A Greater Salvation
Jesus is Greater: An Exposition of Hebrews

Below is an automated transcript of this message

It is good to see all of you here this morning. I bring you greetings from our Iron Men Ministry men’s retreat this weekend. I got home a little before midnight last night. I came home so I could be with you. Our men are finishing up this morning. We have about 50 men near Asheboro at Camp Caraway. We’ve had a great weekend. One of our theme songs was the song we just sang, “Christ is the Center.” We had an altar call last night and we had dozens of men coming forward and rededicating their lives to Jesus. Even a few of them, who aren’t quite on the journey with Jesus, came up. One of them prayed with me last night. He asked for prayer for several things. I asked him, “Where are you at with Jesus ? Where are you at in your relationship with Jesus?” The young man replied, “Well, I’m ‘still on the fence’ about that.” I said to him, “I’m getting ready to talk to Jesus on your behalf to ask for these things. Maybe, you ought to try to land on one side or the other. But I’m not going to pressure you. I’m going to pray for you that you’re able to have enough faith to get off the fence.” I ask that you pray for that young man today, too.

Ladies, those of you who have boyfriends or spouses that went to the men’s retreat , ask them what kind of decisions they made this weekend. There were great spiritual decisions made.

We’re continuing our series through the book of Hebrews. We’re in chapter two and we’re going through a series that we’ve entitled, “Jesus Is Greater.” Today’s title is, “A Greater Salvation.”

First, I want to put a spotlight on one of the announcements that we’ve been putting in the bulletin for the last few weeks. It’s this idea that we have a neighborhood behind our church and we want to give the households there multiple opportunities to hear, see and respond to the Gospel so that every man, woman and child has repeated opportunities to hear the Gospel and respond to it. We want to saturate the neighborhood behind us with the Gospel. We feel that it would be neglectful on us, as a church, that we never even made sure the people closest to us as neighbors had heard the gospel from us.

You will see a map on the screen behind me. Forest Hills to Tarboro in front of the church is our target area and then , going up this side, from Ward Boulevard to Raleigh Road. If you draw that “box,” there’s 800 households inside of that area. We’ve surveyed our church and have discovered that we have about eight families living in this area. We’ve challenged two of the families to do Halloween block parties and we’re going to help them ramp them up so that they can cook some hot dogs, offer candy and offer an opportunity to have spiritual conversations with their neighbors.

The reason that I’m highlighting this is because it is the first time we’ve ever done it. We’re trying something new; we’re calling it “reverse trick or treat.” So, on October the 21st, we’re going to go around knocking on those 800 doors and say “Reverse trick or treat!” We’re going to give them candy and inside the bag will have an invitation to one of the two block parties. It will, also, have an invitation to visit our website, Christ together for Wilson, which will advertise not only our church, but other Gospel centered churches. We’re not trying to get people to join our church. We’re trying to get people to come to Jesus and if they come to our church, that’s great. We’re not the only church in town that believes the Gospel. We’re convinced that “a rising tide lifts all ships” and so, if we “raise the tide” of revival in our city, all of the Gospel centered churches will grow. I pray monthly with other pastors in town and we’re collaborating to see that every man, woman and child in Wilson County has repeated opportunities to hear, see and respond to the Gospel. That’s the kind of church we want to be.

It’s appropriate for me to underline this opportunity to you today, because, guess what we’re talking about today? We’re talking about a great salvation! Our theme verseis Hebrews 1:4 (NLT) “This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.” We’re going verse by verse in the book of Hebrews and it’s important to, to “look under the doormat” for the keys to the book, so you can really open the book up and understand its thesis, its theme. Our theme verse says that the Son is far greater than the angels just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. Thus, the title of the series is, “Jesus is greater.” He’s greater than whatever you’re facing today. He’s greater. He has a greater name; this is what we talked about last week.

This week we will learn that “He has a greater salvation.” We’re all looking for something to save us. We’re all facing something that we need rescue from. What I want you to hear, from the book of Hebrews today, is that there’s a greater salvation; greater than the one perhaps that you’ve been trying to lay your hands on. Maybe you’re not a follower of Jesus. You’re like the young man that I prayed with last night. You’re “sitting on the fence.” Perhaps you’ve been looking for salvation in places other than the good news about Jesus and you’re still searching. It might be because you haven’t clearly heard it or you’ve heard it and you’re still “sitting on the fence.” You’re still looking. It may be because you still have questions or you have doubts and you’re not ready to make a decision because you still have doubts.

I would challenge you, this morning, to start “doubting your doubts.” “Doubt your doubts” for a minute and give the good news about Jesus a chance. Let Him speak to you today. Maybe, you’re here this morning and you are a believer in Jesus. I would suspect for you at church, that’s the majority of you. You’re a believer. What will happen to us, sometimes, is we will tend to drift away from the salvation; the excitement, the fire and the fervor that we had at first will begin to subside and we’ll drift.

You don’t have to do much to drift. In fact, you don’t have to do anything to drift. Can I give you some examples of how we drift from the Good News? How do we drift from seeing it as the greatest message ever?

One is our forgetfulness. We’re forgetful people. The older I get, the more forgetful I am. Have you ever left one room, rushed into another room and wondered, Why did I come in here? Then, you go back to the first room, sit down and then think, Oh, yeah, I was supposed to get this in the other room. Then, you go back to the other room and get it. We’re forgetful. It’s a human tendency that causes “drifting.” We drift and we’re always looking for something new when perhaps the thing we already have in our hand is superior.

Have you heard the cliché, “familiarity breeds contempt?” Yeah, I’ve already heard the good news of Jesus. I’ve been hearing that my whole life. That’s the majority of Americans. We are a “post Christian” people. I would say that pretty much everybody in America has heard some kind of account of the Gospel, perhaps not the clearest account or even the most accurate account, but they’ve heard something of it and it’s too familiar. We take it for granted; it just becomes so familiar.

Another way that we drift from the Good New is if we have a “full plate.” We’re so fragmented in our attention that the Good News loses its priority; the Good News falls down the list of priority.

Former things. We fail to apply the gospel to our lives, so that the former things of our old nature are not brought into contact with the gospel. As a result we fail to see any significant life change nor spiritual growth. We have the Gospel; we’ve received it, but we haven’t fully applied it to our lives, so we’re not experiencing real life change. We’ve only applied it partially. There are many ways that we might drift and that’s what the text is about today.

Guess what ? We’re only going to take on four verses today. Can you believe it? But, it’s so jam packed, you’ll see why we’ve limited ourselves to four verses today.

Today, we will hear this message from Hebrews, that we are given both a command and a warning. A command to pay closer attention to the gospel and a warning that if we don’t, we might drift away. I believe, as we look here today, we can prevent drifting away, as we keep the gospel front and center in the highest priority of our lives. Let’s look at the text and we’ll be looking for three ways that we can respond and keep the gospel where it belongs.

We’ll be looking at verse one of chapter two and following. Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. Lest we drift away from it for, since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience

Hebrews 2:1-4 (ESV) 1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobediencereceived a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. This is God’s word. Amen.

SINCE WE HAVE BEEN OFFERED THIS GREAT SALVATION IN JESUS…

1. We must always give its message our greatest attention.

Heaven help us. Heaven help me if I don’t present the gospel every time I stand before you, no matter what verse of the Bible I’m preaching from and no matter what text. If I look closely enough as a pastor, even as a reader of the scripture, I’m looking for Jesus on every page. I’m looking for the Good News. Heaven help me, if I don’t present it to you every week. It should be of primary importance because there’s always someone here who’s yet to believe and there’s always those of us here who have drifted from it and we need to be reminded of it. Let’s give it our greatest attention circle.

In verse one it says, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” That’s why I’m using the word, “must,” in point one because the text does. I believe the author here is speaking to believers because he says, “we” and he’s including himself. Certainly, he might be speaking to those who are unbelievers, but he’s primarily speaking to believers. He says, “we must,” which means it’s something that we are commanded to do. We need to pay much closer attention to what we have heard. Now, what have we heard?

Well, the word, “therefore,” is critical to helping us know what we’ve heard. What should we always ask church when we see the word, “therefore?” What’s it there for ? It’s like an equal sign in mathematics, one plus one equals two. We have to go back to the previous chapter and see what equals this command, what brought forth this command to pay much closer attention.

If you “back up the bus” to the last verse of chapter one of Hebrews 1:14, it says, “Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” He introduces this topic of salvation and now, “ therefore, we must pay closer attention to this message of salvation.” We have to look back because, when we see that “therefore,” we are to pay much closer attention, lest we drift away. You can see the command, “pay much closer attention;” then, you see the warning, “lest we drift away.” This is what he is talking about. He’s primarily, I believe, talking to believers.

Now, when he says “drift away,” he doesn’t mean to lose your salvation. What I think he means is to lose its application and assurance that comes from it so that you’re no longer holding it in this high place in your life. You are more like making it an add on and you begin to live as if you’ve never been given the world’s greatest message. You’ve allowed yourself to drift from it.

“Pay much closer,” has the idea of “more exceedingly” or “to the greatest degree.” “Keep it in your mind” or “keep it in your awareness.”

If you’re wondering where I got the title to our sermon today, you need only look at verse three and circle the phrase, “great salvation.” Do you see it there in verse three? The reason that I point these things out to you, is I want you to know that what I’m doing as your pastor, you can do too. You can study God’s word, “chew” on it and find these realities. I do not offer my own message when I preach, I offer that which the word of God has given us. I always want you, as members, to be able to find exactly what I’m talking about. If you find that I’ve said something otherwise, talk to me in the lobby or later in the week and say, “Pastor, I don’t understand. I think you got that part wrong.’ I’ll be corrected and I’ll have to stand up next week and say, “You know what? I misinterpreted one section last week.” Our authority is the message and I’m only the “paper boy.” We have this Good News and I’m the guy who “throws it up on your front porch.” What I would say to you is, if I forget to “throw it up on your front porch,” then I might drift away and if you forget to open it and read it, you might drift away. It’s a priority in your life and it gives you assurance.

Notice again, I’m not saying that this is drifting away and losing your salvation, but it’s about losing its priority in your life. What do we have to do to drift away? The Greek verb has the implication of someone on a river or something where water is flowing; maybe, you’re on a boat or you’re swimming. What do you have to do, if you find yourself in a current, in order to drift? Well, the answer is nothing. That’s all you have to do. Nothing and you’ll float downstream. That’s what many of us do; nothing. We do nothing with the Gospel. We receive it as believers; we’re excited when we first receive it, we do nothing else with it and then we drift. We find ourselves drifting downstream.

Some of us drift downstream on the current of doubt because we’ve forgotten the most important word – “remember.” We’re forgetful people. We offer the Lord’s supper every Sunday here. Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” because we forget what He did for us on the cross. We forget we’re so forgetful. We tend to drift. It’s this idea of going downstream and finding yourself someplace where you never meant to be.

Matthew Henry says this in his commentary; he speaks of it, not so much about drifting, but being in a leaky boat. He says, “Our minds and memories are like a leaky vessel, they do not, without much care, retain what is poured into them.”

We meet every Sunday, the first day of the week, which was the day that Christ was raised from the grave. We meet on the first day of the week to worship and to remind ourselves of the Gospel. We meet in small groups in our homes in order to look at each other face to face and to remind ourselves of the Gospel. We get together before God’s word; just us and Jesus. In the mornings, we’re really trying to make sure we don’t drift, to remind ourselves of the Gospel and to apply it to ourselves afresh. The Gospel is not a “one-use only.” It’s a daily washing and cleansing of all the sin and shame . Keep it in priority in your life. Remember, that we have a human tendency to drift.

I remember when my wife, Robin, and I were dating. We went to a weekend Christian conference on Smith Mountain Lake at this convention center. On Saturday, there was free time. One of the things they offered was canoeing. I said to Robin, “Let’s go canoeing.” Robin said to me, “I’m not a very good swimmer.” I said, “Well, we’ll be in a canoe and I think they’re going to require life jackets. I convinced her, but she was concerned and said, “ I’ve never been in a canoe before.” I told her that it is ok; I know what I’m doing. I will be the person in the back who knows what they’re doing. If you’ve ever been on a canoe that’s the person who steers the boat; the person in the front just adds you some movement to the boat, but even if she didn’t, I told her that I could probably handle it. Even if she doesn’t paddle, we are going to have some fun on the canoe. So, I convinced her, like I’ve done with my wife ever since I’ve known her. I have convinced her to do many, many things, all you have to do is ask her about them and she’ll tell you the terrorizing things that I’ve led us into at times.

We got on the boat. We push off from the dock, along with several other young couples. What we didn’t realize was, right there, as you came into that bay, was where the Roanoke River flows all the way down into North Carolina, which is where we get Roanoke Rapids and these other places. Smith Mountain Lake is a huge lake; it has 526 miles of shoreline in Roanoke, Virginia. We get out in the water and she was so happy because she barely had to paddle. We were just gliding along; these canoes were checked out for an hour at a time. She’s having fun. I’m having fun. It get to the time where we need to head back. It’s been about an hour and guess what? It wasn’t as much fun. Going back, we turned and all of a sudden, a strong breeze started hitting us in the face. Robin is working as hard as she can to help steer the boat. The boat keeps turning sideways because we’re going against the flow of the water now. My sweet girlfriend, now, my wife, wears contacts and that breeze got in her eyes. She stopped paddling. I said, “What’s wrong?” She says to me, “I think I lost my contacts.” She’s trying to find them while I’m paddling my head off. The other couples are struggling too; it took us forever to get back. We finally gave up and paddled to shore and drugged the canoe back to the dock.

Why am I telling you that story? Because it’s easy to drift. It takes effort to pay close attention to the Gospel. We’re forgetful and familiarity causes us to neglect. You have told me that story; I already know that Jesus died for my sins. Tell me something new. Give me a fresh word.

I want to refresh you with the same good Word that never gets old: “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves me.” That’s the Word right there; He loves me. This news is so good.

Tim Keller says this, “We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe. Yet at the same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus than we ever dared hope.” The Gospel comes showing a mirror and showing you, Wow. I didn’t realize how badly I needed this Good News. It shows you how far short we fall, but at the same time, it shows you the reflection of Jesus, saying, ‘I love you just the way you are and I offer you My eternal life. I offer you My righteousness. I offer you My relationship with the Father. I took your death so you could have My life.’

The gospel never gets old. We need a fresh application of it regularly or we drift downstream. We must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Coming to church won’t save you. Checking off the box of keeping religious requirements won’t save you. Going faithfully to a small group, even having a daily quiet time, where you are reading your Bible, won’t save you. Those are just means of reminding you of the Gospel. Only Jesus saves. Only His message, that we believe in, by faith, will save us and rescue us from whatever we’re facing. We must pay close attention.

It says in Colossians 1:20-23 (NLT) 20 …He [God] made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.

We’re forgetful people. We don’t have to do anything to drift, but we have to set an anchor. We have to put dates on our calendar. I need a reminder. Some of you might come up to me in the lobby today and say, ‘Hey, can we get together sometime this week? I’d like to talk to you about something’ or ‘I’d like for you to pray with me about something.’ I will tell you, ‘Sure, but could you do me a favor, because I’m forgetful. I talk to a lot of people on Sundays. Could you email me or text me?’ I’ll give them my contact information really quick because I’m afraid that, by the time I get home and kick back in my recliner, I’ll forget everything people told me. If you’ll text or email me, I’ll put it on my calendar, I’ll give myself a reminder and with God’s help, I’ll be there. So, we need reminders. We’re forgetful people; we forget how great this salvation is and if we forget, we drift. We need an anchor that keeps us on track.

Hebrews 6:18-19 (NLT) 18 “…Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”

We need an anchor. We need something to take hold of, so we don’t drift. One of the ways we can do this is through the means of gathering regularly to remind ourselves and taking the Lord’s Supper. “Do this in remembrance of me…” Reminding ourselves of this great Gospel.

SINCE WE HAVE BEEN OFFERED THIS GREAT SALVATION IN JESUS…

2. We must take seriously the danger of neglecting it.

There’s a danger and it’s not just drifting. There’s something worse–it’s called “neglect.” This might be willful or unwillful neglect, but neglect, nonetheless. Look at what I’m talking about.

We finished verse one. Let’s look at the first part of verse three, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” We have to back up to see how we get to this rhetorical question– “how shall we escape…” We have to back up to verse two. There, we see the beginning of an “if, then” statement for sense. He says, 2 “For since…” 3 “if we neglect…”

The Latins called this type of argument an “Argumentum a Fortiori” or an argument from lesser to greater. The idea is basically this– if it’s true in this lesser situation, it will have much more weight and be even more true in this greater situation.

Gary, can you tell us what you’re talking about? Ok, verse two is the lesser condition and then, verse three introduces the greater condition. What is verse two talking about – “For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable…” What is this message? Do you remember who he is talking about? We talked about this last week. He’s talking to Jewish background believers. They were Jews first in their culture and in their upbringing before they believed in Jesus. But they still have a lot of confusion about what to do with the Old Testament and Hebrews is perhaps the greatest explanation of how prominent and important the Old Testament and the New Testament fit together and how Jesus is greater and His message is greater.

What message are they referring to? They’re not talking about the message of salvation in verse two. What message is this for, since the message is declared by angels? This is the message of the law. Gary, you have to convince me of this. You told me earlier that you wouldn’t just give your opinions. You would tell us from God’s word where you get these ideas.

Let me go to Galatians 3:19. Here’s what he says, Galatians 3:19 (NLT) …God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. This was something that the Jewish people would have been well aware of, that angels had something to do with the transmission of the law through the mediator Moses to the people . This language might not be familiar to us as New Testament believers. It would have been familiar to the Hebrews. He’s talking about the message of Moses; he’s talking about the law.

Verse 2, “For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,” Here’s what he’s saying, ‘Go back and read the Old Testament, Jewish background believers in Jesus and the law. If you keep it, you’ll receive these blessings and if you don’t keep it, you’ll come under these curses.’ That’s how the law works; it’s black and white. Hebrew believers, if you’ll look back there and read, you’ll see; in fact, you don’t even have to look back there. You can just look around the streets that you live on; you can see that Jerusalem is not under a descendant of King David. No, Jerusalem is under a Caesar in Rome and we’ve not kept it and we’ve received our just retribution. We’ve lost the Promised Land. We’re not under the blessings of the law. We’re under the cursings of the law. This is what he’s talking about. That’s the lesser situation because it’s a lesser message.

Do you remember what chapter one told us, that Jesus is the greatest prophet? He’s the last word. He’s the greatest priest. He’s our sacrifice and our salvation. He’s the king of all kings. He’s the greatest king. The three offices of prophet, priest and king rest upon His head and upon His shoulders. He has the best message; He has the greatest message.

He’s got the greatest name. He’s the greatest person. And he’s got the best message. His message is greater than the message given via the angels through Moses. The lesser message is the law. The greater message is the Gospel of grace. Are you with me? This is the argument of lesser to greater.

He gives the warning. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. Since he held them accountable for the message, he gave them the message via angels through Moses.

How much more will He hold us accountable for what we do with the Good News? Verse three says, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,” The implication is no; this is it. This is the greatest message. It’s greater than the law. It’s greater than religion. There’s no other way to be right with God. How will you escape that? What’s the rhetorical answer to this rhetorical question? There is no escape except for this great salvation, therefore, pay careful attention to it. Don’t drift and certainly don’t neglect it.

If you’re an unbeliever, and you’ve never believed in the Gospel, the danger of neglecting it is eternity in a place called hell and eternally separated from God. It would be because you neglected the Gospel. I don’t think there’s hardly a person in the western world that hasn’t heard the Gospel and more and more as the internet is spread around the world. The gospel is going out. Men and women are without excuse; the gospel is something that we neglect. That’s the unbeliever.

How can the believer neglect it? There are many ways; drifting is one, but sometimes it’s just willful or even un-willful neglect. We just neglect it. We don’t keep it as a priority. We put it someplace lower in our lives.

The book of Proverbs says in 8:32-34 (ESV) 32 “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. 34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.”

We’re forgetful people. We don’t have to do anything to drift. We can just do nothing and we’ll drift; even worse, we can be willfully neglectful. We can say, you know, ‘I’m too tired to remind myself about God today. I’m going to sleep in; I don’t feel too good. I’m going to sleep until the last minute before I have to go to work or before I have to go to school. I’m not going to get up and talk to Jesus first. I’m not going to be reminded that He died for me and that he bought and paid for me, so that I could have a living relationship with Him.’

We misunderstand the Gospel of grace. We think it means we can do our own thing. That’s not what the Gospel of Grace means. We think it means that we can just do whatever we want; that’s willful neglectfulness.

Can I give you some examples of neglect that we talk about all of the time? One is child neglect. You can get in trouble for child neglect; there’s legal consequences to child neglect. There are four types of child neglect: Physical – failure to provide food, clothing, and shelter. Educational. Emotional. And Medical.

What about elder neglect? That’s a growing thing, especially during the year of 2020 with the covid epidemic. There was a lot of elder neglect during that time. The warning signs of elder neglect would be malnutrition, untreated health problems, unsafe living conditions, no human contact, etc.

Property neglect would be an unmowed yard or your house may be dilapidated, with the paint peeling and/or broken windows. You don’t do anything to upkeep your property. How many of you used to rent an apartment and you would just call the landlord and they come and send somebody out when your HVAC is not working or you have a leaky faucet? Then, you become a homeowner. Praise the Lord, you finally got your own house, and things begin to break down. You are constantly having to remember to fix things. It is the same with your automobiles. Everything runs down. If you neglect them, they drift.

What about emotional neglect? Emotional neglect in a relationship or marriage is when a partner or spouse consistently fails to notice, attend to, and respond in a timely manner to a partner or spouse’s feelings.

Some of us are in a marriage relationship. We’ve neglected our marriage; we forget anniversaries and birthdays. We forget, thinking, well, she or he knows I love her, but this is neglect and our relationship drifts. Sometimes they drift so far downstream that we lose our marriage. Will you take seriously this great salvation, not neglecting it and giving it your full attention?

SINCE WE HAVE BEEN OFFERED THIS GREAT SALVATION IN JESUS…

3. We must always remember how it was declared to us.

We must always remember how it was declared to us . We’re coming down into the latter part of verse three, into verse four. He says, at the end of verse 3, “It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,” He’s talking about the message of salvation. The first one to tell us about the Gospel of salvation was Jesus. In fact, we wouldn’t have a New Testament if it weren’t for Jesus; we wouldn’t have a new covenant. Jesus is the first gospel preacher. He’s the first one to declare that He is the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father, except by Him. He’s the Gospel message incarnate. He is the Word made flesh. Everything about Him is the gospel message. Everything He said, every miracle He performed, every character trait puts on display what He wants to do in us. So, as the Gospel is applied to us, we become more and more like Him.

We have to remember how it was declared to us. It was first declared to us by Jesus and it was attested to us by those who heard. The writer of Hebrews is saying that He’s revealing something to us about Himself.

Now, we said last week that we don’t know who wrote the book of Hebrews. The traditional view is that it was the Apostle Paul. Some have said that it was Barnabas; others have said that it might have been Apollos or Clement. I told you last week that my theory is that it was Luke, the missionary partner of Paul, the physician, who had the classical Greek education. The reason that I suppose it might be Luke is because the Greek in it is so similar to Luke and Acts, which are two books that we know Luke wrote.

We see a self reference here. He says that it was declared first by the Lord and it was attested to us. He doesn’t say who “us” is, but it’s a self reference to the one writing the book of Hebrews. He’s letting us know that he was not an eyewitness of the Lord; someone else attested it to him. So this, even more so, makes me think that Luke is the author of Hebrews because, over in the book of Luke, it says that he decided that the Lord had called him to make an orderly account and he writes to a man named Theophilus, who we believe was the underwriter of the book who paid for its scribal copy. Do you know what, though? When we get to heaven, we’ll find out who wrote Hebrews. We do know this – it’s God’s book, the Book of Hebrews.

He says, “those who heard it, will attest to it.” This is legal language . Who said it first? It was Jesus; it came from Him who attested it to us. The writer of the book of Hebrews said that it was those who saw Him and heard Him. They went before and they got it “stamped and notarized;” they attested to it. This is legal language. The author of Hebrews is saying, ‘Let me tell you how great the Gospel is. The Lord is the one who first spoke it and then the ones who heard it from His mouth, they attested to us.’

Jesus told them, ‘they’re going to take me into Jerusalem and I will suffer and I’ll go before the chief priests and the scribes, but on the third day I will rise up.’ Jesus predicted His death. He performed miracles. There were those who attested to it; they signed their name to it.

Here’s Luke, he was the one who ran with Paul; he was a partner of Paul. We know that Paul was the last guy to see the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. He tells us that in his writings to Corinthians; Peter was always hanging out with Paul, too. Peter knew things firsthand, so Luke could have heard it from Peter. The Gospel was exactly the way Jesus taught it. Then he says, ‘I’m not finished. I’m going to call God the Father up to the witness stand right now. He says, in verse four, “while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” God also bore witness. God agrees that this Gospel is the truth. It’s the greatest message. How did he affirm it? How did he attest to it? How did God, the Father, bear witness? He bore witness by signs, wonders and various miracles.

So, if Jesus turns water into wine, it proves that His claim of being the Creator is true. If Jesus commands the winds and the waves to be still and the storm is quieted, it proves that He is king over creation. If Jesus says to roll away the stone and then, “Lazarus come forth,” it proves that He’s the resurrection and the life. Everything that Jesus taught, through the gospel message, God, the Father affirmed, attested and bore witness to through the miracles, the signs and the wonders.

A sign is what John calls all of the miracles in his Gospel. He has seven signs in the Gospel of John. I think he uses that word because signs point to a location; they don’t point to themselves. If you’re driving into Wilson and you’re over there in Raleigh coming in from the Raleigh side and you see a sign that says to “Wilson” , you don’t pull over and park in front of the sign and say, “I’m in Wilson.”

Signs don’t point to themselves. They point to a location. All of the miracles, signs and wonders pointed to it. They pointed to God, the Father, as witness that what Jesus was saying was true.

He’s not finished because here comes the Holy Spirit. He’s got something to say. The gifts of the Holy Spirit had been distributed according to His will. Those gifts affirm the truth of it. As people started coming into the kingdom, they were gifted to declare the Gospel and their lives changed. They became people that started looking like Jesus. Their changed lives attested to the reality and truth of the Gospel.

I want to ask you a question: Who told the Gospel the first time? Jesus told it first and the apostles heard it. They told the writers of Hebrews. Now, we read it. I’m like Timothy in the book of Timothy. Paul says, ‘you grew up from infancy knowing the scriptures from your mother and your grandmother, Lois and Eunice.’ Forgive me, but those names make me feel like I’m watching an episode of the Andy Griffith show. Those names don’t sound like first century Rome to me, Lois and Eunice, but that’s what it says. They were the mother and the grandmother of Timothy. Those two women taught Timothy the scriptures.When Paul came through and preached the gospel, he believed.

I have a Timothy story. From my earliest memory, my mother used to have this Bible story book that had the Bible story on one page and the facing page had a color illustration to illustrate the Bible story. Every day of my life, she would read me one of those stories or tell me something about Jesus. I couldn’t get away from it. If I went and spent the night at my grandmother’s house, she would get her big old black Bible out on her lap and tell me about Jesus again. I’m thankful for them both; they are in glory now. I’ll see them someday.

I have confidence and hope because my soul is anchored in the hope that this message is the greatest. I’ll see them someday. I’m thankful that they held the gospel in high enough priority to declare it to me. Who declared it to you? It started with Jesus. He declared it to the apostles. They passed it on and they passed it on and they passed it on. Who passed it on to you?

One of the best ways to remember the gospel is for us to declare it to the next generation.

My dad was part of the World War II generation. He served in the Korean War. He was based in Korea. He came home, and like a lot of young men, got married and started having kids. He was quiet about his faith. He took us to church. He tithed. He was a good man. He believed, but I never saw him pray. I never saw him read the Bible. He probably did, but I never saw it at church. I’d see him open the hymn book. He was self conscious about his singing voice, so he usually just stood there and held the hymnal. The last year of his life, when he found out that he had cancer , he talked about the Lord all of the time. It was a kind of a mark of the men of that generation. The women would talk about feelings and faith, but men didn’t. I’m glad I had a mama and a granny, who told me about Jesus.

Dads, are you teaching your boy to fish and throw a baseball? Good for you. Moms, are you teaching your kids that one plus one equals two? Awesome. What about the gospel? Are you declaring the gospel to them ? Are you teaching the Gospel to them? Jesus saves. Jesus loves you, this I know , for the Bible tells me so. Are you teaching them? The gospel must be passed on to the next generation. Pass it on to your neighbors, your coworkers, school students and teachers where you go to school. Who declared it to you and who are you declaring it to? Let’s not drift. You don’t have to do anything to drift. Let’s remember the Gospel. Let’s pay careful attention to it. Let’s not neglect it. Let’s put it front and center in our lives.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, I’m glad that You came. What would we be without You? How could we face this world, filled with suffering and trouble, without You. Because of You, it’s all one day going to be like a bad dream that we wake up from and everything that was in black and white will be in full color. Everything will be made new, a new heaven and a new earth. Help us to remember that this is all temporary. Lord, right now, I want to pray for that person that’s sitting on the fence. Would you “doubt your doubts?” Would you decide to believe? Would you pray with me right now? Prayer is just a way of expressing your desire to the Lord. Pray along with me, if it’s your heart’s desire, “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. Make me the person that You want me to be. I want to be a Christ follower. Adopt me into Your family. I give my life to You as my Lord and Savior.” If you’re praying that prayer of faith, believing, Jesus will save you. That’s why He came. Others are here today and you’ve prayed that prayer. You believe. You’re a follower, but you’ve drifted. Your neighbors don’t know what you believe. Your coworkers don’t know what you believe. Do your kids know what you believe? Are you paying careful attention to it right now? Someone’s here and you’re saying, ‘God, forgive me.’ You can pray that right now. ‘God forgive me. Help me to put this great salvation where it belongs, front and center in my life. I want to live out loud for Jesus. We pray it now in Jesus’ name. Amen.