I was often asked in school this
question, are you paying attention? Well, I'm going to ask you, are
we paying attention? How else will we escape? That's
the question that the writer of Hebrews is dealing with in
Hebrews chapter 2, if you'd like to turn there. It's a call to pay attention. How shall we escape if we don't? Imagine that you're lost in a
jungle. You're surrounded by danger.
No clear path out. You're lost. You don't know where
you are. You don't know how to get out.
And then some guide appears and he's got the only map that will
lead you to safety. Will you ignore this guide? Will
you disregard this deliverer? Will you neglect such a rescue? Your life's at stake. In the
same way, men and women today are lost in the wilderness of
sin. Their deliverance seems hopeless. Yes, they're in danger. And yet
Christ is the guide who has the only way of escape. Ignoring
His instructions is not just harmless, it's deadly. So, are
we paying attention? How else will we escape? Now here in Hebrews chapter two,
first in Hebrews chapter one, we won't look at it, but we're
shown the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're told that
he's higher than angels. He's higher than prophets and
all others. And then Hebrews chapter two,
verse one begins with that word therefore. We've often talked
about that, the word therefore. We need to look back and see
what it's there for. Therefore here means because
of what is said in chapter one about the Lord Jesus Christ,
how are we gonna respond and react to it? In other words,
Christ is this, Christ is that, therefore, what do you think
of Christ? And the writer here says, therefore,
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Now the writer
says, therefore, because of what is said about Christ, we ought,
we should, we better. We ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things that were said. That word earnest means
devout and zealous. That word heed means cautious
observation and attention. Earnest heed then simply means
that we should give intense and devout attention, cautious observation
to who Christ is and what Christ has done. Are you paying attention? What are we going to do with
Jesus Christ? How are we going to react to
who he is? How are we going to respond to
what he's done? Are we going to ignore him? Are
we going to bow to him? Are we going to not pay attention
or are we going to pay attention? Are we going to let these things
that we've heard slip away? Believers are commanded to pay
attention, deliberate attention, to the message of Christ and
the gospel. It doesn't say if we deny this
great salvation, or if we blaspheme this great salvation, or if we
persecute this great salvation. It says if we neglect it, we
don't have to actively curse God to be lost. Just do nothing. Just do nothing. Ignore the things
that you've heard. Neglect the gospel message. Disregard
the revelation of salvation through Christ. Pay no attention to what
Christ Himself proclaimed. Shun the message later confirmed
by His apostles. Just don't do anything. Now,
if a doctor prescribes a terminally ill patient a needful, life-saving
medication, It's the only thing, the only medication proven to
either relieve the symptoms of that disease or even save from
that disease. And if the patient neglects to
take it, it has deadly results. If they decide
that it's not urgent or that if it's not needful, they're
gonna die. The gospel is the remedy for
sin. It's the, lack of a better term,
the life-saving medication of sin that brings forth death. To neglect it is deadly. And you say, well, you know,
pretty much the whole world believes the gospel. There's church on
every corner. Well, listen to them. Listen
to what they're saying. Doesn't sound like good news
to me. That's what the gospel is because most believe the gospel
message has to do with something that I've got to be or something
I've got to do when I can't do it. That's not good news. I want
somebody to tell me good news about how somebody has done all
the things that God requires for me. Nothing for me to do
but to look to them and rest in them and trust in them and
what they've done in my room and stay. The gospel is the remedy
for sin. And the warning of neglecting
the gospel is seen in verse two. It says, for if the word spoken
by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, in other words, since
this gospel message was declared by angels, It proved to be true
and reliable. Since every sin and every transgression
done by us receives a just retribution, since the wages of sin is death,
since the soul that sins shall die, since we are personally
held accountable by God for our sin, since sin has eternal consequences,
wouldn't we Wouldn't we heed? Wouldn't we pay attention, take
notice to the things that we've heard? God has always enforced
His Word with judgment. This is not something new. The
soul that's in shall die. If disobedience under the old
covenant, the covenant of works, brought sure and certain consequences,
then wouldn't rejecting or neglecting the gospel, which is the great
and final revelation, bring greater accountability and condemnation? Now, this is a warning to not
take God's word lightly. Treating the gospel casually
brings about a great warning. And the word of God is not a
suggestion. Well, I suggest that you obey
God's word. No, it's an absolute. It's absolute. It's unchangeable. It's certain. God doesn't invite us to trust
in Christ. God doesn't offer Christ to us
that we can accept him and reject him. That's what modern religion
has made it. It didn't come from Bible. I can't find anywhere in this
Bible where there's an altar call, where God says, okay, bow
your head, you know, play the harp, John, you know, let's,
I need somebody to come up front and give their heart to Jesus.
Nowhere in the scripture is it found. The Bible says, believe. It's a command. Believe or die. Believe or perish. God's Word doesn't ask, will
you believe? God's Word doesn't say, I hope
you believe. God does not suggest that it
would be a good thing for us to believe. God deals with absolutes. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. It's a definite. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Possessing Christ is not an option. You go to buy a car, and they
say, well, I've got the car that you want, and it's this price,
and then here's another one over here that's this price, and the
price is different. You say, well, what's the difference?
It's the same car. Oh no, this car has several options. Possessing Christ is not an option.
God commands us to believe and trust in Christ. If you don't,
you're gonna perish. When the Lord called Noah into
the ark, it wasn't an option if he was gonna live. He that
believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth not is condemned
already. Because, this is why, he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And
this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world,
and men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their
deeds were evil. One who loves darkness rather
than light, one who rejects light because of their deeds are evil,
will not come to Christ if life is simply offered. Won't you
go? No, I won't. No, I won't. They're dead, and they cannot
come. That's the first thing we need
to see. They have to be commanded to
come, and that simply means they've got to be given life to come.
They've got to be given the ability to come. They've got to be given
the will to come. Oh no, I exercise my free will. You have no will. You will not
come to me that you might have lie. I don't talk about your
free will. Your will ain't free. It's in
bondage to your nature. It's in bondage to your sin.
You're dead in trespasses and sin. I've never seen a dead man
do anything. The call of Christ to Lazarus
was not an offer. I don't think there's better
evidence in all the scripture than that. The Lord did not say,
now Lazarus, won't you give me your heart? Lazarus, he was four
days dead. He was stinking dead. He had
no power. He had no ability. He had no
will to come to Christ. Verse 3, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation? Which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. This is a pertinent and urgent
question that needs to be paid attention to. Why are we paying
attention? We need to be It's a matter of
life and death. How shall we escape if we neglect? Neglect what? So great salvation. So first, this is a question
of escaping. How shall we escape? And if you don't pay attention
to the way of escape, how are you gonna escape? Escape from what? From the wrath
of Almighty God. The Lord Jesus said in John 3.36,
he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him. It's not gonna abide on him some
way, some day down the road. It's not gonna abide on him in
the judgment that abides on him right now. If you're without
Christ, God's judgment and wrath is on you right now. If you've got a way I can escape
that, I want to know what it is. I want to pay attention. How else will we escape? And here we see the seriousness
of neglect. This is serious. Oh, I'd give
anything if God would enable me to stress to you the seriousness
of this. One day, men are gonna see how
serious it is when they stand before God and it'll be too late
for them. The wrath of God abides on the
unbeliever. To neglect is not to believe,
and to not believe is to neglect. Men find ways to escape from
prison. It's amazing some of the things
that men have found as a way of escape from prison. Men build
and buy shelters to escape from storms. As many as we've had
in the last few years, I've thought about getting one myself. But there's a storm coming that
men cannot escape, and there's no escape from the storm of God's
wrath and judgment apart from that which is found in Christ
alone. Don't neglect what you've heard. Pay attention. Christ is the only one who can
satisfy God's justice, and He does so as our substitute. He
lived a life that we couldn't live, and He dies the death that
we deserved. It's appointed unto men once
to die, but after this, the judgment. Now listen, the judgment of hell
is not just a scare tactic by preachers. It's a reality. It's as certain as death is.
It's appointed unto men once to die, after this the judgment. It's certain. Wrath manifests
itself when death comes, but it already rests on those that
are outside of Christ. Judgment does, wrath does. On
the day of judgment, there's not gonna be any appeals. Not
going to be any excuses. Not going to be any hiding places.
Not going to be any bribes for escape. Wrath is certain when
neglect is present. Wrath comes in neglecting. Neglecting
what? A great salvation. Salvation is of the Lord and
it's great. Our sin is great and our Redeemer
is great. What makes salvation great? Well,
several things, but it's great because of who purposed it. The
one that purposed it is great. He's God. In whom we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
What a great one to work all things after His own will and
counsel. His own purpose. who hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. For the children,
speaking of Jacob and Esau, being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. God purposed salvation in eternity. He did so according to His own
will. He did so in Christ. And He did
so to the glory of His own grace and glory. And you and I had
nothing to do with it. We weren't even born. Well, you
know, I played a part in my salvation. You weren't even born yet. When
God determined to save you, you hadn't been born. You hadn't
done any good or evil. Why? That the purpose of God
might stand. That God decides whom He saves. God has mercy on whom He'll have
mercy. And on whom He will, He hardens. Salvation is no accident. You
don't accidentally get saved. Well, you know, I just... Happenstance,
walked into a church and God saved me. No, it didn't work
like that. No accident. It was purposed by God. If you
walked into the church and heard the gospel, God purposed it. And He did so before the foundation
of the world. Salvation is great because of
who purposed it. And salvation is great because
of who purchased it. It costs the blood of Christ. My, you know, I didn't realize
how many times in the Scriptures it tells us that. The debt of
sin was fully paid by the blood on the cross. Christ's cry, if
it is finished, was the proof. In whom we have redemption. Now
listen. In whom we have redemption. Christ,
in whom we have redemption through His blood. the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His, God's grace, Ephesians
1.7. Colossians 1.14, in whom we have
redemption through His, Christ's blood, even the forgiveness of
sin. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. Over and
over and over again. We see two very consistent things
in the purchase of the believer's salvation. It was Christ that
purchased it, and He purchased it with His own blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's what? No remission. No forgiveness of sin. Blood's
got to be shed. How much more shall the blood
of Christ purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? It was by Christ's own blood
that He, the Lord Jesus, entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. When that high priest
went into that holy of holies once a year, what did he do?
He offered the blood of the Lamb upon the altar. Christ's blood. That's what it represented. The
blood of bulls and goats can't take away sin, but the blood
of God's Son did. Salvation is great in who purposed
it. Salvation is great in who purchased it. And salvation is
great in its proclamation. It was first spoken by the Lord,
it says here. It was confirmed by Christ's
apostles. It's still being preached at
this very hour. This is not man's word. This
is God's word. It's been preserved down through
time. God preserved it. In the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God how? By the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. proclaiming these truths. David said, the psalmist, I have
preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips.
O Lord, thou knowest I have not hid thy righteousness within
my heart. I've declared your faithfulness
and your salvation and I've not concealed your loving kindness
and your truth from the great congregation. Look at verse 4
here of our text. Hebrews 2. God also bearing them
witness. Who's bearing witness of this?
God is. How? Both with signs and wonders
and with divers, various miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according
to His own will. Salvation is great in its power,
it forgives sin, it gives peace, it creates rest, it promises
eternal life. No other message has this power. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, Paul wrote, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. To the Jew first and also to
the Greek, Romans 1 16. It's God who bears witness. God
confirms that Christ is our only means of salvation. And he does
so by signs and wonders and various miracles he did throughout his
ministry. When the Lord gave someone eyes
to see, that's a picture of you and I who are blind that God
gave eyes to see. When God gave someone hearing
that was deaf, it's a picture of him unstopping these spiritual
ears of ours so that we may hear. When God healed one that was
lame, it was a picture of how God gives us strength and causes
us to come to Him, gives us the ability to come to Him. On and
on, the man with the withered hand shows us that we in and
of ourselves cannot do anything in order to work or earn salvation,
that Christ has to heal us and make us whole. Every miracle
that our Lord did pictures our spiritual infirmities and what
Christ did to heal them. It's God that bears witness.
And by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according
to God's will, He does these things. These spiritual gifts
were given to believers. It didn't do anything but just
give further evidence of God's approval of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were given intentionally
by God to serve His purpose and confirm His message. And listen,
ask yourself, are you paying attention? It's trustworthy,
it's divinely confirmed. How shall we escape if we neglect
it? Turn over just a page or two
to Hebrews chapter four. Look at verse one. It says, let us therefore fear lest
a promise be left us of entering into His rest. Any of you should
seem to come short of it. Look down at verse 11. Let us
labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
after the same example of unbelief." Now listen, unbelief is nothing
short of neglect, and neglect is nothing short of unbelief.
Turn over a few pages to Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 28. It says, he that despised Moses'
law, that's God's law, he gave to Moses, died without mercy
under two or three witnesses. For instance, neglect salvation
is to despise it. And to despise salvation is to
neglect it. Look at verse 29. of how much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who has trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace." You see, to trod underfoot the Son of God
is to neglect Christ. And to neglect Christ is to trod
him under. One more in Hebrews, Hebrews
chapter 12, verse 25. He says, see that you refuse
not him that speaketh. Isn't that what he said in Hebrews
2? Give heed to the things that
you've heard. For if they escaped not who refused him, that spake
on earth, speaking of Christ, much more shall not we escape
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Now listen,
to neglect Christ is to refuse him, and to refuse Christ is
to neglect him. To do any of these things, how
shall we escape? Lord, help us to pay attention. How else will we escape? To the
self-righteous in our Lord's day, Christ said, ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation
of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you
shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge in
your synagogues and persecute them from city to city. I'm sending
you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. And
what do you do? You kill my messengers. And they
killed God himself when he came as the messenger. I want you to turn to one more
passage. Romans chapter two, verse one. Romans two, verse
one. Therefore, thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest." Do the
same thing. Verse two, but we are sure that
the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit
such things. And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things, the same things, and
doest the same, do you think that you shall escape the judgment
of God? Now, this just keeps you getting
closer to home. To judge another is to neglect
Christ. And to neglect Christ is to judge
another, when we're guilty of the same thing. Anything I've ever judged anyone
over, I am guilty of myself. What does that make me? A hypocrite! Are we paying attention? I sometimes wonder if I am. I
do. How shall we escape the judgment
of God when we set ourselves, the sinners that we are, up as
judges of others? There's nothing that we can judge
others about that we ourselves are not guilty of. Men today
are preaching peace and safety. Peace? Peace where there is no
peace. They're preaching the salvation
of man. They say you can find refuge
in your own works. in your own righteousness, in
your own choosing, in your own decisions. Listen to this verse,
1 Thessalonians 5, you don't have to turn there. For when
they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh
upon me. As travail upon a woman with
child, and they shall not escape. In and of ourselves, escape is
impossible. In and of ourselves, neglect
is fatal. In and of ourselves, there is no salvation. Salvation
is great because it's of the Lord. Only a great Savior can
provide it. Will you neglect this great Savior?
Are we paying attention? What can we do if we can do nothing? What could those in the desert
wilderness do when they were bitten by the fiery serpents?
They could look. They could look at that brazen
serpent high and lifted up. And if they look to that brazen
serpent, which pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, they would be saved. They cried, look and live. That's
what we're crying today. That's my message this day. Look and live. Look to Jesus
Christ and live. We can call upon the name of
the Lord. Those who do will be saved. We can believe. We believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When the
poison of sin permeates our bloodstream, when it paralyzes us so that
we cannot move a muscle, you can still come to Christ because
Christ has come to you. It's easy to reach out and touch
the Lord when He already has you by the hand. Don't neglect these precious
truths. You know, I remember reading one time, looked it up
again, that when the Titanic struck that iceberg, you remember
the Titanic, there were lifeboats, plenty of lifeboats for those
on board available, but many passengers just ignored them. It wasn't that they weren't plenteous,
they were plenty. The problem was that the people
didn't really believe that they were in danger. They said, get
into the lifeboat, and they said, this is the great Titanic. It
can't be sunk. Listen, God can sink it. God
did. Many went back to their rooms.
Many were unwilling to leave their comfort. Are you hearing
me? Many neglected the way of escape. And what happened? They
perished. Are we paying attention? Christ
is our lifeboat of salvation. He's been lowered. He's come
down. He's paid the price, and if we
neglect Him, there's no other escape. I heard a story once about a railroad
switchman working on a railway junction, and one day there was
a train that unexpectedly came down the wrong track. It was
a track that supposedly wasn't any longer being used and a child
had wandered out on that unused railroad track and the switchman
saw that the train was coming down the wrong track and he could
not run fast enough to get to that young child and save him.
But he could get to the switch that diverted the train, but
it would mean his own death. Without hesitation, he pulled
the lever, he couldn't get to the child, but he could get to
the lever, he pulled the lever, the train was diverted, the child
was saved, but the switchman died. That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus did for his own on the cross. He stepped into the path
of judgment and He bore it Himself for us. He's our only way of
escape. He switched His life for ours. He died that we might live. How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? We won't.
We can't. God's holy justice will not permit
it. Friends, the lifeboat has been
lowered. The track switch has been switched. The way of escape has been told.
We cannot neglect it. Therefore, we ought to give,
we ought to give the most earnest heed to the things that we've
heard. Are we paying attention? How else will we escape so great
a salvation?