The Better Savior pt 1
Brad Pearce
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It is an excellent day to be in the house of the Lord! I say it often, but there is no where else I’d rather be than right here, right now, with the opportunity to share God’s Word with these people.
As you well know, today is Easter Sunday. This is a day in which families gather together, eggs are hunted, laughs are shared. The big question that I want us to be thinking about today is, “Why?”
So let us ask ourselves, why do we celebrate Easter? Well, I’ll be honest, I have no idea why we celebrate by hunting for eggs filled with candy that was left behind by a rabbit. That’s a tradition that seems to trace back to Mesopotamia as an early Christian way to celebrate Easter. Its become tradition and been changed a bit a long the way. I would say that the family gatherings, meals and laughs, are also from cultural tradition. Why does the family get together on Easter? Because that’s when we get together. Why do we go to church on Easter? Because that’s the day we go to church. There are a lot of cultural traditions surrounding the day and celebration of Easter.
But I’d like us to push just beyond tradition. I’d like us to ask why did the traditions start in the first place? Why did Early Mesopotamian Christians even feel the need to start coloring those eggs?
It is because Easter marks the day in which Jesus Christ rose from the grave. A better name for Easter is Resurrection Sunday! Some 2000 years ago, Jesus was in a tomb sealed away and then, “Up from the Grave He Arose!”
Well, as we are being inquisitive today, we should ask, how did Jesus end up in the tomb? Three days prior to the Resurrection, He was put on trial and found innocent, but swayed by public opinion He was sentenced to death by crucifixion anyways. He was beaten and whipped, made to cary the instrument of His own death on His back as He walked to the place of His execution.
Why was the public so adamant that He must be put to death? Because throughout His life He claimed to be the Son of God. He showed people what it truly was to be righteous and many hated Him for it. Jesus shook up their tradition, He called for them to truly repent from their sin, believe, and love God. Jesus’ life and message threatened the leaders of the day and so they conspired to kill Him. They accomplished their goal by appealing to the authorities and swaying public opinion.
But here is the real kicker to all of this: Jesus didn’t just claim to be the Son of God, He IS the Son of God. Before the plots to kill Him were acted upon, Jesus traveled from place to place, displaying mighty power. He gave sight to the blind, He healed the sick, He rose the dead, He even forgave people for their sins against God. For the last few weeks, we have been walking through the beginning of the book of Hebrews, examining the excellencies, the awesome power of Jesus. Did you know that Jesus was the Hand of Creation? Did you know that all things belong to Him? Do you know that He is worshiped by the angels? I would guess that all of us have some view, some opinion of who Jesus is, but Scripture shows us that He is better and beyond whatever we could measure.
Now you may ask, if Jesus is so powerful, if He did and does so many great things, then why did He die in such a humiliating fashion only to arise a few days later? Was He not powerful enough to prevent such a fate? The people there on the day of His crucifixion brought up that point:
So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
The depraved, blinded mind sees Jesus on the cross and mocks. But please understand that the God of this Universe was Sovereign even as Jesus was placed on the Cross. Jesus had a job to do that day. And that job was not even to earn anything for Himself, but to pay the debt owed for the sins of everyone who would ever believe in Him. Christ’s death was greatest expression of love ever given. Follow me through Scripture real quick:
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The Religious Leaders and even Satan himself probably felt real proud of themselves the moment Jesus died on the cross. They thought mission accomplished. Their problems were gone. Well they were only half right. The mission was accomplished but not their mission. The mission of God to reconcile unto Himself a people through belief in Jesus Christ was accomplished. The mission of God to act in a way depraved humanity could not and pay the cost of sin was accomplished. Jesus was not defeated that day, but death sure was! Follow me through the message preached on the day of Pentecost through Peter:
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ death and resurrection ARE God’s plan of salvation. Jesus did what was necessary to pay the cost of sin. He was then resurrected and ascended into heaven. The living Jesus is there right now interceding for those who believe in Him. He is both the Authority and the Anointed one, Lord and Christ! His death and resurrection are the proof of that. When that message is understood it is overwhelming! Those listening to Peter preach in Acts asked, what do we do with all of this, brothers? And the only right response to understanding the life, death, resurrection, position, and power of Jesus is to repent and publicly profess Jesus is the Savior, through repentant faith you are forgiven of your sin and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, right there in that moment!
So Easter is not to be celebrated because of tradition, but because of the true Risen Savior! You can’t even really celebrate Easter properly if you have not repented and believed in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins. That’s what Easter is really all about. Salvation distributed by the grace of God alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Grasping a message like that will make you savor the easter dinner a whole lot more.
On Easter we celebrate the Risen Savior who gives a salvation that is better beyond all measure from anything we ever conceive.
I know that was a bit of an elongated introduction, but if you would open your Bibles to Hebrews 2. Here, the author of Hebrews is drawing our attention to just how great a salvation it is that Jesus accomplished for those who believe in Him. This is a bit of a biblical anthropology, that is an understanding of the human condition and what salvation entails for us. Let’s begin by looking at verse 5.
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
Now, to give you a little backstory here. In the verses just prior to where we are picking up today, we are told of the beautiful salvation Jesus bring. We are told that Jesus is the only way to escape just retribution for transgressions and disobedience. It is a beautifully great salvation and beginning here in verse 5 and then continued through verse 8 we are shown that this beautiful and magnificent salvation is given to people. This is a big deal. In the past, as we’ve been going through Hebrews, we’ve talked about angels. They are, from our perspective, truly remarkable creatures that are hard for us to even conceive. But the wonderful Salvation Jesus accomplished on the cross isn’t for them! It is not the Angels that God has subjected the world to come! Let’s look at who, then, God has subjected the world to come, and spoiler alert, if you are repentant of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you should be getting excited as we look at this, The Holy Spirit writes through the author of Hebrews starting in verse 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? 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.
I want you to imagine for a moment, the biggest most magnificent thing you can think of.
For me, it would be the entirety of the cosmos. I can’t even fully imagine the vastness of our universe. Even just look at the title slide for this series:
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Think of just how magnificent all of existence is. We’ve seen pictures and computer generated models of the galaxies. Our Earth is just a small speck in the milky way, floating about the stars, all of which are proclaiming the glory of the creator. It is a simple fact that God created everything in existence. The beauty of space gives glory to the artist whom painted it. Really ponder on the universe.
In our verses from hebrews, the Spirit is quoting from Psalm 8. Psalm 8 is all about the Majesty of God. The Psalmist writes:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
This is asking, when we see the greatness of all of creation, why would God even care about silly little creatures like us humans. And truthfully, this is a valid question. There is so much beauty all throughout the cosmos, why should God care for humans? “When we look at the vast, seemingly endless universe and then think about the little dot that we call earth in the middle of it all, we … cannot but ask, ‘What is man? What right do we have to be so much in the mind of God?’” (MacArthur)
The reality is that God cares for mankind because He has designed mankind to rule over this world.
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. 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.”
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
God designed humans, man and woman, and gave them the job to multiply across the earth. To work the land. To have dominion over everything in the earth. Not as oppressive abusers of creation, but as careful loving gardeners. He made mankind this way and then said it was very good!
We know that the excerpt from Psalms 8 included in Hebrews 2 is talking about creation and God’s plan for man’s dominion because of the latter part of verse 8
Hebrews 2:8 (ESV)
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.
Nothing was left outside of man’s control when God put everything in subjection to man! That is what we read from the Creation narrative! But we see a big problem that all of experience at the end of verse 8!
At the present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him!
I know that everything is not currently in subjection to man because I can’t even get my dog to stop trying to go through the window every time the mail lady drops off our mail!
In the current status, we don’t rule the world, the world rules us. Even with all of the great modern technology we enjoy, we are fighting against the world for our survival.
So what happened?
Sin!
Adam, the first man, sinned against God. Ever since mankind has been plagued by sin! All of the maladies of this world trace the origin to the original sin!
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
“The earth was originally subject to man, and it supplied all his needs without having to do anything. He had only accept and enjoy the earth as it provided for Him. Then, tempted by Satan, man sinned, and his tempter usurped the crown. There you see the change in the chain of command. Man fell to the bottom, and the earth, under the evil one, now rules man.” (MacArthur).
Prior to the fall Mankind cared for and ruled over the earth, but in sinning and falling to the temptation of the devil that role has been taken from man. 1 John 5:19 tells us the whole world lies in the power of the evil one! Sin, what is called the Fall effected every part of life as we know it. Interpersonal relationships are broken. Work is tough. Life is painful. We will all one done return to the dust. But the fall did not just effect mankind. The whole earth feels the effects of sin. Romans tells us that creation is eagerly awaiting for the revealing of the Sons of God. It does not wish to continue in this futile state, marred by the thorns and the thistles. Creation is groaning.
But know this and take it to the bank, there is coming a day when all the results of sin will be wiped away. The thorns, the thistles, the failed relationships, the pain. There’s going to be a day when all the hospitals close, there won’t be a need for armies. Isaiah explains it this way:
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
Things will be as they were prior to the Fall.
But as we look around at this world. We see such pain. We see such conflict. We think of wars. We think of racial division. We think of pure evil in the form of terrorism. We think it has to be a pipe dream for all of that to be gone. We are just too far gone. The pain of divorce is still stinging your heart. The guilt of hurting your loved ones weighs heavy on your heart. The abuse you once suffered plagues you in the darkest moments of the night. How is it possible that this hurting world and such hurting people can be healed?
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.
We know that there is restoration from the brokenness of sin because, while we may still currently see the pain of sin, we also see Jesus who is exalted and crowned with glory and honor. He suffered death so that by the grace of God He would provide salvation. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is an indisputable fact. And those who truly believe in Jesus, those who know Him as the Lord and their Christ, their authority and Savior, are saved and sealed for glory through what Christ accomplished in His death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
(Section based off of MacArthur Commentary) I, Brad Pearce, died many years ago. At the very moment my faith was placed in jesus Christ, I died with Him on the cross. I was just a little boy, but I died. And in that death, the curse of sin was removed. I don’t say this smugly but matter of factly, I am a king. I have not yet inherited the dominion set aside for me yet, but the crown has been restored. I am a joint-heir with Jesus. None of this should sound like some sort of self-promotion because the same is true for every single one of you who truly loves and knows Jesus Christ. The moment you receive Him, the moment you are convicted of your sins by the Holy Spirit and are drawn to repentance, you are now identified with him, you were crucified with Him, you were buried with Him, and He has raised you up to new life and inso the curse is removed! That’s what is pictured in baptism, through faith in Christ you are made holy royalty! We don’t yet get the kingdom but you can take it to the bank its coming. This fleshly body will pass away, but one day you will be given a resurrected glorious body!
Out of His great love and grace God allowed us to be restored to Him and given such a lofty position, by sending Jesus Christ to die and rise for our sins! That is what is meant in verse 9 when it says that Jesus was made lower than the angles for a little while. He had to experience death. He had to be the unblemished sacrifice to pay for sin. “If a man dies for his own sin, he is doomed forever to hell. But Christ came to die for us, because in His dying He could conquer death!” (MacAthur).
So I said this earlier and I’ll say this again: Easter is not to be celebrated because of tradition, but because of the true Risen Savior! You can’t even really celebrate Easter properly if you have not repented and believed in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins. Easter is about the Salvation distributed by the grace of God alone through faith alone in Christ alone who died on the cross but did not stay dead. Up from the grave He arose and He is crowned with glory and honor.
When the people gathered together at Pentecost and heard the message of salvation that God brought to mankind through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Bible says they were cut to the heart. Let me ask you this morning. Have you been cut to the heart? Do you see the sin not only plaguing this world, but also plaguing your soul? Do you realize that you are sinner? Do you realize for the first time that Easter isn’t about tradition, but it’s about a Risen Savior who came to save all those who believe in Him? Do you realize that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to escape the pangs of sin and that what He saves you to is better than you could ever imagine? Are you cut to the heart today?
If you are, you may be asking what those who heard Peter’s message asked. They said Brother, what shall we do about this? I’ll say to you what Peter said to them. Repent and make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ, your sins will be forgiven and you will enjoy the fullness of the glory that is to come.
We’re going to give you the opportunity to make such a profession today. We’re going to have a hymn of response where we will stand and sing. If you are being drawn to confess Jesus as your Savior and Lord, respond. Come down front. Publically proclaim you believe Jesus is your Way, your Truth, your Life. Do not tarry. Come now.