The Author of Salvation

Addiction

One of the great deceptions is the thought that we are free and in control of ourselves.

The reality is, there are many things in this world that tie their tentacles around us and pull us down, and more often than not, we’re unaware of how much this is happening.

Let me show you some statistics I researched throughout the week.

Let’s start with alcohol. This is one of those socially acceptable substances. Now it’s possible to drink alcohol in a safe way that can be enjoyed responsibly. Sadly, all too often this is not done. A study from last year showed that 31% of Australians over 14 consumed alcohol in a way that put their health at risk. Now that statistic is only about their health. It doesn’t include those who behaved in irresponsible ways due to alcohol consumption.

But let’s move to gambling. 73% of Australians gambled on at least one product in the previous year. And 23% gambled on six or more products. Of those who gambled, research suggests that 46% are either at-risk or already experiencing gambling harm. That does include low level risk of harm, but nevertheless, it shows that this problem is far bigger than many people might realise.

Or we could look at the statistics of pornography use. Now, as you’ll see on the screen, this is an interesting one. One particular study done a few years ago now, it showed that 76% of men and 41% of women reported that they had looked at pornography in the last year. Interestingly only 4% of men and 1% of women, when asked, admitted that they were addicted. I’m pretty confident however, that those numbers would be much higher. I suspect what this is saying, is that there are many people out there who just don’t recognise how much pornography actually has a hold of them.

When it comes to addiction to illicit drugs, last year, 3.3% of the population had symptoms of a substance use disorder. And just to clarify, that is the percentage that reach the threshold for a mental health diagnosis. As 18% of the population have used an illicit drug in just the last 12 months, there would be more than 3% where drug use is a problem in their life.

Now possibly some of you might fit into one or more of these categories. Perhaps you think that actually you’ve got control of this issue - but if you’re honest, have you really?

But then again, there is a good chance that you look at this list and you can confidently claim that you don’t fit in any of those categories.

But, don’t think that leaves you in the all clear. These might be some potentially destructive addiction. The reality is, there are countless of vices that can take a hold of our lives, they might initially seem small and insignificant, but then they start dominating our lives.

Our own sin

I could put one more statistic up there - although I don’t have any government backed study to confirm this one… 100% of everyone struggles daily with sin.

The reality is, we can look at the earlier list and agree that it is really difficult to break free from many of those problems. But, this last problem - the one about sin - it is the hardest of them all.

Because it is in our very nature.

How do we break free?

I’m talking the likes of the innate selfish desire which causes us to look at other people with envy... to look at people with a hatred in our heart… to look at people with lust in our heart.

It might seem innocuous, but its not. It festers in our heart and when we think about it, or worse yet, when trouble inevitably boils over, we realise - we can’t keep living like this. We need to break through it.

How do we break free?

Is it possible to break free of that which entangles us?

Well, let’s look at the second chapter of Hebrews to think about our response to this question.

Do not drift

Well, simply put, this is actually gets at the heart of the good news that we preach as Christians. That is, that we are sinners, but that God sent Jesus to die for our sins, and for anyone who accepts this, are considered righteous before God.

Well, as we go through this chapter, we’re going to unpack that somewhat, but as you look at the opening words, we get quite an emphatic instruction - we must pay the most careful attention to what we have heard.

For the benefit of those who weren’t here for last weeks message, while we do not know a whole heap about who wrote the book of Hebrews or who it was written to, we are generally confident that it was written to believers who were going through a bit of a tough time.

We’re not told the exact nature of the issues faced by the recipients of this letter, but in some ways, the ambiguity of this actually makes it easier to apply to our situation today.

Whatever the situation, however, the author could see the potential for the these recipients to drift away.

That tends to be what happens. When we become so entangled by our sin, we are often driven away from that which actually is good for us. We become overwhelmed and cannot see any solution before us.

But we cannot let that happen. We’ve got to pay attention.

The first four verses then remind us why we know the message that there is a solution to our problem is so trustworthy.

Angels

Interestingly, the first reason we’re given for why we can trust the message is because it was a message spoken through Angels. Right throughout the bible, we often see those key moments where God is about to do something very special, we get a visit from an angel. An angel is a heavenly messenger. If it is sent from God, then we can know we can trust it.

We’re told here in the second verse, that the message spoken through angels was binding.

Punishment received

Secondly, (and I’m looking at the second half of verse 2 now), we read that every violation and disobedience has already received its just punishment.

The author is of course talking about the sacrifice that Jesus made. Jesus dying on the cross was the punishment that we deserved. But in doing so, that matter of justice is being taken care of.

Part of the reason that sin so entangles is because to unravel it requires justice.

Knowing this is taken care of, we can have confidence that our salvation is secure.

And as you move to the first part of chapter 3 - so how can you ignore it?

Announced by the Lord

Well, my first point was that it was spoken through angels, the third point goes one better. It was announced by the Lord - that is, Jesus, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

It was those who heard him that wrote it down and is what we have in our very bibles.

The very one who gave us this salvation, confirms the message directly to us, and we have the privilege of reading it directly.

Signs, miracles and Holy Spirit

And as if all that wasn’t enough, the fourth verse reminds us that we have further confirmation through signs, wonders, miracles, and of course, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

What we are talking about here in verse 4 are the things that we have direct access to.

These are the great stories of deliverance that we see before us today. Stories of lives changed. Stories of miracles - like Talila. Stories that each and every one of you here today that believe have, knowing that the Spirit is with you… that he has made himself known to you… and that he has given you the gifts that you now have.

The point of all of this… if you pay attention, you will see that change is more than possible, because the Lord has made it very clear to us that the good news is true and is completely trustworthy.

So do not drift away, because it is with Jesus that you will find power to change.

Jesus the pioneer of the faith

Okay, well after giving us this powerful reminder about why we can trust the message, verse 5 does a bit of a gear change.

It shifts to looking at the place of humanity in the created order. Now, that might seem a strange shift, but let’s follow the logic that is taken here.

We get a decent size quote from Psalm 8.

Everything under humanity

The Psalm itself is a Psalm of praise at God’s amazing creation. If we were to examine that Psalm of David, we would find him looking at awe at how vast and incredible the world and universe is, but then he stops and thinks - but yet, despite the enormity of it all, you care for us mere humans.

In fact, more than that, though we might be a little lower than the angels, the creator God has made us humans as rulers over everything, and put everything under our feet.

This is not because we’ve done anything to deserve it, but because God created us for it. It was his choice.

Now, interestingly, you’ll sometimes find people trying to suggest that humans are just another part of the animal kingdom. Even without the Bible, I don’t think you need to be that clever to realise that there is something that sets humanity apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.

But I digress. If we follow the logic, we see in verse 8 that while all of creation has been designed to be subject to humanity, we get this reminder at the end of the verse: “yet at present we do not see everything subject to them”.

Now if I pause just here a moment - let’s think about that in terms of what I was talking about in my introduction. You see, if all things were under our feet, then these addictions should not have hold of us. The sinful attitude should not have hold of us.

The reality is, this is the effect of the Fall in Genesis 3. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, it wasn’t just a simple matter of God making some arbitrary rule that was subsequently broken. It was actually about the first humans wanting to move beyond the status that God had created for them. They weren’t content with just being in the image of God, they wanted to be like God. They reject the status God has made for them.

They were meant to rule, they become ruled instead.

The author of Hebrews here is taking a bit of a different approach to looking at the problem of humanity.

He’s framing it in terms of humanity not taking hold of the status that it was given.

We need someone who can help us return to the status that humanity was designed for.

It is verse 9 then, where the author contrasts the failed status of humanity with Jesus - the one who for a little while was made lower than the angels - that is to say, he came to earth to be human, but yet righted things so he can now be crowned with glory.

It’s easy to miss the logic of what is happening here in this chapter. Jesus did what humanity was meant to do. He claimed the status of an untarnished image bearer of God.

He tasted death for everyone, so that we might then regain what was lost.

Pioneer

Verse 10 then gives us one of the enduring images of this chapter… the image of Jesus as the pioneer of humanity’s salvation.

Jesus paved the way for us.

He showed us the way to once again take the status that we were meant to take. Something that we were unable to do with our own ability.

I love the use of the word pioneer here. A pioneer is someone who establishes something new.

Since the time of Adam and Eve, people have been trying to move out of the entanglement they have found themselves in. With Jesus, this has become possible.

Now, with Jesus as our model, this should also show what it means to be rulers over creation. It certainly doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want with creation - on the contrary, it means we are responsible for looking after it - I’d go as far to say we have a divine mandate to care for creation.

Jesus has redeemed us for a purpose.

Ongoing sanctification

Now, there is something very important to highlight in all of this.

You see, I’ve been talking about the certainty of the salvation we’ve received. I’ve spoken about Jesus who has been the pioneer in leading us to claim the status we were designed for.

But… you would be right to question - but aren’t we all still struggling with the entanglements? We all still struggle with sin.

That is not because the work of Jesus is ineffective.

It was entirely effective, however, while ever we are part of this world, the process of removing ourselves from the entanglement remains a process.

Verse 11 hints at the idea of the process of becoming holy. We are working together as believers to be made holy.

And as we do, we join with Jesus in a really special way.

For some people, when they become a Christian, they are able to break some of the addictions and other things holding them back very quickly. It is something beautiful when it does happen quickly.

For many others, however, it can be a long process. But one that we do with Jesus as working with us.

Freedom

As we get to verse 14, we start to read of the freedom that we receive. It talks about how the power of him who hold the power of death - that is, the devil, is broken, and there is freedom for those who lives were held slavery by their fear of death.

Now there is a lot we could unpack in these verses, but I just want to highlight the picture of freedom that is offered here.

Notice the role of the devil in all of this. He’s the one who holds the power of death, but he has been defeated.

We no longer need to fear death. That’s not to say that we want face a physical death. In fact, unless the Lord comes first, I can guarantee that every single one of us will die at some stage. This is one of the certainties in life.

But we don’t fear it because a physical death is nothing to us. A physical death just means we move from this age, to a much better one… one we’re there is no pain or tears.

But it is also worth noting that this freedom does not mean that we are free from suffering in this world.

However, while we will certainly suffer in this world, we do so suffering with Jesus.

Jesus knows suffering first hand.

Jesus showed us how we can take hold of freedom while at the same time endure suffering.

In some ways, it’s a paradigm shift in thinking about what freedom is. Freedom is not about doing whatever you want, whenever you want it. Freedom is instead taking off the entanglement, and moving into the way God has designed us.

As we do this, we start to master the things that entangle.

As verse 18 says, Because Jesus suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help us when we are tempted.

Conclusion

I started by talking about addiction. I gave statistics of some of the notable forms of addiction in our culture.

They are hard to break. There are programs designed to help people - and they can be worth exploring if this is something you struggle with.

However, even if you do these programs, while you might be able to get some control over one aspect of your life, the reality is, the entanglement of sin runs much deeper than that. To fully disentangle the mess, you need to follow the pioneer of salvation - the one who has made he way and shown us how to reclaim the status that God designed us for.

It is both easy and hard. Easy in that you just need to accept the free offer of Jesus. But hard in the sense that there will be suffering.

But pay careful attention, because you don’t want to drift from this amazing gift of salvation that you have been offered.

Let me pray...