WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.199 Well, good morning. 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:03.040 It's good to see everyone today. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:11.279 If you're joining us online, if you're in the lakeside room or the family room, or maybe it's a Wednesday or Thursday and you're catching up in this series, we're glad you're with us today. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:16.640 As Jeff said, we're in this series Greater Than, which is a study of the book of the Bible called Hebrews. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:24.320 Uh, we're about three weeks in now, and I want to start today with a very practical question, but it's going somewhere, so stay with me with the question. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:31.039 The question I want to ask you is when you look at your life, who paved the way for you? 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:36.799 Who helped set the table for where you were to where you are? 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.159 For my football fans in the room, who was your lead blocker? 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:44.799 Who's the one who cleared the hole, made the way so you can make a long run? 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:48.000 Shameless plug for running game. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:49.200 I'll stop there. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:01:00.240 Um in a practical sense, who was it who helped you understand how to be a better parent when the baby wouldn't stop crying and then you couldn't either? 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:03.920 They were the person that was on a quick call to help talk you off the ledge. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:08.560 Who is it that helped you get a start in your career and got you down the road? 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:14.719 And it's not just that you use them for their connections, but they had connections they were willing to use for you. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:16.560 Who paved the way for you? 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.640 Who got you started maybe in a hobby that's given you an outlet for your whole life? 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.640 Who helped you relationally? 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:24.480 Who introduced you to your spouse? 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:28.400 Who are the people who helped pave the way for you along the way? 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:31.920 They coached you up, they gave you advice, they helped you get on your feet. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.319 They may even help you with some money along the way when life got tough. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:37.840 Who helped you? 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.439 Who paved the way for you? 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:48.319 If you're 40 and above, barely, um, you look back, and if you're like me, you look back with gratitude. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:56.079 Because these are the people that helped not only get you where you are, but help get you unstuck or got you out of your own stupidity. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:02.640 I like to say that I see further because I'm standing on the shoulders of the giants who went before me. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.640 I had incredible men and women who helped pave the way for me. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:10.879 If you're 25 through 40, keep looking for these people. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:20.240 Look for people who are where you want to go, who have already moved forward and gotten through some of the struggles you're facing, because they can help you get through. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:26.319 They can lead block for you, they can help you see where you need to be. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:36.159 And if I'm telling you now, when you get to the age where I am and some of us in the room are, and you start losing these voices who helped you move forward, it's tough. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:41.439 Make these connections, know them now, because otherwise you will become a lid for you. 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.159 And if you're 16 to 25 and in the room right now, you may say, Well, I don't need anybody. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:47.360 Yes, you do. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:50.479 And I would encourage you, find those people now. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:54.719 Don't get stuck in life, wrapped up in what you want all the time. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:09.919 There's all these studies, I'm not going to go into them, but for career and workplace, faster advancement, higher satisfaction and job and relationships, and even more money is made when you have someone who you know is paving the way for you, that's a mentor or a leader for you. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:11.759 There's better outcomes, mental health. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:20.800 They're showing that when you have that person who has been where you are and gotten through, you think to yourself, if they can do it, so can I. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.479 Who paved the way for you in a practical sense? 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:29.120 Now let's move from that practical way of life to a spiritual sense. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.400 Who has paved the way for us? 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:40.879 And yes, we have spiritual mentors, we have pastors we can listen to, but they did not die for us, nor should they. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.479 Who is it that paved the way for us? 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:54.560 The apostle Paul, with all of the writings he did in the New Testament, understood clearly when he told people, listen, only follow me where you see me following Christ. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:56.080 Why does he say that? 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:58.319 Because he knows he's not the answer. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:02.319 I follow the lead of Jesus. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.400 His statement is clear that he's not the ultimate example. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:12.240 Last week we saw that angels, spiritual beings, aren't the final example. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:17.600 And the writer of Hebrews tells us, hey, make sure you stay on track, don't drift. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:18.959 Why? 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:31.120 Because Jesus is the one we're going to see today that paves the way for us, paves the way toward his glory, paves the way to us being part of his family, and paves the way toward ultimate victory. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:38.560 Let's start reading, picking up from where we left off last week, Hebrews chapter 2, beginning at verse 5. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:55.360 It says, It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking, but there is a place where someone has testified, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:05:02.399 You made them a little lower than the angels, you crown them with glory and honor, and you put everything under their feet. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:07.759 In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:11.519 Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:25.199 But we do see Jesus, who is made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor, because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:38.240 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:45.360 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.279 So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:52.639 He says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:57.439 In the assembly I will sing your praises, and again I will put my trust in him. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:02.879 And again, he says, Here am I, and the children God has given me. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:14.639 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:24.959 And for those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death, for surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:43.439 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human 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, because he himself suffered when he was tempted. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:07:04.720 So this is a long, uh, almost really very wordy passage, and we look at what is the author of Hebrews trying to tell us here, and some of this sounds reminiscent of what Jeff just read in Psalm 8, because the author of Hebrew is literally going back a thousand years. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:14.639 There's a thousand-year gap between Psalm 8 and the writing of the book of Hebrews, and he's pulling, saying what they wrote about back then was what Jesus fulfills now. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:20.399 Jesus can pave the way because he's been here and done this life. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:22.560 And he provides three blessings out of that. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:27.600 First, Jesus shared our experiences so that we can share in his glory. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.000 We can share in his glory. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:37.439 It says, it is not the angels, verse 5, it is not the angels that he has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:42.720 But there is a place where someone has testified, what is mankind that you are mindful of them? 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:45.519 A son of man that you care for them. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:52.480 You made them a little lower than the angels, you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.000 And putting everything under them, God left nothing. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:57.600 What did he leave? 00:07:58.480 --> 00:07:58.800 Nothing. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:00.079 What does that leave out? 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:01.279 Nothing. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:01.680 Good. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:02.879 Some of you are awake. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.519 Nothing that is not subject to them. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:11.519 Yet at present time we do not see everything subject to them. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:17.120 I think we'd all agree with that when you face sickness or you see what's going on in the world around us. 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.439 God says it's going to happen. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:24.480 The writer of Hebrews confers that it's going to happen, but not yet. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.680 We'll see a little more of that in just a minute. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:41.120 This section of Hebrews jumps from what we've seen in the first two weeks, really the first chapter and a half of the goodness and the godship of Jesus, fully God, and now we jump to his humanity. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:44.799 Because Jesus was fully human as well. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:50.080 And I love the question asked in verse 6 that came from that Psalm 8. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:53.840 God, why do you even care about mankind? 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.879 Another translation of that word mankind can be mere mortals. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.679 Lord, why do you care about us? 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:05.919 What is it about us that has your heart? 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:13.840 If I were to say to you right now, you could save all the ants on the planet if you would become an ant and get squished. 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:16.879 I don't think we'd have too many takers in the room. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:27.759 And yet we have Jesus, who the Bible says in the last two weeks we've seen, who was above the angels, and the passage says he becomes lower than the angels for what? 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:29.200 A little while. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:30.159 Why? 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:31.120 For us. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:36.559 Some of you in the room, maybe you've got perfection down. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:40.000 Maybe you get every call of God exactly right. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:42.879 Maybe you were worth Jesus coming for. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.240 I'll answer for me. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:46.240 I don't check that box. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:48.159 God, what is it? 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:50.399 Why do you care about mankind? 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:53.600 Hey God, why are you going to all this trouble? 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.360 We're made lower than the angels. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:09:59.919 And yet Jesus was higher. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:02.559 We constantly screwed things up. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:07.600 And yet it says, You crown us with glory and honor. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:09.919 Because of Jesus. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.600 We'll see that in a minute. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:18.879 Why have Jesus go from exalted God to dipping below his own creation? 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:25.200 Verse 8, you gave them authority over all things. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:27.279 You've put them under your feet. 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:31.440 Listen, you're not just an elevated tree or a puppy. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.759 You, the scripture says, are created above these things. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:38.159 It's been put under the authority of human. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:41.120 We have a responsibility to care for all of this. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:42.960 That's a message for another day. 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:46.639 But it's under our responsibility, nothing left out. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:51.279 All things are ultimately going to be subject to Christ and his church. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:52.799 That's us. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:59.919 Scripture says, one day we will rule and reign with him, but not yet. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.519 That happens when Christ returns. 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:15.200 Verse 9, it says, But we do, but we do see Jesus who made who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:20.799 So that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:22.720 Death doesn't win. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.039 We're going to see that a little later in the passage. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:26.159 This is awesome. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:29.519 Jesus, once again, last week, greater than the angels. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:32.240 This week, lower than the angels for us. 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:32.960 Why? 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:39.039 To taste death for everyone, to go through all that is excruciating in life. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:39.840 Why? 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:44.480 Verse 10 in bringing many sons and daughters to glory. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:51.919 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:12:01.360 That word pioneer in the Greek, it's the same word as hero, champion, prince, leader, the champion of our salvation. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:04.480 Perfect through what he suffered. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:14.240 So if you go back to the Old Testament, the sacrificial system, the only way that sins were covered was through the death of something perfect, a perfect lamb. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:17.039 No spot on it, no blemish, no sickness. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:22.000 It died being perfect because it had to cover the sin of what was imperfect, us. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:28.240 Fast forward to the New Testament, and we read there's going to be one sacrifice once and for all. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:31.200 But it can't be of another species or another kind. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:33.200 It has to be one of them. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:34.799 One of us. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:40.480 But it has to be perfect and without spot and without blemish and without sickness. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:42.000 And that was Jesus. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:45.440 And the perfect died for the imperfect. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:46.559 Us. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:50.559 Jesus suffered this death. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:54.480 Our hero, our champion, our prince, our leader, our pioneer. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:57.440 He suffered it for us. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:00.799 What we see is Jesus. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:09.919 How can the church, you and me, persevere in when we look at this world and we look at death going on in the world? 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:20.720 Look to Jesus both in his human life and in his position, being made a little lower from the angels, and now his exaltation, being crowned with glory and honor. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:22.320 Our day will come. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:25.120 Our day will come. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.559 Tap the person beside you and say, just hold on. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:29.360 Hold on. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:30.559 Our day will come. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:33.440 Go ahead and tell him, hold on, our day will come. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.399 Because some of life right now is overwhelming. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:40.879 Some of life you look at and you go, does Jesus get this? 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:42.159 He does. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:45.120 He persevered, he pressed through. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:49.840 His suffering as a human led to his exaltation. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.799 Jesus suffered perfectly. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:55.919 He went through all the things in life we do. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:01.840 He suffered perfectly and paid the price for us in that. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:10.240 Our salvation, it says, He should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:11.600 He suffered perfectly. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:36.879 It says, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:54.159 Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:14.000 Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:18.159 The author of Hebrews is relaying the same fact. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:20.559 Jesus went through it all for us. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:24.000 He suffered, he died, he rose again. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:31.200 Jesus was already perfect, and he came through all of these trials of life perfectly. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:37.840 Because of that, he's bringing sons and daughters to share in his glory, but not fully yet. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:39.360 So we share in his glory. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.159 Next we see we share in his family. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:44.399 We share in his family. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:45.200 Verse 11. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:52.799 He says, Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:55.919 The one who makes people holy, who is that? 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:58.000 Let's try that again. 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:00.320 The one who makes people holy, who is that? 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:01.600 Jesus. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.960 And the ones who need to be made holy, who is that? 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:06.320 Us. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.639 No, don't point to the person beside you. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.600 Um so Jesus, listen to this. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:17.919 Jesus is not ashamed to call them, us, you, brothers and sisters. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:21.120 He's not ashamed of us. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:29.519 Some of us battle this feeling of how I've let God down, or how I'm a failure, or how God doesn't want to see me. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:31.279 He's not ashamed of us. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.080 Let's let's be real, let's be real for just a second. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:45.200 Anybody have that brother or sister that when the holidays show up and they're there, or maybe you're at a grocery store and you're here across the room, bro, what's going on? 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:47.039 And you're like, oh no. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:48.879 It's them. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.320 That sibling, that cousin. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:58.639 When they walk in a room, the entire environment changes, and you're like, I just wish they'd leave. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:03.200 Jesus has never once said, I wish you would leave. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:06.319 He is not ashamed. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:12.319 And the one who makes us holy and the ones who need to be made holy, we're the same family. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:14.480 You are family with Jesus. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:17.119 Have you ever met someone who had a famous relative? 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:22.240 Yeah, you know, this person, we're ninth cousins, and we're like this. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:32.079 We have the most famous family member in our spiritual spiritual heritage, Jesus. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.880 We are family with him. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:44.160 All of our stupidities, all of our failures, all the times we've let him down, he's not ashamed of us. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.039 He's not bailed at all. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:52.559 He says, verse 12, he says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters in the assembly. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.400 I will sing your praises and I will put my trust in him. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:01.279 And again, he says, Here am I, and the children God has given me. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:02.559 We're family. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:07.440 We're family in this room, and we are family with Jesus. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:09.359 There's a song we used to sing. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:10.720 This is going way back. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:12.000 I was this big. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:15.279 I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:22.559 Washed in the fountain, cleansed by his blood, joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this side. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.759 I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:28.640 We're family with Jesus. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:38.000 These verses spell out, are spelling out from Psalm 22 the solidarity, the common ground between Jesus and his brothers and sisters. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:53.359 You have things in common with Jesus who suffered on this earth as humans, just like those who have gone before us, just like those in Nigeria right now and Zimbabwe and some of these places where Christians are being killed in some cases by the thousands. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:55.920 That's our family. 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:01.599 And we can trust God through the whole thing. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:02.799 Verse 14. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:08.559 It says, Since the children have flesh and blood, how many in the room have flesh and blood? 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:10.079 Okay, about a third of us. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:10.880 Good. 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:15.359 Um it says, He too shared in their humanity. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:22.720 Jesus took on flesh and blood, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.480 That is the devil. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:31.200 And for those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:33.440 Notice it doesn't even say death. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:35.759 Held in slavery by death. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:39.839 He says held in slavery by the fear of death. 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:45.680 When people around the world are pulled, there's one of two things that everyone says they're afraid of. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:49.440 One is public speaking, but two is death. 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:52.559 So afraid of death. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:54.400 And it starts at different ages. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:20:08.720 And let's be real, some of you, my age in north, you wake up, you feel the body start moving further from that younger life you had, and closer to that future that we all are going to face. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.640 It's easy to be fearful of death. 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:17.920 But in Revelation, the question is asked, death, where's your staying? 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:20.319 Where's your victory? 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.079 And the answer is it's swallowed up in the resurrection of Jesus. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.680 You see, he went straight at death and he won. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:29.680 He had to. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:31.759 The only way to win is by beating your enemy. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:32.960 How do you beat death? 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:35.119 By dying and getting back up. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:39.279 And the Bible says, He's the firstborn among us. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:41.440 We too will overcome death. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:44.559 It says, as the writer says, the fear of death. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:50.240 I don't know how many of you in the room, maybe you've had a lot of death around you in your life. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:52.960 And it's made you fearful. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:21:00.319 But the writer of Hebrews is saying, listen, Jesus came, lived this human life, and took on death itself. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:03.759 And now he's exalted in glory and honor. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:07.039 And when we face death, we will be too. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:15.839 Don't be afraid to move from this room to the next one, from this earth to your next breath being of heavenly air. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:28.319 For surely, verse 16, for surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants, those who are spiritually family with Jesus. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:29.599 That's us. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:36.079 The death of the Son of God as a sacrifice for sin served to break the power of the devil. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:45.920 Philo was an early, early first century Jewish philosopher, and he wrote that nothing is so calculated to enslave the mind as fearing death. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:51.359 We don't know perfectly how it goes or what's on the other side or even when it's coming. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:58.000 But we can be set free from the fear of it through the sacrificial death of Christ. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:01.839 Set free from what Can enslave us. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:09.680 So we share in his glory, we share in his family, and finally we see that we share in his victory. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:11.200 We share in his victory. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:12.079 Verse 17. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:23.279 It says, For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.359 If you have a paper Bible, circle those words. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.200 If you're digital, highlight them. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:36.319 Merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:38.319 Atonement, atone at one. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:40.640 It makes us at one with God. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:45.279 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:49.119 He is able to help those who are being tempted. 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:51.359 You see, Jesus wasn't just a high priest. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:56.319 He didn't just come for the name tag, the badge, the sign on the door, the 401k plan. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:58.720 He didn't come to fill a role. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:04.880 He came to be the merciful and just, merciful and faithful high priest. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:12.960 Faithful, doing what needs to be done, not being afraid of the tough conversations, doing what faithfully needs to be accomplished. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:15.359 But not only faithful, merciful. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:17.519 Merciful. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:26.960 There is nothing worse than having a lawyer, a teacher, a doctor, a counselor, a pastor, a mentor who doesn't understand merciful. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:32.799 And many times they don't understand merciful because they haven't faced it themselves. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:41.440 I go back over and over again to the statement: your best ministry time doesn't happen because you have degrees or get up in front of people. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.240 Your best ministry happens out of your scars. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:50.720 When people see that you made it and that you can get through it, man, it gives them hope. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:55.359 It makes Jesus very real in tough situations. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:56.559 Merciful. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:02.559 You have someone who's not merciful, who doesn't get it, and it's a brutal situation. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:05.440 Many of you all know my story. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:08.960 I lost my late wife after 31 years of marriage. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:12.480 And we had gone in, at this point, we didn't even know anything was fully wrong. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:21.680 We had gone into the ER for something totally unrelated, and the doctor came in and said, okay, here's the x-rays, and here's what's wrong, here's what you're facing today. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:27.279 But oh yeah, in the x-rays, we saw that, especially in your hip bones and in your spine, you're full of cancer. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.799 Sorry for the bad news, but it's part of the job. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.880 And he turned and walked out of the room. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.839 We were just left looking at each other. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:39.839 Like, what did he just say? 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:42.640 Was he faithful to his job? 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:43.440 Sure. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:45.039 Was he merciful? 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:46.880 Big zero on that one. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:53.680 Scripture tells us Jesus is a faithful and merciful high priest. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:54.160 Why? 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:57.920 Because he's been where you are, he's been through it. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:02.799 No mercy gift shows a heart usually of not caring. 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:07.119 No, Jesus may not know the horrors of waiting for an update on a cell phone. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:11.440 No, he may not know the terrors of not having Wi-Fi. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:14.640 But understand this. 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:21.279 When it comes to peer pressure and things in life that are scary, Jesus was raised by a single mom. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.599 He understands what it is to have a broken heart. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:25.440 He understands being abandoned. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:29.920 He understands not everything going exactly the way that would be fun. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:35.279 He understands being ridiculed and ostracized and being belittled and being looked down on. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.039 He understands being lied about. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:40.000 He understands friends that bolt on you. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.599 He understands because he's lived it out. 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:53.119 He understands looking out at his own mom, crying, brokenhearted at what he's going through. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:59.920 He understands having family that have bolted on him and want nothing to do with him and think he's crazy. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:08.160 He understands he's a high priest, it says, who goes to the Father and prays for us and says, I know what they're going through. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:10.960 I know what they're trying to handle. 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:13.920 And he prays on our behalf. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:17.440 He is a faithful and merciful high priest. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:17.759 Why? 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:18.720 Verse 18? 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:22.319 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted. 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:25.599 He is able to help those who are being tempted. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:28.559 Don't raise your hand this morning, but anyone ever been tempted? 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:31.359 It's only 950. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:33.839 Some of you are already 10 temptations in. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:38.400 Scripture says Jesus faced the temptation. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:41.119 And he got through it. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.480 You'll always hear naysayers ask, why would God become human? 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:50.319 That just doesn't make any sense. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:59.839 Because that perfect Lamb had to come and live a perfect life as a human to die for humans, as the perfect sacrifice for us. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:01.279 And he doesn't brag about it. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.079 And he doesn't say, look what I did that you can't do. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:07.599 And he doesn't say, I'm high and mighty, and you're a lowly worm. 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:10.160 He says, We're family. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:14.799 And what I went through, I went through for you. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:19.599 And sharing his is our human in our humanity. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:26.160 It's what allows us to share in his glory, share in his family, and share in his victory. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:27.920 Would you bow your heads with me, please? 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:37.119 My guest is in this room right now, maybe watching online right now. 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:40.720 There are some people who go, God, you don't get it. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:43.680 You don't know what I'm going through. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:44.960 You're not there with me. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:46.240 I don't feel it. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:47.920 How could you understand? 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:56.720 And I'm saying to you right now, we have a high priest who gets it. 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:05.359 Who gets you, who gets what you're going through, who gets the heartaches, who gets the struggles. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:09.359 You're not alone. 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:12.000 You're not facing this alone. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:14.079 And Jesus isn't just a religious figure. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:16.079 He's someone who lived it. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:20.880 He paved the way for us because he's walked it before us. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:27.839 This morning, what I'd like to do in closing is just take a moment where you're seated. 00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:31.519 Those of you at home, just sit still for a minute. 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:42.400 And whatever the struggle is, the temptation is that you're facing, whatever the battle is you're going through, just bring it to Jesus. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:48.559 And remember, he's not up there floating with an angel, listening to them play their harps. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:54.640 Scripture says he's interceding, he's praying, he goes to the Father on our behalf. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:00.079 God on earth, having lived this out, saying, I can relate. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:06.799 Just take a moment, talk between you and your good, merciful, and faithful high priest. 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:46.960 I pray it rises up faith within us and who you are. 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:52.799 And then as we look at this week and we see that you get it, you've been through it. 00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:56.799 Lord, you've gone before us to make the way for us. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:08.720 May it open a heart of compassion, both in gratitude for what you've done for us and to those who don't know you yet, who feel distant or ostracized or like you're not even there. 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:28.319 I thank you, Jesus, for having lowered yourself below the angels for a little while to understand this life, to make a way for us to be right with the Father, and then returning to glory and honor that one day we will join you in. 00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:29.920 We thank you in Christ's name. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:30.480 We pray. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:31.359 Amen.