Hebrews chapter 2. Now this is
being written, and I would remind us, to the Jews, to the blood
born, those who are the blood lineage of Israel, the Jews,
the Hebrews by nationality. They would have known the law.
They would have known the words of the prophets at a young age.
They would have known all the signs and wonders that happened
in Egypt. They would have been taught the
Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible. And yet the
Lord in mercy chose to reveal Christ to some of them, to save
some of them. And just as you and I, when we
were called out of false religion, whether it was false religion
of self-worship or if it was false religion of actually attending
service at a church and having your name on a piece of paper
stating that you were a member, whatever false religion it was,
When the Lord called us out, there's many things that we may
have wrestled with or may have been burdened with, trying to
figure out, well, what's right and what's wrong? And as the
Lord grows his people, we're left to this one resolve, Christ
is all. Christ is all. The way up is
down. We see less of ourself and more
of him. We no longer look for signs. We no longer look for
wonders. We see Jesus. We see the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what he reveals over and over. And this is what the
writer of Hebrews is beginning to tell them. Now, the Jews generally
did not heed the prophets. They were told things by the
prophets. They were told things by the angels that appeared unto
them, but they generally, in general, overall, did not heed.
And we see the Babylonian captivity is the direct result of that. The Persian captivity is a direct
result of that. Jerusalem being completely destroyed
is a direct result of that because of their disobedience unto the
Lord. There's always consequence for sin, isn't there? So we see
that they didn't heed, and they're still looking even now after
the Lord had shown them the truth, they're still, some of them have
to be wondering or thinking or contemplating about angels, about
things because how much, how many times in the first chapter
did the writer of Hebrews tell them Christ is much better than
angels? Christ is much, He's been given a more excellent name
because of who He is, He's the Son of God. And so He's setting
them straight if we can put it that way. He's giving them the
truth of the Gospel and exalting the Lord and abasing everything
else. It's not what we know, it's who we know. It's not what
we see, it's of these natural eyes, it's that we see Christ
Jesus through the eyes of faith given by Him. Some people, and these Jews in
particular, were looking for a miracle. They're learning about
Gideon in there this morning, and what did Gideon want? He
wanted a sign. He wanted a sign, and every sign
that the angel of the Lord gave Gideon is the only sign that
you and I will see. It is the death, burial, and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the sign. That's the only sign, his resurrection,
that's it. That's the sign that God gives,
that he approves of the Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ is
God and successfully redeemed his people. That's the sign,
that's it. Either we believe him, where
we do not have life. And if we find ourself believing,
or should I say, if we believe, it's all the gift of grace, isn't
it? It's not a determination that we've made before we were
born, that's silly. No, it's the determinate counsel
of God who purposed to cause us to believe all by grace. We're
not looking for some experience. He's the only one that can speak
the word of his power to the heart of his people. Is that,
is, Do we experience grace? Yes, we do. We're not looking
for an experience, are we? Can you look back and like David
and say, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life? Yes, but we're not looking to an experience.
We're looking to a person. One of these days we'll get to
experience him in fullness when we see him face to face. Some are looking for a sign,
some are looking for wonders, but we're not looking for that,
we see the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says in chapter two of
Hebrews, verse one, the first word, I'll draw your attention
to the first word, therefore. Henry Mahan used to say this,
and I love this, what is the therefore, therefore? Why is
it there? What's the purpose of the therefore,
therefore? Well, he tells us if you want
to look back for chapter one, let's read verse one through
four, chapter one. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom 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 purged our sins, 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. Chapter two, verse one. 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. The Lord is speaking. through his son. He doesn't speak
in signs and in wonders. He doesn't speak in emotion,
meaning it's not something that we feel. Some people say, well,
I've never felt like I was saved. You won't. You won't, because
you'll be looking to that feeling. If you feel like you're saved,
if you feel like, I feel like I'm a believer. I feel. I feel
like, no, a believer just believes. It's not a feeling, is it? No,
it's not an emotional stirring, is it? We're given that peace
that surpasses all understanding, but when do we have that peace?
It's not when we're looking at self and seeing what's here.
It's when we're looking to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. It's
when he gives us the grace to see him. There's our peace. He
is our peace. God speaks through one glorious
source, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is revealed to his people
as the sovereign creator and sustainer of life. He is revealed
as the supreme King of kings and Lord of lords. He's revealed
as the only one who could and who did put away the sin of his
people. This is who is revealed. Wednesday night, I made this
statement many times, the message, the message given of the Lord.
And this is the same message given by the angels, given to
the prophets. They all said the same thing. God is God, salvation's
of the Lord, and it is finished. Those are the three things that's
repeated over and over in different ways. But it comes down to God
being God, not you and I. Salvation being of the Lord,
by Him, for Him, to usward according to His purpose and will, His
people, His elect. And it's finished already. That's
the message, isn't it? It's already finished. He alone,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the chosen one, the successful Redeemer. Therefore, therefore if He's
speaking, if He's speaking, we should give earnest heed to what's
being said. If He, and we know He is the
sovereign creator of the universe, if He, and we know He is the
successful redeemer of His people, if He, and we know He is God
seated upon the throne, we should give earnest heed to what is
being spoken. Need we hear any other voice
if you hear His? Think about that. How many voices
do you have in your head throughout the day? I thought about this.
I fight with myself in my head. I guess I'm not crazy. Hopefully
he'll come up to me after service and say, yeah, you're nuts. I
don't know, maybe I am, but I'll have conversations with myself.
I'll process information back and forth. How much doubt, how
much fear, how much happiness, how much, you know, you understand
what I'm talking about. You're in your own head, voices,
but whenever he speaks, boy, everything stops, doesn't it?
Everything, even the voice in your own head stops. Why? He's
God. He's God. Need we hear any other
voice when he speaks, when he says, I am? Moses, I am. When they came to take him from,
when he was with his disciples, after he had finished praying,
he said, whom do you seek? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. Did anybody say anything at that
moment? No, they all fell backwards. Why? He's God. He's God. He is the only one that can speak
by the word of his power, as we've seen in chapter one. If
he is commanding, do we need any other instruction? No. No,
I don't need any other instruction when I hear his command. If we
hear and know his voice, now think about this. If you hear
and know his voice, it's because you've been given salvation.
He doesn't speak to everyone. He speaks to his sheep. And the
good news is I will not lose one. I will not lose one sheep.
Only his sheep here. Now knowing these truths, I wanna
read Chapter 2, verse 1 through 4. It's going to be our text
for this hour and the second, but there's two messages in here.
In the first hour, I've titled the message, Ernest Heed. Ernest
Heed. But let's read 1 through 4 together.
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. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense or reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation, which at 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 in the gifts, of the Holy Ghost according to his own
will. He's saying, this isn't the angel
speaking. This isn't the law speaking.
This isn't Moses speaking. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
who's doing the speaking. That's what he's saying here.
Not a man, but the God man. He is the messenger and the message.
And what is the message? Well, it's his finished work
for his elected people. It's his precious blood that
put away their sin. It's the message of redemption
for all whom he died for, for whom that he loves. This is what
is revealed through his gospel. Therefore, seeing him as our
prophet, as our priest, as our king of kings and lord of lords,
as the successful redeemer of his people, we ought to give,
we ought to give more earnest heed. Now that word earnest means
not light or frivolous. Not light or frivolous. And the word heed means to pay
close attention to. Understand the writer here is
declaring unto us that there is an utmost urgency pertaining
to the gospel. There is an utmost urgency pertaining
to the obedience of the gospel. And what does that obedience
look to Christ? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. There's an utmost urgency. The
greatest emphasis, God has placed the greatest emphasis in the
entire world upon his gospel, pointing to his son. He's highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. This
is the greatest emphasis you'll find in the scripture is Christ
Jesus and him crucified. This is, this is where, this
is where all time, this is what it was created for. This is where
everything points to is the Lord's gospel, the salvation of his
people. This is what it's all about.
There's no other message that's going to save men. There's no
other hope wherein we can hope to stand before God and be redeemed.
Now it's the need to be found in Christ. God placed the greatest
emphasis upon the need to earnestly heed, to earnestly heed the need
to be found in Christ, not having our own righteousness, but his
righteousness. There's an urgency about that.
Now, I am young, and I'm like, I can't relate completely to
what David said when he said, I was young, but now am I old.
Never have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread, but I'm old enough to see that that is true. As a young
man, most don't think about death very often. Now, experiences
in life, there's always exceptions. There can be things that causes
us to think about death. But if the Lord dangles us over
hell and shows us that we're a sinner, you're going to think
we're going to think about death. We have a God wherewith there
is to do. What does that mean? We're going
to be judged of God. We're going to be judged of God,
either in Christ, having his righteousness or outside of Christ. having our own righteousness.
This is why the writer here is saying we ought to give a more
earnest heed. This is urgent. This is an urgent
matter of the soul. This can't wait. Salvation is
of the Lord and today is the day of salvation. Today is the
day of salvation. We have a need to diligently
observe. To desire to hear from him. And
if we have that need, he's created it. He's created it. Think about
those that desperately sought the Lord. What about Peter on
the on the water? We use Pete. I love Peter. I
love all of our brethren, but I can relate to Peter probably
more than any of them. Well, he was on top of the mountain
at one time he was. He would say, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. I know it for certain. He said,
Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not
revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. And
then a 12-year-old girl scared him off whenever she said, You're
with Him. You're with Jesus of Nazareth.
I don't know what you're talking about, 12-year-old girl. I can relate.
Lord, leave us to ourself. That's what we would do, wouldn't
we? We're fearful, so full of doubt. And one time Peter would
walk on, he was walking on the water, physically walking on
the water. And what happened? Took his eyes off of Christ.
Took his eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ and beginning to
sink. What does that mean? I don't
know. I don't know if it got up to
his shins. I don't know if it got up to
his ankles. All I know is, is he saw that he was sinking. And
isn't that the case with you and I? Doesn't matter the depth
that we're sinking. When we see ourselves sinking
and realize it's not us, not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us,
but to thy name give glory. And that's exactly what Peter
did by saying, Lord, save me, save me. There's an urgency to
it. There's an urgency to believing.
Today's the day of salvation. Lord, I need to believe now.
Cause me to believe now. I need to see you now. Save me
now. This is the urgency. You remember
when Jairus came to the Lord, he was a man of power. He had
men under him, and yet he came to the Lord because his daughter,
his 12-year-old daughter, was sick unto death. And he said,
Lord, my daughter is going to die. Come and heal her. And the
Lord said, OK, I will. And a woman with the issue of
blood for 12 years, both of them had a 12-year-old issue, didn't
they? To one, one was greater than
the other, no doubt. But that's what the Lord does,
is he gives you the burden that only he can fulfill. He gives
you the need that only he can feel. Only he can feel it. And
it's the same need, but it's also different trials that cause
it. We see that. We all have different
things we're going through, don't we? And what's the remedy? It's
the same remedy. Christ Jesus is the remedy. Jairus
was walking with the Lord to his house, and the woman with
the issue of blood pressed through the crowd, crawled up to the
Lord, touched the hem of his garment, and the Lord stopped.
Can you imagine the desperation of Jairus, my daughter's dying,
why are you stopping? Why are you stopping, Lord? Don't
we ask, Lord, why are you stopping? Well, good news about the Lord
is he's already seated. He's already seated, isn't he?
I love that. The Lord stopped and said, who's
touched me? And the disciples said, well,
Lord, many people's touched you. Everybody's pushing up on you. I mean, you've been bumped into
20 times, maybe more. That's what they meant. The Lord
said, virtue has went from me. Somebody touched me out of faith.
out of faith. Why? Because they were given
faith to do so. They didn't, she, it's always the cause and
effect that false religion has backwards. The only reason that
she pressed towards the crowd to touch the hem of his garments,
because God gave her the faith to believe that if she pressed
to the crowd and touched the hem of his garment, she would
be made whole because of who he was, not what she had done. Isn't that true? It's not about
what I've done. It's about who he is. I've got
to have him. It's an urgency about it. and she was made whole. She confessed,
it was her, Lord made her confess, and that's what he does every
time, he makes us confess, Lord, I'm not, it's not that I pressed
through the crowd and that I've done great things, it's that
I believe you. Thou art the Christ, I believe you. And he said, thou
art whole, be thou made whole. Well, about that time, the servant
came to Jairus, his servant, and said, trouble the master
no more, your daughter's dead. Your daughter's dead. Lord took
too long is what Jairus would have probably thought and what
you and I would have thought. Boy, you've been angry at the woman
that would have been healed. I would imagine we would. I would imagine
we would, but what did the Lord say? And I love this because
I believed, I know this to be true. The very moment that the
first little drop, if I can use that as a way of saying it, the
first drop of fear entered into his heart, the Lord said, fear
not, and it was gone. Only believe. And when the Lord
says it, that's not a suggestion. It's not a recommendation, it's
a command. Fear not, only believe, why? Because he's God. He's the
only one that can be four days late by man's standard and be
right on time. You know Lazarus, he was four days late. He is
the resurrection and the life, believe that. He asked Martha,
do you believe? You believe, you say, oh, I believe
my brother will be raised again at the last day. He said, no,
I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord healed Jairus's little
girl according to his purpose, for his glory, for his honor.
What about, we're talking about the sense of urgency. That's
what we're talking about this morning. We're talking about,
we're talking about our text, the earnest heed, the earnest
heed, not frivolously, but earnestly. What about Bartimaeus? Did he,
Could he be shushed? Whenever everybody said, be quiet,
you're troubling the master. He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. He's blind, he's a blind man.
Be quiet, you're bothering the master. I mean, you can think
this guy would have been, he would have been stinky, he would
have been in rags, he would have been filthy. He was a beggar,
he would have had nothing. And it's not like, it wasn't,
How do I say that? It wasn't America. You understand
what I'm saying? It was poverty stricken. He was, anyway, I think
you understand what I'm trying to say. It would have been, he
would have been not only an outcast, but they would have considered
him a wretch, vile, no compassion for him. And we have, thankfully,
humanitarian efforts now, more so. People are more compassionate,
whatever. That's a good thing. It's not a bad thing. It's a
good thing. They said, be quiet. You have no business talking.
And that's you and I, by nature, vile and wretched and in our
own rags and dirty and filthy and outcast when to the Commonwealth
of Israel, we're dead dog sinners. And yet the Lord puts the need
in the heart of each of his people to earnestly heed the Lord's
words. Earnestly. Earnestly heed. Right now. Right now. Lord, I believe help thou my
unbelief. That's a confession that if I
believe it's because you've done it and you're the only one that
can help all this unbelief that I am. I have no confidence in
my believing. I have confidence in you. There's
where our confidence is. And what happened to Bartimaeus?
Well, the Lord called him. He said, go fetch him. I love when
the Lord says, go fetch him. I love that with Mephibosheth.
Go down and fetch him. Bring him to me. Can't get to
him, but he brought him. And in mercy and all by his grace,
the Lord made him whole. He said, what would thou have
me do? He said, my sight. He said, be it unto you. And
he received his sight. Now, I love the fact that every
time the Lord says receive something, it wasn't an offer. It's not
an offer like men say, all you have to do is receive it. Well,
that's true, but it's not an offer. The Lord says receive
it, we receive it. Receive sight, and he received
sight. That's good news if we see ourself as the blind beggar.
It's good news if we see ourself as Jairus. Good news if we see
ourself with the woman, the issue of blood or Peter that sinking,
if the Lord says, live, Lord says, I will be thou made whole. The Lord says, receive thy sight.
Who's going to stop him? He's God. Now, brethren, we never
look. We never look at us. The woman
with the issue of blood never looked at how good of a job she
did crawling to the Lord. I crawl 37 paces. No. Jairus didn't say, I've done
a good job in waiting for the Lord to come to my house. I've
done a good job begging the Lord. Bartimaeus never said that, did
he? Bartimaeus never said, I did a great job begging. Because
I yelled louder, the Lord heard me, and that, I obligated him. That's not what Bartimaeus thought.
Peter didn't say, well, I said save me just right, and obligated
God to save me. No, these are not cries that
we make to obligate God. They're cries out of desperation.
I'm talking about urgent desperation. I see myself dying. I see myself
dead. I see myself lost. Have mercy
on me, the sinner. There's no pride in that. There's
no pride in that. There's only the contrite heart.
That's what we sung about earlier. We don't bring any, what was
the line? We don't bring any sacrifice
unto the Lord. The only thing I have is this
sinful, Now, contrite heart, because you've made it contrite.
Lord, you're going to have to give me a new heart. That's what
it is. Wash the sin away. That's what the song was saying. We never look to our believing.
We never look to the works of the law that we do for our justification.
We look to Christ. Lord, you're going to have to
wash the sin away. I have no hope in doing it myself. Scripture says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, not look one time looking
this urgency, this need to urgently heed what the Lord has said is
not a one time need to heed. If we have a need to heed, it's
because he's put it there. He's put it there. He's given
us the need to hear His voice, to hearken unto Him, to heed
His word. Paul said this, to whom coming. I don't think it was Paul that
said that, I'm sorry. I'll have to look it up later. To whom coming? One of the writers said, to whom
coming? What does that mean? That means
we're coming to him right now. And right now. And right now. And it's never not right now.
I've got to come to him now. I can't look that he drew me
yesterday and have hope for today in that or tomorrow and presuming,
well, I'm being drawn now, so I know he'll draw me tomorrow.
Now, is that true? If he really did draw, yes, absolutely. He's not gonna leave his people
nor forsake them. If he did the drawing, he did the calling,
he did the saving, he did it all. But we don't look to yesterday's
manna for hope for today. We need manna today. We're gonna
starve to death today if he doesn't give it. We're needing the fountain
of living water today. We're gonna thirst to death if
he doesn't give it. Understand those who never hear,
they never earnestly heed. That's the reprobate left to
themselves. That's those that the Lord did not die for. That's
those who are never brought to the knowledge of the truth. Now
the believer hears that. And that does not make me want
to say, well, whatever's going to happen is going to happen
then. It makes me say, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Lord,
don't cause me to be a reprobate. Lord, forgive me. That's my only
hope. That's what the gospel does is
it doesn't just enable us to see that we're a sinner without
hope. It enables us to see we're a sinner with hope in Christ
alone. My hope is not that I'm a sinner.
My hope is that Christ is the savior of sinners. Our hope is
not that that we're bad and we're wretched and No, our hope is
that Christ Jesus saves sinners. His blood is precious and powerful
in so much so that there is not one thing that you and I can
do to prevent it from accomplishing that which he purposed. Somebody
said to me just this last week, well, if I step foot in your
church, it'd probably catch on fire. What they meant by that
was, is they're a sinner, they're wretched, they're vile, they're
whatever this and that. But what they didn't mean that they actually
mean is that the blood of Christ was not sufficient in putting
away their sin. That's what that statement means.
If I believe that I'm so bad God can't save me. That's not
faith, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and believing his word.
It's not earnestly heeding what he has commanded and shown forth.
That's not believing what he's declared at all. Matter of fact,
there's a little bit of self-righteousness in the fact of being a sinner
then, isn't there? That's our mentality. No, we earnestly heed
seeing that Christ is all, and that he receiveth sinful men
and women all by grace, and that we believe his blood was sufficient
in putting away our sin, don't we? Someone said that they know the
gospel is true, that they know. I asked him, what's your hope? He said, well, I know the gospel's
true, and I know that Jesus is the Christ. Well, even the demons
believe that and tremble. Even the demons believe and tremble.
They know that Christ is God. Remember the maniac of Gadara,
whenever the Lord appeared unto him, had come across the sea,
he's standing before the maniac of Gadara. What did the maniac,
what came forth from Legion? The demons that were in that
man. They said, if you come to torment us before the time, they
knew exactly who he was. Having a knowledge of knowing
something, it's not knowing him. We have a need to earnestly heed
and only he can give us the ability to see him and believe his gospel. I've got to believe it through
the heart of faith or I won't believe at all. Knowing something
doesn't mean that I believe it. Furthermore, there's those that
say, well, I've heard the truth and it doesn't offend me. I know
people that don't get offended by the gospel. But that doesn't
mean that we've believed it though, does it? Just because I'm not
offended, if I come to acknowledge that he is God, if I see that
he is God from a humanitarian standpoint and see that if he's
sovereign, everything has to be according to his will, that's
just a calculated algorithm that we can come to. That doesn't
mean that I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean
that I've heeded, heeded his word. Lord, cause me to heed. Lord, cause me to heed. Don't
make it about what I know. Don't let me examine myself to
see what I know. Cause me to know Christ and the
power of his resurrection. Cause me to see him and his precious
blood as my only hope before the Father. There's a difference
between knowing and facts, knowing facts and believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. The writer is saying, therefore,
we ought to give a more earnest heed because of who spoke it,
who spoke it. It's not about our opinion. It's
not about what we know. It's about who we know. Who we
know. We must be found in Christ, we
must be known of him and we must know him. We must be found believing
him. Knowing this. Makes the believer
say Lord. I believe helped out my unbelief. Helped out my unbelief. Caused me to believe now not
looking to any other sources, my hope. You know the song I
mentioned this in the men's study. I need the every hour. We believe
we need him every moment, don't we? I need the every moment,
and I'm not discrediting that song, I like that song. I need
you every moment, Lord. I need you to cause me to heed
right now, earnestly, from the heart. This is life and death. We need his sustenance. We need
his sustenance. Only the sheep beg for what the
shepherd can provide. Only the sheep beg for what the
shepherd can provide. A goat will eat anything. I've seen
a goat eat a tin can one time. I just kind of enjoyed watching
him do it. I didn't, I guess I probably should have took it
from him, but watch the goat eat a tin can, not a sheep. No, we need green pasture. Sheep
needs green pasture and still waters. That's what the Lord
does for his people. He gives that need. Lord, I need
a shepherd. I'm just a, I'm just an old dumb sheep. I need a shepherd
to guide, to teach, to make me, to cause me to heed. I don't take for granted that
you heard yesterday. Don't assume that you'll hear tomorrow. Today
is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation.
Do you desire, do you desire to come to Christ? Do you desire
to know him in spirit and in truth, to worship him? What did
the Lord tell the disciples? Suffer the little children to
come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom
of heaven. If you desire to, come to Christ through the eye
of faith. If he gives you the ability,
you'll come to him. Come to, if he's put a desire there, I
mean, if you have the desire, he's put it there. This is not,
we don't complicate the message. We don't move a muscle. We don't
add anything to the finished work of Christ. We come to him,
believing him, looking to him through the eye of faith. There
is what he has commanded. This is what we need to earnestly
heed. Come to Christ as a little child, having complete dependency
upon him. Don't look to yourself and examine
to see if there's any goodness in you whatsoever. There's none
in me. There's none in you. But if you see that and you see him
as all goodness and righteousness and you desire to be clothed
in his righteousness, come to Christ, come to Christ, earnestly
heed his words, earnestly heed his voice, his truth. I've heard men say, and I was
talking to someone before service, they said, yeah, I've already
done that. I've already came to Christ. I've already got saved. We don't use that language, because
that's not scriptural. What they mean by that is they've
done their part. Paul said, I die daily. I die daily. See, today's the day of salvation.
And Lord willing, when we wake up tomorrow, today will be the
day of salvation again. It's the Lord saving us and drawing
us over and over and over. It's not a one-time thing. You
know it to be true, brethren, if you're not called every day,
if you're not brought to him every day, which direction would
you go? The opposite of him. Lord, you're
gonna have to give me the ability to earnestly heed your word and
obey. Is it not true that The elect,
the Lord's people, the believers, we need him now. We believe him now. We've got
to have him now. Not just at convenient seasons,
but every season. Whatever the season is, it doesn't
matter the season. Doesn't matter whether it's dark.
Doesn't matter whether it's sunshine. Boy, emotions come and go based
upon that a lot of times, don't it? We have a few days of gloom
outside, it seems like, whenever it's dark, maybe depressing,
whatever else, and then the sunshine, well, we appreciate that sunshine.
And this is, you understand what I'm saying, it's different for
everybody, but is it not the same need that we have on the
days of darkness and the days of light? We need Christ. We
need him. He did that. He only does that
for his people. He only does that for his people.
Those who here have a need. Those who here have a need. And
he's made them made us by grace to heed. He them to Christ. Well, if the Lord says those
whom those whom he love us, he chastened us, those who have
his will come to him and he'll no wise cast them out. Whosoever
believeth on him shall be saved. If the Lord says all these things
and we see that salvation's of the Lord, that he's predestinated,
he's called, he's done all the work, does that make us say,
well, whatever's gonna happen, gonna happen? Not to the believer.
Makes us say, Lord, cause me to be found in Christ. I believe. I believe thou art the Christ.
I believe that you predestinated people. I believe you redeem
those people. I believe you call those people. Lord calls me to
be one of those people. We don't do it in order to obligate him
and say I've done my part now and I expect you to do yours.
We have a need. Do you have a need is the question
this morning. If you have a need, earnestly
heed what he's saying. Come to Christ. Flee to him. Flee to the cleft of the rock. My Lord, we, I see that if left
to myself, I'll have all this head knowledge. I'll be just
like Judas, just like Judas. I will kiss the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ and go to hell if left to myself. Lord, give me
Christ lest I die. The Lord said, Peter, do you
love me? He said, Lord, I love you. Not
like I want to. I can't look at my love. That's
the word. I have to look the words up again. I can't remember
one's agape and the other one's paleo, paleo, paleo. It's two different. It's spiritual
and it's physical. He said, Lord, I love you, but I can't love
you the way that I want to love you. I can't love you the way
that I'm proud to love you, but I do love you. And I love the
patience of the Lord saying, feed my sheep. What he's saying
is stop looking at your love. Declare this finished work. If
you love me, declare the truth. Don't look at your love. Declare
the greatest love story ever told. Declare my love, because
you know my love is what's kept you. You know my love is what
saved you. Love is what bought us. That's our hope, isn't it?
Lord, cause us to love you more. Cause us to heed you more. Cause
us to believe. David said it this way. Make
me to know truth in my inward parts. Make me know truth in
the inward parts. Make me to know Christ inside,
not just up here, but inside, deep down. Anytime you see that
inward parts, that's the bowels of a man, that's the depth, the
deepest part. God calls me to know you there
and all over. Have mercy on me. Our fear, brethren, is that we
would hear and turn away So our prayer is, cause me to earnestly
heed. Cause me to earnestly heed. And here's the promises. Do we
look to our prayer? Do we look to our hope in what
we do? No. I will never leave you nor
forsake you. There's our hope. There's our
hope. All that the Father give me shall
come to me and I will in no wise cast them out. He that cometh
unto me, Lord said, I'll give him eternal life. Why? Because
he's a sheep. He's a sheep. Last thing I want to notice in
closing is the word slip. Men use this. they use all the
scripture as brow beating, but that word slip, I can't, we can't
let that pass us by. Let's read this first verse together
again. Therefore we ought to give a more earnest heed to the
things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them
slip. That word slip is the same as
leaking vessels, leaking vessels. It means the unprofitable hearing
of the word of God is what it means. Leaking vessels, that
means it goes in one ear and out the other. Boy, that's a
fearful thing, isn't it? That's a fearful thing. What
did the Lord tell the children of Israel? He said, you've committed,
tell my people they've committed two evils. They've forsaken me,
the fountain of living water, and they've hewed them out cisterns.
Cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. A cistern
is a rain catcher, as some of you know, and it stores the rain.
Broken cisterns, where's the rain come from? That's the Lord,
isn't it? But broken cisterns can hold no water. What is the
point here? Well, if we don't heed, we'll
be broken cisterns. We won't hear anything. That's
a scary thought, isn't it? So what's our hope? Lord calls
me to heed. Lord, you're gonna have to cause me to be a vessel
of honor, not a vessel of dishonor. That's what the Lord said in
Romans, wasn't it? He has the power to make a vessel of honor
and a vessel of dishonor. Bow to him. Lord, save me. Lord, cause me to be a vessel
of honor. You're gonna have to do it. You're gonna have to do
it. I'll be left to myself. I won't
heed. I won't heed. Remember, Genesis where the Lord
tells Lot and his wife and his daughters sends the angels to
the, to Lot says, get out of Sodom and Gomorrah. We're going
to destroy it. We've been sent here to destroy this place. And
they couldn't, I love the fact that they couldn't destroy the
place until Lot left because he was elect of the Lord and
the wrath of God will not fall upon the elect because it fell
upon Christ and he, his people was in, you know, that's the,
that's the picture there. They said, we can't destroy this place till
you're out. That's, that's comforting. If we're in Christ, we don't
have to worry about the wrath of God or the judgment of God.
What happened? Well, the angel said, do not
turn around and look back. Do not turn around and look back
when you're leaving. And they took and left Lot and his wife
and his two daughters, and his wife turned around, didn't she? And she looked upon the wrath
of God falling. She saw the holiness of God,
what she saw, and the Lord turned her to a pillar of salt, killed
her instantly. Why is that? The Lord told Moses,
no man can look upon me and live. If judgment is falling and we
look upon that judgment, we will utterly be consumed. But for
those who heeded the angel's words, they were saved. Lot and
his daughters did not turn around and look. You have the contrast
between those whom the Lord keeps to give faith and to believe
the Lord Jesus Christ and those who do not. Those who do not,
those who meet the Lord in judgment or those who have endured the
Lord's judgment on the cross of Calvary being in Christ Jesus
already. The reason Lot's wife did not
heed is because she had no need. But you and I, by the Lord's
grace, the Lord's people have been given the need to earnestly
heed what the Lord said. There are those who don't profit
from it. Hebrews 4.2 says, for unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them. Why? It wasn't mixed with faith. Lord,
give me faith. Don't let me just hear it and
be a broken vessel, one ear and out the other. Cause it to sink
down into my bowels and the inward parts. Cause me to heed. Cause
me to heed. Hearing that some hear and it's
not mixed with faith and then they hear it, that calls us to
say, Lord, is it I? Remember what the Lord said to
his disciples, one of you are gonna betray me. If the Lord was to
say that today, we wouldn't point at one or another,
would we? Lord said, one of you are gonna betray me. Well, I
wouldn't. I'd be worried about me. Lord, is it I? Think about
it. That's exactly right, isn't it?
Lord, is it I? Is it I? This is what the gospel does
over and over, is it reveals the finished work of Christ,
where we no longer examine ourself To say, is it I? But like John,
we lean upon the Lord's breasts and hear his heartbeat, knowing
it is finished. Say, Lord, who is it? Who is
it? If it's me, you're right and
just and true. And if it's not, you are right
and just and true. And the only reason it's not
me that's betraying you is because you've given me the earnest need
to heed your words, to believe. When the men heard Peter preach
that they had crucified and slain the Lord, they said, what shall
we do? He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be baptized.
Believe, that's the message. What shall we do? If you know
that you're a sinner, what shall you do? Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. When do we do that? Right now.
Right now, right now, heed right now. Don't wait, heed. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, hold to his truth, If you can, you
can, it's because he's enabled you to. He gets all the glory.
That makes us cry, Lord, cause me to. Give me the gift of grace
and cause me to believe by faith. Cause me to earnestly heed. Amen.
Let's pray. Father, we know that all good
things come from you. The only way that we're going
to believe is if you cause us to. The only way we're going to heed
is if you cause us to. Please do so according to your will.
In Christ's name, amen. Let's take a break.