Introduction:
Why I Shouldn't Neglect the Message of Salvation:
(Hebrews 2:1-4)
- Because this offer doesn't Last Forever . (Heb 2:1-2)
"All you need to do to go to hell is do nothing." - John MacArthur
- Because God Himself Said That It's True . (Heb 2:3-4)
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Well, thank you so much for joining us at Harvest for Christmas Eve. My name is Taylor I'm one of the pastors around here and before I get started. I want to take a quick poll Who's gonna be opening gifts tonight when they get home?
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All right, very few of you who's gonna be saving all their gift opening for tomorrow All right. I agree with all the rest of you who raised your hands. All right, so tonight I'm gonna give you an early Christmas present by telling you the most embarrassing thing That has ever happened to me Does that sound like a good gift?
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I thought so.
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So travel back in time with me to 2008.
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I'm a junior in high school, and I went to Eden Christian Academy, and the classes were even smaller back then, so we were a pretty tight-knit group.
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And a girl in the grade below me was having a birthday party.
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She sent out all these invitations to the 10th, 11th grade classes.
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Almost everyone was invited.
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Emphasis on almost everyone.
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I was the only guy in my friend group who wasn't invited to this party.
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I couldn't figure it out.
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It made me feel so bad.
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And the day of the party at school, my friend Robert just casually asked me, "When are you going to the party tonight?" And I had to awkwardly share the news that I wasn't invited to the party.
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He said, "No, there's no way.
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"That has to be a mistake.
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"She must have meant to invite you.
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"You should come anyway." That didn't sound like the best idea to me in 2008, and it seems like it was a bad thing for all of you 14 years later, right?
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Not the best of suggestions, but he convinced me to go.
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He convinced me that I would have a great time.
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Spoiler alert, I didn't.
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It was one of the worst nights of my life.
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So I get to the party, I show up that evening, and I get to the girl's house, and the party is in her backyard, and to get to the party spot, you had to walk down these long, long, long wooden stairs.
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And as soon as I get to the top of the stairs, everyone, I'll never get this mental picture out of my mind as long as I live.
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It was like everyone turned in unison and looked at me and a hush fell over the crowd.
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It was like everybody knew that I wasn't invited to the party.
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And everyone watched me as I walked down those stairs for what seemed like a million years.
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After I finished this walk of shame, My friend Robert comes running over to me.
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Dude, I can't believe you came.
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I said, you told me to come.
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And he said, I didn't think you were actually gonna do it.
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I was just messing with you.
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Thank you all for siding with me on this story.
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I really appreciate that.
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I felt so awkward in that moment, but it seemed like it'd be much more awkward for me just to turn tail and leave right then.
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So I stayed for about an hour, a really long, long, long hour.
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And then I went home to lick my wounds.
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I think we can all relate to that story on some level, right?
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Maybe you weren't as publicly as humiliated as I was all those years ago, but we've all felt left out of something.
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We've all not been invited to something.
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But this evening, I wanna assure you that God is not like that girl who didn't invite me to that party all those years ago.
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He has invited every single one of us in this room to unwrap the greatest gift of all time, the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, and the salvation that he offers.
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But sadly, many choose to reject this gift and leave it unopened.
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Maybe some of you in this room right now haven't opened this gift yet.
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It's been in front of you for months and months, maybe even years, but you've been ignoring it, you've been pushing this decision off.
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As a church, we're towards the beginning of our study in the book of Hebrews.
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And the entire first chapter, the author of Hebrews lays out Jesus' divine credentials.
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He lists off wreath and after reason of why Jesus is greater and more valuable than anything or anyone else.
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And in chapter two, verses one through four, the author of Hebrews takes a quick break from teaching deep doctrine to make a passionate plea for his readers to accept the invitation of salvation to submit to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
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And he lays out two reasons why it is a bad idea to neglect the free gift of eternal life that Jesus offers you.
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And these verses obliterate any reasons, any excuses we could give for pushing off this decision, for ignoring it one day longer, because this is the most important decision of your life.
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Before we dive into Hebrews, let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask for his help.
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Father, we thank you for this time we can come together to celebrate your son, to celebrate what he has done for us and what he continues to do for us every single day, Lord.
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I pray for those in this room who do not know you.
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They've been moving and working in their hearts, Lord, that you'd be preaching a much better sermon in their hearts than I could possibly preach from my mouth.
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Lord, I pray that you would draw many unto you and for the rest of us who do know you, Lord, help us to once again be amazed by your gospel, to be amazed by what your Son has done.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
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Let's read what the author of Hebrews has to say in chapter two, verses one through four.
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Therefore, we must pay close attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
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For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience to receive the just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
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It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
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So why shouldn't I neglect the message of salvation?
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Number one, because this offer doesn't last forever.
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Because this offer doesn't last forever.
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As I already said, in chapter one of Hebrews, we were told of the awesomeness of Christ and the inescapable reality that he is superior to anyone else in human history, even angels.
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Pastor Jeff unpacked these verses and taught us that Jesus is God himself.
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He is the creator, ruler, and owner of all things.
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He is the savior of sinners.
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He is the ultimate prophet and messenger who teaches us everything we need to know about God, this life, and the life to come.
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The author of Hebrews tells us in verse one that we must pay close attention to Jesus and what we have heard about him, lest we drift away from it.
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And the Greek words for pay attention and drift away in this passage have nautical meanings as well.
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To pay attention, the original Greek can also refer to tying a boat to a dock.
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And drift away often referred to a ship that was out to sea because someone didn't secure it properly.
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Someone wasn't steering it in the right direction.
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Please listen.
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You will be pulled out by the current and storms of life if you fail to tie yourself to the steady and unmoving anchor, the unmoving dock of Jesus Christ.
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No one and nothing is more secure than him.
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If you try to tie the boat of your life to anything else, your tether will snap and it will not be able to handle the pressures of life.
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You can try to go your own way.
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You can try to swim against the currents of life by yourself, but you'll ultimately fail and not be able to keep your head above water.
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Jesus reaches out a saving hand and he offers to rescue you.
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He offers you safe harbor from the power and penalty of sin.
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He offers you forgiveness from your past, present, and future sins.
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Without him, you are lost at sea and heading for destruction.
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Now I know what some of you may be thinking right now.
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Taylor, I'm doing great.
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I'm doing just fine.
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I'm not sinking or drowning by any means.
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I have a good family, I have a good job, I'm a good person, I do nice things for other people.
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What you're saying doesn't describe me at all.
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Well to answer that, let me ask you a question.
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Who's ever been to the beach?
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All right, most of us have been to the beach.
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Have you ever had this experience?
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You lug all your stuff, your umbrella, your chairs, you find a spot on the shoreline, you lay everything out and then you go into the water.
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and you're in the water for about 15, 20 minutes, having fun, not really paying attention, and you look back to where you think your stuff was, and what happens?
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It's not there anymore, right?
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And you think in your mind, oh my gosh, someone stole all of our stuff.
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So you run back to the beach, you're searching, you're searching, and you realize, while you're in the water, that whole time, without realizing it, you were drifting, you were drifting, you were drifting.
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You didn't mean to end up further down the shoreline, but it happened without you even noticing.
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It takes no effort, it takes no time or attention to drift in the wrong direction and get off track.
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Satan, sin, and love of self will take you farther than you ever thought possible.
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A pastor named John MacArthur puts it very simply but bluntly, he says, "All you have to do to go to hell "is do nothing." Nothing.
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All you have to do is ignore Jesus Christ.
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All you have to do is trust in yourself and your own goodness.
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All you have to do is fail to tie yourself to the steady and unmoving dock of salvation in Jesus.
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If you choose to neglect such a great salvation, this passage tells us you will drift into eternal separation from God.
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This free offer of salvation doesn't last forever.
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It has an expiration date.
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Like an amazing Black Friday deal, it has an expiration date.
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It's only as good as long as you're alive.
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And none of us know how much longer we have.
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None of us know what our expiration date is.
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That's why you can't afford to push off the decision any longer.
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This is why you can't ride the fence anymore.
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This is why you can't keep dragging your feet about Jesus.
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The author of Hebrews tells us in verse two through three that retribution and judgment are coming for those who reject Jesus Christ.
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I'm sorry to break it to you, but that statement that deep down we're all good people, it's a lie.
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And it's not within the pages of Scripture at all.
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And if you're honest with yourself, that really flies in the face of our daily experiences, doesn't it?
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But the Bible shoots us straight.
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The Bible tells us that we are sinners by nature and by choice we have committed cosmic treason against the God of the universe.
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We fall short of God's divine standards.
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And God is too holy, God is too righteous to just ignore how we have sinned against him and leave our sin unpunished.
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Someone has to pay for your sin.
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Someone has to pay for my sin.
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It's either you in hell for all of eternity or Jesus Christ on the cross, who experienced hell on our behalf.
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Those are the only two options.
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And I ask you this evening, what will you choose?
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What have you chosen?
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And to be clear, by not making a decision about Jesus, you have made a decision.
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Why I shouldn't neglect the message of salvation, number two, because God himself said that it's true, because God himself said that it's true.
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Now I know what some of you are thinking at this point.
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Taylor, how can I know this message about Jesus is trustworthy?
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How can I know he is the only way to God?
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Well, thankfully, the author of Hebrews answers that question for us.
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First of all, he tells us that the message declared by angels proved to be reliable.
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Everyone say reliable.
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Reliable.
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For thousands of years, God has used angels to bring his divine messages to human beings.
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The message that the author of Hebrews mainly has in mind here is the law of God that was given to Moses after Israelites' exodus from slavery in Egypt.
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As Jeff told us last week, angels were a big part of bringing the law to God's people.
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And God's law reveals his divine standards, how holy, how righteous, how awesome he is.
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But by doing that, it also reveals our sinfulness, our brokenness, our need for a Savior.
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The law points to our desperate need for Jesus Christ.
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And according to the author of Hebrews, this message delivered by angels is reliable, it's trustworthy, and it cannot be doubted.
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And God also used angels to deliver other messages, like to Mary, to Joseph, and to the shepherds on the night of Jesus' birth.
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These angels can be trusted because they simply delivered the mail as God told them to.
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They didn't write it, they simply delivered these messages from God.
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Now as trustworthy and reliable as angels are, we are given an even greater and more reliable source, God himself.
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Listen again to verses three through four.
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How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
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It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his word.
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So Jesus, God in the flesh, came to share this message of salvation to his disciples and everyone who heard him.
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And then whenever he rose from the grave and ascended into heaven, his followers took this message of salvation and spread it across the known world.
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And this message was backed up by miracles.
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Miracles such as the blind being given back their sight, the dead coming back to life, those who were oppressed by demons being free.
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These miracles were provided by God to prove that the message of salvation is true and uncontested.
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These miracles were provided to prove that God alone has the power to save.
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God alone has the power to forgive, and the Lord has preserved this awesome message in the pages of his word, which we can read at any time.
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So how can we know that the message of salvation is true?
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Because God himself has said it's true.
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We live in a time where it's hard to trust anyone.
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Politicians, celebrities, social media influencers, news anchors, they twist the truth.
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They say one thing and mean the other.
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That's not true of the Lord.
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The Lord always keeps his promises.
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The Lord never lies.
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When he says something, it is right and it will never be proven wrong.
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Now you may be thinking, Taylor, you've just given me evidence out of the Bible.
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Can't you give me proof outside of the Bible?
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I could.
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I could stand up here for hours and go through archeological, logical, historical evidence that backs up the claims of Christ, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.
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I could have a PowerPoint presentation for you that is so convincing, but you'd still find a reason not to believe.
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You could still find a reason to reject it.
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You could still find a way to say, oh, that seems inconclusive and one-sided.
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At its core, this is a spiritual issue, and it requires faith.
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It requires you to trust that Jesus is more reliable than anything anyone else.
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It requires you to trust the word of God.
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We can always think of reasons and excuses why we shouldn't believe, why we shouldn't follow Christ, and I'm hoping tonight you will lay those excuses and those reasons down at the foot of the cross and take that step of faith and obedience.
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(baby crying)
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I know this message has been heavy.
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I know that some of you were hoping for a light and uplifting message to get you ready for the big day tomorrow, but I know of no better way to prepare you for Christmas than to lay out what Christmas is actually about.
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Christmas isn't about the tree.
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It's not about the presents under the tree, the decorations, your traditions, or even time with your family.
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Christmas is all about the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ.
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It's about the reality that over 2,000 years ago, God sent his one and only son to this earth as a baby.
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But the story doesn't end there.
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Jesus grew up, he perfectly obeyed the will of his father at every single turn, and he carried out the greatest rescue mission of all time.
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You know, many try to cutesy up the nativity story and just focus on the cute, little, non-threatening baby in a manger.
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But let us remind ourselves that that baby, Jesus came to die.
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He came to pay the penalty for our sin.
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He came to take upon the wrath of God, which you and I deserve.
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He was sent so that those who place their faith and trust in him might enjoy eternal life with God forever.
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There is no greater news than this.
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There is no greater message that I could share with you this evening, and I love you too much not to share it with you.
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So if you're in this room, and you haven't opened this gift from the Lord yet, what are you waiting for?
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It's right there in front of you, and all you need to do is open it up by faith.
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Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you've done in the past, we are all more sinful than we can fully understand, but God's grace and forgiveness is greater than we can possibly imagine.
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Yes, your list of mess ups and mistakes is long, but the blood of Christ is more than enough to cover them all.
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Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
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Submit to him as the Lord, the boss of your life.
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If you do this tonight, he will change you from the inside out.
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He will transform you into a new person with a new hope, with a new eternal destiny.
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I can't guarantee much in this life, but I can promise you this, you will not regret making this decision.
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You will not regret accepting this invitation.
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Let's pray.
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Father, we admit that so often during this time of year, we can just get so distracted with the commercials, the movies, the songs, decorations, Christmas cookies, that we forget what the season is all about.
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It's about you.
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It's about what you have done for us.
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It's about your son and the sacrifice that he has made.
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And Lord, as I prayed earlier, if there's anyone in this room who doesn't know you, Lord, I pray you'd be softening their heart and opening them up to this good news, Lord.
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Lord, you would push them to make this decision for you and be forever changed.
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And for the rest of us, Lord, I pray that you'd restore to us the joy of our salvation, that we would be once again in awe of you, in awe of your gospel, in awe of the reality that you have saved us, you've forgiven us, you've adopted us as sons and daughters and we are a part of your family.
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Lord, burn this message on our hearts this Christmas, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 2:1-4
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What are some reasons/excuses people give for neglecting the free gift of salvation in Jesus? Why do none of these reasons/excuses hold any water?
Reread Hebrews 2:1-4: How can we know that the message of salvation is trustworthy and reliable?
Breakout
Pray for one another