Our Great Salvation

For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him. At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Last week, we looked just at verse 1 of our passage. We looked at the idea of drifting in our faith. I talked about the “deconstruction” movement and how people have left the faith because they couldn’t get behind the beliefs and teachings in the church.

Today, we are going to dig into verses 2-4, and dig in a little bit more as we see this continued exhortation from the writer of Hebrews to not neglect this great salvation that has been made possible through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Big Idea: We must not neglect the salvation offered to us.

Hebrews 2:2

For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment…

The author now begins an “if/then” question. He says, “If the message that was received by angels was legally binding…” The first thing that sticks out here is that he says the message was spoken through angels. This is not the only time that a reference is made to the angels giving the law to the people of God. Paul mentions it in his letter to the Galatians that the law was put into effect by angels. Stephen, who was martyred at the feet of Saul, mentioned angels giving the law to Moses.

This idea is a common tradition in Rabbinic writings and thought. The origin of this idea comes from Deuteronomy 33 where Moses is giving a final blessing to the people of Israel before his death.

Deuteronomy 33:1-2

This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave the Israelites before his death. He said:

The Lord came from Sinai

and appeared to them from Seir;

He shone on them from Mount Paran

and came with ten thousand holy ones,

with lightning from his right hand for them.

Moses is talking about when he received the law from the Lord. When he was on the mountain, he said that God came with “ten thousand holy ones.” In all of the Study Bibles and commentaries I could find, this passage was pointed forward to Stephen in Acts 7, Paul in Galatians 3, and our passage in Hebrews 2 today. The belief is that angels assisted God in the giving of the Law to Moses. And so this is where we get this idea of the Law of Moses being given through angels. The angels were not the originators of the Law, but instead were God’s messengers, his ministers to the people of God, as we saw in Hebrews 1:14 two weeks ago.

This law, given through angels but by God, the author assumes is completely true and legally binding in God’s sight. You may recall when I spoke about covenants when we went through Philippians. And we looked at how in ancient times, two kings would make a peace contract or a treaty, cutting the bodies of sacrificial animals in half, and placing them on the ground. Then the two kings would walk between the parts of the animal bodies together as a way of saying, “If I break my part of this contract, may you do to me what has happened to these animals.” This is a little different than signing your name on an employment contract or on your mortgage contract.

However, the principle is the same. If I don’t keep my part of the contract, I will face the consequences stipulated in the contract. If I do not fulfill my duties as an employee, what happens? I get fired. If I do not pay my rent, what happens? I will get my family and me kicked out of our house.

If that is the case with paper contracts, created by humans, then we should expect that the message that was received through angels, given by God, will also have negative consequences if we do not keep our end of the contract or covenant. The author of Hebrews said as much when he states, “every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment…” He means that every transgression, every sin, every disobedient act against that contract received just punishment (the punishment was deserved).

Here is where we need to take a quick timeout to talk about punishment being received. In the Old Testament Law, there were punishments ascribed for each case of disobedience to the law’s requirements. Those who deliberately disobeyed the Law of God, having no regard or honor for the One who gave the Law, faced the death penalty.

Today, humanity still faces the punishment of death for deliberately disobeying the commands of God. That punishment is still on the table. However, that death is a spiritual death. See, God is holy. In Hebrew, the word “Holy” literally means “set apart.”

Holy - separated, set apart, completely other than

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about God’s divine perfection. That he is perfect in all his being and attributes, not having any flaw. Sin is disobedience. It is a flaw in us where we think we know better than God. Therefore, God’s perfection does not allow his presence to be tainted by sin and disobedience. Every sin that we commit separates us from the God of the universe, creating a divide between us and Him.

But God… (Leave this slide up because I will be saying it again)

In his letter to the Romans, Paul talks about how sin separates us from God. He says that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. We have all missed the mark. This is not an accidental miss of the mark because Paul also says that we don’t seek God. We are not righteous. We have turned ourselves away from God purposefully. The punishment for that disobedience and rebellion is continuous, spiritual death, enduring the wrath of God forever.

But God…

Paul goes on to explain that we can have righteousness apart from trying to obey every aspect of the law through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to this earth, was the only one who could obey the law fully, did so by living in perfect obedience to the law, and then gave his life, dying on the cross, raising to life again on the third day, and giving that righteousness that he earned in following the law to every person that submits their lives to him in repentance and belief.

Those who have given their lives to the God of the universe have already had their sins punished through Jesus. He took the punishment for my sins. Jesus endured the wrath of God that I deserved for every lie, every theft, every lustful thought, and every evil action I have committed. That is what I have been saved from because I have submitted my life to Christ, making him the Lord of my life.

I have heard people say that if they forgive someone else for something that was done wrong to them, then it makes the hurt feel like it was pointless and that the other person just gets away with it. But as the writer of Hebrews says, every transgression receives a just punishment. That sin against you will be paid for either by that person enduring God’s wrath and judgment, or has already been paid for by Christ on the cross if that person has repented and submitted their life to Jesus.

Hebrews 2:3a

…how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

After describing the law and telling of its punishments, the author now gets to his question. If all those things are true, how will we escape the punishment we deserve if we neglect this great salvation that has been given to us?

I love escape stories. One of the greatest escape stories of all time is the story of a man named Edmund Dantes. He was a relatively good man who was wrongly accused, convicted, and imprisoned for treason. He was sent to the notorious prison, the Chateau d’If (it was like the Alcatraz Island of the time), where he meets a fellow prisoner, a priest, who was also falsely imprisoned. After years of learning and friendship in prison, the priest lets Dantes know of a secret treasure hidden on a remote island. When the priest dies, Edmund uses the tragedy as an opportunity to escape from the prison himself, eventually finding his way to the treasure, becoming the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, and exacting revenge on those who falsely accused him. It is an amazing piece of literature.

We love tales of escape. There are so many stories and movies of people escaping some dire circumstance, whether it is a prison, an enemy army, aliens, or a massive weather event. We love to see people escape.

As humans, we are also subject to dire circumstances. We were born into slavery to sin, unable to free ourselves. Like Edmund Dantes, we needed the death of someone else to provide our freedom. But the prison we will be saved from when we submit our hearts and minds to Christ will make the Chateau d’If seem like a 4-star resort. Hell is no joke. That is what Christ provides an escape from.

This is why the author tells us in the first verse of this chapter that we should pay attention to the truth we have heard. Keeping the truth of God’s word in our hearts and minds will keep us anchored to Christ and prevent us from drifting away on the currents of the culture around us.

The writer of Hebrews is giving us a warning that neglecting this great salvation that has been offered to us is a dangerous proposition because punishment came to those who disobeyed the message that came through angels. That covenant was legally binding!

However, the writer of Hebrews has been spending a lot of effort in the beginning of this book to show us that Jesus is superior to the angels. Let’s go back even to the beginning of this book.

Hebrews 1:1-2a

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. (As we have seen in our passage today, the law was given through angels to Moses, who was considered a prophet of God.) In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. (The continuation of God’s revelation came through Christ.)

Christ is higher and superior to the angels. That does not mean that what the angels delivered was wrong, because they were delivering the words of God himself. But there is a greater sense of urgency and gravity to the message when it comes directly from the source.

For example, think back to when you were an employee at a job. If someone gave you a memo or a message from your manager that something needed to be done right away, you would probably take it seriously, but there would still be a sense of maybe finishing tasks that you were already working on. You know there will be consequences for not finishing the task, but you may not feel a lot of urgency on your part to drop everything right away. However, if your boss came directly to your office or cubicle and said, “Hey, I need you to work on this right now,” there is a different urgency in that.

Hebrews 2:3b

This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

This message of salvation that the writer of Hebrews is referring to came from Christ and was then confirmed to those who heard that message from Jesus’ followers. This is why the author asks his readers how they could think they would escape the judgment and punishment of God if they neglect the message that came from God through his Son!

This escape is only ours if we are vigilant not to neglect the message of truth that we find in the Word of God.

What does it mean to neglect?

Neglect: fail to care for properly.

The definition of neglect that we see in our current English dictionaries gives the impression that neglect is a passive action. You don’t mean to neglect something; it just happens.

The Puritans had a few things to say when it comes to neglecting this great salvation that we can have in Christ.

John Owen: "Neglect of salvation is a sin of the highest nature, for it is a rejection of the grace offered to us."

Jonathan Edwards: "There is nothing so important as our salvation; to neglect it is to choose eternal misery over eternal bliss."

Thomas Watson: "What is more foolish than to neglect that which is the very foundation of our hope?"

John Flavel: "To neglect the means of grace is to deny ourselves the joy of eternal life in Christ."

I don’t know if our modern definition of the word “neglect” actually fits what the author of Hebrews is trying to get at, especially in light of what the Puritans have said about neglecting our salvation. I think a better word to use would be “ignore.”

Ignore: to refuse to take notice of, to reject as ungrounded

If we look back at the sermon last week, as I talked about deconstruction, I discussed how people were actively leaving Christianity because of their own questions or disagreements with what the Bible says or how it is interpreted. I saw a social media post from a Christian apologist named Tim Barnett where he said this:

“The church should welcome questions. But let’s not pretend all questions are equal. Some questions are looking for answers, and some questions are looking for exits.”

Tim Barnett

Walking away from the faith is not a passive action. It is an active, purposeful action. It is declaring, “I don’t believe this anymore!” These quotes I gave from the Puritans all seemed to consider neglect to be a very active stance against salvation.

So, what actions would constitute us neglecting our salvation?

Ignoring the Word of God: Failing to read, study, or meditate on Scripture undermines one's understanding and acceptance of salvation. This is why I emphasized being in Scripture so much during last week’s sermon and why I am going to have next steps about it this week too!

Neglecting Prayer: A lack of prayer and communication with God signifies indifference to the relationship that sustains salvation. If I never talk to Emily, it is hard to keep my relationship with her going strong. The same goes for talking to God. Don’t fall for the lie that you don’t know how to pray either. Praying is just talking to God.

Avoiding Worship: Skipping communal worship or neglecting the sacraments indicates a disregard for the means through which grace is received. We are going to see later in Hebrews that we are not to neglect coming together as the body of Christ, but to take it seriously as a way of encouraging others and being encouraged by them as we point each other to Christ!

Living in Sin: Persisting in unrepentant sin demonstrates a rejection of the transformative power of salvation. If I am choosing to sin in the same way without the remorse or without the desire to repent, I am telling God that I love my sin more than him. I am not talking about sins and struggles that you battle all the time, that you continually ask God to help you through. I am talking about refusing to repent for doing something you know is a sin.

Complacency: Being indifferent or apathetic about one’s spiritual state and failing to pursue holiness is seen as neglect. This is what I would call “active laziness.” This is when I just don’t care enough to read my Bible, pray, or gather with other believers. Or, I think my faith is strong enough. It isn’t important enough for me to change. (Athletes with natural talent vs those who need to work hard to succeed)

Postponing Repentance: Delaying sincere repentance or thinking there is always time to return to God is a form of neglect. There will not always be time to repent. The fact that God does not strike me down every time that I sin against him is a sign of his grace, giving me the time to repent. However, God’s grace is not deserved. When I start to expect God’s grace, it's no longer grace.

Overvaluing Worldly Pursuits: Prioritizing earthly concerns over spiritual matters can lead to a neglect of salvation. Are you more worried about the stock market and your 401k than the salvation of your neighbors? Are you more worried about climbing the corporate ladder at work than you are about spending time with your wife and children? Are you more worried about catching up on the latest Netflix series than the fact that you haven’t read your Bible in a month?

Listening to False Teachings: Being swayed by heretical views or false doctrines can divert attention from the true path of salvation. There is a lot of falsehood out there masquerading as “Biblical truth.” Sometimes we need to be careful not to label differences in interpretation as false. But false teachers are everywhere. (Do I name names?)

Rejecting Conviction: Ignoring the Holy Spirit’s promptings and conviction about sin shows a lack of responsiveness to God’s call. When I know I shouldn’t do something, and I can feel the Holy Spirit working in my heart and reminding me over and over that I should not go through with it, and I do it anyway, that shows that I am rejecting God’s call to a life of holiness.

Failing to Share the Gospel: Not actively sharing one’s faith reflects a neglect of the Great Commission and the urgency of salvation. In the second sermon that I preached here at Living Word as your pastor, I talked about how Christ will build his church through the church fulfilling the Great Commission. Christ commands us to “Go and make disciples.” Failing to do that is a refusal to obey Christ.

My wife and I have been going through the book of Revelation with our oldest daughter, watching sermons and going through some teaching series on the possible meanings of the symbolism we see throughout the book. One sermon series that we have been watching is from Pastor Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. In the last video that we watched, he talks of the cosmic battle between good and evil in Revelation 12, stating that we are a part of that battle. I will be honest, this sermon fired me up. I could feel the energy of Pentecostal preachers I heard growing up with fire and intensity as they preached.

Pastor Matt said that the reason the church so often looks like it is getting its teeth kicked in by the enemy is that we as the church, especially in the West, have allowed the enemy to distract us and pacify us so that we don’t jump into the fight. He said that when we start to wake up to the seriousness of the battle, Satan lays us back down like a parent putting their child back to sleep, saying, “You don’t need to get up, shhhh, shhh, shhh. Here is your Netflix pacifier. Here is your social media binky. Just lie back down shhhh, shhhh, shhhh.”

If we want to see the people of this city, this valley, this county, even this state and country, fall on their knees in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we need to wake up and start fighting.

That is why we are seeing these massive moves of God in China, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, the Sudan, Nigeria, and other countries that are hostile to the gospel. They understand what Paul meant when he said in Philippians 1, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” They are willing to lose their life for Christ. Are we?

Edmund Dantes did not escape from prison by lying on the floor of his cell and wondering why he had not escaped yet. He fought to escape. He put effort and work into getting out of that prison. I know that sometimes we can sit and wonder why God isn’t doing anything in our lives or in our community. But if we took an honest look at ourselves, would we see any action from us that would move us toward Christ? Are we pleading with God to give us the opportunity to share his love with others?

It grieves me to the core that the most popular “church” in this town teaches everything BUT the gospel. I may be wrong, but of the 5 churches in Carnation, the only two that I believe preach the truth of the Word of God have the two smallest congregations in town. And we are one of them.

Now, please, hear me. That does not mean that I want those other three churches to close down. What I want is for this entire city to bow its knee to the Christ of Scripture so that every man, woman, and child in those other churches repents and submits to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we have 5 churches proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ. Think of what this city could do for Christ if we had 5 churches dedicated to preaching the truth of the gospel!

For that to happen, we need to get in the fight! Do you want to know how we fight? Let’s just consider this next section to be all of our next steps for this sermon.

How do we fight?

Read the Word of God. Study it, Memorize it. If you need help, ask! We must know how to wield the Sword of the Spirit as Jesus did in battling the temptations of Satan, just like we saw last week!

Pray. We need to be constantly on our knees asking God to work in our hearts and minds so that we can show Christ to them that they may also be transformed into his image! If we want to see this church grow, we need to pray. If you want to see friends come to Christ, pray for God to start working in their hearts! (Prayer meetings?)

Gather on Sundays. This building is not “the Church.” The people are the church. But this building is where the church meets. This is where we encourage each other and point each other toward Christ. Make an effort to gather with the church!

Repent of your sin immediately. Don’t wait. Repent. Ask for God’s forgiveness and move forward in your walk with Him. Maybe you need to ask the forgiveness of someone you have wronged. Maybe it is someone here today. Don’t wait!

Get dissatisfied with where you are at. This does not mean being dissatisfied with God. This is being dissatisfied with your own effort. Am I comfortable in my faith or do I desire more? We need to be like Paul in Philippians, never satisfied, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.

Chase Christ, Not the World. Your promotion will not go with you to heaven. Your 401k will not go with you to heaven. Your stuff will not satisfy you in this life. Those things are not bad, but if they have a higher priority than God in our lives, they are idols. We need to stop chasing the thrills of this world and start chasing the One whose love, grace, mercy, and blessings are beyond anything we could hope for from this world.

Stay away from false teaching. I am not afraid to name off false teachers, but I do not have time for that right now. In the sermon notes, there is a PDF of teachings and teachers that I believe to be antithetical to the Word of God that they claim to follow. Stay away from them. They are wolves in sheep's clothing, preparing to devour anyone they can pull away from the flock.

Receive Conviction. It is a blessing to feel the Holy Spirit convict you of sin. That means that God is working in your heart to hear him and to want to obey him.

Share the gospel. Tell your friends about the good news of Jesus Christ. Tell them about how he has changed your life. Let your little light shine and stop hiding it under the bushel!

Let's get in the fight! I don’t know about you, but I am ready to smash through these brick walls and start preaching on the street corners! I want to fight for the spiritual life of this church, this city, the valley, and more! I am asking you, Living Word Community Church, as the church of God, to join me in this fight.

I am flattered that we have had people come to this church from other churches because they believe that they will be spiritually fed through the worship and preaching we have more fully than at other churches. It is extremely humbling. The fact that people have been dissatisfied with preaching in other churches and coming here is a huge compliment.

But I dont want to only see Christians coming to this church from other churches. I want to see conversions. I want to see people who have never been in a church walk through these doors and experience the love of Jesus. I want to see the spiritually dead come alive by the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to see drug addicts give up their needles, powders, and pills and call on Christ to save them. I want alcoholics tossing the bottle away and throwing themselves at the feet of Jesus. I want to see the anxious and depressed find peace and joy in the God of creation. I want to see sinners so overwhelmed by the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ that they have no choice but to repent of their sins and fall in submission to the God who knew them before they were conceived. (I have a dream)

Will you join me in that fight?

Hebrews 2:4

At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.

Here, in the last verse of our passage today, the author tells us that the message Christ delivered was accompanied by signs and wonders. Jesus did miracles among the people he preached to. He healed the sick, raised the dead, turned water into wine, turned a little boy’s lunch into a meal for thousands, walked on water, and calmed the storm with the sound of his voice. These were to provide evidence that what Jesus was saying about himself was true.

There were also different gifts given by the Holy Spirit to help the people of God proclaim the truth of who he is.

I want to be very careful with how I word these next few sentences. The point of those signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit was to point us and those we come in contact with to Christ. They were a testimony that Christ was sent by God as the Messiah. We do not need signs, wonders, miracles, or gifts of the Holy Spirit to prove our message. God already did that. We are not disobeying God or teaching falsely if we don’t see the miracles.

Now, God still does miracles in this world. God still heals people of cancer, where on one scan there is a massive tumor and on the next scan the tumor is gone. God heals bones, heals the sick, and even raises the dead. He breaks people free of addiction and oppression. But he does those things for his own purpose and in his own timing. We can ask God to do those miracles. It is up to him whether he will do it or not. And God doing or not doing the miracle has nothing to do with how much faith we have, but on his sovereign plan.

The Holy Spirit still gives gifts to the people of God to help them point the world to Christ. However, when you see people exercise those gifts, they should look the same as we see them look in Scripture. If we see things in churches that don’t look like what we see described in Scripture, we must be careful.

In a world filled with distractions and uncertainties, the call to salvation stands as a beacon of hope. Hebrews 2:3 challenges us: “How will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” This isn’t merely a suggestion; it’s a profound warning. Each of us carries the weight of our transgressions, and the consequences of our disobedience are real. Yet, there is a way to escape this fate.

Jesus Christ, in His perfect obedience, bore the punishment we all deserve. He invites us to turn away from our sins and submit our lives to Him. This is not a passive act; it demands a heartfelt response. To repent means to acknowledge our wrongs and actively choose to follow Christ, embracing His grace and mercy.

Today, I urge you: do not ignore the truth that calls you. Lay down your burdens, turn from the distractions of the world, and seek the One who offers true freedom. Do you need freedom from addiction, depression, anxiety, or even anger? Submit your life to Jesus, and experience the profound transformation that occurs when we fully embrace His salvation. Will you take that step today?

Next Step: I will submit my life to Christ.

Let’s pray.

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