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[0:00] to Hebrews chapter 2 starting in verse 5 going to verse 18. Will you stand with me as we stand together and we read the word of God starting in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 5 and I will read to the end of the chapter and then we will pray. The author of Hebrews writes for us for he did not subject to angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking but one has testified somewhere saying what is man that you remember him or the son of man that you are concerned about him you have made him for a little while lower than the angels you have crowned him with glory and honor and have appointed him over the works of your hands you have put all things in subjection under his feet for in subjecting all things to him he left nothing that is not subject to him but now we do not yet see all things subjected to him but we do see him with a capital h I hope your translation has who was made for a little while lower than the angels namely Jesus because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone for it was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom are all things and bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren saying I will proclaim your name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation

[1:28] I will sing your praise and again I will put my trust in him and again behold I and the children whom God has given me therefore since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives for assuredly he does not give help to angels but he gives help to the descendants of Abraham therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people for since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted let's pray Lord we thank you so much for this day God we rejoice in every opportunity we have of reading your word with one another we pray oh Lord now as we have read it Lord that it would be so much more than words on paper but God that it would be the very word of God that would penetrate our hearts our souls our minds and bring us to a greater understanding of who you are Lord Jesus may you be exalted and may we shout

[2:47] Hosanna blessed is he and Lord may we shout it from the very depth of our being and may it be for your glory and honor and we ask it in Jesus name amen you may be seated the prophecy of Zechariah 9 9 was given to the people of God's choosing that is the Jewish people and if you remember when Jesus comes into Jerusalem by the way I did not intend when I first began the book of Hebrews for this to take part at this time but God in his leading has brought us to this place of particular importance which we will see in just a moment when Jesus comes in they refer to him as the son of David and they are praising him and blessing the Lord because of him Jesus the son of David now that title has importance to the Jewish nation because Zechariah says the king is coming to you and the king there is a reference to a man and that man would be the man who was the descendant of

[3:53] David who would sit upon the throne of the nation of Israel and rule them forevermore because God had made a covenantal promise to David that a seed of David it does not say these seeds plural it says the seed singular by the way anytime you read scripture and there's these promises we'll just stop right here because it's always understand it's always amazing to me how how really fulfilled they are in scripture it is the promise not to the seeds of Abraham you know the Bible doesn't promise that the seeds with an s of Abraham will be a blessing to the nations it says that the seed singular of Abraham will be a blessing to the nations now the seed singular is the line from the tribe of Judah who is Jesus Christ so the Bible very clearly points and it does not say the seeds plural of David would sit upon the throne of Israel forever it says the seed singular of David who is born of the family of David who is Jesus Christ so I'm saying all this to say the reason there was a celebration during that

[4:59] Palm Sunday was because here is the seed of David here is the one with the right birthright with the right lineage with the right ancestry here is the one who has done the miraculous things I mean think about it the testimony of Jesus I mean the dead men were coming to live the the multitudes were being fed he was walking on the water he was he was doing amazing things just shortly before this people were going just a short distance out of Jerusalem to go into Bethany so they could sit down and eat meal with a man named Lazarus who had been in the tomb for three days until Jesus called his name because the scripture says that they were going to Bethany not just to see Jesus but also to see Lazarus because who doesn't want to talk to him tell us what it was like right so the testimony is abounding so surely they are in an uproar because here is a man like no other man who is going to sit on the throne and how do we reconcile the fact that those who were proclaiming blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord the son of David how are we reconciling that with just a few short days later or shouting crucify him and crucify him is because he wasn't the man they were expecting now he is the man that is being prophesied throughout the Old Testament but he wasn't the ruler they're expecting Jesus himself says my kingdom is not of this world for if my kingdom were of this world my people who are faithful to me my people would rise up and fight and I would be free but my kingdom is not of this world he is the king right so what I want you to see in Hebrews here chapter 2 because the book of

[6:32] Hebrews is what a hope resting on better things a hope resting on better things every one of us came in here this morning and we have hope resting on something the hope you have is resting on something and the reason so many people live without hope is because whatever they were counting for their hope or resting their hope on has failed them and therefore they are now without hope they are maybe it was in somebody maybe it was in something maybe it was in a position or maybe it was in an occupation or maybe it was in a bank account but whatever it is they were resting their hope upon has failed and therefore they are now without hope but Jesus is the hope resting on better things and we see here this morning something which I a couple of messages ago said the book of Hebrews highlights throughout it but I want you to see that Jesus is the better man Jesus is the better man all of us tend to trust and hope in others to some degree it is a dreadful thing when we can no longer put at least some confidence or some assurance and hope in others as a church body we should at least have a little bit of hope in one another because by the way we are called to bear one another's burdens none of us are called to walk this walk of faith alone as a matter of fact we are to unite with other believers and we are to at least have some confidence that even in their weaknesses and in their fallibility in their sinfulness they are at least someone we can count on someone we can trust in great harm has been done to the church throughout the ages because that hope that someone has put up in a congregation or in a body has ultimately failed them at some point in life and let's just be honest and we can go ahead and admit this here every one of us will fail one another at some point as long as we hang around one another long enough

[8:26] I'll say that again every one of us will fail one another at some point if we stay around one another long enough because Jesus is the only man we can put hope in he is the better man as a matter of fact Hebrews tells us here in Hebrews 2 verses 5 and following that as a man Jesus accomplished those things that we needed a man to accomplish isn't it amazing how we can get asked deep theological questions from the simplest of minds and the other night when I was up there with Braden he was getting ready for bed and we were doing our our bedtime bible story which is not very in detail you know you have to try to fit sometimes Braden asks a question and you I'm trying to fit maybe 20 years of theological education into about 35 seconds okay so you do what you can do right and he asked some of the off-the-wall questions and he asked me a question and just to be honest with you I didn't have a sufficient answer for him because how are you going to answer this question but you answer it with a message like this and as he says when dad stands up to preach all he ever does is go blah blah blah blah blah blah so that's his interpretation of my preaching and so I know he's not going to get that maybe someday he'll go back and watch it but the question was dad why didn't just God hang on the cross why do we have to have Jesus that's because it had to be a man we need a man that we can trust we need a man who can be our hope had to be a man who would redeem and reclaim and renew all things that were promised to us as mankind if there was a first Adam therefore has to be a last Adam and that's what we have in Jesus as we find in scripture that he is the last Adam he is the one he is the man who has accomplished everything the first Adam forsook and he has gained that for us he is the better man we see three truths from this passage number one Jesus is the man who has reclaimed the authority that was intended to be for ours he has reclaimed authority we see authority reclaimed look at what scripture says and this is something that I think that we fail to understand at times at least the gravity of our own sin nature because we were created as authoritative beings we were created with authority look at what it says for he that is speaking of God right for he did not subject to angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking now the world to come would be the new creation the author speaks of things in reference to what the Hebrew nation would have been at least a little bit familiar with and we're speaking here of angels and men and all this thing in the realm of angels and all the power and things of that nature and and it gets really deep but it's okay we just need to understand this that there are forces around us spiritual forces around us which we do not fully comprehend there is a a angel a fallen angel who now has authority over this world but the angel that we are the the world we are referring to here is the world to come because Satan made the temptation let's not ever forget this Satan's temptation in the wilderness when Jesus spent the 40 days in the wilderness being tempted he was tempted for those 40 days and one of the culminating temptations is Satan shows him all the kingdoms of the world remember that and Satan says if you'll bow down and worship me I will give you these kingdoms for the keys to this world has been given to me one thing that we need to pay attention to is Jesus did not refute that claim

[12:03] Jesus didn't say Satan they're not yours Jesus said I'm not going to bow down and worship you because the key to this world has been handed over to Satan because of the fall of man and we see it here for he did not subject to angels the world to come or the world that will be created concerning which we are speaking and he quotes here the book of Psalms and he has these old testament quotations which we can cross-reference if we wanted to but one has testified somewhere saying and this is David writing in the Psalms what is man that you remember him or the son of man that you are concerned about him you have made him for a little while lower than the angels you have crowned him with glory and honor and have appointed him over the works of your hands and you have put all things in subjection under his feet what David is writing about here is the original intended plan of God at creation God set man a little lower than the angels and he told God to rule right go back and read the book of Genesis read Genesis 2 and 3 God set man over his creation and said rule this for all things are in subjection to you and we look at this and we say well I don't know if I have the authority over that and you don't because it says for in subjecting all things to him he left nothing that is not subject to him but now we do not yet see all things subjected to him we do not see man living with the authority with which he was originally created and we can just acknowledge that right why because man was intended to rule over all of creation this was God's plan God created man in his own image he created them and he set them in a place of authority and he told them in their place of authority to rule and subdue all of creation which means that there is nothing now you say well man is the highest of the species right but man does not have the authority that he was intended to have

[14:00] I've always shared this and and many of us know the the tragic story of those that man sometimes thinks he has authority and therefore begins to keep as pets animals greater than him and usually finds out later on in life too late at the end of his life that he did not have the authority that he once thought he did have because man does not have the authoritative power which he was created for he is not one to rule over all things this is why we have such fear of things that are bigger and greater than us man was intended to rule all of creation and this was the position that is ours but what does the author say but we do see him now with a capital h we do see him who is made for a little while lower than the angels namely jesus so here we are now moving away from mankind and we're pointing to one man who is jesus we do see him who is made for a little while or for a short period a little lower than the angels now how did god create man god created man a little lower than the angels right with authority how did god become man he became man and became a little while lower than the angels why because man forfeited our authority when we decided to take matters in our own hands understand this you have more authority and more freedom in christ than you have on your own many people say well i'd love to come to jesus but i'm afraid it won't be much fun i'm afraid there'll be so many things i have to give up i'm afraid i won't get to do what i want to do i'm afraid i won't be able to live how i want to live i'm afraid i won't be able to make all the decisions that i want to make and an emphatic answer to that is you are exactly right if you come to christ you can no longer live the way you want to live if you come to christ you can no longer make your own decisions because you are a doulos a slave of christ you have a lord and master and a savior if you come to jesus christ you will no longer be free to do as you please but in coming to christ you will have more freedom and more authority than you will ever have on your own because man forfeits his authority when man decides to do things their own way how do we know that because eve saw the fruit of the tree and it was appealing to the eye and it looked to be good to eat so she took of it and she took a bite and she ate of it and she gave it to man who was with her men do not blame eve for it because the scripture says adam was there too taking a passive role letting her do what she thought was good by the way let's just go ahead and put all this in theological context before i get in all kinds of trouble but i'll just dig my hole a little bit deeper and see if i can't get in any kind of trouble here who was given the command not to take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to eat adam before eve was created who took of the tree and ate it eve where was adam standing right there knowing the clear command of god and allowing her to walk contrary to the command of god because he said it'll probably be easier at home if i just let her do what she wants to do was it no because god said adam you have sinned we know this when we go up the line because when god comes to them in the cool of the day he approaches eve first eve what have you done he said well i took of the tree and i was good and even i ate it and he goes adam what have you done and he's confronting adam right and then we find out later that it is the sin of man or the sin of adam his name literally means man by the way that led to the fall it wasn't the fact that eve took as paul says she was the weaker vessel the problem was is that adam let her and then adam took adam gave up his role and responsibility and therefore forsook all authority that man had not just men mankind right we were created to rule ladies and gentlemen but we do not rule and we do not have authoritative power over creation but we do

[18:04] see him namely jesus who ruled all of creation and in case you're missing it he walked on water he turned great water into wine he he had all of creation under his control and he did it while he was a man man he had to do that because he alone reclaimed the authority that was given to man at creation because god's plan was and always has been and always will be man will rule creation this was god's intended plan right god's intended plan was that he created man and told him to rule creation so what if the man jesus did not come and reclaim that authority and god recreated the heavens and the earth and put us as fallen individuals there it'd be chaos so the man jesus came and reclaimed that authority he is the better man not only is there authority reclaimed there is the author of our salvation there is the author of our salvation for the wages of sin is death the free gift of god is eternal life and then god makes this emphatic claim that man will pay for their sins right so we had to have a man who pays the price of the sin of man look at what it says verse 9 but we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels namely jesus because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of god he might taste death for everyone let's just stop right here and say the bible very clearly says the death of jesus is substantial for everyone it is big enough for all men it is only applicable to those who will trust in him and call upon him right we need to understand that being the perfect man it is enough it is sufficient for everyone it is only applicable to whosoever will call upon his name is jesus death on the cross enough to save all men yes will jesus death on the cross save all men no because not all will call it is enough it is sufficient but it has not application to all men so that he might taste death for everyone for it was fitting for him this him is speaking of god for it was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom all things now let's just wait uh we're speaking of the humanity of jesus because let's take an aside here because this is a great place to take an aside uh because we can also reference here the deity of jesus because the book of colossians says that jesus created all things and through him were created all things and for him all things were created right paul writes in the book of colossians that jesus is the creator through him and for him and to him all things were created the author of the book of hebrews here references god as being the one because it says for him that is god for whom all things and through whom are all things so who is it all things were created for who god the father of god the son yes they created through the father through the son yes are they for the father or for the son yes because it is a great mystery that we will never understand three distinct but one god and it makes our minds blow if we will may we be like billy graham and say even though i do not understand it yet by faith i will accept it so he's speaking here in verse 10 for it was fitting for god for it was fitting for god if you ever paid attention to the things which god saw fitting to do this this week is is passion week right i want to encourage you on friday and i may show it next sunday i don't know but on friday and i've told you this every time i've been every year i've been here around this time and i continue to do this one thing you need to look up on friday is look up sm lockridge it's friday

[22:10] just do it look up the video you say why just do it it's only friday sm lockers it's only friday you need to watch that and you need to watch it on friday because it is good but anyway this is passion week now go read also a little bit of homework here and the book of isaiah and get into like the 52nd 53rd 54th chapter and begin to see what god was pleased to do it says god was pleased to bruise him god was pleased to beat him god was pleased to offer him for our redemption it's not like god begrudgingly gave of his son god saw that it was fitting for it was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom all things in bringing many sons to glory god says this is what we have to do to bring many sons and daughters to glory for people to find redemption to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings now did jesus need to be perfected no he was perfect but we needed a suffering savior because this is what we desperately stand in need of because man suffers from sin in our pain and in our misery and in our suffering in our discomfort in our in our darkest of moments every time we open up scripture we find a savior who has been there what if our savior came and lived a perfect life died a painless death and said you too can follow me it's great we said well that has no application to my life when things seem to be falling apart and everything hurts and it's painful and my life is full of drudgery and suffering and pain and misery what we have is the author of our salvation the word author there could also be translated captain he is the captain of our salvation he is leading the charge and he has led all people sons and daughters all those who are going to be born again through suffering so what does that mean he can bring you to glory through your suffering and through your pain because he is a perfect savior god did not have to redeem man the way he did jesus could have came i really believe this had god not prophesied or led the prophets to proclaim in the old testament you ever thought about this what if you were god i mean i know we don't want to put ourselves in that position but what if you were and what if you were writing the story of man's redemption what if you find yourself all the way back in the book of genesis what if you are god at genesis 4 okay and you've created everything perfect and you are there with the son and with the spirit and you're in glory and man has just fallen and and you want to redeem man you want to make it right what if you are god how would you write the story because you get all the rest of scripture to tell how you're going to do it you can uh lead your prophets to say that there's going to come a man who will make all things great and everywhere he walks flowers will bloom and everywhere he goes things will be i mean you can make it say whatever you want to would you paint a picture that i will become flesh and i will suffer and i will be mocked and i will be ridiculed i will be beaten i will be destitute i will be poor i won't have a pillow to lay my head upon i won't have a home to go to my own countrymen will forsake me i will come to my own and my own will forsake me one who travels with me and sees me do the greatest of miracles will be the same one who comes up and betrays me with a kiss i will be he who proclaims that i am jesus and everybody will fall down when i proclaim the great name i am have you read that in the gospel of john jesus says i am and everybody fell to the ground and then i will give them permission to leave me captive and he'll say if i told you i am and i'm

[26:10] the one you're looking for take me i will be the one who forsakes all of my glory my splendor and i will tell peter to put his sword up and i will heal malchus's ear i will go and be slapped on the face because i asked a question of a man who was pretending to be high priest but really wasn't high priest at that time because annas was and when he said that to caiaphas all of a sudden now we have two people sitting in the position of high priest which should have never taken place according to god's ordained plan go read it it's there because caiaphas was his caiaphas was a high priest annas was father-in-law right and they were both pretending to be high priest neither one of them were i will stand and be mocked i will be beaten i'll be bruised they will put a crown of thorns on my head they will press it into my brow i will bleed i will die with two but i will be perfect i will be in the garden i will be praying and sweat and drops of blood will come out of me i will walk through the darkest of moments and find the father forsaking me and that's how i will make man come to glory i don't know about you but if i was writing the story i wouldn't have wrote it that way but god knows your life's not easy he knows your life's not always roses and buttercups and he knows you need an author of salvation who has walked through darker moments than you ever will so god saw that it was fitting to make him a perfect man to count on because here's the reality you will never find another man who has walked through everything you have walked through every one of us have walked through very unique situations of life life situations right nobody else has ever been through everything you've been through but there is one man you can trust him and that is jesus the author of your salvation the one who's writing the story he's the man that you can trust so not only we see the authority reclaim we see the author of salvation now we see finally the assistance desperately needed because it says in verse 11 for both he who sanctifies now we're speaking of jesus because it is jesus who sanctifies to be sanctified is to be set apart right jesus was not sanctified he was already set apart he is the one who is sanctifying so both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified that's us that's the believers are all from one father for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren you ever thought about this jesus is not ashamed to call me his brother some of us may be ashamed to call one another brothers and sisters in christ but jesus is not ashamed to call me his brother sometimes i'm ashamed that he calls me that because i know me but he has no shame in that he is not ashamed to call us his brother saying i will proclaim your name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation i will sing your praise and i will put my trust in him behold i and the children whom god has given me therefore since the children listen to this here's the application right here here's the assistance we need therefore since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives why didn't god just hang on the flesh because we share in flesh and blood he had to share in flesh and blood he had to here's the assistance needed he has rendered powerless saying the greatest tool satan has is that you will die satan has a number of tools there's a number of fiery darts that he throws at you but the number one fear of man is death no more fear man always has been and always will be and the greatest tool in satan's toolbox is death paul would proclaim in first corinthians 15

[30:16] but oh death where is your sting where is your sting because jesus has rendered powerless satan and has freed men who have lived their lives in slavery to the fear of death fear is a slave and we all in our humanity and in our weakness at times are gripped by that fear so jesus says let me show you i'm the man that can be trusted not only can i call people out of the tomb i can walk out of the tomb and he as we will see later in the book of hebrews he is the forerunner the word there is trailblazer he is the guy going with a machete cutting the way through the thicket saying follow me he is the trailblazer who is setting the course for all of us so here we have when the fear of death grips me i look at he who has already walked out on the other side and i say but i'm following him and i'm following him and i trust that that man jesus who walked out will cause me to walk out too see that's the assistance i need at that time to break the yoke of that slavery for sure for assuredly it says in verse 16 he does not give help to angels but he gives help to the descendants of abraham that's just a way of saying to mankind therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things why because not only does the fear of death keep us but there's something else that keeps us too he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest we'll get to that later in the book of hebrews i'm going to spend a lot of time there and things pertaining to god to make propitiation for the sins of people that is to cleanse us for the sins of our people or for us for since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered he is able to come to those or come to the aid of those who are tempted here's the assistance we also have a savior who has lived life in the flesh and knows what it is like to be tempted was jesus tempted yes did he give into temptation no so if there is any man you ever want to ask how to overcome temptation what about trying jesus the only one who has ever overcome every temptation given to him see the 40 days in the wilderness in the gospels we read of the three culminating temptations the three temptations that say so we have this tendency to think that jesus went 40 days and was tempted three times the wording there says that he was being tempted for 40 days and that 40 days of temptation culminated in the three temptations we read about in scripture just as paul spent some time three years in the wilderness with jesus jesus spent some time in the wilderness with satan by himself and never failed so that anytime satan comes to us we can run to jesus and say how did you do it jesus how did you in the flesh overcome you say well because he's god right but he laid aside his glory and took on our likeness so that he would be available to us you say well how can i run to jesus well sure you can run to him in his word you can run to him in prayer but you can also run to him in his you know just this week i had a couple of meetings this week with individuals

[34:18] one in particular who decided to come down here i have to thank my brothers up top because there's a gentleman that i have known over the years uh currently not attending church here he says i've been watching you on facebook it's testimony to our brothers up there said i don't get out a lot he said no i hit a dark moment i needed somebody to talk to something you said on sunday spoke to me and made me come down here today he didn't need to talk to me he needed an encounter with the lord jesus is the only one who can minister to us in those days because friend listen to me i am a fallen man but he is the best man he is the man we can count on at every season let's pray lord i thank you so much you've given us this day you've given us this opportunity and lord we praise you and bless your name for it lord we stand amazed at who you are and all you have done lord may our confidence and our hope and our trust be placed in you and you alone may not be found in any other man other than the man jesus christ and may we proclaim blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord we ask it all in jesus name amen lord we ask it all in jesus name amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen

[37:09] Thank you.