The Danger Of Drifting

Take your Bibles now and turn to Hebrews. Our text for this morning is Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1-4, but in order for us to understand the context, I will begin reading in chapter 1. long ago at many times and in many ways god spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world he is the radiance of the glory of god and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power after making purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the sun, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. and you Lord laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands they will perish but you remain they will all wear out like a garment like a robe you will roll them up like a garment they will be changed but you are the same and your years will have no end and to which of the angels has he ever said sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will. Let's pray.

Father now open our hearts to the message of your word This is an important text for us We must hear it clearly So Lord I pray for the attention of all who are here That they may listen and understand And take heed to the word of God Help now in Jesus name Amen Tara Myers and her seven-year-old son, Brennan, were having a fun day at the beach on Ana Maria Island. They were enjoying the Gulf of Mexico on their giant inflatable swan. It was so safe on the nice, calm Gulf water.

No wind and no waves. but sometime later Tara looked up and noticed they were miles offshore they had drifted, a current had caught them and had taken them miles off the shore they just kept drifting farther and farther away now providentially someone saw them and a fire rescue boat was sent out to get them. Tara says she just broke down in tears. She was absolutely terrified because they just kept drifting away.

Well, that's exactly what our Hebrew pastor wants you to understand in our text. You may be in danger of drifting away, and if you do, you'll never recover. Now, the chain of Old Testament quotations in chapter one proving the son's superiority has been moving us toward a goal and that is chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 the exhortation to heed the message that God has spoken through his son he isn just interested in showing to you that Jesus is God and that he brought a better message No No He says therefore or let me tell you why I've told you all this.

Let me explain to you why I've said all these things. Because this message from Jesus is superior, then you better pay close attention to it. Do not neglect that message. And if you don't pay attention or if you neglect it, you may just drift into judgment. Why judgment? Because of the superior nature of this message.

You can't ignore that message without judgment following. So let's look at our text one more time. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. Listen to what he says. therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation it was declared at first by the lord and it was detested to us by those who heard while god also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Now what do you need to do? I want you to think about this passage and you need to do three things. Here are the three things that this passage tells us. Take a look at the message. Take heed to that message. Take care because of that message. first of all take a look at this message you need to understand this message now in order to understand this final revelation this final and ultimate revelation from God through his son you need to understand the message that came through angels which is what he says in verse 2 the the message the angels delivered was the mosaic covenant the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai after he had miraculously delivered them from Egypt, the covenant that now organized their entire national life as the people of God made at Sinai.

And when God descended to Mount Sinai it was a terrifying sight because as you read in Exodus 20 and surrounding chapters it was accompanied by great lightnings and fire and thunder and clouds and the people were terrified, but you don't find any reference to angels there. But years later, decades later, in fact, after the wilderness wanderings, in the book of Deuteronomy, as Moses is recounting all that had happened to them, he tells them this in Deuteronomy chapter 33, verse 2. Moses recounts how God delivered the covenant and he says this the Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us he shone forth from Mount Paran he came from the ten thousands of holy ones with flaming fire at his right hand there we find the reference to angels these angels emphasized the holiness of the covenant.

They're mighty, powerful beings. And they were there in the deliverance of the Mosaic covenant. That covenant, that message delivered by angels, he says, was reliable, which is to say it was sure and certain, and thus it was legally binding. this covenant delivered by angels was so sure and certain so legally binding he says in verse 2 that if you transgress the law you received a just retribution there was punishment this message from God delivered by angels required punishment for any infraction of that law turn back with me to Leviticus 26 just for a moment let's just get a sampling of it just a sampling of it Leviticus 26 falls into a section of that book in which God gives them the blessings and the curses of obedience and disobedience to this covenant that he made with them at Sinai Leviticus 26 let's start let's look at verse 14 But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you.

I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you will sow your seed in veins. For your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins.

And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. and your strength shall be spent in vain for your land shall not yield its increase and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit. And on and on we could go. What's the point? The point is that this covenant delivered by angels had that kind of force behind it.

Those kinds of just punishments. You heard this morning from the book of Numbers about the man who was picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, the day of rest. What happened to him? He was stoned to death. So, all this is from this lesser revelation, this revelation that is not superior. Jesus brings a more superior one.

But that was the punishment that came with the message that came through angels. Now, the message that came through the Son is superior to the powerful and binding covenant that came, the covenant of Moses, that came through angels. And we find that in verses 3 and 4, right? Where he says, How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will.

This message is superior, for one thing, because it brings with it a great salvation, unlike that other message delivered by angels unlike unlike that one this one actually cleanses you from the guilt and defilement of sin this one rescues you from the devil's power of enslaving people through fear this one in this one god brings his sons to glory all that's within the first two chapters of this book it it includes all of those things this message is superior not Not only because it brings a great salvation. It superior because it authoritative Notice it was declared at first by whom By the Lord This is declared by the Lord God coming to us, incarnate, and declaring it to us. One writer put it this way, the creator and sustainer of the world, the heir of all things, has himself entered history and spoken to human beings through word and deed.

Jesus Christ has revealed finally and definitively who God is to human beings. It was declared by him. So it's authoritative. It can be trusted. The superior message can be trusted because it was attested or it was confirmed to the readers, these readers, by the eyewitnesses who saw and heard Jesus. He's referring here to the apostles.

They had seen and heard Jesus. In fact, the apostle Paul, who wasn't with him when his earthly life, says, I got my gospel from him. He taught me. I met with him. You know he met him on the Damascus Road. All of them saw and heard the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of the apostles were the ones who could attest to it. They're eyewitnesses to it all. God's own testimony confirms the apostles' proclamation. He says here that God, if you will, confirmed Jesus' message through signs and wonders and miracles. right remember Jesus says at one point in John chapter 5 hey if you don't believe me look at the miracles right God affirmed the apostolic message because the message contains the words of one who himself was attested by God through his signs and wonders and miracles and then God God also granted signs and wonders to the apostles after Jesus' glorification, demonstrating that they were truly his messengers.

If you look at 2 Corinthians 12, verse 12, you see in that book the apostle Paul in controversy against those who would say, we are super apostles, you don't have to pay attention to Paul. He's no big stuff. And the apostle Paul responds in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 12, with these words. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works So God attested to his messengers the apostles through those miraculous signs And then the last thing he says that should tell you this message is superior and that you should pay attention to it is that the Holy Spirit distributes gifts according to his will.

And that confirms the gospel as superior to the other message. now remember the Holy Spirit came because God's messenger Jesus said that he would send them send him in John chapter 14 if you want to look there John chapter 14 verses 16 through 17 you read these words of Jesus and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells with you and he and you with you and will be in you there's another confirmation of the message the superior message of the gospel that the messenger sent the spirit that you know and so once again you see that the message that came by the son is vastly superior to the old covenant that came the old covenant of Moses delivered by angels what's the point what's the point so he's told us chapter one this is the messenger this is the final revelation it's Jesus who is God himself then he tells us again about this message what's the point. If the message brought by angels brought just retribution for every infraction, then the judgment that falls on anyone who neglects or abandons this superior message of Jesus will be much greater. There'll be greater judgment because of the messengers. right this message this superior message brings greater judgment if you neglect it that old one delivered by angels boy that brought judgment but there's greater judgment for those who neglect for those who do not pay close attention to this message so what's the point you need to pay close attention to the gospel message you heard that the point all of this has been driving to that point Do not neglect this Pay careful attention to this because it a superior message Well, in light of that superior message of the gospel, what does God expect of you today then?

Well, we've just said it. Take heed to this message. Take heed. You need to pay attention to this message. You must pay much closer attention. Notice verse 1.

Therefore, we must. Can't emphasize that word enough. We must. It is necessary that we pay much closer attention to what we have heard. We must pay attention to this message. Now notice, this is the message you heard.

This is the message of the saving grace of Jesus. You have heard the final definitive word from God in the message of Jesus from Jesus. It is absolutely essential that you pay heed to that message. Now listen to me carefully. Look now. Our Hebrew pastor here does not call on unbelievers to heed this message.

This is not a call to the unconverted to believe the gospel. He speaks to you, to those who have heard and believed the message of this great salvation. You must pay much closer attention to it. You must commit yourself to this superior message from Jesus. It becomes your focus. He's talking to you.

Not to those outside who care nothing for Jesus. He's not talking to the unconverted. He is talking to you. You are the ones, he says, must pay more careful attention to this. It becomes your focus. It becomes your focus.

What is focus? What does pay close attention mean then? All right, let's think about it this way. You've asked the woman of your dreams to marry you, and she accepts. Now, that requires you pay close attention to that message. You pay close attention.

What does that mean? It means you stake everything you have and everything you are on that. That means this. It means you're going to leave home. Well, I'm not going to live with my parents anymore. I'm leaving home.

I'm going to live with her. I'm not going to live with them. I'm going to live with her. You start looking for a house for you and your bride-to-be. Which means you're going to have to start thinking about resources and money and all kinds of things in order for you to be able to live together in your own place. And you are done with all other women.

That is to say, at least you know that you will never pursue a romantic relationship with any other woman ever again. Right? Your plans for the future, or the way you plan for the future, changes all together. Now you don't just say, what would I like to do? Now you have to think about someone else. In fact, now you make decisions together.

Now you both have to make decisions with each other in mind. Your focus now is entirely different. This idea of marriage now becomes the focus. Paying close attention to your fiancée, if we want to use those words, is more than noticing her more than you did before. It means you commit your life to her. She becomes the focus of all you are and all you do.

That's what he's saying here. This message must be your focus. Pay much closer attention to it. Not notice it more. Not just read your Bible more. But you are now committed.

You are focused on that message. It is the very foundation of everything you do in your life. Now, if you want to fill this out a little bit more, he says, not just pay much closer attention, but in verse 3, what does he say? How should we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? Here's the opposite of pay close attention to. Neglect.

Don't neglect the message. That means, it's talking about when the message is no longer your focus. Now, let's look at that young man again. He's married now. But that whole idea of marriage is not the focus of his life. He's not paying much attention to it.

He's not as focused on it as he used to be. His planning takes into account his wife, maybe sometimes. He wants to do things because he wants to do things And care I suppose she can do it if she wants but it doesn matter I'm going to do what I want to do. He finds himself drawn to other women, and his wife isn't as attractive as she used to be. She's not the focus.

She's not paying the closer attention to her than to others. This is what he's saying about the message of salvation. You neglect it. You lose focus on its central controlling place in your life when you neglect it. Now look, this is a danger that every believer faces. This is a danger that every believer faces.

Various influences and pressures can lure you away from your commitment to Christ. various pressures and influences can lure you away. These Hebrew Christians were in danger of drifting away. And as you read the book, you see what were the pressures, what were the things going on that was causing them, quite possibly, to drift away. Family rejection, chapter 13, he talks about that.

Family rejection. They were facing rejection by families. Chapter 10, pressure of public shame. Because they believed in Jesus, they were hauled to the town square and publicly humiliated. That would be a great cause to move you away from your commitment, to lose your focus. The loss of property, chapter 10.

They're confiscating your property. They're confiscating your property. There's pressure to leave Christ behind. The loss of freedom, chapter 13. We're being put in jail for our faith. That's certainly a pressure to drift away from Jesus.

Chapter 12, the threat of martyrdom. There was the threat of dying. That certainly could lure you away from your commitment to Jesus, couldn't it? You could start drifting because of that. But what pressures do we face? We Christians who live in America in the 21st century with freedom, safety, and tolerance, what might cause us to drift away?

What might cause you to neglect, to lose your focus What might that be It may not start with some life crisis like I going to get thrown in jail It's more subtle. Career advancement and financial security may cause us to drift. It's more important that I advance up the ladder than it is Christ. entertainment and recreation may lure us away from that focus on the message.

Reputation and social acceptance might be that which lures us away from our commitment to Christ. And so we neglect this great salvation. We do not pay close attention to the superior message of the Gospel. We are lured away. we are taken away. What's the last thing that he says to us in this text? Take care because of this message.

Take care because of this message. You need to understand the danger and the judgment if you don't pay attention to the message. Take care or you will drift away. when you do not focus on the message you heard when you neglect the message that you have believed you can drift away from it like a ship that loses its moorings and drifts out of that safe haven like Tara Myers and Brennan who drifted out to sea that is to say when he's talking about drifting away he's talking about drifting to the point where you no longer believe the message you once believed and heard.

You will find yourself putting your hope in other messages. You will find yourself abandoning the truth that you once believed. Now listen, we're going to hear this word a lot as we walk through this book. It will pop up every once in a while, or the concept. The word is apostasy. That's the idea that you abandon the faith. you no longer stake everything on the message you once believed.

This will happen if you do not do what is necessary to focus on that superior message This can happen Let me ask you, how many have heard of Billy Graham? Go ahead, raise your hand. How many have heard of Billy Graham? How many have heard of Charles Templeton? No, you don't know who Charles Templeton is. You know that he and Billy Graham were very close friends.

In fact, he was a fellow evangelist with Billy Graham. By 1945, these two guys were packing out auditoriums. People were coming to listen to them. Templeton was a brilliant, dynamic speaker. He was an incredible preacher. One seminary president, after hearing Templeton, called him the most gifted, talented, young preacher in America.

Most observers thought that Templeton was going to go to the top. He was going to be the most famous evangelist ever. In fact, one magazine called him the Babe Ruth of evangelism. How do you like that one, huh? The Babe Ruth of evangelism. And this is back in the 50s when Babe Ruth was the, or when his record was untouchable, right?

He's the Babe Ruth of evangelism. Within a decade, he was an atheist. This guy who preached with Billy Graham, who some thought was better than Billy Graham, by 1956, he was an atheist. In 1996, he wrote a book called Farewell to God, in which he said, I oppose the Christian church, because for all the good it sometimes does, it presumes to speak in the name of God and to propound and advocate beliefs that are outdated, demonstrably untrue, and often in their various manifestations, deleterious to individuals and to society.

Charles Templeton apostate drifter he neglected the superior message that came through Jesus when you neglect so great a salvation all escape is gone verse 3 you see what he says how shall we escape if we You neglect such a great salvation. What does he mean? He means this. To drift away means that you cannot escape the eternal wrath of God. You neglect and stop believing the very message that rescues you from his wrath.

Now you can see why our pastor friend here, our Hebrew pastor friend, has so labored this whole idea of Jesus bringing the superior message to a people who were tempted to leave it behind because of the pressures they were facing. If the message that preceded it, the covenant delivered by angels, brought curses and judgment from God, how much greater must be the judgment on those who turn their back on the superior message of the gospel. Judgment awaits those who turn away from the superior message they once believed.

And so the exhortation, pay much closer attention. now right now some of your heads are ready to explode because you're asking this question is our pastor then saying you can lose your salvation i know that's what some of you are thinking because I can see it on your faces. Is that what I'm saying? Let's look at John chapter 10 for a moment. By the way, the fact that some of you right now have the feeling in the pit of your stomach means that you are hearing the warning that he is giving in this book.

John chapter 10 this is the good shepherd chapter wonderful chapter I love this chapter especially verse 10 the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy but I've come that you may have life and have it to the full but let's drop down to verse 27 hear the words of Jesus my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never, in fact you can translate this, and they will never ever perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father hand I and the Father are one Oh, that's good news, isn't it?

That's clear. Those who have been saved by Jesus will never be lost, and yet this warning is just as clear. if you drift there's judgment you can't get around both of them are true how can we put that together i want you to consider a few factors with me a few things with me for a moment all right listen to me now i want you to listen carefully what about election now in our church we've taken a stand on this we believe that god has chosen all those who are going to be saved, before the foundation, before the beginning of time, God chose those who would be saved. We believe that strongly.

We have driven a stake in the ground of election at this church. This is something that we believe particularly strongly. And so because of that, I don't have to preach the gospel, do I? And you don't have to witness, do you? I mean, if God's chosen who's going to be saved, then we don't have to do anything. Isn't that true?

That's true, right? Like, I don't have to preach. I don't have to try to convince you to believe in Jesus, right? I mean, God's chosen who he's going to save. So I don't have to do that, right? Of course not.

You've heard me from this pulpit for years. I call on people just about every week to believe in Jesus. This is our only hope. yesterday in this funeral with Dave Jeffers Dave Jeffers funeral Dan's brother was buried yesterday and I stood in this exact place and I talked to people about the fact that if they were trusting in their righteousness they were doomed they needed to trust in Jesus why I didn't have to do that did I I mean if God's chosen who he's going to save then I don't have to do that right Wrong Why Listen carefully now This is key You all listening God doesn just decree the ends who will be saved He also decrees the means how they will be saved No one will be saved without believing the Gospel No one will be saved unless they hear the Word of God, unless we call on them to believe.

God has said, that's the means I'm going to save the people that I've chosen. So He doesn't just decree the ends, who's going to be saved, He decrees the means, by preaching and by believing, by witnessing and by believing. They're not contradictory. Both are necessary. What about sanctification? We grow in holiness.

We are holy because the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, right? So after you're a Christian, you can just say, wow, I've lived an incredibly dirty, filthy life. Holy Spirit, do your thing. Right? Is that how it works? Well, it's the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you, right?

Am I right in that? You can nod. If you don't agree the Holy Spirit is supposed to sanctify you, I need to know that. And so after I'm saved, I just need to say, okay, Holy Spirit, do your thing. I want to be holy. Make me holy, oh, I don't know, in a week.

Will that be okay? Is that how it works? No, you know it doesn't work that way. God doesn't just decree the ends. You'll be holy by the Holy Spirit. He decrees the means, which is what? you have to crucify your desires and follow Jesus.

You have to make the effort to do that. You have to put to death sin. You must make the effort to put to death sin. Right? And to pursue the virtues that God commands. You have to put off and put on.

You have to be renewed in the attitude of your mind. You have to do all these things. Right? And yet, what do we see? The Holy Spirit sanctifies you by engaging your mind, by engaging your will, by engaging your emotions. He uses you to sanctify you.

He's ultimately responsible. You will never be sanctified without the Holy Spirit, but he doesn't bypass you. He uses you. One British pastor that I really appreciate said how do I know resurrection power is at work I know resurrection power at work when you at work What the point I making Election Has God decreed who will be saved Yes But he also told us how that going to happen How about sanctification?

Does the Holy Spirit sanctify us? Yes. But he uses you in the process. So then how does God keep us to the end? How does God keep us to the end? Does he bypass you in that process? does God say, you know, once you believe, once you believe in Jesus, you can do and be whatever you want to be.

Look, I saw you when you were 12. You believed in Jesus. So look, if by the time you're 21, you're an atheist, that's okay, whatever, it doesn't matter to me. I'll get you to heaven. Is that what you want to say? now God keeps us to the end by warning us this is the means he uses he warns them which keeps them believing you know do you remember when your children were little you would tell them you need to stay out of the street don't go out in the road if you go out on the road you will be injured maybe even killed if they understood that concept don't go out on the road now what did that warning do what did it do kept them out of the road right that's one of the ways you use to protect them you warn them now of course you're not just going to warn them and then go in the house and not pay any attention to them for the rest of the day.

If they start running towards the road, what are you going to do? You'll tackle them. Right? That's one way of keeping you safe. Do you think God does that, by the way, in keeping you? Yeah.

What's the point? Simply this. He not only decrees the ends, I will make sure you make it to glory. He decrees the means. I will warn you. I will warn you.

And I will tell you what you must do. You still. God keeps you and he engages you. engages you in the process. So he tells you to pay closer attention to the message you heard so that you do not drift away to judgment. Now I don't know about you, but for me that says I better pay close attention to the word, to the gospel that I heard. I better pay close attention to it.

I better never, never let it, let me lose the focus. Now I'm going to introduce something the writer doesn't hear, and that is I'm confident that I will heed the warning. Why? Because he told me he's never going to lose anybody. Right? But hear the writer now.

The writer is not saying that to you right now. He will say some of those things later. Right now, he's just getting the point across. And that is, pay closer attention to the superior message that you do not drift away to judgment. if you do not heed the message if you do not take care because of this message you will drift to judgment and so god gives us that warning now do you hear this warning do you hear it this morning it's absolutely necessary for you you need to walk out of here saying this to yourself it is absolutely essential for me to pay close attention to the superior message of the gospel that I have heard and I have believed.

I must keep that the focus. I must pay close attention because if I don't pay attention, if I neglect this message that I have heard and believed, I can drift into judgment I must keep believing What are the pressures and the influences that you facing now What are they Name them Name them What are those things that would lure you away What are you going to say? I must pay closer attention to the gospel.

I must lay hold of it. I must never let it go. I must make it my focus. When those things start luring you away, you must pay closer attention. Father, oh, I pray that your word has been heard today. Lord God, help us to recall that we are not playing religious games.

Father, we are confident. We are confident in your grace that will never let one of your people go. But oh God, don't let that marvelous truth move us to complacency where we don't care about sin. We don't care what we believe any longer. instead Father by this move us to lay hold of Christ and to look to him and him only as our hope to keep on believing grant that to us for your glory Amen Thank you.