Sunday, October 21, 2018 am
HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE?
Hebrews 2:3
The
book of Hebrews is an interesting study.
It makes the case for why we ought to follow Christ Jesus.
To those of Jewish heritage in the first century (and beyond),
the writer in a clear and concise way establishes how Jesus is better in
every way than the Old Law and its priesthood.
Intermingled throughout this letter are a number of beneficial
warnings against neglecting our standing before God.
This morning I would like to talk about a phrase in one of these
warnings.
Hebrews 2:1-3 warns against drifting away by failing to give earnest
heed to the message of God’s word (“the things we have heard”).
Warnings of punishment if we neglect our salvation are given.
AND should we neglect our salvation, how shall we escape?
This morning I want to talk about escaping?
a.
The bondage of sin – Romans 3:23 – all have sinned.
One of the descriptions of sin is that of bondage.
When we sin we are separated from God and in bondage to the
devil. And we become slaves
of sin – John 8:34 – Jesus said whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
Romans 6:16-18, 22-23 speaks of being slaves of sin (in bondage) or
slaves of righteousness.
b.
The judgment of God - Romans 2:3. Hebrews 9:27 warns us that one day we will all stand before
God in judgment. 2
Corinthians 5:10 we must ALL appear before the judgment seat
John 5:28-29 – Jesus taught this as well.
c.
Eternal condemnation
– Matthew 23:33 – to the hypocritical leaders Jesus said,
Serpents, brood of vipers! How can
you escape the condemnation of hell?
2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord
Matthew 25:46, 41 – Jesus Himself spoke of the everlasting fire and
punishment
d.
We NEED to escape these
things.
a.
Those in Noah’s day – Genesis 6-9 records God’s destruction of the world by flood.
Their eyes were continually on ungodliness (Genesis 6:5-6).
Only Noah and His family were spared (1 Peter 3:20-21, Hebrews
11:7)
In his second letter, Peter again appealed to the times – 2 Peter 2:5 –
mentions God did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah.
2 Peter 3:5-6 questioning the promise of His coming, many mocked.
Peter reminds them of the days of Noah (cf. Matthew 24:37-39) –
times similar to ours. The
ungodly did not escape but were destroyed by the flood.
b.
Sodom and Gomorrah – Lot escaped - Genesis 19:17-21, but only because of his righteousness
and the pleading of Abraham.
2 Peter 2:6 speaks of turning the cities into ashes as an example of the
need to live godly. Jude 7
speaks of their sinful behavior and how they suffered the vengeance of
eternal fire.
c.
The nations of Israel
and Judah
i.
Even though they were
God’s chosen people, their rebellion did not go unnoticed or not
addressed by Him.
ii.
Jude 5 summarizes these
things noting those He delivered out of Egypt, afterward He destroyed
those who did not believe.
This could apply to many occasions.
iii.
In 722 BC, Northern
Israel fell to Assyria and in 586, the fall of Judah and Jerusalem to
Babylon was completed. Much
of the prophets address these tragic occasions.
Even God’s chosen people could not escape His wrath when they sinned
against Him.
d.
Jonah – he
tried to run away from God, but he could not escape.
Jonah 1:3 – he sought to escape on a ship.
God knew and caught him.
Eventually, Jonah submitted to God’s will to warn Nineveh.
e.
Angels that sinned – 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6 – texts we previously mentioned.
What is involved in this we do not know, but we know there were
angels that rebelled against God at some point.
Hell was initially prepared for them (Matthew 25:41)
f.
The rich man in torments
– Luke 16:19-31. A glimpse
into the eternal fate of mankind, he could not escape or receive even
the slightest amount of relief.
g.
In these examples and others, we see that not all will escape.
It is not because there is not a way available, but their conduct
condemned them to bondage. Matthew
7:13-14 also tells us this.
Today, as we have seen, sin puts us in bondage and we NEED to escape.
If we don’t there is severe danger.
a.
Through Jesus
i.
Jesus is THE way
– John 14:6. Acts 4:12 – He is the ONLY way. Being, “the way” we need to
follow Him. There is
only ONE way to escape our sins and its consequences – it is through
Him.
ii.
Jesus is the door
– the idea of a door is a threshold that grants entrance to some place.
Jesus is our door into heaven - John 10:1, 2, 7 – the way out and
in. A few weeks ago, we
talked about Jesus as the good Shepherd.
We need to be part of His flock.
But to do so, we must belong to Him (Galatians 3:27).
He knocks – will we open and let Him in? (Revelation 3:20)
Will we open and escape the condemnation of sin?
iii.
Jesus is the light
– another description of Jesus – John 8:12, 12:35-36, 46 – He is the
light of the world. Light
exposes the darkness, so we can escape.
Light also illuminates its surroundings so that we can find the
way out and escape.
iv.
Jesus makes us free
- Romans
6:3-6 – when we obey the gospel we are no longer slaves of sin.
Hebrews 2:14-15 – Jesus became flesh that through death He might
defeat the devil and release those who through fear of death, were all
their lifetime subject to bondage.
v.
ALL of these
descriptions of Jesus are related to the escape we need.
b.
God will make a way of escape from temptations
– one final observation.
Even as Christians, we will sin from time to time (not that we HAVE TO
sin, but we will). 1
Corinthians 10:13 tells us that there is no temptation we have to give
into – He makes the way of escape.
2 Peter 2:9, in a text we have already noted we read that “the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and reserve
the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.”
Do
you need to escape? If you are still in your sins you need to escape.
You cannot do it on your own.
You need the blood of Jesus and the help of God.
If you have never obeyed the gospel – become a Christian today
and escape the coming condemnation.
If you are Christian who has escaped the pollutions of this world
and are again entangled therein (2 Peter 2:20), He will take you back.
How can we help you?