Would you turn now to Hebrews chapter two, verse three. The epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, chapter two, verse three. This will be our text this evening. 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 salvation? These words I want to look at with you here now this evening. Now you see that this is the epistle to the Hebrews. Let us be clear that we understand who the Hebrews were. They were what today we normally call the Jews. And the Jews were the only people of God before Christ came. so that in the Old Testament times, before Jesus died on the cross, we refer to it as the Old Testament. And since Jesus finished his work on the cross and sent down the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we call that the New Testament period. Indeed, God is building his church in three stages. In the Old Testament, it was the Jews only. Although there were a very small number of Gentiles, but almost only the Jews were converted and became the Church of God. But after the Day of Pentecost, the thing changed. The Jews, for the most part, became hardened. Not all of them. Some believed in Christ, as we see from the Acts of the Apostles. But the Jews, for the most part, sadly, fell into unbelief of the gospel. And that's how for 2,000 years, pretty well, they have been scattered all over the world. Jews are living in pretty well every country on earth. And that was because they displeased God. Although now, thankfully, they're coming back to their own country. And many Jews today are being converted to faith in Jesus. That's a wonderful fact. But the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 that one day the church will be made up not just of Jews, not just of Gentiles, as most of us are, but both Jews and Gentiles before the end of the world when Christ comes back. So you can understand this letter of Paul to the Hebrews was to shake them up out of their unbelief and to stir them up to realize who Jesus Christ is, the Son of God and their Messiah. And that message then went to them in this way. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? You Jews who claim to be religious, if you fail to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died upon the cross for sinners like us, then how do you expect to escape God's punishment? That's a very, very relevant subject. Jews were punished in all sorts of ways. In AD 70, as many of you know, the Romans came and smushed down Jerusalem their capital city and killed many of the Jews and damaged and destroyed so much of their property. If ever you go to Israel, you can see some of the evidences of those things. But now, the message of my text is not only for the Jews, but for you and me and for everybody else, Jew and Gentile. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation. So my first point to look at is this. Who is meant by we? How shall we escape? The answer is, it refers to Jews and Gentiles. And the message is really very clear. It's a warning. And the warning is, to be careful that you do not neglect the gospel message. Because, he says, how shall we escape if we do not pay attention to it? Whether we be Jews or Gentiles or men or women, or whether we be scholars or experts or preachers or hearers, we are being warned. You are being warned and I am being warned by this message from Paul, which is an inspired message from heaven and is a warning to us. Now, of course, we all need this warning and it is a kindness to warn people of danger. Could I use a little illustration? If you suddenly look around the room and you see fire, springing up in the corner of it and smoke, then it would be only the right thing to do to warn people to be careful and to hurry and to go out where it's safe. Or if you're driving a motor car and by accident you start to drive it on the wrong side of the road, then the right thing to do is to warn the people, say, Go back to the other side of the road. If you drive on the wrong side of the road, you'll almost certainly have a serious accident. It's only a kindness to warn people. Now, not everybody realizes that. Not everybody appreciates the seriousness of getting a warning. But just think now as an illustration of that, this COVID disease. What did the government of this country do and all the other countries? They said to the people, be careful where you go, be careful who you talk to, because this disease is serious. It may be the means of your serious illness and even your death. So it's a kindness to warn people when there is a serious danger. And that's how it is here. And this warning here is more serious still. It's not only a warning to look after your soul, your body, but also your soul. It's one thing to lose your body and go into a state of death, but if you lose your soul and go into hell fire, that is more serious still. And that is what this statement by Paul here in writing to the Hebrews is all about. How shall you escape God's terrible punishment, his judgment, his curse, his wrath, his anger? How will you escape if you do not take heed to the warning that God is giving to you, if you neglect so great a salvation? Now, this warning is not to neglect salvation. What does it mean by that? Well, it means we're to make this a very serious thing in our lives. The salvation of Christ is the most serious thing in all the world. As you're shaking hands on the way out, if you wish to, by all means, tell me if you can think of anything more serious. But I say to you, there isn't anything more serious in the world than the serious possibility that a person may neglect the salvation of God. Because if it's a matter for your health only, then you will die, and if you're a Christian, you're in glory. But if you're not, of course, you're lost. But if you neglect the gospel, then There's no possibility of going anywhere but down there in the punishment place of God. And the sad thing is, dear friends, and I think many of you, if not all of you, know this, that most people today in our society are foolish enough to neglect this great salvation. You know how they talk. They say, oh, I'm too busy to spend time. reading a Bible. And the Bible is a very old-fashioned book. And I'm much more interested in watching television programs because it makes me laugh. And the Bible doesn't make me laugh. It makes me a bit sad and serious. So you see, in that sort of way, people, they neglect the Word of God. And they don't realize how shall they escape if they neglect it. Some people say that religion is just a matter of choice. You know, there are many religions. There's Christianity, and then there's this one, and that one, and another one, and they're all surely equally good. So does it really matter which religion you go for? The Bible tells us absolutely, yes, it does. There's only one true religion, only one true God, only one saviour. God is the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the religion that they have given to us which we call Christianity is the only religion that God has given us and we must pay the utmost attention to it. Religion is not a matter of choice. It's not a matter of can you have this religion or that religion. There is only one. One God and God has said to us We are to love him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Now notice the way he puts it. Paul says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? So great. So clearly he means us to listen to it that the New Testament gospel is a very great gospel. How is it so great? Well, the explanation is this. The way in which God saves souls is something which God planned before the world began. Even before Adam and Eve. Before there was a sky, a sun, a moon, a star, an earth. Before there was anything created, God planned this wonderful salvation. He foresaw that Adam and Eve would sin. He knew very well that you and I would be born, and others would be born like us, and he knew very well that we all needed salvation. So, in his wonderful plan, this is what God did. He devised a method of salvation, which we call the gospel. He invented it. I'm not saying the human being invented it, I'm saying God invented it. He made it. He established it. He put it together. And it was God the Father who planned salvation before the world began. But in the course of human history, it's God the Son, Jesus, Jesus Christ, He is the one who executed it or carried it out. It was He who did what was essentially necessary for there to be salvation and to be a gospel. If Christ had not been born, there could be no salvation, there could be no gospel. If Christ had not been born and died on the cross, there would be no message to give to people of salvation. So you see, it is a great thing. God the Father planned it, God the Son carried it out and executed it on the cross, and it is God the Holy Spirit who now comes tapping on the door of people's conscience and saying, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up. and make sure that you are paying attention to God's message of salvation. If you neglect so great a salvation, then how can you escape? In telling us that, God tells us whether you are kings or queens or prime ministers or geniuses or brilliant academic scholars There is no escape if we neglect the gospel. And that tells you, whoever you are, whether you're the cleverest person on earth, the most learned person on earth, whether you're a Shakespeare and can write books which will fill the library and earn you millions of pounds, If you neglect the Gospel, then you will not escape. That's very clear. The rich won't escape and the poor won't escape. And there is no other way of getting forgiveness, but only this God-given way, which is through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way is by faith in Jesus Christ. Not by our own goodness, not by our own hard works, not by our own religiosity, not by our prayers. The only way to get salvation is by faith alone in the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Now sadly, this is the mistake which the Jews made. We have had occasion to notice this in the last few days here. But we can't overlook the seriousness of it. The Jews were the Old Testament people of God. The Jews had the Old Testament books of the Bible. And all these things told them that Jesus one day was going to come. And told us that one day he was going to live and die. And that his death would be the way of salvation. We find that in the Psalms. We find that in the book of Isaiah. And we find that in several other, many other places of scripture. So in the Old Testament the Jews had their warning. But you see how little attention they paid to it. That it was the Jews who murdered Christ, rejected him, and cast him away, and cast him off. they crucified their own Messiah. And this is the reason why Paul is writing here to the Jews, the Hebrews, and he is warning them, the Jews who were living at that time, and the Jews who were living to the end of time, how shall we escape, any of us, Jew or Gentile, Prophets or priests, kings or queens, rich men, poor men, geniuses or people who know nothing? How shall anybody escape, whoever they are, if they neglect so great salvation? Oh, what a mistake people make when they come to consider the way to be saved. There were very learned and clever people among the Jews of the Old Testament. We read about them in the four books of the Gospels. There were the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but they did not know the way to heaven. They should have done, but they didn't. God taught them, but they didn't listen. They neglect the great salvation. And sadly, that's true today of many things that call themselves Christian. many movements that call themselves Christian movements. Sadly, and not with any pleasure do I say it, that many millions of people are Roman Catholics. And yet, the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is not that of the Gospel of the New Testament. I'm not saying that no Roman Catholics are converted. I think my wife and I In Scotland I've met a Roman Catholic lady and we talked to her from time to time and I believe she has been converted but that's in spite of the fact that the official teaching which has been given by her church is wrong. The Catholic church has gone wrong in that it teaches you that your good works are essential to your salvation. And that's why there had to be a reformation. The reformation was a tremendously important event. Tremendously important because it brought true religion to the people of this country and other countries and turned people away from the false religion which was in the country at that time. And we should respect the Reformation and the Covenanters of Scotland and the Puritans of England because they all were arguing for getting back to the true gospel and that's what is necessary today. So, sadly, the Jews in their day, they went wrong on this point of what the Gospel is. And that's how it is that they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, as we had occasion to speak of this morning. They crucified the Lord of glory. And although not everybody physically crucifies Christ, yet many do it with their minds. Oh, that Jesus. Who cares about him? Put him to death for all I care. He is no part of my interest. My time is spent watching television or going to football matches or going to the pub and taking as much drink as I can afford to buy. And that's sadly, sadly the way so many people are in this beloved country of ours. They are despising and neglecting this great salvation. On the other hand, when a person, however blind they have been towards the things of God and the gospel, when they concentrate on it, when their attention is fixed upon it, then they will be saved, they will be converted, they will be brought to salvation, they'll go to heaven. Let me give you a very clear and easy example. It's the person who's writing this letter. The epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul. And you remember in the Acts of the Apostles how Paul, before he was converted, he was a cruel hater of the Christians. He used to put them to death. He used to go and with his soldiers, he laid hands on these people who were Christians and put them in prison. And many of them were put to death. Because he hated Christianity and he didn't believe in Christ. But ah, you know very well what happened, don't you? God revealed himself to the apostle Paul when he was not yet an apostle. And he showed himself to be the God who is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. You get this in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 9 if my memory serves. And there God spoke to Paul, the persecutor and the killer, and he showed Paul what he needed to know, and what you and I need to know. And that is, we must put our trust in Jesus Christ alone as the hope of our salvation. God of the Son is the name of Jesus, and as the God-man, he died upon the cross in order to atone for the sins of his people. So you see, that's the amazing thing that happened to Paul. He hated the gospel, he hated the Christians, but then God opened his eyes. Previously, he had despised the gospel, he had neglected it, he had ignored it, but now, when God opened his eyes, he saw the gospel as the truth. So, you and I must, if we want to be wise, we must do what we are called upon to do in this verse. We must not despise this great salvation. Oh, what a great salvation it is. Millions of people today all over the world have been brought to faith in Christ in all the different languages. In our denomination you will know We have people in France, people in Spain, in Portugal, many in North America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, I know many in Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea, and you could go on. There are people all over the world who come to faith in Christ. And that's the message then that's being brought to us today. Beloved friends, we couldn't make it clearer to ourselves and the Apostle Paul makes it here as he writes with divine inspiration, how shall we escape? Well now, people always want to escape when they think there's some danger. How could you escape from God? Well, if you want to escape from the government of this country, supposing you committed a crime, then there are various ways you could try to escape, aren't there? You could buy yourself a ticket to fly to China, or you could get a boat to China, or you could go to some other country. You could change your name. If your name is Smith, you could make it Jones, and you could Have all your papers with your name changed on your official personal papers and your various books. But you see, although we can escape from governments, we can't escape from God. He sees everything all the time. He knows what we do. He knows what we say. He knows what we think. He knows what we plan. So when people try to escape from God because they've done something foolish, sinful and wrong, they are absolutely crazy. Lots of people do think, oh, I can hide from God. You can't hide anything from God. So the message is very clear. Don't allow yourself to have any possibility of an excuse. What sort of excuses do people sometimes have? Well, I give you examples of people's excuses. Some people say, well, you evangelicals, you reform people, you people who talk about the Bible all the time, I can say to you, I'm a very religious person. So I'm just as good as you are. You see, that's the way the person needs to be silenced. Some people say, well, I'm too old. I'm too old now to become a Christian. One of my dear friends, when he and I were in primary school, we used to play marbles together. That wasn't yesterday, was it? And as we played marbles, we got to be good friends and we grew up together. And when I was converted, he also was converted. And we were friends as Christians now. And he had an old father. an old father who was 93 years of age. And at 93, the old man came to faith in Christ. And he was saved. And my dear friends, you see, here's the wonderful thing. As long as you're living, it's not too late. to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's foolish to say I'm too old. Foolish to say I'm going to lose my friends if I become a Christian. Foolish to say it'll make me depressed if I become a Christian. The answer is God converts people and he doesn't make them depressed. He makes them joyful. Oh, what a wonderful thing the gospel is. When you put your faith in Christ, it gives you joy and assurance and comfort and the certainty that you're on the way to heaven. I can't say what a comfort it is to know you're safe in the arms of God and will soon be in the arms of Christ in glory forever. So you see, all the excuses that people make in order to try to excuse themselves is a dead, lost waste of time, foolish, ignorant. How then can you know when you are saved? The answer is, God will give you an inward comfort that you never had before. Oh, you will say it. I feel joy unspeakable and full of glory. John Wesley, John Wesley when he was converted said, my heart was strangely warmed. And that's what happens. God puts a wonderful work of the Holy Spirit into your heart so that he gives you this inward assurance, this heavenly comfort which nobody else can give. Well as I close then my beloved friends, let me say, don't waste your time. I know very well that you've heard the gospel from this beloved minister beside me many times, but I don't know you all well enough to know if you're all converted. I don't know. I don't know you well enough to know whether you've all been seeking the Lord. For all I know, there may be people here who are finding excuses so that they should not become Christians. Maybe you're saying to yourself, oh well, I've got enough religion, I don't need to go the whole length of becoming born again. My dear friends, you do. So as I close, I put this thought to you, with love and with affection. Be clear in your own mind, dear friend, that you can't escape if you despise the gospel. There is no way to escape. So the wisest thing you could possibly do if you're not a Christian now is to make up your determination that you will seek the Lord with all your heart. And my closing word is from the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament. These are lovely words. And they're the words that people need to remember if they have not yet sought God. Listen to these words that Jeremiah says from God. God is speaking. God says, you will seek me and you will find me if you search for me with all your heart. That's very clear. If we only come to the subject of the gospel half-heartedly. and with only a little bit of interest and no more, you won't find God. You won't be converted. But if you truly wish to be converted, if you come to the Gospel with all your heart, crying to God and saying, Lord, have mercy upon me, a terrible sinner. Oh Lord, forgive me. Give me the blessing of knowing that I am saved. If, says God, you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. Dear friends, may that be true of you all, and may it be true of those to whom you will witness for Christ and tell them this gospel message that you can say to them, if they don't seek the Lord with all their heart, they will never find salvation. And so it is, this word is true, if we neglect so great a salvation, How shall we escape? May God save you all and those to whom you witness. Let us pray. O gracious Father, we thank Thee that Jesus Christ has done something so sublime. And we thank Thee that there are Christians now in China, in Japan, in America, in Canada, as well as in this country where we are, And all over the world we thank thee, Jews and Gentiles. Not all, but some, have savingly come. May it be true, Lord, of each one here, that we shall enjoy that wonderful assurance and comfort that we know thee for ourselves as a heavenly Father. Oh, hear our cry. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.