“DO NOT REFUSE HIM WHO SPEAKS” (Hebrews 12:25)

1. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. (Heb. 12:25)

2. “DO NOT REFUSE HIM WHO SPEAKS”(Hebrews 12:25) • “Him who speaks” refers to Jesus Christ. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. (Heb. 1:1-2) • In spite of the inspired admonition not to do so, many people refuse Jesus without realizing it. • We will consider: • How people refuse Him. • Why people refuse Him. • The Danger of refusing Him.

3. HOW PEOPLE REFUSE HIM • Some people refuse to listen. • “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” (Matt. 13:15) • Some listen with no intention of obeying. • “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?”(Luke 6:46).

4. Some reject those who preach the truth. • “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”(Luke 10:16) • For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.(1 Thess. 2:13) • Some try to remain neutral. • “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”(Matt. 12:30) • “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”(Matt. 7:21)

5. WHY PEOPLE REFUSE HIM • Some trust in their own righteousness rather than the righteousness of God. • Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.(Rom. 10:1-3) • Some trust in their own wisdom rather than the wisdom of God. • For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom. (1 Cor. 1:22)

6. Some love the praise of men more than the praise of God. • Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 12:42-43) • Some love the world rather than God. • For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica--Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. (2 Tim. 4:10) • Traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (2 Tim. 3:4)

7. Some trust the future. • Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” (Acts 24:25)

8. THE DANGER OF REFUSING HIM • Those who disobeyed Moses faced physical death without mercy. • "If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing His covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones. Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the

9. testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil person from among you. (Deut. 17:2-7) • Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Heb. 10:28) • It is a far more dangerous thing to disobey Jesus. • How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. (Heb. 2:2-3) • Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Heb. 10:29)

10. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:25-29)

11. “DO NOT REFUSE HIM WHO SPEAKS” If you have thus far been refusing Jesus, please don’t refuse Him any longer. Believe in Him, repent of your sins, confess your faith and be baptized for the remission of sins. If you have done this, but have been refusing Him His rightful place in your life, repent of this, and begin life anew, please.