Hebrews 2:1-9 - Pay Closer Attention
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
The late A.W. Tozer spoke of what he called the ‘hunger of the wilderness.’ In his discussion of this topic, he discussed farmers’ knowledge of this concept. No matter how well prepared a farmer is - no matter how much work he does in the soil - no matter how much he attempts to keep the farm in tip-top shape - if the farmer should relax his efforts but for a few years, the wilderness will claim his field again (1).
We see this same concept when it comes to maintaining our homes. Neglect a roof leak for a matter of months and your repairs will be quite costly. Neglect it for a couple of years and you may have a home that is unrecognizable and unstable.
We must pay attention to the condition of our land and of our home. But even moreso, we must pay closer attention to the condition of our heart.
Unfortunately, the default trajectory of man is sin. What do you need to do to drift away from God? Unfortunately - the answer is nothing.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 7:18:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Our natural fleshly state is evil. If we do not remain anchored in Christ, we will inevitably end up in sin.
The author today is going to spend some time reminding us how we need to remain anchored to Christ by correctly responding to the message of salvation. In a world full of deception and evil and with a flesh that invariably falls into evil - we must take heed lest we be deceived and not truly trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Let’s jump into the Scripture for today…
Read Full Scripture:
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Prayer
Today we will see see three important reasons that we must pay closer attention… The first is…
I. You Must Pay Closer Attention… For Christ’s Message of Salvation Requires Determination (1)
I. You Must Pay Closer Attention… For Christ’s Message of Salvation Requires Determination (1)
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
Why must we pay much closer attention?
This is going to be the question that the author seeks to answer in our verses for today.
We are to pay closer attention to what we have heard - namely what we saw in chapter 1 - We have seen that Christ is supreme over all. He is greater than the prophets and greater than the angels. We have seen Christ as creator and sustainer. And we have also heard that Jesus has provided purification for our sins and is exalted at the right hand of the Father.
In essence - the author is telling us that we must pay closer attention to the Gospel message of salvation.
With that in mind we are given our first reason that we must pay closer attention:
Lest we drift away. Namely, lest our determination to follow Christ falter.
The author of Hebrews uses a nautical terminology here when he speaks of drifting away. It speaks of a captain of a ship who is headed for a docking station but begins to get distracted and begins drifting away at sea. He is missing the mark.
As we discussed at the beginning of today’s message, we do not - by default - go the right way.
There is a reason why the author of Hebrews will tell us in Hebrews 12:1-2 the following:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
If we want to run this race of the Christian life with endurance - we must cast off sin and we must look to Jesus. Christ must be our only point of reference as we run. He must be our primary focus day in and day out.
When I was in early high school, my brother-in-law, Craig, and I would go out extremely far in the ocean and swim and boogie board. You could call it too much testosterone or just a couple of less-than-wise young men. One time we went out the day after a huge storm. Of course the weather was beautiful outside, but the ramifications from that storm were still being noticed in the currents. We did our typical thing and headed out. We were having a good ole time until we finally realized we had drifted very far out, and we had also drifted down the beach a significant way. While we were talking and shooting the breeze we had no idea the direction we were going. We weren’t staying focused on a certain landmark. We weren’t staying anchored to our beach location. Praise God we had a boogie board and were able to arm paddle back into safety, but it was a great example of how easy it is to drift into trouble if you are not focused on what you need to be focused on.
The author is primarily speaking to believers in this book. We understand from the Scriptures that those who are truly in Christ do not lose their salvation. No one can snatch you out of the Father’s hand (John 10:28-30). We know that He will bring His good work to completion as seen in Philippians 1:6. We know that we are new creation as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:17 and born again as John 3 asserts.
However, even believers can have ups and downs in their spiritual walk. Even believers can have times of spiritual drift. So, in response to this understanding, the question we must ask and answer is…
How do we avoid spiritual drift in our lives?
1 - We must regularly study His Word.
I may sound like a broken record sometimes when it comes to encouraging you all to read the Bible. However, there is no more important discipline in your life than to be in the Bible daily. It is our daily bread. It is the all sufficient and inerrant Word of God that provides all that is needed for salvation and a life of godliness.
2 - We must regularly pray to our Heavenly Father.
As we read the Bible, we hear God speak to us through the Words on the pages. And as we pray, we lift up our response to Him. Praying the Bible can be very helpful as well as we saw in a previous study we did called Praying the Bible by Don Whitney.
3 - We must regularly attend church and do life with believers.
We are made to be a community of believers. Get plugged in. Be sure to be doing life with the body. Attend church regularly. Come to our extra events. Ask someone to coffee or lunch from the church.
4 - We must regularly serve Christ through evangelism and service.
God provides us strength as we serve Him. Service to God provides purpose and fulfillment in the life of a believer. We were made to work.
5 - We must regularly examine ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The old pagan philosopher, Socrates, did make a statement that rings true even today. He once stated that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” We should be regularly asking God to examine our hearts. By the Holy Spirit, we should be seeking to obey and follow Christ each day of our lives. Some verses you can use in self examination are in your handout.
We are all personally responsible for our own relationship with God. The Bible is clear that salvation is a personal decision. It is a decision that no one can make for you. However, as a church with many young families, I want to take a moment and be sure to offer you a word of warning that we are seeing in our culture today.
There is a terrible issue that is afflicting many in the modern-day church. Some parents do a great job at being sure that they don’t drift away. They are in church regularly. They study the Bible. They have believers that are friends. Yet, their children are drifting without them even noticing. And sadly, many of these children have not ever truly become anchored to Christ through salvation. And the action - or better stated the inaction - of their parents is doing nothing to stop their children from rolling down the river like driftwood only to eventually plummet down a waterfall.
Though we cannot save our children, we can and are commanded to be active in passing on our faith.
Unfortunately, instead of considering passing on the faith, many Christian parents are being lulled to sleep when it comes to spiritual matters because of what our culture screams is most important. So many parents are so focused on sports, academics and even the popularity of their children that they are missing that their children are drifting far down the river spiritually.
Many parents have tried to outsource their children’s discipleship to local churches and have not been active in their children’s spiritual lives.
And in doing this, they have chosen churches - not based on Biblical teaching - but on whether it is fun or not. Do the kids think that the church is fun? Then let’s go there. Many parents aren’t focused on whether the church is doctrinally solid - they are more focused on the experience that their children have.
Time and time again, I have parents tell me that they go to a certain church because of a certain ministry. Is that the number one reason we should choose a church? Based on a children’s church, Sunday school, youth group, or other ministry? Absolutely not. These ministries have a place in some churches - though as a family church we have a different missional strategy and context. However, the main thing we should look at as parents when choosing a church is not how much fun it is - but how Biblical it is!
I pray that many of our modern-day Christian parents repent of teaching their children to be seeker sensitive and tone deaf to true theology. May we teach them what a Biblical church is and encourage them to be active in it.
Take heed lest you - and even your children drift away…
Next we see that…
Scripture References: Romans 7:18, Hebrews 12:1-2, John 10:28-30, Philippians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 3, Verses to pray through for self-examination (2 Corinthians 13:5, Psalm 139:23-24, Galatians 6:3-5, Romans 12:3, Psalm 26:2)
II. You Must Pay Closer Attention… For Christ’s Message of Salvation Requires Dedication (2-4)
II. You Must Pay Closer Attention… For Christ’s Message of Salvation Requires Dedication (2-4)
For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
The author is using a common rabbinic argumentation style here to argue his point from the lesser to the greater.
He starts off by speaking of the Law - the Old Testament Law. It was declared by angels and was reliable. Acts 7:53 asserts this and Galatians 3:19 also speaks of this. This understanding of the angel’s work in declaring the message of the Law is taken from Deuteronomy 33:2:
He said, “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.
This message of the Law discussed retribution for sins. Those who would sin would face punishment. However, watch the author moving forward in his discussion from this lesser to the greater…
For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
If there was a great retribution for breaking the Law, how much moreso will the punishment be for forsaking the salvation offered and proclaimed by the Son of God!
Charles Spurgeon once said:
“I know of no punishment that can be too severe for the man who treats with contempt the Son of God, and tramples on His blood. Every individual who hears the gospel, and yet does not receive Christ as his Savior, is committing that atrocious crime.”
Charles Spurgeon
To hammer home his point, the author offers three witness to the truth of the Gospel…
Verses 3-4 offer us three witnesses to the truth of the Gospel:
1 - It was declared first by the Lord.
We have already mentioned this, but the author wants to remind his readers that Christ proclaimed the truth of salvation while He ministered on earth. He clearly articulated His position as Messiah and Savior. He taught that He was the only way to God (John 14:6).
2 - It was attested to us by those who heard.
It appears from the way that this is written that neither the writer of the letter nor the would-be hearers of the letter had heard Christ preach the Gospel while in the flesh. However, they were entrusted with eye-witness testimony of the Gospel by the Apostles.
This word, attested, used in verse 3 means to confirm with all authority and to guarantee. There were no doubts in the mind of the author that the testimony he heard was true. And the final witness…
3 - It was attested by signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The big ‘A’ Apostles of the first century were given abilities that confirmed the Gospel in the early church. These signs, wonders, and miracles were on display to confirm the message of the Gospel. These big ‘A’ Apostles no longer exist - however today we have the greatest miracle and sign one could ever ask for - namely we have the Bible. We have the complete revelation of God’s Word. May we thank Him for His wonderful gift of confirmation He has given us.
In light of these witnesses and the truth that has been presented, the author has reminded us that we must pay closer attention. We must be all-in when it comes to the Gospel. We must understand the truth of salvation fully and truly.
For many who have grown up in the church, they can miss the actual Gospel message. They can hear it so often that they never really truly get saved. They become almost numb to it - and never dedicate themselves fully to Christ through repentance and faith.
Listen to this good example that Pastor Chuck Swindoll once shared…
Chuck had flown many times and had heard the overhead messages from the cabin crew more times than he could calculate – emergency landing instructions, emergency exit instructions, oxygen instructions, among others. He had heard it so many times that he would zone out and not pay attention any longer to them. However – during one of his flights a voice rang out over the intercom after a violent about-face turn that felt like a roller coaster ride. The pilot announced over the intercom that they would be heading back to Portland to land and that more information would be given later. Upon landing he found out that there was a bomb threat and they were going to be applying the evacuation procedures that had been discussed earlier by the cabin crew. Suddenly – all of those evacuation instructions that he ignored earlier were much more important. He stated – “guess who wanted to know where the nearest exit was and how to get out of that shotgun barrel as soon as possible!”
My friends, many of us have heard the Gospel message time and time again. We have heard that Jesus Christ took on human flesh, lived the sinless life that we could not, took the wrath of God for sin that we deserved on the cross, and rose three days later. We have heard that salvation requires faith and repentance - namely turning from our sins and turning toward Christ.
However, I am afraid that some in our churches have neglected to truly pay attention to this message. We must personally respond to the truth of the Gospel in order to be saved.
Before moving forward, it is also important that we understand that the Gospel is being neglected among many modern-day churches as well. Like the emergency landing instructions that Chuck Swindoll mentioned, many churches seem to have ignored the true Gospel message.
Many Gospel presentations throughout the modern church have key parts of the Gospel completely missing.
It is rare to hear a pastor mention the wrath of God, sin, hell, death, or the need for repentance. Tragically, the Gospel message has been distilled down into a trite statement such as ask Jesus into your heart and a promise that your life will be better if you follow Jesus.
May we never be guilty of missing the most important message ever - namely the Gospel.
Friends, be sure that you don’t neglect salvation in your own life - and be sure that you don’t neglect to share it with others.
There is coming a judgement on all who fail to repent and place their trust in Christ. Christ requires complete dedication.
So far we have seen the determination needed to follow Christ and the dedication that Christ requires for one to truly be saved.
The author ends with another important aspect regarding the truth of salvation…
Scripture References: Acts 7:53, Galatians 3:19, John 14:6
III. You Must Pay Closer Attention… For Christ’s Message of Salvation Promises Restoration (5-9)
III. You Must Pay Closer Attention… For Christ’s Message of Salvation Promises Restoration (5-9)
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
The author of the book of Hebrews has been discussing the exaltation of Christ thus far in the book. However, in order to discuss the incarnation of Christ that we will discuss further next week in verses 10-18, he is going to use an Old Testament Scripture to bridge these passages.
He is going to quote Psalm 8:4-6.
And verse 5 provides the beginning of this transition point. He says that it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come.
This world to come likely looks forward to the Millennial Reign of Christ and likely even looks forward into the New Heavens and the New Earth as well.
Who is going to reign during this future world to come? The answer is strikingly two-fold in our Scripture today.
1 - Christ
I realize that none of you would be surprised to hear that Christ will be ruling and reigning in the Millennial Kingdom as well as the New Heavens and the New Earth.
However, the second understanding mentioned here is interesting…
2- Man
Although man will not be ruling and reigning anywhere nearly as authoritative as Jesus Christ who is preeminent over all - he will be given authority in the world to come. The Bible is not clear about what this authority will look like, but it is clear that we will be exalted even above the angels.
Let’s go ahead and read verses 6-8 which quote Psalm 8:4-6 and then we will discuss this further…
It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
This passage from Psalm 8 describes both Christ as well as humanity.
The main thrust is Messianic as interpreted here. We must not miss that point.
The author of Hebrews wants us to understand an importance of this Messianic passage.
Christ has shown us what man was supposed to be had he not fallen.
In the beginning, man was perfect. He was created in the image of God and was given dominion to rule over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, over the livestock, over the creeping things, and over the entire earth (Genesis 1:26).
Yet man sinned and dominion was stripped from him. It was temporarily given to the enemy of mankind - namely Satan along with the fallen angels known as demons. Listen to some of these verses that show Satan’s rule on the earth now:
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
There are many other verses such as these as well. However, we must understand that Satan still answers to God. God sovereignly rules over everything. He has temporarily allowed Satan to test and tempt mankind. But one day, Satan and his demons will be judged and the world will be restored to perfection.
Though, in order for that to happen, Jesus had to take on human flesh.
In order to restore man back to what he was created to be, Jesus had to offer up His life as a sacrifice for our sins. Which brings us to verse 9…
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Jesus took on human flesh - becoming a little lower than the angels as we saw back in verse 7 and repeated here in verse 9 - and He lived the perfect life than no man had ever been able to live. We must note that the Psalmist speaks of the humanity and not the deity of Christ as he states that Christ was made a little lower than the angels.
And understanding this brings us to an important theological concept that we need to grasp well - namely the hypostatic union of Christ.
The Hypostatic Union of Christ understands that Jesus is truly God and truly man.
This important doctrine understands that Christ has everything that is true of a person as well as everything that is true of a divine being. These two natures exist completely united and unmixed within the Person of Jesus Christ.
Though this understanding of Christ is Biblical and was present in the early church, it was formerly adopted at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451.
The overarching importance of this understanding of Christ is that God could not die - thus Christ must be truly man. And man cannot raise himself - thus Christ must also be truly God.
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Getting back to verse 9, we see that Jesus has been crowned with glory and honor because of suffering death on behalf of everyone. This verse speaks of salvation being offered to all who would come to Christ. Everyone can be saved - unfortunately, not everyone will be saved. Only through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ can man be saved. Salvation is freely offered to all - but sadly it is rejected by most.
My friends, heed the author’s warning to you today. Do not neglect the salvation provided by Jesus Christ.
Do not neglect it personally, and do not neglect it evangelistically. Eternal lives are at stake. Each of us will spend eternity in heaven or hell.
May we be sure that we are paying closer attention to the message of salvation provided by Christ. He offers restoration of our broken souls. And He offers restoration to become who we were created to be in the beginning.
Scripture References: Psalm 8:4-6, Genesis 1:26, 2 Corinthians 4:4, John 12:31, 1 John 5:19
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, I pray that you have seen salvation clearly presented today.
In a world full of things screaming for your attention - be sure that you play closer attention to what really matters.
The things of this world that seem so important today will likely be quickly forgotten soon after. Yet, the salvation offered by Christ is an eternal truth that comes with eternal consequences in how you respond to that truth.
If you are not sure where you are with Christ, I would love to talk with you after the service. Don’t let the enemy lull you back to sleep. If God has gotten your attention today, respond to His free gift. Repent and be saved.
If you want prayer regarding how to share the the Gospel more in your life - I would be happy to talk with you about that as well!
May we be a church and a people that live out the Gospel and regularly share the Gospel with those around us.
May we be a church that pays closer attention to our Lord than to our world.
