Hebrews 2:1-4 1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.! Recap! Introduction " Remember the audience. # Can not understand these verses unless we understand the audience 3 Groups of mainly Jewish people Believers, Those intellectually convinced, but not Born Again, and those that simply do not believe. # Unless we understand the rest of the Bible we could misunderstand this verse We have to look into some of the doctrines of the Bible This could be a difficult verse if you let it be so. But the rest of the Bible helps put it into perspective " Summary Very logical verses # ILLUSTRATION: My Best friend Cory was an excellent shooter in basketball And I have VERY FEW things bad to say about Cory.And I try not to joke about him from the pulpit. But this helps explain the logic of these verses. # The writer is very logical # 1) He exhorts us, or gives us something to do. He is urging us to do something # 2) Then warns us what can happen # 3) Then He gives a very convincing argument as to why we should listen. # 4) We are warned again, this time : not to neglect our salvation. # 5) And within the verses we are given three reason why we should not neglect this salvation 1) The Excellencies and Superiority of Christ 2) The Certainty of Judgment 3) The Proofs of God # Now, Back to my friend Cory was a shooter, not a dribbler So our Coach would be very logical with Cory. He would tell Cory, go stand over there on the wing, and then down to the corner, and you can go baseline back and forth But that is about all I want you doing And you stand there and get ready for the ball, so you can shoot He gave Cory something to do Then He would warn him as to what would happen if He did not If you do not do this, you will probably turn the ball over And I am gonna sit you on this bench And He gives His reasons Because you are a shooter, and not a point guard And He would remind him, cory.stand over there and get ready to shoot Then He would say, or I am gonna sit you down right here
AND CORY WOULD LISTEN AND STAND OVER THERE AND HIT SHOT AFTER SHOT THE AUTHOR IS DOING THE SAME THING HERE " Please Listen # These verses are very convicting # I also believe them to cut to all of our hearts. # Paul implores us to Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. The worst thing that could happen to a person here this morning is to have a false sense of security of being saved. If you think you are saved and you are not, you are in a terrible spot. Much worse than the person who doubts His salvation although it be true. # Let me say it this way: There is a lot of truth to these verses that probably applies to some of you in here. And this could mean the difference between heaven and hell for you this evening. You may just dismiss me, and say Oh I know I am saved No one in here should rest in their salvation if there has never been a movement of the Holy Spirit in your Life. The Spirit is the true sign of salvation for a person He is proof of us being born again. We have been regenerated and sealed by Him Not: Being reformed in certain ways Not growing older and out of our youthful sins Or church attendance Or Good works. " So let us.as the author says this morning.pay CLOSE ATTENTION Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard,! The Exhortation: Pay Attention What to do. " Therefore: " Therefore what? # Because of the excellencies and superiority of Christ Based on chapter one and.he wants us to do something. # The author has established some foundational teachings in chapter one. And hinges His argument from chapter one. " Chapter 1 # We see Jesus in an excellent light..a very exalting manner We have been spoken to by Him Heir Creator Radiance Imprint Upholds universe Made purification (our deliverer) Sits at the right Hand of God with Great authority # Greater than the angels (and many in these days would worship angels.)
1) Greater in His Name, 2) He is to be worshipped, 3) He is established, 4) His Righteous Nature, 5) Maker of all things 6) His Unchanging Nature 7) His Rule over all " Pay closer attention # This phrase in the Greek (original) comes from the word:(understanding grammar is a key to understanding scripture Prosekho Meaning: Take heed unto, Beware.Turn your attention towards something. To apply one s self unto To devote thought and effort unto Even meaning, being addicted to. ILLUSTRATION: ADDICTED TO: " ADDICTED TO MANY THINGS IN MY DAYS # I am an all or nothing guy when I get my mind on something, I can be very focused on that one thing " The Saints, or the Braves " My wife: # It is followed by the adverb perrissoteros An adverb modifies the verb This Adverb means: More abundantly More exceedingly # As if the word was not strong enough as it was The Author is saying.devote yourself and apply yourself to this but do it exceedingly do it abundantly Put your all into focusing on what I am about to say. " I Love this: AS I HAVE SAID PREVIOUSLY # So often when I preach I will say Now pay attention to this, or that Because I think it is important. # When God puts it into the text for me.it is great # So, those of you that may tune out after about 5 or 10 min. You have divine instructions to Pay Attention to what is about to be said. # He is stressing the importance of Paying Close Attention: Therefore I am stressing it: PAY ATTENTION " To what we have heard # The Gospel.. The message was first delivered by the angels Now salvation has been declared By Jesus. # So listen to the teachings of: Jesus Christ and then by those who heard what He said The apostles. # So we are instructed to pay attention to all the teachings about Jesus and salvation that we have heard. His Story What His suffering and death accomplished How we follow Him Not by the reciting of the sinners prayer. But By repentance and Faith. Turning from our sins.trusting in Him for saving " Placing ourselves under His Lordship.
Hard sayings: Unless we be born again, we will not enter into the kingdom of God Luke tells us we must count the cost of following Jesus and if we can not renounce all we have, we can not be His disciple. " Remember part of the audience " The believing unsaved group: # There was a group of people that were believing these things about Christ, but had not been born again yet. # You ask me is this possible. Sure it is It happens all the time # Example: Look around you and tell me if you do not know people like this: They say, yeah, I believe all these things, but I am not ready to make that commitment. IN their head the acknowledge Jesus is God That He is the way of salvation But their hearts have never been given over to Him They talk about how they love Jesus But their lifestyle, although it may or may not be terrible " It is not a lifestyle devoted to Christ. # So the group we are talking about here: Are those that would agree with you about Jesus all day long. And even considered themselves believers, and probably considered themselves saved. But they had never had their Head knowledge about Jesus transformed into a. " Into a heart commitment. " That is who the warning is to this morning # Now, there may be more people than you would imagine like that in here this very morning. # I do not know, because I do not know the mind of God in that manner. Although He has given us discernment And scriptures help us to distinguish between the saved and the unsaved. Remember John saying: There is a way to tell those who are of Christ, and those who are of the devil. " Now, we are not all that smart or discerning, and some folks can fool us pretty well. " But, I can promise you # There are a many of lost people in churches today. All over this country. " Back to the pay attention # That is why it is so important we pay attention this morning. # The Bible says that a lost person, a person in darkness is blind and they do not even know their state! # If we were stuck in a fire, and a fireman was trying to help us out, we would be very attentive to what He has to say So the scriptures are like that this morning. lest we drift away from it.! Warning # So here we see the danger for those who do not pay close attention to the teaching of Christ. " Drift away
# From what? From salvation obviously. From the teachings they had heard day in and day out # Greek word here indicates a ship: It is of a ship that has not been tied down correctly by the Sailor The Sailor is not an ignorant one Rather He is careless or unconcerned He knows what to do, and how to do it He just never attends to it so the ship drifts into dangerous waters, or towards the rocks. # Who is He warning? Those that had a belief. Yet it was one without faith. Remember even the demons believe! There have been millions who may have died and went to hell that were so close to having Jesus it is sad. Yet they never trusted in Him, by giving over their life to Him. # WE..But He says we. And that is true He is talking of all those who have heard the message all those that should have responded to the gospel. We, included those who heard and responded, and those who heard, but did not submit to Christ. He is not saying that a saved person can drift away Although the Bible puts this warning out there Because there is that danger of drifting away So the true believer will not drift away " So if a person drifts away we see they are not saved. " What does it mean to drift, how does this happen? # The person has heard the message over and over again They have been convicted by the message a number of times. # And in their head they agree with the teachings.. And they probably attempt to try and live by as much as possible for them. As much as they are comfortable with. But they believe they can have their cake and eat it to. They think they can continue on in their ways, and not have to fully commit to God. # So, what happens: A slow drift, given enough time, will carry you to another continent and its dark uncharted waters. A person may have even professed to know Jesus But over the years drifted away from Him, because they were never anchored to Jesus. " The Conviction: # Tells them to leave all of their old ways There are too many, and they enjoy them too much # Follow Jesus by being a missionary. They say they are either too old, too busy or too young, or do not know enough. That calling is too much for them. # They realize how much they have to leave behind " But.
# They continue to come and listen # But they do not listen they become unconcerned with the call. " So they begin to drift.drift away from the message " DANGEROUS: # Is this you this morning? # Do you hear God s calling but just can not come to Him? For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.! An Argument or proof to make us listen. " If the lesser is true # Reliability of the angels message Whatever was delivered, or mediated by the angels Always came to pass " Then the greater must be true # Christ is greater than the angels As we have already studied. # God Himself Declares the gospel # And it was proven by signs and wonders. Therefore.what Jesus says will surely come to pass. With Absolute Certainty " Those of you who may not take the scriptures that seriously. # It was written down by men when delivered by God. # And when they wrote it down, whatever God said, would always come about. # It is Jewish History The Story of the nation of Israel. What nation is going to write down their history that brings such a negative light to themselves, unless it be true?! How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? " A Great Salvation # We already know salvation to be great don t we # But the author puts that word Great in front to signify how awesome it is. # Consider its greatness Does not include works. Does not include us making animal sacrifices. Does not include our suffering and pain although that may be a result. It is free It is paid for by Christ. All God is saying is we submit to Him by turning away from our sins. He just wants us to give up ourselves and give ourselves to Him. # I would consider that a great salvation. # Especially when you consider what we are being saved from We were once in the kingdom of darkness and blinded Headed straight to hell because of our sin Says we were an enemy of God s Yet Christ dies for us while we are His enemies and loves us
And will freely give us salvation and bring us into the kingdom of God and light Then we are saved from Hell. # A GREAT SALVATION. " Neglect First of all, what is in view here is not rejection, but neglect. Neglect of the gospel is even more severe than total rejection Because that person has heard the truth so often. # Greek word.amaleho (the meaning of this word) To disregard or make light of I guess we could say.not paying attention to: Are we still paying attention this evening # Example When we neglect our job We get fired When we neglect our gardens They grow up with weeds and die You get the point. " No Escape # Just like a prisoner trying to escape from a maximum security prison, we as humans will try to escape the judgment of God. # It is very difficult, practically impossible to escape from our maximum security prisons today What about the hand of God. You can not hide anywhere he can t see You can not run somewhere He is not already there You can not fool Him You can not bribe Him Maybe you think you have some kind of deal you can offer Him What do you have that He has not already given you. And you can not talk Him down. I am sure He hates to see anyone perish, because He says so. But no one will weasel their way out of judgment They can not cry or beg their way out of hell " After they have for so long Neglected such a great salvation. This is why Paul was so impassioned about telling and pleading with folks about the gospel: He says: Therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.! 3 Reasons we should not neglect Therefore.! 1) The Excellencies and Superiority of God (As we have already looked at) " Chapter One.. We are given a number of things that make us stand in wonder of Christ. So lets look at some of them # Jesus is our Maker # Sustainer Upholds the world # Radiance of God.like the brightness of the Sun We see Him in the OT as the glory that came into the camp if Israel
# Exact imprint of God He is God, although a distinct person of the Godhead He is identical to the Father # He is the Son of God # All things are His as the Heir # He is the One everyone will bow down and worship # He is the Righteous One In all His ways And all his judgments # He never changes Always the same # He is the Supreme Ruler. " Therfore: # Do not neglect His message For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,! 2) The Certainty of Judgment " If, or For Since # If your version reads If this is not conditional # This word means that it is certain It is like me telling you something I know to be true Like the floor in here is going to break through. And I have looked and seen for sure this is about to happen. # So I say to you, IF the floor is about to break through, you must leave. I know it is true I am just reasoning with you! " The Angels Message # We read throughout the Bible that God used angels to bring the word of God # We even read that they were with Him on MT. Sinai in the giving of the Law to Moses # And everything they ever said came to pass as it was told. And the Angels are just created beings " The just retribution on all transgression and disobedience # Just a few examples: 1) The man picking up sticks on the Sabbath. He had heard with His very own ears he was not to do such a thing. And He knew the consequences: " He neglected it, and was taken outside the camp and stoned. 2) They made the idol of calves So many were killed at that moment 3) certain men rose up against Moses So God opened up the earth and it swallowed them into hell. 4) some tested God And 23,000 were killed by serpents that God sent. # Transgression and disobedience Crossing the line, willfully not listening.this is no accident # Just retribution The judgment was and will always be Just.or Right
" How shall we escape # There will be no escape as we have mentioned before. " Gospel first Declared by the Lord # God Himself came to declare the message of Salvation # He did not send someone to do it # He came and did it himself He identified Himself with His people To bring them to Him. # If a person does not respond to that, they are a foolish person! And their punishment will be worse than the person who did not have as much information. # SO: If the angels words came true Then Jesus words will come true with even more certainty. And remember His words on Hell, and His words about those who reject Him. Serious stuff! " Also attested to us by those who heard # And then those who heard, wrote it down, and told others. # So we have their eye witness account to listen to # So people ought to listen. while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.! 3) The Proofs of God # Though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:38). No one questioned He did these things. " Signs, wonder, miracles and gifts # Of Christ His wonder # The Disciples Heaing, and raising from the dead, speaking in the tongues of other people so they may hear. # Gifts Given to the church to function today.! Never a blind Faith " We are told to have Faith in what we have not seen. # But God has never asked us to believe in things He has given us no proof for. " There are literally thousands and thousands of proofs to believe on Christ! Will you neglect still " Be sure, here today.god will come through on His promises.