Hebrews 2-Gospel — Joel Portman

Glad to see you tonight, and we just look to the Lord for his help and blessing on the Word of God. Look at Hebrews chapter 2 and we'll read from verse 1. Therefore, or you could read that for this reason or because of this, we ought, we must give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

The Structure of Hebrews: Doctrine, Exhortation, and Warning

Actually, the word here, let them slip, is not an active sense, it's passive. So what really indicates that we should allow them to drift away from us. The things that we have heard have a tendency, he says, to drift away.

And if we're not careful, they'll drift away beyond our reach and we'll lose the ability to grasp them. Lest at any time we should let them drift away, or we should drift away from them. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, 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?

God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers or different kinds of miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. That's all we'll read for this point in time, but keep your Bibles open, we'll look at other passages a little bit.

It's interesting that in the book of Hebrews, we have a number of interjections, parenthetical expressions, where the writer just breaks off the train of thought that he has been developing, and he has this little section before he goes on to another one.

In fact, I would say the book of Hebrews can be divided in this way, that first of all, we have passages that teach doctrine, passages that have to do with setting forth tremendous truth concerning the Lord Jesus, and what he really is, and the greatness of this one that he wants to present to these readers of this epistle.

Whoever the writer is, I'm not too concerned about that, I could tell you what I believe, but that doesn't make any difference. The Spirit of God has given us the order that's found in this lovely epistle, an epistle that sets before Christ as supreme and far superlative to everything else, whether it be in the Old Testament, or whether it be in the history of the nation of Israel, or whether it be in the world around us, the Lord wants to know, God wants us to know that he is absolutely the only thing that he wants to set before us, the only person.

He is far better, and men must have him if they're going to have anything right in relation to God. And so we have this pattern in the book of Hebrews, that there's doctrine given first, then there's an exhortation that they might go in for it, that they might seek it, that they might grasp it, that they might appreciate it, and then sadly, following that, there's always a warning.

Now that is a logical pattern in the word of God that's a proper pattern, that we have the truth being set before us first, and then God wants to tell us, this is what you must go in for, this is important, don't allow it to get away from you, don't drift away from it, but then if you do, if you don't take this to heart, then there are consequences that will be experienced, and that is a sad case, of course, when it comes to the gospel, because God, in the truth of the gospel, sets before every person the great doctrines and the great expressions of the work of Christ, and all that he is teaching us in it.

Well, then there's an exhortation, and it's the exhortation that one might believe on the Lord Jesus, and they might receive him as savior, and might not lose the opportunity that is being afforded them, that they might take in the gospel and be saved, but if they don't, then we know that there are the consequences, there are the results that will be seen.

So that indicates that there are five different sections in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews can be divided logically into two parts, where you have the first part terminated about chapter 10 and verse 18, and the last part going on with its practical implications.

One has said that the first part, chapter 1 through chapter 10, is centered upon the expression, let us draw near, we saw that this morning. Coming before God as worshipers, and enjoying access into the presence of God on the ground of the precious blood of Christ alone, being made fit to be in his own presence, and able to enjoy the blessedness of coming before him in worship.

Let us draw near, is the exhortation of the first 10 chapters, almost the first 10 chapters, and then the last part is centered upon the expression, let us go forth unto him. And so you can divide it any way you want, but I want to notice with you that here is one of the first passages that has to do with an exhortation and a warning that follows it.

And this warning is centered upon the fact that it is so easy for the individual to allow precious truth concerning Christ, just to drift away, just to let it go downstream, just to allow this precious, wonderful, important aspect that has to do with their eternal salvation to just somehow leak out, and somehow get away from them, and to come to the point where it's impossible to recover it.

The Day of Grace and the Danger of Neglect

You know, really, God gives men in this present day, he gives them, just like he always has, a period of opportunity, a period in which they can embrace the gospel, a period of time in which they can come to the realization of their need as a sinner, and trust Christ alone as their savior, but randomly miss that opportunity.

If we miss that period that God calls the day of grace, the day of God's favorable dealings with us, the result is, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? I'm interested in the fact that this verse, chapter two and verse one, begins with this expression, therefore.

And any time you find therefore in your Bible, it always links with what goes before it. It's for this reason, he says, because of what I have been telling you, and setting before you in all these wonderful things that center upon quotations from the Old Testament, that make it very clear that Christ alone is the one that has provided salvation in his work at Calvary, he says, for this very reason, we must.

It's not a matter of choice or a matter of whether you want to or not. He says, we really must. It's absolutely necessary that we, he says, give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard.

Now, there's some things I want to notice with you in that expression. First of all, it indicates that the people that he is writing to knew the truth. That's obvious. The things that we have heard were things that they knew to be the truth.

They had recognized that they had the ring of scripture about them, and they knew that there was something about it that should call for their obedience to it. You know, they're like a lot of people today.

A lot of people today know the truth. A lot of people today have been exposed to the light of the gospel. Multitudes in this world today have some semblance of knowledge of the word of God, especially in this country.

When it comes to the realization and the willingness to allow it to be applied to them in such a way that it brings conviction to their heart and awakens them to their desperate need and causes them to tremble on the verge of eternity and to be awakened to the fact they need Christ and they need him now, they're not willing.

They don't believe it's important enough to give the more earnest heed to the things that they've heard. You know, we're all together careless about things of eternity, aren't we? People can put so much attention on the things of time.

They're concerned about their family, they're concerned about their relationships, they're concerned about their job, they're concerned about their loss of a particular item materially in this life. They're concerned about the election that's coming up, they're concerned about all kinds of things.

But when it comes to the matter of their eternal soul, they don't have the degree of interest they ought to have. Too easy to look at the things that are seen and forget that the things that are seen, the Bible says, are only temporary.

The things which are not seen are the things that are eternal. Too easy to put my attention upon the things that I could touch and feel and handle and that seem to affect me day by day and forget that in a moment of time I could leave them all behind.

And out into eternity that soul would go, without Christ, without salvation, without a hope for eternity, without any possibility of ever enjoying the blessing of God's gracious provision. So easy, isn't it?

And as a result, it says that like people today, he's writing to those kind of people, we must give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard. What does that mean? Well, it means more than just a casual passing interest now and then.

It means more than just saying certain words that acknowledge the fact of the truth. It means more than being willing just to listen to the Word of God. It means that I allow that Word to grip my heart and I allow the Spirit of God to apply it to me.

And I'm willing to recognize the fact that when God gives passages that warn me of my danger, he is speaking right to me and I must apply it to myself. You know, the Bible says God is speaking to his people, that none of them, he says, stirreth up himself.

Some would almost take the idea, well, I have to wait for God to stir me up. I have to wait for God to do whatever he has to do because I can't do anything. Listen, God says we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard.

In other words, God places the responsibility on the individual in view of the grandeur and the greatness and the truthfulness of the message that he has given to them. But in the light of what God has imparted to us concerning our particular need as sinners and the great provision of salvation that he has made in his Son, it's my responsibility to put my heart and soul to it in the recognition that I need this salvation.

Therefore, he says, for this reason, because of what he's been developing in the previous verses, this is worthy of our utmost consideration. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 15, this is a faithful saying, absolutely true and worthy that all should consider it, all should accept it, worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

And Paul says of whom I am chief and every one of us should be willing to apply that epithet to ourselves as well, that we are indeed in the eyes of God recognizing and willing to recognize I am the chief of sinners because really all that matters is my standing and where I am before God.

And so we see the fact that he is bringing before us here that the things that we have heard, he says, it's so easy to let them drift away from us. It's so easy not to apprehend the moment and to recognize the preciousness of it and not to understand that this is so important that I dare not allow it, I dare not allow it to get away.

I must have it today. God's, God's exhortation to every soul tonight is that behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is a day of salvation. I want to go back into chapter one and show you what he is basing this on because his argument is that there are some things in this, in the previous verses that he's been bringing before them that are so important that they deserve the attention, they deserve the deepest thought and apprehension of the individual because of the importance of it.

God’s Final Word in His Son

Why is, why does he say that we should give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard? We'll go back with me to chapter one in verse one. You notice, you notice in that first, first and second verse of chapter one that he says that God is a God that has been speaking and God really has nothing more to say.

He looks back at the old testimony and says that old times in the past in different ways and in different times and in a fragmented way, God spoke and God spoke to the fathers, the ones that lived long ago, the ones that lived prior to our day, he says, and he spoke to them through the prophets.

God conveyed to them a message of divine authority. God raised up those men that spoke for God and those prophets came before the people and they said, thus saith the Lord, this is what God has to say to this people.

And God spoke to them in that way. He spoke to them in the prophets. He spoke to them different ways. In fact, he's indicates that in many parts and in many manners, God spoke because God did speak in many different ways.

God spoke with an audible voice from Mount Sinai and the people heard the voice of God speaking to them. What a tremendous impact that should have had upon them. You know, the sad thing is that when the people heard the voice of God, while they trembled in hearing it, they disobeyed it very shortly thereafter.

They heard the voice of God speaking and others heard God speaking to them directly. So God had one way of speaking. He spoke in the thunders. He spoke in the fact that the Mount was on, uh, as it were on a fire and it was smoking.

He spoke in different other ways as well in the old Testament. He spoke in the law with all of his requirements and his judgments. When men fail to, to carry it out, he's spoken to sacrifices as he pointed bent forward to the work of Christ and those animals that were killed.

God's spoken many, many different ways on his spoken ways that were supplemented one upon the other intended to come together in the minds of the people to form a cohesive whole and what he was conveyed to them.

God spoke, but the indication of this word is that God is no longer speaking that way. He's not speaking by prophets. He spoke that way and he terminated that way of speaking. He's not speaking by the law.

He's not speaking by an audible voice in heaven. He's not speaking by the sacrifices that are offered upon alters. He's not speaking to that way anymore. Well, that's, that's, that's passed. He fulfilled his purpose of doing that.

And then he says in these last days or at the end of the days, God has spoken in son. Literally, it's the idea he's spoken in son, not just through the son. It's not the idea that God sent his son in the world like he sent prophets and raised them up before the people and say, now he's going to speak to you with a word from God.

No more than that. He spoke in the person of son that indicates to us that the very coming of Christ into the world was a message from God. That coming of Christ to the world was intended by God to indicate something far greater than could be spoken by the promise.

And God has spoken in his son, the one who is the heir of all things, the one by whom we created the worlds, the one who is a center of God's purposes, the one that God says is going to one day be enthroned upon the universe and is going to rule for God from sea to sea and from shore to shore.

He's going to be the one and he is the one he says that God has spoken in son. You know, I think that it's very similar to what we read in the gospels where we read that Jonah himself was assigned to the Ninevites.

You remember that story in the old Testament of the prophet Jonah was sent to preach to the Ninevites. Well, you know, it wasn't so much to what no Jonah said in that case that I believe is involved. I believe that what is being said is that Jonah's presence in the city of Nineveh, that wicked city that was the enemy of God's people in that city that came a prophet from God and his presence in the city was a sign.

What was it a sign of? Well, I think it was a sign of the fact that God wanted them to repent and that God was showing grace to them by sending a prophet from the land of Israel to preach the message to them.

It wasn't so much what he said, although that was a part of it, but it was what he was in the midst of a wicked city that was under judgment and into a world. It was you and I are living that is under the judgment of God and deserves that came the eternal son of God, an expression of the grace of God.

Because in Titus chapter two, we read that the grace of God has appeared unto all men are bringing salvation to all men has appeared and there has come into this world the expression of God's grace, making known to you and me that God does not want one single soul to perish.

He wants them to be saved. But as God terminated his math manner of speaking in the old Testament time, when he spoke to the prophets, the end of that in the same way, God is saying that he has no more to say to mankind more than what he has said in his son.

He's not going to send any further messengers. He's not going to bring you some special envoy from heaven. He's not going to give you some special indication other than what he is conveying to you and me in this tremendous message in his son.

God has said everything he could say. He has said what you and I deserve when he sent his son to the cross of Calvary and there calls to come down upon him the judgment of our sin. He says, that's what our sin deserved and that's what it will receive from the hand of God.

If we're never saved, if God would bring such judgment down upon his own son there at that cross of Calvary, enduring the judgment of our sin and holding nothing back, but enduring all that we deserve for eternity.

Just think what you and I will receive if we neglect so great salvation. So God is saying that there's a message he has conveyed the message of his grace, a message of his great desire that sinners might be brought to a knowledge of the savior and be delivered from the wrath to come and enjoy the blessedness of eternal life in the Lord Jesus.

He has spoken in son and literally literally that's God's final word. You know, when God speaks his last word, that means that you and I had better take heed to it. I want to tell you, if you miss what God says in his son, you've missed the eternal blessing of salvation.

If you miss God's message that is being brought in giving his son to come into this world and go to the cross of Calvary, I want to tell you, you have no hope for eternity, only a dark future under the judgment of God.

God's absolute final word to this dark world is his son and it's a message that speaks loudly and clearly to all that will take it in. So he says, in these last days, he has spoken in son, there's another reason though, why he says we ought to give them more earnest heed to the things that we have heard and that's in verse three, but that one who was eternally the brightness of God's glory, exact image of all that God really is.

Christ’s Finished Work and Purification for Sins

It says when he by himself made purification for sins, sat himself down on the right hand of the majesty on high, what does he say? Did that work that is necessary for you and me to know our sins forgiven, to be cleansed and made fit for the presence of God, to have all that, that guilt and all that which would separate us from God and borrow us from God's heaven for eternity, have it completely taken away.

That was all done once for all and the work of the Lord Jesus having made purification for sins. He sat himself down to the right hand of God. That signifies of course, that work is finished. That signifies that God is perfectly satisfied in the work of the cross and God asks and expects nothing more.

I think that this relates back to the old Testament of course, like most things do in the book of Hebrews, that he's looking back to the day of atonement when the high priest alone would enter into the holiest of all and there he'd go with the blood of that bullock for himself and for his family and sprinkle that blood before the ark in the very presence of God and upon the ark and that would provide the grounds upon which he could continue in his priesthood before God because he was a man that was failing like you and I.

Well, then he goes in again with the blood of that goat, the blood that was offered for the sins of the people, the transgressions of the uncleanness of the nation of Israel and into the presence of God he goes and he sprinkles that blood again upon the ark, the mercy seat and there's where God, his eye would look upon it and he would see the blood that would satisfy his righteous requirement and on the ground of that blood that was sprinkled on the mercy seat over the ark, God, he says, he could look upon the people of Israel and he could deliver them, he could assure them of the fact that their sins have been forgiven and that they were not standing before God in the guilt of them.

Every year it had to be done and Hebrews tells us it had to be done repetitiously and of course it was because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But the implication of verse three is that this one who has come in the very essence of God manifested flesh and all that God was in his glory and his beauty and his majesty and his own person, there is the one who in the presence of God made purification for sins, the one that satisfied every requirement of God in heaven.

When out to Calvary's cross he went, lifted up to die between two malefactors willing to endure the judgment of sin and there he shed his precious blood so that you and I could know our sins have been taken away to be purified and cleansed from the presence of God.

You see, there's a, there was a work that was done in the old Testament on behalf of the people and it was done by the high priest when he entered in with the blood of others. But here's something far greater because the word of God tells us that this one is the eternal son of God, the one who came and by his own precious blood offered at Calvary's cross he made purification for sins so that you and I could stand before the presence of God and know that we've been cleansed by the blood of Christ.

That's why he says you must give the more earnest heed to the things that you've heard. He has set himself down at the right hand of the majesty on high. There he is in heaven signifying his work is done, signifying that God is perfectly satisfied.

All his requirements are met. There's a salvation provided for the guilty sinner tonight and everyone that takes it and trust Christ as savior can enjoy the blessing of God's great salvation and forgiveness of sins.

So he has set himself down. That's why it's important as well. But notice as well down the chapter. Notice with me verse 10 of chapter one and thou Lord, he says in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens of the works of thine hands.

They shall perish, but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up or change them and they shall be changed. But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail.

The Temporary World and the Eternal Destiny of the Soul

What's another reason? This reason is because everything that is material is just passing away. It's only temporary. I've said it already this evening that that is a great. It is a great mistake on the part of most people that they get so occupied with their present life.

They get so taken up with their material things and their existence day by day and their problems of living and their difficulties of the encounter and all circumstances that have to do with the present effects upon their life.

They lose sight of the fact is only temporary. He says that this whole universe is just like a garment. It's going to be taken off, folded up, rolled away. It's passing. It's not going to be permanent.

God has new heavens and a new earth in mind, but he says thou remainest and the one that you and I have to deal with is the one that is forever on changing on on airing in this person. Everything always the same.

He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and he is the one who makes it very clear that while you and I are in a passing world, we're bound for eternity. Bound for eternity, friend. And the big issue that you and I need to face is those that live in this world born as descendants of Adam is a sinner.

Where are we going to be when it comes to eternity? Where will that great eternity take us either to heaven or to hell? It's one of the other things in this world that attract people and hold them in their grip are all passing away, but your soul is going to go into eternity.

And the issue that you need to ask yourself is, how can I know for sure that when this life is over, I'll be in heaven? The hymn writer said, when this passing world is done, when it sunk young, glaring son, when I stand with Christ on high, looking over life's history, then Lord, shall I fully know not till then how much I owe.

That's for the child of God, a friend to think about this world passing away and eventually to be changed in God's purposes. And one day, all the things that men put their attention upon and hold so dear in life.

My wife said some years ago, when she looked at, we looked at our possessions that we had, he said, really, you know, they're all just for the fire because they're not going to last anyway. And so we look at this issue and he says, because of this, because of this, we must give the more earnest heed the things that we have heard.

Less we should let them drift away. For he says in verse two, chapter two, if the word spoken by angels, that's the law of the old Testament. If that word was steadfast, it was confirmed and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward.

In other words, based on the fact that that law that was given in the old Testament, that word that was given to men by the mouth of prophets, God proved it to be true. And God judged men because of their failure and the refusal to obey it.

He says, in view of that, how shall we escape in this present day? Having heard the word that is given us by the Lord, how shall we escape? If we neglect so great salvation, I would take it that this word neglect is the very opposite of give more attention to.

I think it's an idea of just letting it drift away, failing to put my attention to it, failing to realize its importance, and failing to understand that this is something that must have utmost priority.

If I'm going to enjoy it, he says, how shall we escape? If we neglect, we neglect. There's a parable, the Lord Jesus told in the gospels, gospel Luke, another gospel as well, where it speaks of the invitation going forth and some neglected it.

They simply failed to appreciate the importance of it. They went to their farms, they went to their houses, they went to their fields, they went to other activities, but they didn't realize the importance of responding to the invitation.

That's what the writer is saying. How shall we escape? And you know what it means. How will we ever escape God's righteous judgment? How will a person ever escape being in hell for eternity on the lake of fire?

How will they ever escape standing before God of the great white throne judgment to answer to God for their sins and to find out God's verdict upon them because of their sin? How shall we ever escape?

If we neglect, so great salvation. It's like you might say a building and it only has one fire escape, only one means of an exit, only one possibility of escaping from what might happen in terms of a disaster.

And if we neglect that, he says, there's no other escape. There's no other way out and there's no possibility of a deliverance. How shall we escape? If we neglect so great salvation, I want to think you think with you about this great salvation because that's the essence of the gospel.

The Greatness of Salvation: Its Cost and Finality

It's a great salvation. He says, in comparison with everything else, in comparison with the law, in comparison with the sacrifices, in comparison with all these old testament important persons in their history.

He says, this is a great salvation. I would take it that this writer by the spirit of God is simply implying to us that words fail to emphasize how important it really is. Words fail to really express how, how much we must pay attention to it and grasp it with all of our heart.

So great salvation. So great. I have a book at home that's called that. So great salvation. Trying to describe how wonderful and how great this salvation really is. My friend, until you ever take it in for yourself, you'll never realize how great it really is.

It's great beyond compare. It's great beyond description. It's great beyond any possibility of anything else taking its place. It's the most wonderful thing you could ever have, but you'll lose everything if you don't take it in for yourself.

It's great. I would take it great because of the cost. You know, when we think of something that's very great, we think of how much it costs to procure it. How much it costs to build it, how much it costs to make it possible.

Everything is measured by the quantity in terms of money or in terms of time and effort that is put into it. I would just take it that this salvation is so great because of the cost that was paid to make it possible.

I don't know that you and I could ever possibly, ever possibly even estimate what it costs God to provide salvation. I can't. I can't fathom the depths of the sufferings that the Lord Jesus went to when he hung upon Calvary and the darkness of those hours in which he was hanging upon the tree, being made a curse for us, enduring the awfulness of being separated from his God, alone there in that darkness, buried the weight of our sin and all of its crushing, crushing pressure upon him as it bore upon him and God himself put it upon him.

We read in Isaiah chapter 53 in those familiar words that he was wounded. That word means he was thrust through for our transgressions. It's a violent word. He was bruised. That word means he was crushed beneath the awful weight of it for our iniquities.

The chastisement, the punishment, the infliction of the blow of judgment was upon him. And he says, by his strike, we are healed. The words indicate the violence and the terribleness of the suffering that he endured.

It all has to do with the cost to make possible this great salvation. And when I think of great things in this world, I recognize that here's something far greater. Cost God far more to provide salvation for you as a sinner than it cost him to make this entire universe with all the stars and all the moons and all the planets and all the different stellar systems that are spinning in space and all their infinitude.

It cost God nothing to make that. He spoke and there they were. But it cost God everything to make salvation possible for your soul. That's why when men despise God's salvation, that's why when they don't go in for it with all their heart and soul and grasp the importance of it and turn away from all else, repenting of their sin and trusting Christ as their Savior, they're really telling God it's not worth it.

So far as I'm concerned, it's not of enough value or importance to me. But God says it cost him everything. And you and I will never, ever be able to understand how much it cost him just to save one soul from their sins and from hell.

It's so great, friend. Don't miss it. Don't be don't think lightly of it. Don't let it pass by and you fail to grasp it. No, put your heart and mind and soul into grasping the fact that God wants you to be saved.

And he proved it by giving his only son to go to the cross of Calvary. I'm there to suffer the wrath and the judgment of sin to deliver your soul. It's so great salvation because of its cost. It's so great salvation as well because of its finality.

It doesn't require a second time. The Bible says that once in the end of the age, he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself in Galatians chapter four. We read that in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son born of a woman born out of the law that he might redeem them who are under the curse of the law that might receive the position of sons.

And so we find that God emphasizes again and again, the once for all value of the work of the Lord Jesus friend. He will never come again to put away sin. We read in Hebrews chapter nine that, uh, even as a, as an appointed on the men wants to die and after this, the judgment.