Destiny of the Saved (Part A)

As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. He's taken my sin away from me. This is the God we serve and whom we love. Now Satan hates this.

He hates verses like this and teachings like this and he invests himself in your head to get you to not believe what it clearly says and certainly to keep you from repeating it and then keeping those who you repeat it to from getting it. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Hebrews.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching verse by verse through Hebrews Chapter 2 with a brand new study called Destiny of the Saved. We are in the Hebrews, the document or the letter to the Hebrews. So if you have your Bibles, let's open to Hebrews Chapter 2. We will read verses 10 through 18. For it was fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly.

I will sing praise to you. And again, I will put my trust in him and again here am I and the children whom God has given me in as much as the children have partaken of flesh and blood. He himself likewise shared in the same that through death he might destroy him who had power over death. That is the devil and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed he does not give aid to angels but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted he is able to aid those who are tempted. A very difficult section of scripture to teach on.

A lot of time goes into it. The temptation is to hurry up through it and just go on to something else. But as you begin to dig and chip away it begins to open up. It's so frequent the case with the scripture.

Oftentimes passages are just tough nuts to crack but once you crack it and get inside there is the fruit. And so in your own devotion time in your own study time don't be intimidated by the difficult passages. Get excited depending that God is going to open it up to you. Well we're discussing this morning the captain of our salvation. Last session we discussed the destiny of the saved. Now this morning we consider the savior the savior of the saved. The author of our salvation looking again at verse 10. For it was fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Any of you here suffering this morning Christ is fully aware of it and fully involved with you if you are involved with him. Where it says in verse 10 for it was fitting for him. Now the antecedent the last pronoun Christ is speaking about Christ here. It was fitting for Christ considering God's character and man's lost state. God steps in to overcome the sin and make man perfect in Christ and it is right.

It is it is appropriate and that's what he means it is fitting and he's going to continue with this. He says for whom all things and by whom are all things. Not a single atom not a single molecule was in existence until he spoke it into existence. Everything that there is in this universe seen and unseen belonged to him. He is the creator now that's important we'll bookmark that in our heads for later on in this at the end of this paragraph. But he authored and built creation. He authored and achieved salvation for everyone who wants it.

If you want to be saved in Christ then you enter in the invitation is a standing invitation. But this creator we discussed it from the first chapter Hebrews 1 verse 2. That God in these last days spoke and has spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world.

He is the creator and that's what we have to remember because this morning again we're considering the captain of our salvation. Again we're considering the person this Jesus Christ who we were just singing to, who we pray to, who we look to serve, and bringing many sons to glory and of course his children not just sons but sons and daughters. Only a God of love would want us in heaven with him.

That alone bears investigation. That alone should take away so many doubts about dying that God wants you and at death he has you. We'll talk a little bit more about death.

I know I'm adding up the things I got to get back to and hopefully we do. But I think of Psalm 103 verses 10 and 12. He has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy towards those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us. He's taken my sin away from me. This is the God we serve and whom we love.

Now Satan hates this. He hates verses like this and teachings like this and he invests himself in your head to get you to not believe what it clearly says and certainly to keep you from repeating it and then keeping those who you repeated to from getting it and receiving it and understanding it. He invests himself in destroying these truths, these wonderful facts that exist and that's how he brings the sons to glory through his mercy.

Of course there's more. It wasn't just his mercy or his teachings or his kindness or his person or his character that saves us. It was his blood.

He died in our place. He is the great substitute, the great sacrifice and all of the Old Testament pointed to him and all of the New Testament tells you why it points to him. To make the captain of our salvation. Now captain here in the Greek is pioneer or the leader, the one that opens the way, a trailblazer you could say.

It's both. He's a leader and he's a pioneer at the same time. It is elsewhere translated as prince or author. Where it is translated as prince in the book of Acts because the translators wanted to emphasize the role of leadership.

That is no different here. He is the leader of our salvation. Not only has he authored our salvation but he acted upon it. See that's why it's appropriate here to say he is the captain of our salvation. Now when we get later in Hebrews when he speaks of the author and finisher of our faith it's the same Greek word.

They're translated by most translators as author. But here he is the author and he is the captain because he is the one that authored and acted. He did something. He didn't just come up with a plan. He did something and it involved him. It involved his suffering.

We love him so much for this. This kind of knowledge is imparted. That's why you can meet a Christian from another part of the world. First time meeting them and share, just bring up the subject of Christ and you're instantly on the same page. Same passion, the same love, the same knowledge.

Yeah some of the details may be different but the essentials are locked down. This is spiritual. This comes from God.

Paul wrote to Timothy. He says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's why he came here.

There's no other. There's nothing here attractive to him. Heaven is certainly a better place. What drew him here is us sinful people and you you we scoff at those who scoff at that. There are many that scoff you know I'm too bad a sinner. No you're not. It's just an excuse.

If you want it, come and get it. You just dealt with your sin. Now that does not mean you will not sin again. It does not mean you can put yourself in temptation's path. It does mean though that you can come to Jesus and have as much of him as you can hold. It says perfect through sufferings.

Our captain, perfect through sufferings. That is complete. The Hebrew word translated perfect here is is actually completed. That is perfect.

It's finished. He did this by action again not just by promising. He came and he did it. So we see him now crowned king of kings, Lord of Lords. Once upon a time he was crowned with thorns. He was shamed and he was crucified.

It was their goal to kill him publicly. What true Christian does not love to talk about his conquest over sin? All of us who believe. We love to talk about what Jesus has done on the cross, the empty tomb.

What believer does not love to talk about his glory and his unmatched beauty? And the world hates it. They don't want him to have that.

They don't want him to be the only one. It is our task to take them to task. Not to hate them for it, not to make them as our enemies, but to overcome. Revelation five. We love to read this 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. How do you get that out of every tribe and people and tongue and nation over the ages? He does. I believe the little children that die as little children go right to heaven.

I don't care who or where they're born, what age they're born in. That would account for such a verse. That is how you would populate heaven with people from every tribe and people because not all of them have heard about Christ. But that is one way.

That is one way. The completed work for which he came. Isaiah says he'll see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The travail of his soul.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? We cannot write down what that means. We can't capture it.

We can get close. It means however close we get, we're not there all the way. But there, according to his flesh, he suffered. His spirit was always, always sovereign. And so he fulfilled his plan for salvation through suffering.

And that's what the writer is talking about in this section. He started off talking about God speaking through the prophets about this Christ and who this Christ is. And he's separate from angels high above them.

And he's still continuing with this. And he's making the point to these Jewish believers that this Jesus Christ is worth it all. And you would be insane to give him up, to go back to offering lambs and bulls and goats and grain.

He is everything. Verse 11, continuing to make this point clear to them. He says, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Now he who sanctifies, that's Christ.

Saves us and he sets us aside. Yeah, justification in scripture is that point of salvation. When we are saved, we are justified in Christ. God looks at us as those who have been forgiven and his mercy is upon us and we've been forgiven because of Christ. It is just as though we've never sinned.

That is justification. In that is also sanctification because from that point we're set aside to go to heaven, to be with God forever. But sanctification has more to it than just what's coming in heaven and how God looks at us on earth. It also means that we are now being ministered to and changed by the Holy Spirit. And that's the difference between an immature Christian who is working to be mature versus a carnal Christian who is immature and is not really doing much to change their state. But the Christian that is working to be like Christ is being sanctified, being developed. Sin not only makes us guilty before God, it makes us unclean. And because we are guilty, we need to be saved. That's one part of sanctification which includes justification. But because we are unclean, we need to be made clean in this life. We get so frustrated when we go backwards and we fail. Satan gets frustrated when you get up and you're back at it.

I like irking hell. So the next time you stumble and you fall short, no, God does not approve of the thing that you've done wrong. But he does approve of you getting up in Christ and following him. And so when sanctification is used concerning the work of Christ, it is talking about salvation. And when it is used in connection with the Holy Spirit, it is talking about our development in Christ Jesus. And so again, for both he who sanctifies, that is the work of God, and those who are being sanctified, that would be the saved. For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

Now we're moving closer into some very important points that we miss so easily, at least I do. He has every right to disown us. God does. He had every right to slaughter Adam and Eve instead of the animals.

He did not. And that's what the sacrifices at the temple and that's what the cross which it's pointed to spoke of, the slaughter that sin has brought upon the race and creation. Have you ever been ashamed of a family member in the way, in this way, you really don't want to introduce them to anyone else? You do not want anyone to know that that's your brother or your sister or your mother or your father or whatever relationship it is.

Fearing what others might think of you because of it. Joseph did not do that. Now understand Joseph's brother is at one point in life, he may have had to not be so eager to introduce them, but at the stage in life when they were still considered to be abominable yet decent men now, he was not ashamed of them. He brought them before the Pharaoh of Egypt. These are my brothers.

This is my father. They are shepherds. You people hold shepherds and an abomination as an abomination, but I love them and I'm not and I'm not ashamed of them. Well that's what Christ does for us. He's not ashamed of us.

Yeah we do shameful things. That's what mercy and forgiveness is for, but he loves us. Genesis 47, Joseph went and told Pharaoh and said my father and my brothers their flocks and their herds and all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan and indeed they are here in the land of Goshen and he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Christ is more merciful and gracious than Joseph could ever dream to be. Joseph knows that, but it is a picture of Christ not being ashamed to call us brothers and sisters even though we are so much less saved. That's what we are, but we are more than saved.

We are more than conquerors over sin and damnation through Christ. We're family. That's the point.

That's the point that is being made. Now to appreciate the point of him saying these are my brothers and sisters. Imagine if he said these are not my brothers and sisters. To be barred from being considered as family from heaven's standpoint.

When you look at it that way and you see Christ has taken sinners and made them family. You remember what the Pharisees said about him. He eats with sinners because he loved them. He loved the Pharisees too, but they wouldn't let him.

They wouldn't let his love flow upon them. They pushed him away and so verse 12 saying I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you. So the writer of Hebrews now takes us to the scriptures to back up his point. He's quoting Psalm 22. He's applying it to Christ. He's saying this is the application that even in the scripture there's something special about this family relationship with God. Christ has fulfilled it and again he's speaking to the Hebrews. They knew these Psalms and he is saying he's above the Psalm.

He's the fulfillment of it. Jesus never as we mentioned last session directly referred to believers as his brethren till after the resurrection because we couldn't really be family. Our sins were still upon us. We could be righteous, considered righteous in that we believed God. There were righteous Jews.

No question about that. Abraham, John the Baptist, Daniel, Joseph on and on it goes. There was still a wall between even those righteous souls and a holy and special God. Not until he paid the price of salvation did we become spiritual family which is eternal family.

Physical family is not eternal. Spiritual it is and he announced this and he uses this phrase to announce this to mankind that we have the same heavenly father. Jesus according to his humanity is saying you're my brother and we have the same father.

Jesus according to his deity of course is way above being our brother but yet we're family. John's gospel chapter 20 Jesus said to her but go to my brethren. You see it?

There it is. This is at the resurrection. He's saying to Mary go to my brethren and say to them I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God. Reminds us of Ruth.

Does it not? Your people should be my people. Your God should be my God. Where you go, I go. Where you die, I die. It's a total commitment. I am loyal unlike the other sister by marriage who said okay I'm out. Not Ruth and not us.

Not Ruth and not us. In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you. Christ lined up in formation. He assembled. He was there when muster was called to a dead synagogue largely. There he was in assembly.

That's why when the writer of the Hebrews gets to the 10th chapter he says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Don't be out of formation. The army would say AWOL. The Marine Corps would say let's shoot them. No. UA.

Unauthorized absence. But as God Jesus himself worshipped. As God as in his humanity he worshipped. Let me rephrase that.

I might have got ahead of myself. In his humanity when he walked on earth he assembled and he worshipped before everybody. And he publicly worshipped the father. But as God he is worshipped.

Of course he was worshipped in his humanity too when everybody realized just who he was. But the point that comes out of this is in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you. He's quoting the Psalm and he's saying Jesus did this. He fulfilled this in verse 13. And again I will put my trust in him.

And again here I am. Here am I and the children whom God has given me. See he keeps he says again and again he's pointing out that there's more scriptural weight behind the things that he is saying concerning Messiah joining humanity and going to the cross and dying. Again a reminder he's writing to Jews who are thinking about no longer being Christians but going back to being Jews or kind of mingling the two together which you cannot do. He's quoting Psalm 16 here in Hebrews 2 13 and he's quoting Isaiah 17. Oh pardon me Isaiah 8 17. Here am I and the children whom God has given me. Now Isaiah's children were symbolically the representation of believers.

They're prophetic. God used the children of Isaiah to be a testimony in the world. To be a testimony among the Jews at that time. The writer here is saying we are have to have part in this.

We are to have a testimony in the world that belongs to God. Some overemphasize their testimony. Some overemphasize family. Some overemphasize their church. These become distractions. These gifts. These beautiful things testimony family church.

They can become a distraction if we do not handle them right. Christ did not send me to preach family. He did not send me to preach testimony or the church but to preach him.

All was the same. We all love this to hear it because we want it. You've been listening to Cross Reference Radio the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews right here on Cross Reference Radio.