I'd like to welcome you to our service, especially those of you, if you'd like to find your place in Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two, heeding what you hear. Heeding, in verse one it says, therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have time we should let them slip. Here in this verse, God tells us what we ought to give our attention to. You know, it's one thing to hear something, but it's a totally different thing to heed something. That word heed means caution, to care. to watch for danger, circumspection, to notice, to observe, to regard, to pay attention to. It speaks of the seriousness of a matter, even to give a steady look according to our English dictionary. God warns us here in Hebrews chapter 2 to give more earnest heed to the things that we have heard. That word earnest here is a term of investment and God is telling us to invest in what God is telling us. God wants us to make a commitment to heed what we have heard. You know, many times we hear things, but we do not pay attention to those things. And some of you are probably elbowing your spouse right now and said, hey man, preacher's preaching about you right now. And I was in the airport, my wife and I was in the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the fire alarms were going off and we were waiting on our plane and some people were moving, some people weren't, some people were sitting there. We were given orders to evacuate, we were given orders that you need to exit the building, but yet people were just sitting there. They heard what was being said, but because They didn't see an apparent threat, or they were busy doing something else. They just ignored the warnings. They heard it, but they did not heed it. They didn't put it into practice in their life. And the government puts warning signs on our highways and on our roads, and they're there for us to give our attention to. They want us to heed the warning. There is a sharp turn ahead, or slow down, or there's a ramp up ahead, and it's only 25 or 30 miles per hour, because if you go too fast, there'll be danger there. I think about a speed bump ahead sign. It's a warning, and if we don't heed the sign, then you will feel the effects of it very soon. Why would someone not heed the warning? It's not that they didn't see it. It's not that they didn't know what it was saying, that they didn't understand the warning. They just simply chose to ignore it. Ignoring what we hear or see is a very easy thing to do. And if we're not careful, We can do the same thing when it comes to the warnings or the admonitions or even the commands that are found in the Word of God. In Hebrews 2, 1 it says, We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. You see, the danger of not heeding what we have heard is that over time we will be subject to letting things slip. to drift away if you would. When a boat drifts away, it's not something that takes place suddenly. It'll be a gradual slip or a gradual drift, but before long, You'll be so far away from the truth that you won't even be able to see it. In Galatians 5, 9 it says, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. All it takes is just a little bit of something that can change everything. just a little sleep in the book of Proverbs it talks about. In Proverbs 6, 10 it says, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. All it takes is just a little inattention to something. If you've ever planted a garden, then you know that you have to continually work the garden. It's not enough just to plow the field and get the ground ready and put the plants in the ground. No, there's more to that than just doing, than planting. There's going to be weeds that's going to pop up that need to be removed. You're going to have to watch for unwanted insects. And you're going to have to make sure the plants are watered. Because if you leave it alone, just a little sleep, a little slumber, just a little folding of the hands, this garden will soon be overtaken and it will not yield the desired results. You see, God expects us to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, because if we don't, it's just a matter of time before we let things slip. You say, well, preacher, bring that to an application right now. Okay. Just a little missing church. Just a little, you know, missing. It's just one service. It's just two services. I was there last week. Just a little of not giving up our time and talents and treasures. Just a little of not meditating God's Word. Just a little of not praying. Just a little of not witnessing. Just a little complaining. Just a little being disgruntled. Just one drink. Just one alcoholic beverage. Just one little sip. Or just one hit of drugs. Or just one curse word. Well, that's not too bad. I've got my little vices, you know. Every now and then I'll let one slip. You know, it's just a little curse word. It's just one lie. It's just one bad thought. It's just one excuse. And God is warning us to heed what we have heard. Because if we don't, if we don't heed, then before long, things are going to slip out of our control. And look at chapter 3. Chapter 3, the message continues with these same words and these same admonition from the Lord, and we find the words hear and heed. In chapter 3 in verse 7, it says, wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, today, if you will hear his voice, when today, today's a good time to hear God's voice. Today's a good time to do what God says. It says, harden not your hearts. I'm gonna tell you, it's real easy to just say, man, this ain't for me. I hear it, but this is not for me. This don't apply to me. Well, you better be very careful. It says, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do all way err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. Here's verse 12, take heed. He said, here today, if you'll hear my voice, this is what you need to do. You need to take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily while it is called today. lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. While it is said, hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation." Here God's repeating himself twice. He's making no mistake here. God is serious about what he's talking about. For some, when they had heard, did provoke, how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. We'll go back to verse seven. Verse seven says, to hear what God is saying today. Do not harden your heart and say, man, that's not for me. I'm here, God ought to just be happy I'm here, hearing. No, God wants you to heed what's being said. It's so easy just to put things off. Well, I know I need to mow the grass, but, I know I should take care of this or that, but, I see the engine warning light on on my car, but, you know, it's still running, I'm good to go, I can put this off. Hey, look, we've all been guilty of this in one way or another in our life. But God says today, today if you will hear my voice. He said if, if you will hear my voice. See, he leaves the choice up to you. It's your choice whether or not you want to hear what God has to say. It's your choice if you want to heed what God tells you to heed. It's your choice. But there's consequences. You will slip. And to slip is to sin. God says, today, if you'll hear my voice, if you will not heed what he says today, then I promise you, all you're doing is making your heart that much harder and resist against what God wants. Verse 12, God says to take our hearing one step further. He says to take heed. And if we don't hear and take heed, and that word heed, remember, means to take immediate action. That means no delay. Then verse 15 says that we can harden our hearts. I like verse 17 and 18. It says if we don't hear and heed, then we'll miss out on God's will and God's blessing for our life. Look at verse 17. But with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not? Wouldn't it be sad for that to be your testimony? Sat in church for 40 years, but all you did was hear? All you did was, I mean, you came to church, but yet you just allowed your heart to be hardened because you never would take heed to what was being said. I tell you, that'd be a sad testimony. And get to heaven and God said, you grieved me for 40 years. For 40 years you grieved me. It'd be sad if he said you grieved me for one day. What's the sin? to not hear. It's a sin to hear and not heed. It's a sin to delay our obedience. You see, God gives us a free will. God gives us a choice. He does not force anything on us, but right here's the deal. There is a reward for those that hear and heed. But for those that don't, there's gonna be a loss of reward and a loss of opportunity. Wouldn't it be sad for any Christian that claims they're a follower of Christ, Christ-like, a disciple, to miss God's will for their life? Living a life of just hearing only but not heeding, a life of having no further opportunities, a life of having no great victories in their life, You know, kind of like this living paycheck to paycheck. We've probably all been there at some point in our life, I'm sure, but our goal was not to live that way forever. You know, as a Christian, we should not limit God because God says, today, hear my voice. Today, heed what I say. Why? Because God's got a plan and a purpose for our lives, but if we will not hear about it, and if we do not hear what he says, and we never heed it, then we will limit what God has for us. Many Christians are just satisfied with hearing only. I mean, they've just become accustomed to, that's all they do, they hear. Great message, preacher, that sounded great today, thank you. But they step outside, they couldn't tell you one thing that was said. They got no idea. Why? Because they didn't heed it. They heard it, but they did not heed it. Boy, the preacher's on fire today. Boy, yeah, boy, he had it going on. Can't remember what he said. Why? Because they didn't heed it. Our pastor says, because of their unbelief. Israel wandered around for 40 years, never going anywhere, just turning around in circles. They had heard the will of God. They knew what God wanted for them to do, but they had God's promises even. But they didn't heed it, and it wound up costing them greatly. You see, there are eternal rewards that await us, but if we don't heed God's will for our life, then there will be loss of reward. And second, John 8, it says, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. It's gonna be a sad day for many Christians when they stand before Jesus and they find out all that they could have had. When they find out everything that they missed out on. because they only heard and they did not heed what God had to say. They missed out on greater blessings and greater opportunities for the Lord. You see, when you miss church and you choose to do something else, even if it's not a sin, then you miss out totally on hearing, which, by the way, becomes a sin. And if you're not hearing, then you're not going to heed. Therefore, that becomes a sin too. You're guilty of two sins already. And before long, you know what's going to happen? Because of your sin, because you're hardened in your heart and you refuse to hear, do you know what's going to happen? You will, the Bible says, you will slip. You will drift away from the perfect will of God for your life. That's why God tells all Christians in Romans 12.1, he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I use a Schofield reference Bible and Schofield was a drunk before he got saved. But a friend came by and gave him the gospel. But when the time came for him to accept Christ, he hesitated and he said these words, I'll just think about it. But that was not what this soul winner wanted to hear. But he told his friend who was telling him about the Lord and begging, pleading with him to get saved, he says, does not the Bible say something about drunkards having no place in heaven? He said, you know that I'm a hard drinker. You see, Scofield knew that he was a drunk. He was convicted of that sin in his life. There was a conviction there that he was a sinner. And he understood that fact that, hey, because I'm a sinner, I don't deserve heaven. He understood those facts. Just asking someone if you lied and then tell them, well, I've lied too. That'll never bring someone under conviction of their sin. That'll never bring them under conviction that that lie was a trespass against God. Never. All that does really is just, that's called easy believism. That's just trying to make things easy for somebody and they don't have to get under conviction of their sin. They don't have to really, all you have to do really is just say, yeah, yeah, I've done that, but so what? Everybody has. Well, no. You lied, therefore you sinned against God. Because of that sin, you're condemned to die. That lie is going to send you to hell. They say, well, there's only one sin that sends you to hell. It's the sin of unbelief. And that's true. But you're going to have to be convicted that you're a sinner, that you sinned against God. Scofield knew that he was a drunk. And what he was holding on to was the fact that his drinking is what was holding him back from getting saved. You see, there was going to have to be a turn away from something. Because you can't be saved and continue to be a drunk. That doesn't go together. You see, there was going to have to be a turning away But he realized that his drinking is what was holding him back from getting saved. But you know, I've never heard anybody say, well, my lie I told is keeping me from being saved. My lie. I really, I've never heard anybody say they were under conviction of being a liar. Never. But yet, we use it, but it's almost like we're making it where it's irrelevant. but here Schofield's friend was persistent and he encouraged Schofield to not delay accepting Christ as his savior and Schofield that day called on the Lord and was saved and God gave him victory over being a drunk. What if Schofield had only heard but he did not heed? There may have never been a Schofield reference edition of the authorized King James Bible. Now I wonder, what's holding you back from hating? Well, what have you allowed to take precedence in your life that is keeping you from hating? Remember, to heed is to apply what you've heard in your life. In James 1.22 it says, but be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. If all you do is hear, you have deceived yourself into thinking you're all right, but yet you're sinning against God. What is God speaking to you about this morning? What have you heard and not heeded? To hear and not heed is to sin against God, and to hear and not heed is to limit God's greater blessings and God's greater opportunities in your life, and not just your life. But you gotta understand this. Your lack of hearing, your lack of heeding, it's not just gonna impact you, it's gonna impact anybody else that's within your sphere of influence. It'll have an impact on the life of others. the dangers of letting things slip. Sooner or later, you'll wind up drifting further and further away from the perfect will of God for your life and you'll most likely drag others with you. and they're going to wind up further, because you think, if you only drift 100, 200 yards, where are they at? If they're following you, where are they at? They're way out there in left field somewhere. They're way out there in the sea. Mom and Dad, you better beware of being a hearer only. You better beware of not heeding, because the results could be devastating. Not just for you, but for your family as well. If you're here today and God's been dealing with your heart about this matter of salvation and forgiveness and everlasting life, you'd better act on that today. You'd better not put that off. You're not promised another day. Your life's nothing but a vapor. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. You better get saved today. Christian, Is there any area in your life where you know what God expects of you, but you failed to heed it? You failed to take a definite action to be obedient to God's Word? You better get that right today. Because if you don't, you're in danger of letting things slip. You're in danger of letting things drift away.