In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the word of God and not letting it slip away. He warns against taking the word for granted and encourages listeners to hold onto it tightly. The preacher suggests that the reason people forget the word is because their hearts are not fully engaged with it. He urges believers to mingle the word with faith and to pray over it in order to retain and apply it in their lives.

Will you please turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 22. Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 22. But I beseech you, brethren, bear the word of exhortation, for it is but in few words that I have written to you. In the Amplified it says, listen patiently and bear for this message of exhortation and admonition and encouragement, for I have written to you briefly. The same book, chapter 2. Hebrews, chapter 2. We read from verse 1 through verse 4. Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 1 through verse 4. For this reason we should give heed more abundantly to the things we have heard, lest in any way we should slip away. And in the Amplified version you will find, lest in any way we should drift from it and slip away. For if the word which was spoken by angels was firm, and every transgression and disobedience received just retribution, how shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation, which having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard, God bearing besides witness with them to it, both by signs and wonders and various acts of power and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to His will. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that by the grace of God and the redemption of our Lord Jesus, we have the boldness not only to enter into Thy presence, but to remain there. And we do praise and thank Thee that this morning we do remain in Thy presence. And we ask that the light of Thy countenance will shine upon us, reveal to us Thy heart, and draw us into Thyself. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. This letter to the Hebrews is a letter of exhortation. This is clearly stated at the end of this letter. The writer of the Hebrews says, I beseech you, brethren, I entreat you, brethren, to bear with the word of exhortation, to listen patiently, and bear with the message of exhortation and admonition and encouragement. Because she said, I have written you briefly. Now we may think that the letter to the Hebrews is a long letter, but the writer said she just have written very briefly. It is not long at all if we understand what he is talking about. So this letter is primarily a letter of exhortation. Now dear brothers and sisters, what is exhortation? To exhort. Exhortation means to call to a person. Because the word exhort, para means to the side, kaleo, to call. To call to the side. And it simply means to entreat, to beseech, to call, to admonish, to urge you to pursue a certain course of conduct. Therefore, exhortation in the scripture means to pay attention to, to warn against, and to encourage to. So in this letter you will find there are lots of encouragements and warnings. If you read very carefully this letter, you will find there are at least five distinctive exhortations, complete with encouragements and warnings. You will find the word let us a number of times. And whenever you find that word let us, it means encouragement, to encourage us. And then you also find a number of times where the word lest, l-e-s-t, being used. And whenever that word is used you know it is a warning. So there is both the negative and the positive sides. Encouragement is positive, warning is negative. And the reason why there are these encouragements and warnings is because of the greatness of the subject, of the theme, of the prospect that you find in this letter. And also of the easiness of losing it. So brothers and sisters we were like, if God wills, to spend some time on this matter of exhortation. To see the greatness of the message, the encouragement given to us and the warning also to us. Now this morning we would like to just focus ourselves on the first exhortation. And the exhortation is found in the second passage that we have just read. Second chapter from the first verse through the fourth verse. One thing worth noticing and that is whenever an exhortation is given in the letter to the Hebrews, you find it either follows or precedes a message, a truth, a teaching, a reality that is of tremendous importance. For instance in this first exhortation it stands between chapter one and chapter two. In chapter one we see the glory of the son of God. In chapter two we see the suffering of the son of man. In chapter one we see what Christ is in eternity. And in chapter two we find what he is in time. In chapter one we see especially the person of our Lord Jesus. In chapter two we see especially the work of our Lord Jesus. So in between these two chapters you find the first exhortation. And this is true throughout the whole book. Here in this first exhortation the writer says for this reason we should give more abundantly to the things we have heard. Now brothers and sisters, what are the things that we have heard? Certainly these things do not refer to those things that the prophets in the past have spoken. Why? Because you find in Hebrews chapter one God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formally to the father in the prophets. Our God is a God who speaks. Now thank God for that. If he should keep silent nobody will know him. Nobody will know what his plan is. Nobody will know what he is going to do. But thank God our God is one who speaks. And in the past he spoke to our fathers through the prophets. Many prophets. But in many parts and in many ways. In other words the prophets being men. Even though they were holy men of God and yet they were just human beings. Therefore they were very limited in their capacity. When God used them, when the spirit of God moved them to speak they could only speak in parts. They can never speak in fullness. They can only speak in many ways. Sometimes in parables. Sometimes in types. Sometimes using history. Using stories. But they can only do it in many ways. That's the way God spoke to our fathers in the prophets. But this is not what we have heard. As the writer of the Hebrews mentioned. Now what is it that we have heard? To which we need to put very close attention to. These are not the words spoken by the prophets. However important these words may be. But these are the words spoken by our Lord Jesus. In other words, in the last days, at the end of these days, God has spoken to us in the person of his own son. So now you'll find in the past God spoke through the prophets. It was God speaking but he spoke through the prophets. But now God has spoken to us in the person of his own son. And when he speaks in his son, what is spoken is full, rich, final and total. And that's what we have heard. What we have heard does not refer to what we have heard through the angels. You know in the second verse of the second chapter it said, if the word which was spoken by angels was firm. Now we wonder when did the angels speak? Of course it refers to the time when Moses received the ten commandments, the law of Mount Sinai. And the Bible said when he received the word on Mount Sinai, it was through the ministration of the angels. So these are the words spoken by the angels. In other words, God used the angels as his agent. And through the angels the word came to Moses and through Moses to the children of Israel. But here what we have heard does not refer to the words spoken by the angels, however important these words might be. These words that we have heard are spoken by our Lord himself. Not the words spoken by the angels, the word of law. But the words spoken by our Lord Jesus, the word of truth and grace. So how much more important that which we have heard. If we need to hear the prophets, if we need to take heed to the word spoken by the angels, how much more we need to pay close attention to the word spoken by the Son of God, by our Lord Jesus. Now brothers and sisters, what has he spoken? That the prophets haven't spoken. What have he spoken that the angels haven't spoken? What is it? I think this is important for us to know. What has he spoken? What have we heard today? And any of you read the third verse. He said, how shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation? Now that's it. Brothers and sisters, what we have heard from the Lord himself is so great salvation. Salvation is an all-inclusive word. You know sometimes we limit salvation in our understanding to mean just having our sins forgiven, receiving eternal life, having the promise to go to heaven. Now thank God for these are big things to us, tremendous things. Just think of that. Our sins forgiven. We who are dead in sins and transgressions and the wages of sin is death. There is no hope in us. And thank God that our sins are completely forgiven. Not only forgiven, but forgotten. Now that's good news to us. Think of having eternal life. This life that we have is a mortal life. This life that we have is a corrupted life. This life that we have is a sinful life, is a defeated life, is a life that is destined for death. But now we receive eternal life. A life that never dies. A life that not only continues on, but continues on in glory. Now that of course is wonderful to us. Going to heaven. Now who wants to go to hell? And we who were destined for hell, thank God through the salvation of our Lord Jesus our direction is changed. We are going to heaven. Wonderful. Dear brothers and sisters, this is the salvation that we usually understand. But is this what our Lord Jesus has spoken to us? So great salvation? So far as we are concerned it is great. But so far as God is concerned, so far as our Lord Jesus is concerned, that is not great enough for him. The salvation that we usually understand, shall we say it is initial salvation. Now you don't find the word in the scripture. We use it in order to differentiate it. The salvation that we usually know is what we would say common salvation. It is to our common knowledge that this is what salvation is. But if you read the word of God, if you listen to what our Lord Jesus says, you will find salvation is much, much greater than having our sins forgiven, receiving eternal life with the promise of going to heaven. Salvation not only has something to do with the past, it has to do with the present and of course it has to do with the future. For instance, in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 5 and verse 8, you will find, by grace ye are saved. In the Greek original it said, by grace ye are having been saved. By grace ye are having been saved. That's past. In other words, when you believe in the Lord Jesus you are saved. And this being saved is a settled matter. It is a sin that is done once and forever. So that is salvation in the past tense. Ye are having been saved. Now isn't that wonderful? Lots of people they believe in the Lord Jesus and they live in fear and trembling, wondering whether after they die and go to the gate of heaven, whether they will meet Moses or they will meet the Lord Jesus. Whether they will be received into heaven or they will be barred from heaven. But thank God, if we believe in the Lord Jesus, by grace ye are having been saved. Our salvation is sure and secure. Nothing can take it away from us, not even ourselves. But this is salvation in the past tense. And you will find in the scripture there is salvation in the present tense. For instance, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18, for the word of the cross is to those who perish in foolishness, but to those being saved, even us, the power of God. And then of course you also find in Romans chapter 5 verse 10, having been reconciled ye shall be saved in the power of his life. And in amplified version you will find, ye shall be saved. It seems like past tense, but actually it means daily deliverance from sin's dominion. Daily deliverance from sin's dominion that is present. In other words, in the present time you can be saved by being daily delivered from the power of sin. You do not need to live under the dominion of sin anymore. You can overcome the law of sin and of death, because now the law of the spirit of life operates in you in Christ Jesus. That is salvation in the present tense. And then you find salvation in the future tense. For instance, in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14 it is said, those who shall inherit salvation. Salvation is something that we shall inherit. Now brothers and sisters, whenever you think of inheritance, that is something in the future. An heir is to inherit something in the future. Because when the heir inherits, he is no longer an heir, he is an owner. So inheritance has something to do in the future. And this is salvation. If you look in 1 Peter, chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3 to 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead. Now here you find we are being begotten again, born again to a living hope. Now hope is something in the future. And what is the hope? To an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance. You know everything in this world is corruptible. Not only corruptible, but corrupted. Everything in this world is defiled. Not only defileable, but defiled. Everything in this world is fading, passing away. But thank God we have a hope. We have a hope to an inheritance which is incorruptible. Not only not corrupted, but cannot be corrupted. Undefiled and unfading inheritance. Reserved in the heaven for you. It is reserved for you. Who are kept guarded by the power of God through faith. It is reserved for those who are kept by the power of God through faith. Now we cannot keep ourselves, but God can. But you need to believe Him. So they are kept guarded by the power of God through faith for what? For salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So there is a salvation that is reserved for you, ready to be revealed in the last time for those who are kept by the power of God through faith to inherit this salvation. This is salvation in the future. So you see salvation is a big thing. It covers the past, the present and the future. And not only that, but you will find in the scripture we are also told that salvation reaches to different areas of our being. We are a tripartite person. A man made of three parts, spirit and soul and body. 1 Thessalonians 5. That your whole being, the spirit and the soul and the body, when we believe in the Lord Jesus we are born again. He that is born of the spirit is spirit. That is the salvation of the spirit. Your spirit who was dead in sins and transgressions is now being quickened into new life, become a new spirit. And the spirit of God comes and dwells in your spirit. This is regeneration, this is born again, this is salvation of the spirit. Then you find the scripture mentions the salvation of the soul. You actually have this term in the Bible. Salvation of the soul. And the salvation of the soul is if we lose our soul today for the gospel sake, for Christ sake, we shall gain it to eternity. That is the salvation of the soul. And then there is the salvation of the body, the redemption of our body. When the Lord Jesus shall come, this mortal body shall be changed into immortality. And this corruptible body shall be changed into incorruptibility. And we shall have a body of glory. Today we have a body of humiliation. This body really humiliates me. But one day we shall have a body of glory. Now thank God when that day comes, that is the complete salvation. So salvation is so great salvation. Brothers and sisters, we limit God's salvation to a corner. We think that is good enough for us. But remember all the time, it is not good enough for God. It is not good enough for our Lord Jesus. What He has spoken to us, what He has provided for us is a so great salvation. Now, it is impossible for me to try to describe to you so great salvation within an hour. But probably we can do something this morning by just restricting ourselves to so great salvation as we find it within the first exhortation. Now why is it we are exhorted to pay special attention to what we have heard? Because it is so great salvation. Why is it we are being warned lest we slip away or drift apart? Because of so great salvation. Now what is the so great salvation that we find in these two chapters of the book of Hebrews? Verse 9, verse 5 of chapter 2. For He has not subjected to angels the habitable world to come of which we speak. What is the habitable world which is to come? Maybe we need to go back a little. You know, after God had created the heavens and the earth, and after in six days He has restored it to be habitable, then on the sixth day He created man. He created man in His own image, according to His likeness. Then He blessed the man whom He created. And He blessed him and said, multiply, fill the earth, have dominion over the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fish of the sea. In other words, you will find, after God created man in His own image, He gave man the earth to rule. He subjected the earth to the dominion of the man whom He created. Now, this is God's will. Of course, for a reason. But I will not tell you. You have to find it yourself. And God created man. He put man in the habitable world and gave the dominion to Him to rule the earth for God. What a privilege! But unfortunately, man disobeyed God. Man fell into temptation. And by doing so, he not only lost the image of God, but he also lost the dominion over the earth. And today, even a little sparrow, you cannot command. You know, often times you see a sparrow there, you know, and you really like that sparrow, and you say, come here! That sparrow will listen to you. And if you go forward, try to befriend that sparrow, he will fly away. Man has lost dominion. Not to say a tiger or a lion, but even a sparrow. Man has lost dominion over the earth. But does it mean because of this, God has given up man? God has given up His purpose concerning man? Because 3000 years later, through King David, as a prophet of God, he wrote Psalm 8. And in the 8th Psalm, he said, what is man that thou mindful of him? What is the son of man that thou visited him? Thou hast made him a little lower than angels. You know, so far as the order of creation is concerned, man is a lower order than the angels. Why? Because the angels are spirits. And we have spirit and soul and body, and this body really encumbers us. You know, spirit you can be everywhere, but with this body, you can be only in one place. So we are created a little lower than angels. But, even though man is created a little lower than angels, and yet God has crowned him with glory and honor, and has given him dominion over the things that he has created. Now, you will say, that is not true anymore. In Genesis chapter 1, when God first created man, that was true. But man has lost his inheritance, his place. It is no longer true. But, the sweet singer of Israel, David, in the spirit of prophecy, he still continues to say, what is man that thou are mindful of him? You haven't given him up. What you have purpose concerning him is still there. You are still going to let him have dominion over the earth. But, it takes another thousand years. When you come to Hebrews chapter 2, you will find the beginning of the fulfillment of God's purpose and his prophecy. Here he said, what is man that thou are mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visiteth him, thou hast made him somewhat inferior than angels. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast set him over the works of thy hand. Thou hast subjected all things to him. In subjecting all things to him, he has left nothing unsubjected to him. But now, we see not yet all things subjected to him. Now, who is that him? But, we see Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters, you will find that the man of God's heart, after God created Adam, for four thousand years, God was still looking for the man that he created. And finally, he found that man in Jesus. Here you will find our Lord Jesus, even though he were the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, yet he was made a little inferior than angels. The Word became flesh. God incarnated. And when God came to become a man, he was made a little inferior than angels. He took a place lower than the angels, as a man. But God has crowned him with glory and honor, and has subjected all things to him, given all things to him. But, we haven't seen this complete yet. We only see Jesus made a little lower than angels, on account of the suffering of death. Now, why is it that he must be made a little lower than angels? Why is it he must be made a man like you and me? It is because he has to suffer the suffering of death. God cannot die. God is immortal. And in order for God to die, he has to become a man. And the reason why he incarnated is because he wants to suffer. He wants to die for us. And because he has paid this debt for everyone, God has now crowned him with glory and honor. He is risen. He is ascended. He is being anointed as Lord and Christ. God has given all things to him, and all things is going to be subjected to him. This is the man. But, is it just for Jesus himself? If it is just for himself, he did not need to become a man. Because as God, the Son of God, he was crowned with glory and honor. And all things were subject to him. That was his right, that belonged to him. But God gave this to man, and man lost it. So here you'll find the Lord Jesus came to regain it, taking it out of the hand of the enemy, and regain it for man, for God. But he didn't do it just for himself. He did it for a new mankind. New mankind. Those whom he has and is going to redeem. So here it is said, for he has not subjected to angels the habitable world which is to come, of which we speak. Now the habitable world to come, points to the millennium that is coming. This is this age. And according to Jewish usage, when they say the habitable world to come, it means when the Messiah shall come, and he shall establish his kingdom. That is the habitable world to come. Dear brothers and sisters, what is so great salvation? So great salvation is this. That Christ has come. He has taken this earth out of the hand of the usurper, Satan, and brought it back to himself, and to those whom he has redeemed. That they may inherit that incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance. And to use one word to describe it. And that's the reason why you'll find in chapter two, it said in verse ten, for it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, that is our Lord Jesus, in bringing many sons to the Lord, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through suffering. Now here you'll find the word salvation. Their salvation. Now what is that salvation means? That salvation means glory. Brothers and sisters, you'll find it is not just a matter of having our sins forgiven. Of course, having sins upon us, it is shameful, condemned, humiliating, despicable. And having our sins forgiven, now that is a very joyous experience, that's true. But dear brothers and sisters, what God has in mind for us is far greater than just having our sins forgiven. What God has in mind is to lead us into glory. Christ is now in glory. And one day he is going to lead many sons to share his glory. To share his reign. To share his throne. To rule upon this earth, over all things, as heirs and co-heirs with Christ. Brothers and sisters, isn't that great? But remember, how is he to bring many sons? He has already gone to glory. Why? He goes through the path of suffering. To make perfect the leader of their salvation through suffering. It is through his suffering that he is perfected. He is perfect, and yet he needs to be perfected. Because in Hebrews chapter 5 you'll find being son, he has to learn obedience through the things by which he suffered, that he may be our eternal salvation. So here you'll find our Lord Jesus has not only provided for us our salvation, but he has also opened the way to this salvation. And the way is through suffering. You will find these words suggest, for both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. He that sanctifies is the Lord Jesus, those sanctified are we who are sanctified, are of one. In other words, we are united with him. First he came to be united with us. We were of flesh and blood. So he partook of flesh and blood to be united with us, in order that he might die for us. And now you'll find that he made us united with him. He that sanctifies and those that are sanctified are all of one. And he called us brethren. Isn't that wonderful? He calls us brothers. Male brothers or female brothers. We are all brothers to him. Why? Because we share his life. We are his brethren. And in verse 12 he said, I will declare thy name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly, the church, I will praise in thy praises. We are his assembly, his church. Through his death and resurrection, we are united with Christ. So he said, go and tell my brethren. I go to my father, your father, my Lord and your Lord, my God and your God. We become his blood brothers. And we become his assembly. That is his church. He will sing praises in the assembly. And we become his children that God has given to him. Now think of that. By believing in the Lord Jesus, we are his children. But brothers and sisters, not just babes, we begin as babes, but he is to lead many sons into glory. Think of that. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you become a child of God, a babe in Christ. But do not remain as a babe. Because if you remain as a babe, that God's purpose for you cannot be realized. God wants you to rule and to reign with Christ in glory. God wants to put all things under your feet, as he has given all things under the feet of Christ. Now can you do that? If you are just a babe, you cannot manage. You need to grow up into sonship. God wants sons, grown up sons and daughters. That's what God wants. We need to grow up. And as we grow up, now what is meant by being, growing up? It means that the measure of Christ in us has to be increased. Christ has to increase in us and we be decreased. Then we are growing. We grow into sonship. And one day, at the manifestation of the sons of God, you find the whole earth will be transformed. The earth today is in groaning because they are subject to corruption and vanity. The whole world is vanity, of vanity, no purpose. The whole earth is corrupted. Everything is corrupted. You look at the trees. Now we find the trees having all these leaves in springtime is wonderful, but you know, it doesn't last long. Not to be pessimistic, but you find that the fall comes and the winter comes and it is bad, corrupted. Everything is corrupted. Everything is vain, no purpose. Not only no purpose to human beings, no purpose to anything in the world, there is no purpose. The whole creation is subject to vanity and corruption. Now who subjects these into vanity, corruption? Man. But one day when the sons of God shall be manifested, when the son of God shall lead many sons into glory, when the only begotten shall be the firstborn among his many brethren, then you will find the whole world will be restored, wonderful. And this is so great salvation. Nothing less than this. Dear brothers and sisters, are you excited about it, thrilled about it? Think of the so great salvation that Christ has spoken to us, He has provided to us, He has called us into, and because of the greatness of the theme, the greatness of the subject. Here you'll find we are encouraged, exhorted to give heed more abundantly to the things we have heard. We need to pay much close attention to what we have heard. You know many people hear, but they do not hear, because their heart is not there. You remember the parable of the sower? When the word is being scattered, some seed falls into the pathway, being trodden hard by feet. In other words, the traffic of the world is so heavy, that the heart is so hardened by the traffic of the world, by the things of the world, that the seed just cannot enter into his heart. He may hear, but he does not hear. And the birds, satan will come and take the seed away, so you haven't heard. Or your heart, maybe like a stony ground, there is a stone underneath, a very thin layer of earth, so the seed falls in, well it just, it gets some earth, so it begins to come forth, but there is no root. And when there is tribulation, it is gone. Or it may be a ground with thorns, so you find the seed goes in, it begins to come up in stock, but it can bear no fruit, because the weeds, the thorns, the thistles, they take away all the nutrition. We know thorns are aborted fruits. That's thorns. It does not come to fruition, but only that ground, that heart, that has been killed, has been turned over, has been softened, has been prepared, then the word will fall into that heart, and it will patiently bear fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold for the glory of God. Dear brothers and sisters, pay close attention to what you hear. Be careful lest your heart is nodding it, therefore you hear as if you haven't heard. And this word more abundantly, you'll find it is used a second time in chapter six, verse seventeen. In chapter six, verse seventeen, God says, Wherein God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, intervened by oath. Here you'll find more abundantly, on God's side. He wants to show us the immutability, the unchangeableness of his purpose. So he gives us more abundantly his truths. He even make oath. Whatever God says is true. He does not need to take oath. But he take oath. In order to encourage us more abundantly. Dear brothers and sisters, if to such more abundant grace, surely we need to pay more abundant attention. Let us hear. And then the warning comes. Lest in any way we should slip away. Now this word, slip away, in the original, has been explained in three different ways. You know, in the original Greek it is very rich. But when you translate into English, you can only put one shade of the meaning in it. Some say this word means running out. Just like a leaking vessel. You know, suppose you have a vessel that have holes in it. And you try to draw water with it. Now you go to the river, and you draw water, and you try to bring it home, but when you get home, it's all gone. Why? Because they all have leaked away. Leaked out. You know, be careful what you have heard. Lest they be leaked out and running out. Isn't that true? Often times, you come to a meeting, you hear the word of God said, but after you step out of the door, if anybody asks you, what have you heard? Oh, you cannot even remember a word. It's all leaked out. Isn't that strange that we can remember lots of things, but when it comes to the things of God, you just cannot remember. They have leaked. Be careful. Lest all that you have heard have run out from a leaking vessel. Oh, that we be not leaking vessels. That we have heard a lot, but we retain very little. It's all leaked. It doesn't produce what it should. Oh, how we need to be careful before God. And another way to put it is, slip away. Slip away. Now, we often have that state, well, it just slip off our mind. I just don't remember. It just slip. Now, why do you slip? Why it slips your mind? Because, in the first place, your heart is not in it. If your heart is really in it, it cannot slip. It won't slip away. Now, why do you remember lots of things? Because your heart is in it. Suppose somebody did something wrong to you, you can never forget. Why? Because it touched your heart. You remember it. But when somebody do something good to you, you can easily forget. You take it for granted. Be careful, lest in any way, it may slip away from you. Because it can be slipped away, therefore, hold it tight. Now, how do we hold it tight? Brothers and sisters, you know, when we hear the word of God, and we just go away, it is almost like what you find in the book of James. People look at the mirror, and then he turns around and forget how he looks. Many people are like that. We hear the word, we go home, it all slip away. How can you hold it and fix it? Mingle it with faith, pray through it, that will hold it and fix it. So it won't just be slip away. That's the reason why it is always good at the message that we pray, to fix it, to hold it. Not only just a few prayers here, but even after you go home, think about it, ponder over it, pray over it, let it be fixed in your heart, then it will never slip away. And there is another way of putting it, is drift apart. It is like a ship that is in the river, in the water, and then you'll find there may be a storm, and the ship is sailing, and the ship is going to a haven. But if you do not put effort to sail the ship, and let the ship just drift, and then you'll find the storm, the wind, will blow the ship away from the haven that you want to arrive. You will be just drifting away. And dear brothers and sisters, how true it is. Often times we cannot reach, attain to what God has provided for us. It is because we make no effort at all. We just let our life drift. And you know, if you allow your life to drift, the current will take you away from God, not unto God. A living fish has to swim against the current. When it flows with the current, you know it's a dead fish. Dear brothers and sisters, do not drift. Because if you drift, you miss the haven. And you know, the terrible thing with drifting is, it doesn't occur suddenly. Drifting is something that goes on your life, day by day, hour by hour, unknowingly, you know. Sometimes, you can picture as if a man, you know, in a canoe, and he is there sailing in a canoe, and in the lake there. And that lake really joined to Niagara Falls. And there he was sailing there, and he find the water so smooth, the sun is so good, so he began to just drop his oar, and just lie back and let the canoe drift. And he thinks everything is fine, until suddenly he comes to the edge of the fall. It's too late. That's drifting. Dear brothers and sisters, our Christian life cannot afford to be drifted. What God has given to us, so great salvation, is so precious, it cannot afford to be slipped away. You cannot let it run out. Lay hold of it. Just like the Bible says, lay hold on eternal life, lay hold on it. And you know why do you slip? Why do you drift? It is because you are being negligent, neglect. Now that's the reason, neglect. You do not need to commit something terrible. All you need to do is to neglect it. That's all you need to do. Just by neglecting it, you lose it. You know the word neglect, in the New Testament, we find it is used not only here. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? But it is used also in three other places. One is in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 9. And there you'll find the Lord Jesus said, because they did not continue in my covenant, I did not regard them, said the Lord. The word did not regard. This regard, in the original, is the same word as the word neglect. God said, I will neglect my covenant. Why? Because they have first violated my covenant. A covenant is between two parties. And when one party has violated the terms of the covenant, the other party has every right just to neglect it, to declare it as null and void. And that's what God did. He declared the old covenant as null and void. He neglected it. So, by neglect, it doesn't mean just being careless. It means a deliberate putting aside of what you should pay attention to, or what you should perform. So, brothers and sisters, do not think that neglect is just carelessness. Now, neglect sometimes is being careless. That's true. But sometimes neglect is more than being careless. It is deliberate. How sinful it is, if we deliberately neglect so great salvation. Spoken to us by the Son of God. Endorsed by the Heavenly Father. Established by the Holy Spirit. You know how sinful this must be. How can we deliberately disregard, neglect so great salvation. And then, another place, in 1 Timothy 4, verse 14, Paul said, Do not be negligent of the gift which has been given to you through prophecy with the laying hand of the elders. And there the word, being negligent, has the sense of continuity. In other words, not just neglect once, but if you neglect it from time to time, all the time, until it becomes a habit. You know, negligence can become a habit. It can be habitual. Because if you neglect it, neglect it, neglect it, the thing is gone. It's gone. The gift that God has given to you, you neglect it the first time. When the Holy Spirit moves you to exercise your gift, you neglect it. The second time you neglect it, and you find that if you continue to neglect it, it is as if you don't have it. And then, another time, in Matthew chapter 22, verse 5, in that parable, yeah, that's right. Chapter 225, and you'll find verse 5 says, But they make light of it. You know, a feast, a marriage feast was provided, and the persons were invited, but when they were asked to come, they made light of it. That's neglect. They consider other things as more important. They consider their oxen, which they bought, are more important. They consider the field that they have bought, more important. They consider the wife and marriage, more important. Then, the son, the king, dear brothers and sisters, if we make light of what Christ has spoken to us, so great salvation, we neglect it. Don't make light of it. Give it your first priority. I remember Andrew Murray says, The feebleness and the slickliness of the Christian life today is because we do not pay intense attention, close attention, priority to God and to His word. That's how it is. So, dear brothers and sisters, here you'll find the first exhortation. The tremendous greatness of the theme, so great salvation. We are encouraged to pay close attention, we are warned not to neglect it, how shall we escape? If you neglect it, you not only miss it, that is, you will not be able to enter into glory and reign with Christ for a thousand years during the millennium. Oh, what you have missed! But, worse than that, it says, how shall you escape? Now, escape what? To lose something is one thing, is bad enough. But not to escape something terrible is another thing. Now, what is that which you shall not escape? Read it again. Verse 2. For if the word which was spoken by angels was firm, and every transgression and disobedience received just retribution. Now, think of that. The words spoken by the angels are the words of the law. If anyone should violate the word of the law, he will receive just retribution. Go back to the Old Testament and read those people who disobeyed, transgressed the law of God and what happened to them. Just retribution. They are paid back what they deserve. How shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation? Brothers and sisters, the principle is, the greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility, and the greater the retribution. Think of that. I am not going to enter into retribution, but just be warned of it. May the Lord have mercy upon us. Shall we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, O our hearts do cry out to Thee. What grace, what mercy, what salvation Thou hast spoken and provided for us. O that we may hear, we may see, we may take to heart, that we may pay close attention to and give our life to it, that we may not lose it, let it slip, run away or drift past. Lord, we pray that we may not be negligent people, but we may be a people who are diligent towards Thyself. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.