If you carefully read Hebrews
chapters 1 and 2 in one setting, you can't help noticing that
if you were to skip from verse 14 of chapter 1 to verse 5 of
chapter 2, it appears that the thought is just contingent. The
apostle is showing us the superiority of Christ over the angels, and
he ends chapter 1 verse 14 by telling us that their ministering
spirit sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs
of salvation. Then in chapter 2, verse 5, he
takes up the same thought, showing us Christ's superiority over
the angels. And verses 1, 2, 3, and 4 of
chapter 2 almost appear parenthetical. I don't mean by that that they
are accidental. I don't mean by that that they
oughtn't to be there. I mean by that that Paul seems
to have interrupted his train of thought. He seems to have
digressed from his major thesis in this particular portion of
scripture, and he did so with reason. This man whose mind was
well trained, this man who was disciplined in his ministry,
both in writing and in preaching, was also a man whose heart was
moved toward those to whom he ministered. He said, my prayer,
my heart's desire to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. And his purpose is not merely
to show us, or to show the Jews to whom this was originally written,
the superiority of Christ as a point of theology. His purpose
was to make us to know the Son of God. His concern is that we
might stand at last with Christ in glory, robed in his righteousness
and washed in his blood. And so he makes a beautiful,
grand digression And the grand digression he makes is a word
of warning to these who were being tempted to turn aside from
Christ. They had professed faith in him.
They had cleansed themselves from the outward conversation
of the flesh by their religion. They had, in a measure, sanctified
themselves, that is, in their outward behavior. Their lives
had been changed because of their religion and their profession
of religion. But Paul was concerned. because he had lived long enough
to see many turn back and walk no more with the master. This
is that man of whom he said Demas hath forsaken me, having loved
this present world. This is that man who had seen
many make shipwreck of the faith. He named some, Hymenaeus and
Philetus and others of the kind. He had seen many, many in his
time. In his space of life and ministry
as a believer, he had observed many who seemed like great wells
full of promise, and only found them to be empty, broken cisterns. He had seen many who looked like
clouds swept with the tempest, surely to bring rain, only to
find them nothing but just a dark spot in the clouds, in the skies,
spots in our feast, things that would just bring sadness and
sorrow. That is, I don't want that for
you, and I don't want that for you. My God, I don't want that
for you, or for me, or for you. Therefore, I'll write a little
text. Therefore, here the Holy Spirit
calls for you and I to roll over in our hearts and minds The excellence,
the glory, the superiority, the majesty, the exaltation of our
Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in him. That word's not put there for
no reason. He says, therefore, on the basis of what you've heard,
on the basis of what I just told you, on the basis of all that's
gone up to this point, therefore, read this word and understand.
The Holy Spirit is here calling for us to recall, to gather up
our thoughts, to focus our attention upon what he's just told us about
Christ. The word, therefore, might be
translated, since. And you might read it like this.
Since God has spoken to us by his holy prophets. We've got
his word. Here it is. You hold it in your
lap. God's spoken to us by his prophets. Since God has spoken
to us by his son. Since the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, by whom God has made himself known to us, is
the appointed heir of all things. Since Jesus Christ, the Lord,
our Redeemer, our Savior, is the creator of all things. Since
Christ, the God-man, is the brightness of the Father's glory, the express
image of his person. Since Jesus Christ, our Lord,
upholds all things by the word of his power. Since he has by
himself By the one great sacrifice he made at Calvary, purged our
sins, and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
Since Jesus Christ our Savior is the exalted reigning sovereign
monarch of the universe, since our great Savior is so much better
than the angels, we ought." I pondered those two words a
good bit today. The apostle does not say you
ought, he doesn't say you ought, as
if somehow he were a step above them. He says we ought. It's as though he said the message
I have for you is a message God sent to me. And the message I
have preached to you tonight I've been preaching to my own
heart since late last night and early this morning. You see, I'm in the same boat
you're in. I have the same struggles you
have. I face the same dangers you face. I have the same responsibilities
you have. Gospel preachers, and if they're
faithful men, truly gospel preachers, they'll gladly acknowledge, I
shouldn't say gladly, freely acknowledged with great sorrow.
We're being just like you are. Even the apostles and prophets
of old were being just like you and me. We're sinners saved by
grace alone, but my God, sinners still. Sinners in the midst,
terrible conflict, urgent sinners with great trials, in constant need of grace, sinners under the unceasing assault
of hell. And the worst part of it is this,
our hearts by nature are in league with hell against us. Our hearts by nature are in league
with hell against us. There is a traitor in him that
would destroy us if God had sent him. Therefore, we must watch. Most everybody's pretty good
at watching other folks. Most all religions, they may
teach you folks to watch you. We'd better watch ourselves.
Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation. We must ever
be vigilant. We must constantly keep under
our bodies. Paul said, I keep under my flesh. I keep beating it down in subjection,
lest by any means when I preach to others, I myself should become
reprobate. We must constantly press on toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. The pastor, you don't know what I'm going through.
I concede that. You don't know what troubles
I have. I acknowledge that. You don't know what trials I
face. I know that. But I know one who does. And
I know that there's no temptation taking you, no trial, no trial
Lindsey Campbell or Don Fortner will experience, but such as
is common to man. No such thing. Those things we
experience are just the common lot of fallen, depraved men in
a fallen, sin-cursed earth, and that's the way it's going to
be until God removes the curse from this earth. And the trials,
people have the idea somehow the trials change things. Trials
never change anything. Oh no, they don't change a thing.
They don't change one thing. Trials just show stuff. That's
all. You take to build a ship, take
it in the shipyard and build that ship in that huge plant,
and it looks so good, and it's painted up so pretty, and it's
ready for battle. Boy, this thing'll float. Let's
find out. Let's put her in the water. The
only way you're going to find out is to put it in the deep,
deep sea, and we'll find out if it'll float. And the problem
with you and me is not that God needs to know what we're made
of, we've got to know what we're made of. And so the trials come,
the difficulties come, the heartaches come, the struggles come, the
temptations come, and they're good for us if we're His, and
if we're not, they'll destroy us. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest We must, each one, personally
and diligently, apply to ourselves and faithfully lay to heart the
things which we've heard. I'm thankful I never hear it
here, but lots of times I travel different places and folks say
to me, well, you sure stepped on our toes tonight. And I respond
by saying, I'm sorry, I meant to get to your heart. That takes things too lightly,
and this is not my business. Neither the business of preaching
the gospel, nor the business of hearing it. We must give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard.
Now this is what the apostles tell us. It is our duty and our
responsibility every one of us, you and me, to bow to the Word
of God. Just bow to it. I'm sick from above my ears with
folks trying to excuse rebellion against the Word of God. You'll
either bow to it or you'll go to hell. Don Fortner, you'll
either bow to it or you'll go to hell. There's just that place
and it's just that's it. You won't hear this word lightly
by then. You might think it's a light
thing, but you won't hear it lightly. This is going to come
back to you, I promise you. And for some of you, it's going
to come back to your everlasting torment. It's our duty and our
responsibility to bow to God's word, to bend our wills to his
will. They won't naturally bend. It's our duty, our responsibility
to mold our minds to his revelation, to mold our thoughts to his thoughts. We must set our affection on
Christ and we must do so constantly. So we're pastor, but we can't
do that. I know it, but we've got to. We've got to. We've got to. Only God can do
that for us, buddy. We know that, but we've got to
do it. We've got to do it. Only God
can draw us and cause us to run after him. I know that, but we've
got to run after him. Only God can give us a heart
for Christ. I know that, but we've got to have a heart for
him. If any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
damned. That's Bible English. We've got
to set our hearts on him. We're taught in the scriptures
to bring our whole man, every thought and imagination and faculty
of our beings, into willing captivity and subjection to Jesus Christ
the Lord. It's not enough to have heard. We must apply the gospel to ourselves,
and we must set our hearts on it. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, these glorious
gospel truths set forth in holy scripture. How come God, how
come Paul, how come spirit of God, lest, oh what a word, lest
at any time we should let them slip? You got the picture? Lest, at
any time, like a broken cistern, we should let them slip. Lest,
at any time, we should let them like a rushing river, rushed
by us. Lest, at any time, we should
slip. That's the word. That's the word. It's not used anywhere else in
the Word of God. And actually, it's just one word
translated in this expression. However you translate it, the
expression is this. My brothers and sisters, as long
as we live in this world, we live in real danger. As long
as we live in this flesh, we live in real danger. The warning
is not hypothetical. The warning is not useless or
meaningless. The warning is not just there
to fill up space. It is a warning urging us to
avoid, at all cost, apostasy from Christ. To avoid, at all
cost, the danger of losing the benefit of the gospel to the
eternal Lord of our souls. How can I impress our hearts
with the seriousness of this matter? It's absolutely vital that we
persevere in the faith. It's absolutely vital that we
continue in the word. There are many who once seemed
to have real interest in the gospel, who made shipwreck of the faith.
and made shipwreck of their souls. So a preacher, I believe in what's
saved, always saved. Well, take it to hell with you
if you want to. I'm telling you. Now, this book, David, tells
you and me, we must persevere to the end. Well, how do you
reconcile that with your theology? You can fuss with God about that
if you want to, I'm telling you. Our Lord said, if you continue
in my word, John 8, 31, then are you my disciples indeed.
The apostle writes to the Corinthians and says, we're saved by the
gospel if we keep in memory that which I preached unto you, if
we hold fast that which we first heard. He says, I'll present
you, holy, spotless, unblameable, if you continue in the faith. Look in Hebrews chapter 3, let
me show you. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 14. We are made partakers
of Christ. Whoo! Glory. Hang on. If we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast to the end, that means, skip right, Dr.,
if somewhere between here In time you step into glory, you
depart from Christ, you never had him at all. That's what it
means. That's what it means. God, keep me there. Oh, God,
keep me. If you don't graciously force
me to walk in your way until you carry me at last into glory,
I shall depart from this home to wonder. Oh God, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh take and
seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Look in Hebrews chapter
4, verse 1. Let us therefore fear. You remember
what happened to the Jews? Man, they had the Paschal They
had the miracles of all those wondrous judgments performed
in Egypt on their behalf. They came across the Red Sea.
You talk about experience. Man, they could take you to the
top and show you the place. They built a monument. They walked
across the Red Sea and turned around and watched while God
drilled Pharaoh in his eyelids. And they sang his praise together.
And they perished in the wilderness because the word preached to
them wasn't mixed with faith. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should
seem to come short of it. Now then, look in Hebrews 12,
verse 25. See that you refuse not him that
speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that spoke
on earth, How much more shall not we escape if we turn away
from him that speaketh from heaven? Now here's the admonition of
this opening verse. If we would be saved, we must
continue in the faith. If we would avoid making shipwreck
of our souls, we must bind the gospel to our hearts, and bind
our hearts to the gospel. We must. Hold your hands here
and turn back to Proverbs chapter 6. You remember how our Lord warns
us over and over again about the deceitfulness of riches,
the cares of this world, the love of the world? These things
choke out the Word. They choke out Therefore we're given this word
of admonition, Proverbs chapter 6 verse 20. My son, keep thy
father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. It's
not talking about the commandment of your drunken daddy or your
adulterous mother. It's talking about the commandment
of God Almighty, the law given in Zion, the church of the living
God. He's talking about the gospel
of God's free grace, the whole revelation of God in Holy Scripture.
Bind them upon thine heart, tie them about thy neck. When thou
goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall
keep thee. When thou it shall talk with
thee. Take the word of God seriously,
bind it to your heart, tie it about your neck, make certain
that you don't let this thing slip. And then look at verse
2, Hebrews 2 verse 2. For the word spoken by angels,
if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience,
that is, every breaking of the law and every failure to measure
up to the law, received its just recompense of reward. And it
did, didn't it? Sure did. You commit adultery,
you're dead. You steal, you're dead. Take
God's name in vain, you're dead. If you fail to honor God and
fail to love your mother, fail to love your father, God says
the soul that sinneth it shall die, and die you shall, according
to just the commandment of the law. How shall we escape if we
neglect so great salvation? If those who have heard and neglected
the law of God, given by the mediation of angels on Mount
Sinai, perished under the law because they neglected the law,
because they counted it a light thing, they counted it a light
thing. You remember how when Moses came
down and gave Israel the law, you know how they responded?
You know what they said to him? They said, shoot, we can do that.
Yeah, we'll do that. Well, that's what God said. Yeah,
we can do that. It's kind of a good life thing.
They just passed it right by. Failed to even consider what
the law required. Failed to even consider who spoke. Failed to even consider who and
what they were. they took it lightly, and they
perished under the law. Oh, how much more surely then
shall you perish who take lightly the gospel of Jesus Christ, which
is the proclamation of so great salvation. Oh, what great salvation it is. Jesus Christ himself is the great
author of eternal salvation. It is the display of the great
glory and wisdom of God Almighty, how that he, by the punishment
of sins and a substitute, is able to be just and the justifier
of the ungodly. It is great, because the objects
of it are great sinners, like us. because it's obtained at the
great cost of Christ's precious blood. Great, because this salvation
is able to save to the uttermost all them that come to God by
him. Great salvation it is indeed. Read on. 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 with signs and wonders and with
diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his
own will. Now this is what that means. The Lord Jesus Christ came in
his earthly ministry and he proclaimed to us the mystery of the gospel
which was set forth in types and shadows into the Old Testament. Set forth in the in the laws
and symbolism and the prophets of the Old Testament. And then
when he ascended up on high, he poured out his spirit upon
his apostles, and he gave them signs and wonders and miracles.
I mean, these were not your television evangelists who ask you to send
them a hundred dollars so they can perform a miracle for you.
These fellows, they had power with God. They had the ability
to preach the gospel in languages they had never learned. That's
what it was to speak in tongues. It wasn't this put-on gibberish
stuff that you hear doing it on television, radio. What is
that nonsense? Oh no, how can you talk like
that about those things? Well, because I'm interested
in telling you the truth. It's just a satanic deception.
These fellows had the power to perform miracles. I mean really. They would say to a man, rise
up and walk. And you know what he did? You
know what he did? He got up and walked. Every blessed one of them. Well,
it would have worked if he'd had faith enough. Oh no, these
fellows performed miracles. They didn't just do that, they
raised the dead. They had power from God to raise
the dead. Literally. And they did. But
what about these fellows today who claim to be apostles and
prophets and have a word from God and have these miracles?
They're liars and deceivers. And if they have the power they
claim to have, it's satanic and it's proof that they are of Antichrist.
Read 2 Thessalonians 2. Our Lord tells us plainly these
miracles will attend the coming of Antichrist and the deception
of that great day. Well, why don't we have these
things today? Because we've got the whole word of God. Those
things were given to confirm these men as God's messengers.
Now we have his word. We don't need signs and wonders
and miracles from men to show us his word, right? Here it is!
Black and white. Now bow to it. Bow to it. In
the light of all this, how shall we escape the judgment and wrath
of God if we are indifferent to the gospel of the grace of
God? The answer is as clear as noonday
sun. We shall not. Some of you here
have heard the gospel and thumbed your nose at the Son of God for
a long time. You hear the gospel, you say,
well, okay, and you go on your way. I tremble for your soul. And it's very likely that in
this assembly there are some who for some reason, and if it happens you'll justify
yourself, you'll sure do it, you'll convince yourself you
had good reason, who for some reason will at last give it up
and go your way. A preacher, what Comfort is there in there
for any of us, none in yourself. But we have great consolation
in this act. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now
this is what that means. If indeed you trust Christ, you
keep on trusting him. and God will keep you firm to
the end. Look in Hebrews chapter 10, I'll wrap this up. Verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith. How do we begin this race? Looking
to Christ. How do we continue this race?
Looking to Christ. How do we end this race? Looking
to Christ. The just shall live by faith,
but if you quit looking to Christ, you quit following Christ. If
any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we're not of them that draw
back to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
their souls. Amen. Amen. Peace.