Please turn with me in the Word of God to the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 2. We'll be reading all of chapter 2 together. Hebrews, chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, beginning at verse 1, let us hear God's own word. We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its judgment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard of him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 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 man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet. In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, I will declare your name to my brothers in the presence of the congregation. I will sing your praises. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, he says, here am I and the children God has given me. And now these next verses are particularly our text. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free 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. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. So far the reading of God's word. Are you satisfied in God tonight? I was struck as we were singing, when we sang from Psalm 65, we sang the words that we are satisfied with grace. And as we were singing from Psalm 22, we sang that God feeds the humble soul and satisfies the meek. Are you satisfied as you gather here tonight? This seems in some ways to be a kind of ongoing problem for the Christian community. It was amongst those Hebrew Christians to whom this letter we've just read was sent. Verse 3 of chapter 2 says, How shall we escape if we ignore, or perhaps a little better as a translation, if we neglect such a great salvation? This letter was written to those who were being tempted, I think not so much ignore, but neglect to be a little sloppy, to be a little careless, to be a little slippery in their approach, a little indifferent. not to be fully satisfied. To have a little bit, maybe sometimes that reaction, yeah, yeah, all that's true and fine, but I have other things to do, other things to think about, other things to focus on. And if we had time tonight to preach on the whole book of Hebrews, which might be profitable but somewhat wearisome to the flesh, we'd find that there are a series of ways in which neglect is addressed in this book. The author sometimes is concerned about unbelief amongst the people of God, a very serious kind of neglect. He's sometimes concerned about immorality amongst the people of God, a very serious kind of neglect. But he's also concerned about drift, as he puts it in chapter 2. He's concerned about sluggishness, as he puts it at another point. And in chapter 12, he exhorts this people about whom he's concerned, a people who seem somewhat neglectful. He says to them, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. And I think it suggests that Christian individuals, sometimes Christian families, sometimes Christian congregations can have droopy periods in their Christian experience, can get kind of weak-kneed, get kind of lame in their walk. He sounds almost with it in his language. And this is an exhortation not to let that kind of sloppiness, not to let that kind of neglect characterize us. Now, I know this would have no real relevance to us. Well, maybe. Maybe one or two. And for the rest of us, we should just maybe tuck this away in the back of our minds for a rainy day. But you know, there are those times when we need an encouragement to be renewed that we not neglect what? So great salvation. This is the surprising point here, if you will. What the author is really saying in this third verse is, a people who have been visited with such a great salvation, how could we become neglectful? How could we become sluggish? How could we become droopy? Well, it's because we're not thinking clearly. Because we're not focused. because we're not thoughtful, because we're not being renewed in the character of that great salvation. And so in chapter 1, the author lays out for us something of the greatness of the salvation as we see it in the glory of our Christ. You know, when you study history, you see all sorts of people who raise themselves up as if they were glorious. And here in chapter 1 of Hebrews, we're reminded none of them, none of them begin to hold a candle to our Christ in His glory. He's the eternal image of God, very God, the object of our worship. He is the creator of all that we see. He is the sustainer of everything in this world. He is the heir of all, and He makes us the heirs of all. You can see that in verses 1 and verses 14 of chapter 1. He is crowned with glory and honor and He will crown us with glory and honor. What a remarkable Christ. And this Christ is alive today and the power of His life flows forth to us to enliven us. How can we neglect such a salvation? How can we neglect such a Christ? What a glory! But chapter 2 reminds us and focuses on what it may be a little harder for us always to remember. That the greatness of the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ is not only a matter of his glory, but is perhaps in some ways particularly a matter of his suffering. And that may bring us to the struggle of the people to whom this letter was written in that first century context. Those people seem to have been troubled by the thought that the old religion seemed better than the new in a variety of ways. That the old religion, in fact, seemed more glorious than the new religion. That the old religion had a temple covered with gold. It had priests dressed in glorious vestments. It had golden vessels to catch the blood of sacrifices and you could go with a throng to that temple and experience the excitement and the splendor and the wonder of that worship. And what are we now? Well, we are this little persecuted band whose Messiah was crucified. and we gather in little, unimpressive places to worship semi-in secret so as not to be persecuted. It wasn't the glory of the old religion better than the new. Sometimes, perhaps today, as Reformed people, we look around and think there seem to be forms of Christianity that are more glorious and more glamorous, more glitzy, more exciting, more attractive, more apparently fulfilling. And Hebrews 2 says to us, now wait a minute. As you're thinking about that, as you're potentially going that way, remember the great salvation that has come to you by the death of Jesus Christ. By the way of suffering that he entered. So that you won't be surprised about the struggles, the difficulties, the smallness. The unimpressiveness of your religion which yet when you reflect on it is so great. And so chapter 2 turns to the death of Christ. The Christ who died, the Christ who tasted death for every one of us. For his brothers, for the children of Abraham. As chapter 9 says, for the many. When verse 9 here says that Jesus tasted death for everyone, this is not a denial of our reformed doctrine of limited atonement. In the context, he immediately goes on to say he brings many sons to glory. In verse 16, he talks about how he suffered for the children of Abraham. Chapter 9, verses 27 and 28, he expands on this theme by saying, it was appointed for man to die once, and after that comes a judgment. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. But in chapter 2, verse 9, when he says he tasted death for everyone, He wants to make the point. He tasted death for everyone who belongs to Him. There are none left out. There's a fullness. There's a richness in what He did in His death. And we dare not neglect that. Because it's an essential part, a foundational part of that great salvation. And so in these latter verses, 14 through 18, He holds up before us in particular the benefits that come to us by the death of Christ. Because He doesn't want us to neglect that. He doesn't want us to miss it. Oh, it's wonderful to have a glorious Savior, a powerful Savior, a reigning Savior, but that glory as we enjoy it comes only through the path of suffering that He trod for every one of us who know Him. So He says to us, Know his death. Know that fellowship of his suffering. Because in the first place, by his death, he destroys the power of the devil. Now, there are a lot in the world who would say, who believes in the devil anymore? That's a silly thing. Or even if there were a devil, how much does it matter to me whether he's destroyed or not? Well, such an attitude would reveal a heart completely separated from true religion. The scripture makes clear that the devil is the ruler of this world. He's the prince of the air. He's the lion that rages about seeing whom he may devour. He is a murderer and a liar from the beginning. He is the one who epitomizes all of the rebellion and the wickedness in this world that stands against God. And to be told so seemingly simply that Christ in His death destroyed the evil one. That's what it says. Destroyed Him. Destroyed His power to kill. Destroyed His power to hold us in eternal damnation and death. What a great salvation. How amazing that the prince of this world has been bound. That the ancient serpent has been cast down so that he cannot accuse the brethren anymore. He cannot deceive anymore. For those in Christ Jesus, this passage says, the devil has no power to kill, to destroy, to deceive, to accuse before God. We are a liberated people in the death of Jesus Christ. What a glory. What a hope. You remember Jesus, as it is recorded for us in the 12th chapter of John's Gospel, as he looked forward to his crucifixion, declared, Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. It was in the death of Christ that the ruler of this world was cast out. Because in his death, Christ bore our sin. In his death, he took away all claim that the devil might have had upon us. And in his death, he brought life to us. What a great salvation. What a glory. What a foolishness to think that we would neglect it. Well, these verses towards the end of chapter 2 speak not only of the benefit of the destruction of the evil one for God's people and of our deliverance in Him. But it goes on to speak secondly of how in the death of Christ the bondage, the slavery of the fear of death is taken away. This is a world that in many ways has been ruled by death. And one of the great truths of this world is that people have lived in fear of death. Fear of the end. Fear of nothingness, they think. Fear of damnation. Fear of the unknown. A pervasive fear that has held many in bondage. A fear so terrible that many have lived their lives simply in denial that there's anything to fear. And we today live in a world where there are many who say, oh, well, you know, death is just a part of life. We live and then we die, and why should anyone be upset about it? It's just the way things are. Human beings, after all, are just another kind of animal. We live, we live out our life, and then we die, and that's just the way things are. No big deal. But, of course, that's a lie. And almost every human being knows deep in their heart that it's a lie and they spend their time and their lives and their energies trying to avoid that truth and that fear that death awaits us all. They do it through false religions and they do it through alcohol and they do it through many avenues. But here we are told that in the death of Christ that bondage to the fear of death is taken away. Now, that doesn't mean, of course, that as we face death, as we contemplate death, our hearts are not troubled, that we do not have our anxieties and our struggles. But what Hebrews 2 says is that when we contemplate the death of Christ and we remember that he died for us so that we might live forever, then in fact, death need hold no fear for us. We have been liberated. We do not have to be bound there anymore. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. That's why death does not have to be terror for us. Because Christ has tasted it for us and taken it from us. and assured that death does not mean nothingness. Death does not mean eternal damnation. Death for those in Christ means life in glory eternally, crowned with glory and honor with the Savior. We become the inheritors of all things in Him. What a salvation! Why would we neglect it? So Christ in His death destroys the devil for His people. He liberates us from the fear of death. And in verse 17, thirdly, we're told that he makes atonement for the sins of his people. That's not a particularly happy translation in the NIV. What it literally means is he made propitiation for his people. That is, He took the sins of His people upon Himself so as to turn away the anger of God from His people. The Scripture says God is angry with sin every day. That's because He's holy and He's righteous. And He cannot tolerate sin before Him. And the reality of our sin, as those whom He had made and blessed, and lavished His love and affection on, the reality of our sin means that our God is alienated from us, He's angry with us. And that anger needs to be turned away by a sacrifice and a substitute. And that's what Jesus Christ does for us. He takes all that anger of God against sin, all that just wrath against sin. And it's the one who is faithful and merciful. He is not only priest, but sacrifice and bears our sin and takes it away so that God is not our enemy, but in Christ he is our friend. Remember some years ago, some seminarians decided to have an evangelistic meeting over at Palomar College. And they spent a good deal of time thinking, how do we get attention? How do we talk to people in a way that will be really helpful? How do we try to avoid being obnoxious? I don't know how well they succeeded, but what they did was they put up a table. And on that table, you may remember some of you, they hung a big banner that said, God may not love you. Well, they said it was really quite amazing how many people stopped by. They'd never heard anybody say that to them. Most Christian witnessing had begun by saying, God loves you. They wanted to say, well, you know, God may not love you. God doesn't love everybody. And it enabled them to have some very good conversations about what is the character of God's love? What is the foundation of God's love? How does Jesus relate to God's love? And the truth of the Scripture is that unless Jesus had borne the wrath of God against our sins, He would not love us. Well, that is part of the mystery of redemption. He loves us from eternity. He planned our salvation. But his righteous anger had to be satisfied, had to be turned away. And it's Jesus who does that. What a great salvation. What a great salvation. And fourthly, this text, the last verse says, Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Because Christ suffered and died, he understands the temptations that we face. He was tempted in the wilderness by the evil one when he was weak and hungry. He was tempted in the garden as he contemplated the terrors and awful judgment of the cross. He was tempted on the cross when he raised the great question, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And as he faced those temptations, he came to understand what you and I experience in this world, our struggles. And by his death and suffering, we are told in the Scriptures, he understands temptation and is able and willing to help those who are being tempted we don't have a savior who is so great and glorious and lifted up that he is removed from us and indifferent to us but we have a savior who is a faithful high priest accessible to us to whom we may be drawn near who in his character is faithful and merciful It cares for us and will help in the face of temptation. And this is what these Hebrew Christians needed to hear because they were being tempted. They were being tempted to neglect the great salvation. They were being tempted to think that the old religion was better than the new. They were being tempted to think that a religion of greatness and glamour and glory was more attractive than their rather pedestrian, ordinary Christianity. And we have to ask ourselves, is that a temptation to which we are subject? It's certainly a temptation to which the Church of Jesus Christ has been subjected through the centuries. Because there are forms of Christianity who want to say, well, we are the forms of Christianity who build the glorious cathedrals. We are the forms of Christianity who have altars of gold and priests in glorious vestments. And isn't this expression of Christianity more in line with the glory of our Christ? Doesn't it show forth His triumph and His success? And our answer has to be, no, it doesn't show forth the way of suffering to which we are called. It doesn't follow the biblical pattern of first the suffering and then the glory. And I fear in many forms of popular Protestantism today, we have another form of glory being presented to us, perhaps not in the grandeur of architecture or vestments, but in a kind of spectacle offered to us, a spectacle too often of gimmicks and glips and programs that are supposed to give you three easy ways to great holiness. And the book of Hebrews says, there were no easy ways to glory for Jesus Christ, And there are no easy ways to glory for us. We need to be a disciplined people. You know, Hebrews takes up this theme again in chapter 13, where again he wants to come back to precisely these themes about not neglecting the struggles, the difficulty, the importance and centrality of the death of Christ in our understanding salvation and in our living out the Christian experience. Chapter 13 of Hebrews, we read at verse 11, the high priest carries the blood of animals into the most holy place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. This is a reference to Exodus 29, verse 14, where we're told about the consecration of Aaron as a high priest. And a bull was brought before the altar, and the bull was slaughtered there before the Lord. His blood captured, the blood used then in the consecration ceremony of Aaron. But that text in Exodus 29 tells us the skin, the flesh, and the dung of the bull were taken outside of the camp and burned. They weren't in the tabernacle. They weren't part of the glorious ceremonial of the consecration of Aaron. And then what does Hebrews say? So Jesus also suffered outside the city. His sacrifice was not a sacrifice offered on an altar of marble. His blood was not caught in vessels of gold. He was not attended by priests in glorious vestments. He was out there with the used up worthless carcasses, with the skin and the flesh and the dung to be burned and cast off. That's where our Lord made our great salvation. Not in glory, but on the dung heap, if you will. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Are you satisfied with that kind of religion? Are you satisfied with that kind of salvation? A religion that today is outside the camp, in the place of death, that we might find life. A religion that follows Jesus as he was in his suffering, in his loss. Following him so that we might receive those glorious benefits of that death outside the camp. The destruction of the evil one. The liberation from fear. The propitiation of our sins. And help. Help when we're tempted by the glamour and the glitz to stand with Jesus and say, no, here we have no continuing city. But we know there's a city to come, a heavenly Jerusalem in which righteousness dwells, where our high priest is crowned with glory and honor and is the heir of all things. And we shall be like him. What a salvation. Don't neglect it. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord our God, we are so thankful for our Lord Jesus Christ who gave his all for us, who had known eternal glory with you and yet so freely and lovingly and fully emptied himself of it to become like us and to do for us what we could never do for ourselves, to bear the full weight and penalty of your wrath against sin so that we in him might be his brothers, might be those redeemed, might be those made alive, might be those who do not seek a continuing city here, but seek that eternal city, that heavenly Jerusalem, that spiritual temple. So, O Lord, give us joy in our religion. Give us joy in the greatness of what our Savior has done for us. And make us not a neglectful people, but rather a faithful people filled with joy for so great salvation. Hear us, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.