Grace Baptist Church Eureka
Hebrews 2:5-18 - Jesus is Better than Adam

      • Psalm 96:1–4ESV

  • Good And Gracious King
  • The Goodness Of Jesus

      • Psalm 8ESV

  • Jesus Messiah

  • Pray

    Father, thank you for your Word and for the opportunity I have now to preach it.
    I pray that you would speak through me into all of our hearts to change us into the likeness of your Son, Jesus.
    That’s what we want, and I know that’s what you want.
    You want us all to pursue love and righteousness like Jesus, to look more and more like him.
    So, I pray that you would do that this morning through the preaching of your Word and the power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
    I can’t do any of this on my own, so please use me and speak through me to accomplish your will.
    Help me to know when and how to humble myself and exalt your Son, Jesus.
    It’s in his powerful name I pray. Amen.

    Intro

    Well, we are continuing our series through the book of Hebrews, and last week we saw how Jesus is a better messenger than even the angels.
    This week we are turning our attention to humanity, and how Jesus is better than Adam in Hebrews 2:5-18.
    The argument in this passage is a deeper explanation for how Jesus is better than the angels because of the gospel.
    And we saw how in light of Jesus’ superiority to the angels we must pay much closer attention to his message, the gospel.
    The idea is that when we have something valuable, but we don’t pay close attention to it, we lose it because we drift away from it.
    Think of something you valued as a child… I remember my most favorite toy growing up was a light bright.
    I loved putting the black paper on the surface and poking the colored pegs into the holes in just the right spots to make a beautifully lit up picture.
    I cherished that toy and I was devastated when it was taken away because I wouldn’t clean my room.
    But since then, I have sort of forgotten about it.
    I’ve not paid careful attention to that toy for a few decades now.
    And I’ve drifted away from it.
    Now I wouldn’t think anything of it if it were damaged or thrown away.
    That toy that I had put so much hope in as a child has become worthless and meaningless because I’ve forgotten about it and its value to me has significantly diminished, and I’ve abandoned it.
    We all have a tendency to abandon things when their value is forgotten, especially things we put our hope in.
    Jesus is our most valuable source of hope, way more valuable than a toy, and we’ve got to remember his sufficiency, his massive value as our only hope in life and death so that we won’t abandon him.
    Really, Jesus is our most valuable source of hope because he’s better than Adam.
    And in our passage this morning, Hebrews 2:5-18, God has shown us three aspects of Jesus’ humanity that makes him better than Adam so that we’ll see his value, we’ll see his sufficiency, and not abandon him.
    We’re going to see how Jesus is better than Adam because of his headship, his example, and his atonement.
    It’s interesting how this argument develops without ever mentioning Adam’s name.
    But he’s definitely there, alluded to by his sin as the head of humanity, his sinful example we all follow because of our sin nature inherited from him, and how our relationship with God was broken because of what he did.
    Now, this argument is a further answer to why we should pay much more careful attention to Jesus’ message, the gospel.
    Last week we looked at the negative motivation to pay attention to the gospel, the rightly deserved and severe consequences for abandoning it.
    Now we’re going to see the positive motivation, the benefits the gospel brings us because of all that Jesus did for us in his humanity, his humanity that’s better than Adam.
    So, first, let’s read verses 5-9 and then look at how they argue that Jesus’ headship is better than Adam.
    Hebrews 2:5–8 ESV
    For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
    Hebrews 2:8–9 ESV
    Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
    The first part of the argument for how Jesus is better than Adam is how…

    Jesus has a better headship than Adam (5-9)

    We are narrowing in on Jesus’ humanity and how he’s better than the angels because of it.
    Our text says that God did not subject the coming world to the angels.
    The current world is subject to the angels, specifically one leading fallen angel who was once named Lucifer, also known as Satan, or the Devil.
    In Ephesians 2:2 Paul calls him the “prince of the power of the air.”
    3 times in the gospel of John Jesus calls him “the ruler of this world.”
    In John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11.
    But other angels are also called princes or rulers in Daniel 10:13 “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,”
    So, this current world is ruled or subjected to the rule of angels even though we don’t usually see them.
    But in the coming world the angels won’t be ruling over humanity… redeemed humanity will be ruling with Jesus over everything including the angels.
    The text the author of Hebrews uses to prove this point is from Psalm 8 which we read earlier this morning.
    And the point of that Psalm is the wonder at God’s special love and grace for little insignificant humanity.
    How in this current world of all of God’s creation humanity is the least deserving of God’s attention.
    Yet he has given us dominion over the works of his hands.
    The argument is that the juxtaposition of our inherent unworthiness and how much worth God has given us is not fully realized yet.
    We see it a little bit, but not fully because God’s creation is not entirely under our dominion yet.
    God put everything of his creation in subjection to mankind, no exceptions, but that’s not what we experience now.
    The earth rebels against our dominion.
    The animals run from us in fear.
    Everything tends toward disorder and chaos.
    This is because of the curse of futility brought upon all of humanity by Adam’s sin.
    In Genesis 3:1-13 the woman was deceived by the serpent in the garden of Eden, and she and Adam disobeyed God’s only rule for them… they ate the fruit God told them not to eat.
    Then in verses 14-15 God cursed the serpent but in that curse he promised to send a rescuer from the offspring of the woman who would finally defeat the deceiver and save humanity.
    In verse 16 God cursed the woman in her relationships where she would bring forth children in pain and her relationship with her husband, Adam, would be strained as she desired his position while he ruled over her.
    Then in verses 17-19 God cursed Adam and the earth he was tasked with subduing.
    Now working the ground would be painful and futile and ultimately result in our death.
    In Genesis 9 just after the flood God told Noah in verse 2, “The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.”
    This along with the curse in Genesis 3 are why we do not yet see everything in subjection to humanity.
    Adam as our head, launched all of humanity into a reality of hardship, struggle, and futility rather than the joyful and satisfying dominion God gave him when he was first created.
    Adam’s headship is terrible because through him we were all brought into this reality of pain and misery.
    His one act of selfishness and doubting God’s goodness made it so that all of us are naturally that way… sinners bent on selfishness and doubt.
    But where Adam’s headship is so bad, Jesus’ headship is so good.
    We don’t see the dominion promised to us yet, but we do see a man who was made a little lower than the angels, namely Jesus.
    And Jesus IS crowned with the glory and honor promised to Adam because he suffered and died for everyone.
    Jesus in his humanity became the head of a new humanity a redeemed humanity.
    Romans 5:12–19 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
    1 Corinthians 15:21–22 “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
    1 Corinthians 15:45 “Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
    This is a concept called federal headship, where one person acts as a legal representative for all of humanity.
    Adam acted for all humanity when he sinned, and Jesus acted for all of humanity when he paid the penalty for our sin in Adam.
    This is more than just legal, federal headship, though.
    I think there’s also an aspect of natural headship where in Adam we have inherited a sin nature, but in Christ we inherit a nature that opposes our indwelling sin.
    Ephesians 2:1–10 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
    In Adam we inherited the guilt of his sin and the corrupted nature his sin brought on all of humanity ultimately described as and leading to death.
    But in Christ we have inherited his righteousness and his nature that desires to walk in the good works God prepared for us ultimately described as and leading to life.
    And our passage in Hebrews draws that out of Psalm 8 as the glory and honor and rule of humanity only happens because of Jesus’ work as our head.
    Where Adam tasted the fruit leading to death for everyone, Jesus tasted death for everyone leading to the fruit of eternal life.
    So, Jesus clearly has a better headship than Adam since Adam’s headship brought us all into sin and futility and death but Jesus’ headship brings us into glory and honor and eternal life.
    Next, in verses 10-13 we’re going to see how Jesus gives us a better example than Adam.
    Hebrews 2:10–11 ESV
    For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
    Hebrews 2:12–13 ESV
    saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
    Here’s the second part of the argument for how Jesus is better than Adam, how…

    Jesus is a better example than Adam (10-13)

    The main way that Jesus is a better example than Adam is in regards to sanctification.
    Now, sanctification is simply being set apart for God’s purposes.
    If you’ve put your faith in Jesus, then God set you apart for his purposes by saving you from sin and death while the majority of humanity is happily on their way to more sin and death and ultimately eternity in hell.
    But there’s also an aspect of sanctification where we are compelled to behave more and more distinct from the world because we have been set apart for God’s purposes.
    This is where Jesus’ example comes in and how it’s better than Adam’s example.
    This first sentence in verse 10 is a little confusing with all of those overlapping ideas, so let’s look at it one thought at a time to make better sense of it.
    The main idea is that it was fitting for God to perfect or complete the founder of humanity’s salvation through suffering.
    The other two thoughts describe aspects of this main idea.
    God’s identity is described as the one “for whom and by whom all things exist.”
    This emphasizes his sovereignty as creator of everything and his right to choose how to deal with his creation.
    Then God’s actions in securing our salvation are described as “bringing many sons to glory.”
    This is a reference back to the glory and honor of Psalm 8 and how Jesus is crowned with glory and honor because of his death on our behalf and as our head he brings many of us with him into that inheritance of glory and honor.
    And as our main idea emphasized, it was fitting that Jesus be made to suffer death on our behalf so that his sufficiency as our savior would be completed or perfected as God the Father sovereignly intended.
    This is how Jesus is our example of suffering.
    Adam avoided apparent suffering, so he sinned and brought on more suffering than he could ever have imagined.
    We should not look to his example, though we follow it subconsciously all the time.
    It’s the example of selfishness and avoiding suffering at all costs.
    But Jesus gives us a better example, he embraced the suffering of death, he considered it a joy because of the hope of eternal life with us.
    We should look to Jesus’ example of suffering because it will avoid the compounding suffering of sin and it will yield the supernatural comfort and satisfaction of pursuing righteousness.
    Jesus didn’t suffer in sin he suffered in righteousness because of sin.
    And one day sin will be gone and then pursuing righteousness wont be accompanied by suffering because of sin.
    We’ll be able to pursue righteousness in peace without suffering.
    But until that day, look to Jesus’ example and pursue righteousness in spite of the suffering it brings because of sin.
    The author of Hebrews takes his argument back to Scripture again.
    In verse 11 the ESV says that “he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.”
    But the Greek is more ambiguous.
    The Greek is woodenly rendered, “the one sanctifying and the ones being sanctified are all from one.”
    And before we start randomly trying to figure out what he means, let’s look at what he says in the next sentence.
    “That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.”
    Clearly Jesus is the one sanctifying us, and all who put their faith in Jesus are those being sanctified by him.
    As for how we are Jesus are all from one, I think the following sentence explains that we are all from one humanity.
    He’s human just like we are.
    And as a human like us he gives us his example as our big brother.
    The scripture that the author uses to explain how Jesus is our example in his humanity is from Psalm 22 and Isaiah 8.
    Psalm 22 is a vivid description of persecution and death as a prophecy of the Messiah’s suffering and death in striking detail.
    But the part that our author highlights is from Psalm 22:22 “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:”
    All of Psalm 22 is from the Messiah’s perspective.
    And verses 1-21 are all about his agony and suffering in his death, but from verse 22 to the end of the Psalm it’s all about the response of worship to the salvation brought by the Messiah’s suffering and death.
    And significantly, the Messiah leads this response of worship by example.
    We can look to Jesus and his example of worshipping God the Father as one of us to be sanctified by him in our worship.
    Next the author moves to Isaiah 8:17–18 “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.”
    He zeroes in on two statements from these verses, “I will hope (or put my trust) in him,” and “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me.”
    Again, this prophecy, like Psalm 22, is spoken from the perspective of the Messiah.
    And the words in the Messiah’s mouth depict his submission and trust in God the Father as an example in his humanity for us to do likewise.
    Peter described the trust Jesus had for the Father during his suffering and death in 1 Peter 2:23 “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”
    We can look to Jesus and his example of trusting God the Father as one of us to be sanctified by him in our faith.
    But the passage in Isaiah 8 continues depicting the Messiah as joining with the children God the Father has given him.
    Specifically joining as signs and portents in Israel.
    I sign and a portent is a message of what’s going to happen.
    I think this is alluding to the gospel message, and that the Messiah would be that sign or portent proclaiming the gospel in light of our eternal destination.
    And how he and the children God the Father would give him would all proclaim that message.
    We can look to Jesus and his example of proclaiming the gospel as one of us to be sanctified by him in our obedience.
    Again, Adam’s example is pursuing selfishness and avoiding apparent suffering at all costs, but Jesus’ example is embracing suffering while pursuing our sanctification, specifically looking to his examples of worship, faith, and proclaiming the gospel all done as a human, as one of us, as the best of us.
    So, first we saw how Jesus has a better headship than Adam.
    And we just saw how Jesus is a better example than Adam since he shows us how we ought to pursue our sanctification as we worship God, have faith in God, and proclaim the gospel with Jesus and like Jesus.
    Finally, we’re going to see in verses 14-18 how Jesus is better than Adam because he reversed the curse brought on by Adam’s sin.
    Hebrews 2:14–16 ESV
    Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
    Hebrews 2:17–18 ESV
    Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
    The third reason that Jesus is better than Adam is that…

    Jesus fixed what Adam broke (14-18)

    Adam’s sin brought death into the world.
    And death, specifically the threat of death, is Satan’s primary weapon he uses to get us to doubt God’s goodness and seek our own wellbeing through selfishness and sin.
    That has been his tactic from the beginning.
    We know from the book of Revelation that the serpent in the garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3 was Satan, the Devil.
    And a careful reading of Genesis 3:1-5 shows us that Satan’s primary attack is against the character of God in our minds.
    He attacks our view of God’s grace.
    He attacks our view of God’s justice.
    He attacks our view of God’s goodness.
    He introduces the cancerous thought that God just might be withholding something good from me.
    And he fans the flame on the thought that the consequences aren’t that bad, and that God is bluffing.
    Suddenly our trust in God’s grace, justice, and goodness is shattered by doubt.
    And we disregard him and sin against him to our own destruction.
    That is how Satan has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning.
    Like Jesus said in John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
    His lies produce our death, and he uses our fear of death to lie even more about God’s character.
    The woman in Genesis 3 was deceived by Satan’s lies, but Adam sinned willfully, knowing that it was sin and doing it anyway.
    And through his sin death entered the world and he gave Satan his greatest weapon, death.
    Satan doesn’t wield this weapon by directly killing people.
    He wields it by pointing out the inevitability of death and lying about it to make us doubt God’s character and disregard him.
    But Jesus came to fix what Adam broke.
    Where Adam’s sin armed Satan with his greatest weapon, Jesus’ righteous and selfless act of dying on the cross for humanity disarmed Satan.
    Our passage says that Jesus took on flesh and blood like us so that through his death he might destroy the Devil who has the power of death.
    That word, “Destroy,” simply means to render ineffective or to set aside.
    Jesus rendered the Devil ineffective by taking away his primary weapon, the power of death, the threat of death in our minds.
    The author describes what Jesus did in a slightly different way so that it will make more sense to us.
    He describes it as freedom from slavery.
    Where Adam’s sin brought us all under the fear of death as slaves to obey that fear, Jesus freed us by purchasing our freedom with his own life that he gave on the cross so that we could have eternal life with him.
    Now we don’t have to fear death.
    By faith in Jesus we won’t experience the second death, and the first death is only a necessary step to take to enter eternal life with Jesus.
    Death no longer has a sting to fear, it no longer has any victory over us because Jesus defeated it when he died and rose again.
    Our passage brings up angels again in verse 16 because this is an extended argument for how Jesus is better than the angels because he became a man to save mankind through his death and resurrection so that he and redeemed humanity would rule over the coming inhabited world even higher than the angels.
    Jesus didn’t come to redeem angels, he came to redeem humanity, specifically the offspring of Abraham.
    Now the argument has alluded to how Jesus is better than Adam, so we might think that the author would refer to Jesus helping the offspring of Adam, humanity.
    But the significant point that the author is making here is that Jesus doesn’t help all of humanity.
    He died for all of humanity, but his death and resurrection only help the offspring of Abraham.
    And the offspring of Abraham are those who have faith, those who believe God’s promises, and his greatest promise to save us through the death and resurrection of the Messiah, his Son, Jesus.
    Galatians 3:7–9 “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
    Even we who have zero physical lineage back to Abraham are considered offspring of Abraham because of our union with Christ, the true offspring of Abraham, through faith in him.
    Galatians 3:27–29 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
    So, Jesus became a man to redeem humanity, specifically those who have faith in him like Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
    And Jesus redeemed those who put their faith in him by becoming fully human to satisfy God’s righteous requirement of death for humanity.
    Our passage says that Jesus had to be made like his brothers in every respect.
    That means that Jesus became 100% human.
    There isn’t a single aspect of being human that Jesus didn’t take on.
    He took on everything it means to be human.
    All of our weakness and limitation.
    All of our temptations to sin.
    All of the suffering we endure in life.
    All of it.
    So that he could legitimately intercede for us as our merciful and faithful high priest.
    Better than the high priests of the old covenant, but that argument will be further developed later in the book of Hebrews.
    But the thing I want to draw your attention to is that by becoming fully human, now Jesus experientially knows and understands what we are going through.
    Before becoming human he knew everything and he still knows everything, but now that he’s taken on humanity he’s experienced the same things as us, he knows on a deeper experiential level what our weaknesses and temptations feel like.
    He made propitiation for our sins to God through his death, and he had to become human in order to offer his human life to satisfy God’s righteous requirement for our sin.
    He had to offer his life that encompassed all of the suffering and temptation that we experience in order to be a sufficient substitute for us.
    And not only that, but his experience of suffering and temptation gives him the ability to help us.
    He was tempted and successfully resisted that temptation.
    Now, the thing about temptation is that the longer you go resisting it, the stronger the temptation gets.
    Practically, we only get relief from the temptation by giving in to it, but giving in to it brings a whole lot more and deeper suffering.
    So, for Jesus to experience temptation and never give in to it means that the draw of that temptation was stronger than you will ever experience.
    Jesus knows temptation, but he was able to resist it, and that qualifies him to be the best source of help for those who are being tempted.
    Are you being tempted to sin, tempted to doubt God’s grace and justice and goodness, tempted to abandon God?
    Look to Jesus and call on him to give you strength to endure temptation.
    James 4:7–8 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
    Because of Adam, our relationship with God was broken.
    But Jesus came to fix what Adam broke.
    He mends our relationship with God by offering his own human life as the only sufficient satisfaction for God’s righteous requirement for our sin.
    Now we’re forgiven, justly forgiven because the price for our sin has been paid in full and that payment is applied to our account by simply putting our faith in the one who paid it, God’s own Son, Jesus.
    And he keeps our relationship with God from being broken again by continually interceding on our behalf and by offering us his help to resist temptation.
    And just so we don’t leave here with the wrong idea about God the Father…
    This whole plan was his idea in the first place.
    He’s the one who sent his Son to do this because he loves us so much and he wants our relationship to be fixed.

    Conclusion

    So, we saw how Jesus is better than Adam because he has a better headship, and he provides a better example, and he fixed what Adam broke.
    He has a better headship because Adam’s headship plunged us all into the pain and misery we see all around us, but Jesus’ headship brings the glory and honor of ruling the coming world with him.
    He provides a better example because Adam’s example is selfishness and avoiding apparent suffering at all costs, but Jesus’ example is embracing suffering in the pursuit of righteousness that is more satisfying than any selfish pursuit of sin.
    And he fixed what Adam broke in two ways.
    Adam broke the world by introducing death and sin.
    And Jesus specifically disarmed Satan by destroying the power of death which Adam armed Satan with in the first place.
    And Jesus specifically dealt with sin in regard to our relationship with God.
    He restored our relationship with God on God’s side by offering his fully human life as the propitiation or satisfaction that God rightly required for our sin against him so that we could be forgiven.
    And he restored our relationship with God on our side by experiencing the full weight of temptation so that he’s able to help us in our temptations.
    We can run to him and rely on his strength to resist temptation to sin against God.
    Remember that this is the positive reason for the primary application back in Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
    The negative consequences of drifting away from what we have heard, the gospel, is our just eternal punishment in hell, the second death because the gospel is the message of what Jesus did to save us from our just punishment that we deserve for our sin.
    Now the positive reason why we ought to pay much closer attention to the gospel is that Jesus is better than Adam in his headship, his example, and his atonement.
    So, our primary application is the same as last week but argued from a different angle.
    Pay attention to the gospel!
    Pay much closer attention to the gospel because in Jesus we have glory and honor with him instead of the pain and misery brought in under Adam’s headship,
    we have his example of enduring suffering in our pursuit of righteousness that satisfies more than any of the sin and selfishness of Adam’s example,
    and he fixed the sin and death that Adam brought into the world by defeating death through his own death and resurrection and satisfying the righteous requirement for our sin and reconciling us with God.
    Life is full of pain and misery under Adam’s headship.
    It’s full of sin and suffering following Adam’s example.
    It’s full of death and punishment because Adam broke it.
    All of those things are here because of Adam and our identification with him in our humanity.
    But Jesus, in his humanity, brings glory and honor under his headship.
    He brings righteousness and relief following his example.
    And he brings life and reconciliation because he fixed it.
    That’s what the gospel message is.
    It’s what Jesus did in his humanity to save us from sin and death, to reconcile us to God, to fully and sufficiently answer every failure of humanity under Adam.
    So, don’t forget it, don’t abandon it, pay much closer attention to it because it’s the answer to all of the bad aspects of life.
    If you haven’t put your faith in Jesus yet, then what are you waiting for?
    I know you can see the pain and suffering and selfishness and sin and death all around you.
    And Jesus is the answer to fix all of that.
    It’s not going to be outwardly fixed until he comes back, but it can be inwardly fixed in your heart and your relationship with God right now.
    And all it takes on your part is to put your faith in Jesus.
    Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
    Confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord means that you tell God and tell other people that you are submitting to Jesus’ rightful rule over your life.
    Believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead means that you understand and accept the truth of Jesus’ identity and actions as God who became a man and died in your place on the cross and rose from the dead three days later so that you could be forgiven of your sin and live with him forever.
    So, if you haven’t done this yet, then I beg you to do so right now.

    Pray

    Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus.
    Thank you for sending him to make right what went so wrong.
    Thank you for loving us so much that you would give us your best to reconcile us back to you.
    I pray that you would help us remember this when life is hard, and when life isn’t so bad, too.
    Lord we need to remember this, to pay much closer attention to the gospel so we don’t drift away from it.
    Please impress on our hearts the importance of the gospel for life and for our eternal life.
    I pray that you would use all of us here at GBC to encourage each other to remember the gospel, of your Son, Jesus.
    It’s in his name I pray all of this. Amen.

    Communion

    All right, well, it’s the first Sunday of the month, so we’re going to celebrate communion together.
    And if you’re visiting with us and you’re a baptized believer in good standing with your local church then you are welcome to join us.
    As the men pass out the elements, I just want to draw a correlation between the passage I just preached and what we are doing now in communion.
    I just preached about how Jesus is better than Adam because of his better headship, his better example, and his atonement that fixed our relationship with God.
    And we’ve got to pay much closer attention to the gospel so that we don’t drift away from it because Jesus is so valuable as the remedy for everything wrong in the world.
    We’ve got to pay much closer attention to the gospel, and communion is primarily a reminder of the gospel, deliberately paying much closer attention to it and proclaiming it until Jesus comes back.
    That’s what Paul said about this communion celebration in 1 Corinthians 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
    Celebrating communion is a very tangible way that we can do Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
    We don’t want to forget, we don’t want to drift away, so we remember through this bread and this cup.
    I’ve got a question for you all, and I’d like to hear your answer to this question at some point, so feel free to chat with me after the service or give me a call or drop a text or an email.
    My question for you is this:
    How often do you think we should be specifically remembering the gospel through communion in order to pay much closer attention to it?
    How often?
    Right now we celebrate once a month, but there are plenty of churches who celebrate at different frequencies.
    Some celebrate once a year, some once a quarter, some like us once a month, and some once a week.
    So, how often do you think we should be doing this?
    I’ll leave you with that question to think on and answer later.
    For now, let me read how Paul conveyed Jesus’ instructions about communion, then I’ll pray and then we’ll eat the bread and drink the cup together.
    1 Corinthians 11:23–26 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

    Pray

    Father, thank you for this celebration of Jesus’ death on our behalf.
    Thank you for this reminder of how much you love us.
    I pray that you would help us to remember Jesus’ death, and to live and love like him as we are reconciled to you and adopted into your family because of him.
    Please bless us now as we remember together.
    It’s in Jesus’ precious name that we pray this. Amen.
  • Behold The Lamb

      • Luke 6:37–38ESV

  • Lift High The Name Of Jesus

      • Psalm 90:14ESV

      • Psalm 90:17ESV

Grace Baptist Church Eureka
gbcworship220@gmail.com
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