The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Part 1

Part of our church culture over the years has been to add to helping to generate in us an awareness of what's going on around us, in community, nation, world, to be attuned with antennae up, and at any given time. There are all kinds of things I know on our minds to think about and to weigh into consider. But there are certain times of the year, when more so than other times of the year, that certain subjects are very much at the center of, or should be at the center of, our thoughts. And what I'm going to address this morning is what is the prime subject for this season we're now in, and that's the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There is no subject that is more prime to be giving thought to, and there's articles about such. In our literature, there are messages that are covering such, or subjects that relate to such, and rightly so. So I'm going to talk about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but I'm going to do it from a very specific, particular angle. And that is the angle of personal recognition of, and personal appreciation for it. So I guess, if you had a title, it'd be kind of a long title, it would be the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, dot dot dot, or colon, personal recognition for, and personal appreciation for.

Personal recognition of, and personal appreciation for.

Question. What is my measure? What is the measure of my personal recognition of, and my personal appreciation for Jesus Christ to sacrifice what He's done for me?

Word it that way for yourself. Nobody can answer that for you. See, I cannot answer that for you. You cannot answer that for me. I cannot tell you what the measure of your personal appreciation for that sacrifice is, or your personal recognition of it. I cannot tell you that. You can't tell me. Because only you know. I'm speaking humanly. God knows. God knows what the measure is. He can measure it. He sees it. But all I'm saying is, no other human is going to know how much you truly... Now, another human can know that you appreciate it, that you recognize it. You can know that I appreciate it, and that I recognize it. But you don't know what the measure is. I don't know what your measure is. But I want to emphasize that this morning, because that is very important. The measure of our personal recognition of it and appreciation for it, for Him and His sacrifice, what He's done. So how personal is it? I have never seen the Passion of the Christ that Mel Gibson produced, oh, what's it been now? Ten years or so ago? Boy, how time gets by. I've never seen it. I probably never will see it. I don't have any desire to see it. I don't intend to see it. Now, if I ask for a show of hands, I'm sure that a number of you in here have seen it, and that's fine. I'm not against anybody seeing it. I can tell you why I have no desire to see it. But, you know, I will say this. Many, maybe most, possibly even pretty much all of mainstream Christianity could benefit from seeing it. And much of mainstream Christianity has seen it. And I say they could benefit from seeing it because I think if you go back ten, fifteen years ago, go back to about that time, too much of Christianity had no real concept of the brutality that Christ went through. So many of these pictures of what is supposed to be Christ with a crown of thorns, maybe two drops of blood coming down the side of his face, some blood on his hands, some blood on his feet, and that's the basic concept in their mind of the brutality. But I know at this point in time, due to that movie and some other things that have come along, a greater awareness that many more people are now aware that it wasn't a walk in the park, so to speak, that it was brutal. Very brutal. It would definitely raise and has raised their awareness. But I didn't go see it because I already knew. I already knew what he went through and also knew that they couldn't show it as bad as it really or actually was. And the other reason I didn't... Well, first of all, the reason it wasn't going to really add an awareness to me that I didn't already have, because I've studied what he went through in times past and continue to do so. But also from an emotional standpoint, it would be very difficult for me to have to stand and watch. I have three physical brothers, and it would be very difficult. I'd have to be forced to at gunpoint or something to stand and watch. One of my brothers had the tar beat out of him and shredded and flayed and all of that. Emotionally, I could not just voluntarily handle it. And Jesus Christ is my elder brother.

But you know, something I think about is none of you sitting in front of me today are an angel unawares. Now, there's angels here. We don't see them. They're here. They're about this place. We don't see them. But the folks I'm seeing, you are human. And the guy you're looking at is human. And we're human the same as any other humans. Now, we're supposed to be converted. We're supposed to be growing and developing. And we're supposed to have an addition that doesn't come to the natural human being. And that's the addition of God's Holy Spirit through the process by which that is received and all. But what I'm getting at is this. We have human makeup, you and I do, same as anybody else. And we have to deal with it. The human thing, the human tendency you find in the human being, which is part of our makeup, is to grow used to something over time. What you grow up with, or you have alongside you, or you deal with over a long enough stretch of time, you begin to take it for granted. Well, guess what? The truth is taken for granted sometimes by people. Having God's Spirit is taken for granted. The sacrifice of Christ is taken for granted. So, I would ask us, how new and how fresh, how meaningful, does it stay with us? That sacrifice. How meaningful, how fresh, how new does it stay with us? Does it lose its special place in our heart and in our mind? In our feelings, in our emotions, and our operations. How much impact in our daily lives affects us in our operations as it continues to have? You know there's no greater blessing than the blood of Jesus Christ.

There's no greater blessing than the blood of Jesus Christ. Why? Because without it, you are nothing. I am nothing. We come to nothing. With it, there's eternal life. There's future. There's an eternity of unending plans, projects, purposes, relationships, serving, sharing, relating.

I have several scriptures that I will reference, and I have several scriptures I will turn to. I will reference this one, Revelation 12, 11. Revelation 12, verse 11 makes this statement. And I reference this in light of saying there's no greater blessing than the blood of Jesus Christ. Because that scripture says they overcame Him. It's a reference to the devil, the accuser of the brethren, who accuses them day and night. It says they overcame Him through the blood of the Lamb. Now, let's see. The accuser of the brethren, the one who wants to see us fail, who tries to get God to turn his back on us, all of that, it says they overcame Him through the blood of the Lamb. Let's see. What's the connection there? They overcame Him through the blood of the Lamb. How does the blood of the Lamb play into that as far as overcoming? See, what it's speaking there is of a process, a chronology. And I'll give it very succinctly. When you repent, and you're baptized, and you come under the covering blood of Jesus Christ, now God sees you through that covering. And because He sees you through that covering, He sees you as clean because you're forgiven because of that covering. You're forgiven. You're cleansed in the blood of Christ. And therefore, God sees you as clean. Therefore, He can put of Himself, His Holy Spirit, in you and start a new creation because you're a clean vessel in His eyes. And then both the Father and the Son can feed that with their Spirit. And it's through the process that allows them to feed you with their Spirit and you to exercise it that you grow and you develop and you overcome.

You come out from under that blood, you're no longer clean, in God's sight. He no longer can put His Spirit in you. He can no longer work with you in that same way. Now you're back on the road to perdition. So that's why I say it's a process for chronology. And what is fundamentally required is that you stay under the covering blood of Jesus Christ. That you keep that repentant frame of mind, that wilderness to guide, seeking Him and serving Him and staying under the blood of Christ. Because if you stay in that positioning, you will be strengthened, you will be helped, you will be forgiven, you will be cleansed, you will be empowered. And eventually, it will be said of you, you overcame. The one who wants to see your destruction. It's interesting that God makes sure that our focus on this cannot go so long without being challenged again through His annual Holy Day cycle. And of course, that starts off with Passover, doesn't it? Hour Passover. Again, another scripture that I will reference is 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, where Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Christ, our Passover has been sacrificed for us. And the most basic reason for it being called Passover is it passes over. Because of Him being our Passover, death passes over us. And we all understand that. But Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. And for those of us who have been baptized, we will be partaking of the bread and the wine.

Sunday night, the 13th of April.

It's an annual thing we do. And as an annual thing we do, it's a remembrance. It's a memorial. Again, just referencing 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26, it says, as often as you do, and of course the scripture shows us that annually, as a remembrance, as a memorial, says you do show as death. That is, you are picturing His death. You're picturing what His death accomplished. You're picturing what the sacrifice is about, what it accomplished.

Now, we do it only once a year, as far as the Passover, don't we? But, let me put it this way. Doing it once a year, the bread, the wine, Passover, as reflective of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, does not make up for a year of neglect. Sometimes people think, well, I don't have to be that serious about things during the year. You know, if I slip up, mess up, get off course for a while, that's okay. Passover's coming up in the spring, and I can just make everything okay by just going and partaking a Passover, and then everything is just hunky dory.

Have you ever been to a place where there's been a physical drought long enough? And rains come eventually, but it's too late to save a lot of the trees. Same spiritually. A year of spiritual drought can't be made up for by just going and attending Passover, of not living with the true value of the Scripture, of taking the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for granted. It's November. I remember the sermon that was given here after the feast last year about as you're looking towards Passover, which was several months away, and the three points about what we ought to apply ourselves for.

And some of us have truly been doing that. There's good practical sermonette. Good, good pointers in it. You know, the sin of taking for granted, of not living with daily and deep appreciation of this greatest of all blessings to us, you know what? That can be forgiven. That can be forgiven, same as any other sin. But here, too, repentance applies. The repentance of learning to live throughout the year from Passover to Passover with a greater and greater appreciation of Jesus Christ.

There's a phrase, and again, it's in a Scripture that I'll simply reference. It's in Romans 7, verse 6. There's a phrase found in Romans 7, verse 6. And the phrase is this, newness of spirit. In the King James, newness of spirit. See, learning to live and do with a constant, with a continuous, quote, newness of spirit. What is our natural way? If I know what my natural way is, then I'm in a better positioning to be able to counter against it. If I don't know what my natural way is, then it has a much better chance of snaking up on me and having its own way with me, so to speak.

I don't have a guard up. I'm not watching out for it. With our natural way, as I said a little earlier, we tend to grow used to something. And it's interesting that no matter what that something is, physical, relational, spiritual, whatever, just the fact that we have it with us over an extended period of time, or alongside it over an extended period of time, we tend to grow used to it. We have a way of expressing that. Growing used to something will say, well, you know, that doesn't have the shine that it once did. It just doesn't shine to me like it used to.

Things lose their shine. They lose their luster. They lose their newness. You know, you get something. Let's say it's new. It's shiny. It has luster. And you're excited about having it. Oh, you're so thrilled maybe it even had it. But as time goes on, it doesn't hold the same shine for you, the same luster. You're not as excited about it. Why? And it's not wrong to get new clothes. It's not wrong to trade vehicles. It's not wrong, per se, to get new toys. I mean, that in and of itself is not wrong.

But how many times does somebody make a change simply because what they've got no longer gives them the measure of excitement that they would like? You know, in the physical world, the newness of things can wear off. If you've had the experience of ever having a new vehicle, and when you drive that off the dealership floor or parking lot, it's got that new smell, and that new smell stays with it so long, and it's an exciting smell and all.

And of course, that newness, you know, it's brand new, and you're real careful about making sure you meet the servicing specs to make sure that the oils and the filters and all are clean and change when they should be, and you're all excited about it. But time goes on, and eventually that new smell does wear off. And then you've had the vehicle for X number of years, and maybe you don't take quite as good of care of it as you once did. You're not as up on doing that, which will help to keep it running longer and longer.

Maybe you just simply get tired of it, not giving any problems, no trouble whatsoever, extremely reliable, but you just want a new one. And so you go trade it in. We see that happening all the time. And again, it's not the activity, but sometimes what are the attitudes or motives that drive it? Or new clothes or new toy?

And of course, in our society, my wife doesn't excite me as much as she used to. I think I deserve to go find a new one who can bring that old excitement back. Or my husband, he no longer has the shining armor that he had when I married him. His armor is pretty rusty. I think I need to find a new one that's got some shining armor. I mean, we see how this reflects. And it's part of the human makeup that we have to be aware of and we have to guard against.

But that newness of spirit that we are admonished to strive for and to have and to maintain. You know, when God's spirit is actively exercised and flowing through active use being put into practice, there is a certain newness of spirit that does stay and does increase. And you can't fully explain it because it's opposite to our natural, automatic human way. We don't get tired of the truth. We don't get tired of the real values. We don't get tired of God's way of life.

But you have to be living it to truly experience it. You can't fully describe it in one sense to somebody. If you're trying to fully describe it to somebody and they're not experiencing it, they don't get it.

And if they're also experiencing what you're experiencing, you don't have to describe it because they ID with you. They understand.

So let's measure at this time of the year our personal recognition of and appreciation for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And let's take again a close look at that sacrifice. Let's examine and let's do it with this personal question in mind. Personal question to me. We don't say to you, we say to me, how much? How truly? How fully? Do I see and appreciate what was done for me? Philippians 2.

Philippians 2.

Beginning in verse 5. Philippians 2 verse 5. Paul said, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Here's the mind that was in Christ Jesus. It says in verse 6. Who being in the form of God, He was God. John 1.1. He was God. He wasn't a created being. He wasn't an angel. He did not come into existence. He has always been pre-existent with God the Father.

And for a time, He simply became... His composition was changed from spirit to matter. For a time, He became flesh and blood. But it says, But notice verse 7. But made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion or habit as a man... And here's the phrase I want to focus on. He humbled Himself.

He humbled Himself. When you start talking about being humbled, there's different ways to express it. I will use one of those ways. Humbled. To be brought low. To be brought low.

To lower yourself. And in this case, it says He humbled Himself. To lower yourself. And as we could also say in, Lower yourself. To lower yourself in your own estimation. To lower yourself in your own estimation. To be willing to operate lower. To be willing to operate at a lower level. It's interesting to me what I have observed in human affairs. Over the ages, as I have read about the ages of man, and the overall age of man, and I see it going on today, just as much as ever, that this refusal to lower oneself, to operate at a lower level, this refusal to do so has been one of the main downfalls of mankind. We've all known, I'm sure, and know, those who, some who simply refuse to humble themselves and operate at a lower level. They just simply will not do it, no matter what breakage it causes. You know, that was the downfall of a third of the angels, beginning with Lucifer. Of course, we've got a word that kind of sums it all up. There's several facets of it, but the word pride, we use that word to sum it up. God the Father, Jesus the Christ, God the Son, has never, never had one thought, one word, one action of pride, ever, and never will, because that's something of the devil's nature, not God's. God operates with humility. He humbled Himself. And this is, Christ humbling Himself is the classic all-time eternal proof of such. The classic all-time eternal proof of such. Jesus Christ humbled Himself to the point of allowing total humiliation. He humbled Himself to the point of allowing total humiliation at the hands of the creation. Think about it. He humbled Himself and lowered Himself and allowed total humiliation of Himself to the point of death at the hands of those who could not even exist without His living laws that He created and sustains. The Jewish authorities authorized it. The Romans carried it out. But the food they ate that transformed into energy in their bodies, and the air that went into their lungs, and the water they drank, and all the rest of the systems that come into play by which the creation can exist. And you're the one that God has used to create all and put in motion the laws that sustain all that life and then that which is sustained because of your involvement, you allow them to kill you.

You have a poor family. A poor family. They're out in the cold. It's the middle of January. It's bitterly cold. There's a poor family. A mom, a dad, kids. Out on the cold ground. They're hungry. They're starving. They're dying. They have no hope. And you build them a house. And you stock it with food. And you fill it with warmth. And you put them in it.

And then you go visit a little bit later on. They tie you up. They torture you. And they kill you. And you go knowing what's going to happen. In fact, you're going for that end purpose. You're going to allow it to happen. You lure yourself into a state that is killable. John 1.14. As spirit composition, you're indestructible. But you can change that. You can become destructible. And so, John 1.1, the word that was with God, the word that was also God, verse 14, the word was made flesh. What from being spirit composed, indestructible to being flesh and blood composed, matter composed, destructible. You lure yourself into a state that is susceptible to flaying and flogging, to ripping and tearing, to binding and breaking. And you go knowing ahead the hands that you will eventually fall into. And you put yourself under the direct mockery of the one who hates you the most, the devil. And you do it for something the devil cannot understand, which is expressed in John 3.16. For God so loved the world. And though it's worded this way for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that Son who was God and God the Father, they both so loved humanity. That the Father was willing to send the Son, the Son was willing to go, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The devil cannot comprehend the greatest being there is next to God the Father, the Supreme, coming to earth as a clay part of a clay creation to be abused and humiliated and killed by that clay creation. Oh, he knows why. He can't comprehend the motivation, that motivation of outgoing concern, that motivation of life. He cannot comprehend that because there's none of that in him. There is no, not one iota of outgoing concern for others in the devil's makeup. So he cannot comprehend why either one would leave the most coveted position there is, run whatever risk of losing it, or even simply just giving it up for a time for these puny peons of pitiful dust. And I say most coveted because that's how he views that position. He tried to take it. He coveted it. He still covets it. But he can't have it. And he found that out the hard way. But that doesn't stop his coveting. And he doesn't stop him trying to plant that type of thing in as many as possible. But understanding or not, he's sure not going to pass up what was, as we might say, a once in a lifetime. But really that's limiting it because he was a once in an eternity opportunity to try and destroy God. It was a once in eternity opportunity for him to try and destroy God. But he humbled himself.

You know, when he was brought before Pilate, you'll find this in John 19, verse 11, and also verses 7 through 12. But in John 19, verses 11 and 7 through 12, and again referencing it, when he was brought before Pilate, and Pilate was more or less reminding him of the authority that Pilate had and what he had the power to do to him and all. And Christ looked him in the eye and told him, said, you could do nothing except what is allowed you. The only reason you're able to do any of what you're talking about, Pilate, is because you're allowed to.

See, when it says, he humbled himself.

We've read, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son here in John 3. 16. Let's read John 10, verses 17 and 18. John 10, verses 17 and 18. Christ said, Therefore, does my Father love me? Notice what he says, Because I lay down my life. I lay it down. It's voluntary. It's willingly.

No man takes it from me. Now, like I said, the Jewish authorities authorized it. The Romans carried it out. And you can say he was killed by human beings. But it's an interesting statement. I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man takes it from me. And then he emphasizes again, But I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. What we do sometimes is we read a scripture. And on a chronological basis, we lock it to a specific day or date. What he is saying here, he is referencing something that happened before Adam and Eve were created. Long before, or at least before, at some point before God created Adam and Eve in humanity. The Father, the one we know of as the Father in the sign, they had a discussion at some point.

And the decision was made. Christ volunteered that if it should become necessary to come die, He was willing to do it. He would voluntarily, willingly do it. And the Father had to agree to allow Him to do it. And so the decision, as to allowing what is now about to take place with Him here, the decision was voluntarily made by Him long, long before this.

That's as far as I'll go into that today. But when you read the motivation of love, and here you read the sacrifice that's mentioned, you've got love plus sacrifice, or you've got sacrificial love. You've got sacrificial love, a love that generates sacrifice. That's what agape is, godly love. In Romans 5.8, and this sacrificial love that is spelled out by John 3.16 and John 10 there, verses 17 and 18, this sacrificial love, this love that generates sacrifice, this agape, Romans 5.8, but God commended His love toward us, He commended or showed or proved His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For the covering purpose of, and I'll turn to Hebrews 2, verse 9, Hebrews 2, verse 9, for the covering purpose of, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man, for every person. It's pointing out that that sacrifice of Him experiencing death was so that no human ever, who would, when they're given their opportunity, that no human, when given their opportunity, and we know we have the age of the first fruits now, and of course the millennium of the middle fruits, as I'd say it, and the last great day or the eighth day, the final fruits or last fruits, that any man or any woman who comes to repentance and yields to God and comes under the covering blood, that death is tasted by Christ for them. It's a sacrifice that is sufficient for all time, and it won't matter. And Hebrews, if you know where to go in the book of Hebrews and other places, that sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it wouldn't matter how many worlds God were yet to create or how many beings He brought into existence and offered eternal life to, never ever again will Christ ever have to go anywhere and make a sacrifice for sin. It's once forever for all time.

And any human, when given the opportunity, meets God's requirements, they come under the covering blood of Christ. But that sacrifice is a covering for all mankind, and we're very familiar with Acts 4 and verse 12.

Verses 10 through 12 of Acts 4 mentions Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. And it comes down to verse 12, and it says, Neither is there salvation in any other.

For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That's just plain, simply a fact.

And as I said, you go into certain parts of this planet, and making that statement can get your head cut off. But it doesn't change the reality. And those who would cut your head off for making that statement will someday have to face the reality of that statement by a bigger power than you or me, who will force them to see it. And that sacrifice is for them as well, but they too will have to come to a certain acknowledgement, recognition, appreciation, acceptance, that will have to go that same route of repentance and guiltiness.

You know, there are those who say that many who have died over the years on death row were innocent, and that many who have been imprisoned were not guilty. And there's some measure of truth to that, though I don't think the numbers are accurate in the estimation that's given. But I know that there have been innocent ones executed on death row who were not guilty of what they were charged of. And I know that there have been those, and are those, who are imprisoned, who are not guilty of what they're imprisoned for.

It's one of the sad facts of man's age. But on spiritual death row, on sin's death row, there are no innocents. Romans 3.23.

Romans 3.23.

There are statements that have no exit to them. There are statements that don't let you go through a back door. This is one of them. We're all in the same room. We're all within the same walls. We're all included in this when it says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means me. It means each of us. All have sinned. You know, I can look back over my lifetime, certain thoughts, words, actions, deeds. I don't have any trouble seeking, recognizing, acknowledging that I've come short of the glory of God. How I've missed his desires and his design over the years in a number of ways.

And sometimes as I get older and look back, as I've grown and learned certain things, I realize even more so. How short I've come with the glory of God. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

On spiritual death row, sin's death row, there are no innocents. Romans 6.23.

Famous scripture, For the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God, thankfully, is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But what I've earned, the wages, is death. And, of course, we have that verse in chapter 5, verse 12. In chapter 5, verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

It's pretty plain, isn't it? Okay, it means I was not innocent. I was on death row. I lived on death row until March 26, 1969. March 26, 1969 is when I was taken off the death row.

I put myself there. It's interesting. I put myself on death row. But in and of and totally of myself, there was no way to get myself off.

How would I, on my own power and everything, just involved with me as a human being who had put myself on death row, how in the world could I extra something, just something humanly, of me to get myself off? I was on death row, and I knew that beyond whatever time I had in this life, I was 18 at the time, I was one of those young men on a fast track.

And I knew up until March 26, 1969, I came to realize that beyond whatever time I had in this life, if God let me just live a natural human lifetime of 70 years, 80 years, maybe 90, maybe, might even make 100, but no matter what the length, that beyond that point, there was no future, there was no life. That this life, this temporary time of flesh and blood was all I had. It had become my personal death row. And that it would end in the death chamber, the death chamber of eternal extinction. And then one day, the great warden of all life began to contact me and bring things to my attention, until one day he came to my cell and he unlocked it. And he had someone with him, someone that I had become very familiar with, his son.

And he told me I was free to go, that I could step out of the cell, that his son was taking my place, that he was going to step into the cell and die for me. He was innocent. He was innocent. I was not. I deserved what was coming. He did not. But he was willing to take my place in order that I might live. I didn't deserve it. I couldn't earn it.

I couldn't do anything that obligated the great warden of life and his son to do what they were doing. There was nothing I could do that obligated them to have to do it. He was simply mercy, pardon, grace. But he knew. He knew he had my allegiance. He knew he had my loyalty. He knew he had my obedience.

He knew he had that now and forever. He knew I would live differently now than I had before. He knew that. That I would live for him. And that his will would be my will. As I left that cell, I knew my wrongdoings and sins for killing an innocent man. That what I had done was the reason for his death. And in that sense, I was a killer, a murderer through my sins. And he was standing in for me. 1 John 2, verse 2. 1 John 2. And verse 2. John said, and he, Christ, is the propitiation, that is, the stand-in, the substitute, the replacement for our sins.

And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Because God has a plan by which he'll stand in for everyone who truly yields to him in their due time. And in 1 John 3, verse 8, he that commits sin is of the devil. Because the devil sinned from the beginning for this purpose, because of sin, because of the devil, and sin and death, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

And if you turn back to Hebrews 2, Hebrews 2, and verse 14, it says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, that's what we are, we're flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same so he could be killable.

That through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. As I left that cell, that prison, I resolved to live free. Free of going back there. Free of being back on death row. I would fight what put me there. Free from that imprisonment. I would fight what had enslaved and imprisoned me.

For yeah, I had been a slave. I had been a prisoner. It's an interesting statement here in Hebrews 2, verse 15, after what we just read, verse 14, and deliver them who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage, bondage, slavery, imprisonment. I never had really been free before, and I began to really and truly realize that. And I began to realize what Paul told Timothy, just reference it, 2 Timothy 2, verse 26, about how the devil, it's like he can just about take people captive at his own will.

I began to see just how subtly he had ensnared me over and over and in ways I hadn't even recognized. And in the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 6, 16, again, just referencing it, Romans 6, 16, about servants of sin unto death, that I had truly been a slave, a prisoner. And I truly began to see that the things that run you own you, they possess you, they rule you, they enslave you. And Peter, in one of the final warnings that he could give, in 2 Peter 2.19, talking about, there in 2 Peter 2.19, talking about what you're overcome by, you're held in bondage to, what overcomes you becomes your master.

A servant to sin has only one end, and that's death, that's extinction. But a servant to God is life now and life forever, freedom of life forever. Philippians 2. Verse 8, And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. As the son of the great warden of life took my place on death row. I realized his death wasn't going to be in the death chamber. He wasn't going to just peacefully go to sleep in a gas chamber.

It wasn't going to be a quick death in front of a firing squad. In the midst of the prison courtyard was a stripped tray of poe and a gauntlet of men lined up leading to it. He was going to die, but he was going to die the most excruciating death devised by men, and he would have to pass through the hands of brutal men. And after they were through with him, he'd nailed up as an unrecognizable human being practically, practically a hamburgered piece of meat to a piece of wood, and it dropped into place. And with the shock of that impact and the scream of pain that was torn forth, I went to my knees, and in my heart and in my mind, that's where I will stay and live.