We're out of song leaders and
singers tonight, aren't we? Hebrews chapter 2. I'd like us to read the first
three verses. The first four verses, I'm sorry. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip." That word literally is drift
away. It's a nautical term, going off
with the current. Now, keep that in mind and let's
read that verse again. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip away. For if the word spoken
by angels, and this is talking about the giving of the law,
Stephen tells us it was given through the disposition of angels.
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 witness, both with
signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost, according to his will. I've entitled this message, Drifting
Away. Now the word slip, as I've already
said, is a nautical term. It means to drift away on a current. Now there is a danger of you
and I drifting away. Can you believe that? There is a danger of you and
I drifting away. of departing from the gospel
by imperceptible steps. That's what drifting is. If we become lax in hearing,
that's what he's talking about. We ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things that we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them drift away. If we become lax in our hearing,
we will slowly, imperceptibly drift away. That's a solemn thought,
isn't it? It's easier to drift with the
current than to row against it, and all we have to do to drift
is what? Nothing. Nothing. You do nothing, and you and I
will drift away. Look what he says in verse 3,
how shall we escape if we neglect? So great a salvation. What do you do when you neglect
something? Nothing. That's all you got to
do. Nothing. What happens when you
neglect the garden? You ever seen what happens? All
you got to do is nothing and it becomes overcome with weeds. If you neglect your responsibilities
at work, what happens? You get fired. When you neglect
your home, what happens? It falls apart. If you neglect
your car, if you fail to change the oil, fail to lube it, if
you fail to practice preventative maintenance, what happens? The
engine will blow. Neglect your health. Don't exercise,
don't eat healthy foods, practice unhealthy habits, and your health
will drift away. Neglect parenting. Neglect being
a moral authority to your children. And what will happen? They will
drift away. Neglect people, and you'll soon
find you have no friends. Neglect your spouse. and see
what a miserable marriage it will become. Neglect. How shall we escape if we neglect? Just do nothing. That's all it
takes. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Have you ever been on a float
in the ocean, closed your eyes, relaxed, and you look up and
you're not in the same place? And maybe you're even in a place
of danger where you have just drifted away. You didn't realize
it was happening, but you don't even recognize the shore that
you drifted. You drifted. That's the idea
here. In drifting and neglecting, there's
one thing we do. What's that? Nothing. That's
what he's talking about. Now, look back in verse 1. Hebrews
chapter 2, therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed
to the things which we've heard. Now in light of the gospel, in
light of who is doing the speaking, look at Hebrews chapter 1. Verse
1, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken to us by His Son. This is God speaking by His Son. You know, this is not E.F. Hutton
speaking. You know, they say, when E.F. Hutton speaks, people
listen. This is God speaking. And how
earnestly we ought to give heed to the things which we have heard. Now, the importance of hearing
cannot be overstated. Faith cometh by what? Hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. One of the names of the gospel
is the hearing of faith. That's the name of the gospel,
the hearing. of faith. That's why worship
services are so important. The Word of God is being preached. Every worship service is important
if the Gospel is preached, if the Word of God is preached.
One's not more important than the other. They're all important. God is here. Christ is here. He speaks. We ought to give them
more earnest heed to the things which we've heard, lest at any
time we should let them slip. You know, the Lord said both
take heed what you hear, be careful about what you hear, and take
heed how you hear. You know, I don't want to become
dull in hearing. Turn over to Hebrews chapter five for a moment,
losing the ability to discern even what I'm hearing. Verse 11, he says, of whom we
have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you are
dull of hearing. Now, he's not just saying you
need a hearing aid, he's talking about becoming insensitive to
the truth, to where you can't tell the difference between truth
and error. You can't tell the difference
between law and grace. You can't tell the difference
between what is true and what is false. That's what he's talking
about. Look what he says, verse 12. For when for the time you
ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again
what be the first principles of the oracles of God. The ABCs. And have become such as have
need of milk and not of strong need. For everyone that uses
milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. He's a baby.
But strong meat belongs to them who are of full age, who are
mature, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil. They can hear what is good, what
comes from God, and what is evil. Now, I don't want to be dull
in hearing, do you? I want to have a sensitive ear to the Word
of God. I want to have a spiritually
intelligent ear to the Word of God where I can see the difference,
where I can discern between good and evil. Now, we are to give
the more earnest heed to the things that we've heard. Well,
what have we heard? Well, in the context, Hebrews chapter
1. Is there a more glorious chapter in all the Word of God than Hebrews
chapter 1? Let's read it together. Hebrews chapter 1. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days, we're living in the last
days right now, have been ever since the resurrection of Christ.
When's the Lord going to come back? I don't know. Maybe a thousand
years, maybe tomorrow, but it's still the last days. And He hath
in these last days spoken to us by His Son, and look at this
description of his son. He makes sure we know exactly
who he's speaking of. By whom also he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who, being
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when
he had by himself With no help from us, he by himself purged,
washed away our sins. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the
angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For which, unto which of the angels said he at any
time? Thou art my Son. This day have I begotten Thee.
And again, I'll be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son.
And again, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world,
He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. Of the angels,
He saith, who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a
flame of fire. But unto the Son, He saith, God says, this is what
God the Father says to God the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And thy Lord in the beginning has laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall
perish, but thou remainest. They all shall wax old as doth
a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall
be changed, but thou art the same. and thy years shall not
fail. But to which of the angels said
he, at any time sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. Are they not all ministering
spirits set forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? Therefore, in light of this, we ought to give them
more earnest heed to the things that we've heard, lest at any
time we should let them sleep. Now, I don't want to be, and
I don't want you to be, How James describes a forgetful healer. Where it just goes in one ear
and out the other and we don't really understand. I don't want
to be like any of those three healers in the parable of the
sower. Turn with me to Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4. I think about this parable a
lot. Verse 1, And he, the Lord Jesus, began
again to teach by the seaside. And there was gathered unto him
a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship and sat in
the sea. And the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. And
he taught them many things by parables. And he said unto them,
It is doctrine, hearken, behold, listen up. When the Lord says
hearken, don't you reckon you ought to listen real carefully?
Hearken. Behold, there went out a sower
to sow, sowing the word of God. Now he comes to describe the
four different types of hearers. We know they all heard the same
thing. They heard the word of God. They heard the gospel and it
came to pass as he sowed. Some fell by the wayside and
the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. It fell on the
fell on the hard beaten path and birds came and just ate it
up before it could take any root. And some fell on stony ground
where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up
because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was
scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And
some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it,
and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground
and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought
forth some 30 and some 60 and some 100. And he said unto them,
he that hath ears to hear, You know, not everybody does. Not
everybody has ears to hear. Now, if you have ears to hear,
listen up, let him hear. And when he was alone, they that
were about him, with the twelve, asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you
it's given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. I'm looking
at some people right now that God has revealed the mystery
of the gospel to you. That's why you know it. Isn't
that a glorious thought? He's given to me to know the
mysteries of the kingdom, but unto them that are without, no,
all these things are done in parables that seeing they may
see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand,
lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should
be forgiven them. And he said unto them, know you
not this parable? And how will you know all parables? Now he
goes on to give his explanation of this parable. The sower soweth
the word. the gospel. And these are they
by the wayside where the word is sown, but when they've heard,
Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was
sown in their hearts. Now they hear the gospel, but
it just doesn't mean anything to them. They hear of grace and
they don't see their need of grace. They hear of sin and they
don't see that they're a sinner. They don't get it. They don't
get it. And Satan interjects some thought,
and off they go. They don't even think about it
anymore. They just didn't get it. It didn't mean anything to
them. How many times have I preached the gospel to people, and it's
just not even an issue with them. I mean, it's, you know, I'm glad
you believe that way. You know, fine and dandy. You
go your way, I'll go my way. You know, it's just they don't
get it. That's what that person is. He
has no understanding of who God is, what sin is, who he is. He didn't get it. And these are
they, verse 16, and these are they likewise, which are sown
on stony ground, who, when they've heard the word, they immediately
receive it with gladness. You know, I can't tell you how
many times people have come into this room right here and left
saying, that was wonderful. That was fantastic. This is what
I want to hear from here on out. And you know, when they receive
it that way, I just always make a middle note to myself, see
ya. Never see those people again. I just know that's the way it
is. You know, because they receive it, but not, they had no depth. The plow had not broken up the
ground. They were on, it was shallow, shallow. And as soon
as persecution comes, as soon as tribulation comes because
of the word, Ah, see, it's not worth this. And how many times
have we seen this? They have no root in themselves,
verse 17. and so endure but for a time. Afterwards, when affliction
or persecution arises for the Word's sake, they find out their
family doesn't like this, and they thought everybody would
like it, and they find out they're being persecuted for it. And they say, well, I'm
not going that direction. It don't mean that much to me. And so they leave. By and by, they're offended.
And these are they, verse 18, which are sown among thorns.
Such as hear the Word, and they believe the Word. But what happens?
The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, and
the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh
unfruitful. Let me tell you what scares me
about this hearer. I don't think he ever leaves the church. He
still sits there, sits there, but it doesn't do him any good.
He's become unfruitful. And these are they, verse 20,
which are sown on good ground. such as hear the word and receive
it and embrace it and bring forth fruit, some 30 fold, some 60
and some 100. Now I wanna be a attentive hearer,
don't you? I wanna be a hungry hearer. I
wanna come in hungering. I wanna be a discerning hearer. I want to be an eager hearer. I want to be a receptive hearer,
hearing all that God says. Now we ought to give the more
earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time
we should let them drift away. Back to our text in Hebrews chapter
two, verse two. You know, the book of Hebrews
is filled with warnings. It's just filled with them. And
evidently, we need to hear these warnings, don't we? I mean, don't
you find when you're hearing this, Lord, give me the grace
to be a receptive here. I don't want to be letting it
drift away. I don't want to drift off. I
want to hunger after your Word, where your Word is my daily food. It's my necessary food. I must
have the Word of God. Verse 2, he says, For if the
word spoken by angels was steadfast. And once again, this is the giving
of the law. Remember how Stephen said in Acts chapter 7 that the
law was given through the disposition of angels? I don't know what
part they played in it, but somehow they were the ones who spoke
some things to Moses. And he says, For if the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, That means whenever the
law was disobeyed, the one who disobeyed was punished. No exceptions
to this rule. Let me show you an example of
this. Turn back to Numbers chapter 15. Numbers chapter 15, beginning
in verse 32. And while the children of Israel,
Numbers chapter 15 verse 32, and while the children of Israel
were in the wilderness, they found a man there that gathered
sticks upon the Sabbath day. Now that seems, I can understand why somebody
would need to gather, maybe he didn't have any wood for a fire,
I don't know. But he was gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And
they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses
and Aaron and into all the congregation and they put him in a ward because
it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord
said unto Moses, the man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone
him with stones outside of the camp. And all the congregation
brought him without the camp and stoned him with stones. And he died as the Lord commanded
Moses. Now God's never too severe. The
punishment always fits the crime. Believe that whether you see
it or not. God is always perfect in what he does. But here's the
point. Under the Old Testament economy, If you disobeyed God,
if you disobeyed what he said to do, you were to be put to
death. Think of that scripture in Hebrews
chapter 10. We're in Hebrews. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
10. Verse 28. He that despised Moses' law. Somebody says that rule regarding
the Sabbath is ridiculous. That's just ridiculous. I mean,
what difference does it make if I pick up sticks? I think
that's going too far. He that despised Moses' law,
I'm just not going that direction. What happened to him? He died
without mercy. under two or three witnesses
of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and done to spite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know him that
saith, Vengeance belongeth to me. I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people." It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. If that person was punished,
how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Verse three, we're gonna come
back to that in a minute. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great a salvation, which at first, this great salvation began
to be spoken by the Lord. and was confirmed to us by them
that heard him." Talking about the apostles. God also bearing
them witness both with signs and wonders and diverse miracles
and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His will. He stamped divine
authority upon what they said by giving them the ability to
perform these miracles. So no one has any excuse to not
believe. Now, how shall we escape? if we neglect. And remember,
all you do when you neglect is you do nothing. How shall we
escape if we neglect so great of salvation? Now I want us to
spend the remainder of our time with this phrase, so great of
salvation, so great of salvation. You know, we can talk about salvation and give perhaps the right meaning. Been there, done that. I got
that down pat. I know what salvation means. And we're having such
a wrong attitude about God's salvation. So great a salvation. I thought of different ways the
word is used. I thought of Israel at the Red
Sea. They're at the Red Sea. The Egyptians
are coming at them. They have no hope, humanly speaking. The Red Sea before them, the
Egyptians behind them, and Moses said, stand still and see the
salvation of God. And the scripture says the Red
Sea parted and they marched through on dry land. Jonah is in the
belly of a great fish. He's in darkness. Now you reckon
he knows what he's talking about when he says from that fish's
belly, salvation is of the Lord. And then the
scripture says that fish vomited him out on dry land. The Lord has promised him he
will not die until he sees the Lord's Christ. And they bring
the Lord Jesus Christ into him and he holds that baby up. And he says, Lord, now let us
thou thy servant depart in peace. I'm ready to die for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. This salvation is great because
of its author. Salvation is of the Lord. This is the salvation of God.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This
is the salvation of which he is the author. Therefore, it's
great. This salvation is great because
of the great difficulty of it. Would you turn with me to first
Peter chapter four? Verse 18. And if the righteous. Scarcely
be saved. Where shall the ungodly in the
center appear? Now that word scarcely, that
doesn't mean they just make it in by the skin of their teeth.
It doesn't mean we just barely made it in. That's not what that
means at all. The word scarcely means with great difficulty. If the righteous with great difficulty
be saved, there are great difficulties and there are great obstacles
that stand in the way of our salvation. The holiness of God. The broken law of God. The justice
of God. He said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. Our own sinfulness. There are
great difficulties that must be overcome for this sinner to
be saved. Was it difficult for God to give
up his son? Was it difficult for God to forsake
his son? Was it difficult for God to kill
His Son? Was it difficult for Christ in
the Garden of Gethsemane when He was sweating great drops of
blood? Was it difficult for the Lord
Jesus Christ to be made sin? You think of the things that
happened in salvation and to neglect that? To neglect that? What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? What difficulties have to be overcome? What does
it actually take for a sinner to actually be saved? I'll tell
you this, for this sinner to be saved, first, it takes the
sovereign will of God. God's got a will, my salvation.
It takes the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember in the
garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, Lord, Father, if it be
possible, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Was it possible for him to not
die and me still be saved? The answer is absolutely not. He said, nevertheless, not my
will, but thine be done. What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? It takes the life giving grace. of God the Holy
Spirit. He's got to give me a new nature.
I've got to have life from the dead. What does it take for a
sinner to be saved? All of God's providence. Everything
that was, everything that is, and everything that will be.
Isn't it wonderful to know that everything in your life God has
used to bring you to His Son. Everything. All of God's providence. What does it take to be saved?
The hearing. the gospel. Could God have saved
people without hearing the gospel? Of course He could have. Of course
He could have. But does He? No. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It takes the preserving grace
of God all the way to the end. And to neglect this? How shall
we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It's great in the
freeness of it. Now you think of the freeness,
being justified freely, at no cost on our part, freely, being
justified freely by His grace. And for once somebody say, I'm
not interested. I'm not interested. I think this is an amazing thought.
If I said the gospel, you could be saved from your sins, if you
can come up with $100 and pay it, everybody in here would be
saved. But if I say it's free, absolutely free, there's folks
that'll walk away without any interest. Oh, it's great. Oh, it's great in the cost of
it. The cost was so great that you and I could never come up
with a payment, could we? It's great in the freeness of it.
It's great in the wisdom of it. You think of the wisdom of God,
who could come up with a plan, how God could be just, and remain
true to His law, the soul that sinneth shall surely die, I'll
by no means clear the guilty, God will never sweep sin under
the carpet. Who could have come up with the fact that He could
make a way for Him to be absolutely just and yet justify somebody
who's completely unjust in and of themselves? Only God could
do that. Only He can come up with a plan and only He can execute
it. He's the only one who could do it. It's great. Ain't to neglect
it. It's great in the subjects of
it. When we talk about God's salvation,
who are the subjects of his salvation? Sinners. Sinners. Oh, you know, we sang
that hymn this morning and it just hit me like a ton of bricks
in that line. Remember, I'm the sinner that
Jesus came to save. And I thought, I'm the sinner
Jesus came to save. And you think of the greatness
of Him saving sinners like this. You think of what these people
are guilty of. These people that He saves are people who are guilty
of murdering His Son. How would you feel about somebody
who murdered one of your children? Oh my, that's who God saves. He saves sinners. He saves evil
people. He doesn't save good people.
He doesn't save righteous people. He saves evil, sinful people. It's great in the subjects of
it. Now, what's more glorious for a doctor? Putting a bandaid
on somebody's cut or raising somebody from the dead? That's what our Lord did and
what glory he gets. I tell you what, his salvation
is great in the accomplishments of it. What did he accomplish
in his salvation? Well, first of all, he accomplished
the complete putting away of sin. You know what that means? That means if Jesus Christ died
for you, you have no sin. Literally? Literally. I'm without guilt before God. Now is that great? To be without
sin right now before God. I'm without sin. God's justice was satisfied. Now I said this a few weeks ago. Somebody killed your child. If they pay you a million dollars,
would that satisfy you? Would you say, well, okay, that
payment's sufficient? If they gave you $10 million,
would you say, okay, it's okay, I'm satisfied? No, you could
not be satisfied over the death of your child. The death of Christ was such.
Now, you think of hell. Hell is eternal because God can
never be satisfied. That's why hell lasts forever.
The death of the sinner will never satisfy his justice. It's
never enough of a payment. That's why it goes on forever
and ever. You know, we just don't have any idea how bad sin really
is. We can hear things like this. We hear it, but I don't know
how much it means to us, but sin is an infinite evil, and
that's why hell lasts forever. But the Son of God, such dignity
in His person, such glory in His person, that when He died,
God said, I'm satisfied. Justice is satisfied. It doesn't need anything else.
So the God of glory through the death of Christ is completely
satisfied with me. My sins paid for. Justice has
been satisfied. The law has been honored. All
of the elect were saved. That's what he did by his death.
That's what he accomplished, the complete salvation of everybody
he died for. When he said, it is finished,
I suppose there's not, I suppose there's not three words that
I like any better than that. It is finished. Is that great or
what? It's great in this. I'll tell
you when you'll really see how great it is. We hear these things,
we believe them, we rejoice in them. But I tell you what, I
really understand how great this is. When I stand in heaven, perfectly
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, I'll be without sin. I'll be without shame. I'll look
just like Christ. And then I'll have some understanding
of the greatness of this salvation. And to neglect this? How shall we escape if we neglect? Just treat as unimportant so
great a salvation. The fact of the matter is we
will not escape if we neglect so great a salvation. The gospel, if true, is of infinite
importance. If it's false, it's of no importance. But the one thing it cannot be
is moderately important, where you can take it or leave it.
where you can neglect it. I love what the songwriter said,
love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Indeed, we ought to give the
more earnest heed. to the things which we've heard. Oh, the things that we've heard. You know, the great majority
of the world's population has never heard the things we've
heard. We ought to give them more earnest
heed to the things that we've heard, lest at any time we just
drift away. May God deliver us Let's pray
together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you will give us the grace to give the more earnest heed
to the things that we've heard and deliver us from drifting
away and neglecting so great a salvation. Oh Lord, cause us
to be like Caleb, to follow you fully. Give us the grace to not
care what any man thinks, but to follow hard after the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Lord, we see in ourselves a promise to wander away. And Lord, we ask that you would
keep us by your grace. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen.