20th Sunday after Pentecost: Date: October 10, 2021
– THE SERMON: Hebrews 2:9-11
Theme: God’s Complete Plan of Salvation
I. Providing Universal Redemption
II. Providing a Savior Made Perfect through Suffering
III. Making Us Part of the Family of God
SERMON TEXT: Hebrews 2:9-11
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, might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. (NKJV)
PRAYER; THE LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN 375:1-3: If Thy Beloved Son, O God
1 If Thy beloved Son, O God, Had not to earth descended
And in our mortal flesh and blood Had not sin’s power ended,
Then this poor, wretched soul of mine
In hell eternally would pine Because of its transgression.
2 But now I find sweet peace and rest, Despair no more reigns o’er me;
No more am I by sin opprest, For Christ has borne sin for me.
Upon the cross for me He died
That, reconciled, I might abide With Thee, my God, forever.
3 I trust in Him with all my heart; Now all my sorrow ceases;
His words abiding peace impart, His blood from guilt releases.
Free grace thro’ Him I now obtain;
He washes me from ev’ry stain, And pure I stand before Him.
BENEDICTION
C: Amen.
HYMN 644: Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
( Pastor Theodore Barthels )
Bulletin: Read Bulletin
Sermon: Read Sermon
THE ORDER OF SERVICE: (p. 22 Worship Supplement 2000)
THE GOSPEL LESSON: Mark 10:2-16
The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him.
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Genesis 2:18-24
And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
Sermon
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
2100 16th Street SW
Austin, MN 55912-1749
Pastor Ted Barthels
Sermon preached on
October 10, 2021
20th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture Lessons: Genesis 2:18-24, Mark 10:2-16
Hymns: 39; 363; 375:1-3; 644
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Text: Hebrews 2:9-11
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, might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. (NKJV)
This is the Word of God.
Sanctify us, oh Lord, through Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, God our Savior, dear fellow Redeemed:
INTRO: Getting the job done right!
One hears stories about people hiring contractors for home repairs or remodeling and having a difficult time with the contractor finishing the work he has been contracted to do. One is faced day after day with living in a house that is torn up and less than ideal for living. Maybe the bathroom or the kitchen stand unusable for weeks at a time, and finally the homeowner grows tired of the situation and tries to complete some of the work himself. The thing is, that doesn’t go so well either. There’s a TV show called “Help – I Wrecked My House” in which the crew comes in to fix what the homeowners thought they could do themselves. Things aren’t always as simple as they look on TV. In so many areas of life there are many little things that need to be attended to correctly or the entire job must be torn apart and done over.
This is the way it is with different providers of salvation. Promises are made but the job is left incomplete. Individuals look at the need for salvation and become convinced that they can do it themselves. People, who are all sinners, don’t have the knowledge or the expertise to provide a complete salvation. Whatever they try to do has to be torn down, cast aside, and a whole new program put in place. And that is what the Lord does for us.
Because of persecution many Hebrew Christians were being tempted to return to the Jewish faith with its faulty plan for salvation based on keeping the law for righteousness. What our text presents —
THEME: God’s Complete Plan of Salvation.
The word “complete” is so important for us to comprehend. When it comes to our salvation it has many applications. The first truth our text presents for our assurance of salvation is that God’s plan of salvation —
I. Provides Universal Redemption.
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, might taste death for everyone. (v.9)
When it comes to God’s plan for our salvation our attention is directed to Jesus. What about Jesus? We start with the fact that He was made a little lower than the angels. That tells us that before Jesus came down to earth He wasn’t a little lower than the angels. He was above the angels. Of course He was above the angels because Jesus is the Son of God incarnate. The Son of God “by whom all things were made,” (The Nicene Creed) He became a little lower than the angels for one purpose, that is to secure our salvation.
Sin, mankind’s sin brought death into the world. God’s perfect creation was subjected to the corruption of sin and the bondage of death. God could have justly condemned us all. What a just God could not do was just pretend that sin hadn’t entered into the world. Sin had to be dealt with. Again, it could have been handled by letting us all perish. But “the Lord … is not willing that any should perish.” (2 Peter 3:9) Did you catch that: “The Lord … is not willing that ANY should perish! (2 Peter 3:9) God dealt with sin by sending His only begotten Son into the flesh. He did this for the purpose of our salvation, but exactly what did that entail? He became a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. The purpose of our salvation could only be fulfilled by Jesus’ suffering death. He died not just for a few, but for everyone. Jesus “tasted death for everyone.” (v.9)
God in His grace, (again “grace” such an important word, it is by grace that you have been saved. [Ephesians 2:5] It is not something you have earned or deserved.) God in His grace provided a complete salvation, that is a salvation that was sufficient for all the world for all time. It had to be Jesus. Only the blood of Jesus Christ is precious enough to pay the all-atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
That is such an important truth because the devil is the great Accuser, and as the father of all lies, he will try to deceive you into believing that somehow your sins were not included. Maybe because you sinned after you should have known better. We all have. Or maybe because you sinned willfully. Again, to our shame, we all have. Or maybe your sins were so grievous, that someone was seriously hurt your actions, or inaction. That is covered too. Maybe because your sins are so many. We really have no idea concerning the multitude of our sins they are so very many. All those sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. You have been redeemed by Christ the crucified! He tasted death for EVERYONE!
That is the scope of God’s complete plan of salvation. The next truth is very closely related to it. God’s Complete Plan of salvation
II. Provides a Savior Made Perfect through Suffering.
“For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (v.10)
This is a marvel of the gospel. When we speak of Jesus as our prefect Savior we may think of Jesus’ holiness. He was the only human born without sin. He was the only person that ever lived on the face of this earth who did not sin during His entire life. We need to understand perfect in another way, in the way that brings us the realization that Jesus did it all! He was and is the perfect Savior. There is nothing left to be done, nothing left that needs to be added on to what Jesus has secured for us by His death and resurrection.
The Spirit would have us try to grasp the wonder that the One Who has made all things, and for Whom all things were made should be the One Who is the source and originator of our salvation. The plan to make this happen, for Jesus to be the complete and perfect Savior, required that Jesus suffer. He suffered for us. We confessed in the Apostles Creed, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate.” We know that entailed the brutality of scourging, and even worse the horribly inhuman and shameful method of execution, crucifixion. But that isn’t the half of it. He suffered the curse of God for our sin. He was condemned and bore that “God forsakenness” that we can’t even imagine, that cursed existence reserved for the inhabitants of hell. He suffered all that to secure a complete salvation.
There is nothing left for you to do., Jesus did it all. Jesus endured it all. Jesus declared “it is finished,” and it was so! Jesus is our perfect Savior and when we are called to faith in Jesus, we have nothing left to do to gain salvation. We are only to praise and glorify His name for all time and eternity.
What a wonder it is that this plan of salvation results in —
III. Making Us Part of the Family of God
Now, we are to the part about what was actually accomplished. God’s plan for a complete salvation had an end goal to be met. That end goal was all about reuniting us with God. Listen how the Spirit brings this message of the gospel to us sinners.
“For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (v.11)
This verse starts with the necessary result for the end goal to be met, sanctification. We do use this word “sanctification” in different ways, but here we have its basic meaning of “making holy.” We sinners needed to be made holy. Jesus came into the world as the One who makes others holy. To help us, to sanctify sinful human beings, Jesus had to become a human being, a sinless human being. He had to become a part of the family of the human race. We are all of one blood. Jesus the One who sanctifies the human race, became one of us.
As one of us He accomplished that which is simply impossible for us to achieve. He made us holy! We have been sanctified. We know so many of the wonderful Scriptures that tell us how this was achieved. It was a blessed result of that horror that took place on the cross of Calvary. He poured out His innocent and precious blood. So then , “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
He achieved that sanctification of sinners by becoming a part of the family of humanity, and because of that sanctification, and the Spirit calling us to faith in Jesus as our Redeemer Lord, we have been brought into God’s family. We read of this in Galatians: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:4-6)
We were created in the image of God to be God’s children. Sin alienated us from God. Jesus came and was born of a woman and under the law to fulfill all righteousness for us. He did this so that we could be adopted back into the family of God. The Spirit has entered our hearts so that by faith our prayer is “Abba Father!” We address our Father in heaven as dearly loved children talk to their dearly loved Father. It just doesn’t get any better than that! We are at peace. We have perfect harmony with God, all because of Jesus the source of our salvation fulfilling God’s complete and perfect plan for the salvation of mankind. “By grace you have been saved!” (Ephesians 2:5)
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6)
AMEN.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Amen. (Romans15:13)