HEBREWS CHAPTER 2. HEBREWS CHAPTER 2. THE TITLE OF THE MESSAGE IS NEGLECT NOT. NEGLECT NOT. WHEN WE NEGLECT SOMETHING OR
SOMEONE WE DISREGARD THEM. That's what it is to NEGLECT,
it's to DISREGARD. It is to GIVE A LITTLE ATTENTION
TO. And He's telling us here, DO
NOT DISREGARD WHAT YOU HEARD. DO NOT GIVE A LITTLE ATTENTION
TO WHAT YOU HEARD. You know, businesses have failed
through nothing more than neglect. Relationships fail because of neglect. Children
have suffered through the neglect of their parents. How devastating
it would be here for the ministry if I neglected to study and to
pray. and how weak would our spiritual
condition be if we neglected the fellowship of brothers and
sisters. Let's not neglect the assembly
of ourselves together. We need one another. Brethren,
we need one another. Let's not neglect that. Let's
not count that a small matter. This should be a great matter
to us. WE ARE THE BLOOD BOUGHT CHILDREN
OF GOD. WE ARE TRULY ONE ANOTHER'S BROTHERS
AND SISTERS AND FRIEND. I HAVE NO OTHER FRIENDS IN THIS
WHOLE COMMUNITY, IN THIS WHOLE STATE, OTHER THAN YOU, THOSE
WHO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. I DON'T. NOBODY CALLS ME BUT
YOU. NOBODY SENDS ME TEXTS BUT YOU.
YOU ARE MY FRIENDS. The Lord said that, YOU ARE MY
FRIENDS. He called Abraham HIS FRIEND. Now in verse 1 here He says,
THEREFORE, now it would be NEGLECTFUL OF ME TO PASS OVER THIS WORD
THEREFORE. It sets the stage for ALL THAT
IS TO FOLLOW. If Jesus Christ is not ALL that
He said to be in chapter 1, there's no foundation for the rest of
Hebrews. There's no foundation for the
rest of what's written in Hebrews. The whole foundation of Hebrews,
the rest of what's written in Hebrews rests on chapter 1. It rests on chapter 1. It is built on the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is built on Christ being the
glory of the Father, the brightness of His glory, the expressed image
of His person. It is built on Him purging us
from our sins. It is built on Him being better
than the angels, Him having a better name by inheritance because of
who He is. And because of this, because
He's immutable and because all things are created by Him and
for Him, now we can go on. Now we can go on. Therefore,
now we can go on. Therefore, we have something
to preach. We have a foundation to build on, Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And the rest of the book of Hebrews
sets forth, as I pointed out last week, the superiority of
the Lord Jesus Christ. None compared to Him. Now chapter
1 tells us that God has spoken to us in His Son, and it jumped
out at me the other day when I was putting this together.
God has spoken to US, He says. He doesn't just say God has spoken
in His Son, He's spoken to US. God has not spoken to everyone
in a saving manner. but to some He has, to some He
has. Now seeing this is true that
God has spoken to us in the person of His Son. God sent His Son
and He spoke, He preached the gospel. He preached the gospel
to the sinners then, He preached it to the apostles, the apostles
to our forefathers, and all the way up to where we are now. And
that being so, That being so, all of chapter 1, that being
so, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which
we have heard. We ve heard some glorious things,
haven t we? Down through the years we ve
heard some glorious things. of God. God sent the gospel to
us. We've heard the gospel of His
glory and He sent it to us. Not only has He sent it to us,
He's entrusted us with it. God's entrusted me, He's entrusted
you with the gospel, the glory of His Son, His redemptive glory. He's entrusted it to us. And He says here, now you take
earnest heed now. TO THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE HEARD,
LEST AT ANY TIME WE SHOULD LET THEM SLIP." What a statement!
Would we really let them slip? The Holy Spirit would not have
moved the writer of Hebrews to write this. if we were not in
danger of letting them slip. I think maybe the Hebrews here
were in danger because you have to realize being a Jew what it
was to believe the gospel and the persecution they put up with. They were excommunicated from
their homes. When we get to Hebrews 11 how
they were scattered and they lived in caves and dens and my
what they suffered for the gospel. And he tells them here, now don't
you let this slip away. Don't you let fear of your opponents,
don't you let fear and don't you let the cares of this world
take a hold of you and you let what you've heard, the glorious
gospel you've heard slip away. Don't do that. Aren't you glad
God has watchmen? I'm glad God has given us watchmen
to warn us of these things. Now the word OUGHT implies a
moral necessity and not just a mere obligation. We don't just
have a mere obligation, we have a moral necessity not to let
these things slip. And he says here that we ought
to give the more earnest, that is, a serious intent mental state. That's what that means, a serious
intent mental state. There's nothing casual about
being saved. Have your sins been taken away?
Have they been taken away? You believe they have? You believe
God has cleansed you from all unrighteousness? That He has
taken all the offenses that you have committed against Him and
He's put them away? He's cleared the books and there's
no charge against you? You believe that? With all your
heart you believe that? You believe He has bought you
with the price? YOU BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST, GOD IN HUMAN FLESH,
TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO HUNG ON THE CROSS AND WAS EXECUTED IN
YOUR PLACE? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT? DO I BELIEVE
THAT? If so, it demands our earnest
attention, not just while we are gathered here on Thursdays
and Sundays. Every day, every day all day
until the Lord takes us home. It demands our earnest attention. Listen to these scriptures here,
Colossians 3. Set your mind, your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth. Set your heart on those things,
your mind on those things. We are told in another place
to be sober-minded, be sober-minded, to be diligent, WE ARE TOLD IN
ONE PLACE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE. THAT'S WHAT
PETER SAID. GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING
AND ELECTION SURE. LISTEN TO THE OLD TESTAMENT,
DEUTERONOMY 4.9, ONLY TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. and keep thy soul
diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have
seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy
life. But teach them to thy sons and thy sons' sons." But He says,
TAKE HEED! That's back in Deuteronomy, way
back there thousands of years ago, the same message, TAKE HEED! Take heed to yourself and your
soul. Your soul is at stake, you know
that? You don't have to take heed to
what you see on TV or pretty much anything else, but you better
take heed when God speaks. You better take heed when God
speaks. If I happen to not listen to
my teacher when I was in school, you know, it had no eternal consequences
to it. This does. This has eternal consequences
to it right now. When that rich man lifted up
his eyes in hell and torment, you know what Abraham said to
him? Son, remember. Rothbard called them God's bloodhounds. Son, remember. In your days you
had it good. You had it good. Lazarus didn't.
Lazarus laying at your gate. DON'T FORGET THESE THINGS, TAKE
HEED NOW, TAKE HEED. GIVE THE MOST EARNEST CONSIDERATION
FOR ALL THAT YOU'VE HEARD, EVERYTHING GOD HAS SENT TO YOU. YOU KNOW
THERE'S MANY, MANY PEOPLE THAT DON'T HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED
TO THEM AT ALL, AT ALL. THERE'S MANY PEOPLE, WE DO, WE
DO. NOW HE SAYS GIVE HEED TO WHAT
WE'VE HEARD, NOW WHAT HAVE WE HEARD? We have heard truth and we've
heard truth. Now listen, speak. Christ said
I'm the way the truth. We've heard truth speak and He's
told us the truth. He's revealed the truth to us.
We've been delivered from a lie. We have been delivered from a
lie. God Almighty, listen, we have heard the truth from God
in the person of His Son. God came into the world and spoke
the truth to us. It wasn't an angel or a mere
man, it was God. God. God came into the world,
took upon Him flesh, preached the gospel to sinners, preached
the gospel to the apostles, and the apostles to our forefathers,
and as I said, all the way down to here we are. And now I stand
here, and I'm confident as I can be, I'm standing here preaching
the truth. I'm not lying on God. As Paul
said, my conscience bearing me witness. This is the truth, I'm
telling you the truth. We've heard the truth about God,
we've heard the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, about sin,
Satan, ourselves, the world, we've heard the truth about it.
Until we heard the truth, we believed a lie. You know, that's
one of the hardest, that's one of the most difficult things
for religion, when they hear the truth, when they hear the
truth about Christ, here's what's hard, they've got to TAKE ALL
THAT THEY HOPED IN, ALL THAT THEY HAD BELIEVED IN AND THROW
IT IN THE TRASH. And not only that, then they've got to say,
Well, what about my family? What about my mother, my father,
my sisters, my brothers who all have believed this? Are they
LOST? IF THEY BELIEVE A LIE, THEY'RE
LOST. SINCERITY DOESN'T SAVE ANYBODY. TRUTH DOES. YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND
THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. IT'S THE TRUTH. AND GOD HAS SENT
US THE TRUTH, AND HE HAS DELIVERED US FROM A LIE. BEFORE THIS, WE
LIVED A LIE, DIDN'T WE? WE LIVED A LIE. BUT NOT ANYMORE. NOT ANYMORE. THEN HERE'S ANOTHER
REASON TO GIVE THE MORE EARNEST HEED, THAT THE SALVATION THAT
WE HAVE IS SO GREAT! He says here, He didn't just
say salvation, He says SO GREAT! SO GREAT IS SALVATION! I THOUGHT
TODAY WHEN I READ THIS OVER, I THOUGHT THAT SOMETIMES THE
SIMPLEST VOCABULARY WORD EXPRESSES THE FULLEST MEANING, AND I HAD
TO LOOK UP THE WORD SO. I LIKE LOOKING UP WORDS, IT HELPS
OPEN THINGS UP FOR ME. just that little old word so
means in a manner or way indicated or suggested. So in a manner
and the way indicated and suggested in chapter one, now we can say
that our salvation is so great, it's so great. And if salvation is so great
to me and you, we will give them more earnest heed to it. We will,
if it's great. Now, if your salvation and my
salvation from sin, from death, I've had a lot of, I've conducted
a lot of funerals and I look at them, not all of
them have been saved, not all of them. Some of them did not believe
in God. Some of them didn't ever, as far as I knew, had even gone
to any place, and even a religious place. Some of them didn't even
go anywhere. And God has delivered us from
that kind of death. Not just physical death, but
spiritual death. There's a spiritual death that
He delivered us from, and He delivered us into the glorious
liberty of His Son, and of His Kingdom. WE NEGLECT THINGS THAT DON'T
MEAN MUCH TO US. YOU KNOW THAT? I CAN TELL YOU
RIGHT NOW IF CHRIST MEANS EVERYTHING TO YOU, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO NEGLECT
WHAT YOU'RE HEARING. YOU'RE GOING TO GO HOME, YOU'RE
GOING TO THINK ABOUT IT, YOU'RE GOING TO OPEN THE WORD OF GOD, YOU'RE
GOING TO READ IT, YOU'RE GOING TO SEEK THE LORD IN PRAYER, YOU'RE
GOING TO ASK HIM TO MAKE HIMSELF KNOWN TO YOU. HAVE YOU EVER REALLY,
I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU WHO BELIEVE, HAVE YOU ASKED THE LORD TO JUST
MAKE HIMSELF KNOWN TO YOU MORE AND MORE? MORE AND MORE. THAT THE FELLOWSHIP BE SWEETER
AND SWEETER, AND BE MORE REAL TO YOU THAN EVER BEFORE, EVER
BEFORE. NOW WHAT MAKES THIS SALVATION
SO GREAT? WELL, WE KNOW THIS, GOD WHO IS
GREAT DEVISED OUR SALVATION. GOD DEVISED A WAY FOR ME AND
YOU TO BE BROUGHT BACK TO HIM FOREVER AND EVER. GOD DID THAT. We had no part
in it. We didn't devise anything. It's
great because the Son of God who bought, wrought our salvation
and bought us, He bought our salvation, wrought it and bought
it. He came into this world and actually
suffered and died in my place, in your place, you who believe.
He suffered and died. Rose again, send it back to glory.
You know, he intercedes for us. We pray for one another, don't
we? Sometimes we're serious. Sometimes
we're not. It's sad. It's sad. But he, he said, father,
I know you always hear me when he intercedes for us. He's always
heard. Even and the Holy Spirit is said intercedes for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered We don't know what to pray for
do you really know what to pray for do you? You got situations
in your life. Do you really know how to pray
about it? Do you I? Was asked some years ago to
pray for a certain person who was sick cancer had cancer And
I was asked to pray for them And I prayed and I did. I said,
Lord, I don't know how to pray for him. I pray that it be your
will to get better, but it may not be your will for him to get
better. But you know what? The Lord healed
him. He took him home. He took him home. He did heal
him. He answered that prayer. You
know, we pray for somebody, for a believer to recover that the
Lord would heal them and the Lord takes them home. We think
he didn't heal them. Yes, he did. YOU CAN'T BE ANY MORE HEALED
THAN WHEN THE LORD TAKES YOU OUT OF THIS LIFE. YOU'RE REALLY
HEALED THEN. YOU WON'T BE SICK NO MORE. I SEE IT DIFFERENTLY NOW. INSTEAD OF SAYING THE LORD HAVE
MERCY ON HIM, I SAY THE LORD HAVE MERCY ON US AND LET HIM
STAY. IF THE LORD HAS MERCY ON HIM, HE'LL TAKE HIM. WOULDN'T
HE? IF THE LORD HAS MERCY ON US,
HE'LL TAKE US HOME. But now if he has mercy on you, he may leave
me or leave whoever's sick, brother or sister. Let me find my place, I've lost
it. Here's another reason this salvation
is so great, is that it's the salvation that in this salvation,
it's the only way God can be just. God who's holy, majestic,
He can be just and take a maggot like me and you and bring us
into glory. Here's another reason to give
earnest heed to the things which we've heard, lest at any time
we should let them slip, or we should let them drift away. That's the meaning of it, drift
away, it's kind of a nautical term, it's like a ship that doesn't
have the anchor down and it just drifts with the tide, drifts
with the wind, it just drifts, just drifts. And I thought today
and I looked up several places but it says, LEST THAT ANYTIME
WE SHOULD LET THEM, that's plural, I mean that's
singular, that's plural, I get my singular plural right, THEM,
you know we have the TRUTH, Then we have TRUTHS, things that
are TRUE. We have the DOCTRINE OF GRACE,
but we call it the DOCTRINES OF GRACE, but it's really the
DOCTRINE OF GRACE, but we have GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. Be careful
you don't let that slip, and you start thinking that it's
man's will, not God's will. We have the DOCTRINE OF ELECTION,
PARTICULAR REDEMPTION, TOTAL DEPRAVITY. Be careful you don't
let them slip. I know a person I know a person
who let it slip. She has nothing to do with the
gospel. Sat under the gospel for years and said, One day I
don't believe that no more. Went to Arminianism. Let it slip
away. Let it slip. Don't let the doctrines or the
precepts of the gospel slip away. Don't do it. Be careful now,
it will drift away. THERE'S A REAL DANGER HERE, THE
HOLY SPIRIT WOULDN'T HAVE HAD IT WRITTEN. This word to slip, it's like
this, it's to SLIDE AWAY SMOOTHLY. I've never seen anybody depart
all at once. It's usually little by little
by little and then they're gone. is to slide away smoothly, almost
imperceptibly. You don't even notice it. They
don't even notice it. They don't even realize it's
happening. They don't. You know, it takes real effort
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes real effort to follow
Christ. Listen to these scriptures. Strive
to enter in. Straits the gate and narrows
the way. Few there be, few there be that find it. LABOR TO REST. Does that sound like a paradox? LABOR TO REST. WITH MUCH TRIBULATION
SHALL YE ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. It's not an easy road, it's not
effortless. We are saved by the free grace
of God but I'm telling you the journey home is fraught full
of effort, troubles, troubles, It takes no effort to drift away,
does it? In the summer times, you know,
when you go by the Cape Fear River there at Lilliton, all
those people in the boats, you know what they're doing? They're
just drifting down Cape Fear River, just taking it easy, laid
back. It takes no effort to drift away.
Nobody ever takes a float trip upstream, do they? No, you don't
float upstream. You have to paddle. You don't
have to paddle, it takes effort. And this matter of salvation,
this matter of knowing Christ, this matter of growing in grace
and knowledge of Christ is not effortless, it's much effort,
much effort. And here He says, Unless at any
time, there's never a time when we can just let down and coast
in, never a time. Now I don't care if we live to
be a hundred or two hundred or... There's never a time we just
let down and coast right on in. Not at all. Paul said, Let him
that thinketh that he standeth, take heed lest he fall. Take
heed. Boy, yeah, that's written so
many times. Take heed now. Take heed. Paul said he never
counted himself to have arrived, didn't he? Listen to Philippians 3. I'm
going to read Philippians 3 9 through 14 to you. Paul wrote this to
the Philippians, Not as though I had already attained, either
were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, and
it's one thing I do continually, FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH
ARE BEHIND, AND REACHING FORTH UNTO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEFORE. I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK. Does
that sound like effortless? I PRESS toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul did not doubt his salvation
in Christ, but he never took it for granted. It's too serious of a matter
to take for granted. And then consider this in verse
2, For if the word spoken by angels WAS STEADFAST, AND EVERY
TRANSGRESSION AND DISOBEDIENCE RECEIVED A JUST RECOMPENSE OF
REWARD. THE LAW, HE'S SPEAKING HERE OF
THE LAW GIVEN ON MOUNT SINAI THROUGH THE MEDIATION OF ANGELS
TO MOSES, AND UNDER THE LAW EVERY TRANSGRESSION, I DON'T CARE HOW
SMALL IT WAS, RECEIVED A JUST RECOMPENSE, A JUST PAYMENT. IT WAS STEADFAST, IT WAS UNBENDING,
GOD'S LAW WAS UNBENDING, UNYIELDING. Over in Numbers 15, IF YOU PICKED
UP STICKS ON THE SABBATH, YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? THEY WERE PUT TO DEATH. PICKED UP STICKS ON THE SABBATH. I know some people are going
to hear that and say, That's Who did Sabbath represent? The Lord Jesus Christ. What did
picking up sticks represent? WORKS! So are you going to add
WORKS to Christ? If you do, you're going to die,
God's going to kill you, and you're not going to go to Heaven,
you're not going to Paradise. No, if you picked up sticks on
the Sabbath, that Sabbath that represented His Son, that Sabbath
of rest, and you disobey God, and you try to add your little
works to it, you're in trouble. God's law is unbending. If we
add works to grace, if we add works to Christ's work, God is
unyielding, God is unbending. You'll be put to death. Now if this is so, and it is,
how much sore punishment shall he be thought worthy of
who neglects the gospel which was spoken by the Lord Himself,
who came from glory and preached the gospel to us? Here s a sobering question. Verse
3, How shall we escape IF WE WALK OUT OF HERE AND WE
LET THESE THINGS SLIP AND OTHER THINGS HAVE OUR INTEREST OTHER
THAN CHRIST, MORE THAN CHRIST, HOW ARE WE GOING TO ESCAPE GOD'S
WRATH? HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION? WELL, THE SHORT ANSWER IS THIS,
WE WON'T. THAT'S THE SHORT ANSWER, WE WON'T.
BUT HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE IMPLIES THE NEED TO ESCAPE. But what
are we trying to escape? Here's what we're trying to escape.
The condemning power of sin and the judgment, the wrath of God. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. How are we going to escape that
if we neglect the gospel? I will by no means clear the
guilty. How are we going to escape that if we neglect Jesus Christ,
the sinner's substitute? How are we going to? We're not!
we're not, we're not going to escape it. And now again, let me say a few
more things about this, what it means to NEGLECT, because
it's so important because this whole verses here, four verses
are built around this. Don't NEGLECT, take heed. Don't
NEGLECT what you've heard over the years, the gospel. NEGLECT
UNATTENDED TO THROUGH CARELESSNESS. Don't be careless with the gospel.
You can be careless with other things, but not the gospel. And this happens so easily. It
happens while you're sitting under the gospel. It can happen while you're sitting
right under the gospel, be careless with it. You know what it is? It happens
through careless listening. Did you hear what I said? Did you listen? It happens through
CARELESS LISTENING. LISTENING, and I thought I had
to think about this one today, LISTENING IS MORE THAN HEARING. HEARING IS RECEIVING SOUND. You hear my voice, you hear the
sound of my voice, don't you? Your ears pick up sound. Listening,
now listen, listening is paying attention. Hearing is hearing
sound. Listening is giving attention
to what you're hearing. It's paying attention, it's to
give consideration to what's being said, that's listening.
You ever say to your children, you're not listening to me. You're
not considering what I'm saying. You're not giving attention to
what I'm saying. I hear you, well, we'll see. We'll see if
you do or not. You know, we can live in the
same house and neglect one another, which happens so often when you're
raising children. The children start getting all
the attention and you start neglecting one another. That's what happened
to the church at Ephesus. She neglected what she heard
and she left her first love. It happens. and listen here earnest and he
speaks of earnest earnest attention earnest attention and it's hard
to give earnest attention on a regular basis because of sin
i know that and there's so many things to take our attention
that's why paul wrote to the philippians set your heart on
things above because there's so many things that take our
attention and whatever has our attention has our affection it
has our affection Now I'm going to close. God has given witness
to the truth the apostles preached. This is another reason why to
give earnest, take earnest heed, give earnest attention to what
you've heard. Because God Almighty has put His stamp of approval
on the message. The apostles went forth and they
preached, and it says that God would bear them witness with
signs, wonders, diverse miracles, gifts of the Holy Ghost, according
to His own will. These men heard the Lord themselves,
and they went out and preached to Jews and Gentiles, and God
confirmed their message with miracles, just like He did the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Man, as He walked around, and He performed
miracles. God owned Him! God owned Him! God owned the message! And he
did so by miracles and signs and wonders. But we don't need
that now. You see, when Paul preached,
he could not say, Turn to Ephesians chapter 1 or chapter 2 or Romans
chapter 1. They didn't have them. They were
writing them. You and I have the Word of God. We have the
complete revealed Word of God. And I can say, Turn to Hebrews
chapter 2. WE HAVE GOD'S WORD! WE ARE READING
GOD'S WORD! THESE ARE HIS WORDS! THIS IS
HIS LETTER TO US! BUT NOW GOD CONFIRMED, HE SAYS
HERE, GOD CONFIRMED THEIR MESSAGE WITH ALL THESE SIGNS AND WONDERS
AND MIRACLES, AND SAD PEOPLE TODAY STILL GET CAUGHT UP WITH
SIGNS, WONDERS, AND MIRACLES, THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT! SHOW US
A SIGN! DO A MIRACLE! SPEAK IN TONGUES! JABBER-JABBER! And they think
that's something else. You know what's something else?
God's Word. Right here it is. Just so plain,
so simple. So listen, in closing, do not
neglect the warning in these verses. Don't neglect what you've
heard. Don't neglect what was read to
you in Chapter 1 last week. If you weren't here, go home
and read it. GIVE FULL ATTENTION TO THESE THINGS CONTINUALLY.
And I wrote down just before coming out here, can we say that
we know Jesus Christ more today than we did when we started? Can we say? Can we say that Jesus
Christ is more precious to me right now than when I started? Do I know more of His grace?
More of His love? More of His fellowship? Do I?
Do I? Do I? Do I? Oh, I pray God would put
it in our hearts to hunger and thirst after Him. To seek Him
and nothing else. Above all else. Above all else.
I know we've got to live in this world. I know that. You've got
to go to jobs. I know that. But He's there too. He's there
also. There's no where you are, he
isn't.