Why Did Jesus Come To Earth? - [Hebrews 2]

Christmas Traditions and the Real Meaning of Hebrews 2

Lord's Day here at Bethlehem Bible Church. I was thinking about some Christmas traditions that I've found, and I never knew about these until this week. When you decorate your house, many people for Christmas use red, gold, and green.

And I didn't know there was a symbol behind that. There were symbols behind that. Red, of course, is the blood of Christ. Gold, a gift for a king. Green is a symbol of everlasting life. So there you have it.

I found out that Christmas trees became very popular because Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, brought one over from Germany in 1841. There was a picture taken with them in Windsor Castle, and everybody thought, that was a great idea.

Let's use Christmas trees. Christmas wreaths were introduced because wreaths symbolized honor and victory. And they thought, you know what? What else would symbolize such great honor and victory than the incarnation of Jesus?

Here's one that I didn't know about, Christmas stockings. Some of you will go home with some Christmas stockings today, or maybe you've already opened up the presents in them. Saint Nicholas, according to legend, wanted to help some poor people.

And these poor people had three daughters who needed a dowry, and he didn't want to embarrass them by trying to give them coins. So he threw them down the chimney. They landed in the stockings. There you have it.

I can tell you're impressed. Like, get to the Bible. Indulge me with one last one, because it deals with food. Mincemeat pies. I thought those were just for grandparents, but now I am a grandparent. Brought to Britain in the 13th century from the Middle East by crusaders.

First made in an oval shape to represent Jesus' manger. They had meats in them, but later they just left out the meats the Victorians did, and they just had spices, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg to represent the three wise men.

Christmas traditions. Anthony, you're welcome. So today, I'd like you to take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter two. And we're not going to look at tradition or lore or myths or fables or how people come up with some interesting ideas.

Or something that might slowly resemble the Bible. But we're going to look at actually what Jesus came to do in that wonderful book, the book of Hebrews. Here's what I love about Christmas messages. They're about what Jesus did.

Of course, you can respond with rest, with belief, with praise, with thanksgiving. But Christmas is not about what we do. It's not about what we accomplish. It's about what God has done. And it's a good thing to be reminded of because we are built in such a way where we think, how do I please God?

It's something I do. It's something I don't do. Something I have to avoid. Something I must buckle down and get done. But remember, the Lord God is pleased by the work of his son. And without faith in him, it's what?

Impossible to please him. So what I love about Christmas messages, it's about the Lord Jesus. And of course, I want you to respond with trust and rest and praise and thanksgiving. But we're gonna learn and be reminded today what Jesus Christ has done.

As the creeds say, this God who came down from heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried.

And the third day he rose again. The Christmas message this morning is what did Jesus do? Did he stay in a manger? Did he stay in Bethlehem? Did he stay in Nazareth? What did Jesus do? What did he accomplish?

And we're gonna look at six wonderful things that Jesus came to do and he did them. That's the outline today. Six wonderful things that Jesus came to do and he did them so that you might be thankful, that you might be forgiven, that you might rest in him and know for certain that you're saved by the blood of the lamb.

Jesus didn't just attempt these, he did them. He just didn't try and fail. He didn't just do some of them or half of them. The father sent him to do these six things in Hebrews 2 and he did them perfectly and exactly.

He did these six things. Let me give you the outline first and then we'll break it down. He came to number one, destroy. Number two, deliver. Number three, seize. Number four, identify. Number five, propitiate.

And number six, to help. Jesus came to do these very things and you can rest in your savior. I mean, if he just did one of those things, I'd be pretty impressed. If he did two, I think that's pretty marvelous.

If he did three, fantastic. Four, pretty incredible. Five, spectacular. But all six, that should make us respond, oh, come, let us adore him, Christ Jesus, the Lord. It's been, I think I started, let me rephrase that.

In 2015, we started the book of Hebrews and we should probably finish next week, just kidding. But I'm always drawn back to Hebrews because it's so Christ-centered. It's so, let's exalt who Jesus is.

It's a sermon. If you were to read it, it takes about 45 minutes to read and it's about Jesus and his high priestly work. It's about Jesus and his supremacy. It's about Jesus is greater than angels. He's greater than the prophets.

He's greater than Aaron. He's greater than Moses. You think of anyone, Jesus is better than that person. And in this sermon, in chapter one, the writer says Jesus is divine, that's chapter one. And in chapter two, he talks about the humanity of Jesus because to be a savior, you have to be divine and you have to be human.

And so we come into chapter two and parachute in to see these six great things that the Lord has done. And I think after this morning, you'll think, I'm glad to have such a savior. I'm glad that he would save me.

I'm glad that I can trust in this great captain of my salvation. To set us up a little bit in context, let me read verses eight and following because our passage really is in 14 through 18. Of course, contexts are very important.

Hebrews two, verse eight. Again, stressing not his deity like he did in chapter one, but stressing chapter two, his humanity. Putting everything in subjection under his feet, verse eight. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death.

So that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting, verse 10, that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise.

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Now, before we look at these great six things that Jesus did, these six accomplishments, if you will, go back to verse 10 and I want you to see that word fitting.

Do you notice it? For it was fitting. The writer, I almost said Paul, maybe it is Paul, but the writer, the spirit of God, of course, he wants us to realize that the salvation Jesus was sent to do was planned.

It was appropriate. It was proper. That's the idea of the word fitting. When you think of the plan of salvation, there is a actual plan. And I don't want you to ever think that the incarnation was chance, that it was luck, that it was fortuitous, that it was, what other words can I think of?

Serendipitous. That it was just, well, kind of got lucky. I know it wasn't really, you know, it was kind of inadvertent, but it was a good payoff. The word there, fitting, means it was a plan of God for the father to send the son.

King James translates fitting this way, for it became him. The Holman Christian standard Bible translates it this way. It was entirely appropriate. Why was it appropriate? Because the father, before Genesis one, sends the son, or they talk about how the son is going to be sent.

There was a purpose. This is an affirmation of the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign, even over the birth of that little baby, Jesus. Before time, within the council of the Trinity, there was an agreement, there was a pact to send the son.

Martin Luther said, no man can be thoroughly humbled until he knows that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, devices, endeavors, will, and works, and depends entirely on the choice, will, and work of another, namely, God alone.

And so we come to the book of Hebrews, and we realize what Jesus came to do, it was planned out, because left to ourselves, we could never save ourselves. We're good at sinning, we're not good at saving.

We're good at doing unrighteous things, not honoring God. That's why Jesus came. I've often said to my unbelieving friends, if we could get to heaven by being good, why send Jesus? Why have Jesus be crucified on our behalf?

No, it took a savior, it took a redeemer, it took a rescuer, and it was planned by God. It was fitting in the right time, at the right moment, with all the right circumstances, Jesus arrives on the scene.

The eternal son now assumes humanity to rescue and deliver. It was fitting. What was planned for him to do, number one? So that you can rest and believe, and praise the first wonderful thing Jesus came to do, and did it was, number one, destroy.

Verse 14, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.

I mean, if I say to you, Satan, do you think true, real, myth? You begin to think, you know what, Satan's kind of this caricature, pitchfork, red Halloween costume, kind of, you know, tooth fairy, kind of, I almost said Santa, but I can't say that, Santa.

I remember one time, I talked to one of our neighbors, and our kids were little, they were growing up, and the neighbors were like, you know, we know you're in the Bible and all that, and you're the Jesus people, but could you please tell your son to stop telling our family that Santa doesn't exist?

Okay. Luke. Satan certainly isn't cartoonish. He's not something that's made up. Satan's real. Satan's an enemy. He's your enemy. And left without Jesus, you think about the prince of the power of the air, you think about Satan roaring like a lion, you think about Satan tempting, you think about Satan controlling the dominions of all the other hordes of the fallen angels.

We're gonna need someone who's gonna destroy him because holy water, Latin phrases, aren't going to do it. Now, of course, Satan isn't in charge of hell. Of course, Satan isn't all powerful. Of course, Satan isn't omnipresent.

Of course, Satan is only going to do what God allows, but he is an enemy. And when Jesus comes, what do you think he's going to do for his people that have an enemy? Well, you'd think that he'd come and rescue them by destroying Satan's works.

And that's exactly what Jesus came to do. The accuser, the Bible calls Satan, the tempter, the deceiver, the God of this age, Jesus comes to destroy. I think we have to be very thankful for that. Now, the word destroy does not mean, you can see it again right there in the text, that he might destroy.

It doesn't mean annihilate. If I was God, that's probably how I would have planned it all. Jesus can just obliterate Satan and he doesn't do anything ever again. But he's not annihilated. He's still walking, prowling, 1 Peter 5.

He's alive. And you say, okay, well, it says here in the text, he might destroy the one that has the power of death. That is the devil. Well, certainly God has control of life and death, but it's a delegated thing now that Satan has.

You could maybe argue that way, but I want you to see something more important. I think what the writer is trying to tell you is simply this. Here's the power that Satan has about death. Mike Abendroth, the pastor, just sinned.

He deserves death. That's what Satan would say. And now do I need to cower under that? Do I need to be immobilized under that? Satan demands your death because you sin. And now we have a Savior who has destroyed that power and we can no longer be afraid of the penalty that must be paid because Jesus came to remove the grounds of the devil's accusations.

If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Listen, who shall bring a charge against God's elect?

Who would like to bring a charge against you? Satan. It is God who justifies who is to condemn. Can Satan condemn you? He can say, look at that Christian, he or she has sinned, but he has no power after that because Jesus has died for those sins.

That's what the writer is getting at. His power is broken. Can spiritual death hold you in hell forever? No, just like physical death can't keep your body in the grave. It's amazing to me to think about what Jesus came to do.

You can almost think like a Jewish person, which you should lots of times, especially if you're reading the book of Hebrews. Was it Barnhouse that said the book of Hebrews is a book written to Hebrews so that they might no longer be Hebrews any longer and trust in the Hebrew of Hebrews Jesus?

I think that was Barnhouse. Remember Job and the account with God and Satan? Satan says, stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse you to his face. And the Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your hand.

Only against him do not stretch out your hand. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. And even the power that Satan would have is a delegated power. Even the devil is God's devil, Luther would say.

And Luther goes on to say, why should you fear Christian? Why should you be afraid? Do you not know the prince of the world has been judged? You have a stronger, different Lord Christ who has overcome and bound him.

Therefore, let the prince and the God of this world look sour, bare his teeth, make a great noise, threaten, act in an unmannerly way. And he can do no more than a bad dog on a chain. I hope you guys have a good dog, two good dogs.

JL's like, yes, we do. You don't have to worry about Satan. Whatever authority he has is a delegated authority and whatever authority he has, the ultimate authority to say, by the way, God, you should cast that Christian into hell.

You should cast that person into hell because they've sinned against you and your thrice holy person and therefore abandon all ye who enter in here. No more hope for you. And we say, we have an advocate.

First John comes to your mind when you think of chapter two. And if anyone does sin, even Christians, when they sin, we have an advocate, the Lord Jesus, the righteous one. I love the passage here. Take a look at it again in verse 14.

He himself likewise partook of the same things. What's that referring to earlier? Flesh and blood. That's why we celebrate today the incarnation. Jesus, the eternal son, assumes human nature so that he might obey for us and die for us.

Spiritual death cannot hold us any longer all because of the incarnation. Sometimes people think, well, the incarnation somehow limits Jesus and he's confined now to the manger. Not at all. Death cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Well, not only that, number two, deliver. They don't all start with Ds, by the way. So far, so good. I'm trying to use the language of the English text. Jesus came to destroy and he did. Jesus came to, number two, deliver, found in verse 15.

Why do we celebrate Christmas? Because Jesus came as a baby to do something. What did he do? He destroyed, and number two, he delivered. And deliver, verse 15, you can see it in your own Bible right there, all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

As you know, in the book of Ecclesiastes, we've been going through week by week. Death happens a lot in Ecclesiastes. The thought of death happens. The wise person thinks of death, the foolish doesn't.

But a thinking person who's not a believer would say to themselves, death is frightening. Death is fearful. Death is scary. What happens when I die? Should Christians be that way? Should you be afraid of death, dear Christian?

Without the incarnation, yes. With the incarnation, what does Jesus accomplish? And to deliver, this is what he came to do, to deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Paralyzed by the fear of death, paralyzed by what's beyond the grave. And Jesus comes to break that connection, literally the word would mean, to release us, to deliver us. Christian, you don't have to fear death because of the baby in the manger and what he grew up to be and what he did.

Jesus came to earth to deliver you, dear Christian, from the fear of death. You're released, you don't have to worry about it anymore. Spurgeon said he took upon him flesh and blood as to die in our nature, that he might slay death and free us from the fear of death.

Now, sometimes we are afraid of death. I've been afraid of death before. And now we simply say, Father, please forgive me for being afraid of something I ought not to be. Jesus came to do that work on my behalf.

I'm not to be afraid of death. I'm to fear you and I'm not to fear the grave. And therefore, forgive me and help me rest. Help me trust you. Now, some people think the fear of death here is the experience of dying.

Some people think that there's a concern there's no life after death. Some people think it's an eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. Well, let's just add them all up. If all three of those are true, Christians ought not to be afraid of death.

If I just read these words to you, would they not comfort you knowing that Jesus is your shepherd? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear it completely. I will fear no evil. He's talking about this very thing.

For you are what? With me. Kind of sounds like Emmanuel to me. Donald Gray Barnhouse, I mentioned him earlier. He was a pastor of 10th Presbyterian in Philadelphia. And his wife died of cancer and he had three children under 12.

You probably know the story. And the account goes this way. The day of the funeral, Barnhouse and his family were driving to the service when a large truck passed them, casting a noticeable shadow, turning to the oldest daughter who was sadly staring out the window.

Pastor Barnhouse said, tell me, sweetheart, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow? By the shadow, I guess it can't hurt you. And then Barnhouse said, your mother has not been overridden by death, but by the shadow of death, there's nothing to fear.

Because of the incarnation, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and all his accusing power and to deliver us from the fear of death. Dear Christian, I have some good news for you. We are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. For me to live is Christ and to die is what? Loss. Of course not. If you're trusting in something besides Jesus, it will be the worst loss ever.

But if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus, it's gain. No wonder Paul said, I'm hard-pressed between the two. He wasn't afraid of what Job called the king of terrors, that is death. If you're here and you're an unbeliever, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

You should be afraid. But trusting in the Lord Jesus, we ought not to be afraid. Paul even taunts death. Sometimes I watch football games and basketball games, not on Sundays, but on other days when I'm watching.

In Nebraska, we had the worst chants. Not C-H-N-S-C-E, but chants, like chanting. And we would just sing dumb things like, we've got spirit, yes we do. We've got spirit, how about you? Just dumb.

Then I moved to Los Angeles and I would go to UCLA games. And they would have like really impressive long chants with all kinds of great diction and grammar. In other words, I didn't understand, but it sounded pleasant to me.

And they were really into these chants, and fight songs, and taunting the opponents. And you can think about baseball games, A batter, A batter, A batter, swing, right? Taunting. Because of what the Lord Jesus has done, Paul taunts death with songs.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 15. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where's your sting? Oh death, where's your victory? Bring it on. I dare you, A batter, batter, swing. Sometimes people say to me, why do you talk of that way kind of addressing children?

Because they're sitting here in the congregation, number one. I'm trying to get your attention, number two. We don't have to be afraid. My mom was dying and she was dying from her own fluids in her lung because she was dying of lung cancer.

And I remember reading the end of Pilgrim's Progress to her about how Christians struggle with the fear of death, but he was safe. Do you remember the story? Christian going across the river, death to the celestial city.

He began to sink, crying out to his good friend, Hopeful. He said, I sink in deep waters. The billows go over my head. All his waves go over me. Then said, Hopeful, be of good cheer, my brother. I feel the bottom and it's good.

My friend, said Christian, the sorrows of death have compassed about me. I shall not see the land that flows with milk and honey. And without a great darkness and horror fell upon Christian so he could not see before him.

And here in a great measure, he also lost his senses so he could not neither remember nor orderly talk of any of those sweet refreshments he had been met with earlier. But all with the words that he spoke still tend to discover the horror of mine.

The heart fears he should die in that river and never obtain entrance into the celestial gate. Hopeful said, brother, I see the gate. I see the gate. They went under the water, they died. He says, I see the gate.

The men standing by to receive us. The two men went into the gate and low as they entered, they were transfigured. They had raiment put on that shone like gold. They also were met with them harps and grounds.

They were given to them harps to praise, crowns and token of honor. Enter ye into the joy of your Lord. Number three, seize. Destroy, deliver, seize. Kind of a parenthesis here, but a wonderful one. For it is surely verse 16, not angels that he seizes, literally, but he seizes the offspring of Abraham.

What does the word seize mean? It means to take hold of by the hand. It means to grab. It means to take even by the scruff of the neck in a kind way. Could that be a kind way? How does that work? I'm thinking like a mother dog or something rescuing a dog.

Why do I think about dogs all day now? Don't get me a dog for Christmas. Better not go home for a dog. I'm drowning and I need help. I'm in quicksand and I can't get out. I'm gonna have to have somebody that comes over and grabs me and holds me by the hand.

And if you were a Hebrew reading the book of Hebrew, you'd say that's exactly what God did to Israel when she was in Egypt. That's the language of Jeremiah. That's the language of Isaiah. Seizing Israel out of the bondage of Egypt.

And now how much more? We're in sin, we can't get out. It's kind of like, you know, for those of you that deal with trees or cut down trees and all of a sudden you got a bunch of pitch on your hand or you're cutting down a Christmas tree and you've got pitcher in your hand and then you do this and then you do that and it's just like everywhere, it's tar, it's pitch.

You can't get yourself out of it. Somebody's gonna have to come and help me. Somebody's gonna have to come and save me. This is the same language where Jesus took the hand of the blind man and led him into the village and healed him.

Seized to help. This is language that you go to Auschwitz and you liberate the people in the concentration camp. And they're so frail, you grab them by the hand and pick them up. That's the exact language here of liberation, help.

Jesus is walking on the water. Lord, if it's you, command me to come out on the water. Come. Peter got out of the boat, walked in the water, came to Jesus, but when Peter saw the wind, he was afraid and he began to sink.

He cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and same word in Hebrews, seized him, took him, saying, oh, you of little faith, why do you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased and those in the boat worshiped him saying, truly, you're the son of God.

And so just think about your own life if you would, dear Christian. You weren't born a Christian. One day, God opened your eyes. Maybe your mom and dad preached to you. Maybe you heard a sermon. Maybe you're listening to some things on the radio or a podcast.

And one day you realize, like Pastor Steve just said, reading Isaiah chapter nine, I'm a sinner. Jesus is the only savior. I believe him. Through that whole event, it's God taking you by his hands, as it were, and seizing you.

You're not gonna go to hell. You're not gonna pay for your own sins. Jesus instead will pay for your sins and he grabs you and rescues you. That's the idea here. While we are still weak, Romans five, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

And he didn't die for angels. Angels sinned. They fell, a third of them. He didn't seize them. He didn't grab them. He left them as they were. And he could have in his justice did that for us, but he didn't.

And that's why everywhere you look at the Christmas story, it's I have good news for you. I have good news for you. Seizing, gripping, not just Jewish people, but Galatians three says if you're Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Christ the Merciful and Faithful High Priest Who Identifies With Us

Number four, identify. Jesus came for many reasons. The six here in chapter two of Hebrews, to destroy, deliver, seize, identify. Verse 17, therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect.

This is language of representation. This is language of incarnation because he has to identify with us. So he has to be truly human. He has to be perfectly human. How can it be a substitute for humans if he's divine only?

So in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God. Now, sometimes we don't like priests. There's scandals with people that have priests. We're not too sure about priests.

But dear Christian, you need a priest. Would you like to have somebody to stand between you and God to help you? To be a defense lawyer, to be an advocate, to be a helper. So you wouldn't have to face him on your own.

You're walking to the judge in a regular court here in Boston and you walk up and you have no defense lawyer. You don't know the law. You don't know all the details. You don't know everything else. And you just walk up.

Hopefully you'd say, I need help. What do they say about the people that are gonna be their own defense lawyers? There's a little slogan about that. It's basically they're crazy. Don't do it. I need someone to identify, to be a priest.

You need a priest. Priesthood is good. You look at the Old Testament. Everything was about a priest. Priests stand before you and God by prayer and also by sacrifice. And Jesus is the sacrifice. And of course he is the ultimate prayer warrior.

And he identifies. He had to be truly human to do that. Philippians 2 echoes this truth. Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

We need a priest. What kind of priest do you want? Harsh and unfaithful. That's the kind of priest we want, right? Of course not. What's the text say? I mean, just knowing a little bit about Jesus and who he is and how he treated people on earth.

Blind, sexually immoral. Are these gonna be like Eli's sons? What kind of priest is he? He's merciful and faithful. I'd like mercy when I do something wrong. I need a merciful high priest. I'd like to have a faithful priest when I'm unfaithful.

That's exactly what he is. Faithful and merciful. Get ready to discipline the children. You disobeyed dad, disobeyed God's rules. I'm gonna discipline you. I love you. I'm not mad at you. This is justice and daddy's gonna have to discipline you.

This isn't this week, by the way. This is when they were little. Once in a while I'd say, and by the way, when you don't get justice, you get mercy. And so while you deserve to be disciplined and corrected right now, I think I'd like to be like God the Father and give mercy to you.

So I'm gonna either give you mercy or I'm gonna give you justice. Which one would you like? Mercy, mercy, mercy. Dad, I'll take mercy. And then like two weeks later, I'm not gonna give mercy, but they're begging for mercy still.

I want mercy, mercy, mercy. Do you want a high priest like the Old Testament ones that were sinful? They weren't always faithful. They weren't always merciful. Of course not. So Jesus, the eternal son, assumes human nature and he's perfectly merciful and perfectly faithful.

It's fascinating to me that when you read the gospels, the way Yahweh, the way God is talked about in the Old Testament, they talk about Jesus. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in long-suffering and mercy, steadfast love.

That's how they talk about Jesus in the New Testament because Jesus is the eternal God. That's why. You can trust him. He's always faithful to you, faithful to the Father. Number five, two more to go.

Destroy, deliver, seize, identify, propitiate. So far, dear congregation, I haven't told you to do anything. We want to respond to God's grace by loving God, loving neighbor, that's all true and I get that.

Right now, I only want you to think, I'm thankful, I'm trusting, I'm resting. If you're an unbeliever, I want you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but our incarnation is what God did for you. Say, is there a response?

Yes, to believe, to rest, to be thankful, to praise. I praise God that we don't have to be worried about Satan anymore. We don't have to be worried about death anymore. God came to help us, God came to identify with us, and now number five, propitiate.

And I use the word propitiate because it's right there in the text. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. Do you see it? Propitiation, it means what? To assuage the wrath of God, to exhaust the wrath of God, to take on the wrath of God.

Most people don't like the word propitiate because it means God is holy. It means God has wrath. It means God's going to judge. He's not grandpa God. It just overlooks every little thing. My grandmother who raised me on certain days a week while mom was working, she had the yardstick from the hardware store.

It was yellow. I can still see to this day. And she kept saying, Mike, if you keep doing that, I'm going to give you a spanking. She said it every day. She never did it. So what do you do if you're a kid with a crew cut living in Nebraska that doesn't know any kind of chants and fight songs?

You just pick up that thing. You break it over your knee and hand it to grandma. And she still didn't spank me. I think if I would have been a grandpa, we might've done something about that. But since God is holy, he's holy, holy, holy.

He has to judge sin. He has to judge your sin. Every one of your sins, including mine that you'll ever commit has to be judged. On Jesus or on you in hell forever. Propitiation means God's wrath is assuaged.

It's absorbed. It's intercepted. It's poured all out. And now you don't have to deal with it anymore. People that say, I will not believe in Jesus because I want to run my own life. You are going to drink the wrath of God forever.

Don't. Why? There's a God who delivers and destroys and seizes. Why would you do that? I plead with you, don't do that. Be like many of us who say, you know, it's easy for me to say I've got an illness these days.

People talk about that all the time and syndromes and diseases and that's no longer taboo to talk about. But what's still taboo is to say I'm a sinner and I've got to have a Jesus like this. He makes propitiation.

You know, most religions, they try to get the God to not be angry at them. They try to get the God to be nice to them by their own propitiation. And they give gifts to God. Oranges, they give gifts to God.