Naracoorte Presbyterian Church

The Unparalleled excellence of Christ

• Genesis 19:15-29
• Hebrews 2:5-18

Introduction

At 9:26 p.m. on 25 April 2006, a minor earthquake measuring 2.3 on the Richter scale caused an underground rockfall at the Beaconsfield gold mine in northern Tasmania. Three miners were trapped beneath the surface as a result. Larry Knight was fatally injured during the initial collapse, while Brant Webb and Todd Russell survived. The two men sustained themselves by drinking groundwater which they collected in their helmets and carefully rationing a muesli bar shared between them. For four days they only ate small portions at a time. Sadly, Russell later lost much of the bar when it fell from his pocket.

Six days after the collapse of the tunnel, rescuers attempted numerous blasts to break through the rock. They entered the 925 level near the site of the rockfall and called out. Webb and Russell responded loudly. Rescue teams subsequently drilled a small hole—approximately the size of a domestic stormwater PVC pipe. This conduit enabled the supply of fresh water, food, and communications equipment. It also facilitated correspondence between the miners and their families. Rescuers drilled through 14.5 metres of rock, which enables the miners to discern drilling direction based on sound. 

On 3 May, ten days after the collapse, rescue workers began constructing a tunnel. Progress was slow due to challenging geological conditions. The workers faced a belt of hard rock that proved resistant to even jackhammers. Low-impact charges were utilized to advance further. After fourteen nights, the miners finally saw the rescuer’s lights. Before sunrise on 9 May, Webb and Russell were freed. They were then promptly transported to hospital for medical assessment.

This story is not in the first instance about the tenacity of the trapped miners. It is easy to remember their names. But these men walked free because of a carefully planned and executed rescue plan. Sadly, the names of Pat Ball, the underground manager, and the mine foreman, Steve Saltmarsh, receive only brief mention. Others who assisted their dangerous and courageous efforts are also barely acknowledged. 

Let’s take a few observations from the Beaconsfield tragedy:

• The trapped miners could’t do anything to save themselves.
• The trapped miners were not dead. If they were, the rescue operations would not go ahead. Their voices from behind the wall of debris inspired the rescuers to reach and save them.
• Their rescuers put their lives at risk to save them.
• If the rescuers would die in the in the process, the trapped miners would not be saved. 
• The rescue operation contributed to the safety procedures of the mine. However, the disaster did nothing to ensure the future of the mine. The operations were decommissioned in 2012.
• They trapped miners walked out free. Although they were no doubt indebted to their rescuers, the rescue did not really change their existence as human beings. They, like all of us, are still mortal human beings.

Our sermon title is: “The Man who rescued his dead family.”

Who needs salvation in  God’s rescue plan?

It is clear from our reading of the scriptures this morning that the dead are the fallen, sinful man. Once he was the crown of God’s creation,

 “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.” In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. (Hebrews 2:6–8a)

This verse from God’s Word ends on a tragic note. It states: “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.” (Hebrews 2:8b) Why? Genesis 2 gives us the reason,

“And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from 8 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16–17, NIV) 

We know what happened. Adam and Eve rebelled against God. When the Lord visited them again, He said to Adam,

“Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17) 

The tragic effect of this episode is recorded only a few verse on:

“So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.” (Genesis 3:23) 

All people, Jews, gentile and pagan, are under the curse of sin. The Bible declares, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Bible communicates clearly. “The wages of sin is death.” However, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

In Genesis 6:5-6 the Bible says, 

“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” (Genesis 6:5–6) 

Apart from 6 people, all died in the flood. We also read about the unrestrained sinfulness of man’s heart in Genesis 19 today. Man’s heart is inherently sinful and focused on destruction. It is set on death. Therefore, the Bible teaches, 

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:1–3) 

How did God’s rescue plan unfold?

Now we understand the statement in Hebrews 2:8, “Yet, at present we do not see everything subject to him.” The miners trapped behind the rubble were not dead, but there was nothing they could do to save themselves. In practice, during the time they sat in darkness almost a kilometre underground, they were not miners. Sinners not merely trapped in sin; they are dead in sin.

What a wonderful verse to read directly after we learned about man’s deadness in sin. Listen, 8 “But we see Jesus!” Thank You, Lord Jesus!

We see Jesus. Although He was higher in rank than the angles – they worshipped Him – He gave up His position. 

Why? This is mind-boggling. First,

Corpses are made alive

He suffered death to taste death for those who were already dead. If we apply the mine rescue here, Jesus called the trapped miners out of the darkness of a sure death. He rescued them and then died in their place. If this were possible in Beaconsfield we’d call it a miracle. But that’s what Christ did. It was a miracle driven by grace and love. He became their rescuer. He ensured they were free. He made certain they would not be crushed by the weight of the rocks on top of them. He took them by the hand and led them to freedom. The Bible says because of His victorious rescue mission He is now crowned with glory. He tasted death and overcame death and those He rescued now share in His victory over death. Death, where is your sting?!

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? (Romans 5:6–11, NET)

An act of grace and mercy

But let’s not miss a very important bit – almost mentioned in the passing – bit in that verse. Listen, “… He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9). Why was Jesus mindful of the dead in sin? Because God exhibited His mercy in the rescue mission. Why did God allow His Son to die for the dead? They already died the death they deserved. Why bother? Another glorious statement,

“For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” (Hebrews 2:10) 

The perfect Saviour between the holy God and utterly depraved sinners

See, Jesus share our humanity. Therefore He had to taste death. If He did not, He would not be the perfect Mediator. He was both the Son of God and the Son of man. He had to take our transgressions up Him because His Father could not let sin go by unpunished. If Christ did not die in the place of us sinners, we would face death. This would be God’s righteous reward for our rebellion and sin. That death would send us straight to hell.

Further down this chapter we read, 

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—” (Hebrews 2:14) 

I recounted the rescue event of Beaconsfield. I mentioned that, although the miners were saved, they were still subject to natural death. Their rescue mission was not complete. In other parts of the world mines tragically still collapse.

God’s rescue mission is perfect. Once freed from sin, once made a child of God, one lives in a relationship with Him as His child. The Bible says, Christ destroyed the power of death. Thos who were held in slavery by their fear of death are now free from God’s condemnation of sin. 

“For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17–18) 

He made sinners part of God’s family

The salvation He worked out for dead sinners, is perfect – complete as God demanded it to be so that we may be presented before Him as His children – as if we never sinned! The next verse spells it out,

“Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” (Hebrews 2:11) 

He now stands at the throne of God and declares, “Here am I and the children God has given me.”

All begins and ends with Christ

So, Jesus is called the “author of our salvation”. He is the beginning. He took the charge and stepped in to stand between us and God. Salvation begins and ends with Him. Hebrews 12 puts it in these words, 

Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:2–3)

Conclusion

Because of our rebellion against God, we have sinned and will face death, because the wage of sin is death.

• Christ perfectly executed God’s rescue plan. 
• Christ came to give life to people dead in sin.
• God showed His grace and mercy in Christ’s mission, because He has compassion on sinners.
• Christ took on our humanity and tasted death to set sinner free.
• Christ destroyed the power of Satan
• This act of God’s free grace in Jesus Christ reconciled us to God. Because Christ was the perfect atonement for our sin, God receives those who belief and trust in His Son’s sacrifice as His won children.
• Remember, it all begins and end with Christ. Without Him no one can know or experience saving grace.

All of this begs the question, “Do you know Christ as your Saviour? Do you serve Him as your Lord?”