The Greatest Warning Series

God began human history with a warning. He told Adam and Eve that if they

ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die.

Failure to heed that warning led to the fall of man, and failure to heed warnings

has ever since led to all of the sin and folly of human beings. It could easily be

established that the number one cause of suffering in this world is the neglect of

warnings. The task of the prophets was to warn the people of God of the great

danger ahead if they did not obey the Word of God. Every time judgment fell on

God’s people it was because they neglected these warnings.

When we come to the New Testament we see it was the task of the Apostles to do

the same thing with the new people of God. In Acts. 20:31 we read these words of

Paul, “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped

warning each of you night and day with tears.” In I Cor. 4:14 he writes, “I am not

writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.” Just as parents

need to warn children to protect them from the many dangers in the world, so the

prophets and Apostles had to warn the children of God about the many dangers

they faced in living a godly life in the world.

As you study the history of mankind you begin to see quite clearly that people

tend to fall into two categories: Those who heed warnings, and those who neglect

them. In Heb. 11:7 we read, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet see,

in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” The rest of the world neglected the

warning and perished. Such has been the pattern ever since. People receive the

warnings and respond with appropriate actions that lead to escape, or they reject

the warnings and receive the negative consequences that are inescapable.

Volumes could be filled with examples, and you probably have some personal

experiences of your own to illustrate this reality. Here are just a couple that have

found their way into print. “In December of 1994, FBI agent John Wellman was

fined about $1,000 for an October incident in which he was charged with

disobeying traffic signs in Keokuk County, Iowa. While trying to locate a man in

an investigation, Wellman ignored the directions of a construction crew to drive

along the shoulder of the road and instead circumvented barricades and continued

to drive on the pavement. Minutes later, he drove his car into 6 inches of freshly

poured cement set out to resurface the road, resulting in a $70,000 expense to the

state.” “One winter a resort in Breckenridge, Colorado, posted signs instructing

skiers to keep off a certain slope. The signs, large and distinct, said, "DANGER!

OUT OF BOUNDS! In spite of the warnings, however, several skiers went into the

area. The result? A half-mile-wide avalanche buried four of the trespassers

beneath tons of snow and rock. This tragedy never would have happened if the

signs had been heeded.”

One of the key characteristics of the book of Hebrews is that it is a book of

warnings. The key theme is the exaltation of Jesus as supreme over all that has

gone before. He is better and superior to all that God gave His people in the Old

Testament. But there is so great a danger in neglecting such a higher revelation

that the book has to stress this danger, and so it is a book of warnings. If you

neglect a balloon floating toward a sharp object you risk losing your balloon. If

you neglect the oil in your engine you risk losing your car. If you neglect your mate

you risk losing your marriage. The higher the value you neglect, the greater the

loss you will suffer. Since Jesus is the highest revelation and the greatest gift of

God, far superior to anything God has ever given to man, the greatest loss will be

suffered by neglecting so great a salvation as we have in Him. That is why the book

of Hebrews is the book of the greatest warnings. The New International Version

lists the warnings of this book as:

1. Warning to pay attention 2:1-4

2. Warning against unbelief 3:7-19

3. Warning against falling away 5:11-14

4. Warning against refusing God 12:14-29

For some reason they left out the warning of 10:26-31, which is one of the

strongest warnings anywhere. Others include 6:4-8 also as a severe warning.

The Hebrew Christians who receive this letter were facing great dangers, and

they needed someone to warn them of these dangers. We need to recognize that