Ethan Vroom | Two Truths and a Response

Sunday Evening, April 5, 2026
Given by Ethan Vroom | Pastoral Intern, Christ Covenant Church

Two Truths and a Response
Hebrews 2:14-18

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Transcript

Good evening, Christ Covenant Church. Happy Easter. He is risen.

It is a delight to be with you to open up God's Word. I pray that today has been filled with great food and fellowship as we remember the glorious truth that Christ himself is risen from the dead. If you regularly attend Christ Covenant here in the evening, you will know that we are going through the Heidelberg Catechism. And tonight, we continue on in our series and are on Lord's Day 14. If you would, turn to your bulletin where we can read it together responsively. Lord's Day 14. I will read the questions, and we will answer responsively together. 

Q: What does it mean that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary? 

A: That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took to himself through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, a true human nature, so that he might also become David's true descendant, like his brothers in all things except for sin.

Q: How does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you?

A: He is our mediator, and in God's sight, he covers us with his innocence and perfect holiness, my sin in which I was conceived.

In conjunction with the catechism, our passage this evening is found in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14-18. Let us give our attention to the reading of God's holy and precious and infallible Word. Hebrews 2:14-18. 

“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, 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. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people, for because he himself has suffered when tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Let us pray. 

Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, by the word of your power everything has come into existence. You are good and gracious to us. You are faithful and kind. You have revealed yourself to us. You have given us your word that we might know your Son, Jesus Christ. I pray that you would send your Spirit now and illumine our hearts and our minds that we might behold him, that we may see the man Jesus Christ, our mediator and friend. Grant that our hearts may be tender to him, that we may delight anew in him. Dispel any drowsiness or distraction this evening, that our testimony may be that we have met with the living God. We pray all this in the name of Jesus, who sits even now at the right hand interceding for us. Amen. 

If I threw you a shovel and asked you to dig a six-foot grave, I wonder how many of us could do it. How many of us would enjoy that? I'm sure it wouldn't be what we call a wonderful experience. In fact, if your work does not consist of physical labor, I'm sure that your lower back would begin to ache at being bent over. Your hands, oh, your hands, they would be worn raw. The up and down of the shovel, the constant movement with the dirt and the sweat, would cause the very skin on your hands to be rubbed right off. However, if, say, you work landscaping, it wouldn't quite be the same experience, would it? Why? Well, because you would do that quite often. Those muscles, they would become strong. Those hands, your hands, well, they would have callouses on them. They would become tough. And while these callouses are good and wonderful things when shoveling holes or swinging a hammer, they are less so when handling the holy truths of the Lord. 

As we come to the catechism and the Word tonight, the truth of God's Word, we must be careful that our hands do not become calloused to the truths of God's sacred Word. Our points today fall under the headings of Christ the man and Christ the mediator. The past few sermons in the series have centered on who Christ is – the person and the work of Christ – who Jesus is and what he has done. The Heidelberg Catechism has been expositing, been telling us, what the Apostles’ Creed means, what it means to recite it together. And two weeks ago, Pastor Tom explained what it means to say, "I believe in Jesus Christ." We can't just call him Frank. No, his names matter. And last week, Pastor Dave preached what it means that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, our Lord, how the second person of the Trinity is fully and wholly God. That, as John tells us, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This Jesus was and is eternally God. And it's important to keep that in our minds – present in our minds – as we come to our topic today, that we don't leave that behind. We need to remember who the Son is in the Godhead as we come to our first point: Christ the man. 

It was the Son of God himself who became man, and that's our first truth: Christ the man. Our passage, as we just read in Hebrews, says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things.” Since, therefore, you and I have flesh and blood, Christ was a man. The catechism states it as having taken to himself a true human nature. It's the language of flesh and blood. Now, the phrase “flesh and blood” is used five times in the New Testament, and it's understood to mean weakness or frailty. Paul uses these two words in Ephesians 6 when describing our fight against Satan. He writes, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present age, against the spiritual forces” that maybe put our lights out tonight. And you can see here the language of flesh and blood is pit against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces, and it's used to show how flesh and blood is weak. It's dependent. It needs continual nourishment. It needs sleep. It needs rest. That God by becoming a man added weakness to himself. That God by becoming a man added weakness to himself. He came in weakness as a baby and was crucified in weakness. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, Christ's humanity is like ours. He has a body of flesh and blood. His hands, oh, his hands, they would have received slivers as he ran his hands over the wood as a carpenter. His hands would have been calloused and tough. Many people in the time of the early church thought that God just appeared as a man, that he was just a continual illusion or maybe a vision. This is known as docetism. It's a heresy, and basically what docetism teaches is that the person of Jesus only seemed like a man. Therefore, he only seemed to undergo suffering. He wasn't actually weak, because God couldn't be weak, and our passage stops that in its tracks. It says he partook of flesh and blood. And it's not as if God just took control of a body like a classical puppet with strings attached. No. In the same way that you and I have flesh and blood, Jesus took to himself a human nature. He is like us in every way. 

And he was like us in every way all while being perfect. He was a perfect man. It's interesting to note that you're more likely to run across someone today who thinks that Jesus was only a man, that it wasn't that God appeared, but the Apostles’ Creed says that he was eternally God, the only begotten Son of God, and it was the eternally begotten Son of God who became a man. When the Apostles’ Creed says that he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, it's using the language that Scripture uses. Earlier in our service, we read the Gospel of Matthew, and Matthew writes that Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. I think it would be very unhelpful to begin to imagine how that happens, and that's not the point. We don't know how that happens, only that it does. It's through this miracle that God takes on flesh. He is fully God and fully man. The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and miraculously upholds her and him so that he is not born in sin. And so, the Apostles’ Creed echoes Scripture and sets forth these guardrails, so to speak, that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Through this we have a perfect man. 

And our second point tonight is Christ the mediator. Hebrews 2 says that he had been made like us in every respect so that he may become a merciful and faithful high priest. Christ is our high priest, and the role of a priest was to mediate between God and man. The catechism frames it in this way. How does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit us? He is our mediator. Notice that the catechism says that we benefit through this. What is that benefit? Brothers and sisters, Hebrews tells us that through death he might destroy the power of death, that is, the devil. That is our benefit. What an amazing truth that he has defeated death. And right now, as you know, March Madness is coming to a close. And do you know how one team is completely and utterly better than another team? When one team has a bad game and still beats a team, and even more so when one team has a bad game, the other team has a great game, and the bad team still wins. That's how you know one team is completely, utterly, wholly better than the other team. That's what Hebrews is telling us here. And to be clear, I'm not saying that Jesus had a bad game, but it goes to show that the weakness of God – the weakness of Christ – overcame the strength of Satan and death. In fact, the word “destroy” – when it says that he destroyed the power of death – it means “make of no effect,” to nullify, to deprive of force, influence, power. Christ in his weakness made death of no effect. He nullified it, deprived it of his force, influence, and power. We know this because it's Easter. The chains of death could not hold him. From the grave, he broke free. He nullified death, and it has no effect. We are no longer slaves. Instead, we celebrate Christ risen. He is the first fruits of the resurrection, as 1 Corinthians says. He destroyed death by satisfying it. 

He has mediated once for all by paying the price for sin and granting us his righteousness. This is the good news of the gospel. And here's the thing about Christ's mediation: we hear the word “mediator,” and we think of maybe two parties that are at odds with one another. And what begins to happen is that we think Christ's mediation is like that of, maybe, a real estate agent. He's there to negotiate a deal between two parties. That is not the case with God and man. Yes, there is a gap between God and man called sin. But what can sneak into our thinking is that God the Father is angry, and God the Son loves. And we begin to think that there is a difference within the Godhead itself which is not there. The Godhead is perfectly one. Instead, it was the Father's love for us that sent the Son to pay the price. Christ mediates because he is fully God and fully man. And his mediation is sure and secure. He came to help the offspring of Abraham, as Hebrews 2 notes. And it's interesting to note the Greek word for help literally means “to lay hold of.” He came to lay hold of the offspring of Abraham. It's the same word that Matthew uses when Jesus reaches out and takes hold of Peter as he is sinking. Or the same word that Mark uses in Mark 8:23 when Jesus takes hold of the blind man to heal him. He helps. He takes hold of the offspring of Abraham. He holds them in his hand. Jesus himself tells us in John 10:28-29, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father has given them to me. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” Christ's mediation is safe and secure. No one can snatch you from his hand. 

His mediation not only was a one-time event, but it's an ongoing event. He saved us from sin and death, but he continues to mediate for us even now. Christ himself took to himself a human nature and continues to have that human nature even now. He continues to have a body, and he intercedes for us even now. He continues to act as our high priest. Hebrews 2 writes that not only has God delivered us from death, but he continues to deliver us from ongoing sin. Since he himself was a man, he is able to help us who are being tempted to sin. How does he help? Later in the book of Hebrews, the author writes in chapter 7:24-25 that he, that is Christ, holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. Christ has interceded for us by taking our place, and he continues to intercede. He helps us by making intercession for us. He prays for you, even now, by name. We are helped when we face temptation, because we have a high priest who mediates, who makes intercession for us. Would that not change how you thought about your days when you were tempted to lash out, lose your temper, or run back to that habitual sin? What if every time you were tempted by that sin you called to mind the fact that our mediator intercedes for you? Even now, he is able to help. That is our Christ. He has faced temptation. He knows what it is like, even more than we do, to suffer temptation. And he identifies with our suffering, which is why he came as a man, for that very reason. 

We have a mediator who loves and cares for us. What is our response? After all, this sermon is titled “Two Truths and a Response.” As we have seen, our two truths are Christ the man and Christ the mediator. And might I put forward that a true and proper response to these truths is made up of two components or two ingredients, so to speak? Delight and devotion. Here's a quick story to illustrate the point. Growing up, I loved the game of hockey. You could even call it my first love. And what that meant was that I would wake up at 6:00 every single day during hockey season, and I would sneak downstairs, and I would pull up the Toronto Sports Network page on my computer, and I would watch every single highlight from the night before. I knew who led every stat line. I delighted in hockey, and therefore I studied it. But it didn't stop at delight. No, my delight resulted in devotion. You didn't find me watching highlights all day, every day. My love of hockey meant that I didn't just watch hockey. I was devoted to hockey. You could find me outside in the afternoons on our driveway for hours and hours, practicing it, perfecting my shot, making every little move perfect. Delight of hockey naturally led to devotion. Do you delight in the truth of Christ? Christ the man, Christ the mediator. Do you sit in his Word every day? Eat it up, study it, and are you devoted to him, practicing your Christianity every single day in the workplace, walking as the Bible would have you walk? Or has your love grown lukewarm? What are you waking up every morning to look at, to study? Is it your bank account? Is it your news? What has taken the place of the truth of who Christ is and what Christ has done? If you ever find yourself struggling to feel alive in your faith, I invite you to consider the love of Christ. To consider that God himself delighted in man. He delighted in us, so much so that he added a true human nature to himself, so that through faith in him we may no longer suffer the fear or consequence of death. He partook of flesh and blood. He delighted in us. Christ himself was devoted to us. He came as our propitiation, our atonement, and his devotion means that he was our mediator. He came in weakness to overcome the strength of the devil. He paid the price and conquered sin and the grave. Without these truths – Christ the man and Christ the mediator – we don't celebrate Easter. We don't celebrate victory over death. God delights in and is devoted to all who place their trust, their faith, in him alone. And we love, because he first loved us. Let us pray. 

Oh Lord, you have been so faithful to your words, to your promises. You sent your only begotten Son to take on flesh and blood and die on a cross, thereby nullifying death. Help us, we pray, as we go from this place into all that you have called us to, help us to think on these truths, to delight in them, to be devoted to them, to write them on our hearts. Fill us with your Spirit, that all who meet us might know you; that the truth of who you are and what you have done would be the aroma of life to a dying world; that your church would go forth victorious, even as you walked out of a tomb victorious 2,000 years ago. And we do pray this in the name of Jesus – our mediator and savior, Jesus. Amen.