HEBREWS 2:1-13

The Preeminence of Christ

Pay Attention

September 14, 2014

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

MEMORY VERSE

Luke 10:27

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all

your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

FALL OUTREACH — MONDAYS — 6:00 P.M. — 6:30 P.M.

A Light dinner will be available for $5.00 per person.

RSVP to join the meal, Missions/Evangelism Office, 601-949-1939.

Teams of three will visit those who have visited FBJ recently.

Friday, September 26, 2014 - Sunday, September 28, 2014

Cathy Jeffcoats - CJeffcoats@FBCJ.org

LADIES CELEBRATION 11:30 A.M.

FELLOWSHIP HALL EAST — TICKET: $10.00 PER PERSON

Tickets may be purchased at the kiosk on 2nd East Floor.

Sunday, October 05

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

SAVE THE DATE

SUNDAY

OCTOBER 19TH MULTIGENERATIONAL LUNCH

IMMEDIATELY AFTER 10:30 WORSHIP

What’s the number one thing?

The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God.

Ephesians 2:10 NKJV 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

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The book of Hebrews was written that one fact and one fact alone would be in

the mind of the Hebrews as they finished reading this letter.

This one fact is: Christ alone qualifies to provide perfect salvation.

Jesus Christ is superior to and preeminent over everyone and everything.

Ray Stedman says that Hebrews is the most Christ-centered book in the New

Testament.

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The book of Hebrews focuses on Jesus Christ: therefore, it is one of the greatest

books for hours of discouragement, defeat, or depression, because it

emphasizes the character and the qualities of Jesus Christ.

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If we see Him as He is, we cannot help but be strong in faith (quality of faith, not

quantity – Matt 17:20).

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Hebrews helps us to focus on the One Who is already in the place of victory.

We are fighting a war already won, and that is what encourages us!

John MacArthur, Jr.

Radio program: Grace to You (born June 19, 1939)

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You cannot understand the book of Hebrews unless you understand the book of

Leviticus, because the book of Hebrews is based upon the Levitical priesthood.

Leviticus contains the ceremonial symbols for which Hebrews presents the

realities so, on your own, familiarize yourself with the principles found in Leviticus.

Hebrews 8:5 NKJV 5 They (earthly priests) serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is

in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the

tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown

you on the mountain.”

Hebrews 8:5 NKJV

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We know that the book of Hebrews was written by a believer, under inspiration,

to a suffering, persecuted group of Jews outside of Israel, possibly near Greece

about 65 AD.

As to the exact human authorship, one of the great teachers of the early church

by the name of Origen, said simply, "No one knows."

Since the book's purpose is to exalt Christ, we will refer to the fact that it was

written, as was all Scripture, by the Holy Spirit — Whom we do know.

We must understand that three basic groups of people are in view throughout

this epistle.

If one does not keep these groups in mind, the book becomes very confusing.

GROUP I: CHRISTIANS

GROUP II: NON-CHRISTIANS WHO WERE INTELLECTUALLY CONVINCED

GROUP III: NON-CHRISTIANS WHO WERE NOT CONVINCED

The key to interpreting any part of Hebrews is to understand which group is

being addressed.

The primary message is addressed to believers (Group I).

Periodically there are interspersed warnings to the two unbelieving

groups.

In a masterful way, in a way that could only be divine, the Holy Spirit speaks to

all three.

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He meets every one of their particular needs and their specific questions in this

one supernatural masterpiece.

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In Hebrews there is confidence and assurance for the Christian (Group I).

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There is warning to the intellectually convinced (Group II) that he must receive

Christ or his knowledge will damn him.

Finally, there is a convincing presentation to the unbeliever (Group III) who is not

even intellectually persuaded that he should believe in Jesus Christ.

Warning #1: The Danger of Drifting (Hebrews 1:1–2:4)

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Five warnings in Hebrews

1. The danger of drifting in Chapter 2.

2. The danger of not entering into rest in Chapters 3-4.

3. The danger of not going on to maturity in Chapters 5-6.

4. The danger of willful sin in Chapter 10.

5. The danger of indifference to the point of denial in Chapter 12.

o Since Jesus is higher than the prophets, and higher than the angels,

then we ought to listen to Him.

o Do not neglect to listen to this One.

Chapter 2: Warning to the intellectually convinced concerning the danger of

drifting.

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Hebrews 2:1-4 NKJV 1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard,

lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and

every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we

escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken

by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also

bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of

the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

Hebrews 2:1-4 NKJV

The first warning is directed to non-Christians Jews who are intellectually

convinced of the Gospel but who had failed to receive it for themselves.

We have all met people who say, "Yes, I believe that Christ is the Savior and that

I need Him, but I'm not ready to make that commitment yet."

Perhaps your husband, your wife, your brother, your child or a good friend is like

that.

They come to church and hear and hear and hear the Word of God.

They know it is true and they know they need it, but they are not willing to

commit themselves and personally accept Jesus Christ.

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They have all the facts but will not make a commitment.

This surely is the most tragic category of people in existence.

There are many, many such people in the USA.

They know the truth, they stand on the edge of the right decision, but they

never make it.

They just drift.

And they are the ones to whom this passage in Hebrews is speaking.

The purpose of these four verses is to give such persons a powerful shove

toward Jesus Christ.

The message, of course, is not restricted to Jewish nonbelievers.

It is for anyone who is on the edge of decision for Christ, but who —

because of self-will, sin, fear of persecution from his family and friends, or any

other reason — says no to Christ and continues to neglect Him.

A man is a fool, a fool beyond fools, an eternal tragedy, when he neglects to

decide for Jesus Christ.

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The writer of Hebrews could go no farther with the superiority of Christ without

stopping to make an appeal: "Now what are you going to do about this?"

We can know all the truth there is to know about Jesus Christ and yet go to hell if

we never make Him our own — by being made His own.

How can a person know Who Christ is, admit that the Gospel is true, and still not

commit his life to Him?

That is incomprehensible, a mystery and a tragedy!

A look at one of the Greek words in Hebrews 2:1 will help in understanding all

four of the opening verses.

The key word is: pararhueo [pah rah hoo EH oh] (“to let slip”).

It is used of something which carelessly has been allowed to slip away.

It also has a nautical connotation and is used of a ship that has been allowed to

drift past the harbor because a sailor forgot to attend to the steerage or to

properly chart the wind, tides, and current.

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Most people do not go headlong and intentionally into hell but they drift into it,

they do not deliberately, in a moment, turn their backs on God or curse Him.

Most people just slowly, almost imperceptibly slip past the harbor of salvation

out to eternal destruction.

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The picture is not of an ignorant sailor, or a wantonly rebellious sailor, but of a

careless sailor.

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They had better take all the more heed lest unintentionally and unexpectedly,

they one day find themselves having drifted past the harbor of salvation.

We must be sure to understand that it is not the Gospel that slips.

The Greek and most modern translations make it clear that it is inattentive

men who slip.

The harbor of salvation is absolutely secure.

The Word will never drift from us.

The danger is our loved ones drifting from it.

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It is Jesus Christ, Who never moves, never changes, and is always available to

anyone who wants the protection and security of His righteousness.

His Word must get inside of them and make a huge change in their lives.

It is not enough just to hear it.

When they hear the Word of God, they must make it theirs.

Do not drift past it, for that is the most dangerous thing they can do.

One wonders how many thousands of people in hell were close to salvation,

how many thousands were close to being safely moored and anchored, only to

drift away forever by their failure to receive what they heard and, in many

cases, actually believed.

Drifting is so quiet, so easy, but so damning.

All you need to do to go to hell is do nothing.

It is extremely difficult to understand how anyone who has seen the

character of Jesus Christ can ever reject Him.

Christians who live daily "with Jesus Christ and experience Him in their lives”, are

mystified that people do not rush to Him and to everything He has for them.

The English explorer, William Edward Parry, took a crew to the Arctic Ocean.

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They wanted to go farther north to continue their chartings, so they calculated

their location by the stars and started a very difficult and treacherous march

north.

They walked hour upon hour, and finally, totally exhausted, they stopped.

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Taking their bearings again from the stars, they discovered that they were farther

south than they had been when they started.

They had been walking on an ice floe that was moving south faster than they

were walking north.

How many people think their good deeds, their merits, and their

religiousness are taking them step by step to God, when in fact they are

moving away from Him faster than they are supposedly walking toward

Him.

That is the tragedy of it.

They awake one day to find, like Parry's crew, that all the time they have

been moving further away from their desired destination.

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A person should never be satisfied with religious feelings, with coming to church,

with being married to a Christian spouse, or with church activities.

He will be drifting into hell unless he has made a personal commitment to the

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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Hebrews 2:2-3 NKJV 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every

transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if

we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the

Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

Hebrews 2:2-3 NKJV

Two words are used here for sin: transgression (parabasis) pah rah BAH sis and

disobedience (parakoe) pah rock oh A.

Transgression means to step across the line, as a willful act.

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It is an overt sin of commission — of intentionally doing something we know to

be wrong.

Disobedience, however, carries the idea of imperfect hearing, but not like that

of a deaf man, who cannot help not hearing.

Disobedience deliberately shuts its ears to the commands, warnings, and

invitations of God.

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It is a sin of neglect, of omission — doing nothing when we should do something.

One is active sin, the other is passive, but both are willful and both are bad.

Neglect of Christ's salvation will cost a person eternal blessing, eternal joy, and

will bring them damning judgment and eternal punishment.

Punishment in Scripture is always related to light.

The more light one has, the more severe their judgment. Jesus was clear about

this.

Matthew 11:20-24 NKJV

Woe to the Impenitent Cities 20 Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had

been done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you,

Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in

Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of

judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will

be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had

been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you

that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than

for you.”

Matthew 11:20-24 NKJV

The principle is this: the more folks know, the greater the judgment for not

abiding by what they know.

There are degrees of punishment in hell.

The hottest places belong to those who have rejected the most light.

Do not drift past God's grace!

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HEBREWS 2:5-8 NKJV

The Son Made Lower than Angels

5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to

angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying:

“What is man that You are mindful of him,

Or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels;

You have crowned him with glory and honor,

And set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under

him.

HEBREWS 2:5-8 NKJV

But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

Hebrews 2:5-8 NKJV

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After his urgent appeal in 2:1-4 for men not to neglect salvation, the writer briefly

returns to his discussion of angels — as an intro to his teaching about man's

destiny.

Man today is lost, totally lost.

In losing his right relationship to God at the Fall, he also lost the meaning of his

existence.

These verses teach us what man's intended destiny is, how and why it was lost

(bad news), and how it can be recovered (Good News!) in the exalted Savior.

Hebrews 2:5 5 “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to

angels.”

God never intended to give angels rule over the world to come.

Rather, angels are to minister to those who will be heirs of salvation (1:14).

In the world to come, angels will be servants, not rulers.

In verse 5, “in subjection” translates the Greek hupotasso (hoop-ot-as'-so)

primarily a term that referred to arranging soldiers in order under a commander.

It also came to be used for any system of administration.

God will not turn over the administration of the world to come to angels.

It will be a great and glorious world, a world of perfection.

Whoever reigns in that world will be glorious indeed.

But it will not be angels.

The angels’ present superiority over men is only temporary.

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What is this “earth to come”?

It is the great millennial Kingdom!

The earth itself will be different and so will all its inhabitants be different.

The animals will be different, and some of the people will be different —

redeemed and glorified (Isaiah 11:6-9).

Isaiah 11:6-9 NKJV 6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them.

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7 The cow and the bear shall graze;

Their young ones shall lie down together;

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,

And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9 NKJV

The point being made in verse 5 is simply that this new world will not be ruled by

angels.

To get the whole issue in perspective, however, we should understand that this

present world is ruled by angels.

The chief fallen angel is Satan, who is also prince of this world (John 12:31;

14:30).

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We also know from Ephesians that this world is under tremendous demonic

influence (and Babylon is their capital).

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Demons are fallen angels and they are called rulers, powers, world forces of

darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12).

Not only do Satan and his fallen angels have some rule in this world, but even

the holy angels now have a kind of sovereignty.

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Daniel 10 tells of Michael and another holy angel fighting against powerful fallen

angels who were influencing the rulers of Persia and Greece.

The rule of this earth, therefore, is now in the hands of both fallen and holy

angels.

Needless to say, this "joint" rulership involves extreme conflict.

Man, however, was created as the king of the earth, and in God's final destiny

for him, man will one day be the sovereign that his Creator designed him to be.

Man is lower than the angels only for a little while longer and he will, in fact,

even judge the angels who have fallen (1 Corinthians 6:3).

1 Corinthians 6:1-3 NKJV 1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the

unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will

judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to

judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much

more, things that pertain to this life?

1 Corinthians 6:1-3 NKJV

In Hebrews 2:6-8 we see God's planned destiny for mankind in general.

God made man to be king.

Redeemed man's destiny.

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What right do we have to be so much in the mind of God?

"Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels, ... crowned him with

glory and honor, ... appointed him over the works of Thy hands, put all things in

subjection under his feet."

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Genesis 1:27-28 NKJV 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him;

male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to

them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over

the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that

moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:27-28 NKJV

Man is lower than angels only in that he is physical and they are spiritual.

What does this mean?

Just this: angels are heavenly creatures, while man is earthbound.

Obviously this is a limiting and major difference, and man is therefore now of a

lower rank.

But there is a time limit for this inferiority.

The present chain of command is temporary.

God has a destiny for man that will elevate him to king, when he will be on

at least an equal basis with angels.

Luke 20:34-36 NKJV 34 Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in

marriage. 35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the

resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 nor can

they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being

sons of the resurrection.

Luke 20:34-36 NKJV

Man is confined to the earth and to relatively nearby space.

Angels, on the other hand, are not confined by the physical.

They are able to come to earth at will, and have supernatural power and

strength that even sinless man did not have.

Not only that, but man's only direct communion with God has been that which

he had with Jesus while He was on earth.

Angels have continual access to the throne of God.

Angels are spirit beings; man is made out of the dust of the earth.

After Satan rebelled, the faithful angels were secured in holiness forever; after

Adam rebelled, all men were cursed with him.

In Adam, all died (1 Corinthians 15:22).

At the time of the creation, angels were perfect; man was only innocent.

Even in his innocence, man had the choice to sin.

Still more importantly, angels were never subject to death as man was.

God's first words to Adam in the garden of Eden were, "From any tree of the

garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die" (Genesis

2:16-17).

In the coming new earth, things will be much different.

Then we see in Daniel 7 "the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom

and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come .... Then the sovereignty,

the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven

will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an

everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him" (Daniel

7:18,27).

Redeemed men not only will inherit a perfect kingdom but an eternal kingdom,

in which they, not angels, will rule.

Revelation 3:21 says believers will sit with Christ on His throne and rule with Him.

Ephesians 1:20 says He will reign over principalities and powers, that is, angels.

Therefore if Christ reigns over angels in the kingdom and we sit on His throne with

Him, we, too, will reign over angels.

Only for a little while longer are men lower than the angels.

The whole earth will be redeemed and man will be crowned in Christ.

That is the promise for the future.

Hebrews 2:8a NKJV 8a You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under

him.

Hebrews 2:8a NKJV

The king's throne was always elevated, and everyone who came into his

presence bowed down before him and sometimes even kissed his feet.

His subjects, therefore, were often spoken of as being under his feet.

When man is one day given the right to rule the earth, all God's creation will be

put under man's feet.

That is the revelation of man's destiny.

Hebrews 2:8b NKJV 2b But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

Something drastic happened.

Man's revealed destiny was restricted by Adam's and Eve's sin.

When Adam sinned, the earth was corrupted and he immediately lost his

kingdom and his crown.

Because all mankind fell in Adam, because he lost his kingdom and his crown,

we do not now see the earth subject to man.

The earth originally was subject to man, and it supplied all his needs without his

having to do anything.

He had only to accept and enjoy the earth as it provided for him.

Then, tempted by Satan, man sinned, and his tempter usurped the crown.

There you see the change in the chain of command.

Man fell to the bottom, and the earth, under the evil one, now rules man.

If you pay much attention to ecology, you know that we do not rule this world; it

rules us.

With all our modern technology, we must constantly fight against the earth for

our survival.

What else happened to Adam after he had sinned?

First, there was murder within his own family.

Then there was polygamy.

In the next few chapters of Genesis we read of death.

By the time we come to chapter 6, God is sending a flood to destroy all mankind

but one family.

Man indeed had lost his crown.

The prince of the earth, of the system of the world, now is Satan.

"The whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19).

He rules the cursed earth, which in turn rules sinful man.

When man lost his crown, he also lost mastery of himself as well as of the earth.

He was totally sinful and became a slave to sin.

Not only that, but the animal kingdom was now subservient to man only out of

fear, no longer out of affection.

Much of the animal kingdom was no longer able to be tamed at all.

The ground originally produced good things naturally and abundantly for man to

have for the taking.

Now it produces thorns, weeds, and other harmful things naturally and

abundantly.

Whatever good things man now gets from the earth come only by tiresome

effort.

Extremes of heat and cold, poisonous plants and reptiles, earthquakes,

tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, disease, war — all these were released upon man

after the Fall.

Virtually everything God had given for man's good and blessing became his

enemy, and man has been fighting a losing battle ever since.

For millennia, he himself has been dying.

Now he is finding out that the earth is dying with him.

Amazingly, the earth itself knows its condition (Romans 8).

Romans 8:18-21 NKJV

From Suffering to Glory 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be

compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest

expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him Who

subjected it in hope;

Romans 8:18-21 NKJV

God subjected the earth to this curse in order that man might continually have

trouble.

Man had to know that God was aware of his sin, and he had to suffer the

consequences, in part, by fighting against the very earth that was

designed to be his servant.

But when the new kingdom begins,

Romans 8:21-22 NKJV 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of

corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the

whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Romans 8:21-22 NKJV

The earth, aware of its curse that came with Adam's fall, is groaning for the day

that the sons of God are manifest in the kingdom, for the earth knows that it, too,

will be redeemed - liberated from corruption.

In the meantime, man is subject to the earth.

He plants but he is not sure who will reap.

He builds cities and houses and dams and monuments but they are all subject

to destruction by lightning or earthquake or flood or fire or erosion or aging.

Man lives in jeopardy every hour.

Just at the height of professional achievement, his brain may develop a

tumor, and he becomes an imbecile.

Just at the brink of athletic fame, he may be injured and become a helpless

paralytic.

He fights himself, he fights his fellowman, and he fights his earth.

Every day we read and hear of the distress of nations, of the impossibility of

agreement between statesmen in a world that languishes in political and social

conflict — not to mention economic hardship, health hazards, and military

threats.

We hear the whine of pain from dumb animals and even see the struggle of

trees and crops against disease and insects.

Our many hospitals, doctors, medicines, pesticides, insurance companies, fire

and police departments, funeral homes - all are testimony to the cursed earth.

No wonder the creation groans.

But God did not intend it to be this way; and it will continue this way only

for a little while, in God's timetable.

Someday, in the world to come, when the kingdom comes, hospitals will be

closed, doctors will be out of business, and the ravenous nature of wild animals

(and of human beings) will be changed.

The crops and the trees will no longer be infested.

The game of politics will be over and wars will cease.

Man — redeemed man — will reign, co-reign with Christ!

Isaiah 2:4 NKJV 4 He shall judge between the nations,

And rebuke many people;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Isaiah 2:4 NKJV

A day is coming when, in the wonderful plan of God, the dominion that man lost

will be given to him again.

God's redeemed ones, His children, will never again be subject to death, they

will be like the angels (Luke 20:36).

In the kingdom they will, reign over the angels.

Hebrews 2:9 NKJV 9 But we see Jesus, Who was made a little 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. Hebrews 2:9 NKJV

That brings us to the third point.

Man's revealed destiny, restricted by sin, has been recovered by Christ.

The ultimate curse of man's lost destiny is death.

Warning Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God said,

"For in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17).

The cross conquered the curse.

The kingdom will be restored and man will be given the crown again.

But how can it happen?

If we are all sinners, how can we become sinless?

The only payment for sin is death - "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

The only way man can ever be a king again is to have the curse removed.

The only way the curse can be removed is for the penalty to be paid.

If man is to be restored to reign as a king, he must die — and be resurrected a

new man with sovereign qualities.

But we still ask, "How?"

We know, even without God's revelation, that we could not do this ourselves.

Paul explains.

Speaking of Christ, he writes:

Romans 6:5-11 NKJV

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we

also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man

was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we

should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing

that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer

has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all;

but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves

to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:5-11 NKJV

I died years ago.

I am perfectly healthy now, but I died a long time ago.

I died the death that Paul describes in Galatians: "I have been crucified with

Christ" (2:20).

The moment that I put my faith in Jesus Christ, at that moment I was identified

with Christ.

I died with Him on the cross.

For every believer, the curse has been removed.

Every believer is now a king.

We have not inherited our dominion yet, but the crown has been restored.

For every one of us who knows and loves Jesus Christ, the moment we received

Him, we were identified with Him.

We were crucified with Him and were buried with Him, and He has raised us up

to a new life.

It is life with the curse removed.

In Christ we are kings.

We do not have our kingdom yet, but it is certain to be ours.

To the saints of the Most High belongs the kingdom.

Our old bodies are going to fall off someday, but we are not going to die.

Our bodies will die, but even they will one day be resurrected in a new

and eternal form.

We will be immediately liberated to go into the presence of Jesus.

Or, if He comes again before that happens to us, He will take us with Him

into the kingdom.

To accomplish this great work on our behalf, Jesus had to become a man.

He Himself had to be made for a little while lower than the angels.

To regain man's dominion He had to taste death for man.

If a man dies for his own sin, he is doomed forever to hell.

But Christ came to die for us, because in His dying He could conquer death.

Revelation 5:9-10 NKJV 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,

And to open its seals;

For You were slain,

And have redeemed us to God by Your blood

Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;

And we shall reign on the earth.”

Revelation 5:9-10 NKJV

As you and I identify ourselves with Jesus Christ in His death, as we receive Him

as Savior, the curse is removed, and we become joint heirs with Him in the

eternal kingdom.

Obviously, if we are going to reign on earth as kings, there will have to be a

kingdom.

The Saints Reign with Christ 1,000 Years

Revelation 20:4 NKJV 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to

them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to

Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image,

and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they

lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:4 NKJV

Who will be on those thrones?

We who are the kings.

We will be kings with our great King, the King of kings.

The Redeemer King will rule with His redeemed saints over the redeemed earth.

Man will be changed:

ISAIAH 2:2-4 NKJV 2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days

That the mountain of the Lord’s house

Shall be established on the top of the mountains,

And shall be exalted above the hills;

And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many people shall come and say,

“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

He will teach us His ways,

And we shall walk in His paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations,

And rebuke many people;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore.

ISAIAH 2:2-4 NKJV

The animals will be changed:

Isaiah 11:6-9 NKJV 6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze;

Their young ones shall lie down together;

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,

And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9 NKJV

Even the plants will be changed:

Isaiah 35:1-2 NKJV 1 The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,

And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; 2 It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,

Even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

The excellency of our God.

Isaiah 35:1-2 NKJV

Christ tasted death for you and for me.

He did it to recover our lost destiny.

If you have been groping around, trying to figure out why you exist, I hope you

know the reason now.

There is no reason for us to be slaves.

There is no reason for us to be paupers.

There is only reason for us to be kings.

Men today still ask, "What is man?"

The idolator and the animist says, “Man is inferior to birds and animals, even to

creeping things, stones, and sticks."

And he bows down and worships the snake.

The materialist says, "Man is obviously higher than any of the other animals, but

he is still only the product of chance, the result of evolutionary natural selection."

Most people believe such ideas or ones equally as foolish.

But God says, "Man was created to be king of the earth.

Only for a little time he has been made lower than the angels."

Someday he will sit on the throne of Jesus Christ and reign with Him in His

kingdom.

I trust that you will be there reigning with Christ.

Jews could not comprehend the idea that God would become man.

Even less could they understand how, having become man, He could die.

How could the anointed of God, the Messiah, be the victim of death?

Consequently, wherever the Gospel was preached to Jews, as in Acts 17,

it was necessary to explain why Christ had to suffer and die (vv. 2-3).

The cross was a serious stumbling block to them, Jewish converts even had

difficulty with this issue.

How could Jesus be greater than angels if angels never die?

How could He be a Savior if He Himself were killed?

These were lingering questions.

Christ was made for a little while lower than the angels so that He could become

a man.

He became a man so that He could die.

He came to die because His death, and only His death, could accomplish man's

salvation.

Those tiny hands fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb were made to take

two great nails.

Those little feet were made to climb a hill and be nailed to a cross.

That sacred head was made to wear a crown of thorns, and that tender body

wrapped in swaddling clothes was made to be pierced by a spear.

For this Christ came to earth.

His death was the furthest thing from an accident.

And, despite the malignant evil that crucified Him, His death was the furthest

thing from a tragedy.

It was God's ultimate plan for His Son and His ultimate gift for mankind (It

pleased God to crush Him – Isaiah 53:10).

God created man in innocence and gave him dominion over the earth.

Man sinned and immediately lost his dominion.

Jesus Christ came to die to remove the curse so that man could regain

dominion; thus His death was the most purposeful in all history.

He came to restore the crown to man.

But the crown could not be restored until the curse was removed.

If He was to remove the curse on man He had to take the place of man by

becoming a man Himself.

And though, for this purpose, He became lower than angels, He accomplished

what no angel ever could have accomplished.

There were actually five accomplishments in this one.

Through His death, Jesus Christ became our Substitute, our salvation Author, our

Sanctifier, our Satan-Conquerer, and our Sympathizer — the perfect Savior.

The Plan of Hope & Salvation

Romans 3:23 NKJV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23a NKJV 23a For the wages of sin is death,

Death in this life (the first death) is 100%. Even Jesus, the only one who

doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the penalty for our sins. The

death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in

Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV 8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually

immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake

which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Romans 6:23b NKJV 23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 NKJV 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us.

Revelation 21:7 NKJV 7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he

shall be My son.”

Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to accept Jesus as our Savior.

Romans 10:9-10 NKJV 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your

heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with

the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession

is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know more.

Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at

601-979-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/