The New Testament Testimony and Teaching

May 19, 2013 Evening:

Title: A Well-Attested Salvation

Old Testament Passage: Deuteronomy 19:1-3 – Cities of Refuge

Gospel Passage: John 18:26-27 – Peter's Third Denial

Sermon Text: Hebrews 2:3c – The salvation achieved for us by Christ alone was proclaimed and attested to us by his disciples

Sermon Point: The disciples of Jesus Christ were reliable witnesses of both His suffering and His glory.

“and it was attested to us by those who heard,”

The disciples of Jesus Christ were not inherently strong, wise, and courageous men. Even when Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, he wanted nothing to do with Christ going to the cross.

The others had a similar record. Though they had differing personalities, none of them seemed ready to turn the world upside down until they were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Yet God worked through them, even through the persecutions they faced (Acts 8:4), in order to bring their testimony to the world.

That testimony was a testimony of salvation. Salvation is more than saying yes to Jesus. Salvation is the new creation that Christ is bringing with angels and the entire community of the redeemed, people who are already living in heaven. Salvation is a renewed world without sin. Salvation is a land of perfect love forever. Salvation is Revelation 21:1-4 right before your eyes; no, more than that, open and available to the fullness of all our holy senses, and not just for a moment, but forever.

The Lord Himself spoke about and displayed salvation by His powerful teaching and miracles. This message continued through these same men described in the gospels. Jesus had called them to follow Him. He, the King of the kingdom, was despised and rejected by men. They too would also face ridicule and danger for the Name of the Lord.

These men had two things that Jesus-rejecting people hated:

First, they had eyewitness testimony to salvation in the death and resurrection of Jesus. They could not deny what they had seen and heard. Peter had denied our Lord before, but that would not happen after the gift of the Spirit had been poured out upon the church. He would leave it to others to decide whether he should obey God or them. For himself, he already knew what he would do. These men could not stop testifying to what they knew to be true, even if it cost them their lives.

Second, they had Spirit-empowered teaching of the Scriptures that enabled them to show the necessity of Messiah's suffering and glory from the Law, the prophets and the other writings that comprise the Old Testament. This was a most wonderful gift for the ears of those who would hear their teaching with honest and open hearts, but it was a most annoying and troubling nuisance to those who refused to be followers of Jesus.

We have the reliable testimony and clear teaching of the apostles in the New Testament. Our lives have been changed. This has become our testimony and our teaching. We have not only heard of a coming salvation. We have experienced it together. As the disciples were different, so are we. But together we are the body of Christ, throughout the ages and throughout the earth. We believe. We follow. We have heard, and now we speak. We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus the Messiah, who died and rose again, as Lord.