(Hebrews) ch.12:5-13:25 — Zac Poonen

Hebrews 12:5–11: The Father’s Discipline and Our Share in His Holiness

We turn now to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 5. In verses 1 to 4, the exhortation is to run the race looking unto Jesus who himself was tested with the testing that we go through in our earthly life, and to avoid fainting in the midst of tribulation and affliction and temptation and trial.

God has given us his own son as an example for us. God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and he has gone ahead of us in this race, and we are to look at his example who was tested in all points like as we are, yet without committing sin.

Hebrews 4 and verse 15. Therefore we can come boldly to the throne of grace and receive grace to help us in our time of need, because Jesus himself has been tempted as we are. Therefore he is able to come to our help when we are tempted, we are told in Hebrews 2 .18.

So this is the first provision that God has made. We are to look away from everything else unto Jesus who was himself tested like we are, tempted in everything, and who endured the cross, and who also endured the hostility of sinful people who had no interest in godliness against himself.

We are to look at his example who strove to the point where he shed his blood. We haven't come that far yet. Then in verses 5 to 11, we are told to look to our father, to God himself, who has appointed the trial for our eternal good.

We are to look at Jesus who suffered and share in the fellowship of his sufferings in the midst of trial, and we are also to look at our heavenly father who has allowed this chastening, this discipline, this testing to come into our life.

For our spiritual prophet. That's what we read in verses 5 to 11. So we are to look at Jesus, the son of God, and at our heavenly father. The Holy Spirit within us leads us to look at Jesus, his earthly life, and leads us to look at our heavenly father who disciplines us for our prophet.

So we read in verse 5, you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as son. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are approved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.

These exhortations are found in Proverbs 3, verse 11 and 12. That the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. He scourges every son whom he receives. Just like we as fathers do not punish the children who walk the roads who are not our own, we do not punish our neighbor's children when they do something wrong.

But we punish our own children. We discipline our own children. We chasten our own children. Why? So that they may be freed from the evil that is in their flesh. And so it says in verse 7, it is for discipline that you endure.

God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But, verse 8, if you are without discipline of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

And so it says here that if you are facing trial and testing in your life, that is an indication that you are a child of God. That God is testing you. Because it is only those who are not his children whom God leaves without testing.

Think of the wicked people in the world. Think of the people who live for themselves. Think of the cheats and the crooks. They have quite an easy time in this world, in a sense. They make a lot of money.

They enjoy themselves. It appears as though testing is reserved in its intensity for those who are the faithful children of God. The book of Job is a clear example of this. Job had three friends who were not as godly as he himself was, who were not as much God-fearing as Job himself was.

And they did not get testing like Job got. Job got a far more severe testing than those three comforters of his. Because Job himself was one who feared God and hated evil. God himself could testify to that fact.

So we see from the book of Job, it is those who fear God and who hate evil whom God desires to purify even more, who find themselves going through testing. This is what Jesus himself said in John chapter 15.

He said that every branch in me that bears fruit, John 15, 2 in the middle, he, that is my Father, prunes it, purges it, cleanses it, that it may bear more fruit. He takes the pruning knife and cuts so that such a branch may bear more fruit.

And so it is an indication of God's love that he chastens us and disciplines us just like a father disciplines his own children. In fact it says if you are without discipline then you are illegitimate children.

You are not really sons of God then. Verse 9. Furthermore we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live? And when an earthly father disciplines a child in love, not in anger, but in love, the son grows to respect that father.

That's a good thing for us to remember who our father is. It is not God's will that we ever discipline our children in anger or in impatience or with irritation. At the same time it is not God's will that we leave our children without discipline.

The correct thing to do is to discipline them in love with no trace of anger, irritation or impatience. Where there are these other traces in our discipline, those are sins that we need to ask God to free us from.

If we truly discipline our children with love, our children will grow to respect us. We had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. God himself disciplines us in love, never in anger or impatience.

And so shall we not then much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live? God himself disciplines us, we are told in verse 10, for our good. Our earthly fathers disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them.

And the best of earthly fathers are imperfect in their discipline. But he, our heavenly father, disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. This is God's will for us. Just like our earthly fathers discipline us so that we may become a little better, we may get rid of some of those bad habits of disobedience that we have.

But our heavenly father disciplines us through trials and testings and sorrows and many temptations that he allows. He does not tempt us himself, that's very clear in James chapter 1, but he allows the devil to test us.

God has permitted the devil to remain in the world and to bring sorrow and suffering with a purpose, that we might be tested. Just like the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden. That was not created by the devil.

Remember, the tree of knowledge of good and evil which led Eve and Adam to sin was created by God himself. But God did not tempt Eve or Adam. No, he created the tree and he told them not to partake of it.

It was the devil who came and tempted Eve, but it was God who created the tree. And when God created the tree, we read in Genesis 1 .31, he could look out over all that he had created and behold, it was very good.

Even the tree of knowledge of good and evil was very good, because there lay the possibility of Adam and Eve being tempted and thereby proving that they wanted to obey God and thus partake of God's holiness.

And so without temptation, without trial and testing, we cannot prove ourselves to be obedient, we cannot partake of his holiness. That's very clear in verse 10. He disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness.

Obviously, an all-wise God has seen that there's no other way by which we can partake of his holiness. The only way by which we can partake of his holiness is through testing, through chastening. Just like the only way Adam, innocent as he was, he was not holy, he was innocent, could become holy was through obedience, and for that he had to be tested, but he disobeyed.

We don't have to disobey because we are not followers of Adam, we are followers of Jesus, who obeyed when he was tested. Those who follow Adam disobey in testing. Those who follow Jesus obey in the time of testing.

They submit to their father, like we today submit to our heavenly father, so that we may partake of his holiness. God doesn't want us to produce our own holiness, our own purity, our own patience, our own love, our own long-suffering, no.

He wants us to partake of his nature. And even though the discipline at the moment is sorrowful, it is grievous, verse 11. It's not joyful, yet if we are trained by it, if we allow ourselves to be disciplined by God, then afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

There is a fruit of righteousness that should come forth from our life if we submit under testing, but the question is whether we submit under testing. There's a lot of wasted suffering in the lives of God's people.

Why is it wasted? Because when God sends it into their life, they grumble, they complain, instead of submitting to the will of God, and so it's wasted. But if only they would submit to the will of God and give thanks and say, Lord, you have permitted this for my good, then their senses would be exercised and trained and they would grow up into maturity.

Hebrews 12:12–17: Pursuing Holiness, Peace, and the Grace of God

They would grow up into perfection. May God help us to take these exhortations seriously. We turn now to Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 12. In the previous verses, verses 5 to 11, we were told to look at our heavenly Father, who has appointed the trials that come into our life for our eternal good.

Verse 10. That we may share His holiness, not a holiness of our own making. Left to ourselves, we would think the Christian life is a matter of self-purification, that we try to become more humble, we try to become more loving, something like Abraham producing a son in his own strength, an Ishmael.

No doubt Abraham's son, but produced in his own strength, not the son of promise. And we are all in danger of producing these Ishmaels in our life, our own patience and our own humility in this, that and the other.

And just like God rejected Ishmael, God rejects all this human perfectionism, this human self-purification. That is not Christianity. That's Buddhism and yoga, which is not the teaching of Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ has not come to teach us to purify ourselves with our own self-power. No. He gives us the power of His Holy Spirit so that He may communicate to us His nature, the nature of God Himself, which is patient, which is loving, which is humble.

That's why there's no room for anyone to boast. Salvation is by grace. We partake of God's holiness by grace. But God permits us to go through trial and we are to submit in that trial so that we may partake of His holiness.

Now the danger of fainting, because we don't understand why God has allowed this testing to come into our life, is present at all times. We are all tempted to give up. We are all tempted to lose heart and to get discouraged and to faint.

Even Paul, the apostle, was tempted to get discouraged and to lose heart. But to be tempted and to give in to the temptation is not the same thing. The New Testament does not teach at any place that we should ever be discouraged or depressed or gloomy.

No, never. The temptation may be there, but we don't give in to it. Never. Paul said, Thanks be to God, 2 Corinthians 2 .14, who always leads us in His triumph. Not most of the time, but always. And if we are always led in His triumph and we are always more than conquerors, Romans 8 .37, then there's no room for discouragement and gloom or complaining and murmuring.

To complain and grumble and murmur and to be depressed and discouraged is a substandard Christian life. It's not the Christian life described in the New Testament. It's not the Christian life that lives in the full blessing of Pentecost.

No, it's a Christian life that lives like those under the old covenant, like Elijah and Moses who were depressed and discouraged and lost their temper, etc. But not one under the new covenant where we receive the full blessing of Pentecost and can partake of God's own nature, God's own holiness, where there is no gloom or depression.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3 .18 that we are transformed into the same image of the Lord from one degree of glory to another. Then in the next verse, chapter 4, verse 1, he says,. Since we have such a ministry, we do not lose heart.

Yes, he attempted to lose heart, but we do not lose heart because we are being changed by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ. Chapter 4, verse 16, he says,. We do not lose heart because even though our outward man is suffering and decaying, our inner man is being renewed by the Holy Spirit day by day.

This is the thing that encourages us not to lose heart, that inwardly, by the Holy Spirit, God is transforming us increasingly into the likeness of Christ, making us a partaker of His nature and of His holiness.

And so we find even in Hebrews 12, in the midst of testing and trial, do not lose heart. Hebrews 12 .3, consider Jesus, who also endured such afflictions, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.

And also consider the fact that the Father Himself is testing us with a purpose. So knowing that, do not get discouraged. Do not lose heart. But on the contrary, verse 12, strengthen the hands that are weak.

Lift up those hands that are hanging down. Do not get discouraged in the midst of testing. Lift up your hands in prayer and make straight paths for your feet. Strengthen the knees that are feeble. Get down on your knees and pray and lift up your hands and cry out to God for strength.

Come boldly to the throne of grace in the midst of your testing, knowing that you are being tested with a purpose that you may partake of His holiness. And instead of giving up and losing heart and getting discouraged, lift up those hands that are hanging down.

Strengthen those knees that are feeble and get on your knees and lift up your hands in prayer and seek God for grace. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Let us come boldly into the most holy place.

That is the meaning here. On our knees, with our hands lifted up, let us make straight paths for our feet to enter right into the most holy place, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather healed.

There are lame limbs in us, spiritually speaking, and God designs the testing and the chastening in order that those lame limbs may be healed. Not that they may be put out of joint, but alas, with many, many Christians, they go through suffering, and God intends that their lame limbs might be healed through that suffering, but they complain and grumble and murmur and do not submit to the will of God, and the result is that lame limb gets worse, and it is put out of joint.

Oh, that we would see the reason with which God allows us to go through testing. Then we shall give thanks and praise God for the trial that comes into our life, and then thereby we submit to God, we express our submission to God by giving thanks, and thereby the lame limb in our inner man gets healed, and we are able to be strong and walk and run the race more perfectly, because the lame limb is healed through chastening.

So we can praise God for all His dealings with us, that we might run the race with strength. Now there it is very clear that no one can see God without sanctification, without holiness. We do not just sit back waiting to see the Lord.

No, we pursue after holiness. That's the same race spoken of in verse 1. That's the race that Paul ran, and he said, let all those who are mature follow my example of running this race. There's no place for a static Christianity in the New Testament.

Christianity is a dynamic thing where we run, and we pursue after sanctification. We don't sit back in an easy chair waiting for some blessing that brings entire sanctification to us. No, not at all. We pursue after it, and thus we possess it.

We pursue also after peace with all men, because our relationship with God is also affected by our relationship with our fellow men. We cannot have sanctification in our life if we don't have peace with all men.

Is there a single man in the world with whom you have strife? Someone with whom you have a quarrel? Someone whom you are not talking to? I exhort you, dear friend, pursue after peace. Go and seek for reconciliation, because you cannot have sanctification without that.

Pursue after peace with all men, and sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. He goes on to say, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. Is it possible to come short of the grace of God?

Is it possible to frustrate God's purposes for our lives, to receive God's grace in vain? Yes, it is. Otherwise, there's no need for such an exhortation. It is possible to fall from the grace of God, looking diligently, it says in the King James Version, lest any man fail, or as the margin says, fall from the grace of God.

It is possible to fall from the grace of God, and that's why the book of Hebrews has so many warnings. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 1, I beseech you, I urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

What does it mean to receive the grace of God in vain? That means even though God's grace is given to us, that we might come into a life of victory over sin. For that is the purpose of grace. Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are under grace.

But I can receive that grace and remain in a place where sin has dominion over me. Then I have received the grace of God in vain. Then God's grace that comes to me in times of testing and chastening and trial, that I might be more holy and partake of His holiness, and I grumble and complain and sin, then I have frustrated God's purpose.

So it says, see to it that no one falls or comes short of the grace of God. That there's no root of bitterness that comes up in you in the midst of the testing and trial. And that will cause trouble not only to you, but many others will be defiled.

Oh, how many people can be defiled if we have a grumbling spirit. But how many people can be blessed if we have a spirit of thanksgiving. See to it that God's grace is not received by you in vain. We turn now to Hebrews and chapter 12 and verse 15.

Hebrews 12:15–17: Guarding One Another from Bitterness and Presumption

After having exhorted the Hebrew Christians in verse 14 to pursue after peace with all men and after holiness or sanctification without which no one will see the Lord, then he says, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.

That is an exhortation not only for ourselves, that we are to see to it that we ourselves do not come short of the grace of God or fall from the grace of God or receive God's grace in vain. But it is also an exhortation that we look carefully that others around us who are in the faith do not fall from the grace of God also.

It is very easy to think that our responsibility ends with ourselves. Like Cain said, am I my brother's keeper? In Genesis chapter 4, when God asked him where his brother was, the answer to that question is, yes, you are your brother's keeper.

For the New Testament command is to love your neighbor as yourself, to love one another as I have loved you. And so, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. We have a responsibility for one another.

And to ensure that no one comes short of the grace of God, we are also to be careful that no root of bitterness springs up in our hearts against anyone else and we are to ensure as much as lies within our ability that we do not give any room for any bitterness to rise in the hearts of another.

Not just bitterness expressing itself, but here in this verse we are told that even the root of bitterness should be pulled out. Once it becomes a strong tree, it is more difficult to pull it out. But when you see the root growing, either within yourself or suspecting it within another, we are to see that it is pulled out.

We are to stimulate one another to love. We read that in Hebrews 10. See that there is no bitterness. See that there is no root of bitterness in your own heart against anyone because once it grows up, as it says in this verse, it will cause trouble and you will be defiled and many others will be defiled.

And then you can fall from the grace of God. It is in that context that this exhortation comes. And also, here is another way by which we can fall from God's grace. In verse 16 it says, We are to see that there is no immoral or godless person like Esau who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. In the book of Hebrews we have a number of warnings like this, that we are not to presume on the fact that God has chosen us.

For example, if you remember when we looked at chapter 3, there is an exhortation to the holy brethren, the believers among the Hebrew Christians. Chapter 3, verse 1. Holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling.

And he tells them in chapter 3, verse 12, Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you, that is, in you holy brethren who are believers, an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God.

Now, that exhortation would be meaningless, if, as many people believe, it is impossible, once you believe, to fall away from the living God. Then what need is there for an exhortation like Hebrews 3, verse 12, Take care, brethren, you who are believers, lest there should be, not in the unbelievers, but in any one of you, an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God.

But to keep from that, encourage one another and exhort one another, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And he goes on to say, in verse 14 of Hebrews 3, We have become partakers of Christ if...

Now, many people read that verse without the rest of that sentence. They read it as though it said, We have become partakers of Christ. But that's not what it says. We have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance, firm until the end.

And then he gives the example of the people who came out of Egypt, in verse 16, and who did not enter the promised land, verse 19. They came out, but they didn't enter in. And that's the example given to us, that God was angry with them, it says, in chapter 3, verse 17, for 40 years.

And therefore, chapter 4, verse 1, let us fear, lest a promise remaining to us of entering into His rest, any of you, holy brethren, should seem to come short of it. And so, in many other places too, in chapter 6, in chapter 10, we read warnings like this, that we should not presume on God's grace.

This is exactly what the devil tempted Jesus to do, on the top of the pinnacle of the temple. He said, Jump down. Nothing will happen. God's promises will take care of you. That's how many believers live.

They say, We can be careless. They don't say that, but they act that way. They jump off pinnacles into sin, disobedience, and they say, God's promises will protect us. But Jesus did not jump off the pinnacle.

That would have been tempting God. And He said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And God's forgiveness is given to us, that we may fear. That's what we read in Psalm 130. There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

And so, this is a very meaningful exhortation. See to it, Hebrews 12 .16, that among you there be no immoral or godless person like Esau. Is it possible for there to be an immoral person among those whose sins are forgiven and who have come to Christ by faith?

Yes. It's possible for them to fall from the grace of God, to become immoral and godless like Esau, selling their birthright for a single meal. Remember, Esau had the birthright. It was his. And he lost it.

That's the point. That we can have something that Christ has purchased for us. Then we can lose it by selling it for a single meal. And, he says, here is a warning. You know, afterwards, when Esau came, wanting the birthright again, he could not get it.

Even though, afterwards, he repented. There was a time when he should have made that choice. And that was when he was offered that meal by Jacob. That was the time for him to say, no, I don't want that.

I'll keep my birthright. Not afterwards. He couldn't get that meal and sell his birthright and afterwards, hope to get the birthright as well. That's how many Christians live. They think that they can enjoy this world and live in sin and finally go to heaven too, repenting on their deathbeds.

No, here is a warning. You know that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, because he had treated the birthright lightly, he could not get it. He found no place for repentance. Though he sought for it with tears.

Now, that's a very serious warning. See to it that you don't fall from the grace of God. See to it that those around you don't fall from God's grace. By presumption. By giving up your birthright, your inheritance in heaven, for something worldly.

Examine your own life, dear friend. Are you selling your heavenly birthright for something earthly? For some compromise? Some cheating? For some financial gain? Some shady deal which is not exactly right in God's eyes?

For some false statements you make, you sell your heavenly inheritance. Remember Judas Iscariot sold Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. And many Christians today sell their heavenly inheritance, like Esau, like Judas Iscariot, for a paltry sum, for the passing pleasures of sin.

Think of that little pleasure that that sin can bring you, for a period. But then, what are you going to lose? Your birthright. And if we think, oh, the blood of Christ is always there to cleanse me, then we are behaving exactly like Esau, who thought, when he ate that meal, that, oh, well, I'll get the birthright afterwards in any case.

That's what many Christians think. I can play the fool now, I can live after the flesh, but finally, I'll ask the blood of Christ to cleanse me, and I'll get the birthright in any case. No. The Bible says very clearly, in Galatians 6, that God cannot be fooled.

What a man sows, that he will reap. Galatians 6, 7 and 8. If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption. And you can't reap anything but corruption, even afterwards, if, like Esau, you come seeking to repent.

If you have sowed to the flesh for years, that's what you're going to reap. On the other hand, it says in that same verse, Galatians 6, 7, 8 and 9, that we have the privilege of sowing to the Holy Spirit, and reaping eternal life, and so pursue after sanctification, and then we shall most certainly see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:18–29: The Greater Responsibility of the New Covenant

We come now to Hebrews 12, and verses 18 to 29. And here again, as in the rest of the epistle, a contrast is drawn between the old covenant and the new covenant, between living under law and living under grace.

Perhaps there is no subject on which there is more misunderstanding among Christians than this matter of living under law and living under grace. What does it mean to live under the law? And what does it mean to live under grace?

Many people's idea is that under the law we had to deal with a strict God who was demanding every disobedience was punished. But under grace, it doesn't matter whether we disobey because God's, all of a sudden, become lenient and changed His mind, and as it were, changed His nature.

This is certainly what most Christians believe, even though they wouldn't express it in those words. They live by this faith. But this is a gross caricature of the truth of Scripture. Grace is not meant to lead us into greater disobedience than what the law led people into.

No, grace is superior. The whole subject of Hebrews is that the new covenant is better and more perfect than the old. And so when we read this section about the fearful things that there were under the old covenant, speaking about the Mount of Sinai, it says in verse 18, you have not come to Sinai.

You have not come to that mountain that Moses came to and brought people under the law that may be touched, a mountain that could be felt, and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them.

For they could not bear the command which said, even if a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. But in contrast, see, all that's a description of the law.

Now it's a description of grace, the new covenant. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to the general assembly, to the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Now this contrast, this vivid contrast, between the seven things mentioned about Sinai in verses 18 and 19, and the seven things mentioned about Zion in verses 22 to 24, have led many people to believe that what this means is we don't have to fear anymore.

It's under the old covenant that they went to this blazing fire and to darkness and gloom and the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which they begged they would not hear anymore. But now we have come to Mount Zion, we don't have to fear.

But on the contrary, it means exactly the opposite. Because, it says in verse 25, the explanation of this contrast, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking now, for if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on the earth, that's Moses, on earth, on an earthly mountain, Sinai, much less shall we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, from Mount Zion.

And in those days, under the law, verse 26, his voice only shook the earth. But now, he says, I will shake heaven and earth. And this expression yet once more denotes the removing of the things which can be shaken, that is, created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are under the new covenant, verse 28, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and godly fear.

For our God is a consuming fire. That is the contrast. Under the old covenant, they came to a mountain that blazed with fire. It was just an earthly mountain. But we have come now to God Himself. It says in verse 23, we have come to God, not just to an earthly mountain.

We have come to the Church of the Firstborn and to God, the Judge of all. And this God is Himself, verse 29, a consuming fire. And so, we are told that under grace, it's a far more serious thing to disobey.

That's the contrast. Yes, if we read carefully, notice the whole section in verse 18 begins with the word for. That is referring back to what we have read in verse 15, 16 and 17. Verse 15, see to it that no one comes short or falls from the grace of God.

See to it that no root of bitterness comes up, that there be no immorality or godlessness like Esau who sold his birthright wife for. We have now greater privileges. The sum and substance of verses 18 to 24 is we have greater privileges than those people who lived under law.

Therefore, we have a greater responsibility. They only came to an earthly mountain, to an earthly fire. But we have come to God Himself, who is Himself a consuming fire. They came to an earthly blast of a trumpet and the sound of words that spoke on earth.

But now, we are hearing the voice from heaven, verse 25, and if those people who heard God speaking on the earth did not escape when they disobeyed, verse 25, much less shall we escape if we turn away in disobedience from Him who warns from heaven.