A Gift Worth Understanding
Hebrews 2:5-18
December 9, 2001
Intro:
A. [The Delivery of a Child, Citation: Robin Greenspan, Chester, Massachusetts, Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."]
My cousin, Bill, was excited and nervous about the birth of his first child.
When the anticipated day arrived, the father-to-be drove his wife Betty quickly to the hospital, speeding past the admitting entrance.
"Bill, that’s where we’re supposed to go," Betty said.
"No, Honey," Bill said. "I saw a sign that said DELIVERIES IN THE REAR."
B. The Bible makes it clear that the birth of Christ (which we call Christmas) was not when Christ came into existence.
1. The Bible makes it clear that Christ has always been in existence with God, the Father.
2. So if Christ was already in existence, why was He born?
3. Why did Christ transform Himself into a human being in the womb of a woman?
4. Why did Christ come?
5. The birth of Christ is a gift that God has given to man.
6. Jesus Christ is the greatest gift that has ever been given to man.
7. The birth of Christ is a gift worth understanding.
8. So why was Christ born?
9. Why did He come?
I. Jesus Came to Regain Our Dominion
Hebrews 2:5-9, It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
A. OK., let’s jump into this with both feet.
B. First the Hebrews, to whom this letter was written, thought quite a bit about angels.
1. They placed a great deal of importance upon angels.
2. In fact there were many who worshipped them.
3. Now angels are no doubt important to us for our protection, but God never intended for us to worship them or spend so much time studying them.
4. Angels are important, but not a priority.
5. And the Hebrew writer is saying that God did not subject the creation to angels.
6. This world was not created for the angels to have dominion over it.
7. How do I know that is what he is saying? Let’s continue…
C. In verses 6-8, the Hebrew writer is quoting a Psalm of David, which we have in our Bibles as Psalm 8.
1. Let’s go back and read all of Psalm 8: For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
2. Now this "man" that David is referring to in Psalm 8:4 is "mankind."
3. The "son of man" is "mankind" as well.
4. Both phrases mean the same thing.
5. I know that Jesus referred to Himself as the "Son of Man" on many occasions, but this reference is not to Him, but to mankind.
6. David is saying that it is absolutely amazing that God would create the world with all the stars and moons and flocks and birds and put all of creation under the dominion of mankind.
7. [re-read vss 3-8]
8. And this is what the Hebrew writer is referring to in Hebrew 2:5-8.
9. Yet David did not see the whole picture.
10. Since David lived prior to the birth of Christ, he wasn’t privy to the entire picture as the Hebrew writer was.
11. The Hebrew writer explains this more accurately. [Re-read Hebrews 2:5-8, explaining "him" as "mankind."]
D. So why don’t we see everything subject to man right now?
1. You see from the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, God had a plan for mankind.
2. But when Adam and Eve sinned, the plan fell through.
3. Now watch this: You see the plan was for mankind to be dominant, they were to have dominion over everything.
4. Genesis 1:28, God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule [KJV: "have dominion"] over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
5. You see God’s plan was for mankind to be dominant over creation.
6. Mankind was to have dominion over all the earth.
7. But when Adam & Eve sinned, they lost that position of dominance.
8. David didn’t catch this, but the Hebrew writer did: Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.
E. But notice in verse 9 why Christ came: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
1. Paraphrase:
a. "At present we do not see everything subject to mankind, but we do see Jesus!"
b. "He too was made a little lower than the angels."
c. "He was born as a human."
d. "And He has now tasted death and returned to heaven.
e. "There He has been crowned with glory and honor."
f. "At present, we do not see everything subject to mankind, but we do see Jesus who does have the glory and honor of having everything put under Him!"
2. Do you see what the Hebrew writer is telling us?
3. He is saying that even though we are no longer dominant because of our own sin, Jesus Christ came to give us that dominance again!
4. Through Christ we can have dominance over the earth again!
5. Through Christ we can have dominance over life and death!
6. Through Christ we have the power and dominion over everything!
7. Jesus came to regain our dominion!
F. Do you have the kind of power in your life?
1. Jesus has the power and dominion over everything!
2. Do you have that resurrection power in your life?
3. Through Christ you can have dominion as you were intended to!
4. Has Christ been born in your life?
5. Is that dominion over everything present in your life?
6. Do you understand that this is one of the reasons why Christ was born?
7. Do you understand that this is one of the reasons we celebrate the birth of Christ?
8. Do you understand that God sent His Son so that you could have dominion?
II. Jesus Came to Recover Our Dilemmas
Hebrews 2:10-13, In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12 He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again he says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me."
A. Jesus came to relate to us.
1. Jesus came to experience what we experience.
2. Jesus came to identify with us.
3. He came to know what suffering is all about.
4. He became a man to undergo the sufferings and trials that you and I go through.
5. Jesus suffered as much or more than any other human being.
6. Jesus Christ came so that He could relate to our suffering.
7. In order to bring us back to our place of dominion and glory, it was fitting (right, proper) for Him to be made perfect through suffering.
8. It had to be done; it was the right thing to do; it was the only thing that could be done it order to bring us back to our destined position and power.
B. It was all about compassion!
1. Eight times the gospel writers refer to compassion as the reason why Jesus did the things He did.
2. God is a God of compassion and because He is so compassionate, He sent His Son to be born a human in order that He could better understand us and have more compassion for us!
3. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
4. Jesus Christ came to show us compassion in our times of suffering!
5. Jesus came to enable Himself to sympathize with our suffering.
6. How else would God be able to truly understand suffering?!
7. It was about compassion.
C. And you see, it was also about salvation.
1. There had to be a price paid for your sins and my sins.
2. And what we have to understand about this is that this is how it HAD to be!
3. There was no other way possible!
4. You remember Jesus prayed for some other possibility in the Garden of Gethsemane: Matthew 26:39, Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
5. Jesus pleaded for another way, but there wasn’t one!
6. The Hebrews thought that it was possible that angels could save them; but angels cannot save!
7. Many think Mary can save, but Mary cannot be our Savior!
8. Many think Buddha or Muhammad can save.
9. Many think they can save themselves by being a good person.
10. But only Jesus Christ is fully God and became a human being, suffered everything that we suffered, died on the cross as the perfect lamb of God—therefore only Jesus could and can save!
11. There was and is no other way!
12. It HAD to be this way!
13. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
D. Do you have a High Priest like that?
1. Do you have a friend or a priest who can understand EVERTHING your going trough?
2. Do you have a friend or a priest who has suffered like you have and therefore has compassion for you?
3. Do you have a friend or a priest who died for you?
4. Do you have a friend or a priest who has triumphed over death?
5. Do you have a friend or a priest who has sat down at the right hand of God?
6. Jesus is the PERFECT high priest!
7. Jesus is the PERFECT friend!
8. Jesus is the One that I want to intercede before God for me!
9. Jesus is the One that I will worship!
10. Jesus is the One that I will go to in time of trouble!
11. Jesus is the One who will have compassion for my suffering!
12. Jesus came to recover our dilemmas!
III. Jesus Came to Release us from Detention
Hebrews 2:14-15, Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
A. I have used the word "detention" as a "d" word for slavery or bondage.
1. Jesus came to release us from slavery.
2. Jesus came to release us from the bondage of the fear of death.
B. Jesus came to destroy the devil.
1. Do you know that there is one word that will summarize the devil’s works?
2. Do you know that there is one word that summarizes what Satan did to Adam and Eve?
3. Do you know that there is one word that summarizes what Satan wants to do in your life?
4. That one word is "DESTRUCTION!"
5. Satan is here to destroy everything he can!
6. Satan was in the Garden of Eden to destroy God’s plan for mankind!
7. Satan is in your life to destroy your soul!
8. Satan is bent on destruction!
9. Do you see that verse 14 says that Jesus came to DESTROY the DESTROYER!
10. Hallelujah!
11. Jesus came to DESTROY the one who holds the power of death!
C. Jesus came so that we would have no fear of death!
1. Jesus came so that we could live without fear.
2. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:55, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
3. Death has no victory and not even a sting because Satan can kill us, but we will live again!
4. Romans 6:4, We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5. Just as surely as Christ was raised from the dead, so shall we!
6. People foolishly think that nothing is going to happen to their bodies and that since bad things always happen to other people, they assume that they are invincible and are going to live forever.
7. Their thinking is foolishness, but mine is based on reality!
8. Mine is based on the truth of the Word of God!
9. I AM going to live forever!
10. Can’t nobody take that away from me!
11. Not even the one who holds the power of death can take that away from me!
12. I’m going to live forever! Jesus came so that I could live forever!
13. Jesus came so that we would have no fear of death.
14. Jesus came to free us from the slavery to the fear of death.
15. We deserve to die because of our sins and be eternally separated from God in hell.
16. But Jesus came to free us from the slavery of fearing that.
17. Jesus came to release us from detention and free us to truly live!
IV. Jesus Came to Restore us from Defeat
Hebrews 2:16-18, For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
A. Jesus came to make atonement for us.
1. The best way I can define this word is to simply break it down: at-one-ment.
2. Jesus came to make us one with the Father again.
3. Jesus came to restore the relationship that we were intended to have with the Father.
4. Part of the plan for mankind in the Garden of Eden was that we would have a personal relationship with the Father.
5. But because mankind sinned we have been separated from God and therefore have lost our personal relationship with Him.
6. The Good News though is that Jesus came to restore that relationship.
7. Jesus came to make us to be at one with the Father once again.
8. Jesus died to make us one with the Father again.
9. Jesus died to restore our relationship with the Father again.
10. Jesus died to make atonement for our sins.
B. And not only did He restore our relationship with the Father, he also helps us overcome temptations that occur in our day-to-day lives (verse 18).
1. Not only can Christ sympathize with our suffering, he can also sympathize with our temptations!
2. Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.
3. Jesus has been tempted in every way that we have; He therefore understands our temptations.
4. However, unlike us, Christ knows how to resist all temptations --yet was without sin.
5. Not only does Jesus understand our temptations, He knows how to resist them.
6. 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
7. Jesus Christ came to experience temptation, find the way out, and provide the way out for us as well.
C. Jesus came to give us victory in our relationship with God, He came to give us victory over temptation, and He came to give us victory over death.
1. We read 1 Corinthians 15:55 earlier, now listen the next two verses: 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. That’s worth celebrating, isn’t it?
3. VICTORY IN JESUS!
4. Makes you just want to have Christmas today, doesn’t it?
D. Are you experiencing victory in your life?
1. Are you experiencing victory in your relationship with the Father?
2. Are you experiencing victory in your resistance to sin?
3. Are you experiencing victory in your view of death?
4. Jesus came to restore us from defeat! Jesus came to give us victory!
Conclusion:
A. Jesus Christ is a gift worth understanding!
1. Do you understand that Jesus came to give you power and dominion over everything?
2. Do you understand that Jesus came to relate to your suffering?
3. Do you understand that Jesus came to release you from your fear of death?
4. Do you understand that Jesus came to give you victory?
B. [Daddy’s Protective Care, Citation: Steve Nickles]
About a month ago I bought my two-year-old daughter Sarah an aquarium.
We went together to the pet store to pick out four fish to put in the tank.
One of the fish died two weeks ago when Sara was at her grandparents’ house.
My wife flushed it down the toilet and didn’t tell my daughter about it.
This morning Sara found one of the other fish dead.
She found it caught up in one the fake plastic bushes.
My wife called me at the office and said that Sara had something to tell me.
In her two-year-old way, she explained to me the fish had died, she found it in the bushes, and her and Mommy were going to have a funeral for it in the back yard.
I realized that this was the first of many losses she would experience in life.
I broke into tears, however, when the last thing she said to me before she hung up the phone was, "Daddy, keep me from getting caught in the bushes."
1. Friends, do you understand that your heavenly Daddy, sent His only Son to keep you from getting caught in the bushes?!!
2. Glory to God!! That’s a gift worth understanding!!!
C. Has Jesus been born in your life?
1. If Christ has been born in your life, you will have dominion over everything as God intended from the beginning.
2. If Christ has been born in your life, you have a sympathizing comforter in times of suffering.
3. If Christ has been born in your life, you have no fear of death.
4. If Christ has been born in you life, you will experience victory in your daily life.
5. Do you have that kind of power in your life?
6. If you don’t, then Jesus is not in your life!
7. Now listen: You can go to church every Sunday, but if you don’t experience these things in your life, then Jesus is not in your life.
8. THIS IS Jesus Christ!
9. THIS is why He came!
10. Do you understand this Gift that God has given you?
11. Does Christ need to be born in your life today?
