Hebrews, Chapter 2, part 3
You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net
1 ...the seventh, and eighth, and ninth, tenth chapter, from there in, oh, my. Have your pencil and paper and everything ready, for I believe the Lord is going to give us a great time.
Now, Paul is exalting and placing positionally, the Lord Jesus. Now, if we get through this tonight, Sunday morning... Which the most of this is going to blend right in with Sunday morning's message, because it's separating the sabbath. That's a great question amongst Sabbatarians today. And I would invite you all to come for Sunday morning. For, which is right: Saturday or Sunday for worship? What does the Bible say about it? And so then, whether the... This book is separating law and grace, and it's placing each one to its place. The Hebrews was raised by the law, and Paul was telling them what grace played with law.
2 Now, let's get just a little background now. We're going to start back...
By the way, I got me some reading glasses. Maybe I can... If I happen to make a spill tonight, I got them. You know I'm all... I just lack two years of being fifty years old, and I don't see like I used to, close to me. When my sight... I begin to notice the words blurring, I thought I was going blind. I went for an examination, and the doctor said, "No, you're just past forty, son." Well, he said, if I live to be old enough, it might come back again, and get that short sight back again. He said, "Now, you can read your Bible if you push it out from you?"
I said, "Yes."
Said, "After awhile your arm's not going to be long enough."
3 And so I hope now in this studying, that I... This little Collins Bible has a good-sized print in it. I can make it out pretty well. But when we get over in the big, deep places where we got to take the New and Old Testament and blend together, I got a small Scofield. And I'm used to the Scofield Bible, it's markings. I don't read the Scofield notes now, because I don't agree with Scofield on many of his theories. But I do like the way it's set up, because it's... I've had it for a long time and read it and so much till I kind of know how to find my subjects.
This is all new to me, and ... teaching, and I'm not much of a teacher. But you put up with me for a little while, and I will tell you the truth as far as I know it, anyhow.
4 Now, this book is... Paul, you remember, he was... How did we find him? He was a great teacher to begin with ... or a great scholar. And he was trained in the Old Testament. Can anybody tell me now, who we found his teacher was? Gamaliel, one of the noted teachers of the day.
And then Paul, we find out, one day before he was called Paul... Can anybody tell me what his name was? [Congregation answers "Saul."] Saul. And he was a great authority in Jerusalem; a religious authority. And he come up as a real trained, religious man. He could speak four or five different languages, and a very smart man. Well, did his education and smartness help him? No. He said he had to forget all he knowed in order to learn Christ.
So we find out, then, it doesn't take a smart man or an educated man. It takes a man that's willing to humble himself before God, regardless of how...
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
5 Did you know Dwight Moody was so uneducated till honest ... his writings were poor as I don't know what. They had to fix up his messages all the time. He was such a poor writer, very uneducated.
Did you know that Peter and John, of the Bible, were so unlearned till they couldn't even write their own name, and wouldn't know it, laying before them? The Apostle Peter, who had the keys to the kingdom, wouldn't know his name signed before him. Think of it. The Bible said that he was ignorant and unlearned. So that gives me a chance. Amen. Yes sir, that goes right on down ... to find that God could do that to a man.
Now ... and we find out as soon as Paul had a great experience... I want to ask you: "Is it an experience to come to Christ? Does everybody have an experience?" Yes, sir! Yes, sir; it's a birth. It's an experience.
And so we were in a Lutheran College not long ago.
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
6 I had the privilege this afternoon, late; supposed to be there at twelve o'clock for dinner with Tom Haire. How many ever heard of him, the famous, Irish, prayer warrior? And he's been with this Brother Epp on his program, and appeared here in many places in America. And I had dinner with him today. And we were... I was just about three hours late; was about three-thirty, a quarter to four when we ate, but it was all right. And we were discussing on these things of how that Jesus Christ is the head of all things.
7 Now, when Paul found this out... He had this experience; and then before he would accept this experience, it must be back to the Bible. And we find out that he left and went into another nation, and there he stayed for three years, searching the Scripture, to see if his experience was right.
Now, we realize that he had a great thing to face. He had to come back and tell his church and all the people, the very things that he had persecuted, was right,
Did you have to do something like that? Certainly, we nearly all did; have to go back and say, "Them people that we called 'holy rollers,' come to find out, they were right." See? That's it. We just had to turn around. And the things that we once hated, we now love. It's a conversion, a strange thing.
Galatians 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Galatians 1:17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Galatians 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
8 Ah! Now I made that statement, of "holy roller." There is no such a thing. There's no such a thing. But they call people that---holiness people. But there's no holy rollers. There's no such a thing. There's no record of any church ever recorded like that, as far as I can see, of the 960 something, different denominations. There is no such a denomination as holy roller. It's just a name that the devil tacked on the church.
But they called them, in that day... How many knows what they called them in the day of Paul? Heretics! You know what heretic means? "Crazy!" It's crazy people. So I just as soon be called a "holy roller" as a heretic." Wouldn't you? So if they was called that and rejoiced... And what did Jesus say for us to do about it? He said, "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted the prophets before you." They did it.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Acts 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
9 Said to "be exceedingly glad." Anything exceedingly is "lifted way up," real happy! And the disciples, when they was found worthy to bear the reproach of the name of Jesus, they rejoiced with great joy that they could bear the reproach of His name.
And today, many people today, if they'd happened to call them a holy roller, they'd cow-down: "My, maybe I was wrong to begin with."
But they was happy about it, "Oh, my; to bear the name!"
And now, in the second century, they called them Crossbacks. That's when the Christians used to pack a cross on their back to show that they were crucified with Christ. They called them Crossbacks. Now I know the Catholic calls themselves that, but that wasn't the Catholic church. It was the Protestant church before it was called Protestant church. It protested nothing but sin. The reason it's called Protestant church today is because it protested the Catholic dogma. But still, it was non-sectarian at that time, when they were called Crossbacks.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
10 Just get you a history of Josephus, and the other writers, and Hyslop's Two Babylons, and so forth, and you'll find out that that's right, that they was not no church. The first organized church ever was, was the Catholic church, about three hundred years after around of the last apostles. About three hundred years later, the Catholic church was organized. And a persecution set in, and forced the people into the Catholic church, and they had church and state united.
That was after, what was so-called, the conversion of Constantine from paganism to Catholicism. But if anybody ever read his history... He wasn't converted, the things that he did. Oh, my! The only thing he ever done religious was put the cross on the St. Sophia Church. That's the only thing he ever done acting even religious. He was a reprobate. But they call it his conversion. This about compares with some so-called conversions today.
11 But we find out when Paul got converted and had this real experience, he was absolutely turned around. And you know, conversion means to be "turned around." You're going this a-way and you turn and start back this a-way. Yes sir, it's a turn-around, about-face.
And Paul, as soon as he was converted, before he could ever make his experience... Now, he had a marvelous experience. Now, I believe when you accept Christ, just as your personal Saviour, it is an experience. I believe the joy of knowing your sins forgiven just thrills your heart through and through.
But then when the blessed Holy Spirit comes down, that's an experience (that new birth) that you'll never forget. You become a child of God. And here's what does it... "How do you know it, Brother Branham?"
12 Now, these are teaching lessons. Many people... The Methodists try to say, "They shouted when they got it." Well, that's all right. If you got it, and shouted, okay! Because you shouted, wasn't a sign you had it; 'cause a lot shouted and didn't have it.
The Pentecostals said, "When they spoke in tongues they got it." That's all right. If you spoke in tongues, and got it, all right. But you could speak in tongues and still not have it.
So you see, after all, it is the experience of passing from death to life, when all the old things die and all things become new, Christ becomes real, the old things drop away. The old roots of carnality... You know how to dig a root out? We used to take a grubbing hoe and just get down at it, and dig it till there wasn't a speck left in it, And they said, "If there be any root of bitterness spring up into you, rut her out!" And that's right. And that's what the Holy Spirit does: root out all the roots. Dig it out, pile it up, burn them, get rid of them. You get a good crop then, if we do that.
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Hebrews 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
13 Now, Paul knowed that something happened, so he goes back down into Arabia and there he studies for three years on all of the Old Testament prophets, how they prophesied. And he come to find out that it was absolutely the truth.
Now, compare that with today (see) on this experience that we had here at this little church: of the Morning Star appearing yonder, that great light that come down that would foretell and show things to happen. You know, that's marvelous. But my ministering brethren told me it was of the devil, and I couldn't understand it.
So, I didn't say nothing about it, until one night there was an experience happened up yonder at Green's Mill, Indiana, when the Angel of the Lord walked across the floor and stood there and proved it by the Scripture. Then it set fire. Then it started going.
14 No longer than last Sunday, we seen the infallible marks of Jesus Christ, who can take a man that hasn't walked and his balance nerve gone---when the Mayo's and the best doctors said, "It's finished forever"---and sitting blind. Raise up and walk out of the building, pushing his wheelchair down the steps; could walk and see like anybody else. That shows that it's the power of the resurrected Lord Jesus. There it is: He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So aren't we a happy group tonight to know that God has vindicated this great experience that we have, to be compared with this Bible and with the promises? Therefore, we ought to be exceedingly glad. And we realize then that in the 2nd chapter, we find out, "We should not let these things... We should not neglect these things. We should hold fast those things. And how are we going to escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"
What are we going to do, in the light of God's Word, when we stand at the judgment bar? You can't say, "I never knew any different." Oh, yes, you did! "Well, now, Brother Branham could have been wrong." That's true. But God isn't wrong. His Word isn't wrong. And just think, of the same thing (the Bible), that once lived in the apostles, are living again. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
15 When I think that I'm forty-eight years old, nearly fifty, and my youthful days are gone and so forth, to know that since a little boy that I had this blessed promise and have declared it to my brothers and sisters; and to see the literally thousands of those that's come out of darkness; to know that we are going to our eternal home, to the blessed. And if this earthly tabernacle be dissolved before I get through preaching, there's one waiting yonder for it. Hallelujah! To know that there's dozens of people sitting here that if they should leave this life right now, before we could get their body to the undertaker, they would be in that glorious body yonder, rejoicing with the Saints of God already in the presence of God, to live forever with the perfect (absolutely vindication that it's so). Amen.
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
16 Oh, that would make the Presbyterian shout. Did Sunday, didn't it? Them people were Presbyterian. Certainly it would, to think... Oh, no wonder people get emotional. Why if you get emotional from batting a ball or throwing one in a basket, how much more will it making you emotional to know that you've passed from death to life, that you're a new creation in Christ. You know it by the way your spirit leads you away from malice and guile and enmity and all the things of the world and your heart sets centered on Christ. That's your motives. That's all that you think of in your mind, on your heart, all day and night. When you go to bed at night, and put your hands behind you like this, and just lay there and praise Him till you go to sleep. Wake up, of a morning, still praising Him. Amen. Oh, my!
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
17 I've tried to praise Him... Of a morning we've been getting up about four o'clock, Brother Woods and I, going out early in the morning to go squirrel hunting. I praise Him under every tree, I believe, I come to. I can't see a tree without praising Him; think, He growed that tree. See a little old grasshopper fly up; He knows that grasshopper. Oh, you say, "Nonsense, Brother Bill." Oh, no, it isn't! He knows where every squirrel is. He knows where every butterfly is.
Why, at one time, He needed some money, and He said, "Peter, there's a fish, a while ago, swallowed a coin (just enough, as much as we need). Go cast a hook in, I will send him over there. Take that coin out of his mouth, because he can't use it himself. Go pay him our tithing---tribute." Amen!
Matthew 17:27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
18 And a few weeks ago I seen a little fish killed laying on the water. (All of you heard the story of it. There's Brother Woods, and his brother, and them there to witness it.) And that little fish laying dead for a half hour, on the water, with his entrails pulled out of its mouth. And the great Holy Spirit swept down ... after He said, the day before, "You're going to see the resurrection of a little animal." And the next morning about, a little after sunup, we saw that little fishy, not over that long; when the Spirit of the Lord came down, and said, "Little fish, Jesus Christ makes you whole!" And that dead fish, that had been floating on top of the water for practically a half hour, come to life and swam away just as hard as he could. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord! How wonderful He is.
19 No wonder Paul could say that He was in the order of Melchisedec. He was Melchisedec. Melchisedec had no beginning of days. He had no ending of years. He had no beginning of life or ending of life. He had neither father nor mother. So He couldn't have been no one else. Ever who he was, He's alive yet tonight. So He's ... only one type of eternal life, and that belongs to God.
Last evening when we were having a discussion, a brother could not understand the trinity of God, and how we were talking about it. How that Jesus stood there, a man of about 30 years old, and they said, "Oh, our fathers eat manna in the wilderness."
He said, "And they're, every one, dead." But He said, "I'm that bread of life that come from God out of heaven, that a man eats and don't die."
"Oh," they said, "our fathers drank from the rock in the wilderness."
He said, "I'm that Rock." (A man of thirty years old.) Said, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day."
"Why," said, "now you mean to tell me that you're as old as Abraham, and you're not 50 years old yet, and mean to say that you've seen Abraham who's been dead 800 years? We know that you got a devil now; you're crazy!" (That's what a devil means: "crazy person.") Said, "You got a devil and you're mad."
He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."
That's who He was. He wasn't just merely a man, neither was He a prophet; He was God, God dwelling on earth in a body of flesh called Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. That's exactly who He was.
John 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
John 6:49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
John 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 10:20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
Hebrews 7:3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
20 Now, we find Him over here, that... In the last part, now, of the closing of the second chapter, which I wanted to get to; beginning with the sixteenth verse... or the fifteenth verse:
And delivered them ... through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. [That's what he said that Jesus did; that He come to deliver them from bondage, who had been in fear of death all their lifetime.]
Now there's no need of fearing death. Now, of course, we do ... none of us want to, what we call, die. But do you know that if a person is borned again, he cannot die? How can he have eternal life and then die? He can't do it. The only thing is death ... the word death means "the separation." Now he will separate from the presence of our eyes. But he's always in the presence of God, and always will be. So death isn't a hard thing. Death is a glorious thing. Death is what takes us in the presence of God.
Hebrews 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
21 But now; of course, we, being human, walk in these dark elements here, we do not understand it as we should. And of course, when the choking pangs of death comes, it makes the very saintest of us fear and draw back. It made the Son of God say, "Could this cup pass?" It's a horrible thing; don't get it wrong, because it's a penalty of sin, death is, and it's got to be horrible. But if we can look just beyond the curtain, yonder. There's where it passed (blessed be the Lord)--- just beyond the curtain. That's where man desires to look tonight. Little Anna Mae Snelling and them used to sing a song here: "Lord, Let Me Look Past The Curtain of Time." Everybody wants to see that.
Matthew 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Mark 14:36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
22 Now here we are in the 16th verse:
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Oh, we want to hold to that again now. Now we're coming right down to get ... because the first part of this third chapter ... the last part of it, blends in on that day for the sabbath, for this coming Sunday.
Now, watch:
...he took not ... the nature of angels; ... [Now who's "he," he's talking about? Christ. Who's Christ? God! The Logos of God.]
Now, let me explain this again, so you be sure. God is not three Gods. The trinity of God is One. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, doesn't mean that there is three different Gods. If it is, we'd be heathens. (That's the reason the Jews can't understand.) Never was it taught in the Bible. Now it's taught in the Catholic church, absolutely; that's where the triune baptism come from.
Hebrews 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
23 In Africa they baptize you three times face forward: once for God the Father, once for God the Son, once for God the Holy Ghost. Now that's a error. There's no such teachings of that in the Bible, see.
And now, that's what they taught. It come down through Luther, out of Luther into Wesley, on down into the ages as it rolls on. But it never was a Bible teaching. It's always been a error, since it was begun.
24 So, God was in the beginning. Before there was any light, before there was ever a atom, before there was ever a star, before there was any visible thing, God filled all space. And in that was nothing but purity: pure love, pure holiness, pure righteousness. It was Spirit. He covered the whole space from eternity... Well, we can't fathom it. It goes beyond anything that we could imagine.
Like through that glass, we could see a hundred and something million years of light space. Think of it! A hundred million years of light space. And light travels about 8,000 miles per second. And a hundred million years of light space... Just think how many million miles that would be. You couldn't even numerate it. You could just take a row of 9's and run it around Jeffersonville, and still you wouldn't have it broke down in miles ... of miles. Think of it! And beyond that is still stars and planets. And God, before one of them was, He was, See.
25 And now the Logos that went out of God, which was the Logos, all this begin to form into a body-shape. And this body-shape was called, in the scholar's teaching, "Logos." The Logos that went out of God. In other words, a better word for it was what we call a theophany. Theophany is a human body that's glorified. Not exactly with flesh and blood like it will be in it's glorified stage, but it is of a form of a human body that doesn't eat, neither does it drink, but it's a body. A body that's waiting for us, as soon as we leave this one. Now, in there, we enter into that body. And that's the kind of body that God was. For He said, "Let us make man in our own image and in our likeness."
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
26 Now, when man become into that body, he had control of all the fishes and fowls and beasts of the field. And then there was no man to till the soil (Genesis 2). He done made male and female, but there was no man to till the soil. Then God made man out of the dust of the earth. He give him a hand like a chimpanzee. He give him a foot like a bear. He made him on the image ... and this earthly body is in the image of animal life, and it's made out of the same kind of material. Your body is made just the same kind of material as a horse, or a dog, or anything like that. It's made out of calcium, potash, petroleum, cosmic light. You're just ... all flesh like that is... Not the same flesh, it's different flesh, but it's made out of the dust of the earth where it come from. But the difference between an animal and a man: God put a soul in a man and He didn't put it in the animal, because the soul that was in the man is that theophany.
Oh, I'll never get to this lesson, but I've got to get this.
Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
27 Look! Don't you remember, when Peter was in prison and the Angel of the Lord came and opened the doors?
We was going through the supermarket up here the other day, and the door opened in front of us. I said, "You know, the Bible had that first," see.
Now, the swinging door is by itself. And when Peter came out, walking by these guards, they were blinded to him. He passed the inner guard, the outer guard, out into the courts, through the wall, out into the street. And none of them knowed who he was, and didn't pay any... They thought he was another guard or something. He just passed by, and the door opened by itself as he went out, and shut behind. And when he got out there, he thought he had a dream. And he went down to John Mark's house, where they had a prayer meeting, and he was knock... [Brother Branham knocks.]
[Gap in the audio.] ... to be among them.
Acts 12:7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
Acts 12:9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
Acts 12:10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
Acts 12:12 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.
28 Oh, He's glorious; He's wonderful
Now, oh, "He wasn't made in the form of an angel, but He took on the seed of Abraham." God became the seed of Abraham.
Now if we had time to go back and show how he did it in the covenant... You've heard me preach on it many times, how that he took those animals and cut them apart, and throwed the turtledove and pigeon in. Then he looked and he noticed a little smoke of black horror: death. Next, a smoking furnace: hell. But beyond that went a little white light. And that little white went between each piece of that cut sacrifice, showing what He would do. And He took a oath when He did that, and He wrote a covenant showing what He would do.
And Jesus Christ come to the earth (God, Emmanuel: God in flesh). And at Calvary, He was torn apart. And His Spirit come back on the church. And His body was lifted up and set on the throne of God. The throne of God? The One that's on the throne is a Judge. We know that. Well, where is the judgment? The Father has given ... judge no man. But the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. So He is ... and His life is the High Priest, sitting there with His own body, as a sacrifice, to plead our confessions. Amen! Brother, that puts something in you.
Genesis 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
Genesis 15:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
Genesis 15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
Genesis 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Hebrews 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
29 Notice, He took on the seed of Abraham. He become a man: God, made flesh among us to redeem us. In other words, God became sin that we sinners might become partakers of Him. And when we partake of Him, we partake of His... We were time-space people, three score and ten. And God came down and become one of us, three score and ten for His allotted time, that we might partake of His eternal life. And when we're borned again, we're sons and daughters of God, and have eternal life and shall never perish. Oh, what a blessed Saviour! Oh, there's no way to write it. There's no way to explain it. It's just beyond explaining. No one can explain how great it is. How Great Thou Art! How Great Thou Art!---is right!
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto His brethren, [think of that] that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, [listen at this] to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. [To reconcile: now God, knowing justice, had to become unjustice (to feel what it was to be a sinner) to go back to reconcile, through reconciliation, and have mercy on the people].
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Hebrews 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Hebrews 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
30 Next verse; listen at it here:
For in that he himself hath suffered...
God could not suffer in Spirit. He had to become flesh to feel the pain of sickness, to feel the temptation of lust, to feel the temptation of want, to feel the temptation of hunger, to feel the power of death, that He might take it upon Hisself to stand in the presence of the great Spirit, Jehovah (the Spirit, not the man, the Spirit), to make intercession to this life. And Jesus took that in order to make intercession for us, for He knows how it feels. When you get sick, He knows how you feel. When you're tempted, He knows how you feel.
Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
31 Now, did you ever notice when we vote for a president, every farmer will vote for a president that's been a farmer, for he knows the hard part of a farmer's life, see. He wants some man who understands.
And before God could ever understand (Him being that Great Holiness)... How He could ever understand, after He condemned man. By His holiness, He condemned man. And the only way He will ever know how to justify man is to become man.
And God overshadowed the virgin and she brought forth a body; not Jewish blood, not Gentile blood, but His own blood: God's creative blood; no sex at all in it at all, no sexual desire. And this blood cell, created in the womb of this woman, brought forth the Son. And when He was baptized by John the Baptist, John said, "I bear record, seeing the Spirit of God (like a dove) coming down and abiding upon Him."
John 1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
32 No wonder Jesus could say that all powers in heaven and earth is given into My hand. God and man became One, heavens and earth embraced each other, and He was the One who could give reconciliation for our sins. That's the reason that in His name healing takes place. He knows your pains.
Did you ever hear this little, old song?
Jesus knows the pain you feel,
He can save and He can heal,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
(That's right. He knows.)
When our body's racked with pain,
and our health we can't regain,
Just remember God in heaven answers prayer;
Jesus knows the pain you feel,
He can save and He can heal,
Just take your burden to the Lord and leave
it there.
That's all He asks: "Just leave it there." Why? He's a High Priest standing here that knows how you feel. And He knows how to reconcile you back to grace and how to bring you back to your health. He knows all about it, He suffered. When you haven't got a place to lay your head, He had the same. When you got one change of clothes, He had the same. When you are made fun of, persecuted, He had the same.
33 Listen at the last verse now. All right:
...he is able to succor those that are tempted. [or in other words, He is able to secure those, to help those, to make those ... to sympathize with them, because God Himself became man in order to feel it.]
You remember the other night, didn't we teach on that? How that God had to... Death had a sting in it, a scare in it. "All their days they were in bondage about this death." And then Jesus came that he might take that stinger out of death. And when He was going up the mountain, remember how we illustrated it? Them little red dots on His coat and after while they all become one big dot and splashing the blood around Him. His little frail body, He couldn't go any further, and He fell. Simon Cyrene, the colored man, helped Him bear the cross on up the hill. And when they nailed Him to the cross, and he screamed for water. Any man bleeding needs water.
Matthew 27:32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
Mark 15:21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
Luke 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
Hebrews 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
34 Remember when I preached the other night on "The deer and the hart thirsts for the water brooks, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God?" If the deer's wounded and living, losing blood, he's got to get to water or he will die.
I was shot, down in the field, when I was fourteen years old. And I was laying there. And my legs blowed over me, like hamburger, from a twelve-gauge shotgun. And I screamed for water: "Oh, give me a drink!" My lips was numb.
My buddy run over to an old pool, had all kinds of little old wiggletails---swamp. I didn't care what it was. And he racked it full of water, and I held my mouth open, and he squeezed his cap out like that, in my mouth; yet I had to have water!
He was bleeding. He said, "Give me a drink!" And they give him vinegar on a sponge, and He rejected it, and refused it. He was God's Lamb dying in our stead to bring reconciliation to the human being. What was it? The God of heaven!
Psalm 42:1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
John 19:29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
35 Billy Sunday once said that "every bush had Angels sitting in it, saying, 'Just pull your hand loose and point your finger; we will change the situation.'"
That sassy bunch of religious fanatics, called some big educated scholars of D.D., Ph.D., walked by and they said, "Now, if you are the Son of God... You saved others; yourself you can't save. Come down off the cross and we will believe you."
They didn't know that they was paying Him a compliment. He could have saved Himself. But if He saved Himself, others He could not save. So, He gave Himself. Blessed be His name! He gave Himself that I could be saved and you could be saved. Oh, what matchless love!
Matthew 27:40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Matthew 27:42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
Mark 15:31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
Mark 15:32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
36 He didn't have to be sick; that precious virgin-born body didn't have to be sick. But He became sick that He might know how to intercede for me when I was sick.
He didn't have to weary, but He did weary. I read a little history one time on it, I don't know whether it's authentic or not: "When He raised that boy from Nain there, from the dead, He sat on a rock and groaned with a headache," because He had to bear our sickness.
He had to bear our sin, and there He died. And on Calvary when that old bee and death once anchored its stinger... Anyone knows when a bee anchors its stinger, it can't sting no more. When the bee flies away or any insect that stings (when he anchors his stinger), he pulls the stinger out. He's still a bee but he hasn't got a stinger. The only thing he can do is buzz and make a lot of noise.
That's the only thing that death can do to the believer, is make a lot of noise. But hallelujah, blessed be the name of the Lord, He anchored that stinger of death in His own flesh. Emmanuel did it. And rose up again on the third day, shook the stinger out of there, and is Immortal tonight. And His Spirit is in this building. And He proves Hisself alive among us. That's our Messiah. That's our blessed Saviour...
Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Luke 7:11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
Luke 7:14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
Luke 7:15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.