Jesus: The Son Incarnate (LWECF)

Introduction

Good morning everyone! My name is Jackson and it is a pleasure to be here this morning worshiping with you all.

Please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2. This morning we will be covering 2:5-18. I will be using the English Standard Version this morning. If you have a different translation, feel free to following along in that.

Today’s sermon is a simple one but it is on the most important topics that we can talk about. And that is this - what has Jesus Christ accomplished? What has he done?

Before we get started, I’d like read for us the entire passage we’ll be covering this morning.

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.”

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.

10 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. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

14 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, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 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. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Pray

I remember the night my grandfather - my mom’s father - passed away. I was in my parents’ room, watching a TV show with them, when my mom got the phone call. I remember the visceral cry that came from my mom. I remember going to the hospital with her and seeing my grandfather’s body on the bed. I remember my mom and her brothers insisting - insisting - that my grandfather was still alive. “Look he’s still breathing!” “His body is still warm!”

I remember my mom falling onto the floor of the hospital room, banging her head against the wall in uncontrolled grief.

I remember a day in 2009. I remember sitting in my room playing a video game when my dad came in and asked if I could drive him to the hospital. I remember when the doctors told us he had broken ribs and pneumonia but that was the least of our worries. Because he also had cancer and that he had 2 years to live. He lived for another 10.

I remember when my wife and I got the news that he was about to pass away. I remember getting there, watching him lay in the hospital bed breathing his last few breaths. I remember his funeral at the very start of the COVID lockdowns - a pandemic that at the time we were told would kill millions of people.

Death permeates our existences. It hangs over us like a dark cloud. It follows us. It punctuates every action we take and every accomplishment we achieve, with a solemn reminder of our ultimate destiny.

If we look around us at the world we recognize that there is something very wrong. While there is laughter and joy and love - there is also so much sadness and illness and death. We intuitively shelter our young from such things and only slowly let them understand the full depth of the evil that lurks in the world.

If we were honest, we don’t even truly know the full depths of depravity that this world holds because we push it from our minds and from our view. It disturbs us. It causes us to remember just how wrong everything is.

Instead, we numb ourselves with entertainment and distraction. We blind ourselves to our own frailty. We close our ears to the insistent voice that reminds us of our pending destruction.

And into this darkness comes the light of the world. Into this darkness, the Son of God takes on human weakness.

This section of Hebrews fits within the larger argument of the author. The author is exhorting the readers to stay grounded and focused on the Son so that they do not fall away and back to Judaism. They were being persecuted and tempted to go back to the religion that they knew and the religion that was socially accepted by the world.

And the author of Hebrews says is that the reason for not turning away from Christianity and back to Judaism is because of what Jesus has accomplished for humanity.

Let me give you the main point of the passage and the sermon this morning.

Main Point: The Son became a man and suffered death to redeem his people

Imagine yourself in the shoes of these first century Christians. You are being persecuted for your faith. You were publically insulted. You are having your possessions taken from you because you profess Jesus! Put yourself in their place as you watched friends being thrown in prison, being evicted from homes, having their livelihoods taken away.

And if you just turned back to what you have always known - if you just turned back to Judaism, you’d be able to escape this persecution and this suffering.

And the author of Hebrews says, “It won’t be better. Stay in the faith because it is better to suffer and have Jesus.”

They could be thrown in to prison, but they were still free. They could be evicted from their homes but they had a far better home. They could have all their possession taken but they had a far greater treasure.

The problem is that they were looking at the symptoms and wanted that alleviated. But the Son has the cure! They saw persecution and death and they wanted to go back to what they knew. They wanted to stop the pain from continuing. But the Son had already defeated the very reason for their suffering in his incarnation.

The author provides three arguments for why trusting in the Son is a far better:

Jesus became a man to restore humanity

Jesus became a man to destroy Satan

Jesus became a man to intercede for his people

Whatever they were facing, whatever hardships, the Son in human flesh has accomplished what they needed most.

In his work, the Son has reversed the course of the world and the damage that was started by Adam and continued by us. Humanity has fallen from its rightful place because of Adam’s sin, given over to the power of Satan who exercises the power of death over us, and we have been corrupted by sin.

We were made to rule, but because of Adam we are slaves.

We were made for eternal life, but because of Adam we die.

We were made holy, but because of Adam we are corrupted by sin and are sinners by nature.

Let’s start with point 1:

Point 1: Jesus became a man to restore humanity (2:5-13)

We see in verse 5, “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.”

The author has spent the last chapter - in Hebrews 1 - arguing that the Son is superior to the angels and we know that he rules and reigns now as the King. But if you look back in chapter 1 verse 14, the author stated, “Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

What the author argues then is that angels are not the ones who will inherit the world. Rather, it is human beings who are to rule over the world and angels minister to us.

To prove this, the author Hebrews turns to Psalm 8. He quotes Psalm 8 starting in Hebrews 1:6:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

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.”

A little context for Psalm 8 - for the past few Psalms, since Psalm 3, David had been crying out to the Lord. He’s asked to be heard and to be delivered. He’s recognized persecution and suffering.

Psalm 8 breaks into view, offering a praise-filled counterpoint to the preceding Psalms of lament.

And in this Psalm, David reflects on a wonderful truth - that God has created mankind to rule over everything! God has created humanity for glory and honor.

In his commentary on this, the author Hebrews states, “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.” Nothing is outside the control of human beings. All things were made to be under him.

But immediately there’s a problem. And the author acknowledges it. It’s a problem that surely would’ve immediately come to the mind of his readers, “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” As those being persecuted, they would have immediately objected. How could he say that everything was in subjection to them? Were they not being thrown into prisons? Were they not being evicted from their homes? Were they not suffering persecution by those in power over them?

It cannot possibly be true that all things were in subjection to them because it is not the reality that they lived in. In fact, it’s not the reality that you or I live in. When we look around we see that the idea that Christians rule over the world is ridiculous.

The author freely acknowledges this. “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” Human beings have some authority in this world but it is a veneer. Not everything is in subjection to us. We are not ruling as God’s representatives on earth in the manner He created us for because there is a problem.

And the problem is us. Humanity has fallen. Adam and Eve, created to rule over creation, chose to rebel against God rather than serve God. They chose to listen to Satan rather than trust in God’s promises. And so we’ve been taken from a place of authority to subjugation.

This truth - that we are not as we were meant to be - is self-evident. Every culture and every civilization and every religion acknowledges something is wrong. Whether that’s Islam or Buddhism, Hinduism or Jainism. Every religion acknowledges that something is wrong. Our current life situation is not right. Death is normal but not natural. The questions are why and what is the solution?

Every religion and every worldview must deal with the questions of why things are the way they are. And what is to be done to solve it?

For Christians, the One True God has spoken and he’s told us that the problem is not out there only. It’s us. It’s humanity that is problem with world. Human beings were made to represent God on earth and to live under him ruling the world. But we corrupted that. We do not represent God as we should. And so we’ve lost our place as God’s vice-regents. There’s a standard and we can’t meet that standard. There’s nothing we can do to fix it - we can’t make it right because we are the problem!

We compound the problem every single day. We choose evil instead of good. We choose sin instead of God!

What is to be the solution? Well, God tells us that He himself will save us.

Here in our text we see the problem. We were made to be crowned with honor and glory with everything in subjection under us. And yet we are well aware, as the author points out, that that’s not the reality we live in.

The author says in verse 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.”

This verse might be a bit difficult to understand. I appreciate the way the Christian Standard Bible translates this verse. It translates it like this.

“But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.” (CSB)

First, notice that the author states “But we do see Jesus.” Right now we don’t see how it’s possible that we were made for glory and honor. Life is painful. Life is difficult. Even the future promise of restoration can seem distant and vague. But the author says, look at Jesus! Look to Jesus. We see Him! We know Him! We love Him!

Even though we don’t see how we rule and reign now, we do see Jesus who rules and reigns. We know the one who was raised from the dead! We know our Lord and Savior!

Second, notice that this is the first time the name “Jesus” is mentioned in the book. Up to this point, the author has called him “the Son.” For 19 verses, the author has no named our Lord and Savior. But here, Jesus is named for impact. God the Son - the one whom the author says in chapter 1 as the one who “laid the foundation of the earth” and the one who “upholds the universe by his powerful word” - that very God has taken on human flesh. In his incarnation God the Son is also “human” and therefore had a human name with a human nature.

Philippians 2:6 says it this way, “though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Even though the Son was co-equal with God the Father, he did not see it as something to exploit or take advantage of. He did not see it as something to prevent him from being a servant. Instead, “he emptied himself.” He gave away his rights and privileges as God and took upon himself flesh as a slave. He became a man - lower than the angels. He took upon himself our condition - our fallenness.

Third, he did so so that he might taste death for everyone. God cannot die. God is eternal, immortal, all powerful. But a frail human could. And so God took upon himself human flesh and became Jesus so that he could die for everyone.

And it is in His death that Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor.” God the Son emptied himself by giving up all rights and privileges as God in adding to himself a human nature - the nature of slaves in bondage to sin. He did that so that he might die for everyone. Yet in dying he was crowned with glory and honor.

Again, Philippians 2 says something similar. Starting in verse 8 of Philippians 2, Paul says, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore [because of his death on the cross] God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

It is because of his death on the cross that the Father has exalted Him above all.

Notice in our text this morning in verse 9 that Jesus was crowned with “glory and honor.” In the psalm, human being were to be crowned with “glory and honor.” Jesus in his death has accomplished what human beings were meant to. Human beings were meant to be crowned with honor and glory but are currently not. Instead, Jesus at his death and resurrection is now crowned with glory and honor.

Verses 10-11, “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.”

Jesus, in assuming humanity, has restored humanity. In suffering, he was “made perfect.” That idea of being made perfect appears multiple times in the book of Hebrews and it means “being made fit for the role”. Here, Jesus was made fit for the role of the one who sanctifies us through suffering.

As a human being, Jesus did what no other human being could do. He lived perfectly as human beings should. He died obediently. And in doing that, He was raised from the dead to be crowned with honor and glory. And so we see him - Jesus, our older brother who shares our humanity, sitting at the right hand of God in authority and honor.

You see, brothers and sisters, Jesus is the visible promise of the future restoration of humanity! In his body, He’s already accomplished that restoration of humanity. He’s come from among us and has gone before us to achieve what none of us can achieve. He’s achieved perfect status as the one who is crowned and glory and honor.

In his incarnation - his becoming a man - Jesus has restored humankind to its proper place. The author of Hebrews wants you, Christian, to know that no matter how bleak life looks, not matter how difficult it gets, no matter how awful things become - you don’t need to find refuge in anything else but Jesus. Our hope lies with Him.

Some of you are here this morning and you might be feeling the oppression of life. Some of you may be dealing with illness in the family. Maybe a death and the consequences of death.

You might be here this morning and you’re fighting your own fear of death. The idea of being sick and dying might be something that grips you with terror.

Others of us may be facing the effects of the fall in other ways.

Children who struggle because of disabilities. Family members who are addicted to drugs.

Sometimes its less physical than it is mental. The depression that keeps threatening to surface again to pull you down in despair. The anxiety that grips you in unforeseen circumstances.

And it’s easy to begin to doubt. How could it possibly be true that we - frail, weak, dying human beings - were meant to be crowned with glory?

Christian - you can endure the difficulties of life because of Jesus. As Christians, we believe that God the Son has taken on human flesh - with all its weakness and frailty - to die to restore humanity! It might seem hopeless for the world - but for those who have put our faith in Jesus we know that this is temporary. All of that will go away when we are reunited with our God and Savior on the last day. Jesus has already restored all things. We waiting for its consummation.

But we are not here just to wait around. We are called by God for more than that. Notice verse 11. Look in your Bibles. “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified…” Jesus is the one who sanctifies us. He is holy and he is making us holy. We are called to be holy. Why? The author says its because we have one source. Jesus and those who sanctifies both have the same Father - God Almighty.

Think of it as family resemblance. Just as he took upon himself human nature to restore us and calls us brothers, so too we need to resemble our elder brother. Sin came into the world because of the corruption of Adam and Eve. Jesus has restored us and we are now empowered to holiness. In fact, being restored to what we were meant to be means that we have been restored to holiness. We are called to holiness.

Your life, Christian, is not about avoiding suffering. It’s not about climbing the corporate latter to be accepted by your colleagues or amass more money. Life is not about accumulating more fun experiences or the next thrill. Its not about finding yourself. It’s not about extending our lives. It is about relying on God to become holy.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 states, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”

Ephesians 1:4, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

I know a guy I served as a pastor with a few years ago. And his kids - all but one of them - look exactly like him. And he and his brother look exactly alike. And they look like their dad. Its uncanny when you see 8 people standing around looking almost exactly the same as each other except they’re different ages. There is no mistaking that they are family! My joke is that there has always been someone who looks like him in the history of humanity. Adam probably looked like him!

When someone looks at you, Christian, do they see a resemblance to Jesus? Obviously not in the way you look but in your actions and your speech. Do they see your resemblance to Jesus in how you handle the situation with your boss? Do you exude Jesus in the midst of persecution? Do they see Jesus in your reaction to sickness and death? Do they comprehend Jesus better in your caring for your children in their difficulties?

Or do you turn to the world for refuge? Do you turn to your old way of thinking and acting - with anger and grumbling and discontentment and hopelessness?

Do you live as one who knows you will receive the world as your inheritance? Do you live as one who is Jesus’ brother or sister rather than one who is still bound to sin and Satan?

Jesus has not only restored mankind in his incarnation - he’s also defeated Satan and the power of death.

Point number two is this:

Point 2: Jesus became a man to destroy Satan

Look with me starting a verse 14, “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.”

The Devil - Satan - we are told has power in this world. His authority is stated elsewhere in the New Testament. I am going to go through a few of them for us just to understand - this world is under the influence of Satan.

1 John 5:19 states, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

John 12:31, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”

John 14:30, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,”

2 Corinthians 4:4, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Ephesians 2:1-2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—”

Death is under the dominion of Satan. This death prevents human beings from properly exercising our God-given duties. Human beings - after Adam and Eve - have been subject to Satan’s domain. We have been under the power of death. We have not been able to serve as God has intended humanity to because of Satan’s power over us!

Friend, if you’re here today and you have not placed your faith in Jesus, have you considered death? I remember before I became a Christian - when I thought of death my heart would sink and I would have to force myself to stop thinking about it.

Friend, no matter how much you accomplish, not matter how much you learn or work out or store up in wealth - all that of that will be gone when you die. It is not just an event that happens to all of us - it is a sentence that hangs over us.

Watching my dad pass away without the hope of Jesus was one of the most difficult things I’ve experienced.

No matter what we do, no matter what we accomplish, not matter how we live - all of it is permeated with the knowledge that we will die. That it is all futile. We know we’ll be gone and in a couple generations completely forgotten. How many of us can name our great grandparents?

My daughters don’t know my dad. My youngest never met him.

In Jesus, however, death was defeated. As man, Jesus could die. But as God, the Son was impervious to the power of death. Death could not hold him! It had no claim on Him! He defeated death and rose again - as a man that fulfills the destiny of humanity!

Because of his death, death no longer has power over anyone who places their trust in Jesus. He’s died the death that you, Christian, deserved!

We should fear death because death is not natural to us. We were made for eternal life! Jesus offers that restoration by accomplishing it in his incarnation, death and resurrection. He’s defeated and destroyed Satan.

Yet Satan being “destroyed” here does not mean that Satan is gone. We know from other parts of the Bible that Satan is very much alive. Rather, “destroyed” here refers to the fact that Jesus has delivered the death blow.

Satan now has a death sentence over his head. He will die. He will be defeated. His power has been taken away. It’s been neutralized. He no longer has power over you, Christian!

Christian - you used to be called Children of Wrath. You used to be owned by the Prince of the Power of the Air. You used to be under the dominion of Satan! No more! Satan has no hold on you! Death has no power over you. That means that if you are a Christian and you died today, we know you’ll be resurrected to eternal life at the last day. Death has no claim on you because Jesus has died for you.

I need to make a point of clarification here before I transition into my last point. This might be a bit a lot of new information for you but I hope you continue pay attention because this is extremely important.

In the early church, some have used this text to argue for a specific view of Jesus’ atoning work. Atoning work is what he’s done to atone for - to make up for - humanity’s sin. What has Jesus done to make us “at-one” with God? And in the early church, they used this text to argue for what’s called Christus Victor. What that view states is that a ransom needed to be paid to Satan because of our sin. Because of our sin, Satan exercised power over humans beings and what we really needed was for someone to ransom us back from Satan into God’s domain. In fact, some would see it as a trickery. Jesus in his human nature tricked Satan so that Satan killed Jesus and yet Jesus is righteous. Therefore Satan exercised his power of death over someone who should not have died.

Church, there’s something huge missing in that view.

Christus Victor is not wrong in one sense. Satan did and still does in some sense have the power of death over humanity. Jesus’ death did take us from the domain of Satan into the domain of God. Jesus’ was an innocent who suffered a punishment that He didn’t incur.

However, there is a huge central understanding of our problem that’s missing. What this view does is it states that all of our problems - our entire problem - was Satan’s dominion over us. But it denies God’s just wrath towards sin.

So let me give you my last point today:

Point 3: Jesus became a man to intercede for the sins of his people (2:17-18)

Let’s read together starting in Hebrews 2:17, “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.”

The Lord Jesus had to be made like us in every respect so that he could redeem us. In his becoming like us, he became a merciful and faithful high priest specifically to make propitiation for the sins of His people.

Friend, you die not because Satan has power over death. That’s true in some respect. But you are under Satan’s power of death because of your sin! Death comes because of sin! The only way that death can be conquered is if sin has been atoned for.

We are told here that Jesus died as a propitiation for the sins of the people. Now that word is a big word. It’s a theological word. I believe that at its core the word is pointing to the reality that Jesus died to appease God because of his just wrath towards sin and sinners. Jesus died so that God’s wrath against sin and sinners is taken away.

A lot of people nowadays are afraid to talk about God’s wrath. It makes us uncomfortable. In our current culture, it is all about “love.” “God is love,” people say. He can just forgive. If God is truly love, he can just wave a magic wand and let us into heaven.

Friend, God is wrathful against sins and sinners because he is Holy. As one author states, “His wrath or anger is not the explosion of a bad temper or a chronic inability to restrain his irritability, but rather a just and principled opposition to sin.”

God cannot just shrug his shoulders at sin as if it were nothing. Imagine if you just witnessed a crime - a cold blooded murder - and the judge over the case just shrugged his shoulders at it and pardons the murderer.

I would hope that you would say that that is an injustice. That justice was not served! That the judge was wrong and unjust in not caring that a heinous crime was committed and not carrying out the punishment due to that murderer.

Friends, God by nature of who He is - holy, good, just, righteous - he must punish sin. And yet God, in his love and mercy, took upon himself human nature and took upon himself the punishment that was due to us. And in doing that he paid for the punishment of actual sins.

Jesus propitiated God by appeasing his anger towards sins and sinners by being a substitute for us.

Friend - God cannot merely shrug his shoulders at your sins. As a just God, he must punish sins. The question is whether or not you are willing to accept what he’s done in his love and mercy- which is to take upon himself that punishment for you.

Notice what verse 18 says, “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Jesus himself suffered when tempted. Another way to translate that word is “tested.” He was tested when he sweated blood in the Garden of Gethsamane.

He was tested when he hung on the cross crying “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus suffered so that he can intercede for you - to help you who also are being tested.

The world thinks its unjust and unloving because God must punish sin. But friend, a just judge must punish crime. But God in his love and mercy condescended - stooped down to our level and took upon himself human flesh so that he could incur the punishment himself! He is both just and loving! He is holy and merciful! He is a far greater God than our feeble minds can imagine! That love is far greater than a callous love that shrugs its shoulders at evil.

It is a love that is born of sweat and tears and blood by a God that is majestic and beautiful. The infinite God became a fragile man and felt the pain of nails in his hands. Felt his lungs fill with blood as he suffocated - drowned - in it. Felt the wrath of God against sinners in his body.

Friend - Jesus, God Himself, suffered so that you don’t have to. If you don’t know Him, if you have not yet trusted in him, turn to Him! Trust in what he’s done in becoming a man to die for your sins.

If you do, your punishment has been paid for! Jesus has taken upon the punishment for you!

Will you do that? Will you turn to Jesus in faith for the forgiveness of your sins?

Christian - as you’re sitting here this morning listening to my voice, I want you to reflect on just how amazing God’s love is for you! The God of the Universe became a human being - with all the frailty that involves. To sweat, to hunger, to thirst, to bleed, to die! Why would why would we ever turn away from such an amazing gift? Who cares what the world throws at us? Who cares if they take away our homes, our jobs, our livelihood? Jesus has done it all for us!

We see 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 and restore us to God.

Embrace him! Love him! Keep holding on to him in the midst of all the craziness that’s going on because he has accomplished everything needed to be accomplished for us to be as we were made to be.

Conclusion

Humanity has fallen. The world has fallen. When we look around and we see death and decay, sadness and pain, disease and brokenness, the celebration of killing - we understand instinctively and intuitively that something is very wrong.

When I looked at my dad in the coffin at his funeral, I felt the wrongness of death.

What we may not want to recognize is that the problem is us. And sometimes the world does realize the problem is humanity in some sense but it looks at the wrong problems and think - if we can fix just this one thing then life would be better for everyone.

If we can fix wealth disparities, if we could fix the economy situation, if we could fix bad policies, if we could get the right politicians into office, if we could fix global warming, if we can fix the educational system, if we could fix and fix and fix.

Friend, our deepest problem is just us. We are broken and there is nothing that we can do to fix it. There’s nothing we can do! That’s what the world hates so much about Christianity!

There’s no self-confidence booster here. There’s no self-image help. There’s no work we can do to change our situation. We are helpless to fix our problem.

Into that darkness and despair - God the Son broke into human existence. He took upon himself the hopeless, helpless state of humanity and fixed us. He restored humanity by defeating death in rising again to rule the way God intended humanity to rule. He destroyed Satan and his power of death over humanity. He shed his blood to propitiate God for our sins.

The work of God the Son is that he became a man, Jesus - lived obediently on our behalf, died on a cross to pay for the punishment of sinners, was raised again to defeat the power of death and Satan himself, and sat down to rule and reign as King. That is the good news. And it is a good news that leaves open an invitation, friend. It is a good news that requires a response. Will you reject him or come and draw close to the one who can restore you?

Come to him all you who are weary and heavy-ladened and he will give rest for your souls. Come to him and receive restoration and eternal peace and comfort.

Let’s pray.