I encourage us all to remember
Bill and Shelley as they leave the Lord willing this Friday
to visit the churches in Yucatan and our missionaries there, Brother
Walter and Betty. And we're praying for them. I know they have many services
scheduled where Bill will be preaching the Lord willing. They're
going to work him while he's there. But that's the reason
he's going, I know. loves to preach, and the people
there, they love to have visitors, preachers from the states to
come and preach the word. Same message, but you know, just
hearing it from a different voice sometimes, it resonates with
people. Let's turn now, if you will,
to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. And tonight, the Lord willing,
we will be looking at the first four verses in this chapter. And these verses constitute a
warning, a warning. And let's keep in mind that this
letter was written to Jews, to Hebrews, Jewish people who had
confessed the Lord Jesus Christ. But they were being pressured,
tempted to turn back to Judaism, to that old covenant worship.
And this warning that we look at tonight is clearly built upon
the truths that are found in chapter one that we've already
considered. The chapter begins with a therefore,
therefore. Someone said one time, when you
see a therefore, see why it is there, far. Therefore, the warning
is based upon the words in chapter one. You know, a warning usually
means danger. There's warnings at railroad
crossings and warnings at traffic places and Warning means danger. And the believer, the child of
God, as we live in this world, we are always in danger. We have three very real enemies,
and we deceive ourselves if we forget this, that the world has
never been a friend to grace, and it never will be. The world
is under the condemnation, under the influence of Satan. And that's one of our enemies.
And we know that Satan, he is a real being. He's not an all-powerful
being, but he is a real being. And we are told that he goeth
about seeking whom he may devour. We know he would like nothing
better than to cause a believer, a child of God, to deny the faith
or in some way to bring reproach upon our Savior. But we have
the promise in the word of God that greater is he that is in
you than he that is in the world. And we know that greater one
who is in every child of God is God the Holy Spirit. And so
we are admonished to rebuke him and he will flee from you. And
then we have this third enemy, the flesh, which we will always
have with us until we leave this world. That is that old nature,
body of flesh, but that old nature, that old sinful nature that we
inherited, the old man, we inherited from our father Adam. And as
long as we are in this world, there will always be that ongoing
battle, that tension in the new man, or in the believer rather,
between the new man and the old man, the flesh and the spirit. And the Apostle Paul in Galatians
chapter five, he tells us the works of the flesh and their
manifest and whosoever he said that lives in these things that
this lifestyle is not going to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
But then also he gives us the fruit of the spirit and that's
what we are to manifest. But here we have a warning and
I know that believers we need warnings. I believe this is the
first warning. that we will find as we go through
the letter of Hebrews. The first four verses. Therefore
we ought to give them more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, 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?
God also bearing them witnessed both with signs and wonders and
with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to
his own will. Let's divide our thoughts tonight
into three parts, three divisions. This warning begins with an exhortation. It begins with an exhortation
and the exhortation has two parts. It has a negative part and it
has a positive part. The positive is given first. We ought to give earnest heed
to the things which we have heard. What are the things which we
have heard? What does he have reference to? The things which
we have heard. the truths of the gospel, the
truths of the gospel. And remember this when he says,
therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things
which we have heard the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospels.
He spoke about hearing in this way, gave this warning first. He said in, in Mark chapter four
in verse 24, take heed what you hear. You know, over the years,
I've heard some people who know the truth, and they say, well,
I can go and I can listen to this man. I know he doesn't really
preach like you do, Brother Pledger. Well, what do I preach? I preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ. I preach the truth that God is
sovereign, and God has chosen a people. Christ has died for
those people, and God the Holy Spirit is calling those people
out. under the preaching of the gospel.
And people will tell me, well, I know he doesn't believe that
or he doesn't preach that, but I know I can listen to him and
I can take the good and leave the bad. Our Lord warned against
that very thing. He said, take heed, what you
hear. And then in Luke chapter eight
and verse 18, he said, take heed, therefore, how you hear. How you hear, it is important
how we hear. When we come together as we are
here tonight, every one of us, we are responsible as to how
we hear, how we hear the gospel. They had heard the truths of
the gospel, these to whom this letter was addressed at first. They had heard the truths of
the gospel. that Christ is the eternal son
of God who has all power both in heaven and in earth. And we
must listen carefully, not just listen, but this verse tells
us we must give them more earnestly. We must listen, yes, but we must
listen carefully to the things which we have heard, that is
to the gospel. We must listen carefully. yea,
more carefully to the gospel. Now, listening, we must listen
carefully, but listening to the gospel, we must consider whose
word are we hearing? Are we just hearing Brother Pledger's
word here tonight? Or are we just hearing the word
of the Lord Jesus Christ? As important as that is, we must
recognize whose word we are hearing. Turn with me, if you will, to
John chapter 14. In John chapter 14 and verse 10, our Lord alone with
His 11 disciples, He said, believest thou not that I am in the Father
and the Father in me? When we hear Christ, we hear
the Father. These words, the words of Christ,
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must take heed. Be careful how we hear. Remember
whose word we are hearing. This is the word of God. This
is the word of the living God, the God who spoke the worlds
into existence. This is His word. Believest thou
not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words
that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. This is God speaking
to us through his Son. So that's the positive here in
this warning, this exhortation. We must, we ought, to give earnestly
to the things which we have heard. We must recognize that we are
listening, we are hearing the word of God. You know, people
will listen to politicians speak and they believe what they say. And you know, that's always a
danger to believe what they say. But when we hear God, when we
listen to God's word, we know it's true. It's true. And not only do we know it's
true, we know that he is faithful to his word and that he has exalted
his word. The scripture says above his
name, God's word, his holy word. That's what we come to hear.
And we must take heed that we listen, give earnest heed to
the truths of the gospel. Now the negative is lest at any
time we should let them slip. Other translations of the scriptures
have this as, lest we drift away from it. Lest we drift away from
it. And I think in the margin of
our Bibles, We have a reference and it is run out as leaking
vessels. We must give earnest heed lest
at any time we should let them slip unless we should drift away
from it. Now the word that is translated
here, slip, it has a nautical overtone. It gives a picture
of a boat. That's what it is. It gives a
picture of a boat that is not moored. It's not anchored anywhere. And it just drifts, drifts, drifts
along. You know that drifting is easy. You know why it's easy? Because
you just do nothing. You just do nothing and you drift. And I thought about this back
in Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And verse
1, where the apostle, or verse 1 and 2, actually Ephesians 2,
where he said it, And you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. Now, a fish, think about this,
a dead fish, he just goes along with the current, doesn't he?
And that's the way we are when we are spiritually dead. or dead in trespasses and sins,
wherein in time past you walked according to the course of the
world. Just go along with the crowd. Go along with the world. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. But when a person is born of
the spirit of God, quickened and given new life, then we're
not to drift. We're not to drift. We have power
now to live. This word that is translated
in our text, again, tonight, slip, is a word that was used
in reference to a ring. Just like a ring you have on
your finger and you get into water and it slips off. You don't
even realize it, it just slips off. And another way it was used,
of course, was to have a jar that had holes in it. And it
leaks, it leaks, it leeches out. Just do nothing. Just do nothing. Neglect the scriptures. We need
to read the word of God. This is our food. But neglect
the scriptures. Neglect the preaching of the
gospel. And neglect Christian fellowship. And this is a way that people
let these things slip. You know, there's a scripture
in Philippians where the apostle told those believers there, and
thus he tells us, he said, for it is God that worketh in you.
It's God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his
good pleasure. Now, if we know that, that it's
God who must work in us to give us a will and the doing then
it's our responsibility to ask the Lord to work in us. Work
in us, Father. If we grow weary and we grow
lazy and lethargic in the things of God, then we should ask the
Lord and beg Him to work in us, both to will and to do of His
good pleasure, not to let these things slip. As I said, the easy
thing is to do nothing. And that's the danger. So this
warning begins with an exhortation. We ought, we surely ought to
give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard,
lest at any time we should let them slip. The second, this warning
contains an argument easily grasped. An argument easily grasped in
verses two and three. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord? The argument is contained by
comparing the word which was spoken by angels and God's great
salvation, which was spoken in his son. Now, what is the word
that the writer says was spoken by angels? It's the law. It's
the law that was given from Mount Sinai. It's the law that was
given, delivered through Moses on Mount Sinai. Look with me
in Galatians chapter three. This is a word that he says was
spoken by angels, In Galatians chapter 3 and verse 19, the apostle writes, wherefore
then serveth the law, Galatians 3 verse 19, wherefore then serveth
the law, it was added because of transgressions till the seed
should come to whom the promise was made. And it was, now notice,
ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. And then look
back in Acts chapter 7 and verse 53, and this is Stephen just
before he was stoned. Acts chapter 7 and verse 53. Let me begin reading it in verse
51. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. He's leveling
this charge at the leaders of the nation of Israel, Hebrews. You do always resist the Holy
Ghost. As your fathers did, so did you.
All through the Old Testament, that's a record of how they resisted
the Holy Ghost, the Word of God. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? There wasn't one of them. You
go through the Old Testament. I was reading this morning in
2 Chronicles. If you're reading through your
Bible, you know you're probably in 2 Chronicles. That's where
I am. but of that prophet by the name of Micaiah. When Jehoshaphat,
king of Judah, he went down to visit his friend, the king of
Israel, Ahab. And you know, Ahab said, let's
go up. You go up with me, Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat foolishly said,
well, my people are as your people. I am as you. And Jehoshaphat
wanted to hear from the Lord. Remember that? Now that Ahab
had all those false prophets there. One of them made him some
horns, iron horns, and he said, go up, go up, Ahab. This is what
you're going to do. You're going to push them. You're
going to destroy them. The army, I believe it was Syria. Jehoshaphat said, you know, I'd
like to hear a word from God. He recognized these were prophets
of Baal. They were false prophets. And
Ahab said, well, there is one prophet here, but I don't like
him. He always speaks bad to me, always. Well, Jehoshaphat
said, well, don't say that. So they went to get him, remember,
and the man who went to bring him said, now you, you, Cooperate,
Micaiah. You just say what these other
prophets are saying. And he said, I'll say what God
puts in my mouth. That's the word I'll give. And
you remember when he gave his word, Ahab said, I told you,
he always speaks bad about me. And Ahab said, you put him in prison. feed him with the bread of affliction
and the water of affliction until I come back." And Micaiah said,
if you come back, God has not spoken by me. And don't you love
that scripture where that soldier took that bow and drew it and
shot that arrow at a venture. And God directed that arrow to
Ahab, and I know he had armor on. There was very few places,
but God directed that era so that Ahab, he died that day in
the battle. Yes, there's always false prophets
around and there was on Mount, when Elijah faced those false
prophets, remember he was one. Now there were other prophets
in Israel. I recognize that, but When he
faced those false prophets, it was one against 450 false prophets. And yet he was the one who had
the word of God, had the message. But anyway, this message here
that Stephen has given, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did,
so do you. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which
showed before the coming of the just one of whom you have been
now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law now
notice by the disposition of angels and have not kept it now
in exodus let's go back to to deuteronomy just a moment but
in exodus we don't read of angels there at mount sinai when the
law was given. But we do know that's true from
the New Testament. The text that we've looked at
here in Galatians and our text tonight, the Word of Angels.
But in Deuteronomy chapter 33 and verses 1 and 2, we read in
this is the blessing. This is Moses, Deuteronomy 33. And this is a blessing where
with Moses, the man of God blessed the children of Israel before
his death. And he said, the Lord came from
Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from Mount
Paran, and he came, now notice, with 10,000 of saints. But these saints, the word is
holy ones, and evidently this was The angels, he came with
10,000 of saints from his right hand, went a fiery law for them. So the law was given by the disposition
of angels. And the writer of our text tonight,
he said, if it received words spoken by angels, if it received
a just recompense of reward, if a person disobeyed that law,
And we have a number of examples. Look in Numbers with me just
a moment. Numbers chapter 15. Numbers chapter 15 in verse 32. And while the children of Israel
were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks
upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering
sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward because
it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord
said unto Moses, the man shall surely be put to death. All the
congregation shall stone him. with stones without the camp. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, the law condemned sin and meted out punishment
to everyone who ignored it or disobeyed it. Remember the case
of Achan? I don't know of any case in the
Old Testament, any sadder than the case of Achan. That man,
when they took Jericho, when God gave them Jericho, remember
everything, the gold and the silver and the garments, they
were all under a curse if anyone were to take them. And Achan
took some silver and took some material and went and hid it
in his tent. What a sad thing he brought. But the law, required punishment
for him, and that's what he got. Remember how him and his wife
and his children and all of his animals, everything was destroyed
because of his sin. That's what the apostle is saying
here. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape? How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord? What is God's great salvation
which is spoken by His Son? You know the word, which at the
first began to be spoken by the Lord, these words, that doesn't
mean that the gospel was not preached until He came into the
world. If you look in Hebrews chapter
4, over just a page, Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2, it says,
for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. So the
gospel was preached before the Lord Jesus Christ came into this
world, yes. But when He came into the world,
the truth was revealed in its fullness by the coming of the
Lord into this world and him preaching the gospel and fulfilling
the types and the prophecies, then the word began to be spoken
by the Lord. Simply means that it was fulfilled
in him, the fullness of the truth. The first promise, think about
this. The first promise was that there would be a deliverer and
that deliverer would be the seed of the woman. But you know that
remained a mystery, didn't it? Until the Lord Jesus Christ was
born into this world of a virgin. And then we understand how it
is that he could be the seed of a woman. Now the word great
here, God's great salvation, reminds me of David's petition
in Psalm 25 in verse 11. Many people think this is a strange
prayer. But believers understand what
he meant. David prayed, for thy name's
sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. And every child
of God. We read where the Apostle Paul
said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief. And almost every believer, every
one I've ever known at least, want to argue with Paul. Paul,
here's somebody who was a greater sinner. Pardon my iniquity, O
Lord, for it is great. It is great. And when we think
about this great salvation, the message, the gospel, reveals
unto us the message of the great Savior, the Son of God, who became
the Son of Man. It speaks to us of His great
sacrifice. He gave Himself, the Apostle
Paul, speaking of His Savior, said, the Son of God who loved
me and gave Himself for me. It tells of His great love. Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And it tells of
God's great mercy. mercy to save great sinners. And it tells of God's great purpose,
His end in salvation, His own glory, God's glory. Yes, this is a great salvation. And then that word escape. How
shall we escape? Doesn't that word remind us of
God's coming judgment? How shall we escape? There's
only one Savior, there's only one message of salvation. How
shall we escape? How shall we be saved from the
wrath of God, which is going to be poured out upon sinners?
It's only in Christ that we may find refuge, that we may escape
from God's coming judgment. How, how shall we escape if we
neglect so great a salvation? Everyone can grasp this argument. If God punished those who neglected
his word spoken by angels, how much greater, how much sore punishment
are those worthy who neglect his word, who do not take heed
to the gospel? And third, and finally, this
warning reveals how God attested to his gospel in verse four.
God bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with
diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His
own will. You know, in Ephesians 2, we're
told that believers, the household of God, are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. The man to whom Christ entrusted
the gospel in the beginning, apostles and prophets, the Holy
Spirit working in them, performing, as it says here, with signs and
wonders and diverse miracles to authenticate or confirm the
message, the gospel that these men preached. And let's look
at a couple of examples in the book of Acts. Well, let's just
look at one for time's sake, but turn to Acts chapter 13.
This is Paul on what we call his first
missionary journey. And this is when it is revealed,
to us at least, that he is and was an apostle. But in Acts 13
and verse 6, we read, And when they had gone
through the isle unto Paphos, They found a certain sorcerer,
a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bargesus, which was
with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man
who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word
of God. But Elymas, the sorcerer, for
so is his name, by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn
away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, here's one of those
signs and wonders and miracles, who also is called Paul, filled
with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said, O fool
of all subtlety and mischief, thou child of the devil, thou
enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the
right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of
the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the
sun for a season. And immediately, There fell on
him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to
lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, this was a sign or a wonder or a miracle to authenticate,
to confirm that the message that Paul was preaching, Barnabas
preached, that the apostle Peter and James and all of these apostles
who went out preaching, These miracles confirm the message,
the truth of the message. And also, through them, we have
been given the word of God, the New Testament. Our Lord prayed for those who
would believe on him through their word. And that's how you
and I have come to believe on Christ, if we do, through the
word of the apostles, the word that we have in the scriptures. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless this study tonight and this warning, that you and I
would take it to heart, the warning. We don't want to drift and let
the things which we have heard to slip away from us. May the Lord bless His word.
Let's sing a verse or two of a hymn.