Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
There are many famous brothers in the world. I can think of a few. Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, they were known as the Brothers Grimm. There is Jesse and Frank James, the outlaws of the Old West. There are other folks that maybe only Charlie might know, Mark DeBarge, Randy DeBarge, L. DeBarge, James DeBarge, and Bobby DeBarge, known as the singing group, interestingly, DeBarge.
Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, also members of the Beach Boys. There is Orville and Wilbur Wright, of course, pioneer aviators. John Rockefeller and William Rockefeller, co-founders of Standard Oil.
Eli and Peyton Manning, if you're a sports fan, National Football League quarterbacks. Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb, the Brothers Gibb, BGs. If you move into the biblical brothers that are well known, I can think of a few.
Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Moses, with his brother Aaron, Peter, his brother Andrew, James and John. But probably the best brother description and the best but least considered brother combination in all of the Bible is that Jesus is a brother to every believer.
Jesus is a brother to every believer. If you open your Bibles, please, to Hebrews 2, we're considering today Hebrews 2, 11 through 13. Jesus is our brother. Can you imagine the incarnation? Jesus adds humanity and becomes one of us to be our representative, to live a perfect life.
He was born under the law and he kept it perfectly. And then also to die for our transgressions against the law. And then he was raised from the dead. What would it have been like if the Son of God would have just stayed in heaven maybe using some kind of megaphone, shouting out instructions to us?
Instead, Jesus adds humanity and becomes one of us. I actually think as I study the incarnation more and more every week, it's exciting doctrine. Remember the old writer Dorothy Sayers said, If the incarnation of Jesus Christ isn't exciting, I don't know what is.
The eternal God becomes man. It's pretty exciting. Weber said the central problem of evangelical Christianity is, what would you say? Weber said it's its failure to comprehend the full implications of the incarnation.
And the writer of Hebrews wants to make sure we don't fumble and lose perspective when it comes to the incarnation. So this morning we're going to look at Hebrews chapter 2, three Old Testament passages that are found in verses 11, 12, and 13 that all have the same thing, same theme.
Jesus is our brother. And it's because of our sin he has to become incarnate to take our sins and die for them to identify with humanity. Now, the big picture of Hebrews, I think you know, but if you had to summarize it in one word, I've said in the past, he's a great high priest and that's true.
But even if you think a little bit more broadly, Hebrews is about Christ. It's Christology. Everywhere you go, chapter one, Jesus is God. Chapter two, Jesus is still great over angels, even though he's man.
Chapter three, Jesus is better than Moses. Chapter four, Jesus is better than Joshua. Chapter five, six, seven, Jesus is better than Aaron. He's a better covenant, chapter eight, better tabernacle, chapter nine, better sacrifice, chapter 10.
Jesus is just better. And what happens is when we're not thinking rightly, we're thinking something like this. My life is difficult. I need some practical application points. Now remember, the lives of the people back in this day, the recipients of this letter, their lives were much more difficult than ours.
They weren't dying yet for their faith, but it was approaching. They were losing their houses. They were losing goods, family persecution. They're kicked out of society. Once you're out of the synagogue, it's like excommunication, not religiously, but also economically.
And so what do you tell people? What do you tell a group of people who are suffering? And for the writer of Hebrews, it's something like this. For every one time you look at your problem, look 10 times for the person and work of Christ.
Just get caught up in thinking about who Jesus is, this eternal God, this infinite God. And He adds human nature and becomes one of us. Just keep thinking about that very fact. It is Robert Murray McShane who said, for every one look at your problems, your weaknesses, your failures, take 10 looks at Jesus.
And by the way, when we look at our own problems, we might become discouraged, but when we look to Jesus, we're never discouraged. Now this section here in Hebrews 2, 10 through 13, Jesus is identifying with humanity.
It's really asking and answering this question. How can Jesus be greater than angels if He suffered? I mean, Jesus is supposed to be great, but angels, aren't they greater? Because they never suffered.
They never had to go through these things. How can you be great and suffer? And the writer wants you to know, you can be great and suffer because that's exactly what Jesus did. Yes, He was the eternal God, but He lived on earth and He dies a felon's death.
He's executed on the cross, but He is still great. Remember last week, we looked at verse 11. For he who sanctifies, Hebrews 2, 11, you can already begin to think of the Exodus language and this God who sanctifies in the Old Testament, of course, is the New Testament God as well, Yahweh.
He who sanctifies, Jesus, and those who are sanctified, us, all have one source. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers. Verse 10, if you just back up one verse, 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.
We have one source, God the Father, found in verse 11. And therefore, if God is our Father, we're His children. If Jesus has the same source that we do, the same Father, then we must, by implication, be children.
Some have taken the word one source, the words one source, as we're from Adam. Some have taken it as we're from Abraham. But the point is still the same. We come from the same line, whether that's from Abraham, from Adam, or from God, and so Jesus comes from the same line.
We are brothers with Jesus, a common and shared humanity. There is solidarity and unity between Jesus and His people. And He is the one who sanctifies, and we are the ones sanctified. Isn't it amazing?
If Jesus was simply a man, would verse 11 make any sense? A man isn't afraid to have a brother, and he's not ashamed to have a brother. It wouldn't need to be written. But it's written because Jesus is not only man, but He's God.
If Jesus is simply a man, verse 11 makes no sense. It would not be needed. But since He's the eternal God and man, this verse is necessary. And Jesus makes us saints by His blood, consecrated by the shedding of His own blood.
And of course, we looked last week at verse 11. He's not ashamed to call them brothers. Remember we talked about the shame, honor culture back in those days? Some people even have it now in the East, a shame culture.
We're all about self-worth. Eastern shame is all about public reputation, shaming the family name. But Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers or sisters. And you might begin to think, you know what?
Is this the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men? Because that's a big liberal thing, where God is everyone's father, and we're all brothers. And of course, He's the father to children, believers, and we are brothers and sisters in Christ as believers.
Spurgeon had a way with words. He said, believe the doctrine of the fatherhood of God to His people. Abhor the doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God, for it is a lie and a deep deception. It stabs at the heart first of the doctrine of adoption.
How can God adopt men if they are all His children already? And the second place Spurgeon goes on, it stabs at the heart of the doctrine of regeneration. So we know everybody born, they have God as creator, but only through faith in Christ Jesus are you a son or a daughter.
Now, this whole idea of shame is expanded in chapter 12. So would you please fast forward a little bit to chapter 12 of Hebrews? If you're godly, you have a paper Bible, and if you're ungodly, scroll down please to Hebrews 12.
I know you wanna check your email, but don't do it. Hebrews 12. So the shame language that comes along with this Eastern culture is used here, but in a different way. Jesus doesn't despise us because He despised shame.
This is odd language, but when you understand it, it's wonderful language. Hebrews chapter 12, verse one. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Looking to Jesus, notice the human name there, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, and now comes the strange language, odd language, peculiar language, despising the shame.
And I .V. says, scorning the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Now these listeners, these readers of this book were in danger of shrinking back, in danger of saying, you know what, things are too difficult, I need to go back to my Judaism.
Being a Christian is too hard. But here the writer says, Jesus despised the shame. He picks up the shame of the cross, and the execution of a criminal and a felon, and He despises all that, and He carries it patiently.
He doesn't rebel against it. He scorns the shame. I mean, you would want to run from that kind of execution in the old days, and even now. It was a shameful death on the cross. If you looked at somebody on the cross, you would say a lot of things.
Children, guard your eyes. Don't look at it. This is repugnant. But the one thing you would probably say back in those days, you would look at somebody on a cross, and you would say, shame. Shame that those people who were on the cross would do what they did, and they deserved it.
Shame. Back into some kind of, in the mythical idea that was prevalent back in those days, these people's feet aren't even worthy to be touching the ground, because they might, with their shame, and with the repugnant nature of who they are, not just what they've done, touch the soil.
What shame. They're not worthy. And what does Jesus do? The text says He despises this kind of attitude. He doesn't even take it into account. He's been sent by the Father to redeem the people that God has given Him, and for the joy set before Him, and for the obedience to the Father.
He doesn't even question any of that. He just does it for the joy set before Him. He knows the right hand of God is on its way. He willingly accepts this public crucifixion. And just the shame that would go through, that would be associated with it, the suffering that would go along with it, He despises that.
The word shame means to scorn, or treat something as if it has little value. The awful nature of the cross. Jesus, because of the focus that He had on obedience to the Father, and the ultimate exaltation that He would have to the Father's right hand, He scorns it.
He considers it insignificant. It is significant, but compared to the joy set before Him, it is insignificant. It has little value. It has no consequence. He despises the shame. I mean, those people on the cross, they weren't even human.
They're sub-human. But for obedience to the will of His Father, it didn't matter. Shame, quote. It signifies a sensitivity toward public opinion that moves people to do certain things that will be approved by the majority, and to shrink from doing other things that will be censored by the majority.
It didn't matter what anybody else thought. Jesus had one person in mind, and that was the Father's will. He didn't care what the opinion was of others. He was going to the cross. He didn't care about His reputation, His resume.
He despises the shame. Everyone else looked at the cross, and they had the wrong evaluation of it. And they would say, hey, save yourself, save others. Get down from the cross. Trust in God now. A lot of good that trust in God is doing now.
And Jesus doesn't care what anyone else thinks. He despises the shame of the cross and dies. He wants the approval of God, the Father. That's all. A popular author said, it was like Jesus spoke this way to shame.
Listen to me, shame. Do you see that joy in front of me? Compared to that, you are less than nothing. You are not worth comparing to that. I despise you. You think you have power? Compared to the joy before me, you have none.
Joy, joy, joy. That's my power. Not you, shame. You are worthless. You are powerless. You think you're great because even last night, you made my disciples run away. You're a fool, shame. You are a despicable fool.
That abandonment, that loneliness, this cross, these tools of yours, they are all my sacred suffering, and they will save my disciples, not destroy them. Shame, you are a fool. Your filthy hands fulfill holy prophecy.
Farewell, shame. It is finished. And so the text says in Hebrews, he despises the shame. Can you not now sense and think through what an encouragement that must have been to these Hebrews who were contempt in the eyes of society?
The Hebrew people would look at these followers of Jesus with shame and with scorn and despise them. What a great example by Jesus. What encouragement by Jesus. And here's what Jesus is saying. Everybody thinks nothing of you.
And Jesus says, but I'm not ashamed of you. You're my brother. If the text says he's not ashamed to call us brothers, what's the opposite of that? Okay, with all reverent language included, he's proud of his brother.
If I introduced you to my brother, I would be proud to introduce you to my brother. I wouldn't be ashamed. He's not ashamed to call us brothers. That's assurance language. That's covenantal language. Let's go back to chapter two, please.
Because Jesus despises the shame, he's not ashamed to call us brothers. I have a brother, Christ Jesus. Maybe you are in a family where there's just sisters or you come from a family, just other sisters.
Well, you have a brother if you're a believer in Christ Jesus. The elder brother. Brothers who help, who sacrifice, who come alongside, who love. Brother, he's a brother. And here's what the writer is saying.
How can he be a brother if he's not human? He would be other, he would be alien. He would be something else, but he's a human. So now he's a brother. The Jesus in chapter one, the effulgent glory of God, seated at the right hand, the purifier of sins.
This Jesus who adds humanity, he's a brother. And to amplify that, he uses three Old Testament quotes found in verse 12. There's one. And two more in verse 13 of Hebrews 2. He's talking to Hebrew people.
He's quoting from the Hebrew Bible, the Greek version of it. Three citations here in verses 12 and 13 that in their own unique way, with different nuances, stress the fact that Jesus is brother. Now, when I was a kid growing up in Nebraska, we did all kinds of crazy things.
We didn't have iPhones and other things like that. We had like sticks, rocks, grasshoppers. You take off the back legs of the grasshopper and put them in the little wolf spider or web. It's fun. Magnifying glasses, ants, interesting.
We didn't do this very often, but if you did it, it was big. Get a really sharp knife and you'd cut yourself right here. Not too deeply, but just right in the palm of your hand. I see little kids looking at me right now.
Plug your ears, kids. And then your buddy, your best buddy, he would cut his hand too. And then you would shake hands. You'd make sure that blood of yours and that blood of his, this is all before, you know, hepatitis, HIV stuff going on.
You understand me now. Use food coloring, kids. Red dye, kit dye, number two. It's found in all your foods, no problem. And we would shake hands and we would let that blood kind of co-mingle and we were called what?
Blood brothers. How many people did that? See, a lot of ladies too. Wow. I think there's a new app, Blood Brothers. Hey, I'm not ashamed to call you brother. We're gonna be blood brothers. We're in this together.
You and me to the end, comrades, friends, somebody's after you, I will back you up. You can even see it now in like gangs in Los Angeles, in Chicago, in Boston. There's this unity, there's a solidarity and it's almost like we're meant to have it.
We know we want it. We just don't know how to describe it until all of a sudden, wait, I used to be a rebel. I used to be the black sheep and now I'm the brother. I'm a brother. The world hates me, I'm a brother.
Wrong guys elected, I'm a brother. Right guys elected, I'm a brother. The world despises me. Jesus despises the shame, but he doesn't despise me. And you know what? Truth be told, he should have despised me, but he didn't.
And so there's three passages all with lots of personal affirmation. I, I, I, do you see that? I will tell, I will sing, I will put my trust in him. Behold, I and the children. This is Jesus talking, quoting from the Old Testament, first person singulars.
This is the incarnate, crucified, ascended Jesus who's saying, you're my brother. I want to give you comfort and assurance. I care for you, I love you. If you're not a believer, this isn't for you. You're not a brother, you're an enemy.
The only way to become a brother is to lay down your arms and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What does a good brother do? This good brother, this elder brother, number one found in verse 12, he manifests or reveals God to his other brothers.
He declares the Father to us personally. Notice the text, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. Now, if you have a Bible that has little notes, you can tell from where does this come from?
Where is it from rather? And I think we should go there because we don't know the Old Testament like we should. And that's why I like the book of Hebrews. Turn to Psalm 22. He is quoting Psalm 22. Now, you know Psalm 22 for lots of reasons, but let's work through it because when you get Psalm 22 down, then this passage quoted by the writer of Hebrews becomes very impactful because there's a change going on in Psalm 22 and this comes after the change.
Jesus is going to proclaim His name, the Father's name to His brothers who need encouragement and assurance. Psalm 22, this is a prophetic Psalm. This is a Psalm that has been called the Gospel according to David.
Happened to David, but its ultimate fulfillment found in Christ Jesus written 1 ,000 years before Jesus was born. And it describes the crucifixion in detail before crucifixion was even invented. When Luther studied this Psalm, he didn't eat for a long time.
He sat wide awake. One account said he sat motionless as a corpse in the same position on his chair. And finally, when he did talk, he said, God forsaken of God, who can understand it? This is the Psalm of Jesus on the cross.
Not Jesus being sick, not Jesus being ill, but Jesus being crucified, executed. And you'll hear the righteous man's cry for deliverance. Was he answered? The writer of Hebrews is going to say, yes, in fact, he's answered.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? Now, of course, Jesus said that on the cross, didn't He? First time, He didn't say, Father. Now, as a sin bearer, He calls God, God.
God, the judge, instead of God, the Father. And one of the things about Jesus, when you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you'll say this about Jesus. He always thinks about other people, right? Isn't that love?
Isn't that agape love? Self-sacrificial love, what's best for them? And that's what Jesus always does. Even on the cross, before this, before He uttered, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He's on His way to the cross, and He sees the ladies crying.
Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. Soldiers putting the nails in His hands and feet. Father, forgive them, He says of the soldiers, not know what they're doing. They put the nails through His hands and feet.
They put them on the cross, and Jesus responds, what's best for them? What about the thief? Was Jesus thinking about the thief when He was on the cross? I tell you the truth, today you will be with me where?
In paradise. He's on the cross. He's even thinking about His mother. John, take care of my mom like she's your mother. But once God, the Father, pours out His wrath on Jesus for those three hours, He's not thinking about anyone else.
He's now the sin bearer, the wrath bearer. Everything's different now at noon. And He cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The repetition of my God, my God. You can see the intenseness of this.
And even though it's intense, and even though it's difficult, you can still sense, can't you, Jesus trusting the Father. It's like the Father turned His back on the Son, yet the Son's still crying out to God.
God forsaken of God. Jesus as a sin bearer, the Father turns His face away as we sing. Boy said, how could this happen? How could one member of the eternal trinity turn His back on another member of the trinity?
I do not know. I cannot explain it. But I believe that this is what the Bible teaches. So great was the love of God for us, and so great was the price Jesus willingly paid to save us from our iniquities.
I mean, this comes from the Father. Silence. Jesus had said earlier in John 16, I'm not alone because the Father is with me. From all eternity, never hearing silence, and now He does. Real abandonment.
As Jesus drinks the cup. Pink said, three hours into which was condensed the equivalent of an eternal hell. He Himself, first Peter, bore our sins. Galatians 3, having become a curse for us. Hebrews 9, to bear the sins of many.
John 1, takes away the sin of the world. This is language of substitution. And Psalm 2 is the language of crucifixion. Oh my God, verse two, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night I find no rest, yet you are holy and throned on the praises of Israel.
You can see the writer, I'm going through this, but I recall your faithfulness. I understand who you are. Even though there's difficulties, you're holy. You're faithful. You're the holy one. I'm not gonna question you.
I will affirm your nature and character and attributes. And you our fathers trusted. Moses, Joshua, Samuel. And you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued. In you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But other people saw Him differently. But I'm a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. I mean, here we have the great I am now. He says, I'm a worm. Worm, less than human. No beauty after all the mocking Jesus received and the spitting and the slapping and the bleeding and the punching.
Just frail, helpless worm of a man. All who see me mock me. They make their mouths at me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. That's what you would do back in those days when you really wanted to scorn someone.
Open your mouth really wide and shout out insults. Matthew 27 says they were hurling abuse at Him. He trusts in the Lord. Let Him deliver Him. Let Him rescue Him for He delights in Him. All taunting, all mocking, all scorning.
But God's been faithful to me, verse nine. He's always faithful. Yet you are He who took me from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me. The trouble is near and there is none to help. God, you're faithful to others and you're faithful to me as well. I'm gonna trust in you. I'll have confidence in you. Many bulls encompass me, verse 12.
Strong bulls of Bashan, they surround me. Bulls are cruel and prideful and strong. These foes, the leaders of Israel were after Him in every way, shape and form. They opened wide their mouth at me like a ravening and roaring lion.
One man said, like hungry cannibals, they opened their blasphemous mouths as if they were to swallow the man whom they abhorred. They could not vomit forth their anger fast enough. And look at this language of the cross.
I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. I'm worn down, my heart is like wax. It's melted within my breast. My strength's dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to my jaws. No moisture, you lay me in the dust of death.
I'm about dead. The dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers circles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. You're up there on the cross, just head slumped down. You can see your ribs.
They stare, they gloat over me. It's like it's a five-star visual meal for these people as they look at Jesus, the Son of God. And to slap them in the face, to strip Him of any dignity, they divide my garments among them.
When you crucified someone, you killed someone, you're supposed to give the cloak back to the family. No, not here. They divide my garments for my clothing. They cast lots, everything in your face. But Jesus, we know, isn't dying for His own sin.
A lot of other people were crucified, but they were crucified for their own sins. But oh, not Jesus. But you, you notice here comes a turning point. Oh, Lord, do not be far off. Oh, you, my help, come quickly to my aid.
Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. Was Jesus' prayer answered? Was Jesus heard?
Was the atonement of Jesus accepted? Did the Father accept the sacrifice? God had heard. And now everything changes in this psalm. The different nuances come through, the different tone. We've gone to a different type of writing, a celebration kind of writing.
The story changes. And this is where it picks up in Hebrews 2. This verse is Hebrews 2, 12, verse 22 of Psalm 22. Praises that the Lord answered prayer and rescued him. I will tell of your name to my brothers.
In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. Jesus, the speaker, now it's about thanksgiving. What's changed? The sacrifice has been accepted by the Father and Jesus has been raised from the dead, exalted.
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. He's not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. And He's not hidden His face from Him.
He is heard when they cried to Him. You can just imagine the readers of the book of Hebrews, they knew this psalm. They knew what went along with it. All these thoughts coming into their mind now. For you comes my praise in great congregation.
My vows I will perform before those who fear Him. You want to talk about a great banquet in heaven? Great banquet where just the close friends and brothers of the kings are invited? The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied.
Those who seek Him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord and He rules over nations.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship. Before Him shall bow all who go down to the dust. Every even, excuse me, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Prosperity shall serve Him. It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation.
They shall come and proclaim its righteousness to a people yet unborn that He has done it. Now let's go back to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews declares that Jesus in our midst proclaims God's name to us.
Taken right from Psalm 22. The Savior's trust in God's faithfulness was vindicated. Jesus now sings. He sings in the midst of His brothers. He's gotta be a brother if He's singing in our midst, if He's proclaiming God's name to us.
Did not John 17 record Jesus' words? I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave me out of this world. Doesn't Messiah say to His brothers, I will make sure to tell you about my Father? And that's exactly what Hebrews two talks about.
And then He gives another quote. Another quote in verse 13. I will put my trust in Him. How do we know Jesus is a brother? Well, He says, I trust God in the middle of trials. What a great example. On earth, Jesus says, I'm going to trust my Father.
Well, we can identify with that. Trust in God for deliverance of enemies. Now, where does this come from? Where's this quote and the next quote even in verse 13? It comes from Isaiah eight. So let's turn to Isaiah eight and we're going to end here in Isaiah eight.
The author of Hebrews says Jesus is a brother. Psalm 22 and Isaiah eight. Now, we don't have time to work through this, but Isaiah eight is found, not surprisingly, before Isaiah six and seven. Or no, is it found before or after?
It's Isaiah six, seven, eight, nine. Think about it that way. What do you notice that's going on in Isaiah six, seven, eight, and nine? Chapter six, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. John says, they're talking about Jesus.
Chapter seven, a virgin is going to be born. That's talking about Jesus. Chapter nine, Emmanuel is going to come. That's talking about Jesus. Guess what we might find in the middle of chapter eight? Six Messianic, seven Messianic, nine Messianic, and he guesses what we might find in chapter eight?
It's going to be talking about the Messiah. That's what the book of Hebrews says. I will put my trust in Him. Where is that found? Jesus trusting. He's on earth. We have to trust. Jesus trusts. We must be a brother.
And it says in Isaiah chapter eight, verse 17, I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will hope in Him. In the very middle of all that's going on, there is hope. The Assyrians, the context back then, the Assyrians are coming towards Israel.
The Northern Kingdom is going to be demolished and bulldozed and the Assyrians are going to get closer to Judah. What are we going to do? How can Jesus be less than human if He's trusting in the Father?
Well, He has to be human because He trusts in the Father. And so the writer of Hebrews pulls this right from Isaiah chapter eight, saying even in the middle of destruction, people are trusting in Him.
And that's exactly what Jesus did, not with the Assyrians, but on earth. True or false? Jesus waited for vindication on earth from His Father. Jesus waited to be rescued by the Father and no one else.
And the answer is true and true. What's the application? Well, Jesus trusts God, waits to be vindicated. Listeners of the book of Hebrews, should you not wait and trust in God too? Because this is what your brother did.
This is what your older brother did. Kind of like being my brother's older brother. I'm nine years older and there's a sense that I have now, especially when my father's dead. This is going to sound scary, I know, but I'm the patriarch of our family, at least a self-designated patriarch, maybe just by age.
And I know when things go on, everybody's looking at me. What will the older brother do? And when older brother freaks out, they all could potentially freak out. What will the older brother do? We're in a jam.
Mom's dying, what do we do? Well, you can imagine if the older brother does such and such, it will easily affect all the others. What if the older brother does the right thing? It will easily affect all the others.
Persecution, affliction, trouble, trial, what do we do? What's the older brother do? When Jesus was on earth, what was Jesus doing? Trusting, confident, singing, praising. Not my will, but thy will be done.
He's in the garden saying, whatever you have for me, Father, I will drink from that cup. Singing, praising, what does the older brother do? Now, I know the little wristband says WWJD. There's some problems with that.
I mean, we don't need to go out into the wilderness for 40 days and fast and stuff. What would Jesus do? I know we try to make everything with better theology. What did Jesus do? And now what does he tell you to do through his apostolic messengers?
It just doesn't rhyme. It's that the font is too small. But when it comes to this, it's true. What did Jesus do? Too bad we can't say, what did our brother do? What did our older brother do? You say, well, I've got an older brother and he's a real loser.
Well, forget that brother. This is the sinless brother. What would my older brother do? And you say, well, he's God too. Listen, he was complete, full man. He got tired. He had to sleep. He got hungry.
We don't fall into some kind of category where you go, you know what? He was less than God. He was less than man. Now we're like Aryans and Dosatists and all these things. He was a man and he had to rely on the Spirit's power to trust in the Father.
What would the older brother do? The older brother, he'd trust. What would the older brother do? He'd be confident. For the last 20 years, I don't know how many times I've said this to myself, but there's a tough situation here at church that I've either gotten myself into or you've gotten me into.
And I would say, what would John MacArthur, my mentor, do? How would John handle it? Matter of fact, I'll just resign now. John can come be the pastor. He can do it. What would John do? And then I think, you know what?
I know I'm not John MacArthur, but I have the role of being a pastor, so I have to do it. How much better would it be to say, what would my elder brother do? Well, how would Jesus have it done? That's what's happening here.
Jesus trusts in the Lord. Jesus has confidence in the Father. Jesus knows there'll be ultimate delivery and victory. And so Isaiah is quoted. And he does it one more time, found in verse 13b. And behold, I and the children God has given me from Isaiah.
Another one from chapter eight, verse 18. This is just like the language of John six. All that which the Father has given me shall come unto me. If Jesus is precious to the Father, his brothers are precious to the Father.
The idea here is Jesus redeems us and gives us as a love gift back to the Father. And he is our brother. And that means we're precious to the Father. He just uses the language, and again, to make another point from the same passage.
Jesus won't lose a brother. We watched the show Band of Brothers 10 years ago, whatever it was, and you even read the Ambrose account of Easy Company. And you think, we're never going to leave a brother.
And you think about the Marines and the code and the conduct that they have. And we're not gonna just leave people there. We're gonna go back. Even if that's their dead body, we won't leave them. Don't you see a dim reflection in that very thing of the ultimate picture?
I'm not gonna lose one. I watched a little video yesterday online and it said, you know, you can lose your salvation. I thought, then that makes Jesus an awful brother. That means I can earn it, I can lose it.
But I didn't earn it, and I can't lose it because Jesus won't let me. Friends, if you could lose your salvation, you've already lost it. Becoming a brother and sister is by grace and by mercy. And the writer of Hebrews, he just reads the Old Testament with a major Christological emphasis here especially.
All three quotes from the Old Testament talking about the humanity of Jesus. He's not ashamed to call us brother. Now this guy pushes it a little bit, but can you get the sense? Can you picture Jesus walking into the middle of our gathering, asking each of us to stand one by one, looking us in the eye, embracing us, and calling us brothers.
It also means, this writer said, we can picture him looking around to those gathered, pointing to each one of us individually, and announcing to the rest, do you see this one? This is my brother. All the while he's bursting with pride and joy.
He's like our big brother, the senior in high school at the beginning of the school year. We're the incoming freshmen. Sorry, sometimes the homeschoolers have it up on us, sometimes they don't. In this public setting where he is king, we are nobodies.
We're wondering if he will disown us. But he is that loving big brother, proud of all of us little brothers, who stands by us, sticks up for us, and takes joy in doing so. He's not ashamed to call us brother.
Let's pray. Father, we men, and we ladies, are thankful that we're part of your family. We didn't do anything, you saved us. Salvation is from the Lord. So many pictures in the New Testament, reconciliation, redemption, but especially today, we're thankful for adoption.
Adopted as sons and daughters into your family. And that means we have Jesus, the human, the God-man, God and man, as a brother. We're thankful that he's not ashamed. Oh, we've sinned so many times, he should be ashamed, but it's all been paid, paid in full, and he never looks at us with that.
It's been judged. We are declared righteous by the work of another. We have a righteousness that's been earned by keeping the law, but by another one, Jesus. And so now we're brothers. Some of us in this room don't have a brother, and some of us have brothers who aren't the best.
But now we have the ultimate older brother. And we're thankful that he is not ashamed of us, because we're in Christ Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.