The Danger of Neglecting Salvation

I    Introduction

A.  Pay Attention!

1.    Did you ever get called on in school when you were daydreaming, reading a note, or just zoning out?

2.    It’s embarrassing to say the least!

3.    Tonight, the Hebrew writer urges us to pay attention so that we receive all the blessings of being a Christian.

B.  Review of Chapter 1- Jesus, Son Above All

1.    Jesus was always the way God planned to redeem mankind.

2.    Jesus is the exact imprint of God.

3.    Scripture teaches us that Jesus is above all, including the angels.

C.  Chapter 2- Jesus the Founder of Salvation

1.    In chapter two, we read of the first of five exhortations found in the letter.

a.    Warning against drifting (Hebrews 2:1-4)

b.    Warning against disobedience/unbelief (Hebrews 3:7-4:13)

c.    Warning against immaturity and slothfulness (Hebrews 5:11-6:20)

d.    Warning against willful sin/despising the truth (Hebrews 10:26-31)

e.    Warning against refusing God (Hebrews 12:25-29)

2.    In chapter 2, the writer again presents his case for Jesus’s superiority.

a.    This time, he shares with us that even though Jesus was, for a brief time, made lower than the angels, He is still the Savior of mankind.

b.    In fact, His time in the flesh is proof that the God we serve knows what it is like to be us.

3.    If we do not recognize this about Jesus, we risk neglecting our salvation. How?

II.   The Danger of Neglecting Salvation

A.  Neglecting (2:1-4)

1.    God has always done what He promised to do; He has never failed to deliver on His promises, both promises of reward and promises of .[1]

2.    Examples

a.    The Hebrew writer reminds us that angels delivered messages that proved to be true (Galatians 3:19).

b.    The flood- God sent the rains and opened the deep to destroy the earth while saving eight people.

c.    Abraham- God kept His promise to bless all nations of the earth through Abraham’s seed (Jesus).

d.    Sodom and Gomorrah

e.    The Exodus- God sent plagues on Egypt, disproving their gods one by one, until Pharaoh released the Israelites.

f.     Promised Land- Even though the first generation was lost to the wilderness, the Israelites did conquer the Promised Land just as God had promised.

3.    If God delivered on these promises, how much more should we trust in the promises He has made under the new covenant?

a.    The apostles and disciples continued declaring the truth about Jesus after He ascended to heaven.

b.    As He promised, signs and wonders accompanied those who taught the truth before the New Testament was assembled (Mark 16:17-18).

4.    In Scripture, we consistently find God fulfilling every promise He has ever made. We should not neglect the witness of the Word that exists so that we can know who God is and what He has done for us.

B.  Neglecting the of God (2:5-8)

1.    God subjected everything to Christ (Matthew 28:18); therefore, nothing must come Him.

2.    The author quotes from Psalm 8:4-6. What is the significance of quoting from this psalm?

a.    The original psalm expresses the wonder of God’s creation of mankind in relation to the rest of creation.

b.    Even though all of creation is a wonder, only mankind is made in the image of the divine Creator.[2]

c.    When God created man, we were given dominion over creation, but when Adam sinned, that was lost.

d.    Only through Christ will we ever achieve the status before God that we once had, where we walk with Him.[3]

3.    The Hebrew writer begins to introduce an idea he will develop more fully in the following verses: Jesus became one of us, according to God’s plan.

a.    He made him lower than the angels for a brief period of time. This was on God’s part.

b.    As the writer applies this thought to Jesus, it becomes clear that God’s intent was not to humiliate Jesus, but rather to exalt Him by placing all things in subjection to Him for His obedient faith in the Father, of which suffering was a part of the plan.

c.    When Christ returns, we will see with our own eyes the final defeat of death for all.[4]

4.    We should not neglect God’s will because it has benefited us since the beginning of time.

C.  Neglecting the (Hebrews 2:9-18)

1.    It might have been tempting to think that because Jesus came in the flesh, He was too weak to be the Savior, especially since He died.

a.    A suffering Messiah, although prophesied about in Scriptures like Isaiah 53, was a stumblingblock for the Jews in accepting Jesus.[5]

b.    But the writer explains that this is actually to our .

2.    To serve those who will suffer for serving God, the Savior suffered first for us.

a.    To save those who would find life in His name, He died to defeat the last enemy—death.

b.    Hebrews 2:10-18 explains that Christ was perfected through suffering in order to perfect us before God. This means that He completed what was necessary to make our perfection before God complete.

c.    To our benefit, we can approach God knowing that He knows exactly what it is like to be us and how to help us when we are struggling.

d.    Jesus suffered for you and like you.

e.    The OT Scriptures supplied in this chapter are meant to show us the connection between the Sanctifier and the sanctified.[6]

3.    We should not neglect the way that God fulfilled His promise because in it we find the way to live.

D.  Life Application

1.    We are today.

a.    Today, we serve as witnesses of what God can do when a person lives within the will of God.

b.    Witnessing is something we do every day simply by living a faithful life.

2.    God’s will should be our

a.    We should continue to follow God’s will.

b.    If there is nothing outside of Christ’s control, doesn’t it make sense to put our trust in where He has led us and how He has instructed us to live?

3.    God us

a.    We can approach God with confidence because He knows our struggles.

b.    God gets us because He has been one of us. How wonderful it is to come before God knowing that He understands the hurts, heartaches, and hangups we have in life!

c.    He also knows how to help us.

III.         Conclusion

A.  Pay Attention

1.    The writer of Hebrews challenges us to pay attention to what God has done so we do not drift from God’s wonderful gift of salvation.

2.    It’s easy to drift when we lose our focus.

B.  Invitation

1.    Tonight, perhaps you need to find comfort in the fact that God gets you—all the struggles, doubts, fears, etc. you have been experiencing.

2.    Tonight, perhaps it’s time to allow God’s will to direct you to Him in obediently surrendering yourself to Him.