"Suffering to Become Perfect" - Hebrews Series Part 6 - Jason Willis

So today we're going to be looking at Hebrews 2:10-11. Since so many were not here last week, I figured that I would spend a few minutes recapping some of the ideas that we discussed. We began a discussion about why did the Son of God become man?

This is a question that has many answers. We may never know all of the reasons for the incarnation is arguably the most significant incident in human history. That is God's nature being united with human nature. We read this quote last week from Chrysostom: "For the Son of God visited us when we were nothing, and after having assumed our nature and uniting our nature to Himself, He became higher than all.

He shows His extreme interest on behalf of our human nature, and that God makes a great account of it. For in very deed it is a great and wonderful thing and full of amazement that our flesh should sit on high and be adored by the angels and the archangels and the cherubim and seraphim."

We talked about how Christ, when He ascended, He did so with a glorified body of flesh, a union of divinity and flesh that now sits on the right hand of the Father, and the angels are looking upon this and adoring it, the angels and the archangels. It's an amazing thing to ponder.

So back to the question, why did Jesus become a man? Last week we uncovered two reasons. Reason number one was to bring all things into subjection to man. Our text last week was Hebrews 2:5-9, and it actually begins quoting from Psalms. And so we'll read it in Psalms: "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of Man that you visit him? For you have made him a little bit lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor." And this is the part of the quote in Hebrews which clearly seems to be referring to Jesus. But then we looked at the next verses in Psalms: "You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands, and you have put all things under his feet, all of the sheep and the oxen, even the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea."

So in verse 7 we see that this is referring to a passage in Genesis where dominion of the earth was given to man, showing that the context of this passage in Psalms is referring to man. And so this ties back to Hebrews 8: "You have put all things into subjection under his feet, for in that he put all into subjection under him; he left nothing that is not put under him." So all things were put into subjection under man. And then Paul points out how this does not quite seem to fit the reality that we see by saying, "But now we do not yet see all things put under him." And this is where Jesus entered into the scene.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little bit lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. We said that all along this was God's plan, A, that mankind, our species, should be crowned with glory and honor and set over the works of his hands. And this is one of the reasons that Jesus became a man, so that his act of conquering Satan and bringing all things into subjection would be done by a man. He created the earth, he made man in his image, and he declared that man would be over the works of his hands, not the angels, but man.

And then just when it looked like mankind had totally blown it, all things were lost, Christ said, "No, all things are not lost, for I will bring all things into subjection, and I will do it as a man." So this is reason number one, to bring all things into subjection to man. The second reason that we discussed was Jesus became man that he might taste death for everybody. We looked at the quote from Chrysostom where he gave the illustration of the physician who tastes the food first before feeding it to the sick man to encourage the sick man to venture towards the food.

And how in a similar way Christ, though not needing to die, for he was without sin, he tasted death, real death, to persuade us to take courage towards death. And so that's reason number two. And today we're going to be uncovering a third reason for why the Son of God became man.

Today we'll be looking at Hebrews 2:10-13. First we'll read it: "For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. 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."

So verse 10 here, what we see in this verse is the Father decided that there would be a captain to our salvation, a leader, a pioneer, if you will. And as we all know, this captain was going to be his only begotten Son, so that whoever would believe with on him would not perish. So God's decision was that the captain would be his Son, who in all respects was already perfect. Wasn't he?

Wasn't Christ perfect? But here we see Christ being made perfect. What? How was that which is perfect made perfect? And then we see that it was made perfect through suffering. What? That doesn't seem right. That seems the opposite. How was that which is perfect made perfect? And then it says that it was fitting for it to happen this way through suffering. What?

If we think back to some weeks ago in chapter 1:3, this is how this captain of our salvation was described: "For he is the brightness of his glory, the expressed image of his person." He says that Jesus was the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his being. Let me ask you a question. If you are the exact representation of God's being, what does that make you?

Perfect. It makes you perfect. He was already perfect. And this begs the question again, how was that which is perfect made perfect? And this verse got a little bit more challenging for me to grasp, for it said, "For it was fitting that it happened through suffering. For it was fitting to make the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering." What is going on here? So let's dig into this line by line and see if we can get some clarity to this. "For it was fitting." The word fitting here is pripo. It means right or proper or suitable. It can be also used as is fitting to or is right. "For it was fitting for him whom are all things, and by whom are all things."

So again here we're reminded who we're talking about. We're talking about the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, the one who is holding all things together by the word of his power. "And bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for him in bringing many sons." So who are the many sons that he's referring to? It's us. It's those who have been born again. "And it was fitting for him to bring many sons to what? To glory." And glory could mean honor or praise.

Now think about this with me. If we are being brought to glory, does this not imply that we are being brought from something? And as I was thinking this through, I was asking myself the question, what is it that we are being brought from? Let's look at Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." So here in this passage we see that we had a destination. Our destination was the glory of God.

But something happened. We have all fallen short. Why? Why did we all fall short? Because we'd sinned. Now last week we talked about God having a plan A, that he has no plan B. In this case, his plan was that many sons would be brought to glory. His plan was to bring us to glory, but we fell short.

And we want to remember this as we move forward here today because we're going to be circling back to this thought here in just a moment.

"For it was proper for the Alpha and the Omega in bringing us to glory to make the captain of their salvation." Let's look at this word captain. It means the leader, founder, author, or prince. And all these translations are perfectly fitting here. Chrysostom said it this way about this term, the captain of their salvation. "The captain of their salvation, that is, the cause of their salvation.

Seeest thou how great a space between them? Both he is a son, and we are sons. But he saves, and we are saves. Both he is a son, so Christ is the son, and we are sons, being brought to glory."

So he is sons, and we are sons, but he is the captain of this salvation. He then says, "Seeest thou how great the space between? See how great a difference there is between him and us. But though we are all sons, he saves, but we are saved."

"And bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering." And this brings us right back to the question, how is that which is already perfect made perfect? And why is it fitting or proper that it to be done this way through suffering?

I believe that I found the answer to this question right in the next verse. That is typically how it works, even though it doesn't seem that way all the time in the beginning. But before I expound on this idea, I would like to forewarn you that this is one of those explanations that comes with the bona fide, 100% unverified, no satisfaction guarantee. We had one of these in an earlier week. That one I just had a secondary source. This one I have no source. I've never heard it explained this way. Maybe it has been, I don't know. I didn't find very much early church commentary on it. So as you listen to this, be on high alert and use your discernment.

Verse 11: "For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are of one." I think that the key to understanding verse 10 is understanding this here in verse 11, where we have someone who is being sanctified and someone who is doing the sanctification. So who is the one who is being sanctified? That's us, those who are born again. Who is doing the sanctification? That's God. Now which person of the Trinity is doing the sanctification? To this, I'm not sure. Maybe some of you can add to that conversation. Maybe it's all of them, maybe it's just one. Either way, the born again are those who are being sanctified, and God is the one who's doing the sanctification.

Now the word sanctification, it means to be made holy or consecrated, purified, set apart as holy. John MacArthur described sanctification this way: "Sanctification sets a person apart for service through the purification of sin and conformity to the holiness of God."

Now I don't agree with all of MacArthur's views on things, but with this I do agree with him. He says sanctification sets a person apart for service through purification of sin, that's important, and through the conformity to the holiness of God.

So let us look at this in context with what we're reading today in today's passage. The one who are being sanctified are the many sons who are being brought to glory. And this makes perfect sense that we are being brought to glory through the process of sanctification, right there in verse 11. Sanctification involves being purified, but purified from what? Purified from sin. Sanctification involves being purified from our sins. So being brought to glory involves being brought out of our sin.

And this ties perfectly with Romans 3, where we saw that it was because of our sin that we fell short of the glory in the first place. So now the captain of our salvation is bringing us out of our sin through sanctification, through the purification of our sins, and by doing so he's bringing us back to glory.

And this is the answer to the question we asked just earlier. If we are being brought to glory, what are we being brought from? The answer is we are being brought from bondage to sin. We were on our way to glory, but we fell short of it. So now through sanctification we are being brought out of bondage of sin, purified, set apart as holy, and back onto the trajectory of being brought to glory. And all of this was done by who? The captain of our salvation.

But still the question exists. Why was it fitting to happen through suffering? Let's keep digging and see if we can find the answer. Let's look at Romans 6:6: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

Now I want you to all think this through with me. I want you to think about your own life. I want you to think of an example in your own life. If nothing comes to mind, it's okay. Not everyone will quickly be able to come up with an example in their own life. But I want you to think of a time where it came to your attention that you had a big sin in your life. I mean, you realized you had a problem. You realized this thing, it had to go. This thing needed to be crucified. Maybe it was anger, maybe it was lust, maybe it was not being patient enough with your family. Maybe you found some root of bitterness in you, in your heart, that you realized needed to go.

With this struggle in mind, let me ask you this question. How many of you have experienced the following? Either God sanctifying you of that sin, or God at least beginning the sanctification process. If you have either been sanctified of a particular sin or are experiencing God purifying you of it now, raise your hand.

Good. Next question.

When you've had it up to here with your children and you just want to snap, but you don't, you nail the old man to the cross. When your flesh sees a beautiful person you want to lust for and covet it, but instead you turn your eyes away and you plead with God for him to help you, and you go and you nail that old man to the cross. When your flesh is screaming at you, telling you what it wants, begging you for what it wants, and you refuse to feed it, when you are in the middle of being sanctified, what does it feel like?

In five words or less, what does this process, when you are in the middle of temptation and you're being sanctified and you choose not to follow through with the temptation, what does it feel like? Throw the words out there. If you could describe what it feels like, the sanctification.

What are some ideas?

Does it feel good? Suffering. Suffering. My being ripped apart. Ripped apart. That's a beautiful picture right there. Ripped apart. It's kind of like a brain freeze. Where it hurts right then, but right after it's over, it feels so good.

That's a great way to put it.

Agonizingly painful, brutal. These are my words. And we see this exact same thing spelled out for us in 1 Peter 4. "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself also with the same mind. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin."

Let's focus on this part here. "For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." Now to cease from sin implies something. It implies that you're already sinning. You can't cease from something if you're not doing it. You can't cease from sin unless you're sinning. "For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." And this passage actually doesn't apply to all suffering.

For example, if I have a toothache, I surely am suffering in the flesh, but does that mean that just because I'm suffering in the flesh that I've ceased from sin because I have a toothache? No. It doesn't. Just because your suffering exists in the flesh does not mean that you will be ceased from sin. But so what does this passage mean then?

It is easier to understand the meaning of this passage, in my opinion, if we reverse the order. When we reverse the order, it makes much more clear sense to our Western minds. Instead of reading it, "For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin," we switch it and say, "For he who has ceased from sin has suffered in the flesh." When you're actively sinning, practicing sin, and then you cease from it, you choose to stop in the face of the temptation. When you nail that old man to the cross, you will suffer in the flesh. "For he who has ceased from sin has suffered in the flesh." And this brings us back to this idea of sanctification.

When you choose to stop sinning, you are participating in your own sanctification.

God is the one who is doing the sanctification, but never at the expense of free will. I'm going to say that again because that's important. God is the one who is doing the sanctification, but never at the expense of your free will. When you choose to stop sinning, you are participating in your own sanctification.

And what did we just say sanctification feels like? It's hard, tough, painful, brain freeze. To be sanctified is to be purified from sin. And here in this verse is our call from Peter to be like Christ. "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself with the same mind. For he who is choosing to cease from sin will suffer in the flesh." I put it in the present tense there. "For he who is choosing to cease from sin will suffer in the flesh." Listen to how Clement of Alexandria refers to the suffering as persecution.

He says, "There is persecution that arises externally from men attacking the faithful. However, the most painful is internal persecution, which proceeds from each man's own soul as he is being vexed by ungodly desires." So the answer, why was it fitting that he be made perfect through suffering? Follow me. God perfectly knew his plan was to bring many sons to glory. He perfectly knew that to bring many sons to glory required us to be sanctified. He perfectly knew that our sanctification required us to be purified of our sins. He perfectly knew that to be purified from our sins required us to cease from sinning. He perfectly knew that for us to cease from sinning was something that we had to choose.

And he perfectly knew that for us to cease from sin required us to suffer in the flesh. He perfectly knew that in bringing many sons to glory, his sons had to be willing to choose to suffer. And he perfectly knew that we were hopeless and that we could not do it without him. So he chose his son, the only begotten one, to become the captain of their salvation. A perfect high priest who could sympathize with their weaknesses because in all ways he was tempted.

A high priest who is able to lead us through this process of sanctification, but in the end, God could not give us what he does not himself possess. God cannot give us something that he does not have. It's a weird thing to say, isn't it? The one who is all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, not able to give us something that he doesn't have? What does this mean?

Listen to how C.S. Lewis explains this.

His quote's about 97% C.S. Lewis, about 3% my own edits, where he says, "God, I say, Son of God," if you want to see the original quote, you can Google it. It's out there. "When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters." That is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. "We love and reason because God loves and reasons, and so to speak holds our hands while we do it.

Now, if we had not fallen, that would be all plain sailing. But unfortunately, 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.

So we find that the one road in which we now need God's leadership the most is the one 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. But suppose the Son of God became a man. Suppose our human nature, which can suffer and die and submit, was united with God's nature in this one person. Then that person could help us. He could surrender his will and suffer and die because he was man, and he could do it perfectly because he was the Son. You and I can go through this process only if God does it with us, but God can only do it if he becomes a man.

Our attempts at dying will only succeed if we men share in God's dying, just like our thinking can only succeed only because it is a drop of the ocean of his intelligence. But we cannot share God's dying unless God dies, and he cannot die except by being a man.

Therefore, it was fitting for the God of creation in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect for suffering. This is the third reason that Christ became a man, that he could not give us what he did not have. And what we needed was to submit, to surrender, to die, to suffer. These things in his own nature he did not have.

In bringing many sons to glory, we needed to be sanctified. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are of one. Let me recap this for you. I know it was a lot. God perfectly knew that his plan was to bring many sons to glory.

Being brought to glory requires sanctification. To be sanctified is to be purified from sin. To be purified from sin is to cease from sinning. To cease from sinning is to suffer in the flesh. To cease from sinning is also a choice of the will. Therefore, God perfectly knew that in bringing many sons to glory, that his sons, us, had to be willing to choose to suffer. Therefore, it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.

For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren." So one final question that we'll circle back to here. How is that which is perfect made perfect?

This is indeed referring to the Son in the flesh, for the Son outside of the flesh was perfect. I think there is more than one answer to this question. We see some here in Hebrews. "Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet was without sin." What we see is that without being tempted as we are, he would not be able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses the way that he does. As a result of him putting on flesh and being tempted and resisting that temptation at all points, we have now been able to receive this great command.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace where we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. And we also see this touched on in Hebrews 7. Unlike the other high priest, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once and for all when he offered himself.

For the law appoints as high priests, for the law appoints as high priests men in all their weaknesses, but the oath which came after the law appointed the Son who was made perfect forever. And I believe the oath here is referring to the prophecy that we see referred to in Hebrews 7, "For it was declared, 'You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.'" This is referring to a prophecy given in Psalms 110:4.

Chrysostom, he said this about this phrase of being made perfect. He said, "To make perfect through suffering, then sufferings are a perfecting and a cause of salvation." I believe as we are purified from sins or sanctified, that we move towards perfection.

If so, this makes sense that our sufferings are a perfection.

"Seeest thou that to suffer affliction is not the portion of those who are utterly forsaken, if indeed it was by this that God first honored his Son by leading him through suffering." It could be tempting to look at humanity and see all of the suffering that we have and to think maybe we are utterly forsaken. But this type of suffering that God led his Son through and that he also leads us through shows that we are far from forsaken. It shows that he cares for us so much that he would suffer such a thing in order that what is needed to walk us through this process he could give us.

And truly, him taking flesh to suffer, what he did suffer, is far greater than making the world and bringing out of it, bringing out of the things that are not. This indeed also is a token of his loving kindness, but the other is far more. Yes, it is amazing that he brought all things into existence from nothing.

For to bring us and all things into existence was a token of his kindness, but for him to put on flesh and to be made perfect through suffering was far greater. And that brings us to the end of this lesson today. We covered the third 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. And number three, that he could not give us what he did not have.

So we have maybe 60 seconds or so. I kind of chewed up all the time there. If anyone has anything they want to throw in. I didn't hear the word atonement, but if you break the word atonement down, the root of it is at oneness, it being one with God, God bringing us into oneness with him. And we hear the sanctification, verse 11. And I think that's why he's not ashamed to call us brothers because of the atonement of bringing us one with him and becoming friends, being brothers. And I think that also makes sense why we are called to suffer, to deal with our sin as Christ suffered, it's being that oneness with Christ.

Fantastic thought. Thank you for that. Well, thank you, everybody, for your attendance. Go ahead. Yes, sir. I was just going to say I appreciate the hard work you put into that because I actually think it's something we all have to work to understand this whole thing of suffering because it's so modern gospel is that if you follow Jesus and respond to Jesus, you actually get to avoid this whole thing.

And the true gospel is that the way to experience the gospel is through this understanding. And it's not just an easy thing to wrap your head around. I mean, I think we all have to be do our due diligence to understand it. But if we can understand that it's through suffering that we receive glory, I don't know what the word to put in it, but you receive the glory beyond that and you become perfect and you can walk in victory. You have to go through that shadow or whatever you want of the suffering in order to experience the victory. And it's not a one-time thing, but I think at 49, I can sit here and say that it does get easier because you become, once you experience a victory through suffering, you know what's on the other side.

So when it comes up again, you're like, you can push through it. But too often, I see so many people sit on this side and get all discombobulated because they've never submitted themselves to go through suffering and to experience even one victory. They get halfway through and they give up over and over and over and over.

And you just won't make headway that way. So I'm just encouraging everyone to do your due diligence to understand the subject because I think it is one of the greatest secrets to the kingdom of understanding that. And it happens on a daily level at some point. Hopefully, it's not quite a brain freeze every day, but I do think it gets easier. It could be brain freeze for a pretty extended amount of time. I've had experience. Some things that I've had to get over, my brain was frozen for months, but it does thaw eventually. Yes, sir.

One thing I was kind of thinking of in light of community is our way of having some participation with Christ in a way that's mysterious. Irenaeus had a quote that talked about Jesus' advent according to the flesh was the thing by which the blending and communion of God and man took place.

So it's like from his divinity coming down and taking on flesh like ours, only not sinful flesh, but still human flesh was the way to unite both the divine and the human into one. Beautiful picture. Yeah. Thank you.

Hey, everybody. I hope you really enjoyed part number six in the Hebrew series. If you wonder where part one through five are, they're coming. We had lots of requests for this one to be released earlier because people wanted to watch it over again, grasp the understanding of suffering better, suffering for Christ as Christ suffered for us. If you like, subscribe, hit your notification bell. When these things trickle out, you'll be notified and you can catch up with us. And my brother, I believe, is planning to go at least through chapter six here probably this year, and then eventually he'll finish out Romans. He's been studying very, very diligently. And I hope you enjoyed as much as I have, and God bless.

See you next time.