Christ Is Not Ashamed — Hebrews 2

0:00 Hebrews chapter two. We're gonna look at verse six through 13. Then we're gonna go on to other passages after this, but this will be our starting point. Hebrews two, and let's let's pray before we start. Father, we are so grateful that we could be together, this morning, and we can sing to you to a holy God who loves us and gave his son, the Lord Jesus, to to save us from our sin.

0:28 Thank you for the holy word, the inspired inerrant word of God. It's, when we speak of it, when we teach it, we teach the truth of the word of God. Help us to believe it, Lord. Bless your word now as it's, expounded. We pray for the hope of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name.

0:46 Amen. All right. Hebrews two and verse six. But one has testified somewhere saying, and he's quoting from a Psalm, Psalm eight. What is man that thou rememberest him, or the son of man that thou are concerned about him?

1:03 Thou has made him a little lower than, for a little while, little lower than the angels. Thou has crowned him with glory and honor and has appointed him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

1:31 But we do see him. Now the him in this verse is Jesus who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for him from... For whom all... Are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering.

2:05 For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father for which reason, notice, because this is what I titled the message, he is not ashamed to call them brethren or his brothers. So Jesus is not ashamed of us. That's the name of today's teaching. Verse 12 saying, I will proclaim thy name to my brethren, my brothers and sisters. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing thy praise.

2:38 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, he's quoting a bunch of, passages from the Old Testament. And again, behold, I and the children whom God has given me. Wow. The Lord blesses His word always, doesn't He?

2:56 Amen. All right. Lauren Wood has a song and and one of the lines says this, the father looks at me and he wouldn't change a thing. The father looks at me and he wouldn't change a thing. We also noticed in the text that it says that God remembers or he thinks of us.

3:17 We also saw in the text in verse six that God is concerned. In other words, he cares for you. So he remembers you, he thinks of you, and he cares for you. But I wanna focus just for a little bit on on this beautiful line right here in verse 11 that he is not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to call you brother or sister.

3:41 In Ephesians one six, we read also that we are accepted in the beloved. What is shame? To publicly or privately be humiliated or mocked at. To feel embarrassed about someone and the person feels ashamed. Tay...

4:00 Taysha Layton, I hope I pronounced her name right, has a song also that says, look what you've done. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. And so I was ashamed of myself. There was a man at a at a park, and this man had a special needs daughter. And, of course, you know that a special needs daughter does a lot of embarrassing things.

4:24 Sometimes they drool. Sometimes they act funny. They scream. And the people didn't know how to react as they were watching them. And then she's noticed everyone eyes on her, and she runs to her dad.

4:40 And she says, Bubba, as they tend to do. Right? And the dad says, yes. I am Bubba and kissed her. He wasn't ashamed of her.

4:50 See. And so you have to understand that Jesus Christ, when he sees you and when he saves you and brings you into Christ Jesus, the bible says clearly right here, he's not ashamed to call you his brother or sister. Notice that in Hebrews 12, if you wanna look there real quick, Hebrews 12, look how interesting because the same word is is located here in this passage. Hebrews 12 and verse two. Notice that it says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

5:35 Now notice, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God. To despise means to look down on, to look down on with disrespect. And this is basically what Jesus was saying. If I have to publicly be humiliated and shamed to save them, then bring it on. Bring on the shame.

6:03 I despise it. If we were to take one of you, any one of you, and we were gonna publicly shame you and humiliate you, we would start spitting on you and pulling on your beard. So let's just put a man here. Right? Scott Doeringer, there you go.

6:23 He's got one. We start plucking at it. Right? Or maybe Matt, he's got a bigger giant one. Right?

6:28 We we start pulling at his beard and spitting at him and laughing at him, all of us. Then we start ripping his clothes off, and someone pulls out a big whip and starts ripping him right here publicly. And they beat him. He starts bleeding. And then we lift him up.

6:45 And we're laughing at them and mocking them. Right? That person, I can guarantee you, would never step foot in this place again. Would you agree? Why?

6:58 Because he was publicly shamed. Right? He was humiliated. No one wants to be shamed in public. No one.

7:24 I'm gonna do it with joy. I'm gonna endure the shame of the cross because I want to save them. I want them to belong to me. He's not ashamed. He wasn't ashamed to go to the cross in order to save us.

7:39 So much less would he be ashamed to call us his brother or sister. Amen? Wow. Well, how does Christ see us? How does Christ see us?

7:49 Go back to your text in Hebrews two. Go back to your text in Hebrews two. So he remembered us. He was concerned about us. He's not ashamed of us.

8:03 And notice that text, again, I say the text because we base ourselves in this local assembly that the word of God is the authority of God. It's the inerrant and powerful word of God. This is what God speaks to us, and so we take it as his word, his very words from his mouth and from his heart. He says at the end of chapter two and the end of verse 13 Recording in progress. I and the children whom God has given me.

8:34 So in other words, God considers you and I, when we turn to Christ for the salvation of our soul, he considers us as God's gift to him. Anybody ever given you a gift? Well, every time someone gets saved, the father says, there you go, another gift for you. And if you were if you were to look at John chapter two... I'm sorry, John John, the gospel of John chapter 17 and verse two, it says, father, those who you have given me, I keep.

9:07 And then he says again in verse six, all of those who you gave me, I didn't lose any of them, but they they believed in your word, and they follow... And they're following you. So Jesus looks at you and I when we turn to Christ for the salvation of our soul as God the father's gift to him. And he's not ashamed of that gift, but he loves it. In John chapter 15 and verse 13, greater love has no one than this, that one laid down his life for his friends.

9:40 And fifth John fifteen fifteen, no longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends. For all things I have heard from my father have made known to you. And so Jesus not only is not ashamed of me and that he calls me his brother or if you're a woman, his sister. Right?

10:02 But he also says that you're my friend, and I proved to be your friend and that I gave my life for you. And so Jesus looks at me as a gift of God, and he looks at me as a friend. And Ephesians chapter two, if you want to turn there quickly, you can. If not, just listen. And it says this in verse six, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ.

10:30 By grace you have been saved, and he raised us up with him. And he seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that's what I call the big three. He made us alive, he raised us up, and he seated us with him. Seated us with him.

10:49 We were dead, so we needed to be made alive. We were, again, dead, so we needed to be raised up. And then he put us in a place of of honor, a place next to him in the heavenly places. We are seated with Christ. I mean, how blessed can we be?

11:11 In Hebrews four sixteen, the Bible says, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. So there's an invitation in the Bible for us to draw near to that throne that's so full of grace. I want you to turn with me. Well, you don't have to turn. Just listen.

11:31 Psalm sixteen and three. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the majestic ones. Or another version might say excellent ones, or there's another version that says the noble ones. So as for the saints of the earth, the noble ones, the excellent ones, it is all my delight is in them. To delight means to take great pleasure in or to give keen enjoyment.

12:00 So this is what the father is saying to you this morning, that when I look at you, I take great pleasure in you. I delight in you. When I look at my grandkids, I delight in them, my kids too. Right? But it's kind of special right now, the grandkids.

12:18 Right? Man, you get excited when you see them. It it just fills you with joy. And so the father looks at you from up above, and he goes, all of my delight is in you. I mean, you take that in right there.

12:42 Wow. In first Peter five seven, he says that he cares for you, casting all your anxieties upon him because he cares for you. And in in Matthew chapter six and verse 31, I'll I'll read that quickly. I was going to read the whole context but for... Because of the love of time, we're going to just read two verses.

13:07 Matthew six verse 31. Do not be anxious then saying, what shall I eat? Or what shall we drink? Or with what shall we clothe ourselves? For all of these things the Gentiles eagerly seek, that is someone who's not saved, that's what they're worried about.

13:24 That's their concern. They're constantly worrying about, what am I going to eat? What am I going to drink? What am I going to wear? How are going to make it?

13:33 All these things, the Gentiles, the nonbelievers eagerly seek, notice for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. Why? Because he cares for you. Because he cares for you. And so he's saying, he cares for you.

13:49 First Peter five seven, because heavenly father knows that you have those needs and he cares for you, then cast all your anxiety upon him and trust his heart. That he's got you covered. In Romans eight thirty four, it says that he intercedes for us. In Hebrews Hebrews seven twenty five, it says that he he always lives to make intercession for us. Think about that.

14:27 In order so I can belong to him. Every day lives to pray for you and to intercede for you. First Peter two twenty five, he is the shepherd and the guardian of my soul, of our souls. So, when we're saved, he then takes on the responsibility to shepherd you and to care for you and to guard your soul. That's why it says in first John, the devil cannot touch us.

14:55 Why? Because the father, when he brings us into Jesus, we are safe there and no one can touch us and there... Therefore, we say with confidence that says here in first Peter that he is the guardian of my soul. Hebrews thirteen twenty says he's the great shepherd of the sheep. And in Romans eight thirty one, it says that God is for us.

15:21 And if God is for us, who can be against us? Now let's go back to Hebrews, this time to chapter 13. Let's go to Hebrews 13 and verse five. Hebrews thirteen five. Let your character that is who you are.

15:49 God is interested in your character above all. More than what you do, more than how you serve, or what ministry you're involved in, the main thing is he's he's concerned about is your character to make you like Christ, to conform you to the image of Christ. Let your character be free from the love of money. Now we all struggle with this. Every single one does.

16:17 We think about money often. We need it. We need it to buy food. We need it to pay bills. We need it to buy gas to drive our cars.

16:26 We need money for everything. However, it says, let your character be free from the love of money. We need it, but don't love it. Don't love it. Why?

16:36 Being content with what you have. See, the believer who is in Christ that realize how loved he is by God, yeah, can say, you know, I'm content with what you've given me, and this is the reason why, because I will never desert you. I don't have to be anxious because this God who loves me, who accepts me, who brought me into the fold, says, I'm gonna always take care of you. I'm never gonna desert you. That's a promise from God.

17:06 And as far as I know, God has never lied. He never will lie. He can't even think of a lie. He doesn't exaggerate. So when he says that he's never going to desert you, he's never going to desert you.

17:19 Nor will I ever forsake you. Now these are things that happen to people, and they're heartbreaking. Well, you know, my wife left me, she deserted me, My husband left me. My friend turned his back on me. He forsook me.

17:35 But the Lord Jesus says, and he says it powerfully, I will never desert you. I will never ever forsake you. The lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?

17:46 I am your helper. And he's quoting from Deuteronomy and listen to what he says in Deuteronomy. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or tremble at them for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. I will not fail you or forsake you.

18:09 So in the passage in Deuteronomy, he adds to it, I'm not going to desert you. I will never ever forsake you. Then he says, not only that, but I'm not going to fail you. Has God ever failed you? Well, see what happens is life happens and things happen and people let you down and we tend to think that, well, God you did me wrong.

18:32 You failed me. It's not that God failed because God doesn't fail. It's that we had a wrong concept of God and we want him to to do certain things and when he doesn't do certain things according to our expectations, we think that he failed us. But God does not fail us ever. Don't love money.

18:56 Don't be anxious. I care for you. You could... You can trust me. I'm never gonna desert you.

19:03 I will never forsake you. I am your helper. Not only that, but I'm never gonna fail you nor will I forsake you. And then he says also in in verse... That was Deuteronomy thirty one six.

19:48 You don't have to love money because I got you covered. I'm never gonna fail you. I'm never gonna desert you. I'm never gonna forsake you. Psalm ninety four fourteen, the Lord will not abandon his people nor will he forsake his inheritance.

20:09 Psalm 40 verse five, many are thy thoughts towards us, oh God. You see, God is constantly thinking of you and blessing you. No good thing will he withhold with those who are his. Now I want you to turn to to Psalm one sixteen and fifteen. Turn there quickly.

20:45 Notice the the passage. Psalm one sixteen, by the way, if you were to read it, was about a man who... He was very sick, and he thought he was gonna die. And if you look at the whole prayer, it seemed like he was at the brink of death, and then God, for some reason, extended his life just a little bit. I've seen that happen with many beloved friends and even with my with my mother.

21:16 But notice what the text says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones. That's an interesting passage, isn't it? You know, when when my when my dad passed away, a good friend of mine from Dayton, one of the elders or one of the assemblies there, doctor Jacob Johns, sends me a text. And he goes, hey, Ray. I'm so glad to hear that your dad has been promoted to glory.

21:45 I was like, wow. Look at that. Why? Because see, according to Psalm one thirty nine, god has our days laid out and determined. And as we're going through our walk, he's caring for us.

22:02 He doesn't forsake us. He doesn't fail us. He's constantly our shepherd who's guarding our souls. And he's pouring his life into us so that we can have this abundant life that he has for us. But even even if in our walk with with all of the difficulties that come, all the trials that come our way, all the sicknesses and and all the troubles that that come because of sin and and the fallen world.

22:29 With everything that happens, God is there for us, not forsaking us. He never fails us, and he sees what we're going through, and he cares. And then he says, you know what? Your time is up. Now I want you...

22:45 I wanna bring you home. I wanna bring you home. I I love you. You finished your course, and now it's time for you to come with me. And so when when you die and you get to come with me and be with me for all eternity, it's precious to me.

22:59 It's precious to me. You see, because God values us. And so he's not ashamed of us. When he went to the cross, he paid for all of our baggage, all of our mistakes, all of our sin, all of our evil, and I don't know about you, but I had a lot of it. He paid for all of it.

23:35 And then when you come to Christ for the salvation of your soul, he cleanses it all away, never again to bring it up in your face. And then he says, I'm not ashamed to call him my brethren. And after that, the father says, hey. Look. Another gift.

23:54 And Jesus says, yes. Those of you you've given me, father, I'm gonna care for them. He is for us. He will never forsake us. He will never fail us.

24:11 He will never abandon us. He delights in us. He's concerned about us, and precious in his sight it is when he when he brings us home. Well, I don't know about you, but the... Being in Christ has been to me the most beautiful thing that could ever happen to me.

25:20 Even through that sickness, he's there. And when the trials come, and when the disappointments come, and when people let you down, he will not abandon you nor forsake you. These are things that he said in the word of God to us so that we can walk just in this abundant life that he promised to give us. See, the devil comes to steal and and to lie and to destroy and and people believe all the lies of the devil but when we read the word of god and we and we understand how special we are to him because it cost him the life of Jesus to save us and he brings us into the fold and with that, all of these promises that we can grasp on to. We could say we're the most blessed people to be in Christ for all eternity.

26:17 Or do you know Jesus as your savior? See, because he doesn't just cleanse you from sin and from hell, but he he blesses you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians one and three. He gives you the holy spirit. He comes in, and he makes residence in your life.

26:43 And he constantly pours out blessings in your life, whether you realize it or not. So he's not ashamed. He's happy to receive you as a gift. He's for you. He won't forsake you.

26:56 He'll never fail you. He delights in you. He's concerned about you. And then one day, he's gonna say, now it's time for you to come to be with me for all eternity. Let's pray.

27:44 May we rejoice in this truth today in Christ's name. Amen.