WEBVTT

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 Hebrews chapter 2, this letter in, I guess, in sermon form written to

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 Jewish Christians who are suffering in different ways for their faith. Page 1202,

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 some tempted to go back to the Judaism that they'd grown up in. And our author wants to show them

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 the supremacy of Jesus so that they would continue in their Christian faith.

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 And so we'll read Hebrews chapter 2 from verse 5 to the end of the chapter,

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 and we'll pay special attention to verses 14 and 15. Let's hear God's Word.

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 It is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking,

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 but there is a place where someone has testified. What is man that you are mindful of him,

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 the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him

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 with glory and honor and put everything under his feet. In putting everything under him,

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 God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him,

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 but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because

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 he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many

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 sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the

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 author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made

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 holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, I will declare your

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 name to my brothers. In the presence of the congregation, I will sing your praises. And again,

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 I will put my trust in him. And again, he says, here am I and the children God has given me.

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 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death,

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 he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their

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 lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's

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 descendants. For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might

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 become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement

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 for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help

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 those who are being tempted. Amen. This is God's Word. Hebrews chapter 2, and we'll look especially

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 at verses 14 and 15, thinking together about why did Jesus come? On Monday afternoon after school,

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 we went to Handel's Messiah for Children. There was like an interactive introduction to that great

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 work. And so you had a guy dressed up as Mr. Handel, and he would ask the audience some questions. And

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 he was kind of teaching them a little bit of basic music theory and appreciation. But also,

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 it was interesting. He was asking them at the start who this was about. Who was the Messiah? And it was

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 interesting to me, the kids instantly recognized Jesus was the Messiah. This piece was all about the

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 birth of Jesus. And it was one of those times where you wanted them to ask another question. You know,

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 why? Why did Jesus come? Why is this Messiah? Why was Handel celebrating? Why does the church

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 make so much of the coming of Jesus? Because Handel's Messiah showed us on Monday that there's

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 lots of people, even if they don't go to church, who know who Christmas is about. And they know,

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 you know, sort of the big idea of the what, that Jesus came to be born as a baby in a stable. They

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 know where it happened. Most people in Bethlehem, they know sort of roughly when it happened. But it's

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 this last question, this why, why this story that seems so crucial that can often get skipped over.

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 I think it's important for us to recognize the Christmas story does not need to be there.

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 There is no law saying that God must come and must save sinners. Rather, the impulse for the Christmas

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 story stands entirely in God's mercy and God's grace. It's God's love, not necessity, that brings

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 the Christmas story to us. And so, theologians through the centuries, I guess, have been asking

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 the question, why? Anselm, in the 11th century, wrote a famous work called Cur Deus Homo, roughly

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 translated, why the God-man. That's what I want us to think about this evening. Why did Jesus become

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 man? And that's where the author of the Hebrews is really helpful for us, because his scope,

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 as he considers that question, is really wide. I think one of the dangers for us is we can get

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 stuck with a Jesus who's frozen in time. You know, lots of people, their only exposure to the Christian

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 message is the Christmas story. And so, there's Jesus, the baby born in the manger. And often,

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 people leave him there, because that's a nice story, and people are happy with that. But the

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 author of Hebrews wants us to take a wide-angle view of the coming of Jesus. And so, at times,

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 we'll think about Jesus as our pre-existence, eternal Son of God with all glory. He'll move from

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 Bethlehem and his coming to Calvary. He'll take us all the way to the glory of heaven and eternal future.

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 The author of Hebrews is very careful to place the birth of Jesus, the God-man, within that wider story

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 of redemption, to remind us that Jesus came into his creation for a reason, to undo the fall,

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 to secure redemption and future glory for his people in his person and in his work. So, we're very briefly

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 going to look at how he addresses that in these two verses and some of the verses that we read around it.

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 So, first thing to notice, Jesus became the God-man to save us. Let's look again at verse 14,

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 where we read,

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 since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in his humanity, so that by his death he

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 might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil. Jesus comes on a rescue mission.

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 So, we've been singing a lot of carols recently. The church around the world sings a lot of carols

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 that take us into the mystery of the incarnation. One of my favorite Carol lines is from Charles

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 Wesley. He talks about God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man.

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 Our God of God, light of light, lo, he abhors not the virgin's womb. Very God, begotten, not created.

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 There's lots of high theology, rich theology, reminding us that the creator of the universe,

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 your maker and mine, is the one who is robed in rags and lying in a manger. And that's a glorious

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 truth. But the author of the Hebrews is always wanting us to ask why. Why this gift from God? Why

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 this journey of Jesus? And it's interesting to see how family language plays its part in this little

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 section of Hebrews. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity.

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 First couple of chapters of Hebrews has been all about the supremacy of Christ. He is the supreme

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 revelation of God. He's greater than the angels. He'll go on to say he's greater than Moses. But somewhere

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 around verse 10, the author switches from thinking about how Jesus is supreme to thinking about the

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 solidarity of Christ. The Christ who stands alongside us. The Christ who comes to be with us. And so you

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 see the language, verse 10, Jesus has come bringing many sons to glory. Jesus has come in verse 11 to

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 make sinners his family. So we discover Jesus is made like the children so that we by faith in him will

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 become like Jesus the son in terms of our being accepted by God. When we ask the question, why did Jesus

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 become man? We must understand that he became one of us to save his people. He shared our humanity that he

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 experienced death so as to save us. As God, Jesus could not die for sinners, but as man, he could. Only as

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 one of us could he rescue us. And that's the whole impulse behind Jesus becoming one of us. He's coming so

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 that he might save us. We saw that same idea in verse 9. We see Jesus who is made a little lower than

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 the angels now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God, he

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 might taste death for everyone. He takes death so that we might enjoy eternal life. So when we ask the

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 question, why did Jesus become man? Why is there such a thing as Christmas? Well, one answer ultimately is

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 is Good Friday. Jesus came so that he might die on the cross. Jesus became human with the aim of dying

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 for sinners. Or to use the language of Psalm 8 and going back to Genesis, why is there Christmas Day?

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 Jesus came to undo the fall that happened in the Garden of Eden. So in those verses in Hebrews 2 verses 5 to 9,

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 you've got this reflection on Psalm 8, which is reflecting on our glory and dignity as people

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 that we are made with glory and honor in the image of God, intended to rule for God and to represent God

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 in his world. But as we see from Genesis 3 onwards, Adam and Eve fail in that. We as people fail in that.

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 We rob God of his glory rather than reflect his glory. But where we fail,

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 Jesus succeeds. And that's one of the reasons Jesus came. Jesus has come low. Jesus has become one of us

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 to be that true and better Adam. And now he is in glory as the great king. And where he is, his children

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 will follow. Jesus takes this journey from glory to the manger, ultimately to die on the cross, to return to glory.

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 So that we might enjoy that as our future salvation. So the author of Hebrews is reminding us just how big

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 Jesus' salvation is. Sometimes we think about forgiveness from sin, and that's a huge reality.

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 But he's also restoring us to the family of God. We're also being remade in the image of God as we are being remade in the image of Christ.

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 And salvation also takes in future hope of eternal glory, where we'll get to rule and reign with Jesus.

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 And so the author of Hebrews wants us to recognize, yes, the cradle is a vital part of the gospel.

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 We can't have salvation unless God becomes man. But that good news is incomplete without his cross,

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 recognizing he comes to die for us. And it's incomplete without his crown, recognizing his victory

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 and his rule and his return in the fullness of time as our king. So Jesus became the God-man to save us.

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 And in so doing, he became the God-man so as to destroy the devil, the one who holds the power of death.

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 That's what he says in the second part of verse 14.

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 So we are reminded that the Christmas story finds its place in the heart of the spiritual battle that we find depicted in the Bible,

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 that great battle of good versus evil. And we see it even in the narratives of the Christmas story.

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 We see it in evil King Herod, who wants to wipe out Jesus as God's king. He doesn't like a rival to the throne.

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 But what we see in the Bible and what we see throughout history is that the battle that rages,

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 the spiritual battle in the heavenly realms breaks out on the earth, that as God's people, as a church,

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 we find ourselves in spiritual battle. We find ourselves in the war zone. And so it's good for us

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 to remember that Jesus came to destroy the devil, the one who holds the power of death.

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 The devil is our great enemy. The devil who was one of the created angels, but who wanted to become God,

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 who wanted to overthrow God, and he was cast down from heaven. And since then, he still fights against God,

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 still fights against the will and the purpose of God, still seeks to lead people into rebellion,

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 either to keep people in spiritual darkness or even to steal Christians' joy.

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 He wants us to aim, like Adam and Eve, for God-like status in our own lives,

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 to imagine that freedom comes in pushing God's word to one side and setting our own agenda.

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 It's the story of Eden. It's the story in every human heart.

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 The devil, that accuser, that father of lies, the serpent, he deceives us.

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 In his bite is the poison of sin which spreads.

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 This sin, this poison, it is a sickness leading to death.

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 And so we need a rescuer from this great enemy, the devil.

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 What's Satan's great weapon against us?

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 Well, the Bible makes clear that our sin is his great weapon.

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 The devil who tempts us towards sin and to continue in our sin.

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 The one who holds us in slavery to our sins so that we cannot break free.

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 Where we find that we cannot meet our own personal standards, never mind meeting God's perfect standards.

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 And so because of that slavery, we find ourselves deserving death and judgment.

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 And Satan then comes to as our accuser to throw our sin in our faces.

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 He holds the power of death over people, giving us fear of having a guilty conscience,

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 the fear of the judgment of God.

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 Why does Jesus become man?

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 He becomes man to destroy the devil and to destroy that work and to remove that power of death from him.

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 And how does he do it?

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 Verse 17 helpfully tells us.

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 For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God

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 and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

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 Jesus becomes one of us to atone for our sin.

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 Jesus presents himself as the sacrifice to cover our sin.

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 Jesus is that sacrifice that satisfies the justice of God.

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 He stands as our substitute, as our representative, bearing our sin, bearing the punishment sin deserves,

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 absorbing the wrath of God for us so that that power of death is taken from us.

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 That stranglehold of sin is broken.

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 The power of death is gone because Jesus has come to wipe sin away.

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 And because of that, Satan then has nothing left to accuse the people of God of.

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 So that when we find the devil coming to us and saying things like,

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 well, how can you be a Christian when you did that, when you responded in that way,

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 when you had that thought, we can, with our hymn writer and our opening hymn,

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 we can say, when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, because we do sin,

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 upwards I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin.

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 And we remind ourselves of the gospel, of union with Christ,

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 of the fact that Jesus has come to wage war on the devil and to win a decisive victory.

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 So there's no basis for accusation.

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 Our condemnation is removed.

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 So when we feel like we've let God down,

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 when we feel like we've let ourselves down, our others down,

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 and we feel horrible, and we feel like we've blown it,

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 and Satan would come and say, well, that's it.

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 Well, God's going to be done with you.

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 He won't want someone like you.

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 Again, we can sing, no condemnation now I dread.

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 Jesus and all in him is mine.

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 It's in Jesus becoming one of us and dying in our place and for our sins that we have this hope.

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 We have this defense against the devil.

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 Jesus, the God-man, is the breastplate of righteousness

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 that's provided for us in the spiritual battle.

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 Jesus provides that helmet of salvation to guard our heart,

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 to guard our mind from the power of the devil.

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 So Jesus became the God-man to destroy the devil,

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 to win that decisive victory over our great enemy.

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 And connected to that, we see in verse 15,

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 Jesus became the God-man to free us from our fear of death.

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 Jesus shared in their humanity so that by his death,

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 he might destroy him who holds the power of death

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 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

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 So here the author of Hebrews, he's speaking right to the heart of so much of our fear as people,

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 our fear of separation and losing those that we love.

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 Perhaps connected to our fear of an incomplete ending,

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 of not managing to accomplish those things that we wanted to.

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 For some, the fear of facing the judgment of God.

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 The author here wants us to see that in Jesus' coming,

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 there is hope not just for now, there is hope beyond death.

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 Death, our great enemy, that thing that we hate,

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 it does not, it should not be there.

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 It's only there because of sin.

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 But in Jesus, there is hope beyond death.

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 And so Jesus became one of us to set us free from the fear of death.

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 And how can this be?

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 Well, again, we're reminded in verse 9 that Jesus has tasted death for everyone.

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 Jesus came to take the sting of death for his people.

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 Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, says the same kind of thing.

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 And in its place to give us the hope of perfect life

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 and the prospect of perfect love and complete joy beyond death.

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 Jesus has come to be the answer to that promise made back in the garden to Adam and Eve,

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 the promise of a serpent crusher.

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 And Jesus, in his death, has defanged the devil.

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 He has robbed death of its sting.

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 So that for those who are in Christ,

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 yes, there is fear of dying, but there is not fear of death.

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 Remember Simeon this morning from Luke 2,

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 he was ready to be dismissed in peace,

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 having discovered in Jesus God's salvation.

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 When we know Jesus, we have a security for this life and beyond.

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 So we are ready to face death.

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 When we are united to Christ,

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 when we are united to his life,

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 then resurrection life is our future reality.

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 It's our certainty.

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 The joy of unbroken relationships,

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 the prospect of unending joy is ours.

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 That hope that everything sad will come untrue,

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 that will be real when Jesus returns.

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 C.S. Lewis, I think, captured this so well

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 in the last of the Narnia stories,

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 the last battle.

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 As his story concludes,

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 he said, the author said,

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 for them, this is speaking of the children,

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 the subject of the stories who died in a train accident,

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 for them, it was only the beginning of the real story.

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 All their life in this world

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 and all their adventures in Narnia

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 had only been the cover and the title page.

00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:59.379
 Now at last, they were beginning chapter one

00:22:59.379 --> 00:23:02.619
 of the great story which no one on earth has read,

00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:04.460
 which goes on forever,

00:23:05.220 --> 00:23:09.500
 in which every chapter is better than the one before.

00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:13.839
 And Jesus has entered into our world.

00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:15.839
 He has become one of us

00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.759
 to give us hope of that great story for ourselves,

00:23:19.859 --> 00:23:22.019
 that unending story

00:23:22.019 --> 00:23:25.119
 where every chapter is better than the one before

00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:28.759
 so that we don't need to live gripped by a fear of death

00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:32.399
 or gripped by guilt and condemnation.

00:23:32.519 --> 00:23:34.439
 Instead, we can live with security

00:23:34.439 --> 00:23:36.379
 and we can live with joy

00:23:36.379 --> 00:23:39.619
 when our life is united to Jesus.

00:23:39.619 --> 00:23:44.279
 So the author of Hebrews would say to us,

00:23:44.339 --> 00:23:46.339
 keep asking, why Christmas?

00:23:46.899 --> 00:23:49.779
 Why is Jesus the God-man?

00:23:50.719 --> 00:23:52.599
 Well, he's here to save us,

00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.299
 to destroy our enemies,

00:23:56.239 --> 00:23:58.319
 to set us free

00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:01.179
 so that we might have comfort and joy

00:24:01.179 --> 00:24:04.399
 this season and every season.

00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:05.940
 God bless you.

00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:09.180
 So the person's life is created

00:24:11.040 --> 00:24:11.360
 for us to be there

00:24:11.360 --> 00:24:13.460
 will even know for us and for the opportunity

00:24:13.460 --> 00:24:14.280
 and the purpose of grace

00:24:14.280 --> 00:24:15.840
 that we need to live how we dwelt

00:24:15.840 --> 00:24:17.259
 over in the every season.

00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:18.660
 May the Bibleravel it

00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:19.540
 for you be happy

00:24:19.540 --> 00:24:20.220
 and by the beginning

00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:21.019
 will be able to travel

00:24:21.019 --> 00:24:22.420
 and to read about slide

00:24:22.560 --> 00:24:23.380
 to see the work of dawn.

00:24:23.380 --> 00:24:23.660
 We've had the way

00:24:23.660 --> 00:24:24.259
 to protect us

00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:25.080
 At this point,

00:24:25.080 --> 00:24:25.660
 right there

00:24:25.660 --> 00:24:26.780
 and I'llRPG

00:24:26.780 --> 00:24:28.200
 it only

00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:29.660
 might people

00:24:29.660 --> 00:24:30.800
 that letxic

00:24:31.580 --> 00:24:32.060
 go