The Jewish believers to whom the Book of Hebrews was written were neglecting their salvation. Were they saved? Of course. Had they known the blessing of the Holy Spirit? Yes.

They had seen the power of God. They had been persecuted cruelly and had accepted joyfully the confiscation of their property.

These Jews had made an excellent start. They had suffered some. But as the years passed and the Lord did not return they began to live the ordinary life of the world, not pressing forward fervently into the rest of God.

The Book of Hebrews contains many solemn warnings to these Christian people warnings we must take to heart today.

They were saved and filled with the Spirit. What were they neglecting? They were neglecting to press into their inheritance in the Lord.

Hebrews 2:3 often is preached to the unsaved, telling them that if they ignore God's plan of salvation they will not escape Hell.

However, references to the Jewish believers throughout the epistle reveal clearly that the writer was speaking to Christian people who had started on the way and now were growing cold.

They were "holy brothers" but they were warned they would not inherit Christ if they did not press forward to the rest of God.

What a warning this is to us today who are preaching "Jesus did it all" and once we "make a decision for Christ" there is nothing we are to do except to encourage others to "make a decision for Christ."

If current preaching is true the Book of Hebrews is incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial as far as the Christian salvation is concerned.

Your present writer believes that the evangelical teaching and preaching of today is in error. We are preaching "another gospel." We have created some kind of religion based on a magical use of the name of Jesus. Instead of a discipleship in which the disciple faithfully follows the Master each day, laying aside all that hinders the clear view of Jesus, we have an unscriptural "dispensation of grace" that brings unchanged people to Paradise.

I really would be worried if I did not know that God will never change. The gospel of today will soon vanish under the pressures that soon are to come on the world.

You are saved. You have been baptized in water. You have been filled with the Spirit. Now what?

Now you must press into the rest of God. The rest of God is that place in the center of God's will and Personality where the truly righteous live.

Many enemies, including the world, your fleshly lusts, your self-will, and Satan himself will seek every moment of every day to prevent you from keeping your eyes on Jesus and living in His rest. This is why you have to labor to enter the rest, a paradoxical commandment.

To enter the rest of God requires your total commitment every hour of every day. All of your thinking, speaking, and acting must be found in Jesus. You will not attain this rest in a moment but you shall attain it if you mean business with God.

Let other believers fool around as they will. But you go forward. They will die in the wilderness of doubt and indecision. They will inherit lashes, not Christ.

Don't let that be true of you. Forget the past and move on with God. There is more Divine glory available today than ever before in history. You can have it if this is what you desire above all else.