Well I want you to look with
me this morning at the first few verses of Hebrews chapter
2. Now, we started two weeks ago,
and you know when you're reading the Psalms, you often come across
that odd little word, selah, S-E-L-A-H, which means stop,
don't go rushing on, stop, think, pause for a minute. And I think
these four verses of Hebrews chapter two, well, I want to
make them a little selah for us, stop and think a little bit. We've had some tremendously strong
meat there's some tremendously strong meat coming. Now let's
just stop and think just for a moment. Let's just pause for
thought for a moment. Let's all concentrate on this.
God is saying to us, now just hold on, that's an amazing concept
that's just, you can't rush on, stop and think. You need to take
heed. You need to take more earnest
heed is the title I've given to it. So by way of introduction,
what's most important to you right now? And I'm asking myself
exactly the same question. Is it your friends? Is it the
material things that you like so much and that surround you?
Is it your career? Your home? Depending on the stage
of your life, all of these things are of different levels of importance. Is it money? Is it your pension? I was told yesterday, I mustn't
talk about pensions, apparently it must be a stage of life thing,
that all of a sudden pensions are a very important factor. But what about your immortal
soul? do you hear that? your immortal
soul is that important? does that matter? will it be
you know there's that hymn that says well with my soul it is
well it is well with my soul and this might shock a phrase
to shock or will it be hell for your soul will it be well with
your soul or will it be hell for your soul you see the day
you die or the time when you know that you're close to death,
nothing will fill your thoughts more vividly. Everything that's
in your mind now will be irrelevant. You know, we've had people close
to us in the not too distant past, all of us in some way,
that knew that they were terminally ill. And wow, everything, everything
that you think is wonderful in this material world suddenly
pales into insignificance. Is it well with my soul? Is the
only thing that matters? Not who am I going to do this
with or see or what things am I going to get or what career
am I going to do or the places I'm going to go, but is it well
with my soul? This is it. That will fill your
thoughts most vividly. And this is the question, will
you face death with a good hope? A good hope. A credible hope. A solid hope. Or do you trust,
as in the book of Isaiah, God says to those who thought they
were his people, you've trusted in a refuge of lies. What sort
of lies do people trust in? You talk to them about religion
today. Oh, they don't believe in an afterlife, they just believe
that there's just annihilation, it's just the end of it, and
that's absolutely fine. So we'll live exactly as we want, we'll
do exactly as we want, because there are no eternal consequences,
because the light is just switched off, and they put me in the ground,
or I get cremated, or whatever happens, that's the end of it.
Refuge of lies, according to the word of God. No, no. refuge
of lies because according to the word of God it's appointed
to man to die once and then the judgment not annihilation or
what about those who trust in a refuge of lies which is an
ineffectual salvation a salvation that cannot save a salvation
that's based on your own goodness or on some decision you've made
or The fact that God, whoever he is, is going to put all of
the good things and all of the bad things on the balances. And
so long as you've done more good than bad, then it's going to
be all right for you. Refuge of lies, according to
the book of God, according to the word of God, refuge of lies,
refuge of lies. Verse one, therefore, therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed this is something to take
note of this is something to stop and think about this is
important will it be well with your soul or will it be hell
for your soul we ought to give the more earnest heed to the
things which we've heard lest at any time we should let them
slip the more earnest heed to the things that we've heard the
word of God sounds an alarm bell if you're In a hotel, as I once
was in the middle of the night and the fire alarm goes off,
then you know what the rules are, you don't stop, you just
stick a dressing gown on and you get yourself outside to the
fire assembly point. The alarm bell's gone, you'll
find out later whether it was genuine or not, that doesn't
matter, there's an alarm bell. The word of God is sounding an
alarm bell and you need to listen to it, you need to hear what
it says, take heed, think about these things. And what things? about the gospel about the savior
who's just been described in chapter one about whether you
have a part with him or not because if you do it is well with your
soul but if you don't oh you're outside of him you're outside
of him you're in a perilous condition so wake up pay attention this
is about salvation and damnation this is about not material things
but eternal riches and eternal loss this is how important it
is really and what he's saying is that we've got to recall and
this is what we're going to do, recall what has already been
said and prepare for what is about to be said because this
is the most important thing you will ever listen to whatever
else you do whatever other things you do you know when you're getting
on a bit you can look back and think about some of the things
you've done and can do and have been and you think wow that was
pretty good that was okay but it's insignificant compared with
this These things are the most important things that you will
ever, ever hear or ever meditate upon. And why do you need to
pay such special attention? Well, this is the reason. Because
you're flesh and blood. As well as spirit, you're flesh
and blood. And the flesh wars against the spirit. The flesh,
our flesh, is in league with hell. Believe me, Satan, again,
according to God's words, Satan would rob you of the truth. This
is his desire. He would cause you to stray off
the narrow path, which is the way that leads to life. In Pilgrim's
Progress, they were finding the narrow path rough and stony and
hard to walk on. And there was a lovely, what's
called by-path meadow. It looked so comfortable. And
so Pilgrim persuaded the other one, just loss of memory for
a moment, to leave the way and go into Bypath Meadow. And there
they went to sleep, and there the giant came, giant despair
came, and took them away to the castle. And it's all an allegory,
a picture of how it is with our souls. You see, Satan wants us
to go to sleep in Bypath Meadow. He wants to enslave us in the
dungeons of his materialistic worldly squalor. Beware that
you don't drift in there. Jesus said broad is the way that
leads to destruction. Many there be that go that way
but narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that
find it. So we need to recall We need to recall, therefore,
we ought to give the more honest heed. Therefore, you know, in
scripture, you need to know why, what every therefore is there
for. It's there because of what has
gone before in chapter one. Therefore, is since, since, or
seeing that, seeing that, seeing that everything he said in chapter
one, we ought to give the more honest heed. to the things that
we've heard, to these things. Because of these things, we ought
to give the more earnest heed. What things? Well, let's just
look back quickly. Let's just quickly do an overview
of it. God has spoken by his prophets. God has spoken. The creator,
the one who is your creator, the one who has given you your
life, the one who will be your judge when you die, has spoken. He has spoken. He hasn't left
you just with nature to speak to you, just with the world around,
just with the stars in the sky to speak to you about how marvelous
this universe is. No, He's spoken to you in words
that you can understand. God has spoken by prophets in
His word, in this book. But not only that, He spoke in
time past in types and pictures and things that were in many
ways mysterious, it's called the mystery of the gospel. But
in these last days, he's spoken to us by his son, absolutely
explicitly, clearly, by his son. God has spoken, you need to listen,
you need to give them more earnest heed, because God has spoken.
And this one by whom he's spoken is appointed heir of all things.
He's not sat on the sidelines, he's sovereign. All things are
his. They were all created by him
and for him, for his purpose. He's heir of all things. And
this one, again, who is our saviour, is creator of all things. It
says, by whom he made the worlds. He's creator of all things. This
one This one who is God the Son, the God-man, is the brightness
of the Father's glory and the express image of his person. If you would know God, if you
would know the true meaning of the things of eternity, you need
to know God, and how do you know him? This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. He's the one you
must listen to, for he He is the voice of God to us. He is
the outshining of the glory of God. He is the express image
of his person and he is the one now that upholds all things by
the word of his power. He is the one. You know there's
that fuss in the news about how they discovered a flaw in the
laws of physics and something's going faster than the speed of
light. I firmly believe that they will absolutely, without
any shadow of a doubt, prove that it was an instrumentation
error and that they will be able to rationalize it and find that
they did not exceed the speed of light. But you know, Christ
is the one who upholds all the laws of physics by the word of
his power now. This is the one. Therefore we
ought to give them more earnest heed. The one you're talking
about, the one we're thinking about here, is the one who holds
everything together. who holds the planets in their
orbit who holds the atoms in their forces together he is the
one we need to give the more earnest heed we need to listen
because of who he is he upholds all things and not only that
this is the thing when it comes to the day of your death When
it comes to the day of the judgment, for we must all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ, do you want to be amongst those
who know that he by himself has purged your sins, has scoured
them, scrubbed them away, so there's no trace of them remaining?
Do you want to know that He has purged your sins and finished
the work of salvation? Because He's now sat down, reigning
in glory, exalted, supreme, no longer despised and rejected
as a man, no longer treated despitefully by man when they crucified Him,
when they took the Lord of glory and killed Him and slayed Him
and murdered Him. No, He's reigning in glory, the
sovereign of the universe, so much better than the angels. we ought to pay the more special
heed. We ought to pay heed because
he's so much better than the angels. This one who is the servant
of God is God himself because God said to him, thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. He's the living God. This man
who they treated so spitefully is the living God. We ought to
give the more earnest heed about this because he's higher than
the angels, so much higher. He's the one who is the king
of a righteous kingdom. He's loved righteousness and
hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands. He is sovereign
God, this man, who is the saviour of his people. Therefore we ought
to give the more earnest heed. There are ministering spirits
who are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation, and they may be guided your life and your steps through
various experiences to the point where you are brought to know
the truth of the gospel of grace. Under the ministering hand of
angels, we ought to pay the more earnest heed. We ought to pay
attention and think about this. Just think what it is, what a
blessing it is to be an object of grace. The only response that
can come from a sinner truly knowing this is why me? Why Lord,
me? There's nothing in me that would
cause you to do this for me. And so therefore we ought to
give the more earnest heed. We, note he doesn't say you ought,
He's not Paul, I think it's Paul, but it's not the apostle saying
you ought to do this, he's saying we ought. The apostle, the preacher,
the people, we're all in the same boat, and that boat is fallen
humanity. We all have the same struggles,
the same temptations, the same dangers, the same flesh to wrestle
with. We ought to give the more earnest
heed. We ought not to ignore these
things. We ought not to put these things
off for another day when we've got a few issues of life sorted
and we've got time to think about these things because why? You
might not have time. God might not grant you time.
You need to think about it now. When's the day of salvation according
to the word of God? Today is the day of salvation.
Not tomorrow, not in five years, not in twenty years. Today is
the day of salvation. Today is the day we need to think
about these things. So do those recollections of
what we saw last week about our glorious God and Savior Jesus
Christ, don't they cause us to sit up to pay attention. Think of the prize, think of
the eternal prize of being right with God, of knowing that you're
right with God. Think of the eternal loss, think
of the dread of that day outside of Christ. any any we're in a
current worldwide financial crisis and who knows where it will end
you know we think we've we've arrived at the age where we've
put paid to wars and all that sort of thing and that everything's
going to be fine for the future who knows where this will end
gosh who knows where this will end do you know I actually heard
a man on the news this morning seriously saying that he felt
that this had all the ingredients to end in war within ten years
and I can see what he's saying. We think that we've cracked it
all, we have material security, you can always go to the supermarket
and there will always be exactly the food and the drink on the
shelves that you want. Just beware. Just beware. There's
been as it were seven good years when all the stuff was spent
and now we're definitely in seven lean years and who knows where
it will end. Who knows? But anything like
that, you know, that might send a shiver down your spine when
you think, you know, especially those of you that can remember
the 1930s and think of the gathering clouds of gloom of then, and
you think, wow, there are some ingredients here now. Gosh, I
wonder what's going to happen. I wonder what's going to happen.
But I tell you, those considerations will pale into insignificance
compared with how it is with your soul come the day of judgment. That's the most important thing.
If you've heard this, you know what will be going on in your
mind now? What the Philippian jailer said. What must I do,
sirs? What must I do? Gosh, struck
right through the heart. What must I do? What must I do
to be saved? Because the only thing that matters
is that I'm saved. Give the more earnest heed. Give
the more earnest heed to the things that we've heard. Personally. Nobody else can do it for you.
Diligently. Lay to heart what we've heard.
Faithfully. Prayerfully. Bow to God's word. yes it's God that saves and keeps
his people but you know like Peter says in his second epistle
he says so add to your faith virtue and add to virtue patience
and to patience self-control and all of these things and thereby
he says you will make your calling and election sure. In you, in
me, as far as it is, bow to God's word, conform to God's will,
aim to think as God has revealed in his word, and not as those
who peddle error tell us that we ought to think. Set your affection
on Christ. Me too, I'm talking to me. Constantly,
constantly, willing subjection to Christ. to the things that
we've heard. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things that we've heard, lest at any
time we should let them slip." So we need to think what he said
already and get ready for what he's going to say in the following
sections of this marvellous epistle. Verse one it says, we ought to
do this, lest at any time we should let them slip. lest at
any time we should let them slip, there's a warning, the word of
God warns us and it gives a warning because it's almost as if there
is a choice, you can sit back and do nothing or you can pay
attention and sit up and say well in me, like Joshua said
to the people, choose you this day whom you will serve that's
not an Arminian call to a gospel as so many would portray it But
that's him saying, if you say you're committed, then be serious
about it. Choose you this day whom you
will serve. As for me and my house, he said, as for me and
my house, as far as in me is, and with God helping me, I will
serve the Lord. I will follow him. And this is
what this is encouraging us to. To listen to the warning, because
there is a danger that we should let them slip. this knowledge
of these things that are to do with the salvation of our souls.
There's a danger of apostasy. Apostasy is where you start out
looking like a child of God, saying all the right things,
participating in all the right ways, but then your affection
grows cold. and you remove your things from
the things of the living God and the flame that seemed to
be there goes out and you prove never to have been truly His
in the first place and you end up in eternal ruin there are
those in scripture that are given as examples having seemed to
run well but then walking out on it in first Timothy chapter
one and verse nineteen Paul talks about holding the faith and a
good conscience, which, he says, some, having put away concerning
faith, have made shipwreck." Have you ever seen a shipwreck?
We were walking on a Cornish coastal path near Land's End,
and in one of the coves was a coastal tanker, trader, sizable ship,
not a huge one, but it was absolutely broken in pieces. There's nothing
looked less likely to float than a great big chunk of whole ridden
rusting steel, shipwreck. Paul says this, beware, there
are those who looked like they were following the faith, but
they've drifted away from it, and they've made shipwreck. And
he gives two examples, he says, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander. He names them. You know, oh,
we shouldn't do that. No, no, no, we shouldn't do that.
No, he does. He names them as a warning. He says, look, landmarks,
beware. Hymenaeus and Alexander. They
looked like they were walking in the faith, and they made shipwreck. They've walked out on it. Scripture's
got so many examples to warn us about this. You can go back
through the Old Testament. Do you remember Korah, the sons
of Korah in the rebellion? Moses was God's mouthpiece. The message that Moses brought,
that message of the law, nevertheless in it all there were types of
Christ in that he himself was the type of Christ in being the
spokesman to the people. And all that he gave in the law
was actually gospel in pictures. The temple rites and all of those
things that came, but there was a rebellion. And the sons of
Korah in that rebellion were swallowed up, the ground opened
up and swallowed them. And God gives warnings about
these things. Think of Saul the king, the first king of Israel,
who had such good promise initially. But look how he walked out on
the truth and did that which was vile in the eyes of God.
And God judged him and removed him. and then go right towards
the end of the New Testament and in Second Timothy Paul says
this about how alone he was in his situation writing that second
epistle and he says even Demas who had obviously at some stage
been someone who looked like a faithful brother even Demas
he says he's loved this present world and he's forsaken me the
world's been more attractive to him than the faith of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ And again and again, in the scriptures,
we read, if you continue. Keep this in mind. If you continue
and be not moved away from what you have heard, again and again,
if you continue, if you continue. The idea is that it's not dependent
on your strength, but this, it's dependent on his strength. But
you need to pray, God help me to walk in this way and stay
in this way. Look at Hebrews chapter three
and verse 14. Chapter 3 in verse 14, for we
are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. Do you see what I mean?
We're made partakers of Christ. The true saints of God, you know,
tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints, the true saints
of God persevere to the end. Yes, they're kept to the end,
but they persevere to the end. persevere to the end confidence
steadfast unto the end chapter four and verse one let us therefore
fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest
any of you should seem to come short of it do you see there's
warning there's a warning heed the warning you could look over
at chapter twelve and verse twenty-five chapter twelve and verse twenty-five
see that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escape not
who refused him that spake on earth how much more shall not
we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven
we need to give the more earnest heed we read earlier on in the
book of proverbs chapter six verses twenty to twenty-two my
son Keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy
mother. What's this commandment of my
father and the law of my mother? It's gospel truth. In scriptural
language, that's what he means. The truth of the gospel that
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. My son, keep close to it. My
son, you've heard it. Keep close to it. Bind it. Tie it to you. You know, if you're
going into a dangerous situation like on a racing yacht or something
like that and there's something you really mustn't use, tie it
onto you because storms are going to go rushing over you. Some
of you will remember many, many years ago when I was a little
bit too confident bobbing around on an airbed in the sea with
my glasses on and they weren't tied onto my face and the wave
came over and swept the glasses away from me. because they weren't
bound onto me. I now have a little elastic band
thing that you get from the opticians that keeps them on my face. Whatever
the waves do, it keeps my glasses bound onto me. Bind them, says
the writer of this proverb, bind them continually upon thine heart
and tie them about thy neck. Don't lose these. Make sure they're
tied onto you. When you go, it shall lead you. When you sleep, it shall keep
you. When you awake, it shall talk
with you. Those of you who know the gospel
of God's grace, is that not your testimony? that the truth of
the gospel of his grace is with you. Maybe, you know, in the
flesh there are those times when you forget it, but everything
you do, whatever you do, it's under the knowledge, under the
umbrella of this truth of the gospel of his grace. Bind it
about your neck. Tie it onto you. Keep it continually
in your heart. And verse two then, back to Hebrews
two. Verse two. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, this is talking about the Old Testament law given
by Moses, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, again harking back to those examples like the
sons of Korah that I gave, in those days when that ministration
of the word of God came by angels through Moses, and spoke to them
and think about the just recompense of reward that was given to those
who flew in the face of, who ignored, who neglected the word
spoken. Just think, you know, that stands,
think of the flood of Noah, they were going about as if nothing
would ever change and God took them all away in a moment. He
says this, remember that, remember that, they perished under the
strict justice of God. It seems harsh but that's the
way it is, they perished under the strict justice of God. Well
think about the situation, this is not the word spoken by angels. This is the word spoken to us
by His Son. God has in these last days spoken
to us by His Son. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? How shall we escape? We've had
the full orb of God's salvation revealed in His Son. He is better
than angels. What do you think will be the
eternal consequence of neglecting that blessed message of salvation? How shall we escape the obvious
answer is that there's no way of escape outside such great
salvation only God's salvation that great salvation of God can
save us only God, the one he has revealed not religious man's
distortion of it and what a great salvation it is why is it a great
salvation? Because firstly, Christ is the
author of it. If you read on in Hebrews 12
verse 2, the author and finisher of our faith, looking unto Jesus,
the author, he's the author of it. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our
God who has spoken to us, who has revealed the fullness of
the Godhead, is the author of salvation. and in it is the wisdom
of God revealed God's wisdom is revealed who else could think
up such a means of salvation you look at every other religion
in the world and all religion seeks to make man right with
God for eternity that's what all religion is for to make man
right with God for eternity who could think up the wisdom of
this that God would become man to die in the place of man to
satisfy the justice of God and while he's here establish righteousness
for those men what great salvation blood atonement whoever would
have thought that which human flesh would ever have thought
that God by the blood atonement of a perfect innocent substitute
an infinite infinite substitute who was God himself could ever
achieve what it achieved but it does and when you see it how
glorious it is that in the gospel the wisdom of God is revealed
and he is a just God in that he doesn't overlook sin but he
justifies sinners. Just God in that every sin receives
its due reward and the justifier of those who are sinners that
they might not receive the due reward of their sins for their
substitute has received that reward. He is a just God and
a savior. and we read that it's a great
salvation because why? It's for the chief of sinners
Paul said he was the chief of sinners and not just him but
all those sinners that innumerable multitude of sinners this is
why our Savior must be our God it doesn't just need an innocent
man it needs the infinite God to be the substitute for an innumerable
multitude of people He is that substitute. And that's what makes
this such great salvation. For He has saved, as we're going
to read in Hebrews 7, 25, He's saved to the uttermost. Not so
far, but a bit more you to do. He's saved to the uttermost all
those who come to God by Him. and think of the great cost of
it. Why is it so great salvation? Think of the huge cost of it
and the huge debt to justice that had to be paid. my sin,
oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but
the whole is nailed to his cross my sins the sins of all his elect
the huge debt of it you're not redeemed with corruptible things
like silver and gold and precious stones but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
for Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us He's bought his people
at such great price. You're not your own, you're bought
with a price. And the great power of it, it's
great salvation because of the great power of it. Romans chapter
1 verses 16 and 17, Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God. the dynamite the dynamism
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes to the Jew first
but also to the Greek to the Gentile for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just
shall live by faith the power of God it's great salvation if
and when God saves you He reveals things to you. He reveals the
secrets, the mystery of the gospel to you. He gives you faith to
believe it. And hence we know that those
who believe are those whom Christ has saved. It's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believes. And it's great
salvation because God the Son himself spoke it. He's the one
who came down from heaven He's the one who's spoken. God has
spoken by God the son. He came down from heaven. He's
the one who knows about eternal things. There's nobody else.
We need to listen to him. This is my beloved son. Hear
him. He's spoken it. He came down
from heaven. The apostles who were with him.
Look, verse three. Which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.
Another little bit of evidence that I think it's Paul. because
he's spoken unto us by them that heard him you know he wasn't
amongst them at the time the apostles heard him the apostles
saw him full of grace and truth says John the apostles saw him
and heard him and confirmed it and they spoke it and God bore
witness verse four to them to what they were saying when they
went about in the acts of the apostles preaching the gospel
he authenticated what they said with signs and wonders with diverse
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will.
Those miracles alone if you saw one of them today and you just
have to believe I read this book and if this book says it I'll
believe it however implausible flesh as it will be but when
it says that Peter and John gave fit legs to that man at the temple
door, you know, when they went to pray and they met that lame
man on the way and he went walking and leaping and praising God.
And if you saw it, you'd be staggered. What these men say must be from
on high. What these men say must be the
truth of God. I'm not going to neglect this.
It's as if today you went down to the graveyard and the tomb
opened and somebody that had been dead years got up and walked
around. That's how dramatic It is. That's how dramatic it is.
God authenticated the message by diverse signs. Men who were
uneducated Galileans were able to speak in foreign languages
of those that had come to visit Jerusalem. That's what the gift
of tongues was on that day. It was the day when the confusion
of Babel, man-made religion, was replaced by God, by the Spirit,
giving that gift of tongues other languages, that the gospel might
be preached to those who spoke in other languages, and thereby
that confusion of human religion was removed in that moment symbolically. He authenticated it. So this
is it, we could go on. but dare you ignore it or neglect
this gospel? How shall you escape eternal
justice if you do ignore it? How shall you, look at Hebrews
10 I'm going to finish with this, Hebrews 10 Hebrews 10 verses 38 and 39 we
have this well quoted verse again, now the just shall live by faith
from Habakkuk but if any man draw back my soul shall have
no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw
back unto perdition, to lostness, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? So let's have this Selah moment. Stop. Think. Meditate on these
things. Of what we've just heard. Of
who the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ really is, God incarnate,
God reigning in glory. because we're going on to look
at some strong meat we're going on next time to see why did God
in order to accomplish this glorious plan of salvation why did he
have to adopt human flesh why did he have to become a baby
why did he have to become God contracted to a span why did
he have to become a man despised and rejected a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief why did he have to do that in order to
redeem his people. Let's think about these things.
Let's pay the more earnest heed to the things that we've heard,
lest we let them slip.