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1:16Let me ask you a question. What assurances do we have that we are going to continue in God's good graces? When we celebrate this time of year, the Savior Born among us to deliver his people, how do we know we'll stay delivered? How do we know that after he comes back and he gathers his own and he brings in a new heavens and a new earth, how do we know that we're not going to follow up another paradise?

1:55What's different about the world to come and the world that Adam lost? It's an important question. What's the difference between unfallen Adam and Christ? Does the new heavens and the new earth simply just take us back to the beginning point? Are we just trying to get back to square one and try to do this whole thing over? Or has there been a purpose all along that is taking us to new heights? How do I know that someday in eternity future that I might not rise up and revolt against heaven?

2:45Is man going to lose the salvation that Christ has accomplished? And what assurances do we have that he will not? Well, our text gives us this answer. This morning, beginning in verse 14. And it begins with the word, therefore. Therefore. Therefore, it looks back to what's just been said in verses 9 through 13. We remember the contest, verse 9, which Jesus rose victoriously and was so crowned with glory or wreathed in glory. Remember what the writer of Hebrews has said. He's just quoted Psalm 8, and he is saying, Look, all of the world has been subjected to humanity. And then at the end of verse 8, he says, But now we don't see all things subjected to humanity. We still see war on earth. We don't see peace on earth. We don't see all things subjected to him. But what do we see? Verse 9, but we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. We see this individual who has conquered death and who is now seated at the right hand of glory, risen victoriously, wreathed in glory. We also see the accomplishment of his suffering. We've studied that this last time. Look at verse 10. For it was fitting for him for whom all things are and through whom. Are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings? In bringing many people to glory, he had to suffer. And in that suffering, God perfected the author of their salvation.

4:52And then he goes on, look at verse 11. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father. He makes this assertion that there is one family, one father, one spirit. And in order to do that, he then cites Psalm 22 and Isaiah 8. Psalm 22, we looked at, proves that Christ is our brother. He calls us such. And in Isaiah 8, verses 17 and 18, it's clear that his disciples are his spiritual children. So in one sense, Christ is our brother, made like us. And in one sense, he is our spiritual father in the sense that he has brought us forth as his disciples. One family, one father, one spirit. Therefore, therefore, in light of all that, in order to bring about this oneness of relationship, this One humanity, one family, one father, one spirit, in order to do that, that had to come about by suffering. And in order to suffering, to suffer, God had to become one of us.

6:16And this is what verse 14 goes on to say: look, therefore, since the children share in his flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same. You see, God had to stoop to our level because we were not going to be able to ascend to his. Christ's suffering was necessary to bring forth this new kind of humanity, one father, one spirit. It's a curious statement. He perfected him as Savior. That is, it completed his qualifications to save his people.

7:05Christ, as the prophesied Lamb, had to become the actual Lamb who was crucified, who takes away the sin of the world. He became more than just a prophecy, he became the reality. And so, as Savior, he is able to deliver his people from their sin and bring them to glory. But it's clear that his suffering did more than just perfect Jesus as a Savior, it perfected him as our high priest. Not only does Christ have the power to bring his people to glory, he has the power to keep them in glory by virtue of his high priestly ministry.

7:58And so, our text this morning, as we celebrate the incarnation, introduces us and gives us a vision into what Christ is currently doing in glory. He is currently ministering in glory. Very appropriate text by God's design, not by my selection. This is just where we are in Hebrews, this Advent season. But our text this morning gives us an introduction into Christ's current ministry in glory, and it reiterates the necessity of why the Son of God had to become the Son of Man. The Son of God had to become the Son of man. And what we mean by that, it's not like God has some consort out there and He has this Son by some kind of pagan interaction. That is completely a pagan thought. No, but by the end. Eternal generation.

9:03God, Father, the best we can understand, God is Father, Son, Spirit, all one, yet distinct persons. The Son of God had to become the Son of Man. And that's what I want to look at this morning. The necessity of the incarnation. This is what we celebrate. This is what our calendars go from anno mundi, age of the earth, the year of the earth, to anno domini, the year of our Lord's favor, which centers upon Christ's conception. All of the earth is very much aware of this individual.

9:48He became man. God had to become man. And yes, he can. Don't limit God and say that he can't. He does. He did. It was necessary for him to accomplish the things that he needed to accomplish. But first of all, God had to become one of us to deliver us. God had to become one of us to deliver us. Look back at verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in the flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, so that, there it is, that through death, Death, he might render powerless whom who had the power of death, that is the devil. There's one who has the power of death, that is the devil. Interesting. He doesn't use the word Satan here. He uses the word devil, another word that personifies this enemy of God. Devil means slanderer, one who misrepresents things, slanders God. The devil, the slanderer, the one, one of the very first orders of business in this enterprise of salvation, was to deliver us from the devil's power.

11:08Power. Notice, he had the power of death. What is power? Sovereignty. Control. He had the power, that sovereignty, that control that death holds over a person. That's what it's saying. That through death, he himself, through death, he might render powerless him who had the power of death. What does it mean to render powerless? To make invalid, to invalidate, to make ineffective. If you take away the ammunition, Texas, we get that, right? You take away my ammunition, you invalidate my power.

12:04It's like to remove, to take away the power of death, to render powerless him who had the power of death, it means he had to take away his means of intimidation. It's like to remove a stinger from a scorpion. I remember this guy, he wanted to impress the ladies. And so what he did is he had this scorpion and he cut off the little stinger off the scorpion. And to get attention at a table, he'd like to pull out a scorpion and let a scorpion run all over his hand. He'd go, see, my little friend?

12:42I don't think it won the ladies over. I'm like, maybe try a different approach. You're scaring them away. I think you're a freak. But that's the idea. I mean, you cut off the stinger, then it's like that scorpion can run around. There's no fear anymore. And so that is what he's. God had to become one of us to render powerless, to take away this fear of death, this power of death. So, but look at how he did it. Through death. He himself likewise partook of the same, that is our flesh, that through death, he might render. Powerless through death is the way he's going to render powerless him who has the power of death, the devil.

13:42You see, the means of destroying power, the death or death's power, is through the death of Christ. So, think about this. This isn't hard to understand. If you had to conquer death, guess what you have to do? You have to face death. Well, God, who cannot die, who is pure spirit, cannot die, but the God-man can die. And that's why the incarnation was necessary. God, he can't die. But the God-man could die and did die. And so the Son of God had to become the Son of man in order to face death.

14:30And that's the miracle of Christmas. God, as God, could not die, but God as man could die. And that is why he took up his death. He took up humanity so that he could face death. So Christ, as man's champion, would face death in contest and would conquer it. In fact, Jesus himself said these words in Matthew 12, verse 29. How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house? And that's exactly what Jesus did. The dismantling of Satan's power began with the way of death. Christ's life was the way of the cross, and it was his whole life.

15:35And he called others into this way of death. The way you defeat death is through death, and that is why he took up his cross, followed the will of God, and why he calls others who, if you're going to be his disciples, you must learn the way of death, dying daily, and that was his life, and an ultimate sacrifice on the cross. So, God had to become one of us to deliver us, number one, by rendering the devil powerless.

16:10But, second, God had to become one of us to deliver us by freeing the enslaved. This is what he goes on to say in verses 15 and 16. Notice verse 15, and might free those who, through fear of death, Were subject to slavery all their lives. What does free mean? It means to release, to loose, to liberate, to let go. You see, the devil had bound people, and notice very carefully what it's saying, by their fear of death, through the fear of death.

16:51The phobia of dying and slanderously misrepresenting death, where it comes from, misinformation about death, and why God gave it in the first place, all that. You see, if Satan can get you focusing more upon death than God, he owns you. And what Christ kept saying over and over, don't fear the one who can kill the body. You fear the one who can throw your soul into hell. That's who you should fear. You should fear God more than death. And if you get in a routine of dying daily, it's the way of life, as Christ has showed us. It's not all about us. There's something greater. There's a greater principle than you and I having our way. Or doing what we want to do, doing what we ought to do.

17:53But notice how he bound them through fear of death. This phobia. Of dying. This anxiety that has this hold on people, and it has a grip. You think about just so much of our industry in our world is based upon the fear of death. Our whole, you know, think about the medical industry. Think about the health industry. Think about the diet industry. Think about the insurance industry. Think about the military. There's this, you just think about the enterprise that comes about because we are adverse to death. It's massive.

18:43But there are a couple reasons, and there's probably a whole bunch of reasons why people are afraid of death, but there's a couple that I come to mind in the scripture. Number one, they fear the unknown. I think that part of this anxiety of dying is that you don't know what's on the other side. We don't have a host of people coming back and say, yeah, it's great over here, whatever, like that. If they are, don't trust them. There's only one that's come back.

19:14Name's Jesus. Come back not to go back again, I should say. But there's this fear of the unknown. You can see what's cut off in this life, but you can't see what's beyond it. And it takes faith and a light. It takes God. God's Word to show us what's beyond. And that is why those who have faith are not afraid of dying. They know what death is. They know there's a lot more on the other side than there is on this side. But there's a second reason why there's this anxiety of death that has a hold on people. They fear judgment. The fear of death is very closely associated with the fear of punishment. And Scripture is very clear that people everywhere, they know what sin is. In fact, they know they are sinners. Very much aware. Everybody in this room is very much aware of sin. And your mind troubles you because of sin, your sin. Romans 1.32 says that people know the ordinance of God and they know that those who practice sinful things are worthy of death. Romans 2.15 says that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternatively accusing or else defending them.

20:44Now don't misunderstand what he's saying here. Death is God's curse upon sin. God is the one who puts to death. There's this fear of death that the devil seizes upon, distorts. The devil slanderously distorts the purpose of death, and he capitalizes upon death as a means to control people. Focus on your death, focus on preserving your life, and he can get your attention off God. You see these distortions all around. There's this distortion of an understanding of death. Well, death is just a cessation of being. You go to the grave, you rot.

21:38There is no judgment, there is no heaven, there is no hell. So, 1 Corinthians 15:32, if the dead are not raised, let us eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. In other words, live it up and have no remorse in living it up because death is nothing but a cessation of being. But again, it comes about out of the fear of death, not an honest inquiry. Distortion, another distortion of death, slanderous distortion of death, is that death comes because God does not like us.

22:24God doesn't like us. In fact, he hates us. That's why death is around. He can't stand people. And what comes out of this is a false view of God and a whole mode of false religions that are all over the earth that basically say something: be good. He's checking a list. Be good. And maybe, just maybe, God will like you. Go through all these religious motions. Appease God through motion. Being good. The fundamental thing you need to do is be really good in your own strength.

23:22But the Bible says there is no such thing as being good in your own right. The goodness we have is by fellowship with His Spirit. It comes from above, being born from Him, being of that heavenly, holy family, one family, one Father, one Spirit. That is where goodness comes from. That is why Christ is so essential to our lives and relationship with God. But when you take away all these distortions, The truth is that death is right, and death is good.

24:09It is a right and good consequence to sin. Listen, you know anything about history, you know, or anything about current events, you know that we do not need to go on living as if there is no God, as if we're the ultimate standard, or if one people group can rule over another. We need to have something higher that transcends all of mankind. We need to live as if there is a God and that we are devoted to Him. We don't need to go on living as if there is no God or as if we're the God.

24:50Death is a good and right consequence to sin, and death did not come from a God who hates us, but it comes from a God who loves us. You know why God created us in the first place? It's because He wants us to live. He doesn't want you to die. He wouldn't have created us in the first place if He wanted us to die. There wasn't sin in the world. This would be obvious to us all. He created us because He wants us to live.

25:20He wants you and I to bear His image. That's why He created you. Now, there's some implications of being. Made in God's image. He wants you to image the invisible God. And there's several things about this. You know what? God lives forever. So guess what? If you're going to bear his image, guess what? You're going to have to do? Live forever. He is incorruptible. And ultimately, so must we, if we're going to properly bear his image.

26:08Death is part of the good news. Death marks the end of corruption. But it's only part of the good news. Salvation marks the end of death. Death marks the end of corruption. Salvation marks the end of death. And that is the good news. Listen. I'd love to spend a lot of time, but just showing you how death completely changed this understanding with Christ's advent and Him coming forth of the grave, how it changed disciples who were cowering because of death. And all of a sudden, in a short generation, they are martyr after martyr after martyr.

26:57Something changed in the fundamental. Way that people who follow Christ view death. It's a passageway. It's good. It's right. One day we'll all be on the other and say, oh, that was death? Where's your sting? Like my little friend. Where's your sting? So God had to become one of us in order to deliver us by rendering the devil powerless and by freeing the enslaved. And as a matter of detail, I want you to look at verse 16. The enslaved are people, not angels. Salvation is not for angels. Look at what it says in verse 16. For assuredly, or of course, of course he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Descendant, individual. And it's not a reference to Christ. It's a reference to those who are of the same faith of Abraham, the descendant of Abraham. And you can tell this because it says, for assuredly he, who is the he in verse 16, he is the one who partook of flesh and blood in order for the flesh. Through death would destroy death. For he, this one, he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendant of Abraham.

28:44The point of this is that it's a man, men, people. Galatians 3:17, Paul says this: Therefore, be sure, assuredly, it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. It's those of the family of earth who are of faith. It is to these that he gives help. For assuredly, he does not give help to angels. That is, he's not concerned, or he's. The idea here is that he is reaching out and helping. Who is afraid of death? Well, angels don't die like we do. There's no salvation plan.

29:36I love how the King James Version translates this verse, even though I would not consider it a word order, respectfully, respecting the word order, it sure gets the message. Hebrews 2:16, according to the King James, says this, for verily he took not upon him the nature of the name. Of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. In other words, the very essence of what this is saying is: look, God, the Son of God, took upon the form not of an angel, didn't take upon himself the nature of an angel, but the nature of humanity.

30:22And that's the point. Because it was humanity who had been enslaved, actually by an angel, a fallen angel. And so God became one of us to deliver us by rendering the devil power powerless and by freeing the enslaved. So that's one part, why the incarnation was necessary. But there's a second part. God had to not only become one of us to deliver us, God had to remain one of us to keep us. God had to remain one of us to keep us. Look back at verse 17. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. You see, salvation is more than just deliverance from something, it's deliverance to something.

31:28Salvation is, in this context, Deliverance from death and the fear of death, but it's also keeping one from going back under death. Otherwise, we have no sure salvation. But notice what it says. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren. He had to. He was obligated. He was indebted. Literally, he had a financial debt. If you literally, this is what it means. He had a financial obligation. Of course, here, we're not talking literally, it's figuratively. He had to be made. He had an obligation. In order to render the devil powerless, in order to free the enslaved, the Son of God had to become one of us. It was not optional.

32:24He had to, look back, verse 17, be made like his brethren. Passive. He had to be made like, become like us. He had to become like us. Notice what it says. In all things. He had to be made like his brethren in all things. In every way, sin excluded, of course. Remember, looking back at chapter 2 and verse 11, it says, for He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father. Now, let's talk about the miracle of the incarnation. It's what we're celebrating this Christmas, right? Think about the nature of the one who is sanctifying. God is the one who sanctifies.

33:19He is God, He is pure spirit, He is Creator, there is no sin in Him, He is eternal. That's the one who sanctifies. Now, think about those who are sanctified, they're people with physical flesh and blood bodies and beings, both spirit and body. They're created, they're sinners, and they're under death, the curse of death. And the one who sanctifies wants to become one with those who sanctify, who need to be sanctified, to be brought into one family. How is this going to happen? He must become one of us because we are not going to ascend to Him.

34:17You see, we enter into this world through birth and we exit this world through death. And so, to completely identify with us, guess what? He had to do the same. He doesn't just show up in a spaceship and say, hey, look. I'm here. To become one of us, he has to be born, come into the world like we do. To be one of us, he must face this world with all the vulnerabilities and intimidations and difficulties of this world. He has to know by experience, the Son of God had to become one of us to know our life by experience.

34:55We were born into this world and we will die. And he would have to do the same. In fact, much of the early church history and heresies were about this issue. Who was Christ? There was the docetism. He just came, God took the form of man. It really wasn't God completely. He just formed, he took the form. So he looked like man, but he really wasn't man because he was God. Early church heresy. There was another one, Apollinarianism. Well, he just, part of him was God, not all of him. There were certain parts of Christ that were fully God, but not all of him. He was not. He was only parts. And much of the early church history is like, no, he was fully God and he was fully man. If you don't understand it, welcome to studying what God is like.

35:54There's going to be a point where we don't fully get it. And beware of any religion that can so explain God. And reduce man into something that, or reduce God to something that man would create. No, this is what we celebrate. God became fully man, and God became man in order to suffer as man for man. That was historic ministry of his first advent. But that's not all what he's doing. He had to stay like one of us in order to keep us in God's grace. And this is the miracle of the resurrection and the miracle of the ascension. And this is how he is currently ministering in glory. When Christ took up on flesh and goes to the cross and comes out of the grave, as he brings his human flesh out with him, and guess what goes up to heaven with him? Human flesh.

36:59Glorified human flesh. A man is at the right hand of the Father. One who knows us. One who has experienced what we have. That is who is at the right hand. He didn't just come down, take up on flesh, and say, okay, I'm heading back to heaven. Get rid of that flesh and go back. No. Something incredible happened. Man was raised to the right hand, not an angel. And that's what this writer asks. Hebrews is saying, you're not to be paying attention to angels. You're to be paying attention to Jesus, who was made for a little while lower than the angels, but now has been exalted as a man to the right hand of the Father.

37:49And this is where the writer in Hebrews takes us down this path and starts introducing us to this focus of Jesus as our high priest. You see, he had to remain one of us in order to keep us. And that is much of what this priestly ministry is about. You see, if man is going to truly bear God's image, he had to overcome temptation, sin, and death. Man has to overcome temptation, sin, and death. But we know from history, man is not going to do that on his own. Just look at history.

38:34Think about Adam in the garden, our first representative. He had everything going for him. If anyone should have been able to defeat the tempter, he was our best representative. I mean, he had everything going well for him, all the conditions. And he had all kinds of trees to eat from, not just that one. I mean, he had all kinds of them. If anybody should have defeated temptation, it should have been. Adam, he had everything going for him, but he succumbed in what should have been a very easy test.

39:09He lost paradise. And keep in mind, an implication of being made in God's image, which you and I are, is exercising dominion. Being made in God's image, we must exercise dominion. Mankind must exercise dominion. You see, God is not ruled over by angels. He's not ruled over by demons. He's not ruled over by temptation. He's not ruled over by sin. He's not ruled over by death or anything else in creation. And we are made in his image, so guess what our destiny is?

39:53To have dominion over all these sectors. Therefore, by necessity, he had to become one of us because we weren't going to be able to exercise dominion over these realms, but he could and did. You see, man must become whom God has created him to be. You must become who God created you to be. And when you look into Scripture, you recognize we are destined to exercise dominion over temptation, sin, and death. We recognize we're not going to do it on our own. And so God sent us a champion. He showed us what man is really going to be like.

40:53You see, the one who sanctifies humanity is greater than Satan. He'd have to be. He'd have to be able to take out the tempter. But not as an angel. It's man who has to destroy the works of the devil. And so God became one of us by taking upon himself our humanity. When you think about the Christ child in the manger, God took upon our humanity to be tempted to sin, to suffer, to face death, and to trust God just as we have to do.

41:41And this is the obligation. This is what brought about him having to be made like one of us. His suffering is also what perfected him as a Savior to be able to deliver us, but his suffering. Also perfected his ability to keep us. His suffering perfected him as a high priest. And so, as we continue this morning, I want to draw your attention to who is in heaven on your behalf and this perfect high priest that we have. I want to look at a couple characteristics: this high priest. God had to remain one of us to keep us.

42:36And he could only keep us by being a perfect high priest. Look back in verse 17. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. He had to become merciful and faithful. That's what a perfect high priest is. Merciful. What is merciful? Sympathetic to the human condition. Merciful, sympathetic, compassionate. Christ's suffering, because he's been through this world, it equipped him to be merciful towards us. He gets it. He's been through it all, yet without sin.

43:23But he also has to be faithful. If we're going to remain in union with God, we need somebody. Who is merciful to our condition and yet is faithful to God. And so by being merciful and faithful, faithful means to be trustworthy, dependable. And Christ's sufferings certainly demonstrated his faithfulness to God. We need a perfect high priest, one who's merciful for our plight, one who is dependable or faithful to God, who can make propitiation for the sins of the people. Now, the word for propitiation here is a verb, and I would translate it to expiate, to remove sin, to deal rightly with sin, not just to, oh, yeah, yeah, well, I didn't see that. That's how a lot of us deal with sin. Oh, I didn't see that, or we overreact. No, we need somebody merciful, faithful to expiate, to remove sin in a proper way. And this whole idea carries in, brings in the whole Day of Atonement duties of the high priest, who is to offer one of the goats as an offering for the sins of the people, and then to go out and to lay all the sins of the people on the second goat, the scapegoat, and send it away, signifying that through the right sacrifice, sin is taken away.

44:54It has to be the right sacrifice, and it has to be done by the right priest. Of course, the priests in the Mosaic covenant had to make an offering for themselves first, not Christ. He had no sin. So, in order for man and God to dwell together, for man to truly bear God's image, and for there to be this continual union between God and man, someone who is sympathetic, merciful, faithful, who can expiate or remove sin has to be present. And his name is Jesus.

45:41Second, God had to remain one of us to keep us by helping his people overcome temptation. Look back at verse 18. For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. So he's merciful, he's faithful, and he's able. For since he himself was tempted, that is, he was tempted, he was put to the test. And let me tell you, he was enticed to sin in the most thorough manner. No individual has been more enticed to sin like Christ was. And he did so from a place of weakness. He understood intimidation. He understood human vulnerability. He understood limitation. All his life, there was this constant temptation to take the less costly route through life. That's what many of us do, isn't it? Sometimes we'll take the less costly route through life.

46:49He knew what it felt like to be abandoned by God. And he knew all the temptations that went along with being felt, feeling like God has abandoned you. He knew all of that. But his suffering tried him, specifically at a couple of key points. Number one, his ability to be merciful. Yeah, if you're the Christ, come down off that cross. Sure. Dividing up the clothes. Throughout his life, there was this constant temptation, have nothing to do with these people. Aren't you tired of them? So he was tempted at the point of mercy, but he is also tempted at the point of being faithful to God. Tempted to go his own way, to use his own power.

47:47But this suffering, look back, for since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid. Of those who are tempted, he is capable. He knows our plight. He knows how to deliver. He comes to the aid of, he knows how to help, he knows how to assist. He knows how to help you overcome temptation. And the appeal is: come to him. This is who you have in heaven. He deals with your sin, but he is also sympathetic and can teach you how to exercise dominion over the sin in your life.

48:34He knows by personal experience the world in which we live and the temptations we face. And so the miracle of the incarnation is that the future of humanity is in the hands of a merciful and faithful high priest who is competent to keep his people. We celebrate the gift of Christmas this year. You remember the necessity, the baby in the manger, he had to become one of us to deliver us. God had to remain one of us in order to keep us.

49:22That's the gift of Christmas. He has given us a perfect Savior and a perfect high priest. So how do we know? We're not going to foul up another paradise because Christ has been tested. Because Christ is competent to save. Because Christ is willing to save. And he continues to minister in glory for the ongoing keeping of his people. Jesus said it like this in John 10:27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. Is that about the strongest statement you can make about the keeping power of Christ? It's not about us anymore. It's about him and his perfection as a high priest, a savior, about keeping those who the Father has put in his hand and who the Father holds. You see, Christ has sat down at the right hand of the Father as a man.

50:50And in so doing, he has elevated his Redeemed to a lofty place higher than the angels. He is a king, our king, he is our champion. He is our Savior. He is our high priest. He is our sacrifice. He is our high priest, and yet he is our sacrifice. He is merciful and faithful. He knows how to remove sin because he is both priest and sacrifice. He knows how to keep us in the good graces of God.

51:21You see, we came into existence by Christ's sacrifice to save us, and we are guaranteed to continue to exist forever by Christ's sacrifice to keep us. Let us marvel at our great King and our great high priest, because it's between these two offices where there is true peace. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow our hearts before you, thanking you for our great King who could face the devil, face every temptation on a magnitude that dwarfs our understanding. He's tried at every point, yet completely faithful to you.

52:09And we thank you for our great high priest, who is merciful, who has passed through our realm, who understands us and the temptations we face. He knew how to be faithful to you, and he is merciful towards us and knows how to help us in our time of need. Father, as we worship this baby in the manger this season, let it not stop there, but let it marvel in all that his life testifies and all that he is as our king, savior, shepherd, and high priest.

52:56For it's in his name we come and celebrate. Amen.