THROUGH CHRIST ALONE

THROUGH CHRIST ALONE Hebrews 2 APRIL 2, 2017 ST STEPHENS

Psalm 8 & Hebrews 2 Title: Through Christ Alone Big Idea: We re called to remember our great salvation through Christ, which gives us new identities and future glory. Themes: The gospel, new creation (future glory), identity in Christ (brothers/sisters/children of God), Jesus incarnation, salvation. I want you for a moment to think about the greatest day you ever had. Perhaps it s the day you graduated from college, or the day you started your dream job. Maybe it s the day you met your now husband or wife, the day when you looked into each other s eyes and everything seemed so much brighter and happier. Or it could be your wedding day, I know that is one of my greatest days. Or the day your beautiful bundle of joy came into the world and you became a father or mother or later in life a grandparent. Perhaps it was the day you heard you were cancer free, or that you were healed from your illness or finally had answers as to why you felt the way you did.

I don t know what your greatest day is like, but I do know that as you think about it, there is joy in your heart, because you remember how you felt on that day. In that moment on that great day and even now we wish we could always feel that way. But unfortunately the everyday struggle of life coupled with are useless memory gets in the way. We so easily get sucked into our day to day activities that we very rarely have time to sit back and reflect back on our life and remember these happy memories. It often takes an interruption, which is sadly, often a tragedy, a death of a loved one, an attack on you or someone you know. As much sadness as suffering brings to us, it does cause us to stop and think about life. This morning as we come to God s word we will be challenged to remember the greatest day we can ever experience and what that means for us in our lives. Let s have a look at the first four verses again together and our first challenge to

1. Remember our great salvation. (v1-4) [READ] The command is quite clear in v1 we must pay the most careful attention to what we have heard and the reason so that we don t drift away. But what have we heard? Firstly there is the message spoken through the angels, which was binding. This may seem a little confusing to us, but in Jewish thought it was understood that the Mosaic law, what we call the 10 commandments was given through angels. We see this at the end of Stephens sermon in Acts just before he gets murdered Listen to Acts 7:53 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that this message, the message of God s law was binding. It mattered how we viewed it.

The law was given for relationship with God and with each other, it told us how to live the best life possible, but it was impossible for us to keep. The consequences for disobeying the law is death, forever death. We all fit into that category, we all sin, we all fail at keeping the law. That s the reality, on the basis of the law we are all doomed and headed for destruction, our sin is a huge problem, our pride that rejects God s good rule for our life has catastrophic consequences. This leaves us helpless and in desperate need of rescue something great needs to happen to save us, something that is impossible for us to achieve on our own. That s exactly what did happen as the writer continues in v2 he says that every violation and disobedience received its just punishment. The consequences for our rebellion against God, for choosing to go our own way is death, that s justice.

Yet, according to the writer that has happened, justice has been served. This is great news, there is a great salvation on offer. The causes us to reflect on this in v3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Life can be tricky at times, but no one really wants to die, the world around us is doing its best to find ways to prolong life, to live longer. Unfortunately death is one of the few certainties we have in this life, eventually it will catch up to us all. A few years ago my mom passed away, that was a really tough time for me, losing a loved one is never easy. If I could have provided a cure or someone offered me a way to save my mom from passing away I would have taken it. I wouldn t have to uhm and ah about it. In a life or death situation that seems like a simple choice choose life. The reality is that many of us forget this, or grow cold to this or just reject this when it comes to God s offer of eternal life.

If you ignore the great salvation that God offers you, you can t escape, the question the writer asks in v3 is rhetorical there is no escape. That s because our salvation comes to us in a very unique and specific way, it comes to us through a very unique a specific saviour. Jesus Christ, God s one and only Son, God in the flesh is our unique and specific saviour. We receive our great salvation through Christ alone. Jesus gave up his heavenly status to come and live amongst us, his creation. He lived a life that we could never, the life of full obedience to his heavenly Father and his holy law. Jesus called people to repentance, he announced God s kingdom breaking into our world, He announced the free offer of salvation to all those who turned to him and accepted him as their Lord and Saviour. This great news of our very great salvation, was confirmed by those eyewitnesses, who lived, in that very real time in history. Those who got to hang out with Jesus.

God himself also testified to our great salvation provided for us by Jesus through signs, wonders and various miracles. All three of those actions are the same. Signs/miracles show us God s power and they point us to our great salvation. That s their purpose. They are not random or chaotic. They are planned and purposeful. We get a great picture of this in Exodus where God performs many great signs for Pharaoh and the Egyptians which ultimately point to the great salvation God provides for them. Jesus is the saviour of the world, the one and only saviour of the world, no one and nothing else can save us other than Jesus Christ our Lord. We were all doomed and helpless heading for death and then God stepped in and provided salvation for us through his One and Only Son. We have received a great salvation, through Christ alone.

That is great news in and of itself and if God stopped there we would be pretty happy. The greatest thing anyone could ever do for us has been done and we didn t have to do anything to get it, in fact we couldn t. But our Heavenly Father is generous and so we need to remember that not only have we received a great salvation, we also need to 2. Remember our future glory. (v5-10) [READ] As we look forward to the new creation, we must remember our future position, that is, what a privileged people we are. The great salvation we have received is not for angels, as great as they are compared to us; we are given privilege in the world to come, because of Jesus. The writer continues by quoting Psalm 8 which was read for us earlier. David as the Psalmist asks God why mankind has such a special and privileged position in creation.

We are made a little lower than the angels and yet God has given us creation to rule. In Genesis 1 God put mankind, Adam and Eve in charge of the world he created. Even though sin entered the world, we are still in charge of the world, we are still to look after it and care for it. Recycling is important, caring for our environment is important. Even now in a fallen world we have a privileged position. Animals don t tell us what to do and neither do plants and trees, we are above them. That s the way God made our world to function the best way. That makes sense, but some of the other things David says as he reflects on the world around him and God doesn t really match up to our situation. We aren t really crowned with glory and honour, neither is everything under our feet, so what s going on? Well have a look at v9 again We don t see this now, but we do see Jesus, who took on flesh and was a man, made a little lower than the angels for a little while.

Now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death. That is just incredible, just take some time and think about that for a moment. Our God, the God who made our entire universe, became a man, he gave up his glory and humbled himself by becoming a man. If that isn t enough he then suffered death for his creation. Jesus was murdered in the most horrific and humiliating way in his time. Beaten, mocked, spat on, stripped and nailed to a Roman cross. That is the punishment we deserved, God would have been justified if we all died that way, yet in his grace and mercy his son dies for us. His obedient son who never ever sinned, died for us lost sinners, so that we can live. We see this at the end of v9, Jesus tastes death for everyone. Jesus is crowned with glory because he suffered death, Jesus horrific death not only brings us a great salvation, it also brings him glory.

Have a look again at v10 and see that we receive glory to, because of Jesus. Through Christ alone we receive glory. Jesus is the author of our salvation, he calls us to follow him, following means sharing in and experiencing what he experienced. We aren t Jesus and our death won t save the world, but Jesus does set the pattern for us, he shows us what a life of living for him will look like and what it involves. A life of following Jesus is not about you, it s about obedience to God, your heavenly Father. Jesus the creator, humbled himself to become part of his creation and dwell with them. As a follower of Jesus are we humble? Do we come to serve instead of being served? Do we put ourselves last instead of first? Do we listen to God s word and fight hard against sin? Are we loving people? Jesus died for us to give us life. We were his enemies, do we love like this? What stops us? Let s fight hard to love each other and those around us. That s what Jesus the author of our salvation does for us.

As followers of Jesus we should expect suffering, our world is fallen and broken and so we shouldn t expect it to be perfect in any way shape or form. We know this from the news we see and hear everyday, all the corruption and injustices we face everyday. Suffering will come our way, but it should point us to and focusses us on our future glory. Through Christ alone we will receive glory, it will be paved by suffering, but it will be worth it. No matter what happens to us by way of suffering in this world, it cannot take away our future glory. Earlier I spoke about my mom who passed away and I said if there was anything I could have done to save her I would have. Although there was nothing I could do, although my heart broke to lose my mom, I can take heart and confidently say my mom received the greatest gift in her physical death eternal life and glory in Christ.

I could do nothing for my mom, but that s ok, because Christ had already done everything for her and she couldn t be in a better place then where she is right now, with King Jesus. As we continue, remember we received a great salvation, but God doesn t stop there, because we will receive future glory, but once again God doesn t stop there. As we move on to my final point this morning, we see that we need to 3. Remember our new identity. (v11-18) [READ] This is an incredible little section. Because of our great salvation that we have received through Christ alone we also receive a new identity. Our new identity is not something small; hopefully you picked that up as I read this section for us. We are part of God s family, we are God s children, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus. How incredible is that? We are included in an awesome family.

Here at St Stephens a lot of us know all about adoption, through Steven from arise as well as some of our families here within our church family who have adopted. Children who were at a loss, left to grow up alone with strangers, without the joys and comfort of family. Children who were rejected, who are helpless and in need of love. Through adoption they now experience life the way it was designed to be experienced within family. There is security in family, there is comfort in family, there is support in family, and there is wisdom in family. We are part of God s eternal family, through Christ alone. We have an eternal Father who loves us more than we can ever be loved or deserve to be loved, we have an eternal brother who rules this world and the world to come. Jesus our brother loves us just as deeply and sacrificially as our eternal Father does. Look around you many of the people sitting around you are your eternal brothers and sisters as well as mine.

How incredible is that? Jesus, God s One and only Son took on flesh and blood so that he could die for us and break its power over us. Jesus freed us from the fear of eternal death, by giving us life, he made atonement for us. We were separated from God, we were his enemies but through Christ alone we are now in at one ment with God, our sins have been atoned for. Now we all know this already we have heard it so many times Jared why are you telling us something we already know is this the only application preachers seem to come up with. Well firstly let me remind you of v1 again, we must pay most careful attention to this so that we don t drift away. The worst thing for any Christian is to lose focus of the great gospel truth to lose focus of our great salvation. Secondly as we pay most careful attention in this second chapter of Hebrews we see that Jesus doesn t just provide us with a great salvation, he doesn t just provide us with future glory and a new identity he understands.

Often Jesus is something abstract to us, someone we talk to but is difficult to be in relationship with because we can t see him. Jesus often feels disconnected to us and our lives and this isn t God s fault as much as we would like it to be it s our fault. We know the gospel front to back, back to front. God made a very good world, we sinned against him, we couldn t save ourselves, he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us, we have two choices, choose Jesus leads to life, reject Jesus leads to death. Jesus is just our choice, he becomes like that random Tombola prize we won at the spring fair, we made our choice of card and got our prize and now its gathering dust somewhere. That s not right, that is not a true understanding of the gospel, that is a great sign that you are drifting away from your great salvation. That s the problem with drifting you don t realise until it s too late. What Hebrews chapter 2 shows us is that Jesus is not distant.

Jesus understands, Jesus knows our pains and joys and every other emotions we may have. Jesus is God, Jesus is our saviour, but we mustn t forget he is also a man. Jesus became a human in every way, he felt the sadness of loss, he felt the rejection of friends, he felt the pain of living in a broken and fallen world. He felt the joys of new life, he felt the love of family and friends as well as the need for food and sleep. Jesus knows exactly what it s like to live on this earth as a human. He didn t come as a Meerkat, or a robot, he came as a human with all the weaknesses we have. At the end of our passage the writer of Hebrews tells Jesus suffered when he was tempted, but he is able to help us in our temptation. He is able to help us because in his temptation Jesus never sinned. Remember Jesus is the author of our salvation, we are called to follow him, to follow his example.

Jesus knew that temptations are just lies that the devil plants in our minds, temptations are just lies we tell ourselves because of our sinful hearts. The best way to defeat lies is with truth, God s word is truth and in John 14:6 Jesus says he is the way, the truth and the life. Brothers and sisters we have a new identity, we are part of a huge eternal family, we have a real relationship with Jesus our Lord and saviour. Jesus is not just a choice, he is our brother, he is our king, he is our saviour. To think of him in any other way is dangerous and wrong. The way we combat this is not difficult in theory, we should treat our relationship with Jesus the same way we do any other relationship we value. By spending time with him, listening to him, loving him and getting to know him better every day. Jesus loved you enough to give up everything and then died for you to give you life when you were his enemy.

Does Jesus love you? If you ever doubt that, read a gospel, Jesus loves you in a massive way. Do you love him? We have received a great salvation through Christ alone, which gives us future glory as well as a new identity as a child of the living God and a brother of our King Jesus. We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. PRAY