Hebrews 2 |
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Intro
Hey y’all. Y’all good? Everyone alright?
Cool cool.
So question for you? Have any of you ever missed out on something nice because you just didn’t really pay attention? or look in to it? Someone mentioned something to you and you were like, yeah i’ll look in to it! and you never did?
Or you didn’t go on some trip your friends went on to and it turned out to be the greatest trip ever or something like that? Anyone know anyone who missed a field trip cause they didn't get the permission slip signed?
So i didn’t miss a field trip but I am reminded yearly of an opportunity i missed out on. Every year around may or something i am reminded, through of all things, facebook. in i think 2011 my buddy Ben had wrote on my facebook wall, which i’m not even sure is still a thing, but he wrote, “What the heck even is Bitcoin? haha”
anyone familiar with cryptocurrency? I know some of you are. if you aren’t familiar let me give you a bad explanation because i’m still not sure how it works. but basically its a form of currency that is digital, it it not tied to a bank or anything, that’s kind of the draw, it has no real value. it is all digital. Idk really how it works but what I do know is in 2011 it was worth about .50 cents per coin.
in 2011, I almost tried to buy some, i had about 100 bucks i could have spent on it, but i didn’t understand it, still don’t understand it, the 5 min google search i gave it just didn’t really help me out. anyways, i shrugged it off, didn’t think anything of it.
fast forward to last year around may, that coin that was worth about 50 cents was worth 72 thousand dollars. so if you had a 100 bucks, bought 200 coins, you would have had about 14 million dollars last may.
kinda fumbled the bag there. I mean sort of. but anyway i tell you that just so you can have in your mind this idea of neglecting something and it turns out to be true.
Thats going to be part of the idea we are looking at tonight in hebrews,
So if you have a bible, go ahead and flip over to hebrews 2, does anyone need a bible? I have ordered new ones, we were running low, so I have some more. anyone need one? throw a hand up if you need one. I want you to bring your bible. I want you to have the word in front of you. there is something about having it in your hands.
So last call for bible, anyone need one?
Context
okay cool, so Hebrews 2, we were in Hebrews on last week.
So while you’re getting over to it, let me give you some context.
Remember the main over arching thing i this letter is, Jesus is Greater.
We looked last week that Jesus is the Perfect Prophet, the Perfect Priest, the Perfect King.
That God is knowable, that God speaks to us through His word. That God is not hidden, but that He is there wanting to know us and us to know Him.
That Jesus is Greater.
So the idea we are looking at tonight is that Salvation given to us by God is greater than anything because of how salvation is given to us and from what salvations aves us from.
So with that in our minds lets read this first chunk then we will get to the second chunk in a second.
but before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word tonight.
pray
Okay cool, let’s read this first chunk together and look at it.
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Okay so what do we have here? First thing we see is a therefore, so what is the there there for? Think of it as a “because,” linking what we looked at last week to this week. because Christ is Greater, because God is knowable, because our God is active a working, Because God has made a way for us to know him, Because God has made a way for salvation. ‘Because of this’ “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
God is speaking to us through His word, pay attention, do not neglect.
This is a warning, the author is warning us to not take lightly the words we have heard.
Look at verse 3 “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,”
The Lord spoke through Christ, revealed Himself perfectly in the person and work of Christ and the people, the disciples, the followers of Jesus carried this message, the surrounding world has seen the power of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit is working.
Pentacost was with in living memory. You don’t have to flip to it but listen to what they would have remembered and experienced Acts 2:5-11
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
The Holy Spirit has come upon them. Some of them would have been there and could attest to what they saw.
This is saying do not neglect what you have heard. Don’t neglect the gospel.
Salvation is offered to us
What do we take form this? First thing we need to see is Salvation is offered to us. Salvation is offered to us. You and I and everyone you have ever met has been born with a sin nature. We are born in to a world corrupted by sin. Sin permeates this world.
In the garden when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree, they disobeyed God. They brought sin in to the world, sin seeped in and began corrupting everything.
Who has their own car in here? anyone scratched it pretty good? where it gets up under the paint? like through the clear coat, through the paint and in to the metal? anyone have that? That metal when it gets wet will rust, the metal will start to deteriorate. It may not look bad at first, but you have to get in there and clean the rust out and seal it to keep it from getting after your car.
Ever seen a car in the woods? That thing is rusted out.
Sin is like Rust, it slowly eats at this world. Adam and Eve sinned and now sin is in this world, death is now in this world.
God offers us salvation from sin, from the effects of sin, for the effects of our sin nature.
Verse 2 “For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,”
Sin will be punished, every sin will be made right. The wrath of God will be poured out on sin.
Salvation is offered to us, and what is this saving us from? Sin, Death, Eternal separation from God.
The King of the Universe, the one who will make all things right offers us salvation. And not just salvation but He offers us Himself, he offers us His righteousness, He gives us the offer to become a son and daughter of the King. Taking the enemy in and making them His son. That is the salvation offered to us.
The author is saying to not neglect what you have heard, do not take lightly what you have heard. If we take lightly the salvation offered to us, we will drift away.
Thats the second thing i want you to see here in this first chunk.
If we neglect salvation, if we neglect what we have heard, we will drift away. We will be like a ship with out an anchor.
anyone ever tried to stay in the same spot on a boat with put an anchor or tied to anything? Doesn’t work well right? You start to drift away. slowly, if you aren't paying attention you’ll be in the middle of the lake in without noticing.
That is what is being said here, if you neglect what you have heard, if you just shrug it off, you will be like a ship adrift on the ocean.
So think about this, we want to be a group of disciples who make disciples. Right?
That was night one, we want to be a group of disciples who make more disciples.
But think about this, every single one of us in here are being discipled by something. Everyone you meet is being discipled by something.
We want it to be God. we do, that is the aim, that we are becoming disciples of Christ, followers of Christ. But if it isn’t God, you are a follower of something, you are a disciple of something. Something is influencing you, something is teaching you how you should live, something is showing you what they think is best for human flourishing.
If it’s not God, than this culture is what is going to be discipling you. You’ll slowly be drifting away into a sea on madness.
Go through what influences you, what is speaking into your life, who is speaking in to your life? what is shaping your world view? Take inventory and see what and who are influencing you. Then ask your self, is this bringing you closer to the Lord or causing you to drift away?
Remember who saved you
Okay let’s keep going. Read with me 5-13 Heb. 2:5-13
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
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. 9 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.
10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,
“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
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 God has given me.”
Okay so last week we established, Jesus is greater than the angels. Remember Jesus is Greater.
This is describing the one who saved us. The first section is telling us to not neglect our salvation, this is telling us to remember who it is that saved us.
God came down and became flesh. God took on flesh. Everything has been handed over to Christ. Christ is ruling all things.
The king has died for the slave.
This is what verse 9 is saying. Heb. 2:9 “9 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.”
Just as sin entered the world through Adam, and we are all born under sin and death, through Christ dying in our place and taking on sin for us all, he “tasted death for us all” By the grace of God we are saceed by the sacrifice of God.
This is what the Kingdom of God is like, the King dies for the enemy. Y’all ever seen that in a movie? Let’s see if you can guess what happened next in this movie I watched one time. SO there is a roam legion, up in what is modern day England, but it like the 1st of 2nd century. Romans fighting what are essentially vikings, send a diplomat to talk terms. The Barbarians cut the guys head off and send his body back on his horse.
What do the romans do, does the Roman king go, “you know what take my head too, you guys can have all stuff too, in fact you can be romans.” do they do that? no, they kill every last one of them.
But in the Kingdom of God, this is how it worked, the King came and died for the enemy and made them His sons and daughters.
Remember the one we serve. Remember the one who saved you.
Christ is the one who is the founder of our salvation, Remember Christ, Remember the one who saved you. Christ is in control.
The author is saying rest in this, rest in christ who saved you. Look at verse 8 & 9 Heb 2:8-9
Hebrews 2:8–9 (ESV)
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. 9 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.
We know Christ is in control, we may not be seeing everything He is doing, but we see Him. Remember, Salvation is not just from hell, but salvation is also Him. But we see Him. We see Christ who was crucified and raised again. This is who the author is saying remember. Remember who saved you.
We can become like Him because He became like us
so let’s keep going, read this last chunk with me Heb. 2:14-18
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, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 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. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Alright we see another therefore, so because Christ is in control, because we have His righteousness, because the kingdom of God is an upside down kingdom. Therefore, because Christ came and took on flesh, and died and was raised, He is able to deliver salvation and destroy death and the devil.
Christ knows what it is like to be like us.
verse 17-18 are saying this. SO what dos that mean for us?
It means one, in order for Christ to be able to be the sacrifice for us all, he had to be made like us. He had to know what it was like to stare temptation in the face. He had to know what it was like to suffer like we do, He had to know what it was like laugh, to have friends, to deal with us.
He had to live among the people to make sacrifice for them. He lived among broken and imperfect people and this made him merciful.
Think about that for a second. We have all lived among people, we all have access to social media, we have seen the worst in people. Who has sat in Atlanta or Macon or McDonough traffic or really just any traffic? are you the poster child for holiness after that experience? do you feel like you have been sanctified or you need to be sanctified?
for me, it’s people who stop at roundabouts, LL can attest to this, “i’ll just start saying, it’s a round about, you don’t have to stop” drives me crazy.
Jesus lived among people who flat out didn't understand who or what he was, he hung around Peter, who would probably infuriate any of us, he literally watched people being dumb, being selfish, people taking advantage of other people.
and what does the text say this did for Him. It made him a merciful and faithful high priest. I don’t think merciful and faithful describes most of us when we get out of traffic.
He lived among us, this brought out His mercy and His faithfulness. He looked at us and said, you need me and i’m going to save you. I’m going to make a way by taking your place.
In His mercy he died for us, in His faithfulness he will not leave us.
He became like us, so that one day we can become like Him. One day, because of His faith and Mercy we will see him face to face. We will be in Glory with Him.
P2Christ
SO what does this mean? What do we take from this?
I think we need to ask, what does it mean to have salvation through Christ?
What does it mean to be saved?
See , I think we sometimes get disconnected of what it means to be saved, but we don’t know what it means to live like we are saved.
I think this is a real problem we have, because for so long the thing was pray this prayer, now be a good person. That was it, that was how you “got saved.” So think about it, those of you who say you are a christian how did you come to know Christ as Lord? If you prayed a prayer one time cause someone told you too and didn't know what that meant, odds are good you don’t know Christ as Lord. Not saying it didn’t happen but for long time the emphasis was to get people to pray the prayer, boom you are in. But if after you prayed the prayer and know you are living like nothing has changed, you need to consider the fact that you might not know Christ for real. You might know about Him but you don’t know Him.
So what do we do?
If you know Christ and you are a follower of Christ, don’t neglect the salvation that you have. Remember who it is that saved you, ask Him to make you more like Him. Ask him to show you what breaks his heart. The first thing on that list is people, — remember being around us made him have mercy and faithfulness. ask the lord to give you mercy, ask the lord to give you faithfulness. Remind people of who it is that brought about your salvation.
if you aren’t a follower of Christ or you don’t know what you believe, you have heard about salvation, it is also offered to you. do not neglect salvation or you will drift away in to destruction.
This text is calling you to know that Christ has had mercy on you and took your place on the cross, the Christ is faithful to save, he wants you to know Him and throw yourself on his mercy, no matter what you have going on, no matter how bad you think you have messed up, no matter what sin you have, or how and you think you are, you aren’t too far gone to be embraced by the mercy and faithfulness of God.
If anyone ha any questions about anything, come talk to me, talk to one of the adults, talk to the friend who you came with. talk to someone. Come see Christ as Lord, come see Christ as King.