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Hebrews 1:1-2:4  Such a Great Salvation

Rev. Tim Muse -BPC 3/3/02

Subj:  Revelation; Salvation

INTRODUCTION

     Let me invite you to take out the blue insert that you find in your bulletin and also to turn to the Book of Hebrews.  We begin our new series in the Book of Hebrews this morning, entitled “Hebrews:  New Confidence For The New Order, Responding In Faith To Such A Great Salvation.”  I would like to use this insert that you find in your bulletins to introduce the series.  First, I would like to point out that this title is taken from the text.  

             New Confidence – (8:1) “The point of what we are saying is this, we “do have” such a High

                                                      Priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in

                                                      heaven.”

                                        (10:19) “Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy

                                                       place by the blood of Jesus…”

                    New Order  - (9:10)  “They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial

                                                        washings – external regulations applying until the time of the new

                                                        order.”

     Responding in Faith – (10:22)  “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of

                                                        faith…”

                                          (13:22)  “Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation,…”

     Such a Great Salvation – (2:3)  “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”

     Here is a summary of the Book of Hebrews.  This is where we are headed.  Basically you and I live in a new age, we live in a new order, that time between the time of Christ’s first coming and the time of his second coming.  But in Christ’s coming, he communicated new things, in the progressive revelation of God’s message of salvation.  He revealed new things, not only coming himself, but also revealing new things about our salvation.  We live in a day in which we have this new message concerning salvation.  But that requires something of us.  It requires us to respond, in such a way that we actually come with a greater confidence, because more has been given to us than was given to those who went before us.  It requires us to come before God in faith and hold to that which we have confidence in.  We will begin looking at that this morning. 

     If you look on the back of the insert you will find our outline of the series.  We begin with “The New Confidence.”  First of all, you will find nine different sermonic or paragraph divisions there and then we will look at “The New Order” itself.  There are eight of those for a total of seventeen.  You will also find there our theme verses for the series.  Let me encourage you to memorize them because .  I draw your attention to two word uses here.  We are to draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith and that is one of the deep convictions and the deep teachings of the Book of Hebrews.  That we are not simply to come to this lightly, but we are to come to Gods word and to his salvation with full assurance of faith.  So if you come this morning and you’ve got partial assurance of faith, or there are days you kind of give yourself to it and days you kind of wander off, it says God calls us because of all that he has given us in this day and age and this new order.  He says you and I are to come to it with full assurance of faith.  Secondly in these verses, the theme verses, you will see that we are to hold unswervingly to the hope we profess.  We are not to take it some days and move off of it, but we are to hold unswervingly, to possess it fully and to hold to it unswervingly.  Meaning that we reject all other things and we are to hold to this gospel as our very life.  That being said let me take you now to the Scripture. 

SCRIPTURE READING

I would like to read for you the first four verses of Chapter 1 and the first verse of Chapter 2, as we look to God’s message for us here in this day and age.  Chapter 1, Verse 1:

     “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”  May God add his blessing to this reading and our understanding of his word, would you bow with me in prayer.

PRAYER

     Our heavenly Father, as we come to you and as we come to sit under the authority of your word this morning, we recognize that our salvation is not found in a program, it is not found in particular practices, but it is found in a person.  It is found in Jesus Christ, himself.  Therefore, this morning Father our prayer is this, that we may see Christ today, in the face of Jesus, as he sits exalted and enthroned above.  For your glory and our good we pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

SERMON

The Book of Hebrews begins with these words.  “In the past God spoke…God spoke.”  We find in these few short words the first hint about what the Book of Hebrews is all about.  We find our first hint about the significance and the weight that we ought to place on everything else that follows here in the Book of Hebrews.  “In the past God spoke.”  Not only does it say it once, but it says it twice. Verse 1 says: “In the past God spoke.”  Verse 2 goes on to say, “…but in these last days God has spoken.”  I find that significant.  I would like to point out this morning that as we come to our study of the Book of Hebrews, what we are coming to is not simply the words of my three-year-old son.  And we are not coming to the words of anyone else here within this congregation.  Nor are we coming to the words of the greatest man who ever lived on the face of this earth.  What we come to as we come to the Book of Hebrews is the fact that “God” has spoken.  Meaning this, that as we come to our study here in the Book of Hebrews what we find is the central thrust, the main teaching of the Book of Hebrews, deals with the very core issues of your life and my life and of religion itself.  You see it tells us that God spoke.  Therefore, you and I ought to pay more careful attention to the things that we read.  Think about that.  God spoke.  The God of all creation, the God of all glory, our creator, not only in the past spoke, but even in these days has spoken.  I would suggest to you - that adds great responsibility to people like you and me as to how we live our life before God and particularly, the attention that we give to his word.  You see the truth of the matter is over the next several months, as we begin to look at the Book of Hebrews, the ultimate end for your listening to these sermons is not to here my view on the Book of Hebrews. It is not simply to come to toss about in our minds particular principles or particular themes or to pick up a point here and there that may make your life or my life a little easier or a little more satisfactory to ourselves.  That is not the ultimate end.  For that which we are drawn to, that ultimate question and the ultimate response that is ultimately called upon each one of us, is to respond to the One who has spoken.  The word says that in the past “God spoke.”  You see what that deals with is the fact that God is revealing himself to humanity, to people like you and me.  Not only is he revealing himself to humanity, the word tells us that God has communicated with us.  Therefore, by default it is humanity, its each human’s responsibility to give a response to God and to his message.  So over the next several months, again it is not my words that you need to be most concerned about, but you need to be concerned about what God has to say,  through his word and through the preaching of his word.  The ultimate end, the ultimate question, is how will you and I respond to God.  How will you and I respond to the message that he has communicated.

     How many of you have ever heard of  E. F. Hutton?  I am not familiar with the company but I remember the commercial that was shown on TV for years that regardless of whether the people in the commercial were in the board room or whether they were on the airplane that as soon as someone said E. F. Hutton says, there would be total silence.  You see the point was that if E. F. Hutton said it, because of who he was and what he represented, because of the importance of E. F. Hutton, and the potential gain that one could take advantage of by listening to E. F. Hutton and at the same time the consequences that they would pay if they didn’t listen when they had the opportunity.  Then by all means they needed to pay attention when E. F. Hutton spoke.  Again, I don’t know what that company has done since then, some of the financial leaders here in the church might could give you more information on that.  The point is this.  In the very same way, what we find here is that God has spoken and because of who He is and because of the significance that he has in your life and mine and because of the advantage of, the great advantage, that you and I can gain if you and I listen for his voice.  Particularly in the light of the consequences that we will reap and find in our lives if we don’t.  What this text says, even in the first five verses, is certainly if those in the past had reason to listen to God’s salvation, then all the more you and I have to hear it as we live in this age, which much more has been given to us concerning that salvation.  You see it is not my three-year-old son, E. F. Hutton, it is not the President of the United States that has spoken, but it is God who speaks.  It is God who has spoken and you and I need to take note of that. 

     I think it takes on even greater significance when we remember that the text doesn’t just say, God has spoken, but it says “in these last days,” God has spoken, “to us.”  Think about that.  You see what it deals with is not just that you and I have received second hand information, as to what he gave through the prophets to our forefathers two thousand years ago.  But the Book of Hebrews says that God has spoken to us, in this day and in this age.  You see you and I are accountable as to how we deal with the message spoken to our forefathers, but there is greater and added responsibility, when we see that God has spoken to us directly and specifically.  Even personally during this day and this age. 

     But that is not all.  What we find is you and I ought to pay more careful attention to God’s word, because God has not only communicated, and communicated to us in this day and age, but ultimately this passage says that we ought to pay careful attention, because of who he has communicated that message to us through.  For it says he has communicated in these last days, to us “by his Son.”  I want you to think about that with me.  We have twelve minutes remaining and I am going to draw this passage together in that time, hopefully.  It says that because he has communicated the message to us by his Son, we need to pay more careful attention.  Why his Son?  What has he got to do with anything?  What we find is that Christ is superior to all others.  He is superior to all the prophets that came before him.  He is superior to any being here upon this earth or in the spiritual realm above. 

     Let me ask you the question.  If we were to try to communicate a significant truth to another country who would we send?  Would we send the Mayor of Brandon?  Would we send the Governor of  the State of Mississippi?  Or would it be better to send the President, himself.  Let me give you another example.  When the United States was concerned in the Cuban missile crisis.  When we had missiles that were basically in range to do some significant damage here.  Who did John F. Kennedy send?  Did he send the agent that had initially informed the Cubans we were wanting to make a deal?  He had sent him to begin with, but when we really needed to convince them  we were serious about bringing the deal to a close and them removing their missiles and we would remove some of our defense systems and  even keep quiet as to how that deal worked for a while.  Who did John F. Kennedy send?  The agent again or did he use an ambassador to the former Soviet Union, or did he send his brother?  His own flesh and blood it you will.  Who the  world knew was working right along his side in the White House.  Who carried probably greater authority and greater influence than any other statesman.  Who is the President’s own brother and therefore, if he went with the message.  Okay now the Soviet Union can have assurance, okay this is probably real and we probably need to pay careful attention, because it is not just Tim Muse saying this, it is not just Mark Muse saying this, but this is coming from the White House. 

     I use that example because of what we have here is that God could have sent another prophet.  In fact God could have simply spoken through preachers today, to his people.  But what does it say?  It says no he has spoken to us not by prophets of old, not by preachers, not even by angels in the heavens above, but it says in our day, and in these last days, in the time between Christ and the second coming.  It says that he has spoken to us by his own Son.  His own flesh and blood if you will through the incarnation.  Now what do we find out about Jesus.  What difference does it make that Jesus came and that we received a message from him?  For the passage says that ought to be important to people like you and me because Christ is superior to all others.  He says that is was that significant.  Christ is superior to all others and therefore we ought to pay attention to him. 

     Look with me if you would at vv. 3-4.  We read there that “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.”  What we find in verse five through fourteen is this.  We find seven old testament texts.  There are false prophets in these days that were saying forget about Christ he has been dead and gone we know this is second generation Christians at this point.  He has been dead and gone don’t worry about him, what we need is the old testament.  For we know that God spoke even through the angels at Mount Sinai.  In the giving of the Ten Commandments.  We know that God spoke with Moses but if you look at Steven in the Book of Acts, if you look at Paul in the Book of Galatians, if you look at Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 32.  You see that the angels had a part in the revealing of the Ten Commandments.  So they are saying that we don’t need Christ, let’s go back.  The writer of Hebrews says, go back to the Old Testament, but see what it says concerning the anointed one, see what it says concerning the Messiah.  Then look at how important, what importance you ought to place on his words.  Look with me at these verses if you will.  Verse 5, we see two different things.  First of all we read two different verses.  One taken from Psalms and one taken from 2 Samuel, Chapter 7.  It says: “For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”  Or again in 2 Samuel  “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.”  You see out of all those who have ever come before there is no one that God set this particular title upon.  Sure we are sons of God and even the angels in the Book of Job as a corporate group were called the Sons of Elohim or the Sons of God.  But what he is saying here is there is a distinction here.  He says this is a significant title that is laid upon Christ and He and He alone has received this title.  Such that, he is superior to even angels who went before him.  It goes even further than that, it says Verse 6: “And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,  “Let all God’s angels worship him.”  Now think about it.  There are Jehovah’s Witnesses that go up and when we say, he is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His being, it points to his Divinity, and they say “oh no, he is simply someone who came here to the earth and over time he began to grow in favor with God and at some point God the Father actually made him a god.”  So many Christians have fallen to that over the years.  But what does it say?  Pay particular attention to God’s word here.  What does it say?  It says in Verse six “And again, when God brings his firstborn into this world, he says,  “Let all God’s angels worship him.”  So it wasn’t later in his life, but he says even as Christ came to this world, it points to his deity.  For the angels in heaven worship no creators.  They worship no one here upon this earth.  They only worship God himself.  In fact we see that very description given of Christ himself in verse 8 when it say: “But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.”  Now think about that.  In the Old Testament God gave his word and he gave a plan the salvation through the prophets.  Sure, that was important and that was useful and that means a lot.  But think about the difference between the confidence you and I can have in the sense that he has not only given it to us through his prophet but now if you have one here who is called God, himself.  What we find in God’s word is that in these last days, God has spoken to us through his Son, who is God, himself.  Now let me ask you how much importance do you put upon the message of salvation as we have received it.  These are not simply the words of the prophets of old, though that is useful and it is inerrant and infallible and so forth.  But you and I now come to the very word of God, itself. 

     Let me show you why that is important.  There are so many Christians today that say I am a Christian and yet when it comes to salvation and the doctrines of salvation, they say “oh, what do we believe?”  God has spoken to us through his Son, the Son who is God.  Jesus Christ, God himself, has spoken to us. It is that important! ,,, and then we will say “oh, what do we believe?”  There are other Christians who would say, yes I am saved and I have made a profession, but you know “what about Buddha? … & what about Mohammed? …what about all these other prophets that are coming into the world today?  You know, what about plurality of religions, shouldn’t we give just as much credence to them?”  The author of Hebrews says Christ is superior to ALL, including the angels in the heavens above.  He says there is no Mohammed, there is no prophet even of old that can compare with him, much less the false prophets that are being put forth today.  It says you, your throne O God will last forever and ever and it is Christ himself that has come to give his word.  There are those who would say yes, I am a believer, I profess faith in Christ, but you know I really don’t have time to go worship today, I know it is Sunday but I have got other things to do.  I really don’t have time for my Bible study.  These things are important I know and I will get around to them sometime.  God has spoken.  God has spoken in his word and conveyed salvation. 

     I will go on to other verses here that were taken the Old Testament that point to the eternality or to the fact that God has been here from the beginning and he will be here to the end.  In v. 10 we read: “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,  and the heavens are the work of your hands.”   All belongs to him.  They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.”  You will roll them up like a robe, like a garment they will be changed but you remain the same and your years will never end.   You see Mohammeds and the Buddhas will come, but Christ remains the same forever.  This is the word of God concerning salvation for our life and therefore, this is our life.  Therefore, the writer of Hebrews says in Heb 2:1:  “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” 

     That’s his superiority, how about his office, what about the nature of Christ, what about the offices that he holds?  Look at vv 3-4 with me.  “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”  We have already said that points to the fact that he is divine, certainly we ought to pay attention to his word.  But not only that it goes on to say he sustains all things according to his powerful word.  If you want to be sustained for this life and for eternity we must pay attention to his word.  He is the great Prophet, but not only is he the great Prophet he is also the great High Priest.  That particular verse goes on to say: “After he had provided purification for sins.”  You see the prophets could only tell of a salvation that was going to come in the future.  But what we read here in the Book of Hebrews is that Christ himself is the great High Priest.  He didn’t give through the blood of bulls and goats.  But he himself went into the heavens above to provide his sacrifice for our sins once and for all through the cross of Calvary.  He is the great High Priest.  But not only that he is the reigning king.  It goes on to say and then: “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”  He is currently reigning.  Let me ask you the great Prophet above all prophets, no beginning and no end.  His word will always stand true, should you pay attention to it.  He is the one who  has provided salvation for our sins and has given to us here in this day and this age . Should we pay attention to it or should we continue to give over in conversation and say I know this is true but what if, you know people say it is not true and we have to give credence to their word.  It is his word, he has come to give it to us.   And then finally he is reigning in heaven above… you and I should attention to it. 

     Well, we are told, we must pay attention, we must pay more careful attention therefore to what we have heard and it gives these reasons so that we do not drift away.  What do you and I have to do to drift?  We have come to faith in Christ just like these mature Hebrews.  They had suffered, they had been persecuted, they had taken insults, they had done all kinds of things, but still the author writes to them.  Why?  What do you and I have to do to drift?  The answer is nothing.  You see when you and I begin to get lazy and when you and I begin to say yeah it is true we don’t pay attention to his word.  We begin to slowly back up from it. 

     In fact there are five warnings and cautions that are given here in the Book of Hebrews and I would like to read those for you.  Warren Wiersbe helps us with that when he says this.  “In this particular chapter, Chapter 2 it speaks of our drifting away.  In Chapter 3 it speaks of our doubting God’s word , in Chapter 5 and 6 the dullness that we have, Chapter 10 despising the word and finally in Chapter 12, defying the word” (paraphrase, mine).  I like the way one commentator put it when he said this: “If we do not listen to God’s word and rightly hear it we will start to drift.  Neglect always leads to drifting.” And if we drift from the word we will start to doubt the word, because faith comes from the hearing of the word of God.  We get hard hearts and this leads to spiritual sluggishness, which produces dullness toward the word.  We become dull of hearing, lazy listeners, and this leads to a despiteful attitude toward the word to the extent that we willfully disobey God, and this gradually leads into a defiant attitude, we almost dare God to do anything to our lives.  There is a danger and that is though you and I profess to be Christians that you and I do not hold to this word for one of two things will be true.  You and I are like a boat, being anchored on the shore, we will either hold on, and continue to advance, even though the currents begin to try to push us the other way, or we will let go and begin to drift.  At that point we fail to experience the joys and the satisfactions and the protections that God has for us in this salvation. 

     Here is the question.  Have you considered the significance of what it means, that God didn’t just send prophets, he didn’t even send angels, but he sent his own son, that you might know the message of his salvation?  If he has done that, then have considered what that means when it comes to our worship and your service of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  How much attention do you pay to God’s word?  Is it something that you just know the general meaning of?  Are you concerned knowing this is God’s word and he sustains you and me through his word?   I believe that this is the one thing that makes the greatest difference in a person’s life. 

     I can tell you in my own life, this is the one thing when I really came to understand this is God’s word and this is salvation and this is my life.  That is the one thing that enabled me to hold firmly and take seriously the teaching of Scripture, and to reject all other religions.  I have no need for them.  It is the one thing that enabled me to commit my all to him, because this is God’s word and there is no other ,and this is my life!  If there is life, it is going to found in the pages of  this text.  Then it enabled me to be able to continue to pursue and to continue to drive, that  I might discover and experience more and more of that salvation as he communicates it to me.  Where are you in life?  Are you that committed that you believe this is your life and therefore you need to be committed to it, … to pay “close” attention to it, even knowing the minute details of it?  Or, are you still in debate on the matter, thinking to yourself in an agnostic sense, thinking “we don’t know.”

     The TRUTH of the matter is:  “In these last days, God has communicated to us, by his Son.”  Would you bow with me in prayer?

CLOSING PRAYER

     Our heavenly Father, O Lord  how we do praise you that you have not left us to our own, but that you have communicated the word of your salvation to us.  Father. that the sin of our life might be dealt with, that we might be fully purified through the great High Priest, Jesus Christ himself.  Father,  I pray for this congregation, I pray for each one that has been here today and the hearing of  this gospel.  Father that you would continue to work in our lives, that we might know without a shadow of a doubt, that indeed you have communicated with us through your Son, …that his salvation that he has communicated, is not simply one that is to take place in the future but indeed it is a completed act.  Your word says that Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  Father, you have honored him and we pray that you will enable us to honor him in his word.  We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.

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