HEBREWS 2:2,3, C. H. Cayce The opposite of salvation is condemnation. The question, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” is a stronger way of saying, “If we neglect that salvation, we cannot escape the opposite of the salvation.” If the salvation here spoken of is eternal salvation, then it necessarily follows that our escaping eternal condemnation depends largely upon our not neglecting our eternal salvation. Eternal condemnation is the opposite of eternal salvation. A farmer may neglect his crop. If he does neglect it, he will have no crop— he will not reap a harvest. He must sow the seed, and not neglect to cultivate, if he reaps a harvest. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If the farmer sows wheat, he will not reap corn from that sowing. After he sows the wheat, it is necessary that he cultivate the crop in order that he reap a bountiful harvest. “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.” “If ye sow to the flesh, ye shall of the flesh reap corruption.” If the farmer sows bad seed he will not reap a good harvest, If he sows burrs he will not reap wheat. “Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.” — 2 Pet. 1:5-6,7. To sow as we should and to cultivate properly in the Christian life requires diligence. It is necessary to give earnest heed. If we neglect, then we are not giving earnest heed and are not diligent. If we are not giving earnest heed and are not diligent, then we “let them slip”— we are neglecting the salvation, and cannot escape the condemnation, which is the opposite of the salvation.
Our escaping eternal condemnation does not, in any sense, depend upon what we do or fail to do. This depends altogether upon the mercy and grace of God, and what Christ has done for us. “Not according to our works, but according to His mercy He saved us,” says the apostle. “Not of works, lest any man should boast,” he says again. When he said this, he was talking about that work which will give us to live with God in glory. “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus.”— l Cor. 1:30. It is the work of God that one, is in Christ. He escapes eternal condemnation by the work of God— what God does for him— only and alone. It is the work of God only and alone by which one escapes eternal condemnation.
If the man who has natural life is slothful and neglectful of the duties of that life, he fails to enjoy the blessings of the life. He is not saved from the curses, or the opposite of those blessings. He cannot escape the opposite. So, the child of God, that one who is in Christ and who has the life of Christ implanted in his soul, who neglects the duties of that life, cannot escape the condemnation— cannot escape a guilty conscience. If he does not take heed, does not give diligence in that life, he is not saved from the pitfalls and snares set for him by Satan. It is necessary that he take heed and give diligence in doing what the Saviour requires in order that he escape those things and be saved from them. It is necessary that he give diligence and take heed, in order that he escape false doctrine and false practice. May the Lord help us to take heed, to be diligent in the discharge of our duty, that we may thereby save ourselves from the untoward generation, that we may be saved from the inventions of men and from their false doctrines and practices, is our humble prayer. The Primitive Baptist, May 26, 1908.