July 6, 2008

Hebrews 2: 1-4 (#7)
“How Shall We Escape”

ILL. Com Edw. Perry to N. Pole . The sextant said he was headed north so he walked and walked. But he was further south than before. It seems that he was on a large ice floe moving south faster than he was going north.

That is much like the man who thinks his good deeds bring him close to God while in reality he is drifting further and further faster than his works can draw him to God.

Here in Hebrews 2:1-4 we will see the tragedy of neglect. Hell is full of people who never openly rejected Jesus but who simply drifted and never responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Read with me Hebrews 2:1-4

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Background: You may remember that this letter is written to Jews, 3 different groups? some didn’t believe anything about Christ, some who did believe and were saved then there were those who intellectually convinced that this gospel was true but had not accepted Christ as savior, had not made the needed commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

So far the author, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit begins showing the superiority of the New Covenant, or New Testament over the Old covenant.

HE shows the superiority of the New Priest over the Old priesthood and that Jesus is the mediator of this new and better covenant.

In 1: 1-3 we saw Christ was the superior revelation, the heir of God, the creator, sustainer, administrator and sin bearer. IN 1:4-14 he shows Christ is superior to Angels who mediated the old covenant.

But in the middle of this discourse on angels and the greatness of Christ, the writer tosses in an invitation to salvation, applying directly to his hearers what he has been saying about Jesus Christ.

The Word of God always demands a response. We call it revealed propositional truth. It is meant to be responded to, acted upon.

It isn't good enough to just give out facts, we have to warn and invite and exhort. If I am to be effective then the teaching must result in a response. Our writer is a caring person who wants these people to respond, and that includes us. I may know a lot of facts or doctrines or wisdom, but if it doesn’t result in a passion for how people respond then as a teacher I am a flop.

Paul said it well in Romans 9:1. He was a man well versed in scripture and he said “Oh if only my people Israel would respond to Christ I’d willingly suffer Hell if only they would be saved.”

The gospel demands a response. So here in the middle of this teaching on angels is an invitation, a warning an exhortation of what to do and what will happen if you don’t do it. This is the first of 5 warnings in Hebrews all of which are put right in the middle of great teaching on the exaltation of Christ. The writer keeps interjecting these as if to say “so what are you going to do about all this truth.?

You can know all about Jesus Christ but still spend eternity in hell if you never make it your own. This warning is not to Christians, Christians are not in danger of neglecting salvation, they already have it, are sealed forever . It is not to those who haven’t heard, you can’t neglect what you don’t know. So it is to those who are intellectually convinced, people who know Jesus Christ died but are not willing to surrender, repent of sin, receive him as savior and Lord.

There may be some of you like that here. You know it’s true but something is holding you back, something more valuable in you eyes keeps you from it. Don’t push it away.

There are 3 reasons given in the text to accept Christ now.

1. The Character of Christ. 2. The Certainty of Judgment. 3. The Confirmation of God.

In verse 1 we see the first reason.

Therefore...because of that, because Jesus Christ is superior to every one and everything and to angels in particular, then we must pay closer attention to what we have heard.

In Leviticus 24:14 ff If any Israelite blasphemed the name of God and cursed then the one who cursed was taken outside the gates and stoned, cruelly stoned to death. Under the law brought by angels every sin received quick repayment. so much greater is your responsibility to honor the word brought by the Son, the greater mediator.

Deut. 27:26 sums up this idea saying “Cursed is everyone who does not the words of this law by DOING them.”

“These things” is simply the message of the gospel, that all have sinned and come short of God’s glory. That the penalty of sin is severe, Hell, eternity apart from God. BUT the LORD God sent Jesus to carry the whole penalty of that curse. He suffered all the weight that should have been mine.

These people are warned not to let them slip or simply drift by or simply refuse to commit to Christ By not giving into God’s demands and repenting of sin.

Therefore, Because Christ is who he is, God’s final word, creator, sustainer better than angels and most of all sin bearer, It is Folly to reject him who paid for our sin.

Christ willingly bore the nails, the beatings, the bones out of joint, spear in his side and the taunting of fools. But it was hell itself that forced from his lips the tormented cry “My God, My God, why have YOU forsaken me? The pain I can bear, the disciples running away I can bear but why have YOU forsaken me?

The writer points out that the judgment is sure and final for the ones who reject the Son, despise his free provision for salvation.

The very character of Christ demands that we respond to him. Do you think that God would allow his son to taste hell on the cross and give you something less if you choose your sin over his son? Think about it?

Think about it. It is a terrible thing to be a hearer of that truth and still not receive Jesus Christ.

But note that not only Christ's Character speaks to accepting his good news,

Also The certainty of judgment urges us to not neglect. Look at verses 2&3

If we decide to neglect the gospel message brought by the Son, then judgment is certain.

In Matt 21:33ff there is a parable in which a master lets out his vineyard to local farmers. He sends his servants to collect what is due and vinedressers beat servants. but when he sends his son, they kill the son and as a consequence they are slain and the vineyard is given to others

.It is crucial what you do with Jesus. It is urgent to repent from “dead works” (That means your salvation is “not by works” Eph 2:8-9)

Please, it weighs on me that some might not accept Jesus because they don’t understand , or because God doesn’t do things in ways we understand or we just think we’ll be OK if we are good enough.

One writer says that hell is the only suitable reward for those who defy and deny the glory of God by rejecting the gospel. I hate talking about it but it is real. And it is not a place to party with friends.

The American folk religion asks “How can a loving God send people to hell?” But the real question ought to be “How can a Holy and just God allow sinners into heaven?” Only by his mercy in preparing a plan for those who will receive him.

Listen, in Romans 5:9 it says that those who believe in Him as Lord and confess him as savior are delivered from his wrath.

One of my heaviest burdens is that I will be unclear about this gospel. That people will assume that just because we are good and nice and go to church we go to heaven. But LISTEN! It is all contingent on your accepting God’s Son Jesus as Lord and savior That's the whole deal.

Quickly, the 3rd reason to not neglect is the confirmation of God. (verses 3-4)

These verses speak of what has been neglected , drifted by, SALVATION, and it was first spoken of by the LORD(Same wd translated Jehovah from Hebrew a statement that Jesus is JHVH)

He was the first to preach the gospel.

In :Luke 4:16 -20 Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. : And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

Then the people got really upset and went wild because he was claiming to be Messiah.

He preached the gospel to Nicodemus in John 3: This was a righteous man, a Pharisee, not a thief or a killer or a liar, he was devout, and Jesus said :YOU must be born again.” Jesus first preached the gospel and confirmed it by his own miracles.(nick at night We know you are from God because of the miracles)

Then, v 3 says and it was confirmed to us by the ones who heard him, the apostles handed the message on and it was confirmed by great miracles and signs according to God’s will.

Like a child taking a message to a sibling: Adding DADDY SAID makes it have weight. The Apostles message, the words of N.T. scripture, are God’s word. God confirmed them as being from him.

The Character of Christ, The Certainty of Judgment, and the confirmation of God, 3 reasons why we must not neglect this message.

The gospel was attested to before the scripture was complete by signs...today if we want to know truth we go where? The miracle of the written word of God. (Thomas : blessed those who have not seen and believe)

Do not neglect Jesus Christ, it will cost you eternal blessing and eternal joy and bring you eternal judgment.

Search your heart, maybe you believe it is true, this message of Jesus, have you committed your life to him? Open your heart to him.

Are you sure that you are his? If he were to ask you “why should I let you into heaven” What could you say? If you are being tugged at inside today perhaps you might pray to him something like: “Jesus, I don’t want to drift any more, I believe you are the only way of salvation and I give you my life and I am willing to be what you want me to be. I give up trying to be good enough and just accept you as payment for my sin.

Don’t let another day pass because you know his character, and the certainty of judgment and the confirmation of God... do not....DO NOT let it slip by.