The Superiority Of The Incarnate Jesus - [Hebrews 2:14-18]

If I were to say to you arachnophobia, you would know that was the fear of spiders.

If I said to you, ophidiophobia, probably some of you would also know that one, fear of snakes, acrophobia, the fear of heights.

There's a lot of strange phobias. I have a list here of the top 100 phobias. Mysophobia, the fear not of mice, but of germs.

At number 10 in the list, trypophobia, fear of holes, thought that was fascinating.

Not sure if anybody has those. Electrophobia, with an

A, fear of chickens, might make you panic. Aquaphobia, fear of water.

Autophobia, fear of being alone, being by yourself. Believe it or not, this one's real.

Hippopotomonstrosoquidpalaifophobia, at number 26 with a bullet. Fear of long words, truly.

More people should have this one. Aleurophobia, fear of cats. On the list at number 37, the fear of fear is phobiaphobia.

Panphobia, covers it all, fear of just everything. Podophobia, fear of feet.

That's at number 45. Co -oompanomophobia is a fear of buttons.

Pedophobia, fear of dolls. Sorry, I just think of Chucky.

Sorry about that. Zoophobia, fear of animals. Bananaphobia, fear of bananas, and the list goes on.

Are you afraid of anything? What are you afraid about? What are you afraid of?

Two things that Christians can become very afraid of, and that is Satan and death itself.

And the message today is from Hebrews, thankfully, that if you're a Christian, you no longer need to fear

Satan or death. Isn't that good news? Let's turn our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2. What does

Jesus' death accomplish? If you're a visitor here today, welcome. Grab a pew Bible in front of you.

It's a blue Bible. It's the book of Hebrews, verse by verse, through this great book.

The book of Hebrews is essentially all about Jesus. And when I talk to the preaching discipleship class that I'm teaching,

I tell them this is an easy book to talk about Jesus, because the entire book is Christology, a word about Christ.

What does the Bible, what does God want you to know about Jesus so that you think rightly about him?

We are men and women redeemed by Christ, and we are to think properly about him. We have to think rightly about the object of our faith, because if we think anything less than the

Bible teaches about Jesus, or anything more than that would be called what? Idolatry, thinking properly about Jesus Christ.

And the only way we can find out about him is not by democracy, it's not by group think, it's not by what we think of Jesus, what people tell us about Jesus.

What does the Bible say about Jesus Christ? And the book of Hebrews for 13 chapters is just this onslaught, if you will, to think rightly about Jesus.

These people were real people that read the letter. They were hurting, they were suffering, they were on the run, they were getting persecuted, and they needed to have a good word.

Somebody ever told you something and you think, you know, that was a good word. Maybe that's old school talk, that was a good word.

Here's a good word to hurting people, and he keeps their focus off of themselves, because that's not going to really solve their problems.

He puts the focus back on, the spotlight back upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And chapter 1 is essentially,

Jesus is greater than the prophets and angels as God. And that shouldn't shock us.

God is greater than prophets, God is greater than angels. But does Jesus, when he adds human nature at the incarnation, when he becomes human, and then when he suffers, maybe that takes away some of his glory.

Maybe that makes him not as great, and the writer of Hebrews says, oh no, even though Jesus suffers, he's still great.

That's what makes him so great. So I think what we'll do today, since we've been going slowly through this chapter, is let me read verses 1 through 13.

And our passage this morning is found in verses 14 through 18. So this will just catch us up to what the writer has been doing, and it will help us with the background of Hebrews.

Hebrews 2 .1. Therefore, we must pay close attention, much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the

Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. How is this demonstrated?

By his humanity. Verse 5. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.

It has been testified somewhere, and we know that's Psalm 8, what is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him?

You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.

Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside of 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, here's the human word,

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

Verse 10. You see Jesus' identification with us as a human, for it was fitting 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. Which leads us up to our passage today,

Hebrews 2, verses 14 through 18. And for an outline, let me give you six purposes of the incarnation.

Six purposes of the incarnation, and we're going to have them all in verb form. One word outline, all in verb form, talking about what

Jesus did. Would you like to know Jesus' resume as a human being, the eternal

God? He adds human nature. What did Jesus do? Six things.

Number one, destroys. He destroys. The incarnate Jesus destroys.

Verse 14. The death of Jesus at Calvary destroys something.

What does it destroy? What does he destroy? Verse 14. Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, talking about Jesus, likewise partook of the same things.

That through death, he might destroy. Don't miss that.

That through death, we're talking about the death of Jesus on the cross. He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.

Jesus has to be man to die on the cross to destroy Satan's power.

Now, people get all kinds of ideas in their minds when they talk about Satan, how much power he has, can he thwart

God's will, can he oppress people, can he possess people. We need to think rightly about Satan, and then you will appreciate how great it was that Jesus destroys

Satan's power. Now, some people don't even believe in Satan. There's a movie back in 1995,

Usual Suspects, and the man said, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.

And yet, does not Jesus, our Lord and Savior, personally encounter Satan on a regular basis?

Even back in Mark chapter 1 and Matthew chapter 4, Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil,

Satan. And remember, he said, you should hear these words, Satan, man shall not live by bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Some people think Satan's just kind of, you know, on Tooth Fairy level, on par with Santa. I almost said

Satan, I meant Santa. Sorry about that. People think, you know,

Satan, maybe he's just a cartoon character, maybe a Halloween character in a pitchfork and some kind of horns in a red suit.

You know, if you ever saw Satan, I think you'd be shocked because does not the Scripture say in 2 Corinthians 11, 14,

Satan disguises himself as what? An angel of light. My guess is if you really saw

Satan, you'd think he is a holy angel of God. There are misconceptions about Satan that if you know

Latin, you'll be fine. If you know certain incantations, you're going to be good. Maybe have a crucifix around your neck that will keep

Satan away. Friends, that's Satan's favorite place to go to is religious places and around religious people.

Some people think Satan is in charge of hell. Friends, that's his dungeon, that's his prison.

The devil who deceived them, Revelation 20, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were and they, including

Satan, were tormented day and night forever and ever. Satan's not in charge of hell, he's going to be there.

Sometimes people think Satan is everywhere. Almost like God is powerful, so is

Satan, but God is good and Satan is evil. We think almost dualistically where we make

God and Satan co -equals. Of course, we know in the beginning

God created the heavens and the earth and that included Satan. And Satan is a created being.

He's not equal to God, he's a creature. But this creature,

Satan, falls, and you can study Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, and with the pride of Satan, he attacks

God and he's forever now attacking the people of God. The Bible says he's a deceiver, he's an accuser, he's the father of all what?

All lies. He's called the tempter. He's called the

God of this age in 2 Corinthians 4. Ephesians 2 calls him what? The prince of the power of the air.

And we're warned, aren't we, in 1 Peter 5? Be sober, be on the alert. Satan prowls around like a roaring what?

Lion seeking someone to devour. And now here, the writer says in Hebrews that Jesus, because of his death at Calvary, he destroys the one who has the power of death.

What do you mean destroys the power? This word means to annihilate. This word means to render inoperative.

It means to break the power, make somebody powerless. But the question you should be asking is, wait a second,

I thought God had the power of life and death. How did Satan have the power of death?

In what sense does Satan have the power of death? Now listen to Deuteronomy 32. God said, see now that I, even

I, am he, and there is no God beside me. I kill, God said, and I make alive. I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

It is ultimately the prerogative of God to kill and to make alive. He has the power over death as the ultimate sovereign one.

But as you know, in the garden, Satan tempted Adam and Eve and they fell. And the wages of sin is what?

Death. And Satan has a foothold now. Of course, he's under the sovereign decree of God.

Luther called Satan God's devil. He called him the hardest working servant.

But under the auspices of the sovereignty of God, Satan now for a time is in charge of death.

Is that what you're saying? Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the

Lord and Satan also came with them. And the Lord said to Satan, from where have you come? Satan answered the

Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth, from walking up and down on it. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant

Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears

God and turns away from evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for no reason?

Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land.

But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse you to your 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. God is in control of who lives and who dies, but does not he here give the charge to Satan?

By the way, you can kill the children. And did they die later in that chapter? They did.

But you can't kill Job. This is sovereign over Satan. God sovereignly rules over Satan.

John MacArthur explains it this way. The only way to destroy Satan was to rob him of his weapon, death, physical death, spiritual death, eternal death.

Satan knew that God required death for us because of sin. So if Jesus has paid for our sin and the wages of sin is death, the death has already been paid for, obviously.

We no longer have to pay for our own sin. And when we die as Christians, we don't go to hell.

We don't go to perdition. Satan has nothing to hold over us.

Furthermore, I think this passage in Hebrews is talking about Satan able to demand our death.

Think about your life in the last one year, last one day, last 20 years. Haven't we sinned enough to go to hell?

If those sins weren't paid for, you can imagine Satan, the accuser, saying to God the Father, did you see what that man did?

Did you see what that lady did? Demand the wages of sin is death, banish, kill, destroy.

Can Satan demand our death anymore? Luther said, if he does not stop to vex me but faces my sins,

I reply, dear devil, I have heard the record, but I have committed far more sins which do not stand in your record.

Please write them down too. Satan has no more ground to accuse us because those sins have been paid for by Jesus, the

God -man on the tree. And Jesus can't die if he doesn't have a body.

So Jesus has to take a body to die for us. It's been finished, paid in full, the judgment of God, the wrath of God has been assuaged, and so now

Satan says what? No, I'd like double jeopardy, please. I'd like double payment. There's no accusations for Christians anymore.

Paul asked it this way, if God is for us, who can be against us? He who 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?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? Certainly not Satan, it is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn? Certainly and I'm adding these words in, it's not Satan, Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who's at the right hand of God, who's indeed interceding for us.

Satan could use the ploy, listen, wages of sin is death, you have to physically die and stay in the grave.

We know that's not true anymore because we believe in the resurrection, not only Jesus's but ours. Satan could also say, you know what, that sin is so grievous, it's against a thrice holy

God, it's against an infinite God, it requires infinite punishment, send that person to hell. But that's gone too because the death of Christ has assuaged the wrath of God.

Friends, if you're a believer and you're trusting in Christ Jesus and you believe in Him, Satan has no ground over you, he can't accuse you before the

Father, it's been paid in full. He can't say, here's what I'm going to use against you, you're going to die and rot in that tomb.

He can't use that against you, you're going to die and go straight to hell, he can't use that against you either. Forgiven.

You stand righteous before God, as righteous as Jesus Christ, because you have Christ's righteousness. Colossians 1,

God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved

Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So the text says,

God the Son renders powerless, destroys the work of Satan, he reduces it to inactivity.

Satan certainly opposes God's plan, but lo, his doom is what? Sure. And the point of the passage is, how can

Jesus die on the cross as a substitute if He wasn't human? God doesn't have a body, the

Father doesn't have a body, you have to be a human. And notice the text, it says, share in flesh and blood, back in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same things.

He was fully human, he had to die in our place, and this language of flesh and blood, literally here in the

Greek it's blood and flesh, it means the same thing. It means weakness, it means frailty, it means finiteness.

Jesus has both humanity and deity, and humanity is very, very weak, as it were, because human nature is weak.

I'm not saying Jesus is weak, I'm saying He adds human nature. Was this prophecy not fulfilled when

Adam sinned and God said to Satan that the seed of the woman would bruise his, what, head, destroy because of Christ's triumph over Satan.

Just a side note, Jesus partook, that's language that Jesus existed beforehand. To share in the nature of someone else that He chooses to redeem, that's language that Jesus existed eternally as the eternal

Son, and now He identifies Himself with us. The goal of the incarnation is to have

Jesus die on our behalf so He might destroy the power that Satan has about death. Here's classic

S. Lewis Johnson language, and you're going to want this, so you can email me, I'll send it to you. The death of death by death gives death its death.

The death of death by death, Christ's death, gives death its death.

And might I say, rest in peace. The death of death by death gives death its death.

What was done in Eden is undone now. And friends, if you're a Christian, Satan holds nothing over you.

If anyone does sin, 1 John, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

He's the propitiation for our sins. You don't have to worry about physical death because you're not going to be there the rest of your life.

Satan can't keep your body in the grave. You don't have to worry about eternal death because Jesus has already paid for your sins.

No claim on you. Zero. All because of the incarnation. See, we're tempted to think

Jesus adds humanity, incarnation, there's frail human flesh, I know he didn't sin but still the weakness of flesh, maybe that takes away from his greatness.

And the writer of Hebrews says, no, it magnifies his greatness because he dies in our place and now what does Satan hold over our heads?

No Damocles soldier, no Damocles sword at all.

Luther, again, speaks well to this. One does not gain much ground against the devil with a lengthy disputation but with brief words and replies such as,

I'm a Christian of the same flesh and blood as my Lord Jesus, the son of God.

Settle your account with him. Then Luther said, the devil doesn't stay long after you say that. Now I'm not saying you should cast

Satan out or bind him or send him to Fitchburg or any other place like that. There might be the scowl of Satan but he can do nothing because it's been painful.

The death of death by death gives death its death. And nothing can separate a

Christian from the love of God. Satan might hold that over your head but it's empty. Spirits don't die.

So the eternal spirit, God, the spirit has to add humanity so he can die and he's the son.

No more condemnation. Jesus paid it all. Number two, not only does

Jesus destroy, why did Jesus come to earth? Number one, he came to destroy.

Number two, he comes to deliver. The second purpose of the incarnation designed to give us hope is

Jesus destroys. Now number two, Jesus delivers. Jesus, the God -man, delivers.

Verse 15, and deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

I forgot to tell you on that list that I started with that fear of death is a very, very common thing.

It's called death anxiety when you think about it clinically. People feeling dread.

People having some kind of morbid, they would say, abnormal persistent fear that they're going to die. Thanaphobia.

Freud thought this was all just kind of a cloak. If you're afraid of death it means you have some kind of daddy wound someplace else.

Psychologists call dealing with people who have the fear of death terror management.

How would you like to have that on your resume? I'm the president of Terror Management Company Incorporated. They have tests to study how people are afraid and why they're afraid and they even test children.

We have the death anxiety scale for children, the DASC. We have the fear survey schedule for children.

We have the koala fear questionnaire for children. Except children usually aren't very afraid of death.

It starts to creep in. People become fearful of death at age 20 to 40.

That's when it starts. But it peaks at age 40 to 64 according to the psychologists.

And once people hit 65 and over, they don't really think about it that often. Interesting. Females tend to worry more about death than males according to Thorsten and Powell's study.

But here's the most fascinating thing. Here's what the psychologists asked. What is religion's effect on fear of death?

Now one study said, this is the great thing about psychology, you just find whatever study that suits you.

2013, they studied people in the US, Turkey, and Malaysia. And they said more religious individuals fear death more.

So the more religious you are, the more fearful you are of death. But there's another study that came out, and it said the more religious you are, the lower sense of anxiety towards death you have.

So which one's true? The more religious you are, the more afraid of death you are. The more religious you are, the less afraid of death you are.

How can this be? We know the answer, don't we?

Because if you study religion at all, but you're not saved, you realize you're going to stand before a thrice holy God without a mediator.

And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. One of the things on the list here that I didn't tell you was theophobia.

And it is the fear of God. And there should be a healthy fear of God. If you don't study religion at all, you think you live this life and then you die, and then that's it.

But if you have some inkling of intelligence or intuition or anything else, wait a second,

I'm made in the image and likeness of God. I have a conscience. And when I die, there's more. But also people who study religion, they have less anxiety.

Why is that? Because real born -again Christians, real people that trust in the

Bible realize what? Satan's power is destroyed. And when

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, do you believe what I say about the resurrection? Because if you do, you will come with me.

I'm the way, the truth, and the life. And I am the just one who bring the unjust to God. Religious people know, yeah, there's a hell.

Christians say, I'm delivered. One online poll said, should people be afraid of dying?

Thirty percent said yes. Seventy percent said no. Thirty percent, you shouldn't be afraid of dying.

Seventy percent, no. Let me change the statistics a little bit. If you're an unbeliever, you should be very afraid to die in your sins.

One hundred percent. But if you're a Christian, you should not be afraid at all.

One hundred percent of the Christians, including these listeners, these hearers of the message, including you as well, should not be afraid of death.

What does the Bible say? Even the fear of death, to deliver all those, the incarnate Jesus, life, death, burial, resurrection, for all those who the fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Jesus comes to deliver those people who are just so caught up in the fear of death, and he wants to set them free.

That's what the word deliver means, to liberate them, to break the connection. Christians don't have to fear death, the paralyzation of, you know what,

I'm going to die. Jesus came to release us from that.

I mean, can you imagine, Jesus gives us the greatest gift, and doesn't he give us other gifts too? You just think, you know what, that poor little child, that poor man, that poor woman or boy or girl, just so caught up in the fear of death, they're paralyzed to just enjoy the goodness of God.

Jesus' sacrifice on the cross released us from our sins, and therefore, we don't have to be afraid of death.

To be afraid of death is to practically deny, absent from the body, what?

Present with the Lord. Did not Jesus even say, do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul.

But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. We should be afraid of him, but since Jesus took our place, we shouldn't be afraid of him any longer.

Spurgeon. Jesus so took upon him flesh and blood as to die in our nature, that thus he must slay death, and might set us free from all fear of death.

Do you not see that if the representative man, Christ Jesus, died, he also rose again?

And that so also will all who are in him rise too? If you are in him, you shall rise again.

Therefore, fear not to lie down in your last sleep, for the trumpet shall awaken you, and your body shall be molded afresh, likened to his glorious body, and your soul and body together shall dwell in infinite bliss forever.

We don't have to be in bondage to that anymore. Fear of dying? Look back at the text, verse 15.

To deliver all those who through fear of death. What is he specifically talking about with the fear of death?

Now, it could be the actual experience of dying, where you're laying in the hospital bed and the morphine doses are increased, and you're dying.

You know, it's like, who was it? I think it was

Woody Allen, wasn't he? He said, it's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens. The experience of death, some people think, that's what the writer of Hebrews is talking about.

Other people think, well, maybe the writer is discussing, well, maybe there's no resurrection. Maybe the resurrection really has been passed, like the

Thessalonians were falsely taught, and maybe it's just it. Maybe Jesus, he died for a lot of my sins, but not all my sins, and I'm going to have to pay for my sins in hell.

Maybe it's that. But friends, let's just add them all up. There still should be no fear for the

Christian. Listen to these words. 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 name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The man who preached the gospel to S.

Lewis Johnson, when S. Lewis got saved through the preaching of this man, was a man named

Donald Gray Barnhouse. He was the pastor of 10th Presbyterian in Philadelphia before James Boyce became the pastor.

And his first wife died of cancer, and they had three children, all under 12 years old, and now they're on the way to the funeral.

And Barnhouse and his family were driving, and a huge, big semi -truck passed them by.

And you could not only feel that semi, but you could see the shadow that was cast across the car. And Barnhouse, he was a great illustrator.

He even has a book called Let Me Illustrate, illustrating biblical truths. The daughter was looking out the window, and of course she was crying and sad about her mom.

Tell me, sweetheart, Pastor Barnhouse said, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?

By the shadow, I guess, it can't hurt you. And then he said to all three children, your mother has not been overridden by death, but by the shadow of death, there's nothing to fear.

Free from bondage, free from slavery, Christ's body is raised from the dead, and we will be raised with Him.

For me to live is Christ, Paul said, and to die is gain. If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which

I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard -pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. There's a little poem called

The Clock of Life. The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop at late or early hour.

To lose one's wealth is sad indeed, to lose one's health is more. To lose one's soul is such a loss that no man can restore.

I mean, if it wasn't for the Lord, we're just getting one step closer to Judgment Day, one step closer to eternity, one step closer.

But because the Lord has conquered death, the writer of Hebrews is saying, we're delivered.

You don't have to be enslaved to that Master any longer. Fear of death. I mean, people are afraid of death for all kinds of reasons.

They can't control the end of their life. You have no control over your death, and maybe that's why in Job 18, death is called the king of terrors.

You might be laying there in your deathbed and you think, there's so many things in life I wanted to do, but I didn't get done. You might be thinking, you know what,

I'm going to have to say goodbye to the last time to my wife and children, and then what? But Christian, you need not fear death any longer because Jesus is alive.

He's conquered death, Satan, hell, and the grave. Paul writes it this way,

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

For as in Adam all die, and in Christ we will all be made alive.

Our society can't even say the word dead. We say passed away, kicked the bucket, expired, all this cloak stuff because death is frightful.

And it shouldn't be, unless you're a Christian. The Bible's saying, don't be afraid of death.

Jesus conquered death. I read about people that have crippling anxiety of all kinds of things, including death, physical symptoms, dizziness and dry mouth, sweating, mental symptoms, emotional symptoms.

And then I just was so sad when I read, according to the psychologist, how do you treat people that have the fear of death?

This is their list. Anti -anxiety medicines. In parentheses, to give them credit, there are no scientific studies that have proven the efficiency of treating the fear of death phobia.

They can't have side effects, these medicines. Hypnotherapy. Talk therapy.

Neuro -linguistic programming. I don't know what that is, but I think they teach it at WPI. Just kidding.

You know, you wonder why we used to have 30 students from WPI attend and now we have the faithful remnant. We actually have some graduates from WPI here too, don't we?

Cognitive behavior therapy. Relaxation techniques like imagery, meditation, controlled breathing.

Exposure therapy or regressive therapy. Reliving certain life events. Self -help techniques.

Group therapies from other people suffering from thanatophobia. And they do add in religious counseling.

That's good, religious counseling. But for the unbeliever, you're supposed to be afraid.

No matter what kind of medication or talk, still you've been made in the likeness and image of God to worship the

Lord Jesus Christ. And for you, the unbeliever, it is a spit in the face of the

Creator and I am sovereign, you don't tell me what to do. I hate you, I hate your son.

If my arm was long enough, I would kill you. You should be afraid. But for the

Christian, for the Christian, we don't think about our God as a consuming fire like we're going to be judged.

We don't think it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God like we will be judged. We don't think of hell described in the

Bible as fiery furnace because we will be judged. We don't think we will be experiencing weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell because we won't be judged.

We don't think hell is a lake of fire that we'll have to go into because we won't be judged. We don't say to ourselves we have to be in outer darkness, blackness of darkness forever because we won't be judged.

And we don't have to say to ourselves hell is a place where I'm going to experience the worm of God that doesn't die and the fire is not quenched because we won't be judged.

Because the eternal Son adds humanity and He is judged. A .W.

Tozer, the vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.

My God is just a God of love. But your God is a God of your own imagination because the

God of the Bible is holy, holy, holy. But He's also gracious.

And the scepter I extend to you on behalf of the Word of God that if you are a rebel and you are an ungodly person and you are a sinner, to quote the old song, there's room at the cross for you.

Lay down your weapons and repent and believe because Jesus comes to save sinners, not godly people, but sinful people.

John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress writes, We should not take lightly the horrible thoughts of this place of death and destruction are meant to unveil.

We are warned about the misery of death and hell and should reflect upon its timeless torments and endless darkness in which men grope hopelessly for some relief that they will be fully persuaded that it no longer exists.

I mean, can you imagine the difference between heaven, which is purchased for the believers by Christ, and hell?

I was thinking about this the other day. A modern author was saying, you know, if you're with somebody that you love and you're spending time with them and you're on your honeymoon or you're dating someone or somebody that you love, a parent, and you're spending time together, time goes by so fast, doesn't it?

You just lose track of time. It's just so enjoyable to be with that other person. And you're with somebody that you don't really care to be with or that you're in a tough situation.

I mean, time just will not speed up. Maybe you've had some kind of medical procedure and you're just like,

I just need to speed this clock up a little bit so this is just going to be over. I mean,

I know there's no time in heaven, but can you imagine the joy that awaits the

Christian? If there was time, it would fly by. Why? Because you'd have so much enjoyment seeing

God, the Son, face -to -face, just enjoying, caught up in the moment.

But, oh friend, if you're not a believer, can you imagine what hell must be like? Because if there were time, it's going to grind.

It's going to be awful. People are afraid of death because they say, we don't know what happens.

Christian, you know. People say about death, we're just going to lose control at the very end.

Jesus is in control. What about I'm leaving behind people that count on me and are going to miss me?

Christian, those Christians that you leave behind, you will see again. But what about the act of dying?

Is it going to be fast? Is it going to be slow? And lo, I'm with you always.

My mom was dying of cancer and she was afraid about the death part. She was convinced that Jesus would be waiting for her and take her across death's door.

I said, Mom, I just was reading this in Pilgrim's Progress about going across that river of death.

And I said, I think it will encourage you. Christian then and his companion asked the men to go along with him.

So they told them that they would. But they said, you must obtain it by your own faith. So I saw in a dream that they went on together till they came inside of the gate, the gates of heaven.

Now I further saw that betwixt them and the gate was a river, death. But there was no bridge to go over.

And the river was very deep. And at the sight, therefore, of this river, the pilgrims were very much stunned.

But the men that went with them said, you must go through or you can't come at the gate. The pilgrims then went to begin to inquire if there is any other way to the gate.

To which they answered, yes, but there hath not any to save two, to wit, Enoch and Elijah, been permitted to tread that path since the foundation of the world, nor shall until the last trumpet shall sound.

The pilgrims then, especially Christian, began to respond in their mind and looked this way and that, but could no way find another way of escape.

Then they asked the men if the waters were all of a depth. They said, no, yet they could not help them in that case, for they said, you shall find it deeper or shallower as you believe in the king of the palace.

Then they addressed themselves to the water. And entering, Christian began to sink. Crying out to his good friend, hopeful, he said,

I sink in deep waters, the billows go over my head, all the waves go over me, say la.

Then said the other, be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom and it is good. And Christian said, ah, my friend, the sorrows of death have compassed me about.

I shall not see the land that flows with milk and honey. And with that a great darkness and horror fell upon Christian.

He is dying. So that he could not see before him. Also there was a great measure he lost his senses, so he could not remember nor orderly talk of any of those sweet refreshments that he had met in the way of his pilgrimage.

But all the words that he spoke still tend to discover that he had horror of mind and the heart fears that he should die in that river and never obtain entrance in at the gate.

Here also, as they stood by, perceived that he was in much troublesome thoughts of the sins that he had committed, both since and before he began to be a pilgrim.

Hopeful, therefore, had much ado to keep his brother's head above water. Yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then ere a while he would rise up his head again half dead.

Hopeful also did endeavor to comfort him, saying, Brother, I see the gate, the men standing by to receive us.

But Christian would answer, It is you, as they wait for you. You have been hopeful ever since I knew you, and so have you, said he to Christian.

Hopeful added these words, Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. And with that Christian break out with a loud voice,

Oh, I see him again. And he tells me, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

And through the rivers they will not overflow. Isaiah 43

Then they both took courage, and the enemy was after that as still as stone until they were gone over.

Christian therefore presently found ground to stand on, and so it followed that the rest of the river was shallow.

Thus they got over. Now I saw in my dream that these two men went in at the gate, and lo, as they entered, they were transfigured, and they had raiment put on that shone like gold.

There were also that met them with harps and crowns, and gave to them the harps to praise withal, and the crowns in token of honor.

And then I heard in my dream that all the bells in the city rang again for joy, and that it was said unto them,

Enter into the joy of the Lord. Bow with me please.

I thank you, Father, that for the Christian, the funeral is not where it ends.

Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever, who sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood.

Father, we just would ask for us as Christians that you would help us. Help us to remember what the

Bible says about Satan, a defeated foe, and death has no more sting.

All because of the Lord Jesus, that in love he did that for you, and in love he did that for us.

And the fear of death, unless your son comes back soon, we'll all have to cross that river. But you'll be with us.

And on the other side for us as Christians, is a face that shines with approval, because we are approved in Christ Jesus.

I pray for those that are here today that are not born again, that you would give them no rest until they rest in the