HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE?

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: HEBREWS 2:1-3




INTRODUCTION:


  1. W.A. Criswell said, "At the turn of this century, the only connection between the island of Galveston and the mainland of Texas was an iron bridge. On a fateful day in 1900, the United States government sent warning after warning to the citizens of the city that a terrible hurricane was coming their way, and that they should escape for their lives. Over that iron causeway to the mainland went trains and trolleys and vehicles to safety; but the citizens of the city looked at the blue of the sky and the quiet of the sea and, heedless of the terrible warnings, in a false peace went to bed and to sleep. In the dark and terror of that frightful night, the gentle breeze turned into a wind, and the wind turned into a hurricane, and the hurricane turned into a torrential rain, and the torrential rain turned into a tidal wave, and the tidal wave went over the island, destroying the bridge like a match stem. When the one way of hope and escape is spurned, there remains no other avenue of salvation. Nothing remains but judgment and death" (Five Great Questions of the Bible).
  2. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was the deadliest hurricane in US history. An estimated 8,000 people died. By contrast, approximately 1,800 people died in Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
  3. Many lives could have been saved if people would have taken the warnings seriously. But as bad as these hurricanes were, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"
  4. There are several warnings given in the epistle to the Hebrews (cf. Heb. 3:7, 8; 6:4-6), and this is the first one -- "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"
  5. The great evangelist R.A. Torrey said this is a question that should startle every man who is not a Christian.

 

I. THE GREATNESS OF THIS SALVATION

  1. It is a great salvation because we have a great Saviour! The angel Gabriel said to Mary, "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest" (Luke 1:31, 32).
  2. Titus 2:13 says, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
  3. It is a great salvation in its very nature. It is salvation from death in sin. It is salvation not only from the penalty of sin (hell), but from the power of sin.
  4. It is great because it delivers from endless sinning and endless suffering.
  5. Furthermore, the greatness of this salvation is seen in the way in which it was purchased. This is a costly salvation. It was purchased by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  6. When we consider that God gave His only begotten Son to die on that cruel cross at Calvary, so that He might purchase your salvation and mine, if you and I neglect so great salvation we are pouring contempt on the precious blood of the Son of God.
  7. Hebrews 10:29 says, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"
  8. The greatness of this salvation is seen by considering all that it brings. It brings pardon for all our sins; it brings deliverance from sin; it brings us into union with the Son of God; it brings adoption into the family of God; it brings an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and, that fadeth not away, laid up in store in Heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
  9. This great salvation brings the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
  10. It brings us a home in heaven, peace with God, and all the blessings that come with being a child of God.
  11. R.A. Torrey said, "When you think that God has put at our disposal in Jesus Christ all His wealth, and is ready to make us heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, who can measure the guilt of neglecting and of turning a deaf ear to this wonderful salvation?
  12. "Suppose that on his coronation day King Edward had ridden down to the East End of London, and seeing some wretched little boy on the street, clad in rags, with filthy face and hands, his great heart of love had gone out to that wretched boy, and he had stopped the royal carriage and said, 'Bring that boy here,' and they had brought the boy, and he had said, 'I want to take you out of your poverty, out of your squalor and rags and wretched home; I am going to take you to the royal palace and adopt you, as my son.' Then suppose the boy had turned said, 'Go along, I don't want to he adopted as your son; I would rather have my wretched crust of bread, I would rather have my rags and filthy home than live in your old palace; I don't want to go to be your son.'"
  13. "But when the great King of Glory, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the great Eternal Son of God comes to you and me, in our filth and rags and sin, and wants to take us out of our filth and sin and rags of unrighteousness, and says, 'I want to adopt you into my family and make you an heir of God and a joint-heir with Me,' there are some of you men and women in this building tonight who, by your actions, are saying, 'Go away with your salvation, go away with your adoption into the family of God; I would rather have the crust of the world's pleasure and the rags of my sin than all the royal apparel of righteousness and glory which you offer me.' Oh, the daring, damning guilt, of any man or woman who neglects so great salvation!" (Soul-Winning Sermons).

 

II. THE DANGER OF NEGLECTING THIS SALVATION

  1. Evangelist John R. Rice grew up in Texas and he said he knew many poor farmers who blamed their troubles on drought or hail storms or other things. But John R. Rice said, "But actually I came to see that their ruin was brought by neglect" (Revival Appeals).
  2. John R. Rice noticed that some farmers did not take care of their plows and other equipment. Others allowed Johnson grass (weeds) to spread, hindering the crops from growing. Some were too lazy to mend their fences, letting their cows get out. One cow got out, filled her belly with green cane, bloated and died.
  3. This is bad enough for farmers, but it is far worse when sinners neglect so great salvation!
  4. Every day we meet people who neglect this great salvation.
  5. Many people are preoccupied with the things of this world, and therefore they neglect this great salvation.
  6. Our Lord said in Mark 4:19, "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful."
  7. I heard a story about an eagle who swooped down upon a dead animal that was on a bed of ice floating down the river. The eagle enjoyed his meal until he realized he was frozen stuck to the ice. He tried to free himself but it was too late -- the bed of ice soon went over the precipice of Niagara Falls.
  8. Many sinners are like that. They neglect salvation...then it is too late!
  9. King Agrippa said to the apostle Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28).

    P.P. Bliss wrote that great Gospel song:

              "Almost persuaded" now to believe;
              "Almost persuaded" Christ to receive;
              Seems now some soul to say,
              "Go, Spirit, go Thy way,
              Some more convenient day
              On thee I'll call."

             

              "Almost persuaded," harvest is past!
              "Almost persuaded," doom comes at last!
              "Almost" cannot avail;
              "Almost" is but to fail!
              Sad, sad, that bitter wail-
              "Almost," but lost!

  10. The great evangelist George Whitefield described this "almost a Christian" as "one that halts between two opinions; that wavers between Christ and the world; that would reconcile God and Mammon, light and darkness, Christ and Belial. It is true, he has an inclination to religion, but then he is very cautious how he goes too far in it."
  11. Whitefield said there are many reasons why these "almost Christians" neglect salvation. The first reason he gave is, "because so many set out with false notions of religion; though they live in a Christian country, yet they know not what Christianity is."
  12. They think Christianity is all about baptism and communion, and certain holy days like Easter and Christmas, and keeping certain rules, etc.
  13. Another reason is a fear of man. The Bible says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe" (Proverbs 29:25).
  14. I used to work in construction and it amazed me how many construction workers were afraid of their peers!
  15. D.L. Moody used to tell a sad story about a certain man he knew in his early days Chicago. This man attended services regularly and seemed to be on the verge of making a decision for Christ.
  16. Moody urged him to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
  17. "No, Mr. Moody, I cannot. My business partner is not a Christian, and if I accept Christ, he would ridicule me."
  18. Finally, annoyed at D. L. Moody for continually urging him, he stopped attending church services. One day the man's wife came to Mr. Moody's house and said to him, "Mr. Moody, my husband is very ill. Doctors say he cannot possibly live. Won't you come down and speak to him before he dies?"
  19. D. L. Moody hurried to the home, found the man ready to listen, and brought him to the point of decision. The man seemed to accept Christ. To everyone's surprise he got better. Mr. Moody visited him while he was in convalescence.
  20. "Now God has been so good to you and raised you up, so of course, as soon as you are able to come to church, you can make a public confession of your acceptance of Christ."
  21. "No, Mr. Moody, I cannot do that," he said, "for my partner would ridicule me, and I cannot stand to be ridiculed."
  22. Finally the man said, "I am going to move to Michigan. Then I will."
  23. D. L. Moody told him the Lord could save him in Chicago just as well as in Michigan, but the man would not listen.
  24. Just a week later he had a relapse. D. L. Moody was again called and went to his bedside. The dying man said, "I don't want you to talk to me. It will do no good. I've had my chance and I've thrown it away."
  25. Then Mr. Moody quoted the verse, "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out," and asked, "May I pray with you?"
  26. "No, it won't do any good," the man said.
  27. D. L. Moody knelt to pray, but he could not pray. The sinking man kept repeating, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved," till he breathed his last breath and died.
  28. Many sinners are suffering in hell right now because they were afraid of what their friends would say. They were afraid of their worldly relatives and business associates.
  29. Some sinners neglect salvation because they have been misled by false teachings, evolution, atheism, reincarnation, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Islam, and so on. Their minds are confused.
  30. Some sinners procrastinate for various reasons. They think they have plenty of time. While God stretches out His hands of invitation, they remain indifferent and their hearts get harder and harder (cf. Pro. 1:24-28).

 

III. THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ESCAPE

  1. The question presented to us in Hebrews 2:3 is unanswerable. There is no escape for those who neglect such a great salvation!
  2. When lost sinners leave this world they will stand before God. Today sinners try to avoid God. They avoid going to church. They avoid the Bible. They avoid being around Christians, etc.
  3. But Hebrews 9:27 says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
  4. This is an appointment they cannot avoid.
  5. This is a judgment they cannot escape!
  6. Revelation 20:12 says, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

 

CONCLUSION:

  1. I will conclude with one more illustration from R.A. Torrey.
  2. "Years ago in Minneapolis, the leading paper was the Minneapolis Tribune, published in a magnificent six or seven-story building, the finest newspaper building at that time in the Northwest. I had occasion very frequently to go into the upper stories of that building to see editorial friends. There was one great defect in that great building which I had never noticed. The defect was this, that the stairway went right round the elevator shaft, so that if a fire broke out in the elevator shaft, escape by the stairway was cut off as well. There was, however, a fire-escape outside. That very thing happened. There broke out a fire in the elevator shaft, and it commenced to sweep up the shaft, story by story, cutting off escape by the elevator and cutting off escape by the stairway as well. But they had a brave elevator boy who went up a number of times until he got a large number of men down from the upper stories, and almost all the rest escaped by the fire-escape outside the building.
  3. "But away up in the sixth story there was a man, a dispatcher for the Associated Press, which is the largest news gathering agency in the United States. He was urged to escape, but he refused to move. There he sat by his instrument, telegraphing to all parts of the country that the building was on fire. He could have gone out of the building by the fire-escape, and across the road to an instrument there, and could have done just as well; but, like a typical newspaper man, he wanted do something sensational, and so there he sat telegraphing the news."
  4. "I am in the Tribune building," he telegraphed, "in the sixth story, and the building is on fire. The fire has now reached the second story; I am in the sixth." In a little while he sent another message: "The fire has now reached the third story." Soon he telegraphed: "The fire has reached the fourth story; I am in the sixth." Soon the message went over the wires: "The fire has reached the fifth story; I am in the sixth."
  5. "Then he thought it was about time to leave; but, in order to do this, he had to cross the hallway to a window to reach the fire-escape. He went to his door and opened it, and, to his dismay, found that the fire had not only reached the fifth story, but the sixth story, and that the hallway was full of smoke and flame, which, the moment he opened the door swept into the room. He shut the door quickly. What was he to do? The stairway, the elevator and the fire-escape were all cut off; but he was a brave man, and he went to the window and threw it up. Down below stood a great crowd, six stories down. There was no means of catching him if he jumped, and he stood there on the window sill, not knowing what to do.
  6. "But presently he looked up. Above his head was a long wire guy-rope (tensioned cable) that passed from the Tribune building to the roof of a building across an opening. Below him was a chasm six stories deep, but he caught hold of the guy-rope and began to go hand-over-hand across that chasm. The people down in the street looked on in breathless suspense. On and on he went, and then he stopped. The people below could hardly breathe. would he let go? No. On and on he went, and again he stopped, and again the crowd below gasped, but only for a moment. His strength was gone; he was now obliged to let go, and down he came tumbling through those six stories of space, crushed into a shapeless mass below. All through mere unnecessary neglect!
  7. "Men and women, you are in a burning building tonight, you are in a doomed world; but, thank God, there is a way of escape, and one way only, in Christ Jesus. No one knows how long that way will be left open. But I beg of you, do not neglect it, and then when it is too late lay hold on some poor guy-rope of lame philosophy, and go a little way, and then let go and plunge, not six stories down, but on and on and on the awful unfathomable depths of the gulf of despair. Men and women, turn to Christ tonight! 'How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?'" (Soul-Winning Sermons).


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