Caution: Danger Up Ahead!

Introduction

How many of you have ever been driving in an unfamiliar city that is undergoing road construction? Road work has a way to get under even the thickest of skins and if you’re in a place that you’re not very familiar with, it can be easy to drive more cautious than normal.

This past week I was in Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City and like many large cities, Kansas City always seems to have construction work going on!

One of the cool things with the Maps app on your phone is that it will tell you about upcoming alerts on the roadways. There were several times I’d be driving where my phone would notify me that there was speed check coming up - that’s pretty straightforward as you just slow down a little bit. There were other times where there was a traffic accident coming up and you’d either take a different route or you’d have to sit in traffic for a little bit. There were other times, though, where there’d be a sign on the side of the road saying CAUTION: Road Work Up Ahead!

Why do these people put up a large orange caution sign? Because chances are a lane is closed up ahead and traffic will slow down. If you are from the area you know to expect construction. You know to expect delays. You know to go a different route. But what if you’re not from around town? You know where you’re at and you know where you need to go, but chances are you’re not going to know about which tracks of the highway are undergoing road work and have lanes closed. You don’t know about the trouble until you see the caution sign. Caution signs are a blessing as there is potential danger up ahead and we need to slow down and consider what’s going on around us. As painful and annoying as they can be, caution signs can be a good thing.

Just as highways have road construction and caution signs on them, there are times in our lives where we are traveling from one thing to another in the midst of our busyness where something forces us to slam on our breaks and consider what’s going on around us. Sometimes that can be seemingly bad thing like a difficult conversation, bad news from a doctor, or sleepless night. Those moments force us to look behind and ahead to see what’s going on and we make sure that we’re still going the correct direction.

The Bible is full of these types of caution signs. While some people don’t like them and prefer the feel good messages, just like we all prefer a wide open highway instead of one stuck at a standstill, we all need to be reminded of the danger surrounding us. As much as we hate the stopped road, the caution sign is a kindness because without it we’d find ourselves in even more danger! Likewise, whenever the Bible tells us to pay attention to the seriousness of our sin and the greatness of Jesus, we’d better treat that just like we’d treat a caution sign on the interstate. In fact, some of you probably need to treat those caution signs in the Bible with more respect than you do the ones on the interstate!

After the preacher of Hebrews makes his argument that Jesus is greater and the only way that we can be saved from our sins in chapter 1, he immediately begins chapter 2 with a caution sign to slow down and consider what has been said so far. Today as we study from God’s Word, let’s take our time to make sure that we have responded properly to the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for us! Let’s read from God’s Word in Hebrews 2:1-4.

Hebrews 2:1–4 CSB

1 For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.

Why are we given this caution sign? Why must we stop and pay attention to this news from God’s Son? Because we’re tempted to miss the sign and get ourselves into serious, eternal trouble. Today, let’s pray that God would help us properly respond to His good news!

We Are Tempted to Drift Away (1)

In the book of Hebrews there are 5 warning passages that reveal truths to us as readers that are at times difficult to swallow. We often like to think of God’s Word as something that is positive, encouraging, and uplifting - so much so that many churches on their website have began to describe their worship experiences in these sorts of terms. Come to our 10am worship experience and leave feeling better about yourself. Come to our worship experience and leave encouraged. I pray that you do feel encouraged whenever we depart on Sunday morning, but I pray that you feel encouraged because of the truth of God’s Word and sometimes the truth of God’s Word isn’t all that positive. Whenever you study passages of Scripture that talk about loss, suffering, and death it can be very hard to feel encouraged. Whenever you talk about the fact that our sin makes us deserving of eternal separation from God in a literal place called hell, that’s not very encouraging! Because of this, many are tempted to talk about other topics that are more positive in nature. Do you know what you can’t avoid, though, whenever you study the Bible verse by verse? You can’t avoid the next verse regardless of how hard it might be to swallow! Church, we need all of God’s Word and in this opening warning passage we see that we must pay attention to God’s Word so that we do not drift away.

There are times where it can be relaxing to drift. Whenever I arrived at FBC Salem last year the staff kept talking about float trips and how that was the thing to do around here. Sure enough, in the spring and summer we were able to go as a staff and I think they kept expecting me to fall in the water…? I’m not sure if they’ve purposely tipped the pastors kayak or something in the past or if they’re just used to people falling in on their own but Lindsey and I love floating and we truly enjoyed those sweet moments with our friends this past year. Whenever you go floating, regardless of how good or bad you are at it, it can just be really relaxing to not do anything at all and close your eye balls and let the water take you along the river. Drifting can be enjoyable… but it can also be very dangerous!

David Peterson says that there are times where drifting has disastrous consequences. Imagine that you are floating not on the Current River but the Colorado River - there’s quite a difference there for those of you who haven’t white water rafted before! If you don’t paddle consistently when you white water raft and if you just let the water take you and you drift along its power, you’ll probably end up in serious trouble. In fact, nearly 4 people on average pass away in the state of Colorado while floating or white water rafting.

As fun as it might be to drift and go with the flow, drifting can lead you to danger and drifting always leads you astray. The word in the Greek for drift away is the same word used to describe a ring slipping off of a finger! Have you ever had that happen in your life? Maybe in today’s terms it’s a ring or possibly a phone. We drop things. We drift away from things. Unless you’re anchored to the bottom of the river, lake, or ocean, you’re going to drift away from the shore and out toward danger. This isn’t what we’re supposed to do, yet we’re all tempted to do it!

Why are we tempted to drift away from safety and out towards danger? Because we often fail to pay attention to Jesus and His Word.

Because of our sinfulness, we never drift towards Jesus… we drift away from Him. You don’t usually notice yourself drifting right away. Very few people set out on a journey to stop coming to church or to do something bad or to drop the ball. Have you heard the statement that the pathway to hell is filled with good intentions? That quote is nearly 1,000 years old and its as timely now as ever! We are living in a world where people are looking around and wondering, how did things get to this point? How did we arrive at a point where some humans matter and others don’t? How did we arrive at a point where it’s celebrated to terminate the life of a baby? You know that those 2 things aren’t new, right? They’ve been around for thousands of years… But today they are so prevalent. According to Gallup, did you know that 20% of Gen-Z identifies as LGBTQ? We’re not talking about 1-2%… We’re talking about 1/5 kids! Why is this a growing number? Because we’re drifting away from God’s standard and Word!

You know that this isn’t just true in our community, though, right? I love you all enough to be honest with you that this is a temptation in the church as well! This is a temptation in our church too, to drift away from God and His Word. Dr. Steven Smith shared in my seminar this week that the church that he pastors uses a church management software similar to ours and he pulled some data up for us concerning the pre-schoolers that attend the church he pastors. There was a pie chart and we didn’t get overall numbers, just percentages. September had 4 Sundays and there were 4 options: kids that came 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and all 4 weeks. Nearly 40% of the kids came 1 week, nearly 33% came 2 weeks, nearly 25% came 3 weeks, and a sliver came all 4 weeks.

A generation ago those numbers would’ve been flipped. I grew up in Ozark with James River and its 15,000 attenders down the road - all 1,500 students at Ozark high school went to James River. If you asked them when the last time they went there they’d say Easter or Christmas… but they claimed James River as their church. I triple checked this number a few weeks ago: Did you know that our church has over 1,300 members? Where are they at?

Do you think that people set out in their mind that they’re going to be a Christmas and Easter church attender? Do you think that our culture that once viewed 100% church attendance as normal suddenly viewed 50% church attendance as the norm? Absolutely not! What happened? We’re tempted to drift. If your toes hurt, I’m sorry… but I’m grieved because we’re living in a culture of churchgoers who don’t understand the fundamentals of the faith and in a culture of non-Christians who are basing their perception of Christians on Christians who don’t know what to believe in the first place!

What do we have to do? We have to go back to God’s Word and we have to apply it to our lives. If you’re a genuine Christian, you should desire to not only come to corporate worship but you should desire in serving, giving, and worshipping in your local church. If we’re not careful, we’ll drift away from this important time. We must gather, we must pray, we must sing, we must listen to God’s Words, and we must be changed by God’s Word because where Scripture speaks, God speaks. We must drop our anchor in the harbor of God’s Word and not give an inch to our godless culture. Don’t give into the temptation to drift away from God’s Word or God’s people.

We Are Tempted to Reject God’s Word (2-3)

The second temptation is that we’re also tempted to reject God’s Word. First we drift away from the Word of God but eventually many arrive at a place where they simply reject God’s Word in its entirety. There are some things in life that we must reject - but God’s Word is not one of those things! Why is it a bad thing to reject God’s Word? What is so special about God’s Word in the first place? Back in Hebrews 1:1-3 we learned that God has spoken to us through His Son and that Jesus reveals to us Who God is! Have you ever heard from someone that they love Jesus but they don’t like the church or the Bible? But they love Jesus! Question: How do we know anything about Jesus Christ? Where do we know what Jesus said or what Jesus did? From the Bible. You cannot divorce Jesus from God’s Word because Jesus is the Word of God! If we reject what God’s Word says, there will be a consequence because God has all authority and because God reveals Himself to us through His Word.

Hebrews 2 continues to tell us that Angels spoke a message that was legally binding and that it held people accountable to God’s law. Look at what Acts 7 tells us in Stephen’s sermon

Acts 7:53 CSB

53 You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.”

What did the Old Testament law tell the people of God? What was the punishment for disobeying God’s law? Deuteronomy 30:19 answers this

Deuteronomy 30:19 CSB

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

If you obey God’s law, you will live. If you disobey God’s law, you will be punished and you will die. This is pretty straightforward! This was the message of the law, though. The message was that people weren’t good enough on their own to save themselves. They needed help! Doesn’t this cut against our feelings and emotions, though? We love to fight against Romans 3:23 that says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We love to fight against the truth of Romans 6:23 which says that the wages of sin is death. We don’t think we’re bad and we definitely don’t think that we deserve to be separated from God. Whenever some people are confronted with the truth of God’s Word they immediately reject God’s Word.

Rather than understanding that God’s Word has the authority because it is breathed out by the Creator of the Universe Himself, so many people reject God’s Word whenever they hear the Gospel.

Why do people reject God’s Word?

They don’t believe that they are truly guilty before God

They don’t believe that God truly punishes sin

They place their feelings above Scripture

This applies to Christians and non-Christians as well. We have to be honest with what the Bible tells us. Regardless of our feelings, the Bible tells us that we have all sinned before a holy God. Even if you think that you’ve lived a perfect life, Romans 5:12-21 tells us that because you are a human being, you have a sinful nature. We’re all guilty and this is bad news! Yes, there’s good news, but you have to be honest about the bad news before the good news becomes good news! If the message given by the angels made people guilty before God and made us all deserving of eternal separation from God in hell, how much more do you think we deserve punishment for rejecting Jesus?

If you don’t pay attention to Jesus’ Word and if you reject His Words, you will find yourself under the judgment and wrath of God with no mediator to help you out. We read Hebrews 2:3 and think that this comes across as harsh - How will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? But isn’t this the main theme of Scripture? That Jesus Christ alone saves sinners from their the punishment of their sins before a holy God? In the Old Testament, what happened to the people of Israel whenever they reject God’s commands and did what was right in their own eyes? There was a punishment! The people of Israel would be taken captive, lose a battle, or be destroyed. This was the punishment for disobeying the revelation of God given to the people through angels… Do you think the punishment will increase? Look ahead to Hebrews 12 as we find this

Hebrews 12:25–26 CSB

25 See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.

If you reject Jesus Christ, the One who speaks according to chapter 1, then you will not escape His coming judgment. We will receive a more severe punishment for rejecting Jesus Christ because we’ve rejected God’s Son.

Humans are tempted to elevate their feelings and personal truths above God’s truth found in His Word. Whenever we do this, we begin a slippery slope as this chart illustrates. We deny one thing and then we deny another and before you know it you look back and realize how far you’ve come down this slope.

See chart of people walking away from Christianity - initially deny truthfulness God’s Word because something goes against their feelings/emotions and then everything else falls in as well in due time. We must stop the first domino from falling!

We Are Tempted to Ignore God’s Work (4)

Whenever you drift away and reject God’s Word, you also reject the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. There are times in our lives where we find ourselves extremely busy that we simply pass over things and ignore them because we don’t see them for what they truly are. How many of you are routine type people? You have a schedule and you usually stick to that schedule relatively closely? In that type of scheduled loop, we wake up, we get ready for the day, we go to work or school, we do our job or learn our lessons, we get back home, we eat food, we talk with our family for a little bit and then we go to bed… this is the lives of millions of people each and every day! I’m all for schedules and routines, but there’s such a big temptation in our lives to ignore things that God is doing in our lives?

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Men, has your wife ever asked you if you notice anything different about her appearance or about something in your house? You’re thinking about your day or about something coming up and this question throws a wrench into your brain and you have no clue how to answer because you especially don’t know what’s different! Even if it’s not in the marriage relationship, have you been there before where you fail to notice something going on in your life that’s literally right in front of you? This is the sad state of our world - we choose to ignore things and we fail to notice things right in front of us every single day.

Hebrews 2:3-4 tells us that God has not only casually mentioned this good news of salvation but it was spoken through Jesus Christ to thousands of people directly during Jesus’ ministry where He declared that the Kingdom of God was at hand and that people needed to repent and believe in Him. Thousands heard directly from Jesus, then the preacher of Hebrews says that those thousands told others - meaning that this preacher never heard directly from Jesus but he was told by those who had heard directly from Jesus. The good news of the Gospel had been shared verbally and as we read about in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit accompanied this wonderful news with signs and wonders as God’s people received their spiritual gifts and faithfully shared this good news!

Not only did people hear the good news, they saw with their own eyes the power of the Gospel in healing the sick! Many of these people saw or heard about the resurrection of Jesus Christ for that matter too. They knew all of the right answers… yet, they were being tempted to leave Jesus behind in favor of Judaism. They were tempted to leave the once for all sacrifice of Jesus behind in favor of more animal sacrifices. They were tempted to add to the finished work of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they failed to fully understand the magnitude of God’s work of salvation.

Have you ever put yourself in the shoes of the people who saw Jesus die on the cross and raise from the grave 3 days later? Can you imagine the amazement upon the faces of those people? The only appropriate response would be to go and shout it to the masses that Jesus truly is the Messiah! Still, though, there were some who heard the good news, they saw Jesus rise from the dead, and they still didn’t care. See, some in our world wish that God would just reveal Himself for all to see and then the whole world would repent and get their life right with the Lord… but the Bible tells us that if you reject God’s Word, God’s power won’t change anything. Look at Luke 16 at the conclusion of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, a story we’ll look at next year

Luke 16:31 CSB

31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

Just as people in our world ignore construction work signs, people left and right ignore the work of God through the cross of Jesus Christ. They ignore His Words and they ignore His work. May this not be true of us, church! If you ignore the work of God, you are not only confused, you are lost and you are awaiting eternal punishment in a literal place called hell and this ought to break our hearts because this is a genuine thing according to the Word of God.

Some don’t like talking about hell because it’s too sad or too bad… you know that hell is our default destination in this life because of the severity of our sin, don’t you? Jesus talked about hell often to demonstrate that a holy God takes sin seriously! Hell is called a bottomless pit. It’s called outer darkness. It’s called an unquenchable fire. It’s called the place of weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

Hell is full of people who were not actively opposed to Jesus Christ but who simply drifted there by neglecting to respond to the Gospel. Many of these people will be those found in Matthew 7 as Jesus says this in the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 7:22–23 CSB

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

You can do all of the stuff that they say to do, but you can miss Jesus because everything you did was for the wrong reasons. You can worship, go on the mission trips, memorize Scripture, but unless we’re doing those things to glorify Jesus, we still don’t fully understand it. We’re still drifting from God’s purpose for our lives!

We are so busy that we’re tempted to ignore the significance of God’s Work of Salvation

What is the Solution? Pay Attention to Jesus!

You wonder, how can we escape this coming judgment? The only hope is in the person and work of Jesus Christ! By responding to Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done! As Hebrews 2:3 tells us, how can we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? What’s the answer? You can’t. You are not good, smart, tall, or fast enough to escape the punishment of your sins if you reject what Jesus Christ has done for sinners on the cross. If you reject the Gospel, friend, you’ve already lost… The good news about today though is that you’re here and you’ve heard the best news in all of the world. Today, you have been exhorted to pay attention to Jesus. It can be hard to pay attention, but this is what God’s Word demands of us… we must pay attention and act upon what Christ has done. Let’s examine 3 ways that we can act today depending upon where we’re at in our spiritual walks with Christ.

Pay Attention to Jesus’ Words - Respond to the Gospel

Maybe you’re here and this is brand new to you. Perhaps you were invited by a friend or family member or you just showed up because you felt like you needed to be here or you’re with us online on Facebook or YouTube and you’re trying to process these 4 verses and you’re having difficulty doing so. The reason why is because you have lived your entire life blinded by the power of your sin. Today, friend, if this is you, I encourage you to ask God to break through the darkness and help you to see like never before. Respond to the Gospel. Repent of your sins and turn your eyes upon Jesus Christ. Place your faith in Him - regardless of your past failings, His sacrifice is sufficient to pay for your mistakes.

Pay Attention to Jesus’ Words - Remain True to the Gospel

Others of you are here and you’ve responded to the Gospel, in fact some of you have been Christians for years and years but today you’re being tempted to go back to a well that promises you satisfaction but in actuality is bone dry. These Jewish Christians were being tempted to reject Jesus and go back to their old thinking and previous sacrifices… Friend, pay attention to Jesus’ Words and remain true to the Gospel today. Live for Jesus alone and obey His commands with your actions

Pay Attention to Jesus’ Words - Rejoice in the Gospel

Finally some of you are here and you’re a follower of Jesus and you’re trying your best to remain true to the Gospel and do what Christ is calling you to do with your actions, but you’re having difficulty in your heart because of something going on in your life. Some of you are suffering so deeply that you’re trying to figure out where to turn and you keep coming up with nothing… Church, you can always rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus Christ even at your lowest point. The perfect, sinless, Savior, came from heaven to this earth and lived a perfect life… yet He chose to die a criminals death in our place on the cross. He rose 3 days later, defeating sin and death once and for all so that for anyone who is in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation or separation - we have the assurance that we belong to Him and will spend eternity with Him in glory. Regardless of your past, regardless of your present pit, you can always look up to the cross and rejoice in the finished work of your Savior who came to win the battle that you couldn’t ever win for yourself

Church family, we’re living in a dangerous world where people reject God’s Word and finished work. May we not cower down in such a world. May we stand united and boldly on what Scripture teaches us. May we encourage others to pay attention to what the Bible says about sin and salvation and our snake-crushing-Savior. Pay attention to God’s Word today!