Hebrews 2:10-13 (Not Ashamed- Jeff Kliewer)

Feel free to stand with me. We kindred every tribe on this terrestrial board. To him, all majesty. The sword, the chains, you rose to life. You are the hope, living us. You are the light, shining through us.

You rose from the dead, our prince of peace. Jesus, hope of the nation. The chains, you rose to life. You are the hope, rose from the dead. Our prince of peace is near. Jesus, our hope.

He believed. He believed.

We sang that Jesus is our hope. Jesus is our comfort. He is our rock. We know that he has a perfect plan for our lives. We know that he has a perfect plan for our country. He knows we should know that the promises of his are true.

He will never let us go. He will always have us in his hand. Let's worship him this morning.

You are healing, touching every heart.

Worship you.

Worship you.

You are healing every heart.

I worship you.

In the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You are way maker, miracle. In the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Turning lives around.

Worship you.

That is who you are. My God, that is who you are. Lord, we welcome you this morning here. Lord, you are the way, the truth, and the life. He's a miracle worker, a promise keeper. And all we want to do is worship you, nothing else.

Things around us may be falling apart. Lord, I pray that we remember that we hold fast to the truth that you are king and you are ruler of everything. In the darkness, our God, that is who you are. Darkness, my God, that is who you are.

In the darkness, my God, that is who you are. In the darkness, my God, that is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are.

Hebrews 2:10-13 and the Shame of Christ

Let's turn our Bibles. If you need a Bible, there are some in the back that you can follow along with. That's important that you have the scripture before you so you can study together because we're going to be in Psalm 22 as well.

As Hebrews chapter 2, verses 10 to 13. So if you could turn there. Hebrews 2, 10 to 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's 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 praise.

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me.

Let's pray. Our God, we turn our eyes to you this morning. We pray that you would help us to pay much more careful attention to what we have heard, lest we drift. Father, we thank you that you are keeping us, and we ask that your word would accomplish a work in each of our hearts today.

That we would not be ashamed of the gospel, but go forth proclaiming the good news. We pray that you would help us now in the study of your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Has anybody here ever had a friend who suddenly became ashamed of you?

Suddenly became embarrassed by you and turned their backs on you? Many people have had that experience. Whenever I think of that kind of concept of people becoming too cool and peer pressure and turning away from a friendship, I always think of that movie Wonder, where there was a little boy named Augie who was deformed in his face, and he had a friend named Jack.

But at some point, Jack was hanging out with some other friends, and they began to make fun of Augie. And so, this boy Jack joined in on it and made fun of his friend. He was embarrassed of him and ashamed to be his friend.

Well, sadly, the boy Augie heard it. He overheard what was being said, and it ruined the friendship. But the good part of the story is that there was repentance and forgiveness, and the two reconciled as friends.

And it was a neat story. But I had a similar thing, not to that degree, but I was a basketball player in 8th grade, and the plan was to ride over to the high school after school every day to play basketball with the high schoolers.

And that was the plan until my friend decided he was too cool to ride in the same car as me. So it was heartbreaking. My buddy turned his back and started hanging out with a different crowd, and he was embarrassed to be identified with me.

However, the very next year, as a 9th grader, there was a friend of my older brother who went to that same school, and that friend had a car. So instead of having to ride the school bus, my older brother said, Hey, why don't you ride with us?

And it felt so good that my older brother was not ashamed to call me brother. I got to ride, you know, riding up with the juniors to school, you know, where this guy now he's riding the bus. Hey, it was, you know, you felt really like your brother was not ashamed of you.

Well, shame is an interesting thing. Shame actually comes from something good. It was God who built within humanity a conscience. And when something violates your conscience, you should feel shame. You should be embarrassed.

However, because of the fall, people are often not embarrassed by the things that should cause shame and instead feel shame for things they shouldn't. That's part of being broken in this world. Well, the main idea of the passage we're studying today has to do with shame.

The idea is that Jesus is not ashamed of us. He's not ashamed to call us brother or child. He's the one who sanctifies us because we both come from the same source. We have the same father. And so he's not ashamed of us.

And he has accomplished everything to make us acceptable in his sight to where he's not ashamed of us whatsoever. So before we get into the text to unpack that, let's remind ourselves where we are in Hebrews.

So far, the first chapter of Hebrews was all about the greatness of Jesus. He's the radiance of God's glory. And he's greater than angels. In fact, angels worship him. And because he's so great, we need to keep our attention on him.

Chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. We have a problem, though. We tend to drift from this knowledge. So we're warned we must pay much closer attention so that we don't drift away. And then in verses 5 to 9, we're kind of reminded that Jesus is greater than angels, but Jesus is a man.

Well, how could it be if men are less than angels, how is it that Jesus is greater than angels if Jesus is a man? Well, the answer is man was made for a little while lower than the angels, but ultimately man was made to rule.

And Jesus is the man who steps in to do what the rest of us fail to do. Mankind failed, but Jesus steps in, and he has all rule and all reign. So he's higher than the angels. Now, at the end of verse 9, we see that he tasted death for everyone, and that brings us into verse 10.

Jesus tasted death on our behalf so that we could be brought back as sons. He's bringing many sons to glory. So look with me at verse 10. Here is the reason why Jesus had to die. 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.

Okay, it's a little bit complicated. Did I lose anybody there as we read that verse? What is that saying? Let's take it piece by piece. It was fitting. In other words, this was necessary and right. Now, there's a scholar named Kenneth Wiest who explains what fitting means in this context.

It's in your notes if you want to read it, or you can just listen. Kenneth Wiest explains it this way. It was an inner fitness in God's dealings. The fact that the Father decreed it must be through the blood of Christ's cross that the captain of our salvation would become the savior of sinners, follow this, did not find its origin in a divine fiat.

In other words, God as king didn't just say, you know what, I'm just going to do it this way. I say it's going to be this way. It wasn't just a fiat, but this came from the very constitution of the nature of God.

A holy God cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance. There's the point. It's fitting because God's nature requires him to punish sin. He cannot allow sin to just go on. He can't just overlook it.

His nature requires him to be judgmental of the sins of a people. Look at the very next phrase. It was fitting that he, that refers to God the Father, for whom and by whom all things exist. There's the issue.

All things came from him. The whole creation comes from God, but it's also for him. What does that mean? Everything that was made was made for his glory, for his enjoyment. That's why there is a creation.

But introduce a problem. Now you have beings, namely humans and fallen angels, who rebel against him and therefore dishonor him. His very nature requires that sin be punished. That's why it says, it was fitting that he, follow along, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

We're going to learn that the suffering of Jesus was required by the nature of God. God could not just forgive sin without punishing sin, or else he himself would be complicit in that sin. He would not be the holy God of the universe.

It's fitting that sin would have to be punished. But we have a captain, a founder, a forerunner, who accomplishes this for us. Look at that word founder in verse 10. The idea here is he's going to bring many sons to glory, but he's needing to do this by making the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Before I explain what perfect through suffering means, look at that word founder. The word in the Greek is archagon. Archagon, okay? Arche, that first root, means first. And the root ago means to go or to lead.

It's the first one to go. The pioneer is the idea. Someone who goes ahead of others. When I was growing up, there was an opportunity where it was scary to go first. See, I had some older cousins who were just a little cuckoo, a little crazy.

And they got it in their heads that we were going to peel back the, what are they called, the sewer covers from the storm drains, those circular things. We're going to peel those off, get on skateboards, and go from one house to another underground on a skateboard.

Sounded like a good idea, right? Not a good idea, especially in Florida where there's alligators that travel in these sewers between lakes. Just a moronic idea, but somebody had to go first. Everybody was scared until finally the pioneer, the forerunner, the first to go, got on the skateboard and went between the storm sewers and fortunately survived.

Another time, these same cousins caught a shark, went fishing.

They were teenagers.

I was probably like 10. And they brought it home and threw it in our pool. Which is terrible because it's chlorine water and the thing's going to die. But for a period of time, it's swimming around in our pool.

Who's going to go first?

Who's going to dive in one end, swim across the pool, and get out on the other end? I was not the archagon, but one of these crazy cousins did it first, and then once everybody, I went, I swam.

It was scary.

Somebody has to go first. But the best example I can think of from the human realm here of our experiences is war. I think of the movie 1917 where Lieutenant Colonel Schofield and Lieutenant Colonel Blake need to get a message from the British side through enemy territory to another front of the war to deliver a message that's going to save 1 ,600 men.

But in order to get there, they have to cross what's called no man's land. Who will go first? The intel says that the other side has retreated, and they're not ready to mow you down. But they have to venture out into no man's land.

And so these two guys, they go first. And they eventually get across no man's land, and finally Schofield gets the message and rescues the troops. You need a captain, someone who's willing to go first.

Do you see this in the text? We can't do it. We need a founder, an archagon, a captain, someone, a founder, who will be made perfect through suffering. So that brings us to that last phrase, and this is probably the part that's confusing.

Why does Jesus need to be made perfect through suffering? Isn't Jesus already perfect? He absolutely is perfect. There is no moral deficiency in Jesus. But here's the concept of the verse. It's fitting that God would make the founder of our salvation perfect through suffering.

How so? Jesus is perfect and holy. In him flows blood, human blood, perfect blood, divine, so infinitely valuable that there's nothing in the world that compares to it. But if he remains alive and doesn't suffer death on our behalf, he's not our savior.

In order to be made perfect through suffering, he has to shed that innocent blood. That's what's fitting, that the nature of God is so holy that he cannot look upon sin. He must punish sin. So there must be a holy substitute that has to go through with dying to atone for sin.

Again, Kenneth Wiest puts it this way. The words to make perfect are literally to carry to the goal of consummation. The word is teleu. This does not imply any moral imperfection in the Lord Jesus, but speaks of the consummation of the human experience of suffering the death of the cross, through which he must pass if he is to become the captain of our salvation.

He has to be made perfect through suffering in the sense he has to go through with it. He has to go and die the death that we deserve to satisfy the wrath of God. The punishment has to be paid in someone, and it's only the captain, only the archagon, who's able to do this for us.

Look at verse 11. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. Or in the Greek it translates better, all are of one. Who is it that sanctifies?

That's Jesus.

To sanctify means to make holy. And those who are sanctified, that refers to us. Positionally, this doesn't refer to sanctification where we grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. Other texts speak to that growth in godliness as sanctification.

But here, those who are sanctified, that's a finished work. It refers to us positionally made holy, regarded as holy, sanctified. And the big idea here is that both Jesus and us have the same source. Namely, the Father.

Before the world began, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were in perfect harmony. The Son is eternally generated from the Father. The doctrine of eternal generation. That's why he's called the Son. Not that he ever didn't exist.

Jesus has always been with the Father. Eternally coming forth from him. So that's why he's the Son of God. But we were known as sons of God. In that source, in that moment, before time began, God knew us.

He knew everything about you. He knew that you would be born. He knew that you would sin. And he saw your sins pinned to the cross behind the hand of Jesus with the blood flowing and cleaning the list of transgressions that was against us.

He knew this before the foundation of the world. That's what it means, the same source. We were known as sons before the world began. There's no disharmony in the Trinity. The ones whom the Father knew and predestined or elected are the same ones that Jesus atones for and then the Spirit applies that redemption.

That's why it says we have one source. And that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. You see that in part B of verse 11? That's why he's not ashamed to call them brothers. The reason that God is not ashamed to call you brothers is because before time began, he knew you and he met the price that needed to be paid that you would be included.

Jesus did that. So now we move on to verse 11. I'm sorry, verse 12. It says, I will sing your praise. Here, who is the speaker? It's the Archegon. It's the Sanctifier. It's Jesus. Jesus is saying, to us, the brothers, I will tell whose name?

The Father's name, God's name. He's turning the glory back to God. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. Jesus humbled himself in becoming a man. Took on human flesh. He lived in our likeness.

And then he died for us. Even death on the cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father.

You see, Jesus accomplishes all this to his Father's glory. This is what's happening in verse 12. Jesus has accomplished this work for his Father's glory. For whom all things were made. Jesus is doing this in verse 12.

He's singing praise to the Father in our presence. What's particularly amazing about verse 12 is that it's quoted from Psalm 22. Psalm 22, verse 22. And Psalm 22 begins this way. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Eloi, Eloi, lama thabachthani. He's crying out to his Father, why have you forsaken me? These are the words of David. David writes Psalm 22 hundreds of years before crucifixion is invented in order to express his heart cry.

But what he writes figuratively literally happens to the Messiah a thousand years later. And in Psalm 22, the first 21 verses, we hear the cry of Jesus from the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Notice here, we're in Hebrews chapter two, verse 12. Look real quick. Who is the speaker? It's Jesus, I will tell your name. But he's quoting Psalm 22, so he's saying he's the voice of Psalm 22. So in Psalm 22, as you read on, he had been trusting in God from his mother's breast.

The virgin birth, nursed by Mary, grew up among us. But then rejected by men and mocked and surrounded by bulls of Bashan and dogs that surrounded him and mocked him and said, you say you save others, why don't you save yourself?

That's all in Psalm 22. And then Psalm 22 tells us, I am, my heart is melting like wax. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. All my bones are out of joint. In crucifixion, the joints of the shoulders are pulled out of socket.

Psalm 22 describes that. They pierced me through my hands and my feet. Again, a thousand years before Jesus died, 500 years before crucifixion was even invented, David the psalmist writes, they pierced me through my hands and my feet.

That never literally happened to David, that literally happened to Christ. This Psalm is amazing. Speaks of his dehydration, being poured out like water. Soldiers gamble for my clothes, being mocked. All of this refers to the crucifixion of Jesus.

The first 21 verses of Psalm 22. But here is where it gets amazing, as if that's not amazing. Something happens between verse 21 and 22. Let's just turn there. Psalm 22. I've described for you the first 21 verses, which are all about the crucifixion of Jesus.

But now verse 22 is what the author of Hebrews quotes. I will tell of your name to my brothers. I don't think I just read that right. I think I'm supposed to be shouting right there. Because look what comes next.

In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. He says, you who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him. All you offspring of Israel, exclamation mark.

Do you notice the shift between verse 21 and 22? Something happened there. He rose from the dead. He was dead and now he's alive. He's accomplished the work for which he was sent. And now he's delighting in his children and in his father.

He's not ashamed of us any longer because our sin debt is paid in full. He's done the work and now he has nothing but reward, joy, exuberance. So if you read from 22 through 31, it is a delight. It's a celebration.

And now this message will be proclaimed.

To the ends of the earth.

The last part of verse 31, what do we say? That he has done it. Tetelestai, it is finished. You see, this passage is all about the work of Christ finished on the cross. This is what was fitting, that he would accomplish the work to bring many sons to glory.

And having accomplished that work, now he delights in us and in his father. We're part of the same family. We have the same father. No shame. There's no shame in you. And I look at myself and I say, I still have a lot of warts.

I still fall short of the glory of God. Does he really delight in me? Or is he ashamed, like, who let that guy in here?

How did he get in the pulpit? What's he doing up there?

That's not how Jesus sees me, and that's not how he sees you when you're in Christ. He sees you under the blood, completely washed, clean, acceptable in his sight. He's done it. And so he is not ashamed to call you brothers.

We're almost done. One more verse, which you know for me is about 15 more minutes. Verse 13, he has one more thing to say, and it's the same point. And again, meaning let's reiterate this, I will put my trust in him, and again, behold, I and the children God has given me.

Here, Jesus is the speaker, and he is delighting in his children. These are the children that God has given me, John 6, 37. The father gives us, gives children to the son. He's delighting in that. But where is he quoting from?

Answer. I think you know. Isaiah chapter 8. In Isaiah chapter 8, let me just set the context, a little story time to understand what we're doing here. In Isaiah chapter 8, you have a threat on Jerusalem.

The king of the north, who's supposed to be their brother, not a very faithful brother, are trying to attack Jerusalem, and they allied themselves with Syria, with Rezan, the king of Syria, and those two are in cahoots to come kill all the Jews in Jerusalem.

But Isaiah gives a prophecy, and he says that the Lord said, go to the prophetess and have a child with her, and name him, the son that will be born, Maher Shalal Hashbas. Anybody got that? Maher Shalal Hashbas.

See if anybody can say that. It's a tough one. Parents, don't do it to your kids. Not nice. So he names him Maher Shalal Hashbas, but the meaning of that is quick to the spoil, swift to the plunder. And the point is, before this boy is two years old, before he can even say mommy and daddy, God is going to send another army to wipe out the ones who are attacking them.

Assyria is going to overrun their banks and crush Syria and the northern kingdom. So he says, this people is constantly in dread, constantly afraid. They tremble and they talk about the conspiracies, Isaiah chapter eight.

He said, but do not fear what they fear. I will be your dread and fear me. In other words, God says, you should fear me, not man. Fear God. And that brings us up to the point of this passage. Isaiah condemns the people for lacking faith and being afraid of everything except what they should have feared.

He condemns the people, but then he says, I and the children God has given me. Shier Jeshub, his other kid, that name means the remnant returns. And so what Isaiah is doing there is he's saying, here I am, me and my children, who are the remnant, who are faithful, who fear God, and we will cling to the testimony that is the word of God and not be afraid of anything else.

He will delight in his children. So the same way that Isaiah delights in Shier Jeshub and Mahershalah HaShabbat is the way that Jesus delights in us. He looks at us and says, I and the children God has given me.

That's the point of the passage. The remnant in Isaiah 8 are the ones that hold on to the testimony when everybody else in the world is going astray. As the darkness gets darker and the world turns away from God, there will be a remnant that holds and says, I will trust in him.

I and the children God has given me. That's how Jesus thinks about us. So in closing, the big point, he has no shame in us. He is pleased to call us brothers. He's pleased to call us children. And that should affect how we think about him.

Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. I am not ashamed of the gospel. If Jesus looks at you and I, as sinful as we are, and because of his cleansing blood, is not ashamed of us, how much more should we be bold and joyful and not ashamed in preaching the gospel?

You know, I've been watching.

What's happening in the culture.

Like the rest of you. And it's a dark time in US history. But I'll tell you what it makes me want to do. It makes me want to do what my friend did. His name is Tom. Just yesterday, he went to New York City.

And here's how he described what was going on. He says, I'm in New York City sharing the gospel with the anarchists, the Marxists, the liberals, the socialists, and the militant feminists. Christians don't blow up buildings.

We blow up people's worldviews. As the times are getting darker here in the United States, Christians need to be bolder in speaking the truth and pushing back on the darkness. I love that picture because we've all seen people who set fire to buildings and blow things up.

But the response of the Christian when we see darkness in some sense prevailing is to go forth and not blow things up, but to go blow up some worldviews. You go bring the truth of the gospel to bear in the culture.

Preach Christ and Him crucified without shame. Without shame. I just went to the park, Laurel Acres Park, and shared the gospel a couple days ago. There was a Vietnam vet sitting by the war memorial there.

You know how it's kind of like beside the lake? Got to sharing the gospel with him, and he began to share with me, here's a man who lived through war. Here's a man who knows what it's like to see your brother shot and to pick him up and to carry him on his shoulder to get him back to the helicopter to save his life.

And the band of brothers will tell you, those who have been through war, like that old song goes, he ain't heavy, he's my brother. Guys, are you ashamed of the gospel?

Are you embarrassed?

I'll tell you this,.

Jesus is not embarrassed of you. He's not ashamed to wear your sin like a garment and be punished in your place. How much more then, should we go out with boldness and share the gospel in the parks and in the cities and at our workplaces?

Young people, I know it's hard. I remember what it's like when you're trying to fit in. But will you tell that friend of yours that Jesus is the Christ who died and rose on the third day? Would you be so bold?

Or are you ashamed? Do not be ashamed of him. He's not ashamed to wear your sin. Let's close in prayer. So Father, we thank you so much for your word,.

The book of Hebrews.

It blows our minds to think that you are not ashamed to call us brothers. You are not ashamed to call us children. You are not ashamed to wear a crown of thorns. You are not ashamed that your tongue would stick to the roof of your mouth so that people couldn't even properly understand what you were saying.

Bones out of joint, ribs exposed, you can count your bones. Lord, remind us of the cross. Set our eyes on what it was that made us sons. You accomplished what was fitting and necessary in order to bring us to glory, that we would be called sons.

So we pray at a time like this, Lord, we do pray for our country and ask that you would have mercy. We pray that you would use us, send us out preaching Christ and him crucified and risen. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

The Finished Work of Christ in Psalm 22

Let's stand and close in a song. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship. Before him shall bow all who go down to the dust. Even the one who could not keep himself alive, posterity shall serve him.

It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. Amen. Go in peace.