Have I Got Your Attention Yet
Hebrews 2:1-4
Intro: Before refrigerators, people used ice houses to preserve their food. Ice houses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitting door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the ice houses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.
One man lost a valuable watch while working in an ice house. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the ice house during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.
Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. "I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking."
. Many times we have a hard time paying attention to things don’t we?
. While hunting, Larry and Elmer got lost in the woods. Trying to reassure his friend, Larry said, "Don’t worry. All we have to do is shoot into the air 3 times, stay where we are, and someone will find us."
They shot in the air 3 times, but no one came. After a while, they tried again. Still no response. When they decided to try once more, Elmer said, "I hope it works this time. We’re down to our last 3 arrows."
. Obviously they weren’t paying attention when the person giving this advice was telling them what to do. They needed a gun for this procedure.
. Our scripture this morning is checking to see if we have been paying attention.
. We are back in Hebrews this morning. Chapter 2: 1-4
. This scripture is somewhat unique in that it interrupts the flow of the letter.
. In chapter one, the writer is driving home to the Jewish recipients the fact that Jesus was and is the Messiah.
. He had spent the whole chapter driving home the point that Jesus was not an angel. This was a myth that was making the rounds.
. He spent the whole chapter defining who Jesus was .
. He was called the Son, God, Creator, King.
. The first chapter of Hebrews lays out the foundational facts that the one that is worthy to be worshipped and called Messiah was none other than Jesus Christ.
. What a great sermon. The book of Hebrews is much like a copulation of sermons that the writer delivered in writing instead of from a pulpit.
. Like any good sermon, there must be an invitation.
. The writer brings the readers to a conclusion and then basically says, it’s time for a decision.
. In this invitation, he gives the Jewish readers and us three reasons that they should accept Christ as their Messiah and for us to accept Him as our Savior.
. Hebrews 2:1-4
. 1 So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.
2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.
3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?
4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.
. In these four verse we see three reasons that the Jewish people and all the world should receive Jesus Christ for their salvation.
. We see The Character Of Christ, The Certainty Of Judgment and The Confirmation of God.
. The Character Of Christ
. Look at verse 1 again: 1 So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.
. This “so we must listen” is like saying therefore, since you have been exposed to these things pay attention.
. Pay attention to what’s going on around here.
. In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees. The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second- floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect.
. It seemed the lady was not paying attention to what was going on around her.
. The same was true of the Jewish people.
. Not only had the writer explained the divinity of Christ to them, they had to know who Jesus was.
. He said to pay attention to what you have heard.
. Jesus was the talk of the town.
. The man who had walked their countryside for three years performing miracles and preaching was well known.
. He had been crucified but three days later He was alive again.
. This was attested to by over 500 who had seen Him
. His brother, who before the resurrection had thought Jesus crazy now was one of the leaders of the new church that accepted Jesus as Messiah.
. What a turnaround.
. You need to start paying attention to the knowledge that you have the writer say’s.
. He says that if you don’t, it may slip away from you.
. Our land and churches are full of people just like this.
. I have met people who have heard about Jesus.
. Many grew up in church and have all the knowledge that is necessary for salvation.
. They have heard about Jesus and what He did for mankind.
. They understand the concept of His death as a substitute for them.
. They know that it’s true and that they need Jesus but they are unwilling to make that commitment.
. Our churches are full of people every Sunday who come and go but don’t let what they hear change them.
. They hear about Jesus and are convicted by the Holy spirit and they commit that unpardonable sin of rejection of the Holy Spirit.
. They reject this invitation.
. Jesus was talking about this in the parable of the great feast recorded in Luke 14:16-24 .
16Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.
17When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’
18But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.
’19Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’
21“The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
22After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’
23So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.
24For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’ ”
. Jesus says you only get so many invitations folks.
. If you continually reject these invitations look at verse 24 again:
. 24For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’ ”
. The invitation is extended, you must decide whether to accept it or not. Many are like these people.
. Not now, there are more important things in my life now.
. The last part of this verse speaks to that. The writer is telling us to pay attention to the offer of salvation “or we may drift away from it.”
. We talk about Greek words every so often and this little part here is understood better when we look at the Greek word use here for drifting away. That word is Pararheo and it is a nautical term used do describe a ship that has drifted past the harbor due to someone not paying attention to the tides or currents or a ship that was not tied off properly and allowed to drift away.
. John McArthur writes in his commentary on Hebrews that this could be translated like this:
. “Therefore, we must the more eagerly secure our lives to the things which have been taught, lest the ship of life drift past the harbor of salvation and be lost forever.”
. The writer of Hebrews is saying that we need to secure our salvation now because life has a way of changing.
. None of us know what tomorrow brings. We need to pay attention to our salvation now; lest it slip away from us and we find ourselves in eternal destruction.
. We see the character of Christ and understand who He is; we must accept His free gift of salvation.
. Next we see The Certainty of Judgment.
. Look at verses 2&3 again:
. 2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.
3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?
. Judgment and justice are quite popular these days.
. We have Judge Judy who hears cases that are televised and the whole world watches as she hands down decisions that are considered just.
. We have justice with Jenine Perro who analyses cases to tell us if justice has been served.
. The writer here tells us that there will be judgment.
. He writes that “every violation of the law and every act of disobedience” has always been punished.
. God is a loving God but He is also a Just God.
. Do you think you can escape judgment and justice just by ignoring the issue?
. You know, that’s how many get into trouble. They see that there is a problem and they don’t want to address it so they ignore it hoping that it will go away.
. Pam and I were riding in her car one day and she asked me if I could hear a particular noise her car was making. I listened and said yes I hear it. Do you want me to fix it I asked? She said yes. Do you know what I did? I turned the radio up and we could no longer hear the noise. My solution was to ignore the problem.
. The writer is saying that judgment is coming for our sin.
. The only way to avoid this judgment is through the acceptance of Jesus Christ.
. We don’t like to think about judgment so we ignore the fact that it is coming.
. There is a Certainty of Judgment and the only way to escape the eternal separation from God in a place called hell is through this great salvation that is offered to us through Jesus Christ.
. We should accept Jesus Christ because there is a Certainty of Judgement.
. Lastly we see that we should accept Jesus because of The Confirmation of God.
.Look at verses 3&4:
. 3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?
4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.
. The writer says that those who were with Jesus, those who heard Him speak confirm that He was who He said He was.
. He is the Messiah. He is God.
. Think about it for a minute. This man Jesus was killed for who He claimed to be. There was a man named Saul, who would later be called Paul, Dragging people out of their houses and putting them in prison and sometimes even having them killed for their belief in this man Jesus.
. Why would someone continue to believe if this man was now dead? They wouldn’t. Many had seen and talked to the risen Lord and they would go to their death telling others about what Jesus had said and done.
. Not only that, God Confirmed this message that everybody was sharing with giving the apostles the ability to perform miracles. We read throughout the New Testament about the apostles performing miracles and having the same ability Jesus had to heal and yes even through God’s power to raise someone from the dead.
. Acts 6:8 tells us: 8Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.
. Stephen was one of the first deacons.
.Phillip the evangelist performed many miracles. We see this recorded in Acts 8:6&7.
. Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did.7Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.
. In Acts 20:9-10 we see a young man who fell asleep during a sermon and fell out the window be brought back to life:
. 9As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below.
10Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!”
. As Paul spoke on and on, sounds like a boring sermon to me.
. I think that this is the only record of where a preacher was so boring that he bored someone to death. The young man went to sleep during the sermon and fell out the window and died.
. Fortunately for him God gave Paul the ability to bring him back to life.
. I could go on and on about the signs and miracles that the apostles and disciples of Jesus performed.
. The book of acts is full of these accounts.
. The writer is saying Look, you have heard about Jesus and many of you have heard from the apostles and their experiences with Him. You have seen and heard about these signs and miracles that they perform.
. God has given them the ability to miraculous things so that you will believe what they are telling you.
. No one could do all these things if they weren’t from God.
. You should accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation because it is confirmed by God through these signs and miracles.
.As we close this morning, are you one who knows who Jesus is but have never accepted this free gift of salvation that He offers.
. Are you always saying not now. Maybe later.
. Don’t let life pass by and you let the cares of the world keep you from eternal salvation.
. The writer of Hebrews is telling you that today is the day of salvation.
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
The Source of Hope, Jeff Strite
Pay Attention! ,Matthew Cook
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Hebrews
