| Having started reading and studying this amazing letter | | | | without sounding legalistic. |
| to the Hebrew Christians we come across many | | | | This comes out so very clearly in Chapter 10 and at |
| profound and everlasting truths in the first few | | | | verse 25, and if you check this out, and I suggest you |
| sentences. Very few of us could even attempt to | | | | do, while we are there look at these "let us" passages |
| write a letter which is so pregnant with meaning and | | | | in verses 22 and 23 and 24. |
| relevance? | | | | If we do not pay attention to the 'let us' passages then |
| This letter is all about God revealing Jesus, and we | | | | we are guilty of sin, and there comes a point of no |
| have this wonderful description of Jesus and what | | | | return, with no coming back. |
| Jesus did. | | | | Now, I do not know, where that point is, nor when a |
| Then comes the first warning and we must never | | | | person reaches it, but this is given to us so that we |
| think that this could never happen to me. That is the | | | | come nowhere near it. |
| reason for it being written. It could. | | | | This writer knows what he is talking about. He is very |
| If we have paid careful attention, then, we must pay | | | | practical. This is not theory. |
| even more careful attention, and to what? We must | | | | Back in Hebrews Chapter 2, we learn that it is not |
| pay attention and give heed to what we have heard, | | | | what a person does that is so important at time, but it |
| and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the Word of | | | | is what he does not do. |
| God which we have in Jesus. | | | | We are warned against ignoring or neglecting the |
| If we pay careful attention then we will not drift away, | | | | message of Jesus. |
| and that is a nautical term. | | | | God's word to us is in Jesus. It is not being openly |
| "Drift away" has the sense of it all happening gradually, | | | | rebellious that is referred to here. It is just not paying |
| just inch by inch, a little at a time. Seldom is it a | | | | attention to what God has said to us in Christ. |
| deliberate decision. | | | | The writer of the letter to the Hebrews is underlining |
| I seek not to be a legalist and I seek not to make it a | | | | that we have a God who speak. He spoke to these |
| law that a person must be at this and, must appear at | | | | men and women then, and He speaks to others, and |
| that, but and it is a big but, I have noticed over the | | | | these are God's famous last words. |
| years that when people begin to miss certain | | | | God has spoken through Creation and through the |
| gatherings, then within a couple of months or so they | | | | various prophets he sent, and now Almighty God |
| have drifted far from the safety of the fellowship, and | | | | speaks finally through Jesus Christ His Son. Listen to |
| soon they are far from the security of the ark. | | | | him. If you are a wise reader you will certainly listen to |
| We are free in Christ to be present and we are not | | | | him! |
| free in Christ not to be present. I want to say that | | | | |