Hebrews 2:1-4 - Homiletics

A solemn parenthetical warning.

Out of solicitude for the spiritual well-being of his readers, the writer pauses here for a moment, to enforce upon them the necessity of' holding fast the New Testament salvation. He does so in words which are burning with urgency.

I. THE DUTY . How prone men are to "neglect the great salvation" ( Hebrews 2:3 )! All classes of sinners do so—the blasphemer, the infidel, the self-righteous mart, the respectable worldling, the procrastinator. Thousands of church-going people ignore the gospel, out of love of the world and secret repugnance to Christ and his cross. Even believers themselves are very prone to "drift away from" ( Hebrews 2:1 ) their anchorage in the gospel verities. The early Hebrew Christians were strongly tempted to relapse into Judaism; our besetting danger is that we allow ourselves to glide with the multitude down the swift current of worldliness and indifference. We need, therefore, "to give the more earnest heed." Want of heedfulness on the part of professing believers is a great evil of our time. "My people doth not consider." What a blessing would dawn upon the Church, were all its members to begin to "search the Scriptures," and to make intense application of mind and heart to the spiritual study of saving truth! Only thus will Christian faith both live and grow. Only thus may one's life be a life of real devotion to the Redeemer. Only by discharging this duty of constant watchfulness will a believer be preserved from apostasy.

II. THE MOTIVES BY WHICH IT IS ENFORCED . "Therefore" ( Hebrews 2:1 ); i.e. on account of all that has been said in the previous chapter.

1. The greatness of the gospel. "So great salvation ( Hebrews 2:3 ). What an unfathomable depth of meaning underlies this little word "so"! The new revelation far transcends the old, inasmuch as in the Son we have received a visible manifestation of God, an adequate atonement for sin, an intelligible exhibition of the spirituality of religious service, a perfect expression of the dignity of man, and a clear revelation of eternal life. Especially does the new economy excel the old in the distinctness with which it exhibits "salvation" as its characteristic feature. The gospel proclaims the love of God. It offers pardon. It breathes a new life into the soul. It rescues from the despotism of sin. It promises a glorious immortality. And at what an infinite expenditure has this salvation been provided! It cost the incarnation of Christ, together with his obedience, suffering and death. It costs still the pleadings and strivings of the Spirit.

2. The dignity of its first Preacher. "At the first spoken through the Lord." ( Hebrews 2:3 ). In Hebrews 1:1-14 ., the writer has unfolded and illustrated from Scripture the glory of Christ. He is greater than the prophets of the Old Testament, and. more eminent than the angels by whose ministrations the Sinaitic Law had been proclaimed. He is the Son of God—his visible manifestation and his exact counterpart. He made and sustains and possesses the universe. He is not only the Prophet of the Church; he is its atoning Priest and. its exalted King. And this first Preacher continues with the Church as its perennial Prophet. He speaks to us today and always by his Word and Spirit.

3. The attestations which it has receive& ( Hebrews 1:3 , Hebrews 1:4 ) The Church has the testimony of the apostles and early evangelists to the facts and doctrines of the gospel. These were even sealed from heaven by the miracles of Christ and. his apostles, as well as by gifts from the fullness of the Spirit distributed among the early Christians. But we have now far greater witness than these. The highest evidence of the truth is the truth itself. The history of the Church has been an ever-cumulating attestation of Christianity. Myriads of believers have certified the gospel by their experience of its power within their hearts. It has been attested from millions of death-beds. "We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses."

4. The inevitable doom of those who neglect it. ( Hebrews 1:2 , Hebrews 1:3 ) If the Law, given by angels, could not be violated with impunity, how much more certain and dreadful must be the ruin of all who reject the message of mercy spoken by the lips of the Lord- himself ( Hebrews 10:28-31 )! Escape for such is plainly impossible. For did not man's redemption cost the tears and. groans and blood of the Redeemer? Had these not been indispensably necessary, they would not have been expended. And what can any despiser of them propose to put in their place? Let professing Christians remember that they will miss salvation if they merely neglect it. As the farmer will lose his harvest by simple neglect, as the business man will become bankrupt by simple neglect, as the scholar will strip himself of his attainments by simple neglect, so the surest way by which to accomplish the irremediable ruin of the soul is just to "neglect so great salvation." In conclusion, these four motives to heedfulness are the very strongest that can be urged. The Three Persons of the Trinity all speak to us in them. They remind us at once of the unutterable love of God, and of the power of his anger. They appeal to the most sacred interests of our souls. If we are not aroused by these motives, even God himself can do no more for us.