Okay. Shalom, everyone. Turn with me, please, to the book of Hebrews in the Brit HaChadasha, New Testament, Hebrews, Chapter 2. This is actually our third session that deals with the book of Hebrews. We have covered the first chapter already. And today I want to go enter into the second chapter, at least if we can deal this session with the first four verses of the second chapter. Now, beloved, when we think of the book of Hebrews, I think it is one of the most important New Testament scripture or letter that helps us to understand our position in the Messiah. It helps us to understand the place in which we have been brought into as believers because of the work that the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, had accomplished for us.

The writer, a Hebrew believer, writing to his brethren, as we have mentioned quite a few times in the last two sessions, his Hebrew, Israeli, Jewish brethren, who were being persecuted because of their faith in the Messiah. In Yeshua. And because of the persecution, and because of the fact that they sense a loss by not offering the sacrifices and going through the law of Moses, the system that had been established already in the past, because they were not there any longer, they felt a loss. They felt discouraged. Here is the writer, a believing brother of these Hebrews, writing to them to encourage them to move on into maturity.

While the letter was actually written to the Hebrews, because it says El HaIvrim, to the Hebrews, the letter is applied to you and I today, to believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, Jewish or non-Jewish, Israelis or non-Israelis, Hebrews or non-Hebrews. But because we are studying the scripture from the first century perspective, messianic perspective, it is so healthy to see how and what the writer meant when he initially written these letters to the Hebrews. So, chapter 2, verse 1 says this. Therefore, we are to give a more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip or let them drift.

"For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every sin or every transgression and disobedience receive a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" "...which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will." And I'll stop here with this fourth verse of the second chapter. Now we could go on, and we will, if we have the time, but at this particular point I would like us to see what's happening.

Remember that the book of Hebrews, or the letter to the Hebrews, was written to the Hebrew believers to show them the superiority of Yeshua the Messiah, of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, over everyone that came before. Everyone that is existing then, and everyone that will come after. He is superior. He is greater. He is greater. He is better than any, any person that ever came before. And if He is better, the believers in Yeshua the Messiah are supposed to understand that they are not lacking anything. They are actually complete, as we have it in the book of Colossians. We are, or ye are, complete in Him.

But you see, these Hebrew believers felt very, very much discouraged because they thought, or at least they were not in a full measure of understanding, that they are not lacking anything. And that having Christ, having the Mashiach, having Yeshua, having the Lord Jesus, they have everything. They are not lacking a thing. And so He told them, if you remember, in the first chapter that we have just finished to cover, He told them that the Messiah Yeshua is superior than the angels. Angels were very important in Hebrew history. Angels were very important to the Jewish people. I mean, I don't have to go far, but just tell you, for example, when God spoke to men in the past, before we get to even the book of Exodus, God used the angels to minister, to serve, to communicate with men.

Let me give you just one simple example. When Abraham was sitting at the tent, in the heat of the day, in the book of Genesis. And he was sitting, and lo, three men appeared unto him. If you remember Genesis chapter 18, one of them was none else but the Lord Himself. And we believe it was the pre-incarnate Messiah, the Lord Jesus in His pre-incarnation. The other two were angels who walked with him and appeared to Abraham our father, Abraham our father, in the tent. And you remember He gave him the promise there. He gave him the promise that Sarah shall bear a child in the fullness of time, in season, she will bear a child.

And after that, you remember Abraham spoke with Jehovah, with the Lord there. And then the Lord went away from him. And the two remaining angels went into the city of Sodom. We call it in English Sodom. And you remember when the angels came. They spoke to Lot. And he wanted them to come into his house. And they went into his house and they told him that God is going to judge the city of Sodom. And it didn't take too long. And the judgment of God in accordance with the words of these angels came to pass. And Sodom became nothing, had been completely burnt into nothing, into a waste.

And God's word through the angels surely came to pass. And we can move on in the whole history, both of pre-Israel and then the whole history of Israel as a nation. The angels became and were servants to communicate with the people of Israel that which God have intended for them. And so you remember, he already showed them that the Messiah, Yeshua, is greater than anyone else. And now greater than the angels because, number one, he has a better name, chapter one. He is worshipped, they are not to be worshipped, chapter one. He is to be ministered to what they are to minister to him, to serve him.

He is called God in Hebrews 1 verse 8. There can never be called God. He is anointed because he has laid the foundation of the world. He is the creator. They have been created. He is unchanging. He is the same. Chapter one, Hebrews 1 and verse 12. While the angels change. And you remember, the angels fail. The angels had kept not their first estate. Lucifer, this great angel, became what is known today as Satan, the devil. He changed. He changed. But the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah never changed. And he finished the work on the tree for redemption. And he sat down. The angels are still to serve and to minister.

And he is the one that is superior then to the angels. So, after telling them this, he pauses here, verses 1 to 4 of Hebrews 2. It's like a pause before he is continuing to speak about the superiority of Yeshua over the angels, the rest of the second chapter. And in this pause, he gives these Hebrew believers the first warning of the five warnings that are found in the book of Hebrews. Now, beloved, let me just tell you something. I know we don't like to get warnings. We oftentimes like to talk about the love of God, the grace of God, the forgiveness of God, the goodness of God, and everything.

Everything, you know, I don't need, you know, everything that God can do for me, and he can give me, and he can help me, and he can love me. And we don't like when we get warnings from the Lord. And you see, the warnings, the signs that we have, the warnings that we get from God, are only to help the believers to grow in appreciation of what God has done for us through the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. Warnings we are self-like to give to others in order to help them, if we do it in the right way, that they will be careful, that they will benefit from this at the end.

You and I may tell our children, don't cross the street, watch when you cross the street. Why? Because children have an inclination to cross the street without to look left and right. We are being warned every time, every day we are being warned, and it is always for our benefit. Here what he does, right in the middle of the discussion and the presentation of the superiority of Yeshua over the angels, he take and he pause here, and he give them a warning. Now, let's remember one thing. The letters to the Hebrews were not written to unbelievers. It was written to believers. Saved by grace. Forgiven.

The price has been paid. The Messiah, Yeshua, died on a tree and they have accepted him. They have embraced him as their Lord and Savior and they were saved. And I want to remind you once again, according to my Bible, that you never find in a Bible, at least as far as my understanding, that a believer can lose his salvation. He never gained his salvation on his own. He never going to lose it on his own. Because he never done anything to receive that salvation except God walking in his or her heart to bring a person to the knowledge of Yeshua. No one will pluck you out of my hand.

Yeshua had said in John chapter 10. So don't anybody can say, well, you know, if I'm not going to be good enough, I will not retain my salvation. You can't retain it anyway. You have sinned already today when you came to the meeting. I have sinned already today when I opened my eyes. The first thing we do in many things, in many thoughts, in many ways we have sinned. And it is not our faithfulness that maintain our salvation, but it is the blood that Yeshua the Messiah paid on the tree. But we might lose the enjoyment of that salvation. We might lose and be disciplined by God.

We might lose the relationship or the enjoyment of that relationship, which we have when we came to faith in the Messiah. And so now listen. In the next verses, he's talking to believers and give them warning that if they will not maintain and sustain nearness to Yeshua, they will end up to pay the consequences. And so now notice that. He's saying to them in verse one. Therefore, he began with the word therefore. Therefore, what? In light of what I have already told you in chapter one. In light of the information that you have received concerning the superiority of the Messiah over all the angels and everyone else.

In light of this, we. And you notice, by the way, that the writer says we. He doesn't say you. Because we might say, well, maybe the writer is not a child of God. But he is applying it to himself. And he says, therefore, we, you Hebrew believers, Jewish believers, Israeli believers. And I, the writer, and we presume that he was an Israeli Hebrew Jewish believer. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Now, what does he mean here when he says that? You notice he said, we are to give a more or the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard.

What they have heard. What he is coming to tell these believers is that there is a responsibility that any person that have accepted the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. There is a responsibility to, as it says here, to pay a more careful attention to the word of God. You see, he said, we are to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. What did they hear? You know what they heard? They heard that the Messiah have come. They heard of the price that the Lord Jesus had paid for them on the tree. They have heard of God speaking. What did they heard?

You remember we just began in the whole book of Hebrews. They have heard that God at sundry time and in diverse manner he spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in this last day spoken unto us in the person of his son, whom he is appointed heir of all things, by whom he made a world, who has been the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, upholding of all things by the word of his power. And he, when he, when he by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand on the majesty on high. They have heard these words that God many times has spoken to the Hebrew fathers.

And in the last days he spoken in the person of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, his son. And now they were responsible to continue on in the spiritual progress following after the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And he's saying to them in verse one, there is the need of giving heed to God's word through the Messiah. There is a need. You know, there is amazing to me. And many preachers say that, that there are individuals who are sitting in pews year after year, month after month, week after week. They go to church meetings and they never grow spiritually. It's become like a club.

It's become like a club. I go to church meetings Sunday or any day of the week or Saturday in our case. And I sit in the congregation. I hear the word of God open and I don't take seriously what God says in his word. I take it lightly. I don't want to pass the buck and blame other people and point to other people, but we know this existing in our very own lives. The preacher may preach, the word will be brought forth and the carelessness, not only of unbelievers, of believers when it's come to the things of the Lord. They are not careful to realize and to take it seriously.

They think it is a joke. It's a religious thing. You know, we got to do once in a time, once a week, and we just do this because that's the way things are. He says no. He says, listen, we ought to give a more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. We have heard. There is a responsibility to respond to the word of God. And there is a responsibility to act upon that. Sometimes our conscience is so hard and we are not tender in our conscience towards the Lord and towards each other. We are so callous and we are not responding to the word of God.

You know how much God wants us to respond to him. For all what he has done for us. He wants us to respond. Just imagine that you and I as parents give ourselves to our children, give our lives for them, do everything for them. When they are babies until they become a teenager, the mature young man, and they don't respond to what you have done for them all your life. How do you feel about that? How would I feel about that? Sad and unhappy. And sometimes we need to discipline the children when we are at the age that we can discipline and we can correct them when they are under our responsibility.

But God does not want you and I as believers that have heard the word of God that we will not give heed and will not take it seriously. That's why, beloved, when we come to a Bible study, we are coming to learn from the word of God. We don't come to play games. We are coming for a Bible study. When we come to a meeting such as this, we don't have to be 3000 people. We can be two or three where two or three are gathered together unto my name. Yeshua said, I promise to be in the midst and we can enjoy the presence of the Lord and learn from him and take from his word what he teaches us.

Last Thursday Bible class, we were talking about Genesis chapter 50. The last chapter in the book of Genesis and Jacob was going to be buried by his own sons. And we were thinking of how the sons have caused him so much havoc in his life. But at his death, they all walked with him and gave him the honor that he deserved. And they took him to the burial site in the city of Hebron, in the cave that had been prepared, especially bought by Abraham. And you know, this is something that it's real. It's you and I. We are not talking about somebody else. It's something that applied to us in our own personal life.

It's convicting us. We know many times that we don't give serious attention to the things of the Lord. And he's telling to those Hebrews. He says, therefore, we, you and I, must or ought to give a more earnest heed or more careful attention to the things that we have heard. Now he tells them why. You know why? In the second half of the verse, in verse 1b, there's a reason why. You know why? Because it says, lest at any time we should let them slip. In other words, in the Greek really, that to be drifting, that we will let them drift away. And we've been drifted away from the things of the Lord.

You know, you don't have to do much in order to find yourself getting further and further from the things of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Just, if you harden your heart, if I harden my heart, and I don't allow the Spirit of God to speak to me. And I'm saying I didn't get my way and I gotta get my way and I'm gonna do my own thing and I don't care what everybody's saying. And we are not tender towards the Lord. The Lord. You know what's gonna happen? You will find yourself drifting away from the things of the Lord. Just like a boat may drift away.

You might say, I don't need to go to church meetings this Sunday or this Saturday. I don't need a Bible study. I don't really need to read the Bible today. I'll be fine. I'll put the religious face on Sunday and I'll be fine, you know. And you will find yourself while you may not be drifting away with your body on Sunday morning. You and I will be drifting away with our hearts and conscience from the things of the Lord. It doesn't take too long. I have been told and I heard it. And I live very close to Niagara Falls. You know what happened in Niagara Falls many years ago.

I didn't see it. But a man was in the boat in the Niagara Falls area. And he parked his boat very close to the shore area. And he kind of fell asleep without tying the boat. And it is a fact that it did happen. It didn't take too long. And the current began to take him away from where he placed his boat. And the boat had carried him further and further and further into the stream. That when he all of a sudden woke up, it was too late. And the boat went right down the falls. And this man lost his life and he died. He physically died.

And you see what happened, brothers and sisters. It is, with us, it's the same thing. We are not talking about salvation here. We are talking about a relationship and the enjoyment of our relationship with our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah. Lest at any time we, I, the writer, you, the Hebrew readers. Lest at any time we should let them, the words that God has spoken to us, slip away from us. And we find ourselves, sadly, without spiritual energy, without joy in our life. You know, people try to find happiness in their life. And they cannot find any happiness without the person of Yeshua the Messiah.

And it is unfortunate that believers like you and I also tries to find happiness and joy in our life here. But the time we set the Lord aside from our life and we become miserable, we become unhappy, we allow that things of God drift away and we are ending up to be the losers. Because the moment, whenever we stay close to the Lord, whenever we stay in fellowship with the Lord, it is only the strength for our life. It's only the blessing for our life. It's only helping us in our spiritual growth. It even helps us here in the world. We know how to communicate with people.

We are blessing to people around us. We know how to react in situations. Why? When we are close to the Lord. The Lord is our strength, we read in scripture. The Lord did our strong tower. He is the one that can help His own people. And if we are not giving an earnest heed to the things which we have heard, there is a danger of letting those things to slip and to drift like that boat away. We need to stay close to the Lord. We need to stay in communication with Him. We need to have our conscience and our hearts soft and tender to allow Him to work in our lives.

When we sin and sin come into our lives so quickly. We will read it later on when we get to chapter 12. The sin which does so easily beset us. When we stay close to the Lord, confessing our sins. He forgives us. We can repent. And then we can restore our relationship with the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And so those Hebrews, he gives them the first warning here in these first four verses. And he wants them to see the importance of continuing on following the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. Why? Because Israel, when Israel did not accept the Messiah in His first coming, it didn't take too long, beloved, that by 70 AD, the temple had been destroyed.

And many of our Jewish people died by the Romans. The Jerusalem had been burned. And there was not one stone left upon another. And God came in judgment upon the people of Israel who did not yet accept the Messiah. But here, the writer to the Hebrew believers telling them, you also have responsibility to continue to follow after the Messiah. Because if you are not going to stay close to Him, you will allow His word to drift. And you will find yourself in a very sad situation. So there is a need of giving heed. There is a need of giving careful attention to God's word. And not to allow the word of God to drift away from the believers, from us.

Now, in verse 2 and the first part of verse 3, He shows them, He's showing to those Hebrew believers, the impossibility that it is not possible to escape punishment. You know, brothers and sisters, we have to realize that God has to judge sin. He has to judge sin in the unbeliever, but He also has to judge sin in the believer. We cannot say, I'm a child of God, and I'm never going to get punishment anymore. Well, when David sinned, God punished him. When anyone sinned, God had to punish. In fact, we read elsewhere, the judgment must begin at the house of God. God judged His own people.

He does, when He judged them, it doesn't mean that they lose their salvation. It means that He disciplined whom the Lord loveth. He chasteneth. He disciplined. He disciplined as a father, disciplined his own child. And so, look what happened. In verse 2 and verse 3a, there are three things that we learn here. The first thing we find out that in verse 2a, that the law in the past was given to the people of Israel via angels. Notice He says here, for if the word, that word here has to do with the law. Let's change the word for a second. That if the law that was spoken by angels was steadfast.

That's the first thing. Notice, the first thing we learn that the law was really given to Israel by angels. I already mentioned that before. I know we don't read in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5. I know we don't read that the law was given to Moses by angels. But actually, we learn from the scriptures, from this passage, from Acts chapter 7, from Galatians chapter 3, that actually the law was given to Israel by angels. Turn to Psalm 68 for a moment. And verse 17. Look at this. Just to show you that this expression that when Elijah went to heaven, we read about the chariots of God. Look at this expression here.

Verse 17 of Psalm 68. The chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place. See, he gives us a reference to Sinai in the holy place when the law was given that those thousands and thousands of angels, that the Lord was among them, even as it was in Sinai. That's a psalmist, has a reference to the angels that they were in Sinai, in that holy place, in a time when God had given the law to Israel. Here's another verse. Acts chapter 7. Please turn there for a moment. Acts chapter 7 and verse 53, which we have read last time when we were together.

Acts chapter 7, verse 53, Stephen, before dying, before he died, he was stoned. He was a Hebrew believer in the Messiah, Yeshua. He, speaking to the leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, who rejected the Messiahship of Yeshua, he said to them, you, verse 53, who received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. Notice that. Stephen is telling the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the leaders, the religious leaders of Israel, who did not accept the Messiah, he says, you have received the law by the disposition of angels. You didn't keep it. They couldn't keep it. Neither you and I, nor anyone could keep it. But they received the law by the disposition of angels.

Galatians 3, one more verse, quickly. In verse 19, Paul is writing to the Galatians. And he's saying to them in verse 19, Wherefore then serve the law? For what purpose was the law? It was added because of transgression. Until the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And now notice. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. The angels were used by God to give the law to the people of Israel, to Moses and the nation of Israel. It was ordained by angels. It was given by disposition of angels. And here we are in chapter 2 of Hebrews. He says, the word that once was spoken by angels.

In other words, the law that was given by angels. That's the first thing we learn here from Hebrews 2 and verse 2. Very important to understand it. That's why it was important for the writer to write to them that Yeshua is more important than the angels. He's superior to the angels. Even though the angels were used by God to give the law. Then he continues now, back in Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 2, by the second half of the verse. Notice. In the second half of the verse he says, Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. In other words, he's saying, When the law that was given by angels, every disobedience, every sin received punishment.

Do you know that? That when Israel disobeyed the law, God punished them. When Israel obeyed the law, God blessed them. There is no nation on the face of this earth that give us this principle. Blessing in obedience. Cursing in disobedience. There is no nation like the nation of Israel. Why? Because only Israel as a nation received the law. The law was never given to any other nation. Only to the nation of Israel. And so, the writer to the Hebrew believers said to them, You know what? If the angels gave the law. And the law that was given to the nation of Israel. Demended obedience to it.

And those who disobeyed them received, as he says here, a just recompense of reward. They were punished when they disobeyed the word of God. Now, you might, again, we want to distinguish also, always, between those that are being disciplined as believers. And those that are going to be disciplined as non-believers. When Israel came out of Egypt, they were under the blood. They have been delivered. They were a redeemed nation. Those that have accepted God and obeyed God, accepted his word, they were children of God. They were saved. But those among them that disobeyed God, God had to discipline them. And sometimes, if you read in scripture, you'll see, for example, you remember when Aaron's sons.

In Yom Kippur, we usually study this passage. In Leviticus chapter 16. You remember when Aaron's sons, who were priests. When they offer a strange fire, God judged them on the spot and they died. And that's why God gave the warning to Aaron through Moses. Moses said, don't allow Aaron to come any time when he wants into my presence. Because if he's going to come his own way, he's going to do his own thing, I'm going to discipline them. And that's how God disciplined. God disciplined his own people. When Aaron and Moses did not enter into the promised land, why? They were children of God. They loved God.

They served God. Moses, the servant of the Lord, could not enter in because he, in a certain point, in a certain time, he violated the word of God. And when he died, he didn't die eternally. He died physically as a punishment while Moses was a child of God. Well, God disciplined his own people. And you and I have to realize that we're also going to be disciplined by the Lord when we live an ongoing life of disobedience. And so, in the third verse, and I'm moving now to the third verse, then he's speaking to now the believers. He says, if, in verse 2, the angels gave the law, and the people who violated that law received a just recompense.

If they received discipline. He said in verse 3, how shall we, us believers, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Now, you notice that. He doesn't say, how shall we escape if we reject so great salvation? He's not talking to unbelievers. But how shall we escape if we neglect this salvation that is already ours? This relationship with the Messiah, Yeshua, that is already ours. Do you think that God is going to allow us to escape the great salvation that he's provided for us when we are not in the enjoyment of it, in living in the light of this great salvation? Do you think that we will escape the discipline of the Lord?

He said, how? That's what he's saying, beloved, in verse 3. How shall we escape physical punishment if we become indifferent to what we have heard through the message of God through the Son? If God disciplined the people of Israel historically, who received the law through the mediators, the angels, and disobeyed it. Do you think that you and I, who received the great proclamation of the love of God through the Son, this great salvation, do you think that you and I are going to escape the discipline of God when we neglect that salvation? He says, no way. God is going to discipline his people whom he loves and we are more responsible.

You know, I am a believer for about 30 years about in Yeshua the Messiah. Unfortunately, being in congregational meetings, church meetings, I hear many Christians always point to the disobedience of Israel. They always say that Jews did that and look at this and let's read Exodus and what they did and let's look what they did in Judges and let's read what they did with their kings. And they don't realize that Christians have far superior responsibility than what Israel had as a nation. Why? Israel never had a complete canon of scripture. You and I have. You and I have. Israel didn't have the Holy Spirit indwell in them.

We have. Israel has not the Son of God finished a walk on the cross. You and I have. Israel never had the full information that you and I have. You and I have today. The believers of this present day are far more superior in responsibility than what Israel as a nation have ever been. Israel was under the law. You and I are under grace. Israel was anticipating the coming of the Messiah. You and I have. The Messiah came and lived and died and rose and ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit of God to indwell. We have everything. We are far more responsible to take heed to the things which we have heard through the Son than Israel have heard through the law which was given by the angels.

And so, beloved, that's what he's saying. How? He's saying that. How can you imagine that we, we are going to escape if we believers neglect such a great salvation? Do you think you are going to escape this? If you think you will, you are fooling only yourself. Because God is not a fool. God will deal with his people one way or another. We are not going to fool the Lord. Even though many times we try or we think we are fooling the Lord. And that's where he is speaking to them. He's appealing to his heart. And you notice he used the word so great. Beloved, look what God has done for us.

He has given us the darling of his bosom. He has given us everything he have. He was willing to take his son and to judge him on the tree. When the Lord Jesus, when Yeshua cried on the cross, said, my God, my God, why you forsaken me? Why? And he knew the answer. He says, you are holy. You that inhabit us, the praises of Israel. You read Psalm 22. God is holy. And God had to judge sin. And he judged it in the person of his son. That's what he did. And that's why Paul says, how shall we escape if we believers neglect such a great salvation?

There is no greater. People try to get saved through all kinds of ways. People try to find a way to get forgiveness from God. And they can't. There is no way. God has done it all. Salvation is a gift of God. We can't pay for that. We can't earn it. We can't do anything about except just accept it by faith. That's the gift that we have. So here we see, beloved, he's appealing to them. He says, how shall you and I escape such a great salvation? Salvation, he says. And then if you notice that now in the second part of verse 3 and 4, so we can conclude this passage.

He is telling them. And by the way, you know, I just want to emphasize this one more thing. How shall we escape so great salvation? You know, some people think that they need to earn this salvation. And they usually go to a passage found in the book of Philippians. Again, if you just turn there for a second, Philippians chapter 2. They go to this passage. And they say, you see, we need to work for our salvation. We need to earn our salvation. And you see, notice it says in verse 12 of Philippians chapter 2, verse 12. He says, wherefore, my beloved. Paul is writing. Now, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.

Then he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, some people say, you see, Paul says, work so you can get salvation. But beloved, read the text correctly. See what our apostle Paul is trying to say. He doesn't say work out for your salvation. He says, work out your own salvation. You already have it. Work it out in your life. Grow spiritually. Don't neglect the things of the Lord. Mature in your life as a believer. And then he continues in verse 13. He says, for it is God which works in you. You're not doing it on your own. God works within you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

The salvation that you already have, work it out. Build a relationship with the Lord. Grow and mature spiritually. Don't allow yourself to stay or to be drifting and the word of God drifting away from you. Grow spiritually, mature. He's appealing both to the Philippians as well as to the Hebrews. And so finally, in the third part of verse 3, he's saying this. Look at it, the second half. After he says, for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And now he's telling them three things about the salvation. The salvation through the gospel was superior than the law that came through the angels by Moses.

Three things he tells them. First of all, notice. Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord. That's number one. Number two. And then he said it was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. That's number two. Verse 3 says in verse 4. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wondrous and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. He tells them three things about that gospel that came. The good news of the Messiah, the Son of God coming from heaven and giving his life for the salvation of mankind. Three things. The first thing, it was given by God the Son, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

See? In verse 3, which was first began to be spoken by the Lord. Apparently he knew that that message was first of all spoken by the Lord himself. The Lord himself when he was living among the Jewish people in Israel. When he was walking from Jerusalem and going walking in Galilee. When he was in Kfar Nachum and all the villages from the south to the north for the middle of Israel. When he was sharing the word. He himself was the one who spoke that first. He's the one who was inviting people. You remember what he said? Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

He is the one that was the first one to speak about this great message of the gospel. This great message of forgiveness of sins. So first of all, it was given to the people, to the Hebrews by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself. But not only by him. Notice the last part of verse 3. It was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. Well, you see what the writer says. You know what? It was confirmed to us by the apostles that heard him. You know, there was at least 12 apostles that heard the message of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Interesting again here that this writer says it was confirmed to us by them that heard him.

Apparently, if it is the apostle Paul who wrote this, it's correct because the apostle Paul was never seeing the Lord when he was here on earth. He had only seen him when he would translated, he received a special vision. But the apostle, his Hebrew name is Shaul, actually heavens met the Lord here on earth when the Lord was alive. After the Lord died, after Yeshua died, was buried and resurrected. Paul, you remember, Shaul went on the way to Damascus. He was going to take, to kill those Hebrew believers. He was not happy that they believed in Yeshua the Messiah. He was going to bring them to Jerusalem.

And on the way to Damascus, the Lord himself told him, Shaul, Shaul, lama tirdefeni? In Hebrew. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And you remember, he fell on his knees. He fell on his face. He became blind and he got gloriously saved, forgiven there. He accepted that Yeshua was truly the promised Messiah. And then he began to serve. But he heard it from the other disciples, from the other apostles. It was confirmed by the apostles. They have preached and say, thus says the Lord. Every time they have gone to the preaching around the world, they have confirmed what the Lord Yeshua the Messiah said. And how it was confirmed, beloved.

And that's what we're going to conclude in this meeting with. In verse 4. That's where we end this passage. God bearing them witness. How did he bear them witness? Both with signs and wonders, with diverse miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. You notice those four things? It was verified. The truth of the gospel that Yeshua is the promised Messiah and that he died and he was buried and was risen. It was verified by God to men in four ways. Signs, wonders, miracles and gifts. Now, I know there's a lot of people around today. They say that God told me to do this and I do this and I have all kind of gift of miracles and gift of this.

I am telling you, and you read the scripture. Whenever those early first century believers went and proclaimed the message of the gospel, they were not proclaiming it in their own church meetings when they were there safe and sound with their own brothers and sisters. It was always in connection with the unregenerated ones that they would hear the message of the gospel. You know, sometimes it's really sad when we spend the time or we hear about people who spend the time to seek to get those gifts and the signs and the wonders and the miracles. They like to get it in their own safe nest. And a lot of it is not genuine, not really from the Lord.

Instead, you notice, you read the end of the book of Mark. How those apostles, when they went to preach the gospel to the unbelievers in the first century. God has accompanied them with various signs, wonders, gifts and miracles. It was not a game. It was not a show. It was not something so we can gain something for them. But it was to tell the unbelievers that Yeshua is truly the Messiah and the answer for sin. And that's what he's saying to them. He says, and you remember the Hebrews here are first century early first believers. They have heard, they have experienced some of these miracles and signs and wonders and gifts that have happened at that particular time.

We, beloved, today have a full canon of scripture. We have the complete Bible. They didn't have. They didn't have. So when they were preaching the message of the gospel about Yeshua the Messiah. They could not come and say, thus says the Lord and turn to Acts chapter 17. Or first Corinthians chapter 5. They couldn't. The miracles, the signs that accompany them verified that they were speaking for the Lord. But when somebody tells me today, God told me this. And God told me that. I want you to give me verse and chapter and a book in the Bible. To confirm it on the basis of the written word of God that God had given to us today.

Thus says the Lord. And we are not limiting God. God. God can speak in any form and shape he wants. But what they did not have, you and I have today. They didn't have the canon of scripture completed. They didn't have anything of a sort. They only had the Old Testament scriptures. We are today having a full canon of scripture. And we have the knowledge of this great salvation. That we are responsible to take heed. That we will not neglect so great salvation. I am going to close with this remark. If somebody is an unbeliever. And he or she rejecting the offer of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

For this person. There is not only a discipline for here and now. For this person. Boy or girl. Man or woman. For that person. There is eternal separation from God. The only thing that is left. Is the great white throne judgment. For there is eternal separation from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And may God help unbelievers. Not to neglect. Not to reject. Not to reject. This great salvation. That had been offered to them. By our Lord Jesus the Messiah. May God bless his word. Can we say amen to that? Amen.