Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Hebrews 2:1-9 - Don't Neglect Salvation

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Hebrews 2:1-9 - Don't Neglect Salvation · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio Patty, and good morning, faithful listeners, and welcome
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Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain podcasts on this lovely Tuesday morning.
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Speaker 1: So how are you, guys. I feel like I don't
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Speaker 1: talk too much anymore. At the beginning, I used to
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Speaker 1: do like long introductions where I would just talk to
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Speaker 1: you guys about what's going on in my life and
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Speaker 1: like talk about the weather and everything. But I kind
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Speaker 1: of lost it because I feel like I don't have
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Speaker 1: anything to talk about anymore. Like obviously I have the
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Speaker 1: Bible to talk about, but when it comes to my
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Speaker 1: personal life, I'm like, yeah, whatever, nobody needs to know
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Speaker 1: about that. But one thing I have been doing recently
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Speaker 1: that was kind of fun was I did this six
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Speaker 1: week long pottery class where I learned how to, you know,
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Speaker 1: like throw the pottery like on the wheel. It was
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Speaker 1: really fun. I did it with my sister in law
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Speaker 1: and we had a really enjoyable time. So that class
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Speaker 1: just ended and I made some I guess, interesting little
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Speaker 1: pieces of pottery. They aren't very good or very big,
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Speaker 1: but I'm proud of them nonetheless. So we are potentially
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Speaker 1: going to do another series of pottery classes in the
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Speaker 1: next couple months. I'm looking forward to that. So tell
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Speaker 1: me how you guys have been and what you all
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Speaker 1: have been up to. I love hearing from you guys,
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Speaker 1: So tell me what is your hobby. You can find
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Speaker 1: my contact information listed in the description of the episode.
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Speaker 1: Tell me what is your hobby and how did you
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Speaker 1: find the podcast? All right, let's go ahead and read
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Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter two one through nine. I'm looking forward to
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Speaker 1: talking about this topic because I think it's something that
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Speaker 1: a lot of Christians misunderstand. We're going to talk about
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Speaker 1: how we can neglect the salvation of Jesus even if
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Speaker 1: we are in fact saved. That might sound kind of
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Speaker 1: odd to you, so we'll get into it in just
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Speaker 1: a second. But first, here's a quick word from a sponsor.
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Speaker 1: All right, let's dive into Hebrews two one through nine.
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Speaker 1: As usual, I'll be reading from the World English Bible,
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Speaker 1: but grab the version of the Bible that you prefer.
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Speaker 1: And also, at your cup of coffee this morning, I've
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Speaker 1: got mine right here to share with you guys, and
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Speaker 1: nice a little bit of coconut milk in it. And
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Speaker 1: I've been drinking coffee every single day these past few days,
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Speaker 1: and I've been feeling great and I am just so
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Speaker 1: excited about that, especially to have my coffee back once again.
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Speaker 1: All right, once you grab your coffee in your bible,
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Speaker 1: let's read Hebrews two one through nine together. Therefore, we
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Speaker 1: ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard.
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Speaker 1: Less perhaps we drift away. For if the words spoken
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Speaker 1: through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received
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Speaker 1: a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect
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Speaker 1: so great a salvation, which, at the first, having been
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Speaker 1: spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those
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Speaker 1: who heard God also testifying with them, both by signs
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Speaker 1: and wonders, by various works of power, and by gifts
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will. For
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Speaker 1: he didn't subject the world to come of which we
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Speaker 1: speak to angels. But one has somewhere testified saying, what
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Speaker 1: is man that you think of him? Or the son
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Speaker 1: of man that you care for him? You made him
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Speaker 1: a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with
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Speaker 1: glory and honor. You have put all things in subjection
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Speaker 1: under his feet. For in that he subjected all things
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Speaker 1: to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him.
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Speaker 1: But now we don't yet see all things subjected to him.
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Speaker 1: But we see him who has been made a little
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Speaker 1: lower than the angels. Jesus, because of the suffering of death,
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Speaker 1: crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God,
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Speaker 1: he should taste of death for everyone. If the last
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Speaker 1: chapter was talking about the divinity of Jesus, I would
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Speaker 1: say that this chapter probably talks more about the humanity
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. And this is something that us Christians kind
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Speaker 1: of want to sort of ignore. We want to focus
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Speaker 1: more on the deity of Jesus and how he was God,
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Speaker 1: and I think a lot of Christians kind of downplay
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Speaker 1: Jesus's humanity. In fact, back in the days when Hebrews
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Speaker 1: was written, there was a heresy going around that Jesus
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Speaker 1: was just God, but he took on the form of
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Speaker 1: a man. He wasn't actually a man. He just looked
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Speaker 1: like a man to all of us. But that is
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Speaker 1: not true. It says elsewhere in scripture that Jesus was
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Speaker 1: fully man and fully God, so he was as much
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Speaker 1: man as he was God. Jesus was one hundred percent man.
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Speaker 1: That means that he had the same exact body, the
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Speaker 1: same exact feelings, the same exact understanding of things that
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Speaker 1: you and I have. He was a human being through
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Speaker 1: and through, one hundred percent human being, but also he
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Speaker 1: was one hundred percent God at the exact same time.
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Speaker 1: And that is so hard for us to understand, you know,
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Speaker 1: because we think of human beings as just fallen creatures.
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Speaker 1: So how could God become a human being that we
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Speaker 1: view as only fallen. Well, human beings are not just
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Speaker 1: fallen creatures. There are a lot more than that. They
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Speaker 1: are people created in God's image, and they weren't always fallen.
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Speaker 1: You know. Back in the Garden of Eden, God made
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Speaker 1: two perfect individuals. These individuals were created to live forever
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Speaker 1: with God. They were supposed to have life eternal, but
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Speaker 1: unfortunately Adam and Eve did not choose life eternal, and
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Speaker 1: the opposite of eternal life is death, right, even if
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Speaker 1: you live for a long time. They lived close to
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Speaker 1: a thousand years. Even so, they had to die because
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Speaker 1: their bodies were no longer eternal once they ate that fruit.
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Speaker 1: They chose the path that leads to death instead of
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Speaker 1: the path that leads to life. So human beings were
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Speaker 1: not always fallen individuals. They were special beings created in
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Speaker 1: God's image, and that is what Jesus became. He became
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Speaker 1: a non fallen human being who was both one hundred
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Speaker 1: percent human being and also one hundred percent man. And
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Speaker 1: that is what Hebrews discusses today. So it says in
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Speaker 1: verse one, therefore, we ought to pay greater attention to
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Speaker 1: the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away. Now,
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Speaker 1: don't forget the book of Hebrews written for the Jewish Christians.
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Speaker 1: And so he says in verse one, we ought to
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Speaker 1: pay greater attention to the things that were heard, Less
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Speaker 1: perhaps we drift away now the things that we heard.
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Speaker 1: That's obviously discussing the gospel message. But the one thing
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Speaker 1: that might shock people is I think a lot of
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Speaker 1: Christians think that when you hear the Gospel message once
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Speaker 1: and you accept it, that's all you have to do.
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Speaker 1: But the author of Hebrews is saying that we have
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Speaker 1: to pay active attention to the things that were heard.
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Speaker 1: Less perhaps we drift away. So that means that the
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Speaker 1: gospel message, yes, we accept it once and we become saved,
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Speaker 1: we believe in Jesus. But that's not the end of
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Speaker 1: what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to
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Speaker 1: reflect on the Gospel message as Christians on a regular basis,
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Speaker 1: a daily basis, minute by minute basis, if we can.
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Speaker 1: That's why Jesus tells his disciples before he went to
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Speaker 1: the cross, he said, do this in remembrance of me.
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Speaker 1: Hence why the church does communion together on a set
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Speaker 1: Sunday every single month. That's a time of reflection on
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Speaker 1: the gospel message, a time of reflection on your own
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Speaker 1: sin and the sacrifice that Jesus made in order to
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Speaker 1: save you from that sin. To rescue you rather from
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Speaker 1: that sin. We have to pay close attention to the
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Speaker 1: gospel message lest perhaps we drift away. Now, when you
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Speaker 1: think about drifting away, you think about a very slow process.
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Speaker 1: You know, a little boat on a river might be
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Speaker 1: moving kind of slow, but the boat has no anchor point,
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Speaker 1: and so you're just sitting on the boat enjoying yourself.
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Speaker 1: And the next minute you look around you and you're like,
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Speaker 1: where am I? I am so far away from my
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Speaker 1: starting point. That's what happens to us. And I'm sure
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Speaker 1: that you guys have experienced this in your own life,
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Speaker 1: where you seem like you're on fire for God one second,
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Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden and you don't even
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Speaker 1: realize it. You've drifted so far away from God that
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Speaker 1: you're not really thinking about him anymore, not really praying anymore,
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Speaker 1: or not reading your Bible on a day to day basis,
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Speaker 1: Like you've drifted away from God. But if you make
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Speaker 1: yourself a daily habit of reflecting on Jesus, reflecting on
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Speaker 1: the Gospel message, you're not going to drift away as easily,
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Speaker 1: is what the author says. So essentially, you have to
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Speaker 1: anchor yourself in Jesus, kind of like how that boat
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Speaker 1: without an anchor point drifts away down the river. But
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Speaker 1: if that boat is anchored to something, it's not going
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Speaker 1: to drift away as far. It might drift a little
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Speaker 1: bit like side to side, but it's not going to
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Speaker 1: drift away as far. You're not going to find yourself
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Speaker 1: way at the other end of the river. You might
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Speaker 1: find yourself a few feet from your starting point. So
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Speaker 1: we have to anchor ourselves in the knowledge and understanding
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Speaker 1: of the Gospel message and how that affects us personally
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Speaker 1: and our relationship with Jesus. Verse two, for if the
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Speaker 1: word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgress and
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Speaker 1: disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if
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Speaker 1: we neglect so great a salvation? Now, don't forget the
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Speaker 1: Book of Hebrews was written to Christians, and the author
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Speaker 1: even includes himself in this. He says, how will we
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Speaker 1: escape if we neglect so great a salvation? But before
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Speaker 1: I dive into that, let's first talk about verse two.
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Speaker 1: It says, if the words spoken through angels proof steadfast,
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Speaker 1: and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, that's,
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Speaker 1: of course talking about the Old Testament laws. We actually
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Speaker 1: know that the Old Testament laws were given to Moses
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Speaker 1: through angels. That's talked about a handful of times. For example,
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Speaker 1: in Acts chapter seven, Stephen mentions this in his sermon
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Speaker 1: that he did to the Pharisees right before he was
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Speaker 1: stoned by them. He says in Acts seven, starting in
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Speaker 1: verse fifty one, you stiff necked people, your hearts and
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Speaker 1: ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors.
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Speaker 1: You always re the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a
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Speaker 1: prophet your ancestors did not persecute. Then they even killed
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Speaker 1: those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And
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Speaker 1: now you've betrayed and murdered him. You who have received
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Speaker 1: the law that was given through angels, but have not
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Speaker 1: obeyed it. And man, that's a really fiery speech that
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Speaker 1: Stephen gave right there. But he tells them, He's like,
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Speaker 1: you all have been terrible from the very beginning. The
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Speaker 1: law was given to you through the angels, and you
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Speaker 1: knew it was, yet you never listened to it. You
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Speaker 1: persecuted every single prophet that God sent your way, and
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Speaker 1: then when the Messiah actually came, you murdered him. And then,
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Speaker 1: of course, right after this speech, Stephen himself ended up
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Speaker 1: getting murdered. But the point is the law was given
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Speaker 1: to Moses through the angels, which is what Deuteronomy thirty three,
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Speaker 1: verse one and two says. This is the blessing with
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Speaker 1: which Moses, the Man of God, blessed the children of
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Speaker 1: Israel before his death. He said, Yahweh came from Sinai
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Speaker 1: and rose from Sierra to them. He's shown from Mount Piran.
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Speaker 1: He came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At
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Speaker 1: his right hand was the fiery law for them. So
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Speaker 1: that is Moses mentioning how he received the Old Testament laws.
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Speaker 1: He said, all these holy ones came with the message
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Speaker 1: from God's right hand. This fiery law was given to
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Speaker 1: me by the Holy ones also known as angels, And
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Speaker 1: so that's what Hebrews two is talking about here. He says,
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Speaker 1: if the law, the Old Testament laws that were given
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Speaker 1: to us by angels were good, if that is great,
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Speaker 1: then how much greater is the salvation that Jesus brought us?
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Speaker 1: You know, because think about it, we discussed in the
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Speaker 1: last chapter about how the angels are under Jesus, because
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Speaker 1: Jesus is God, and Jesus, in his godhood brought us
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Speaker 1: this amazing salvation. So if the Old Testament law was
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Speaker 1: good that was brought by angels, angels that are under Jesus,
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Speaker 1: how much better is the salvation that Jesus, God himself
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Speaker 1: brought to us. That's why in verse three he says,
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Speaker 1: how will we escape if we neglect so great a
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Speaker 1: salvation which, at the first, having been spoken through the Lord,
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Speaker 1: was confirmed to us by those who heard God also
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Speaker 1: testifying with them both signs and wonders, by various works
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Speaker 1: of power, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit. According
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Speaker 1: to his own will, God himself came down and brought
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Speaker 1: us this gospel, brought us this salvation. It was spoken
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Speaker 1: to us through the Lord, not through angels like the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament law, but through the Lord himself, and it
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Speaker 1: was confirmed by everybody who saw Jesus, by those who heard,
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Speaker 1: and God testified with those people by various works of
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Speaker 1: power and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to
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Speaker 1: his own will. You know, we've talked about how the
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Speaker 1: disciples after Jesus ascended up into heaven, they went out
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Speaker 1: and performed all sorts of miracles. You know, at one
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Speaker 1: point in time, Paul even raised a boy from the dead,
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Speaker 1: Peter was healing crippled men, and all these other amazing
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Speaker 1: signs and wonders that took place after Jesus ascend it
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Speaker 1: up into heaven. And that was God confirming, going with
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Speaker 1: the apostles, confirming that this was the truth through these
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Speaker 1: signs and these wonders. You know, it says in scripture
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Speaker 1: that when signs and wonders are performed, it's through the
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Speaker 1: will of God, and God often does it to bring
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Speaker 1: glory to himself or to prove, like Hebrew says right here,
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Speaker 1: that Jesus is the truth, that the Gospel message is
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Speaker 1: the truth. I mean, because you can imagine, say you're
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Speaker 1: a first century person who never heard the Gospel message,
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Speaker 1: before there's a million Greek gods you could worship, or
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Speaker 1: Roman gods or any other pantheon of God that you
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Speaker 1: could worship. And you hear about this Jesus guy, you're
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Speaker 1: probably thinking, how could that possibly be the truth? What
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Speaker 1: makes that more true than worshiping Zeus? But then an
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Speaker 1: apostle comes to you and tells you the gospel message
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Speaker 1: and you see them perform a sign and wonder through
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Speaker 1: the name of Jesus Christ would be so powerful to
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Speaker 1: you that you're like, yes, this must be the truth
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Speaker 1: because you saw it with your own eyes. You saw
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Speaker 1: one of Jesus' disciples heal somebody in your community. That's
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Speaker 1: why God performs these types of miracles, and that's also
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Speaker 1: why we can't control God when it comes to performing miracles.
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Speaker 1: There's a lot of people in you know, charismatic movements.
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Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, I love my charismatic friends.
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Speaker 1: I think they have a real first for Jesus. I
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Speaker 1: think they have a good knowledge of the scriptures even
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Speaker 1: but a lot of times the charismatic people tend to
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Speaker 1: fall into this kind of intense obsession I guess with
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Speaker 1: seeing God performs signs and miracles and wonders and they
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Speaker 1: feel if those things aren't happening, that God is not
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Speaker 1: in the room with them. But don't forget. All miracles
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Speaker 1: are done through God's will and he does it for
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Speaker 1: a specific reason. And I know people perly who have
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Speaker 1: gone through supernatural healings. I've talked to you guys about
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Speaker 1: my dad before, where my dad was living on the
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Speaker 1: verge of cardiac arrest for years and years and years,
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Speaker 1: but he was surviving because veins had grown around the
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Speaker 1: blockage that was preventing my dad's blood from getting to
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Speaker 1: his heart. And the doctor showed us the imaging of
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Speaker 1: these veins that had grown around this blockage, and the
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Speaker 1: doctor even said, He's like, this is a miracle. And
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Speaker 1: I know other people who have experienced things like that
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Speaker 1: before as well, like God just being kind to his
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Speaker 1: people because he loves them, or showing his power showing
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Speaker 1: what he can do. So God does heal. I believe
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Speaker 1: that to this day. I believe he heals. I believe
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Speaker 1: he shows miraculous signs and wonders, and I believe He
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Speaker 1: does all of this out of love and kindness for
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Speaker 1: his people and to show his power to his people
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Speaker 1: as well. But that being said, you cannot control God.
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Speaker 1: You cannot control when signs and wonders and miracles are
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Speaker 1: going to happen. The ultimate goal of being a Christian
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Speaker 1: is to lay yourself down, humble yourself, and allow God's
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Speaker 1: will to take precedent in your life. It's very hard
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Speaker 1: to do, which is why pretty much no Christian really
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Speaker 1: achieves it. Very hard to allow God to do his
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Speaker 1: will in your life. We all want to control God,
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Speaker 1: but we can't do it. God will not be controlled
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Speaker 1: by us. Instead, we work within God's will. But going
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Speaker 1: back to the main messaging of this verse, the Gospel
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Speaker 1: is so much more powerful than the Old Testament law
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Speaker 1: because it was brought to us by God himself. And
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Speaker 1: the author says, how will we escape if we neglect
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Speaker 1: so great a salvation? Once again, Hebrews was written for
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Speaker 1: the Christians, And you might be like, how can you
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Speaker 1: be a Christian if you're neglecting salvation? Well, notice that
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Speaker 1: the author is not saying rejecting salvation, He's saying neglect salvation.
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Speaker 1: If you look up the definition for a neglect, it
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Speaker 1: means to fail to care for properly. You know, think
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Speaker 1: about somebody that has an item that is very precious
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Speaker 1: to them. Whatever it might be, you're gonna take good
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Speaker 1: care of that item. You're gonna make sure that it's
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Speaker 1: sparkly clean. You're going to display it maybe if it's
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Speaker 1: a piece of jewel, where you're gonna wear it, but
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Speaker 1: you'll take it off for like certain activities that you're
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Speaker 1: doing because you don't want it to get wrecked or ruined.
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Speaker 1: That's how you care for an item that you have.
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Speaker 1: But if you have something that you don't care about
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Speaker 1: as much, you're gonna neglect it. For example, on Sunday,
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Speaker 1: we did baptisms, and we always have like a potluck
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Speaker 1: kind of thing after baptism Sunday, and so they asked
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Speaker 1: me to make like a snack for the potluck. So
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Speaker 1: I made these little soft pretzels and put them on
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Speaker 1: one of my plates that I have. It's a plate
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Speaker 1: that I don't care about that much. And I never
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Speaker 1: got the plate back. And I was passing the church
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Speaker 1: yesterday and I was like, I could probably go get
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Speaker 1: that plate today and you know, just put it in
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Speaker 1: my car and take it home. But then I was
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Speaker 1: so lazy because I didn't care about that plate that
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Speaker 1: much that I'm like, nah, I'll get it later. I
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Speaker 1: didn't even want to take the time to walk the
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Speaker 1: twenty steps into the church to go get my plate,
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Speaker 1: and so I neglected the plate because I didn't really
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Speaker 1: care about it. But if I would have used one
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Speaker 1: of my fancy plates, I would have absolutely taken the
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Speaker 1: time to walk into the church and get that plate back,
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Speaker 1: because I care about that plate. As Christians, we do
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Speaker 1: accept the gift of salvation, but we can absolutely neglect it.
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Speaker 1: And the way we neglect it is a lot of
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Speaker 1: times by doing nothing, by not trying to build that
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Speaker 1: relationship with God, by not thanking God for what he did,
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Speaker 1: by expecting things from God, by not submitting to his will,
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Speaker 1: maybe refusing to evangelize. There are so many ways we
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Speaker 1: can neglect the salvation we were given. Just treat it
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Speaker 1: as if it's an ordinary object rather than something very precious.
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Speaker 1: And how precious is salvation? Well, the author goes into
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Speaker 1: that in verses five through nine, for he didn't subject
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Speaker 1: the world to come of which we speak to angels,
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Speaker 1: but one has somewhere testified saying, what is man that
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Speaker 1: you think of him? Or the son of man that
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Speaker 1: you care for him? You made him a little lower
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Speaker 1: than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor.
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Speaker 1: You've put all things in subjection under his feet. This
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Speaker 1: is a quotation from Psalm chapter eight talking about the
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Speaker 1: authority God gave to human beings that he did not
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Speaker 1: give to the angels. You know, the angels were not
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Speaker 1: given an entire world to populate and to take care of.
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Speaker 1: But God actually gave dominion to the man back in
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Speaker 1: the garden of Eden. He said, take care of this garden,
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Speaker 1: and take care of all the animals. I have given
19:38
Speaker 1: you dominion over all these things. You are to rule
19:41
Speaker 1: with a kind hand. That is what God told the man.
19:45
Speaker 1: So God, in a sense created the earth for man
19:49
Speaker 1: to rule over. We were to become the kings and
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Speaker 1: queens of this earth. Now, of course, that was all
19:56
Speaker 1: thrown into disarray once Sin entered into the world. And
20:00
Speaker 1: I don't believe that we have dominion anymore personally, because
20:03
Speaker 1: if you look in Genesis, right after the flood came
20:06
Speaker 1: and Noah sacrificed an animal to God, God repeated almost
20:10
Speaker 1: the exact same thing to Noah that he did to Adam,
20:13
Speaker 1: where he tells Noah, fill the earth and populate it.
20:17
Speaker 1: But unlike Adam, he did not tell Noah, you have
20:20
Speaker 1: dominion over the earth. So that's why I believe that
20:23
Speaker 1: after the fall, human beings forfeited the dominion. But the
20:28
Speaker 1: idea was that God created humans to rule the earth,
20:32
Speaker 1: and that is something very special. Even though human beings
20:36
Speaker 1: were created just a little lower than the angels. Is
20:38
Speaker 1: what Psalm chapter eight says. The angels don't have the
20:41
Speaker 1: same dominion and authority that God gave human beings. And
20:46
Speaker 1: the reason the author goes into this is because he's
20:49
Speaker 1: about to talk about the humanity of Jesus. How Jesus
20:53
Speaker 1: was both fully God and fully man. It says right
20:58
Speaker 1: here in verse eight, for in that you subd objected
21:00
Speaker 1: him or Jesus to all things. He left nothing that
21:04
Speaker 1: is not subject to him. But now we don't yet
21:07
Speaker 1: see all things that are subjected to him. So the
21:10
Speaker 1: idea of that is that because Jesus became a human being,
21:14
Speaker 1: God gave Jesus complete dominion over everything. Initially the dominion
21:19
Speaker 1: was for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
21:22
Speaker 1: and all their descendants. But now because Jesus, who is
21:26
Speaker 1: God and human, paid the sacrifice for everybody, he was
21:30
Speaker 1: given dominion over everything, But we don't see the dominion
21:34
Speaker 1: that Jesus has yet. That is not going to happen
21:37
Speaker 1: until Jesus comes once again, until everything in Revelation is
21:41
Speaker 1: fulfilled and Jesus is revealed to the entire earth. But
21:45
Speaker 1: for now, we don't see that, it says, but we
21:47
Speaker 1: do see him who has been made a little lower
21:50
Speaker 1: than the angels, Jesus because of the suffering of death,
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Speaker 1: crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God,
21:56
Speaker 1: he should taste of death for everyone. So we don't
21:59
Speaker 1: see the things that are yet to come, but we
22:01
Speaker 1: do see Jesus. And I think it's interesting that the
22:04
Speaker 1: author uses the phrase that we currently see Jesus like
22:08
Speaker 1: you and I. We can see Jesus even though he
22:11
Speaker 1: is not standing right in front of us. Though we
22:13
Speaker 1: don't see him with our eyes. We see him with
22:16
Speaker 1: the faith that we have. That is how we see Jesus.
22:19
Speaker 1: And it says that he was made a little bit
22:21
Speaker 1: lower than the angels. And at that point you're probably like,
22:23
Speaker 1: whoa jen you just talked about in the last chapter.
22:25
Speaker 1: How Jesus is above the angels, so how can he
22:27
Speaker 1: now be lower than the angels. Well, don't forget, Jesus
22:31
Speaker 1: is fully God and fully human. Human beings were made
22:36
Speaker 1: lower than the angels. But God, obviously who is Jesus,
22:40
Speaker 1: is not lower than the angels. But the author isn't
22:43
Speaker 1: trying to disprove Jesus's deity by saying that. Rather, he's
22:47
Speaker 1: showing the humility that Jesus had to take on that
22:52
Speaker 1: fleshly body and come to earth as a human being.
22:56
Speaker 1: No longer the king who is reigning over everything up
22:59
Speaker 1: in heaven, but now a lowly human being, made even
23:03
Speaker 1: lower than the angels, so he could taste death for everyone.
23:07
Speaker 1: That's what Hebrews two nine says. That verse right there
23:11
Speaker 1: shows how important salvation truly is, something that we should
23:16
Speaker 1: not neglect. That Jesus humbled himself and loved us so
23:21
Speaker 1: much that he took on a human body so that
23:24
Speaker 1: he could taste death for everyone. Now we know that
23:28
Speaker 1: Jesus had to go through every single experience that you
23:31
Speaker 1: and I go through, meaning he had to taste death
23:35
Speaker 1: because all human beings are going to die. That is
23:39
Speaker 1: the unfortunate fact of life, that is the fact of
23:41
Speaker 1: a fallen world. We're all going to die, and so
23:45
Speaker 1: Jesus experienced that for himself. He did it so he
23:49
Speaker 1: could experience the misery and the suffering of death. But
23:53
Speaker 1: because he's God, he could not stay dead. You know,
23:56
Speaker 1: death had no power over him, which is why Jesus
23:58
Speaker 1: had to rise again, by the way, to show that
24:00
Speaker 1: he was God, that death has zero power over him.
24:04
Speaker 1: But he experienced an excruciating and miserable death for all
24:10
Speaker 1: of us. And I think people downplay this a lot
24:13
Speaker 1: because they're like, oh, well, Jesus knew he was going
24:15
Speaker 1: to rise again the third day, so what difference does
24:17
Speaker 1: it make. Well, imagine if you have literally everything the
24:22
Speaker 1: entire world is handed to you. In fact, you rule
24:25
Speaker 1: the entire earth, like you have ultimate authority and dominion
24:29
Speaker 1: over everything that happens on earth. But there's these people
24:33
Speaker 1: that really hate you, they hate your authority. What would
24:37
Speaker 1: you do. You'd probably kill those people, Let's be honest.
24:40
Speaker 1: You'd probably be like, I don't like you. I'm going
24:42
Speaker 1: to kill you because I have that option. Jesus didn't
24:45
Speaker 1: do that. Instead, he was like, you know what, I
24:48
Speaker 1: love these people that hate me. I love them, So
24:51
Speaker 1: I'm going to give up every single thing that I have,
24:54
Speaker 1: and I'm going to die for those people so I
24:57
Speaker 1: can experience what they experience. I Am going to die
25:02
Speaker 1: for them so that I can give them life. These
25:05
Speaker 1: people that hate me, you know, they're dying and they're
25:07
Speaker 1: just going to hell. I don't want that for them.
25:10
Speaker 1: I want them to come live with me. These people
25:13
Speaker 1: that hate me, I want them to live with me.
25:17
Speaker 1: So I'm going to sacrifice everything I have, go down
25:20
Speaker 1: to their level, be beaten and berated by them, and
25:24
Speaker 1: then I'm going to die for them so that they
25:26
Speaker 1: can come live with me. Scripture says that we love
25:30
Speaker 1: Jesus because he first loved us, and Scripture also says
25:34
Speaker 1: that Jesus loved us while we were yet still enemies
25:37
Speaker 1: of him. No human being on the planet would ever
25:42
Speaker 1: give up what Jesus gave up, especially for somebody who
25:46
Speaker 1: hated them. But that's what Jesus did for us. And
25:50
Speaker 1: is that salvation of Jesus something we should neglect because
25:53
Speaker 1: guess what, every single one of us, at some point
25:56
Speaker 1: in time were those people that hated Jesus, that disobeyed him,
26:01
Speaker 1: that didn't love him, and yet he sacrificed himself for
26:07
Speaker 1: us when we were in that state. That is not
26:10
Speaker 1: something we should be neglecting. That is something we should
26:13
Speaker 1: be remembering every single day of our lives and saying, Jesus,
26:18
Speaker 1: thank you so much that you loved me when I
26:22
Speaker 1: hated you. Thank you for your salvation, thank you for
26:25
Speaker 1: your forgiveness that when I die, I'm not eternally damned
26:30
Speaker 1: to hell because of my own making, but I am
26:33
Speaker 1: given a second chance, a chance of salvation where I
26:36
Speaker 1: can come and live with you. Oh man, I love
26:41
Speaker 1: the Book of Hebrews. I love it so much. I
26:44
Speaker 1: hope you guys do too. The Book of Hebrews is just,
26:47
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, so deep and filled with some of
26:50
Speaker 1: the most beautiful ideas about Jesus. I just love the
26:54
Speaker 1: Book of Hebrews. So I hope you guys have been
26:56
Speaker 1: enjoying Hebrews right along with me. But faithful listeners, before
26:59
Speaker 1: you go we Oh, here's a word from a sponsor.
27:03
Speaker 1: While that ad was playing, I went and heated up
27:06
Speaker 1: my coffee. It got cold while I was getting too
27:08
Speaker 1: excited about Hebrews. Today's the first day I've had my
27:11
Speaker 1: windows open in a really, really long time, so the
27:14
Speaker 1: wind is coming in and cooling off my coffee faster
27:17
Speaker 1: than usual. But I'm happy for it. But guys, I
27:20
Speaker 1: just want to leave you with a little bit of
27:21
Speaker 1: encouragement before you go, don't neglect your salvation. The author
27:26
Speaker 1: is going to go into what happens when you do
27:29
Speaker 1: neglect to that salvation. I think a lot of people
27:32
Speaker 1: believe that the Book of Hebrews proves that you can
27:34
Speaker 1: lose your salvation, But I don't believe that. I don't
27:37
Speaker 1: think that the people that Hebrews is talking to were
27:41
Speaker 1: those that rejected the salvation. I think they were saved
27:44
Speaker 1: individuals that truly did believe in Jesus, but they just
27:48
Speaker 1: didn't really care about that salvation. They just sort of
27:51
Speaker 1: wanted it because it seemed good to them at the time,
27:55
Speaker 1: or because they wanted to use God as a genie perhaps,
27:58
Speaker 1: But Jesus is sacrificed is so much better than using
28:02
Speaker 1: God as a genie because Jesus's sacrifice gave us eternity.
28:09
Speaker 1: You know, this life is very short. We are here
28:12
Speaker 1: one second and we are gone the next. We are
28:14
Speaker 1: like a breath. Is what God says. We have about
28:17
Speaker 1: seventy five years here on earth, and that's it. Seventy
28:20
Speaker 1: five years is nothing in the span of eternity. So
28:23
Speaker 1: don't choose to use those seventy five years living for
28:26
Speaker 1: yourself and not really thinking about the message of Jesus.
28:31
Speaker 1: Use those years trying to serve Jesus so that when
28:34
Speaker 1: you finally do stand in front of him, he'll say,
28:36
Speaker 1: well done, good and faithful servant. I can tell you
28:40
Speaker 1: that those words are going to be more impactful to
28:43
Speaker 1: you than any accolade you can receive here on earth,
28:46
Speaker 1: any honor you can receive here on earth. Jesus telling
28:50
Speaker 1: you well done, good and faithful servant is going to
28:52
Speaker 1: be better than anything you can get here. So just
28:56
Speaker 1: keep that in mind. So faithful listeners, have a fantastic
28:59
Speaker 1: and wonderful rest of your day. I'll see you guys
29:02
Speaker 1: on Thursday for another episode from Hebrews, or tomorrow from
29:05
Speaker 1: an episode from Second Chronicles, Happy listening, and God bless.
29:14
Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
29:15
Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
29:17
Speaker 1: the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you go to
29:20
Speaker 1: lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith
29:23
Speaker 1: centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
29:26
Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.