Such a Great Salvation

Let me tell you about the time I’ve come closest to falling away from Jesus. Ironically, it was at theological college, where liberal teachers were out to undermine real Christian faith. For example, one tutor said to me, ‘When are you going to admit that modern scholarship has left your view of the Bible completely disproved?’ (Not the most encouraging atmosphere in which to train for ministry!) And the pressure to move away from the biblical gospel was strong – and it was tempting, because to move would have relieved the pressure straight away.

And you may already have faced that kind of pressure that makes you waver in your commitment to Jesus; or you may have it yet to come; or you may be in it right now. Well, the book of Hebrews, which is our morning sermon series, was written to people under that kind of pressure. So would you turn in the Bibles to Hebrews 1. Two weeks ago we looked at vv1-4, where you find the writer isn’t named – he’s anonymous – and where there’s no real clue about who he was writing to and why. But this week’s passage gives us the first major clue. So would you look down to Hebrews chapter 2 and v1:

1We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (2.1)

So picture a boat whose anchor isn’t deep enough into the seabed, so that it’s drifting away on the current. And that’s the picture of what was happening spiritually to the people this was originally written to: they were drifting away from Jesus – and some of them had already dropped out of church – on the current of serious suffering for their faith. So my first heading this morning is:


Firstly, THE PRESSURE OF SUFFERING FOR BELIEVERS

Just turn on to chapter 10, v32 – which says:

32Remember those earlier days after you had received the light [ie received Jesus], when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. (10.32-34)

So they’d already suffered more for their faith than most of us have. But it looks like that was now happening again – and might, this time, get worse than before. Just turn over to chapter 12, v2 – which says:
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart [by implication, in the opposition you’re facing].
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (12.2-4)

Now that suggests that not just suffering for their faith, but dying for it, was becoming a real possibility. So God inspired Hebrews to help us when the pressure of suffering for our faith comes – anything from the constant emotional pressure of a hostile spouse, up to the threat of death to those who turn from Islam to Jesus. And the temptation is to move away from Jesus because it’ll relieve the pressure, remove the threat.

So Hebrews is primarily medicine for those suffering for their faith. But it applies to any form of suffering which puts pressure on your faith, when you’re having to live with tension between what you believe about God and what’s happening to you – and when it would relieve the pressure, relieve the tension, just to chuck in what you believe. So, for example, we know a Christian couple called Simon and Vicki. They have two young children and Vicki has MS. She’s been in a wheelchair for years and is now in a nursing home. And in an interview at their church recently, Simon said this:

In tough times we have two choices – to abandon our faith in God, or... to let God refine us like metal in a fire. I, to be honest, have pondered these on many occasions and have at times wondered about abandoning faith... But there’s a fundamental problem I’ve never been able to escape – which is that leaving faith doesn’t help the problem of suffering. Atheism has nothing... to offer – it offers no help in understanding why suffering occurs and it offers nothing helpful or sympathetic in suffering. All it offers is hopelessness in this life – no comfort, no purpose in suffering, no hope that... the wrongs of this world will one day be righted. Those that suffer will just suffer and die. Whereas Christ offers justice ultimately in the sense that suffering is only for this life and that we have an eternity to look forward to.

I’ll read a bit a more of what Simon said later, but that brings us to my second heading this morning. So, firstly, the pressure of suffering for believers. Then:


Second, THE FUTURE FOR SUFFERING BELIEVERS

The main thing the book of Hebrews does is to focus our eyes on the hope we have beyond this life. And it does that from the word ‘Go’. So would you turn back to chapter 1 and v1 and we’ll re-read what we looked at last time:

1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but 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. 3The 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. 4So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. (1.1-4)

Now if I were to ask, ‘What’s the subject of that opening bit?’ I guess many of you would say, ‘Jesus.’ And that’s true: it’s about the Son of God – how he was involved in the creation of the universe; how he became a man in the person of Jesus – ‘the exact representation of’ God here on earth; how he died on the cross to pay for the forgiveness of our sins (‘provided purification for sins’); and how he rose from the dead and returned to heaven to begin his reign at his Father’s right hand.

And the message of chapter 1 is that those events – the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus – are the beginning of the end for evil and suffering and death: those events guarantee that the risen Lord Jesus will finally bring in an eternal future where there’s no more evil and suffering and death. And that’s why v2 says he’s been ‘appointed heir of all things’: this universe is his Father’s estate, and he’s been put in charge of its future.

So chapter 1 is about the eternal future, so that we get our suffering now into that perspective. Now we’ve only got time to skim it. But before we do, let me explain one detail which at first sight looks pretty odd to us – namely, that the writer seems very keen to prove that Jesus is greater than the angels. For example, look at v4 again:

4So he [Jesus] became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. (1.4)

And he keeps saying it throughout chapter 1 – ‘Have you got the message: Jesus is greater than the angels?’ To which we tend to think, ‘Yes, but I never had a problem with that. Why are you labouring it?’ And the answer is: because he was writing to Jewish Christians who were being persecuted by fellow-Jews, and tempted to abandon their faith in Jesus and go back to Judaism. Just look on to chapter 2, v1 again:

1We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? (2.1-3)

Now in v2, ‘the message spoken by angels’ is a way of talking about the Old Testament (OT) law. There’s a verse in the OT (Deuteronomy 33.2) which implies that, at Mount Sinai, Moses didn’t receive the law direct from God but indirectly, via angels (see Acts 7.38 and Galatians 3.19 which spell that out). So these Jewish Christians thought of the law as ‘the message spoken by angels’. And their fellow-Jews, who were persecuting them, were saying something like this: ‘Look, you’ve been led astray by this message about Jesus. God has not spoken through him. You know full well that God spoke through angels to give us his law – and that’s his word to us. That’s all we need. So chuck in your faith in Jesus and come back to the law.’

And Hebrews chapter 1 is saying, ‘To do that would be total spiritual loss, because Jesus is greater than the angels’ – which is a way of saying, ‘What Jesus can do for you is infinitely greater than what the law can do for you.’ The law can only show you how bad you are (as you try to obey it but fail to); only Jesus can save you from how bad you are.

So these Jewish Christians were being told that if they chucked in their faith in Jesus, they wouldn’t really be losing anything. After all, they’d still be believing in God and in the teaching of the OT – and surely the difference between that and believing in Jesus as well is pretty minor isn’t it? That’s what their fellow-Jews were telling them, then. And that’s the lie we’re still being told today. It’s the lie of those who say that all brands of Christianity will save you. For example, those liberals at my college were saying, ‘We’re all on the same path, even if we don’t all believe in the divinity of Jesus or that his death was a sacrifice for sins.’ And it’s the lie of those who say that all religions will save you – that they’re just different paths up the same mountain; that any faith in God will do – as opposed to faith, specifically, in Jesus. Either way, the lie is that Jesus isn’t essential: you can chuck in faith in Jesus – or never have faith in him at all – and still be saved. To which this morning’s passage says: ‘No. If you throw away Jesus, you throw away everything, you throw away salvation.

In my last job at the Round Church in Cambridge, some of us were asked to clear out an old store room. So we ordered a skip, emptied this store room and labelled each item ‘K’, ‘T’ or ‘N’ – ‘K’ for keep, ‘T’ for throw and ‘N’ for not sure. And that was because we wanted a second opinion from one of the senior staff before we actually chucked things out. And one of the things we labelled ‘T’ for throw was a battered old box. It was locked, we didn’t have the key and it didn’t look like anything worth keeping. And we were just about to chuck it when someone said, ‘We ought to break it open just to check.’ So we did, only to find a silver plate that we thought had been put in the bank vault years before. It was valued at £30,000. And these Jewish Christians were in danger of doing the same thing with Jesus – chucking him out like he was just a minor, non-essential option in religion, when in fact he’s priceless because only he can save you, only he can forgive you through his death on the cross and only he can bring you into his glorious future where there’s no more evil or suffering or death.

So that explains why the writer is so keen to say that Jesus is greater than the angels (which is code for, ‘What Jesus can do for you is infinitely greater than what the law can do for you’). So now look at chapter 1, v5 and let’s skim the chapter. Now we could look at lots of branches and twigs, here – like where each of the OT quotations comes from – but we’ve only got time to see the wood for the trees. So v5:

5For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father?[Quoting Psalm 2.7, which foretells the day (‘today’) when God the Father would raise God the Son and seat him at his right hand as ruler of all things.]Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?[Quoting 2 Samuel 7.14 – describing the relationship between God and the Davidic king of Israel as a ‘father-son’ relationship. Jesus fulfilled this supremely when, as God the Son of God the Father, he was raised from the dead and seated at his Father’s right hand as ruler of all things.]6And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”[Quoting either or both of Deuteronomy 32.43 and Psalm 97.7, to underline the point that what Jesus can do for you is infinitely greater than what the law, delivered by angel, can.]7In speaking of the angels [God] says,“He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.”[Quoting Psalm 104.4 – a Psalm about God’s relationship to his creation and creatures which puts angles firmly in the category of mere creatures and servants. By contrast, v8:]8But about the Son [God] says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the sceptre of your kingdom [ie, ‘righteousness is what you rule your kingdom with’]. 9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”[Quoting Psalm 45.6-7 – a Psalm for the royal wedding of the king of Israel whose person and role are fulfilled in Jesus. So that’s an OT prophesy of the future Jesus will bring in when he comes again. And it’ll be marked by righteousness – everything put right, no more evil, suffering or death. Read on, v10:]10He also says [and again these are God’s words prophesying the future Jesus will bring in:], “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12You 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.”[Quoting Psalm 102.25-27 – a Psalm contrasting the transience of human life with the eternal life of God. So these verses picture how Jesus, when he comes again, will wrap up this old, fallen, spoiled, suffering creation and change it for a new one where the enemies of evil and suffering and death are finally gone.]13To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?[Quoting Psalm 110.1 – which the Lord Jesus applied to himself in Mark 12.36-37.]14Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (1.5-14)

Now you will probably have questions about the branches and twigs in there. But, seeing the wood for the trees, the message is clear: it’s that Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension guarantee that he’s coming again to bring in an eternal future where there’s no more evil and suffering and death. That’s the future for suffering believers.

So listen to the second half of that interview with our friend Simon about facing Vicki’s MS. Having talked about the hopelessness of atheism he went on:

Whereas Christ offers justice ultimately in the sense that suffering is only for this life and that we have an eternity to look forward to. So with confidence I can say that one day Vicki will be given a seat at the high table, and that the way in which she’s managed her suffering will ensure that she has a very high seat at the table. This promise is made real and true by Jesus and his resurrection which demonstrates that suffering is only for this life and that like him we also will be raised. None of that makes suffering easier to bear on a day to day level, but I am at a loss to know how you bear it without such hope. Jesus’ resurrection... gives the only true, reliable hope. And when life is tough, and even when it doesn’t feel like it helps, and emotionally you’re all over the place, these truths give a solid foundation on which to fall – however prostrate that may be.

So, the pressure of suffering for believers; the future for suffering believers; then:


Thirdly, THE ANCHOR FOR SUFFERING BELIEVERS

Look one last time to chapter 2, v1:

1We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard [ie, to the message of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension and ultimate return – that’s our anchor], so that we do not drift away. (2.1)

And notice that word ‘drift’. Most people who move away from faith in Jesus don’t suddenly decide to – they drift. It’s usually not a decision – as in, ‘I’ve suddenly decided it’s not true: Jesus didn’t really live, die and rise again.’ It’s usually a drift under pressure – the pressure of hostility to our faith, or of other kinds of suffering, or of some moral temptation.

So can I say: we need to watch ourselves for drift. And because it can be hard to detect, we need others to watch us, too. So, eg, I have two Christian friends to whom I’ve given permission to ask me any question – eg, ‘How are you really doing spiritually?’ ‘Are you being sexually holy?’ And so on. We need to watch ourselves; and we need to watch out for one another. And can I remind us that one of the most obvious symptoms of drift from Jesus is drift from church. Which is why later in Hebrews it says:

25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing... (10.25)

So on Sundays and in midweek things, it’s as important to notice who’s not here as who is. Because they probably need our prayers and gentle pursuit and encouragement more than others. (And, of course, it is possible to drift inwardly whilst still outwardly coming to church – and if that’s happening to you please be honest and tell someone, rather than just keep ‘wearing the mask’.)

And lastly this passage gives us two reasons to stay anchored in the gospel in the face of pressure to drift. One reason is that eternal salvation and judgement are at stake. Look at chapter 2, v2:

2For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? (2.2-3)

So v2 is saying: as well as promises of God’s grace to those who would accept relationship with him, the law included promises of his judgement on those who rejected him – and those promises of judgement proved to be true. For example, the Lord promised the exile as a judgement and it happened. And v3 is saying: similar but eternal issues of salvation and judgement are at stake when it comes to accepting or rejecting Jesus. So when we’re tempted to move away from faith in Jesus, to relieve the immediate pressure from hostility to our faith, we need to anchor ourselves with the eternal perspective – ‘What do I want more? Human acceptance in this life? Or God’s acceptance eternally?’

And the other reason to stay anchored in the gospel is that it’s true. Look half way through v3:

This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord [Jesus], was confirmed to us by those who heard him [ie, the apostles, those original eye-witnesses]. 4God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will [as recorded in the book of Acts]. (2.3-4)

So in the face of suffering for their faith, these Jewish Christians must have said to themselves, ‘I wonder if it really is true? I mean, can so many other people really be wrong? And life would be a whole lot easier if it wasn’t true...’ And at the point you find yourself saying that, you need to be able to tell yourself that it is true – that Jesus really did live and die and rise again; that the apostles really did witness the things recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; that the New Testament (NT) really is reliable. And if you want a first thing to read on that, do pick up a copy of my booklet Why Trust Them? from the Welcome Desk.

So that’s what the book of Hebrews begins to say to suffering believers. It says: there’s a future beyond suffering, guaranteed by Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension and his promise of return. So anchor yourself in the truth of those past events, and fix your eyes on the reality of that glorious future.