Jesus Christ: Pioneer and Jesus Christ: Pioneer and LiberatorLiberator(Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 2, Verses 5-18)(Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 2, Verses 5-18)

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is man that you are mindful of him,the son of man that you care for him?You made him a little lower than the angels;you crowned him with glory and honourand put everything under his feet.” (Psalm 8:4-6)

In putting everything under him [mankind], God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

He says,“I will declare your name to my brothers;In the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”

(Psalm 22:22)

And again,

“I will put my trust in him.” (Isaiah 8:17)

And again he says,“Here am I, and the children God has given me.” (Isaiah 8:18)

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Some BIG questions…Some BIG questions…

1. Who is God…?1. Who is God…?

Creator?Creator?

“I find it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos… God to me is a mystery, but he is also the explanation for the miracle of existence – whythere is somethinginstead of nothing.”Allan Sandage

Rule Rule maker?maker?

Myth?Myth?

There is almost certainly no GodRichard Dawkins

“…a deist God, a mathematician who put together the cosmos and then sat back and watched everything happen – one could make a responsibly respectable case for the deist God – although it’s not a case that I would accept.” – Richard Dawkins

“…a deist God, a mathematician who put together the cosmos and then sat back and watched everything happen – one could make a responsibly respectable case for the deist God – although it’s not a case that I would accept.” – Richard Dawkins

“Surely you can see that a God who is grand enough to make the Universe is not going to give a tuppenny cuss about one’s thoughts and sin.” Richard Dawkins

“Surely you can see that a God who is grand enough to make the Universe is not going to give a tuppenny cuss about one’s thoughts and sin.” Richard Dawkins

“What is man that thou art mindful of him?”Psalm 8

“You crowned him with glory and honourand put everything under his feet”

Psalm 8

2. Why is there 2. Why is there suffering and suffering and evil in the evil in the world…?world…?

“Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him”

Some BIG questions…Some BIG questions…

“When I was an atheist...my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A person does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line... If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning.”CS Lewis

Some BIG questions…Some BIG questions…

3. Why Jesus…?3. Why Jesus…?

I can’t believe in I can’t believe in Christianity, but I Christianity, but I think Jesus was a think Jesus was a wonderful manwonderful man

Billy ConnollyBilly Connolly

I know men, I know men, and I tell you and I tell you that Jesus that Jesus Christ is no Christ is no mere manmere man

Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”AlexanderSolzhenitsyn

FREE WILL

“You put everythingunder his feet”

We’re not meant to do life on our own

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means "God with us.”

Matthew 1:23

““He himself bore our sinsHe himself bore our sinsin his body on the cross”in his body on the cross”

1 Peter 2:231 Peter 2:23