Hebrews series

So we're gonna turn, to Hebrew's chapter 2.

I was gonna draw attention to the fact we have new screens, but they seem to have gone off in the middle of that song. So I won't mention them. So Hebrews chapter 2 and we're gonna begin a verse 5. It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come. About which we are speaking.

But there is a place where someone has testified. What is mankind that you are mindful of them? A son of man that you care for him. You made them a little lower than the angels. You crown them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.

In putting everything under them, god left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present, we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death. So that by the grace of god he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that god, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he has suffered.

Both the 1 who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters. In the assembly, I will sing your praises. And again, I will put my trust in him.

And again, he says, here am I, and the children god has given me. Tom. Thanks, Phil. Good morning, everybody. Nice to see you.

And, welcome if you are joining us here at Cornerstone for the first time. As Phil said, perhaps you've, come with family and friends to visit for Christmas, and, it's lovely that you can be with us this morning. And, to anyone who is joining us online, it's, it's good to have you too. And, Ho, we welcomed Ho at the beginning, and he wasn't here, but now we can welcome him because he's walking in. Everyone, there's Ho.

Welcome Ho. Just got off the plane. Lovely to have you. And, so do keep Hebrews to open. We started this series 2 weeks ago.

If you want to listen to the first 1, you can catch up. And really, the idea of looking at this chapter is, so that we might, glory together in the incarnation in the coming of Christ, to this world at Christmas. These passages might be less well known to us than some of those in the gospels that we normally read at Christmas time, but nonetheless chapters like this are so important for us to be familiar with because there is a whole rich world of theology behind the incarnation. Which is just so good for us to know, and, Hebrews too gives us loads of that. So, hopefully, we'll have a good time here together in the next few minutes.

Let's bow our heads, shall we and pray. Father as we come to your word and look at these, amazing truths that are put in such amazing ways that you would help us to grasp them with our minds and to delight in them with our hearts. And that each 1 here, whether we been around Cornerstone for a long time or whether we're brand new this morning. And even if we're completely new to the Christian faith, we pray that everyone might hear you speaking to us this morning through your word in Jesus' name. Well, this, this chapter Hebrews 2, and, I I I really do think the whole book of Hebrews was written so that we might so appreciate and understand the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ, that we would not even dream of falling away from him.

That we would never want to trade him in for anything else, that we would never want to backslide, that we would so appreciate and love our savior, that the idea of backsliding away from him into anything else would be an appalling thought to us. The concern is there in verse 3. If you've got Hebrews 2 open in front of you, you can see it's put as a question. How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation. Now that is quite a good evangelistic question, isn't it?

You could put that question to those who don't believe in Christ. How are you gonna escape? If you ignore the salvation Christ, how are you gonna escape? But actually, in the first instance, this question is not aimed at unbelievers. It's aimed at Christians who might start to be tempted to come away from Christ Christians who may have begun well, but might now be wanting to drift back into an old Christless, godless way of doing things.

And so the question comes to them, how are you going to escape if you ignore and turn back from this savior which you have come to believe in. And Hebrews too is written to say, look, don't do that. Don't backslide away from Christ, and here's how not to do that. Doesn't just tell us what not to do. He gives us reasons not to do it.

And the answer is that we might grow in our knowledge of salvation and our knowledge of Christ. That is how we will avoid falling away as we grow in our understanding of the gospel. You see, verse 10 to 13, which are our focus versus this morning, verse 10 to 13, are here to deepen our faith by stretching our mind. They are here to deepen our faith by stretching our mind. You see, you read Hebrews too, and sometimes you might ask the question, why is he putting in such a difficult way?

Does feel like that, doesn't it? Like, the the way the words are structured and the way all the themes seem to just spill over into each other, you might ask, why didn't he say it in a slightly more simple way? Why why isn't this in the sort of English that we that we that we speak? And the answer in part is because god wants to build a hard wearing faith in us. He wants to develop our capacity to think about the things of Christ and our salvation.

He doesn't want us to have the kind of faith that can just sponge off the wall with water. Yeah. Just to be easily wiped away. He wants us to be like that resin that you put on outdoor fences. That's got a 20 year guarantee.

And it will survive all the seasons of the British climate, and it'll be there stuck in hardwearing year after year after year. That is the sort of faith that god wants us to have. Not 1 that's weak and watery, but 1 that's deep and makes its way into every fiber of our beings. And the way to do that is sometimes to get us to stretch our minds and to think in ways and read sentences that we don't normally read to give us a depth of thought and understanding in our salvation. So it's true, isn't it?

Don't you think that very often, the reason that we stagnate in our faith or the reason that we are in danger of stagnating is because we can apply our minds to all sorts of things but we choose not to apply it to the word of god. We can be very good at applying our minds to making sure we get the best mortgage interest rate. We can be good at applying our minds to making sure we get a best deal on a holiday. We can be good to applying our minds to all kinds of areas. But for some reason, we think that we don't need to apply the same minds to the word of god.

And so we wonder why we stagnate and drift. What could it be? Because sometimes we just need to work a little bit harder. To understand that the glory of our salvation. So I think 10 to 13 are written the way they are partly so that our faith can be deepened as our mind is stretched.

And so this morning, we're gonna look at at 4 aspects of our salvation for faith deepening mind stretching aspects of our salvation, and they're all built around this 1 word in verse 10 fitting fitting. K? So here's my first point. It was fitting for Jesus to become perfect for us. It was fitting for Jesus to become perfect for us.

Fitting means not just the the right way of doing things, but the very best way of doing things. So what we're about to read is what god thought, not just was right, but this was the way that would bring him the most glory. It's a fitting salvation, fitting to his character. It was fitting for Jesus to become perfect for us. It's put that way in verse 10 if you have a look.

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that god for whom and through whom everything exists. Should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Now, those of you who are, in the world of work and have been for some time. You'll you'll probably agree that there is nothing more galling than when somebody less experienced value is promoted before and over you. Yeah.

So there you are. You've been in the company. You've been working hard for a long time, and you've gained the experience that others don't have. And you proved yourself in the company or so you thought. And then some Johnny come lately, joins the company, who hasn't clocked up anywhere near the hours that you've clocked up, hasn't gained the experience that you have gained, and has had very little opportunity to prove themselves to anyone, And yet, for some reason, they are promoted they arc over the top of you and are promoted over you.

Yeah? And you can't help feeling a little bit hard done by. Seems a bit unfair. Who is this person who's had no chance to qualify themselves or prove themselves to anyone and now they earn more than me and work less hours than I do. What's that about?

It's not very good management, is it? It's not very good for keeping the the office Zen, that sort of thing. Right? It's the same reason that, you know, football managers or talent scouts won't go to the academy and choose a 15 year old and promote them to head of the first team straight away. Right?

It's a terrible thing to do because everybody in the team and all the fans know, no. In order to earn that armband, you need to prove yourself. You need to do the the November away fixture in stoke in winter, and it's cold, and it's hard work, and you need to prove yourself and put in the hours, and and show us what you're made of in order to earn your captain's armband. Yeah? In all kinds of areas, we understand that.

There is a a need sometimes to have experience to prove ourselves to qualify ourselves. Well, when it comes to the salvation that we have in Christ, god could have said, okay, here's my son, age 33. He comes to earth, and in 1 hour, He dies, rises, and goes back to heaven. Salvation achieved. He did it in 1 hour.

But in the mind of god, there was a much more fitting way. To show us that Jesus was the savior that we needed. In the mind of god, it was much more fitting to send Christ not at age 33, but to send him as a collection of cells in a womb. He even knows what that's like. It's not only the virgin birth, it's exciting.

He began life in the womb. He has the experience of being in the womb. That's when he came. And then for 33 years, he lived a full and authentic human life. Isn't that amazing.

Going through everything that you have been through and more, seeing everything that you've seen and more, being tempted in all the ways that you've been tempted and more for 33 years. He went up mountains and threw deserts, and he sailed through storms, and he walked through corn fields, picking ears of corn. He's lived it all, and he's done it all. And he's seen that he has lived a full human life. Isn't that what you see when you read the gospels?

You you get that impression, don't you? But Jesus, it's not as if Jesus has got a a script in front of him that he's just passively following. You know, but he's rather choosing obedience to the father. In every step of his life, and everything he goes through, he's choosing obedience to the father, even when that obedience took him, into the darkest corners of human existence. He obeyed and he went there, into the loneliness that we feel, and into the anxiety that we feel.

And being betrayed in the ways that we are betrayed, and not only going through death as we do, but going to the funeral of 1 he loved. He's done all of that. He lived this full human life. Where else in what other religion do you get that? I mean, seriously, in what other religion do you get that?

You look at the prophets from other religions. And firstly, you see that they're not god, that's 1 thing. But secondly, as you read their stories, they seem to live these quite strange lives that are separated from the human experience, don't they? They're not they're not really in the human experience. They're they're either in the woods looking for buried golden tablets somewhere or they're, you know, in a cave by themselves a lot of the time.

Claiming to have these sort of mystical revelations and everything about their lives is slightly divorced from the ordinary human experience. But in the mind of god, There was something far more fitting. He wanted to give us a savior who was qualified in every way to be our savior. He wanted to give us someone who has been through it all and has seen it all and has done it all, and yet has emerged perfect. From every 1 of his difficulties, he emerges perfect.

Amazing that, isn't it? That's what verse 10 means if you have a look with me. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that god for whom and through whom everything exists. Should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Now what he doesn't mean there is that Jesus had to suffer in order to become morally perfect.

He's not saying that god sent Christ into the world sinful, but through his suffering, he became perfect. But rather he's telling us that in everything Christ went through and especially in his sufferings. He proved his perfection. Not to heaven because they already know he's perfect, and not to himself because he knows who he is. But to us, but to us.

Every thing that he went through. Every trial that you have failed in. And every trial that I have failed in, and where Adam failed, and where he failed, Christ was triumphant. He emerged perfect in everything. And isn't that the savior you want to follow?

You see, sometimes we get frustrated in the Christian life, don't we? Because we feel that other people just don't understand us. And they can't sympathize with us. And if only they knew what we were really like and what we were going through, they'd be so much better at ministering to us. Well, I'm afraid this side of heaven, that sort of thing is always going to be true.

But in Christ, we have a savior who knows and understands in deeper, more profound ways, all of our struggles than even we ourselves do and we can trust him. Because in the mind of god, it was fitting to make this man Jesus perfect through all the sufferings of a human life. So that you would know whatever I'm going through, he understands, and I can trust him. And he's qualified. He's qualified to help me.

That's the first thing. Secondly, We're also seeing here. It was fitting for Jesus to come and adopt us. It was fitting for him to become perfect for us, but secondly, it was fitting for Jesus to come and adopt us. Have a look at verses 10 and 11.

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that god for whom and through whom everything exists should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the 1 who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. And so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. About a month ago now, our family, we we were invited to our first ever American style Thanksgiving. We've never had that before.

We've never put 1 of those on before. And, but they seem to be growing in popularity. You know, there is this, slow and steady Americanization of the, of this once proud nation, you know, and, lots of people doing, Thanksgiving. No. It was lovely.

We had a lovely time. It was the Graham. Paul and had a Graame. Invited us over. And, we had Thanksgiving around their table.

And just before we were about to eat, Paul said, right, I'm gonna just say a few words, and he listed off a couple of things, that he was thankful for. And, 1 of the things he said just before we ate was he was thankful for for many, their their daughter. Because that day or at least that week, I can't remember if it was that day or that week, marked the second anniversary of many coming into their family being adopted into their family. And so it was a time to give thanks for that adoption and for her arrival into the family. And, if you were here at the time as as a member of Cornerstone, you'll probably remember that in order for the Graham to adopt Mini, they had to go and get Mini.

Remember that? So they were here. And then for 3 months, they were away. For 3 months, they went to South Africa in order to get to know her and in order to bring her home. It's interesting that, isn't it?

Because you asked why did they actually need to do that? I mean, why were they made to do that? Because them going to get her in order to bring her home was not actually necessary to her coming. I mean, they could have sent a friend. Didn't they?

Could have sent someone else to go and get her? Or they could have just booked her a flight on Skyscanner, and someone over the other side could have taken her to the airport, and she could have come. So why did they need to go? They didn't need to go. But there was a glorious wisdom in that process, wasn't there?

That they needed to go there. And before they brought her home into their family, they could get to know her, really get to know her. They could understand something of her story and how she lived. They could see the places which up until that point she'd known as home. They could more intimately understand the difficulties and the struggles of her environment, and more intimately understand the joys that she'd known in that environment.

They wouldn't really have been able to know her that well if they'd just booked her a flight, would they? And so there is there is great wisdom, isn't there? In going into a place to understand a person in order to adopt them. And do you see there's something similar, isn't there? When it comes to this Christmas story.

But when god wanted to bring us into his family, he didn't just send an angel to come and get us, and he didn't just summon us from heaven. It could have done it that way, couldn't it? Just summoned us. And he didn't just leave us a load of instructions about how we might get to heaven ourselves. I mean, just imagine if Paul and Hannah had done that for many.

They'd sent her a letter with some instructions about how she could hitchhike home by herself. Yeah? What a terrible for, and yeah, that's religion. That's religion. That's what religion is.

Here's a list of instructions from heaven and if you follow them well enough, you might get home. But in the mind of god, there was something so much more fitting and so much more glorious. But in order to adopt us, He would come in the person of his son, to get to know us, to understand our world, to live a true human life, and then to bring us home into his family. What an amazing thing that is. I mean, again, where else do you find that?

In all the religions and philosophies of the world, where else do you find that? A god who loves his people so much. He's willing to come and become 1 of them in order to get them and bring them home and adopt them. That's what this is about. Why do we have the incarnation?

For adoption. Christ becomes a man to bring us into his family. And again, it's all supporting this idea that that means he really knows us, doesn't he? He really knows us. Because he's lived a life in our world in the flesh.

He knows us. And so when we sit around the table with him in heaven, he can say brothers and sisters. Not robots or puppets or co angels, but my brothers and sisters, because I went to know them to understand them in order to adopt them. 1 amazing thing. And so we see that it was fitting for Jesus to come and adopt us.

It was fitting for him to become perfect for us, and it was fitting for him to come and adopt us. Thirdly, it was fitting for Jesus to not be ashamed of us. It was fitting for Jesus to not be ashamed of us. I've been reading through, Genesis, at the moment, and, I was, struck reading Genesis chapter 2 again by the last words of Genesis chapter 2. So just before the serpent comes in chapter 3, in Genesis 2 25, we're given like the high point of a world without sin.

So before the world has fallen into sin, before Adam and Eve have turned their back on god, what was the climax of a life with god without sin? Well, here's Genesis 2 25. Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. They felt no shame. The very next words are now the serpent.

They felt no shame. Now the serpent. In other words, a high point of a life with god in this world before sin came was an existence without shame. No shame. No shame between 1 another.

No shame between them and them and god. A shame free world. And, you know, I think that's 1 of the reasons. Why shame is such a painful experience in this life, isn't it? Shame is so pain, and it's something that we learn to feel very, very early on in life.

Almost starts in the playground, doesn't it? Maybe even before then? When you got a group of friends who you thought loved you, and up until now, they've been playing with you, and there's been no problem. But you turn up to school 1 day, and all of a sudden they say, we don't wanna play with you anymore. You know, we're embarrassed of you.

We're ashamed to be seen with you. You're not cool anymore. You don't wanna play with you. And suddenly you feel shame. You feel ashamed of something that you're supposed to have done?

Or it might be that you're from a culture where shame plays an unfortunate, but big part of life. If you marry the wrong person or if you get the wrong grades or if you choose the wrong career, you might feel sh shame. You might feel shame, even from your family. Because you you've done the wrong things, and shame becomes a powerful motivator. So that's something that really something that can can ruin.

Shame. Well, have a look at verse 11. Isn't this amazing? Both the 1 who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family and so Jesus is not ashamed. He's not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

So let's go over this. Christ comes into the world as a man, and he lives a full human life, perfect in every way, qualifying himself to be the savior that we need. And on the cross when the right time comes, he takes all of our sin and all of our shame and guilt for what we've done. And he bears it in his own body upon the cross and he absorbs the weight of the curse that we should have absorbed for our sin. But more than that, when you or I choose to trust in him, his perfect righteousness, that that perfect life that he lived that we were talking about, is then credited to our account by faith.

So that before god, we don't just stand as sinless, but sinlessly perfect because all of Christ's perfections that he won are counted as yours if you trust in him. And so when Christ looks at you, he says those are my brothers and sisters. I am the holy 1, and I have made them holy so that when I look at them, I love them, and I see my own beauty in them, and I'm not ashamed of them. I'm not a I love them. I'm not ashamed of them.

Isn't that remarkable? Verse 11 again. Let's make sure we've got it. Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. Because both the 1 who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.

You see, what is it that makes you and I of the same family as Jesus? It's not that we like the same movies as him. It's not that we like the same food as him. It's that we share in his nature. The 1 who is holy has made us holy.

And therefore, he is not ashamed when he looks upon us. What a thing that is in our world. In our world, where shame is poured on us, and we pour shame on other people. And where sometimes we're even ashamed of Christ, don't we? It's Christians.

We're ashamed of him. We're ashamed of the testimony of our lord. And yet in his remarkable grace, it was not fitting. That god should have a whole crowd of people that he was ashamed of. That was not fitting.

That was not a not a fitting way to save. He'd rather have a whole crowd of people, brothers and sisters, of whom he says. I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed of my brothers and sisters. And, you know, these truths, we've gotta apply to our hearts.

Into our young people. You know, we've gotta say to the people in Seoul and the people at at Cornerstone Kids, you know, there will be times when, you know, you you when you go to school and people are ashamed of you, or it might be that they post something on TikTok about you that is utterly shameful, and that that is what this world is like. And sometimes there's very little you can do to address that, but you can speak to your own heart. You can address it that way. And say, I trust in Jesus, and he's never gonna be ashamed of me.

Never. He's never gonna post something in order to shame me. He's never gonna turn his back on me. There is a stability in his emotional life, which I love. He's never gonna love me 1 day, and then not the next day.

He's never gonna be ashamed of me. Or if you're from a culture where shame plays a big part in life, there might be nothing that you can do. To avoid being shamed by those in your family or your friends. No matter what you do, you seem to get it. But if you trust Christ, you know that no matter what culture you're from, he's never gonna be ashamed of you.

He's never gonna say, I'm ashamed of you. Because the 1 who is holy has made you holy, and he came to get you, and he qualified himself for you. And he is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters. What a gospel? It's a great gospel.

Lastly, it was fitting for Jesus to come to church. It was fitting for Jesus to not be ashamed of us. Thirdly, fourthly, it was fitting for Jesus to come to church. And that's in verse 12 and 13. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

He says so this is a quote from Psalm 22. And then it's a quote from Isaiahate, and the author of Hebrews seems to think that's Jesus who said that. Jesus said, verse 12, Jesus says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters. In the assembly, I will sing your praises. And again, I will put my trust in him, says Jesus.

I'll put my trust in him. And then again, he says, here I am. Father, Here I am, and the children that I'm not ashamed of, and the children that you have given me. Psalm 22, if you know Psalm 22, it's an amazing Psalm. Because it begins right in the middle of the horror of the cross.

That's where it starts. Verse 1, Psalm 22, Jesus in the darkness on the cross, facing god's justice for us, My god, my god. Why have you forsaken me? That's where it begins in the agony of the cross. And then if you know the Psalm or if you read the Psalm later, you see that for 18 verses after that, It is all darkness.

It's all the darkness of the cross. The enemies are surrounding Christ and mocking him. He's thirsty. His bones are out of joint. He's in agony.

He he's terrified. At the weight of sin that he's bearing 18 verses of cross agony. Until from the cross, he sees this ray of light. Psalm 22 verse 22. Jesus says, I will declare your name to my people, and in the assembly, I will praise you.

1 thing that people often say in survival stories, if you're familiar with any great survival story is that the way they were able to endure their difficulties and their trials was because they had some hopeful thing that they could concentrate on and think about, even in the worst times, but gave them persevering strength. They were able to survive because of this thing in their future that they long to be reunited with or a person that they long to see again, and that kept them going. Well, here's the question. What was that thing for Christ on the cross? When Jesus was there in all the Psalm 22 agony, what was the thing that enabled him to keep going?

Well, there's many answers the scriptures give? His resurrection glory, returning to his father's glory, John 17. But here in Psalm 22 and Hebrews too, the the the glorious thought which kept Christ going on the cross. Was that 1 day he'd be in church. It's quite something, isn't it?

Jesus there on the cross, bearing the weight of our sin cut off even from his own father. What's he thinking about? He's thinking soon I'm gonna be in church. I'm gonna be in church soon. In the assembly of my people, I will praise your name.

Church. Church was in his mind on the cross. I'm gonna be in church soon. He's there. Dying for you.

And he's thinking in 2000 years' time, I'm gonna be at Cornerstone. I'm gonna be in the assembly of my people at Cornerstone. And I'm gonna be praising god's name. And again, it's worth the comparison, isn't it? Where where else do you find that?

You see the prophets of other religions, where where are they now? Where are they? Where are they? They're in their own little private selfish paradise. That's where they are.

Enjoying their own private pleasures because they don't really want god and they don't really want god's people. But what what does what does Christ dream of as he dies on the cross? What gives him strength to bear your sin? But 1 day, he's gonna be at church. He's coming to church, and that enables him to keep going.

And what is he doing at church? Well, let's have a look. What does Jesus do when he's at church? He says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters. In the assembly, I will sing your praises.

That's what Jesus does when he comes to church. He declares the name of his father, and he sings the praises of the triune god. That's what Jesus does at church. See, sometimes you and I don't feel like coming to church, do we? We wake up on Sunday morning, we don't wanna come, and we don't feel like singing.

We don't feel like singing. We don't wanna come. But how do you deal with that? Do you just say, okay. I'm not going.

And you pull the duvet over your head, and you wait until the time when you do feel like singing. What do you say? I don't feel like singing? But that's okay. Because when I go to church, I wanna hear Christ singing.

That's what I'm gonna do. I may not be able to do it, but I'm gonna go because when I go to church, I hear Jesus singing to the father. And that's what I need. I don't actually really need to hear myself sing. I need to hear Jesus sing.

That's why I go to church because I wanna hear Jesus singing, and I wanna hear him declaring the name of god over me. That's why I go. I may not feel like declaring the name of god. But that's okay. I don't have to wait until I do.

I'm gonna go to church anyway. I mean, here Jesus declare god's name in the assembly. That's what he does at church. When Jesus comes to church, he declares the father's name and he sings. But what else does he do?

Well, have a look. This is from Isaiah 8, and again verse 13, I will put my trust in him. You see, sometimes we don't feel like coming to church, do we? Because we don't feel our faith is strong enough. And we look back in the past week, and we say if you knew some of the things I've done, you'd you'd say that I'm a monster of unbelief.

And you you would agree with me that I shouldn't be at church. Because I haven't shown faith in god this week. I haven't trusted him as I should've done. Okay. So what are you gonna do about that?

Are you gonna pull the duvet over your head? And are you gonna wait until such a time as your faith magically returns and you feel good enough again to go to church? Or are you gonna repent by coming to church? And saying, Well, I've lived in unbelief this week, but Jesus hasn't. Jesus hasn't.

Jesus has been saying every moment of this week, I trust you, father. I trust you. And I'm gonna come to church. Not because I'm focusing on my own faith, but I need to hear Jesus say, I trust you, father. I trust you.

And then I'll be reminded that he trusted the father for me. He died for me, and he lived a perfect life of life of faith for me, and that's gonna do something wonderful to my own heart. What else does Jesus do when he goes to church? Well, let's have a look at that other part of Isaiah. And again, he says, here I am, and the children that god has given me.

See, sometimes we don't come to church because we feel ashamed of what we've done in the past week. And we think if you knew what I've been looking at with my eyes this week, If you knew some of the things that I've typed into a search engine this week, you would agree with me that I shouldn't be in church. I feel too ashamed to come. And so what do you wanna do about that? I'm gonna pull the duvet up over your head, and you wanna wait until you feel sort of less ashamed or something that if you just give it a couple of days, that sting in the conscience will just lessen a little bit and you'll sort of feel okay with god again, or you can come to church.

And you can say, even though I'm ashamed of what I've done, I need to hear Jesus say in the assembly of the people. Here I am, father, and the children that you have given me, and I'm not ashamed of them. I know what they've done. And it's worse than they think it is, but I gave my life for such as these, and their shame I've borne, and my perfections are theirs. And so in the assembly of your people, I say here I am, father, and these, the children that you have given me.

I'm not ashamed of them. You see, the reason that we come to church every week is not because we're good people. It's not because we're good people. This is not a place for good people. This is a place for sinful people.

This is a place for people who haven't trusted as much as they should have and have done things that they're ashamed of. That's who that that's what this place is for. It's for people like that who need to hear Jesus say in the assembly. I trust my father. I'm gonna sing his praises, and I'm not ashamed of these my children.

That's why we come to church to hear Jesus say those things over us. You know, I think 1 of the greatest dangers to our discipleship, really, is that we we downgrade the supernatural glory of church. We just downgrade it in our mind. We just downgrade the supernatural glory of this place. Supernatural because these aren't things that we engineer.

It's not us doing this and forcing Jesus to say this. It's he does it supernaturally by his grace. He comes into this ordinary crowd and declares these things over us when we meet together. And glory because this is the place where god is on display. This place is where god is on display.

And so do you see in order to get this medicine for your soul, you have to assemble in the place where Christ is assembling. Now does that mean that these promises won't be precious to you when you're reading your bible on your own? No, of course, they will. And does it mean that Jesus won't whisper to you? I'm not ashamed in your private devotions.

Of course, he will. He will do that. But where was Jesus planning to be on the cross? That's the question. Where was he planning to be?

Where was he dreaming of being? Not at home in our own private prayer cupboards? He was dreaming of being at church. That's where he was dreaming of being. So that we might receive this medicine together in a way that we don't get anywhere else because he declares in the assembly.

These are my brothers and sisters. And so brothers and sisters, if you can, if you can, why would you not come to church as often as you can? Morning and evening. Why would you not if you can? Why would you not come as often as you can?

Not because god will love you more if you do, and not because your home group leader will love you more if you do, although they might. But because you need to hear Jesus speak these words over you. Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?

You you need to hear Jesus speak these words over you. I trust you, father. Here I am. I'm here every Sunday morning and evening. I'll be here.

And these are the children that you have given me. It was fitting in the mind of god for Jesus to come to church. And so in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, what is god doing in the world right now? That's what he's doing. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that god for whom and through whom everything exists.

Should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the 1 who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. And so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters in the assembly. I will sing your praises.

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, he says, here I am, and the children god has given me. Let's bow our heads, pray together. Heavenly father, we thank you for giving us sentences in the Bible. Which are a little bit harder for our minds to understand because we thank you that when we open these up together, these sentences yield such precious gems.

We thank you for Jesus Christ, who is the savior that we need, qualified and perfect in every way. He understands us. We thank you lord Jesus that it was fitting for you, not to send us some directions or to summon us home, but to come and get us yourself. To know our world, to taste our world, and to bring us into your family. And we thank you lord Jesus that even though this is just an ordinary school and these are ordinary chairs, and we drink ordinary coffee, that there's so much that is just ordinary about this place that there is a a a supernatural wonder in church that as we assemble together, and sing your praises and pray and hear your word.

You speak over this people, saying here I am, father, and these are the children that you have given me. And you say to your father. I still trust you father. I've always trusted you. I've always loved you, and you've loved me, and we've loved the Holy Spirit, and that's still going on.

And you declare your name over us. Lord Jesus, we're sorry for when we downgrade the supernatural glory of church and pray that you would help us more and more to be committed to this group of people. Not because it will give us a fast track to heaven, but because we love to hear you speak here. And we ask all of these things in Jesus' name.