Dear congregation, last week we had the privilege of looking at Hebrews 2, verses 1 through 4, and we were reminded to hold on tightly and not let the things that we have heard from the Lord Jesus Christ slip away. For the Lord is setting before us, through the author to Hebrews, the excellency and the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is superior to that of even the angels. superior to all the manifestations of himself and his work in the Old Testament, and setting before these Jewish Christians the hope that there is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That they could confront the Judaizers of their day and tell them, No, all is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and in him there is salvation. This great salvation that has been confirmed to us because it was spoken to us by the Lord. God bearing witness also to us that indeed Jesus is superior to the angels. I return to verse five. And we read, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. He says to them, we know from the Old Testament scriptures that indeed the angels have not been put in charge of the world, but man has. And so he takes them to the Old Testament, to Psalm 8, which we read and sang also in our worship service already. And he says, but one in a certain place, and the Jews would have known very clearly, these Hebrew Jews would have known very clearly where this was. Psalm 8, it says that God has made man a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. And he's exhorting them to understand man's position in creation. And to remember that man was created as the one who would have dominion in this world. And even though he, as the psalmist does ask, what is man that he would have such a privilege, even that privilege that the angels didn't have? Even though he was created a little lower than the angels, he still had something that the angels never had. He was the crown of God's creation. And notice how he goes on in verse 8. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that was not put under him. The question comes to us and to this author to the Hebrews and certainly these Jewish Christians, but now we see not yet all things put under him. How could we say that man has this perfect dominion over all things? Because we see brokenness, we see sinfulness, we see all of the effects of sin. Man can't even eradicate the virus. He can't preserve life indefinitely. He can't preserve the life of animals. He doesn't have perfect dominion. That's evident all around us. In death. But he says this in verse 9. But we see Jesus. And he's saying this because this was a messianic song. Yes, indeed, man was created in a high estate, but man is redeemed through the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see him. We see him who is ascended into heaven and who has been given all power, both in heaven and upon earth. And he is putting all things under his feet. We see Jesus. That is the whole. That is the hope. I'd like to look at that with that theme, we see Jesus. We're going to see that, especially as we look at the rest of this passage from verses 10 through 13, as in three thoughts. First of all, we see Jesus bringing many sons to glory. Secondly, he does so as the captain of our salvation. And thirdly, by being sanctified as one in him. We see Jesus bringing many sons to glory as the captain of our salvation by being sanctified as one in him. Notice verse 10. For it became him and we ask ourselves, why is he saying for it became him? or you might say, for it is fitting for him. And notice how verse nine really gives us that context. 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, should taste death for every man. And so it was fitting for Jesus as the second Adam to be able to come in the flesh to be made a little lower than the angels, to pay the penalty for sin through suffering if death, and then to be crowned with glory and honor even through his suffering and through his death as he redeems his people unto himself. This is the very work of our mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who came as the Incarnate Savior, and it was fitting for Him to do so in order to bring many sons to glory. And it was fitting for Him Because who else would do so? What man could ever bring other people into glory? What angel could ever take someone and bring them to glory? What animal could ever sacrifice enough blood, be sacrificed and have enough blood to bring people into glory? None whatsoever other than the Son of God who took upon Himself our flesh. He is the One. And that's why it says, For it became Him. For whom are all things, and by whom are all things. Everything was created for His glory, and He is the creator of it unto His glory. And so He also is the Redeemer. It was only possible through Him. And so therefore, it became Him, or it was fitting for Him to do so. was fitting for him, you could even say, the triune God who was from eternity past unto eternity, the creator. And out of his purpose and out of his sovereign grace, unto his own glory, he would give his only begotten son to suffer and to die for sinners in order to bring them to glory. The end goal is set before us. It was fitting for Jesus to be a second Adam. And it's fitting for us to be in His family as sons and daughters of God. If you don't believe me, turn to John chapter 17. John chapter 17, the Lord Jesus Christ himself is lifting up his eyes unto heaven and carrying his disciples and us as a church today with him in prayer to his Father in heaven. And as he does so, he speaks these words in prayer. Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work which thou hast given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." This is God's fitting eternal purpose. This is why His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has come into this world. It was fitting It was fitting for Him to be given unto the cross to give eternal life to all those who know Him, know the only true God in truth, and to know the suitability of His work. And because He prays for His own glorification through suffering, He also prays that that glory that He has would also be given to those who believe in him. Notice verse 22. And the glory which thou gavest me, I give them. that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, thou in me, that they may be perfect in one, that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved me as thou has loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am. He wants to bring his sons and daughters into glory. He's praying this as he goes to the cross. I will that they also, thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Therefore, he loveth his people from the foundation of the world. That's the end goal. and the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ is to bring his people into the heavenly kingdom where he is to behold his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father who's full of grace and truth. Oh, how many pictures we don't have in the Old Testament as Moses is used by God to redeem his people out of Egypt. to bring them through the wilderness for 40 years. Picture of Joshua bringing them across the Jordan River into the promised land through all sorts of difficulties. They arrive in the promised land. And there will be failures and failures and failures for Israel. But in Christ's redemption, the greater than Moses, the greater than Joshua, there will be perfect glory. for every single one who believes in Jesus. We see Jesus bringing his sons, his daughters into glory. The glory where there will be real people who are perfect, who are perfected to never sin again. to never endure any suffering again, to never shed a tear of sorrow again, to never endure any persecution again. Sinners, real sinners, saved to be real saints, to dwell in real glory forever. And I don't pretend to know exactly what heaven is, for indeed, even Paul says, eye has not seen, nor ear heard. Nor has it even entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But I do know this. Heaven and glory is a place where Jesus Christ is. A place where He provides us with real fitting clothing. White priestly robes to be perfectly washed in His blood and to live in the light of Christ's glory face to face. a place that is fit for a king with streets of gold, walls of the most precious stones, nourishment that lines the river of life, and fellowship, oh, most sweet, with all our brothers and sisters in our elder brother, Jesus Christ. A place where we will experience real and eternal pleasures. As we sang of in Psalter 29, which is Psalm 16. You show me the path of life. Your presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there is pleasures forevermore. What a contrast to the pleasures of this world. that offer a lot, but usually come even with a higher cost, and you have nothing to show for it. The pleasures of a new toy, a new vehicle, they soon pass away, and all you're left with are the payments. The pleasures of a night on town, night out on the town, and you're left with a hangover and guilt. The pleasures. climbing the corporate ladder, the pleasures of assuming all kinds of wealth, the pleasures of all the experiences of life that you can assume, they all pass away. But at God's right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. Oh, to be welcomed into the joy of the Lord. to be in the presence of Emmanuel, God with us and he and we with him forever in eternal glory. How do we get that? What is only through the captain of our salvation. He brings many sons into glory as the captain of our salvation. That's what we see secondly. And this captain of our salvation is made perfect through sufferings. As a second Adam, we need to recognize that Jesus Christ is such a suitable mediator because our greatest problem is this. There is a gulf between us and God that no one can cross, not one. But we need a captain. One who will bridge that gulf and we see Jesus as the captain of our salvation. Well, what is this, this word captain really mean? And it actually carries a significant range of meaning. And I think each one of them are, are helpful in, in understanding what it means that Jesus is a captain of our salvation. First of all, it means that he's, as it were, the author of our salvation, that pioneer of our salvation. I think here of Lewis and Clark. Lewis and Clark, they headed out with a small band of men and just a few supplies. And all they had really was the resources of skill and a lot of courage and determination to cross the Rocky Mountains. to cross the wilderness of the Western US. And as they set out, there must have been a lot of fear and challenges. And yet they pioneered their way to the West Coast to blaze that trail that we might have an easier way to get across these rocky mountains. Jesus, Jesus is the ultimate pioneer. The one who bridges that gulf, who prepares the way, who pioneers the way for us to be reconciled with God. A way that no one could ever go on their own. He says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. I am the only way. Could you imagine the folly of saying, you know what? I don't need to follow the trail of Lewis and Clark to the West Coast. Or now that we have highways that would go across the Rocky Mountains and bring us to the West Coast to say, you know what? I'm not going to take that highway. I'm going to pioneer my own way to the West Coast. Well, I used to live in Alberta. We used to go into the mountains. And sometimes if you didn't follow the trails, you didn't follow the paths, you'd be lost very quickly. Your life would depend upon following the trails, following a map. You needed to know your way. It would be foolishness to try to blaze your own trail to find a better way, another way. But when Jesus says, I am the only way, then it's impossible to blaze another way. And he is the captain then of our salvation, the one who pioneered that way. We can trust in his way. Indeed, he says in Hebrews 12, he is the author and the finisher, that perfecter, that pioneer of our faith. He's a captain of our salvation. The captain is also referred to as someone who is a commander. A commander. Like a captain of a ship, possibly. A ship that might have been going from one port to another port, and the captain of this ship, he sets the course. He makes sure all of the proper arrangements are made for the journey. He navigates through the storms that he might encounter on this journey. He's the captain, or similarly to a captain of an army. But not in really today's context, but in the times of the biblical times. That captain would not be one who would be sitting in the White House today directing the troops or from the Pentagon or wherever, and they would be directing the troops as to what to do. But this captain, this captain would actually be on the ground with the troops. He would be leading the charge with the troops. He wouldn't be a captain that says, go along and fight the battles. Go along and find your own way. No, this is a captain who says, come along with me. I have blazed the way. Come along with me. I have won the victory. Come along with me. I will lead you to eternal life. This is the captain of our salvation. The captain's also referred to as someone who's not only a pioneer and a commander, but also a motivator, a motivator. I think of the captain here of maybe a basketball team. He's different than the coach. The coach is giving you directions, and he's telling you how to play the game, but he sends you out into the court to play the game. And he stays on the sideline. He stays on the bench. But the captain of the team, he's the one who comes alongside. And he's out there motivating you, encouraging you. When you miss the free throw, he says, you'll make the next one. When you make the layup, he'll say, good job. When you make the three-pointer, he'll say, well done. He's your captain. He's your motivator. He's motivating the team, causing it to stick together. He's with you in the game. And so also the Lord Jesus Christ is with us in the game. He's with us in life. He's with us in our battles. A good captain even of an army. He's going to be motivating He's going to be motivating his troops. You don't make someone a captain who doesn't know warfare or know a basketball game. You make someone a captain who has had wisdom and success, who has courage. And there's none other who had such wisdom and such courage and such success as the Lord Jesus Christ. And He comes alongside us in the trenches of our life And he says to us, when we're fighting that good fight of faith, well done, my good and faithful servant. And when we're struggling, he picks us up and he shows us again the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, his own blood that's suitable to save a sinner like me. He empowers us and motivates us to press on to that prize for the high calling that there is as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says to us when we're filled with fear, I am with you. Fear not. I have blazed the trail. I have set the course. I have made the arrangements. I have navigated the storms. I have won the victory. Fear not, I am with you. When we don't see the way, and the fog sets in, and we can't imagine ever winning the victory, as the storms come upon us, we look up by faith, and we say, we see Jesus. He's our captain. A captain who's been made perfect through sufferings. Not that he had to be perfected, but that his perfect obedience through sufferings has merited our salvation. Who has fulfilled what Adam failed at. Who fulfilled what Moses failed at. Who fulfilled what Israel failed at. He has been approved of God as the only savior of sinners. And I look at myself, and I see all my failures. And I say, I see Jesus. I see his cross. And as Augustine said, I see his cross as a pulpit preaching his love for undeserved sinners. Is he your captain? He's prepared the way. You can trust in him as your commander. You can be motivated by his work of salvation. You can be motivated by his wisdom, his success, and his courage because he's a suitable savior, a suitable mediator who's pioneered the way between us and God. Can I ask you, if you want to prepare your own way and you want to find your own way, can you ever pay the price of your sin? Can you ever earn your own righteousness to be with God forever? Can you and or can anyone else ensure that the victory is won? If you haven't yet today cast yourself on this commander, on this captain, this mediator, Jesus Christ. Because he shall never fail. He shall never be discouraged. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He is bringing many sons into glory as the captain of our salvation and his purpose ultimately is to be sanctifying us as one in him. Notice with me verse 11. For both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Our blessed words. We who are separated from God being made one, set apart in Jesus Christ, sanctified in him. Again, John 17 in his prayer, that's his whole goal. Just to remind you of that. He says several times in this, but I'll just direct you again to verse 23. I in them, thou in me, that they may be perfect in one. In verse 21, we'll just back up a little bit, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, and that the world may believe that thou hast said. He wants to sanctify his people in one. And that is the work of our mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam. But what is being sanctified in one in him mean? Well, first of all, it means that we are set apart. We are set apart from our original estate in Adam and the first Adam, and we are set apart into the second Adam unto Jesus Christ. We are brought from the family of the first Adam into the family of God, into the family of Jesus Christ. We are set apart unto that, to be one, to be unified in that solidarity in God. That's what it ultimately means to be sanctified, is to be made one. And that's why we call sanctification that process of me, a sinner, being made like the Lord Jesus Christ, conformed to His image, me who is unholy to be made holy like unto Him." And the author to Hebrews is very wise. He's addressing these Jewish Christians by saying, you know the Scriptures and I'm going to set before you the Scriptures to assure you that He indeed is not ashamed to call us His brethren. And he takes them to Psalm 22. And he says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And we know Psalm 22, don't we? We know that in Psalm 22 is another messianic psalm, a psalm of the Lord Jesus Christ, even on the cross of Calvary, when he cried out to my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And after the victory through his suffering, he proclaims that he will testify of this work even in the midst of the assembly, in the midst of the church. He will testify of this unto his brethren, unto his family, the family of God. He assures us that He has taken upon Himself our hell. He has dealt with sin. And now, He receives us into glory as sons and daughters of God. What an encouragement! What joy! What praise! As the fulfillment of our Lord's prayer comes to fruition, And He receives His sons and daughters to be with Him where He is to behold His glory. To be with Him in the presence of His angels who seek to peer into the mystery of this redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. to be in the midst of the whole heavenly host, praising God for his infinite wisdom and his redeeming work. Well, he's not done. He's going to send us another passage in verse 13 and 14. I'm sorry, verse 13. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I, and the children which God hath given me. There he's referring to Isaiah. And in Isaiah chapter eight, we have King Ahaz and he has two kings that have confederated against him and they're coming up against him and Isaiah is sent to him to give him a sign. a sign that a virgin will be with child. How is that possible? And that sign is to direct him to the fact that God is with him. And the name of that sign is Emmanuel, God with us. And to confirm that sign and the prophecy of that. Isaiah says, here am I and the children God has given me. Indeed, the sign is sure. He has given Emmanuel, born of a virgin, suffering through the obedience of death, even the death of the cross. He would be so highly exalted. the right hand of God to receive his children unto himself and to stand with them and to say, behold, here am I and the children God has given me. He brings us into that legal status as sons and daughters of God. But when we are sanctified in Him, He doesn't just bring us into the family of God by adopting us. He also gives us family expectations. There's expectations in the family of God. And that's to be like Jesus. That's to have God in us, His Holy Spirit. The purpose of Jesus coming in the flesh and pouring out His Holy Spirit as we remember today and living within us is to make us one in Him and to make us like Him and to conform us to suitable sons and daughters in the family of God. There's family expectations. There's family growth. And it all comes in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to us today. He says, I am the one who brings many sons to glory. I am the one who comes as a captain of your salvation. I am the one who is sanctifying you as one in me and in my heavenly Father. I don't know each and every one of you. And so I leave you with a question. Is he your captain? And do you look in the midst of this world and all of its brokenness, can you look up by faith and say, I see Jesus. I see him as a suitable savior. There's no other way. And he even tried every other way, but there's no other way. And I need him, and I love him, and I delight to be called the son, the daughter of God. Is that your life? Because if that's your life now, you will be with him. forever in eternity to behold his glory, where there will be real pleasures forevermore. But if you do not know this, it's time to humble yourself before God, even tonight. Not tomorrow night, not the next night, maybe even right this minute. to say, God, open my eyes that I would see Jesus. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we give thanks for the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray, O Lord, that you would take the scales from our eyes that through the lens of faith, we would see Jesus. We would see what he's done for sinners such as us, that we would know that only way to be one with you. Oh, what fitting salvation. Lord, we couldn't have thought of such a plan ourselves. We would have gone our own way, prepared our own way. pioneered our own way and failed. We give thanks for Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation. Lord, go with us today and throughout this week. May our eyes ever be on Jesus. Amen.