The Excellence of Christ Hebrews 2:10 – 3:6

The Excellence of Christ In Lesson 1, we learned that God has a message, which He has spoken – through many ways The message is His Son, Jesus Christ, and what He will do Now He has come, His Son has spoken, and has done what He came to do

The Excellence of Christ Christianity is a better way of life Because Jesus is God

The Excellence of Christ The author of Hebrews then goes into great detail of why Jesus Christ is immeasurably better than anything else We learned that the author emphasizes this point because if we do not see Jesus as better than anything else in our lives, we will drift – we will neglect – our salvation

The Excellence of Christ In Lesson 2, we looked at one of the most powerful of all of God’s creation, angels, comparing angels to Jesus While God has often used angels for many great things, His command is that “all the angels” worship His Son, Jesus We learned that we can not be saved by anything an angel can do, but only through the

The Excellence of Christ In Lesson 2, we looked at one of the most powerful of all of God’s creation, angels While God has often used angels for many great things, His command is that “all the angels” worship His Son, Jesus We learned that we can not be saved by anything an angel can do, but only through the Blood of Jesus

The Excellence of Christ Jesus is better than angels

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 2 ended with a warning: Because of who Jesus is, because He is God, His message is vital to us and to our eternal life If we ignore His message, it will have consequences for us

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Up to this point, we certainly have enough intellectual reasons to convince us to take God’s message to heart However, God did not create all people as totally intellectual; many of us also think and receive things on an emotional basis Think about people who have taken actions to give support to you, to see the best in you

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 We know by their actions that they care about us – they want the best for us We feel they love us, and their actions can even bring tears of joy to us, and to them

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Or there are also times in our lives when we take a step back and look at what we done, and cannot believe it We hate what we have done, and it affects our emotions We feel like total failures – we feel worthless

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 The author of Hebrews helps us in today’s lesson to understand that in both times when we feel loved by God, or even in times that we feel worthless, we are valuable to God How are God’s actions valuing to us? He appeals to our emotions He gives us emotional reasons we should listen to His message

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 He begins in Hebrews 2:6 by quoting from Psalm 8:4-6 When we read Psalm 8:1-9, we find that the context is referring back to Genesis 1 when God gave mankind dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28) God honored us by creating us in His image, and giving us authority to rule upon the earth

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Even though we were created a little lower than angels, God gave us authority upon the earth that angels do not have – and beyond that He has reserved for us authority in the world to come (be priests and reign with Him (Rev 20:6)) Even though we feel worthless and like failures, God values us and shows us that in His actions

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 The author of Hebrews points to another reason that we should listen to the message God has for us – He thinks we are valuable - and we should see that because He tells us the things we need to know and do for our benefit Many might say, “Well, if He has given us this authority, how come it does not seem that way?”

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Even the author of Hebrews acknowledges that by saying: “At present, we do not see everything in subjection to Him.” (v8) Why do some animals attack us? Why are some plants poisonous?

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Even the author of Hebrews acknowledges that by saying: “At present, we do not see everything in subjection to Him.” (v8) Why do some animals attack us? Why are some plants poisonous? It is because of sin that creation is not subject to us

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Even though God has valued us by honoring us with His authority, we have lost that authority through our sin

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 But God did not say “too bad for you, you lost that authority by your own actions” Instead, He sought to restore the authority we lost by showing us how truly He values us

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 But God did not say “too bad for you, you lost that authority by your own actions” Instead, He sought to restore the authority we lost by showing us how truly He values us by humbling Himself to our image (Hebrews 2:9)

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 In last week’s lesson we learned that the Son of God is far better than angels In this lesson, we see that the Son of God, far better than angels, has humbled Himself by putting on flesh, taking a form lower than angels, to show us how truly valuable we are to Him

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 God becoming man shows us just how much He really does care for us and why we should listen to Him because He spares no effort in seeking to communicate to us First, He can relate to us in His suffering

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18) He knows how to help you and me and wants to help you and me Think about this: Jesus has suffered temptation beyond anything we have ever suffered

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Each one of us has given into temptation. When we give into temptation, the pressure of temptation subsides for a time Imagine never giving in to temptation? What pressure would build? Jesus felt the full effects of temptation because it never subsided – He never gave in to temptation

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 He knows what we are going through and wants to help us be strong and find a way out: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it.” (1 Cor 10:13)

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 The author of Hebrews points to a second way that Jesus suffered for us,

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 The author of Hebrews points to a second way that Jesus suffered for us, He suffered death

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 The author of Hebrews points to a second way that Jesus suffered for us, He suffered death God loves us so much that He not only gave us the message of life, but He gave His Son over to suffer death so that we could have our sins paid for, so that we could have the authority and the glory we lost when man sinned, have all that restored to us

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 He wants the very best for us and is willing to suffer death for us This should help us emotionally to hear and believe His message

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 He is not some “god” that does not care about us He cares so much that He is willing to experience the things we experience to relate to us in our times of distress

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 The author of Hebrews points to one final reason that because of Jesus’ humanity that we should listen to God’s message

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 The author of Hebrews points to one final reason that because of Jesus’ humanity that we should listen to God’s message He can redeem us through His Sacrifice (Hebrews 2:14-17)

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 By Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself, He was able to make a perfect atonement for our sins He had to become a Man so as to live perfectly as a man to be able to be an acceptable sacrifice to make atonement for men

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 It is because Jesus was willing to suffer temptation and death so He could Relate to us Redeem us, and Restore what we lost

The Excellence of Christ Lesson 3 Is this the type of Person who would sacrifice and suffer so much and not want the very best for us?

The Excellence of Christ When we reflect on all the author of Hebrews shares with us in Chapter 2, we realize That we need to listen to His message That He has gone to the extreme for us to Hear Him Believe Him Receive Him

The Excellence of Christ Will you hear, believe, and receive Him today?