Hebrews 4:2
6 July 2025
For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
Notice once more in this section, which contains so many weighty and powerful warnings of danger and challenge, what this verse has to say about the good news. Hebrews 4:2, "For good news came to us just as to them." But note what it goes on to say: "But the message they heard did not benefit them." It did not benefit them.
Now, consider the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, this good news, and the warning that we have in a verse like this, which states that this message, this life-saving, life-transforming message, does not benefit anyone. And this is what we have in a text which is based upon the warning from Israel's fall in the wilderness, bringing this very warning here today, where it leads to this closing conclusion: "Because they were not united by faith." So as we come into this building, as we hear the message of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ week by week, are we a people coming by faith, or are we coming for some other reason entirely? This is literally the difference between life and death. Because, as we are going to see, people can, people have, people will hear the good news. But for some who hear this good news, it does not benefit them. And this is what we need to unpack as we work through this verse.
So we are going to deal with three questions:
1. to clarify, what is the good news?
(And then second, we are going to spend a little bit shorter)
2. how did it come to Israel, given it was in the Old Testament?
(And then we are going to consider very importantly)
3. how must it be received, given we have this warning of those for whom it does not benefit?
So the first thing we are going to do, we are going to ask, what is the good news? And the way we are going to approach answering this question is going to be entirely from not all of the Book of Hebrews, but simply what we have seen in the first couple of chapters. So we are going to answer the question, what is the good news, from mainly Hebrews chapter 1 and 2. As we go through this, you can just look at some of these different verses. And this is a helpful thing to do for those who have been going through this series over the past year and a bit, because we have gone through these verses. The Gospel is at the very centre of everything that we see in the Book of Hebrews. So we should already have a very clear and emphatic declaration of this question. So this is summarising what is at the very heart of Christianity. And it is from the Book of Hebrews, which is in the Word of God.
So the good news is the Gospel about the Son of God. And of this Son, it says in Hebrews 1:8, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of Your kingdom." So the Son of God, the second Person of the triune God, He is God. He is not a created being. He is the Creator. Hebrews 1:10, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of Your hands." Also back in Hebrews 1:2, at the end, it says, "through Whom also He Jesus created the world." So this Jesus is the one who is God, who created the world. And Hebrews 2:10 adds, "For it was fitting that He, for Whom and by Whom all things exist..." Note this of Jesus, this good news, who it is about: "for Whom and by Whom all things," everything, "exist." So not only do we see that Jesus is God and that He is the God who created us, but we see that we have been created for Him. We were created for the Son, for He alone is worthy of the highest praise. He alone is to be worshipped even in the heavenly realm. Hebrews 1:6, "And again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, He says, 'Let all God's angels worship Him.'"
And when we come to the Gospel itself, this is the message of this Son, who is God, who is our Creator, who is to be worshipped, coming to this Earth as a man. So He came to this Earth as a man. And we see this in Hebrews 2:14, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself," which is Jesus, "likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death." So the Lord Jesus Christ, what does He do? He assumes our physical nature. But very crucial to stress, He did not cease to be God. In Hebrews 1:3, it says, "He is the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of His nature." So the Son does not cease to be God. He is eternally God, begotten of the Father. Hebrews 1:5: "You are My Son; today I have begotten You." And so although we have Him assuming a physical condition with flesh and blood, as we saw in Hebrews 2:14, important to note, He does not assume our spiritual condition. He came as the One without sin. For Jesus is God, and He is perfect. But He had to come as a man. Note this: Jesus, who is God, had to come as a man while still eternally being God. Hebrews 2:17, "Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect." Note this, it says, "He has to be like His brothers in every respect." And we would ask why? Why did Jesus, who is God, eternally the Creator, the radiance of the glory of God, why did He have to be like us in every respect in becoming a man? Well, Hebrews 2:17 goes on to say: "so that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."
Now, what does it mean for this verse to say Jesus is merciful? Well, to be merciful is to not give to someone what they deserve. Now, friends, let me ask you this evening, what are you deserving of? What is your life deserving of? What are your works, your deeds, deserving of? If your answer is anything other than an eternity in hell or under the wrath and judgment of God, then you do not understand what the Bible has revealed about man's fallen condition. We are lost and broken in sin. And this is what makes a verse like Hebrews 2:17 so spectacular that God is not giving to His people what they deserve. And we read how this is the case as the verse goes on. He is the faithful High Priest. And this gets to language of what Jesus comes to do for His people, people like us, sinners who are deserving of hell. What does Jesus do in becoming a faithful High Priest? Well, this is where we come to the heart of the Gospel. This is the good news that the one who would make an atonement for sin, who would eternally put away sin by literally having that sin put upon Himself on a cross, is the very message of the Gospel. Because the sin that separates you from this great and mighty God, this great and mighty God, has come to this Earth in the flesh and has taken that sin for His people upon Himself. And this is how, end of the verse, He makes propitiation for the sins of the people. To propitiate means to appease. To appease what? To satisfy what? God's wrath, His righteous anger. Is it right for God to be righteously angry? Absolutely. It is because we have sinned. And this is the only right and just response of the most holy God. And so God in His righteous anger, therefore then at the cross burns with that anger against the Son, this Son who is God. Because what is He doing on that cross? He is bearing the sin of His people.
And Hebrews 1:3 says that in this He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. And we go on to read, "After making purification for sins by being the propitiation, He is the one who makes purification." He makes pure, He makes right. Can you imagine, can you comprehend that you filthy, undeserving, vile sinner could be made right? And not just be made right, maybe with a group of other sinners, but being made right in the sight of the most High God? How could that ever be possible to comprehend? And the answer is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This glorious, mighty, wondrous truth that Jesus, in His perfect righteousness, in His perfect righteous life, being laid down for sinners, would satisfy the righteous anger of the living God the Father, burning His anger against the Son. It would be satisfied by Christ's life. And therefore we can stand in His presence, not in our own righteousness, of which we have none, but fully and entirely in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the only way by which you can be declared legally justified. This is the only way by which you can be freely forgiven. This is the only way by which you can be adopted into the family of God. Hebrews 2:10. This is the only way by which Hebrews 2:14 goes on to say that death might be destroyed, the power of death, the devil would be destroyed, and this lifelong slavery, verse 15 of Hebrews 2, would end. It is only because of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel. And it had to be by Jesus becoming a man and tasting death, the death that we deserve. He took the place of His people in this death, in order to defeat death. He defeats death and the devil. And this is why in Hebrews 1:13 it says of this one who has defeated death: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." Because death, because the devil has been defeated. At the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ rises victorious from the grave. He defeats sin, He defeats the evil one. He rises triumphant, ascending to Hebrews 1:3, where we read "at the right hand of the Majesty on high." It is why in Hebrews 1:8 it goes on to say, "Your throne, O God, is forever." This is a throne of which we know Jesus Christ is now declared the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Where we read in Hebrews 1:2, He reigns as the Heir of all things. His name is Jesus. And in Hebrews 2:9 it says, "He is crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." And what is going to happen when this world ends, when everything perishes? Jesus remains. Hebrews 1:11: "They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe You will roll them up like a garment. They will be changed." Verse 12, "But You are the same, and Your years will have no end." This is Jesus Christ, the triumphant Lord and King, who has conquered sin and death by the sacrifice of His very life on the cross, making purification for sins, that there is forgiveness at the cross. And this is the good news of Jesus Christ, which we have in Hebrews 1 and 2. And that is our first question. That is the good news that we are dealing with as we come here to Hebrews 4:2.
But our next question is with regards to how Israel received it, because you will notice it says in the verse, Hebrews 4:2, "For good news came to us just as to them." But we may be scratching our heads and thinking, well, we know the good news. This is the good news of the Gospel. We see the Lord Jesus Christ. Did Israel receive this good news? And more specifically, did they receive it in the same way? And the answer is, well, they did receive this good news, but not exactly in the same way.
If you just turn back in your Bibles to Exodus Chapter Six, let us consider how Israel received the good news. So, Exodus 6:6-8,
"Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.'"
What a wondrous series of declarations of who our God is and what our God would do for this chosen people of Israel. And He did. He delivered this people out of slavery. He redeemed them. And what did they witness through that? They witnessed the mighty hand of the Lord striking His enemies with a series of plagues. They witnessed the Lord parting the Red Sea as Israel passed through and the Egyptians were swamped. They witnessed the miracles of water, of bread, of food being given, of defeats to enemies. They witnessed the theophanies, God appearing through visible manifestations, like we saw with Moses and the burning bush, the pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire. These are the types and the shadows of what was to come, which is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They witnessed all this. This was the good news of the Lord's redemption of a people, of Him buying them back for Himself. Everything is set up for a big, big win for Israel, surely.
But if we just go over to Exodus Chapter 23:20, here is the warning. Here is the warning to that people. And this is where we begin to address the warning that is given in Hebrews 4:2. Exodus 23:20-22,
"Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for My name is in him. But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries."
But what have we seen, brothers and sisters? What have we seen in the Book of Hebrews, Chapter Three? We have seen that this very people, this very generation, as they spend time in the wilderness, they get to the point where they are about to have the opportunity to cross over into this promised land. But they cower in fear. They rebel against their leader, and ultimately they reject the living God. In the hardness of their hearts, they did not heed the warning.
But then, as we are going to see later, in Hebrews Chapter Four, the next generation, there was good news. Go to Joshua Chapter 21 for a moment. Joshua 21:43, "Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that He swore to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it, and they settled there." So eventually, in the Lord's appointed time, His declaration, they will enter the promised land. It comes to pass for the generation that follows. But brothers and sisters, what we have to understand is that generation was a generation that was fighting. Joshua Chapter 23, Verse 14. Turn over the page, please. Joshua 23:14: "And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed." This is the conclusion for the generation that fought to get into the promised land. So then, is this the rest? Is this them experiencing that rest that Hebrews Four is talking about? Turn over one more page to Judges, Chapter Two, the generation that follows this. Judges 2:1-3,
"Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, 'I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, "I will never break My covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars."
But think of the warning back in Exodus 23.
"But you have not obeyed My voice. What is this that you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'"
This was the time of the Judges. And again and again and again, this good news did not benefit generation after generation. Why? Because they did not listen to the voice of God. They did not obey God because of the hardness of their hearts.
Because, and this is the damning problem, folks, this is the damning problem as to why the good news does not benefit man. And it is because of sin. Sin which separates man from God. Sin which means that who you are of your very nature and the things that you therefore do, can do, try to do, cannot ever in any way, shape or form, mean that you can enter into a right relationship with this God. God commands perfect obedience. And in our sinful, fallen flesh, we disobey, we rebel, we are cut off, and we are condemned. This is the damning reality of man's sin and the consequence that we are deserving of hell.
Now, as we just go back to Hebrews Chapter Four, this takes us to a fundamentally important question, our third question: how must this good news be received? The warning from Israel's history of the evil, unbelieving heart, Hebrews 3:12, is a warning that highlights man's condition. But understand this, in case there is any confusion: a declaration of man's condition of sin which cuts us off and is deserving of hell, that is not the message of the Good News as we have already identified with this first question. The message of the Good News is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this verse is saying that it "came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them." And for many today, it is the same. Family members, friends, colleagues, people you maybe saw on the street yesterday, people who you have proclaimed the Gospel to, they have heard this message. Now, this is an important thing to stress because Israel received it. They witnessed the Lord doing mighty things. They saw this good news in these types and shadows, and they rejected and rebelled. Man today hears the Good News, but simply hearing this good news is not what saves.
Take for example, if you have committed a crime and the police come to arrest you, and you say in response, "I have heard all about this law that makes me guilty. I know all about the penal system in the United Kingdom." Well, that is all very well, but it does not change the situation that you face. You may have heard the Good News, but... end of Verse Two: "Because they were not united by faith." They were not united by faith. And this is it. This is what is required. When the Lord Jesus had a religious leader, young and upcoming, full of knowledge, full of reverence, respect, he came inquiring of the Lord Jesus. And what did Jesus say? What was the message? What was the requirement? That unless you be born again, you cannot enter this kingdom, unless you become a new creation, you will not be saved. And this is why, when the Gospel is proclaimed, when you hear this good news, it must be united by faith in Jesus Christ; it must be. This is not a negotiable point, as if to say, well, Jesus is one of the ways, one of the options here, but there are other ways in which you can get to heaven. No, this is the only way and the only means. It is the declaration of the Gospel, this life-saving message. And it must be united by a faith, a life-saving, life-transforming faith in this Gospel which transforms your life. It is literally the transformation of a heart of stone being taken out and you receiving a heart of flesh. It is literally the Spirit of God changing the very who you are, identity as a born-again person, a believer in Jesus Christ.
And this is why this Gospel, this message, this life-saving message, has to be proclaimed. It has to be proclaimed from this pulpit again and again, week in and week out. Because this is how we live, it is how we are alive. It is everything of who and what we are. And we know even as we consider this morning, there is an enemy who is out to strike and devour. There is wickedness and opposition, there is temptation all around. And to whom must we trust? To whom must we look? To what must we hear and proclaim this Gospel that we believe, this Gospel that we are united to? This is why we must go out and proclaim this Gospel.
And note this, we are not pleading with people that they accept Jesus as if we are saying, "Please come and join us." If someone were to say, "Well, what have you got for me? Why should I follow this religion?" What do you say to that? Jesus is not a needy beggar. He is the all-sufficient, all-conquering Lord, the Saviour of sinners. We proclaim the excellency of God. We declare the folly and the wickedness of man's sinful and rebellious heart. And we preach Christ crucified. And we pray that the Lord would be glorified, glorified in the preaching of His Word, glorified in the convicting, the calling, the saving of the elect. We call the sinner to repent. And we pray that the Spirit of God effectually calls and transforms the hearts of His elect. And without the Spirit's work, this message does not benefit because it is not united by saving faith. That is the crux of the verse. It will not be down to any one of us making a decision or leading someone to pray a prayer. That is not uniting someone by faith, that is coercing someone to say a few words. Being united by faith is when someone is truly convicted of their sin. And that is entirely a work of the Spirit of God shaping, changing, transforming that person's life. And this is how the good news is received. This is how the Gospel transforms a life. And this is how it benefits anyone. This is how we receive it, being united by faith in Jesus Christ. This Gospel, this Gospel by which we are saved. This Gospel that we rejoice in, this Gospel that we proclaim. We are united by faith in this Gospel. If you are one who has truly repented and believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you have benefited. You have received this by faith, a faith given to you by God. A faith which has changed your life. And this is the testimony of the Gospel you proclaim and believe. Yes, there is a warning here. But oh, what an encouragement and joy it is to know that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the message of hope and life for you today. And it is why as we work through the Book of Hebrews, verse after verse, chapter after chapter, the message, the focus is Jesus Christ and this glorious Gospel. Amen.