“Drifting Away from Jesus”
(Hebrews 2:1-4)
Series: Captivated by Christ (Hebrews)
Let me invite you to open your Bibles to the Book of Hebrews, chapter 2. Second chapter of Hebrews in the New Testament.
We are in a new series of messages entitled “Captivated by Christ.” If Hebrews is about anything it’s about Jesus Christ and fixing our eyes upon Him, looking to Him, loving Him as the most magnificent Person in all the universe.
Jesus is the One who saves us, comforts us, strengthens us. Through Jesus Christ families cope and find hope, hope in the midst of tragedies like last Tuesday’s school shooting in Marshall County, hope like the young olympic gymnast had as she stood in the courtroom last week, facing the man who abused her years earlier, strength as she stood there before him for 40 minutes and preached the Gospel of forgiveness; hope like you and I experienced each and every day last week. Hope in Christ.
This letter is a call to stay faithful to Christ, keep our eyes focused on Christ, being ever captivated by Christ.
Hebrews chapter 2. We’ve studied chapter 1 and were blessed by these opening verses in chapter 1 that the One True “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoke to us by His Son.”
We talked about what that means. “In these last days,” from the point of the writing of Hebrews and on into our era and into eternity. Jesus Christ is the fullest and final revelation from God. This does not mean that God no longer communicates to us after the coming of Christ, that He no longer speaks, but rather that all communication from God finds expression in Jesus Christ as the fullest and final, most decisive revelation of Himself to creation. He is THE Word of God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
So there is no other way God will make Himself known to us than through Christ. That is the idea. Again, it doesn’t mean He does not speak to us still today, but that He has made Himself known to us most fully and finally in the Son. As in Colossians 2:9, “In Him dwells all the fullness of God in bodily form.”
Then the writer tells us more about the eternal Son of God, about His person and His work. He is “the brightness of the Father’s glory” and “the express image of His person” or “the exact imprint of His nature.” He is God! And the Son by Himself purged our sins and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High,” having a position and a name so much better than the angels. Jesus Christ better, greater, more superior than the prophets, more superior than the angels. That’s chapter 1.
Then the first word of chapter 2 is “Therefore,” a word that indicates the author does not intend a break between chapters 1 and 2, but continuity. The content of chapter 1 flows into the content of chapter 2. “Therefore,” that is, “in light of all this doctrinal teaching in chapter 1, now do this. Something to know—chapter 1; now something to do—chapter 2. A reminder that every doctrine has a duty. All the theology of chapter 1 finds expression in actions now called for in the beginning of chapter 2. Let’s read about it now.
Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Pray: “Father, help us as we study this morning, keep us alert to your teaching, grant your Holy Spirit that we would not neglect the great salvation that comes to us through Jesus Christ your son and our Lord in whose name we pray, amen.”
Those of us who have had the privilege of going to the beach in sunny Florida or South Carolina or the gulf shores—oh, to be there right now! But if you’ve been to the beach and you’ve gone out into the water you know something of what it means to be carried by the ocean’s current.
You leave your chair, towel, and beach stuff there on the shore and you go out into the water to splash around, throw a ball, body surf, something like that. And after some time you look back to the shore where you had left your towel, chair, and beach stuff and it seems you’re a quarter mile away down the coastline! What happened? I thought I was staying in one place. How did I get down here? How did I drift?
We drifted because we weren’t really paying attention to where we were. Our eyes were elsewhere, focused on other things. We weren’t paying attention and so we drifted.
The writer of Hebrews warns of this very thing in the spiritual realm. He says in verse 1, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed,” or “all the more careful attention” to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” This passage is about preventing spiritual drift, drifting away from Jesus.
Drifting away by not giving “the most earnest heed to the things we have heard,” not paying closer attention to the things we’ve heard, listening carefully and going on listening to the Word of God about the Gospel of God, the living Word, Jesus Christ. Drifting away by neglecting what the writer describes in verse 3 as “so great a salvation.”
I’ve got a simple descriptive outline to guide us through these four verses. So that’s the first main point, this warning not to neglect our great salvation:
I. The Neglect of our Great Salvation [1-3a]
The writer warns us to not neglect this great salvation that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the One who is greater than the prophets and greater than the angels. This is the first of many warnings in Hebrews. A couple of sub-points here, first:
A) Neglecting God’s Word leads to Drifting (1)
Look at verse 1:
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
Remember that chapter 1 is about the superiority of Jesus over the prophets and over the angels. So since He is superior to the angels, well then we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard about Christ and from Christ because the message of the gospel—the message of salvation in Christ—this is a message far and away more superior to any other message.
If we fail to give earnest heed or fail to pay attention to the things we have heard, if we fail to go on listening to the Word, the living Word made flesh, about whom we read in the written Word, if we fail to listen carefully—we will drift away; we will drift away from Jesus.
Neglecting God’s Word leads to drifting. Second sub-point, letter B:
B) Neglecting God’s Word leads to Destruction (2-3a)
What the writer does next is to argue from the lesser to the greater. And what he is saying, in essence, is that if the message in the Old Testament, namely the law—if the law was such that when you neglected it or sinned against it, you received just retribution or punishment, how much more will your neglecting the message of the New Testament, the Gospel, how much more will your neglect lead to destruction—given that it is so much better?
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
Now let’s stop right here for a moment. Verse 2, “For if the word spoken through angels.” What is the word spoken through angels. Well again, context indicates that the writer is talking about the law—namely the Mosaic law as handed down by God to Moses on Mount Sinai—this is the word, the law is “the word spoken” and it was spoken “through angels.”
That may be a new teaching for some of us. You may wish to study that further. Couple references: Acts 7:53 where Stephen is preaching to the unbelieving Jews and says, “You who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” Acts 7:53. Also check Galatians 3:19. This is where Paul refers to the law that which was “as appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator,” or given through angels by Moses.
More to the point, the writer here is arguing that if this law that was handed down through the agency of angels proved steadfast and sure so that every one who transgressed against it or disobeyed it or broke it received a punishment—how much more this message handed down by the Lord Himself; who is “much better than the angels,” how much more will the neglecting of His message result in even greater condemnation?
And the words the writer uses are “how shall we escape,” verse 3:
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
And the answer is, we won’t escape. Just as no one can violate God’s law with impunity, without giving an account, without receiving a just retribution or punishment—so no one who ignores the Gospel will escape the judgment to come.
Now again, this is a very real warning. The writer imagines there are some to whom he is writing who may well be on the path of destruction by drifting from the Lord. The greatness of the salvation increases the greatness of the destruction. Only those who persevere in their faith prove to be children of God. If we drift, we drift to our peril.
Like people on a raft in a river floating merrily downstream, totally unaware and oblivious to the impending waterfall that lies just a few yards beyond them, that will plunge them to destruction.
Neglecting God’s Word, God’s message, leads to drifting and leads to destruction. The neglect of our great salvation. And briefly the second point which describes:
II. The Nature of our Great Salvation [3b-4]
The second part of verse 3 through verse 4 describes something of the nature of our great salvation in terms of how it came to us. I wrote down these three sub points about our great salvation. Letters A, B, and C. Let’s give them all at once and leave them up a bit for you to see them in the text. This great salvation is:
Announced by Jesus Himself (3b)
Attested by Human Eyewitnesses (3c)
Authenticated by God’s Power (4)
Verse 3 again:
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
So this message came not from a prophet nor through the agency of angels, but someone so much better and greater, this saving message was “spoken by the Lord,” announced by Jesus Himself.
Then, “attested by human eyewitnesses.” That’s the last phrase of verse 3:
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
The disciples were those who heard Him. The apostles heard him. There was first-hand human testimony, eyewitness accounts who attested to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They didn’t receive the message from anyone else. They heard Him themselves.
Incidentally, this verse is one of the reasons why scholars do not believe Paul wrote the letter to the Hebrews, because Paul would never say that he heard the message from someone else. Remember how he opened the letter to the Galatians? Galatians 1:11-12: “…the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Direct revelation from Jesus to Paul.
Announced by Jesus Himself, attested by human eyewitness, letter C authenticated by God’s power. Verse 4:
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
God authenticated the gospel message with signs, wonders, and miracles of Jesus in the Gospels. The miracles did not make Jesus Lord. They merely served to confirm His message, to bring greater glory to Him. Jesus would still have been the Son incarnate if He never performed a single miracle. In fact, there were times He refused to perform miracles when people asked Him to do do them! He is God. He does as He pleases.
And God authenticated the message of the gospel through spiritual gifts, gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed among the children of God. God distributes these Spiritual gifts not according to man’s wants or abilities, but “according to His own will.”
Now how do we apply the main teaching of this passage? I wrote this heading down at the top of my notes and I share it with you:
**How to Keep from Drifting…
Perhaps you could imagine a horrific scenario: You have committed a most egregious sin and brought shame upon yourself, your family, your church family, and most importantly, you have brought shame upon the name of Christ. Imagine, then, that you could go back in time and do something to prevent this terrible spiritual drift. What would you do? Well, you would apply these questions to yourself.
3 Questions to ask myself:
2. Since God sanctifies us through His Word (John 17:17), am I daily listening to His Word and reading His Word?
Verse 1 is 1lear: “Therefore we must give the most earnest heed, or pay the most careful attention to, the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”
So am I giving the most earnest heed to that which I have heard by going on hearing it every day? If I don’t, I will drift.
Am I daily listening to God’s Word, reading each morning from the Bible, or some other time of the day, reading the Word, seeing Jesus in the Word, hearing Him? Am I listening to the gospel message through music, through prayer, through worship? Am I daily listening to Him? Second question:
2. If not, what is keeping me from hearing Him?
What are the things I’ve been giving my heart to and my ears to instead of giving my heart and ears and eyes to Jesus? What’s pulling my gaze and focus off of Christ? This answer will be largely determined by how you spent your time last week—TV, internet, social media, entertainment, and so on. Those things are not bad in and of themselves, but they become bad when we are listening to them more than listening to Him.
Thirdly and finally:
3. What do I need to do to change this?
What steps will I take this week to listen to Jesus?
There is very real danger here. Drift is not always gradual. Drift can happen quickly. The reason texting while driving is prohibited is because in just a second you can begin to drift without even realizing it. You’ve got your eyes on the wrong thing.
Spiritual drifting is even more dangerous. Spiritual drift happens when we take our eyes off Jesus.
This is one of the most important benefits of reading the Word, memorizing Scripture, attending worship, going to Sunday school, sharing the gospel—they help in preventing spiritual drift.
See the point of this?! It’s not legalism like, “If you want to be a good Christian, then read your Bible.” That’s legalism. No, it’s better put this way: “If you’re a Christian who wants to keep from drifting, read your Bible.”
RESPONSE:
We are moving into our time of response. Every time God speaks we respond to His word. You can respond right where you are as we sing. Or you can respond by coming forward as we sing.
If you’d like to talk to someone about following Jesus, becoming a Christian, or if you’d like to talk to someone about baptism or joining the church, you can come forward and I’ll be up front here to receive you.
If you’re a Christian, only one of two things will be true of you this morning: You’re either moving closer to Jesus or you’re drifting away from Him. There is no neutral position. You’re either moving closer to Him or drifting further away from Him.
And your actions are likely causing others to do the same. A dad who moves closer to Jesus tends to bring his family closer to Jesus. A dad who drifts tends to cause others in his family to drift downstream with him.
Turn to Jesus. Commit to Him. Repent from your sin and turn to Him. Listen to His Word. Be captivated by Christ!
If you’re not a Christian only one thing can be true for you: you are separated from Jesus and drifting further away from Him with each passing day. Turn back while there is time. Open your heart and listen to Him! “Today if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart (Hebrews 3:15).” Turn to Him and be saved.
So whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, in either case, the answer is the same: Turn your eyes upon Jesus and be captivated by Christ.
Pray with me: “God, keep us from drifting this morning. Holy Spirit help us see Jesus for who He is. Cause us to willingly fix our gaze upon Him, that we may love Him more than anyone or anything. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Now stand and sing, and respond however you need to respond.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus…”