Mark Dever - Why God Became Man - Hebrews 2:9-18

it's always good for me to be able to get out of Washington more some days than others and out of my normal routines and I do hear the most interesting things I remember being at a bookstore years ago in Tallahassee Florida and there was a woman talking to about five other people you know how they have this kind of community book discussions in bookstores sometimes and I remember I was standing in the next aisle so I wasn't right there but I listened and I heard her say welcome I am a counselor an astrologist and a Methodist minister I think that kind of choice in religion the choice whereby we dictate our own terms was largely unheard of in previous generations but Danny I'm sure you remember Robert Bella's book habits of the heart like 20 or 30 years ago now he talked about Sheila is it based on this character there was a kind of an amalgamation of people he'd interviewed he noticed how people just pick and choose things they want to believe from different religions these days and he called that Sheila ISM she was expecting what she was pleasing and she determined that that was what she wanted and would just think was true I think so many people approach religion that way these days versace the clothes designer who was killed some years ago now said in the last interview he gave before he was killed I believe in God but I'm not the kind of religious person who goes to church who believes in the fairytale of Jesus born in the stable with a donkey that no I'm not stupid I can't believe that God with all the power that he has had to have himself born in a stable it wouldn't have been comfortable now most of us in our own denials today wouldn't be so bold as Versace was but I think we have to admit that when we come to what we expect of religion we do have different expectations than what Christianity presents us with honestly most of us enjoy naturally a religion that is clear and powerful that is respected and influential I think as Americans pratik we like our religion practical I mean it should be a proven agent of stress reduction you know or at least a Values Clarification we like the visible the unoffensive the powerful the celebrated we like popes addressing joint sessions of Congress that is a religion we like it is clear aboveboard and publicly respected like maybe Versace we are less comfortable with the invisible the offensive the apparently obviously weak and the despised now if you know your own heart well enough to know that's true then you're in a good position to go back with me 2,000 years to a time and place where angels represented popular religion but this new Christian gospel that had come along had come along with a surprising appearance and it was that surprise that caused Christians for centuries to write books specifically about that like Athens is on the incarnation of the word or Anselm's why God became man well friends this morning we want to look at what the Bible says about that question why God became man so if you would take your Bibles let's go to the New Testament let's go to the general epistles let's go to Hebrews let's go to Hebrews chapter 2 we'll concentrate on verses 10 to 18 but let me begin with with verse 5 to give the context Hebrews chapter 2 beginning in verse 5 it is not two angels that he has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking but there is a place where someone has testified what is man that you are mindful of him the son of man that you care for him you made him a little lower than the Angels you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet in putting everything under him God left nothing that is not subject to him yet at present we do not see everything subject to him but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the Angels now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone in bringing many sons to glory it was fitting that God for whom and through whom everything exists should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering but the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers he says I will declare your name to my brothers in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises and again I will put my trust in him and again he says here am I and the children God has given me since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death for surely it's not angels he helps but Abraham's descendants 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 and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people because he himself suffered when he was tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted so friends the question the writer of the Hebrews anticipates and answers is this if Jesus is so much more exalted than the Angels which is what he said in 1 1 2 to 5 that's been his argument so far with the people if Jesus is so much more exalted than the Angels then why doesn't Jesus look more exalted why has he appeared lower than the Angels and that's what we want to try to answer in our time together this morning why did God appear in such an unlikely manner in Jesus he says in verses 5 to 9 that it was foretold that it would be this way in the Psalms from Psalm 8 he says it's clear that there would be one who would be made lower than the Angels but who would then also be crowned and have everything subjected to him and he says this has been fulfilled in Jesus we do see Jesus made lower than the Angels but he says there in verse 9 we do not see everything subjected to him yet but he says there to be in verse 9 and notice that important adversative duh you know some of you may have translations here some of you may have your Greek New Testaments here but that the important adversative duck we do see jesus now crowned verse 9 so crowned with glory and honor so yes he was crucified but he has also been resurrected and ascended to heaven and he's presented his sacrifice to his father and now he's at the right hand of the Father Almighty and it is to him that the father has promised to subject all things so the first people that this letter was written to beginning to doubt Jesus to be tempted to worship more obviously glorious creatures the critics were right when they pointed to Jesus state being lower than the Angels I mean even to the point of death which the writer talks about more in just a moment but that was only for a while and they didn't remember that their own scriptures contained these pointers that one such person would be exalted above all so Jesus is now crowned and he will one day apparently obviously beyond doubt rule all again the question why did Jesus appear or why rather did God appear in such a surprising manner as Jesus why would such surprising things happen that the one who would rule all would for a time appear less exalted than angels for a time why is it fitting as the author says here appropriate seemly why is it fitting for Jesus to be so a based and I want to give three answers in turn that the writer here gives us to this question I'll tell them to you right now so you could write them down if you're taking notes it's fitting for Jesus to become like us number one if we are to be his family number two if we are to be like him and number three if he is to make atonement for our sins first it's fitting for Jesus to become like us if we're to be his family you see that really throughout this passage it was hinted at in the verses the writer cited in Psalm 8 but Jesus humiliation is examined and explained more fully here in the rest of chapter 2 where we find that Jesus's incarnation was part of his identification with his people leading to his people's incorporation into his family so incarnation identification incorporation the writer here refers to these people by many names we see there in verse 10 the reference to God's many sons brought to glory verse 10 and bringing many sons to glory it was fitting that God for whom in through him everything exists should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering so one purpose of this God is pointed out there in that first phrase in verse 10 God desired to bring many sons to glory it is his will that men of those who have been alienated from him by their sins should be restored in their relationship to him and I love the fact he says here not just a few but he says many how would this be done well that's what God was doing in Jesus the people objecting to the debased appearance of Jesus had hit on something the critics were partly right as they often are only what they took to be unusually awkward Jesus's lowliness was in fact becoming or as we used to say seemly that I think the ESV and NIV have here fitting it was fitting that God should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering now Ken Prince this is where if we're gonna feel the steps not just read it not just be able to pass a test on but feel it we have to identify and admit that we are more like the critics that are being addressed here than we might like to admit we like things to look differently than they did in the Ministry of Jesus we would do things differently if we were in charge our tendency would likely be more like Versace's you know to lose the stable palace all the day stay in the Apostolic Nuncio when you're in Washington you know throughout life hold successful oversubscribed seminars and then have cheering crowds on the National Mall to welcome you with the media fawning over the fact that you lowered yourself to ride in a late-model Fiat and be driven around then if I'm really humbled today for lunch I'll just call up my driver to bring a late-model Fiat and just drive me off to the restaurant certainly no death on a cross but that's not how God did it he also calls him here Jesus brothers it Psalm 22 the psalm that Jesus references here are that the the Jesus references rather when he's on the cross and he begins to quote it saying my God my God why have you forsaken me well later on in that same Psalm the one speaking refers to calling some my brothers in the presence of the heavenly assembly before God himself you see then what that is the writer to the Hebrews sees in Psalm 22 a prophecy of Jesus owning believers as his own family before his Heavenly Father look at look at the end look at the end of verse 11 this is a portion of the writer to the Hebrews quotes here so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers he says quoting Psalm 22 I will declare your name to my brothers in the presence of the church the ecclesia the congregation I will sing your praises I will hem you verses 13 and 14 the author then quotes from Isaiah 8 show you another way that Jesus would speak of some people as his family this time is Jesus children you see that in verses 13 and 14 so look down at verses 13 and 14 and again I will put my trust in him and again he says here am I and the children God has given me so the Messiah is understood as calling some who are standing with him in the presence of God the children God has given me my children the Messiah here refers to the children God has given me so the writer says in verse 14 of Jesus since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so Jesus had flesh and blood Jesus shared in their humanity so we could become his own flesh and blood his children his brothers and sisters his family with all these images of children and siblings we see that Jesus has made us his family by taking on our flesh friends this is the great truth of Christ's incarnation the writer of the Hebrews isn't suggesting that because Jesus was exalted above the angels he wasn't really human or that he simply looked like a human but he really wasn't no Jesus became as fully human as anybody's sitting here in this room right now but he had flesh look at their verse 14 flesh and blood in fact so central is as to our understanding of Christianity that we followed the command of Christ to remember this regularly when we meet together and we share the lord's table that's a reminder to us that he came with flesh and blood there we gather as those who share in the fruit borne by Christ's decision to have his very real flesh broken and his very real blood spilt for us he has come taking on our flesh to make us his own family if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian I hope you can hear some good news in this that the God who really exists who made you and will judge you because he is good and because he is good and you are not completely good that is trouble for you this very God has taken initiative in love he sent his own son to become a man to live a life of perfect trust and then to give his own flesh and blood so that people like you and me could repent of our sins turn from them and trust in him and be saved that's a wonderful hope that's held out if you have any question about what I mean by that how your life could change this morning you are in the best room you could possibly be in and Wake Forest friends just turned to whoever you're with when this service is over I'm sure they would rather talk to you than go to their class just ask about what this great hope is and if there's something you didn't understand just ask them to explain it to you because what I'm giving you this morning is the very kernel of Christianity this is the great story that God has loved us like this he's made us his own family in Christ but if we are his family we have to be like him and this is the second answer that our author wants us to notice what we find is that it was fitting for Jesus to become like us to take on our nature because we are to be like him so since he is holy we are to be holy in the Book of Leviticus God spoke to Moses and he said speak to the entire Assembly of Israel and say to them be holy because I the Lord your God am holy well here in chapter 2 in verse 11 we see it says that both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and that phrase the NIV has of the same family is literally all out of one anybody have the htsb or the ESV James how does it all have one source that's good who has the htsb anybody well anyway all of one source is good I think given the context the NIV does a really good job here saying of the same family one same source family all the same family that's that's the writer's point here the point is that Jesus is not ashamed to call brothers those who are of the same family and how can you tell they're the same family because they share holiness that is always the fundamental quality that God's children have shared with God so those who as it says here in verse 11 are made wholly share with the one who makes them holy what holiness that's what they share now perhaps some of these detractors of Jesus or as incarnation we're feeling that this was all too much kind of religious science fiction you know God becoming man the writer here mentions the kind of evidence that he'll return to later in the letter Jesus is making those who are especially his own to be like himself and what that means is he is making us holy I don't know what you're doing today if you're a Christian but I can tell you what Jesus is doing his spirit is at work today right now making you holy you've been accounted holy by faith you've been justified and declared right and that since God has been reconciled to you and you to God but he is in time and space right now making you holy you know when I thought about talking about this this morning I just thought how on earth do I talk about holiness to this generation when I use the word holiness all you hear is legalism it's like it's holiness is bleeped out he makes you and your own brain in search of legalism he makes you try to hear it holy it's not austere and cold it's not a negative characteristic holiness is rightness holiness is goodness holiness is all the ways your parents ever overlooked your faults and flaws and kept caring for you friends that's holiness holiness is all that is good and right that has ever happened to you in this world that's holiness holiness is God knowing when somebody has been abused or an injustice has been taken and God addressing that either in time or eternity that's holiness it's the foundation of justice and of care and it is what God is like and this is what those who are truly his are being made into by him it's not that we're saved by our holiness we're not but none of us will be saved without holiness chapter 12 he says without holiness no one will see the Lord the Puritan Thomas Adams put it this way Christ never comes into the soul unattended he brings the Holy Spirit with him and the spirit his train of gifts and graces Christ comes with a blessing in each hand forgiveness in one holiness in the other friends humanity flesh and blood with holiness is the family resemblance it's the refurbished image of God there's another way that the writer mentions that if we are to be his we are to be like him so we're to be holy but we're also to be free he says there so if holiness summarized those ways that we are positively to be like him the author also mentions one way negatively that we are to be like him like Jesus and that is we're to be free free from the fear of death and it was to that end we read in verse 14 that Jesus shared and their humanity look with me again at verses 14 to 16 since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds a power death that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death for surely it is not angels he helps but Abraham's descendants so let's just stare at those verses for a moment to make sure we see what he means he begins in verse 14 since the children have flesh and blood we understand what that means right the children are those people that God has given Jesus according to Isaiah eight is the writer quotes here up in verse 13 and these people have flesh and blood look at that straightforward enough we understand that that's not a problem but here comes his main point because of this he says he where that's Jesus from up in verse 11 he too shared in their humanity even to the point of sharing in our death and why did he do this well we've already seen that positively Jesus works to make people wholly negatively though he did this we read here in verse 14 so that by his death he might accomplish two things that he mentions here in verses 14 and 15 the first one that he mentions is so that he might destroy him who holds the power of death who's that the devil he says right here the devil Christ wanted to take on flesh that he might die and somehow he doesn't say how here but somehow in Christ's death Christ would defeat the devil the everything which would be subjected to him would include even death I love the title of John Owens book the death of death in the death of Christ that's the idea this would result though in something else that Christ accomplished in his death and that was he says in verse 15 to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death so friend you realize it's children of Adam and Eve we have the desire and the ability to turn from God in sin we have the ability to do what's wrong if we call that an ability being a holy God God will punish that sin sin is allied with death so going away from the author of life brain death and death is fearful to us again if you're a pastor you know that I was sitting in the room of a dying man last week and death was fearful damned friend since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden when we first send fear of death has characterized us in such fear the writer here calls it a slavery holding us in bondage and now say he's right wouldn't you I would say he's writing accurately about people about humanity and that fear is what Jesus came to liberate us from by destroying the power of death itself verse 16 for surely it is not angels he helps but Abraham's descendants because we know nothing of angels dying but Abraham's descendants do die because Adam sinned because they sin because we sinned so Jesus came to share in our humanity positively in order to make us holy like him and negatively in order to destroy the fear of death in our lives but there's still a problem or at least a question there's still something that's not quite clear here how does Christ's death accomplish this to understand this consider that it's the same thing that stands in the way of Christ's goals and our lives that prevents us from being holy that keeps us in the fear of death our sins friends we can either be holy nor be free from the fear of death because of our sins so we come on to the main theme of this book of Hebrews that the writer just touches on here at the end of chapter two and that it is fitting again his word it is fitting for Jesus to be made like us so it's not it's not it's not wrong it's strange yes but wrong no it is in fact fitting for Jesus to be made like us and this is for the third the third reason he gives if he is to make atonement for our sins and that's really what he talks about in verses 17 and 18 twice in verse 17 that he had to be made like his brothers in every way the theme of understanding the suffering of Christ is an important part of Hebrews it's first mentioned here in chapter 2 in verse 9 but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the Angels now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death okay why did he suffer death look in verse 9 so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone Christ drank in death he experienced it too it's drags so brothers and sisters when we Christians face death we realized that much of its bitterness is gone because Christ has died and Christ has risen again that's not just something we say at Easter singing songs we really believe it we believe it like it's Thursday we believe it Christ has risen again to Jesus deaths terrors whereas yet undiluted all his faculties to sound to the depths that dreadfulness of dying and he did that for us Christ died with a purpose that's what you see in that little word for in verse 9 I love those floors that's where we get our benefits it's right there in those fours he died for the love of others but he doesn't say how that works in verse 9 for that you need to look down to the last two verses in our chapter look at verse 17 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 and service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people because he himself suffered when he was tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted John Calvin reflecting on that phrase and the Apostles Creed dead and buried said here again is to be seen how he in every respect took our place to pay the price of our Redemption death held us captive under its yoke Christ in our stead gave himself over to its power to deliver us from it so the Apostle understands it when he writes in Hebrews 2:9 he tasted death for everyone by dying he ensured that we would not die or which is the same thing redeemed us to life by his own death he different from us however in this respect he let himself be swallowed up by death as it were not to be engulfed in its abyss but rather to engulf it that soon must have engulfed us he let himself be subjected to it not to be overwhelmed by its power but rather to lay it low when it was threatening us and exalting over our fallen state finally his purpose was that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage this is the first fruit that his death brought to us now friends if you do much reading in theology particularly written by non evangelicals you know that some suggest today that we've lost the real message of Jesus that we make too much of the idea of substitution in the death of Christ friends this this is in all kinds of people's writings I'll skip the names now talk to your theology profs but it's in the writings of people published by evangelical publishers they suggest that we make too much of the idea of substitution in the death of Christ saying that Christ's death really should be seen more like an example of selfless love of heroic making the ultimate sacrifice like a soldier in war our captain with his sinking ship but friends I don't think that is sufficient for an understanding of the death of Christ when it says here that he tasted death for the writer has in mind something gloriously more that Jews Jesus's example here's what one early Christian in the second century wrote about the death of Christ when our iniquity had come to its full height and it was clear beyond all mistaking that retribution in the form of punishment and death must be looked for the hour arrived in which God had determined to make known from them onwards his loving-kindness and his power how surpassing is the love and tenderness of God in that hour instead of hating us and rejecting us and remembering our wickedness is against us he showed how long-suffering he is he bore with us and in pity he took our sins upon himself and gave his own son as a ransom for us the holy for the wicked the sinless for sinners the just for the unjust the incorrupt for the corrupt the immortal for the mortal for was there indeed anything except his righteousness that could have availed to cover our sins in whom could we in our lawlessness and ungodliness have been made holy but in the Son of God alone oh sweet exchange o unsearchable working Oh benefits unhoped-for that the wickedness of multitudes should thus be hidden in the one holy and the holiness of one should sanctify the countless wicked amen friends finally the Son of God had to be made like his brothers so that he could make atonement for them Jesus himself had taught that he did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and at the Last Supper you may remember that as he offered his disciples the cup he said this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many where did this kind of teaching about substitution and Jesus death come from Jesus so here in these verses we see that Jesus by his death on the cross served as the priest offering and the sacrifice offered bearing the wrath of God not for his own sense he didn't have any he did not need to do this but for the sins of those whose nature he shared who would turn from their sins and trust in him friends by God's grace I've done that have you it is the wrath of God which sin must meet and which Christ must meet when he's numbered with the transgressors he paid for the sins of his people wiping them out with his blood so he met God's wrath for us only because he suffered like that and our stead is he now able to help us as only he can he propitiated he waged teacher people these words they are sweet words he propitiated heeis waged the right wrath of God and invites us into the mercy that he has bought for us by his sinless life and substitutionary death this is how he is able to help those who are being tempted so why did God appear in such an unlikely manner the sons humiliation his lowering of himself being made a little lower than the Angels for told in Scripture and was fitting for the son to be made like us if we were to be his family if we were to be like him holy and free and if he were to make atonement for our sins praise God he's done that let's pray but God this is our hope cause us in our hearts to both understand and to treasure this hope grow our understanding of you so that you will increase our love for you and for all those made in your image cause this message to be often on our lips for your glory we ask in Jesus name

Channel: Southeastern Seminary

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Keywords: Southeastern, Baptist, Theological, Seminary, Chapel, Message, Jesus, Preaching, God, Book, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Gospel, False Teaching, False spirits, Spirit, Danny, expository, Great Commission, Truth, Grace, Love, Discerning, Training, Education

Id: TgQu8HOnAfI

Length: 36min 24sec (2184 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 25 2015