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[0:00] Chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2. We started talking last week, Hebrews chapter 2, about the staying with the sympathetic Savior.

[0:23] And our theme has been Hebrews is the better way. And we started talking about the fact that they were in danger of drifting. They were going to go because of the persecution they were facing, the fears that they had, the trials.

[0:40] They were in danger of drifting. He says in chapter 2, verse 1, Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

[0:52] And we said the word slip there actually means to drift away. So like a boat drifting out from its mooring. To just kind of go out with no aim, no purpose.

[1:05] Just to go with the flow, however the tides were going. And they were in danger of doing that. We talked about the fact that the people of Israel had done that in the past, many times.

[1:18] And Paul, or not Paul, but whoever wrote, Paul or whoever, was in making sure that the Hebrews understood that's not the direction to go.

[1:30] He starts off with the word therefore, and he's referring back to chapter 1 and things that happened there. It says in verse 2 of chapter 1, So we're getting the words from Jesus.

[1:51] We're getting his direction. It's not even from the prophets. The angels had some influence on things there. But no, he says now we're getting it from his son, from Jesus Christ.

[2:01] So, he paints this vivid illustration about being careful of drifting from what Jesus has taught you. What Jesus has. And then, he talks about in Christ we have salvation.

[2:15] And look at verse 3, he says of chapter 1. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[2:31] So, we have the words of Jesus. We have the salvation offered by Jesus. He says, look, you have the very best there is. You have the better way.

[2:42] You have Jesus Christ himself giving you direction. We talked about the fact that we have been offered what Jesus has given to us.

[2:54] And we need to be careful that we don't be like in Matthew chapter 22. We talked about the king who had prepared a marriage feast for his son.

[3:05] And the people ignored it. And then he sent another word again and said, look, I've got the banquets ready. The food is set. Everything is just come and enjoy.

[3:16] And it said in Matthew 22.5, but they made light of it and went their ways. And we said that word made light of it is the same word used in verse 3 of chapter 2 of Hebrews.

[3:32] Hebrews 22.5. When he says, how shall we escape if we neglect? If we make light of so great salvation. So often we make light of what God has given to us.

[3:47] Then we went on from there to talk about the deliverance from doubt. He was going to give them deliverance in verses 5 through 18. And we talked about having a captain of our ship.

[4:00] He mentions that in these verses. We talked about the preeminence of Christ. We talked about the fact that in verse 5, he says, For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak.

[4:18] The angels are not in charge. Jesus is. And he's making sure they understand that. Jesus is supreme. Jesus is preeminent.

[4:30] Go back to chapter 1 again. Look at verse 8. But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom.

[4:43] Verse 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemy like whichstool? So again, they're pointing out Jesus is preeminent over everything.

[4:59] Then he goes on. And we talked about the difference between Adam and Jesus. And we talked about Adam.

[5:11] He sinned and everything. We all know the story. Then in 1 Corinthians 15, 47, he said, The first man is of the earth earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

[5:26] Remember who Jesus is. He is the Lord from heaven. And then he goes on and he talks about the fact that who Jesus is and what he has.

[5:36] And remember in Philippians 2, 9 through 11. Wherefore, he hath given him a name which is about every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.

[5:49] So, again, Jesus is preeminent. Which brings us to where we left off. Letter B, provision of salvation. Jesus is the provision of salvation.

[6:01] Let's have a word prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you would just be with us this morning, Lord, as we look in your word. Lord, help us to understand. Help us to take the word and to, especially today as we're looking at this, understand just who Jesus is.

[6:16] And all the things he has done for us and provides for us. Lord, I just thank you for Jesus' preeminence. I thank you that he is the provision of our salvation. And so much more.

[6:28] Lord, I pray that you would help us to leave here today having, be reminded that Jesus is foremost. Jesus has first place.

[6:41] Jesus is the most important thing in our life. Lord, help us to realize that in Jesus' name. Amen. The provision of salvation. Look at chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. 9 and 10.

[6:53] It says, 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.

[7:07] For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering.

[7:19] You know, we may not see Jesus as the ruler of the world right now. We watch the world. We watch all the things that are going on in the world.

[7:30] We watch how evil things seem to be sometimes. And we can identify with this humanity as we read through the Bible.

[7:41] But right now, we may not see him as the ruler of the world. But he came to earth. He humbled himself. Took on human form so that he could taste death for every man, it says in verse 9.

[7:54] He was going to go through everything for us. His death was an act of God's grace. God says, look, I love humankind so much.

[8:07] I'm willing to send my son to take their place. He died on the cross. He died as a substitute. He joined us here on a human level.

[8:19] And then he suffered the death. And then he rose again and returned to heaven, where he sits at the right hand of the Father. His crucifixion was a stumbling block to the Jews.

[8:32] They were noting, you know, how can a man who has died be life eternal? In 1 Corinthians 1.23, it says, We preach Christ crucified under the Jews' stumbling block and under the Greeks' foolishness.

[8:49] They could not grasp that a man who came and died could be eternal Savior. And it's hard for some people today. To still do that. How can he be the Savior if he has died?

[9:04] Well, it teaches us there in those verses we just read, that God included his death on the cross as part of his perfect plan of salvation. He was giving himself as a sacrifice for us, so that we did not have to face it.

[9:20] He is the captain of our salvation, it says there in verse 10. He blazed the trail. He led the way. You get a captain on a ship, and we want somebody we talked last week about who knows the waters, who knows the channels, who knows everything.

[9:36] Jesus came and he took upon him human form. He knows all the pitfalls. He knows all the challenges we face. He knows all the temptations we face. He knows everything that we have ever gone through, and he knows how to handle it and to lead us through it.

[9:53] He is made perfect through suffering. He was made perfect by being here, taking a human form. So, the word perfect, when he uses it there, is used in a way so that he, I don't know how to put this, it helped him to understand us better.

[10:24] The word perfect is the same word used in the Old Testament when it talks about consecration. He came and he consecrated himself. In Exodus, you don't have to turn there, but in Exodus 29, if you want to check it sometime, it talks about the consecrating of a person for service, as a priest.

[10:41] Jesus went through that consecration. He faced all of that so that he could be our high priest. He is the God-man.

[10:52] He was God, which gave him the power to do all of these things, and he was man, like us, so he understood the sufferings that we went through. In Psalm 9, verses 13 and 14, it says this, You think about David.

[11:26] David, he's praying, he's asking God to watch over him, take care of him. He says, I'm going to praise you for who you are. I'm going to praise you for what you do.

[11:38] Now, jump forward to us today. Having seen Jesus Christ come, having seen Jesus come to, he's on call this weekend.

[11:48] And so, having seen what God has done for us. And so, when we come to say, God, I've got problems. God, I'm facing this. God, I'm going through all this.

[12:00] Do we have an even better understanding than David did? Because we know Jesus went through everything we did. David was praying that God would help him through his things. We have now God who has faced all of the things that we face, who truly understands us.

[12:17] So, when we come and we ask for his help, we're coming and asking somebody who understands, who knows what we've gone through. And then notice, third thing, the privilege of family.

[12:29] Privilege of family. Look at verse 11. Verse 11 says, For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all one.

[12:40] Stop right there for a second. He that sanctifieth, Jesus, those that are sanctified, us, are all one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

[12:56] Saying, I will declare my name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me.

[13:11] He says, look, the privilege of being family. The privilege of seeing Jesus Christ as our brother.

[13:23] Remember in John chapter 1, verse 12, it talks about the fact that we are going to be the children of God. He came to make us the children of God. We've been adopted as Christians into a spiritual family.

[13:33] We've been adopted into the family of God. So he says, look, Jesus Christ, the one that sanctifies, Christians, the ones who are sanctified, are now a family.

[13:46] And he is not ashamed to call us brothers. Think about that. Jesus considers us to be family.

[13:57] Jesus considers us to be brothers and sisters. There are times when you have encounters with some Christians and you're like, ah, are they really my brothers and sisters?

[14:09] He says, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. You know, just think about it this way. The richest men in the world, Bill Gates, worth billions.

[14:26] Elon Musk, worth billions. Jeff Bezos, guy that owns Amazon, worth billions. Suppose they considered you to be brothers and sisters.

[14:40] And they said, whatever is mine is yours. They're worth billions. I'm not greedy. A couple of million would be fine. I'm not greedy.

[14:52] You know, they're worth billions. They're not going to miss a couple of million. You know, how much better that Jesus Christ calls us brothers and sisters.

[15:06] The ruler of the universe. The creator of all things. Says, we're brothers and sisters. That's a, that's a pretty good, I don't know what the word I want is, but it's a, it's pretty good that he would call us that.

[15:22] In verses 12 and 13, he gives three different verses, cites three different verses about the concept of being family. In Psalm 22, 22, he says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.

[15:38] In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. He's referring there to the psalmist, resolve the praise of the Lord in the midst of other worshipers.

[15:51] To have, when we come together on Sunday morning here and we sing praises to God and we hear the word of God, we're gathering as brothers and sisters in Christ. Do we praise him while we're here?

[16:04] Do we lift him up while we're here? In Isaiah 8, 17 and 18, it says this, And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him.

[16:19] Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwell in Mount Zion. Again, the idea that we're family.

[16:32] We belong together. God has brought us together in this place. We've been established together as a family. Just dwell on that thought for a minute.

[16:45] What do we have because of Jesus Christ? None of us would know each other if it wasn't for Jesus Christ. None of us would be able to help one another if it wasn't for Jesus Christ.

[17:00] It's just so amazing. You know, he's talking about all of us having a personal relationship with him. You know, we think about the church and yes, I'm part of the church and God died for the church.

[17:12] You know, but remember who the church is. It's every one of us. Every one of us is part of the church. Every one of us makes up the church and he died for us and he considers us brothers and sisters.

[17:27] You know, sometimes we feel alone. Sometimes we seem needy. Where do we go? We go to the family. We go to the father.

[17:38] We go to our brother. We ask them for help. We go to Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3, 14 and 15. Ephesians 3, 14 and 15.

[17:50] For this cause, I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. He says, I go to the family.

[18:01] I go to the father. You know, how does that affect you? Knowing that you're part of a family in God.

[18:14] You've got some needs. You've got some things and you're going to go and you're going to pray about them. As you're praying, think about the fact that I am family.

[18:26] Think about the fact that I'm coming to my father. I am coming to my brother. The family aspect. You know, Jesus talked about the fact, you know, if you come and you ask for bread, is he going to give you a stone?

[18:45] No, I'm coming to the father and my brother for their help. letter D, there's this perfection of sympathy. Perfection of sympathy. Verse 14.

[18:59] It says, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

[19:22] For verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted.

[19:47] He is able to succor them that are tempted. The sympathy that God has for us, that Jesus has for us, the sympathy knowing that he has faced the same things.

[20:02] He says, look, in verses 14 through 16, he came and he became human. Why? So that he could break the power of death and the devil over humankind.

[20:18] We don't need to be scared of death anymore because we have Jesus Christ. And because he rose from the dead, we know that we will rise as well. Because he went back to heaven, we know that we will go to heaven.

[20:29] He said, you don't need to be afraid of death. Death is just a stepping stone to get to heaven. And we don't need to be afraid of the devil anymore. The devil isn't all powerful.

[20:43] He thought he had won when he sent Jesus to that cross and Jesus died on that cross. Jesus rose again. The devil had lost. He says, you don't have to fear death. You don't have to fear the devil.

[20:53] You don't have to be afraid of any of those things. He was the eternal God who came as a human to take our place. And then, because he conquered death and the devil, we don't have to fear.

[21:11] We don't have to be concerning the devil. He's facing failure. He's facing doom because he failed in what he was trying to do. But we do not have to.

[21:24] In defeating the devil, he released us from bondage. We're not in the bondage to the devil anymore. Now, the devil's still out there picturing. He's still out there doing things. He's still trying to get us off track. He's still trying to tempt us.

[21:35] He's still trying to get us off of what God wants us to do. But by dying on the cross, Jesus defeated the devil and death. So we have to worry about it.

[21:48] Galatians. What? Another thing to be thankful for. Let me read you Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1.

[22:03] It says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty where Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.

[22:14] He says, Stand fast in the liberty where Christ hath made us free. He freed us from death and from the devil. He says, Don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

[22:25] Don't be entangled by the devil and what he's trying to get you to do. Don't be entangled with the fear of death. Live a life of praise and glory to God because of what he has done for us.

[22:41] Christ removed the fear. Christ took care of it. These people, again, they were in fear because of persecution, because of things that were happening. He says, Don't be afraid anymore. Jesus took care of all of that.

[22:53] He says, There's a blessing in those verses that he gave to us there, 14 and 15. He says, Look, Christ did not take the nature of angels.

[23:05] Look at verse 16. He says, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. He came to be like us so that we could have the salvation that he offers.

[23:24] If you go, we won't right now, but we'll get there. In Hebrews chapter 11, that great faith chapter, verses 8 through 19 talk about Abraham. And he talks about the faith of Abraham so that his spiritual faith is going to lead people to when Christ came, so that they would put their faith in Christ and see God's hand at work.

[23:52] Another truth he gave, verses 17 and 18. Let's look at those again. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

[24:10] For in that he himself has suffered being tempted. He is able to succor them that are tempted. Jesus totally identified with us.

[24:21] Jesus represented us faithfully in everything that he did, even going to the cross. He took our place and represented us. He is a perfect substitute.

[24:33] He fully met all of God's demands for sin to be forgiven and to be taken care of. He faced God's wrath. He took everything for us. His relationship toward us, he was qualified because he was God and man.

[24:52] He was qualified to be merciful. He is qualified to be faithful. He is qualified that we don't have to worry about anything but just to trust him.

[25:07] Again, he understood all of our human emotion. He understood everything about us. He's the kinsman redeemer.

[25:17] Yes, over in Ruth, it talks about the kinsman redeemer. He understood he could take us in because we are family because of what Jesus Christ did for us.

[25:28] Hebrews 7 25, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost. They come unto God by him, seeing he ever lived to make intercession for us.

[25:39] He understands us better than anyone. Philippians 3, 10. Paul wrote in Philippians that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings be made conformable unto his death.

[25:58] What does Paul say our goal is? Our goal is to know him. To know him. What does it mean to know him? To know him and the power of his resurrection.

[26:10] The power he displayed, that power is available to us and will be with us even after we die because we will rise again as well.

[26:21] To know him and the fellowship of his sufferings. He went through everything. We face all kinds of things.

[26:32] He did it without sin. But he went through and faced all the things that we do. Being made conformable unto his death. His death paid the penalty, paid the price.

[26:44] He says, I want to know him, Paul writes. That's what I want to know about him. I want to know everything he has done and for us. You know, these people were probably under temptation.

[26:59] They felt like they needed a priestly ministry. They needed someone they could go to. They needed help. They needed encouragement. They needed someone to help uplift him. They needed someone they could put confidence in.

[27:13] And the writer says, look at Jesus. Keep your eyes there on him. You know, he felt our pain and he helped us with our hurt.

[27:30] The things you may be facing right now, the things you may be going through, Jesus understands all of it. Some people may be going through things health-wise.

[27:45] They'll say, I don't remember Jesus being sick. No, but he faced death. And the people around him faced death. You know, you read through the scriptures and you start off with Mary and Joseph having a baby.

[28:00] When you get to the end of his life, you've got Mary. Where was Joseph? We assume Joseph passed away. So he understood that feeling.

[28:12] He had his best friend, Lazarus, pass away. He had faced all of that. He had faced people who were hurting. The woman with the issue of blood.

[28:24] Those who were blind, those who were deaf, all of that. He faced all of those things. He knew what it was. He is there for us no matter what we're going through.

[28:36] He is there. He is a sympathetic Savior. Trust him. Trust him no matter what. Let's pray.

[28:47]  Father, thank you for this time. Thank you.