Don't neglect so great a salvation!
Notes
Transcript
introduction
I can’t think of a time when drifting from something could be considered a good thing. If a car begins to drift from it’s lane, it’s only a matter of time before it crashes. If a boat drifts off course, it could crash and sink. If a plane drifts from it’s flight path, there could be a disastrous consequence.
Neglecting spiritual matters can result in spiritual drifting. If we swerve from the truth and ignore God’s word we can become trapped in a spiritual or moral ditch. If we aren’t careful navigate according to the safe principles of God’s truth, the currents of cultural conformity will drive us towards jagged rocks of doubt and could ultimately shipwreck our faith.
By neglecting the great salvation given to us as a gift through Jesus, we can become spiritually lazy. Look at what is going on in the Christian church:
Doctrinal deviation
Moral Compromise
Leadership Failures
Cultural Conformity
Political Expediency
Worldly Priorities
Evangelistic Complacency
This is why we need to pay attention to the words and warnings of the Bible. This was as much a problem back then as it is now. The challenges may be different but the direction is the same. If we go off the straight path of doctrinal and moral purity, we enter into the dangerous wilderness of spiritual decline.
The readers of Hebrews were converted Jews who were suffering from persecution from both unbelieving Jews and Gentiles alike. Because of these outside forces, they began to question if they made the right choice in putting their faith in Jesus.
Like the Jews of this writing, I believe that we suffer from the same thing. Are we not tempted to live the life #1 that we want to live and #2 that the world wants us to live? Maybe not so much for those who are spiritually mature but for those of us who are new to the faith?
I think even those of us who aren’t, we are tempted when times get tough to fall back into the flesh and letting that control our thoughts and actions....even for a little bit.
Hebrews 2:1-4 is he first of several warning passages in this book. It applies then as it does now.
WARNING!!! Pay attention so you don’t drift away!
WARNING!!! Pay attention so you don’t drift away!
For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.
Looking back at the first chapter of Hebrews, what did we learn?
Jesus is superior to angels and prophets. He has ruled for all time.
Were the prophets and the angels failures?
Of course not. Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit the gift of salvation.(Hebrews 1:14)
The prophets who spoke to us long ago, still speak to us through the scriptures and point us to Christ as savior.(Romans 15:4, 1 Cor. 10:11)
The idea not to drift grows out the first chapter.
Having inherited salvation, a free gift, we must be careful not to despise something that we did nothing to earn. It’s human nature to place more value on something that we worked hard to achieve. A new car that we work hard to pay for, maintain and use daily. Weigh loss. A degree or a promotion.
For those that didn’t know, Ecclesiastes talks about the vanity of man working hard all his life only to leave the fruits of his labor to a son who may turn out to be an ungrateful fool. (Eccl. 2:18-19)
The prodigal son parable, in Luke, was about a son who inherited wealth that he did nothing to earn.
Because it is easy to develop a careless attitude towards an inheritance, the writer of Hebrews takes a moment to include this warning.
Give the analogy about riding in a plane.
Do you know what everyone wished for at that moment? They wished they had paid attention to the message-the message that had gotten old.
Building on the message of the first chapter, the writer says “For this reason”. We did not earn our salvation, the divine son of God, Jesus, accomplished the purification of sins by his death in our place. (Hebrews 1:3)
We are inheritors, not wage earners. (Hebrews 1:14)
In light of these, we need to pay attention to the what we have just heard. It’s not a matter of knowledge of what we have heard, but a tendency to let our attention be drawn from it. With all the distractions in the world today, politics, social issues, entertainment, or just day to day life, it can become easy to become careless and begin to “drift away”.
When the truth of the person and work of Jesus becomes a been-there-done-that fad, we are more than likely to start looking for other stimulations. If we get too far in the wrong direction and when real, external challenges to our faith hit, we may not be able to stand the pressure.
This verse is not a new body of information, but a warning not to drift from what we have heard. This is similar to many exhortations of Paul’s to stay anchored in the original faith and practices. (Phil. 4:9, 2 Tim. 2:2)
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?
For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.
These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?
Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 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.
The writer here employs a common Jewish form of argument called “Qal Wahomer”. This means “light to heavy”. It is a less important to very important argument. This was employed by rabbis when it came to biblical interpretation and would have been a powerful argument style to the Jewish readers.
Here is the argument: The message of the Law mediated by angels was unchangeable. Its strict mandates were therefore binding, and serious consequences were in store for those who broke the commandments—demonstrated again and again through the revelation of God via the prophets.
Now, One has come who is greater than the angels and prophets: Jesus Christ. How much stricter would we expect the judgment to be for someone who neglects the superior message of salvation proclaimed by Him and accomplished by His superior person and work?
The Jews would have known very well obedience to the Law of Moses brought temporal, or worldly, blessings. This is found in Deut. 28:1-14.
They also knew that prolonged obedience would bring severe temporal judgements (Deut. 28:15-68).
Even through these warnings, this law never offered eternal life or heavenly reward for obedience. Also, it never warned of eternal damnation in hell for disobedience. It was a temporal, or worldly, covenant for the historical nation of Israel. It set forth the conditions for experiencing blessings in the land of God’s people.
Temporal blessings were on the line with the Law, but eternal blessings are on the line for rejection of Jesus Christ.
For both the believer and the unbeliever, there are eternal consequences. For the unbeliever, the cost is eternal life itself. (John 3:36, 1 John 5:10-12)
For the believer who embraced Christ but drifts away from the allegiance to Him through neglect or rebellion, the cost is heavenly rewards. (1 Corinthians 3:13-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10)
In these verses, the author has the latter in mind-people who have professed faith in Christ but run the risk of neglecting their salvation.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
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. 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 is this salvation so great?
The mediator of this salvation, Jesus, is superior to all things. The gospel, or message of salvation, is also superior because of the incomparable way it came to the original generation of believers. It came by the work of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The readers had an awesome advantage that we will never have. They were not eyewitnesses of Jesus’ earthly life, but they had heard the teachings of at least some of the original apostles (Hebrews 2:3).
The message was first spoken through the Lord Jesus. It was confirmed as an authentic revelation of God by those who heard it. These were the apostles and the people who listened to him. God himself gave the original apostles the ability to work signs, wonders and miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit. By this, the father, son and holy spirit triply sealed the message.
Should we be looking for God’s special messengers to prove the truthfulness of their preaching through similar supernatural stamps of approval?
We don’t want to ever deny that God can do miraculous things. He performed miracles in the OT as well as the NT. But, we need to submit our understanding of sign, wonders and miracles of the holy spirit to the teaching of God’s word (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
We must interpret experiences, testimonies, rumors and reports of miracles through the standards of scripture. We do this because if these are from God, he won’t do things contrary to his word.
When we look at these gifts of the holy spirit, they were centered on the apostles. We also learn that this foundational ministry was just that-foundational. After this foundation was laid, subsequent evangelists, pastors and teachers were to build on that foundation and not to continue to lay it. (1 Corinthians 3:10-11, Eph. 4:11)
During the time of the apostles, churches had been planted throughout that part of the known world. By the end of the first century, the NT had been completed. This formed the unchanging doctrinal foundation for the church.
According to the NT, God appointed in the church, first apostles and second prophets. What is the qualification of an apostle? (1 Corinthians 9:1)
This is similar to the Hebrews writer’s description when he states “those who heard.” These who heard confirmed the validity of the gospel.
Another mark for a true apostle was the ability to perform signs and wonders and miracles. (2 Cor. 12:12)
Apostles were a fixed number who had seen and heard the Lord and were able to perform miracles. They were foundational to the church, but when their lives came to an end, their office was also ended.
Since we don’t have the advantages of the apostles or the first generation of believers, does this give us an excuse to neglect our salvation? To allow ourselves to drift, to disregard the gospel until God confirms the truth through miracles?
Absolutely not! Their teachings, as well as Jesus’, are preserved through scripture and are still being taught. We have the testimony of two thousand years of faithful saints who lived and died for the gospel. We have the arguments and evidence of apologists and scholars. We have the transformed lives and we have the Holy Spirit, who lead us in all truth (John 16:13).
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.
And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
The signs of an apostle were performed with unfailing endurance among you, including signs and wonders and miracles.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come.
Application: Don’t be a drifter!
Application: Don’t be a drifter!
end (length)
We are inheritors of “so great a salvation”, just like the first generation believers. Just like them, we need to respond to this gift with relentless conviction, resisting the temptation to drift. If you aren’t concerned with drifting away, you should be. And if you’re not convinced of it’s danger, I’ll give you 3 points of practical advice.
Absorbing what we have heard is more essential than seeking something new.
If you aren’t transformed by the old stuff, we need to pause to absorb and understand the basics before moving on. If we can’t keep down the milk of the gospel, we shouldn’t move on to the meat and potatoes. If you need to firm up the old stuff, read Galatians or Romans.
Overcoming the peril of drifting requires the discipline of application.
Drifting comes from outside influences of the world or the selfish desires from within. To combat this, we need to daily-not weekly-attend to the application of God’s word. We need to be so entrenched in God’s truth that, when making daily decisions, we would begin by doing this through God’s thoughts rather than our own.
Neglecting God’s salvation inevitably leads to inescapable consequences.
True believers have been eternally delivered from God’s wrath (1 Thes. 5:9), so we don’t stand in condemnation before God (Rom 8:1). We will learn later in Hebrews that God does discipline his children.
When we begin to drift away from God’s word and the safe harbor of his church, we forget the greatness of his salvation and the benefits of his blessings.
The sweetness of our saviour becomes bland and the warmth of his embrace grows cold. When this happens, God will pursue us, bringing trials and challenges to our lives to draw us back. It’s best to respond early rather than allowing ourselves to swept deeper into more dangerous water. Keep your accounts short with God, open your ears to hear his voice of correction and be aware of the spiritual drift.
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,