1 00:00:15,566 --> 00:00:23,433 Those are two health or disadvantaged communities that areche adopted on fast Grumps have had 2 00:00:23,433 --> 00:00:36,900 I'd like to point out that these two are both of the same, that by his death he might render 3 00:00:36,900 --> 00:00:43,266 powerless him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all 4 00:00:43,266 --> 00:00:47,900 their lives were subject to slavery in their fear of death. 5 00:00:50,433 --> 00:00:58,333 In 1934, Jerry Siegel created a character who would become the archetypal super human 6 00:00:58,333 --> 00:01:07,166 hero. He was depicted as one who came from another planet and was raised from infancy 7 00:01:07,166 --> 00:01:15,333 by farmer parents in a small town in the heartland of America. When he came of age, 8 00:01:15,333 --> 00:01:23,333 he would move to the city and present himself as a reporter at a daily newspaper, but he 9 00:01:23,333 --> 00:01:32,466 seemed very, very ordinary, meek and mild mannered, Clark Kent. And yet he had super 10 00:01:32,466 --> 00:01:39,733 human abilities, faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than a locomotive, able to leap tall 11 00:01:41,466 --> 00:01:51,333 buildings in a single bound. And he came to rescue humanity from its perils, from its 12 00:01:51,333 --> 00:02:00,733 villains. He was, of course, Superman. And Superman then became the first of a long series 13 00:02:01,266 --> 00:02:11,266 of superheroes, Batman, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Black Panther, that you're all familiar with. 14 00:02:11,633 --> 00:02:18,500 Because ever since then, our society has been captivated, fixated, if you will, on these 15 00:02:18,500 --> 00:02:27,300 superheroes, whether they be in comic books or story books, in TV shows or the cinema, 16 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:36,633 and especially the movies. We will fix our eyes on the movie screen to watch these superheroes 17 00:02:36,633 --> 00:02:45,966 come and rescue humanity. In fact, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now the highest grossing 18 00:02:45,966 --> 00:02:55,300 movie series of all time. Over $30 billion has been grossed from that series of movies 19 00:02:55,300 --> 00:03:03,833 about superheroes. But they're all fictional. They're all fantasy, the stuff of comic books 20 00:03:03,833 --> 00:03:13,533 and cartoons. It's not real. But we have a story of one who did come to rescue us, to 21 00:03:13,533 --> 00:03:21,366 rescue all of humanity. And he is the one that we fix our eyes on. He came from another 22 00:03:21,366 --> 00:03:30,033 realm, and entered into our realm as an infant, raised by poor parents in a backwater small 23 00:03:30,033 --> 00:03:37,566 town. When he came of age, he made his way eventually to the city to carry out his mission. 24 00:03:38,233 --> 00:03:45,566 He seemed very ordinary in some ways, and yet he had superhuman powers. He could walk 25 00:03:45,566 --> 00:03:55,600 on water, calm the storm, heal the sick with his hand, raise the dead with his voice. And 26 00:03:55,600 --> 00:04:05,366 he came with a mission, a mission to rescue us. This is no fiction. This is no fantasy. 27 00:04:06,466 --> 00:04:14,666 This is the story of Jesus Christ. And as we begin this new academic year, we fix our 28 00:04:14,666 --> 00:04:28,066 eyes on Him and His story. We focus on Him and His redemptive rescue of us. That's the 29 00:04:28,066 --> 00:04:35,733 theme of our new academic year, Fix Your Eyes on Jesus. It's an exhortation from Hebrews 30 00:04:35,733 --> 00:04:42,633 chapter 12. But our text today from Hebrews chapter 2 gives us a picture of this Jesus 31 00:04:42,633 --> 00:04:52,766 whom we can fix our eyes on. And so let us do so today. First of all, this text tells 32 00:04:52,766 --> 00:05:02,566 us that He comes to rescue us by sharing our humanity. He shares our humanity. Verse 14 33 00:05:02,566 --> 00:05:11,233 says, Since the children share in flesh and blood, He too partook of the same. He partook 34 00:05:11,233 --> 00:05:20,433 of our humanity. He shared in flesh and blood the incarnation. Superman, although he is 35 00:05:20,433 --> 00:05:28,566 called Superman, was really no man. He was really not human. He was an alien from an 36 00:05:28,566 --> 00:05:39,566 alien planet, Krypton. But this one is a true human being. As Luther confesses, he is our 37 00:05:39,566 --> 00:05:47,000 God, begotten of the Father from all eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. 38 00:05:47,833 --> 00:06:00,133 He had the DNA of his ancestors, a human being, 100% human, while also being 100% God. And 39 00:06:00,133 --> 00:06:09,566 he becomes one with us, one of us, sharing our humanity in order to rescue us. And so 40 00:06:10,466 --> 00:06:20,966 he became one with us. Verse 17 of Hebrews chapter 2 goes on to say, He had to become 41 00:06:20,966 --> 00:06:30,500 like us in every way in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. That word atonement 42 00:06:30,500 --> 00:06:38,166 in the English literally means at-one-ment. And so he became at-one with our humanity 43 00:06:38,166 --> 00:06:45,000 in order that he might become at-one with our sin, to make atonement for the sins of 44 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:55,366 the people. And he identified with sinners, not just humans, with sinners, and bore the 45 00:06:55,366 --> 00:07:04,933 sin of all of humanity. As a true human being, he could identify with us and substitute for 46 00:07:04,933 --> 00:07:13,600 us. As true God, he could bear the weight of the sin of every human being of all time. 47 00:07:14,566 --> 00:07:21,066 And he did. Which brings us to the second affirmation of our text from Hebrews chapter 48 00:07:21,066 --> 00:07:30,400 2. Not only does Jesus come to share our humanity, he comes to share our penalty, the penalty 49 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:37,800 of death. It says, Since the children share in flesh and blood, he too partook of the 50 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:46,100 same, in order that by his death he might render powerless him who has the power of 51 00:07:46,100 --> 00:07:54,566 death, the devil. You see, the penalty for sin from the very beginning was death. God 52 00:07:54,566 --> 00:08:01,266 warned our first parents, If you disobey, you shall surely die. They disobeyed, and 53 00:08:01,266 --> 00:08:08,533 he pronounced the judgment, From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return. Paul 54 00:08:08,533 --> 00:08:16,366 says, Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and death spread 55 00:08:16,366 --> 00:08:24,533 to all men, for all have sinned. And the wages of sin is death. The penalty for sin is death. 56 00:08:24,566 --> 00:08:35,066 Of death. And so Hebrews here says, By his death, in an earlier verse it says, He tasted 57 00:08:35,066 --> 00:08:42,933 death for everyone. And that's not just death with a small d, physical death. That's death 58 00:08:42,933 --> 00:08:53,166 with a capital D, eternal death, separation from God eternally. He tasted that for everyone. 59 00:08:54,066 --> 00:09:05,400 He shared our penalty as He suffered and died on the cross for us. That was His rescue modus 60 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:16,466 operandi for us. And yet it doesn't end with His death because our text says, He rendered 61 00:09:16,466 --> 00:09:25,633 powerless him who had the power of death. That's a victory. That's a conquest. And more 62 00:09:25,633 --> 00:09:32,600 than that, it says, He freed those who all their lives were subject to slavery in their 63 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:42,933 fear of death. Subject to this death sentence, they are freed. We are freed. And so, in this 64 00:09:43,433 --> 00:09:52,633 story of rescue, not only does He share our humanity and share our penalty, but He shares 65 00:09:52,633 --> 00:10:01,566 His victory with us. The victory of the resurrection. The victory of the restoration of all things. 66 00:10:01,933 --> 00:10:10,666 He shares with us. This was His mission. This is why He came. He shares with us His righteousness. 67 00:10:11,666 --> 00:10:18,500 If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. There is now no condemnation for those who 68 00:10:18,500 --> 00:10:26,300 are in Christ Jesus. He shares with us His resurrection as He promised. I am the resurrection 69 00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:33,233 and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though he die, yet shall he live. And he shares 70 00:10:33,233 --> 00:10:40,366 with us the restoration. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The oldest past 71 00:10:40,366 --> 00:10:48,633 the new is come. And we await the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness. 72 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:56,033 We who are righteous because of his victory. No wonder at the very end of that great resurrection 73 00:10:56,033 --> 00:11:04,266 chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul declares, Thanks be to God who gives us the victory 74 00:11:04,266 --> 00:11:12,066 through our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's all because He shares it with us. This is the 75 00:11:12,066 --> 00:11:22,566 one we fix our eyes on. He shares the victory as we are united with Him in baptism, in faith. 76 00:11:22,766 --> 00:11:34,000 He shares that victory with us. We are united with Him. Over in the seminary fieldhouse, 77 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:44,533 in the eastern hallway, there's a row of photographs of champion athletes down through the years. 78 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:56,333 And my photo is on one of those displays. I'm a champion. It's on there from the mid-80s. 79 00:11:56,366 --> 00:12:04,266 You can go and check. And it's got my photo, and underneath it says, Tennis, tennis, tennis. 80 00:12:04,266 --> 00:12:12,700 I'm doubles champion. But now you need to know the rest of the story. My doubles partner 81 00:12:12,700 --> 00:12:20,000 was John Stenfield. See, I was just a very mediocre tennis player then as I am now, but 82 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:26,133 he was the star tennis player at that time. He could run circles around the rest of us 83 00:12:26,133 --> 00:12:34,266 in playing tennis. And so we were paired together as a doubles tennis team. And we were the 84 00:12:34,266 --> 00:12:40,333 team. And John kind of gave me these instructions. He said, David, now you stand next to the 85 00:12:40,333 --> 00:12:51,566 net and you hit any easy volleys that come to you. I'll take everything else. I think 86 00:12:51,566 --> 00:12:56,933 he understood my skill, put me in the right place there. And so once in a while there'd 87 00:12:56,933 --> 00:13:02,000 be an easy volley that would come my way. But most of the time during these games, I 88 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:13,066 was doing this. Watching the ball go back and forth over the net. And usually when it 89 00:13:13,066 --> 00:13:21,666 would go to John, he would hit a winning point. He would win the point, and then win the game, 90 00:13:22,533 --> 00:13:30,333 and then win the set, and then win the match, and finally win the tournament. He really 91 00:13:30,333 --> 00:13:39,866 did it. He was the winner. He was the real champion. But because I was his partner, I 92 00:13:39,866 --> 00:13:51,233 was on his team as the doubles team, I'm named the champion just as much as he. This is what 93 00:13:51,233 --> 00:14:00,333 has happened for us in Christ's victory. He did it all. He won the victory in His life 94 00:14:00,333 --> 00:14:10,066 and resurrection. But now He shares that victory with us as we are united with Him in baptism 95 00:14:10,066 --> 00:14:18,233 and in faith. We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. Thanks be to 96 00:14:18,233 --> 00:14:28,333 God who gives us the victory. Oh yes, our culture is very, very captivated by the stories 97 00:14:28,333 --> 00:14:37,566 of superheroes. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther. 98 00:14:38,566 --> 00:14:45,800 We'll spend lots of money and spend lots of time fixing our eyes on the screen where they 99 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:53,300 are depicted. I think this all says deep down inside, we yearn for someone who will come 100 00:14:53,300 --> 00:15:03,166 from beyond who is greater and stronger than us to rescue us from our lost condition. We 101 00:15:03,166 --> 00:15:11,433 don't have to fix our eyes on fantasy. We fix our eyes on the one true God and true 102 00:15:11,433 --> 00:15:20,333 man, Jesus Christ. He is the one who came and shared our humanity that He might share 103 00:15:20,333 --> 00:15:30,400 our penalty so that he might share his victory with us now and forevermore. And so as we 104 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:40,066 begin this academic year, let us fix our eyes on this superhero who comes to rescue us. 105 00:15:41,933 --> 00:15:48,766 We believe and we receive his rescue. Amen. 106 00:15:51,433 --> 00:15:55,366 We now respond to God's word with the singing of the hymn.