with promises, the rich and precious
promises that we have in Christ, which keeps us from despair and
depression when we see that our hope is in Him and not in ourselves. Promises. On the other side,
we are hedged about with warnings, repeatedly, lest we presume I
certainly don't want to despair, but I don't want to presume on
the grace of God. Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Hither by thy help I am come,
and I hope by God's good pleasure safely to arrive at home. No
presumption. And this chapter begins with
a warning. Now I hear people frequently
say, and I understand, they say, don't preach to me. Don't preach
to me. You hear that spoken quite frequently
when people get tired of us telling them what to do, what they ought
to do, and what they ought not to do, and what they're doing
what they shouldn't do, and all these sort of things. And we
who preach, And here's a secret I'll pass along that takes us
a long time to learn this. It shouldn't, but it does. We
who preach ought to preach in such a way that we leave the
impression, give the impression, and have the clarity to understand
that we're not preaching our words, we're preaching His words.
Not my word, it's His word. His word. And secondly, it is
not our will, it is His will. We're proclaiming not what we
want you to do, we're proclaiming what He commands us to do. It's
His will, not my will. It's His word, not my word. It's
His will, not my will. And men and women are not accountable
to us, nor are we accountable to them. The Scripture says we'll
give an account to God. And then, last of all, and more importantly, I guess,
we ourselves are less than the least of all the saints, and
none of us are worthy to be an apostle, or prophet, or pastor,
or missionary, or preacher. And we are the chief of centers. Paul the Apostle took those titles
to himself. He said, I am less than the least
of the believers. I'm not worthy to be an apostle. I'm the chief of centers. So
remembering that, His word, not ours. His will, not ours. The accountability is not to
men. It matters not what they think, but it does matter what
He thinks. So we begin verse 1 of chapter
2, Therefore, therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed
to the things which we have heard, Go back to chapter 1 for just
a moment. It says, God spoke to our fathers
by the prophets. But He has in these last days
spoken to us, we. He has spoken to us by His Son. Therefore, since God has spoken
to us by His Son, the perfect messenger, none of the prophets
who preached to the fathers were perfect. Our messenger is perfect. He's the Son of God. Since God
has spoken to us by His Son and given us a full revelation, the
prophets, they had a partial revelation.
Their message was in signs and types and pictures and patterns. Our message is the fulfillment
of every promise. God has spoken to us by His Son
and given us a full revelation of His mercy, a full revelation
of His glory, a full revelation of His salvation, of His righteousness
in Christ Jesus. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard spoken by
the Son. Last, now watch this. At any
time, we let them slip. John gave the right application
there. It's as water runs out of a leaking
vessel. You're holding a pan and you
put water in it, it's got a hose in it and it leaks. After a while,
you don't have any water. You had some water. Water was
poured in there. It's gone now. And therefore we ought to give
earnest heed to the things which we've heard spoken by the Son,
the Son of God, lest at any time we lose them. They leak out like
a leaking vessel. Now here are four ways in which
people lose what they've heard. Number one, they let them slip
when these glorious This glorious gospel is preached, and they
do not hear it and receive it then. They don't hear it then. They
say, well, it's like that king to whom Paul preached, and he
was visibly moved when he heard Paul preach the gospel of Christ,
and he said, when I have a more convenient season, I'll send
for you. were two years past, and Paul
stayed right there in that prison for those two years. And he never,
ever sent for him. He let him slip out. He heard
the gospel from one of the greatest preachers who ever lived, the
Apostle Paul. But he didn't hear it and receive
it and believe it. He slipped away. He's gone. Men let these glorious truths
slip away when they listen to them, but they become too engrossed
in worldly pursuits. Now, I know we've got a family,
and we've got to give them attention. And we have homes, and we've
got to work, got to make a living. You've got to put food on the
table. You've got to buy shoes and clothes. You've got to pay
college fees. And I know young people have
got to have entertainment and sports and these other things.
I enjoy them myself. And we're in this world. We're
not out this world, but we're in this world. But what happens? is folks get too taken up with
what shall I eat and what shall I drink and what shall I wear
and neglect the Word of God. And neglected. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 7. Now this is a temptation that
arises in every person's life. It's being taken up with the
cares and the riches of this world. Just becoming too engrossed in
those things and neglecting that which is most important. You
can do both. You can give your attention to
your family and your job and other things, but seek ye first
the Kingdom of God. One can't sit around saying hymns
all day. Somebody's got to work. We can't sit around and talk
about the Bible all day. We've got to work. We've got
things to do. We've got to go to school. We've got to study.
We've got to get your mind right. We've got to make a living. We've
got to live in this world. We've got to be productive. Paul said,
man won't work, don't let him eat. That's right. But you know what I'm talking
about. You can become taken up with these things, too taken
up with them. And lose, let slip away, they
get out of hand. Now you know that. And here's
the verse, watch this. Verse 31 of 1 Corinthians 7,
And they that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion
of this world passeth away. These things are going to pass
away. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
on the earth where moss and rust doth corrupt and thieves break
through and steal. Lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven. Someone said to me just last week, a man's job or
his business, as long as that job or business, see if I can
quote it right, is he has a job and he has a business, it's alright. But when that business has him,
and that job has him, He's in trouble. That's right. He's in trouble. So watch it
now. Let him slip. You can do it now. You can give first things first,
and the first thing is Christ, my first love. Let's slip away. And the third way that we let
it slip away if we're not careful, and I'm afraid I have some acquaintances
that this is unfortunately, has come to pass. They, through something, pride
or covetousness or something, they leave the place where the
gospel is preached. They don't avail themselves of
the opportunity to hear the Word of God. And that's so dangerous. You
know, I don't I don't pressure people to be in the service.
Every time the door is open, be in the service. Every time
the door is open, be in the service. I'm not pressuring that at all.
I'm just saying that to live and bring up your family in a
place where the gospel is not preached is foolish. It's foolish. wonderful the place is where
you live, or how fine the job is, or how great the promotion,
you need to hear God's Word. And you need to hear it faithfully
and regularly. Don't ever, I don't care for
what reason, leave this place. If you do, go where the Gospels
preach. Go to Lexington, or Danville,
or Rocky Mount, or Albany, or wherever, but go where the Gospels
preach. Crossfield or Fairmont, but go
where the Gospels preach. Take your boys and girls where
the Gospels preach. You let it slip. Fourthly, people let this slip
away, this message, Gospel slip away when they become indifferent. Indifferent. And God by His own
act cuts them off. God will cut them off. He says
their foot will slide in due time. He that being often reproved
and hardens his heart shall be cut off and that without remedy. What did He say of Ephraim? Leave
him alone. He's turned to his idols. These
things have a grip on him and he's turned to his idols. Now
just leave him alone. I don't know of any condition
in this world that's more dreadful than for God to say, just leave
him alone. Leave him alone. Therefore, you
see the warning, and I want to speak as compassionately as I
can, as tenderly as I can. But I tell you, we ought to give
the more earnest, what's that? Sincere heed. Heed, that's an
inward hearing. Hear it and heed it. Hear it,
believe it. Hear it, receive it. Hear it,
apply it. Hear it, walk in it. Earnest
heed. Lest at any time, let them slip. What's this now? Example. If
the word spoken by angels, and that's back there in chapter
1, we covered that this morning, the angels. brought the message
to the prophets, and the prophets took it to the people. And then
the angels are messengers, and the prophets are messengers.
You could just put the word messengers in there. Old Testament messenger. If the words spoken by Moses
and the prophets and the messengers and the angels of the Old Testament
were steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, in other words, if God held those people
accountable back yonder for what they heard. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? They heard Moses, we heard Christ. They heard Solomon, the holy
greater than Solomon. They saw the gospel in type,
we see it in person. They saw the gospel As a lamb
slain, we see the gospel as God's lamb on a cross. They see it all in picture. We
see it in full revelation. How are we going to escape the
wrath and judgment of God if we neglect, if we become indifferent
to so great salvation? What's so great about it? Well,
it's great because of the author of it. He's the author. It's
great because the one who preached it, the Son of God. It's great
because of the wisdom of it. It enables God to be just and
justifies. It's great because of the cost
of it. Like I said this morning, quoting
someone, when God made the world, He just spoke. When He saved
our souls, He died on the cross. The cost of it. Great because
of the power of it. Translates us from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of God's Son. And it's great because
of the glory of it. Expectations. The good hope we
have in Christ. Turn with me to Hebrews 4, just
a minute. Chapter 4. Look at this for a
moment. Let us therefore fear. Hebrews 4.1, let us therefore
fear, lest a promise being left to us of entering into His rest,
the rest of Christ, the rest of glory, any of you should seem
to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. The gospel was preached to those
people back yonder. But the word preached didn't
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. Now, if they didn't escape having
heard these messengers, how are we going to escape having heard
God's song? Isn't that what it's saying?
And watch this. Which at first, Hebrews 2, 3,
began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard Him." Who is that? That's the apostles. The
disciples. This great Gospel was spoken
by our Lord. And it was confirmed by the apostles
who heard Him. Now, God bore witness to His
Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ became
a man born of a woman. And he preached
to us. And he said, if I bear witness
of myself, my witness is not true. In other words, I'm a man. And you say he's the carpenter
born in Galilee or Nazareth, brought up in Nazareth. The Scripture
says, let every word be established by the mouth of two or three
witnesses. So he said, John the Baptist bore witness of me. You
send unto John, and he bear witness of me. The Father bore witness
of me. He said, this is my Son in whom
I am well pleased. The miracles I did, the works
I do, they bear witness of me. And the Scriptures bear witness
of me. That's four strong, plain, Loud
witness to it. John the Baptist, the forerunner,
the Father, the miracles, the Word. He is the Christ. Now, here comes the apostles.
They heard Him. They said, we heard Him, we saw
Him, our hands touched Him, the Word of Life. And Christ said,
as my Father sent me, I send you. Now you go in all the world
and preach the gospel. And verse 4 says, God bore them
witness. God bore them witness. These
apostles went forth with the message and God performed great
lessons with signs and wonders and different miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost according to His own Well, they spoke in other
languages. They raised the dead. Over here
in Mark 16, our Lord told these disciples that these signs would
follow them. These signs, God bore them, witnessed
with signs and wonders. Turn to Mark 16. This doesn't
apply to you. It doesn't apply to me. That's
right. The only sign and witness I need
is the Word that I'm holding in my hand. I preach the Word
of God. That's how you judge whether
a man is sent of God or not in this day, the Word. But these
disciples went out, they didn't have the Word. They wrote the
Word. The apostles wrote the New Testament. So God sent them
out and bore them witness with Mark 16, listen, verse 15. He said to them, Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In
my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new languages.
They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover." That's the apostles. That's what it
says in our text. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken to us
by our Lord, and God bore witness of the truthfulness of His message,
and was confirmed by those that heard Him, by signs and diverse
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His will. Now my friends, I want you to
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 22. I hear once in a while these
Pentecostal preachers talking about tongues are a sign, the
reason you know you are baptized to the Holy Ghost is you have
a sign, you speak in other tongues and all this sort of thing. Believers
don't need signs. They have God's Word. This evil
and adulterous generation seek after a sign. Christ said, no
sign shall be given but the Word. Signs are not for believers.
Look at 1 Corinthians 14, 22. Tongues are for a sign, not to
them that believe, but to them that believe not.
When the disciples were sent out by the Spirit of God, by
the Lord Jesus Christ to preach, He gave them wonders and signs
as credentials, as proof before unbelievers of this world to
whom they preached. Believers don't need signs. Listen
to the rest of that verse. Prophesying serveth not for them
that believe not, but for them that believe. Believers need
preaching. Unbelievers need miracles and
signs because they don't believe. Believers need preaching. Unbelievers
have no taste for preaching. But believers do. That's all
they need. That's the reason a lot of you have said to me
since this morning, oh, we enjoyed that message this morning. Why
did you enjoy it? We went verse by verse through
the Word of God. And the Word of God is the believer's
food. Children's bread. It's the green
pastures. He leadeth me in green pastures. And all in the world that I would
do by giving some kind of sign or speaking in a gibberish tonight
is just disturb you and take your thoughts away from Christ.
That's right. All right, verse 5, he's talking
about Christ. For unto the angels hath he not
put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. It's
not the angels that have all authority, it's Christ. It's
the Son. All authority is given unto me
in heaven and earth, that's what he said. I have all power over
all flesh. Now verse 6-9, this is a quotation
from Psalm 8. Start with verse 6 through verse
9 as a quotation from Psalm 8, 3-8. Listen to it. But one in
a certain place, the psalmist saying, what is man that thou
art mindful of him? Or the Son of Man that thou visitest
him? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor. It did set Him over the works
of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under His feet. For in that He hath put all in
subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under
Him. But now we see not yet all things put under Him." You know,
David wrote this in Psalm 8, 3-8, and it may, in a way, set
forth man's position, Adam's position
on this earth before he fell. If you read Genesis, let me show
you that in Genesis 1. It applies to Adam. If you read
that psalm and then read Genesis 1, verse 26, listen to this.
When God made Adam, now he's something else. He was created
in the image of God. Genius! Brilliant! They have
computers today that do strange and marvelous things. You put
all the computers together, you wouldn't have the mind of Adam.
Brilliant! In the image of God, in the likeness
of God. Genesis 1, 26, and God said,
let us make man in our image. After our likeness, let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the
air, over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in
His own image and the image of God created He Him. Male and
female created He of them. God blessed them and God said
unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue
it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl
of the air, over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. So you might apply that to Adam
before he fell, but if you read verse 9, Paul feels like it's
Christ. Let's read it again, and then
we'll read verse 9. In verse 6, Hebrews 2, But one
in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou
art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou
visitest him? Thou made him. a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest Him with glory
and honor, and didst set Him over the works of thy hands.
Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet. For in that He
put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put
under Him." We don't at this present time, we don't yet see
all things put under, but we see Jesus who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. We see Him
crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man. This is Christ He's talking
about. And in the verses as we go on
through this chapter, how that Christ, the brightness of His
glory, the express image of His person, for a little while, made
of a woman, made under the law, took a human body, made in the
likeness of our sinful flesh, took the form of a servant, became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He is the
King. Everything is in subjection unto
Him. We don't see it now, do we? But we will. We will. Let me read you that in 1 Corinthians
15. We will. 1 Corinthians 15. Let's look at at verse 24, 1
Corinthians 15. Then cometh the end. We'll see
it. Then cometh the end when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and all power,
principalities, powers, rulers, the darkness, spiritual wickedness. For he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. No more death. No more death. No more death of any kind. Of
any kind. For he hath put all things under
his feet, but when he saith, all things are put under him,
there's just one exception. It's manifested that he is accepted
which did put all things under him. It's the Father. That's
the Father. Alright, and this taste death
for every man, that's the folks he's talking about in verse 10.
Listen, let's go through this quickly. For it became Him for
whom all things, by whom all things, in bringing many sons
to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
His suffering. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, one body, one spirit,
one faith, one God, one Father. For which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the church when I sing praise unto
thee. And again I will put my trust
in him, and again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me." Now
watch this verse here. For as much then as the children,
those whom he came to redeem, his sheep, his children, his
church, are partakers of flesh and blood, that's you and me.
He also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that
is the devil. Now let me tell you something
here, two or three things I want to show you. Since those many
sons, those brethren, since we, those whom He came to redeem,
since we have a human nature, flesh and blood, Christ to redeem
us must become a man. He must assume our nature. He took flesh and blood subject
to temptation, in firmities and death to redeem us. He took His
nature of a virgin that He might be without sin. We were under
the curse of the law and the sentence of death. In order to
remove that curse and that sentence, He must put Himself under it
and be slain. You see, I can suffer and die. I can't satisfy God. God can satisfy the law and justice,
but He can't suffer and die. So in order to redeem me, God
must become a man. And as a man, He can suffer.
He can bear the wrath and He can die. And as God, He can satisfy. You see what I'm saying? If Jesus
Christ is only God and never became a man, He couldn't save
us. If He's only a man and He's not
God, He can't save us. Because man can suffer and he
can die, but he can't satisfy. And God can satisfy, but He can't
suffer and die. So God became a man, like we
are. And He took our guilt. They say,
well, how can one die for so many because of who he is? It's
not how much blood he shed, it's whose blood. It's not how long
he suffered, it's whose suffering. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that does. And here when he says that he
might destroy, verse 14, the last line, that he might destroy
him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, The devil
can kill people, but only with God's permission. He doesn't have any power to
destroy anyone that belongs to God without God's permission.
Now Job illustrates that. When Satan came before the Lord
and the Lord said, if you consider my servant Job, he couldn't touch
Job without God's permission. God said, I kill, I make a life.
I wound, I heal. What Satan does is by God's permission. But when it says, he that hath
the power of death, he's saying this, Satan is the one that introduced
sin, which is the stain of death. He's the one that brought death
by his sin, because he was the first sinner. And he tempted
Eve and Adam, and they fell. So that's what that verse is
talking about. Now let me show you something here, verse 15.
And Christ became a man, He took our nature that through death
He might destroy him that had the power of death, the stink
of death, and deliver them, deliver us, who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Yes, there's a fear
in regard to death. But if we'll look to Christ,
that fear will be removed. If we fear Him, we have nothing
else to fear. That's what our song said this
morning. And here's the reason. Christ
removes the fear of death by dying Himself. You remember when
you were a kid, and you go for the first time to that swimming
hole, and there's a vine hanging up there. We used to have one
in Alabama. There was a vine from a tree hanging. And you
swing out over that vine and drop in that water. It wasn't
over ten feet, but it looked like a hundred feet to a little
boy, you know. And we'd stand there and we'd
say, you go first. You go first. Well, if somebody ever went first,
it made it easy. Didn't it? You remember? Anything
you do, you go first. And that fellow went first, and
then we all did. And I tell you, death, the fear
of death, is removed when Christ went first. He died. And secondly,
he removed the fear of death by dying himself. And secondly,
he removed the fear of death by removing the sting of death.
The sting of death is sin. And for a believer who has no
sin, there's no fear of death. Why should I fear? You don't
fear judgment? There's no judgment to them who
are in Christ. Now if I'm trusting my church membership, I've got
a right to fear. If I'm trusting my baptism, if
I'm trusting the fact that I'm a preacher, if I'm trusting the
fact that I do a few works. But if I'm trusting Him, I don't
have to be afraid. Because He removed the sting
of death. That's sin. Thirdly, He removed the fear
of death by changing the character of death. Death is not the end,
it's the beginning. Death is not loss, it's gain.
Death is not failure, it's graduation. Death is not to die, it's to
sleep. When a believer leaves here because of Christ, he goes
to glory. That's the only thing that removes
our sorrows. We know our loved ones who love
Christ are with Him. They're not suffering anymore.
They're not weary anymore, they don't hurt anymore, they'll not
die anymore. Because Christ said to be absent
from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. So He removed
the fear of death by assuring us of our immediate transport
into glory. Like that. Like that. And then last, He removed the
fear of death by assuring us of our resurrection. We shall
rise. So that's, even though we believe, we know
this is so. There's apprehension, isn't there?
About death. But think what it'd be if you
didn't have him. It'd be stark terror, wouldn't
it? It'd be terror. But he took it
away, the fear. Let me give you this. Verse 16,
He didn't take on Him the nature of angels. He didn't die on the
cross for angels. He didn't become an angel to
redeem the fallen angels. He took on Himself the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved Him to be made like His brethren. It was necessary
for Him to be made like His brethren. Can you give me three reasons
why Christ had to become a man and had to die in order to be
a faithful high priest? All right, number one, the high
priest was always taken from among men. Isn't that right?
He was taken from among men that he might represent men to God. Secondly, the priest had to have
a blood sacrifice. If Christ doesn't become a man,
He can't be a priest because a priest is taken from among
men. Secondly, if He doesn't become a man, He's got no blood
to offer. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. And thirdly, unless He becomes
a man, and as a man fulfills a perfect law, He has no righteousness
to plead. As our high priest before God,
As a man, he pleads his blood and his righteousness. And therefore
it behooved him in everything, in all things that God demands,
requires, commands, and orders, in all things, it behooved him
to be made like his brethren, identical to his brethren, that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Let
me tell you something. This gospel is as clear as a
noonday sun if a man's got eyes. That's as clear as the sun. For in that he himself has suffered,
being tempted, he's able to comfort those who are tempted. He was
there before you were, and he's able to comfort you. Wherefore,
seeing that we have a high priest, let us come boldly before the
throne of grace. Isn't that good news? Well, it
just reassures me every time I preach it, every time God lets
us open the Bible and study like that, this is the gospel. This is the good news. This is
the way of life. So we'll sing about it, 355.
From every stormy wind that blows, I'm at the mercy seat. Number 355.