Turn in your copy of God's Holy Word to the book of Hebrews and chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, we're going to consider the first four verses of this text. And as we return to this series on Hebrews, you remember that in chapter 1, we have just concluded a discourse on the greatness of the Son of God as he is compared to angels, far higher than the angels. And today we find the pastoral use of that theology, which is to stave off apostasy. Stave off apostasy, and I thought God's providence is always really quite remarkable, and you can't plan for it, certainly. But we have just finished reading in Acts 27 about the great nautical journey of Luke and Paul. And here we have a text that is full of nautical illustrations, maybe not so obvious in the English text, but I'll try to draw it out. And you cannot help but think, that the background of their own experiences here in Chapter 2 and the rest of the book. You remember in Chapter 6, I believe, where we have an anchor for our soul, don't we? And so you see those themes throughout the book. God's wonderful providence once again. Well, with that, let's turn our attention to the reading of God's holy word, Hebrews 2 verses 1 through 4. 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. For if the words spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, 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? God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. Amen, may God bless the reading of his word. Let's pray for the preaching of it now. Our Father and our God, come to the preached word now, Lord. And we pray for the preacher who will be preaching this word. Lord, if there is no greater joy than to see one's spiritual children walk in the truth, what a great evil it is to see spiritual children depart from the faith into apostasy. And we certainly sense that there is the heart of the apostle for these dear Hebrews that would want to rejoice over them and not see them turn away to perdition. And so the preacher here has that same concern for this congregation, which is not even ultimately his concern, but yours. And so, Father, we pray that you would help the preacher preach, that the preacher would preach to save souls, that the Spirit of God would enable him to that end, and that ultimately we would see Jesus Christ so great and so wonderful and so majestic that we would never desire to depart from him, that we would instead hold fast to the faithful word that we know out of your word, out of your Bible. To that end, Father, we pray now that you would be glorified and that you would let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. For we ask this for Jesus' sake, amen. The first chapter of the book of Hebrews has given unto us a vision of the great glory of Jesus Christ meant to excite the mind and warm the heart about who your Savior is. And now we come to the first, really, to the first of many warnings in this book, that it is a deadly thing, friends, to depart from the Savior. It is a deadly thing to depart from such a glorious Savior. You must be warned, friends, to not depart from Jesus Christ, because from the time of Christ's own ministry, men and women have left him. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. John 6, verse 66. And what of Paul writing to the Galatians? I marvel, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is no gospel. Galatians 1 verse 6. And the mistake you and I would make is to think that some other kind of people need to hear warnings like that, but not us. Now all of us must be warned because this text is going to show us that apostasy is often very subtle. Often it is a slow drift or a slow slip from Christ. And the most famous apostates demonstrate this. I'm going to use a man more recent because you might know him. You think of this man, Joshua Harris. You may remember him from that book, that old book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. And the man first drifted from sound doctrine. Then he drifted from biblical ethics. And then he drifted from the faith entirely. His faith was shipwrecked because he drifted from the word of God and Jesus Christ. And it happened slowly, a bit at a time, a bit by bit by bit, until one day he found himself so far removed from Christ that he divorced his wife. But worst of all, he walked back and walk no more with Jesus. And so, the Bible warns us that all of us must take heed lest we fall, friends. It would be the epitome of pride to think that could not be you or me. And that's why this word comes to us this afternoon. Our text teaches us on the slow drift of apostasy, but blessedly, it also gives you the remedy to drifting away, to pay earnest heed to the word of God, to earnestly grab hold of the word every moment, especially as it points you to Jesus Christ. Do that, the text teaches, and you will always be brought back to the Lord and not be a castaway. So our theme this afternoon is simple again, as it was this morning, but it is to give earnest heed to the word, lest you drift from Jesus. We're gonna consider that under the three headings on your bulletin. First is that the word of God is Christ the Lord's, that's whose word it is. That second, the word is to be followed in a particular way earnestly, earnestly. And third, we remember that if we are constant in the word of God, it will prevent apostasy. So first, the first point of doctrine we must consider is that the words of your Bibles are the words of the Lord. The words of the Lord. We touched on that in the first sermon when we considered the controversy that often rages. Who wrote the epistle? Who wrote Hebrews? And we said, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter much who the human instrument was. Why? Because these are the words of the Lord. and must be earnestly heeded no matter who the human instrument was, friends. Paul himself said as much elsewhere, when ye received the word of God which you heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. 1 Thessalonians 2.13. And so fittingly, our text is making us consider the grave nature of neglecting this word. That to neglect this word and not give heed to the word of God is the sign of the apostate heart. When you refuse the word in ways small or great, in other words, friends, you act as an apostate. And you're on the road to apostasy. You are drifting from the Lord. And having established the superiority of Christ over the angels, this text wants you to see how grave a matter it is to refuse the words of Jesus Christ. So let me say, just so that we're clear on this, Paul had zero, zero interest in preaching about angels abstractly. to make them a simple point of theology, though it is appropriate to use chapter one in that way to teach us about angels. But the purpose of it was to reverse the tide of apostasy in leaving Christ for angels. He has a purpose in teaching about angels. And now the Holy Ghost is about to make a lesser to greater argument about apostasy by reminding us of the words that were mediated by angels in the old covenant. He says, if in the old covenant, when the words of angels were disregarded and such great Recompense was made for disobeying their word. What will happen to you if you disregard the words spoken by Christ? Verse two, the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. Now, I think boys and girls, you especially know how dramatic apostasy in the Old Testament was. Wasn't it? For example, Deuteronomy 4 verse 3, when the men of Israel followed Baal, God reminds the next generation, your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal Peor, for all the men that followed Baal Peor, that is they became apostates, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. And you've seen how terrible that destruction is. And Hebrews 2 verse 2 says those punishments were a just recompense, a just reward. And we all need to be chilled by that, friends. There is nothing unjust or unkind in being punished for abandoning the Lord. Nothing at all. It is a just reward. To abandon the Lord for anything else is abhorrent. abhorrent. It's a point that's going to be made over and over again in the book of Hebrews. And if these Old Testament punishments where the ground itself is split asunder and people are swallowed whole, If a fire that comes out and consumes those two young priests, if those punishments stick in our minds, the question of verse three is, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord in the new covenant? And this constant comparison, we're gonna get back to that a little bit, but this constant comparison to the old covenant reminds you of how the epistle began, doesn't it? God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets, but now what hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son? In other words, the word of New Testament revelation is mediated by the son of God. one far, far better and far higher than the angels who mediated the old covenant. The one that we heard in the first chapter was the one God appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. That is the author, or rather the mediator of the new covenant, friends. And there is great comfort, we thought about this, didn't we? There's great comfort if you stick with Jesus knowing he is all that, right? But be gripped with great terror to abandon Jesus knowing he is all that. For that is who you walk away from in apostasy. Now when Jesus Christ says to you, I am the way and the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the Father but by me, and you walk away from that Jesus, how great the judgment is. As the Lord said himself, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on that day than for you. Do you see, again, the Lord himself calls the Old Testament punishments as a witness, and he says it is far worse to ignore my word. The same pattern is found throughout the word of God. To ignore Christ is far more deadly than to ignore the angels that came to witness against Sodom. If you want to remember, angels were involved there. And then the apostle presses his argument and makes it inescapable, saying that the revelation by Christ was also confirmed. You cannot ignore it. It is the truth. He says it's a more sure word, and he does so by providing two witnesses. That's the biblical standard of proof, isn't it? Two witnesses. And we must take comfort, friends, that the word has been confirmed, that we know that the words in the Bible are confirmed words. And the two witnesses that are given are these. First, the apostles, and second, God, by way of signs and wonders. First, the apostles. In verse three, we read that the word was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. And he's referring to those apostles who were eyewitnesses of Christ. You remember, boys and girls, how 1 John 1 begins, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life, speaking of Jesus Christ. The apostles were all very clear. They saw, felt, and touched the Lord. John, who wrote 1 John, could say, I rested on Christ's bosom. I was touched by him. I saw him hang at Calvary's cross. I met him after he was raised from the dead. Our hands have handled the very words of life. He is no phantasm. He is real. And I confirm the word that he said. You remember in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote of Christ's resurrection, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the 12. After that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also, as one born out of due time. Boys and girls, be encouraged in this The Christian faith is no mythology like the pagan religions. It's true. All of it. All of it is true. Ours is a historic faith. It's a historic faith. Ours is a faith that was predestinated before time began, but it's a faith that works itself out in history and culminates with Jesus Christ. And all these witnesses, all these apostles that you find in your New Testament, they all testified to the word of life. And that's why we're going through one gospel account, but there are four of them, to give you many witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ, many witnesses attesting to Christ. And so the first witness here in our text are the apostles. But the second witness is far more impressive. It is God. Now we have heard direct testimony from God to Jesus, thou art my beloved son. We saw that at his baptism. But the witnesses here are something else. God's witness through signs and wonders. This morning we saw God's testimony of Christ in the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, didn't we? And what was God in that healing doing? He's saying that the word that Jesus preached out of Isaiah 61 in the synagogue is true. I am putting my stamp of approval here. I confirm his preaching from Isaiah 61. I am confirming that he has come to set the captives free. And that's what Hebrews 2 verse 4 says, God also bearing them witness, speaking of the words of Christ, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. These are the sign gifts that you see so early on in the New Testament. And what they are is a sign that God approves of the word of God that is revealed through Christ and through the apostles, and that he approves of the word of God that they preached. And friends, in a day where there are many charismatic and Pentecostal churches, we have to be crystal clear on this. This is the reason why Christ and the apostolic church performed miracles. God bearing them witness with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost. He is bearing witness. These men, they preach and teach my truth, and I send signs to prove it. In a lot of ways, the book of Hebrews is perhaps the cessationist's best friend. Through and through, it teaches cessationism. And today, many seek those same sign gifts, but we need none. Why? Because the miracles are here in the word of God. They are recorded for us in the word. The word has been confirmed already and it is now sealed. The scripture is completed. You know, if we got a new word of revelation from the Lord, we would need new confirmation of it, right? But the book of the revelation says the canon is closed. and nothing is to be added to it lest you be cursed. There are no more miraculous sign gifts. Do you see how that argument works? When there is new revelation, there are new signs that come along. But now, having the word confirmed, we have no more signs. You know, before the Pentecostal problem came along, there was always the problem of Rome. And if you read the introduction to the Institutes, Calvin said that Rome needs false miracles to try and confirm their doctrines which are unknown by God, what the Bible calls false signs and lying wonders. But we do not need them, he said, because our miracles are recorded by the everlasting word of God. And Calvin's approach was not innovative. He's just, I don't want to use the word parroting, but he's parroting what the text teaches here. Notice that when Paul is preaching for these Hebrews, trying to keep them from apostasy, he never sent the Hebrews a miracle worker. But what he said is this, the proof you need, Christ's word is true, are the miracles God has already performed. He doesn't say look for signs and wonders. And it must be enough for us too, friends. We have no need to chase signs and lying wonders when we have the word of God that is attested to by God and many eyewitnesses. And you see that here then in this book, in this point in redemptive history, the sign gifts are fading away as they are not being leaned on, but saying that they had already confirmed the word. Now, I wanna say something before I go out of this heading, something important. When the apostle compares the Old Testament and New Testament revelation, he's not saying that Old Testament revelation, by the way, is not the word of Christ. It is. It is just as important. But what he is dealing with is a specific problem. Those who wish to reject New Testament revelation and run only to the Old Testament, The same problem we have with Judaism today, right? Today in the church, most of us deal with a different problem, the opposite, which is a rejecting of Old Testament revelation. But I'll just have you remember what is true, what the apostle just taught, to flee Old Testament revelation brings a just recompense of reward as well. He's not saying there is no just recompense for ignoring the Old Testament. He's saying, no, no, no, it's worse to ignore New Testament revelation. But it's all the word of God. All the Bible is the word of the Lord, old and new. So don't let somebody try to sneak in and use this text as a pretense to throw away the Old Testament revelation. Cannot be used to support that. Well, you have heard now how important the word of God is. because it is the word of the Lord, and so to let it slip from you, to ignore it or treat it lightly, don't you think then it has a grave implication for your soul if it is in truth the word of God? And so that's what we consider in our second heading, that the word is to be followed earnestly. Verse one warns, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. This is one of those nautical words I alluded to earlier. The word that is translated slip is nautical, and it conveys a drifting away. Some other translations use the word drift. But I believe the King James translators in that time meant slip to convey the same thing. And as I have said, that is what apostasy is like. It's a drifting away, a slow drift from the word of God until one day your faith is shipwrecked. One of the most terrible things that could happen to a navigator on the ocean is to slowly drift off course. It's deadly. You don't know where you're going, especially in those days when you didn't have GPS or anything to correct you. A slight drift off course can end up killing you. And it's the same impression the apostle wants you to have, that any slight deviation from the word of God is going to lead you to apostasy. any deviation. And that's where it begins, by not earnestly heeding the things which you have heard. And the word earnest here, the word earnest in verse one, is a wonderful translation from the Greek into the English actually. But the word earnest in English is used so often, I think it has lost its meaning and its luster. So let me remind you of what it means. Noah Webster, 1828, defined it this way. Think about this and then think about the word of God, boys and girls. Earnest, ardent in the pursuit of an object, eager to obtain, having a longing desire, warmly engaged or incited. Friends, that's how Christ wants you to heed his word. By pursuing it, by desiring it, by engaging it, by wishing to obtain it. You wanna know how to stay off the road to apostasy, that's it. When this word, friends, no longer warms your heart, when it is no longer your desire, you drift away, you drift away. But if you are earnest for the word, friends, oh, what a blessed thing that is. What a blessed thing that is. You know, all apostates are those who have lost their earnestness for the word of God. Every apostate I have ever known have lost their earnestness, that's where it begins, for the word of God. Why do men pursue the doctrines of devils in Rome or in cults or to pursue self or philosophy? This word no longer warms their heart, friends. They're no longer interested in it, and they drift away. One of the things that I really love about you congregation is that every time we come up here and we open the word of God, you pay attention to it. Even now, in the afternoon, you want to hear the word of the Lord. I just beg you, don't lose that. Don't lose that. Always earnestly desire the word of the Lord. But I trust that your earnestness to hear the word is translating as well into an earnestness to follow the word of God, wherever it takes you. What does the Psalm say? That the word is a lamp unto my feet, guiding me as I walk in this world. You're not just to be earnest hearers of the word, earnest doers of the word, earnest followers of the word. Let me just say, to earnestly heed the word is not just to enjoy hearing it, and it's not just to enjoy hearing preaching on it, but it is also to enjoy doing it. I have found that there are many kinds of people that love to sit under preaching, and they seem to enjoy it, but I think they just enjoy the spectacle of it, or they enjoy just understanding something else out of the Bible, but they have no desire to follow the word that is preached, and no desire to follow the word that is heard. you must earnestly heed the word. That is to do it and to follow it. And you will not want to, friends. And so many go on the road of apostasy because they have never been warmed first to their savior. And that is why it's important to remember this is the word of the Lord. And that's why the opening of the book of Hebrews was to make him magnificent in our sight. To make us see how awesome he is and how lovely he is. I've been meditating on Psalm 119 quite a bit as of late, and I just always have been struck by verse 32, which says, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. That verse has constantly been on my mind in Luke and Hebrews. You know, when Jesus enlarges our heart, we really do perceive him as he is. And when we perceive him as he is, we find ourselves running the way of his commandments. And the best fuel for obedience, boys and girls, is to see Jesus as he is in the word of God. earnestly come to the word to see Jesus, and you will earnestly heed all of his word. That is why the exhortation we constantly return to in Hebrews 12 is what? Run the race looking unto Jesus. There is an echo there of, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. And how else does the Savior have to put it? He says, if you love me, keep my commandments. They all testify to the same thing. Psalm 119.32, Jesus is saying it in a different way, restating it with the object of our heart in view, which is himself. So I just beg you again, friends, earnestly heed the word of God, obey it. That's the only way you're going to stay on the narrow path that leads to glory. When you find that you open the word or you hear it preached, and when the word shows you your sin, what are you to do? You are to earnestly repent and follow after new obedience, trusting the Lord will forgive you in that repentance. When the word shows your need to rest in Christ, earnestly rest in him by faith, glorying in him. When the word says deny yourself and follow Christ, earnestly deny yourself. When the word of God, we confessed it this morning in our prayer of confession, when the word says thou shalt have no other gods before me, earnestly give up whatever idolatry is in your life. Not boys and girls reluctantly, but earnestly. There's a difference. Gladly run the way of his commandments. And the text says, give more earnest heed to what you have heard. And the apostle is reminding them that they have heard enough. They really have heard enough. It means then, for you, what you have learned, and you learn a lot, friends, just in this congregation. If you just were in this congregation a year, you have heard 104 sermons, you have read through a big portion of the Old Testament and the New Testament. You have heard enough, in some ways. And it means that what you have learned is not to be forgotten, but given attention to. And I've learned in counseling Christians, those who are established Christians or have been Christians for a time, mature Christians, I've learned in counseling Christians who struggle with sin, that almost never is the issue a lack of knowledge of the scripture. Hardly ever. Hardly ever do I have to say anything new that they have never heard before. I rarely need to give you a book on how to handle temptation or a book on repentance or faith. Because we must never lose sight of this, at the end of the day, the Christian life is very simple, by God's design. So that even our children here can know how to live it. That's God's design, friends. Our issue is we do not give attention to what we know out of the word. So give earnest heed to what you know of the word of God. That is not, by the way, hear me, hear me, I'm not saying you don't learn anything more. I'm just saying that most of what ails us in our walk in this world is not heeding what we know. But we should always be learning more. But give earnest heed to what you know of the word. You know, friend, let me just give you one simple example. You know you must watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation. Do you earnestly heed that word? Have you grabbed hold of it and you do it? You know you must make a covenant with your eyes. Do you give earnest heed to it? You know you must forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. Do you take earnest heed of it? You know that you will be cleansed of all unrighteousness if you confess your sin. Do you give earnest heed to it? You know there is no salvation out of Christ. Do you give earnest heed to it when you are tempted to walk away from him? and so on, earnestness, friend. It's a precious word. Be earnest about the word, otherwise you will slip away from the faith. And so in verse three, we are warned, do not neglect such a great salvation. And that's the opposite of our exhortation just now, which is to be earnest, because the word neglect communicates treating salvation lightly. not remembering what a great salvation you have, without the weight that we have of salvation impressing itself on our souls. Jesus illustrated this, and this morning I said one of the greatest sins is a lack of thankfulness for the Lord. Well, I think another great sin is to treat, which is connected, which is to treat salvation so lightly. and forget what a great salvation you have. You know, Jesus illustrated, this is the heart of men, in the parable of the marriage feast. In Matthew 22, after the king made all the preparation for the marriage of his son, he said, behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat wings are killed, and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. What was their response? But they made light of it. They treated the king's preparation as no big deal and they despised his free gift. Friends, our salvation is a great salvation. It is a great salvation. And it means, first of all, that it means a great deal to God. He had to prepare his only begotten son to be crucified. He had to hold him fast on the cross and poured out his infinite wrath on him so that our salvation could be a free gift. Of course it matters to God. Believers, you were bought with a terrible price. And to treat such a great salvation lightly is a terrible thing that leads you on the road to apostasy. If you are not constantly meditating, constantly meditating on how great a salvation you have and what you have been saved from as a sinner, friends, you're going to slowly drift away. because salvation and Christ are not going to mean anything to you anymore. You need to constantly reflect on how great your sins are and how great your Savior was to take them on himself. And that is why Jesus concluded that parable in Matthew 22 like this, and you need to take heed to it. But when the king heard thereof, that is, the people treating it lightly, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burnt up their city. Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. It's interesting cuz he's particularly talking about those Jews who rejected him in that parable, of course. And you think of the Hebrews here, who may return from Christ. But it applies to all of us, friends, to hear about the great preparation of the Lord of his son and to ignore it. And that parable, right? It's a word that this text in Hebrews 2 is speaking of, cuz it is a word that was given by the Lord in the flesh. and you must give earnest heed to it, and you must not neglect such a great salvation, and you will not escape if you do. Friends, the day that you stop saying, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the day you stop that is the day you take your first step towards apostasy. Reclaim your love for the gospel. I beseech you, beloved brethren, I think I mentioned this once a long time ago, but you see how precious Christ is and how precious his gospel is to the Apostle Paul. He can't go a few words without mentioning either the gospel or Christ. There's a man who exceeded all of us in knowledge and learning, and yet it was the gospel and Christ that was ever at the forefront of his heart. Never stop marveling at such a great salvation. Never outgrow the gospel. If you start treating it lightly, you are going to go after other gospels which are no gospels at all. which is what Paul said in Galatians 1, 6 through 8. And I want you to listen to that again. I've already cited it. Listen to it again. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ, but though we are what? An angel from heaven. I just thought that was so interesting. when you consider this text. Or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed. And so if you treat lightly the true biblical gospel, salvation by God, you are going to, friends, be easily led astray and leave Christ. You see it all the time. Cults get people because they don't have the gospel at the forefront. Whenever there is a church or a congregation or a denomination that stops putting the gospel at the forefront, you just see that within a generation there is apostasy. It happens all the time. The cults will get you, the world will get you, your lusts will get you when you neglect such a great salvation in the gospel and the cross of Christ. So boys and girls, I want to especially speak to you right now, because you have heard this gospel over and over again. Your parents probably first spoke it to you. Your Bible has shown it to you. Your pastor has preached it to you. Your catechism, which you just recited, has taught it to you. And you are exhorted to not treat it lightly. You're to treat it seriously. You know, Paul says that when I was a child, I did childish things, but I put childish things away. And unfortunately, too many young men and women are acting as children, even, even when the Bible would consider them mature enough to be adults. You need to treat the faith earnestly. You need to treat the faith seriously and glory in this gospel. You need to rejoice over salvation, boys and girls, and take Jesus Christ for yourself by faith. All of you, all of you. You are in the greatest danger of all to leave the faith, boys and girls. The statistics are awful, not so bad in churches like ours, but in the Christian church as a whole, too many covenant children leave. because they neglect salvation and sad to say their church and their parents have neglected salvation. Their parents and their church have not heeded the word of God. So I beg you children, in the place of Christ, do not neglect salvation. Love your Bible, love prayer, love to walk in righteousness, but above all, love Jesus Christ. who is in those first beautiful verses of Hebrews, especially for what he has done for sinners, and may the flame, flame of your faith grow ever brighter. But that goes for all of us, not just the covenant youth. So with that, I want us to consider the final heading, which is that the word, the word will prevent apostasy. And the word heed here in verse one is another nautical word. It means to bring a ship to land, which is the opposite, of course, of drifting away. I just thought the wordplay here is very interesting. It made me wonder if Luke and Paul's shipwreck on Malta is used by the Holy Ghost for this illustrative language of the epistle. But anyways, the beautiful thing here in this word is that if you heed the word of God, Your ship will not drift from Jesus. You will not drift into outer darkness, but you will land safely on the shores of the celestial city. That's the imagery here, friends. It's a beautiful picture. That earnestly heeding the word of God will take you home. It will guide you. It is that lamp to your feet that keeps you from sinning and leaving your Savior. It's the lamp that keeps your eyes. It is the glasses or the way that you perceive the world that keeps your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. We have and we must have a word-centered faith, friends. Don't be deceived, never let wolves deceive you by adding doctrines and commandments of men to this word. Our faith from start to finish revolves around the word of God. Not rituals and ceremonies and atoning works, not even the sacraments are the focal point of our faith. But a simple faith that arises out of the word and always points us to Jesus Christ. It is the word, it is the word. And it's always been that way, even in the Old Testament. So I wanna close by reminding you of that. Can you turn to Deuteronomy 6? I want you to see and interpret this text now as the rest of the Bible would teach it to us. Verse four, Deuteronomy 6, verse four. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. First, our faith is a confessing faith. We confess there is only one God. We are only one God. And I just wanna connect this to last week's sermon. But what did James say? Thou believest that there is one God. He's referring to Deuteronomy 6. He says, thou believest there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. That's an allusion to Deuteronomy 6. So let's hear verse five. and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And that's what the demons cannot do. They tremble when they consider the one true God. They hate God. But isn't this, verse, verse five, what Jesus taught is the sum and substance of true religion? Is that not what we would say an earnest faith is like? It loves God, and it loves his word as the word of the one they love. That's why we love the word of God, friends. It is the voice of our beloved, Jesus Christ. And when you stop treating the word of God that way, as the word of the one that you are to love with all thy heart, soul, and might, you're on the road to apostasy. And if you understood those two points, you would understand truly the meaning of the rest of Deuteronomy 6. And those famous verses that follow that are often robbed of their context. Verse six, and these words which I command thee this day shall be where? In thine heart. and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. Do you want to see a tangible picture of what earnestly heeding the word of God looks like? This is it. A life where the Word of God is stored with love in your heart, with love for your Savior. A life that no matter where it turns has surrounded them, has surrounded itself with the Word. They're on the eyes. They're on the hands. They're in the house. They're whether you walk or you lie down or you rise up, the Word, the Word, the Word. Your children are instructed by it. You see, a life that is filled with the word of God is going to be a life that is kept from apostasy. As soon as you deviate from the word, as soon as you put it and give it second place in your life, even over wonderful books that we love to read and wonderful confessions and wonderful anything else, when it becomes second fiddle, you are on the road to apostasy. It's as plain as that. So heed it, love it, treasure it, and do not neglect it. If you love it, it will drive you to Jesus Christ, and he will anchor your soul, which is the most famous nautical reference in the book, chapter 6, 19, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. You know, we had considered John 6 in the intro as we come to a close now, where many disciples left Jesus. Do you remember the question he asked his 12 disciples? He asked them, will you also go away? And blessedly, the one who answered him in return was Peter, whose mother-in-law was healed this morning. I want you to remember what he said. What did he say, boys and girls? He said to the Lord, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the what? The words of eternal life. You need to heed these words earnestly and never, ever let them slip away. Do so by God's help and you will persevere to the end and you will land safely in the celestial city. And you will then know Psalm 16 in its fullness, which we're about to sing. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Whereas the fate of apostates is something far more grim. the eternal fires of hell, weeping and gnashing of teeth in outer darkness. Oh, what a contrast there is to not drift away from Jesus. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Heed the word earnestly with love for Christ and anticipate that day as you run the race, beloved. May God's spirit help you persevere to the end and keep you from apostasy, and may he use his word to do it, earnestly heed it. Amen. Please rise for prayer, if able. Our Father and our God, I suppose most of us here, Lord, have heard so much of your word over the years. even our covenant children. Most of them have grown up in the church. Most of them have grown up with family worship. And Lord, our great fault is that we do not heed the word that we know. And neither do we heed it, nor do we earnestly heed it. So help us love. Lord, give us a love for you that would translate into a love for your word. Help us to follow the word. Help us have the word as a lamp unto our feet. Help us have this word safely land us ashore in the celestial city. And help us, Lord, above all, remember that this is the word of Christ. And as such, it is what we look to as we run the race looking unto Jesus, which is the great exhortation of your word here. So bless these people, Lord. Oh, we do not wish any here are found in hell. We hope and pray that all here would persevere to the end, especially the young people who are growing now into the faith. Bless your people, Lord, with a great love for your word. It is all we can ask for this day, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.