Jesus: The Author of Our Salvation: Pt. 1

My sermon text today is Hebrews 2:5-18, because of its length I am going to take two Sundays to cover this passage. I have also decided to shorten our Scripture lesson to three key verses.

Hebrews 2:9–11 ESV

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. 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,

This Lord’s Day, thousands of congregations are celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Sadly, many Christians view doctrine as impractical and without relevance to their lives. However, as we have been learning in our study of the book of Hebrews nothing could be farther from the truth. The author of Hebrew begins chapter 2 with a warning to “pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was necessary because the church at that time had “drifted away” from the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This tendency to “drift” is not limited to just the generation of the Reformers, but is a tendency shared by all generations. The relevance of the Reformation and its doctrines is illustrated once again, by a new spin on an old heresy that has been lighting up the blogosphere—the teaching that our final salvation is based on faith in Christ plus our own good works. What has given this false teaching so much traction is that it is taught by a Reformed Baptist minister who is dearly loved and followed by thousands. To be fair to this minister, he is reacting to another false teaching that is common in the church today. This other false teaching is sometimes called “easy believism.” Easy believism states that a mere profession of faith, even if that faith does not produce any fruit, is sufficient to save. However, the bible teaches that true saving faith always produces the fruit of good works. In a well known verse from James, we are taught that “faith with out works is dead.” (James 2:17, James 2:26) However, this Reformed Baptist minister is going beyond what James teaches and is insisting that good works are a necessary condition for final salvation. He insists that the Reformed doctrine of faith alone applies only to initial justification. (As a reminder, justification is that act of God by which He declares us righteous.)

To illustrate how dangerous this minister’s teaching is imagine me saying to Lorna, “I am sorry, but it is all your fault.” The “but” in that sentence nullifies the “I am sorry” all that remains is “it is all your fault.” In the same way, when when this minister says a person is initially justified by faith alone, but our final salvation is based on our faith and our good works, this but nullifies justification by faith alone. Make no mistake, at the Final Judgement we will need justification, we will need to be declared righteous by God. However, if our final justification is not based on faith alone, it must then be based whole or partially on our own good works. By that standard none of us will stand! This was the thought that so terrified Martin Luther when he was a monk.

Now it is true the biblical idea of salvation includes much more than justification, but it is also true that it does not contain less than justification. In Romans 8:30 we find the golden chain of salvation:

Romans 8:30 ESV

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Notice how there is an unbroken chain from predestination all the way to glorification. As the culmination of salvation, glorification is another way of saying “final salvation.” To reinforce this point, let’s turn our attention back to Hebrews 2:10.

Hebrews 2:10 ESV

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.

According to verse 10 it is God the Father “who brings many sons to glory” and He does this through the suffering of His Son Jesus. Our salvation has only one Author, we are not co-authors! That we may appreciate why our hope of “final salvation” is based on faith in Christ alone and not ourselves, let us read from last week’s text:

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.

These verses clearly teach that humanity was created for dominion over creation and our destiny is to be “crowned with glory and honor,” but when we look at the world today, we “do not yet see everything in subjection” to humanity. What happened? This is what happened...

Adam’s Disobedience Resulted in Humanity’s Loss of Glory (5-8)

According to Romans 5:14 Adam’s sin was unlike any other sin. He was a type pointing to Christ. This means that like Christ he was acting as a representative for all those who were in him. His sin effected not only himself, but all those united to him. It is because of Adam’s sin we were all born with a sinful nature and are subject to death. The whole of the Old Testament was given to teach us that what humanity needs is not a second chance, but a Savior! We don’t need just an initial justification to give us a kick start towards final salvation, we need a Savior who will be the sole source of our salvation from beginning to end!

The wonderful thing about the gospel is that this is exactly what God the Father has done. After Adam sinned God could have washed His hands of humanity and abandoned His original plan, but...

God Has Not Given Up on His Plan to Bring Many Sons to Glory (9-10)

We so quickly give up on other people. Let’s be honest with ourselves. If we were God we would have given up on humanity long ago. But according to verse 10, God still intends to “bring many sons to glory.” Let us look at Hebrews 2:9-10 once again.

Hebrews 2:9–10 ESV

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. 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.

In these verse we can see Jesus is at the center of God’s plan of salvation. The author of Hebrews gives Jesus a very special title in the Greek language. This word is translated various ways in our English bibles: Captain KJV; Pioneer RSV; Author NASV95 and Founder ESV. It speaks of one who has a preeminent position, especially one who begins or originates something. The author of Hebrews returns to this idea in chapter 5 and writes:

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,

In both chapters 2 and 5, it is the suffering of Christ that makes Jesus the source of our salvation. Why is it that God the Father deemed it so “fitting” that Jesus would have to suffer? It is because...

By Suffering, Jesus Succeeded Where Adam Had Failed (10-18)

Verse 10 contains a phrase that has troubled many who read Hebrews and it is found at the end of the verse:

Hebrews 2:10 ESV

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.

What does it mean that Jesus was “perfected”?

We know what it can’t mean. As the sinless eternal Son of God, this cannot mean that Jesus moved from imperfection to perfection.

However, there is another way of understanding “being made perfect.” We speak of something being made perfect when it is tested and passes the test because it is without imperfection! In Hebrews 5:9, which we read a moment ago we read that Jesus “learned obedience.” In the Hebrew mind, knowledge was not just knowing the facts about something, true knowledge is to have experiential knowledge as well. In order know experientially the depths of what it meant to be obedient to the Father it was necessary for Jesus to become “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

By exhausting the depths of obedience, Jesus succeeded where Adam had failed. Adam’s tree of testing was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jesus’ tree of testing was the cross! At the cross Jesus became our perfect Savior, He accomplished everything we need for our final salvation. When we come to Hebrews 12:2, we will discover that the author of Hebrews once again uses that very special Greek title of one who is the preeminent founder of something, but in that verse he adds that Jesus is not just the “founder,” but also the “perfecter” of our our faith! We see this perfection reflected in our text today. As the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus is the sole source of our:

Glorification (vs. 10)

Sanctification (vs. 11 and 18)

Victory Over the Devil and Death (vs. 14-15)

Propitiation for Sin (vs. 17)

We will look at each of these in greater detail next week, but the important thing to note today is that it is Jesus who accomplishes each of these things. I especially want you to note verse 11.

Hebrews 2:11 ESV

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

Notice that Jesus is the sole Author and Finisher of our sanctification. Many think that we are co-authors with Christ in our sanctification. While it is true that we will, act and persevere in the process of our sanctification, it is not true that we contribute to this willing, acting or persevering. Our sanctification is motivated, empowered and sustained wholly by Christ alone!

Therefore, we are not just justified by faith alone,...

Conclusion: We are Saved by Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, On Account of Christ Alone

This Reformed Baptist minister I spoke of earlier is John Piper. He insists that the Reformation Solas apply only to our initial justification, not to our final salvation, but as we have seen clearly in our text today, our only source of salvation is Jesus. The salvation Jesus provides consists not just of our initial justification, but also our sanctification and glorification!

I hope you now see how very important the exhortation we find in Hebrews 2:1 is:

Hebrews 2:1 ESV

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

The Reformation is worth celebrating because without sound doctrine we will drift away from the faith.

Let us pray:

Lord in recent weeks we have been reminded how easily it is for us to drift away from the message of Christ. If the best and the brightest among us can drift away from the message of Christ, how can we who have lesser abilities stand? We gladly confess that Christ alone is the Author and Finisher on our faith. Give us the grace to always place our faith in Christ alone. Amen.