04 "Get a Grip or Let It Slip" Hebrews 2:1-4 | Thursday, September 3, 2026

Hebrews chapter number two. Once you

found your place there, you can stand in

honor of God's word. We'll read uh

verses 1 through four for our text

tonight as we move this forward or I'm

going to fall backwards on that step.

Just about did it a couple times.

As we continue in our series titled Hold

Fast to God's Son,

um we've looked at the first couple of

messages here about how the voice that

spoke God's word in Christ is greater

than the voices of the prophets. And

that's because Christ is the son of God

and he has a unique relationship with

God. He is the brightness of God's glory

and the express image of his person. He

is seated at God's right hand in heaven.

He made purification for our sins.

Purged us clean.

And then we saw last week that he's

greater than the angels. He has a

greater name. He has a greater nature.

And he has a greater status than the

angels. And so we saw in last week's

message this simple truth. Because Jesus

is greater than the angels, we ought to

look to him and not to them in our

lives. But now what we come to is the

first application

that the author of Hebrews begins to

give in light of the fact that Jesus is

greater than the angels. This discussion

continues through the end of chapter 2.

But for now, we're going to focus on

these first four verses that give us the

reason why he's building this case.

Jesus is better than the angels. So,

let's look at verse number one.

Therefore, we ought to give the more

earnest heed to the things which we have

heard, lest at any time we should let

them slip. For if the word spoken by

angels was steadfast,

and every transgression and disobedience

received a just recompense of reward,

how shall we escape if we neglect so

great salvation,

which at the first began to be spoken by

the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by

them that heard him. God also bearing

them witness both with signs and wonders

and with diverse miracles and gifts of

the Holy Ghost according to his own

will. How shall we escape if we neglect

so great salvation? The title of our

message tonight is get a grip or let it

slip. Get a grip or let it slip. You can

be seated and we'll get into our text.

Over

the years, my daughter has had a

sustained interest in American Ninja

Warrior. Any other fans of that in here

at all? Yeah, for sure.

I don't think I've watched a whole

episode, but I'll come into the living

room and I'll notice it's on the TV.

I'll watch for a minute. They're doing

these crazy obstacle courses and and on

every single one of them, there's a

stage where they've got to leap from

some platform onto what I'm going to

call glorified monkey bars. I mean,

these are really just adult child

things, right? And so they've got to go

and and leap to one and sometimes they

got to rotate the thing around, you

know, and they're really incredible

athletes. They're just ripped able to do

this and it's unbelievable. And so

they're they're rotating around and then

they got to swing a little bit and they

got to swing on to the next one and all

the while underneath them is is this

water trap that if they let go they're

going to fall into it and ultimately

lose the race. And for many people this

is the the breaking point. Many times

I've seen even in just a few minutes of

watching many competitors will go and

they'll grab onto that that bar or that

obstacle and and they'll begin to rotate

it, but then you'll see them kind of

start to slip and and and they'll

they'll kind of slide down slowly and

slowly and then finally they give up and

they let go and splash down. And there's

a number of reasons for the the slip

there. It could be that it that momentum

was too great, that they were going too

fast and I mean I can remember a time in

basketball when I was trying to show off

as about a junior and go and grab the

rim with two hands and and I went and I

I did not all the way grab the rim, but

I got enough for my legs to swing out

from under me and for me to land on my

tailbone. That was embarrassing, right?

And so I've seen that happen on those

ninja warrior courses. momentum takes

them too far. Or it could just be

fatigue from the other obstacles that

they've been doing or might be sweaty

palms because they've been sweating and

exerting energy at this. And sometimes

it's though it's because of injury. And

sometimes there may have been an

obstacle where they they strained a

shoulder muscle or something like that.

And so when they can't quite grab on to

this, they they'll they'll start to

slip. And what you can see in some of

them is that they'll often slow down.

They'll stop. They'll catch their

breath. They'll re-evaluate their

position. They'll reposition their

hands. And what they're doing is they're

trying to secure a greater grip so that

they can continue in this particular

race.

And sometimes I think that weakness,

fatigue, and injury can cause believers

to slip as well.

It might be a theological slip into a

watered down gospel or weak doctrine or

worldly philosophy because you've grown

weary with cutting across the groove of

culture. Or could be the path of least

resistance. Or a church can grow tired

of the lack of growth and so they end up

slipping theologically.

It could be a slip into former religious

systems because that's what your family

is and what they've always been and they

give you a hard time about your

conversion and so you might be tempted

to go back into those religious systems

or it could simply be a spiritual slip

in your life. Don't we all experience

those at some points?

times when life gets busy or you get

weary and fatigued and work is hard and

relationships are are broken and and

there are times when maybe your heart's

just not in it and you stop going to a

midweek service and then you stop going

to Sunday night service and then before

you know it Sunday morning is kind of

hit and miss and eventually you've

slipped and slipped and slipped and

completely fallen out of church. That

can happen sometimes.

It could be that you just stopped

reading your Bible, that you started off

in January very well, and maybe you

continued that even through the summer,

but you hit a particular stretch of life

that just got super busy, and you let it

slip, a day here and a day there, but

then before you know it, it's been a

month or two since you've personally

read your Bible outside of church. The

same thing can happen with uh prayer as

well. Very few Christians just jump

ship. You know what I'm talking about?

That they're there, they're all in, and

then all of a sudden they're gone. That

rarely happens. It's never jumping ship.

Rather, it's more often a subtle slip. A

subtle slip.

In that moment

when you are slipping spiritually or

theologically,

you don't need to throw in the towel.

Nor do you need to give in to the

gravity of the culture pulling you away.

Rather, what you need is a greater grip

on the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's

what you need in that moment. And that's

what the author of Hebrews is getting

across in this text. These Jewish

believers, as we're becoming more

familiar with them in this book, they've

grown injured and fatigued by hardship,

poverty, and persecution as a direct

result of their faith in Christ.

They've the author can tell here that

they're losing grip. Other parts of

Hebrews suggests that they're slipping

out of church, that they're forsaking

the assembly and most likely returning

to the synagogue instead,

seeking safety and security in their

former Jewish religion. And so he writes

really what's a a sermon here so that

they would first of all see how they are

slipping but then that they would see

that that that they would see the their

greatest need in this moment of life is

a greater grip on the gospel of Christ.

His primary argument through Hebrews is

that the Christ they are slipping away

from

is so much better than everything they

are slipping back to. He's better.

He's better than the prophets. And now

he's in the middle of establishing the

greatness of Christ over the angels

that he's superior to them. Our text

tonight is really where he reaches his

first climax in terms of what the Hebrew

Christians must do. And he says they

must give greater heed to the voice of

the son than they do to the voice of the

angels.

And when we talk about the voice of the

angels, we're referring to the law of

God that was given at Mount Si according

to the scriptures. which we'll look at

here in just a few moments by the mouths

of angels or the ministry of angels. And

so understand when he talks about the

word in verse two, the word spoken by

angels, he's referring to the Old

Testament law given at Mount Si. He's

telling them that because

Christ is greater than the angels, you

know what that means? So is his message

and so is his ministry and so is his

person.

And so he's calling them not to fall

back into the Jewish system, but to slow

down, to re-evaluate their position,

and to get a greater grip on Jesus

Christ.

Why is that? The author gives us two

reasons here why you and I need to get a

greater grip on the gospel. Number one

is this. Losing gospel grip leads to

spiritual slip. Losing gospel grip leads

to spiritual slip. Notice he says in

verse one, "Therefore, we ought to give

them more earnest heed to the things

which we have heard, lest at any time we

should let them slip."

He says there to give to give the more

earnest heed to the things which we have

heard. Now obviously the word uh

therefore connects the text back to what

he had previously stated that because

Christ is greater than the angels you

should give greater heed to Christ's

word than you give to the word spoken by

angels.

And there in verse two again the word

spoken by angels refers to the law. And

we can find this in Acts 7:53 when

Acts 7:53

Stephen was giving his sermon. He was

speaking of Moses and he said this who

received the law by the disposition of

angels that angels disposed the law from

God to Moses. Galatians chapter 3, the

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Apostle Paul says this, the law was

ordained by angels in the hands of a

mediator. The mediator of course was

Moses. And so you have Steven

understanding the law was given by

angels. You have Paul understanding the

law was given by angels. Psalm 68:17

Psalms 68:17

says this, "The chariots of God are

20,000, even thousands of angels. The

Lord is among them as in Sinai." And so

they look at those texts, the talking

about the first the first century

readers of the Old Testament scriptures.

They look at Psalm 68 and Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 33:2

33:2.

And they see the mention of angels there

at Sinai. And that's how they understand

it is that that God mediated the law to

Moses through angels. Whether it was

through the and again last week we saw

that it says in verse number seven of

chapter 1, the angels he saith who

maketh his angels spirits and his

ministers a flame of fire. There are

some that believe that's referring to

Sinai that the the manifestation of the

wind and the storm and the fire on Mount

Si. all that represented the glory of

God. There are many who believe that the

angels were were causing that. And so

there's that understanding as well. And

so there's a strong biblical case that

the law was given by the mouths of

angels and that word that was spoken by

them was highly regarded as inspired

scripture.

Do we realize that when Paul says the

words all scriptures given by

inspiration of God that he is

specifically referring to the Old

Testament scriptures in that moment? And

so they believe this was all God

breathed and especially that the law was

given by angels in particular. They took

it very seriously.

But the author of Hebrews, of course,

has made the case that the son of God is

even better than them.

And that if he is better than the

angels, then they need to give the more

earnest heed to what they have heard

from the son of God. Namely, what? Let's

just ask, what have they heard from the

son of God? What is the gospel of God's

kingdom? the good news that God's

kingdom has arrived in the son of man,

Jesus Christ. That he gave his life on

the cross to make atonement for our

sins. That he rose again in victory over

the grave, conquering death, promising

eternal life to all who will believe.

That he's the one who rose and ascended

into heaven and is seated at the right

hand of God. That is who Jesus is. He is

King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. God

calls him my Lord. David calls him my

Lord. We saw all those things last week.

That's who who Jesus is. And we're

talking about the gospel of Jesus

Christ, death and resurrection. He calls

them here in verse one to give them more

earnest heed. What does that mean? Well,

it means more than just to listen to

someone. It's a particular word that

means to pay close attention to be

concerned about something or to occupy

oneself with.

Let me ask you, you know what happens

when a young man is occupied with a

young woman?

He wants to be with her. He talks to

her. He texts her. He calls her. He goes

out on dates with her.

lingers with her the way that Hannah and

I would linger on our college campus in

the cold nights of Oklahoma until the

very last minute when you had to be back

in the dorms for curfew. It lingers

this word when he says give the more

earnest heed. The idea is to give

abundant attention and occupation

to the gospel

to the word spoken by Jesus Christ.

It means to spend time immersing

yourself in the truths of the gospel.

Discovering the the difference that the

gospel makes. Listen, not only in

eternity, but in your life today. The

gospel makes a difference in your life

today, not just in the future. It gives

you hope even now. And so, it's like

he's saying this, I I know that you're

weary. I know that you're fatigued. I

know that you're injured. But what you

need right now is a greater grip on

gospel truth.

Why? Why?

because losing grip will lead to

spiritual slip.

He says, "Therefore, we ought to give

the more earnest heed to the things

which we have heard, lest at any time we

should let them slip."

The word translated slip conveys the

idea of something that leaks through. In

fact, the translators, I've got a

marginal note here uh in in my Bible

that says to run out as a leaking

vessel.

That's what the word slip means. It

carries a couple different ideas, but

the idea is that if they don't have a

firm grip on the gospel,

their faith will spring a leak.

They'll become leaky in their belief in

Christ. They'll become wishy-washy. slip

carries the idea of of flowing or

drifting as well. You you might think of

of a a a boat that is tied off. You

know, they've got those metal anchors on

a dock and and it's tied off by a by a

rope, but uh over the course of time, if

you're not paying attention to that that

rope and it loosens up that eventually

it comes completely loose and the boat

begins to drip or drift, excuse me.

That's how they use this particular word

to to come loose and then to flow away,

to drift away. And thus it's it's

translated here to slip. See, at one

time these Jewish believers were tied

off to Christ, but because of their

struggles,

their ongoing pain, persecution, and

suffering, they've not given proper

attention to the knot. and it's getting

loose.

And what the author is saying is if they

don't go back and pay attention, that's

the word give earnest heed. If they

don't go back and pay close attention to

this knot and tie it up, then they're

going to be in danger of drifting far

away from Jesus Christ.

And the same thing is true in your life

that if you lose your grip of the

gospel, it may cause you to slip

spiritually.

If you don't have a a good grip on the

gospel, you can slip into a moralistic

relationship with God to the point where

as if keeping a list of Christian rules

and regulations somehow earns God's

favor and love. And then what you can

begin to do is look down at others who

do not share the same standards or the

same preferences in your life as though

this is a measure of of spirituality.

And what that does is it lends itself to

pride and a departure from the true

gospel of Jesus Christ who enters into

all of our lives at different personal

stages,

different areas of growth.

And when when you've been saved for a

long time and God's done years of

reshaping in your life, but then you

come to a brand new believer and you try

to treat these standards and preferences

as if they're a moral measuring stick,

what you are doing is you are not giving

them the grace and the time to grow that

God has already given to you.

>> You just think you've already arrived.

That's a slip, folks.

That's not closer to the gospel. That's

further from the gospel because you're

presenting an idea that the way you get

closer to God is by cleaning up your

life. When God says you can't get closer

to me on your own, so I'm going to come

closer to you. I'm going to send my son

to give his life for you to bring you to

myself because you can't get there on

your own. See, we slip away from the

gospel if we don't have a good grip on

what it means.

If you don't have a good grip on the

gospel, you might lose your theological

bearings and start dabbling in the the

super charismatic world or get sucked

into what's called universalism, which

is the idea that at the end of time that

that God's love is going to win

everybody over and nobody's going to die

unsaved and unbelieving and and there's

no judgment and there's no hell. Listen,

that's not what the Bible teaches.

But if you don't have a good grip of the

gospel, then there can be some

podcasters out there and some authors

out there who could lead you astray and

cause you to slip away from the truth of

the gospel. That Jesus is the only way

and this is the only opportunity you

have to believe is this one life.

We got to be careful of that.

If you don't have a solid grip on the

gospel, you can also end up with a

twisted view of the church.

As if church is not that important and

attendance doesn't really matter. I

mean, I can worship God anywhere. So, so

why do I need to go to a church when the

reality is when you study the truth of

the gospel, you realize that yes, Jesus

died for you individually and he would

have died if you were the only person to

be saved. But he didn't just die for

you. He died for the church. And the

church is not the walls and the brick

and the paint. The church is the very

people that Jesus gave his life for. And

what that means is to your church, you

should matter to your church and your

church should matter to you. That's one

of the issues that the author has to

deal with later when when he says,

"Let's let's not forsake the assembling

of ourselves together as the manner of

some is." Some are already doing that.

They're they're leaving behind the

assembly of the church. But he says,

"Let us exhort one another and so much

the more as you see the day

approaching." And so, one of the things

that that he has to address here is the

fact that they are slipping from the

church most likely back to the

synagogue.

And so, we want to make sure that we

have our a good grip on the gospel

because otherwise it'll cause us to

slip.

Sometimes we might only view the gospel

as the way to salvation when in reality

it is the rope that ties you to Christ

and keeps you from spiritual drift

drift.

See the gospel is the good news of

salvation by grace alone through faith

alone in Christ alone. You must believe

that in order to be saved but you don't

leave the gospel behind once you get

saved. that remains a rope between you

and Christ that keeps you close.

And so I pray that our church never

grows weary of the gospel being preached

from this pulpit.

And I hope that you realize that listen,

in a group this size, I I believe the

vast majority of of us are saved. That

that probably nearly every single one of

us are saved. But I'm still going to

preach the gospel to you.

Why? Because if we don't, you'll slip

into moralism.

If we don't, you'll slip into a

worksbased relationship with God. If we

don't, you'll slip theologically.

No, we've got to keep the gospel at the

forefront of our teaching ministry

because we need to have a good grip on

it lest it bring us to slip just as this

author is concerned about with these

Jewish Christians. Listen to what

Matthew Henry said. When we have

received gospel truths into our minds,

we are in danger of letting them slip.

Our minds and memories are like a leaky

vessel. They do not without much care

retain what is poured into them.

That's why he says you need to give the

more earnest heed to the things which

you have heard. the more intercede

abundant attention.

You've got to work at it to ensure don't

don't live your life by default just

just reading your Bible generically. No,

you need to read your Bible looking for

how the gospel affects your life. We're

going to talk about that here in a

little bit. But we've got to make sure

that we are caring about the gospel

because losing our gospel grip will lead

us to spiritual slip. Now, why is that

such a big problem?

Why is it a problem if we slip away is

what he's talking about here? Well, this

brings us to the second reason that we

need a greater gospel grip. And that is

this. Spiritual slip guarantees

God's discipline. Spiritual slip

guarantees God's discipline. That's his

point over the next few verses. Look

what it says in verse two. For if the

word spoken by angels, that's the law of

God, was steadfast. You know what that

means,

firmly in force.

That means it was not optional.

That means there wasn't debate about

whether or not this was really the word

of God. No, it was firm. It was settled.

It was sure. It was in force. So much so

that he says,

"And every transgression and

disobedience received a just recompense

of reward." You know what recompense of

reward means? A just wage,

a payment for your actions that is

justifiable.

What he says here is

in the old law, the words spoken by

angels that was steadfast, sure, firmly

enforce

every stepping over of the line.

Every crossing of the boundary, that's

what the word transgression means. And

every act of disobedience, that is a

particular word that means an

unwillingness to listen, an

unwillingness to hear, an unwillingness

to heed. In other words, when you take

the word spoken by angels from God and

you set it to the side and disregard it

as if it doesn't apply to you,

you received a just wage.

Now, as we studied Exodus, Leviticus,

and Numbers, we saw what some of those

things were. Some things like theft

would require restitution, a repayment

five-fold over 20% more.

There were some that if your animal

killed somebody,

then your animal had to be put to death.

And if you knew your animal, your ox

would push with his horns. If he was

prone to do that and you didn't pin him

up and he killed somebody, then you were

put to death. It's pretty harsh

punishment, isn't it?

And then of course the

of course the more egregious offenses

such as idolatry, blasphemy, breaking

the Sabbath day, those were all

punishable by death as well. This is

what he's talking about later in chapter

10. He's going to talk about how in the

old covenant that people died under the

mouth of two or three w two or three

witnesses.

And so what he's talking about here is

there was serious

consequences

for setting aside the word spoken by

angels.

But then notice what he says in verse

three.

How shall we escape if we neglect so

great salvation?

How shall we escape? So, do you see the

argument that he's making when you put

all this together?

Jesus

is far greater than the angels.

And the angels are great. Wasn't that

his argument? He wasn't diminishing the

angels one bit. But what he was showing

was Christ is even that much greater. He

said he is so much better than the

angels.

Why has he been building that case? It

was for this moment.

So that recognizing how great the angels

are, how firm and steadfast the word was

that came from them, if they set it

aside and faced guaranteed punishment,

what do you think will happen if you

take the word that was spoken by the son

of God and you set it aside?

You see the word he uses there, neglect.

is the total opposite of giving heed.

It means to show no concern for.

It means to pay no attention to, to

disregard, or as I said, to set aside.

He's saying

discipline

is guaranteed.

Because if God disciplined those who set

aside the word given by angels,

you don't think he's going to discipline

those who set aside the word of Jesus

Christ and then slip away

from his son.

Why is God so serious about this?

Well, it's because as it says in verse

three, we are neglecting

so great salvation.

So great salvation.

There's some language here, and we'll

get to it again in just a moment,

but there's some parallelism here to

God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

Because when they were brought out after

all the plagues and the Passover,

they were standing there at the Red Sea

with the enemy right behind them,

bearing down on them, held back only by

the fiery pillar of God's presence.

And they were worried out of their

minds. And Moses lifted up the rod and

he said, "Be still." That means that

means be quiet.

Be silent.

Stand still and see the salvation of the

Lord.

God wrought a great salvation when they

crossed that Red Sea. But God wrought an

even greater salvation through Jesus

Christ.

See, Jesus death and resurrection

removed the hostility between you and

God so you could be reconciled to a

right relationship with him. something

you could never do on your own. He gave

you a new birth and adopted you into his

family. He made you a joint heir with

his son uh Jesus. He promised you

eternal life in his perfect kingdom. I

mean, what a great salvation.

God is extremely gracious and merciful

to us when we trust in his son. And

because God loves his son so much, and

because God loves you so much, he will

not allow you to neglect the salvation

he has brought to you without also

bringing his fatherly discipline upon

you to turn you back to the one who

saved you in the first place.

He loves you too much to let you slip

without any correction.

This is why in chapter number 12,

the author of Hebrews says these words,

"Despise not thou the chastening or the

discipline of the Lord. For whom the

Lord loveth, he chasteth." As a father

chastineth his son,

God loves you like you're his child.

And just as any good parent would not

let their child go off into dangerous

places without any correction, without a

single word said to them, without any

measure of discipline, God will not do

that to you either because he loves you

too much.

God's discipline is guaranteed.

Guaranteed.

If you're not a believer tonight and you

refuse to heed the gospel of Jesus

Christ, God does not discipline you as a

loving father.

Rather, he punishes you with the holy

fire of his wrath for all of eternity in

hell.

And if his own people

did not escape the just punishment under

the word spoken by angels,

do you think that you will escape the

just punishment when you refuse to heed

the gospel of his only son who gave his

life for you? Friend, if you don't know

Jesus, turn to him in faith. receive

this great salvation of which we're

speaking tonight. Receive it from him.

Why does God guarantee his discipline

here?

Well, because he made his salvation

three-fold clear to us. Notice first of

all in verse three,

how shall we escape if we neglect so

great salvation which at the first began

to be spoken by the Lord? There it is.

The Lord Jesus Christ came and he

proclaimed the gospel of God's kingdom.

Repent, turn in faith to the Messiah.

Believe on him and you may enter into

God's kingdom. Christ spoke it.

But then it says, "And was confirmed

unto us by them that heard him." This is

why I don't believe Paul wrote this

letter because Paul heard directly from

Jesus Christ in the Arabian desert.

But he's speaking as if he had not heard

directly from Jesus.

He had heard along with these Jewish

Christians from those who did hear

Jesus. So there is a tie to the apostles

here. But what he not what you notice

here is he says the Lord first spoke it

but then the apostles confirmed it. But

then you know what God did as they were

confirming it? It says in verse four,

God also bearing them witness both with

signs and wonders and with diverse

miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost

according to his own will. Signs and

wonders. Sound familiar?

Well, back when Israel was in Egyptian

bondage, God showed up with some signs

and wonders and diverse miracles, did he

not?

And he brought these upon the Egyptians,

but not upon the Israelites

to show the Egyptians that he is the

most high God.

And to show Israel that God bears his

mighty arm to rescue his people. God

bore witness to his salvation by signs

and wonders. And what he's saying here

is God did the same thing with his son

Jesus Christ by signs and wonders by

healings,

by exorcisms,

by raising the dead to life.

God bore witness.

God gave his people gifts as he had

promised. Gifts of the Holy Spirit. He

had poured out his Holy Spirit which is

a prophetic implication that the end of

the days had come

that the last times were at hand.

And so what we find here is God

confirmed the word that his son spoke by

his apostles

bearing witness through miracles and

through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This word is sure.

This word from Jesus is steadfast.

What further reason do you have not to

believe?

When you neglect the salvation God has

spoken in Jesus, when you set it aside,

when you give no attention to it, mark

it down, believer, that you will slip.

And when you slip, it brings God's

discipline.

The text does not specify

what that discipline may be,

but we could venture to say that

sometimes he may allow you to face

financial hardship when you're slipping

away from Christ.

He may allow some kind of physical pain

to come upon you when you're slipping

away from Christ.

Not every physical ailment we go

through, not every financial catastrophe

that we go through is a result of God's

judgment discipline. But you know if

you're slipping away from him. And if

you are slipping away from him and it

just seems like nothing is going right

in your life.

Might that be because God is trying to

make you aware of the fact that you have

drifted and you need to come back to

Christ?

It may be that God just allows you to go

the way you want to, whatever the

consequences may be.

But as a loving father,

he brings things to your mind time and

time again to turn you back to his son.

Why? He loves you. He loves his own and

therefore he disciplines him. God may

give you a period of grace.

A period where he allows you to slip and

allows you to drift and it's as if

there's no consequences at all

and you feel like you're getting away

with it.

sometimes even pastors can be guilty of

that.

They drift a little bit.

They begin counseling a woman on their

own

and then they nothing's going bad there.

And so then they meet up with that

person just for coffee somewhere else in

a different city and nothing goes wrong.

and they meet up with him one time and

and months pass and years pass and

there's an adulterous affair now with a

pastor who has just slipped and slipped

and slipped and it seems like nothing's

going wrong. Well, I must be doing

something right then. But then all of a

sudden, out of nowhere, God drops the

hammer.

Listen, believer, do not despise the

grace of God by assuming that your

wrongdoing is okay simply because the

consequences have not come to a head

yet.

If you're drifting and you know it and

nothing's going wrong,

sometimes the silence speaks for itself.

Or God is speaking to you in a still

small voice and saying, "I'll let you

go,

but it's going to come."

Understand God's not out to get you. He

loves you and he wants to turn you back

to him. And you can tell the pastoral

heart of this author warning them, get a

grip on Jesus

because otherwise you're going to slip.

And if you slip, it's going to bring

discipline. So you need to get a better

grip on Jesus Christ. You need to get a

better grip on the gospel.

Give the more earnest seed to the gospel

that you've heard. Therefore, I believe

the truth that he's getting across is

this. To avoid spiritual slip, you need

a greater gospel grip.

Do you understand that you need to

linger and immerse yourself in the truth

of the gospel? And this goes beyond your

standard reading a chapter of the Bible

each day.

No, giving heed means paying means

paying close attention to it. Means

meditating upon it. When you when you go

to God's word, can I encourage you in

this way? Order off Amazon a package of

red pencils,

the color of Christ's blood.

And as you read through your Bible and

you come across some facet of the

gospel,

underline that,

slow down,

pause for a moment, meditate on it, chew

on it, even memorize it. And you know

what that's going to do? It's going to

strengthen your grip on the gospel of

Jesus Christ so that you can avoid

slipping in your spiritual life.

It might be that you're you come across

the crushing of the serpent's head in

Genesis 3 or the Passover in Exodus 12

or it might be a psalm with a quote from

Jesus on the cross like my God my God

why hast thou forsaken me or into thine

hands I commit my spirit something like

that or you could come to the suffering

of Christ in Isaiah 53 where almost

every single verse and every single

stanza is littered with the truth of

Christ's death for your sin and your

place because of your sin.

Focus on that. When you come to the New

Testament, you read something about the

birth, the death, the burial, the

resurrection of Christ, or when you read

about his return, and the destruction of

of Satan and the end of sin in heaven

and all those things that encompass this

great salvation. Mark it in red, friend.

Remember, that's talking about your

life. It's talking about your sin that's

been eradicated. It's talking about the

hostility not between the Ephesians and

God, but between you and God has been

removed that has been nailed to his

cross. As it says in Colossians chapter

number two,

I encourage you to pay close attention

to the gospel that you have heard.

Let it become an anchor to which you tie

your soul

so that you might not slip and drift

away.

It might help you to be more intentional

about memorization.

Or you might decide to read through the

book of Romans and every time you come

across a verse on a particular aspect of

the gospel, you just decide, I'm going

to memorize that particular verse. I'm

going to stick it with a sticky post-it

note to my refrigerator or to my monitor

or my mirror so that as I'm getting

dressed in the morning and fixing my

hair and brushing my teeth, I'm seeing

that gospel truth that's just ruminating

in my heart, my soul about what Jesus

has done for me.

You know what else will help you with

this?

Singing some good gospel music. I'm not

talking about a genre.

I'm not talking about honky tonk

Christian hoown music.

I'm not talking about some sch snazzy

catchy country song with a bunch of

stories that have some spiritual truths

in them. I'm talking about songs that

are filled with the rich truths of the

gospel of Jesus Christ,

about his death and the blood he shed,

about his resurrection and the hope that

it gives about his reign right now over

all of creation and over all of the

universe about his return that will be

glorious when he will eradicate sin. All

the gospel is not just the death and the

resurrection of Christ. is the full and

complete redemption, the so great

salvation that God is bringing when

Christ comes to vindicate his saints and

establish his kingdom and reign forever

and ever.

Listening to songs when you're in the

car that fill your heart with the truth

of the gospel. Did Paul not say in

Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ

Colossians 3:16

dwell in you richly in all wisdom,

teaching and admonishing one another in

psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."

Friend, if you feel in your heart that

you are slipping from Christ, get rid of

whatever music that you're listening to

right now and replace it with gospel

music that will fill your heart with the

truth of the gospel so you can have a

greater grip on it so that it keeps you

from slipping further away from it.

But then you know what else will help

you? Here's a good plug.

committing to come every Thursday night

during this series.

Because here's the awesome thing. The

author doesn't just come and say, "Give

the more earnest heed to the things that

we've heard."

He shows them what we've heard.

He speaks of the greatness of Christ,

his priesthood,

his his interceding ministry.

He talks about his sacrifice, his blood

atonement. He talks about his eternal

reign. He talks about how he's brought

us to the new Jerusalem, the heavenly

city of God, of his people.

There's so much christologology. Can I

use a big doctrine word there? The study

of Christ. There's so much

christologology in this book. I promise

if you come every Thursday night, by the

end of this series, you will go away

with a far greater grip on who Jesus is

and on the gospel that he has brought

and accomplished through his shed blood

and his resurrection. I just encourage

you to get a greater gospel grip so you

can avoid a deeper spiritual slip.

It'll keep you from falling back into

old patterns and old systems of belief

and behavior. It'll keep your

theological guard rails in the right

place. And on top of that, it'll help

you avoid God's discipline.

Anyone here want that? I don't want to

be under his hand. Well, then get a

greater grip on the gospel.

But perhaps, and I'll finish here, the

best reason to get a greater grip on the

gospel is that it will bring you closer

to Jesus.

It'll bring you closer to Jesus. You

can't pay close attention to the gospel

for very long before you begin to

develop a deeper understanding of

Christ's love for you. And then that

deeper understanding gives you a deeper

love for Christ.

It'll bring you closer to him. Instead

of slipping, you'll find yourself

gripping harder than ever before to

Christ,

longing to know him more, craving for

his return, and instead of shrinking

back, you'll be calling others to come

and know him the way that you have come

to know him.

Can I ask, do you feel that in some way

you're slipping?

Is church not as important in your life

as it once was?

Has it been a while since you opened the

word of God at home,

just feasted on the truth of the gospel?

Has it been a long time since you've

spent any meaningful time in prayer?

has opposition,

hardship,

or a spiritual injury from your past

or a physical injury right now

cause you to grow weary,

fatigued, and to slip.

You might be realizing this for the

first time now that you're just looking

at this and you're like, "Man,

these signs are all over my life.

I don't want to stay there.

How can I get out of it? How can I be

restored to a vibrant, passionate love

for Jesus? Friend, get a greater grip on

the gospel.

Start there. It'll pull you back in and

it can keep you from drifting away and

slipping from its truth away from

Christ.

You'll either get a grip or you'll let

it slip.

Let's pray. Father,

I thank you for the truth of your word

and I thank you for the way that it

confronts us

in our greatest moments of struggle

but reminds us where the hope is found.

That is in the gospel of your son.

Thank you for being a patient, loving

and gracious father to us. for even

disciplining us when we go out of the

way.

I pray for everyone here tonight

that they would cling to Christ, that

they would grow in their knowledge of

the gospel truth. And I pray that as

your word promises here that it would be

an anchor of their soul, sure, steadfast

that keeps them near to Christ. I ask

these things in Jesus name. Amen.