Impact Monday - Fearless of Death

Introduction

Good morning and welcome again to this gathering of Hope Bible Fellowship. It’s always such a joy to be here with you. I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2 where we will be today. Last week I started in talking about the Ministries of Jesus. I mentioned that I was splitting the eight verses into two sections. Last week was part one and today we dive into verses 14-18 for part two of the ministries of Jesus. This is a focus on what Jesus accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection for us.

If you’ll recall, last week we talked about the saving ministry of Jesus and the sanctifying ministry of Jesus. We talked about the family traits of the family of God and that when we are adopted into this family we have Jesus as our perfect elder brother and we are sanctified by Jesus. He makes us more and more like Him.

Today, in verses 14-18 we see Jesus’s humanity and suffering. We see his identifying with us and living life facing the same things we do. It’s another reminder of the main theme of the book of Hebrews that Jesus is better. So many times we go through life and we face hardships or hard choices. We face distractions from our main task. We face family and friends letting us down or outright betraying us. We face heavy temptations and the more we resist it seems that the pressure gets more and more intense. Have you ever thought that surely, no one understands what you are going through. Surely no one understands your life? The truth is that none of us can truly ever say that no one understands our life. Jesus understands your life. He knows where you are at because He has faced the suffering and pain of human existence. My intention is that you see this in the Word of God today. Let’s read from Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14-18.

Hebrews 2:14–18 ESV

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

I. Jesus is really human.

Jesus being really human means that he was capable of being our high priest. The author of Hebrews will address this understanding of Jesus as high priest later in the book but we see elements of that even here. What does it mean that Jesus is our high priest.

Before we get there we need to look at two problems with the Old Testament sacrificial system.

Two problems with the OT sacrificial system:

The sacrifices have to continually be made. They were not sufficient as once and for all sacrifices.

The high priests came and went. They would die and and a new one would be in the role. We needed a high priest who could continually advocate for us before the Father.

Our high priest, Jesus Christ, can understand us and intercede perfectly for us because He became one of us.

V. 14 - Core theological truth:

- Jesus is a real human in every way

- He had to become human to represent humans

Explained in v. 16

Jesus set out on a plan to save you and me. He wasn’t doing this for angels.

He is out to save flesh and blood.

He became human so that we could die as a human for humans, for us.

This is not the type of high priest that the first century Jews would have expected. If you go back and read about the role of the High Priest and what they wore and the rituals that they carried out, you can see that the Jews would have expected something more akin to one of the Pharisees or teachers of law and not a suffering servant who became human to ultimately die and not sacrifice an animal for human sin, but would become the perfect sacrifice for that sin Himself.

The reason why Jesus came as a human is explained in verses 14-15. This is the subduing ministry of Jesus. He conquered death.

When it says that Satan has the power of death, the author is not meaning ultimate power over death. As Micheal Kruger writes, “Satan has the power of death in the sense that he influences the thing that causes death.” That thing is sin. Death is the result of sin. Sin is rebellion against God. The penalty for sin is death. Jesus died to bear sin.

Isaiah 53:12 ESV

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Hebrews 9:28 ESV

so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

By Jesus’ death He defeated the devil and the power of death.

Hebrews 2:14 ESV

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

1 Corinthians 15:20–26 ESV

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Key point: If you know that death has no power over you, then you can really fearlessly live for Christ.

Jesus’ death did two really important things:

Defeated death

Satisfied the wrath of God

V. 17 - Propitiation - a specific word for a wrath removing sacrifice. It means that Jesus’ death satisfies the wrath of God against sin.

Galatians 3:13 ESV

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

As one author mentioned, Jesus became like a sponge, soaking up the wrath of God rightfully due to sinners like you and me.

God is angry at sin. Kruger writes, “God is right to be angry at sin. If you are in Christ you don’t need to fear that anger because there is no anger left for you. You have God’s favor resting on you now and need not be afraid.”

Jesus is a real human being who died a real death, was raised in a real resurrection, and this means He accomplished all of this for you.

The wrath of God is satisfied. Because of this, we can now live without the fear of death. The scripture speaks of us living in slavery. But in Christ we are set free!

II. Jesus really suffered. (v. 16-18)

Think of this as the sympathizing ministry of Jesus. It wasn’t just that He was a human. It was that He lived amount us and experienced the worst of what we experience. He did all of that without sin. The reason Jesus is an effective high priest is because he can relate to you and me. Jesus can relate to us.

Hebrews 2:18 ESV

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

III. Jesus really understands.

He understands what it feels like to be abandoned or lonely.

Isaiah 53:3 ESV

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.

He knows what it is like to be rejected. He was put to death by His own people.

He knows what it is to feel grief by losing someone you love.

John 11:35 ESV

Jesus wept.

He knows what it is like to be lied about. He was betrayed by a close friend.

Do you have financial concerns?

Matthew 8:20 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

He knows what it is to be misunderstood by family members.

Mark 3:21 ESV

And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Have you ever felt highly stressed?

Luke 22:44 ESV

And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus gets you. He understands your life. He understands how you are tempted and he suffered. He relates to what you are going through. He overcame it all. He never gave into the pressure but He fully understands the pressure that is on you and mounting with every temptation. He fully understands how much we suffer in this life, but we can never understand how much He suffered in His life.

He was tempted in the ways we are.

In Luke 4 we read about the temptation of Jesus. He was tempted with personal glory, with wealth and power, and later in life He was tempted to try and avoid suffering. But He did not give in. Please understand that just because he did not give in doesn’t mean that He did not feel the pain.

His suffering matters because it means that Jesus could be a high priest that was both merciful and faithful. (v. 17)

Jesus is a faithful high priest.

He intercedes before you.

He never takes a day off. He never calls in for a sick day.

If He endured all of that suffering and temptation faithfully, without giving in, then we can rely on Him to be faithful as our intercessor before God. He’s our faithful High Priest.

Jesus is a merciful high priest.

He knows what it is like to be in our situation and has compassion on us. He is a merciful High Priest. His suffering on our behalf shows us He can be trusted as our merciful High Priest.

Our suffering serves to make us more compassionate and merciful. God uses suffering for good. He used the suffering in Jesus’ life for our good. He often will use suffering in our lives for the good of others. Will you trust Him as the faithful and merciful High Priest when you suffer?

Jesus is the perfect High Priest for us. He is fully divine and fully human. He is our perfect representative before God who, as we saw in last week’s passage, is able to and promised to bring us into His glory.

He is better than any High Priest that any first century Jew or any of us could imagine. We couldn’t come up with this on our own. Jesus is better.

Invitation to Respond:

***Musicians***

Pray

Read

Main repeat point:

The opposite of fear is faith.