Participants: James Rafferty, Ty Gibson
Series Code: BOTB
Program Code: BOTB00003B
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00:01 We appreciate you staying with us for our continuing
00:03 study in Hebrews Chapter 2. 00:05 And James, we were noticing that there is a justice 00:09 dimension to the character of God. 00:11 There is justice in the universe, a just God created 00:14 the universe and right there the Apostle, Paul brings 00:18 to our attention, that this justice aspect of the 00:21 character of God. 00:22 It has to be met, it has to be reconciled. 00:26 It's not an arbitrary type of thing though Ty. 00:27 Sometimes people will think of God as arbitrary 00:29 in being just, God is arbitrary and punishment towards sin. 00:33 You sinned you disobeyed me, I am going to recompense that. 00:37 Like a parent disciplining their child, No! 00:38 This is consequential. 00:40 In other words sin brings a consequence. 00:43 The wages of sin is death. 00:45 That is what the Bible teaches and God understands 00:47 that even better than we do. 00:48 So, what God has done basically, is even though we have sinned. 00:52 Even though humanity are the ones that should receive the 00:55 consequences of sin, which is death, God has stepped in. 00:59 He has bridged that gulf. 01:00 He is the One that is taken the consequences of our 01:03 sins upon Himself. 01:04 And so Paul introduces Chapter 2 by basically saying, 01:07 there is it just recompense for disobedience I want to show 01:10 you the plan of salvation. 01:11 I'm going to show you what has happened here. 01:13 God created us this way, but now we don't see this, 01:16 what do we see before we get to seeing what the 01:19 consequences are for us, we see Jesus. 01:22 Praise God, we see Jesus, Jesus steps in and takes upon 01:26 Himself those consequences for all of us. 01:29 Not just for a few not just for the believers, 01:31 but for all Hebrews Chapter 2 verse 9 tells us. 01:34 I love what James, said that in Jesus Christ, mercy 01:37 triumphs over justice. 01:38 Mercy doesn't cancel out justice. 01:41 Your talking about the book of James, not me. 01:43 Yeah, the book of James, cause I would say that too. 01:46 mercy triumphs over, it doesn't cancel it out 01:49 God is just always has been always will be. 01:53 Justice is a reality of the character of God. 01:57 It is not something that God fabricates. 01:59 It is not something God imposes so much, as it is what 02:03 God is at heart in character, there is a reality of 02:07 justice, and there is refuge in Jesus Christ. 02:10 There is an escape from the consequences of sin, 02:14 through Jesus Christ and that is what Paul is bringing 02:17 to our attention there. 02:18 And God's reality of justice, not because God is loving and 02:21 just, merciful and just, God is a reality 02:24 of justice because God is love and love is a justice as 02:28 reality of love, justice is part of love. 02:32 Not at odds with love I love that that is so powerful. 02:34 So Paul goes into this. 02:36 I guess we could refer to it as the rationale 02:40 or the logic of the gospel in his argument here. 02:43 There are two vital events that are connected together 02:48 and they are the incarnation and the cross, 02:51 or the death of Jesus Christ. 02:54 The incarnation, according to Paul's reasoning here, is 02:57 the necessary prerequisite or the necessary set of 03:01 circumstances that God must enter-into in order for 03:05 the cross to be rendered an authentic revelation of 03:08 His love and authentic sacrifice, because think about 03:12 this James, what if we were to imagine that God came to 03:17 earth retaining all of His divine attributes and 03:21 advantages, and then went through His experience in 03:25 Gethsemane and across cried out my God my God, 03:28 why have you forsaken Me. 03:29 But in that declaration omniscience for example, 03:34 would have transcended the experience omnipresence. 03:38 I mean, He would have been at the cross experiencing 03:41 what ever we are witnessing simultaneously. 03:43 If omnipresence was retained He would is simultaneously 03:47 with the Father in heaven. 03:48 And there is a sense in which it would be as charade. 03:51 It would be play acting but the incarnation makes it real. 03:54 It makes an authentic God stepped down. 03:58 He really truly took humanity on Himself and in doing so 04:02 could experience suffering and death. 04:05 Yes, and we see this in Philippians Chapter 2, 04:08 I mean in Philippians 2 beginning with verse 5, 04:10 God again, gives us through the Apostle Paul, a clear picture 04:15 of what has happened in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, 04:18 beginning with that incarnation and then leading us 04:21 to the cross. 04:22 Philippians Chapter 2 is powerful "Let this mind 04:25 be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus", verse 5, 04:29 "who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery. " 04:34 Or something to be held onto, "to be equal with God but made 04:39 himself of no reputation," 04:40 or, as another verse says, "made Himself," another version says 04:44 made Himself nothing, "taken upon Him. 04:47 the form of a servant, and being found in the likeness. 04:52 the likeness of men, humbled himself and became obedient 04:55 unto death, even the death of the cross," so again there's a 04:58 connection there the incarnation necessary in order for the 05:01 cross to be experienced. 05:03 And that is what Paul is bringing out here in Hebrews 2. 05:06 Paul is basically telling us in verses 9 and onward that 05:10 it was vital for Jesus to become one with us. 05:12 Look at verse 11, for example, both he who sanctifies and those 05:16 who are being sanctified are all of one for which cause 05:19 He is not ashamed to call them brethren. " 05:21 If you look at this and summarize this you realize that 05:24 Christ became one with those He sanctified, Hebrews 2 verse 11. 05:28 He is not ashamed to call us brethren, in verse 14. 05:31 He also likewise partakes of the same flesh and blood as 05:35 humanity, and verse 16, "he took of himself on himself the seed 05:39 of Abraham. " 05:40 A vital connection here so that we can understand He did 05:43 indeed become one with the human race. 05:45 Back in Philippians 2, James 05:47 I'm just recalling the Philips translation, which does 05:51 a really good job on this particular section, where as in 05:54 the King James version, New King James Version it says, 05:58 made himself of no reputation, and in the New International 06:02 Version it says, "made himself nothing,", well. 06:05 The Philips translation says that He laid aside His 06:08 divine prerogatives or advantages. 06:11 And so you have to wonder, what are the divine 06:14 prerogatives and advantages what are those abilities. 06:18 What are those powers, prerogatives that are unique to 06:22 the Divinity that humanity does not itself experience 06:26 In any way, and we learn in Scripture that there are three. 06:30 what we call the three Omnis, God is omnipresent. 06:35 God is omnipotent God is omniscient, which means God is 06:40 all present, all knowing, or all-powerful or all knowing. 06:44 It is really interesting when you trace the life of Jesus, 06:48 there are comments in the Gospels that touch on every one 06:52 of these, for example, 06:53 with regards to omniscience, Luke's Gospel says that the 06:57 child grew in knowledge and wisdom. 07:00 So He was learning things, He was going 07:02 through a learning process. 07:03 He was omniscient, He even said at one point in the Gospel 07:07 of Matthew, He said no man knows the day or the hour of the 07:11 coming of the Son of Man. 07:13 His second coming, not even myself, but the Father only got 07:15 God is omniscience in that sense, He emptied Himself. 07:18 That's another version, He emptied Himself. 07:19 Yes regardless and regarding omnipotence, he said in the 07:23 Gospel of John, "I can't of my own self do nothing. " 07:27 Nothing, Absolutely nothing. 07:29 Everything that we witness at what we recognize or witnessing 07:33 in Jesus, is we're witnessing the Father's 07:36 omnipotence, working through Him as a human being 07:40 at the Father's power. 07:41 He when we come to the cross, James, 07:45 Oh here's another one Ty. 07:47 When Jesus was leaving the disciples, He said I've got to 07:49 leave so I can send the Holy Spirit because I can't be with 07:52 you everywhere at one time. 07:54 I've confined Myself to My human body Omnipresence laid aside. 07:58 He laid aside His divine prerogatives for our salvation, 08:02 and this is amazing because it communicates to us that the 08:06 sacrifice that God made to save us James, was real. 08:10 It was authentic, this was not play acting, 08:13 He literally really truly did not consider equality with 08:16 God something to be grasped and held onto, but laid it aside, 08:20 condescended, took our human experience and 08:23 nature upon Himself, and then pass through human life, 08:27 all the way to the cross and experienced a real sacrifice. 08:31 Why did He do this is says the Philippians Chapter 2, 08:33 He did this so He can aid as He did so He can help us. 08:37 Jesus didn't come just to die for us, just to die for us, 08:40 He came to do more than just die for us. 08:42 He came to change our lives, enabling us to be helped 08:48 by Him, because He was not omnipotent. 08:50 He was not omniscience, He was not omnipresence. 08:52 In other words, He did not rely on to all these innate powers 08:56 that divinity has, He emptied Himself of those powers 08:58 and laid aside His divinity, if you will, cloaked with 09:00 humanity and became like us. 09:02 He relied upon God, we can rely upon God. 09:04 Now, we want to hasten to add and to clarify that 09:08 when laying aside His divine attributes and His divine 09:13 prerogatives, we are not saying and the Scriptures are not 09:17 saying that He ceased to be God. 09:18 Good point will we are seeing in Jesus. 09:21 Is He is 100% God, that's clear in Chapter 1 of Hebrews, 09:25 But He became 100% humanity that is the mystery of 09:29 Godliness, that is what makes what makes His incarnation 09:32 a mystery that we cannot fully phantom or understand. 09:35 He retained the divine character for sure, while laying 09:38 aside the attributes but we also want to hasten to add 09:41 that just because that is a mystery. 09:43 There is no mystery in understanding He did indeed 09:46 become human. 09:47 He did indeed become flesh and blood. 09:48 He can indeed aide us or help us He is one with those brethren. 09:53 One with us and humanity. 09:54 that is the next point we really want to make James, 09:56 is that when we are looking at Hebrews 2 and we encounter 10:00 the incarnation we come to the conclusion of the book. 10:04 Paul's logic is to say to us okay, God became human, 10:08 so that He could experience death authentically really 10:11 truly make the self-sacrifice and also this sacrifice was made 10:16 This condensation into humanity was made so that a very clear 10:21 perception on the part of human beings, could be made of God 10:25 sympathy for us. 10:27 He is compassionate. 10:28 He is merciful toward us, and so we encountered that 10:32 mercy, and that compassion in the person of Jesus Christ. 10:35 And I love this too, because in the context of this is 10:39 says that He became partaker, verse 14 of Hebrews 2, of 10:43 flesh and blood, and He did this so that He might through death 10:48 destroy him that had the power of death. 10:50 That is the devil and deliver them who through fear of death 10:54 for all their lifetime subject to bondage. 10:56 There is here a very real reality of what Christ 11:01 accomplished for us because we are in our humanity. 11:06 We are afraid of death, we are afraid of the 11:08 consequences of death. 11:09 So Jesus went ahead and tasted that God an out-of-the-way 11:11 for us, and now offers us life. 11:13 And no doubt James, I don't know about you, actually I do know 11:17 about you, but the more I delve into and understand the Gospel, 11:22 and come to know and appreciate God in Christ. 11:25 I just have sensed over the years, the fear of 11:29 death and the bondage that we are in. 11:33 This fear of death and just shutting off, like unwanted 11:36 pounds, because we are definitely more and more 11:40 confidence that everything we see in Jesus brings us to a 11:45 point of resolve and ease and confidence that 11:48 God is on our side, He is here to help us. 11:50 He is infinitely merciful. 11:52 God loves us with a love that knows no bounds, and it 11:55 is proved beyond all shadow of a doubt in the sacrifice of 11:59 Christ in this sacrifice, reconciles the problems 12:02 of justice and mercy. 12:03 It makes God love, God can justly satisfy sin because He 12:08 has become a part of the corporate humanity. 12:09 Humanity is the one who should receive the consequences for sin 12:13 God has done that and became human and He can rightly do it 12:16 because He is God. 12:17 He is the only one that can actually satisfy the 12:19 consequences of sin. 12:20 This is incredible friends, because you and I, 12:23 we are completely undeserving of this. 12:26 But God in His great mercy and love has reached out to us 12:30 in the person of Jesus Christ we share are looking forward 12:32 to study the book of Hebrews for you as we launch into 12:34 Chapter 3 at our next time together. 12:37 God bless |
Revised 2014-12-17