Sermon Central
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A Hard Question
Contributed by Grant Adams on Feb 19, 2024 (message contributor)
Summary: Have you ever asked a hard question? Have you ever been asked a hard question? Hard questions have to be answered sometimes. The question I ask today must be answered.
I have often said, “Questions are healthy.” Usually when we ask a question it is out of concern. We desire to know. We desire to be informed. We desire to learn. At times, we question in the midst of confusion. In the midst of trials and misunderstandings we cry out to God for answers, for help.
The question we are talking about today is a question God is asking of us. The reason God is asking is not because he does not know the answer, it is because the question is to cause us to evaluate our need.
1. It is to cause us to identify where we're at.
2. God asked Adam, “where art thou?” God knew where Adam was, and what he had done, but Adam needed to see himself as God saw him.
3. In Luke 10, the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said, “who is your neighbor?”
4. In Luke 18, blind Bartimaeus, “what wilt thou I should do unto thee?”
5. Jesus asked Peter, “wilt thou also go away?”
Our Lord knows the answer to these questions. He knows before he even asks. The questions are asked to provoke our thinking and to show us our need.
Now, with this in mind, consider the question in Hebrews 2:3: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great Salvation?”
This is a question each of us must answer. Mark 8:36, you are an eternal soul. consider three aspects of this one question.
a. How shall you escape damnation of your soul if you neglect to receive it?
b. How shall a Christian escaped chastisement if he neglects to live it?
c. How shall we escape regret if we neglect to tell it?
I. How Shall You Escape Damnation if you Neglect to Receive it?
1. Whether we understand or do not understand, every person enters life in need of Salvation.
2. Romans 5:12
3. from the beginning of mankind, after the fall. Men's needed a blood sacrifice to be justified with God. John 1:29
4. God in his great love for us, his son died for us so we might be right in his sight.
a. Romans 5:8
5. Through Jesus is death on the cross, is the only means or way we can be saved.
b. acts 4:12
6. all you need to do is “neglect.” When you die you will exist forever and ever in a devil's hell. John 3:17-18
II. How Shall a Christian Escape Chastisement if He Neglects to Live It?
2. You do not live it to receive it, but because you have been born again.
a. It's what makes you different.
b. Titus 3:5
3. If you are saved, God will not turn you loose.
4. Hebrews 12:5-11; 10:26-31
5. Psalm 51:1-3, 10-12
III. How Shall We Escape Regret if We Neglect to Tell It?
1. Acts 4:12; 20-29
2. We are the means for the message. John 15:16; Actos 1:8
3. Romans 1:14; Ezekiel 33:1-8
4. Revelation 21:3-8, why tears in Heaven?
