Full Transcript:
Let’s take our bibles this morning and turn to Hebrews chapter two. I had one of those weeks where I was not feeling well all week, so you have to bear with me today. I’m a little under the weather.
Let’s take our bibles and look at Hebrews, because this morning we are going to see in this part of the book four things that the Son of God, the incarnate Son, in His humiliating and suffering and death accomplishes for His children, The death of Christ is very efficacious for us every day of our lives.
So far we see that scripture is speaking of the excelling greatness of God’s Son Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is anointed above all others. That Jesus is God the Creator, God Eternal. He is God unchangeable and He is given the highest place in this universe. In fact, He is the object of God’s final revelation and therefore He is vastly more superior than all beings, all persons and all things and no one will equal Him forever.
We also saw in the Word of God, four facets of God’s design for humanity. The first one we saw in verse seven of chapter two. It is that man is distinguished in rank above all other creatures. It says in verse seven
7"You have made him for a little while lower than the angels;É
That man was created lower physically since he is limited to the earth. However, not lower in spiritual rank, he ranks right up there with the angels because of how he is created. Man being created in the image of God has definitely a distinguishing rank in creation. Also man, in verse seven, is created with dignity. The second part of verse seven:
..You have crowned him with glory and honorÉ
In his unfallen state at least. In the book of Genesis, Adam, in his original, exalted position over creation was granted glory and honor. Of course, this also means, in verse seven, that man receives dominion over all things, where it says:
And have appointed him over the works of Your hands;
It means man, in his unfallen state was granted authority and responsibility to rule the world. We look back at Genesis 1:28:
28God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
But after the fall, the privilege was removed. Man could no longer rule over the world because sin came in and also we see in verse eight of Hebrews chapter two that man has a destiny. His destiny is this:
8You have put all things in subjection under his feet.
This is what we do not see when we look at the world. When we look at the authority that man has in the world, there is a real problem that we are confronted with and it is this: We do not see the earth subjected to man. We do not see the future world subject to man. Verse number eight tells us
"For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
The reason why we do not see everything subject to Christ, the reason why we do not see everything subject to mankind is that in our present sinful state, this subjection of all things to man is not yet realized. Due to sin, God set aside, He did not terminate, He set aside and not terminate His original design for mankind to rule the world.
That will come, there is coming a time when we will rule and reign with Jesus Christ over the earth., the heavens and the earth. There will come a time, again, when the redeemed man will be given the right to rule the earth. We do not see that right now and it is because of sin. Sin is the problem. Sin has to be dealt with and eradicated. That is where Christ comes in and that is where the author puts it in Hebrews in verse nine. This is what we should see and what we do see:
9But 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 we regain our rank and regain our status in Christ Jesus. That brings us to the reason God had to become a man. Jesus had to be made a little than the angels in the sense that He suffered and became a man. He became flesh and blood.
He died a particular kind of death. He suffered a particular kind of suffering. Jesus, as the High Priest, fully participated in humanity, in the humanity of all men. So Jesus must enter the realm of humanity from the cradle to the grave and experience and participate in everything that is human. If he did not do that, He could not accomplish what He needed to accomplish concerning our salvation: That Jesus came to earth as a man to redeem mankind from our fallen state and regain man’s destiny.
How does our Lord accomplish this? Only by the design of Jesus’ suffering and death could the grace of God save Hell-deserving sinners. Someone has to pay the justice of God. God could not let it go because of His character. His very character could not let it go. Someone has to pay. Someone has to satisfy the standard of justice in which God said: If you do not do these things, you will die in your sin. So many things are accomplished by the design and suffering of Jesus Christ.
This morning I will like for you to consider and be encouraged by the four things His death accomplished for redeemed sinners now, in the past and forever. These things cannot be reversed, they have taken place and are for us. They are a gift to us from God.
The first one is found in verse ten. Jesus’ humiliation, suffering and death secures our salvation. That is by the grace of God it was necessary that Jesus fully tasted death for us. Why? Look at verse ten:
10For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
By virtue of Jesus’ suffering and death, He achieves the crowning glory for Himself, He regains the crowning glory for us and we can go to glory by God’s grace. It is a free offer by God given to us because the price was paid to secure our salvation in Jesus Christ’ death.
That is that God’s blessings in Christ towards helpless sinners, who only deserve His curse, is offered by God through Jesus’ death and suffering. That means that the Creator and Ruler of all things, fittingly, used suffering to make Him complete as the Author of our salvation.
Let me identify a few words in this passage of scripture to fill the meaning of the passage a bit. It is the first word in verse number ten, the second word is the word perfect. In your translation it may be the word complete. The word perfect, though, is a word that means to accomplish.
It means to bring something to its goal. For instance, it is used in this way for riding an animal that is unblemished. It is fit to be offered for a sacrifice in the Old Testament. Or a scholar who is no longer at an elementary level or stage in his learning but has become mature. Even a human being or an animal that is no longer a baby but is full grown. Even in reference to a Christian who is no longer a spiritual baby but has grown to spiritual maturity. So in this way the basic meaning of perfect or “telus” in the New Testament is always that the thing or person so described, fully carries out the purpose for which it was actually designed.
The writer of Hebrews is saying that through suffering, Jesus was made fully able for the task of being the pioneer of our salvation. That is what He was designed to do. His mission was design to actually secure and make fully able through His suffering and death a pioneer for our salvation.
Another word is Author. The Author of our salvation through suffering. It can also be translated as leader or captain. In other words, the term archegos is one who begins something in order for others to enter into it.
So Jesus begins something so we could enter into what He was designed to do. It is like someone who begins a family that someday others may enter into that family. Or someone who founds a city. They find the city so that someday others may dwell in that city. So the archegos is the person who blazes the trail for others to follow.
Someone has used the analogy for this word in this way: Suppose a ship is on the rocks and the only way for rescue is for someone to swim to shore with a line. So that once the line is secure so others may follow. So the first to swim to shore is the archegos, the captain. He will swim to shore for the safety of others.
This is what the writer of Hebrews means when he says that Jesus is the Author or archegos. He is the Captain of our salvation. He blazes the trail to God for us to follow. He is the only One that can blaze the trail and the only One that we can follow. The reason why is through His suffering and death. His humanity and his humiliating death on the cross enables Jesus to die physically in man’s place paying the price and penalty for sins.
The very sins of His children. So individuals can be redeemed and reconciled to God. So Jesus’ humiliating death enables the unmerited love of God to be manifested to all who put their faith in Him.
Jesus became a man within the family of mankind in order to become the leader of redemption through His death. Therefore, Jesus becomes the Captain of our salvation. We follow Him and it becomes the very design of His mission and in doing so it secures our salvation. He is the only one able to do it. There is no one who met that design other than Jesus Christ.
A second thing that His death accomplishes in verse number eleven through thirteen is that Jesus’ humiliating suffering and death sanctifies the saints. He sets the saints apart for God. The next section between the children to be brought to glory and the Captain of their salvation that Christ should suffer for us and we should enjoy the benefit of the suffering.
How does He do it? In verse eleven Jesus is one nature with His redeemed children. It says:
11For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father;
So Jesus sanctifies and His children are the ones that He makes holy. Christ and His children have the same human nature, so that Jesus is able to suffer for them in the flesh and His children are able to benefit from His sufferings. Now they can be sanctified, they can be made holy and consecrated to God. The sanctified are those are made free from guilt, through cleansing from sin and have access to God’s presence.
He sanctifier, Jesus Christ, sanctifies or separates or dedicates His elect for sacred use. He sets us apart for God as His children, no longer belonging to the world, but ever belonging to God.
Also, Jesus is then not ashamed to call us brothers. In verse eleven:
Éfor which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren
We now are in the same family. Jesus being born into the human family, taking on flesh. We, because of Jesus and following the Captain of our salvation, becomes part of God’s family spiritually. He brings us together and Jesus, in a sense, becomes the older brother of our salvation. We become family.
Angels do not belong to the brotherhood. They could not belong to the brotherhood of God. They never had flesh and blood. Jesus had to stoop down to become our brother. He had to stoop down to lead many sons to glory. We have one Father because of Jesus Christ. We have one source because of Jesus Christ.
The author of Hebrews quote from a Psalm. Psalms chapter twenty-two actually. He quotes that being that we are the family of God and are connected through Jesus Christ, we all have the same Father. Jesus is our elder brother.
There is a three-fold testimony that Jesus gives. He is now connected with us. He does it in verse twelve of Hebrews chapter two. Jesus will declare God’s name to His brothers. It says:
12saying,"I will proclaim Your name to My brethren,In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise."
Declaring the name of God is telling who God is and what He has done. My God has extended His grace, goodness and love towards mankind. That is the only way that people will believe in Him, so give God glory.
He is declaring His message to us that Jesus came as a man to declare the message of God to His brethren, His family. To those who will be a part of the greater family of God. He could never come to do that if He did not come in the flesh or if He did not suffer and come into humanity, experiencing the suffering we experienced, even to a greater extent.
We know experiencing the temptation we experience in this world. He will experience it to a greater extent and will not take on, even to the point of death that we will experience some day, and declare the message on how we can be rescued from the enemy of our soul. He will declare it to us. The second thing He does in verse twelve:
“ÉIn the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise."
This means that once God is in the middle of the assembly, he will praise God before his family, unashamed to praise God before his family. Where he says:
“…In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise."
What better place to worship God but in your public worship? In your daily living to declare the goodness of God in the land of the living. That is the plan of redemption that He is provided a great salvation for His children. He does this by worshiping God together. God in our midst, God being our God, we being His people worshiping together as a family of God. This is where it is all heading. This is the testimony of Christ as a Man coming into the middle of things and preparing things for us.
The author of Hebrews draws again from the Old testament and shows that Christ’ participation of our nature made it necessary for Him to trust God. We see His humanity in the gospels, He had to pray. He had to go to quiet places to trust God.
We see His humanity come out of Him when He prays. That is what is said in verse thirteen. This is how we entered in:
13And again,
"I will put My trust in Him."
Who is this? Jesus must put His trust in the Father as a Human Being. He is so relating to us as humans. So connecting with us as a family that we can never say that Christ does not know what I am going through or He does not know our problems or needs. We can not say that He was never human.
The scripture is going out of its way to show that Christ was 100% human. He felt it all and I would say that He felt it more than we feel it. He felt in His humanity the full brunt of what it is to thus one like ours with all kinds of needs and troubles and weaknesses. Do you know that for most of Jesus’ ministry, He was homeless. He had no address, he had no place to place His head. The birds of the air that He created had a place to lay their heads but He did not. He slept here and there all over the place because He was homeless.
Most of us are not homeless and never will be and will not even come close to it. Christ had all types of needs, weaknesses and troubles in the flesh and it made Him our brother. It made it necessary for Him to trust God for deliverance.
That is why you find Him crying out in the garden “ Lord if this cup of suffering can pass from Me, if there is another way then let it happen, but not My will but Your will” See what is that? Isn’t that humanity? Let me get out of this tough situation or if there is some way I can slip around and be saved some other way then make it so. There is humanity coming in and He ha to trust God.
Maybe the greatest thing we learn as believers is to trust God. We trust in money. Our own ability, our own education and jobs. We trust in people, politics and government but we do not trust God. That is the greatest learning experience that we will all have, to trust God. The author is saying here in scripture that it was Jesus Christ who said:
13And again,
"I will put My trust in Him."
In the Father. So His duty and as well as our duty is that, in all times of trouble, to exercise faith in God’s care and protection. Even when we do not feel like it. Even when we can say that we do not feel God’s care or protection. However faith is not based on our feelings, it is based on God’s character.
If Jesus in the flesh put His faith in the Father then what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to live? We are supposed to live the same way. I believe that when we live that way then we learn how to really live. When we learn how to trust God and know that what He says is actually true and will come to past. It is our duty to exercise faith in God’s care and protection everyday before our family, children and neighbors. That God is greater than all of it.
Why does Jesus do that? Why is He able to stand up in the middle of the assembly and praise the Father for His children? Why is He able to come in the midst of the assembly and worship with His children? In verse thirteen fills in the story where it says:
13And again,
"I will put My trust in Him."
And again, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."
This is very important. He is quoting from Isaiah eighteen. Look at what it is saying:
“…And again, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."
That is an act of sovereign grace. That Father gives the elect, the chosen to Jesus to be His Children. They are united to Christ because God chose them inlove and gave them to Jesus. Within the family of God all who become redeemed in Christ are a gift from the Father to Christ Jesus. Isaiah 8:18 says:
18Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me..
If we turn to John seventeen, it tells us in verse six something very similar to what the author of Hebrews tells us. In verse six of John Seventeen:
6"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
All believers are children of God and God the Father gave them to Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus can stand in the midst of the assembly and praise God for His children because it was a gift from the Father. We are a gift from the Father to Jesus Christ and in the end Jesus Christ will give the gift back to the Father and all will be done then.
You see how Jesus is regaining what sin has taken away from us as human beings? He is regaining it from us. He could not do it if he did not become flesh and die in our place. He could not have done that.
There is a third thing that is accomplished in Jesus’ humiliating suffering and death: He subdues Satan Look at verse fourteen:
14Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
The first part of the verse is telling us that since the children share flesh and blood, He himself has to share flesh and blood. So together we are the same and make no mistake the scripture is telling us that Jesus took part of all things pertaining to human nature. He was flesh, He was blood, had a heartbeat, feelings, hungry, thirsty. He was able to experience pain and fatigue and temptation to sin. He experienced feeling of anger and fear, sadness and grief. He had to become a man so He can ultimately die. Jesus is our representative.
Jesus’ weapon to secure victory over Satan and over death, the very weapon against him, is the very thing Satan uses against us. It says in verse fourteen in the middle of the verse:
14Éthrough death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
That term “render powerless” means to make ineffective. The power of Satan has been rendered inoperative. Christ has made an atonement for sin, fully satisfying God. It is reflected in verse seventeen:
17Therefore, 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, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
He satisfies God’s justice. That is the meaning of the word propitiation. The fear of dying has long plagued humanity, has it not? When we come to a passage like this we see that Christ has settled that problem. He settled it by His own death and resurrection and that Satan’s power of death has been annulled for those who are united in Christ in His representative death. Satan’s authority to condemn and punish forgiven sinners has been made void because, for them, God has already judged, condemned and punished all their sin in Christ.
There are other passages of scripture that show us that Satan was disarmed. Satan’s weapons, the executing of eternal death upon sinners was removed from all those who believe. In John 12:31 it says:
31Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
In Colossians chapter 2:15 it says:
15When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
How does Jesus do this? By His atoning death, He defeats Satan in death. By his atoning death, He delivers us from the power of Satan and from the fear of death. In verse fifteen:
15and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Here is the culprit of those who fear death, Satan himself keeps them right there in slavery. He keeps them in fear of death right there, preventing them and keeping them from the light of the gospel that will free them from that fear. He keeps them afraid.
That is how he enslaves them. He enslaves them by giving them no information about death. He gives them no information about the “why” of death. He gives them no information about after death. He gives them no information about what can rescue them from death or eternal death. He gives them no information about that, he just keeps them in fear. That is what he does, that is what his job is and he is good at it.
The fear of death is connected to the sinners guilty conscience. The guilty conscience has a sense. It does not matter who you are, where you are or where you live. God gave every human being a conscience and this conscience has a sense built into it that God’s wrath and punishment are deserved.
Everyone knows it, whether they want to admit it or not. The know that some day they will give an account. They know it, it is there because God put it there. They do not know what to do it. Satan keeps them afraid of it and when you are afraid of something what do you do? You do not go by it. “I do not want to talk about death” “No not going to talk about death, sorry about it>
Television and media, what they do, lowers our threshold for understanding the impact of death and makes it no big deal. We are so desensitized to the reality of death that it really has pulled from us any meaning of it. Even though we know that we will die.
However, we do know this too, the all sufficient, infinitely valued blood of Jesus Christ removes believers sins and causes them to be clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and cleanses them of their guilty conscience. At the same time, it removes the fear of death.
Hebrews 9:14 it says:
14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Look at chapter 10:22:
22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
It is the blood of Christ that comes in and cleanses us and our very conscience with the very fact that we are no longer under God’s wrath and punishment because of our own guilt and sin. Christ in His flesh and death has sufficiently taken care of it by faith. “I can live now!” That means in my mind I begin to think that if this is the case, I know Jesus did not stay on the cross, He rose from the grave and did something with death.
He manipulated death in a way that was never done before. He had victory over death in a way that was never mentioned before. Jesus becomes the victor and our Salvation. Also, the Lord adjust our view and understanding of death. In the New testament, the Apostle Paul talks about death and he says to people when preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to them, he says
21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain
What do you mean “to die is gain?” Who wants to die? However he says to them “to die is gain”. He says that in Philippians 1:21. Then he says, also in Philippians 1:23:
23But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;
That means the desire he really has is to be out of here and to be with Christ. However, it is more beneficial for me to stay around and be with you. Why? You need to grow in truth and the gospel. God does not think you are not at the point where you are ready yet. So I will stay, but it is my desire to be with Christ. Who thinks like that? The only people who think like that are people who know where they are going. They know where they stand is before an eternal God and Creator.
In fact, the whole bible is written for that. In I John 5:13 it says:
13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
I have a better understanding of death. I have eternal life and I know it. It was also Paul who, when writing to Titus in one of those pastoral epistles, in chapter 1:2
2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago
God promised this a long time ago. Then again Paul writes in chapter 3:7
7so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Yes, eternal life. My whole view is changed because of Jesus Christ. I am enabled to endure end of life suffering because of what Jesus did on my behalf. I am enabled to treat funerals of believing loved ones as a celebration of the victory earned by Christ’ death. I am glad I was able to do that with my father.
Jesus Christ is our victory. He gained victory over Satan. He delivered from the power of Satan and the fear of death. That is what He delivered us from. Satan at the cross was defeated. He was disarmed. He is still doing his ghastly deeds but it is over for him. He is just awaiting sentencing.
We must look at life like this could never happen if Jesus didn’t suffer, become a man and die. You notice in this passage of scripture that it is not talking about resurrection as yet. It is talking about death. It is what is accomplished in Christ’s death.
The last point I want to mention is the fourth thing that is mentioned. The last accomplishment by the humiliating, suffering and death of Christ enables Him to help and sympathize with sufferers. Look at Hebrews 2:16:
16For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.
The descendants of Abraham are God’s children. These are God’s redeemed and those connected to the promise given to Abraham. God does not help angels and the reason that He does not is that they do not need help. He created them in a way that they do not need help. They function in a certain sphere. The ones that have been assigned to eternal punishment, remember Hell was created for Satan’s angels, they are done. They cannot have any help, they are not redeemable. Human beings are, we are redeemable.
It is telling us in this passage of scripture in Hebrews 2:16, 17:
16For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.
17Therefore, 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, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
In other words, merciful towards us and faithful towards God. Everything the Father gave Him to do He will accomplish and be merciful towards us. Another way of thinking of God’s mercy is His pity. God knows us in our complete weakness. He knows us in our complete weakness because He became a man and suffered everything men can suffer and more. In Hebrews 2:18 it says:
18For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
In other words, as we think of Jesus’ humanity, in view of being a High Priest, that our Lord knew our greatest weakness. He knew what it meant to be flesh and blood and therefore He knows our needs. Therefore, let us bring them to Him.
Also meaning that Jesus not only died for our eternal salvation, but He also died for our ever-growing sanctification right now. You can pray to Him and tell Him your needs and tell Him your sorrows and discouragement. Tell Him where you are being tempted and He is able to come and give you help. We do not believe that today. At large, we do not believe that. So we do not experience God’s help because we ultimately conclude that God does not understand.
We are so wrong. You know why? It is what the bible says, that is why. The bible says that Jesus understands my pain, my suffering and weakness. He knows what sins are tempting me right now and He knows how to give me the power to overcome it. If I would only go to Him and ask. That is what the bible says.
When we begin to do that, when we begin to benefit from the efficacious nature of Christ’ suffering, we will begin to discover the power of God and what it means to walk in the Spirit. If I walk in the Spirit, I will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit means I go to God in prayer with an agonizing soul and tell Him what is going on in my soul and life.
Tell Him exactly what I feel. He completely and totally understands and is able to help you. Who else will be able to do that? If Christians did that we will have to put all the drug companies out of business. If the world was nothing but redeemed Christians, there will be no need for that if we actually practiced what the word of God says. Believe me, I am as guilty as you when it comes to this, but when I read this and see this I want to practice it.
I want to see the power of God in my life. When it comes to my personal problems and needs, my temptations that I experience every day. To know that I am flesh and Christ understands what it means to be flesh. He understands.
Be encouraged because Jesus’ humiliating suffering and death accomplishes everything for our eternal salvation and our daily walk before we go home. Every step of the way, our Savior is with us. That is what it says in Hebrews. He has your eternal salvation finished, it is done. However our daily walk? He has that too. We just have to learn to trust Him like Christ learned to trust the Father. We must learn to trust Him and when we do we reap the benefits of what Scriptures teach.
Let us pray. Lord I thank you that you are the High Priest of our salvation and I thank you that You are the Victor of our salvation and the Elder Brother of our salvation. You are the Captain of our salvation.
Lord as we think of that this morning, let us always give ourselves to You Lord everyday as we pray before You. Lord we all struggle with one thing or another and in I have not met anyone who thinks life is easy.
So Lord because You have entered into where we live and you have suffered even to the point of death and have been tempted to sin just like we are. We ask you that Your suffering and death be a benefit to us as we learn to trust You. You have defeated our greatest enemy and satisfied the demand for God’s Justice and our daily needs as we walk in this world.
I pray Lord that we adjust all our thinking so heaven will be our desire and we can say like the Apostle Paul;, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” Lord we praise You and continue to work these principles and truths in our hearts for the sake of the glory of your great name and I pray this in Christ most precious and holy name, Amen.