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Do Not Neglect So Great Salvation

December 30, 2007

Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

 

What do we know about Hebrews?

 

• Don't know the author
• They spoke Hebrew
• The writer spoke about Jesus Christ and how that He is more excellent than the Law
• Some of the folk were wanting to turn back and go back to their old methods of worship
• The writer was wanting them to understand that there was a more excellent way and that way is Jesus Christ
  • He is above all this, He is better than the Law, all the rituals, all the sacrifices that they went through

 

Hebrews 2:1-4

 

1 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.

2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

3 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 ;

4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

 

We know that he is giving them a warning here.  This is one of many warnings, one of the many admonitions that he is giving these folk because of how that they are living and how that their attitude was changing.  Also, because of some things that they wanted to go back and start doing again.  The writer here is warning them.

 

Even today, we need to be warned from time to time.  There are times in our life, if we are not very careful, that we may want to go back to the old ways sometimes.  We need to be warned.  We need to understand how serious it is and how serious God is and what has said about how serious He takes it. 

 

1 Therefore we...

 

When he uses those words, he is talking to you and me.  He is talking to people that are saved.  He is talking to people that have been born again.  He says, "...we..." he is including himself in who he is talking about.  Not only should the unsaved heed this warning, but also, you and me.  The warning that the writer here is giving, we need to pay close attention unto the warning that he is giving. 

 

1 Therefore we ought...

 

The word "ought"...  sometimes we think that the things that we hear...we think that the will of God and the Word of God is optional.  Sometimes we think that we will obey if we want to and if we don't want to obey it then that's okay.  Sometimes we think that the will of God is optional.  We can do it or not do it.  The word "ought" here; he is going to tell us some things that we have a responsibility to do.  The word "ought" here is that we have an absolute responsibility.  This responsibility is this:

 

1 ...to give the more earnest heed...

 

He is telling you and me that there is something that we need to be paying close attention to.  He goes on and says:

 

1 ...to the things which we have heard...

 

The writer is saying that we need to pay very close attention unto the things that we have heard.  He is writing here unto people that wanted to go back and start offering scarifies, bulls and bullocks and the things that they did.  He is saying that you had better pay close attention to what you have heard.  There is a better way than all of that. 

 

Today, we need to be paying attention to the Word of God.  What God is saying today, we need to grasp it.  We need to take heed to it.  We need to listen to it.  We need to lay hold of it with every bit of strength that we have.  Today is the day we should be doing that.  People are being led astray today.  Some that used to sit in these seats here, they don't come anymore because they are not paying any attention to what they have heard.  They heard the Word of God.  It was not that they did not hear.  It wasn't that God didn't speak.  It wasn't that God was silent. 

 

They just did not pay any attention to it.  The Bible says:

 

1 ...the more earnest heed...

 

When we look at what he is saying here, we need to give attention.  We need to listen.   We need to be very careful and pay attention to what God is saying.  We need to be very attentive unto the Word of God.  I know sometimes we hear the Word of God, it may be preached, taught, sung in a song, or we may be going down the road in our car with the radio on and someone comes along with a song, or the Word and God speaks unto our hearts.  He reveals some things to us that we may need to change, do, or some things that we may not need to be doing.  Whether it is a bird flying through the air, a song, a testimony, wherever it comes from, when it is the Word of God we need to grasp it.  We need to take hold of it.  We need to be paying attention to what he is saying. 

 

When I just let it slip through, there is danger out there.  People today are not paying much attention to the Word of God.  They don't pay any attention to it.  Do you know why I know that?  I know that because of how that we live.  If we were paying attention to what God is saying then we would not be doing what we are doing.  When people are listening to the Word of God and paying attention to what God has said.  In doing those things that God has said we won't have to worry about going down and getting them out of jail because they have overdosed on drugs, or because they got picked up for DUI or because they got put in jail for stealing something.  When they are listening to the word and taking heed to it when they are letting it be the rule and direction in their life then they won't be living in sin.  They won't be participating in all the things that the world is doing out here.  We need to be paying attention to what God is saying.  He is saying some things that we need to pay attention to. 

 

The writer is saying you guys need to pay attention to the truths that have been preached unto you about Jesus Christ and His blood that was shed at Calvary and all these things that you have heard about this sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for you.  You need to be paying attention to that.  That is what we need to be paying attention to today. 

 

Many things that we hear in our churches today should not be there.  Many things that come from behind the pulpit of churches today should never be there.  There are things that should never be spoken because those things exalt people or buildings.  What should come from this pulpit, or any pulpit is the Word of God the unadulterated Word of God.  It does not need to be compromised for me or for you or anybody else.  The Word of God will keep us straight.  The Word of God will make us walk a straight path.  The Word of God will keep the sin rooted out of our life.  The Word of God will make us clean.  The Word of God will feed our souls and put Joy down in your heart.  It will make you wake up of the morning and be able to say, "I am glad I'm saved."  It will make you feel that way.  The Word of God will do that.

 

I am glad for His Word.  I am glad when I wake up of the night sometimes when I have actually gone to sleep; I am glad that He speaks.  I can be thinking about some things that are in His Word and I get happy.  Deb is laying there snoring but I get happy.  The cat may be clawing at me but you can be happy.  That is why we need to pay attention to the Word of God.  He will change your life.  He will straighten you up and put a smile on your face.  You don't have to be a grump.  Christian people that are supposed to be living in the Will of God are not grumps.  They may be gramps but they aren’t grumps.  There is a difference there.

 

1 ...the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard...

 

He was telling these folk that they need to earnestly grab hold of the truth that they have heard. 

 

We need to grab a hold of this Bible, the Truth, the Word of God; that is what I am talking about.

 

1 ...lest at any time we should let them slip.

 

The reason that he is saying that we need to take hold of it is because these folk here were letting it slip.  When you read that in the original, it brings out a few things.  As I was reading and studying from some different readings by different folk today, but when you look at that word it brings out some things that is good to think about.  These people were allowing the Word of God just to slip away from them.  When you look at this word "slip"...I got to thinking about Kati today when we were out there for Trick n Trunk; we were outside and she was messing around in some hay and she lost her ring.  When you look at this word in the Greek, it talks about a ring that someone would just let it carelessly slip off their finger.  It brings out the idea of a ship that has been out on the sea.  The sea has been rough and it looks like they were just about to die and they were getting real close to the shore or to the harbor.  The captain, even though he was real close, he would just slip on by the place of safety. 

 

People today, the very Word of God that will keep us safe and secure, we are just letting it slip on by.  We are just letting it drift on by.  It is time that we get a hold of it with every bit of strength that we have.  We cannot let it slip by because if we do the very thing that will keep us safe will be the very thing that will condemn us.  The very thing, this very Bible, if we read it, live by it, and do what it says it keeps us safe.  It gives us security.  It brings happiness, joy, and spiritual blessings, as well as, material blessings.  It does.  If you will believe it and live by it, then it will bless you.

 

There is no one hungry here tonight.  Most of you have not missed a meal for a while and neither have I.  What I am saying is that this Word will do a whole more for us than just save us.  This book is full of tremendous promises.  This Bible, God has given is full of tremendous promises if we will just simply latch on to them.  Take heed.  Live by them and don't let them slip away.  Don't let a preacher try to convince you of something that is not in this Bible.  Don't let any preacher or teacher try to steal the promises from you that God has put in this book.  Don't do that.  We are blessed.  We have some tremendous promises, God wants to bless us, God is blessing us, and God will continue to bless us if we will just hold onto His promises.  Don't be careless.

 

Something that was very valuable, of someone that was careless that did not give any thought and did not pay any attention to something that was very valuable and it ended up being lost.  It just slipped away.  I have talked to many people before who have let the Word of God just slip away.  They have heard the Word of God preached and taught.  God has spoken to their hearts.  God has revealed Himself unto them in a great way, but they just let that slip away.  The same Word that could have saved them, the same Word that could have blessed them, the same Word that would give them security, peace and joy is the same Word that is going to judge them one day.

 

He is saying here that we need to pay attention to what they have heard.  They have heard the teachings and preaching’s about Jesus Christ, about His sacrifice that He made at Calvary.  They have heard that.  They have embraced that but now they want to go back and live under the old Mosaic Law.

 

2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast...

 

When you look at the little "if", it is not a conjunction.  It is not a word that means perhaps, but it is a word that means "since".  It means that "since" the word spoken by angels was stedfast. 

 

Stedfast

 

In the Old Testament, we know we can look at many times where God had used angels to bring His Word.  We know that God used angels in many different ways and in many different times.  I only want to talk about one of them tonight because this is what the Lord laid on my heart.  I want to talk about the time in Genesis chapter 18 where the angels came down, Him and two angels came down and talked to Abraham.  He came down and they appeared unto Abraham there one day and we know that Abraham sees who that they are and he goes to Sara and they fix them something to eat and we know that the angels and the Lord there eat.  While the angels and the Lord were there, they tell Abraham that he is going to have a son.  After He had told about the son, the Bible says that the two angels go on down towards Sodom and down towards Gomorrah.  The Bible says that the Lord begins to talk to Abraham about; He says can I keep anything from Abraham since he is going to be through him and through his children that all the world is going to be blessed.  He begins to tell Abraham that He is going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  We know that Abraham begins to talk to the Lord and said now Lord, if there is fifty righteous down there and he said, "You won't destroy it will you?"  We know that God said, "If there is fifty righteous down there I'm not going to destroy it."  We know that Abraham said, "Lord, if there is just five shy and there are only forty-five down there, you won't destroy it will you?"  We know that Abraham and the Lord talked here for a long time and we know that God said that if there are just ten righteous down there after awhile I am not going to destroy it.  The Bible says that angels went on down and found Lot sitting down at the gate of Sodom.  He was sitting when they get there of the evening time.  When Lot sees the angels, they said come on in, you can wash your feet, we will give you something to eat, tomorrow you can go on your journey, and they said no, we are not going to do that we are going to stay in the streets all night.  Lot said that you can't do that, because it is too bad out here.  It is too wicked but after a while, Lot persuaded them to come on in. 

 

I know that old Lot gets beat up a whole lot.  I know that we talk down about him and we say some mean things about him.  However, Lot was a fellow who may have had many problems, but he escaped the judgment that was going to come.  Don't ever forget that.  Many people talk about that he pitched his tents towards Sodom.  What's that mean?  I've heard people say that it means this or it means that.  That means that Lot went towards Sodom.  If we had been there and the decisions that needed to be made on that particular day about which direction Abraham was going to go and we got to pick first; you would have went to the well-watered plains of the Jordan because you had flocks and there was water and grass there to feed the flocks with.  He may have had some problems and he may have done some the things wrong but there isn't anyone here hubbering.

 

The Bible says that the angels come inside and as they are inside, the men of Sodom come outside the door and they begin to beat upon the door.  They say to Lot, "Lot, bring out the visitors that have come unto you.  Bring them to us that we may know them."  Some very immoral people were living in the city.  There were people that were committing some horrible sins that God said that He despised and hated.  God said that He would judge.  It was the sin of homosexuality.  That is what this whole city here was given to...I know that because they all died except Lot and his family.  They are saying send them that we may know them.  They do not want to shake hands with them.  They want to have a relationship with them.  That's why they are asking.  Lot said, "I've got two daughters here that have never known a man."  I'll bring them out to you and you can do whatever you want to with them; whatever is good in your sight, but let these guys alone.  That tells you how wicked this city was.  The Bible says that the angels reach and get Lot and pull him back inside they shut the door. 

 

The word spoken by angels is steadfast.  The word "stedfast" means "sure."  They spoke this whole place with blindness in Genesis 19.  They spoke this whole city with blindness and they just wandered around out there.  They stumbled about.  These same angels said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else in this city except your sons-in-law and daughters and family?  If you do you had better get them out of here because we are going to destroy this place; God is going to destroy this place because of the wickedness."  What the angles spoke was steadfast.  What the angels spoke was promised.  It was sure.  It was something that was unchangeable.  The Bible says that Lot goes out all night and he tries to persuade his family to leave and the Bible says that they thought Lot had lost his mind.  They did not believe him.  The next morning the angels were trying to hasten Lot or hurry Lot to get out of town; they get a hold of them and they lead them out of town.  They tell them to get to the mountains. Then after a little bit of a conversation that Lot had with the angels, they agree to go to the land/city of Zoar.  As they were going that way the angels say you get out of here and don't look back because God is going to send fire and brimstone; He is going to destroy this place because of their wickedness.  The word spoken by angels was stedfast.  As they are traveling towards the city, God rains fire and brimstone.  I can hear in my ears the explosions that were taking place and the noise that was taking place, as well as, the smoke in that place.  The Bible says that Lot's wife looks back and she became a pillar of salt.  The word spoken by angels is sure; it is stedfast. 

 

The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains that were there all the other little cities that were around there--they were gone.  Maybe hundreds of thousands of people died because of sin.  The angels said that this was going to happen and you need to get out.  Lot tells them what was going to happen, but they did not repent.  The angel leads Lot and his family out and destruction came.

 

Since the word spoken by angels is stedfast, it cannot be changed, it is proved to be sure, it is proved to be right, and it is proved to be true.

 

2 ...every transgression...

 

The word "transgression" means things that we just simply commit.  It is something that we know is truth, we know what God said that we don't need to do or we do need to do and step across that line and do what God said not to do willingly with our eyes wide-opened; that is what a transgression is. 

 

A "disobedience" is something that we omit from doing.  In other words, we know what God says, we know what God wants us to do but we simply don't do it. 

 

2 ...if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward...

 

Every time that these people did something, when they stepped across the line, or when they just didn't do what God asked them to do, they got the judgment that was coming to them.  What God gave them was the judgment that was right or truth.  Since the angels spoke and since every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward then

 

3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation...

 

Since what the angels said was truth.  Since everything and everyone back there that was a transgressor and was disobedient, they got exactly what was coming to them.  The angels spoke that and it happened.

 

3 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 ;

 

If the word spoken by angels was true and stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how do you think that we are going to escape?  The Lord God of heaven has spoken to you and me.  We are listening to the voice of the Son of Almighty God.  Angels did not bring salvation to us.  They may be ministering spirits and I know that they are.  They come and help you and me and to protect us and do many things for us.  It was Jesus Christ that spoke unto us about salvation, not angels.  Since what the angels and under that time people that were transgressors and disobedient they got what was coming to them.  What do you think is going to happen to you if you reject the very words of the Son of God?  There is no escape.  The only escape for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah is that they repented.  That was the only escape.  They did not repent therefore judgment came. 

 

God has spoken unto us about salvation.  He said, "...so great salvation..."  What makes salvation great?  It came by a great individual.  It came by Jesus Christ of which there is none greater.  God gave His Son to die for me and for you.  That makes it great.  It is great that we have been delivered from our sin.  It is great that I don't have to worry about going to hell.  We don't have to worry about dying in our sins.  That makes it great.  There was a great price paid for it.  If we reject that, if we reject the great things that Jesus Christ has done and spoke to you and me; how do you think that you are going to escape? 

 

If the people that were living under the Old Testament when the angels spoke and they did not listen; they were transgressors and disobedient and judged accordingly the how do you think today--and we have the whole Bible, we can read it, we can study it, we can look at it--how do you think that we are going to escape.  We are not going to escape.  There is no escape for you if you reject the Word of God.  The words that have been spoke to you and me, shared with you and me by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

He says:

 

Matthew 11:28

 

Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 

He talks about salvation.  He talks about giving His life for ransom for many.  He talks about dying on a cross.  He talks about all those things, but He is doing it for me and for you.  If I reject that, then how do you think that you are going to escape that?  You can join this church.  We can baptize you.  You can give money and if you reject the great salvation that Jesus Christ spoke about and not only that but it goes on to say here:

 

3 ...and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him ;

 

We have a whole book of people who heard the message of Jesus Christ, about the great plan of salvation and it was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. 

 

A Great Salvation

 

Do you think that if we could talk to the guy that was born blind, do you think that he could tell us about some great salvation?

 

Do you think the woman that had the issue of blood for twelve years who came along and took hold of the hem of his garment or lay hold of the promises of God and she was healed.  Do you think that she could tell us about great salvation? 

 

...Lazarus who had been dead four days when Jesus comes along and says to roll the stone away.  Then He says, "Lazarus, come forth."  Do you think he could tell us about some great salvation? 

 

The demoniac that was living over in the land of Gadara who was a complete lunatic, out of his mind, cutting himself with stones; they would catch him and chain him up.  Jesus just said come out of him now unclean spirits.  When Jesus got ready to leave, he was clothed sitting at the feet of Jesus in his right mind.  Do you think that he could tell us about a great salvation?

 

It has been confirmed unto us.  The great salvation that came through and by Jesus Christ has been confirmed unto us by them that heard him. 

 

4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

 

We have all kinds of proof about this great salvation.  The question is this.  Are we going to neglect it? Or Are we going to grasp it and take hold of it with everything that we have got? Or Are we just going to drift on by it?

 

That is what we do sometimes.  This Bible is not going to change for you.  I have heard people tell me before, "Preacher, I think that I am going to get in.  I think everything is going to be okay.  I have been a pretty good guy..." 

 

If you reject the great salvation that Jesus Christ has brought to you and me, there is no escape.  There is none.  If you reject Jesus Christ, there is no way. 

 

If you let the truth of this great plan of salvation that Jesus Christ has brought slip through your hands and you continually let it slip through your hands, you are going to wake up one day in a lake of fire burning day and night forever.  The same Word that would have saved you if you would have just listened to it; if you would have just accepted when the Word of God was preached or taught and the Holy Spirit of God took the Word of God and convicted your soul and drawled you to Him.  If you reject that this same Word is going to be there at the White Throne of Judgment and another book is going to be open, which is the book of Life.  You are going to be judged out of the things that are written in these books according to your works.  That means that your life is going to be compared to this book [holding the Bible].  If you have not lived your life by Faith according to this book then you are going to be cast alive in to the lake of fire.  Anyone at the White Throne Judgment is lost anyway.  Your life will be compared to this book.  You are going to come up far short if you are there.

 

Don't let it slip by.  Don't let it drift by.  Don't let the ring slip off your finger.  Don't let something so precious and valuable slip away from you.  Don't let it drift by.  It may not come back this way again.  The sad thing about it is that You may not come back this way again.  This may be the last opportunity that the Holy Spirit of God will stir your heart and draw you unto Him.  This may be the last time that ever happens.  Tonight may be the night that the undertaker takes off the shoes that you have on tonight.  You may not take them off tonight.  The guy down at the funeral home may take them off.  It does happen.

 

Don't let this opportunity slip by.  This may be it.  Jesus Christ may come tonight.

 

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