Dangers: Neglect and Hardness of Heart

Introduction to the Series and Review of Privileges

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, March 10, 2002, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to follow with me in your Bibles as I read two portions from the Epistle to the Hebrews, really three portions. First of all, Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, and then chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, and then chapter 3, verses 7 through 12. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3.

0:48 God, having of old times spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by diverse portions and in diverse manners, has at the end of the day spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by diverse portions and in diverse manners, has at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who, being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Amen. Chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away from them. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedient received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

2:02 Which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will. Chapter 3, verses 7 through 12.

2:29 Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, Today, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by proving me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore, I was displeased with this generation, and said, They do always err in their heart, but they did not know my ways. As I swore in my wrath, They, shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there should be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. Now let us again pray and ask for the help of God as we come to the study of his word. Our Father, as we have sought to engage our minds and hearts in beholding your glory, as reflected in the Lord Jesus, so we now come again conscious of our need of the Spirit's ministry, if we are rightly to understand your mind as revealed in the Scriptures.

3:50 And so we pray that the Holy Spirit will be given to preacher and listener alike, that together we may be conscious that you are here, answering the prayers that have been couched in the Holy Spirit, that have been couched in the Holy Spirit, that have been couched in the Holy Spirit, that have been couched in the language of the hymn we have just sung. Lord Jesus, light of the world, illumine darkened minds. Lord Jesus, set captives free. Lord Jesus, reclaim wandering souls.

4:26 Lord Jesus, be present to minister in power to every heart. For your name's sake we plead. Amen. Amen.

4:42 Amen. Welcome to Opus Dei yogurt On the Second Lord's Day of last month, I began a series of messages that I entitled the Blessings and Privileges along with the dangers and liabilities of the second generation. I began by identifying what I meant by the descriptive term, the second generation. I was referring to those young men and women and children who have never known any other major molding influence on theirthey are not yet ripe to indulge permanently in the but that of their parents and of this church.

5:16 Parents who themselves have been nurtured on the ministry of the word of God in this place, some for decades, and a church that with all of its sins and faults has sought to carry out a radically biblical ministry. That is, radical in that it has sought to take seriously the word of God on whatever that word addresses concerning individual and corporate life. As such, the second generation has had, as it were, handed to it many things which the first generation had desperately to wrestle for. Things that some, in the letter that was sent to me by someone of the first generation, for years desperately sought and did not, did not find in her particular church experience. And reflecting on the fact that her daughter had this, as it were, as a birthright, and seeing the differing responses, wondered, as I began this series, if indeed this was not a more widespread experience. And it was a confirmation to my own mind that this was indeed a timely word.

6:36 Because in recent days, the majority of the applications for baptism and church membership have come from this second generation. In some cases, to be more accurate, third generation. And it's crucial for us to think through what are the peculiar blessings and advantages of this set of circumstances, and what, if any, are the peculiar liabilities and dangers. I then proceeded to identify what I believe are the major privileges of baptism.

7:11 The first one is that baptism is a way of being part of the second generation. And I put them under two major categories. I said, you of the second generation have been sovereignly and graciously surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace from your infancy. You've been graciously and sovereignly surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace.

7:39 The knowledge of the scriptures, the temple and influence of authentic Christians, the clear biblical proclamation of the gospel, and the earnest, persevering prayers of your parents and the people of God. And then the second major category of your blessing and privilege, I describe this way. You of the second generation have been lovingly and carefully nurtured in a biblically-framed, total character-molding context. You have been molded in a character-molding context that has had as its framework of reference the very pattern within which our Lord Jesus was nurtured, as it is described in Luke 2, 51 and 52. Having then identified these two major categories of the blessings and advantages of the second generation, I then began to identify the peculiar liabilities and dangers arising from that first category of blessing. That category of being sovereignly and graciously surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace has its own peculiar dangers and liabilities. And I had time before my torn retinas put me out of commission

Review of Previous Dangers and Introduction of Neglect and Hardness of Heart

9:02 for two Lord's days to identify two of these liabilities and dangers. I said, you of the second generation will be especially susceptible to agonizing struggles with the assurance of your salvation. I did not say you must of necessity experience agonizing struggles with assurance, but I did say you will be especially susceptible to such agonizing struggles. And I've been encouraged with the feedback, different ones of the second generation, saying, how did Pastor Martin get inside my heart and inside my mind?

9:42 Well, I got inside of it because you've gotten outside of it enough to share with me, many of you, your struggles in this area over the years. And then secondly, you of the second generation will be especially susceptible to the damning delusion of presumption concerning your salvation. And we identified that kind of spiritual presumption and why, being surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace, can leave one peculiarly vulnerable to this damning sin of presuming that all is well, when in reality there is no real vital attachment to Christ, no real love for the law and ways of Christ, no real love for the people of Christ, all of those things that are, according to the Scripture, the undeniable. marks of true saving grace. Now we come this morning to take up a third major liability connected with the privileges of being surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace from the cradle. And I'm describing it this way.

10:58 You of the second or third generation are especially susceptible to the danger of neglect and hardness of heart with respect to your salvation. You of the second or third generation are especially susceptible to what I really should call the soul-destroying danger, to the danger of neglect and hardness of heart with respect to your salvation. In addressing this matter, we'll consider the truth under these three simple headings, the danger identified, spending the majority of our time there, the danger avoided, and thirdly, the danger ignored. First of all, then, the danger identified. According to the teaching of the Bible and observable human experience, there are some sins that all men, that includes boys and girls, young and old, all men is generic of all human beings, according to the Bible, and observable human experience, there are some sins that all men, at all times and in all places, are capable of committing. Some sins that all men, at all times, in all places, are capable of committing.

Sins Common to All vs. Sins Unique to Gospel Hearers

12:25 All ages, all sociological and economic, political backgrounds and contexts, such passages as Mark chapter 7 describe those kinds of sins. When our Lord Jesus is seeking to strip away the self-deception of the Pharisees who thought that defilement was an external matter, he says, no, defilement is something that has its origin in the heart. And in Mark 7, 20, he says, that which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, all men, including women, young men, old men, old women, young women, boys, girls, from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed. Fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness, all these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. These are sins that are in the heart of all of us by nature. Every human heart is like a cesspool that has the pressure of an artesian well.

13:47 That's what your heart is. That's what my heart is. Were we to penetrate the most remote jungle somewhere in the depths of a Brazilian forest and find people utterly isolated from modern society and technology, this we would know. There we would find human hearts that were cesspools of every one of these sins.

14:13 Inward pressure spilling out in the mouth and in the hands, in the eyes, in the attitudes and dispositions. It's because this is what fallen human nature is. And all men, in all places, at all times, and in all circumstances are capable of the defilement of these sins. For they come from within, out of the heart.

14:38 Or similarly, we could take Galatians chapter 5 where the apostle says that the works of the flesh are manifested. Flesh is Adamic human nature, untouched and untransformed by the power of God through the Spirit and union with Christ. That's what flesh is. And Paul writes in Galatians chapter 5, 19, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, wrath, factions, divisions, partings, endings, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of which I did forewarn you, even as I did, I forewarn you, as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. All men, at all times, in all places and circumstances are capable of these sins. Why? Because they are consistent with unblessed, untransformed, Adamic human nature.

15:44 You don't need to see a bad example to do these things. You have an internal teacher called the flesh. But, but, there are some other things that only some men in some places, in some peculiar circumstances, are capable of committing. Does that surprise you when I say that?

The Danger Identified: Drifting and Neglecting Salvation (Hebrews 2)

16:10 There are some sins that only some men, that is, some men and women, some boys and girls, in some circumstances, are capable of committing. And among such sins are the sins of neglecting one's salvation and hardening one's heart, concerning, one's salvation. These two sins can only be committed by those who are exposed to the God-appointed means of saving grace. Only such as are exposed to the means of saving grace can be guilty of the sin of neglecting salvation and hardening their hearts to salvation. And I want to demonstrate this from two pivotal texts in the book of Hebrews. The first, Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2.

17:18 And this is why I say, you of the second generation, you who have been surrounded with the means of saving grace from your infancy, you can commit a sin that millions on the face of the earth cannot commit today.

17:37 You can commit it. They cannot. You can. Hebrews chapter 2.

17:44 In the passage, people are addressed who've heard something. Look at the opening words. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard. The people addressed have heard something.

18:03 And what is it that they have heard? Well, they have heard that which is called in verse 3, the message of God's so great salvation. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which having at the first been spoken? What they heard is that which was spoken.

18:31 And what was spoken is described by the writer to the Hebrews as so great a salvation. What they heard was God's message concerning how in Jesus Christ God has dealt with the problem of human sin. How in Jesus Christ God has procured a way whereby sinners may be delivered from the guilt, the power, and the consequences of their sin through the appointed Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is called so great a salvation. The modifying word is the one used by James when he's speaking of how the little tongue has such great influence and he's drawing parallels. He says, so great a ship is turned by a little rudder. What is the so great a ship?

19:33 A vast ocean going ship is so great a ship. It's not a little skiff. It's so great. And in the Book of the Revelation where there is a description of an earthquake the likes of which was never experienced in all of human history it is called so great an earthquake when God would set it apart from all others.

19:56 So this is not some little piddling salvation. This is a massive, so great, a magnificent salvation. A salvation which the writer to the Hebrews says has come to us in God's final word to human beings in the person and work of His own beloved Son. His Son who is greater than the angels.

20:23 His Son whom He will show in the unfolding elements of the Book of Hebrews is greater than the Aaronic priesthood. Whose sacrifice is greater than all of the Levitical sacrifices. All of this magnificent salvation. It is that concerning which these have heard.

20:43 We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard. And what was heard was the message of this so great salvation. And once that salvation has been spoken in our ears what is the peculiar sin that only gospel hearers can commit? Well it's described in the Bible in two ways in this passage and I want you to look at it.

21:10 First of all it's described in terms of drifting and then it's described in terms of neglecting. Verse 1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard lest happily. That's an old English way of trying to express the subjunctive mood.

21:32 The mood of possibility. When the verb is put in the subjunctive it is not an indicative this happened or a future this will happen. But it is in terms of this may happen. The mood of possibility is the subjunctive.

21:48 Lest perhaps we drift away from them. Give the more earnest heed to the things we heard lest we drift away from them. Now the verb translated drift away is found only here in the New Testament. But when we turn to secular Greek writers it's interesting to find the various ways it is used.

22:16 And here I quote from Rainiker and Rogers who have a very helpful summary of these various ways. The word was used to describe a river that flows by a place or flows aside from its normal channel in the sense of flooding or escaping its channel. When it escapes its ordinary channel it has drifted beyond its normal course. Again this word was used of something slipping from one's memory.

22:47 Oh it slipped my memory. It floated out of the realm of my ability to bring it into cognitive focus. It slipped my mind. Again it was used to describe what would happen when a ring would slip from someone's finger.

23:06 It wasn't thrown off. It wasn't wrenched off. It just slipped off. Gravity did its work.

23:14 Inadvertently the ring slipped off. It was also used to indicate a ship drifting away beyond its proper place of mooring. And because it is used in the passive it's not that someone is consciously acting or actively engaging in drifting. They are being carried along in an activity of drifting.

23:42 We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard lest happily we are carried along and away from them. You see the picture is not of someone who having heard says I don't buy that stuff. This salvation stuff. I don't believe we're sinners.

24:04 I don't believe our condition is such that we need an incarnate deity to be the savior. That we need a sacrifice of an innocent victim upon the cross who under the Syrian sky is inundated with the wrath of God against human sin. I don't believe in this kind of salvation. No, no, no, no.

24:26 He says we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we heard lest we just are carried along by them and never are anchored to them or brought into rest in the privileges held out in the gospel. A drifting by them. Never being anchored to them. Not openly denying them.

24:57 Not blaspheming them. Being surrounded with the God appointed means of grace. All of which are pointing us to the reality of so great a salvation in Jesus Christ. Urging us to lay hold of Christ.

25:17 Urging us to flee to Christ. Urging us to cast the weight of our souls upon Christ. And what is done? The writer to the Hebrews envisions people who simply drift on by the things that have been heard.

25:35 And the so great salvation encompassed in those things. And then he describes it further on in the passage as neglecting. Look at verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

25:55 A very benign word. What is neglecting something? It's just failure to pay close attention to something. When a man neglects his wife, what does he do?

26:08 Doesn't mean he beats her. Doesn't mean he shuts her up in a room for days. It doesn't mean that he starves her. He's just insensitive to her emotional needs.

26:19 Insensitive to her need for communication. Insensitive to her need for a little respite from the grind of the domestic pressure of three small kids and all of the responsibilities of giving herself to the role of a...

26:35 To neglect her is simply not to pay careful attention to her. And this is the very word used in precisely the same construction. It's a participle of exactly the same construction in Matthew chapter 22. It's the most vivid illustration of what it means to neglect.

26:53 In Matthew 22, Jesus gives the parable of a wedding feast. And the king who has thrown this wedding feast for his son. In verse four we read, And he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner. My oxen and my fatling are killed, and all things are ready.

27:15 Come to the marriage feast. Verse five. But they neglected it. You have a translation that probably says they made light of it.

27:25 But it's exactly the same verb in a participle form in exactly the same construction. They neglected it. They made light of it. And how did they manifest their neglect?

27:38 And went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise, et cetera. You see, they didn't say, Hey, wait a minute, you guys. You're telling me that the king has made a feast and that I'm welcome to come to the feast. I don't need to buy a ticket.

27:54 I don't need to buy a raffle ticket. You mean there's a feast prepared and I can enjoy all of the king's provisions simply by coming? I don't believe the king exists. I don't believe there's any feast.

28:06 I don't believe the terms of your invitation are sincere. No, they didn't deny a thing. They believed there was a king. They believed there was a feast.

28:16 They believed they were welcome. They simply neglected the invitation. They simply neglected it. They made light of it.

28:25 They simply neglected it. And the writer to Hebrews says, How shall we escape if we neglect? Neglect so great a salvation. Now, who can neglect salvation?

28:38 Only those who have heard of that so great a salvation. This is a sin that only those who are exposed to the saving means of grace can commit. Those who have never heard of God's so great salvation. In the imagery of Matthew 22, those who have never heard that the king of the universe so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and that in Christ a gospel feast is spread of forgiveness and pardon and reconciliation with God and the gift of the Spirit and the promise of eternal life and the resurrection of the body and all of the blessings of salvation.

29:23 Only those who have heard of so great a salvation can neglect it. And so the writer to the Hebrews says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And so I say that one of the great dangers of the second generation, surrounded from infancy with those God-appointed means of saving grace, declaring continually the reality of the great salvation that is in Jesus Christ, you can drift on by it, never anchoring your soul to it in conscious, deliberate actings of faith. You can simply neglect it, pay no careful attention to it, and give your mind and your energies to other things legitimate in themselves as did these who were invited to the wedding feast. In their neglect, one went his way to his farm and another to his merchandise. They didn't go into the business of cranking out pamphlets to prove the king didn't exist, cranking out treatises as to why they believed

30:49 that the whole idea of a banquet feast was a sham. No, they did nothing to deny the realities that were set before them. They simply neglected it. Simply neglected it.

The Danger Identified: Hardness of Heart (Hebrews 3-4)

31:04 And that's the frightening danger that every one of you children and young people faces, drifting by and neglecting. But then there's a second thing that only you who are surrounded with these saving means or means of saving grace, a sin that only you can commit, and that is the sin of hardening your heart. In Psalm 95, verses 7 to 11, the psalmist writes words that are picked up and quoted no fewer in various parts of it, four times in the book of Hebrews. It's a critical passage.

31:48 Here in Psalm 95, it begins with this ringing summons to make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, one of the most passionate invitations to worship. The contrast is such that liberal commentators say that this last part of the psalm, the psalm never even belonged here. This is somebody doing a poor mix-and-match job and patching in something totally irrelevant. But we don't hold such a loose view of the Word of God.

32:15 But from that ringing, exuberant, passionate invitation to worship God in all of His greatness and glory, then we have these words, beginning in verse 7, for He is our God, we are the people of His pastor and the sheep of His hand. Today, oh, that you would hear His voice, harden not your heart. And then references made to incidents in the life of the children of Israel in their wilderness wandering, as in Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with that generation and said it is the people that err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.

32:59 Wherefore I swore in my wrath they should not enter into my rest. In other words, God said, because of your indifference to my voice and your unbelief in the face of my voice, you'll not enter Canaan. Rest was Canaan. You remember that whole generation died in the wilderness.

33:16 Only two of that generation entered the promised land, Joshua and Caleb. All the others died. And if all we had was Psalm 95, we'd think that's all it was speaking about. But under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the writer to the Hebrews takes up that very portion of Psalm 95, and in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, no fewer than four times, he references this Psalm in conjunction with this issue.

33:44 The rest to which Psalm 95 points is the rest, ultimately, not of Canaan, but of heaven. A rest into which we come when we lay hold in faith of the promises of God in the so great salvation offered to us in the gospel, so that he thoroughly gospelizes that portion from Psalm 95. I want you to see that now as we turn to Hebrews chapter 3. Having set forth the greatness of Christ greater than Moses, the great apostle and high priest of our confession, he then says in verse 7, Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, like as in the day of trial in the wilderness. And then he quotes almost entirely that section from Psalm 95. Then again, he comes down in verse 15, while it is said today, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation. For who, when they heard, did provoke?

34:57 Nay, did not all those that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness, to whom he swore they should not enter his rest, but them that were disobedient, and received that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief? Let us fear therefore, lest a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to come short of it.

35:22 Now notice, for indeed we have good tidings, we have a gospel preached unto us, even as they did, but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as it is said, as I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. You see what he is doing? He is saying that there is a parallel between unbelief that shut them out from the rest of entering the land of Canaan, and the unbelief that shuts us out from all of the rest promised in the gospel, rest from the wrath of God, from bondage to sin, and eventually the eternal rest of the heavenly Canaan. And in that particular setting, no fewer than five times is the word today highlighted, so that the constant emphasis is when we confront the announcement of God's gospel rest, when we hear of this so great salvation, that becomes our today. And whenever we have a today of gospel opportunity, we either believe, or we harden our hearts.

36:50 And that's the truth I pray God will bring home with power to many of your hearts this morning. Look at that close conjunction. Verse 7 of Hebrews 7, verse 3, Today, if you hear, harden not. And again, verse 15, Today, if you hear, harden not.

37:14 Verse 7 of chapter 4, again he defines a certain day, Today, saying in David, so long a time afterward, even as he said before, Today, if you hear his voice, harden not. O God, harden not your heart. What brings hardness of heart in this context? It is being surrounded with the announcement of God's gospel provisions in Christ, and responding with anything less than immediate, wholehearted trust in the promises of God.

37:58 Today, if you hear, harden not. O God, how do I avoid the hardening? I embrace the word of faith that is preached unto me. I embrace in faith the announcement of God's provision and the overtures of His mercy in the Lord Jesus.

38:21 So every time you of the second generation, and you who just may have stumbled in here, strange visitors, whenever, whenever God's great salvation is announced, that becomes today for you. And when it is a gospel today, God says don't harden your heart. Don't harden your heart. And how do you harden your heart?

38:48 By saying not today. God says this is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear His voice. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not.

38:59 Today, if you hear, embrace mixed with faith that gospel word that is proclaimed to you even in this place today. This is the soul destroying sin of neglect and hardness of heart which only those who are exposed to the saving means of grace can commit. So we've identified the danger in these two key passages. Hebrews 2 is described in a two-fold way, drifting on by and neglecting.

The Danger Avoided: Solemn Obligation to Give Earnest Heed

39:38 In Hebrews 3 and 4, hardening of the heart. Having identified the danger, now secondly and more briefly, the danger avoided. How and in what way are we to avoid this danger? You kids, how can you avoid the horrible danger of just drifting on by?

40:00 That gospel haven in which you should be anchored for the safety of your soul. How can you avoid the hardening of the heart? Well, let's look at these passages. They give the answer.

40:14 How do we avoid the danger of drifting and neglect with respect to salvation? Hebrews 2 and verse 1. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard. The key to the answer of the word of God to that question, how can I avoid?

40:40 I have not chosen to be surrounded from my birth with the means of God's saving mercy and with the word and promise of so great a salvation. How can I avoid the drifting by and the neglect and the hardness of heart concerning which God warms me? This passage says, you avoid the drifting and the neglect by first of all recognizing that you have a solemn, divinely imposed obligation to do something. Look at the text.

41:17 Therefore, we ought. And the Greek word translated ought is that little particle of necessity. It speaks of solemn, unmistakable obligation. And you and I will not take seriously avoiding the sins of drifting by and neglecting and hardness of heart until we first of all recognize God has laid a solemn obligation upon me if he has brought to me the announcement of gospel privileges.

41:54 If he has sovereignly and graciously surrounded me with the means of saving grace, he has also laid upon me, not asking for my consent, a solemn obligation to do something. Now, every one of you kids needs to face this reality. You presently sit under a solemn obligation to do something with respect to those marvelous privileges with which God has surrounded you. You haven't asked for them, no, any more than you asked for the privileges.

42:30 You haven't asked for the obligations God sovereignly and graciously gave the privileges. He sovereignly lays upon you an obligation, an obligation to do something. And what is it that you are to do? Look at the text.

42:45 Therefore we ought, we are under solemn, sovereignly imposed obligation to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard. That obligation is to pay earnest and careful attention to the gospel. Give the more earnest heed. That is consciously, deliberately, decidedly say, I am no longer going to just treat these things like tomorrow morning's news.

43:30 I am going to start taking steps to think seriously concerning the things that I've heard. In the gospel preaching I've heard from my mom and dad. In the gospel instruction I've received from my Sunday school teacher. In the gospel preaching I've heard in church and in school.

43:55 I have been told again and again that the great issues of life are rooted in the fact that God is almighty Creator, lawgiver and judge. I am His creature accountable to Him and I haven't given five minutes serious thought to that reality. I'm going to stop this nonsense and I'm going to start giving earnest heed to the fact that God is God, He is holy, He is judge, I am His creature and I'm going to stand before Him in judgment. I'm going to stop fooling around and start giving earnest heed to the things I've heard.

44:29 I've heard in the word of the gospel that God so loved the world in all of its sin and wretchedness and rebellion that He gave His only begotten Son that in Bethlehem's manger is enfleshed deity. God becomes a baby in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. That in that person God is demonstrating the infinite depth and breadth of His love starting with His own beloved Son to come to this sin-cursed world, to expose Himself to its vileness, eventually to have the spittle of men drip from His face, to be buffeted and bruised, to go into a garden where the issues of the gospel are of such moment that when Jesus wrestles with them blood drops burst from His capillaries. Sin is so real. God is so real. Judgment against sin is so real that the Son of God sweats as it were great drops of blood.

45:40 I'm going to stop treating that like a bunch of nonsense. I'm going to start paying heed to that. I'm going to start asking what was there in my sin that forced drops of blood from the holy brow of Jesus? And I'm going to take seriously the fact that when He went off and was judged, He said, don't you think that I could send Paul upon My Father and He send twelve legions of angels to deliver Me?

46:04 Why does He submit Himself to all of the brutal treatment of the soldiers and the taunting mobs and then allow Himself to be impaled on a cross? And then darkness covers the land for three hours? And He cries out, My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me? I'm going to stop treating that like a bunch of nonsense.

46:27 I'm going to start giving close attention to that stuff. There's stuff that God says I need to give careful attention to. That's what some of you have never done. No, you don't deny it.

46:43 You don't mock it. You don't deny it and try to overturn it. But you don't give serious attention to it. And God says you've got to do it.

46:56 You've got to do it. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest we drift on by them. What will cause you to just drift on by them? Just don't give any serious thought to them.

47:16 That's all. Go home today like you have many other Lord's days. After your Sunday school teacher and your pastors have poured their guts out, laid their hearts out, eat your meals, go back to your room, do your crossword puzzles, read some banal book, pick up a novel, never give any thought to it. That's exactly the way you'll drift on by and harden your heart and end up in hell.

47:46 Just do what you've done every other Lord's day for months and for years, some of you. God says you must give the more earnest heed to the things you've heard. Go home today and say I'm going to get my Bible out and I'm going to read about the crucifixion and I'm going to pray oh Jesus show me why you had to die so horrible a death. And I'm going to take passages in the book of Revelation, I'm going to read about hell where the worm dies not and the fire is never quenched and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and I'm going to take seriously Lord that's where I'm going if I'm not saved, if I'm not forgiven, if I'm not cleansed, I'm going to give earnest heed to the things I've heard from my very mama's breast. I'm going to stop fiddling and faddling and trifling in these great and glorious issues. That's how you avoid the sin of drifting on by, neglecting, hardening your heart. You do so by paying earnest and careful attention to the gospel.

The Danger Avoided: Embracing the Gospel in Faith

49:09 For you adults, John Owen beautifully says, this means for us that we contemplate the author of the gospel, the matter of the gospel, the weight of the gospel and the ends of the gospel. We start taking seriously all of these things bound up in the gospel. God, sin, death, hell, judgment, atonement, resurrection, the Holy Spirit. These are the things in this so great salvation.

49:42 And mom and daddy can't pay close attention to them for you. I can't pay close attention to them for you. I can do all within my power, preparing, pleading, throwing myself into the preaching of the word, crying out, Oh God, may your word fasten itself. But at the end of the day, you've got to do what it says.

50:08 You are under solemn obligation to give more earnest heed to the things that you have heard. You will not let another Lord's day pass in lightness, in frivolity. You will determine if it means you've got to stand against your siblings, you're going to do it. But this Lord's day, God's given me one day in seven when I can legitimately put my books aside, my ordinary entertainments and recreations aside, because God knows I've got a never dying soul.

50:37 And he loves me enough to mark out one day in seven that I can, with a good conscience, give myself in a focused way to the concerns of my soul. And I'm going to do it today. And how do you avoid the danger of hardness of heart with respect to your salvation? I've emphasized it already in all of these passages.

50:58 The only way to be sure to avoid hardness of heart is in this gospel today. Embrace the message in faith. Anything other than a response of faith is a hardening of the heart. Today, today, if you hear his voice, here's another gospel today.

51:19 God hasn't cut you off in your sin. He hasn't allowed you to be taken off by your parents into some place where all you get is religious falderal and ritual and no proclamation of the gospel. You're here. It's another gospel today, dear children, young people.

51:35 It's another gospel today. Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Embrace the Savior. What is there in Jesus that you wouldn't want to embrace him?

51:49 What is there in his salvation that is not in your best interest? What is there in the Christian life now and in the age to come that is not desirable and delightful? Ah, yes, sure, you get a few rubs along the way, a few people that think you're a kook and a nut. But, but what a wonderful thing to put your head on your pillow at night and know your sins are all forgiven.

52:12 To know if your heart stopped beating, all it does is shoot you up to heaven. That's a wonderful thing. Wonderful thing. Wonderful thing.

52:24 To have human relationships marked by love and genuine concern rather than mutual exploitation. You kids don't have a clue what a zoo it is out there. You're in a context where you can move among the men here in the church, you little girls, and know that nobody's out to exploit you. You can feel safe.

52:45 Men other than your daddies hugging you, kidding with you, and you know that their motives and desires are all pure. That's what this salvation gives. Why wouldn't you want such a salvation? Jesus, in all of his love and grace and tenderness and power, offers himself to you.

53:03 In all of the benefits of his work, forgiveness of sin, breaking the chains of your sin, giving you the gift of the Holy Spirit, promising to raise you up with a resurrection body at the last day. Why wouldn't you want a salvation like this? Don't hearten yourself. You embrace the Lord Jesus.

53:17 Say, Lord Jesus, the most stupid thing in all the world is for me not to trust you. The most stupid thing in the world is for me to go on with a load of sins still on my back and haunting my conscience and the terrible, terrible shadow of hell across my path that I can't see. Lord Jesus, I'm done with this nonsense. I want you to be my Savior.

53:43 I entrust myself to you. And then you just go on trusting him. Some of you have heard me say, I pray for you dear children that many of you will never know a time when you did not know that you were a sinner and you did not trust Jesus as the Savior of sinners. And nothing would thrill us more than to have some of you come into a membership interview and when we ask for your testimony to be able to say, well, I don't have much of a testimony.

54:17 All I know is I've never known a time when I didn't know I was a horrible sinner who ought to go to hell. I don't remember a time when I didn't know that Jesus welcomed sinners like me and I never knew a time when I didn't trust him. I tell you, some of us will get up and dance around the room for joy. Why aren't you trusting the Lord Jesus?

54:45 You say, but Pastor, that sounds so simple. Yeah, I know it does. But he still says, him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out. Come unto me and I will give you rest.

54:58 The only way to avoid hardness of heart is when you have a gospel today. A gospel today. Today, if you hear his voice, embrace the Savior in faith. That's the danger avoided.

The Danger Ignored: Consequences of Neglect and Hardness

55:12 Now, in conclusion, three minutes. What happens if the danger is ignored? What happens if we hear another message as you've heard today and your privileges are set before you and your dangers are set before you and how to avoid them is set before you and you ignore it? Now, let's look back at Hebrews chapter 2.

55:38 Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard lest perhaps we drift on by them for another day. Are you tempted to say, ah, I know I ought to give more earnest heed but I got other things to do. I know I ought not to drift on by the moorings of the gospel for another day but I got other things to do. The writer to Hebrews says, look, you better do this because if the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, that's God's revelation through Moses, take the word of God to Moses and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? See, he has just proven that Christ is greater than the angels. That's the whole thrust of Hebrews chapter 1 verses 4 through the end of the chapter. Christ is greater than the angels.

56:48 Now, here are these angels and when God mediated His word through angels and every word He spoke received a just recompense of reward. If men disregarded His word through angels, they were punished, all of them, none escaped. Along comes Jesus greater than the angels and God's final word is in Jesus, God who spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets His old covenant word through the angels. Now, in Jesus He has spoken His final word and the so great salvation is spoken by the Lord, confirmed by His apostles, validated with their signs and wonders that they were the true spokesmen of God. Now then, if the word through angels proves steadfast, nobody escaped who disregarded it, what will happen if you disregard the word through angels? How shall we escape if we neglect, notice neglect, not deny, blaspheme, reject as foolish, simply neglect, make light of it, don't take it seriously, don't regard it worthy of giving more earnest heed, how shall we escape if we neglect

58:18 so great salvation? Ignore what God has promised you. You will receive the threatened punishment. You will not enter the rest of the promised salvation if you harden your heart.

58:41 Chapter 4 again, let us fear, let us be afraid, let us be scared witless, lest promise of grace and salvation is set before you and you walk away from it and don't lay it to yourself. Let us fear lest the promise being left of entering into His rest, any one of you should come short of it, for indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us that we must have heard His voice and not our heart. I know that I am just the kind of sinner you came to save and I believe that you came from heaven in order to die You can break the chains that bind me to my sins. You can make good all of Your promises and come to live in me by Your Holy Spirit and give me the power to live the life that is pleasing to You.

60:09 Lord Jesus, I no longer drift on by that only place of safe haven. This day, Lord Jesus, by Your grace, by faith, I anchor myself to gospel promises and provisions. I no longer make light of the invitation to come to the feast. No longer will I harden my heart.

60:36 For dear children, as we were reminded when Pastor McDiarmid was here, it's God who says, remember now your Creator in the days of your youth. Before the evil days come, when you will say, I have no pleasure in them. The most opportune time is now.

61:00 Here, today, if you hear, harden not. Every time God gives you a gospel today and you don't embrace Christ, there is a layer of hardness that goes over the heart.

61:17 And each time it gets a bit easier the next time.

Illustration: The Callused Hand

61:22 Now this. I may gross some of you out, but as I was fishing for an illustration with which to close, this was the only one that came to mind. So a preacher's got to go with what he's got.

61:31 When I was a boy, many years ago, a young man, I worked summers as a laborer for a non-union construction man. He was a plasterer and a mason. And so all day long, my hands were handling rough concrete block. In the building trades, you don't say blocks, you say block.

61:51 If you stay around a construction man, pick up the blocks, he'll know you don't know anything about it. It's block. No matter how many they are, you're picking up the block and carrying brick and mixing brown coat. That shows how old I am, Jerry, back when we put the old gypsum brown coat.

62:09 So my hands were continually in touch with rough, rough materials, continually in touch with tools, so that over a period of time, I built up huge calluses across this part of my hand. And when I wanted to gross out my sisters, I'd take a big darning needle, and I'd go ramming it right through, just where the callus was just about joining the real...

62:30 And I mean, it looked like I was really doing damage to myself. I didn't feel anything, no blood. Why? There's no vascularity in the callus.

62:40 No blood vessels and no nerves. Now, I didn't get those calluses the first day I went off to work. Usually the first couple of days when I'd come home from college and go to work, I'd have running blisters. I mean, my hands had gotten soft sitting in the classroom, and usually...

62:55 I'd be using a pen and not that kind of work. But after a while, after a while, the blisters in the area would heal, and the callus would build up and build up and build up until...

63:04 I used to be proud of my calluses and my ability to stick a big old needle through my calluses and feel nothing.

63:13 That's what happens to your heart.

63:16 Every time God gives you a gospel today, every time Mom and Dad entreat you to flee to Christ, every time your Sunday school teacher, your pastors entreat you, every time... every time the gospel is proclaimed, Christ is set before you, and you're urged to close with the gospel and receive Christ.

63:38 And you say, no. A little later. A little later. A little later.

63:43 A little later. A little later. So you can come to adult years where you can hear the most simple, clear, Christ-centered, passionate, earnest proclamation of the gospel, and you don't feel anything.

63:59 You feel nothing. There are some sitting, there are some sitting here who are living witnesses of the callous of the heart.

64:12 You want to join them?

64:15 I pray not, dear children, dear young people. I pray not.

Final Exhortation and Prayer

64:21 This is the third great danger and liability of the second generation. The danger of the neglect and the hardness of heart that only you can be guilty of, who have had the privilege of being...

64:42 Being exposed to God or death means saving grace. May some of you mark this day as the day when you say enough is enough. By God's grace, this day I will start taking earnest heed to the things that I've heard. As best I know how, I'm going to Christ and I'm going to keep going to Christ until I breathe my last.

65:11 And then I'll go to be with him as he promised. God grant that it will be so. And dear people of God, as I wrestle with, well, Lord, I'm going fishing this morning. What about you, dear people?

65:26 How will they be edified? Well, if you can't be edified, just thinking about the so great salvation that is ours in Christ. Something wrong with you, child of God. We never outgrow the gospel.

65:37 We grow up into the gospel. And I trust that your heart is filled with a fresh gratitude. To God, that by his grace, you did not drift on by. But your soul has been anchored to Christ and to his gracious saving mercy.

65:57 And that God has enabled you not to harden your heart, but to enter into gospel rest. Let's pray.

66:11 Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your presence with us. And how we earnestly pray. We plead with you this day, that you, by the Holy Spirit, will make that word effectual.

66:27 That there would be some who would mark this day as the day when they began to lay hold of Christ. When they stopped making light of gospel privileges. And began to give the more earnest heed to the things that they have heard. We plead this for the good of their souls.

66:49 And for the glory of Christ. Amen.