He Partook of the Same Things – 12/14/25

Hebrews 2:1,

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

The author is concerned about drifting. What is drifting? Drifting is to float away, like a boat next to a dock, untied, drifting away. He’s not talking about the guy who listens to a Sam Harris podcast and decides,

“You know what? I’m an atheist. This Christianity stuff’s not true.”

That’s not drifting.

What is drifting? Drifting is when we begin slowly being interested in other things. Like on Sunday morning, “The golf course is calling my name. I can talk about the Bible with my friends.”

Or as families and our kids get involved in more and more travel sports, and our schedules get so busy. After a while, it seems like volunteering and serving and sitting under God’s word and loving his people are just cluttering our schedule. So we slowly begin drifting.

Or we begin justifying habits, addictions, and sinful patterns that we know are wrong. But we’re tired of fighting, and we’re too proud to ask for help, to join Re|Gen, or something like that, and so we just begin justifying: “You know, nobody’s perfect. God’s okay with this.” That’s drifting.

Remember the theme of Hebrews: keep at it, he’s worth it. Keep at it, he’s worth it. That’s the message of Hebrews. The entire book of Hebrews is a sermon with those two big themes.

His preeminence fuels our perseverance. We keep running because he keeps reigning, because he’s better than angels or Moses or high priests or the Levitical system or pleasure or money or sex or anything else. He is supreme; therefore, we don’t drift.

Last week: We don’t grow weary and give up. We keep at it because he’s worth it. That’s the theme of Hebrews. Hebrews 2 is making this argument in a very specific way in order that we might be drift-resistant. Look at verse one. The method of not drifting is what? To “pay [much] closer attention to what we have heard.”

What have we heard? I want to try to summarize Hebrews 2 in a sentence, and then we’re going to spend the rest of the time looking at the details. If you get lost in the details, go back to this sentence. It’s simply saying, Jesus became fully human so that we might become fully human. Jesus became fully human so that we might become fully human. In a sense, what happens to him happens to us.

1. Humans were created to exercise dominion over creation in fellowship with God.

Exercise dominion over creation and fellowship with God. Adam and Eve were created in a garden, delighting in intimate fellowship with their creator. They were called to cultivate this garden, to work it, to keep it. Look at Hebrews 2:5.

“For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere [I love the way he puts that; Psalm 8], ‘What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet” (Hebrews 2:5-8).

We were made to reign over creation in fellowship with God.

2. Humans are not exercising dominion over creation in fellowship with God.

Look at the second half of verse 8:

“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” (Hebrews 2:8b).

He’s referring to us and to Jesus. Sin and sorrow and death seem to be reigning over creation. Not us in fellowship with God.

3. Jesus became human so that we can exercise dominion over creation in fellowship with God.

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” (Hebrews 2:9).

Jesus is becoming like us so that we can become like him and fulfill our design by God.

I want to bring it in now. That’s the big picture. Let’s, so we can get our arms around this, focus in on verses 14-18, where the author gets very specific as to what ways we are not fully human, and how Jesus becoming human brings us to that place of full humanity. Look at verse 14.

“Since therefore the children [that’s all of us] share in flesh and blood, he himself [Jesus] likewise partook of the same things—” (Hebrews 2:14a)

What are the “same things?” Three things. What I want us to do is walk through this passage and notice the negative things. Then we’re going to walk through it and look at the positive, like what Christ does for us. First of all, the negative. What are our three big problems that Jesus enters into?

1. We have a time problem. Our time is limited by death.

Verse 14 makes it clear: we all die.

How many of you— This is a real question, expecting a response. How many of you know that, unless Jesus returns first, you will die? Raise your hand. I see some people who aren’t raising their hands. You’re either angels or you’re clueless.

Yeah, last time I checked, it’s like a 100% chance of death. Merry Christmas. Regardless of how careful you are about eating and exercising (which I’m a fan of both), regardless of all the genetic engineering and anti-aging interventions, you will die. This is a problem.

Why is it a problem? Well, think about it: If I’m trying to develop a healthy marriage or a healthy relationship, starting a business… I’m building something, and yet we have a time limit. The clock is ticking. Our days are numbered. That’s a problem. We have a time problem.

2. We have a freedom problem. Our freedom is limited by sin.

Look at verse 15:

“…and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:15).

What is he talking about there by “lifelong slavery?” We are driven by fear. We make choices, not out of what is right or necessarily what God is calling us to, but out of fear. We’re driven by fear. We’re bound by sin. This is a problem.

You’ll notice sin mentioned down in verse 17. Jesus emphasizes (this is John 8:34) “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” From Jesus’s perspective, sin is not only wrong but it is a form of bondage that he wants us to break free from, which we cannot do on our own.

When I speak when I should be listening, when I sputter when I should speak boldly, when I get angry or bitter or impatient or unkind, when we turn to illicit things (i.e. drugs, alcohol, all those things) to try to self-medicate, we’re revealing we’re not truly free. We have a freedom problem.

3. We have a strength problem. Our strength is limited by suffering.

Our strength is limited by suffering. Look at verse 18.

“For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

Notice the link between suffering and tempting. We can be doing great and then all of a sudden we get bad news, or someone does something to us or doesn’t come through for us, and we become way more vulnerable to giving in to temptation. We have a strength problem.

We have a time problem, a freedom problem, and a strength problem. So how does Jesus solve these by becoming human? Look at the three big solutions. We’re going to go back through the same passage. Now we’re not looking from the negative, we’re looking from the positive (what Jesus does).

1. He renders death powerless through death.

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…” (Hebrews 2:14).

Follow the logic: Since all humans are under the curse of death, and that brings with it the pain and the fear that the devil uses against us (binding us), and since the only way to destroy death (due to the curse) is through death, and since the only way to go through death is to become human, Jesus had to become what McCullough calls “killable” (God can’t die), he had to therefore become human. Listen to the great theologian Hermann Bavink summarize:

“As man, he suffered, died, and was buried, and as man, he arose and returned from the realm of the dead. In the resurrection of Christ, it was proved that there was a man who could not be contained by death, could not be ruled by Satan, by the power of corruption, who was stronger than the grave and death and hell.”

Pause for a second. Do you notice all that dominion language? Jesus is what Adam never was. Jesus does what we, in our sinful, under-the-curse life, could never do.

“In principle, therefore, Satan has as a matter of fact no longer the dominion over death. Christ by His death has overcome death (Heb. 2:14).”

He renders death powerless through death.

2. He releases us from slavery through slavery.

Hebrews 2:15,

“…and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham” (Hebrews 2:15-16).

Verse 16 is saying, if he was coming to rescue angels, he would become a what? An angel. But he’s coming to rescue humans, so he becomes human. Verse 17:

“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect” (Hebrews 2:17a).

Why? The author uses two purpose clauses to answer that question. Verse 17, second part, first purpose clause:

“…so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God” (Hebrews 2:17b).

If Jesus was wanting to become a human simply because he wanted to go on a field trip, he wanted to try something new, becoming human was on his bucket list, then there would be no need for him to be a high priest. But because he is becoming human for the sake of advocating for all of us, he becomes a high priest.

Second purpose, last part of verse 17: “to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

We have to get technical for a second, because that’s a big word. How many of you used “propitiation” in your vocabulary this week? A couple of strange people. No, it’s a good word. It means “to appease wrath.”

The idea of Jesus appeasing God’s wrath is often ridiculed today as divine child abuse or a pagan ritual in order to bribe or placate a deity having a temper tantrum.

There are even many modern pastors who echo the confusion of scholars like C.H. Dodd, who argue that this has nothing to do with wrath. It is only to expiate, not propitiate. Another big word: Expiation simply means “cancelation of sin.” That is embedded in this word, but it means more than that.

John Stott, in his classic book, The Cross of Christ, demonstrates the error of Dodd’s claims that propitiation is a pagan act to calm down an irritable deity and demonstrates that, actually, propitiation is the expression of a holy God.

Remember, we started this service singing “holy, holy, holy.” God cannot be God and not oppose rape, theft, deception, all manner of injustice, and sin. He is holy, holy, holy. So God, at the same time, refuses to ignore sin, but is motivated by pure love to come under this bondage, this slavery to sin (without sinning), in order to set us free.

Listen to the way Stott puts it— and we really won’t understand the biblical doctrine of propitiation if we think from a human perspective. It’s all initiated by God. Listen to this:

“So then, God himself is at the heart of our answer to all three questions about the divine propitiation. It is God Himself who in holy wrath needs to be propitiated, God himself who in holy love undertook to do the propitiating, and God himself who in the person of his Son died for the propitiation of our sins. Thus God took his own loving initiative to appease his own righteous anger by bearing it his own self in his own Son when he took our place and died for us. There is no crudity here to evoke our ridicule, only the profundity of holy love to evoke our worship.”

He comes under bondage in order to set us free. One more.

3. He runs toward weakness through weakness.

Verse 18:

“For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

That word “help” literally means “to run to the cry,” to run to the cry in order to provide aid. Because Jesus has suffered as a human, he is qualified and motivated to run toward our need. We’re going to go into this in more detail next week in Hebrews 4, but listen to the words of Dane Ortlund.

“Contrary to what we expect to be the case, therefore, the deeper into weakness and suffering and testing we go, the deeper Christ’s solidarity with us. As we go down in pain and anguish, we are descending ever deeper into Christ’s very heart, not away from it.

“Look to Christ. He deals gently with you. It’s the only way he knows how to be. He is the High Priest to end all high priests. As long as you fix your attention on your sin, you will fail to see how you can be safe. But as long as you look to this High Priest, you will fail to see how you can be in danger. Looking inside ourselves, we can anticipate only harshness from heaven. Looking out to Christ, we can anticipate only gentleness.”

Amen. So Jesus could have come in divine power. He will, and wipe out his enemies. But what would happen to those Jewish students in Torah school if Jesus came in divine power to wipe out his enemies? They would get wiped out. We would all get wiped out.

He, in his holiness, would judge sin. But he does not come in divine power. He comes in human weakness. He enters into our biggest problems— our time problem, our freedom problem, our strength problem. Through his death, burial, and resurrection, he solves our biggest problems. It’s beautiful. That’s the message of Christmas. That’s why we sing. That’s why we celebrate.

A week and a half ago, when we were in the garden tomb celebrating the Lord’s Supper, I shared an analogy that the Spirit gave me that morning with our group.

Many years ago, when my kids were younger (16 down to six), we took them up to the ranch in Canada where I first heard the gospel and my life was changed. It was kind of a weird experience.

When you go back to a place that you haven’t been at for many, many years, things seem smaller and older. Just like me, I’m shrinking, and I’m getting old. Yeah, there were weird parts. But there were also things that had not changed at all, like frozen in time over many, many decades.

The same remarkable Christian family was running the ranch that had been running it so many decades earlier. The same unremarkable cabins were still miraculously standing. The horses were not the same. The food was just as bad.

But probably one of the most moving experiences for me was going back to the rustic old chapel where, as a young teen wanting nothing to do with God, and having never heard the gospel before, I heard it for the very first time, and the Lord changed me.

So you think, why would that matter to my kids? Because in some ways it’s weird. When your parents want you to see something, and you’re just like, “Okay, this is old, and this is far away.” But here’s where it matters: What happened to me happens to them.

As my life became changed, I passed that down to them, and their lives became changed. Now they’re passing it down to their kids. It’s crazy. What happened to me happens to them.

I first told this analogy to our group when we were in Jerusalem, wondering why would you want to go to Jerusalem? There’s nothing magical, but there’s something meaningful. Why? Because what happens to him happens to us.

When Jesus experienced his temptation, that was our temptation. When he suffered, his suffering is our suffering, his death, our death, his resurrection, our resurrection, his freedom and victory are ours when we are in Jesus.

When you repent and believe in Jesus, you enter into the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection, and the hope forever of Jesus. Everything that’s his becomes yours, becomes yours by faith through grace. What difference does that make? I want to give you a very personal example.

This past week, my wife was experiencing some symptoms that required a test, which revealed that the tumors in her abdomen appear to be penetrating her bladder. If that’s actually true (they’re doing a final CT scan on Monday), then they’re going to do surgery right away, like on Friday. This will be her 11th surgery in the last few years.

When she heard this, and in light of family plans we had had that weekend and everything that’s going on, it was pretty devastating. And just the fact that it seems to be growing at this pace.

Tears were shed, we prayed together, and—what I still can’t get over, the grace God is giving her—she, immediately after we prayed, said, “Let’s go.” She is walking forward in peace and joy. Why? Is she superwoman? No.

What if what we just read is actually true? What if death really has been defeated and we live forever? What if the fear of death is not something Jesus desires for us to stay in bondage to? What if he really does set us free?

What if, when we lack the strength (as Karen and I lacked the strength to walk through this), he moves near, not away. He comes into it, he understands, he gives us his strength for our weakness.

That’s why Jesus came—not just when our problems are solved, but right in the middle—and brought about victory through the power of his death, burial, and resurrection. Let’s pray.

Father, you know how easily our minds get distracted, so we pray that we would hear the primary message of this chapter (Hebrews 2), that we would pay much closer attention to what we have heard. There are so many voices within and around us. Please open our eyes fully this Christmas to why you came in human weakness, Jesus.

We pray together that you would continue to bring these realities close to Karen’s heart as she walks through this difficult trial. We pray that for many, many in our church family who are walking through many different kinds of trials, even many this week had surgery or are facing serious medical challenges. Brothers and sisters like Marie and Donna and Becca and Becky and Ed and Charity and Phil and Kay and Michelle and John, and many more.

We pray that as your people, as a family of faith here at North Hills, we would be honest about how hard life can be, that together we would run to you because Jesus, you run to us. Thank you for coming in weakness so that we can experience your strength. We are free.

We pray that this week we would live in your freedom, not bound by fear, not turning to sin, seeking help and being honest, and knowing you move toward us in our need.

We pray for those who don’t know you, that today, this Christmas, would be a Christmas of salvation. Thank you for what you are doing. In Jesus’s name, amen.