If you're a visitor this morning, we have started in the past few weeks the book of Hebrews. And we're working through this book, and today we come to Hebrews chapter 2. Our text will be verses 5 through 9, 5 through 9. And I'll be reading at verse 1, and read all the way to 9. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. And now our text. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we're speaking. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him? For you made him for a little while lower than the angels and have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, But we see Him, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone. There ends this morning the reading of God's Word. You will remember that the author here, as we considered last time, is concerned about a certain problem in the life of the church and the life of the kingdom of God among Christians. He's concerned about a real problem. He impressed upon us this real challenge of people who are drifting, drifting away from Jesus, drifting away from the word. And we looked at how prevalent that is in a culture right now that has captivated us with all the problems of this world he has impressed upon us the responsibility to pay close attention to the word of god the the revelation of jesus the supreme revelation redemptive revelation that's given to us through his voice as he's seated in heaven and speaks to us in the ministry of the gospel god has spoken it's not that god is silent people sometimes will say that oh i wish that god would speak to me God come to church you'll hear God speak to you he speaks and he said a lot to us about the most important issues of life he pressed on us that it's no little issue to not listen to the voice of Jesus but because we live in the last days and God has spoken so specially and intimately to us through his son that has a great responsibility on our part to hear him but to understand and see jesus is something that he's focused on now so what he did last time was give an exposition of certain passages of the bible to explain to us jesus's glorious exaltation and to understand the implications of that that's what preceded that warning passage and which is fascinating in hebrews he moves from exposition to application And when we have this movement of exposition to application and it comes in the form of a warning, they are very powerful. There's five of them in the book of Hebrews and it makes for a great teaching tool to be able to preach this way. As we heard last time, he gave this first great warning of the book, we must pay careful attention to what we've heard lest we drift away from it. Drifting doesn't take a lot of energy to do. We looked at the nautical metaphors of a boat that all of a sudden is way off course and has drifted. It's not giving ourselves to listen to him. It's not taking seriously the responsibility to internalize the word and digest the word of God in your lives. The pathway to apostasy that we see in the world and the pathway to apostasy that he's dealing with in the book among Christians begins with drifting. his word is what keeps us in this life his word is what preserves us the author is so concerned about this because he knows and think of what he says here later on in hebrews 12 consider him jesus who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or become discouraged in your souls. I think the author is grabbing for us in this book the greatest way we drift. The pathway to drifting is discouragement. Discouragement in all the forms that it comes in life. Weariness in this life. One of the greatest ways we drift is through discouragement. We get discouraged by many things, don't we? Not insignificant is death. Death of a loved one. That can come at any time. Sorrow. Sickness. It's that report. You have cancer and you have six months. I think what's been proven these past few years, one of our greatest discouragements in this life has to do with government. The surrounding problems with the governments of this world. I think that's proven. So many problems. Evil is rampant. Look at the state of things right now. Where is basic morality in life anymore? And what's going to become of us here? How do you raise children in the midst of all of this? The intention of the author of the book of Hebrews is to help Christians who are facing an about-to-face terrible persecution for their faith. And it just didn't seem like this Christianity offered any real solutions to any of this. I mean, look at what we have to face in the world. It's great when the sun's shining. Not when the clouds come. And it's as if the author here, after the warning, is explaining for us where he wants our hearts and minds focused in this present age. He wants us to look at things in a far different way. He wants our hearts fixated on what Jesus has accomplished. What He has done to solve our greatest problem. What His plan is. What His work is. And what are the implications of that for the future. He wants us captivated in the humiliation, the exaltation, and the glorification and the glory to come of what Jesus has done. Well, that's not always what we're captivated about. I would suggest that often we've had a pretty sour attitude to the gospel. A drifting attitude to the gospel. This is what he's motivating us to today. and he's warning us not to drift so that whatever we have to endure here in God's providence, whatever is appointed for us in this present momentary affliction, that we would not be discouraged but overwhelmed by what God is doing and the true story of human history. There's a story that's playing out and it's his story. It's not anyone else's story. So when we look at the problems we face. I want you to notice here, the problems we face, the solution God has given will be the second thing that we're looking at briefly, and then the hope that we embrace. So the problems we face, the solution God's given, and the hope that we embrace. There's one verse here I believe is capturing the major problem in the book of Hebrews. This is an important little section. In verse 8, he says, in putting everything in subjection under his feet, that's a wonderful statement at present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him there's a play on words that the author's using here that i've never seen and that really caught my attention this week in in my study it's on this word uh this little verb to see in the original. The first word he uses to see here is not really a verb that is used to speak of with the eyes. It has more to do with perception. So what he's saying up front is we do not yet really perceive that he's reigning. We don't really perceive it the way that we should that all things are in subjection to him. Well, that's a big problem for us. does anyone think um does anyone disagree with me this world's an absolute mess well these christians in the first century are looking at the state of things in rome and it's one thing for the roman empire to be full of all kinds of sexual morality and vice and evil and corruption it's one thing to disregard law it's one thing to throw down all the morals of what is true and what is right and God's law but then to have the government turn on you and begin to persecute you because of your faith. At some point when you've had it good it just doesn't seem like this message of a king of kings and lord of lords that's seated over all. There's a God of heaven and earth who's powerful and reigning and this is Jesus. it just doesn't seem to be working the kingdom of god that we believe uh believe in that we're a part of that is so powerful and so victorious this can't be it that's what they're dealing with this is not the power and the glory that we signed up for we expect more victory we expect a little more showcase of power. Show yourself a little more, Jesus. Isn't that what the disciples were constantly asking Jesus to do? Show your glory now just a little bit more. But if this is going to be what it is, maybe it's not true. Maybe none of this is true. This feels like a defeated kingdom. This feels like a religion that we're a part of in the world that is insignificant is making no real headway. There's no glory to it. There's got to be more than this. Listening to the Word of God. You can only imagine if things got like this here. Where Christianity has flourished and as Dr. Godfrey is talking about Christendom being ended now. Having ended. You can only imagine having all this resource and money and blessing and influence. to now have everything turn and what it could become. I just read an article. Imagine this hit home for a minute. I just read an article this past week of Australia and the future of all Christian schooling in Australia. You know what they said? Because of the belief system of Christianity and because it's hate speech against the prevailing narratives of our day, and you know what those are, What is clear is, this is what the article said, it will not be business as usual for Christian schools in the near future. So what if it was shut down? What if our great project was shut down? What if all the religious freedom in this world was taken? What if our beliefs were outlawed? See, this is the fundamental problem of the book. human experience on this earth does not seem to validate what we believe about the kingdom of God and of power. But then add all the other discouragements. I was bombarded this past week. It just seemed like I started my week with one bad, terrible report after another. A reformed minister in Uganda. It's a terrible story. Jailed for sexual abuse. Sickness and death. What does the hymn say? All around us we seem to see is death and decay. That's what we are. One problem after another. And it's come on with a vengeance in these last years. I don't know. Maybe it's just you're in the moment. But do you remember it being like this? This stuff just wears you out. the discouragements are just at times they feel too much to bear drifting is a real problem when things are constantly coming at you like this constantly but then add to the problem that no one can seem to fix anything in this world we are so fixated on all the problems we've elevated the secondary problems of the world as the problems of the world, the most important problems of the world that we face. And who can solve them? I have to say, when our president stood up and said, I will eliminate COVID, I thought there must have been a big laugh in heaven. You're going to do it? While no one cries out to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? And so that I'm not picking on just any administration, the same speech was made in the previous administration. If anything is proven, nobody's even solving the secondary problems. And our hearts are captivated by all this. But here's the marvel of today's passage. You have a God who is deeply concerned about your greatest problem. He's not going to let go of it. Let's be real clear about what this is. we threw everything away in the fall. We lost paradise and all. This world is in severe darkness. We have no paradise here. We can't achieve it. We work hard all to have the good life, to make a good life for ourselves, but the reality doesn't go away. Sin has wrecked everything. And no one can control anything. You can't even control yourself. And we listen to Satan. We listen to the great lie of history. That God is oppressive. That God's cruel. This church thing's stupid. Everything that he put in place. We listen to the lie of Satan in the garden and we fell right into ruin. That's why things are the way they are. That's why things are the way they are. That's our greatest problem. Our greatest problem is this. Everyone is under the wrath of God. The biggest problem of humanity, don't miss this, is that a big judgment day is coming because of sin. I was reading this week what Americans believe. Do you know a mere 2% now? I couldn't believe this is true. Believe that there is a judgment to come and there's hell to come. No one's worried about it. No one's worried about it. We're not concerned about the most important things at all. Now think of how wonderful your God is. Don't drift. I don't want you guys drifting in the midst of this sea of voices. I don't want you drifting. Hey, anchor yourself in my son. He's calling to us from heaven. This is what should concern you. Listen to me. It's as if the father is crying out, telling us, listen to my son. This is my beloved son. Hear him. He accomplished the unimaginable for you. he gave Jesus to you to address this problem. I think when he says we don't see all these things right now under him because of the hardships and discouragements of life, he's mocking that idea actually. That's why there's a change of verbs here. In verse 9, notice how he comes right back and he says it so strongly, but we do see Jesus. And he chose the word I wouldn't have expected in the original. You actually see him with your eyes. See, I guess if I would have written this, I would have reversed things. I would have said, we do not see Jesus with the eyes, but we perceive him. But there's a switch here. In contrast to being blind, remember the blind man said, I'm blind, but now I see. That's the word in verse 9 he chooses. He says, we see Jesus. How do you see Jesus? What do we see? Here's the problem of the book. Our hearts, my heart, our minds, throughout the course of our weeks are fixed on all the wrong things. Our eyes are on the symptoms of the problem. And that's because you're not looking carefully. We don't look typically carefully to the solution. God has spoken everywhere in the gospel. And that's why we're discouraged. That's why discouragement comes in because he's going to say later, keep your eyes on Jesus, looking to him, the author and finisher of your faith. We see Jesus. He now shows us how we see Jesus. Notice verse 5. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we're speaking. It's been testified somewhere. What is man that you're mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels. You've crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Psalm 8 is this majestic psalm celebrating the glory and the majesty of God and his creative power that's put on display in this beautiful theater in which we live. And listen, I saw yesterday, it was 17 in Iowa. You have no excuse living here. It was 87 yesterday and you got to go outside and look at this theater of glory with clarity. Poor Iowa people. If any of you want to move back there, I'm telling you right now, that's not where you want to go. You are glorious, O Lord, in your awesome creation and your majesty. And we live in this theater of your glory. But we rebelled against you. Psalm 8. Why would you ever take notice of us? Do you understand the question of Psalm 8? I've never really, it's kind of confusing when you first read Psalm 8. What is man that you're mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him? Do you know what that question is asking? I don't know if I've ever properly understood what that question's asking. Do you know what that question's asking? Why would you care about us? Little humans who've rebelled against you and sinned against you and made a mess of everything of your good creation. Why would you even think you care for us? I mean, it's overwhelming. You made all this. You formed all this for your glory. We alienated ourselves from you in the fall. We've sinned against you. And who wants to stand up and tell me the human heart's good right now? Those days are over. That was the 90s. Why do you consider us? Why would you do that? See, a lot of authors say we don't see this right now in the present. But isn't that just the problem? The reason we don't see it is because we drift so easy. When the word of God is digested into the soul and heart, you are listening to the most important message you could ever be given in this life. God speaking to you from heaven. What do we see? What the author sees here is remarkable. It's as if he is seeing as the word is opened. The Hebrew author here breaks into grabbing Psalm 8 and saying, that psalm, which is not typically known as a Christological psalm, that psalm is about Jesus. You want to know how much God cares for you and your afflictions? You want to know? This marvel that He would look into our lives and care? Sins ruined you. Sins ruined me. And God sent His only begotten Son. Eternal Son. Who in the incarnation, when we celebrate at Christmas time, He took on a human nature. He did that for a short time. Hebrews captures that by saying a short time here. For a little while, he was made lower than the angels. Why did he come here? To show God's love for fallen humanity. Remember what Peter said? Concerning the salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched, inquired and carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things, listen, that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you. By the Holy Spirit from heaven, sent from heaven, Things into which angels look into. Angels are standing back and saying, in Marvel, look at the care of this God for his creation and these people. They're mesmerized that God would speak a gospel to you and give his son for you. I mean, I told you, angels in the Old Testament were ready to strike. They're not your friends apart from Jesus. after the cruel death of the cross that he suffered. Think of all those statements. It's finished. I thirst. He was atoning for your sins. All of them. Every single one you've ever done. He tasted death for all of us. Every one of us. Talking about his people. After that short time, he was crowned with glory and honor. He was ascended and seated over all. See, what the author wants you captivated with, what you want your hearts focused on, is that he finished that work, and not only that, when he finished that work, he went back up into heaven for you. To the world to come, of which we're speaking, he says. I'm talking about the world to come. That world's not under angels, beloved. It's under Jesus. What we see in Scripture is what the angels fulfilled, their purposes in this world as God assigned them. The angels had stations in this world. You know that. Angels had stations in this world and they were assigned different places in this world as ministering spirits to protect the people of God. They're not doing that in heaven. Jesus is. Ruling you from there. Caring for you from there. With the goal, listen so carefully, with the goal of taking you there forever. The glory to come. Listen to Deuteronomy 32, which prophesied, spoke of the angel's domain. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of God. He's talking about the angels. But the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob, his allotted heritage. That's you. That's the plan. What he's saying is our hope is not in this world, but in what he's prepared for us because of his work in the world to come. And not only did he solve our greatest problem, beloved, not only did he solve our greatest problem, but right now, and think of the glories of this, everything is indeed under his feet. He's recovered us. He saved us. And he's coming back to get us. That's one of the most powerful appeals today, isn't it? In all this misery and in all this sin and in all this weariness and all this discouragement. You know God is going to bring in a new heavens and a new earth through the work of Christ. I was sitting with a guy in town. He's out of a gang. This was the only appeal that worked, it seemed. He had been shot at the previous week and almost killed. And I spoke of the glories to come. and a brand new heavens and earth where righteousness shall dwell. No more sin, no more evil, no more greed, no more suffering, no more abuse, no more hate. And he said to me, he said, well, if that's what God is planning, maybe I need to listen. You want to know how great God's care is for you? His son got off the throne and he came to die for you. that's the marvel of this life. The last Adam loves you came to fix what the first Adam lost. And he's going to bring this to a glorious, climactic end when we least expect it. Oh, it's going to be awesome. 2 Thessalonians 1, this is evidence of the righteous judgment of God. All this difficulty in the present is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you're suffering since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. And listen, to grant you relief who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God. Any of you who don't know God today, you need to really listen to this. inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might when He comes in that day to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed. Do you believe this? Then you have hope. So what's the author concerned about today? He's calling us to live in this hope. He became so much lower than the angels to pay for your sin. That's how much he values your life, by the way. That's how much he cares for you. Now he's reigning over all. Everything's under his feet. The story's not yet complete. The story's not yet complete, but it will be. As he went through a moment, momentary affliction to do that for you, he wants you to know, the scriptures characterize this everywhere, your affliction is also just momentary in light of eternity. Just momentary, just a moment. It's just a moment. Anytime he could break into this realm, and that glory already has, the kingdom's already come. There's an already not yet dimension this will come to. Who are you looking to today? President Biden to solve the problems? Any leader? You just ready for the next one to come and solve our problems? Our eyes of faith need to be here. Don't be discouraged, says the author. you will drift if you let the cares of this life and the worries of this life control you. Even your health, all that. I know some are still mourning the death of loved ones. This is about to be done. These things don't control us. We see Jesus in his word. And the author of Hebrews is saying to you today, keep your hearts here. Keep your eyes here. To which age do you belong, beloved? It's a great question, ultimately. You don't have a city here. Let me say something really clear today. Don't look to the glory of the United States. This place, in its right time, under God's majesty, is under judgment and we'll be burned in the fire. We don't have a city here. But in all these discouragements, see the city whose builder and maker is God that's prepared for you. Jesus cares for you. Jesus values your life. Jesus loves you. Can you imagine when you enter on that day? It could be tonight. And you're before the presence of the majesty of the one set on high. I saw a sea as glass, clear as crystal. There's no turbulence there. There's no fighting. There's no war. There's no sin. There's no rebellion. Perfect peace, harmony, justice, beauty, everything that's good and right. Is there any message better today that could be given to you. Who's drifting? Who's drifting? Don't drift from Jesus. You see him by faith in his word. And right here, right now, you were just given true peace. Shall we thank him? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for speaking to us through the voice of your Son. Thank you for giving us hope. Thank you for correcting all that needs corrected. We confess, oh Lord, that one of the many reasons we don't see as we should is because the cares of this life and the distractions of this life, whatever it might be, the things of this life, have pulled us away from the glorious message. A message so powerful it saves us from the judgment to come. So would you turn our hearts to you, O Lord, in peace. And would you keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and today is crowned with glory and honor. And that's our home, where we're going. Let us hear your voice today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.