Sermon Tone Analysis

Life Time Guarantee

Friday was black Friday, You probably all-ready know this but it called that because that is the day that most retailers go from being in the red (meaning that they are loosing money) to being in the black (meaning that they are turning a profit).

Studying our passage for this morning, and maybe mixed with the spirit of consumerism that began this week, I began to consider how my buying habits have changed over the years.

Something shifted for me, and I am not necessarily advocating this, but in my mind I started to want to purchase things that were of a higher quality and that would last a long time rather than continually repurchasing things as they wore out.

And, I decided that if that meant I had to have less ‘things’ then so be it.

Kate has started making fun of me, I was looking at camping gear and ‘Life Time Guarantee’ was in the description, she would just roll here eyes and respond "of Course”.

Really for me, what this comes down to is wanting to just buy something once and never having to think about it again, to not have to worry about if that thing will fail me when I need it.

This morning as we turn our Bibles over to Hebrews 5:9-10 that is the kind of thing we are looking for.

A salvation that isn’t temporary but has a Guarantee, and not a Life Time Guarantee, an Eternal Guarantee.

So, please read along with me:

Today we are concluding our series Our Great High Priest with a message entitled How to Avoid Buyers Remorse

Let’s Pray

Temporary Fixes

A Common Expression

The concept of Salvation isn’t something that is unique to Christianity, in fact, this expression in verse 9 Author of … Salvation Is a term we find used often in classical Greek.

The Greek politician Aeschines in his writing Against Ctesiphon states:

the gods have become the authors of salvation for the city

The Jewish historian Josephus in his book Antiquities says:

Antipater was the author of their victory and also of their safety.

And the Jewish philosopher Philo uses this phrase a couple of times.

First stating:

Noah’s son Ham is reproached for his unfilial conduct toward his father, “the author of his salvation”

and then

the brazen serpent was “the author of complete deliverance” to those who beheld it

Among other places.

The concept here is pretty strait forward.

In each of these examples there was a people in need and then something acted upon their need to author salvation.

To be the one who brought about salvation.

The pagans looked to their false gods to author their salvation, Antipater was the author of the Jewish victory in war, Noah brought about salvation for all of them who were given passage on the ark.

Check this out, if you have you Bibles turn them over to Numbers 21, some of you are familiar with this but let’s read verses 5-9 anyway.

So what happened?

The Israelites complained against God suggesting that he rescued them from slavery in Egypt just to let them die in the wilderness.

For their rebellion God sent poison serpents to bit the people.

But God also provided a means of salvation for the people.

In verse 9 moses made a serpent of brass and anyone who looked at it would be saved.

Philo says of this, that it was

the brazen serpent was “the author of complete deliverance” to those who beheld it

And we know that this author of the Israelites salvation, the brazen serpent was a type of Christ.

An Old Testament foreshadowing of Jesus and His work on the cross, Jesus said as much in John 3:14

Salvation that Doesn’t Last

But in all of the cases mentioned in classical Greek writing, that salvation was temporary.

Pagans may have prayed to their false gods for the salvation of their city, but their city would be threatened again.

Antipater may have led the people to victory but wars would come again.

Noah may have saved Seth from the judgment of the flood, but listen, death and judgment was still coming

And while the Israelites who looked upon the brazen serpent had their lives saved, they would all die before their children’s generation would enter into the promised land.

Even the sacrifices made for the people by the priests, had to made continually, because the people continued to sin.

Something we will cover in greater detail when we get to Hebrews Chapter 7.

Built to Last

But there is a single word we find in Hebrews 5 that makes all of the difference.

Verse 9 doesn’t read

Hebrews 5:9 (KJV 1900)

9 And being made perfect, he became the author of ____ salvation unto all them that obey him;

but reads

Hebrews 5:9 (KJV 1900)

9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

See that word eternal means everything to this passage.

Eternal is αἰώνιος (aiōnios) in the Greek.

It means to have an unlimited duration of time.

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, written almost 300 years before Christ was born we find this word αἰώνιος (aiōnios) used over an over translated....for ever.

See, The Salvation offered by Christ isn’t a temporary measure, it’s a for ever thing.

We this word find that word αἰώνιος (aiōnios) the Septuagint translated similarly in Isaiah 45:17

Isaiah 45:17 (KJV 1900)

17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

The Jewish people reading Isaiah would have been expecting a salvation to come that was everlasting, and that they could be confident that this salvation was eminent.

A High Price

Like anything though, you get what you pay for.

You can get yourself into trouble buying things online or from a flea market that seems priced too good to be true.

Usually when that happens the products are either stolen or they are counterfeit.

The FBI just busted a $6 Million iPad and iPhone counterfeit ring.

And we might think that a fake, that is a decent copy, isn’t that big of a deal, but as is often the case what recipients of counterfeit iPhones get is a phone that not only is made of cheaper components, unable to last, but is riddled with malicious software designed to spy on the users.

We have a saying in the Self household “if it sounds too good to be true, it is” And in very few cases has that adage been proved wrong.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident killed in 1945 after being vocal in his opposition to Germany’s genocide of the Jews said this:

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Cheap grace isn’t something that is worth having.

Grace is something that I need to last, I need it to be durable, something that isn’t going to let me down when I need it.

Something everlasting.

In Hebrews 5 the grace we are reading about is the grace of eternal salvation but in verse 9 we find the condition.

Eternal salvation is extended:

Hebrews 5:9 (KJV 1900)

...... unto all them that obey him;

Salvation is extended to those who obey Christ.

Now you need to understand what this word Obey means in order to really understand this passage.

To Obey is ὑπακούω (hypakouō) and it means to take heed.

We can’t allow this word obey to be some impossible goal that nobody can achieve.

It doesn’t mean that when you have salvation that you only have it for as long as you are obedient.

If we think that way we are not only creating a standard for which no one can attain we aren’t getting the sense of this word.

To Obey as Thayers Greek-English Lexicon puts it is

to hearken to a command, i. e. to obey, be obedient unto, submit to,

So when Bonhoeffer says that Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance, what he is saying is that any version of the Gospel of Christ that says that Eternal Salvation can come without obedience to Christ is a counterfeit and will leave you disappointed

See, we can’t be reconciled with God, we can’t have eternal salvation with a version of grace that ignores the Lord’s own word....He says…Jesus says... in Mark 1:15

Mark 1:15 (KJV 1900)

15 .......

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

The call of Christ is to repent, to turn away from our lives of sin and to follow him, taking heed , trusting him and him alone for our salvation.

And this price is high.

Don’t get me wrong.

See, I think what a lot of people find unbelievable is the watered down version of the gospel that is espoused by so many, people don’t believe anything has value that doesn’t cost anything.

We hear the word free and our response is usually, OK what’s the catch..

And that is not what I am talking about when I am talking about the Gospel.

The grace of Christ is the free gift that costs you everything …

Jesus says in Luke 14:27: