Brother Gary Sunday Morning 8/4/13

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 8/4/13

Heb 2:1  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Heb 2:2  For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Our lesson comes from the thought of “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”  God moved upon Paul to write to these Hebrews and to reinforce the thought of how we ought to give earnest heed to this salvation. 

We want to give the more earnest heed to this salvation.  The steadfastness of God and His Word!  If we neglect, sin will take you further than you want to go and will leave you where you don’t want to stay. 

Neglect will take a soul to where they don’t want to go.  It will happen slowly, but surely.  It will take individuals way far away.  There are those that have allowed situations to put them in a position where they don’t know the way back.

I want to have this understanding because there are those that we love that don’t know the way back. 

How shall we escape if we neglect?  We are instructed to give the more earnest heed.

Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

He spake at different times and to different people.  May we not let any individual or our own thoughts take us away from the sureness of the Word.

Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

I’m happy that in a world full of uncertainty, there is certainty.  In a world going however many directions there is still the right path and the right way.  There is still the scepter of righteousness and we can know it.

 Concerning Jesus:

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

The Word of God cannot be separated from Jesus.  Jesus is the Word.  The Word of God is certain and forever settled.  If you need any answer this morning…, may every one of us in this audience this morning realize that the answer we need is in the Word of God.  May God challenge us to pray and seek God.  We know that God will send the answer according to His Word.

Heb 1:4  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

God didn’t say to the angels, “Thou art my son.”  This is Jesus that is in the position of very much preeminence.

Heb 1:5  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Heb 1:6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Heb 1:7  And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Thy throne is forever a scepter of righteousness.  We had a visual of Queen Esther and the scepter in Vacation Bible School.  We are in a position where we can approach the Son if we are approaching Him God’s way.  The sinner can approach in the thought, “I am seeking God to get rid of sin.”

This is to those that are serving God and being true to God.  We will not get to Him by saying, “I’m going to tell God everything that I want.” 

We come saying, “I am able to approach you and the Son because my sins are forgiven.  I am approaching you because I want to please God.  I am approaching you because I have a decision or something in my life that needs to be taken care of.  God reaches out His scepter and says, “You can come into my presence.  I will take care of that which concerns you.” 

We heard the requests and testimonies of God’s people.  You that have been recently seeking after God for sanctification or greater spiritual depth, we come with no other attitude than, “God I need to hear from you.”  He holds out the scepter of His kingdom. 

When we seek Him and His kingdom first it is the design of God to see that all our needs are fulfilled.

We have all come to the place where we realized that we are no one’s savior.  We can point them to God.  It is He that can hold out the scepter and say, “When you seek my kingdom first, I will add to you all that you need.”

Heb 1:9  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

How God loves righteousness and loves for His creation to say, “God I love you so much that I want to please you with all my heart.  It is the utmost desire of my life to serve you and have my life be a living sacrifice.  I love you so much that the greatest time of my life is to spend that hour with you.”

We understand having to work and getting up to have devotions.  We also understand when God says, “It is time to come away and spend some time with me.”  We say, “God I want to be righteous and to live in every way right before you.”

God loves righteousness and hates iniquity.

Heb 1:10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

Heb 1:11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

As much as we enjoy whatever the sky is giving us.  We look forward to clear skies and sunny weather, but we sure rejoiced when we saw those rain clouds and the rain come down from heaven.  They shall perish and He will remain. 

When we cannot see the sun, moon, and stars, God will still be God. 

There will come a day when the young people are back in school and there will be peer pressure.  It is seasonal.  It will only last for a little while.  It is tantalizing to the mind but realize that this too shall pass.  I want to live so that even through the years of peer pressure I can cry out to God and He say, “Son, daughter, I hear you and I want to help.” 

Let’s not just cry out just during tests and difficult times.  Let us cry out to thank God too.  We rejoice with those that rejoice and we can weep with those that weep. 

Heb 1:11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

Heb 1:12  And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

There are times when what has served you well, “as much as I like this old coat, it has been washed and shrunk, and washed and shrunk, and it is time to fold it up.”  There will come a time when all this will be folded up but Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit will still be there.

Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Heb 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Let us give the more earnest heed.  The word of the angels was steadfast.  The Word of Christ is more so.   How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Pro 24:30  I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;

Pro 24:31  And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

The thorns of the gospel day are the cares of life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in. 

 For all the things God has given us to enjoy:  Where we live, we can have yards that are beautiful.  We can have gardens that are beautiful and the tomatoes will make your mouth water.  My dad would take the saltshaker to the tomato patch and begin eating.

The blessings that we have we must keep in their rightful place.  We have a home and there are things to take care of.  There is nothing that I have found that doesn’t need maintenance.  Don’t allow anything to cause you to neglect your soul.  Take care of your soul first. 

Take care of your soul every day.  Don’t have the thought, “Today I will neglect my soul but tomorrow I will give it double time.”  It doesn’t work that way.

There are some walls, the middle wall of partition, that separate the saints and need to be taken down.  The wall of salvation you want to remain standing and without a peephole to the world.  “I have chosen to serve God and will keep my wall built and well maintained.  I will not allow anything to work and cause in any way to suffer loss.”

Pro 24:32  Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.

Pro 24:33  Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

Pro 24:34  So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.

A little sleep, a little slumber:  When we go to sleep we don’t know what is happening around us.  The other morning I woke up and there was a truck outside our house and there were people talking and then we smelled smoke.  I got up, got dressed, and went out and saw a lot of lights.  There was a building that was on fire on Main Street. 

When you are asleep then you don’t know what is happening around you. 

Spiritually, stay awake and don’t slumber.  Don’t wing it.  Prepare. 

Poverty, poverty, poverty… Take care of your soul.  Start planting some fruit trees and expect to gather the fruit.

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?  The message this morning is to take care of your soul.  We have this opportunity today to take care of our soul.  If you slipped last week, take care of your soul today, be on target for this week. 

“God I’m not going to let my soul slip for a little sleep, a little slumber, a little cares, a little riches, it is not worth it.”  Take care of your soul.