A Great Salvation (Hebrews 2:1-9)
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Alright lets dive back into the book of Hebrews. We find ourselves in the second chapter. But before we dive into that lets get up to speed on what we have learnt so far about this amazing book.
We learnt that the book of Hebrews is one that we don’t know the author. We also learnt that this book is sermonic in nature. Meaning this is most likely a written sermon. You can really tell by the style in which the author addresses scripture and points from scripture with more scripture. The first chapter, in the first half, really focused on how we dont need to rely on prophets to hear from God but how He has spoken to us through His son. And how this son created everything. Not only that but He is the radiance of the glory of God as the exact imprint of His nature. He is not only the heir of Heaven but He is God himself.
The second part of the chapter focuses on how Jesus is greater than the angels. Not that the angels arent important but because they were created to serve the God head. We will see this point made even further later in this chapter.
Alright lets dive into this first verse now.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
2
So this verse starts off with therefore. And this word should always lead us to ask the question, what is the therefore there for. For context lets look at 1:14.
English Standard Version Chapter 1
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
The key here to the therefore is Salvation. Or more importantly inheriting salvation. The people who the angels came to serve is us. So therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. What have we heard? We have heard the Gospel. We heard this story at some point of a man coming to earth as a baby. From a mom who was a virgin. This very baby would be visited, worshipped, and brought gifts. This baby would grow up and go on to do amazing things. Healing people, teaching, feeding, and eventually He would end up on a cross where He would be crucified and after 3 days He would come back to life conquering sin, death, and Satan once and for all. This baby Jesus, who is God Himself, Who created the world, became like us in order to save us.
Why must we pay close attention to this? Lest we drift away This is important. This idea of drifting away comes from the idea of sailing. A ship, when it wants to stop moving, lowers an anchor. The job of this anchor is to hold this ship in place. Without the anchor holding the ship in place it would drift all over the place. Just like a ship we need something to anchor us to Christ. To keep us on the path we want to walk. That anchor is the Gospel. God’s words. It will hold us steady in the ever shifting tides of the world we live in. When we stop paying attention and intentionally clinging to the anchor of the Gospel we will find ourselves off course. This is why Jesus has to say pick up your cross DAILY and follow me. Not pick up your cross every once in a while when you feel like it and follow me. Not show up to church every week, fake it, and go right back to your sin the next day. This is a daily task we are given here in verse 1.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
What was the message declared by Angels? Well we mostly just went over this. Their message was that a messiah was coming. That Jesus was going to come and save us. This proved to be reliable. The angels were telling the truth about Jesus and what He would do. The second part is trickier. But basically its saying that what Jesus did, to lead to our disobedience and transgressions being paid in full. Once we have accepted the free gift of salvation by grace through faith, our sin is quite literally blotted out once and for all. this is where verse 3 is important.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
3 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,
How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation. This is a very heavy question and one I want everyone to think about for a minute. If we do not accept what Jesus did for us, and that we are a sinner, how will we escape? Escape what? Escape the coming wrath of God, and the eternal fate of Hell and separation from God Himself. How will we escape eternal death if we do not accept Jesus to be our Lord and savior? For the wages of Sin is Death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. If we do not accept those terms we have no way of escaping eternal death. Jesus said this first and others have attested to this verse 3 finishes. This is what Jesus told us. I am the way the truth and the life, NO ONE comes to the father except through me. And other people such as the writer of this book are telling us that Jesus said these things. There is historically evidence of Jesus and the writer is making sure we understand the gravity and importance of His words. Verse 4 tells us this again.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
This has been confirmed by God Himself. The Holy Spirit in us is used by God to give us gifts, but also give us assurance of Jesus being who He said He was. This is a solemn warning and He wants us to take this seriously.
In AD 79 in the ancient city of Pompeii, residents ignored the warnings of impending doom from Mount Vesuvius, For weeks things were off. From little earthquakes, to smoke coming out of the volcano. They chose to continue their daily lives. When the volcano erupted, many were caught unprepared and faced a terrible fate. Just as those inhabitants overlooked clear signs, people may neglect the urgent call to accept Jesus and the salvation He offers. It can also lead those who are already saved to drift and end up in a place where we don’t even recognize ourself. Ignoring this warning can lead to a fate far worse than even the worst natural disaster. Let us not be like those in Pompeii, but instead heed the call of Christ and accept His gift of eternal life, and Hold Fast to the anchor that is Jesus and His word.
Now we pick up in verses 5-8
English Standard Version Chapter 2
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
The author will quote Psalms 8:4-6 here. Back in Genesis chapter 3 there is a promise of a messiah to come. This person prophesied was not the angels. And God wants to make sure we realize this. God created the angels to to be worshipped but to ultimately worship Him. Same with humanity. We were not created to be worshipped by anyone or anything, but to worship our Creator, and our savior. Us just like the angels are finite beings, created to serve an infinite God. The author in verse 5 clarifies that he is not speaking of angels and quotes a psalm to prove He was talking about someone else. Verse 7 tells us that You made Him for a little while lower than the angels. To be made lower than someone you first must be above them wouldn’t you agree? Jesus was the greatest example of humility because the very Creator became not only equal to creation, but He came as the weakest form of His creation which is a baby. A baby that can’t do anything for itself. He was fully reliant on His parents. The very person who created His parents and knit them together in the womb, now is reliant on them. The very angels He created, He became less than. It is mind blowing how much Jesus truly humbled Himself in order to be our salvation. In 1999 Tim Hughes would pen what has become my favorite hymn. In this hymn he writes something I think is truly thought provoking. He says in the bridge
I’ll never know how much it cost To see my sin upon that cross. He will continue on to say, So here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you are my God.
We might never be able to grasp just how much it cost for Jesus to do what He did, but all we can do is hit our knees, worship, and let Him be the Lord of our lives. Because the second part of verse 7 is true.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Once Jesus rose again, He found Himself in Heaven at the right hand of the father. God crowned Him with Glory and Honor, and put everything in subjection under His feet. Brothers and sisters is this not incredible news? That Jesus is in Heaven ruling and reigning with glory and honor, and everything is in subjection to Him. That Jesus is in control! Nothing can happen to us unless Jesus allows it and that should bring us comfort. Lets finish off these last few verses.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
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. 9 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 everything is in subjection to Him, nothing was left outside His control. Its so easy to walk in fear of so many things. Like the future, or something bad happening. But we know that everything is in His control. We might not see exactly how things work out or why He is doing things in the way that He is. Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
This isnt saying we wont suffer hardship and life will be easy. But it is saying that even in those hard times, everything will work out for the good of God and His kingdom. It isnt saying you will be rich, or you wont have people die in your life, or you wont have people hurt you if you are a Christian. Its saying that God will be with you in those hard times and that in the end He will be glorified through those times. In the moment we might not see how but we can know without a doubt that God is in control and will help us in whatever situation we are in. Verse 9 clarifies that Jesus who was made lower than the angels, and is now crowned with glory and honor because He was faithful to death. Even a criminals death on a cross. And it finishes that the death He tasted would be for everyone. But we must accept it. But before I tell you how lets try to understand what was being said about Jesus in this passage.
Jesus is both the Just and the justifier. Romans 3:26
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
He not only is the one who decides who will be saved, but He is the very one who saves us!
Imagine walking into a courtroom knowing without a doubt that you are guilty.
There’s no missing evidence. No technicality. No misunderstanding.
You did it. The Judge is just. He doesn’t bend laws. He doesn’t excuse wrongdoing.
The sentence is right. And you deserve it. You know you are hopeless. Then a defense attorney stands up and says, “I will represent you.” You think, Why would he do that? The evidence is clear. But then you realize something even more shocking. The defense attorney is the Judge. He steps down from the bench, takes off the robe, and stands beside you. The trial proceeds. The verdict is still “Guilty.”
Because justice cannot lie. But before the sentence is carried out, the Judge does something no one expects. He says, “The penalty must be paid. And I will pay it.” He steps back up, pronounces the sentence — and then walks out of the courtroom to receive the punishment Himself. Justice is upheld.
The law is satisfied.
And you walk out free — not because you were innocent, but because the Judge bore your guilt.
Our sin that we were born with, has given us this ticket. That ticket is a one way ticket to Hell. There is no way out of it. Jesus came into the station while I was living this life, waiting to get on that train ride once this life was over. He said will you give me that ticket? If you do I have a different ticket for you. I had to give Jesus my ticket and accept the ticket He offered. Once I did I looked at the ticket He gave to me. It said destination Heaven. I turned back around and Jesus was gone. He was on that train to Hell that I was supposed to be on. But you see how that worked? I had to give Him my ticket of Sin leading to death and accept His ticket leading to Heaven. If I hadn’t I would still have had to get on that train to Hell. There was no escape. Romans 10:9-10
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
These are the terms. Simple as that. Its not our works, its not where we come from, its saying Jesus I believe that I have sin. that I do things that are against what you have commanded. And I dont want to anymore. I believe that you died on the cross taking that sin on yourself. And I want to live for you because of that. So forgive me and help me walk in obedience to you now so that way I can spend eternity with you. And as we close here are some questions that you can be thinking. This is for believers and unbelievers alike.
If someone asked what gives you peace about eternity, what would your honest answer be?
What sin have you quietly decided is “off limits” to God?
. What has captured my attention more than Christ lately? And am I willing to give that up in order not to drift further from God?
. Do I treat the Gospel as life-changing truth… or background information?
Am I growing in my affection for Christ, or coasting on past experiences?
Do I assume I’m safe spiritually because I’m around Christian things?
If salvation is this great, does my life reflect that it is?
