If I’ve not mentioned, my name’s Aaron, and I’m the preaching pastor here, and we’re delighted that you’re with us. Also grateful that we prayed this morning for our music ministry, and so please make sure you continue to thank those who served so well on that ministry, Adam and all the others.
I mean, they put in a lot of work to help lead us in song, and they’re here early in the morning to try to get themselves ready, the sound team as well, and so please make sure that we express our gratefulness to them for leading us so well in song. So if you have a Bible with you, open it up to the book of Hebrews. Today our textual study will be in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 4.
If you do not have a Bible with you, good news, there’s Bibles in the pews, and if you can find one of those blue Bibles and turn to page 581, that’s where we’ll be today. And so if you’re visiting, what I’m going to do is I’m just going to read the passage, we’re going to pray, and then we’re going to work through the passage, kind of line by line, and so as you open your Bible up, keep them open throughout the rest of our time in this sermon, because all I’m going to do is just try to explain what the scripture says to us. So please keep the Bibles open once you open them up. Okay, so let me read verses 1 through 4, and as mentioned, I’ll pray, ask for the Lord’s help, and then we will get to work. So starting in verse 1, it says this:
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 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, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Hebrews 2:1-4, ESV
Okay, so that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you pray with me?
Lord, thank you for your word, and Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit, and Lord, we pray that in this time the Spirit would be very present and active through the word, but please help me to be a good communicator, please keep me from error, but you also help the congregation to be good listeners, and Lord, we pray you use this time to center our lives, to draw us closer to Christ, to help us to persevere in our faith, and Lord, as Rob prayed earlier, we also pray that in this time that if there’s any here who have not yet to taste and see that you’re good, that today would be the day of their salvation, that they would trust in Jesus, Christ, in His name, amen.
Okay, so there’s a popular saying, actually I think I mentioned it here before, and actually we mentioned this in our Next Steps membership class, I’m not really actually sure who the first author was that said this, but it says this, one generation believes the gospel, so the next generation can start to assume the gospel, and then the generation after that denies the gospel. And I think in church history this has actually been proven over and over again, just how true that saying is.
However, even though I do think there’s a lot of truth to that saying, to this reality of believing one generation, assuming the next, denying after that, I also think that this danger is not just like over three generations, but this is actually a danger in one generation. Imagine a life of an individual, where at one point that individual might seem to have real, genuine love for God and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, only for that love to start to wane over time. Before you know it, as that love for the gospel, the assumption of the gospel, starts to drip more and more of the hearts, before you know it, that person completely walks away from the faith. Which, by the way, is why the great Martin Luther once said concerning his preaching and teaching, every week he preaches justification by faith to his people, because every week they forget it.
Now, I say that to you to start off this time this morning, because we come to the first of several warnings that we’re going to come to in our study of Hebrews that we started last week. And these warnings are scattered throughout the entire book of Hebrews. Warnings about walking away from the faith in Jesus Christ. So it’s clear he was concerned for the writer of Hebrews, to the people that he first wrote to. He was concerned that they were drifting away from their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That they were headed to becoming apostates.
As was mentioned over and over again, the writer of Hebrews gives warnings. Warnings that he hoped his readers would hear in such a way that it would put them back on track and to faithfully run the race set before them. Just two quick things before we work through the passage this morning. First just more of the context of Hebrews, which relates to why the author was so concerned that his first readers were entertaining walking away from the faith.
A reminder for those who were with us last week, this letter was written to Jewish Christians who were indeed entertaining this idea of walking away from Jesus. And they were entertaining the idea of going back to the Old Testament Jewish practices. And it appears that these first readers were entertaining walking away from Jesus because of an increase in Christian persecution. As they were starting to increase in their suffering for their faith in Christ. And this increase in persecution around the time of Hebrews is something we actually can read in the history books. But also we can read even in the contents of the letter of Hebrews.
So weeks to come, we get to chapter 10. It speaks towards suffering and affliction that they were having to face. It speaks about being exposed and reproached in public. It speaks about Christians being thrown into prison and having their property plundered. Kind of go along with that. In Hebrews there’s a lot written about Jesus being the great high priest who can sympathize with us in our weaknesses because he knows suffering.
I think this is the writer of Hebrews. He is acknowledging, he’s trying to encourage these weary believers to turn to Jesus. To be who is their great high priest even in their sufferings rather than to turn away from him and the faith.
Which we know naturally is a temptation for us to do when suffering and persecution arise. So I’ll say it again, in the context of Hebrews, the writer acknowledges suffering. He pointed his readers to Jesus who, as we learned last week, is the definitive word of God who is better than all things, including Old Testament practices that the first readers were entertained going back to. And in doing so, he also gives multiple warnings. Warnings of grave consequences that come from walking away from the faith. So that’s the second thing I want to mention before we dive back into the text.
It’s just the warnings in Hebrews. Say it again, our warnings about leaving the faith. And I want to mention something here just because these warnings in Hebrews have conjured up a lot of discussion in church history. There’s a lot of discussion concerning the security of one’s salvation in Jesus Christ. And what I mean by salvation or being saved by Jesus, the scripture refers to a couple things. Like salvation from judgment, which comes through the blood of Jesus who took on the judgment of his people on the cross.
As well as a salvation to eternal life that God promises to all who come to faith in Jesus Christ. So they have eternal life in him. So in Hebrews, the conversation is, can someone have salvation, be a genuine Christian who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, who has been saved, only at some other point that they could walk away from their salvation? In a sense, they could lose their salvation. Maybe think of it this way, in terms of being born from above to receive a new heart, which is how one receives salvation, is by being born of God. Could that person have a heart of stone that’s dead in sin taken out of them?
Could they then have a heart of flesh given to them that’s alive towards God, only for that heart of flesh to potentially be taken away again and the heart of stone be given back? So here’s two somewhat common views in church history, how they interpreted the warnings. And then I’m going to give you a third interpretation that I think is correct. So first, some say the warnings do indeed teach us that you could be a genuine Christian at one point, but maybe not at another point. I mean, you could have salvation at one point in your life, but then lose that salvation at a different point. And the thought behind this belief is that why would the author of Hebrews give multiple warnings about leaving the faith if that actually wasn’t a possibility?
And this belief is foremost grounded in the warning of Hebrews 6, which we’ll get to later. But let me just read for it here. It says, For it is impossible in the case of those who once have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up in contempt. So I’ll say it again. For some, they believe that Hebrews teaches you that you can actually lose your salvation. And the rationale is, why would the writer give these strong warnings about walking away from the faith, being enlightened by the Spirit, tasting the goodness of God, if it wasn’t possible to at some point fall away?
Maybe it’s like a true illustration. It would be like giving multiple warnings to someone who lives on the equator of frostbite. There’s no danger of that actually happening. So once again, the thought belief, yes, you could be a Christian at one point, but potentially not at another point. So we must warn you so you don’t lose your salvation. Second common thought is that the warnings in Hebrews, all throughout Hebrews, are actually more hypothetical in nature.
For those who hold this thought, they don’t think it’s possible to be a Christian at one point to be saved, only to walk away and lose your salvation. Because they believe that because there’s so many teachers that scripture actually point to that reality. But once a person is born of God, once they’re saved, they’re sealed by the Spirit, and nothing will ever be able to separate them from the love of God ever again.
So for some, behold this teaching, this once saved, always saved, the warnings of Hebrew they seem is more like hypothetical in nature, like how bad it would be if one could actually walk away from the faith. As I mentioned, I actually don’t think either of these common thoughts are the way we should understand the warnings. But I think there’s a third common way we have to read the warnings and how we have to understand them. And this belief is that the warnings actually are genuine warnings.
They’re not hypothetical in nature, but they’re genuine, strong warnings. And how you heed or do not heed to the warnings is actually a great indicator if you are or are not a genuine Christian. If you have or have not received a new heart where the Spirit of God now lives inside, it’s an indicator if indeed you have been saved. So in the New Testament, it’s clear how one perseveres in their faith. It’s a great test, a great indicator if you’ve tasted the salvation of Jesus Christ. So scripture actually teaches that many might say, Lord, Lord, but they do so in ways they don’t actually know the Lord, because they’ve not actually truly been born from above.
So the scripture, those who claim Christ only to fall away from Christ or seemingly fall away from Christ later on, in the end it proves they actually did have the root of salvation planted in their hearts. So in the end, the real warnings of scripture, the real warnings of Hebrews, for those who do not actually have the Spirit, these are warnings they cannot hear. They cannot heed to. And so over time, they fall away. However, for those who have been born of God, who have received a new heart, who now have the Spirit of God living inside their hearts, who persevere to the end, as they hear warnings, they actually heed to the warnings. We know this, not perfectly, but there’s levels of heeding to the warnings here.
The hearing, the heeding to warnings, these are means by which God is keeping His people, how He’s persevering His people all the way to the end. Back up, let’s start with salvation in Christ. God uses the means of hearing the Gospel for a person to find salvation. How are they to believe unless there’s a preacher to preach the Gospel to them?
Because faith comes by the means of hearing, hearing the words of God. So without the means of hearing God’s Word, the Gospel, you cannot come to faith. It is a necessary means that God gives to bring forth salvation.
Likewise, God uses means to keep His people in the faith, to persevere them in the faith, and one of the great means by which God is keeping His people all the way to the end are real warnings, like the one we’re going to look at today and many other texts to come in our study of Hebrews. So for us, yes, as a church, we absolutely believe, Scripture teaches, that once God brings a person to faith in Christ, they are saved, and there is nothing that will ever take that salvation away from them. They are eternally secure. But within that, for those who are born of God, who have the Spirit of God living inside, they will persevere in ways where they hear and heed to the warnings.
They’ll hold fast to the faith. This will be revisited in this all, multiple times throughout our study of Hebrews. But for now, let me let that just be an introduction, and let’s work back through our text, starting at verse 1. As you look back there at verse 1, this is the warning of the text, the first of several warnings throughout Hebrews, which is a warning that says this.
It says, Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, with the warning, lest we drift away from it. Okay, now just a few things here concerning this warning in verse 1. So first is just the word, therefore, that kicks off the verse. This is a transitional word that is often used to help us get some application on some information that was just given to us. So because of this information, therefore, this is how you are to apply it to your life. For us, the information that was just given, that we must look back to to understand the therefore in our passage, is all the things that we covered last week in chapter 1, which is a chapter that is declared multiple times, in multiple ways, in multiple reasons why Jesus is better, why he is superior than all other things.
So chapter 1, there is nothing of greater value than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the definitive word of God, because Jesus is superior, he is better. So in our text, therefore, because he is better, he is superior, therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we heard, lest we drift away from it. Second, let me remind us here that God’s word, it’s a word that’s for us.
And what I mean by this is that the word that God has given to us always has the best interest in mind for his people. Thinking back to chapter 1 again, Jesus is better, he is superior, this is where life and joy and meaning and purpose are found in him and him alone, therefore, don’t drift away from him. This is the author of Hebrews, wanting what’s best for his readers, which is to stay close to the Lord Jesus Christ. So in scriptures, God’s word, there’s a lot of rules, instructions, warnings. Later on in Hebrews, there’s a passage that talks about the discipline of the Lord that he’ll put on his people as they neglect to obey his word. And all these realities could tempt us into thinking that the Lord doesn’t have our best interest in mind.
All these rules and commands, we can start to think God is like a killjoy, like a wet blanket, a drain, tempted to even think maybe he’s harsh or cruel, or maybe it’s all the rules that God might give us, that he’s like this grumpy old man who shakes his fist at us every time we get close to his lawn. But friends, this is so far from the truth of what we see in his word. God’s word is always what’s best for us. It always has our best interest in mind, including all the rules, all the commands, all the disciplines, all the warnings, that therefore are good. Like in the text, Jesus is better, he’s superior, in him is life and joy and meaning and purpose and peace and gladness. Jesus is the absolute best, the pinnacle, supreme, therefore don’t leave him, because if you do, you’re drifting away into misery.
Third, verse one, the must pay attention and the drifting away. So scholars point out that linguistically, these terms are often used in other ancient like Greek writings that refer to like bringing a ship into port. So if you ever tried to dock a boat, you know this refers like you need like a lot of attention and thoughtfulness and diligence, like you just don’t haphazardly bring a boat into port. For me, like my mom has this like really little pontoon boat, and like even bringing this little tiny pontoon boat into the dock, like we’re so mindful about the speed by which we approach the dock.
Right? Not too fast, not too slow, we’re like looking around and constantly looking around at all the surroundings to ensure that we come in at like the right angle, and we don’t want to like run into the dock, we don’t want to be too far away from it. Even in that little boat, there’s a lot of attention given. And that’s what the author is communicating, that we must do when it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ, who is so much better, so much superior. We can’t have just some type of ho-hum, lackadaisical attitude about him or our faith in him. Rather, we must pay attention, because if not, we’re in grave danger of drifting away.
You know, the place in the New Testament talks about like working out your salvation with fear, trembling, I think that’s what verse 1 of our passage today is getting at. Yes, God is the one who brings us to faith in Christ, all because of his grace. God is the one who is faithful to complete the work that he has started in us.
God promises that he will indeed keep all who he calls to himself. God seals his people with the Spirit. He does all those things, but yes, we must pay attention to our faith. In fact, our text tells us, we must pay closer attention to that which we have heard, or we are in danger of drifting away. Fourth in the text, the what we have heard. So this is actually something the author will be addressing throughout the rest of the text.
And it seems pretty clear that this references the message of the Christian faith, particularly the message of salvation found in Jesus Christ, who is the great God-man, fully God, fully man, who died on the cross in the place of sinners to be the propitiation of our sins, to provide purification for sins, we looked at last week, to all who put their faith in him. And this message that they have heard of what Jesus has done for them. This is the message that we must pay closer attention to. Back to the introduction, let’s circle back to this at the end of the conclusion. There is such an easy pattern for us to fall into, where we can profess belief in this message of salvation in Jesus Christ, but over time, rather than paying much closer attention to that message, we can start to assume it. Before we know it, we drift away, abandoning that message.
I said again, this is not just a pattern that can take place over generations, but this is a pattern that can happen in our own hearts. If we do not pay close attention to the message of Jesus Christ, we are in grave danger of drifting away into the seas of apostasy. For since the message declared by the angels proved to be liable, proved to be trustworthy, which is the message that they declared, that every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how then, our text tells us, how then shall we escape if we neglect this great salvation in Jesus Christ? Now, just a few things here. First, the message of the angels. This is a reference to the Old Testament law, that God gave his people to Moses, which God did by using angels.
When it passes, last week, angels are his ministers of flame of fire, who the Lord sends out to minister to his people. So in Acts chapter 6, it records the sermon of a man named Stephen, who at the end of his sermon is actually stoned by a Jewish mob, who rejected Jesus as being the Christ, and as he concluded his sermon, he did so by reminding the Jewish people that they received the law as delivered by angels, but they did not keep it. Later on, Galatians chapter 3, 19, says that the law was put in place through angels, by intermediary. So that’s what the passage is referring to in our text today, when it speaks about angels.
Second, that every transgression, disobedience, and unjust retribution, this refers to the warnings that the law gave for not obeying it, for breaking the law, which by the way, we all have done. And these are like real consequences, consequences actually where the Lord is actually further showing his people that he’s good. If we obey the Lord, it’s for our benefit. There’s consequences, retributions for transgressions, for disobedience. There’s this information here, verses 2 and 3 of our text today. I do think it’s meant to take our minds back to verses 1 and 2 of chapter 1, which we looked at last week.
Remember I said this is like the thesis statement of the entire book of Hebrews? So Hebrews chapter 1 starts out this, it says, Long ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. And so long ago, as God spoke to his people in the Old Testament by way of the prophets, at times using the angels as intermediaries, the prophets, the intermediaries, or the prophets and the angels, they proved to be reliable.
So the Old Testament in our text is reliable. So in the Old Testament, that proved to be reliable. In verse 3 today, how much more reliable is the Word of God that is now spoken in the last days concerning his definitive Son, the one who is actually superior to the angel? How much more important is that? How much more closer attention should we heed to that message concerning the message of the Son and his great salvation? In verses 2 and 3 of our passage today, this is like simple logic and reasoning for these early Jewish Christians.
If you can trust in the Old Testament text, if you say they are reliable, how much more can you, should you, trust the New Testament text that the Old Testament was always pointing us towards? Okay, keep going, the back half of verse 3. Concerning this great salvation found in Jesus Christ, in our text, it was declared at first by the Lord, which I think refers to the earthly ministry that Jesus Christ had, where over and over again our Lord spoke about his salvation and the kingdom that is to come for all who receive his salvation. He declared his message first, but it wasn’t just our Lord who spoke about his great salvation.
Our text tells us that his great salvation was attested to us by those who have heard, which seems to be referenced to the apostles, to other eyewitnesses to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those in 1 John who have heard and seen with their own eyes, who have looked with their own eyes and seen the risen Christ, who have touched him with his own hands, so they heard the message of the Lord first, they now attest to that message that it was reliable, it is true. In verse 4 of our passage, those who heard the message from Jesus, they are also present as God bore witnesses by signs and wonders and various miracles by the gifting of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
I think this here might refer to the earthly ministry of Jesus, all the various signs and wonders that our Lord did as he walked the earth, as well as the various times where God the Father spoke from the heavens to bear witness that Jesus was his Son with whom he is well pleased. Possibly the signs and wonders is actually referring to the early days of Christianity, where the Lord, after he ascended back into the heaven, the Spirit came down to fill the hearts of his people. If you read through the early chapters of the book of Acts, there’s incredible events that the Lord did in the early days of the church, and the apostles, the eyewitnesses who were there, present for the death and resurrection of Christ, were also present at the coming of the Spirit, where they saw these incredible signs and wonders. What is clear, whatever he was speaking about, the writer is clear, that those who are present, they’ve now formed this great cloud of witnesses, where they’re affirming and attesting that the message of Jesus Christ, it’s a true message, which, by the way, is a reminder that our Christian faith, this is not a faith that’s in theory, that’s simply philosophical in nature.
Rather, our Christian faith is rooted in time and space, in true historical events, where in time and space, in history, these are eyewitnesses who attested to what they have seen, to what they have heard, which, by the way, we still do today through the eyes of faith. For those who have seen the Lord, we continue to attest to him, and for us, that’s how we’re going to close our time this morning, right there, in verse 4. And as we close, I do want to think a little bit more closely on verse 1, about paying much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. I keep saying, this is one of several warnings in Hebrews, all which are warnings of walking away from the faith, warnings we must hear, we must heed to, warnings that God is using to keep his people in the faith. And as we close our time here, I want to do so in kind of two main ways. First, I’m going to give some reasons why people drift away, how they drift away from the faith, which I think, in the end, proves that they were never in the faith to begin with.
Second, then, I want to give some ways in which we respond to these warnings of Hebrews. How we’re to pay closer attention to the message of Christ, which I think, in the end, proves as indicators that we actually are born of God, having the Spirit, living inside. And as we go through this at the end, I want to do so in a way that’s consistent with the scripture and the call to examine ourselves, to examine ourselves, to see if we’re actually in the faith. We are to test ourselves, to realize this about ourselves, that Christ Jesus is in us. That is, unless, after testing, you fail to meet the test of having drew saving faith. Now, as we do this, a couple quick things.
First, I don’t want this to come across as some type of works-based salvation. By how well we do these things, that’s like how well we might be able to earn salvation. So scripture is clear.
Salvation only comes through Christ alone, by faith alone, by grace alone, and what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. There’s no works that we can do, so I want to be clear on that. But within that, back to Martin Luther, it says we’re saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone, meaning saving faith results in a changed life, including a changed life of hearing and heeding to warnings.
Also, as we go through this, for those who meet the test, I hope this increases the assurance of your faith, as well as the joy of your salvation. But for those who do not meet the test, which you might realize this morning, or even maybe somewhere down the road, if you realize you do not meet the test, that the spirit is not living inside, my prayer is that the failure of the test will put urgency into your life in ways that will drive you to Jesus Christ, where you call upon his name and embrace his salvation. So, I have a handful of things here, reasons why people drift away from the faith, and prove they actually were never in the faith.
The first three I’m going to give you come from John Owen, in his extensive seven-volume commentary on Hebrews, and then I have a few more I want to add after that. So the first reason why people drift away, this is according to Owen, people drift away from the faith because of traps of peace and prosperity. What can happen here is we have peace, prosperity, which we know is enjoyable to have, and we can look at it or maybe just desire it in ways that if you start to think that peace and prosperity is actually better than Jesus. So over time, peace, prosperity, the idea of having peace and prosperity, they become almost like an idol to us, where we continue to pursue in such a way that erodes our faith, our faith becomes increasingly weak, we start to drift, we start to drift to loving the world’s ideal in ways that eventually it overcomes us. In our cultural context, this is actually a real challenge for us, when it comes to drifting away. We know this, compared to much of the world around us, or much of history, we have lots of peace and prosperity, that only a small percentage throughout history have enjoyed.
Because of that, this morning, we’re testing ourselves here, specifically in this area, to see are you pursuing, hoping, in peace and prosperity, in ways that is recognizing that you’re actually drifting further and further away, that you actually don’t see Jesus as better, you see peace and prosperity, by some worldly standard, as better. Second, people drift away because of persecution, which is kind of the other end of the scale, peace and prosperity. As I mentioned at the start, this seems to be the case for the early Jewish Christians, that they’re starting to endure an ever-increasing level of persecution, which is what seemed to cause them to doubt if actually Jesus was better than their sufferings. They’re starting to wonder, was Jesus actually worth it, was he worthy of suffering for?
So rather than using the suffering to further tether themselves to the anchor of their soul, it seems in Hebrews they began to loosen the rope, little by little, where they started to drift further and further away. Now for us, who knows where the trajectory where our society seems to be headed will actually land, but I don’t think it’s a stretch that an increase in Christian persecution could continue to come our way. I mean really, even in the last couple of decades, so much has changed in terms of how society views Christianity, our morals, our ethics, where more and more there’s an increase of criticism towards those who hold to biblical truth. So this year, this could actually be an increasing challenge for us, where in just a matter of time, more and more so, we actually could join the readers of Hebrews, the first readers, and feel the drift, being pulled away from our faith as a suffering, as a persecution. Third, it’s also from Owen, people drift away from the faith because of temptation. In this category, Owen actually mentioned a few common temptations that cause people to drift.
He wrote about the temptation that comes of a love of the present world, which obviously has some overlap with peace and prosperity. Where in this love for the present world, we’re tempted to put all of our focus on the here and now, where we completely lose track of the eternal life, which is the come, which by the way, we read through Hebrews multiple times, the author brings eternal life before his readers to set our eyes there, which I’m sure he did to help fight against the temptation of being like so hyper-focused on the here and now. Owen also mentioned the temptation that comes with a love for sin, where maybe we’re faced with the decision, either we can continue to pursue Jesus by cutting off our sin and fleeing from his temptation, or we’re simply going to entertain and embrace our sin, as if the sin was better, because we stop fighting the good fight of faith, and in time, we drift away. Hebrews 12 talks about laying aside every weight of sin, talks about this need to resist sin, because friends, if we don’t, inevitably, we will drift.
And by the way, if I can make things a little personal for us this morning, if you walked in this morning, you know you’re holding on to sin, whatever it may be, or you’re entertaining some sin in ways that you’re actually not forsaking it and fleeing from it, you need to heed to this warning, and you need to cut it off and turn back to Jesus Christ before that sin overcomes you. Listen friends, it’s not better than Jesus. Lastly, Owen also mentioned there’s a temptation of false doctrine that can lead us astray. So in scriptures, we read that doctrine is there to help us not get tossed to and fro by the waves of false teaching.
When we leave right doctrine, maybe doctrine to match our own desires, our own interests, in time, over time, what happens is we just get tossed more and more by the waves of false doctrine that leads us adrift, where the message of Jesus Christ, the message of his grace and kindness and mercy and forgiveness, all those are being replaced by different forms of pride and self-righteousness. And before we know it, we feel overwhelmed by the works of the flesh in our life that Galatians 5 speaks about, which I’ll let you read through more on your own. So those are three things that come from Owen, the reasons why we can be adrift.
But here, before we move on to the second part, let me just give you a couple more that I thought of this week. And as I give you other reasons why people drift away, these are actually fairly personal, even pastoral, where I’ve seen these realities lead people adrift, including people who once were actually members here at Red Village Church, who in time have actually walked away from the faith. Or fourth, people drift away because of apathy, where over time they’ve just kind of abandoned their first love, where the things of God have actually gotten a little boring to them, where the message of the gospel, the message of salvation, of Jesus Christ dying in their place, rising from the dead on the third day, the purification of sin that he offers, the glory of God found in all of that, these things almost become like a little boring, apathetic, a little old hat. They just don’t get as excited about anything in the Christian faith like they used to.
As I said again, they’re bored, apathetic. Hearing the message of the gospel almost feels like a waste of time, or like unimportant compared to other matters that are more exciting to them. So over time, the lukewarm waters of apathy cause them to drift away.
Fifth, people drift away because of issues of control, where things in this life are just not going the way that they want it to, that nothing ever seems to work out according to plan. So over time, they try to grab more and more control over more and more things, and in doing so, what happens, they actually squeeze God out of their lives, because clearly he was not doing a good enough job when he was in control.
Sixth, people drift away because of weariness. Friends who know this, weariness, it changes us. It changes us in ways that either cause us to depend more on Christ, or weariness causes us, or changes us in ways that we become more cynical and jaded, that leads us to walk away from Christ. Book of Hebrews essentially seemed to be an issue. In Hebrews 12 again, there’s encouragement to not grow weary or faint-hearted. Hebrews 12 also talks about having drooping hands and weak knees, that in the end actually putting them at more and more odds with those around them, where they’re feeling this increase of bitterness welling up in their hearts, that over time was leading to apostasy.
And this morning, if you walked in, and you feel weary, and you feel it, the weariness is changing you in ways that you’re actually less and less dependent upon Christ, less and less Christ-like towards others, listen friend, the answer is not to like muscle your way through the weariness. Rather, stop what you’re doing. Stop in ways you’re actually turning back to the Lord, that you’re trusting in Him with your weariness, not in yourself. And what good is it in our weary pursuits in this life, if somehow we are able to gain the whole world, yet forfeit our soul? Maybe just one more. There’s more I could give, I think I’ll just give one more, then we’ll move on.
Seventh, people drift away because of joylessness. So, Galatians 5, through the Spirit, joy is on the list. Joy is an evidence of a changed heart. Joy is an indicator, God is at work in your life. Now, this does not mean that everything is going to be easy. At times, life is painfully hard, not just in days or moments, but even for extended seasons.
But even in the midst of hardship, there should be some measures of joy. Back in the context of Hebrews chapter 10, it talks about joyfully accepting the plunder of their property, which no doubt was a hard thing for these early Christians, Jewish Christians to do. Yet somehow, they joyfully accepted the plundering of their property. So friend, this morning, if you look at your life, and there’s no joy in Jesus, where you can’t actually remember the last time you found enjoyment in life or with others, maybe you can force a smile or put on some type of act of appearance that you’re happy, but you know in truth, you’re absolutely miserable, friends, let that be a warning to you to turn back to the Lord before you walk away completely.
So there’s some warning signs drifting away. And if these warning signs are on your dashboard, friend, you must pay attention. Do so in ways that you’re not going to kick it down the road and worry about it later, but respond to them now, which is actually how we’re going to close our time, by giving just four encouragements, four means by which God uses to keep us close to him, things that we must strive towards as we enjoy the salvation he’s given to us, there’s things we must pay well attention to, lest we drift away. So first, we must pay attention to our worship, where we worship our God as the consuming fire that he is, which we can only do through Jesus Christ and the power of his gospel. And this is why, time and time again, we must go back to the message of salvation found in Jesus Christ. This is why we go back to the wooden cross and empty tomb that mean everything to us.
Friends, we must never assume the gospel. We must never grow apathetic towards this message or bored about it. Rather, time and time again, we must set our eyes to Jesus, the author, the perfecter of our faith, who is able to help us in times of weakness, so that we might worship him in spirit and truth. For us, this worship that we must set our hearts towards is more than what we do here even on Sunday mornings, but we have to worship the Lord in every area of our life. Friends, this is what we must do. We must pay much closer attention to our worship.
And if there’s anything in our hearts, if God searches our hearts and shows us anything that we’re starting to entertain as better than Jesus, that perhaps we’re tempted to worship, I say it again, we must cut it off. Second, we also must pay attention to our connecting. Hebrews 10, and let us consider how to stir one another up in love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.
As we connect, as we encourage each other, we must do so, Hebrews tells us, in ways we’re displaying brotherly love, we’re actually seeking to build one another up by pointing us back to Jesus Christ. We also must connect in ways we’re showing hospitality towards one another, even remembering our leaders as we do so. As I mention this, let me also mention as you read through the book of Hebrews, we’ll get through this obviously in the weeks to come, just notice all of the plural pronouns that are used throughout Hebrews. This is all pointing to this reality that we must continue to connect. Remember verse one of our passage, we, we must pay closer attention that which we have heard, lest we drift away. Once we stop connecting with others in the faith, particularly others in our local church, it’s just a matter of time before we can drift away.
Third, we also must pay attention to our growing, to see if we’re growing more and more like Christ. Hebrews is actually one of the rebukes that the author gave to his readers. They actually were not growing in ways they should be growing. Hebrews tells us they’re still drinking spiritual milk, when at that point in the faith they actually should be able to eat solid food. Or as a church, they were still like in these elementary doctrines of Christ, rather than moving on to maturity. Friends, this is something we actually must pay attention to, where we’re consuming God’s words in ways that we’re reading it and understanding it.
How we see more and more how the Son is the definitive word of God. How more and more we see how much better he is. Where more and more we want to obey and follow him. Where even more and more we’re growing by responding to his discipline, which Hebrews 12 talks about. So that in our growth, we actually need less discipline. Whereas we receive discipline, including the warnings of our pastors today, we actually are more quick to respond.
So that in our growth, we’re experiencing more and more joy. So that in our growth, we have more and more longings to hear the message of Christ and to be with him upon his return. Friends, we must pay attention to our growth to see how the Lord is actively sanctifying us in his truth. Last one. We must pay attention to our going. Where we’re to go with the message of salvation in Christ Jesus to those who have yet to believe.
That is something we must pay attention to. Hebrews 13 even speaks about us going like outside the camp. Which refers to those people who are so far different from us that we must even go to them. Perhaps we are even the ones who are causing us to suffer. So we would tell them about the one who suffered, who died only to rise again from the dead with the hopes that they too might join us in the great salvation that has been given to us. Now church, if we have no desire to go, that’s actually a real warning.
That perhaps you have yet to taste the salvation of God. Now, unfortunately in this life, we know that none of us can be perfect in any of these things that we must pay closer attention to. Fortunately, we all stumble and fall in many ways. So thankfully in the end, our hope is in the object of our faith, not the strength. With that being said, this morning, dear friends, please hear the warning of this passage. If you feel yourself drifting away, however you may be drifting, even little by little, you see yourself drifting away, please respond to the discipline of the Lord here this morning.
And by faith, churn from your sin. Find your hope afresh in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the testimony of a life is not one of believing, assuming, and eventually denying, rather the testimony is that of just believing by continuing to respond with repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s pray. Lord, thank you for the warnings of Scripture. And Lord, I do pray that you use the warning of Hebrews 2 to further anchor us to Jesus Christ.
Lord, for those who have been drifting, however they may have been drifting, I pray today that you would give them repentance and faith, that they would churn back to you afresh, that they could receive forgiveness and grace and mercy. I pray again for those who maybe have professed faith at some point, but truth be told, in their hearts they’ve never actually tasted and seen that you’re good. They may have called, Lord, Lord, but never knew you, that today they would know you, that you would take out the heart of stone and replace it with the heart of flesh, that they might believe in Jesus Christ.
I pray this on his name.
Amen.
All right, well, beautiful singing, and I’m glad that you’re with us this morning. So if I’ve not mentioned, my name’s Aaron, and I’m the preaching pastor here, and we’re delighted that you’re with us. Also grateful that we prayed this morning for our music ministry, and so please make sure you continue to thank those who served so well on that ministry, Adam and all the others.
I mean, they put in a lot of work to help lead us in song, and they’re here early in the morning to try to get themselves ready, the sound team as well, and so please make sure that we express our gratefulness to them for leading us so well in song. So if you have a Bible with you, open it up to the book of Hebrews. Today our textual study will be in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 4.
If you do not have a Bible with you, good news, there’s Bibles in the pews, and if you can find one of those blue Bibles and turn to page 581, that’s where we’ll be today. And so if you’re visiting, what I’m going to do is I’m just going to read the passage, we’re going to pray, and then we’re going to work through the passage, kind of line by line, and so as you open your Bible up, keep them open throughout the rest of our time in this sermon, because all I’m going to do is just try to explain what the scripture says to us. So please keep the Bibles open once you open them up. Okay, so let me read verses 1 through 4, and as mentioned, I’ll pray, ask for the Lord’s help, and then we will get to work. So starting in verse 1, it says this, Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by the 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 was attested to us by those who have 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. Okay, so that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you pray with me? Lord, thank you for your word, and Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit, and Lord, we pray that in this time the Spirit would be very present and active through the word, but please help me to be a good communicator, please keep me from error, but you also help the congregation to be good listeners, and Lord, we pray you use this time to center our lives, to draw us closer to Christ, to help us to persevere in our faith, and Lord, as Rob prayed earlier, we also pray that in this time that if there’s any here who have not yet to taste and see that you’re good, that today would be the day of their salvation, that they would trust in Jesus, Christ, in His name, amen. Okay, so there’s a popular saying, actually I think I mentioned it here before, and actually we mentioned this in our Next Steps membership class, I’m not really actually sure who the first author was that said this, but it says this, one generation believes the gospel, so the next generation can start to assume the gospel, and then the generation after that denies the gospel. And I think in church history this has actually been proven over and over again, just how true that saying is.
However, even though I do think there’s a lot of truth to that saying, to this reality of believing one generation, assuming the next, denying after that, I also think that this danger is not just like over three generations, but this is actually a danger in one generation. Imagine a life of an individual, where at one point that individual might seem to have real, genuine love for God and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, only for that love to start to wane over time. Before you know it, as that love for the gospel, the assumption of the gospel, starts to drip more and more of the hearts, before you know it, that person completely walks away from the faith. Which, by the way, is why the great Martin Luther once said concerning his preaching and teaching, every week he preaches justification by faith to his people, because every week they forget it.
Now, I say that to you to start off this time this morning, because we come to the first of several warnings that we’re going to come to in our study of Hebrews that we started last week. And these warnings are scattered throughout the entire book of Hebrews. Warnings about walking away from the faith in Jesus Christ. So it’s clear he was concerned for the writer of Hebrews, to the people that he first wrote to. He was concerned that they were drifting away from their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That they were headed to becoming apostates.
As was mentioned over and over again, the writer of Hebrews gives warnings. Warnings that he hoped his readers would hear in such a way that it would put them back on track and to faithfully run the race set before them. Just two quick things before we work through the passage this morning. First just more of the context of Hebrews, which relates to why the author was so concerned that his first readers were entertaining walking away from the faith.
A reminder for those who were with us last week, this letter was written to Jewish Christians who were indeed entertaining this idea of walking away from Jesus. And they were entertaining the idea of going back to the Old Testament Jewish practices. And it appears that these first readers were entertaining walking away from Jesus because of an increase in Christian persecution. As they were starting to increase in their suffering for their faith in Christ. And this increase in persecution around the time of Hebrews is something we actually can read in the history books. But also we can read even in the contents of the letter of Hebrews.
So weeks to come, we get to chapter 10. It speaks towards suffering and affliction that they were having to face. It speaks about being exposed and reproached in public. It speaks about Christians being thrown into prison and having their property plundered. Kind of go along with that. In Hebrews there’s a lot written about Jesus being the great high priest who can sympathize with us in our weaknesses because he knows suffering.
I think this is the writer of Hebrews. He is acknowledging, he’s trying to encourage these weary believers to turn to Jesus. To be who is their great high priest even in their sufferings rather than to turn away from him and the faith.
Which we know naturally is a temptation for us to do when suffering and persecution arise. So I’ll say it again, in the context of Hebrews, the writer acknowledges suffering. He pointed his readers to Jesus who, as we learned last week, is the definitive word of God who is better than all things, including Old Testament practices that the first readers were entertained going back to. And in doing so, he also gives multiple warnings. Warnings of grave consequences that come from walking away from the faith. So that’s the second thing I want to mention before we dive back into the text.
It’s just the warnings in Hebrews. Say it again, our warnings about leaving the faith. And I want to mention something here just because these warnings in Hebrews have conjured up a lot of discussion in church history. There’s a lot of discussion concerning the security of one’s salvation in Jesus Christ. And what I mean by salvation or being saved by Jesus, the scripture refers to a couple things. Like salvation from judgment, which comes through the blood of Jesus who took on the judgment of his people on the cross.
As well as a salvation to eternal life that God promises to all who come to faith in Jesus Christ. So they have eternal life in him. So in Hebrews, the conversation is, can someone have salvation, be a genuine Christian who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, who has been saved, only at some other point that they could walk away from their salvation? In a sense, they could lose their salvation. Maybe think of it this way, in terms of being born from above to receive a new heart, which is how one receives salvation, is by being born of God. Could that person have a heart of stone that’s dead in sin taken out of them?
Could they then have a heart of flesh given to them that’s alive towards God, only for that heart of flesh to potentially be taken away again and the heart of stone be given back? So here’s two somewhat common views in church history, how they interpreted the warnings. And then I’m going to give you a third interpretation that I think is correct. So first, some say the warnings do indeed teach us that you could be a genuine Christian at one point, but maybe not at another point. I mean, you could have salvation at one point in your life, but then lose that salvation at a different point. And the thought behind this belief is that why would the author of Hebrews give multiple warnings about leaving the faith if that actually wasn’t a possibility?
And this belief is foremost grounded in the warning of Hebrews 6, which we’ll get to later. But let me just read for it here. It says, For it is impossible in the case of those who once have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up in contempt. So I’ll say it again. For some, they believe that Hebrews teaches you that you can actually lose your salvation. And the rationale is, why would the writer give these strong warnings about walking away from the faith, being enlightened by the Spirit, tasting the goodness of God, if it wasn’t possible to at some point fall away?
Maybe it’s like a true illustration. It would be like giving multiple warnings to someone who lives on the equator of frostbite. There’s no danger of that actually happening. So once again, the thought belief, yes, you could be a Christian at one point, but potentially not at another point. So we must warn you so you don’t lose your salvation. Second common thought is that the warnings in Hebrews, all throughout Hebrews, are actually more hypothetical in nature.
For those who hold this thought, they don’t think it’s possible to be a Christian at one point to be saved, only to walk away and lose your salvation. Because they believe that because there’s so many teachers that scripture actually point to that reality. But once a person is born of God, once they’re saved, they’re sealed by the Spirit, and nothing will ever be able to separate them from the love of God ever again.
So for some, behold this teaching, this once saved, always saved, the warnings of Hebrew they seem is more like hypothetical in nature, like how bad it would be if one could actually walk away from the faith. As I mentioned, I actually don’t think either of these common thoughts are the way we should understand the warnings. But I think there’s a third common way we have to read the warnings and how we have to understand them. And this belief is that the warnings actually are genuine warnings.
They’re not hypothetical in nature, but they’re genuine, strong warnings. And how you heed or do not heed to the warnings is actually a great indicator if you are or are not a genuine Christian. If you have or have not received a new heart where the Spirit of God now lives inside, it’s an indicator if indeed you have been saved. So in the New Testament, it’s clear how one perseveres in their faith. It’s a great test, a great indicator if you’ve tasted the salvation of Jesus Christ. So scripture actually teaches that many might say, Lord, Lord, but they do so in ways they don’t actually know the Lord, because they’ve not actually truly been born from above.
So the scripture, those who claim Christ only to fall away from Christ or seemingly fall away from Christ later on, in the end it proves they actually did have the root of salvation planted in their hearts. So in the end, the real warnings of scripture, the real warnings of Hebrews, for those who do not actually have the Spirit, these are warnings they cannot hear. They cannot heed to. And so over time, they fall away. However, for those who have been born of God, who have received a new heart, who now have the Spirit of God living inside their hearts, who persevere to the end, as they hear warnings, they actually heed to the warnings. We know this, not perfectly, but there’s levels of heeding to the warnings here.
The hearing, the heeding to warnings, these are means by which God is keeping His people, how He’s persevering His people all the way to the end. Back up, let’s start with salvation in Christ. God uses the means of hearing the Gospel for a person to find salvation. How are they to believe unless there’s a preacher to preach the Gospel to them?
Because faith comes by the means of hearing, hearing the words of God. So without the means of hearing God’s Word, the Gospel, you cannot come to faith. It is a necessary means that God gives to bring forth salvation.
Likewise, God uses means to keep His people in the faith, to persevere them in the faith, and one of the great means by which God is keeping His people all the way to the end are real warnings, like the one we’re going to look at today and many other texts to come in our study of Hebrews. So for us, yes, as a church, we absolutely believe, Scripture teaches, that once God brings a person to faith in Christ, they are saved, and there is nothing that will ever take that salvation away from them. They are eternally secure. But within that, for those who are born of God, who have the Spirit of God living inside, they will persevere in ways where they hear and heed to the warnings.
They’ll hold fast to the faith. This will be revisited in this all, multiple times throughout our study of Hebrews. But for now, let me let that just be an introduction, and let’s work back through our text, starting at verse 1. As you look back there at verse 1, this is the warning of the text, the first of several warnings throughout Hebrews, which is a warning that says this.
It says, Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, with the warning, lest we drift away from it. Okay, now just a few things here concerning this warning in verse 1. So first is just the word, therefore, that kicks off the verse. This is a transitional word that is often used to help us get some application on some information that was just given to us. So because of this information, therefore, this is how you are to apply it to your life. For us, the information that was just given, that we must look back to to understand the therefore in our passage, is all the things that we covered last week in chapter 1, which is a chapter that is declared multiple times, in multiple ways, in multiple reasons why Jesus is better, why he is superior than all other things.
So chapter 1, there is nothing of greater value than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the definitive word of God, because Jesus is superior, he is better. So in our text, therefore, because he is better, he is superior, therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we heard, lest we drift away from it. Second, let me remind us here that God’s word, it’s a word that’s for us.
And what I mean by this is that the word that God has given to us always has the best interest in mind for his people. Thinking back to chapter 1 again, Jesus is better, he is superior, this is where life and joy and meaning and purpose are found in him and him alone, therefore, don’t drift away from him. This is the author of Hebrews, wanting what’s best for his readers, which is to stay close to the Lord Jesus Christ. So in scriptures, God’s word, there’s a lot of rules, instructions, warnings. Later on in Hebrews, there’s a passage that talks about the discipline of the Lord that he’ll put on his people as they neglect to obey his word. And all these realities could tempt us into thinking that the Lord doesn’t have our best interest in mind.
All these rules and commands, we can start to think God is like a killjoy, like a wet blanket, a drain, tempted to even think maybe he’s harsh or cruel, or maybe it’s all the rules that God might give us, that he’s like this grumpy old man who shakes his fist at us every time we get close to his lawn. But friends, this is so far from the truth of what we see in his word. God’s word is always what’s best for us. It always has our best interest in mind, including all the rules, all the commands, all the disciplines, all the warnings, that therefore are good. Like in the text, Jesus is better, he’s superior, in him is life and joy and meaning and purpose and peace and gladness. Jesus is the absolute best, the pinnacle, supreme, therefore don’t leave him, because if you do, you’re drifting away into misery.
Third, verse one, the must pay attention and the drifting away. So scholars point out that linguistically, these terms are often used in other ancient like Greek writings that refer to like bringing a ship into port. So if you ever tried to dock a boat, you know this refers like you need like a lot of attention and thoughtfulness and diligence, like you just don’t haphazardly bring a boat into port. For me, like my mom has this like really little pontoon boat, and like even bringing this little tiny pontoon boat into the dock, like we’re so mindful about the speed by which we approach the dock.
Right? Not too fast, not too slow, we’re like looking around and constantly looking around at all the surroundings to ensure that we come in at like the right angle, and we don’t want to like run into the dock, we don’t want to be too far away from it. Even in that little boat, there’s a lot of attention given. And that’s what the author is communicating, that we must do when it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ, who is so much better, so much superior. We can’t have just some type of ho-hum, lackadaisical attitude about him or our faith in him. Rather, we must pay attention, because if not, we’re in grave danger of drifting away.
You know, the place in the New Testament talks about like working out your salvation with fear, trembling, I think that’s what verse 1 of our passage today is getting at. Yes, God is the one who brings us to faith in Christ, all because of his grace. God is the one who is faithful to complete the work that he has started in us.
God promises that he will indeed keep all who he calls to himself. God seals his people with the Spirit. He does all those things, but yes, we must pay attention to our faith. In fact, our text tells us, we must pay closer attention to that which we have heard, or we are in danger of drifting away. Fourth in the text, the what we have heard. So this is actually something the author will be addressing throughout the rest of the text.
And it seems pretty clear that this references the message of the Christian faith, particularly the message of salvation found in Jesus Christ, who is the great God-man, fully God, fully man, who died on the cross in the place of sinners to be the propitiation of our sins, to provide purification for sins, we looked at last week, to all who put their faith in him. And this message that they have heard of what Jesus has done for them. This is the message that we must pay closer attention to. Back to the introduction, let’s circle back to this at the end of the conclusion. There is such an easy pattern for us to fall into, where we can profess belief in this message of salvation in Jesus Christ, but over time, rather than paying much closer attention to that message, we can start to assume it. Before we know it, we drift away, abandoning that message.
I said again, this is not just a pattern that can take place over generations, but this is a pattern that can happen in our own hearts. If we do not pay close attention to the message of Jesus Christ, we are in grave danger of drifting away into the seas of apostasy. For since the message declared by the angels proved to be liable, proved to be trustworthy, which is the message that they declared, that every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how then, our text tells us, how then shall we escape if we neglect this great salvation in Jesus Christ? Now, just a few things here. First, the message of the angels. This is a reference to the Old Testament law, that God gave his people to Moses, which God did by using angels.
When it passes, last week, angels are his ministers of flame of fire, who the Lord sends out to minister to his people. So in Acts chapter 6, it records the sermon of a man named Stephen, who at the end of his sermon is actually stoned by a Jewish mob, who rejected Jesus as being the Christ, and as he concluded his sermon, he did so by reminding the Jewish people that they received the law as delivered by angels, but they did not keep it. Later on, Galatians chapter 3, 19, says that the law was put in place through angels, by intermediary. So that’s what the passage is referring to in our text today, when it speaks about angels.
Second, that every transgression, disobedience, and unjust retribution, this refers to the warnings that the law gave for not obeying it, for breaking the law, which by the way, we all have done. And these are like real consequences, consequences actually where the Lord is actually further showing his people that he’s good. If we obey the Lord, it’s for our benefit. There’s consequences, retributions for transgressions, for disobedience. There’s this information here, verses 2 and 3 of our text today. I do think it’s meant to take our minds back to verses 1 and 2 of chapter 1, which we looked at last week.
Remember I said this is like the thesis statement of the entire book of Hebrews? So Hebrews chapter 1 starts out this, it says, Long ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. And so long ago, as God spoke to his people in the Old Testament by way of the prophets, at times using the angels as intermediaries, the prophets, the intermediaries, or the prophets and the angels, they proved to be reliable.
So the Old Testament in our text is reliable. So in the Old Testament, that proved to be reliable. In verse 3 today, how much more reliable is the Word of God that is now spoken in the last days concerning his definitive Son, the one who is actually superior to the angel? How much more important is that? How much more closer attention should we heed to that message concerning the message of the Son and his great salvation? In verses 2 and 3 of our passage today, this is like simple logic and reasoning for these early Jewish Christians.
If you can trust in the Old Testament text, if you say they are reliable, how much more can you, should you, trust the New Testament text that the Old Testament was always pointing us towards? Okay, keep going, the back half of verse 3. Concerning this great salvation found in Jesus Christ, in our text, it was declared at first by the Lord, which I think refers to the earthly ministry that Jesus Christ had, where over and over again our Lord spoke about his salvation and the kingdom that is to come for all who receive his salvation. He declared his message first, but it wasn’t just our Lord who spoke about his great salvation.
Our text tells us that his great salvation was attested to us by those who have heard, which seems to be referenced to the apostles, to other eyewitnesses to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those in 1 John who have heard and seen with their own eyes, who have looked with their own eyes and seen the risen Christ, who have touched him with his own hands, so they heard the message of the Lord first, they now attest to that message that it was reliable, it is true. In verse 4 of our passage, those who heard the message from Jesus, they are also present as God bore witnesses by signs and wonders and various miracles by the gifting of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
I think this here might refer to the earthly ministry of Jesus, all the various signs and wonders that our Lord did as he walked the earth, as well as the various times where God the Father spoke from the heavens to bear witness that Jesus was his Son with whom he is well pleased. Possibly the signs and wonders is actually referring to the early days of Christianity, where the Lord, after he ascended back into the heaven, the Spirit came down to fill the hearts of his people. If you read through the early chapters of the book of Acts, there’s incredible events that the Lord did in the early days of the church, and the apostles, the eyewitnesses who were there, present for the death and resurrection of Christ, were also present at the coming of the Spirit, where they saw these incredible signs and wonders. What is clear, whatever he was speaking about, the writer is clear, that those who are present, they’ve now formed this great cloud of witnesses, where they’re affirming and attesting that the message of Jesus Christ, it’s a true message, which, by the way, is a reminder that our Christian faith, this is not a faith that’s in theory, that’s simply philosophical in nature.
Rather, our Christian faith is rooted in time and space, in true historical events, where in time and space, in history, these are eyewitnesses who attested to what they have seen, to what they have heard, which, by the way, we still do today through the eyes of faith. For those who have seen the Lord, we continue to attest to him, and for us, that’s how we’re going to close our time this morning, right there, in verse 4. And as we close, I do want to think a little bit more closely on verse 1, about paying much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. I keep saying, this is one of several warnings in Hebrews, all which are warnings of walking away from the faith, warnings we must hear, we must heed to, warnings that God is using to keep his people in the faith. And as we close our time here, I want to do so in kind of two main ways. First, I’m going to give some reasons why people drift away, how they drift away from the faith, which I think, in the end, proves that they were never in the faith to begin with.
Second, then, I want to give some ways in which we respond to these warnings of Hebrews. How we’re to pay closer attention to the message of Christ, which I think, in the end, proves as indicators that we actually are born of God, having the Spirit, living inside. And as we go through this at the end, I want to do so in a way that’s consistent with the scripture and the call to examine ourselves, to examine ourselves, to see if we’re actually in the faith. We are to test ourselves, to realize this about ourselves, that Christ Jesus is in us. That is, unless, after testing, you fail to meet the test of having drew saving faith. Now, as we do this, a couple quick things.
First, I don’t want this to come across as some type of works-based salvation. By how well we do these things, that’s like how well we might be able to earn salvation. So scripture is clear.
Salvation only comes through Christ alone, by faith alone, by grace alone, and what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. There’s no works that we can do, so I want to be clear on that. But within that, back to Martin Luther, it says we’re saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone, meaning saving faith results in a changed life, including a changed life of hearing and heeding to warnings.
Also, as we go through this, for those who meet the test, I hope this increases the assurance of your faith, as well as the joy of your salvation. But for those who do not meet the test, which you might realize this morning, or even maybe somewhere down the road, if you realize you do not meet the test, that the spirit is not living inside, my prayer is that the failure of the test will put urgency into your life in ways that will drive you to Jesus Christ, where you call upon his name and embrace his salvation. So, I have a handful of things here, reasons why people drift away from the faith, and prove they actually were never in the faith.
The first three I’m going to give you come from John Owen, in his extensive seven-volume commentary on Hebrews, and then I have a few more I want to add after that. So the first reason why people drift away, this is according to Owen, people drift away from the faith because of traps of peace and prosperity. What can happen here is we have peace, prosperity, which we know is enjoyable to have, and we can look at it or maybe just desire it in ways that if you start to think that peace and prosperity is actually better than Jesus. So over time, peace, prosperity, the idea of having peace and prosperity, they become almost like an idol to us, where we continue to pursue in such a way that erodes our faith, our faith becomes increasingly weak, we start to drift, we start to drift to loving the world’s ideal in ways that eventually it overcomes us. In our cultural context, this is actually a real challenge for us, when it comes to drifting away. We know this, compared to much of the world around us, or much of history, we have lots of peace and prosperity, that only a small percentage throughout history have enjoyed.
Because of that, this morning, we’re testing ourselves here, specifically in this area, to see are you pursuing, hoping, in peace and prosperity, in ways that is recognizing that you’re actually drifting further and further away, that you actually don’t see Jesus as better, you see peace and prosperity, by some worldly standard, as better. Second, people drift away because of persecution, which is kind of the other end of the scale, peace and prosperity. As I mentioned at the start, this seems to be the case for the early Jewish Christians, that they’re starting to endure an ever-increasing level of persecution, which is what seemed to cause them to doubt if actually Jesus was better than their sufferings. They’re starting to wonder, was Jesus actually worth it, was he worthy of suffering for?
So rather than using the suffering to further tether themselves to the anchor of their soul, it seems in Hebrews they began to loosen the rope, little by little, where they started to drift further and further away. Now for us, who knows where the trajectory where our society seems to be headed will actually land, but I don’t think it’s a stretch that an increase in Christian persecution could continue to come our way. I mean really, even in the last couple of decades, so much has changed in terms of how society views Christianity, our morals, our ethics, where more and more there’s an increase of criticism towards those who hold to biblical truth. So this year, this could actually be an increasing challenge for us, where in just a matter of time, more and more so, we actually could join the readers of Hebrews, the first readers, and feel the drift, being pulled away from our faith as a suffering, as a persecution. Third, it’s also from Owen, people drift away from the faith because of temptation. In this category, Owen actually mentioned a few common temptations that cause people to drift.
He wrote about the temptation that comes of a love of the present world, which obviously has some overlap with peace and prosperity. Where in this love for the present world, we’re tempted to put all of our focus on the here and now, where we completely lose track of the eternal life, which is the come, which by the way, we read through Hebrews multiple times, the author brings eternal life before his readers to set our eyes there, which I’m sure he did to help fight against the temptation of being like so hyper-focused on the here and now. Owen also mentioned the temptation that comes with a love for sin, where maybe we’re faced with the decision, either we can continue to pursue Jesus by cutting off our sin and fleeing from his temptation, or we’re simply going to entertain and embrace our sin, as if the sin was better, because we stop fighting the good fight of faith, and in time, we drift away. Hebrews 12 talks about laying aside every weight of sin, talks about this need to resist sin, because friends, if we don’t, inevitably, we will drift.
And by the way, if I can make things a little personal for us this morning, if you walked in this morning, you know you’re holding on to sin, whatever it may be, or you’re entertaining some sin in ways that you’re actually not forsaking it and fleeing from it, you need to heed to this warning, and you need to cut it off and turn back to Jesus Christ before that sin overcomes you. Listen friends, it’s not better than Jesus. Lastly, Owen also mentioned there’s a temptation of false doctrine that can lead us astray. So in scriptures, we read that doctrine is there to help us not get tossed to and fro by the waves of false teaching.
When we leave right doctrine, maybe doctrine to match our own desires, our own interests, in time, over time, what happens is we just get tossed more and more by the waves of false doctrine that leads us adrift, where the message of Jesus Christ, the message of his grace and kindness and mercy and forgiveness, all those are being replaced by different forms of pride and self-righteousness. And before we know it, we feel overwhelmed by the works of the flesh in our life that Galatians 5 speaks about, which I’ll let you read through more on your own. So those are three things that come from Owen, the reasons why we can be adrift.
But here, before we move on to the second part, let me just give you a couple more that I thought of this week. And as I give you other reasons why people drift away, these are actually fairly personal, even pastoral, where I’ve seen these realities lead people adrift, including people who once were actually members here at Red Village Church, who in time have actually walked away from the faith. Or fourth, people drift away because of apathy, where over time they’ve just kind of abandoned their first love, where the things of God have actually gotten a little boring to them, where the message of the gospel, the message of salvation, of Jesus Christ dying in their place, rising from the dead on the third day, the purification of sin that he offers, the glory of God found in all of that, these things almost become like a little boring, apathetic, a little old hat. They just don’t get as excited about anything in the Christian faith like they used to.
As I said again, they’re bored, apathetic. Hearing the message of the gospel almost feels like a waste of time, or like unimportant compared to other matters that are more exciting to them. So over time, the lukewarm waters of apathy cause them to drift away.
Fifth, people drift away because of issues of control, where things in this life are just not going the way that they want it to, that nothing ever seems to work out according to plan. So over time, they try to grab more and more control over more and more things, and in doing so, what happens, they actually squeeze God out of their lives, because clearly he was not doing a good enough job when he was in control.
Sixth, people drift away because of weariness. Friends who know this, weariness, it changes us. It changes us in ways that either cause us to depend more on Christ, or weariness causes us, or changes us in ways that we become more cynical and jaded, that leads us to walk away from Christ. Book of Hebrews essentially seemed to be an issue. In Hebrews 12 again, there’s encouragement to not grow weary or faint-hearted. Hebrews 12 also talks about having drooping hands and weak knees, that in the end actually putting them at more and more odds with those around them, where they’re feeling this increase of bitterness welling up in their hearts, that over time was leading to apostasy.
And this morning, if you walked in, and you feel weary, and you feel it, the weariness is changing you in ways that you’re actually less and less dependent upon Christ, less and less Christ-like towards others, listen friend, the answer is not to like muscle your way through the weariness. Rather, stop what you’re doing. Stop in ways you’re actually turning back to the Lord, that you’re trusting in Him with your weariness, not in yourself. And what good is it in our weary pursuits in this life, if somehow we are able to gain the whole world, yet forfeit our soul? Maybe just one more. There’s more I could give, I think I’ll just give one more, then we’ll move on.
Seventh, people drift away because of joylessness. So, Galatians 5, through the Spirit, joy is on the list. Joy is an evidence of a changed heart. Joy is an indicator, God is at work in your life. Now, this does not mean that everything is going to be easy. At times, life is painfully hard, not just in days or moments, but even for extended seasons.
But even in the midst of hardship, there should be some measures of joy. Back in the context of Hebrews chapter 10, it talks about joyfully accepting the plunder of their property, which no doubt was a hard thing for these early Christians, Jewish Christians to do. Yet somehow, they joyfully accepted the plundering of their property. So friend, this morning, if you look at your life, and there’s no joy in Jesus, where you can’t actually remember the last time you found enjoyment in life or with others, maybe you can force a smile or put on some type of act of appearance that you’re happy, but you know in truth, you’re absolutely miserable, friends, let that be a warning to you to turn back to the Lord before you walk away completely.
So there’s some warning signs drifting away. And if these warning signs are on your dashboard, friend, you must pay attention. Do so in ways that you’re not going to kick it down the road and worry about it later, but respond to them now, which is actually how we’re going to close our time, by giving just four encouragements, four means by which God uses to keep us close to him, things that we must strive towards as we enjoy the salvation he’s given to us, there’s things we must pay well attention to, lest we drift away. So first, we must pay attention to our worship, where we worship our God as the consuming fire that he is, which we can only do through Jesus Christ and the power of his gospel. And this is why, time and time again, we must go back to the message of salvation found in Jesus Christ. This is why we go back to the wooden cross and empty tomb that mean everything to us.
Friends, we must never assume the gospel. We must never grow apathetic towards this message or bored about it. Rather, time and time again, we must set our eyes to Jesus, the author, the perfecter of our faith, who is able to help us in times of weakness, so that we might worship him in spirit and truth. For us, this worship that we must set our hearts towards is more than what we do here even on Sunday mornings, but we have to worship the Lord in every area of our life. Friends, this is what we must do. We must pay much closer attention to our worship.
And if there’s anything in our hearts, if God searches our hearts and shows us anything that we’re starting to entertain as better than Jesus, that perhaps we’re tempted to worship, I say it again, we must cut it off. Second, we also must pay attention to our connecting. Hebrews 10, and let us consider how to stir one another up in love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.
As we connect, as we encourage each other, we must do so, Hebrews tells us, in ways we’re displaying brotherly love, we’re actually seeking to build one another up by pointing us back to Jesus Christ. We also must connect in ways we’re showing hospitality towards one another, even remembering our leaders as we do so. As I mention this, let me also mention as you read through the book of Hebrews, we’ll get through this obviously in the weeks to come, just notice all of the plural pronouns that are used throughout Hebrews. This is all pointing to this reality that we must continue to connect. Remember verse one of our passage, we, we must pay closer attention that which we have heard, lest we drift away. Once we stop connecting with others in the faith, particularly others in our local church, it’s just a matter of time before we can drift away.
Third, we also must pay attention to our growing, to see if we’re growing more and more like Christ. Hebrews is actually one of the rebukes that the author gave to his readers. They actually were not growing in ways they should be growing. Hebrews tells us they’re still drinking spiritual milk, when at that point in the faith they actually should be able to eat solid food. Or as a church, they were still like in these elementary doctrines of Christ, rather than moving on to maturity. Friends, this is something we actually must pay attention to, where we’re consuming God’s words in ways that we’re reading it and understanding it.
How we see more and more how the Son is the definitive word of God. How more and more we see how much better he is. Where more and more we want to obey and follow him. Where even more and more we’re growing by responding to his discipline, which Hebrews 12 talks about. So that in our growth, we actually need less discipline. Whereas we receive discipline, including the warnings of our pastors today, we actually are more quick to respond.
So that in our growth, we’re experiencing more and more joy. So that in our growth, we have more and more longings to hear the message of Christ and to be with him upon his return. Friends, we must pay attention to our growth to see how the Lord is actively sanctifying us in his truth. Last one. We must pay attention to our going. Where we’re to go with the message of salvation in Christ Jesus to those who have yet to believe.
That is something we must pay attention to. Hebrews 13 even speaks about us going like outside the camp. Which refers to those people who are so far different from us that we must even go to them. Perhaps we are even the ones who are causing us to suffer. So we would tell them about the one who suffered, who died only to rise again from the dead with the hopes that they too might join us in the great salvation that has been given to us. Now church, if we have no desire to go, that’s actually a real warning.
That perhaps you have yet to taste the salvation of God. Now, unfortunately in this life, we know that none of us can be perfect in any of these things that we must pay closer attention to. Fortunately, we all stumble and fall in many ways. So thankfully in the end, our hope is in the object of our faith, not the strength. With that being said, this morning, dear friends, please hear the warning of this passage. If you feel yourself drifting away, however you may be drifting, even little by little, you see yourself drifting away, please respond to the discipline of the Lord here this morning.
And by faith, churn from your sin. Find your hope afresh in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the testimony of a life is not one of believing, assuming, and eventually denying, rather the testimony is that of just believing by continuing to respond with repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for the warnings of Scripture. And Lord, I do pray that you use the warning of Hebrews 2 to further anchor us to Jesus Christ. Lord, for those who have been drifting, however they may have been drifting, I pray today that you would give them repentance and faith, that they would churn back to you afresh, that they could receive forgiveness and grace and mercy. I pray again for those who maybe have professed faith at some point, but truth be told, in their hearts they’ve never actually tasted and seen that you’re good. They may have called, Lord, Lord, but never knew you, that today they would know you, that you would take out the heart of stone and replace it with the heart of flesh, that they might believe in Jesus Christ. I pray this in his name. Amen.
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