A Perfect King

Good morning, church family.

It is good to see all of you

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan Wilson, I am the pastor of preaching here at Harvest.

Before we get started, there are a couple of things I want to put before you:

Toy drive - We had the largest response we have ever had - 162 bags (many with multiple gifts)

Those will be a blessing to so many

Choir recruitment - Christmas eve services - We would love to fill the stage with a choir, so if you like to sing, we’d love to have you.

[2:00]

[Transition to Sermon] We are in our advent series, “Manger to Majesty”

And the purpose of this series is to see how Jesus humbled himself by leaving heaven, taking on humanity,

so that he could be the savior of mankind and is now exalted in heaven as Lord of all.

This is what is known as the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus

His humiliation refers to him humbling himself by becoming human

His exaltation refers to his glory as savior and Lord

And we are specifically looking at how, in his humiliation and exaltation, he meets our deepest needs

And the way that he does this is by perfectly fulfilling what theologians refer to as the threefold offices of Christ: Prophet, king, and priest.

Last week, from Heb. 1:1-4, we talked about how one of our deepest needs is to know the truth...

… and Jesus as the Perfect Prophet was not just a messenger of God, he is the message as God in human flesh.

Jesus, in his life, death, and resurrection, embodies all that God has said and fulfills all that God requires

And this week, we will move to the second need that we have and we will see how Jesus meets that need as “A perfect King” and we will be in Hebrews 2:5-9

And Jesus as a perfect King meets our second deep need: our need to overcome.

[Hook] We live with daily, unending reminders that this life is a life of struggle.

We are constantly confronted with the struggle against sin, the struggle with brokenness all around us and between us

But try as we might, we are powerless to overcome what we struggle with.

Self-help books don't help

The latest habits only make superficial changes

And we find ourselves just as helpless as we have always been, but more hopeless because nothing seems to work.

What we need is the power to overcome, but we are powerless in ourselves to do anything about it.

We look at our lives and we look in the mirror and we know what needs to change and we just cant change it

That addiction continues to exert power over us

That pattern of behavior is always there

That place or that person or that thing that you run to to cope is all too familiar still

It seems like no matter how hard we try, we cannot change the things that we know need to change.

And the apostle Paul understood this. He wrote in Romans 7:15 “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Sound familiar?

I think we can all identify with that statement…

And we can also then identify with what he goes on to say:

Romans 7:24–25 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Not me… I can’t save myself from my condition

But there is one who can, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

The power to overcome can only be found in Jesus Christ because only Jesus can overcome what we struggle with.

And this Christmas, we would do well to remember that the perfect King humbled himself, came in a manger and overcame sin, death, and Satan on the Cross, and reigns now in majesty, exalted as Lord.

And when we embrace Jesus as the perfect King, it will not be we who will overcome our sin and brokenness, but he who will overcome it in us.

And our text helps us to see that truth this morning

So let’s give these words out full attention.

Hebrews 2:5–9 “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. 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.”

These are God’s words for us as his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them.

Big idea: Jesus overcame our defeat and reigns over our destiny. [9:00]

When we look beneath the surface of our lives, we find an undeniable truth:

We are not just people who are doing alright, but occasionally struggle.

Humanity is defeated by sin.

So defeated in fact that Scripture describes it as being dead in your tresspasses and sins.

Dead is pretty defeated.

There is this very flawed idea in our society right now:

If we just adopt a different political system or economic system or if we just pass these laws, then our society will be wonderful.

But here is the problem with that… you’re still in it

And I am still in it.

And we both have this thing called sin that effects everything.

And unless you deal with the sin problem, society’s problems are never going to go away… You will just trade one problem for a different one.

And it gets worse… You and I are unable to overcome that sin problem.

And so we live in sin and its effects daily

We rebel against God’s authority and then wonder why our lives feel disordered and fractured.

We battle the same temptations again and again.

And when you live under the curse of sin, you will experience the destiny of God’s wrath.

That is the state of the world… and every person is powerless to change it.

If anything is going to change for us, someone must enter our defeat and overcome it.

Someone must succeed where we continually fail.

Someone must face temptation, and overcome it

Someone must live in a sinful world, without being overcome by it.

And Christmas is the reminder that when we were defeated by sin, Jesus as the perfect King, conquered sin and death and overcame our defeat.

And because he overcame our defeat, our destiny can be changed…

…from wrath to renewal, from judgment to joy, from death to life.

And in this passage, we are going to see three ways He overcame our defeat and now reigns over our new destiny as God’s people.

As the Perfect King…

Jesus restores God’s purpose for us (5) [12:00]

The messages you hear every day would have you believe that your purpose in this life is to consume and enjoy and get as much as you can

You get one life, so live it to the fullest in whatever way you want.

That is our culture’s vision of purpose

But that is not God’s purpose for you and I.

That never was God’s purpose for you and I

God’s purpose for you and I has always been to find true fulfillment in his design for our lives

And v. 5 points us to that purpose…

Hebrews 2:5 “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.”

That word “subjected” is a greek word that means “To put in a relationship of submission”

And

“The world to come” refers to the future, when God restores all things to how they are supposed to be

So this verse is saying, “There is a future in which things are going to be the way they were meant to be… true fulfillment according to God’s design, living in his presence, enjoying God forever.

Now… you hear me say all the time that the authors of Scripture were first readers of Scripture

And in the New Testament, there is Bible behind the Bible [Lots of Bible in the background]

There is biblical context that the author has in mind as he writes his contribution to Scripture by the inspiration of the Spirit of God.

So when he says, “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come” he has in his mind who it is that the world to come belongs to

So this negative statement implies

And the passage that he has in mind, as we will see, is Gen. 1:26-28

So we need to take a little field trip…

Turn with me to Genesis 1 so that we can see what is in the background of this verse.

Look first at 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.”

Mankind was made as the image of God - They are a picture of God, if you will, in their function

The purpose of mankind is to reflect God to all of the world

And how will mankind reflect God?

Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

Notice: God’s purpose for humanity is to subdue the earth and have dominion…

to make the world look more and more like God intends it to look

to take what God made good and make more of it

And in reflecting God to the earth as we exercised dominion, we would enjoy the fulfillment and flourishing that comes from living according to God’s design.

That was our purpose…

But it doesn’t take long for mankind to fail in this purpose… turn over to Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:1–7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate…”

Adam and Eve were created to reign—but instead of exercising dominion over the serpent by submitting to God, they submitted to the serpent and disobeyed God.

You see it?

Instead of ruling creation, they were ruled by temptation.

Instead of reflecting God, they rebelled against God.

And the result?

Every person now lives under the curse of sin…

and is unable to overcome it on their own.

Meant to have dominion… mankind lives defeated.

This is why life feels so broken… because it is

This is why your relationships feel fractured… because they are

This is why you feel powerless to change things… because you are.

What we desperately need is for someone to face the same temptation we face, but to overcome it

And to face the same serpent they faced, and defeat him.

And the Gospels show Jesus stepping into every battle where humanity had lost:

Jesus was tempted by Satan, and overcame the temptation

Jesus faced death at the cross, and he overcame death through his resurrection

Jesus was faced with your sin and my sin, and he overcame it by paying the penalty and securing our forgiveness…

Jesus came into the world that first Christmas as the perfect King who would go back to where everything went wrong and would make it right

The world to come is subjected to Christ and the perfect image of God

And when you and I are in Christ, he restores our purpose

You were not meant to be ruled by sin, nor were you meant to find fulfillment apart from God

And when you do, you are living in the same old defeat that Jesus came to free you from

But that is not your purpose… God made you for himself, to find fulfillment in him as you reflect him to the world

And Jesus, because he overcame sin and death, when you follow him by faith…

You are freed from the power and penalty of sin

And though sin is still present, it need not overcome you.

That is what Hebrews means when it says Hebrews 2:5 “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come…”

God’s purpose for you and I is not to be overcome by sin, but to overcome sin through Jesus

This is why Paul writes in Rom. 8 that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

We can’t conquer sin, but through he who loved us, Jesus, the perfect King, our purpose is restored

To live for God and find fulfillment in God as we glorify him and enjoy him forever.

So, that’s the first point. Second…

As the perfect King…

Jesus recovers dignity for us (6-8a) [23:00]

Now that the author has reminded us of humanity’s purpose, he moves to humanity’s dignity.

Dignity is something that we as people have all but forgotten about

Dignity is the worth that every human has as the image of God

But because of sin, we reduce the dignity in one another and in ourselves.

A people who have no understanding of dignity will treat one another as only being valuable according to what they can provide

But that is not how scripture views human dignity

Every human being, unborn, elderly, or anywhere in between, has an inherent dignity that is based in God's creation of humanity

And v. 6-8 help us to see that dignity that humanity is supposed to have

To make the point, the author quotes Psalm 8

Hebrews 2:6–8 “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 quotation is from Psalm 8, and that is a Psalm that asks the question: Why is mankind so special?

When we look at the heavens and the Earth, we are confronted with the question “why is mankind so special?”

God placed mankind in a place of glory and honor over creation…

For our time on this earth, we appear lower than the angels, but we have a responsibility they do not

Angels serve God’s purposes.

Humans reflect God’s image.

And Psalm 8 is saying that creation displays that fact!

And Hebrews comments on this quotation Hebrews 2:8 “…Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.”

Hebrews is quoting this Psalm and saying, “Humanity was given a special dignity that was all-encompassing.”

We were supposed to have dominion over the whole earth

We were supposed to be God’s treasured possession, crowned with glory and honor

But look at the end of v. 8

Hebrews 2:8 “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him…”

We don’t see things the way that the Psalmist describes it…

We don’t often feel that dignity.

Why?

Remember the flow of Genesis:

Genesis 1: Humanity is crowned with glory and honor.

Genesis 3: Humanity exchanges that crown for slavery to sin.

The Fall didn’t remove the image of God…It distorted it.

It didn’t erase our dignity… It buried it under guilt, shame, fear, and rebellion.

So now…

We exploit one another for personal gain

We use one another for our own desires

We find our identity in all of the ways that we gratify the flesh

Or we find our identity in how others used us for those things…

And our dignity, like our purpose, is shattered.

What will recover it for us?

Jesus, in humbling himself, became like those whose dignity was shattered that he might recover it for them.

Listen to the way that Isaiah says it:

Isaiah 53:3–5 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

Jesus entered into our mess to restore our dignity.

He became like us in every way

He stood where you’ve stood.

Jesus faced what you face.

Jesus endured what you endure (weakness, sorrow, temptation)

Jesus took on the humiliation that sin caused, but he conquered the curse that sin brought

And in doing so, he offers forgiveness of your sin and a new identity in him

Perhaps you have done things or things have been done to you that cause you think that you have no value anymore…

Jesus recovers that value for you and sets you free from that past.

No more shame, but freedom from shame

No more guilt, but freedom from guilt

While humanity forfeited its dignity through disobedience. Jesus restored it through his obedience unto death.

He came to make you whole

He came to bring back the dignity that sin stole.

He came to clothe you in honor again.

Christmas time is a loud declaration that Jesus overcame our defeat by recovering dignity for us.

So what is it that has you looking at yourself as someone without value and without dignity?

Look to the manger in Bethlehem where the King arrived…

Look to the cross where the king died

Look to the grave where the king rose

Look to the throne where the king reigns

When you are in Christ, you are not your past… you are not your failures…

You are holy, chosen, and dearly loved

Because your king came, died, and rose to give you new life.

And Christmas puts that on full display.

Because Jesus, as the perfect King, recovers dignity for us.

And lastly, as the perfect king…

Jesus reigns with victory for us (8b–9) [31:00]

Look back at the last part of v. 8

Hebrews 2:8 “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”

Do you want to know the most obvious sign that mankind is not living the way that God created them to live?

In the Garden, they had the tree of life

And if they lived according to God’s word, they would eat of that tree and they would live forever

But they didn’t… they rebelled and so they died

The most obvious sign that mankind is not living the way that God created them to live… is that all of us will die.

There is not a single person in this room who will escape death

And you cannot avoid it.

You cannot outrun it.

You cannot outthink it.

You cannot outlive it.

And we see so clearly that the world is broken, we are sinful, and judgment is coming

Hebrews 2:9 “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor…”

In his humiliation, he became human like us, “for a little while lower than the angels”

He fulfilled humanity’s purpose

He overcame where we were defeated

He is the perfect fulfillment of the words of Psalm 8.

And now, he is exalted, “crowned with glory and honor”

Why?

Hebrews 2:9 “because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Jesus did not conquer sin and death by avoiding them

He conquered them by facing them and defeating them

You and I cannot escape physical death…

But because Jesus tasted death for us, when we receive him by faith, our destiny is changed and so now our destiny is life everlasting!

Because he lived in our place, the righteousness of God is transferred to us

Because he died in our place, the sin that we carried is transferred to the cross

Because he rose from the grave, death has no hold on us…

And we can declare with the apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:55–57 ““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.”

Jesus shared our humanity, that he might lead us to glory

Christmas should be a clear reminder that our destiny is changed because, in the words of Charles Spurgeon: “Those little feet in the manger shall tread on the serpent's neck and crush his head.”

Those little feet would grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and mankind

Those little feet in the manger would walk in your shoes

Those little feet would one day walk to calvary and be nailed to that cross

That you might be set free, because he will taste death for you…

… so that by the grace of God, you might live.

And when you follow Jesus by faith, you live today in the victory that he secured.

Because Jesus, as the perfect king, reigns with victory for us.

[Conclusion] 38:00

We could not overcome sin and death, but Jesus did.

He restores God’s purpose for us

He recovers dignity for us

He reigns in victory for us

He did it all… and he did it for us.

And this is why we worship Christ, the newborn king

Because Jesus overcame our defeat and reigns over our destiny.

Amen.