Alright, so did you ever have your iPhone, how many have an iPhone? Or how many have I had a software update? Okay, so I got one on my phone right now, it's like 16.5.7. Ready to update tonight.
Well, today's message is actually part 2.1. So last two weeks ago, I preached a message called, from Glory to Glory Part 2, and I just felt like there's some more things that God wanted to speak through that message. So this is from Glory to Glory Part 2.1. So we'll eventually get to Part 3, but this is part B of Part 2.
And as, if you've been here for the last couple weeks, when I preached on this, we've been starting from, oh, it even says 2.1. You fixed that for me, somebody did. Second Corinthians, chapter 3, is really where our launching pad is and was. And at the end of chapter 3, it talks about that there's a veil on people's hearts, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is lifted.
And then it goes on in verse 17, it says, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, but we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the, what image? Oh, it's not up there, okay. Are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And so as I was reading that again this morning, the one thing that really just, I felt like the Holy Spirit highlighted was same image.
Everybody say same image. It says that we are transformed or being transformed into the same image. So how many, if you look at your neighbor, how many of them look like Christ Jesus right now? Oh, yeah, if you could see inside, you do.
So if you've been listening to anything that we've been teaching here, then on the inside you look like Jesus, 100%, you're already perfect, and you're already righteous. The rest of us, our minds, our thoughts, our emotions, our actions are still going through this process of transformation. So if you don't quite look exactly like Jesus yet and everything you do, you've got a little room to grow. So is anybody here that doesn't have room to grow?
I was gonna say you could leave if you want, but if you got room to grow, you're gonna stay because God's intention for you is to transform you into the same image. He wants you to be the same image as Jesus, so that we think like Jesus. We feel in our emotions and the way we act and what we do is just like Jesus. I love what Seth said last week.
He said, we're gonna learn how to ask better questions. It came from a time when we were in Nicaragua and he didn't really ask the right question. He asked a question. I said, you gotta ask better questions.
And he had asked our guide, well, how long till such and such? And we were told 15 minutes. And about an hour and 15 minutes later, I said, Seth, we're in Central America, you have to ask better questions. So better questions are exactly how many kilometers are we going?
Exactly how many people and stops are we gonna make? And so as you ask better questions, you can get a better answer. And so today we're gonna look eventually at Hebrews chapter 2 verse 3 that asks really a really good better question. It says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? That question is in the middle of three verses. It's really a long question with lots of prepositional phrases. But the crux of that question is just that.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? So this word transform, it's the same word. It comes from two words, metamorphae. And metamorphae means change, morphae means form.
It means to change form or what we would call transform. The exact same verse or word that's used when Jesus was on the amount of transfiguration. And so for a few or two weeks ago, I got to build a little bit backwards so we can go forwards. So I want to bring everybody up to speed.
Who was here two weeks ago? I asked you that real quick. Almost everybody, not quite. How many remember what I preached on two weeks ago?
Okay, not very many people. That's typical because a lot of times I don't remember what I preached on two weeks ago. So little refresher is good. So on the amount of transfiguration it says that Jesus took with him on a high mountain.
He took Peter, James and John up on a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, he was transfigured. And it says that his face shown like the sun, his clothes became as white as light. And it says that he was transfigured in front of them or right in front of them.
And the word transfigured when Jesus was transfigured on the amount of transfiguration is the exact same word as being transformed. We see in 2 Corinthians 3, 18. So we talked a little bit about that last week. And in that setting, here's Peter and James and John.
They're on the mountain. Jesus is there. He's revealing his glory. He reveals what's been hidden inside of him all this time.
And it says that Moses and Elijah appeared unto them and spoke with Jesus about all the things that he would accomplish in Jerusalem. So that he was going to die. He was going to resurrect it. And as they're talking to Jesus, Peter butts in with this wonderful idea.
That's great. So I didn't even get to the mic drop part yet. So Peter says this. He says, hey, I've got this brilliant idea of Jesus.
Let's do this. Let's make three tabernacles. One tabernacle for Moses, one tabernacle for Elijah, and one tabernacle for you. Now don't think of like a church tabernacle.
Think of like a booth, like not like a voting booth, but like a shelter that the Israelites would sleep in during the Feast of Tabernacles. So let's make a shelter, three shelters, one for Moses, one Elijah, one for Jesus. And it says as he was speaking, throughout the Father butts in and he says, Peter, that is a stupid idea. He didn't really say that.
He actually said something different. He says, this is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased, hear him. This is my beloved son and whom I'm pleased, hear him. So what Peter's trying to do is we talked about last week or two weeks ago is that Moses represents the law or Moses was the law giver.
Elijah who represents the prophets was what we would call the law enforcer, right? Moses gave the law, the prophets enforced the law, and Jesus comes along and Jesus is not the law giver, Jesus is not the law enforcer, Jesus is the law fulfilling. Matthew 517 says, don't think that I came to destroy the law and prophets? No, I came to fulfill them.
And because you can't keep them, he had to keep them for us. Oh, clean his whistle. I'm sorry. I had a little squirrel moment there.
Went back to my childhood watching TV with the little dial. We had 13 channels, you know, and every so often it would come that. Was that clean as a whistle, Irish spring? Irish spring.
Clean as a whistle. Old spice. Yeah, old spice. Alright, alright, old spice.
New spice. We're gone. Spice girls, not anywhere. Yes.
So, so Peter says, let's make, let's make a booth or tabernacle to each one. Let's make the law equivalent to the prophets, equivalent to Jesus who brings grace and truth. And God the Father says that's absolutely a stupid idea. Jesus is on a completely different platform.
Jesus is not equal to the law, he's not equal to the prophets. And he says, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, hear him. And he's saying this, he says, I don't want you to listen to the message of the law anymore, I don't want you to listen to the prophets anymore. I want you to listen to the message that Jesus brought and is bringing.
And what happens a lot of times is when we preach a message, and a lot of churches do this, we go back and preach a message from the law or from the prophets. And it's fine to preach from the Old Testament, don't confuse that with the Old Testament because everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus. So, when you look at the Old Testament through the eyes of the new covenant lens, you can see Jesus in there. And you have to see that through the new covenant lens.
But he says, I want you to hear Jesus, and I want you to hear Jesus only. In Luke 16 verse 16, it says this, it says, the law and the prophets were until John. Speaking of John the Baptist, the law and the prophets were until John. But since that time, everybody say since that time, the kingdom has been preached and everyone is doing what?
Pressing into it. That actually means to force your way in, to push your way in. It said the law and the prophets, what we just saw in the Mount of Transfiguration, the law and the prophets were until John. So it John the Baptist, the message changed.
He said they were until John. But since that time, the message of the kingdom has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. If we don't have a message that is attractive to sinners, then I would almost venture to say we're preaching the wrong message. Because what the Bible says is that the message that was preached since John the Baptist, the different message of the kingdom, not a message that the law brought, which was condemnation, not a message that the prophets brought, which was judgment, but a message that Jesus brought, which was grace and truth.
He said that message that has been preached since John the Baptist, everyone is pressing to get into it. Luke 15 says this. Luke 15 is the story of the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son. But the beginning of Luke, verses 1 and 2, it says this, look at this.
It says all the tax collectors and sinners did what? Drew near to him to do what? Hear him. All the tax collectors and sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Jesus.
All the Pharisees and scribes, wah, wah, wah. All the Pharisees and scribes complained saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. If we preach a message that doesn't attract sinners, we're preaching the wrong message. See, the message that Jesus preached attracted sinners and repelled religious people.
The message most churches preach attract religious people and repel sinners. The only message you're going to hear in this church is one that invites sinners to meet the one that they need to meet. See, exactly, a couple of things I see here, it says they were drawn to Jesus to do what? Hear him.
There's a connection between being present with the Lord and hearing what he has to say. See, a lot of times we want to hear from Jesus, but we want to do it from a distance. And it says that the sinners were drawn to him to hear him. And so that I can't hear Jesus from a distance, I need to be in his presence.
It says the scribes and Pharisees complained, obviously when you're moving your chops, you can't hear with your ears. And sometimes you just got to shut your mouth and listen. Sometimes you got to draw near to hear what Jesus has to say to you. And so we kind of ended up on this verse last week.
It said that the God, when he sent his son Jesus, not only preached a different message, but he picked up a different microphone. Because there was a time before Jesus, it says that in various times and various ways, God spoke to our fathers through the what? Prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son.
See, there was a time before Jesus that God is using, I was told not to drop the microphone again because I must have broke it. But I'm going to do it anyway. No, I'm not. That's broke, what's the matter, right?
So before Jesus, God is preaching from a microphone called the law and prophets. It says, but in these last days, he has spoken to us through his son. So that God got rid of that microphone and he picked up a new microphone and he's preaching a new message, the message of the kingdom, a message of grace and truth. And he's doing it through a new mouthpiece, Jesus Christ.
It says he's spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom he also made the world, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. The next slide. Opponing all things by the word of his power when he had himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than that. Do you remember last two weeks ago, I said that a lot of times people defined the last days, they said, oh, we're living in the last days.
Right? We are. But the reason they say we're living in the last days is because sin is on the uprise. That's not what God said.
God said that we're living in the last days because he switched microphones. At the last day, he started the day he picked up the microphone of grace and started preaching a message through his son, Jesus. He says in these last days, he has spoken to us through his son who is heir of all the world, through whom he created everything, who is the express image of his person, who his debrightness or the outshining of his glory, who himself purged all of our sins by himself. And when he was done, he sat down at the right hand of the father and it says by a parent, he has obtained a better name than the angels.
That's the one that's speaking today. I would rather listen to a message by that person than this one over here that A, the law points out your sin, the prophets B, point out the penalty for sin, or Jesus that said, I took all the law, took the prophets, fulfilled it. I took your punishment. Here you can receive what I have by faith and grace.
That's a better message. And this is kind of where we ended up last week. Preaching a pastime's message in this last day's season will bring condemnation, not transformation. Here's what happens.
A lot of times I was talking to a few people recently about this. You're like, well, is it conviction or is it condemnation? Condemnation pushes down in a way. Conviction picks up and pulls in.
And we need the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We don't need the condemning work of the enemy. And see the message we preach, a lot of times we think we're preaching a message, we're actually preaching a message of condemnation that is repelling the very people that need to be drawn in. And the message that Jesus preached will do this, it will attract sinners.
It will draw them in so they can hear what he has to say. And that's the exact message we need to be preaching today. So that was kind of what was from two weeks ago. I just wanted to kind of catch you up to that.
That was just a real quick summary. All right. So here's the text for today. I felt like this is where we needed to go today and I will be quick and then we're going to pray and God's going to change you and change your mind and change the whole lot of stuff about you.
Let me get a drink. Therefore, so at the beginning of chapter two, he says, therefore, we didn't read all chapter one, but the rest of chapter one, the writer tells us why Jesus is better than angels. Right? So he ends up, he says, he's a by inheritance, a pain, a more, a better name than the angels.
And then he goes on, it tells us all the reasons that Jesus is better than the angels. And then in chapter two, verse one, he says, therefore, because of everything I just told you, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we do what? Drift away. Therefore, we must give more earnest heed.
More earnest heed means this. More earnest means actually super abundantly. It means to a greater degree. It actually means more frequently.
So so more abundantly, more frequently, we need to give heed. And most of the time we think about giving heed to something, it means to pay attention to it, to really focus on it. This word actually I really like because the word in the Greek means to draw near. It actually means to draw in and it was used in classic Greek to describe a ship that was being brought to shore.
And it says, we must give more earnest heed to draw near, to be brought to shore, lest of the things we have what? Heard. We must give more earnest heed to the things we have heard. Well, what do we just hear?
We heard a new message. We heard a message that is now preached by Jesus, not preached by the prophets, not preached by the law, but we have a message preached by Jesus. And the writer says, we need to give more earnest attention, more frequent attention to the thing that we heard, lest we drift from actually it means from it. So what can happen if I don't pay attention to the message?
What happens? I start drifting from the message. And when I drift from the message of grace, where do I drift to? I drift to the wrong message.
It says, therefore we must give more earnest heed to the things we have heard. Go back, lest we drift away. Drifting is pretty imperceptible, isn't it? Drifting is something that just kind of unconsciously happens.
A lot of times it's just very subtle, very casual, imperceptible. When I was 12 years old, we used to go to Ocean City every year as a kid. I loved it. A lot of good memories there.
I remember the first year when I was 12, my parents bought me this raft. And the kind you got, you blow it up. I went out and floated on the water. I was just going to go float on the waves.
And I don't remember to say we were on 100th Street. I don't even know. And my dad says, do not leave this space right in front of the hotel. Okay.
So I go out and guess what? Next thing you know, I'm down on 30th Street now. I didn't go that far. But imperceptibly, I just drifted.
You know, I think about this message that says that to give more earnest heed is to actually bring a ship to shore. They think what happens a lot of times, we have our anchor in Jesus, but we let out a whole bunch of rope. I think the longer the rope, the farther the drift. And a lot of you have your anchor hooked in Jesus, but you've landed your life to drift pretty far from shore.
He says, you need to pay more earnest attention to the things you've heard, less you drift. You actually need to draw that ship to shore. You need to get back on a firm foundation. You're like, oh, my life's so good.
I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I'm going to have to believe you're drifting at sea because you've quit listening to the right message. See, the message of Jesus, the message of grace, the message of the cross will keep you grounded.
If everybody wants to listen to different things, I think people are more interested in being well-rounded than well-grounded. Well, I need to listen to this and listen to that. You need to listen to one message. You need to listen to the message of Jesus.
So you need to pay more earnest attention to it. More frequently and more abundantly. Less, we drift. Verse 2 says this.
Well, next slide says what? Solution to not drifting is paying more frequent and abundant attention. So here's where it gets sticky. I love sticky.
I live in sticky scripture. I like it. It says if the word spoken through angels, so first of all, what's that? He just established that Jesus is better than angels.
The word spoken through angels was the law. So you can look in Deuteronomy, you can look in Psalms, you can look in Corinthians and Hebrews. It says, Paul says this in Galatians 3 19. It says that the law was appointed by angels through a mediator.
So actually when God gave, and you can see this in about three or four different scriptures in the Bible, when God gave the law, he gave it through the angels who gave it to Moses and Moses was the mediator or the go between that point. He says if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, if that thing, if the law was certain, if the law was secure, if the law was sure, like if that, if the inferior covenant was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, he says if the law was steadfast and every disobedience and transgression received a just reward. So here's the thing. Under the law, you got a just reward.
If you did bad, guess what you got? You got bad. If you did good, you got good. It said that every, it says and every disobedience, so there was, there was good parts of the law.
If you did right, you got blessed. But it was based on whose performance? Yours. And he says, so under the law, and if that thing was true, and if the Old Testament said this, it says if you do this, you'll be blessed.
It happened. If you do this and you'll be cursed, it happened. It says, if that happened, and if that inferior covenant was so steadfast, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? We're going to come back to that because that's what I want to close with.
I want to read the next couple verses first. It said, the first began to be spoken by the Lord. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Now he's going to describe the salvation, which at first began to be spoken by whom?
The Lord, oh, because it was a new message. Jesus at first began to preach about salvation. He was the first one that actually was the fulfillment of all the things the Old Testament pointed to. It said, which at first was spoken by the Lord, and then was confirmed to us by those who what?
I just got a wonder. Now obviously the apostles heard him, but could it possibly be some of the tax collectors and sinners that drew near to him to hear him that also confirmed the word that they heard him? Yeah, it could be. It said it was first spoken to us by the Lord and then was confirmed to us by those who heard him and God also bearing witness.
This is a great word. This word bearing witness just doesn't mean that God testified. It means joint testimony. It means that God testified along with the other people who were testifying.
So that somebody heard Jesus preach a message. Somebody took that message and made it understandable and steadfast and sure to somebody else. And God came along and co-signed the message with his joint testimony. What was his joint testimony?
It says he confirmed it with signs, wonders, miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. Have you ever met somebody that says the sign gifts have passed away? Okay, maybe that's you. I want to tell you what, they haven't.
But I got to think this. If somebody thinks the sign gifts have passed away, it's probably because they're preaching a message that's passed away. The God is confirming today with miracle signs, wonders, gifts of the Holy Spirit, the message of Jesus. And I'm thankful to say this church sees all of the above.
God is not confirming a person. God's confirming a message. That's the message of his son. Even when Jesus sent out after he ascended, he said, go preach the gospel to every preacher.
It said at the end of Mark 16, God accompanied them or worked with them confirming the word was signed and wondered. All right, here's the question. That's said, we got to ask better questions, right? This is a good one.
Oh, I forgot to do this. Before I ask the better question. So Seth didn't tell you last week. But I guess we had a funeral here last weekend.
And I don't use a podium. And apparently I must have been leaning on the podium to where people thought it was going to fall off the stage. But then too, I've been now called Tyrannosaurus Rex Arms. So if you wondered what Seth was talking about last week, that was it.
I'm not a podium guy. Matter of fact, we got to get rid of that thing. That's downright hideous. All right, so how should we escape?
The word escape means this. Escape means to flee to seek safety. How shall we flee to seek safety? A lot of times people will use this verse to talk about salvation eternally.
That if we neglect salvation or how shall we escape the eternal damnation, if you will, if we neglect so great a salvation. While it is a true statement, if you reject Jesus, you will end up, if you die rejecting Jesus, you will end up paying a price for your own sins that you were never meant to pay in a place called hell. That's true. Although it's true, I don't believe that's what's being said here.
This verse is not talking about rejecting Jesus. This verse is talking about neglecting something. There's a difference between rejecting neglect. It says, how should we escape if we neglect?
Another time Paul used the word neglecting said to Timothy, he says, do not neglect the gift that is in you that was put in you by the laying on of hands with the presody. So he's telling him, you cannot neglect something that you don't own or that you don't steward. I can't neglect your house. I can neglect my house.
I can neglect my car. I can neglect my kids. I can neglect my wife. I can only neglect things I'm in relationship with that I possess or that I steward.
I can't neglect something that doesn't belong to me. It's yours. He says, how shall we seek safety? How shall we flee to seek safety if we neglect so great a salvation?
The word neglect means this. It means to give little attention or respect to to disregard, to leave undone, unattended, especially through carelessness. Do you realize that you can neglect the salvation that you already have? Your salvation, see what happens here?
Here's the question most people ask, what do I need to do to go to heaven? That's an inferior question. That's an inferior question because the new birth, which is part of salvation, is not all of salvation. Getting born again is a one-time event, but it's not the end-all-be-all to salvation.
See, salvation is perfectly, perfectly, completely complete. It's a whole big package of which the born-again experience is a part of it. But what happens a lot of times, people get born again and what we call saved, they got born again and then they can neglect everything else that Jesus has provided. What happens when the enemy comes along and starts to put doubt in your mind?
How you going to escape? What comes along when you get afflicted with a disease? How are you going to escape? What happens when people start to shame you, condemn you, and start to ridicule you?
How are you going to escape if you neglect, actually, carelessly consider so great a salvation that's already been provided for you? You can't. See what happens is we have the answer in us, but we walk around thinking we have no answers and we go looking somewhere else for the answer that we already have. The salvation is this.
Salvation actually comes from the word Savior, which comes from the word save. The tearyah, salvation, so tear, Savior, sozo, to save, which is a verb. What happens a lot of times is we think of salvation as just a one-time experience. The born-again experience, Jesus says you must be born again, you get a new nature, you're infused with his nature in you, he comes to live in you.
That's a one-time experience, but salvation is ongoing. See, actually, you're not just saved, you're being saved and you will be saved. Titus 3.5 says this is not by righteousness which we have done, but according to his great mercy, he passed, President, or future tense. I've been saved because I put my faith in what he did.
1 Corinthians 1, 18 says this, it says the message of the cross is fully foolishness, so those are a perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. How many know that we need some power of God in our life while we're being saved? Well, I got saved when I was seven years old. Yeah, well, so did I.
But in the last 37 years, I needed some power of God in my life because I'm still being saved. And if I neglect so great a salvation, how am I going to escape the things that the enemy is throwing at me? I've been saved. I'm being saved.
One day I will be saved when Jesus comes back, when the dead in Christ rise first, when I get a brand new body in the twinkling of an eye. Romans 5 and 9 says this, it says much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from what? Here's the good news, we're not going through the judgment. We're not going through the great white throne judgment, it's for unbelievers, but if you don't believe you will.
But right now, if you've been justified now, you're saved from wrath later. You've been saved. You're being saved. And one day you'll be saved.
You have a hard time grasping that. Think of like the, you remember the ark in the Old Testament? Oh wait, there's two arks, right? Oh yeah, there was the Ark of the Covenant.
And then there was what other? The little ark in the big ark, right? The little ark, the ark of the Covenant was where? In the Holy of Holies, the little ark represents Christ in me.
The big ark in Noah's ark represents me in Christ. In Noah and his family, all eight of them got into the boat when were they saved. They were saved when the door shut. Now they were drifting, but not the way we drift.
When they were on the water, guess what they were doing? They were being saved. And when that boat stopped one day and got open the door, guess what? They were saved.
So if you have a hard time thinking about that spiritually, think about the ark. That's a good way to picture it. Does that we were saved? We're being saved.
One day we will be saved. Do we need the power of God in our lives? So right now I know that I know that I know that I know that I was saved. But I know right now I need to be being saved.
I still got issues in my life. I'm still dealing with stuff. I'm still trying to put off the old and put on the new. I'm still trying to grow from one level of glory to another.
I'm still trying to be transformed even as by the Spirit of the Lord. I'm still being transformed into the same image as Jesus. I still need to be being saved. I still need the message of the cross.
I still need the power of God at work in my life. When fear comes, I need to be being saved. When doubt comes, I need to be being saved. When sickness comes, I need to be being saved.
When condemnation comes, I need to be being saved. When accusations come, I need to be being saved. When I fall back into my old lifestyle, I don't need to get born again again. I need to be being saved.
When I start living away that doesn't represent Christ, I need to be being saved. That says all of that is foolishness to the world. to us, it's the power, the miracle-working power of God to transform your life happens when you allow Him to be being Savior. And I'm talking about weird English, but I don't have any other way to describe it.
It's a continual process. You're saved in your spirit, your spirit man is perfect, but the rest of you is still in and you need to work the Holy Spirit in your life.