Jesus, our Salvation

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

We are going to be in Hebrews this morning, in Hebrews chapter 2. And really, we're just covering the first four verses. So you know it's going to be a quick Sunday, right? Only four verses. How long could that take? So, as you're, as you're turning there, today's actually, we're going to dive into some tough issues. And we're going to dive into those issues because Hebrews covers it, because it's in the Bible. We preach the Bible. And I promise that you do not need a theological degree to work through it. You might need to take some notes. There is a notes taking place on the back of a worship guide on the back. There's just notes. Feel free to take notes there. That's a good way to kind of follow along.

For some of you it might be a really terrible idea to take notes and that's okay too. You don't have to take notes. We're going to have a lot of the scripture up on the screen. And so if you want to follow along there, if you want to follow along in your Bible or in your Bible app, that is good. So we said last week that Hebrews was a really long sermon. It's kind of this written sermon, this 13 chapter sermon. And we saw how it kind of carried itself. It kind of explains itself, it starts itself, it kind of works through it as a sermon, would kind of work through different modes. So what I want to do is start in chapter 2 verse 1. And I just want to read that and kind of go from there. Hebrews 2, 1 says, therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. So I want to start with therefore, the therefore, and this is just some good Bible reading pro tip right here.

Whenever you see therefore, it's a good idea to read a little bit before to see what it's there for. See what I did there? I definitely stole that, but it's a good trick. It's a good thing to remember. Anytime you see it, therefore, it's saying, okay, because of what was just established, we're about to build on that, right? That's what, when it says therefore, it's not just some connecting word. That's not the only purpose it serves. It connects back to what we learned already, and what we learned last week, is that because Jesus is the final word of God, because the gospel of Jesus, the Son of God, is authoritative, that there's not gonna be another revelation of God, right? That Jesus is the final revelation of God. And we also learned that Jesus was the full word of God, that Jesus is the author of creation, that Jesus is the ancient of days, that Jesus in the beginning created the heavens

than the earth. And that's what we saw in Hebrews 1 verse 11, 10 and 11. That Jesus is the one who is worthy of all worship, that we cannot possibly overstate Jesus's value. There's no est, there's no word, there's no adjective that we could put out there that would fully cover Jesus's majesty and grandeur and grace and mercy toward us, there's just no way.

Jesus is the one, he is the full word of God, he is the final word of God. And so because, because, therefore, because Jesus is the full and final word of God, pay attention to what we have heard. We need to pay attention to what we have heard, referring here to the gospel message that has been given. They have heard the gospel message. We're still dealing with an oral culture. Much of this is oral at this point, so these are stories that are being passed down. These are things that are being taught to one another. There are things that are being written down, and that's great, but a lot of these people are either illiterate or there's nothing written for them. And so they're saying, we need to pay close attention to what we have heard. There is a connection between who Jesus is and the gospel message. If someone says they love Jesus, but they are neck deep in sin and

they are unrepentant, the Bible is pretty clear, 1 John 1, 6, they are a liar. It says, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Bible calls you a liar. You say, I love Jesus, I know Jesus, but then you are over here and you are walking in unrepentant what Scripture in the Old Testament called high handed sin, meaning openly defiant. If I'm walking in a way that openly is defiant toward Jesus, and I say I'm a Christian, the Bible says I'm a liar. When we talk about the gospel message and how that is connected to who Jesus is, there's two things to remember. first, that we need to get the gospel message right, that getting the information right really matters. A polluted gospel misleads people from Christianity to another religion. Essentially, when you have a polluted gospel, it usually gets polluted a couple of kind

of common ways, but the most common is that if you do right, then you will earn salvation. And if you believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that you keep your nose clean and come to church and you're a good person And you're gonna go to heaven then you do not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me be real clear I'll say it again if you believe That all you have to do is is keep your nose clean Don't engage in these really heinous sins over here And I'm just gonna do right and I'm just gonna be a good citizen And I'm going to open the door for people and I'm going to help people that are that are marginalized And I'm just gonna I'm just gonna do those good things and then you believe that that's somehow gonna earn you salvation. You are Incorrect, you have believed something that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ

Period and I'm not even trying to be mean I'm trying to be helpful you believe a polluted gospel you believe actually what every other world religion will tell you is true. Every other world religion will tell you if you do right, if you perform a specific way, or if you do these things all in a row, then you are going to achieve salvation. Nirvana, you know, something, heaven, you're going to achieve that. But the gospel says that salvation is by grace alone. The gospel says that salvation is through faith alone. You don't do anything. You put your faith in Jesus. And then lastly, the salvation is in Christ alone. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. If someone believes of this sort of gospel, they believe they earn salvation, then let me tell you, there's no reason to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you believe that all Jesus did was say, hey, I'm gonna live a really good life, live a really good life like me, then maybe you owe Jesus a thank you note. But that is not a relationship. That is not heart change. That you're not saved from anything. Jesus said, I did this, you can do it too. Sign up here. That's not the gospel of Jesus. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that he's done it. that He finished everything for us and He invites us into a relationship with Him. In that relationship, we are covered. We are covered by Jesus's good deeds. Getting the information right matters. When we talk about what we have heard in Hebrews 2, chapter 2, verse 1, we need to understand that getting the gospel information right, it matters. We need to get it correct. But the other thing that we need to understand is that the heart matters just as much because you can get all the information right,

but you can get the heart wrong. You can be right the wrong way. You can have someone who maybe is exploring the gospel, they're asking a bunch of questions and they're asking you these questions. And they're like, hey, I just don't understand this. And all you do, you don't listen to what they're saying. You don't listen to their questions. You don't love them. You don't reach out to them. You don't have a relationship with them. You just repeat the message, the gospel message, the right information in formulaic fashion. And that's all you do. You just spit that out. You have likely lost the relationship. You have lost the opportunity to love them. Your information on the gospel may be correct, but you gave it the wrong way and you were shutting people out of heaven. It's not just about information getting that right. Just because you have correct theology, it doesn't give you the right

to be a jerk about it. Okay? That when Jesus came, his theology was perfect. But what did he do? He compassionately reached out to people who got a lot of things wrong and didn't feel the need to like correct them all the way first, but reach out to them in love. The message of what we have heard, it's not just information that we need to get right, it's also a heart. So Jesus then is the full and final Word of God and because of that we need to pay attention to the gospel message that he gave, that he lived out. But there's more. There's more. It says therefore we must pay much closer attention. Okay so there's this there's this other part, you know, because Jesus is the full and final word of God, therefore, because Jesus is the full and final word of God, we need to pay, and the word choice is funny here, much closer attention, closer than what? I would like

for you just to take a minute and consider your sources of news. What do you tune into? And I imagine the array of news sources in this room is pretty wide and varied. I imagine that some of you are reading articles, paper or online. Some of you are just watching videos. Some of you are only listening to friends. Some of you are only talking to co-workers. Some of you are only on this channel or that channel. Or you're only on Facebook or you're only on TikTok or you're only on Instagram or Twitter, how do you get your news? Well, however you get it, the encouragement in Hebrews 2:1 is to listen more closely to Jesus the Word. And maybe I can put it in a different way because all these news sources that you have are giving you a worldview. They are explaining events as having significance, as playing out a a certain way. And so what this is saying is, pay much closer attention to what we've heard.

What it's saying is, listen to Jesus describe world history. From Stonehenge to superconductors to social media, you listen to Jesus say, it's all under my control. Everything, this whole world that is happening. It's all at my discretion. I'm in charge. I'm the one. I'm the eternal Son. I'm the Creator. I'm the Ancient of Days. Listen to Jesus describe the world history under his control. Listen to him instruct you through a trial. You're going through a trial. We've been praying about a trial this morning with the with the Terry's and the Hayes. Listen to Jesus say that I'm allowing this trial for you to come to me. I am using these circumstances in your life to build character, to build resilience, to make you into my image. We listen to Jesus do that. If we listen to other new sources describe trials we We will not hear that message. We will come to believe like most Americans that trials are some kind of punishment or

some kind of nuisance. They are to be avoided at all costs. There is nothing redeeming about them. Listen to Jesus even describe the life of faith where he says to us, I've set you free completely. You don't need more. We need to run in that freedom. Jesus speaks to us, and we should listen. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. He speaks us through the Bible. He speaks to us in godly counsel. He speaks to us in preaching. Jesus speaks, and we need to pay much more, closer, much closer attention. This is why when you spend too much time on another channel other than Jesus, It warps the way you think. It doesn't just make you think of things you wouldn't have thought of before, but it changes how you're processing that information. There's a really interesting study, I can't cite it because I don't have the citation, but I heard a counselor say it and cite it

and I checked the source, I just don't have it. It's really interesting. There was a study done on 9-11. They had two different groups. One group were people that went through 9-11. Physically they were in the building right they they were firefighters. They were You know people that weren't they went through 9-11 The other group of people were people that they said spent an inordinate amount of time Watching the news cycle and paying attention to 9-11 After 10 years the effects were the same on both groups Let me just say that again people that were watching 9-11 on the news cycle had the same kind of long-term trauma as the people that actually went through 9-11. Now I know it is proper and good and right for us to be able to say, I could not imagine going through something like that. Actually, you can. Just stay glued to a news cycle for weeks on end, about 9-11, and you can have the same trauma that the people that actually went through it had.

That is astounding. That should make us stop and take a breath and figure out where are we getting our information, how are we getting our news, what are we subjecting ourselves to. Are we subjecting ourselves to long-term trauma because we won't change the channel? Pay much closer attention to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let Jesus describe world history. Let Jesus talk about your trauma. Let Jesus help you sift through what's going on with your marriage, your children, your job. Help Let Jesus help you by giving you a frame of mind and then what does it say? At the end it says pay much closer attention gives a reason that we need to pay much closer attention lest we drift away from it This drifting metaphor is used in sailing sailors Would have a point of reference they still do have points of reference and they sail along that point of reference. A certain star, for example, or a coastline, or even another ship,

or a lighthouse, or something, there's a point of reference, and then they are sailing in accordance with that reference. And when you are not sailing in accordance with that point of reference anymore, you are drifting. You aren't sailing the correct way. They knew they were on course because of their point of reference, and they knew they were drifting. So lest we drift away from it, this idea of drifting is explored in the next couple of verses and I want to read Hebrews 2 through the first part of verse 3. It says, for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a a great salvation. So since the message declared by angels proved reliable, this is a callback to the Old Testament law. This is a callback to Mount Sinai. And it's also a callback to Hebrews chapter

one verse one where it says, long ago God spoke through prophets but today he speaks to us through his son. And what this is saying is that since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, It's saying, since the Old Testament law is real and consequential, so it says, it says, since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. So it's saying the Old Testament law worked. People received punishment for breaking the law. He's saying if that happened if that's true then how much more now how will we escape if we neglect? Such a great salvation the implication is clear you won't escape It's not going to happen It's not it's not wondering it's not supposing a question like it's like it's up for debate It is a real thing you will not escape if you neglect such a great salvation

So just to recap for a second and we'll get into this because Because the word of God is worth listening to Because Jesus is the full and final word of God and worth listening to we should pay much closer attention Less we drift away from it because we cannot escape the consequences of this grant of this great salvation the ramifications of this great salvation are going to find you out. It will not be something that you can opt in or opt out of. This isn't a salvation buffet. This is something that is offered to you and coming for you at the same time. Verses like these are are off-putting, to say the very least. We call these warning passages.

They are off-putting because no one likes to be warned. I don't know about you, when somebody warns me about something, my first reaction is not thankfulness. I'm like, okay, give me some space here. I don't like to be warned. And yet, these kinds of warning passages are throughout the New Testament. They are everywhere, actually. There are lots of places. And we're actually going to see a lot of these warning passages more and more in the book of Hebrews, where it's just like these verses that we read. Don't drift away. You're not going to escape if you neglect this great salvation. Those are warning passages. And what do we do with them? Because they bring up questions that are uncomfortable. I would like to address those questions, believe it or not. I want to address them quickly. The first thing to remember is that when you happen upon a difficult passage, something

that really kind of butts up against, rubs hard against what you normally think of and conceive as salvation. The first thing that you need to do, and the primary thing that you need to do, is read it in the context of the whole Bible. And so we're going to look at this, and really classically the question is conceptualized this way. Is it possible for me to lose my salvation? That's what we're dealing with. Is it possible for me to lose my salvation. So we're going to deal with that question and we're going to do it by looking at two other places in the Bible that talk about it. And those two places are John 10 and then Romans 8 through 10. And in both chunks, in John 10, we're going to see a tension play out. And in Romans 8 through 10, we're also going to see a tension play out. Okay, so let me show you what I mean. And all the versions are going to be up here if you want to follow along in your own

Bible that's cool, but they're kind of long and we're just going to kind of rip through them pretty quick. John 10, 27 through 29, this is Jesus talking and he says, My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one's able to snatch them out of the father's hand. Jesus repeating himself and saying, nobody is bigger, better, and better than my father No, one's gonna snatch them out of my hand first thing we need to see here besides these No, one's gonna snatch them out of my hand is that sheep are dumb Sheep don't make plans about the future. She don't care sheep don't know where they're gonna eat next Sheep sheep don't have existential crisis The Shepherd is in total control a hundred and fifty percent control Shepherd

Alright, let's I'm gonna go to the Roman one now Romans 8, 28 through 29 says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, this is God, foreknowing, knowing before, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. So I want, the first part of 29, for those whom God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. In other words, this is an unbreakable chain, right?

The people that God called, He also foreknew, He also predestined. And this is the first tension that we see. This is the first side of the tension that Jesus saves people without their permission. He does. In Scripture, this great salvation that Hebrews is talking about is enacted by Jesus Christ, secured by Jesus Christ, finished by Jesus Christ. There is no room. There's no one more powerful than Jesus to undo what Jesus has done. Jesus made that quite clear in the John passage. No one's going to snatch him out of my hand. Now one might object to this. One might say, well, I thought people chose to believe. And I might say, well, maybe you're right. There is, this is only one side of the tension, but it is a side. This is real. This is biblical. I don't need to have any caveats on this. This is what the Bible expresses, full stop, period, point blank. There's no concessions I need to make.

Jesus saves people without their permission. Okay, here's the other side. And we're actually gonna stay in John 10 and in Romans 8 through 10. First John 10, 9 through 10. Jesus says, I'm the door. If anybody enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and fight pastor. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. So I admit it's a little tacit here, but I'll say it. You see the same sheep, shepherd kind of motif here, but in here there's permission. Jesus is saying if anybody enters, that people seem to have a choice. Jesus says I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. The implication is kind of if they choose it, right? That Jesus is saying like salvation's available. Now, I will admit, that's not too strong, but it's at least a little different, and it's in the exact same chapter as the previous verses in John 10.

But now, let's look at Romans 10, 9, and 10. Romans 10, 9, and 10 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God is raised from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. The emphasis here is very much on personal action. If you confess, if you make a choice to confess your sin, if you make a choice to believe, then you will be saved. This is the second tension that we see in the entire Bible, that you have real choices. People make it real choices with real consequences. No pretending here. This isn't games. This is real. The Bible is full of God pleading with people. Turn away from idols. Follow me. Jesus says the same thing. He says, hey, if you follow me, hey, come after me. I'll make you fishers of men. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, I will give you rest.

Jesus is offering that. He is pleading with people. New Testament disciples are called ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us and that's a quote that's that's first Thessalonians God making his appeal through us appeal for what appeal for us to make a real choice of the real consequence it says it says in those verses I implore you be reconciled to God. Actual please from the heart of God for people to make a choice with real consequences. Throughout the Bible there is a real emphasis on people to decide their own future. Choose today what you're gonna do. Make the choice. And And if that weren't enough, when you have Jesus talking about the great judgment day, what is he judging people on? Their decisions, their actions, what they chose to do. In an attempt to relieve this tension, and I will admit that's a tension, okay? In an attempt to relieve that tension, there are some that will try to say people don't

have real choices and real consequences, or that Jesus isn't totally sovereign over the whole salvation process. Both of those are lies. Both of them are lies. Because in the Bible, we see Jesus being very clear. I save people and I don't ask them. I just save them. And it's done. But you also see people making real choices and real consequences. And you might object. You might object and say, Oh, I thought people, I thought Jesus saved people without their permission. How's this possible? Let me tell you, first of all, it is what we call a biblical tension. It's what's called a mystery. Modern Americans do not like that word, but it's a real thing. And in scripture, both are true, right? They are both true, and they are difficult to deal with. But I will try to I'll try to help you with a real life example. And I have a friend and I will give him a code name, Charlie.

It's called Charlie. Any of you Charly's out there, I'm sorry. Try to pick a name that was, you know, nobody's name but we'll see. So, Charlie, and this is an actual friend of mine. We were friends for a really long time and for 10 years I trusted this guy. I mean, I threw in with this guy. We were tight. He had had amazing influence on me. This is a guy that I prayed with often. This is a guy that I listened to him preach. This is a guy that influenced me, like I said, greatly at a really tender time in my life. And in the last few years, Charlie has walked away from Jesus and not a little bit. Like has renounced, has walked away. Not like, I don't know if Jesus is real anymore. Like, no, that's not where he's at.

He's walked away. So how do we look at that? How do I view that? My friend. And for, look, I know this is personal. For some of you, this is your children. For some of you, this is your parents, your grandchildren, people you love. And so I'm not trying to be flip it. I'm trying to treat this with the proper amount of gravity. How do we look at this? How do I look at Charlie? How do you look at the people in your life in light of Hebrews too? Because I think if we just say that Charlie lost his salvation, then we're not getting the whole story. Because if Charlie entered, if he chose Jesus and entered a covenant relationship with him, then no sin, no power, nothing can snatch him out of God's hand. However, however, and this is what I think is likely the case. If Charlie seems to choose Jesus and walks away, if it looks like he's choosing Jesus and walks away,

then it is likely that Charlie was never saved in the first place. Unless we forget Judas. So I don't know if you've kind of put this together. Some guy put this together for me a couple years ago and I was like, he's right. Judas was one of the 12. Judas was sent out and was probably partnered with somebody and they went and they preached and cast out demons. Judas casts out demons. That'll kind of blow your mind, right? But reading the New Testament, you have no illusion that Judas is a Christian at all, that Judas is going to heaven, that Judas has a relationship. It's nothing. You can't convince me that Judas was somehow like, maybe he really was a Christian and he was just wrong a little bit. Nope, nope, the Bible leaves no room for that. It is likely that my Charlie, my friend Charlie was never saved in the first place, that he appeared to look like a Christian because of

behavior because of action, but he was not saved. The pastor in Hebrews here and in many other places throughout the letter, we're definitely going to go back to that again as we continue to go through the book of Hebrews. The pastor is warning people against a process that will reveal their unbelief. The pastor in Hebrews is saying, Charlie, don't treat Jesus in his gospel as inconsequential. Charlie do not neglect such a great salvation because it will reveal your heart is Actually far from God that you do not believe it will reveal that However much you can cover that with religious speak with attending seminary classes with going to church with Reading your Bible as much as you want to cover over all of that unbelief the unbelief is still there You have many people especially in Burleson, USA, that have grown up under the shade of a great loving family church.

They have learned religious speak, they've learned religious songs, they've learned the answers to everything, but underneath all of that is an unrepentant heart. It's an unbelieving heart. It is a heart that is not in God's hand, as it were. If they can walk away from Jesus, if they can be transformed from the inside out and then just walk away from the only hope worth having, it's probably because they never had that hope in the first place. Lastly, I will say this, it is helpful to remember these are warning passages. When you warn somebody, you are often not describing what you want to happen. Okay? When I tell my child, don't touch the stove, you're going to burn your hand. Well, I'm not telling them that I want to burn their hand. I'm not telling them that I want them to touch the stove. I'm describing a scenario that I do not want to happen. Many times these

These warning passages here are describing scenarios that they do not want to happen. But they are describing them as such. You will hurt yourself if you run by the pool. You will break something if you throw a ball in the house. We talk like this all the time in warning passages. Let's finish up on Hebrews. I'm running a little long. Hebrews 2, 3, and 4, and this is where we're going to end. should we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? And then we're kind of, the rest of the verses kind of talk about this great salvation. It, the great salvation, the message that we have heard, was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard. So Jesus said it, His disciples then are attesting to it, making disciples. The writer of Hebrews is probably in that third generation or fourth generation of people that have heard from the

disciples. And then if that weren't enough, verse 4, while God also bore witness, God Himself bore witness by signs, wonders, various miracles, gifts of His Spirit distributed according to His will, don't believe the Hebrews, the pastor of Hebrews is saying, don't believe in abstract principles. We're not talking about things that never meet reality. If somebody wants to make theological points to discuss this great salvation, that's all well and good, but it can only go so far. And this is kind of why I get a little personally uptight whenever people have vehement arguments about theology. I get it. I understand its place, but theology doesn't save. Abstract principles are good because they can help us understand, but abstract principles do not cut to the heart. They can't. That's not what they're for. They're not bad. This is not what they do. A person does that.

Jesus Christ does that. He cuts to the heart. We don't believe in abstract principles because we believe the testimony of millions, millions of saints in history, including the fellow saints here in our church. God bless you. If you've been walking with the Lord for more than a decade, my encouragement, talk about it. We believe the testimony. We believe the gifting of the Holy Spirit in others. We believe the freedom that we experience personally. The message of Hebrews chapter two verses one through four, don't neglect the salvation that is staring you right in the face. You're wondering what that salvation looks like? Look around, it's there. You can find it, not just an abstract principle, sure you can find it there, But you can find it in the real life of somebody who's right around you. You can read, you can hear the message from these disciples who are firsthand

witnesses. My encouragement to you as we, as we pray and are dismissed, if you have doubts, my encouragement is to talk somebody about it. If you're unsure about salvation, if you're unsure about how to, how to walk with Jesus, ask. I, I truly, I tire of people talking about how the church is not a safe place to ask questions. It is. People may be afraid to ask them, but I desire, and I hope you do too, that this church is a place where people can ask questions, where they are welcome. and I invite you, I implore you to ask. Let me pray for us. Jesus, we thank you for this great salvation that you've given us. We pray that for those who are still trying to figure it out, who are still having questions, that they would talk to somebody. Jesus, we thank you for this worship gathering here today. We thank you for the opportunity to pray for those that are hurting.

It's your name that we pray, amen. You guys may stand, you're dismissed. Thanks again.