Focus on Jesus
[0:00] Welcome to this pre-recorded meeting for Calvary Church here in Brighton for the 19th of July 2020.
[0:14] ! We are still just emerging from the coronavirus lockdown and there's a lot to sort out before we can meet together in the way that we used to. We are a church of people who live in the area of Brighton, it's on the south coast of England. We are believers in Jesus Christ.
[0:32] We are a church of 80 or so of us meeting together on Sunday mornings in normal times. We are just ordinary people from different nations and backgrounds, but we believe that God has brought us together through faith in Jesus Christ to love him and to serve him.
[0:50] And we're going to do our best to express that in the way that we conduct this time this morning. My name is Philip Wells. I'm one of the team of elders here at Calvary and I'll be leading this morning.
[1:02] And other notices have no doubt been circulated by email and so on. So a particular welcome to you if you just dropped in.
[1:13] We are going to do the things that Christians normally do when they meet together. We're going to sing and pray and read the Bible and have a talk on the Bible as it applies to us.
[1:26] And I'm just going to try and put the plan up on the up on the screen behind my head. Or slightly in front of my head, in fact.
[1:38] This morning we're continuing a new series of studies and meditations based on a book in the New Testament. It's called the letter to the Hebrews. We just call it Hebrews usually, but more of that later.
[1:51] So let's open with a prayer. Our Lord in heaven, wherever we may be this morning, whoever we may be, May we be found drawing near to you.
[2:07] And will you draw near to us. May we be found in living contact with you, the living God, by your word and by your spirit.
[2:19] We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen. What Christians believe is summarised by one of the first Christian leaders, Paul, St. Paul, as he's called.
[2:37] He says it can be summarised like this. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you took your stand.
[2:53] For I received. I'm sorry. For what I received, I passed on to you as a first importance, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve.
[3:18] And after that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time. And so it's important for us to realise the essential nature of Christianity.
[3:29] It's not basically about a culture of behaviour patterns, saying a form of words at certain times in the week, or anything like that.
[3:42] Although being a Christian will radically change the nature of a person's behaviour. It's not basically about a set of personal experiences, whether they're experiences of ecstasy or guilt or joy.
[3:57] That's not fundamentally what it is. Although being a Christian brings a whole set of truths and relationships which are bound to elicit all sorts of powerful emotional responses.
[4:12] It is not basically about the human quest to reach out to God, to get ourselves tuned into God, let alone to earn our salvation before God.
[4:26] It's not actually about us at all. It is at all. It is at all about a historical person, Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity is founded upon who he is and what he has done.
[4:43] In other words, his person and his work. And it is about how he figures in the plan of God, our maker for his world, for his purposes.
[4:56] First of all, for that family upon which he lighted way back in the time of Abraham. But also going on from that family to the whole world, to all nations.
[5:10] And the writer to the Hebrews makes a point of directing his readers attention to this focus on the personal work of Jesus. He says, Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God, consider him.
[5:40] So that's our theme or title. Today we will be considering him. But in order to do so, let's stand a little bit further back as the writer of the Hebrews does.
[5:53] And we'll hear an ancient Psalm. Psalm 8. And Rosemary is going to read this to us. Thank you, Rosemary. Psalm 8.
[6:04] Psalm 8. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
[6:22] When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
[6:37] You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You made him ruler over the works of your hands. You put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
[6:59] O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Now, having heard the psalm read to us, let's try to sing it.
[7:10] This is the version we've tried before. The words are Scottish. The tune seems rather Scottish. We sang it the other day, but this is a remix of the musical arrangement.
[7:21] You'll remember that there's one verse free, one verse all the way through without words, just so you can try and get the hang of the tune. So we're going to sing in the book number eight, Psalm number eight.
[7:36] The tune is, and we're going to sing in the book number eight, and we're going to sing in the book number eight.
[7:52] The tune is, and we're going to sing in the book number eight, and we're going to sing in the book number eight.
[8:06] In all the earth, O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name!
[8:20] For you have set above the heavens your glory and your fame.
[8:35] From heaven's hand, from children's lips, you ordered praise to sound.
[8:49] To silence all your enemies, you're wicked to confound.
[9:03] When I regard the heavens you made, your fingers works by trace.
[9:18] I see the snow and shining stars, with you have set in place.
[9:32] I ask myself, what bed is that that you should give him thought?
[9:47] The sun of man, that you to him such gracious death have brought.
[10:01] You set in jars below the ones who dwelt in heaven above.
[10:16] And you have crowned and honoured him with glory and with love.
[10:28] You gave him charge of all the works created by your hand.
[10:43] And everything that you have made, you gave him to command.
[10:58] All the earth, O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name!
[11:13] In all the earth, O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name!
[11:28] The psalm is full of praise, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
[11:40] We bow before you in your glory and majesty. How fathomless are your works!
[11:52] How wonderful are your ways!
[12:05] How wonderful are your ways! We can't grasp them. We only see a little bit and sometimes we get that out of kilter. But we praise you in your glory and majesty, in your power and wisdom.
[12:20] How great you are, O God! We praise you as our Creator. We praise you for your moral and ethical purity.
[12:32] We praise you for the depths of your wisdom. You are so clever, so inventive, so creative, so deep. We come to you as the creatures that you have made, the human beings that you have made.
[12:48] And we too have our breath taken away when we think, what is the Son of Man that you care for him? What is Man that you are mindful of him? We are amazed that you should care for us.
[13:01] Let alone make us in such an exalted way and put us in such an exalted position. That we are, as it were, your representatives in this creation.
[13:13] You have made us rulers over it. And we bow before you. We confess to you that we have completely messed up as a race, as a nation, as individuals in this whole matter of living and ruling in this world for you.
[13:32] Forgive us when we have used the resources that you have given us for purposes which have been selfish or impure or just lustful and completely wrong.
[13:53] Please forgive our sins and grant us forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for him and pray that we may be able this morning to consider him and have a larger view of him.
[14:09] So that whatever else we've been thinking about through the week, it would fall into its proper subservient place under a contemplation of you, our Redeemer.
[14:21] Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We pray for our world as it is, with the glory and responsibility of being made as we are, and yet with the catalogue of failure and sadness because of our sin.
[14:43] Please look with mercy upon our world in all its problems, with its wars and suffering, and particularly this virus which continues to bring people's lives to a premature end.
[14:56] Please, Lord, have mercy on our world and grant in particular that people would heed the wake-up call of this virus and turn towards you.
[15:06] Lord, we pray for our city, that our city may have your good hand. We know that we don't deserve your good hand, but we ask you to take notice of our city with its tens of thousands of people who don't know their right hand from their left, spiritually speaking.
[15:26] Please, Lord, in all the gifts that you've given to our city of creativity and vivacity and liveliness, will you please grant the humility of repentance and turning towards you in the true meaning of life.
[15:46] Lord, we pray for our own selves. We pray for our own selves. Help us this day to turn towards you. We cast upon you the burdens of anxiety and care that we have, and we look to you that your promises would be made true to us, that you guide us and carry us and go before us and protect us and bring us all the way home.
[16:12] May we find that as individuals and as a church too. So hear our prayers. We just pause to add whatever prayer might be in our hearts this morning personally to you.
[16:32] And we pray our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The work of Jesus is U-shaped. The letter U goes down and then up again.
[16:47] And this is true of Jesus and his career, if we could call it that. He came down from heaven. He went down very low into death and was raised up very high in his resurrection and in his ascension and in his enthronement.
[17:05] And here is a short reading from Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 to 11, which describe that. This is Paul.
[17:15] First of all, he says to his listeners that this career involves a mindset and Christians are supposed to take on that mindset.
[17:27] So he says, If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, any comfort from his love, any fellowship in the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
[17:46] Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. But in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
[18:01] Your mindset, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness.
[18:23] And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
[18:33] Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
[18:48] And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 to 11.
[19:03] You came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky.
[19:14] Lord, I lift your name on high. That's song number 314, which we're going to sing now. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I lift your name on high.
[19:47] Lord, I love to sing your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life.
[20:00] I'm so glad you came to save us. You came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross I dare to pay, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky, Lord I lift your name all high.
[20:35] Lord I lift your name all high, Lord I love to sing your praises, I'm so glad you're in my life, I'm so glad you came to save us.
[21:00] You came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross I dare to pay, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky, Lord I lift your name all high.
[21:24] And now we're going to have read to us the first chapter of Hebrews going on into the second chapter, it's what we had before, no harm in hearing it again.
[21:39] So this is Ray speaking, thank you Ray and I've just added a couple of extra verses on at the end. The reading is Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 through to chapter 2 verse 5.
[21:53] In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
[22:08] The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
[22:21] After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven, so that he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
[22:35] For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son, today I have become your Father? Or again, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.
[22:50] And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him. In speaking of the angels, he says, He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.
[23:07] But about the sun, he says, Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
[23:21] Therefore, God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. He also says, In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
[23:40] They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe. Like a garment, they will be changed.
[23:50] But you remain the same, and your years will never end. To which of the angels did God ever say, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?
[24:09] Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
[24:25] For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
[24:38] God also testified to it by signs, wonders, and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
[24:59] It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified.
[25:10] What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honour, and put everything under his feet.
[25:24] In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour, because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
[25:48] The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now. A royal diadem adorns the mighty victor's brow.
[26:01] Diadem is a crown, and that's what we're going to sing. It's number 498. The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now. The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now.
[26:34] The royal diadem adorns the mighty victor's brow.
[26:45] The highest place that heaven affords is his by sovereign right.
[27:04] The King of kings and Lord of lords, In hands eternal light.
[27:20] The joy of all who dwell above, The joy of all below.
[27:31] To whom he demonstrates his love, And grants his name to know.
[27:44] To them the cross with all its shame, With all its grace is given.
[28:02] Their name an everlasting name. Their joy the joy of heaven.
[28:14] They suffer with their Lord below.
[28:26] They reign with Him above Their profit and their joy to know The mystery of His love The cross He bore His life and health O shame and death to Him His people's hope, His people's wealth Their everlasting theme Well, we've sung about the glory of Jesus and the career of Jesus who went down and came up in this U-shaped career and now we're going to think about Him we're going to consider Him but before we do so, let's pray
[29:29] Lord, thank You for these readings thank You for these thoughts about You they engage our hearts and minds in Your praise thank You for the One of whom they speak Jesus, our Saviour and as we bow before His utter greatness we confess our sins and our rebellion but we pray that over and above these things You would open our eyes to see Jesus that we might fix our eyes upon Him that we might consider Him and learn from Him and be drawn into Him and be changed into His likeness so help us in our thinking and speaking just now for Jesus' sake Amen So we've prayed and read and now we're going to think about this letter to the Hebrews it says consider Him think about Jesus and that's what we're going to do in these next few minutes
[30:35] So I'd like us first of all now as a human figure to consider some objections to Jesus Number one objection He's just human What sort of a Saviour is that?
[30:49] Surely we need something more than someone who's just human that must be something that rules Him out as a Saviour Number two He suffered He suffered He suffered a terrible and shameful death How can this sort of disgrace be appropriate for a Saviour?
[31:08] Surely that disqualifies Him Number three If you think of all the promises in the Bible about the reign of peace and the reign of Messiah nothing seems to have changed What's happened to these promises of recreation and of worldwide peace and so on and so on nothing much seems to have changed surely that rules Him out and I'm just to stop to say when we take human it means you could have taken this photograph wouldn't have been much help though He's a sort of human being who interacted in a genuine way He asked questions He needed food He got tired There was a deep mystery here but we won't short search we won't solve the mystery by saying he wasn't human He was truly human So those are some objections and we're going to think about those towards the end but they'll set us off So just to recap some things about the letter
[32:10] It was written to professing Christians that's to say Christians who said they people who said they were Christians He doesn't stop to prove the things that they had already accepted So if you're watching this as somebody who has a lot of objections to Christianity you probably won't find them directly addressed but what he is writing to these Christians to remind them of the power and implication of the things that they had already believed His readers rather were from a Jewish background so a lot of this is argumentation to do with Jewish expectation We're told that the readers had believed in Jesus back in the early days chapter 10 verse 32 We're told they had suffered for their faith so they were serious believers They'd suffered insult and persecution But as time went on they were somehow losing their way Maybe going back to the synagogue and the temple and so there are words used here about drift and becoming lazy and sluggish
[33:14] And there's a relevance of this constantly Here in the UK we know of people who in some sense used to be Christians and places of worship that used to be churches and maybe carpet warehouses now or blocks of flats So the letter to the Hebrews contains promises and it also contains warnings Dick Lucas' helpful remark The mark of the elect is that they believe the promises and heed the warnings and tremble at his word And the relevance to this is to keep us walking with the Lord in a daily way with a daily urgency And that's the only way to live the Christian life to trust and obey There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but daily moment by moment to be trusting and obeying
[34:16] And just to recap so far In the first four verses he blasts off showing that Jesus the Son is at the epicentre of all things divine creation the final destiny of the universe which is technically called eschatology the expression and revelation of God God's upholding of all things that's called providence and redemption the buying back of sinners for the Saviour And then in the next section which we looked at last week he draws a clear line between angels and the Son There are two different things chalk and cheese The angels are created They are worshippers not to be worshipped They are messengers but they are not the sender of the message They are servants in the household but not bona fide members of the household servants not the Son
[35:17] Although they are called Sons in a secondary sense they are not the Son the firstborn Clear difference And one other thing about angels they don't do family Unlike They don't do family It's a sort of adoption thing and what Jesus does is to say Abba Father to his father and he brings us into that relationship too And there was a particular relevance to his first hearers first readers I should say because the law of Moses was given through angels and it might well have been that they were saying well the law of Moses came through angels so what could be better than that and here he says well the message that comes through the Son is better than that So the conclusion that we reached last time was to listen up We must pay more careful attention therefore to what we have heard so that we do not drift away for if the message spoken by angels was binding how will we escape if we ignore such a great salvation first announced by the Lord and you remember that illustration of the people who took no notice of the warning sign at Berlin Gap in huge danger what fools they are and here's a message that will save our lives that message said keep away from the cliff edge at Berlin Gap or Beachy Head or wherever it was a little wooden sign that would save people's lives why didn't they pay attention and the message that we have is even greater than this well as we come to this one the starting point is Psalm 8 and we had it read but let's just refer ourselves to Psalm 8 it's quoted there in Hebrews so I'm going to turn back to the
[37:17] Psalm itself how efficient it would have been if I'd done this before I started the recording so here is Psalm 8 O Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth you have set your glory above the heavens from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is man that you are mindful of him so he starts off saying that you've set your glory above the heavens so those words say heavenly realm and there's a line and above the heavens is where God has put his glory and I consider the heavens verse 3 the work of your fingers the moon and the stars that you have set in place so there's the moon and the stars and then he goes on to say what is man that you are mindful of him so in this great picture of the universe there's man put in the singular man what is man that you care for him the son of man that you are what is man that you are mindful of him the son of man that you care for him and then the psalm goes on to say you made him a little lower than the heavenly beings so a little lower than the heavenly beings the angels it doesn't use the word for angel but heavenly beings and that idea of a little lower or a little while lower so in English those are two different things but in certainly in Greek you can take the same word and it could mean either of those things and then he goes on to say you crowned him with glory and honour that's in verse 5 and you made him ruler over the works of your hands and put everything under his feet so there's being crowned with glory and honour and then everything under his feet and everything is the flocks and the herds the beasts of the field the birds of the air the fish of the sea and all that swim in the paths of the seas and there's this wonderful picture of humanity sort of halfway between heaven and having jurisdiction over the things of earth and that's such a wonderful thought that the psalmist goes on to say well it's David oh lord our lord isn't this brilliant aren't you brilliant how majestic is your name in all the earth so there's Psalm 8 and originally in its original context it's a statement about man it uses the word son of Adam and it doesn't have any obvious time sequence although as I said in the Greek version that little could mean for a little while and it describes the ideal it describes the true destiny of Adam's family it's a wonderful picture but of course there's something less than ideal about the reality that we now live in it's not the way things actually are in the sense that all those relationships are dislocated and dysfunctional so although man is in charge of the earth what a mess he makes of it with pollution and wars and famine and earthquakes and such things which surely are out of kilter as the virus that we've got now so although that's a beautiful picture it's an ideal picture and not really the way things are so let's turn back now to Hebrews and see how this psalm is picked up by the writer of the Hebrews to the Hebrews now he clearly assumes
[41:18] that what was ideal in the psalm will in fact be fulfilled in some genuine sense and the writer also assumes that there will be a new Adam a new humanity a new man and he assumes this is his understanding of the way the whole Bible works that this can't help but be talking about Jesus the one about whom the whole of the Bible is written that's how large a view he has of Jesus so this original vision is fulfilled in Jesus and as he sees it fulfilled in Jesus it does have a time sequence so that idea of being made lower than the angels for a little he would say that's for a little while he was made lower than the angels and then he would say secondly as a second part of the sequence he's crowned with glory and honour and then as a third part of the sequence everything is put under his feet so that's what we're going to think about those three stages of the fulfilment of this that's portrayed in Psalm 8 and then we'll come back to those objections at the end and all under the heading of considering him considering Jesus so let's first of all look at what's said about being made a little lower than the angels or made lower than the angels for a little while well in what way was he made lower than the angels what did he come and do well in 2 verse 3 it says that he came and announced salvation this salvation which was first announced by the
[43:10] Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him God also testified to it by signs wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will so first thing is that he came to bring a confirmed message of salvation that's an important thing he came Jesus I'm referring to Jesus came and he brought his teaching and he came with signs and wonders feeding the 5,000 crossing the water many healings indisputed even his opponents could not dispute the fact that he did those things signs and wonders well it says gifts of the Holy Spirit the word gifts isn't actually in the original it says something like distributions or things distributed of the
[44:12] Spirit so that was a very brief description of the life and ministry of Jesus and the confirmation that surrounded that and then the writer says this was confirmed to us by those who heard him so these people saw and heard what the Lord did and this is the role of that first apostolic generation or that apostolic group they were there they saw it and heard it and state their lives on the truth of what they were saying as they pass it on to other people we cannot but say what we have seen and heard even if it cost us our lives we saw it it's true and they relayed it it says to us confirmed to us by those who heard him so I stop to point out this is confirmed the nature of the
[45:13] Bible is not to tell us well you know it's a bit iffy and you've just got the leap in the dark on this the nature of the New Testament indeed the whole Bible but the New Testament specifically is that this is not fables it's not dodgy it's not well it might be and it might not be these people state their lives on the fact it actually is true we saw it a little like those whistleblowers who saw something take place I don't know when the Russian Olympic team had doping irregularities I saw it even if it cost me my job I have to tell you I saw this and this is exactly the position of the apostolic testimony we saw it it's true so not a leap in the dark my friends but submitting to reliable confirmation it's true this has great implications about faith doesn't it believe it because it's true it was a good reason to trust this message so he was made a little lower than the angels or made lower than the angels for a little while what else do we know about this well he was made because that's the only way he could suffer death chapter 2 verse 9 we see
[46:39] Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels who has been crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone or for each one so the cross is part of this picture the terrible predicament of sin is a human one it also affects well sorry it also affects the angelic world no doubt sin affects the angelic world too but this solution is a specifically human solution there is no solution here for angels verse 16 says it's not angels he helps but Abraham seed human beings and it says that he came to taste death and I think we're to understand that this taste is not just yeah there's some cinnamon in there sort of taste but taste in the full sense not a little tiny taste but the full gastronomic experience and in the case of death all the bitterness all the horror all the revulsion all the awfulness he took the whole experience of that he tasted death and when it says for everyone for each one perhaps would be another way of translating it not meaning for generally all people willy nilly but something quite specific he tasted death for me he swallowed the whole thing for me he drank the butter cup reserved for me huge reason for
[48:24] Christians to be immensely infinitely grateful to Jesus he tasted death for each one okay that was number one made a little lower than the angels now crowned with glory and honor that's the second part of the sequence so I've got an up arrow there and a crown on the little human figure so it's a past tense in the psalm crowned with glory and honor verse seven it's a past tense something that's happened already so he's no longer in on the cross he's no longer in the grave he has been crowned with glory and honor when he made cleansing for sin it says at the beginning he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven so no longer on the cross no longer in the grave finished that work he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven a finished work an enthronement sit at my right hand until
[49:40] I make your enemies a footstool for your feet that's chapter 1 verse 13 and I think my presentation has omitted that for some reason so in this scheme of things the resurrection of Jesus is crucial if he didn't rise from the dead if he is in some sense still in the grave still on the cross then his identity as the son is left in complete doubt and the result of his work on the cross is completely inconclusive we don't know we're probably still in our sins if Christ has not risen from the dead but if he is risen from the dead then the work on the cross is complete and acceptable and vindicated by the heavenly father and we can be sure that that process doesn't stop short of his being crowned with glory and honour so he is at the right hand of the majesty on high he did rise the apostles saw him he is not left in condemnation but vindicated and crowned with glory so let's come to the third part of the sequence all things put under his feet now this too is put as a past tense so there's my little picture of all things put under his feet meaning to say
[51:18] Christ as supreme head and rule over all the cosmos on behalf of his father not his father is accepted the father is not submitted to Jesus but on behalf of his father he rules over all the cosmos not a single atom not a single thought not a single action not a single inclination will be anything other than fully glorifying or glorying in his rule and there's that idea of putting under is referred to three times in verse eight look at it put everything under his feet that's the quotation then he goes on to say in putting everything under him God left nothing that is not put under him not subject to him yet at present we do not see everything put under him so an emphasis on the idea of everything put under his feet now the tense of this psalm 8 verse 5 reads as a past tense crowned him with glory and honor hebrews 2 verse 8 um i'm sorry i said the wrong thing psalm 8 verse 5 reads as a past tense put everything under his feet psalm 2 verse 8 reads as a past tense put everything under his feet but the verse goes on to say we don't yet see this there's nothing left not to be put under his feet yet at present we do not see everything subject to him this is something that hasn't yet come to be seen it hasn't yet come to pass and we're talking about the future this is very important part of the
[53:15] Hebrews argument what he wants to persuade us of that's why he said in chapter 2 verse 5 it is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking so the future is important and as he goes on this is going to become more and more a crucial point that he's making the writer to the Hebrews is going to say that Christians live by faith he won't quite say it in the same way as the apostle Paul does in Romans or Corinthians but that's his essential point the life of Christianity is faith in the promises the person the work of Jesus and faith is different to sight we believe because we don't yet see and faith the faith that the writer of the
[54:17] Hebrews wants to instill into his Christian readers wants to emphasize in his Christian readers and encourage in his Christian readers and insist on in his Christian readers is faith in God's distant future promises about Jesus chapter 11 verse 1 faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see that's how Christian faith operates and when the writer to the Hebrews in chapter 11 is going to talk about faith he's going to go through his list of the ancients in scripture and each time he's going to say something very much like this they all looked beyond what they could see beyond their own lifetimes multiple generations in the future perhaps the distant future and that was what their faith was all about these were all commended for their faith he says in 1139 yet none of them received what had been promised they didn't hold in their hands the promises that
[55:37] God had made to them and yet they lived by faith that's how they lived and this is our exercise of Christian faith too very important that we understand this our exercise of Christian faith yes for sure we trust the Lord for the job interview for sure we trust the Lord for the next doctor's appointment that we're dreading or whatever it is yes for sure we trust the Lord to provide in this life and to guide us in this life but that faith is just a subset of the fundamental faith that looks beyond this life so small letters yes for the job interview but capital letters yes for faith in life beyond the grave faith in the world to come and truly nothing less than this is Christian faith we're looking forward to the day when all things are put under his feet we don't yet see all things put under his feet but we see
[56:42] Jesus now crowned with glory and honour because he tasted death for each of his people so let's come back to this conclusion or let's come back to these objections what were the objections right at the beginning number one was he's just human now what sort of a saviour is that surely you want somebody like Superman or somebody with a few superpowers you know Spider-Man number two he's suffered surely this rules him out as any sort of credible saviour how can disgrace be appropriate for a saviour a number three objection nothing seems to have changed the world goes on what happens to these promises of new creation and so on and so on so let's just go through those objections looking at what we've been thinking about in these past few minutes he's just human what sort of a saviour is that well you know
[57:53] I think that's exactly the sort of saviour we need we don't want superman who doesn't understand what it's like to have a cold or a broken heart or to be tempted and tested to be hungry we want a saviour who is truly and fully human and that's exactly who he is one made like us in every way apart from sin that's who Jesus is isn't he a brilliant saviour isn't he exactly the saviour that you and I need oh the grace of God that's what it talks about isn't it the grace of God who bothered to go to the trouble of entering the story of our human race who came to earth for people like us that is grace isn't it that's amazing love amazing grace how can it be that you my God should die for me and this that he is human folks that's not a weakness that is the genius point of
[58:58] Christianity isn't it a saviour who truly is human number two he suffered how can such disgrace be appropriate for a saviour you know Jesus stood in the naughty corner Jesus put in the naughty step Jesus was spat on and mocked you know what sort of way is that Donald Trump wouldn't put up with that would he well look a human debt was incurred divine justice cannot merely condone human sin divine justice cannot just excuse transgressions and divine justice really fundamentally cannot let off sinners I know it's an attractive idea to say well couldn't God just forgive but if you see what's at stake in him just forgiving how would the universe know that he actually cared about right and wrong if he just forgave sin and why could she just forgive some sinners and not forgive all of them
[60:18] I mean the idea of God just forgiving sin just letting people off is the idea of a corrupt judge not a faithful judge who does right and this is exactly what we need a saviour who could pay our debt an angel could not pay the debt incurred by humanity God himself unincarnated could not well I say could not and presume could not pay that debt certainly God has not chosen to do it that way he came to drink the cup for us he came to taste death for us and what I mean that's the sort of saviour we want isn't it what other saviour could we have our saviour suffered disgrace but he did it because he loved us that's totally brilliant isn't it
[61:23] I think that's totally brilliant and number three this objection nothing seems to have changed what happened to the promises of new creation well in many ways this is the deepest and fairest comment if the world continues to go on unchanged then surely this impugns God's judgment and justice and shows that his promises are worthless but the current state of affairs is temporary it's pending sin goes on the world goes on it seems unchanged but there is this until sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet that's quoting psalm 110 isn't it now when the until comes then every enemy will fall beneath his feet and then of course the whole thing is changed we're no longer in a day of grace we have come to the final day the day of judgment the day when in the metaphor from the roulette wheel
[62:39] I've never seen a roulette wheel I've seen James Bond films where James Bond comes up to the gaming table and the croupier spins the wheel and says place your bets and then at a certain time he says no more bets that's it that's how things are fixed now and when all enemies fall beneath his feet that'll be the day when there's no more bets no more chances no more chance to change your mind that's it now is the day of salvation now is the time to put your money on Jesus now is the time to embrace the promises of salvation and the writers of the Hebrews is going to push this button really hard today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts today is the day to trust him he's a brilliant saviour trust him so let's come back to that point of application that was made at the beginning of chapter two we must pay more careful attention therefore to what we have heard so that we do not drift away how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation and folks if you haven't put your faith in the
[64:16] Lord Jesus now is the time to do it and if you were thinking that you're beginning to be a bit unimpressed by him if you are beginning to think the Christian life is probably not worth living if you are beginning to think oh there are so many objections Jesus Christ is the greatest most brilliant saviour and we cannot afford to harden our hearts we cannot afford to drift away from such a great salvation and such a great saviour so we've heard God's word and we continue to pray that we would be able to fix our eyes on Jesus and consider him and live for him I'm going to close with a prayer and after this we're going to sing about a song which talks about waiting for everything to be put under his feet rejoicing in hope we wait for our king so let us pray may the
[65:26] God of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep equip you with everything good for doing his will and may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen amen rejoicing!
[65:55] in hope we wait for our king that's what we're going to sing that's it from me bye bye for now and hope to see you soon bye now rejoicing in hope we wait for our king his coming is sure his conquest we sing his hour of returning draws daily more near with hearts hushed and burning we see him appear he comes with a shout and music's glad sound the ransomed of earth encircling him round the dead and the living shall meet in the air in deathless thanksgiving his glories declare redeemed by his blood renewed by his grace we long to adore our lord face to face our eyes shall behold him in light unsurpassed his love shall enfold us in worship at last!
[68:17] the our king shall arise his purpose complete and cast his last foe far under his feet!
[68:44] then all his creation released from sin's pain in perfect salvation shall share in his reign!
[69:01] and so we endure the wounds of the way rejoicing in hope of Christ's crowning day with angels in wonder his triumph we'll sing in praises like thunder hail Jesus our king died