A Greater Help
Jesus is Greater: An Exposition of Hebrews

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Good morning, church! It is good to see all of you here this morning. We’re continuing our series through the book of Hebrews, a series that we’ve entitled, “Jesus is Greater” and truly He is. He’s greater than anything we’re facing today. We’re here to talk about that and about Jesus today.

Our theme verse is found in Hebrews 1:4 (NLT) “This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.” Jesus is greater. That’s the title of our series. We’re in part three of the series. We will be in the latter part of chapter two today.

Before we dig in, I want us to open up in prayer. I want us to pray, first of all, for Israel. I have finally heard from one of my friends in Israel. He’s been our tour guide on tours that our church has taken there. He’s always been our tour guide there and has, through the years, become a faithful friend. I finally heard from him yesterday and I posted on Facebook how he responded. I asked him if he was ok if his family was ok. He did send me a photo of him and his youngest daughter. His youngest daughter has been called up. Everyone who turns 18 years old in Israel becomes part of the Israeli Defense Force and she’s been activated as part of the 400,000. He told me to really pray for Israel. He said that this is their “911.” Every day is full of funerals. He said his daughter has been assigned to one of the chaplains and she is helping to identify the bodies. She’s been working with the chaplain to go through the different buildings and homes to help with that. He said that it’s been very emotional, all is well in his family, but keep praying for peace in Israel. So let’s do that now. Let’s pray for God to speak to us through His word.

Dear Lord Jesus. We pray for Israel. We recognize that, as Your return draws near in these last days, that things will in history revolve around Israel. Perhaps, we see the “early labor pains” of Your return even now. We don’t know. You, alone, know dear Father; You alone know the hour and the time. Lord, we look to You and we pray for peace in Israel. We pray for peace among the Jewish people and among the Palestinian people. You died for all of them. Lord, we pray against further violence. We pray for protection for the civilians. We, also, pray for your peace and Your rule, Your “shalom” in this place. We pray for our tour guide and his daughter . We pray for those kinds of details. Now Lord, we lift up Your word to You and ask You to allow me to speak and allow us to have hearing ears to hear. In Jesus’ name. All of God’s people said, “Amen.”

Today, we’re going to be in the latter part of Hebrews, chapter two, verses five through eighteen, and we’ve entitled this message, “A Greater Help.” Jesus is greater and He offers a greater help. We all need a little help from time to time, don’t we? We all need a little help and as we get older, we will often admit it more quickly.

Now men, I’m talking to you, especially. Most of our lives, we won’t admit that we need help. Women are much better at admitting that they need help than men are. It’s our wives that get us our doctor’s appointments. It’s our wives that convince us to pull over and actually check our GPS because we’re probably going the wrong way. We hate to get help , but as we get older we need to ask for help. I know for myself that I’ve gotten better at it.

It reminds me of a song released back in 1965. Some of you might remember this little group, called “The Beatles.” They wrote a song called, “Help.” It goes something like this: “Help. I need somebody. Help. Not just anybody. Help. You know, I need someone. Help.” I like the first verse. These guys were young, but they’re already thinking that, as you get older, you need more help. The song continues, “When I was younger, so much younger than today. I never needed anybody’s help in any way. But now these days are gone and I’m not so self assured. Now I find I’ve changed my mind and I opened up the doors. Help. I need somebody. Help. Not just anybody. Help.” They never name who it is, but they need somebody, particularly, that can help them.

There was an earlier musician, some 300 years before , named Johann Sebastian Bach. If you’re familiar with Bach, you may know that at the bottom of his manuscripts, he wrote the initials, “S. D. G.” Soli Deo Gloria, which means “glory to God alone.” What you may not know is that at the top of his manuscripts he wrote, “JJ,” for “Jesu Juva,” which is Latin for “Jesus, help me! Bach knew who to call on for help!

Maybe, you recognize that Jesus is really the only one that you can call on for help. He’s the only one able to give us true help. That’s what the author of Hebrews is telling us in chapter two. He wants to show that Jesus is not only greater, but He’s the best help. He’s the greatest help of all and we can understand that there’s no greater help than the help we find in Jesus.

As we look at the text, we’re going to see four reasons why there’s no greater help than the help we find in Jesus. Let’s “dig in;” let’s read the text, then we’ll “unpack it.”

Hebrews 2:5-18 (ESV) 5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” 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. 9 But we see him who for a little while was madelower 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. 10 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. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” 14 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, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps , but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 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. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. This is God’s word. Amen.

WHY THERE IS NO GREATER HELP THAN JESUS:

1. Because He alone restores us to God’s purpose.

As we read this account, we want to recognize that the author of Hebrews is writing to a Jewish background group of believers; that’s why the book is named “Hebrews.” They’re believers in Christ Jesus, but they have a background in Judaism.This is why the author keeps quoting The Old Testament so much. In fact, in just this reading, we see that, in verses 6-8, he quotes Psalm 8: 4-6 . In verse 12, he quotes Psalm 22:22. In verse 13, he quotes Isaiah 8: 17,18. He’s quoting the Old Testament a lot because he recognizes that he’s talking to a Hebrew audience that believes in Jesus and he wants to help them to understand that Jesus is greater.

He has a particular interest, that we’ve noted in previous weeks, in making sure they know that Jesus is greater than the angels. This is not something that we face today, but apparently during the first century, there was a study of angels and there was a sense of reverence for angels; they had this higher hierarchy. They, apparently, were struggling with this and the author of Hebrews wants to demolish that as idolatry. He wants them to understand that the Son of God is greater than angels. He’s greater than all. He, also, wants us to see Jesus as He truly is. He wants us to know that Jesus is the greatest help.

Look at the last verse, 18 “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” He is able to help. You know, not everyone is able to help. Sometimes you see a need and you turn from it because you’re afraid to help or you don’t think you have what it takes to help. Jesus doesn’t turn from our needs. He is able. In fact, He’s the only one truly able to help in our deepest places of need. He is able.

You’ll see the word, “help,” in the text today three times: you see it once in verse 18, you see it again twice in verse 16. It’s important that I draw your attention to those things, so that you will know how we study the word together. When we see repetitive words, like theword, “help,” it helps us to uncover the theme for the passage. He’s the greatest help. He’s the greatest helper.

I want you to notice another word that’s repeated several times. It’s the word, “subjected,” “subjection” in verse five and verse eight. It’s in this passage four times. This word, “subjection,” means to “come under” or “to line up under.” He’s speaking in a “cosmic” kind of way. It’s like the author here, of Hebrews, is stepping back with his Jewish background believers and saying, ‘Do you remember, back in Genesis, when God first made Adam and Eve and He put all of creation in subjection under them, so that they were to have dominion over all things? It didn’t work out because of sin. That’s why God is sending the Son of Man, which is a Messianic title for Jesus.’

You see here that David wrote Psalm 8; he may or may not have had any awareness that he was writing something about the Messiah, but he’s writing and he says, Psalm 8:4-6 (ESV), 4 what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly being and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,” He refers to Jesus as “son of man” in verse 4. This was a title that Jesus used, describing Himself throughout the gospels, especially in the gospel of Luke. “Son of man” was a description of the Messiah, found in the prophet Daniel’s writing.

Under Adam, there was supposed to have been dominion. Remember in Genesis chapter one, verse 26, it reads like this, Genesis 1:26 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Notice a couple of things in God’s purpose: God’s purpose was that we would be image bearers. That we would reflect the glory of God to all of His creation of the crown of creation was humanity. That was God’s purpose. But then, because of Adam and Eve’s sin, they fell.

The second purpose was that they would have dominion; that they would be rulers, they would be princes and princesses under the great King over all creation. But that hasn’t happened. Why? It is because of sin. It explains much of the frustration in our world. Today, we try to have dominion over our earth. We have awareness that we’ve done harm to our planet. Some people overstate that because of misunderstandings and maybe they even come up with solutions that make things worse. Do you know why? It is because we can’t quite get dominion. We have zoos that we keep the animals in. But if we go into the cage, the lion bites us. We can have partial dominion but not total dominion.

Something is wrong . Something is sideways. Something’s frustrating about this. We have a desire. Why do we climb mountains? Is it because they’re there? What’s wrong with us? Is it because we want to see the other side? Why do we want to send a man to the moon? Is it because we want to have dominion? We can’t have dominion, so we’re frustrated. It’s like God put something in us to desire to have dominion, but then we can’t have it and so we’re frustrated.

Why is there suffering in the world? Why is there death? This is a cosmic overview that He’s giving us here and He draws our attention to something that the shepherd, King David, wrote in Psalm 8. Can you imagine him. laying out in the pasture one night looking up at the sky, and he thinks, wow, it’s so vast and he looks out over the fields and thinks, it’s so beautiful. He writes, “What is man that you’re mindful of him?” In other words, that You even look at him, that You even think about him. Why would You even look at these little specks in comparison to the vastness of creation?

He says, ‘You made Him, for a little while, lower than the angels,” as if there’s some future where mankind is supposed to be above the angels. You’ve crowned Him with glory and honor. That’s what He did for Adam. He gave him the image of God. That’s what He did for Adam and Eve; He put everything in subjection under their feet. That’s what He did. But because of our sin, we fell.

David may or may not have realized what he was doing, but he was also writing about the One who would fulfill this if you look at it through the lens of Jesus, which is what the book of Hebrews is teaching us to do. The book of Hebrews is teaching us to look at the Old Testament and look for Jesus. There’s this immediate understanding of a thing in its context, but then, there’s this deeper spiritual understanding that he’s actually talking about Jesus because the son of man, you made him a little while lower than the angels. God did that.

Verse 14, “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,” Jesus took on human flesh. “The word became flesh and dwelled among us.” John 1:14 teaches us this.

Verse 7, “You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” 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. What is outside of Christ’s control? He left nothing outside His control.

What are you facing today? Is it outside of Christ’s control? No. Do you have a broken relationship? Have you heard bad news from the doctor? Are you facing a financial crisis? Are you trying to overcome an addiction? Are you grieving the loss of a loved one? What is outside of Christ’s control? The answer is none of them; none of them are outside His control. But then, there’s this “already not yet” statement. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him, so Christ has inaugurated His reign when He overcame sin, death and the grave. The inauguration of the King has already taken place, but it’s not yet been consummated. It’s in process. We’re experiencing that now.

The author is referring to that phrase in verse five, “world to come;” verse five says this, 5 “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.” God subjected the world to come, which has both a present and a future sense. This is not something reserved entirely for the future, even though it has a future dimension of rich and exciting significance.

This is the part I really like – in Christ, we have already entered God’s stupendous future. Even at this very moment, even though we’re still here in this “already, not yet” phase of life, what He has secured is so certain that one day all things will be under His control. It is so certain that we are already entering into that future even now, but not yet consummated. This is an amazing reality. Adam is the first and he lost paradise.

John Milton, the great English author, wrote about this. He wrote a work called, “Paradise Lost;” he writes about Adam’s sin and losing paradise. Then, John Milton wrote a follow up, called “Paradise Regained;” it’s about the “second Adam,” Jesus, who came and He is the one restoring the image of God in us so that we become like Jesus and He’s restoring our place in the universe. This is what Christ is doing.

How is He doing it? Has He given us a “to do list?” Has He given us something to do, perhaps? That’s not what this chapter is about. In fact, there’s Someone to see. That’s what this chapter is about. It’s not about a “to do list” for you. You can take a break and exhale. I’m not going to give you a “to do list.” I’m just going to ask you to look at Jesus.

Look at verse nine, 9 “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.” That’s what I want you to do today; I want you to see Jesus, the Prince who became a pauper, the King who became one of us, who came under the angels for a short season. He came under so that He might be over all things. I want you to look at King Jesus. I want you to really see Him and recognize that all of our problems pale in significance. He’s the One that can truly help us.

When you look at Jesus, notice that it says, for a little while was made lower than the angels.” I think it was Luther who was trying to think about this; was Jesus lower than the angels for His whole 33 years as a human? He didn’t think so. He thought it was only for three days. He thought the “little while” was three days. That was the three days when He was in the tomb. I’m not sure if it was the whole 33 years or the three days, but for a little while, it says, He was lower than the angels. He became one of us. He became one of us that we might become like Him and that we might be restored.

Jesus has the greatest authority of all. It says in Ephesians 1:21-22 (NLT) 21 “Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader oranything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.”

There’s nothing that’s not under His control and His reign. It reminds us that there’s a restoration coming that’s beyond imagination, when the image of God will be restored in us, we have now a foretaste of it. We have now a deposit of the Holy Spirit living in us as believers, but there comes a time when we will live in glory with the Lord.

It says in Revelation 21:1-5 (NKJV) Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. …And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and Hewill dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” This is the world to come. It’s been inaugurated with Christ’s resurrection. One day, we’ll see its consummation.

Back in 1881, a book was published entitled, “The Prince and The Pauper,” written by Mark Twain. In this book, there were two young men who looked very similar. They met in the marketplace. One was a prince and one was a poor young boy living there in a shack and wearing rags.The prince was wearing his royal garments. They got an idea in their heads that they would switch places. That’s what the book’s about. For a season, they switched places. Now I’m not going to go through the whole detail, but I’ll jump to the last page of the book. We find at the end, that that prince was finally restored to his original throne, his original clothing and his original palace.He’s a king and he becomes one of the greatest and beloved kings in all of England’s history because he knew the people because he had become one of them. The prince became a pauper and then became an even greater king as a result.

That’s what King Jesus has done for us. He didn’t just love us from a distance. He became one of us and He has begun the process of restoring us to God’s purpose. When you look at Jesus, He’s the great king.

WHY THERE IS NO GREATER HELP THAN JESUS:

2. Because He alone offers us God’s salvation.

He’s our greatest help because He alone restores us to God’s purpose and He offers us God’s salvation. Let’s look at a couple of things; let’s look at verses 14 through 18. It’s kind of like the conclusion to the chapter. I’m going back and forth. If I look at verse 15, it says, “and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. “ He’s a deliverer. Let’s back up to verse 9, “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.” We’ve already talked about that, namely, Jesus crowned with glory and honor. We talked about that because of the suffering of death. What’s this? So that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. Don’t miss this. He died for everyone. ‘For God, so loved one or two people?’ No. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son.” He died for everyone. He took my death. He took your death. He suffered. He became one of us and not only that , He took the death that we deserve so that we might receive His eternal life that we didn’t deserve, that we didn’t earn.

It goes on to verse 10, “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.” It turns out that “he” here is perhaps the Lord. Perhaps it’s God. ‘For it was fitting that God, for whom and by all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation. “The founder of their salvation,” now that is Jesus, no doubt, perfect through suffering. Circle that phrase, “founder of their salvation” if you’re taking notes in your bulletin. That word, “founder,” could be translated, “captain,” “author,” “pioneer.” It could be translated as “champion;” perhaps, that’s one of my favorites. It’s archēgos in Greek; that sounds powerful , doesn’t it? He’s the champion. He took on sin, death and the grave and defeated them. He took on that which we fear most and defeated it.

The founder of their salvation was made perfect through suffering. Now, that’s problematic on its first reading. What about Jesus that wasn’t already perfect? He was sinless. He was perfect in His morality. What’s missing? That word, “perfect,” can also be translated, teleioō, to make perfect, complete, to accomplish, finish. Christ was already perfect in every way except the work of salvation. In this, He would have to suffer in order to complete it. What was missing was that He needed to accomplish, complete it. That wasn’t already true in and of His character; His character was already perfect. What was missing was the work of salvation. That was a work He had to accomplish, that the Father sent the Son to accomplish it and He did. How did He do it? Through suffering and death. He came and did this, so He was made perfect. In other words, He was perfected in His works.

What does this mean for us? There’s nothing left for us to do. There’s no “to do list” for salvation for us. All we have to do is to believe and receive. That’s our part. He’s done it all. Yeah, but I got myself in this mess. I feel like I need to get myself out of this mess. Well, if you could, you probably already would have. You can’t get yourself out of this mess that you’re in. You need to call on Jesus. He’s the greatest help of all. He alone can save us. He’s the champion.

It says in Acts 4:12 (ESV) “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” The name, “Jesus,” means “God’s salvation.”

All the way through chapter one, we’ve been calling Jesus “the son of man.” Finally in verse nine, the author of Hebrews says, “but we see Jesus.” That’s who we’ve been talking about. That’s all I want you to do today. When you look at Jesus, will you see Him? He’s the founder, the champion of our salvation. Just as David was the champion of Israel, that slew the champion of the Philistines, Goliath, just as one man went up against him as a champion. So the son of David, the son of man, the son of God Jesus is our champion Who has defeated sin, death and the grave. He’s perfected the whole thing. There’s nothing left undone for us to add to. All that we have is to just believe and receive. There’s nothing to work for. He’s done all the work. Would you behold Jesus, the champion ? Would you see Him as the great champion? He alone can save. That’s why He’s the greatest help.

WHY THERE IS NO GREATER HELP THAN JESUS:

3. Because He alone makes us members of God’s family.

In verse 11, it says, “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,”

What? Jesus is our brother? If you’re a believer, He says that He’s not ashamed to call you His brothers and sisters. What? This is Jesus, the great King. This is Jesus, the One who suffered and died. He now says, ‘I’m your brother.’ He says, ‘I’m not ashamed to say that to you.’

The author of Hebrews says, ‘let me give you , another Psalm.’ In verse 12, he says, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” Psalm 22:22 says, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” This is a Messianic Psalm, speaking of how Jesus would call us His brothers and sisters and that He would come and become one of us and that through Him, we could be adopted into God’s family.

Psalm 22:1 begins like this, 1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It goes on to say, in Psalm 22, ‘my bones are out of joint, I’ve been poured out, my tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth, they’re gambling over my clothes…’ That’s Psalm 22, centuries before the crucifixion of Jesus .

He’s the best help because He’s family. He’s family and He’s not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. Verse 11 says, “For he who sanctifies…” Remember the pronouns; we have to keep working out the pronouns. Christ is “he who,” and “sanctifies” is those who are sanctified – that’s us. He’s the one who sanctifies.

What does it mean to be sanctified? It means “to be made into a saint.” How many saints do we have in the house? Some of you are thinking, I don’t know. Did anybody vote for me to be a saint yet? You don’t have to. There’s nothing for you to do. Whenever Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and you said “yes” to it, an account was opened in heaven, in your name. His righteousness was deposited into your account; that’s called justification. You were made just, and not only that, you were counted as a saint because He is holy. He has counted you holy .

This process continues though; it’s more than being a saint. It’s more than being holy. Let me give you a better picture. You’re becoming like Jesus. That’s what it means to be sanctified. You’re becoming like Him, Who is the first born from among the dead.

1 John 3:2 (NIV) “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” We’re becoming like Jesus. He’s the one who sanctifies and we are the ones who are being sanctified. We all have one source: we, literally, all come from one. Who’s that? With God, we’re part of the family of God. That’s why He’s not ashamed to call us brothers. He’s not ashamed to call us brothers.

I want you to look at verse 16, because he talks about brothers again right there. Verse 16 says, “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.” He doesn’t need to help angels. The scripture says that the angels peer in; they study this whole thing about why He loves them so much.They study the gospel and they are fascinated by it.

The scripture says, “but he helps the offspring of Abraham.” Now, who’s the offspring of Abraham? It must be the Jews he’s talking about, right? This is written to the Hebrews. The book is written to the Hebrews, but it’s also talking about all people of faith. As the book of Galatians says, Galatians 3:29 (ESV) “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” So all of us are children of Abraham, by faith. Gentiles have been “grafted into the tree” which is Israel. We’re all believers by faith and considered offspring of Abraham.

It says, in verse 17, “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.” He adopts us into His family.

It says this in Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” He’s not ashamed to call us “brothers.” He’s our “elder brother. He says, ‘welcome to the family.’

Do you remember when Jesus was raised and the tomb was empty? Mary Magdalene was standing there. She had gone to the tomb and the body was not there. She’s standing there and with her peripheral vision, she sees someone that she thinks is the gardener. She’s weeping and the man says to her, “Why are you weeping?” She says, ‘They took my Lord’s body and I can’t find it.’ She doesn’t recognize Jesus until He says, “Mary.” As soon as He said her name, she knew Who it was.

My mother passed away in 2001, 22 years ago, but I guarantee you, if I heard her say, “Gary,” I’d know it was her. I would know her voice and I bet my tears would fall on my face the minute I heard it. It would hit me, right to the heart, if I heard my mama’s voice say my name.

Here’s Mary and she heard Jesus say her name. She heard Him say, “Mary” and she fell at His feet and started hugging His ankles. It says in John 20:17 (ESV) Jesussaid to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

J.D. Greer, a pastor in Raleigh, had a comment about this. He would have said to Mary, “Go tell those slack, cowardly, dolts that I resurrected just like I told them 100 times I would.” That would be the “Gospel according to J.D.”

I’m glad J.D. Greer is not the one and I’m glad I’m not the one. I’m glad it’s Jesus because Jesus didn’t accuse them of anything. He’d already paid for it all. He knew they weren’t there at the tomb. It was the women who came and the men were the ones who doubted when the women told him about it and said , ‘You hysterical women, You’re always seeing things.’ They had to go run and look for themselves.

Jesus wasn’t ashamed to call them, “brothers,” and He still isn’t ashamed to call you part of His family. There’s no greater help because you’re part of the family. He’ll help you.

There is a warning in Luke 9:26 (ESV) “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” He will not be ashamed of you, my friend. Those of you that call Him, Lord, Savior and brother. Let’s see Jesus. Take a look at Him today. He’s our King. He’s our Champion. He’s our Brother.

WHY THERE IS NO GREATER HELP THAN JESUS:

4. Because He alone understands and represents us as God’s mediator.

Look at verse 17 again; I’m working “from the bottom up.” Verse 17, “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.”

A priest is a mediator between God and man. In Israel, the high priest was the one who stood before God and the Holy of Holies. Once a year, on Yom Kippur, on the day of atonement, he would bring in a “propitiation. The word, “propitiation,” has this meaning. It means “an atoning sacrifice,” something that would appease God’s judgment. It would appease His wrath upon sin.

We see this in view here in this passage, it says, “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.” Here, we see Jesus as the great High Priest, Who now, once and for all, goes before the Lord God and He brings a propitiation. What propitiation does He bring? What atoning sacrifice does He bring? He’s the priest, but He’s also the sacrifice, so He offers Himself. There’s no one like Him. He became one of us.

Why is this important? It is important because Aaron, the first and original great high priest that we read about in the Old Testament, was raised up from his brothers. He had to be a representative from his brothers, but he was imperfect. And as we keep reading in Hebrews, we’ll see more about this, but he was not able and even his sacrifices were imperfect. They were not able, so it had to be done annually, but this Jesus, He is able to help because He is the perfect high priest and He’s the perfect propitiation. He’s the perfect atoning sacrifice and He understands. He represents us. He was made like us in every way; do you see that in verse 17? He had to deal with everything we have to deal with. He got hungry, He got thirsty, He got tired, He grieved, He was betrayed, He suffered and He died. He did all of these things so that He could be a help to us and save us. Not only that, so that He could understand us and represent us.

It says in 1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV) “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” There’s only one like Him. He’s the perfect high priest. He’s the perfect mediator because He completely understands us. He gets us.

Maybe, you watched during the Super Bowl halftime earlier this year in February. You saw a couple of ads that surprised you. They were about Jesus. The title of these ads were, “He gets us.” There have been a few of those on TV since then. They were started by a group of people that wanted to display Jesus, apart from the church and apart from religion, rules and regulations and let people see the unvarnished Jesus as we see Him in the gospels. The ad was to let people see that He gets us. He understands us.

There’s nothing worse than going to somebody and asking for help and they say to you, “You brought this on yourself. I told you so.” Then , they look down their nose at you and say, “I can probably help you, but I hope you don’t ever get into that again.” That’s the last person you want to go to when you need help. We want to go to a friend who, perhaps, has been through what we’re going through and God has brought them out to the other side. We are attracted to a person like that because they have sympathy; they have empathy. They have understanding. They know what we’re going through because they’ve been through it, too. God’s brought them out on the other side now. It’s not really all that helpful to go to someone who’s going through the same stuff that you’re going through because, you know, “misery loves company” and you’ll just hang out together and you won’t be able to get any help because you’re both in a ditch, but to find somebody that’s been in a ditch and the Lord lifted them out and they’re on level ground again is someone that can really help you.

Do you know who that Someone is? It is Jesus. He has been “down in the ditch;” He didn’t deserve it. He took our sin. He took our separation. He took our death. He understands us. But, He was raised again. He defeated death. He’s the champion that overcame and He gets us.

It says in Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV) “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” He gets us. He understands us.

When I was a young pastor, planting this church, I would go to pastor’s gatherings and they would talk about their problems. They were having the need to put a new roof on their building or they just had so many people they were trying to help or they had a certain number of hospital visitations or funerals and these kind of things. They were older pastors and I would hang out with them. They would ask me, “How are you doing, Gary?” I would say to them, “Well, the principal called me yesterday and told me that we left a dirty diaper in the band room (we were renting a school.) The principal called me last week and said, ‘Hey, you people in the church, you unplugged our ice cream machine in the cafeteria and all of the ice cream has melted, so, you need to come to the school and pay for that.’” These pastors didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand them. We were portable for 19 years; we would set up for church and tear down every Sunday. I was looking for fellowship.

Finally, I found some other pastors across the state that were planting churches and we would get together monthly. We would tell each other stories like, “Has this ever happened to you?” Yeah, that happened to me. “How are you still doing this?” “God called me.” We would encourage each other and then we’d say to each other, “All right, we’re going to get back at the same restaurant next month. Go back and persevere. You can’t quit for at least 30 days.” I would hang on by my fingernails just so I could have lunch with them again next month. Little by little, God sent me help, through Jesus, in folk.

That’s what Jesus wants to do in us. He wants to so inhabit us so that we become priests in this world; we become the body of Christ so that we offer the comfort of Jesus. We are the hands, the feet and the mouth. We are the spokesmen for Jesus. We say, “I’m not the answer, but look at Jesus. Do you see Jesus?” That’s all I want you to see today. I want you to see that, whatever you’re facing, Jesus understands and He is able, oh, more than able to help. He gets us.

This is not a “what to do” or “how to do” sermon. This is a “look at Jesus” sermon. If you leave here today and you got a good look at Jesus, then, good. You’re ready to go home because He can help. He’s the great king. He’s the champion. He’s the brother. He’s the friend and the mediator. He understands.

I opened today’s sermon, talking about some songs. I talked about Bach and I talked about The Beatles. I thought, Well, maybe I ought to look up something more modern for you young folk. I found this young lady named Francesca Battistelli. Maybe, some of you already have her on your playlist. I’d never heard of her, but I was drawn to these words. Here’s what she says in a song she’s written called, “Run To Jesus:”

Hey, lonely, Hey, sad eyes, Hey, you who needs some sunshine All you gotta do is open up the blinds Hey, worry, Hey, heartache, Help is not that far away Just open up your eyes He’ll be there, He’ll be there every time When you’re all out of heart and out of hope And you don’t really know which way to go Come on, come on, run to Jesus If you’re lost and you don’t know where to start It don’t really matter where you are Come on, come on, come on, yeah, run to Jesus, run to Jesus

That’s who I want you to hear about today. I want you to see Jesus. I want you to see Him as He truly is. “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor.” See Him.

Let’s pray, Lord Jesus, we see Hou. We see You, with spiritual eyes, today and we long for the day when we will see You in truth; we will see You as we are seen. In the meantime, Lord, I pray for that person that’s here today, that’s never given their life to You. I know that You’re knocking on those doors right now. You’re knocking on their heart’s doors and You’re asking them to let You in. Is that you my friend? Do you feel His call? Do you hear His call? He’s calling you. Would you say “yes” to Him today? Would you say, “yes,” to Jesus? Would you see Him now as your Lord and Savior? You can pray with me right now. Prayer is just an expression of your faith. Pray like this, ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and that You were raised from the grave. Forgive me of my sins. Make me the person You want me to be. I want to be a child of God, adopted into your family. I want You as my Lord and Savior.’ If you’re praying that prayer of faith, believing, He will save you right this minute. He’s the greatest help. Others are here and you know Him as Lord, but you’ve been trying to do something on your own. You’ve been trying to face something on your own. You forgot that you can cry out to Jesus. You forgot to look at Him, to recognize that there’s nothing beyond His control. Oh Lord, You understand us. I pray for that person right now. That’s sitting here and you’re facing a problem in a relationship, you’re facing bad news from a doctor’s visit, you’re trying to overcome an addiction, you have a financial burden or need, you are praying for and struggling with a teenager. Whatever it is, right now, would you call on the One who is able to help? Would you see Jesus? Call out to Jesus. Run to Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen