I invite each of you this morning
to turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2. The book of Hebrews is a very
special book written by the Apostle Paul who was at one time a Pharisee. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews
and he was an expert on the customs and ways of the Jews. He was educated to the highest
letter on the customs and ways, on all the ceremonies of the
law, on the priesthood, on the prophets. You could ask him anything
you wanted to ask him concerning the Old Testament and Paul could
give you an answer. He was an expert on it. And in
this book, Paul ties the Old Testament scriptures concerning
the ceremonial law and the priesthood He ties these things together
with the coming of the Redeemer, the fulfiller of all of these
things, which Israel as a whole had denied. And then he shows
how that Christ fulfilled all that was pictured in that old
economy concerning the salvation of God's elect. He deals with
the high priest. Should we have a high priest
today? Should we have a priesthood? They had one in the Old Testament.
Why don't we have one today? Don't we need a high priest?
Don't we need a priesthood? Don't we need these things that
God ordained? Well, He deals with this. He
deals with the high priest who is the head of the priesthood
and who alone made atonement for Israel. He deals with him
here in the book of Hebrews saying that he was a figure for the
time then present. Just a figure, a picture, a symbol. He was symbolic of something
that was yet to take place. He was a figure for the time
then present who offered gifts and sacrifices which could not
make those he represented perfect. His ministry consisted of meals
and drinks and various washings and carnal ordinances He says,
imposed on them until the time of reformation, Hebrews 9-11. But Christ being come a high
priest of good things to come, things which that old priesthood
talked about, things which that old priesthood pictured. Now
Christ has come, and he's come a high priest. And He has come by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle. Neither did He come by the blood
of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." He
made one atonement forever. Complete. Satisfactory to God. And this is what Paul is doing
here in this book. He is the fulfillment of the
high priest of Israel and is able to save to the uttermost
all who come unto God by Him, Hebrews 7, 24 and 25. And then
secondly, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament's
substitutionary sacrifices. Don't you find it odd that all
through the Old Testament everybody offered a lamb? Why don't we
offer a lamb? Why don't we bring a lamb in
here one time a year? Why don't we have these days?
Why don't we have these things? Because Jesus Christ came and
fulfilled that, which is that lamb picture. You remember John
the Baptist saw him coming down the path? That day he saw the
heavenly dove descending and ascending. And he looked there
and he said, behold the lamb, the lamb. This is the lamb. And
from that day on, we don't need a Lamb. This is the Lamb. The Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. This is the Lamb of God. And
then Christ is our Sabbath. All of the Sabbath days picture
Christ who is the believer's rest. If you go back in Genesis
chapter 1 and 2, you'll find out what the Sabbath was all
about. The world was created. Man was created. and put in this
world all of the animals, the fishes, everything was in its
place, and God rested. How could He rest? How could
God rest? Did He not know Satan had been
cast out of heaven, was walking among the children of men? Did He not know that that man
was going to be taken by him? Did he not know the woman would
submit to his clever speech and fall prisoner to him and take
of that forbidden fruit? And through her, her husband
would fall? Did he not know this? How could
God rest? He rested in Christ. He trusted
in Christ who made all things. Isn't that what he tells us there
in Hebrews chapter 1? He made the world. He created the world.
Everything was put into His hands. And God rested. He rested. And that's the only rest there
is in Him. And all these Sabbath days picture
Christ who is the believer's rest. Ephesians 1.12 speaks of
the Son as Him in whom God first trusted. And then again in Hebrews chapter
4 verse 10 saying, for he that has entered into his rest has
also ceased from his own works as God did from his. Christ is
our rest. He's our Savior. And we could
go on and on through this book showing you the tabernacle and
its furniture and the whole of the ceremonial worship being
fulfilled by Christ the Lord. And so Paul introduces this book
to us, telling us that in different times and various manners, God
spoke to our fathers through the prophets. You know, he tells
you in Romans chapter 3, when he's talking about that propitiation,
he said whom God set forth as our propitiation. When did He
set him forth? Back yonder on the mercy seat.
He set him forth. Thousands of years established
that sacrifice. And God spoke to us. He spoke
to us about this salvation of grace. He spoke to us about the
Lord Jesus Christ who would come and save a people given to Him
by the Father before the world was. He spoke of these things
through the prophets. But in these last days, He spoke
to us by the fulfillment of them. All the prophecies being fulfilled,
all the ceremonial laws being fulfilled, I don't need a priesthood. I don't need a robe. I don't
need an altar. I don't need any of those things. It's all fulfilled
in Christ. If you're going to hear from
God about salvation, you're going to hear it through His Son. Through
His Son. Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things,
and by whom also He made the world. In short, the gospel of
Jesus Christ, God's dear son. Now, I said all that to say this.
Chapter 2 of Hebrews begins with this word, therefore. Therefore. What Paul's about
to say rests on everything he just said in chapter 1. about
the Lord Jesus Christ, about God speaking through His Son,
about Him being appointed heir of all things, by Himself purging
our sins, being raised up and seated at the right hand of God,
our representative. And because this whole Old Testament
economy has been fulfilled and something infinitely better has
taken place, Because the first covenant has become old, because it served its purpose,
and the days of shadows and patterns have ceased, and because the
clear manifestation of the gospel is now made known, therefore,
therefore, Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we've heard. God spoke. How did He speak? He spoke through
His Son. He was born a man. A man-child in Bethlehem. Isn't
that what everybody is talking about this time of year? This
tiny baby over there in Bethlehem's manger? God spoke. The angel
spoke. This man right here, God is going
to speak through him. Has spoken through him. Now we better give some heed
to it. Don't you think? We better take heed to it. Verse
2, for if the words spoken by angels were steadfast, and every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompensive
reward, how shall we escape? Are you listening? If we neglect. 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 witness,
both with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of
the Holy Ghost, according to His own will." Now, I've got
three very simple, fundamental things for you to see here this
morning. I pray that God will enable you not only to hear these
things, but to believe them in your heart and embrace the Lord
Jesus Christ. The first thing is this, the
very basis of all that we believe and preach is the Word of God. I wouldn't waste my time to walk
across the street and have a conversation where we're going to sit and
look at each other and say, well, I think, I thought, it seems
to me, Brethren, that's endless. There's no basis for any argument
there. There's no basis for any instruction
or rebuke or anything. If it's all left to us to whatever
seems right, whatever somebody said, well, that's your opinion.
That's your opinion. No, this is the Word of God.
Well, that's what you say that it means. And I read some scriptures
to you one Sunday morning, and some were offended by it. But
I'm telling you, when he writes a verse of scripture that said,
according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that don't need interpretating, does it? You
need that interpreted? That says exactly what it means. That's the Word of God. That's
not my opinion. That's the Word of God. And he's
that clear on all of the doctrines, just that clear. And I tell you
this, everything that I believe and preach, this is the basis
of it right here, the Word of God. Now, if you want to sit
down and you've got a problem and you want to discuss it from
this book, I'll sit down with you. But if you're going to do
all this I think and it seems to me and my preacher said and
my Bible says and all that kind of nonsense, I wouldn't walk
across the street to talk to you. It's just useless. It's a useless effort. Whenever I talk with or visit
with people who don't know God, I always come away with a new
sense of gratitude for the inward working of God's Spirit who shuts
us up to the Word of God. I experienced that not too long
ago at a reunion. And I sat and I listened. I tried
not to say anything. I just listened. And I was grateful
when I come away from there that God has with His Spirit shut
me up to this book. They shut me up to this book.
Paul said, let God be true and every man a liar. Huh? What about
if it's me? Then I'm a liar. Let God be true. I know that some men and women
have more education than others, and I know that some men and
women have a greater natural capacity for learning. I know
that some are even outstanding and have achieved things that
no one else in their generation could ever achieve. I think about
my dad often coming from wagons. He was raised in the days of
oxen and wagons and horses. And before he died, we had a
man on the moon. And I think about all the things
that he saw in his lifetime, sometimes that just one man achieved.
How to split an atom. How to build a rocket ship to
take a man to the moon and bring him back. Medical things that
men have discovered. I'm not saying that man's ignorant
in those realms. It's amazing to me. The human
being that God has created is amazing. He's absolutely amazing. It shows the wisdom of God in
his making. But man in all his potential,
all his potential of intellect, can never perceive anything spiritual. He just can't do it. And I tell
you, it seems to me like the smarter they are, the more ignorant
the things are that come out of their mouth. Paul said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world under our glory, which none of
the princes..." Is he talking about princes like the prince
over there in England? No, he's talking about these
men, these outstanding men of wisdom and literature and science. He's talking about the princes
of men, the most outstanding examples of mankind. They didn't
know these things. They didn't know these things.
None of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it,
they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory. Some of the
wisest men and most powerful men on the earth crucified the
Lord of Glory. Gamaliel, noted to be one of
the smartest, wisest teachers in Israel. He was a part of that. And you can go on and on and
on. Pilate was there. Herod was there. All of these
men, princes among men, they didn't know these things. But
as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. Now watch
this. Neither have entered into the
heart of man. That's mankind. That's not men.
I'm talking about a few. This is man, mankind. The things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God." The Bible is the only divinely
inspired book in this world. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy
3.16 that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's
profitable. What's it profitable for? For
doctrine. Now, I hear this all the time.
You can't be all that, what's the word I'm hunting for? You
can't be all that inflexible in your doctrine. You can't be
dogmatic in what you say. You got to get a little room
there. Uh-uh. Scripture is profitable for doctrine.
And it's profitable for reproof and for correction. and for instruction
in righteousness that the man of God might be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good work. Preach the word, Paul told Timothy. Preach the word. Be instant in
season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when men
will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
to fables." True saving faith says, let God be true and every
man a liar. The truth of the scripture first
began to be published by the Lord. And when I'm talking about
the truth of the scriptures, I'm not just talking about the
the integrity of the book, but I'm talking about the mystery
of the book. I'm talking about its message,
the gospel, God speaking to men about salvation. He's speaking
in Christ, and Christ first made that known clearly, clearly to
men. He told us how men interpret
the scriptures and say what they think it means, and then he told
us the truth. Old generation of vipers, he
said, how can you being evil speak good things? You can't
speak good things. We're out of the abundance of
the heart to mouth speak. They taught that men were corrupted
by eating meat on certain days or drinking wine. And they taught
that men were corrupted by eating with dirty hands. Our Lord told us the truth about
those things. They taught that men were saved
by their obedience to the law, by their works and sacrifices,
that adultery and murder and theft were just in the outward
deed. But that's not what our Lord
said. He said to look on a woman and lust after hers to commit
adultery already in your heart. You guilty. You guilty. They
had no sense of spiritual understanding. True saving faith is founded
on the Word of God. When the Word of God tells us
what we are, the Spirit of God, when He moves in that man, makes
that man not only acknowledge that truth, but He acknowledges
it almost as if he could see it and feel it in his heart. Men say, well, I'm a sinner,
and they go right on sinning. You haven't seen it yet. You
haven't seen it yet. I wrote an article in the church
here right after I first come down and I said, what if this
friend of yours that you've known all your life and he's given
you advice and he's explained things to you and he It takes
care of your planning, your financial planning and all that. What after
all these years, 20 or 30 years, what after all that time, you
discovered that this man was a cheat? He'd been extorting from you.
He'd been lying to you. He'd been giving you false information
and lies. Would you go on listening to
him? Well, you wouldn't have anything to do with him. Get
out of here. Get out of here. That's what we discover when
we discover we're sinners. We've been lying to ourselves.
We've been cheating ourselves. We've been extorting ourselves.
And people who actually thought they were doing good to people,
they're merchandisers of men's souls. You find that out. When
you find that out, you don't run back to it. I wouldn't run
back to them and say, well, I know you didn't really mean no harm.
Well, I know he meant to me, done it my whole life. You see
what I'm saying? We hate ourselves. That's what
David said, I hate myself. Because he learned what his self
was. Am I getting this over to you? When we're talking about
the Scriptures and we're talking about learning the truth from
the Scriptures, it takes the Spirit of God to, I hate to use
that word feel because it's so misused in our days, but there's
a lot of truth there. I know that I'm a sinner. I tasted
it. And it's the same thing with
Christ. When we read these things about Christ, the Spirit of the
living God makes us to taste these things. And that's what
Peter, that's the language he used, isn't it? If so, be you
tasted that the Lord is gracious. True saving faith founded on
the Word of God was built on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.
And then secondly, our text tells us that our hope is built upon
the message of the Word of God, which is the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, God's dear Son. Everything God has to say to
sinful men, He says by way of the person and work of His dear
Son. Somehow in this day, people got
the idea that Christ is like a genie in a bottle. If you just
say His name or rub on the bottle, you can get whatever you want.
He'll just suddenly appear and say, well, what do you want?
Well, I want a new house. No problem. He's not a genie in a bottle. Every human being on this planet
whose hope is not in Christ, my friend, you're under the wrath
of God right now. I ain't talking about way out
there in the future sometime. I'm talking about right now.
Right now, sitting here in this building, there's men and women,
boys and girls, right here this morning that's turned over to
their own thoughts. Turned over to their own hearts,
their own emotions. You're without God in this world. And you're under the wrath of
God. Right now. Not way out there
somewhere. Right now. Presently. You're in danger. If God doesn't
do something for you, you're going to hell. Well, I'm not disturbed. Then
you're really going to hell. If God don't intervene and put
a stop to it, if He don't turn you from your present condition,
there's no hope for you. And I'm telling you, there's
only one hope. If God turns a man, He's going to turn him to Christ. And oh my, if he ever does, if
he ever does, you'll turn. You'll turn. Willingly, you'll
turn. You'll turn loose of this world.
And you'll turn to him. I don't have anything else to
say. That's the message of this book. It's all in him. Winston
and I were talking this morning about what faith is. It's confidence. Confidence. But you can't be
confident in somebody you don't know. And that's why when you
come in here, I try to tell you about Him. I'm trying to tell
you who He is. This is God come into the flesh. This is God who came as a representative
for sinners and did for them what they couldn't do for themselves.
and then raised Him up in His person and glory and work and
raised Him up, satisfied God, and seated Him in Him at the
right hand of God. And seated at the right hand
of God, Lord of heaven and earth. He sends His Spirit to those
same ones He represented, and He opens their hearts to hear
the truth. And He arranges His providence
for God's preacher and for that chosen vessel to come together
to hear. And then it gives them the ability
to hear. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire. And my friend, the Bible is not
a book of law and it's not a book of genealogy and science. The
Bible is not a history book or a how-to book on how to save
your marriage and raise your children or succeed in business.
The Bible is a book of redemption. It's a book of redemption. And
I'll tell you this, if he gives you the wisdom to understand
redemption, you won't have no problem in your marriage anymore.
You won't have no problem trying to raise your children. You won't
have no problem how to succeed at business. All you have to
do is be honest. Everything this book teaches
is to bring us to Christ and to show us His appointments of
God and His accomplishments as our Savior and His reign as the
King of glory. Look here in Hebrews 2 verse
10. For it became Him for whom are all things and by whom are
all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. That's what God requires
from you, John. Absolute, total perfection. And
you can't produce it. I can't produce it. Nobody can
produce it. But it became Him who made the
worlds in whom God trusted. It became Him to be made perfect. How'd he do it? Through sufferings. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree and made perfect atonement for me. I'm justified
before God. This little pea brain won't even
take it in. What that means? Just before
God. I can't look myself in the mirror.
Just before God. But not of myself. All in Him. All in Him. In Him I have no
sin. Not in Him. He put my sins away. It said He scattered our sins
as far as the east is from the west. He put them at the deepest
point of the sea. They're gone. They're gone. He became by His obedience as
our representative, our perfect righteousness. And I'll tell
you this, if God ever reveals that to you, He'll be the end
of the law for righteousness. You won't look to that law anymore.
You look to Him. My soul, that was Paul's whole
hope was his own righteousness. And when he discovered who the
Lord was by the revelation of the Spirit of God, Paul said,
oh, that I might win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my
own righteousness. He didn't want any part of his
own righteousness after that. But that righteousness which
is through Him by faith in Him. He became our substitute, our
perfect atonement. He became our high priest, perfectly
appointed and acquainted with all of our infirmities. And as
the victorious King, He reigns in the perfect will and glory
of God. The message of the Word of God
is Jesus Christ. And then here's the third thing
I want you to see this morning. To neglect the Holy Scriptures
and the salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ is absolutely
fatal. Are you listening? It's fatal. It's fatal. How shall we escape? If we neglect what God has said
through His prophets and what He's clearly shown in the types
and the priesthood and the pictures, if we neglect what Christ has
come and clearly manifested to men, you neglect that, it's absolutely
fatal. There's no gray area. There's
nowhere in between. There's no purgatory. It's fatal. How shall we escape? Escape what? Well, the word escape denotes
some type of captivity, doesn't it? Don't need to escape if I'm not
in captivity. If I'm not taken captive, I don't
need to escape. If I'm not a prisoner, then I'm
free and I don't need to escape. Escape presupposes captivity. And when the Lord announced his
ministry to this world, he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon
me to preach deliverance to the captives. Do you know this world not aware
that they're captive? There's some of you in here this
morning who don't know that you're captive. You're captive. And to set at liberty. of them
that are bruised. Look at Israel, the picture of
God's elect. See them down in that iron furnace
in Egypt. See them under that captivity
doing the will of their captor who forced himself on them as
a god. And see the idolatry set before
them. See the religion publicly accepted. And hear their rejection of Israel's
deity See them serving Him and being the ways and means of all
His evil desires. See them down there in the captivity.
Now listen to the Scriptures. And you hath equipped them who
were dead in trespasses. Boy, oh boy. Dead. I remember
the first time somebody read that to me. And the Spirit of
the living God let me understand what it meant. Oh, my soul. You have to quicken who were
dead. Dead. Couldn't choose? What would I choose? I used to hear that scripture
all the time, and I might not on spur of the moment be able
to quote it, but it says, choose you this day whom you'll serve.
How many thousands of times did you hear that in free will religion? Those of you who were raised
in it. Just hear it all the time. Choose you this day whom you'll
serve. Actually, what that scripture says If God's not God, if the living
God is not God to you, then choose you this day whom you're going
to serve. That's your choice. You can choose the Catholic God,
the Methodist God, the Nazarene God, the Buddha or whatever. All these false gods out there,
if you're not going to see and bow to the living God, then there's
your free will. You can choose anything within
the realm of sin. You can choose it. But you'll
never choose this because you can't see it. You can't know
it unless God opens your heart. And if you don't, You're captive
to sin, and that's what you're going to do. You're going to
roam around in your little cell, your spiritual cell, and you're
going to walk wall to wall, wall to wall, and do this and do that.
After a while, you'll find something just like those prisoners in
prison do. You'll find something to occupy
yourself, and that's where you'll stay until you die. There's no escape. There's no
free will. There's no way out of the captivity
of your nature. There's no escape from the judgment
of God. What does a guilty sinner have
to offer to God to appease his justice and wrath? Where's the potential he thinks
he has to convince an all-knowing God that he'll change his ways? My friend, you can't escape the
condemnation of God. And you might find some temporary
comfort and peace in this world. You might find some hope and
happiness in the lying ways of this world's religion. You might
find a temporary salve in the philosophy of this world, but
you'll never escape the condemnation of God except through Christ
the Lord. You'll never escape. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. He'll never perceive life. But
the wrath of God abideth on him. He can see a lot of things. He
can see a false refuge. He can see free will decisionism. He can see moral reform, and
he can see work salvation, but he can't see Christ. And he'll never see life. He'll
find something that appeals to his flesh, and he'll settle in. I'm telling you this, this morning,
there's no more sure way to judgment and everlasting damnation than
to reject the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How
shall you escape? Do you know bondage is liberty
to the natural man? Bondage is liberty to the natural
man. Captivity is freedom to them.
They love darkness rather than light. One more time, this side
of eternity. God has spoken to you through
His Son, Jesus Christ.