousness.

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A righteousness that is spotless and blameless and perfect and eternal. And it belongs to somebody else.

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So that in him, we can be counted not just as forgiven, but blameless before him.

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Not because of anything we do. Not because we have stopped sinning. Not because of the amount of our belief.

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Not because of anything special that we have generated for the merits of our own faith. We are counted righteous before him because of what was done by another, namely,

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Jesus Christ. So the forgiveness that we have, he's provided because all our sin can be laid upon him and all of his righteousness can be credited to our account.

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So that we can stand before God because of what Christ says of him, not just forgiven, but righteous.

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We need righteousness. That is where the gospel is about. Not just forgiveness, but an infinite and perfect righteousness.

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What does God demand of you to receive that gift of eternal life? To have this and take it.

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Both of these are the words of God in your heart. God demands that you turn from your sin and acknowledge that I don't deserve eternal life.

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I deserve the wrath of God. I deserve it for fullness. I deserve it forever because of my sin, my iniquity.

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It's not just against others that I've sinned, it's against God himself that I've sinned. Even one sin should damn me and I haven't even felt any sin over my entire life.

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The sin that merits the justice of God, that deserves the justice of God, you have to acknowledge that, you have to turn from that sin and faith is turning to Christ.

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Repentance is turning from sin. Faith is turning to Christ. It's the one action. The one thing is believing faith. It's a faithful belief.

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A repentant faith and a faithful repentance. It is an act turning from sin and iniquity and what is damned and turning to the

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Lord Jesus Christ and believing that he is there on the cross for me was sufficient and has paid the price for my sin.

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And then in that act of believing, God is faithful, he will forgive you of your sin, he will cleanse you of your unrighteousness, he will give you a new conscience, he will give you a new heart, new affections, and eternal life, he will take you to heaven for you and him.

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What are we? God would do all of this for me. If you were just simply to make all of us dissolve and disappear, you would have done no injustice, you would have done nothing unkind, you would have done nothing wrong.

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He could do that. But instead, he came to you. He has explained before a watching world his plan of redemption.

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He gave me sinners so that they could glorify him by the forgiving their sins and giving them rest.

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If you're sitting here today and you have never trusted Jesus Christ for salvation or repentance, I beg of you, do not neglect.

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You will either meet Jesus Christ as your savior, or you will face him as your judge. Do not neglect so great a salvation.

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You will not fail. I promise you that. Christ promises even now that you will receive all that you will come to him with.

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He will not turn you away. He has promised that in John 6. All will come to him immediately, granted eternal life, you will receive them, you will not cast them out.

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Come to Christ, today, to meet upon him your sins forgiven, to God be glorified, to give you new righteousness, to keep you not in disarray.

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Let's pray together. Following creation would glorify you with such a great creation for our salvation.

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The greatest way that we can honor you here today is to acknowledge that great work of salvation that we celebrate each and every

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Sunday as we gather together with your people. It is our desire that you would be pleased to draw sinners to yourself, to open their hearts, that they may respond to the gospel, open their eyes, that they may see in Christ the forgiveness that they need and the righteousness that they need.

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And then we pray, Father, that you would grant sinners the presence of faith when they come to Christ, that they receive lightning, and welcome them into his eternal kingdom.

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We honor and glorify this morning. We pray through our prayer, our praise, and our repentance.