Pay Attention (Hebrews 2)

Intro: Good Morning FE, my name is Josh Aguilar, I am one of the elders here at FE and we are glad you are here with us this morning, if you are joining us online, we are glad you are with us this morning.

We started our new series in the book of Hebrews, Radiant Saviour, the title of the series comes from Heb 1:3 which says the Jesus is the “radiance of the glory of God” and if you were with us last week, Pastor Alfredo taught us how Jesus is the final revelation from God for us here today, God is still speaking but he is speaking to us through his Son, who is revealed to us through the Bible.

We also learned that Jesus, who is God, is superior to the angels. We will discover as we go through the book of Hebrews, the author will present a case that Jesus, as God’s final revelation is better, he is better than Moses, Joshua, the high priest, and the new covenant is better than the old covenant.

Some scholars say that this book of the Hebrews, sounds like a sermon, because many times in a sermon after the author makes a point he may give some application to what he just said. We find the writer of the Hebrews doing exactly that. Our passage today really is a part 2 of last week, because the author is not done, but he does take a pause to issue us a warning, and we will find the author of the Hebrews doing this throughout the book, please put up the slide, I encourage to take out your phones and snap a picture, this will help you as you read the book of Hebrews, this outline put together by Michael Kreuger, is helpful as we follow the flow of the argument of the writer of the Hebrews.

Here in chapter 2 we come to the first warning issued in this powerful book known as Hebrews.

Hebrews 2:1–4 (ESV)

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 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, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Por tanto, debemos prestar mucha mayor atención a lo que hemos oído[a], no sea que nos desviemos. 2 Porque si la palabra hablada por medio de ángeles resultó ser inmutable, y toda transgresión y desobediencia recibió una justa retribución, 3 ¿cómo escaparemos nosotros si descuidamos una salvación tan grande? La cual, después que fue anunciada primeramente por medio del Señor, nos fue confirmada por los que oyeron, 4 testificando Dios juntamente con ellos, tanto por señales como por prodigios, y por diversos milagros y por dones del Espíritu Santo según su propia voluntad.

PRAY!

The author of Hebrews says, therefore, linking to what he is about to say to what he has been saying. the author wants you to do something as a result of what he has been saying, mainly that Jesus as God’s final revelation is God and superior to the angels. Then he gives us a warning and this is the warning,

he warns us about the danger of drifting.

I am not sure if you have ever been fishing in a boat, if you haven’t, if you go on the lake or the river and don’t put down your anchor, you are going to drift wherever the water takes you. When you put down your anchor, you will stay planted wherever you put your anchor down.

If you remember from last week, a part of the audience the author of Hebrews is writing to are those who are struggling in their faith, they may be thinking, have I made a mistake to become a disciple of Jesus. We are being persecuted from Rome, persecuted from my friends who I used to go to synagogue with. What am I doing? They were in danger of drifting away from their faith back to the life they once lived.

Have you ever been there before, have you thought to yourself, am I making the right decision to follow Jesus? This is not what I expected when I made the decision to follow Jesus, life seems harder now than it once was, what am I doing?

God has a message for you today, PAY ATTENTION! Notice your Bible says “we must pay closer attention” because the english translators are trying to give the force that is behind the original language. The author isn’t coming and saying, “pay attention, we have to listen” (soft voice), no he saying PAY ATTENTION, Pay attention to what you have heard, the truths you have been learning. (loud voice) their is emphasis and urgency behind his words.

Why? I’m glad you asked, because he tells us why. If the message you recieved by angels, what message is the author talking about? The law given to Moses, write these passages down and look them up at home, Gal3:19, Acts 7:53, Deut 33:2 all speak to the angels as being part of the process of delivering the law. The passage continues to point out that if those who broke the law, recieved their punishment and we have the OT full of passages pointing to the people receiving their punishment for breaking the law, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

What the author is doing is making an argument from the lesser to the greater. He is saying if those who broke the law of Moses, which the angels had a role in delivering, recieved their punishment, how will we escape judgement if we neglect such a great salvation, which is better than the law and delivered by someone greater than the angels, Jesus who is God.

I also want you to notice, in verse 1, he uses the idea of drifting, now he is saying if we neglect. Why? Because drifting leads to neglecting. We must recognize this because too often we do not realize but I have seen it time and again those who began to drift from their faith end up neglecting their faith. Which is why he is telling us to PAY ATTENTION! Pay attention to what, to the truths of the final revelation of the Son, who is Jesus. Listen to what the author says about the message:

declared by the Lord - preserved for us in the Bible

attested to us by those who heard - preserved for us in the Bible

accompanied by signs and wonders - preserved for us in the Bible.

and by the gifts of the Spirit

We have the good news of the Gospel, preserved for us in the Bible, which has been proven by God and explained for us in the Scriptures, these truths our the anchor which will keep us from drifting, these are the truths we need to pay attention to, no matter what comes our way the truths of the Scripture, is the lens we should be looking at our world through.

The author made the case for the deity of Jesus in chapter 1, now he turns his attention to the humanity of Jesus and why it was necessary for God to become man.

Hebrews 2:5–8 (ESV)

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man, that you care for him?

You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned him with glory and honor,

putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

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.

Porque no sujetó a los ángeles el mundo venidero, acerca del cual estamos hablando. 6 Pero uno ha testificado en cierto lugar diciendo:

¿Qué es el hombre para que de Él te acuerdes, o el hijo del hombre para que te intereses en Él? 7 Le has hecho un poco inferior a los Ángeles; le has coronado de gloria y honor, y le has puesto sobre las obras de tus manos; 8 todo lo has sujetado bajo sus pies.

Porque al sujetarlo todo a él, no dejó nada que no le sea sujeto. Pero ahora no vemos aún todas las cosas sujetas a él.

In this passage we need to see two truths, the first is

Humanties Value

The author takes to Psalms 8, which is pointing back to creation. The Psalmist is looking out into the stars and the universe and thinking what is humanity that you care for us, which takes him back to think of creation, which is where we find our value, we find our identity, we are the pinnacle of God’s creation, created in God’s image. Lower than the angels because we have bodies and they do not. The psalmist using poetry language says humanity is the glory and honor of creation and we were created with purpose, to care for and keep God’s creation. We were given dominion and authority to rule and care for God’s creation. We find our value and purpose in the Creator who has designed us.

So what happened? We can look around and we immediately see something is wrong. We can turn on the news and see that this couldn’t be what God designed. What happened?

Humanities Failure

When we turn the page from Genesis 2 to Genesis 3, we discover humanities failure. We sinned and disobeyed God. Adam and Eve, only had 1 command to obey and they failed. The truth is all of us in their position would have failed as well. We like to think we wouldn’t, maybe because we are prideful, maybe hopeful. But if we were there, we would have taken the fruit as well. Adam’s failure is our failure, our sin, our rebellion against a holy and loving God. “we do not see everything in subjection to him” the world is in chaos because of sin, groaning for redemption.

Hebrews 2:9–13 (ESV)

But we see him

Pero vemos a aquel

We see him… Jesus. Church, Jesus changes everything. We see Jesus who is God but

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.

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. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

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

que fue hecho un poco inferior a los ángeles, es decir, a Jesús, coronado de gloria y honor a causa del padecimiento de la muerte, para que por la gracia de Dios probara la muerte por todos. 10 Porque convenía que aquel para quien son todas las cosas y por quien son todas las cosas, llevando muchos hijos a la gloria, hiciera perfecto por medio de los padecimientos al autor de la salvación de ellos. 11 Porque tanto el que santifica como los que son santificados, son todos de un Padre; por lo cual Él no se avergüenza de llamarlos hermanos, 12 diciendo:

Anunciaré tu nombre a mis hermanos, en medio de la congregación te cantaré himnos.

13 Y otra vez:

Yo en Él confiaré.

Y otra vez:

He aquí, yo y los hijos que Dios me ha dado.

In Jesus we see,

Humanities Rescue

We now turn to Jesus’ humanity, we see that like us, he is made a little lower than the angels, in other words Jesus became human, he took on flesh and blood, took on a body. The omnipresent God became a man and suffered death. In these few verses we are given Jesus humiliation and Jesus exaltation. Jesus becoming a man and Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of the cross. This is a summary of Philippians 2, go home and read it, in it you will discover the same theme, Jesus becoming man, suffering death and is exalted. He is the king of kings and Lord of Lords, he is given a name that one day everyone will bow and confess he is Lord. Why did Jesus do this? Why did he become a man and suffer death?

“so that by the grace of God, he may taste death for every one…and bring many sons for glory.” Jesus did it to rescue humanity from our sin. I love the way Hebrews says

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

Porque convenía que aquel para quien son todas las cosas y por quien son todas las cosas, llevando muchos hijos a la gloria, hiciera perfecto por medio de los padecimientos al autor de la salvación de ellos.

You may have some questions about this verse, I have questions about this verse, lets deal with the simple and move to the complex. First, the author is saying it is fitting that God would make Jesus suffer death so that many sons will come to know the glory of salvation. But what is the author trying to say, notice he points to creation. Who helped God create the universe? No one! The Triune God, created the universe and no one else participated, he needed no help. God is the source of all creation, in the same way God is the source of the work of salvation, and it has to be this way because we are unable to save ourselves.

Some may think that a suffering saviour is weakness, but what this passage is telling us, if we want to see the nature, character, and power of God, look to creation. But if you want to see even more of God’s nature, character and power? Then look to Jesus the founder/pioneer of our salvation.

The word translated founder in english is better translated pioneer because Jesus is the originator of salvation and blazed the trail, he made a way for our salvation, he made a path for us to follow in his footsteps so we can run to the Father.

The author of Hebrews tells us Jesus was made perfect through suffering, what does this mean, wasn’t Jesus God, and being God wasn’t he perfect already? How do you make the perfect more perfect? In chapter 5 the author of Hebrews says

Hebrews 5:8–9 (ESV)

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

y aunque era Hijo, aprendió obediencia por lo que padeció; 9 y habiendo sido hecho perfecto, vino a ser fuente de eterna salvación para todos los que le obedecen,

We see that being made perfect means learning obedience through suffering. Which may lead to more questions, was Jesus once disobedient and he became more obedient?

One thing that it cannot mean is that something was added to Jesus or purged from Jesus to make him more perfect. That would be heresy or false teaching out of line with what the Bible teaches. The author of Hebrews will say, more than once Jesus was without sin. So what does it mean?

Imagine a builder who is perfectly equipped to build a home, how does a builder display his perfection? By building the home perfectly, the builder displays for everyone he is perfectly equipped to build the home.

Jesus is humanities perfect rescuer and he displays his perfections to us by coming to earth and becoming a man, overcoming temptation, being obedient to the Father and suffering the death of a cross. When the author of Hebrews says he was made perfect or he learned obedience, he is referring to the fact that Jesus moved from untested obedience into suffering and then through suffering into proven or tested obedience. Like the builder Jesus demonstrated his perfection by living in obedience to the Father, by overcoming the temptations of the devil, by going to the cross and dying in our place. This was necessary for Jesus to be humanities perfect rescuer.

Which why Hebrews continues to say the one who sanctifies and those being sanctified come from one source, in other words they are one or are now part of the same family. Because Jesus is our rescuer, because he lived in perfect obedience and suffered in our place, he gladly calls us brothers and sisters.

Hebrews goes on to explain why Jesus becoming a man was necessary,

Hebrews 2:14–18 (ESV)

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

14 Así que, por cuanto los hijos participan de carne y sangre[l], Él igualmente participó también de lo mismo, para anular mediante la muerte el poder de aquel que tenía el poder de la muerte, es decir, el diablo, 15 y librar a los que por el temor a la muerte, estaban sujetos a esclavitud durante toda la vida

Hebrews tells us that since we are human, flesh and blood, Jesus had to become human and live the human experience, so that he can be our representative, Paul calls Jesus the second Adam, because where the first Adam failed, the second Adam, Jesus, succeeded. Where the first Adam gave into sin and ushered in death as a result of his disobedience, the second Adam succeeds and delivers us from death and liberates us from the fear of death through his obedience.

Jesus’ life and death destroyed the works of the devil, which Hebrews says has “the power of death” this doesn’t mean that the devil decides who lives or who dies, only God can do that. The devil has the power of death only in the sense that he influences or uses as a toll that which causes death, which is sin. Which means the only way to defeat death is to defeat sin. Now listen, Hebrews goes on to say

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

Porque ciertamente no ayuda a los ángeles, sino que ayuda a la descendencia de Abraham.

He goes back to point out that Jesus is not coming to save angles, even though there were angels who sinned against God as well. No, Jesus came to rescue humanity. Which is why Jesus needed to become a man, Perfect God, Hebrews 1 and perfect man, Hebrews 2

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. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Por tanto, tenía que ser hecho semejante a sus hermanos en todo, a fin de que llegara a ser un misericordioso y fiel sumo sacerdote en las cosas que a Dios atañen, para hacer propiciación por los pecados del pueblo. 18 Pues por cuanto Él mismo fue tentado en el sufrimiento, es poderoso para socorrer a los que son tentados.

Here is were Hebrews takes a turn, because we have been talking about humanities, value, humanities failure, Humanities rescue, we move from humanity, to those who trust in Christ for their rescue. We must believe in Jesus and trust in him, we must come to him in repentance and faith Jesus had to made like us so he can blaze a trail to the Father, and through his life and death on the cross, he destroys the work of the devil, he sets people free from fear of death, he delivers people from the power of sin so people can live holy lives. We must believe in Jesus and trust in him, we must come to him in repentance and faith when this happens Jesus becomes

The Believers High Priest

Jesus became like us, so that we could become like him. That is the Gospel. Jesus became like us so he can be a merciful and faithful High Priest. In his high priestly service to God he did not perform the sacrifice for us, but he became the sacrifice for sin and took the wrath of God that we deserved, so that we can become like him. Because Jesus lived and suffered the human experience, he is able to help us when we suffer.

Some may think Jesus doesn’t understand me, but the Hebrews says he does. Jesus lived through this life and experienced all that this fallen world throughs at us. Jesus experienced loneliness, rejected by his own people, betrayal by one of his followers, the grief of losing a loved one, Jesus was rejected by his own family while he was alive… Jesus knows what you are going through and he is able to help us, but we must run to him, our merciful and faithful high priest

Jesus, Founder of Salvation, True God and Perfect Man, who brings many sons to glory.

Pay attention, heed the warning, do not drift, listen to Jesus. How can we neglect such a great saviour and such a great salvation.