So Great A Salvation – part 1
Hebrews 2:5-18 (5-9)
June 7, 2015
We have recently begun a study of the book of Hebrews.
As we have said:
We don’t know who wrote the book and we don’t know who it was written to,
But we do know (based on the context) that it was written to people
Who weren’t taking Jesus as serious as they should have been.
We learned in the very first two verses just how important Jesus is.
Hebrews 1:1-2a “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…”
Jesus is in fact the message of God.
Jesus is in fact what God wants you to know.
Jesus Himself said:
John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
JESUS IS THE MESSAGE!
And just like every word that God speaks,
It is a mistake to overlook it.
It is a mistake to neglect it
It is a mistake to disregard it
AND YET THAT IS WHAT WAS HAPPENING.
Some, to be sure, just weren’t listening to the message at all.
They were content in Judaism
And weren’t overly concerned about the message of Jesus.
To them the writer asked:
Hebrews 2:2-4 “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”
For whatever reason, some who heard of Jesus just weren’t doing anything with Him.
• They were content just to drift along and hope that in the end everything would sort of take care of itself.
• They knew of Jesus, but they weren’t confessing Him, they weren’t obeying Him, they weren’t following Him.
• They were drifting.
And the writer adamantly warned against this:
Hebrews 2:1 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”
Using nautical terms the writer spoke of a ship that must be taken control of so that it is not allowed to drift past the harbor.
So it is in regard to the message of Jesus.
You can’t just do nothing and expect that it will all work out ok.
You must embrace Christ
You must confess Christ
You must submit to Christ
You must follow Christ
It was the writer’s way of saying “TAKE CONTROL”
Don’t drift past salvation, don’t neglect it, you won’t escape!
That is a stiff warning to people who know of Jesus,
But who neglect to do anything with Him.
But I don’t think those are the only people this book should resonate with.
There are also those who have confessed Christ,
Who may have even been baptized,
But who still aren’t taking Jesus as seriously as they should.
The writer mentions them in the 5th chapter:
Hebrews 5:11-14 “Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
Some of the Hebrews had become “dull of hearing”
They were just board with it.
That was evident because instead of growing in the faith to the point of instructing others, they had grown stagnant.
• They never searched out the deep truths of Scripture
• They never wrestled with the depths of doctrine and theology
• They never reached a point of being able to explain truth to someone else
Instead of being teachers, they still needed someone to teach them.
They were still on baby food, when they ought to be feeding others.
And the evident problem was that because they were still babies they had failed to “have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
This is also a person who isn’t taking Jesus as seriously as they should.
Jesus came to save us from sin, to make us righteous,
And to conform us into His image.
A believer who never progresses into that
Is missing the point of his/her salvation.
They also would be people who are neglecting this great salvation.
THEY WERE ALSO DRIFTING
So you see that some neglect it by never ACCEPTING it
And some neglect it by never APPLYING it.
It is a problem, and one that the writer is trying to straighten out.
He is seeking to crush their apathy and to drive them
To a point where they are rightly focused on Jesus.
IT IS A GOOD WARNING TO US.
To those who know the truth and who never have acted on it
And to those who are stuck in spiritual infancy
DON’T NEGLECT SALVATION’S WORK IN YOUR LIFE
AND THAT IS STILL THE THEME.
LAST SUNDAY we covered the first 4 verses of chapter 2,
And I want to call you attention back to a phrase in verse 3.
“how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”
I want you to again recognize that the salvation the writer is referring to is in fact a GREAT SALVATION.
It is a mighty salvation
A powerful salvation
And as we continue on in the chapter,
This is the reality what the writer wants you to understand.
WHEN YOU NEGLECT JESUS,
You aren’t just neglecting some plan that may or may not work,
You are neglecting the greatest salvation that the world has ever known.
This is THE GREAT SALVATION
As we continue on in our text, I want to show you why.
Now FIRST, you need to understand one of the reasons this salvation was being neglected.
There are several, but one main reason is addressed here.
AND THAT REASON IS BECAUSE IT SEEMED ABSURD.
This salvation contended that Holy God became human, came to this earth, lived a sinless life, and then died for the sin of imperfect people.
That message was absolutely absurd.
• It doesn’t make sense that God would so belittle Himself to become human
• It doesn’t make sense that God would then allow sinful humans to kill Him
• It doesn’t make sense that He would subject Himself to such pain and suffering
And this was one of the chief stumbling blocks to so many.
1 Corinthians 1:23 “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”
There is no way (so they thought)
That something like the incarnation was real.
You may remember even that this very fact
Caused many of the large crowds to abandon Jesus altogether.
John 6:35-38 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
And their response:
John 6:41 “Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”
Later after much more debate and skepticism:
John 6:60-62 “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?”
And finally:
John 6:66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
The notion that God would so humble Himself to take human form
And come live among us was just too absurd.
And because it didn’t seem logical, many people were rejecting it.
And that is why the writer is so adamant to address the issue.
• God did come in human form!
• God did humble Himself!
• God did submit Himself to suffering and pain!
AND FURTHERMORE IT ALL MADE PERFECT SENSE!
And that is what the writer wants to show you.
THIS IS GOD’S SALVATION AND IT IS A GREAT SALVATION,
Let’s continue on in the chapter and see why.
The writer here gives us 4 reasons why the message of Jesus is a great salvation that should not be neglected.
#1 THIS SALVATION ADDRESSED GOD’S PROMISE
Hebrews 2:5-9
First here the writer makes a statement of fact.
“For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.”
Let’s make sure we understand his point.
He says that we are speaking about “the world to come”
And that should shed some light on the argument to us.
• When he warned us to take hold of our ship so that we did not drift past the harbor…
• When he warned us not to neglect “so great a salvation”
All of that was speaking about “the world to come”
Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
2 Peter 3:13 “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
And this wasn’t just a New Testament idea:
Isaiah 65:17-25 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. “They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.”
When he mentions not sailing past the harbor
When he mentions not neglecting the great salvation
He is talking about not missing out on
The new heavens and the new earth.
This great salvation he is talking about
Is the day when all things are made new
And things are restored to their proper place.
So he has been talking about “the world to come”
And here the writer makes a statement.
“For He did not subject to angels the world to come”
Now that is peculiar.
Why is that relevant?
Because He has subjected this world to angels.
Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
John 12:31 “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
John 14:30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;”
John 16:11 “and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”
Satan (a fallen angel) is in fact the ruler of this world.
No, he is not the ultimate authority, after all someone had to subject the world to him, which means someone is still in authority over him.
But this world is subject to Satan.
• He and his army are behind all sorts of evil things.
• He is the inspiration behind wicked world rulers
• He is the inspiration behind backward thinking media
• He is the logic behind societal norms
This world has been subjected to the enemy.
And if you will remember that transaction occurred in the garden
When Adam traded that right for the knowledge of good and evil.
God had given Adam preeminence.
Genesis 1:26-28 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Adam was supposed to reign,
But he forfeited that right
And now the world is subjected to angels; fallen angels.
And to that we can all agree that it is not pleasant.
But the writer makes a promise here that it won’t always be this way.
“For He did not subject to angels the world to come”
And to continue to make his point,
The writer turns to the Old Testament.
(6-8a) “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.”
First of all you should know that the writer is quoting Psalms 8:4-6.
It was a Psalm of David, and one were David marveled
At the high position that God had given to man.
David was so overwhelmed with God’s favor toward man that it moved David to ask,
• “What is man..?”
• Why would You “remember him”?
• Why are you “concerned about him?”
What prompted David to say that?
It was the realty of God’s plan for man that overwhelmed David.
Notice what God had done for man.
• “You made him for a little while lower than the angels”
(“angels” there in Psalm 8 is literally ELOHIM,
Which is a word used of God.
David said you made him a little lower than God)
• “You have crowned him with glory and honor”
• [You have] “appointed him over the works of Your hands”
• “You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”
This was God’s promise and plan for man.
God would give man ultimate and total authority and rule.
God would place all of creation in subjection under him
And the writer wants to make sure
You picked up specifically on one of those points.
(8b) “For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.”
Do you catch what the writer primarily wanted you to see?
He wanted you to circle the word “all” in your Bible.
That “You have put ALL things in subjecting under his feet.”
And the writer wants to make sure you understand the definition of “all”
That means everything
That leaves nothing exempt
So the writer is focusing you in on
God’s promise to subject all things to men.
That is God’s plan; that is God’s promise.
Well, if that is true, then we have a major problem.
(8c) “But we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
We hear what David said…
We understand what David said…
The problem is, we don’t see what David said
Sometime watch Animal Planet
There is a show called “I SHOULDN’T BE ALIVE”
It tells stories of people who get trapped in nature and who barely escape.
A human can’t survive long in the desert, or in the ocean, or in the arctic –
Nature is just too severe – it will kill him.
Look at our state and the power of floods and tornadoes
And how indiscriminate nature is in taking lives.
Well, if “He left nothing that is not subject to him”
Then we should just be able to tell nature what it can and can’t do.
We should be able to calm storms like Jesus did
We should be able to bring water from a rock
But you know and I know, that doesn’t happen.
Sometime watch the show called “FATAL ATTRACTIONS”, it’s about people with obsessions to raise dangerous pets like lions or tigers or snakes.
The whole point of the show is that eventually
Those animals turn on their masters and kill them.
(Ronnie and the lion in Africa)
AND YOU GET THE POINT OF THE WRITER.
I read the promise that God has placed all things under man,
I just don’t see the fulfillment.
We have a problem.
And this is THE problem.
And it is a problem that no salvation has ever been able to address.
• Moses led the people out of Egypt, but he couldn’t reverse the curse
• David defeated the Philistines, but he couldn’t reverse the curse
• Jews sacrificed countless sheep for forgiveness but the curse remains
There have been all sorts of salvations and deliverances,
But none of them has ever addressed the main problem.
All of those salvations have merely treated the symptoms.
All of those salvations have just been a temporary band aid.
Despite all the religious efforts
Despite all the heroic efforts
No salvation has been able to bring
A reversal to the fall that occurred in the garden.
Adam lost it all to the enemy and no salvation has been able to restore it.
UNTIL NOW…
Notice that the writer used a very important word.
“But now we do not YET see all things subjected to him.”
That word “yet” is a tremendous word of hope.
It is not a lost cause.
WHY NOT?
Well, we don’t see man reigning supreme,
BUT THERE IS SOMETHING WE DO SEE.
And we see gives us hope that God’s promise will still be fulfilled.
(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.”
We don’t see man exalted to the glorious position he was promised,
But we do see “Jesus”
Jesus is “Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels”
• Jesus is the One who for a short time became human
• Jesus is the One who for a while took on a low position
• Jesus is the One who entered and dwelled in this fallen world
Now I told you already that this was absurd to so many people,
But the writer is here addressing why it happened.
We see that He came to this earth and He died and He rose
And He was exalted by the Father for all that He did.
That’s what the writer means when he says:
“because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor”
Philippians 2:6-11 “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 1so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus humbled Himself, submitted to death, and then rose victorious and his now “crowned with glory and honor”
The question for so many would by “WHY?”
Don’t tell us He did it for the glory,
If He was already fully God He had no shortage of glory.
• Why did He do this?
• Why would God humble Himself to such an extent?
• Why would He become lower than the angels?
• Why would He submit to death?
And here is the answer:
“so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
He did all that so that He could die instead of humanity.
He became human
He died on a cross
So that He could take the place of humans
But again, why is this necessary?
Think back again to book of Genesis
And the very beginning of the problem.
• God created man in absolute authority to rule over creation.
• But man sinned and lost his right and creation became subjected to the angels.
• And since that time there has only been one way in which man has been able
to satisfy his debt to God…death.
Remember the curse?
Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Remember Genesis 4 and the first thing we see is the death of Abel?
Remember Genesis 5 and the new lineage of man?
8 times in Genesis 5.
So and so lived “x” number of years, “and he died”
Over and over and over
Death has been the requirement.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And hopefully then you are seeing
What made the incarnation and the death of Christ so necessary.
He had to be man so He had to pay man’s debt.
This is the only way that the promise God made to man
Could ever be fulfilled.
God had promised that man would reign,
But it could not happen with man condemned to death.
Someone had to die, someone had to pay the penalty.
And there is the first reason that we call the salvation of Jesus
“so great a salvation”
• There have been people that saved us from getting hurt
• There have been people that saved us from financial ruin
• There have been people that saved us from terrorists
• There have been people that saved us from disease
• There have been people that saved us from dying
But there is only One who is able to save us from the curse
And a world that is subjected to Satan.
That’s what makes His salvation a great salvation.
It is the only salvation that addressed God’s promise
To restore man to his rightful place as head over God’s creation.
And in order to do that,
He had to come as a human and He had to die as one.
Now there are three more reasons that we will get to NEXT TIME,
But maybe now you are beginning to see why the writer said:
Hebrews 2:1-4 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”
• You cannot simply overlook this salvation
• You cannot neglect it
• You cannot fail to act on it
There is no other salvation like this one
This is a GREAT SALVATION
• If you have any aspirations of the “the world to come”
• If you have any desire to see “all things in subjection under [your] feet”
• If you have any desire to see the curse broken and removed
THERE IS ONLY ONE SALVATION WHERE THAT OCCURS
It is the message of Jesus Christ.
And I encourage you
• To pay attention to it.
• Not to drift away from it.
• Not to neglect it.
• To submit to it
• To fully embrace it
So maybe this morning it is time
• For you to confess your sin to Christ and call out to Him for forgiveness of your sin.
• For you to confess Him as Lord and obey Him in baptism.
• For you to get off the fence and acknowledge that you have never grown up like He required and while you should be teaching others, you are still on milk needing others to teach you.
You haven’t neglected to accept Christ,
You’ve just neglected to let His salvation have its full effect in your life.
Whatever decision you need to make,
That is why we offer this time of response.
