This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I welcome you to day two of our look through Hebrews
chapter two. We're going to look at verses five to nine today. These verses talk
about the good and the evil that's in this world and how God's come to deal with
those things.

GK Chesterton once said, "Whatever else is true or not true, this one thing is
certain. Man is certainly not what he was meant to be. Men and women, we are not
what we were meant to be.

We can have all the arguments we want about why or what or how, but the truth of
the matter is, we know that the Bible says in the beginning, God created men and
women and he said, very good, very good. And now we can clearly see as we look
at people, sometimes we have very good moments, but there's bad in all of us and
there's some very evil things in people's lives, maybe some very evil things
even in your life, if we're humble enough to admit it. So how do we deal with
this truth?

Well, these verses we're going to look at today talk about angels and Jesus and
salvation, but they also talk to us about this age old problem of understanding
evil and why it's in the world. Let me read for you these verses and then we'll
come to see what God has to say to us, the wisdom he has to give to us about
this. Verses five to nine.

"It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are
speaking, that there is a place where someone has testified, 'What is man that
you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a
little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor and put
everything under his feet.

In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him.
Yet at present, we do not see everything subject to him, but we see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor
because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for
everyone. " Now first, as we get into these verses, we go from the warning and
encouragement of yesterday back to what he was talking about in chapter one
about the angels.

Jesus is better than the angels and he gives us another reason why we know that
Jesus is better than the angels. Remember back in chapter one, he talked about
Jesus is better than the angels because he's a son and the angels are servants
and he went through a list of things like that. Here's another thing in the
list, Jesus is better than the angels because all will be subjected to Jesus,
not to angels, but to Jesus.

And he talks about the fact that it was not the angels that the world to come is
going to be subjected, it is to Jesus. And as he discusses the fact that
everything is going to be subjected to him, everything, everything's going to be
under the lordship of Christ, he gives three phrases that in many ways are the
best answer I know to the problem of evil, problem of understanding evil. The
three phrases are first, all things are subjected to him.

Second phrase, we do not see it yet. Third phrase, but we do see Jesus. If you
understand those three phrases, you understand God's wisdom about this problem,
this issue of good and evil.

First he says all things are subjected to him. He says are subjected, not will
be subjected someday when we get to heaven, but they are subjected to him. It's
already settled.

In fact, from the beginning of time this was settled, from the beginning of time
this was demonstrated to us what was from the beginning of time at the cross
that all things are subjected to him. When God looks at human history, he
already sees it from beginning to end and he can see what's going to happen. And
even though we do face evil in this world today, all you have to do is open a
newspaper to know that.

When God looks at this world, he doesn't just see the daily news. He also sees
where everything is headed. And he sees that in the end everything is going to
be under Jesus' Lordship, everything.

And every evil will be judged righteously. Some evil will be judged because we
trust Jesus, what he did for us on the cross and he paid for that evil. Some
evil will be judged.

People do not trust him. Those who do not trust him will be judged for what they
have done just based on their works. But the truth is, the way God sees human
history, it's already finished, it is already completed.

Now if you ever do an in-depth study of Hebrews chapter 2, you'll find out that
some people think that these verses from the book of Psalms have to do more with
all things being subjected to mankind in the end because we will be ruling with
Jesus. And that may be true, but even if so, the only reason it's going to be
subjected to us is because it's all subject to Jesus. So in the end, it's all
about Jesus, no matter what, it's all about him.

In the end, it's all about God and all being subject to him in the end. That is
where history is headed. Where is history headed?

Jesus. Jesus. So you can be confident in the fact that even though we face evil
in this world today, that is not the end of the story.

And those who argue against whether there could be a real God who has real love
because we see evil in the world today, they're arguing with only part of the
story. Even halfway through the book, and they're trying to figure out the end
of the story. The truth of the matter is, I trust in what Jesus did on the
cross.

I trust in the resurrection. And so I know that all things are subjected to him.
But there's another thing I know.

It's the second phrase. We do not see it yet. We don't see it yet.

We're in the in-between. And the truth is, we're all halfway through the novel.
We're all on page 700 of a thousand page novel.

We're all an hour and a half into a two and a half hour movie. We don't see it
yet. We don't see the end yet.

In order to understand the problem of good and evil, you have to admit what you
don't see. You have to admit what you can't see. In order, here's what I'm
saying, in order to understand, you have to understand what you don't
understand.

Now, for instance, you can't see love, but you believe in love. You believe in
relationships, even though you can't see it. You admit something that you don't
see in a relationship.

And I can't see the end of time yet. The truth is, as long as I insist on
believing that what I see is all there is, I will be totally confused about this
problem of good and evil. That's why this is so hard for those who are agnostic
or atheist.

They look at the problem of good and evil and they think there can't be a God.
But I look at the problem of good and evil and I think it shows me there is a
God because I know that God has a solution in the end. And I don't just see this
in my emotions, I don't just see this even in a book that was written.

I see it in human history. Jesus invaded human history to demonstrate to us on
the cross and in the resurrection that he has the power to deal with good and
evil. He has the power to deal with good in our lives by bringing salvation into
our lives and he has a problem to deal with evil by, in the end, we're going to
see this later this week, destroying Satan and his works.

But I don't see it yet. So I have to hold it in balance in my mind, that tension
that there's something that I do not yet see. Now, what is this called?

I don't see it yet, but God has said it. It's called trust. When there's
something I don't see, but God has said, if I'm going to believe in him, if I'm
going to trust in him, then I can live a different kind of life.

It's the same thing every parent is faced with a child. You say to your child,
"You can't go to that party. " They think, "I want to go to that party.

" They don't see it yet. What's going to happen if they go to that particular
party? But you see it, you know what's going to happen.

If they trust you, wouldn't that be wonderful? If they trust you, then they'll
say, "Okay, okay. If I trust God, I will say even though there's evil in this
world today, I know you're going to deal with it one day and I can trust you to
deal with it.

" But that's not the end of the story. It's not just God's dealt with it, but I
don't see it. There's a third truth here, but we do see Jesus.

God has not left us alone in this. He sent Jesus into this world and we see Him.
In fact, if you notice in these verses, we see His death particularly.

His death, He gave His life for us so that we could have life. Think about this.
His death would seem to be one of the most evil things that ever happened in
this world.

God Himself in human flesh comes into this world and we put Him on a cross? That
death, which would seem to be the most evil thing that ever happened, actually
defeated evil. That shows me God's ways are above my ways.

God's plans are above my plans. God's greatness is above my greatness of thought
in any way, shape, or form. These verses tell us that Jesus took our punishment
of death.

We're going to come across this again and again in the book of Hebrews. You'll
understand as we walk through these chapters, better maybe than you ever have
before, what it means that Jesus died for us and that that death that He died
for us actually took my punishment for me, actually took away from me the
punishment that would have happened in my life. He took it from me on the cross.

One of the greatest goods that ever happened in my life, in your life, in any
human being's life, the greatest good of salvation happened at the cross. The
writer of Hebrews says when you're confronted with the reality of evil, what do
you do? Look at Jesus.

Whenever you look at this world, you open the newspaper and you feel confused
and you think how God, why God, what God? Look at Jesus. Look at the fact that
God came into this evil world, that Jesus tasted, He experienced death for
everyone, and He set us free from the power of death, from the power of evil.

That's what you look at. Let's look at Him right now. Jesus, we look to You
because we face evil in this world, some that we see around us, some that's done
to us, and we don't see it yet that is totally subjected to You.

Sometimes it feels like evil is in control. Sometimes it feels like you don't
care. But when we look at You, Jesus, we realize that's not true.

You are in control. You came into history, You gave Your life for us, You give
life to us every day. And You do care.

You care now and all the way into eternity. So Lord, right now in our hearts, we
decide we're going to land on the side of trust. We trust You.

In spite of the fact we live in the world that sometimes is evil, in spite of
the fact that we don't see it yet, we don't understand all that we need to
understand yet, we decide to trust because we do, we do see Jesus. And in praise
for what we see in You, Jesus, we pray these things. Amen.

Amen. Tomorrow we're going to look together at how God works in our lives, even
through trouble and pain.