THE GOSPEL PREACHED. Hebrews 4:2 Some people, when they first hear the Gospel and begin to understand the blessings of salvation and the deliverance from the coming wrath, hell, and the lake of fire through Christ's sacrificial work, seem to become believers. However, the opposition they face from other people, social pressures, and sometimes family pressures reveals that they lack the power to resist sin because the Holy Spirit is not within them. Reforming one's life and abandoning bad habits do not make someone a Christian. Not all Jewish readers of this letter were true children of God; some had reverted to Judaism, and others were in danger of doing the same.
The Gospel is “good news announced.” The Gospel to Israel was the promise of future rest and having holy fellowship with God as a “kingdom of priests.” They failed to believe the gospel they heard. The Gospel preached to us is a present reality because those who repent and believe the Gospel are made a “kingdom of priests to our God” now, and have the promise of being in heaven with our Lord. When what we hear preached is “mixed with faith,” it leads to salvation, and obedience to God is the only appropriate response to the Gospel.
Many people who hear the Gospel know a great deal about the Lord Jesus Christ, but they don’t honestly know Him. Their knowledge lacks faith. Even though they understand the Gospel, they have not personally accepted what they know is true. They have not, or will not, repent of and forsake their sins, or admit they are condemned and acknowledge their own guilt. As a result, they will not place saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we hear the word of God and the promises given in it, we have two choices: we can believe them and accept their benefits by faith, or doubt them and be condemned by our own unbelief. When we read a promise like, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life,” faith says, “This means me!” We can read promises from the scriptures and perhaps quote them without ever claiming them.
Israel neither benefited from nor entered the promised land awaiting them because of their unbelief. They didn’t trust that God would fulfill His promises, and thus they never fully surrendered to Him. Their hearts were closed to God, so His promises had no effect on them. Hearing God's words has no impact unless faith combines hearing with action.
If we appreciate and accept some parts of divine truth presented in the Bible but avoid, hide from, and do not take the warnings, corrections, and rebukes, our opinions negate what we claim to believe. Believing some of what God says and rejecting other truths is not the same as believing God.
The Hebrews to whom this epistle was written, when they were called to suffer, would have been happy in themselves to go to heaven at once, like the thief on the cross. But we have been saved to be much more than merely rescued. The challenge of suffering, opposition, and temptation is to develop our Christian character and capacity for service for our Lord now and in the eternal future. Our training times include suffering, which equips us to share in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered because of God's will, so that He could bring us to glory with Him. Our spiritual strength and maturity come as a result of the “trial of our faith,” which is more precious than gold.