Listen Up!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning please open in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2 that is Hebrews chapter 2 we will be looking at verses 1 through 9 together this morning. If you are using one of the Bibles scattered throughout the chairs our passage will be found on page 941 that is page 941. I have recently had the pleasure of teaching middle school students the Bible on Wednesday mornings in West Jefferson through a program called Lifewise. It is a program that enables us to teach the bible to public school kids during school hours at a church that is across the street from the school. I really enjoy this time and it is a highlight of my week. However, I find myself saying this one phrase particularly with the Middle school boys, “listen up!”
I have made up hand motions to remember the Bible’s storyline, created a Jeopardy board as a Bible review game, spun in circles on one occasion until I was nauseous, purposely stand in the crossfire of rubber band wars, and raised my voice more then once and said, “listen up!” Now, if you know anything about Middle school boys you know this all just comes with the territory and if know anything about me, I thoroughly enjoy it. But why do I this? Why grow through all the crazy to capture their attention. Because the Bible has something to say to my 6th and 7th grade class. Through it, not only prophets and angels speak, but more importantly the Son of God has spoken. And he declares a message that needs to be heard, a message the requires our utmost attention. And today we read in our passage that the author of Hebrews in written form is waving his hands, jumping up and down, and trying to get you and I to “listen up!” A message has been spoken by the Son of God and we need to hear it! Let’s listen up and pay attention and we read Hebrews 2:1-9.
3 Reasons to listen up to the Son’s Message.
The Message is More Reliably Just v. 1-3a
The Message is More Reliably Just v. 1-3a
Read Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
The author uses very emphatic language as he tells us to pay much closer attention. This phrase in Greek is two words an adverb and a verb. The adverb means abundantly or overflowing, extraordinarily. While the verb is the same verb uses in 1 Timothy 3:8 when it tells us that deacons cannot be addicted to wine to most modern translations. The KJV says they cannot be given to wine. That is to say wine and cannot consume their attention. But this passage the author is saying that the message of the son is to be addictive to us. We are to overflow in our addiction to the message we have heard from Jesus. We are to be given to this message in an abundant way. Because of we do not, then we will drift away. The verb translated drift away is a nautical term, or a term for seafaring describing way happens to a boat or ship when it is not anchored to anything. I asked Judah this week what would happen if we forgot to tie your grandpa’s boat to the dock, he said, “it would just drift away.” This is the instruction that Hebrews is giving us this morning. If you are not paying close attention to your faith it will drift away. Apathy in the Christian life is deadly.
He continues on and explains the Hebrews 2:2–3 “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?… the author points back to Hebrews chapter one in which he proves that the Son, Jesus, is greater than the angels. The angels were the ones that brought the Mosaic Covenant to Moses. The Mosaic Coveavnt is the message “declared by angels that proved to be reliable.” Stephen confirms this in Acts 7:53 “you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”” The law is the law or covenant of Moses which was an agreement between God and the people of Israel. God told them obey this and I will bless you. If you disobey you will be cursed and die. They received that message, and then proceeded to disobey in various ways. And God made good on his promise in that their transgressions or disobedience (literally their missteps and unwillingness to hear) were met with just retribution that is punishment. Therefore, if they were punished for their failure to listen to a message that is inferior to the message of the Son, how can we expect to escape God’s wrath if we ignore the Son’s message.
Paul uses this same rationale in 1 Corinthians 10:6–14“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.(gods of Moab Num. 25) We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents Num. 21, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer (Num 16). Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
Paul is telling us that the stories of the God’s judgment against people in the Old Testament are for our instruction. If you think you stand take heed, or pay attention to yourself lest you fall or as Hebrews puts it: drift away. We need to have a healthy fear of God when it comes to our sin. Our sin is not to be tolerated, we cannot be apathetic we must overflow with attention to the eradication of sin in our lives. Fear God! Hate your sin! Lest you drift away.
And yet, how do we deal with our sin? Not in our own power and strength. Not through extreme resolve and discipline, but through the message of the Son. Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 10:13“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Who is faithful to save you from sin? God! Sin you have committed (through the sacrificial death of Jesus) and sin you are tempted to commit (through the empowering of His Spirit). He has given us a way to escape!
The point the author of Hebrews is trying to make isn’t that Christians can sin their way out of their salvation. That you can be saved and then just through neglect somehow be not saved. The point is that by returning to their old way of life and taking part in the Jewish sacrificial system they are declaring that they don’t really believe that Jesus’ death was sufficient to save them from sin. When he asks the question of how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? He is saying without Jesus you cannot escape God’s judgement. Just look at the Israelites they denied God in their sin (false worship) and they did not escape. But Paul says that we always have a way of escape… and that way is Jesus.
We must pay special attention to the message of the Son, which is superior to the message declared by angels, because only by the Gospel, the message of the son can we escape the wrath of God. Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””
T/S- God’s Justice is reliable. He will punish sin and sinners. But Jesus has made a way for us to be saved. The Gospel, the message of the Son. And this message is trustworthy because it comes with we w fourfold witness.
The Message’s Fourfold Witness v. 3b-4
The Message’s Fourfold Witness v. 3b-4
Hebrews 2:3–4 “…It [the Gospel] 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.”
We listen to the message because it was first declared to us by the Lord, or by Jesus. The writer is referring back to Hebrews 1:2 “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” And to the earthly ministry of Jesus in which he Matthew 7:29 “for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God, that he has come to save the world from and sin and his teaching was authoritative and effective. People flocked to him by the thousands to hear his words, and even left him his closest followers knew he had the words of eternal life. This message is also attested to us by those that heard it. This is referring the early church and the ministry of the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15:3–11“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” These early Christians preached about what they saw, and people believed them. Because as they preached God bore witness to things they preached through signs and wonders and various signs. Throughout the book of Acts we read of miraclous healings and of impossible prison breaks that can only be explained as supernatural works of God. And finally, witness number four is the Holy Spirit as he give gifts to his church as he wills. In Acts 2 there is a group of 120 Christians waiting on the coming of the Holy Spirit. And we comes in verse 4 we read: Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” then in Acts 10 some gentiles come to know Christ and the Jews don’t know what to do with them until they also begin to speak in other tongues. Acts 10:44–48“While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.”
So the Son declares the message with authority, the church affirms this message as they preach it and believe believe, God the father bears witness to the authenticity of this message through signs, wonders, and various miracles and the Holy Spirit distributes gifts according to his as a means to declare the gospel message. I believe the skeptic could deny and one of these witnesses, but the all four together provide a rather compelling case.
And this letter is not written to skeptics. These are Jewish Christians who do believe in the things that the writer has alluded to. They believe that law of Moses was given by angels and that it did prove to reliable in that when Israel disobeyed there was just retribution. They do believe that Jesus preached about himself (his death and resurrection), that they heard of that message from faithful Christians like the apostles, they believed and perhaps even saw the signs, wonders, and miracles that bore witness to this truth. And they experienced personally the gifts of the Holy Spirit since all Christians are given gifts of the Spirit.
This writer is writing to people like the members of Redemption Hill Church and he is saying just because you know the message don’t stop paying attention to it. Don’t take it for granted. Overflow in your attentiveness that you may not drift away. Because what every Christian knows in every place, and in every time period is that Jesus alone saves. Without him, there is no escape. So Listen Up.
T/S- We listen because we love King Jesus and that is who this message testifies.
The Message Testifies to the Ruler v. 5-9
The Message Testifies to the Ruler v. 5-9
Our final reason to listen up this morning is that the message testifies to the Ruler. First we look to verse 5-8. Hebrews 2:5–8“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.”…
This is a quotation from Psalm 8:4-6 and the author of Hebrews interprets the Psalm Christologically, that is with Christ at the center of it. He uses what we call biblical theology which is a way of interpreting the Bible that accounts for the Bible being one big story with Christ as its climax. Because when we read Psalm 8 like we did this morning it doesn’t seem at first glance to be talking about Jesus. Rather it seems to just be talking about man, or humanity. That humanity is a little lower than the angels (or God), but that God is still mindful of him and gives him dominion over all of the earth. This dominion is what God gave man in the book of Genesis 1:26–27“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Jesus makes that claim in Matthew 21:16 that the Psalm is about him. “and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”” Jesus is quoting Psalm 8:2.
And the author of Hebrews reads Psalm 8 like it is about Jesus. Listen to verse 8-9. Hebrews 2:8–9…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. 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.”
So who is the psalm about? Humanity or Jesus… The answer is both. I believe David writes the psalm under the inspiration of the Holy Spirt and reflects upon what God meant humanity to be. We are lower than the angels, but have dominion over this earth. And that dominion was to be exercised to establish a wonderful world that reflected God’s glory. A glory that is other worldly, greater than the sun, moon, and stars… But that didn’t happen. We sinned and the in our sin we have failed to exercise dominion in a way that brings God the glory that He is due.
However, God did not give up on us. He was mindful of us, and showed that mindfulness when he sent His son Jesus to this world to live a perfect life and die a death that would redeem this world from our sin. In Hebrews 1:2“but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” He is the heir because he created the world and he is the heir because he redeemed the world with his sacrificial death on the cross.
The incarnation (Jesus becoming man) makes it a surety, and guarantee that he as the Son will inherit the earth and that all of those who are in Christ, the many sons that he will bring to glory, will share in that inheritance. Psalm 8 reflects on the wonder that a great and marvelous God would consider man and entrust to him dominion over the earth. But the wonder that it invokes is magnified when in Christ we realize that this broken earth is not our inheritance. But rather in the world to come we will inherit dominion over a perfect world. Psalm 8 reflects upon what the world is supposed to be, what God desired to bless man with before the Fall. Yet, in Christ it is a reflection of what will be. When in the last Adam, which what Paul calls Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 returns to take us home. 1 Corinthians 15 crescendos in verses 54-57 as it says 1 Corinthians 15:54–57“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass 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.”
The author of Hebrews recognizes what you recognize when we talk about the rule of Jesus on this earth. Hebrews 2:8 “… 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.” In the here and now, we don’t see the perfect world that God promises. The world in which Jesus Rules. But in the return of Christ we will see that kind of world. Why will we see it? What makes this possible for sinners?
Hebrews 2:9 “…because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” You and I will inherit a perfect world because Jesus became a man and died for us. He tasted death, an idiom for dying for everyone. Not just the Jews, but for all who call upon the name of Jesus to be saved. It not saying that Jesus’ death will atone for everyone, but that the atonement is for all kinds of people. There is no one who will be left out because of their status, ethnicity, sex, background, or past failures. Anyone who places their faith in Jesus, the Son who has tasted death for everyone, will escape the just retribution of God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This passage requires us to see two aspects of God’s character in order to grasp it. God’s justice and his love for sinners. He will justly punish sin, and yet he died for all. So that in Him we might escape that punishment. You cannot have one without the other. If God does not punish sin, then mercy and love become meaningless. His sacrificial death on the cross means nothing if there is no sacrifice required to satisfy his retribution. In fact, your understanding of God’s love with hinge upon your understanding of his hatred for sin. If you see sin the way God sees sin, as vile and in need of retribution. Then when you look to the cross you see just how great a salvation that Jesus really does provide. His salvation can only be as great as the wrath that it satisfies. So we must have a high view of God as a God who is completely just.
Yet, this just God is the God who sent his Son, the radiance of His glory and exact imprint of His nature, to become man, live a perfect life, and die for sinners. In his death he sets all things right, and inherits the whole earth. And if you place your faith in Christ, because of His great love for you! You will inherit a perfect world that will last forever. It will be glorious in ever sense of the word, it will be perfect in every way, and it will be yours. Is there anything more important than that? So, dear brothers and sisters Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” (Pray)