The Perfect Savior and High Priest

[0:00] Hebrews chapter 2, page 1,707 in my Bible. Don't know which one this is in yours, but I want to open it up there.

[0:13] I would like to read Hebrews 2, verses 5 through 18, as we get started here.

[0:38] And as we get started, it needs to be said that there is only one real Savior. There is only one perfect Savior that has been given to mankind.

[0:55] And Acts 4.12 tells us that there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

[1:05] So the purpose and intention of this study this morning in Hebrews 2 is asking the question, how do we know that this is true about Jesus? And what qualifies him to receive such recognition as the one perfect Savior given to us by our Creator?

[1:26] So I'd like you to keep those thoughts in mind. Let's go ahead to Hebrews 2, verses 5 through 18. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.

[1:41] It has been testified somewhere, what is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him. You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.

[1:57] Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

[2:23] For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, and bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

[2:36] For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers.

[2:51] In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me.

[3:06] Verse 14, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

[3:26] For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

[3:45] For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Father, thank you for the reading of your word.

[3:56] Please clearly guide and direct us into its understanding and application. Amen. So as we look at this topic of the perfect Savior and the perfect high priest, we're asking what qualifies Jesus to be the perfect Savior sent by God?

[4:20] In verse 10, and there's four points I'm going to be giving you, they somewhat are alliteration, so hopefully you'll remember and catch it when I say it. Sorry I didn't have notes ready for you or up on the screen, so it's pleasant to the eyes to see it.

[4:35] I will enjoy seeing my notes right here. So in verse 10, what qualifies Jesus to receive the recognition as the perfect Savior? He suffered for salvation.

[4:49] He suffered for salvation. Hebrews 2, verse 10. It was fitting for whom and by whom all things exist, bringing many sons to glory.

[5:03] He should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. The very heart of God is laid bare when, as 2 Corinthians 5.19 says, he was in Christ.

[5:16] In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. It's the very heart of God is the reconciliation of the world to himself.

[5:28] It's consistent with his holiness, because the cross, Jesus dying and suffering on the cross, showed God's hatred for sin. And it's a display of his power as Christ accomplished in a few hours, what would take an eternity for an unrepentant sinner to accomplish, to pay the penalty for their sin.

[5:52] It's mind-boggling to think about that, that God requires it of man, who is unrepentant, and lives and dies in their sin, to have an eternity of separation from God, to pay the penalty for that sin.

[6:11] Christ accomplished it for all of mankind in a few hours on the cross. It's also consistent with God's love, in that he loved the world so much, he gave his only son for its redemption.

[6:27] And it's consistent with his grace, because Christ's sacrifice was substitutionary. He took my place. He took your place.

[6:41] Thus, in its entirety, or thus, it's entirely fitting, for him to do what he did. He's the Savior who blazed the trail of salvation, on which the many sons are brought to glory.

[6:56] F.F. Bruce, in his commentary on the epistle to the Hebrews, says this, Man, created by God for his glory, was prevented by sin from attaining that glory, until the Son of Man came, and opened up by his death a new way, by which humanity might reach the goal for which it was made.

[7:20] As his people's representative and forerunner, he has now entered into the presence of God to secure their entry there. Man cannot, in and of himself, attain to the glory of God because of his sin.

[7:36] But Jesus became a little while lower than the angels in order to bring many sons to glory and to become the founder of their salvation through suffering.

[7:50] Jesus being made perfect through suffering does not assume that he ever existed in an imperfect state. It means that through his suffering and death, he has been perfectly made to be mankind's representative for salvation.

[8:09] Jesus did not need to learn anything. He was already perfect as God. He took on human flesh and suffered for the salvation of mankind.

[8:20] And through that suffering and that death and ultimately his resurrection, he is the perfect Savior for us.

[8:33] Jesus has accomplished an amazing thing for us through his death, burial, and resurrection by pardoning sin and granting eternal life to those who believe.

[8:44] As an act of remembrance of these things, we have the ordinance of communion. which this body of believers observes the first Sunday of each month. So I'm going to ask those who are going to be serving communion to please come up and join me here at the front.

[9:16] So we talk about the life of Christ and took on flesh, human flesh. John 1.14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And he gave that body that he took on for our salvation.

[9:32] Philippians 2, verses 6-3, saying, Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ.

[9:49] Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ.

[10:02] We thank you for his life lived, his choice to live among his creation and to give his life a ransom. And we thank you for this element.

[10:13] We partake now in the bread element which is representative of his body, broken for us, to deliver us in the power of his name. Thank you.

[10:23] Thank you, Lord Jesus. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night for which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, that this is my body, which is for you.

[10:41] Do this. Not only was his body given, but maybe even as significantly or more so, his blood was poured out.

[10:55] Ephesians 1.7 says, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

[11:06] Father God, thank you for the blood of Christ, shed for me, shed for all of us, to provide forgiveness of our trespasses against you, and our fallen short of your glory.

[11:27] In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood, but do this as often as you drink it, and remember.

[11:43] For as often as you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death, but be conscious. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. His qualification of being the one perfect Savior would be enough to stop there, his suffering and death for us.

[12:06] But the reality is that there are more things to look at in Scripture. And specifically in this passage, we see in verses 11 through 13, that he sanctifies the saints.

[12:21] He sanctifies the saints. So we see he suffered for salvation. In verses 11 through 13, he sanctifies the saints. The death of Jesus provides the means of salvation and is also the provision for sanctification.

[12:40] Since we have this unique position in Christ, it's important to God that our lives reflect it. The word sanctify means to set apart as, or to declare holy, or to consecrate.

[12:59] Those who are saved are consecrated to God for his worship and service, and set apart for God as his holy people destined to enter into his glory.

[13:12] In John 17, verse 17, Jesus praying to the Father, his high priestly prayer for his disciples, he says, sanctify them in the truth.

[13:24] Your word is truth. The literal rendering of this verse is, make them holy in the truth.

[13:37] Sanctify them. Make them holy in the truth. As we are exposed to and taught in the truth of the word of God, we are being made holy. We are being set apart to be used by him for his glory.

[13:54] 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23 says, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, and soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

[14:12] Positionally, before God, the Christian is holy and blameless because of the blood of Jesus. We have his forgiveness. We have the forgiveness of sin, and when we are in Christ, it's like we stand before God as if we are Jesus himself.

[14:31] We are holy and blameless positionally. However, the practical reality of the Christian's life includes sin. Romans 7, verse 21.

[14:44] I'm going through this whole section in Romans 7. Talk about Paul's struggle. But just a little blip of it. He says, So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

[15:00] The Apostle Paul acknowledges the fact that even though he desires to know the Word of God and to be sanctified and to be used of God, he still struggles.

[15:12] There is still the propensity to sin and do evil. And while we deal with the reality of sin in our lives, the overriding purpose of our lives now is to become in practice what we are in the new perfection and position in Christ.

[15:32] We are to become like Jesus. And it's not something that we can accomplish through our own effort.

[15:44] Galatians chapter 5. We've been going through this in our family devotions. The fruit of the Spirit. And you list out what the fruit of the Spirit is. And they're all good things.

[15:55] Things of which there is no law against. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control. All these things.

[16:07] Fruit of the Spirit. Not the fruit of man. Not the fruit of Ken. I, in and of myself, cannot perfectly produce this fruit in my life.

[16:21] The Spirit of God must be working. And the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to work and transform my life to look more like Jesus.

[16:33] In Christ, then, we are forgiven of our sins and positionally made righteous in the sight of God. We are also being sanctified through the truth of the Word of God so that we will live a life that is honoring to Him.

[16:50] And this can only be done as the Spirit works in our lives because we are in Christ. Why should we seek to honor Him with our life, though? Why?

[17:00] What does it matter? Well, because, in verses 14 and 15, He supplants Satan. He supplants Satan.

[17:13] Told you it was alliterated. I don't usually use the word supplant in my vocabulary. Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, reminds them of their natural state apart from Christ.

[17:26] And it's also true of all of us. Ephesians 2, verses 1 and 2 say, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked following the course of this world.

[17:38] Listen, catch this. Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. The prince of the power of the air is the serpent of old, is Satan, the devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub.

[18:07] He is the one who has influence in this world. Apart from Christ and fully immersed in sin, we are all followers of the prince of this world, Satan.

[18:24] And Jesus addressed this with the Jewish leaders when he said in John 8, 44, You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

[18:37] He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies.

[18:52] But the first part of that verse, You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. Naturally, apart from Christ, Satan is our father.

[19:06] He is the one who influences us. He is the one that we are following and whose desires we seek to carry out. We refer to it as the sin nature.

[19:19] The sin nature is fully given to the influence of the prince and the power of the air. But notice that the author of Hebrews brings to the forefront the fact that Jesus partook of the same things as us, the flesh and blood of humanity so that he could experience death.

[19:42] Verse 14. We share in flesh and blood. He himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.

[19:56] Jesus took on flesh and blood so that he could experience death and not just experience death but to bring about the destruction of the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.

[20:08] 1 John 3.8 tells us that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. To say that Satan has the power of death is related more directly to his influence of bringing sin on the world than the actual power to deliver death to people.

[20:31] Remember in James 1.15? We studied James several months ago. James 1.15 says, Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

[20:48] Sin and death go hand in hand. In the Garden of Eden, Satan, in the form of the serpent, enticed Eve to sin by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

[20:59] It is in that temptation that he wields the power of death. He tempts, entices, then we give in in sin, and because of sin, death comes about.

[21:22] So considering what God requires of us, and I just want to remind you exactly what he requires of us, 1 Peter 1.14.15 say, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

[21:45] So when we come to Christ and we are born again, and we have a new nature, and we have the Spirit of God living in us, we are now not to return and be conformed to the passions of our former desires.

[22:01] No, no. That's the old self. To be put off and put away. And we are to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. And to be made into the image of Christ.

[22:15] We must be delivered from the power and influence of Satan before we can begin to live in holiness. If you are not delivered from that power, if you've not put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, you are not delivered from that power.

[22:29] You cannot begin to live your life in holiness. Galatians 1.4, Jesus gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age. Thanks to God that he has provided a deliverer from the power and influence of Satan.

[22:47] Jesus Christ has supplanted Satan as our king. So Jesus suffered for our salvation and sanctifies us through his word.

[22:59] He's the great savior and king to whom we owe our allegiance. While his earthly work is done and he's done all that was required of him, he still works on our behalf as our high priest.

[23:14] And in verses 16 through 18 of Hebrews 2, he serves sacrificially. He serves sacrificially. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

[23:34] Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

[23:46] for because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Christ did not come to redeem angels, but men.

[23:58] That's the point that these first two chapters of Hebrews gets at, that Jesus is superior to angelic beings. Hebrews 4.15 He has reconciled man to God and to prepare them for God's presence.

[24:14] And in order to do so perfectly, he had to endure the same kinds of sufferings that we endure. Thus, in his flesh, he suffered the same way we do. Hebrews 4.15, which we're going to get to in a few weeks.

[24:29] Well, probably another month and a half with Kenya in between there. Hebrews 4.15 acknowledges the fact that he identified with our weakness yet without sin.

[24:39] I'd like to read that verse for you. Hebrews 4, verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

[24:58] John MacArthur in his commentary on Hebrews, on this verse here in Hebrews 2, Jesus felt everything we will ever feel and more. For example, he felt temptation to a degree that we could not possibly experience.

[25:14] Most of us never know the full degree of resistible temptation simply because we usually succumb long before that degree is reached. But since Jesus never sinned, he took the full measure of every temptation that came to him, and he was victorious in every trial.

[25:33] That was an eye-opening thought that Dr. MacArthur had. I was thinking about that.

[25:44] Most of us never know the full degree of resistible temptation simply because we usually succumb long before that degree is reached. What an amazing fact that when we are feeling weak in our walk and desperately need God to intervene on our behalf, that we can call on the one who has endured without giving in.

[26:06] We can call on the one who has endured what we have endured, and then some, and has done so without sin. I love what the author here says in verse 17, that he is a merciful and faithful high priest.

[26:28] When we acknowledge our weakness before him, he does not scoff at us. We do not need to reach a level of strength or cleanliness in order for him to help.

[26:44] We come as we are, broken, weak, in desperate need of his intervention. Jesus is the perfect savior and high priest.

[26:58] He's chosen to take on human flesh and experience our weakness in order to pay the penalty for our sin and to provide eternal life. All we need to do is call on him for salvation.

[27:11] Romans 10.8 says, And we are told that now is the favorable time.

[27:21] Behold, now is the day of salvation. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

[27:39] And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus is the perfect savior.

[27:50] He is the perfect high priest. And he is the one to whom we must put our faith and trust in for deliverance, for forgiveness of sin and deliverance from the judgment to come.

[28:03] Because when our time is up here on earth, we don't have another opportunity. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time in your word.

[28:15] I thank you for this tremendous letter to the Hebrews. Oh, how deep it is, Lord. Inexhaustible is the truth of your word. I pray, Lord, for each one here to be encouraged and to be built up and lifted up and maybe even convicted of their need for salvation in Christ, who is our perfect savior and high priest.

[28:38] Lord, I pray for anyone here who needs to make that decision. They would not delay another moment, but choose instead to put their faith and trust in you alone to be saved from the penalty of their sin and the wrath which is to come.

[28:56] Thank you, Lord, again for this time, this challenge and this reminder of how great our savior really is. In Jesus' name, amen.

[29:08] Amen. We hope our savior..." Amen.

[29:22] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[29:32] Amen. Amen. Amen.