Why? To Bring Many Sons To Glory

I ask you to take your Bibles this morning and turn to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2. You follow as I read the first 18 verses of this chapter. Therefore we must pay much 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 the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 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 you made him for a little while lower than the angels you've crowned him with glory and honor putting everything in subjection under his feet at now and putting everything in subjection to him he left nothing outside of his control at present we do not 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 founder 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. verse 1 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 is able to help those who are being tempted. Let's pray. Father, open up the word of God to us now, this living text, that we might understand more of our Savior. Help us, Lord, at the end of this service to be able to leave here praising the one who became one of us. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. What does it mean to be truly human? What's the measuring stick that tells us who measures up to what a man or a woman should be? People spend fortunes and lifetimes trying to determine that. University professors spend their years looking at abnormal psychology, telling us what man shouldn't be, but really coming up short telling us what he should be.

Philosophers and novelists think deeply about the human condition and propose what we can do about it. Your friends all have differing ideas of what it means to be a human being, what it means to be a man and a woman. But we saw last week that God says to be truly human, man must be crowned with glory and honor, meaning the true human being is man as God created and commanded him.

What was that like? That's the way man was. It was an environment lush and rich with vegetation and species under the benign rule of man. man and woman living in perfect union with one another. No unhealthy competition, no power struggles, no secret plots or harsh words, no fear, no guilt, no shame. They did not struggle with identity and anxiety and depression and addictions and painful personal histories.

They experienced perfect union with God. People loved, worshipped, and obeyed as they were created to do. they walked with God conversing with him as they would any friend and having perfect fellowship with him they were God resident managers doing what they were called to do perfectly God had no reason to confront them and they had no reason to confess anything to him But the writer to the Hebrews, as we saw last week, said, but we don't see that. We don't see men crowned with glory and honor in that way.

It's not the way it's supposed to be. Well, what hope is there then? And he replies, look, and see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. He, he has fulfilled God's original intention. He is the true human being. He measures up.

He has defeated the curse by his death and so stands as the measure of humanity. This Advent season we're asking the question, why? Why did God the Son become man? Last week, we saw that God became man in order to fulfill the original intention God always had for man. He, like man before sin, has been crowned with glory and honor. But will God be satisfied with crowning only one man with glory and honor?

Let's look at verses 10-13. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder 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. Why did God the Son become man? Here's why. In order to bring many sons to glory. Now God brings you to glory.

You who belong to Christ, you who have believed in Him, you who have trusted in Him, God brings you to glory by the suffering of Jesus. That's what He says in verse 10. It's the sovereign God who brings many sons to glory. All of creation exists by and for God. He has created everything for himself He has created everything for his glory And all that exists by Him and for Him certainly includes mankind This God who is glorified in creation wants to bring many sons to glory.

That is, He wants them, with all of creation, to glorify Him. Man once did that in paradise, didn't he? He once glorified God in all things when He was crowned with glory and honor. but having his glory marred and his honor tarnished he does not glorify God as he should he is not like that first man he is not glorifying him in in perfect relationship with God and with his his wife with humanity and with the environment with the earth he does not glorify him in that way he's not it appears crowned with glory and honor but Jesus regained what mankind lost he is crowned with glory and honor.

And He now glorifies the Father. So God determines to bring many sons to glory, to the place where they can glorify Him as they are what they should be. But in order to accomplish that, what does the verse say? In order to accomplish that purpose, He must first perfect the founder of that salvation. now notice Jesus is called the founder of our salvation the idea here is more of a leader or if you will a pioneer a pioneer now many of you here think nothing of the fact that the United States put them put men on the moon for several years and no one even blinks an eyelash anymore when an astronaut goes into space to work for months on the International Space Station.

I just heard just the other day on the radio interviewing some colonel who'd been working on the International Space Station. You know who he is? I don't know who he is. We don't know. They can launch these people into space and send them to that space station to work for months and then bring them home. Big deal.

It's such a common thing, we don't even think about it anymore, do we? But none of that would have been possible without men like Alan Shepard and John Glenn. and Gus Grissom. Names probably unfamiliar to most of you, but to us old folks, we know those names. We know those names. Why? Because those were the guys who were part of the Mercury Project.

The very first... Americans to be launched into space. I can remember as a kid sitting in my first grade classroom watching a great big old black and white television that they wheeled in, which is really unusual in our day. There were no televisions in school in that day. And yet, and I remember watching Alan Shepard being launched into space. He was in space for five minutes.

But man, did everybody rejoiced because he went up, did a suborbital flight, and came down and lived to tell about it. That was big news. Why? Those guys were the pioneers. Those guys were the ones who blazed the trail into space and opened up new territory. Now Jesus is the pioneer of our salvation, the leader.

That is, he's the first man of the new creation. He's blazed the trail into territory that we don't know yet. The realm of mankind's true glory and honor. He blazed the trail into this new realm and he is the true human being as we saw last week. He is crowned with glory and honor like the very first man only greater and God is determined to bring many sons to glory and Jesus is the leader he's blazed the trail he's made the way but notice that the founder must yet be perfected or have to be perfected must first be perfected now the writer of this epistle cannot possibly mean and doesn't even hint at this point that somehow Jesus was morally blemished so that he had to be perfected morally because the Bible consistently portrays Jesus as a lamb without blemish or spot and that he also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous.

So the Bible can't possibly mean given the rest of Scripture that Jesus had to be perfected morally that there was some moral fault or blemish in the founder of our salvation. When you look at a man and say, Joe is the perfect man for the job, do you mean that Joe has no moral imperfections Is that what you mean No that not what you mean You not saying he perfect for the job because he a perfect man You mean he has the right personality and the proper vocational skills to do the job well. When Tim Pasma came to LaRue Baptist Church as pastor, was he the perfect man for the job?

Yes. not then he wasn't absolutely not i will take that yes to refer to now what about now do you think he's fitted for pastoral ministry and the answer is yes how did that happen because of years of experience i was telling someone just the other day i think i finally arrived at the point at 60 years old where i actually can say something to other pastors about ministry i think maybe i've gotten to that point okay and i might have got there about three years ago maybe all right but what's happened fitted perfected if you will by experience And so it is with Jesus. God fitted him for the job of bringing many sons to glory. He fit him for that job.

In order to do that, he must first be perfected or qualified for the job. Qualified, if you will, through suffering. Whenever you see that word perfected in the book of Hebrews, it is a term that's used of priests. are they qualified? Have they been qualified for the job? Have they been fitted with the right qualities for the job of being a priest? That's how the term was used in the Old Testament.

That's how it's used here. Jesus was qualified through suffering. He must taste the death that everyone tastes. He must live under and suffer the effects of the curse including death. He must glorify God even in that death. And in that way, He will bring many sons to glory By taking on our humanity by the Son of God becoming human the Son is fully equipped to serve His role as Redeemer and Restorer He couldn have done it He could not have done it unless He took on human nature.

He could not have restored us. He could not have redeemed us unless He became one of us and suffered what we suffer. And so through that, not any moral blemish but through that he was equipped he was qualified to do that. And in this way notice what the verse says in this way he achieves our salvation. Notice that God in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

He is the founder of our salvation. We need to think about that for a moment. This should give us another facet, another angle, another part of salvation that maybe we haven't seen before. We look at salvation as being saved, right? Being saved from the wrath of God, and so it is. We see a salvation as God's declaration that we're justified, that is to say.

We are not guilty before the law, for God has declared us not guilty. God has declared us righteousness. we are justified and so it is we see salvation as god redeeming us regenerating us sanctifying us adopted adopting us and glorifying us and it is all those things but notice what the author here is saying what the writer is here saying what's another way of looking at our salvation what's another angle what's another facet of our salvation that we need to see. That salvation also brings us to glory and honor.

Now remember what that means in this text, in this context. It means bringing us to the glory and honor of a perfect relationship with God, of a perfect relationship with one another, and of a perfect relationship with the earth. It is restoring us to what God always intended us to be. A life where we will again walk with God conversing with him as friend and enjoying perfect fellowship A life where we again love worship and obey as we created to do A life again of no struggle with identity anxiety depression addictions or even painful personal history.

It's a life where we will again be God's resident managers of the earth, doing the job perfectly. Salvation, or part of salvation, is also fulfilling God's purpose for humanity. Or as the writer to the Hebrews is indicating here, our salvation then means making us truly human. You see that? Now it's all those other things that we talked about. But it's also this.

It's also this. We actually become what God wanted us to be. Now, I don't know about you, but that to me is a little bit exciting. Because the only humanity I know is humanity corrupted with sin. And I want to know what it's going to be like to be in perfect relationship like with the earth, right? On the new earth, I think we'll be doing much of what we do now.

Except without sin. We'll be truly human in a way that we've never imagined before. The one that our pioneer, Jesus, has experienced, but one that we will also experience. That's exciting to me. You know, people look at heaven or the new earth as floating on clouds, strumming a harp, right? Or singing in a choir for eternity, and for some of you that sounds terribly boring.

Some of you can't imagine singing a note anyway. But that isn't what it's going to be like, is it? We're finally going to be truly human. We're going to be what God always intended us to be in a way that we've never experienced. That's exciting. And that's part of our salvation.

Sum it up. This part of our salvation that he's talking to us is this. You will be human like you were expected to be. Truly human. And note, at the very first part of the book, this was fitting. This was fitting.

This was the most fitting way to accomplish God's purpose. That is, to perfect the founder of our faith by suffering. That was the best way of doing it. It's the fitting way of doing it. The world will study its psychologies. It will put its hope in something.

It will continue its exploration of what it means to be a true human being. But the only real way of restoring us to what we ought to be is through the perfecting of God's Son through suffering, tasting death for us, and blazing the trail to a new reality. That is the only way that we will ever, ever know what it means to be truly human. Isn't that interesting?

You know what that means? That the world in its attempts to try to figure out what is truly human is actually setting up competitors to the gospel. Competitors to the gospel. All the how-to's out there, all the nifty things, all the different psychologies, all the different sociologies that try to explain us and tell us what to do, are competitors with the gospel.

For it's only through Jesus becoming one of us, being perfected through suffering, and blazing the trail, will we ever become what God intended us to be. Well, how is it then that God the Son brings us to glory through suffering? How does that work? Well, that's what he tells us in verses 11 through 13. God brings you to glory through suffering by the solidarity of Jesus with us.

By the solidarity of Jesus with us. And he tells us four ways in which Jesus is like us. Four ways in which Jesus is one with us. He says in verse 11, For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he's 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 praises. And again, I'll put my trust in him. And again, behold, I am the children God has given me. Jesus is one with us in paternity. Verse 11. Jesus is one with us in paternity.

That is to say, we have the same Father. When that term there that's translated, because we all have one source it a reference to God the Father I believe We come from the same source if you will Jesus by his death makes us holy That is he sets us apart from the world as the people of God as the ones who will glorify God. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

So the one who sanctifies us and even us, the objects of that sanctification, we actually have one Father. And that means that Jesus is our brother. He is our brother because we have that same Father. Now, Jesus belongs to the Father through eternal generation, is how the old theologians would put it. That is, He's always been Son to the Father. He's always been like that.

That's true of Him. But we belong to the Father by new birth into the family of God. We're born into the family of God through regeneration. And we are adopted as well. Because Jesus, what? Has sanctified us.

You see, we both have the same Father. We are so much a child of the Heavenly Father. We are so much a child of the Heavenly Father that Jesus is not ashamed to call you brother or sister. He's not ashamed of that. think about Wally for a moment Wally's a 14 year old when his parents adopt Joel when his best friend says to him hey Wally is that your new brother I saw playing on the playground the other day and Wally responds hey he's no brother of mine he's no brother of mine don't even mention my name with his in the same breath I don't even want to be just don't even associate us together you see Wally is ashamed of Joel because as far as he's concerned, Joel is an intruder.

Joel is not from the same family. Joel doesn't deserve to be called a brother. You see? He doesn't want anyone to connect them together. He's ashamed to call him brother. Now, if anyone should be ashamed to call us brother, don't you think it should be Jesus?

Now, let's think about that for a moment. Do you know what he says in John chapter 8? He says, our true father is whom? Satan. he gets really blunt there in John chapter 8 your father is Satan he says and we know that unlike Jesus we all done terrible wicked awful horrible things Whether or not you can see that on the outside, on the inside it's true for every one of us.

We've done horrible, wicked, terrible things. You'd think Jesus would be ashamed of us, wouldn't you? Isn't this phenomenal? He is not ashamed to call us, hey, she belongs to my family. Hey, he belongs to me. He's my brother.

And so Jesus looks at us. You know why? Because we have the same Father. And so He's not ashamed to be identified with us. Isn't that amazing? I get goosebumps thinking about it.

Right? How do you look at Jesus? Do you look at Jesus as your brother? or do you look at him as the one who stands up there just waiting to get you for what you've done wrong? Right? Oh man, Jesus must be ashamed of me. It's not a shame to call you brothers.

Now by the way, those of you who have never come to Christ and those of you who have not entrusted your life to Jesus, he is the judge. that unless you repent and give yourself to Him, He will be your judge. But you know, once you're His, He's not ashamed to call you a brother or a sister. That's amazing to me. That is amazing. In fact, the writer of the Hebrews says, the Old Testament prepared the way by showing how Jesus is one with us.

So first of all, we see Jesus is one with us in paternity. We have the same Father. Jesus is one with us in praise. Verse 12. Now, the writer of the Hebrews, if you have an ESV or an NIV, you notice it's set off a little bit from the other text because that's showing you that the writer to the Hebrews is quoting a passage from the Old Testament. In fact, the writer quotes here from Psalm 22.

Psalm 22, verse 1, begins this way. My God my God why have you forsaken me Okay Those are the words of Jesus as He was dying on the cross As Psalm 22 became Him if you will. They point to Jesus. This is a great psalm of lament that in essence become the words of Jesus. Look over at Psalm 22 for a moment. I want you to see some things. some connections here.

Psalm 22. Look at verses 6-8. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads.

He trusts in the Lord. Let Him deliver him. Let Him rescue him, for He delights in him. Do those words sound familiar? Those were the words of the mockers. The very same words of the mockers who stood around the cross and said, He believed in God.

He trusted in God. Let God deliver Him now. That's exactly what these mockers say. So you see, he laments here that God has abandoned him and that mockers mock him. But when you come to verse 22, something happens. I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation.

I will praise you. He is assured of his deliverance from God. Now, even Jesus suffered. And He will praise God with those whom He calls brothers in the midst of the congregation. Jesus is one with us in praise. Jesus is with us praising God.

And Jesus does it. He does it in suffering. Do you notice? This psalm, or this book, is written to people who are suffering and rejected. Right? So it's no accident that the writer then goes to Psalm 22.

To the psalm about Jesus' rejection and suffering and says, He has suffered with you and yet He will praise God with you in the congregation. Jesus is one with us in praise. Jesus is one with us in dependence. And again, I will put my trust in Him. Now the next two quotations here come from Isaiah chapter 8. The next two quotations there come from Isaiah chapter 8.

So turn back to Isaiah 8. And we'll read verses 11 through 18. So you kind of get a feel for the context. as these people must certainly have known when they read that. Isaiah 8, beginning in verse 11. This is Isaiah talking. For the Lord spoke thus to me with His strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

But the Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He will become a sanctuary, and a stone of offense, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it, they shall fall and be broken, they shall be snared and taken. bind up the testimony seal the teaching among my disciples i will wait for the lord who is hiding his face from the house of jacob and i will hope in him that's the that's what the writer of the hebrews is quoting now go on behold i and the children whom the lord has given me are signs importance in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.

Isaiah and his message were rejected And so in fact God becomes a stumbling block because of His message In the midst of suffering and rejection, Isaiah says what? I will still put my trust in the Lord even when He hides His face from Jacob. And the writer to the Hebrews says, who else suffered like this? Well, Jesus did. And so these also are His words.

In the midst of suffering and rejection, even rejection by God, Jesus says, I will yet put my trust in God. Now, the recipients of this letter were also rejected. They were also suffering. The writer is saying, look to Jesus! Right? He suffered.

He was rejected. To whom did He entrust Himself? To His Father. They're not alone. Their Savior was in the same place and when He suffered, whom did He trust? God.

Even when God hid His face from Him, He trusted in God. And so, Jesus is one with us in dependence. Jesus is one with us because He's dependent like we are. I should put it that way. He depends on His Father. He trusted in His Father.

And so He's one with us in that way. He also trusted His Father when He suffered. Here's the fourth way Jesus is like us. He's one with us in paternity. He's one with us in praise. He's one with us in dependence.

Now, note this. He's one with us in witness. The last part of the verse. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Again this is Isaiah chapter 8 verse 18 There you remember as we just read Isaiah seals up his message and gives it to his children that is his disciples And those disciples were then signs to an unbelieving generation As they follow God, they will stand as witnesses in a culture of unbelief.

Again, these are applied to Jesus because He's the greater prophet. the one along with his disciples, will be a sign of God in an unbelieving generation. The people who received these letters, were they not disciples of Jesus? And were they not witnesses in a culture of unbelief? Yeah, they're suffering for their faith. People aren't believing them. They're persecuting them.

What about us? Are we witnesses in an unbelieving generation? Yeah, we are. as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly what we are. So Jesus then is one with us in witness. He knows what it's like to stand in an unbelieving world.

So in every way, Jesus is one with us. And thus because He's one, because of His solidarity with us, He can lead many sons to glory. Because He's been here. He's one with us in every way. So what is the writer of the Hebrews saying to you? Simply this.

As he says through this entire book. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. everyone desires to be a complete human being but that seems beyond our reach in fact it's more than seems it is beyond our reach we have been sullied and corrupted by sin We live in an environment that been cursed because of sin But God can accomplish it because He has determined to bring many sons to glory.

God has determined that. That's part of our salvation. And we can't achieve it with a few how-tos that we read in the magazine article. We're never going to achieve it with man's means of trying to be what God always intended us to be. It takes the suffering of one who is one with us, who blazes the trail ahead of us. God brings many sons to glory through the incarnation and suffering of Jesus.

And so when we look at the manger, when we stand there at Christmas time and we contemplate Jesus in a dirty stable, right? In a dirty cave-like structure. What should you think? Here's one thing. He did that to bring many sons to glory. To make us what God always intended us to be.

Father, thank you for your word. we have hope because of Jesus we have hope because Jesus the Son of God the second person of the Trinity took upon himself our humanity thank you Father for what you have revealed to us in this text thank you that you have determined to bring all those who belong to Jesus to glory to crown them with the same glory and honor. We thank you in his name. Amen.