Sons of the Father & Brothers of the Son - Hebrews Part 7

In the past two weeks, we have uncovered three different reasons why the Son of God became a man. In today's text, Hebrews 2:11-15, we're going to be uncovering yet another reason why Jesus became a man. Let's read it. "For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 'I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly, I will sing to you, and I will put my trust in him.' And again, 'Here am I and the children whom God has given me.'" Last week, we ended halfway through verse 11, so let's pick up there. "For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren."

Think with me again regarding how much zeal God has shown for our kind, our His image. We are called children of the Father and brothers of the Son. That's amazing. We're children of the Father and brothers of the Son. Jesus is so far superior than all a human being could ever want to be, yet for some reason he is not ashamed to call us his brothers. He has shown us the greatest honor by lowering himself to be like us and then to raise us up to be like him. Look at Philippians 3:20 with me. "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the work by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself."

Verse 20 tells us that our citizenship is in heaven. And then in verse 21, it tells us that he is going to take our lowly bodies and make them to be conformed like his glorious body. Two weeks back, in verses 5 through 9, we spoke about how the Son of God put on flesh in order to bring everything into subjection to man. And then last week, we discussed how Christ is bringing many sons to glory.

And now we have Paul echoing both of these same two themes here in Philippians. The Son put on flesh, and then after his resurrection, we see him in his glorified body. And then verse 21 here tells us that we're next, that he will transform our lowly bodies so that we can be conformed to his glorious body, according to the works by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself.

Here we are given some details about what it's going to look like as Christ brings all things into subjection to himself. We're not shown a complete picture by any stretch of the imagination, but we're given just a glimpse of it.

We are told that one of the things that's going to happen as a result of all things being subjected to Christ is that his children, us, we're going to receive glorified bodies. We're going to be talking about a lot of victorious things in today's lesson. "For he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Verse 13, "Here am I and the children whom God has given me." So again, we're called children of God. We see this all through the New Testament. Galatians, "For you are sons of God." 2 Corinthians, "And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me," says the Lord Almighty. In Romans, all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Over and over, we see that we are children of the Father and brothers to the Son. Now let's look at verse 14 and 15, where Paul expounds on this a little bit more. "And as much as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise has shared in the same, that through his death he might destroy him who had the power of death," that is the devil, "and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." There are a lot of exciting things packed into this passage today. Today, if you haven't figured out why, my goal is that hopefully you will learn why they call John Chrysostom a golden tongue.

Reading his sermon on these passages, it just hit me. It really touched me. Quickly, let's look back at the previous verse 13 one last time. "For here am I and the children whom God has given me." And then now in verse 14, he's going to give us a description of these children in relation to Christ. "And as much as the children have partaken of flesh and blood." This word partaken, it means to share in, or to have a share in, or to have fellowship with. And when I think of fellowship, what comes to mind is closeness and intimacy. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty close with my own body. Me and my body we're thick as thieves.

We have a pretty intimate relationship with each other. When it feels good, I experience the feeling good with it. When it gets hurt, I experience the pain. When it's in anguish, I'm in anguish. As humans, we have partaken of flesh and blood.

And this verse says that in the same way that us children have an intimate relationship with our flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. So we're children and we've partaken of flesh and blood, and likewise he has done the same. Why? For what purpose has he done such a thing? And this brings us to the fourth reason why the Son of God became a man, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. The word destroy, it means to render inoperative, to abolish, to make of no effect, to annul, to bring to nothing. Great words when speaking of Satan.

Question from the skeptic. If God is all-powerful, why does he allow the devil to keep roaming around and stealing and killing and destroying? Couldn't God just snap his fingers and obliterate the devil? Well, I don't know. Maybe he could, probably could.

In the afterlife, maybe we can ask him. But for now, what is important is not what we don't know, but what we know that we can know. And what we know that we can know is found right here in Scripture. And right here in verse 14, it does not tell us how he maybe could have done it, but it does tell us how he indeed did it. And how exactly does it say he destroyed the devil? He says right here that through death he might destroy him who had the power over death, that is the devil. Last week, we discussed one of the reasons that God became a man was because God could not die.

And we read a quote from C.S. Lewis. We'll just read a part of it, not the whole thing. "So we find that the one road for which we now need God's leadership most of all is a road that God in his own nature has never walked. God can give us only what he has. This thing in his own nature he does not have.

We now need God's help in order to do something which God in his own nature never does at all. What is that? To surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die. Nothing in God's nature corresponds with this process at all. God can only give us what he has. As creatures who are in rebellion against God, we desperately needed to be able to do these things, to surrender and suffer and submit and die. And the Son of God becoming man by partaking in flesh and blood, he was able to accomplish these very things, leading the way for us, setting an example for us, becoming the captain of our salvation. We talked about all of that. And now in verse 14, we see that in addition to all of that, that through death, as a man, the Son of God was able to destroy the works of the devil.

All of that stuff we've been talking about. On top of that, he also destroyed the works of the devil. John Chrysostom, he points out the amazing thing that the devil was overcome by the weapon with which he had previously prevailed.

Christ smote him by the very thing that had been the devil's strong weapon against the world, death. In this, Paul demonstrates the greatness of the conqueror's power. I love that description of Christ, the conqueror's power. Do you see how much good his death has brought about? Just look at how incredible this statement is. He says, "Christ smote him by the very thing which had been the devil's strong weapon against the world," that is death.

Death belonged to Satan. It was his thing. He had taken humanity captive and held us into bondage to sin, and therefore held us in bondage to death. What is utterly amazing, Chrysostom says, is that Christ used Satan's own power of death against him.

But Christ, showing his own conqueror's power by smiting Satan by his own weapon. But Christ did not do this by picking up death and wielding it against Satan. He just sat there and let Satan swing his own sword. He absorbed the evil. To Satan's utter dismay and wielding death on the Christ, he cut himself to pieces.

And doing so, verse 15, he released those who through fear of death were all their lifetime bondage. Let's talk about this phrase. Release those who through fear of death. Chrysostom, why he means do you shudder? Why do you fear him who has been brought to nut? Talking about Satan.

He is no longer terrible. Christ has trodden him underfoot. He has become utterly despised, vile of no account. I love the victory in this statement. Trodden, it means to crush something by walking on it. Chrysostom says, "Seriously, man, what are you doing? Why are you fearing me? Did you not hear that Satan has been brought to nothing?" He is no longer even terrible. Christ has crushed him under his foot and released those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

The word released, it means to be set free from. We have been released. The King James version says that we have been delivered. Delivered from what? Delivered from the fear of death and released from those who were all their lifetime subject to bondage. What does this mean? All their lifetime.

Chrysostom. He means this, that he who fears death is a slave and submits to all things rather than to die. He who fears death is a slave and will submit to anything. I'll give you two examples of this.

One practical and one personal. Here, take this pill. It'll give you gas. It'll make you lose your hair. Your breath will stink. Your teeth will come brittle. It'll make your stomach turn. Food will lose its flavor. It will become hard to fall asleep. Once you fall asleep, it'll be hard to stay asleep. You might possibly go blind.

Get that out of my face. Why would I ever take that pill? If you don't, you might die. I'll take two. Or a personal example. Eat this mayonnaise sandwich. You're out of your mind. I ain't eating no nasty mayonnaise sandwich. Do it or I'll shoot you.

Why didn't you say so, brother? In that case, pass the blue plate.

For he who fears death is a slave and will submit to all things rather than to die. And all men were slaves of death and were held under his power because he had not yet been done away with. And that men lived in continual fear, ever expecting that they should die. They could never get it out of their minds.

And being afraid of death could have no sense of pleasure while the fear of death was present with them. Death was a plague on mankind. No matter how good life is or what kind of pleasures come a man's way, in the shadow of death, everything becomes meaningless.

Joy is robbed of a man in light of impending doom. They can never get it out of their minds, he says. And being afraid of death, they could never have a sense of pleasure. And this is not something that they dealt with a little bit here and a little bit there because verse 15 says, "All their lifetimes they were subject to this bondage."

What does this mean? All their lifetime. In saying all their lifetime, he shows that the afflicted, the harassed, the persecuted, those who are being deprived of country and of substance and all other things, they spend their lives more sweetly and more freely than they of old times who were in luxury, who suffered no such afflictions, who were in continual prosperity. For indeed, these, all their lifetime, were under this fear and were slaves, while the others have been made free and laugh at that which they shudder.

What Chrysostom is doing here is he's making a comparison between the children of God and the children of Satan. The language is a little bit archaic, so let me help you see what he's saying here. First, he describes the children of God this way. He says that they are the harassed, the persecuted, those who are deprived of country and of substance. To be deprived of country and substance, this is to say that they were kicked out, robbed of their homes, suffering in hunger.

This is the description of the children of God, Christians. Then he describes the children of the devil this way. He says, "They of old time who were in luxury, who suffered no such afflictions, who were in continual prosperity." Now notice something with me. He says that the children of God who suffered all of these things, harassed, persecuted, suffering hardships and trials, nevertheless, the children of God spend their lives more sweetly and more freely than the children of the devil who suffered no such afflictions.

How is that possible? How is it possible that those who are harassed and persecuted live more sweetly and more freely than those who suffer no such afflictions and who live in continual prosperity? The answer is because the children of the devil were all their lifetime held in bondage under the fear of death as slaves.

Now listen to how he describes the way they experienced this fear. He says that it made them shudder. And the word shudder is to tremble convulsively, typically as a result of fear, often related to disgust or loathing. To shudder is not to be slightly afraid. To shudder brings to the mind an image of the man who's trembling. So fearful as he's shaking and his teeth are chattering and he can't do anything about it.

Those who were all their lifetime slaves to death shudder in horror at the face of death. And this is the answer to the question, how is it that those who are harassed and persecuted and deprived, how is it that we live more sweetly and more freely?

Because for us, we laugh at that which makes them shudder.

I love it.

Tell me that so I can get your blood pumping. Here they are shaking in their boots, shuddering in terror, and here we are laughing at that which makes them shudder. That is an amazing thought, but hang on there because Golden Tongue is just getting warmed up. For this is now as if when one was being led away to captivity leading to death and in continual expectation of it, one should feed him up with abundant dainties. So he paints a picture here.

Again, he's going to be making a comparison. He says, "The option number one, you are like one who is in captivity, who is being led to death, and you are in continual expectation of it. And to pacify your miserable life consumed with fear of death, you feed yourself with abundant dainties." And the word dainties means something good to eat, a delicacy, delicious finger foods that melt in your mouth. These dainties to the children of Satan represent the highest pinnacle of their meaningless existence, death into death.

Well, I guess I have to die, but at least I get to eat these good things. This is the best that their existence has to offer them. Now he paints the contrasting picture of the children of God by saying, "But now, as if someone is taking away the fear of death along with the dainties were to promise a contest and propose a combat that should no longer lead to death but to a kingdom." Your other option, he says, is this, "Cast off the fear of death along with its worthless dainties. For the children of God, these trivial delicacies will be replaced with a contest." And then he says, "This contest is a combat that should no longer lead to death but to a kingdom."

Look here are your choices, he says. This is your chance, he says, to replace the dainties for the stomach with a combat, with a fight. You choose. Do you want the pinnacle of your existence to be boiled down to nothing more than dainties for your stomach, or would you rather cast off death along with its worthless dainties, put on the armor of God and enter into a combat waging war against the gates of hell?

But he adds this combat. It does not lead to death. No, no, no, no. This one leads to a kingdom. He follows this up by asking a direct question of which group would you prefer to be? Point blank, it's your choice. Decide who you are.

What is your choice, he says? Do you want to be with those who are fed up in the prison house while every day looking for their sentence, child of Satan? Or do you want to be numbered with those who struggle much and labor willingly that they may crown themselves with a diadem of the kingdom?

Do you see how he has lifted up their souls and made them elated? Paul also shows that not only has Christ put an end to death, but also that the war without truth that the devil waged against us has been brought to nothing.

Satan has been waging war against us, a ruthless war, one that has no possibility of a truth. But Christ, in putting an end to death, he also brought the war without truth with the devil to nothing. How did this happen?

How did this happen, you say? Because the man that does not fear death is out of the reach of the devil's tyranny. Hear that. The man who doesn't fear death is out of the reach of what the devil can do. For once, someone has decided to disregard even the need to protect his own skin.

What can a man be a slave of after that? Such a man fears no one. He is in terror of no one. He is higher than all and freer than all. For he who disregards his own life disregards all other things even more. And when the devil finds a man with a soul such as this, he can accomplish in him none of his works. The man who looks at the face of death and laughs, the devil can accomplish nothing in him.

Tell me how he could. Shall he threaten the loss of property or degradation or banishment from one's country? For these are small matters to someone who does not even hold his life dear. And this was the same for our brother Paul in Acts 20:24. And every city chains and tribulations await me, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself.

He says, do you see that casting out the tyranny of death, he also overthrew the strength of the devil? Therefore, do not be troubled, saying, why do we suffer such and such thing? For when we suffer these things, the victory becomes even more glorious.

It makes the victory taste so much more better when we suffer these things. It would not have been this glorious if it had not been for the fact that it was by death that he destroyed death. But the most wonderful thing is that Christ conquered Satan by the very means that made Satan strong. He thereby demonstrates in every way the abundance of his means and the excellence of his ability to bring about glorious things. Let us not then prove weak to this gift bestowed upon us. For we, he says, have not received a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Let us stand then nobly, laughing death to scorn. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. And as much as the children have partaken of flesh and blood in the same way that we have intimately partaken of this flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. But he did it for a great and mighty purpose, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And by doing this very thing, released those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

And so now we have uncovered the fourth reason why the Son of God became a man. Number one, to bring all things into subjection to man. Number two, that he might taste death for everyone. Number three, to become perfect through suffering. And number four, to destroy the devil and conquer the grave, to free us from the fear of death.

And then next week, we will uncover yet a fifth reason why the Son of God became a man. To recap my favorite thoughts from today from Chrysostom, because the man that does not fear death is out of the reach of the devil's tyranny. And when the devil finds a man with a soul such as this, he can accomplish in him none of his works. Let us then stand nobly, laughing death to scorn.

So that's all I have to share today. A very encouraging message about what Christ has done and what we no longer have to be held in bondage to. He's just done amazing things in becoming a man.