Don’t Get Caught Neglecting What is Important
Wed. Night March 11th 2009
Hebrews 2:1-4
Introduction
How many marriages or homes do you think are broken up every year because one or both of the marriage partners neglected the marriage?
We have a few nursing homes in our area. And I just wonder how many old folks have been put in the nursing home and then left neglected by their family.
I think marriages are important and should never neglect them. I think our old folks shouldn’t be shipped off to some nursing home and just forgotten. They should not be neglected just because they have gotten older and are no longer living among us.
And tonight, the writer of Hebrews tells us don’t neglect the great salvation that God has given us. He is not talking to the unbeliever who has rejected salvation; but rather he is talking to you and me (the Christians) who sometimes take to lightly how valuable our salvation really is. And so today I want to see if God has caught us neglecting the true value of our salvation.
Read Scriptures: Hebrews 2:1-4
I. We are neglecting the true value of our great salvation if we don’t make provision to listen to God daily.
Hebrews 2:3 “how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.”
In Chapter 1, we are told that in these last days God has spoken to us through His Son. And that is true; we know that; God has told us that; so are we making provision to listen to Him? When we want to listen to someone, we make provisions to listen to them.
Let me give you an example, if I want to listen to the news, I make sure that the television set is turned on and I find myself sitting in front of the TV when the news is suppose to be coming on. What I have done is made provisions so that I could listen to the news.
If I want to listen to a Christian musical group that I might have heard about and think I might enjoy, I might go to the store and buy their CD and put it in my CD player and listen to them. What I have done is made provision so that I can listen to that group.
What provisions have you made so that you can listen to God? To be honest with you, I think we are a little bit more haphazard in our approach to listening to God then we are listening to the news or something that we want to hear. Have we confessed our sins today, so that we can listen to God? Have we found a quiet place so that we won’t be distracted when we hear from God?
Are you making provisions to hear from God? If not you are neglecting your great salvation.
II. We are neglecting the true value of our great salvation if we not making an effort to swim against the current.
Hebrews 2:1 “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”
Oh, how I wish the Christian life was like a lake. No currents pushing against you; you could get to a place in your Christian life where you are contented and just stay right there with little or no effort.
But the writer of Hebrews tells us that the Christian life has a drift to it. It has a current to it; the Christian life is not like a lake; it is more like a river. It is constantly moving. So if I want to go upstream (if I grow in my Christian life) I need to be constantly paddling. Stop paddling and I am going to drift downstream.
That means that there is no such thing as a status quo Christian. Last year at this time you were at a certain place in your Christian life. One thing that I can guarantee you is that you are not there now- you have either paddled upstream or you have drifted downstream.
Neglect our really great our salvation is and you will drift downstream.
III. We are neglecting the true value of our great salvation if we are not living each day concerned that we are going to be held to a higher standard than the people of the Old Testament.
Hebrews 2:2-3 “For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? ...”
It is tough to be a preacher. I am going to be held by God to a higher standard than the deacons; the deacons are going to be held by God to a higher standard than the congregation. And the whole congregation is going to be held to a higher standard than the Old Testaments saints. And you and I ought to live our lives like we understand that fact.
You may be sitting here thinking to yourself that I am saved so what does judgment have to do with me? Just because you are a Christian doesn’t mean you entirely escape the judgment. There is going to be a judgment (called the Judgment Seat of Christ) that occurs in heaven for the Christian. In that judgment those things that we did that are not pleasing to God will be burned up and the only thing that will remain are those things that we did that are pleasing to Christ.
OK, I will experience a judgment, I will give you that but why am I being held to a higher standard than the Old Testament saints?
Luke 12:48 “ … From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked…”
In the Old Testament God spoke through angels; God spoke through the prophets; but He did not speak directly to the hearts of men and women. But in the New Testament God speaks to the heart of every Christian man and woman through Jesus. Have we been given more than the Old Testament? Yes, we have and therefore, a great judgment awaits us.
IV. We are neglecting the true value of our great salvation if we do not believe that God can do the impossible in our life today.
Hebrews 2:4 “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”
If you are here tonight and you think God can not give you that miracle that you need then you don’t understand how great a salvation that we have.
If you are here tonight, and you have little hope that your life can change then you don’t understand how great a salvation that we have.
God has saved me when I asked Jesus in my life; each and every day of my life He is in the process of saving me; and then there will be a day in time that He will save me and I will spend eternity with Him in heaven.
If I don’t believe that I neglect such a great salvation that I have.
Conclusion
We do have a tendency to take some things for granted. If you have been married for a long time, there is a tendency to take for granted your spouse. If you have been parents for a while there is a tendency to take the children for granted. And you and I as Christian have a tendency over time to take our great salvation for granted.
We need to remind ourselves every day such how great a salvation we really do have.
(Thanks sermoncentral contributor, Preacher’s outline and sermon bible, Dr. Dave Hartson)
