I. THE CAPTAIN OF OUR SALVATION DIED FOR US.

1. Jesus could not be the captain of our salvation had He not died as our Substitute. He was born to die.
2. Jesus became the captain of our salvation when He died for our sins on the cross.
3. God’s plan is to “bring many sons unto glory” (Heb. 2:10). To accomplish this, it was God’s plan to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
4. Therefore, Jesus became the captain of our salvation when He died on the cross as our substitute.  The Greek word translated “captain” in Hebrews 2:10 is translated “prince” in Acts 3:15 and Acts 5:31.
5. The Lord Jesus Christ is called “the Prince of life” in Acts 3:15; and “a Prince and a Saviour” in Acts 5:21.
6. This same Greek word translated “captain” in Hebrews 2:10 and “Prince” in the Book of Acts is also translated “author” in Hebrews 12:2.  It is a Greek word combining “to begin” and “to lead.”
7. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
8. The Scofield margin says “author” means “leader or originator.” And “finisher” means “perfecter.”
9. Here in Hebrews 2:10, the Word of God says that Jesus Christ is our perfect leader, leading the path to glory so that God can gather up His sons and they can follow their captain into glory.
10. Let me add that Jesus is our only captain, our only leader.  Our Lord said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
11. There is no way to get to God the Father except by the Lord Jesus Christ.  And the Lord had to suffer to be our perfect leader, to be the “captain” of our salvation (Heb. 2:10).
12. Our Lord could not lead us to glory unless He first had paid the price for our sins through His suffering on the cross.
13. People frequently say all religions are the same.  That is a foolish notion because only Jesus dies on the cross for our sins.
14. None of the religions of this world can resolve the sin problem.  Only Jesus, the captain of our salvation, has done that.
15. Is He your captain?

II. THE CAPTAIN OF OUR SALVATION SANCTIFIED US.

1. The words “sanctifieth” and “sanctified” (2:11) come from the Greek word that means “to set apart” and “to make holy.”
2. “For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (2:11).
3. “They who are sanctified” in Hebrews 2:11 refers to Christians.  We are sanctified because Christ died for us and Christ sanctified us (made us holy).
4. Our sanctification is not on the basis of anything we do.  It is on the basis of what Christ has done (2:10, 11; cf. 10:10).
5. In His great high-priestly (cf. Heb. 2:17) prayer in John 17, the Lord Jesus prayed to God the Father, and He said in John 17:19, “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”
6. “Sanctify” means “to set apart.”  Christ was getting ready to set Himself apart to the cross so that His followers might share His risen life.
7. “Sanctify” cannot mean to cleanse from defilement, because the sinless Son of God had no defilement.
8. In His high-priestly prayer, our Lord was identifying Himself with His followers (cf. John 17:16, 21, 22).
9. This oneness, which Christ speaks of, is more than unity (cf. Hebrews 2:11).  This is more than unity; this is union with Christ (cf. John 15:5).
10. This is all because of Christ’s finished work on the cross.   “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
11. Why was Jesus born?  Christ came, took on a body, and died a sacrificial death in order to be our substitute; and the captain of our salvation; and to sanctify us.
12. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:16, 17).
13. The Bible tells us we become children of God when we are born again into God’s family.
14. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
15. And Hebrews 2:11 says the Lord Jesus Christ “is not ashamed” to call us brethren.  Then Psalm 22 is quoted to illustrate our identification with Christ.  “I will declare Thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee” (cf. Hebrews 2:12).
16. Here, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to God the Father, and He says, “I will declare Thy name unto my brethren...”
17. The Old Testament prophesied that the coming Messiah would call believers His brethren.
18. And that is exactly what He has done.  In John 20:17, at the empty tomb, our risen Saviour said to Mary Magdalene, “But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
19. Then in Hebrews 2:13, Isaiah 8:17 & 18 are quoted as from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ.  These Scriptures teach us how the Lord Jesus Christ identifies with believers.
20. The Lord Jesus put His trust in God the Father, and so must we (Hebrews 2:13).
21. The prophet Isaiah trusted God.  He stood before God with his children, and now our crucified and risen Saviour stands with us before God (Hebrews 2:13).

III. THE CAPTAIN OF OUR SALVATION DEFEATED SATAN.

1. This is one aspect of the Christmas story that is often overlooked (Hebrews 2:14, 15).
2. Satan is a defeated foe.   Jesus defeated him at the cross.  Our Lord said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31).
3. The “children” referred to in Hebrews 2:14 are the children of God, the “brethren” (2:11-13).
4. Christ became “flesh and blood” (2:14).  This is the true meaning of Christmas, not trees and shopping and parties.
5. Christ became “flesh and blood” (2:14) in order to die for our sins on the cross.  And when He died for our sins on the cross, He defeated Satan.
6. “Destroy” means “bring to naught” (Scofield margin).  It does not mean “annihilate.”  Satan has not been annihilated.  Unfortunately, he is still alive and well (cf. I Peter 5:8).
7. The Lord Jesus Christ “took part in the same” (flesh and blood),  “that through death He might destroy (bring to naught) him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).
8. Satan “had the power of death,” but today Satan has no power over the Christian.  Our risen Saviour says in Revelation 1:18, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
9. But Satan does not want sinners to know this (II Cor. 4:3, 4).
10. First Corinthians 15:55 says, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
11. Second Corinthians 5:8 says for the Christian to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
12. Satan has deceived the multitudes into thinking they can live a godless life and still make it to heaven.  The great emphasis in Revelation 12 & 13 is that Satan is deceiving the masses and turning them away from God.
13. Satan wants to keep can keep people living in sin until they die, and then they are damned forever (Heb. 2:14).
14. Satan knows there is no second chance after the grave. Satan knows there is no purgatory, no reincarnation, no annihilation, etc.  In fact, Satan has invented all of these false doctrines.
15. Satan’s strategy is to entice sinners and keep them in spiritual bondage (Heb. 2:15) until they die and go to hell.
16. A week or two ago there were a few articles in the newspapers about a lawyer here in NY that was mixed up in terrible perversion.  This lawyer often dressed up like a woman.  He was all messed up.
17. He was murdered by another pervert, and then the murderer committed suicide.
18. The newspapers said these men were into “bondage.”  This is true, but the papers ignored the real story.  These men were in bondage to sin and to Satan.
19. Jesus was born so that He would die on the cross to deliver sinners from bondage (Heb. 2:15).
20. Satan has a hold on sinners.  Not all sinners are in bondage to perversion or lust or pornography.  Some are in bondage to alcohol or drugs or cigarettes.
21. Some are in bondage to materialism and consumerism and gambling.  They worship the almighty dollar.  Jesus warned, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24).
22. This materialism and consumerism and commercialism have nearly ruined Christmas.  Jesus has been shut out.
23. Millions of sinners are in bondage to false religion.
24. The Lord Jesus Christ died to “deliver them” from bondage (Heb. 2:15).  Jesus was born to die.  And then He rose triumphantly from the dead.  He destroyed Satan’s power of death and left the way open for you and me.

CONCLUSION:

1. The headlines in yesterday’s paper said, “Investor Furor Over $50 Billion Scam.”
2. The article said it was “the largest Ponzi scheme in history.”
3. It was quite a scam.  Many people were deceived.  Many investors are devastated.
4. But there is a much greater scam going on, and the newspapers never report it because they are part of the scam.
5. The devil has deceived people into thinking they can get to heaven without being born again.