Transcription downloaded from https://bibletalks.htd.org.au/sermons/39320/jesus-our-brother/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, it's great to be with you again tonight as we continue our series in Hebrews. Last week we looked at Jesus, the Son of God, tonight Jesus, our brother.

[0:16] And I think that Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 2 put together give us the biggest and widest understanding of Jesus in the New Testament.

[0:31] Because Jesus, Hebrews chapter 1 is full of the godness, the divinity of Jesus. You are my son, God said, today I've become your father.

[0:43] I'll be his father, he'll be my son. Let all God's angels worship him. Your throne, O God, will last forever. In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth.

[0:56] And God's word to his son, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So here is a magnificently high picture of Jesus Christ.

[1:12] The one through whom the world is made, the exact representation of God, who sustains all things by his word of power. After he provided purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

[1:29] There is no one more glorious than the one at the Father's right hand, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that raises our eyes to heaven, doesn't it?

[1:42] But in chapter 2, we come really down to earth, don't we? For we discover that this same Jesus, the Son of God, the Word of God is described in John's Gospel, is one who suffered death.

[1:57] He died. He suffered for us. He was tempted when he suffered. He learned obedience through what he suffered.

[2:14] Isn't that extraordinary? And the truth lies in holding both chapter 1 and chapter 2 together and not thinking that Jesus is a scaled-down version of chapter 1 and a slightly built-up version of chapter 2.

[2:30] No, he is both God, the Son of God, and a human being like us. So when we read Hebrews 1, Hebrews chapter 2, we learn a great deal about Jesus.

[2:50] But as a matter of fact, we also learn a great deal about what it is to be a human being. Most of you who are present are human beings, is that right?

[3:02] Let me take a vote on that. Yes, most present are. That's right. I look at my dogs. I've got two dogs, Bertie and Beatrice. And I think it must be lovely being a dog. All you think about is it's time to have a sleep.

[3:14] It's time to have some food. It's time to go for a walk. It's time to have a sleep. Very simple life, really. But I hope your life is a bit more adventurous than that, a bit more rich and full than that.

[3:29] But as a matter of fact, in our world today, because people have lost God, they are really confused about what a human being is.

[3:41] Here are some words from a notable Cambridge scientist. If we don't play God, who will? In other words, there is no God. So we, human beings, have to play God.

[3:56] If there's no God, we have to invent ourselves and create ourselves and create our future. And indeed, in our society today, we're even saying to little children, you have to make yourself.

[4:11] You have to invent yourself. You have to create your own moral values, your own sense of identity. There's no creator, so you have to do it. And nobody can do it for you.

[4:23] So that really inflates humanity, doesn't it? Once you dethrone God, you have this, you fill the gap with a very inflated idea of what human beings are and the great responsibility they have.

[4:36] not only to run their own lives, to create their own destinies, but also, of course, to sort out the world's problems. But at the same time, in our world today, there's such a diminished view of what a human being is.

[4:53] So I heard an ABC program advertised recently as creating meaning in a meaningless universe.

[5:05] Well, if the universe is meaningless, then we are meaningless as well. And a lot of people, I don't think this is a scientific view, I'm just making this up really, but think the human beings are just a kind of speck of irrelevant and accidental cosmic dust.

[5:20] So there's this curious dichotomy, isn't there? Contrast between a view in our society that human beings are gods and that we are just dust.

[5:38] Well, as a matter of fact, if you think for a moment about Genesis 1 and 2, let's move back from Hebrews 1 and 2. There were two extraordinary ideas brought together in Genesis 1 and 2.

[5:52] Let us make humankind in our own image. So when I look at you, I meant to think, you remind me of somebody I know. Oh, God, that's right, you remind me of God.

[6:04] So you're not allowed to make, in the Old Testament, you can't make images of God. Why? Because human beings are the images of God. Human beings are the advertisements for God.

[6:17] Human beings are the representatives of God. Human beings are the great servants of God. That's our glory and our destiny. And I think that's such an important message for our world today, that actually human beings have a glorious destiny, a wonderful calling to be images of God, reformed into the image of Christ by the power of the Spirit.

[6:41] That's Genesis 1. But in Genesis 2, we're made of dust. And that's also true. And I love that verse from Psalm 103. Our Father is full of compassion.

[6:54] He remembers that we are just dust. So he has a glorious destiny for us, but also, even in the Old Testament, a deep sympathy for our fragility and our weakness and our frailty.

[7:13] Isn't that wonderful? A glorious destiny, but also God has this deep understanding of our great weakness, because we are just creatures, not the Creator.

[7:32] Now, you'll notice on the notes which have been kindly provided, that I want you to think tonight just of things that you need to know, but also the little section there for others.

[7:42] That is, you might hear something that perhaps doesn't help you a great deal, but something that might be really important for somebody else you know. Or, it might be something that you learn about humans tonight, which tells you not only how you should be treated, but how you should treat other people as well.

[8:03] So, you're listening with one ear for yourself, and another ear, if you've got two ears, another ear for other people as well. Because I often find that somebody asks me a question, and I think, I heard a sermon about that just recently.

[8:18] I might have preached it, but anyway, I certainly heard a sermon about that, and this is what I learned. So, God teaches us so that we will learn, but God also teaches us to teach others, and encourage others, and train others.

[8:33] So, please listen for other people as well tonight. Chapter 2, verse 5, It's not to angels that he subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking, but there is a place where someone has testified, and it is actually Psalm 8, and I'm encouraged that he couldn't remember that.

[8:53] Why did I say that? Anyway, because, anyway, it's Psalm 8. Now, one of the curious things about Psalm 8 is that in the original version, it's the words in brackets that I've put.

[9:12] What is man that you are mindful of him, 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.

[9:24] And it's easy to see, then, how the Psalm then applies to Jesus, isn't it? Because he is the human being who does what we human beings can't do.

[9:36] But the translation you've got, which you use in the church here, which is a great one, makes Psalm 8 inclusive of men and women, that's right, because Psalm 8 is about men and women.

[9:50] What is humankind that you are mindful of them, if you like to say? What are men and women and children and old people, and uncles and aunts and grandpas and so forth, that you're mindful of them, then the son of man that you've made them a little lower than the angels, crowned them with glory and honor.

[10:11] So extraordinary, isn't it? Because if you remember Psalm 8, it says, when I consider the heavens and what you've made, and you think, well, this is going to say, the universe is so big and we are so insignificant.

[10:23] But what Psalm 8 actually says is, it's a wonderful universe, and human beings are supremely significant in it. Isn't that extraordinary? Because we have a bigger view of what the universe is than the writer of Psalm 8 had.

[10:37] We know the universe is, well, it's very big, let me tell you. And apparently it keeps on growing. I wish it would grow up and stop growing. But anyway, there we are. And you might ask, well, are humans really important in this vast universe?

[10:52] And the answer is yes. Because God gave us that dignity. So Psalm 8 is about human beings.

[11:03] But you can also read Psalm 8 as being about the Lord Jesus. Because all that human beings were meant to be and meant to do, Jesus was and Jesus did.

[11:16] And that's the background to Hebrews chapter 2. So in putting everything under them or under him, God left nothing that is not subject to them, him.

[11:33] Yet at present we don't see everything subject to them. Well, that's an understatement, isn't it? Everything is not subject to humanity. But nor is everything at this stage subject to Jesus.

[11:47] But we do see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

[12:01] So please remember, as you're thinking about this, chapter 1, verse 13. God said, Sit at my right hand. This is addressing his son.

[12:11] Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So Jesus is at the Father's right hand.

[12:22] But all enemies are not yet under his feet. That's the problem with our world. If all Jesus' enemies were under his feet, there would be no sin in our world.

[12:40] No rebellion against God. As Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 15, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. And every human death is a sign that the enemy is still around.

[12:55] But one day, death will be defeated. And every human being will be raised from the dead by the power of the Lord Jesus.

[13:06] And Jesus, you see, is the promise of this great future. What humans fail to achieve, Jesus achieved. How did he achieve it?

[13:18] Verse 10. He was crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

[13:35] He achieved it by his death. And that's why he's now crowned with glory and honor in his resurrection and ascension and being seated at the Father's right hand.

[13:48] Verse 10. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory. Isn't that extraordinary? You've just read that Jesus is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

[14:04] And what is Jesus' purpose in tasting death for everyone? Not just to save us, you see, but to bring many sons and daughters to where? To glory.

[14:15] To the glory of God. That the glory of God might be seen in us. We are, Paul tells us, in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, being changed, listen to this, from one degree of glory to another.

[14:30] That is your daily transformation. That is the work the Spirit of God is doing in you every day, every day, changing you from one degree of glory to another, more and more glorious, until the day when you're resurrected and your lowly body will be raised like, what?

[14:50] Philippians 3, his glorious body. Isn't that remarkable? not just that we get sort of scraped through and saved and left unchanged.

[15:05] No, he wants to bring many, he will bring many, in bringing many sons and daughters to glory. It was fitting that God, through whom, for whom and everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.

[15:23] Now, I want you to imagine that you're about, you're on a trek, through a forest, a very thick forest, with lots of snakes, and elephants, and rats, and things like that, and lots of twigs, and vines, and things like that.

[15:39] And you think, we'll never get through this forest, but then someone says, well, I'll be the pioneer, I'll go first. What does the pioneer do?

[15:50] The pioneer makes a way for everybody else to follow. The pioneer doesn't head through the forest, and leave you confused and lost. No, what the pioneer does, is to make a way through the forest, so you can follow in that person's footsteps.

[16:09] They've made a way for you to walk in. And that's the lovely idea, in verse 10, that God the Son will make, that God made the pioneer of their salvation, perfect through what he suffered.

[16:31] So it's not an easy journey through the forest for Jesus, is it? It is through his suffering, that he wins the way for us to come to God, that he wins our glory.

[16:45] Both the one who makes people holy, and those who are made holy, are of the same family. Notice that God made the pioneer of their suffering, salvation, perfect through what he suffered.

[16:59] It doesn't mean that he was imperfect before, but it means that he finally achieved what God sent him to do, which was to die, and to rise again in our place.

[17:11] And notice, that Jesus suffered. Please don't think it was a pretend suffering. Please don't think that Jesus' tears were just pretend tears, or that his groaning was a pretend groaning.

[17:28] He suffered, as much as any human being could ever suffer. He knew human suffering, more than any other human knows suffering, because he resisted sin, and because he died in our place.

[17:52] So we learn that suffering is actually a good part of human experience, don't we? Both the one who makes people holy, and those who are made holy, are of the same family.

[18:09] So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, I'll declare your name to my brothers and sisters. That is, I'll declare your, that is God's name, to my brothers and sisters.

[18:20] In the assembly, I will sing your praises. Jesus is the great song leader. And again, I'll put my trust in him, that is, in God, the Father.

[18:30] And again, he says, here I am, and the children God has given me. Well, that's wonderful, isn't it? You've got a big family. Yes, you're in a very big family, aren't you?

[18:45] You're in Jesus' family. And Jesus is saying, here am I, and here are my children. Here we are, my brothers and sisters, my children. These are my people.

[18:58] I've become one of them. I'm their saviour. I'm their Lord. I'm the pioneer of their salvation. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared, verse 14, in their humanity, so that by his death, he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.

[19:27] We've learned that Jesus tasted death for everyone. that he learned, that he was made perfect through suffering, that is, he achieved God's purpose through suffering.

[19:40] Here we learn that by his death he broke Satan's power. Not that we don't, people don't die, but that those who die are not lost. They are with Christ.

[19:54] Today you'll be with me in paradise, Jesus says to the thief, doesn't he? With Christ, forever, awaiting that wonderful resurrection. For surely, verse 16, it's not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.

[20:11] For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, that he might make atonement for the sins of the people, and because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

[20:34] And when we read the word tempted, we can think of being tempted to sin, we can think of being tested, we can think of being tried by God.

[20:45] Jesus said, if anyone would follow me, let that person take up their cross daily and follow me.

[21:05] But Jesus calls no one to go on a journey he's not taken himself. He suffered for us and he suffered so that he can help those who are tempted, tested, tried, under pressure.

[21:40] What a wonderful message for Christian martyrs. Jesus is your leader. Follow him. He suffered to death.

[21:53] Follow him. He was made perfect through suffering. He achieved God's purpose through suffering. Follow him.

[22:06] He is your pioneer, your leader. Follow him. Let's pick up some other references in Hebrews to the humanity of Christ.

[22:24] Over the page, chapter 4, verse 14, we discover that our pioneer, our leader, has ascended into heaven. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, that's where he's leading us, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

[22:46] For we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize, that's the modern word we have to use, not sympathize, with our weaknesses. But we have one who's been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin.

[23:01] temptation. There's no temptation that could come your way that Jesus didn't experience. Isn't that extraordinary? And I find particularly young Christians, I think, they feel that when they're tempted, they're somehow compromised.

[23:20] Before, they haven't actually seen, they've just been tempted, and they feel that their weakness is kind of exposed. So I love saying to them, well actually, Jesus was tempted. That didn't mean he was unholy or something like that.

[23:33] It's not a sin to be tempted. And indeed, if it were a sin to be tempted, we'd all be in deep trouble, wouldn't we? Because temptations come into our minds all the time, don't they?

[23:45] Well, I hope you're aware that they do, because I assure you they do. They came into Jesus' mind, they come into your mind. And of course, let me then go on to say, that the moment we give in to a temptation and do sin, then Jesus is also the remedy, isn't he?

[24:03] Because the one prayer which Jesus always answers immediately and without any hesitation is, please forgive me. So often I find people feel guilty because they're tempted and then go on feeling guilty because they've sinned.

[24:20] Well, there's no point in going on feeling guilty because you've sinned. What you must do is go to Jesus and say, please make me clean. For the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

[24:35] You see how wonderful Jesus is, that he experienced our temptations sins, and he forgives our sins by making atonement for the sins of the people.

[24:58] Leon Morris, who was the principal of Ridley College when I was just a boy and later on a member of this congregation, used to say that Jesus suffered more temptation than anybody else because he never gave in.

[25:15] Interesting, isn't it? We'd cave in, I'd cave in at about stage one, you'd probably last till stage five and then collapse or something like that. Andrew Price probably goes to nine or something like that.

[25:29] But Jesus understood the, withstood the full force of temptation and never gave in. should that then make us feel guilty?

[25:40] No. Look at verse 16. Let us approach God's throne of grace with confidence that we might find mercy, receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

[25:54] Isn't that wonderful? The man who converted me when I was just 16, a schoolboy 16, Harry Scott Simmons, he had the highest standards, for those he converted.

[26:07] He was a great old fashioned evangelist, young laddies he converted all over Melbourne. He had the highest standards for us, but if you failed, he had the deepest sympathy.

[26:21] It was just extraordinary combination of high standards and deep human sympathy, just like the Lord Jesus Christ. So, dear brothers and sisters, please be sympathetic to yourself, and please be sympathetic to others when they fail.

[26:43] Jesus is full of sympathy for those who fail. He's full of mercy and grace. We have to be the same.

[26:57] Please don't fall into the Christian trap of being easy on yourself and tough on others. please don't fall into the Christian trap, the easy Christian trap of finding easy forgiveness yourself, but refusing to forgive others.

[27:18] Because if Jesus is full of sympathy and compassion and kindness, should we not be full of sympathy and compassion and kindness as well? I spent the early years of my ministry visiting old people's homes because I was working in the parish of Ivanhoe and we seemed to have a lot of old people's homes.

[27:43] And the saddest thing was meeting people who were kept alive by anger and unforgiveness. I've never forgiven her. I haven't spoken to him for 40 years, they'd say.

[27:57] In a way, it was so sad they were kept alive by their resentment and anger and unforgiveness. Well, what a miserable way to live and what a miserable way to die.

[28:10] Harming the other person, but harming themselves even more. we don't have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who's been tempted in every way.

[28:31] Every time you're tempted and you tell Jesus about it, he'll say, yes, I know that. I understand that. Yeah, I felt that too. please rest, please rest and luxuriate in Jesus' deep sympathy for you and for others as well.

[29:03] Chapter 5. During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.

[29:22] And he was heard because of his reverent submission. Lots of people today think that prayer is a kind of relaxation exercise.

[29:36] Well, it certainly wasn't for Jesus, was it? I think the writer of Hebrews is talking about Jesus and the God of Gethsemane.

[29:54] He said to the disciples, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will.

[30:10] He went away a second time and prayed, my father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.

[30:24] The third time he prayed, saying the same thing. There was deep anguish in the heart of Jesus as he faced his death.

[30:36] Indeed, Luke, the doctor, tells us that his sweat was like drops of blood. Is it ever hard to obey God?

[30:54] Is it ever costly to serve God, to do his will? Yes. If it was for Jesus, if it was agony for him, it could be agony for us.

[31:15] It might be agony for us. But it's not agony that we face on our own. Son, though he was, there chapter 5, verse 8, son, though he was, you are my son.

[31:33] he learned obedience from what he suffered, and once made perfect, became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

[31:46] It was a learning of obedience, and I guess that's a good summary of the Christian life, isn't it? A learning of obedience. See, because our lives keep changing, don't we?

[31:57] And as our lives change, we get older, we have new experiences, then we have to learn how to obey in this way, with these temptations, with these opportunities, these responsibilities.

[32:11] We're lifelong learners, aren't we? We're always learning obedience from what we suffer, like the Lord Jesus. And every new situation, every situation we haven't met before, then we're, is another opportunity to learn obedience to God.

[32:28] And it may include suffering. As it did for Jesus. Finally, chapter 12.

[32:42] Verse 1. Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, those are all the heroes of faith in chapter 11, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

[32:54] And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. But please notice, look at this race marked out for us in verse 1. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, the one who's gone first, and the perfecter, that is the one who will complete our faith.

[33:13] So it is a race set out before us, a path we have to follow, a journey we have to take. But we're not on our own. We're fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

[33:26] For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. I occasionally go swimming in a swimming pool, and there's a fast lane and a slow lane, so I always go in the fast lane because I think that sounds much more fun.

[33:56] But the nasty thing that happens when I'm swimming is that when I get to the end of my one lap, which is all I can manage, by some curious mechanism, they keep on extending the end of the pool.

[34:07] So I think I'm about to get there, and it keeps on disappearing ahead of me. The last bit is that that's the bit where I start sinking and getting down to the bottom of the pool, you see. It's finishing well, which is so difficult.

[34:20] anyone can start. The challenge is to finish well, isn't it?

[34:32] How will you do it? Answer. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

[34:43] Don't drift away. Draw near through Jesus. Draw near to God as you fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

[35:04] May God, in his grace, fix your eyes on Jesus this year. Amen. I'd like to give, I'd like to expand an answer from last time, if I may.

[35:24] We did talk about how to read the Bible attentively, and that was a helpful discussion, I hope, for you. But please remember that the Bible reading you do on your own is just one way of being taught the Bible.

[35:45] So, in Hebrews chapter 13, there's a reference to the leaders who spoke the word of God to you.

[35:56] So, you're meant to hear the word of God from the mouth of preachers in the church. And I trust and hope that you do that. I trust that you do that, I mean. And I'm sure you do.

[36:09] But also, please look for a moment if you've got a Bible at Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 and 13. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 and 13.

[36:27] See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. And what is God's remedy for a sinful unbelieving heart that naturally turns away from the living God?

[36:40] There it is in verse 13. Encourage one another daily as long as it is called today so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. And I think this is a really important message for Christians today.

[36:58] I often quote Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. And that's the same message as here.

[37:10] Encourage one another daily as long as it's called today. So how long should you last, be able to last without being encouraged by a fellow believer?

[37:23] The answer is 24 hours. So actually God built us to need other people, other believers to encourage us. And encourage doesn't encourage here doesn't just mean cheer up.

[37:40] While there's death, there's hope or something like that. Encourage, well actually the writer of Hebrews calls his whole letter a letter of encouragement.

[37:50] So it includes telling people about what God is like and sharing scriptures with them and encouraging them to keep trusting in God.

[38:02] So the Christian life isn't designed to be lived in isolation from other believers. And I like asking Christians, you know, how long is it since you've encouraged another believer?

[38:17] A brother or sister in Christ. And how long is it since someone has encouraged you? And if it's not happening heaps, that's a technical term meaning lots and lots, then according to Hebrews it should be.

[38:34] Yeah. So please expect to hear the word of God, not only from the Bible itself and from the lips of your ministers, but also from each other.

[38:45] Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I feel better having said that. Thank you. Hi Peter. Thank you for the talk today.

[38:56] I think it was, yeah, really good drawing us, continuing from drawing near to God, but fixing our eyes on Jesus. I think that was really great. I guess my question is how do we balance?

[39:08] You talked about having a high standard but showing sympathy. I find a lot of Christians nowadays tend to either fall in the extreme of hyper shame or hyper grace where they kind of sink into their shames or they brush past their sin.

[39:23] That's right. So how would you advise going about having a correct view of the depth of our sin but also a view of fixing our eyes on Christ who has, yeah, perfected our faith?

[39:37] Yeah. Excellent question. Thank you so much. You're right. I think Christians tend to overdose on sinfulness and shame or overdose on grace.

[39:48] I think that's right. And then not obey God anymore. The answer is you have to do both. Not one or the other. Not one one day and the other the other day.

[40:01] You have to do the difficult human challenge of hanging on to God's holiness in himself but also as we find in Hebrews his desire to make us holy like him.

[40:16] You have to hang on to the standards of God if you like. Our God is a consuming fire as we read later on in Hebrews and yet the deep sympathy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[40:28] And I think part of learning the Christian life is learning to hold those together. father. And I think when I was a young Christian which is you know 94 years ago or something like that I found that I used to veer between the two.

[40:41] I'd sort of have lots of rules and things like that and then get legalistic and feel I was a failure and then overdose on grace for a while. I think it takes a while to find the even path.

[40:52] And I think that's one reason why God provides our fellow believers as in chapter 3 verse 12 and 13. That is I hope that a fellow believer would say to you look I think you're being a bit hard on yourself.

[41:07] Please remember that Jesus loves you. Or to say to you well you know I think your life's getting a bit sloppy actually. Don't you know that God wants to change you and make you like the Lord Jesus Christ.

[41:19] So we can serve each other well I think in that. So good friends good friends will do that. Yeah. And I think from my own point of view it helps to to tell friends what we need.

[41:36] That's right. Or say look I think I'm getting a bit legalistic please reassure me about God's grace and kindness. That will help them to do that ministry and that's a lovely thing to do. Yeah.

[41:46] They'll you'll benefit and other people will benefit as well. Yeah the others will. Peter I was wondering if you could tell us why you think it's fitting for God in verse 10 to make the pioneer of our salvation perfect through what he suffered.

[42:09] I mean I can see why it's fitting for us because it makes him a perfect high priest. Now I can see why it's fitting for our sins. Why is it particularly fitting for God that he made Jesus suffer?

[42:23] I think it's I think the answer is because God originally created humanity with a great expectation and hope for them yet also understood their frailty.

[42:34] So what he wants to do is not save us from outside as it were using a robot or he wants to save us from inside from one from a member of the human race doing what the human race was meant to do which is to bring glory to him and it's expression of his sympathy I think for us.

[42:56] So the great the great picture in the Bible is God coming down to our level isn't it? God comes down to speak human language. Here's a little summary of Exodus for you. God comes down to deliver.

[43:07] chapter 3 verse chapter 19 God comes down to speak. Then chapter 26 have them make a sanctuary for me that I that I may dwell among them.

[43:19] God comes down to live among them. So God is always the God who's coming down to our level and that that promise in the Old Testament is fulfilled so gloriously when his son became incarnate.

[43:31] The word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. It is fitting because it's the way in which God made the world that human beings would be powerful.

[43:42] We see how powerful human beings are. We see how much damage we can do. Well here is a human being who's doing good eternal good for the whole human race. That's why I think it is fitting.

[43:55] So I think it fits Hebrews 1 and Hebrews chapter 2 and fits Psalm 8. Yeah. I was just wondering if you could help expand on the fixing our eyes on Jesus part in chapter 12 and just what it kind of means and how it looks in life because sometimes just like thinking of like a 70 to you know 90 year long race God willing is like it's a bit tough and like I just wasn't sure like what the fixing eyes on Jesus means is about like looking you know at Jesus's life and how much he had to endure and thinking you know you know understand that he also went through it or is it like looking at his end point and looking forward to that?

[44:45] Yes it's all of those things. It is it is reminding yourself it is reminding yourself to think about Jesus to reflect on Jesus and his life think about his humility and the way in which he served people when he was on earth.

[45:01] That's a wonderful exhibition of humility and patience isn't it? How he did miracles, healed people, raised the dead and so on. That's a sign of his power. How he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

[45:15] Every bit of Christ's life I think helps us to run the race. how he faced the persecution and betrayal even when his friends deserted him yet he didn't didn't condemn them.

[45:29] How he went to the cross, how he suffered his glorious resurrection. Then his wonderful ascension to heaven. Then the promise that he seated at the father's right hand and the promise that he will come again.

[45:40] So we we keep out calling out come come Lord Jesus and he's the one who was on earth but is now in heaven. So he tells us that we have a glorious future with him because he's the pioneer of our faith.

[45:54] That is he not only gets us through the earthly journey but he gets us to the very presence of God. Chapter 10 since we have a great high priest that over the household of God let us draw near with confidence and faith and so on.

[46:07] Because he shed his blood for us and so on. So it's reminding ourselves of the centrality of Christ in every aspect of his life and ministry his sufferings and death and resurrection ascension and his return.

[46:20] That's the source of our hope. So will we make it to the end the answer is Jesus got there and he's our leader so he will get us there. Isn't that wonderful.

[46:32] It's not that he's headed out ahead and say we'll get he get her if you can. No no he's the pioneer of our suffering pioneer of our salvation and and he will he will achieve his purpose and on the last day when we're gathered around him he'll say here am I and the children you gave me.

[46:53] Here am here we are. Isn't that wonderful. It's it's filling your mind with that hope. So you know we all have self-talk don't we of things that we you know we say to and think about mull over day by day.

[47:06] I think it's good to add fixing our eyes on Jesus to our daily self-talk. He transforms every situation. He gives hope in the darkest hour.

[47:17] He forgives our worst sins. He sustains us in our greatest temptation and he understands our suffering better than we do. He understands us better than we do because he's been what he's one of us.

[47:29] He is one of us. He knows what it's like to be a human being. Isn't that extraordinary. God knows what it's like to be a human being on the inside. So how wonderful we can fix our eyes on him.

[47:43] And if we keep doing that then we'll follow in his footsteps and find our great joy in him and hope in him. I think we might leave it there and Jeff's going to lead us in some prayers.

[47:58] Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Hey friends. I'm Jeff. And I'm going to lead us in prayer, which is what Andrew said. Please join me. Gracious father, we kneel before you, our God from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

[48:17] And we pray that out of your glorious riches, you may strengthen us with power through your spirit in our inner being so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. We ask this particularly as we reflect on the challenges and encouragements from your word tonight.

[48:33] And so we praise you tonight father, because though we are just dust in a vast universe, you are mindful of us because you are mindful of him, our Lord Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor.

[48:48] We thank you for the glory that you are bringing many sons and daughters into from one day to the next. We ask that as we follow Jesus to salvation, that you would sustain us in our suffering and temptation.

[49:04] When we face temptation and struggle and worry, would you remind us of these great truths and comforts that we've learned? That we do not have a great high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness.

[49:20] In those moments, remind us of your grace and forgiveness, that we may approach your throne with confidence and let us love and forgive just as you forgive us.

[49:34] As we suffer like our Lord and learn obedience, would you give us strength and patience? Would our prayers not be a relax, a relaxation exercise, but in your grace, may we wrestle both in prayer and in the race which you have marked out for us.

[49:54] We see a world today which is frustrated by sin and refuses to see Jesus as king. So many people who have replaced you with themselves, making their own empty gods.

[50:11] Father, would you strengthen us, your sons and daughters, to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, not only that we may stand firm, but that they may see him in us.

[50:27] Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

[50:42]  Amen.