But we turn again this morning to the letter to the Hebrews, near the back of your Bible just before James, and return to chapter 2, chapter 2 of Hebrews, in your pew Bibles that's page 1,276, 1,276. Last time we considered the first nine verses that warn against drifting from our great salvation in Jesus Christ. and sadly it is too easy for us to lose sight of and to drift away from such a great salvation we're weakened by bodies that fail by hearts that wander we're troubled and distracted by an upside down and inside out world we're tempted by Satan to look to anyone or anything else other than Jesus Christ for all that we need, body and soul verse 9 last time told us that we're prone to drift because at present we do not yet see Jesus we do not yet see everything in subjection to Jesus our eyes don't see that and yet we can keep from drifting because we already do see Jesus he says by faith crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so we live in this tension in this fallen world, what our eyes here see doesn't comport with what we can see in God's word that is true in Jesus. And that is why the author last time told us that as we wait for his return, we are called to pay much closer attention to what we have already heard. To pay much closer attention to the gospel by which we can see Jesus. And today, in verses 10 through 18, we can see Jesus, the pioneer of our salvation. Now you will notice as I read this text this morning that I'm using the word pioneer instead of the word founder, which is what your ESV says. It's not a bad word. It can be translated leader, author. But to me, the word pioneer better communicates that the Son of God came not only to establish the way of salvation, but to actually open the way of salvation and to himself become the way of salvation as he declared in John chapter 14. He says, I am the way. No one comes to the Father except through me. So again, verses 10 to 18, we will see Jesus, the pioneer of our salvation under two points. We can see that he has that he had to be made like his brothers. That's something that had to be done and that he had to be made perfect for servants. So we hear from the Word of God now from Hebrews chapter 2. We're going to take it up at verse 5 for context, but we will give our attention to verses 10 through 18. Hear now God's Word. Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are 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. He made him for a little while lower than the angels. you 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. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified, all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. and again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he's able to help those who are being tempted. Here ends the reading of God's Word this morning. Verse 10 opens our text for us this morning, revealing to us God's redemptive purpose. And that is to bring many sons to glory. That's his redemptive purpose, to bring many sons to glory. And his plan as it unfolds in this letter, especially in chapters 7 to 10, is that he will make many adopted sons perfect by making his only begotten son perfect. He gave Moses the law and a priesthood. And the sacrifices it required could never make perfect. The law could make nothing perfect. The sacrifices could make nothing perfect because they were offered by sinful men. But God introduced a better hope for sinners, the author will say, when he swore to appoint as high priest a son. A son who has been made perfect forever. That's from chapter 7. So the plan is to appoint a son, high priest, who has been made perfect forever. And he will tell us that when Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. We heard that in the assurance of pardon this morning. And having been made perfect, having been designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. In fact, by a single offering, as I told you, by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. That's the plan. And when we understand the plan, which is where he's going to take us in this book, you can see here in our text this morning why it was appropriate, it was fitting, that he should make the pioneer of our salvation perfect through suffering. Now in order for the Son of God to be made perfect through suffering, he had to be made like his brothers. That's our first point. He had to be made like his brothers. And the author here gives us three reasons, three arguments that make the same case, that he had to be made like his brothers. The first reason is found in verse 11. There we read for, that is because, He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified, all are of one. That's from the footnote. All are from one. All are of one what? The ESV offers source. I can't say it's wrong, but I think we're focused more clearly when we understand from the context that all are of one family, one household, one brotherhood. It seems clear from the context that all are of one family, the family of God. And this family of God is populated by those who are sanctified. Those who are set apart by God for His purposes. That's the basic meaning of being sanctified, being set apart by God for His purposes. Jesus, He who sanctifies, the only begotten Son of God by nature, and His younger brothers, those who are being sanctified, His younger brothers, sons of God by adoption. This is the family of God. Paul explains the connection in Galatians chapter 4. He says, God sent forth His Son, His only begotten, His natural Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. According to verse 11, that is why he, he who sanctifies, is not ashamed to call them who are sanctified brothers. What a profound statement. That the Son of God who came calls us his brothers. Now that applies to men and women alike. It's a station, not a gender. It's a relationship. And the author pulls three Old Testament scriptures in which we hear the voice of Jesus before He came for us. The voice of Jesus testifying amid the thronging worshipers. His promise to God our Father, I will tell of your name to my brothers. And in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise and assuring his brothers of his trust for his father in whom we trust as our father saying I will put my trust in him. Behold I and the children God has given you. You see he identifies with us. He had to be made like us to be incorporated into this family which will be of those who are sanctified. The second reason it was necessary for the Son of God to be made like His brothers is found in verse 14. Verse 14. Since, because the children share in flesh and blood, that's the reason, because His children share in flesh and blood. In other words, because the family of God is a family of mortal, perishable, human beings. Therefore, because all his brothers share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same. You see the reasoning. The people that he sanctifies are flesh and blood. He had to come and be flesh and blood. The eternal Son of God came to be something that he was not. Immortal, perishable, flesh and blood, human being. That's what he came for. He had to be. Because we're flesh and blood. According to verse 9, he had to do this so that by the grace of God, he might taste death, that is, experience death, for everyone. And in the context that everyone is his brothers. The third reason it was necessary for the Son of God to be made like his brothers is given in verse 17. Verses 16 and 17. For surely, he begins, in other words, you should know this. He's repeated it more than once. For surely, it's not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Why does he help the offspring of Abraham? Pastor Gordon preached this through Genesis. We should know the answer to this. His readers knew the answer to this. It's because God made a promise. He made a promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he would be heir of the world. That he would inherit the world. Paul explains in Galatians chapter 3 that the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, which is Christ. And so Paul helps us see that the promise was given only to one, to Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham, the offering, offspring of Abraham. He alone inherits this promise. And he had to come to inherit that promise in the flesh. Who then are the offspring of Abraham that he helps? The promise here is that he had to come in order to help the offspring of Abraham. He is the offspring. Who are the offspring that he comes to help? Again, Paul helps us in chapter 3 of Galatians. He says, in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. So you see, because he helps the offspring of Abraham, he had to come and become the offspring of Abraham. That through faith in him, we might become the offspring of Abraham and inherit the promise. Therefore, picking up in verse 17, because he helps the offspring of Abraham, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect. A real human being. Of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting, we confess in the Athanasian Creed. A real man. what we call Christmas is coming a day that marks the celebration of the fact that the Son of God came to be made like his brother that the Son of God came to take to himself a full and true humanity body and spirit that he became incarnate. That's the $10 word for this, incarnate. To become, come and take to himself a human nature. Not only to open the way, but to become the way through which God will bring many sons to glory. It had to be. But God's plan required more than the Son of God who came ruin sinners to reclaim. His coming in the Incarnation, what we celebrate at Christmas, anticipated what He came to do at the end of His life that we celebrate at Easter. The plan of God required that the pioneer of our salvation would suffer all the consequences of sin in this fallen world until He was made perfect. Made perfect for service, which is our second point. What does it mean that the Son of God had to be made perfect? That just doesn't sound right to our ears. Did the Son of God come into the world with some kind of fault that needed to be fixed? Something lacking in His person that needed to be given to Him? Was there some defect? Well, of course we know that's not true. In His natures, divine and human, He has been, will ever be perfect. however as the pioneer of our salvation he was born in the likeness of men to accomplish something to accomplish a mission in the place of and for the benefit of his brothers to do what no other man can do to go where no other man can go that would require him to experience a lifetime of suffering body and soul even unto death on the cross the full consequences of sin in this world and we're told that for the joy that was set before him he endured it all he endured it all so that according to verse 17 he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service to God now about this priesthood the author is going to have a lot to say beginning in chapter 5 in fact he says so and he says it's hard to explain to those who have become dull of hearing who have not given full attention to the gospel But here in our text, he gives us a preview. He gives us three quick snapshots, if you will, of the high priestly service for which Jesus was made perfect, for which he was prepared through a lifetime as a man in this fallen and sinful world through suffering. Of the three, we start with the second, which is in the middle, verse 17. It stands at the center and it shows us that Jesus, the man, had to be equipped. He had to be perfected through suffering for this office that is merciful for his brothers and faithful to our God. It's an office in which he stands between. It's a priestly office. He's faithful in his service to God. He's merciful to us, God's people. And there we read, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God. to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Jesus showed himself faithful in service to God throughout his lifetime, perfectly obedient to every will of the Father, even unto death on the cross where he offered himself up as the perfect sacrifice, the bloody sacrifice that would satisfy the justice of God against the sins of his people. And on that cross, he also showed himself merciful to us, making propitiation for the sins of the people. Propitiation, that's that $10 word. It means that he turned away the wrath of God. Not only did he satisfy the justice of God to God, he turned away from his people the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin to himself. The full measure, the full... He drank it to the dregs. Although he did not deserve it. Faithful. Merciful. The other snapshots also show us the same two-pronged office of our Lord Jesus Christ as a faithful and merciful high priest. In verses 14 and 15, the first snapshot, We see that Jesus Himself partook in flesh and blood. I just said so quickly. But in faithful service to God, He took His flesh and blood. He took it to the cross where His flesh was broken and His blood was poured out for the sins of His people. And He really died. He really died. Why did He do this? We're told right there, so that through death he might accomplish two things. That through death he might be merciful to his brother in two things. First, that he would destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. And two, that he would deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. He's speaking about every son of Adam's predicament that as sons of Adam, sinners all were subject to death. that by God's permission comes at the hands of the devil. The devil has had the power of death over sinners since the fall. When Jesus came and he laid down his sinless life at the cross, he allowed the devil to strike him dead for three days until he took up his life again and he destroyed the devil. now that doesn't mean that the devil was annihilated the devil has been incapacitated defanged, declawed put out of commission to prowl around and to try to get the easy prey the stragglers in the pack he destroyed the devil and so we confess children in Heidelberg number one don't we that through death he has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has done what? he has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. Now, death continues. And it will continue until Jesus comes again to swallow it up in victory. It's the last enemy that will be destroyed. And in the meantime, you and I will face death. We know it. We don't like to think about it, but we know it. But we don't need to fear it. Jesus himself has promised, I and the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he live, and believes in me, he shall never die. And whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Death has no power over the people of God. And so we ask in Heidelberg 42, since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die? I mean, that's the question, right? If he's conquered death, why do we still have to die? and we confess that our death does not pay for our sins. We don't have to die to pay. Rather, it puts an end to our sinning and is our entrance into eternal life. That's because of the mercy that's been shown to us in Jesus Christ, a faithful and merciful high priest who was perfected to accomplish this for us through a lifetime of suffering, Equipped to do what only he could do. The third snapshot comes in verse 18. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Now, not only at the start of his public ministry, when he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to face the temptation of the devil. Not only at the end of his public ministry in the garden when he was greatly distressed and troubled about going to the cross and asked his Father if there was any way that this cup could pass from him and yet submitting perfectly to his Father's will. Not only at the beginning and end of his public ministry but throughout his life in every respect Jesus was tempted as we are. but without sin. Now we can never know, we can never know how continuously and intensely the righteous, holy Son of God experienced temptation. We can't comprehend what it is to be sinless and face temptation. Most of the time, we're not even aware we're being tempted. Jesus was always aware. Jesus was always resisting. Jesus was always overcoming those things that we give way to without a thought. We can never know that, the fullness of what he has done for us, but we can know that through it all and all the way through to the very end, temptation to the uttermost, He was faithful in service to God. Holy, innocent, unstained by sin. And he did that for us. And because he himself has suffered when tempted, he has been fully equipped, fully prepared to be merciful to his brothers for being tempted. That's you and me. He knows, not just up here, he knows in the fullness of his being what it is to be tempted. he knows in the fullness of his being the temptations that come when you are homeless when you are hungry when you are rejected when you're sick when you're suffering facing death when you are unjustly accused when you are forsaken by someone you love when you find yourself face-to-face with evil in your home or in the news. More than we will ever know, he has experienced it. He has understood it. He has withstood everything that we deal with in this fallen world, day in and day out. He's faced it all. He had to be made like his brothers in order that he might be made perfect for this service through suffering. And not only does he know these things, he's able, therefore, to help. He's able to help. He's able to help his brothers who are tempted. And so we conclude where we began this morning in God's call to worship from Hebrews chapter 4. because the pioneer of our salvation, Jesus, the Son of God, was made like his brothers, was made perfect for service as a high priest who has passed through the heavens, let us hold fast to the confession. Let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive and find grace to help in time of need. We love that assurance of pardon and we leave today knowing that behind that assurance is the fact that the Son of God came, was made like us, his brothers, was made perfect for service to God that he might be of help to us, his brothers, in this life and for eternity. Let's thank him in prayer. Almighty God and Father, we do thank you for this word today that has given us a view of Jesus, that has shown us Jesus, the pioneer of our salvation. We thank you and we praise you that it was fitting for you in your plan to bring many sons to glory that you would send him into this world and be made like his brothers. Lord, help us to keep that in mind. Help us to be aware of the cost of how far he humbled himself in order to lift us up. And that in coming as our brother, that he was made perfect through suffering to serve as the only high priest who could sacrifice himself for us By whom we are saved and upheld in this life and in the glory. Christmas and Easter. In our culture, emptied of everything significant and meaningful. Help us, Lord, to see Jesus in them. To see who he is and what he's done for us. Children of your household by the adoption that he's secured. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.