So Great A Salvation

 

 

"¹⁰ For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, ¹² saying,

“I will proclaim Your name to My brethren,
In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”

¹³ And again,

“I will put My trust in Him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.”

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. ¹⁶ For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." 

Hebrews 2:10-18

 

Good Morning My Beloved,

Welcome to worship this Lord's Day!

We are so very grateful for our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world, we are so thankful that you are all with us today. I would like to encourage you to visit our Prayer Wall, not only to pray for our brothers and sisters in their time of need, but to also add any prayers or concerns that you may have as well. God calls us to pray with and for one another, won't you join us in praying for our brothers and sisters?

Let us bow our heads in prayer.

Heavenly Father,

Father, thank You for Your Word, this wonderful truth. Thank You for Your Son, the perfect Savior. Who came to save His people from their sins, that we might be in a right relationship with You. Lord, I
pray that You would prepare every heart of everyone who is receiving this message, that they will turn to Him today and acknowledge Him as their Lord and Savior. Father, I pray that today would be that day.

In Jesus name

Amen

 

Today's Message: So Great A Salvation

There is no such thing as salvation apart from sanctification. It is an all one package. When we get saved, we are set apart unto God. This is the actual working out of that holiness, which takes a lifetime, which invariably includes the setbacks when we give in to sin. However, the point I want to make very clear, is that every true believer is to be actively involved in the process of growing in sanctification. We are to be intentional in pursuing holiness.

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty of spiritual death that we had incurred through sin. In Christ, we do not need to fear death any longer. That is what we will be learning about today. However, allow me to add, this is only true for those who are His children through the new birth, to those who believe on His name. You must receive Christ. 

This world tries to convince us that we are a creature of evolution, that over the course of billions of years, we have evolved from apes to our present state of existence. However, we are, after all, not much better than the other members of the animal kingdom. 

 

We learn in Genesis 1:27-30, that " God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;  and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that  moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so."

 

Satan would prefer to drive us as individuals to despair of life, throwing our shortcomings up as barriers to discourage our meeting Jesus. He would convince us of the futility in fighting temptation, and get us to surrender the fight. As we know from our own life experience, that we often succumb to temptations, and it is those temptations that result in sin, in us building quickly another divisive wall, between us, and God.

Open with me your Bibles, to the book of Hebrews chapter 2. In our continuing study in the book of Hebrews, we come to a portion of the Word, written by God to us; in this particular section, verse 9 and following, all the way to the end of the chapter, we find God’s own statement on the identity of the Savior Jesus Christ, which should cause us to thank God for sending us the Savior. No discussion of the birth of Christ the Savior is complete without understanding what it means that He is the Savior, what it means that He came to save His people from their sins. I believe that this portion of Scripture will help us tremendously through that understanding. I am going to put it in simple terms that I hope, you will remember.

 

I would encourage you to follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for a Word from our Lord. Hebrews 2:10-18.

"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, 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 whom God has given Me.” Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted."

Jesus is a perfect Savior. Jesus is a perfect Savior, because He is our substitute; He tasted death for everyone. That is the heart of the Christian gospel. This is the essence of the gospel message, and I believe, this should mean everything to us. It embodies the whole of our gospel message: the good news to the world, is that Jesus died for everyone. God, sent Jesus, Who died in your place; He paid the penalty for your sin in full; and so you can be reconciled to God, with your sins forgiven, and have the hope of eternal heaven. That is the good news.

 

The world says that there are all kinds of ways you can atone for our sin. You can be a good person, you can just be true to yourself, or you can even obey God enough to get him to love you. However, Scripture is very clear. Death is the penalty that every single person deserves for our sin, and if God is just at all, He cannot allow even one sin to go unpunished, because in order to do so would deny His holiness. Therefore, because God is just, because He is holy, death is the penalty for our sin. By putting our faith in Christ, as our perfect substitute, Who died in our place for our sins, we as a sinful people, can have our sins forgiven by a holy and just God. It is important that we understand, that word substitute is so very important to our Christian faith, because if our sins are truly going to be forgiven by a holy and righteous God, they cannot be glossed over or just ignored. God demands payment for sin.

 

But before we get into our text today, allow me to go back to verse 9, so  let’s look at verse 9, the fact of His humiliation. "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone."

 

In verse 9, it says, "Him who made for a little while lower than the angels," that is a right and proper translation. I say this because there are some translations that say, "He was made a little lower than the angels." However, the actual term in the Greek it says, "brachu," which means "short," or little,  that is to say "for a little while," lower than the angels.  We need to understand, that Christ's nature was not changed, He didn’t cease to become God. He was not lowered in terms of His essential nature. He is and always was, the eternal God, the second person of the holy Trinity. However, "for a little while made lower;" for a period of thirty-three years, Jesus was made lower than the angels. 

 

It is important to note, that He has been higher than the angels. In fact, He is the Creator of the angels. He is the Ruler of the angels. He is the One Who is worshiped by the angels, the One adored by the angels, the One served by the angels. But for a little while, He became lower than the angels. And when you go lower than the angels, you arrive at the point of humanity. So, for a little while, He became a man.

 

Allow me to quickly remind of Hebrews 1:1-4, which says "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they."

 

And, as verse 5 indicates, He had inherited a more excellent name than the angels, namely the Son of God. Verse 6 says, all the angels of God worship Him, and in verse 7, He is the creator of angels. He made His angels winds, He made them, His ministers, a flame of fire. Therefore, He is superior to angels; and yet for a little while He became lower than angels. He took the form of a man. That is the fact of His humiliation. However, that was not the end of it, it didn't stop there, the extent of His humiliation went all the way to death. He was not an angel, disguised as a man, as some religions teach, and that is proven by the fact that He did something angels are unable to do, and that is, He died. Angels are spirits, therefore, they live eternally, either in the presence of God as holy angels or as demons forever in the lake of fire. 

 

We can see that in Luke 20:36, in speaking of the glorified saints, which says "for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection." So when we think about Jesus as our substitute, we need to remember that He, as God, above the angels, became for a little while lower than the angels. And, that brings us to the very heart of His humiliation, the purpose of His humiliation, was "to taste death for everyone." Meaning that Christ, bore our sins in His own body on the cross; He became our substitute, so God punished Him instead of us. He bore the wrath of God, that we deserve; taking upon Himself, the curse, in our place. There is no other way, to reclaim the lost, to bring them to glory, to bring about the new birth, forgiveness, transformation, and new life, no other way for us know the grace of God, to know His saving power, except through the death of Jesus Christ. I believe that this a right and wonderful way to view Christ, as our perfect Savior.

Now, let's look at verse 10, of our text. "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." I'd like to draw your attention to the title given here, "the author of their salvation." Though this can be translated in a number of ways, the word in the Greek is "archēgon," meaning the founder. This would be a familiar word to anyone who knows Greek. It basically refers to somebody who begins something. 

 

In today's vernacular, we like to use the word "entrepreneur," to describe someone who initiates something, who brings something into existence, in which others come to enjoy, for new way of life. So, Jesus alone authored salvation. That's the point, that Jesus, is the one that brought us into the family, as the children of God. In other words, He threw open the door and invites us to come in. And, "it was fitting," meaning it suited God, in His desire to bring many sons to glory. SO, it is important, that we understand, salvation is not just the forgiveness of sin, it is a new family, authored by Christ, to lead us to God and to eternal glory

Then, in verse 11, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." I believe that this is truly astonishing. Not only is our sins forgiven, we are not only brought into God's family, but  we are "sanctified." Which means that we are made righteous, made holy or free from sin. It means to be separated, to be set apart, that's the word "sanctified." 

 

Jesus is the one Who sanctifies, and we are the ones sanctified. So, as a believer in Christ, when God looks at you, He sees the perfect life of Christ. That is Christ’s perfect righteousness, which has been applied to you! What a marvelous truth, I mean, that is just mind blowing to me. This is wonder of wonders! Positionally before God, we are righteous, we are holy. Now, I want you to understand, we are not holy in practice, because we still struggle with practice, to become what we are in position. Because, we are still under the influence of our sinful flesh. However, because of the perfect work of Jesus Christ, God has declared us holy. I don't know about you, but when I see myself, when I look at my life, all of my many faults and failures, it is just astonishing to me, that the God, of the universe, the righteous, holy and perfect God, would declare me holy. That because of God's gracious gift, you and I, literally share the very righteousness of God with Christ. I just have trouble wrapping my mind around that reality! Beloved, that is just a stunning truth! And what I find even more amazing, is that Christ, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." I'd like you to just pause for a moment and just think about that.

In verse 12, "saying, "I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise."
 

In case you are not familiar, this is right out of Psalm 22, and it is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God talking to the Father; and He is saying, "Father, I’m going to proclaim Your name to My brothers," indicating that the Messiah even as far back as the Old Testament, anticipated that there would be those who would be His brothers.It is because of His death on the cross, He can call us brothers. I'd like for you to understand something, I believe that this is very important, that before Christ died on the cross, He never called His followers brothers. I have never found anywhere in the New Testament, in all of my years of studying God's Word, He never called them brothers, He called them disciples, He called them friends, He called them sheep, but He never called them brothers. So, in Psalm 22, the psalmist, being inspired by God, saw that. Beloved, we aren’t worthy of such a precious gift, but that’s what God's grace does!

 

Then verse 13, he says something, that is taken right out of Isaiah. Allow me to quickly read that to you, Isaiah 8:16-18. "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion." He says "I will even look eagerly for Him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me." This is again, demonstrating that the Messiah would accept the children of God given to Him as brothers. We share in common that He trusted God. What a tremendous statement, we are one with Him as a brother in the congregation worshiping the Father. 

What is even more amazing to me, is that even that wouldn't be complete! In verse 14-15, he says "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." His perfection as our Savior, He is our Satan conqueroring Savior, He is our Satan conqueror. 

 

There are many today, who live in fear of death. There are even many Christians, who still live in fear of death. In fact, death is frequently referred to as the king of terrors. There is nothing as frightening as death to many people. We literally do everything we can to try avoid death, to try and mask death. Today, we live a long life. If you go back fifty years people didn’t live as long as they do today.  And, if you go back to say the seventeenth century, people were plagued with disease, which caused many children to pass away before reaching adulthood.  However, through modern medicine and science, we have sort of pushed death off into the future, therefore, we do not see the reality of death. And, as such, we do not really deal with it. And, because we have pushed it off, and we do not deal with the reality of death, it becomes more and more terrifying to us. In fact, I have read somewhere, that someone once said, "When you go to a funeral and look at somebody in a casket, you think you’re looking at a horizontal member of a cocktail party, as we try to make them look as if they were dressed up for some special occasion." 

 

And that is what verse 15 says, is that  Satan has held men in captivity, in slavery of the fear of death all their lives. So, people are terrified by death. That is the tool, the weapon that Satan uses, "the power of death." Because it seems so final, people are literally terrified of death. In other words, Satan's real power, his real dominion over the world is the power of death. Therefore, if Satan can just hold men in sin, if he can just continue to work the world’s system, if he keeps men captive, he can continue to control men. If he can continue to control men, they eventually die and are catapulted into hell, separated from God. 

 

So Christ, had to conquer death. It's important, that you understand that in the original creation, there was no death. If Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, they would not have died. So, Satan really brought man into the realm of death, and he has maintained the dominion over that, although it is subject to the power of God. You need to understand, that even though God has allowed Satan to maintain that dominion; God has broken the power of death! That is why Jesus had to become a man,He  had to face death and conquer death on Satan's own ground. Satan’s dominion over this life is in the form of death. From the beginning, Satan, is a killer, a murderer, he is the father and author of lies. By Jesus becoming a man, dying, entering into death, He destroyed death, and therefore, He destroyed the dominion of Satan.

 

So, what is important for you to understand, is that as a believer in Christ, death is not a final end, it is the entrance into heaven! As a believer in Christ, death is no longer something to be feared! There is nothing to be afraid of. That's why the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1:21,"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." This is a very important truth and you need to understand this. Because Jesus Christ, the perfect Savior conquered death, that though we will die physically in this life, it is simply the glorious grand exit that leads us into the presence of God and the wonders of eternal heaven.

 

Beloved, that is why we can proclaim the truth found in I Corinthians 15, which says " But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Because Christ lives, we also live! 

 

Christ is not only the perfect Savior, He is the perfect substitute, the sovereign, the sanctifier, and Satan conqueroring Savior. In verse 16, "For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham." In other words, the angels don’t need help. You never read that in the Bible, that is because angel were unaffected by the fall, they are holy, sinless beings. Therefore, they are not weakened by anything.  They live in eternal perfection. God helps all who believe, who show the same kind of faith in God that Abraham showed by which he was justified, God helps them. Allow me to remind, that we are positionally declared holy and righteous, not in practice, we are in the process of that. This is an ongoing process!

 

However, in order for God to help us, in order to do that, verse 17 says, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

In other words, all of the temptations that come to a child, He experienced as a child. All the temptations that come to a young person, He experienced. All the temptations that come to an adult, He experienced. And particularly the escalating temptations that came towards the end of His earthly ministry, at the point where everything was leading to the cross, and all hell was breaking loose against Him, as they were plotting to kill Him; as people were betraying Him, as men were turning on Him, as it went all the way through physical abuse, and finally to His crucifixion and execution; these things were tremendous burdens testing His faith to do what God wanted Him to do in the midst of all that suffering, to the degree that in the garden, Jesus says, "Let this cup pass from Me." In in other words, if there is any other way, Father, please allow that happen. "Nevertheless, not My will, But thine be done." He was feeling the same tremendous burden of suffering, that we experience, however, in a much greater capacity. That was all by God’s design. That is the point of all the hatred, all of suffering, and the pain. That was the purpose for all the sorrow. The fact that Christ never gave into sin, does not mean that He could not feel the temptation of it. 

 

Early on in His ministry, things actually went smoothly. And then, as it got closer to the end, it became more hostile, more aggressive, until finally it literally exploded, as you know. In the confrontations in the temple, it came to a head. And then it was the scourging and the mockery, and then finally was the execution. And the Father put Him through all of that, a life of temptation, but particularly an explosion of intensity at the end, in order that He might suffer things that people suffer: rejection, hatred, animosity, bitterness.

 

That is the point of verse 18, "For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." At the end of verse 18, "so that He can be able to come to the aid of those who are tempted," so that He will understand us, so that He can sympathize with us. He didn't arrive as the King of kings, but as a man. He was hungry, thirsty, weary, sad, angry, grieved, brokenhearted, troubled, He was overcome by present events, He was overcome by the anticipation of future events. Because He understands us, He knows what we need. This is our loving Savior! This is the greatest news the world will ever know!

 

In Closing..

 

Our ideas about God, man, sin, and salvation greatly affect the way we think, feel, act, and relate to one another. I believe that sound doctrine produces healthy minds, hearts, and relationships. False doctrine results in wounded minds, hearts, and damaged, unhealthy relationships. This is why I am faithfully committed to teaching sound doctrine.

 

Now that you have seen Jesus in the light of God’s Word, I believe that the Holy Spirit is speaking to some soul today about your need for the Lord Jesus. He is knocking on the door of your heart right now. If you have not already done so, would you like to receive Him as your own personal Lord and Savior?

I pray that you will not allow this opportunity pass..

 

May it be so..

 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

 

 

 

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