The Great Sin of Neglect

Theme: When we neglect God’s miraculous salvation, we drift away.

Introduction

Hebrews 2:1 NKJV

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

The author is not writing to lost people who reject salvation, he is writing to lost people who neglect their salvation.

The imagery is of a ship drifting in the current of the ocean. If we are not careful, the chain securing us to the anchor will break and we will be set adrift.

How can we protect ourselves from drifting?

I. Repent From an Apathetic Heart (v. 1-2)

Hebrews 2:1–2 NKJV

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,

A. Devotion (v. 1)

Hebrews 2:1 NKJV

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

“give the more earnest heed.”

We can get apathetic in our devotion to God, and it will eventually cause us to drift. Before we ever come face to face with the act of sin, we can be sure that our heart is in the wrong place.

There are times during my week and during my day where I just have to recognize that there is a problem with my heart and my devotion towards God.

Devotion is both a strong attachment and affection that is marked by dedicated loyalty.

When our hearts drift, we aren’t loyal.

The Eyes of a Man

Imagine you’re with your wife and she sees you looking at another woman.

She confronts you and you say, “Well, I was just looking! I promise that I’m loyal to you.”

You might be loyal with your phyiscal body, but in your heart and in your mind you aren’t being loyal.

It’s the same way with God. That’s why the Bible tells us time and time to guard our hearts from sin and to fill it with God’s word.

Proverbs 4:23 NKJV

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

The Christian who rebukes apathy and redevotes his heart daily is a Christian that won’t be set adrift.

B. Reflection (v. 2-3)

Hebrews 2:2–3 NKJV

For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 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,

Notice those words “transgression” and “disobedience.”

Transgression is a sin of commission.

Disobedience is a sin of omission.

A transgression is a violation of the law or going out of bounds. It is a willful act of disobedience (sin of commission). Whereas, disobedience is is a failure to do what you’re supposed to do (sin of omission).

James 4:17 NKJV

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Where so many Christians fail in their walk with Jesus Christ is in the area of personal reflection.

When we get done reading God’s word or hearing the preaching of God’s word, we are good at seeing or thinking of the flaws of others. But God’s salvation of us demands that we take time for self reflection.

How can we know what God is doing in our life if we never take the time to self-reflect?

If our devotion to God doesn’t end in reflection of self, then we aren’t truly devoted to God.

C. Application (v. 2)

It’s not simply enough to know what you are and to know what God expects of you. Unless you actually do it, you are committing the sin of omission.

James 1:22–25 NKJV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

James says that when we are devoted to God’s truth, when we reflect on who we are, and then we obey the commands of God, then we will be blessed.

So many Christians are looking for blessings but they are simply apathetic in their devotion, in their reflection, and in their application.

What this apathy has produced time and time again in churches and in life is a slow drift away from the goodness of God’s salvation.

Salvation is not primarily a calling away from sin, it is a calling toward holiness.

When we think about our relationship with the Lord, we get it backwards. We wage war against our sin by trying to appropriate the correct behaviors instead of simply keeping the chain of devotion tied to the Anchor.

How are we brought back from drifting? What do we do when know we are experiencing apathy?

II. Rely on God’s Grace (v. 3-4)

Hebrews 2:3–4 NKJV

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, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

A. The Author (v. 3)

v. 3 “which at first began to be spoken by the Lord.”

Salvation came out of the mind of God. He spoke the salvation of man into existence, and then Jesus finished it when He died and was raised.

The God that we neglect with an apathetic heart is the God that at first anchored us down.

The God that at first anchored us down is the same God that can bring us back from our drifting.

This return requires some things.

1. A Humble Heart

You must have the humility to acknowledge that you’ve drifted in apathy and that you need Him to haul you back to the harbor.

2. A Trusting Heart

You need to trust Him in such a way where you’re simply willing to let go and let Him navigate the ship.

When He says turn, you turn, when He says trust, trust. When He says give, you give. When He says wait, you wait.

It is a complete dependence and trust on Him. Doing what you know to be true, and then leaving the results to God.

3. A Committed Heart

You’re going to have to rearrange your life and purpose to match up with your Savior’s life and purpose.

This is why Jesus says, “if you want to be my disciple, you must deny yourself.”

The life of a Christian is a life of sacrificing the self so that you can appropriately embrace Christ Jesus. We cannot have our own purposes and be devoted to God. We cannot have our own way of thinking and be committed to the Lord. It is one or the other.

It’s not a balancing act, it’s surrender.

B. The Sustainer (v. 3-4)

Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

This means that it the hand of Jesus Christ that hides us in the grace of God.

As our ship is adrift in the mighty ocean of apathy, the hand of Jesus Christ calms the storms that suddenly come upon us until we are brought back to a place of devotion, reflection, and apathy.

In the journey back, it is Jesus Christ that is interceding for us as our High Priest.

Hebrews 2:17 NKJV

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

In every weakness, He sustains us.

C. The Counselor (v. 4)

v. 4 “gifts of the Holy Sprit”.

The Holy Spirit has equipped us and empowers us. He is the Person that allows us to have a proper reflection. The Holy Spirit is the Person Who teaches us the Word of God.

When we’re adrift at sea, He is the One who comes and finds us and counsels our heart until we return to the place of grace.

Who keeps us till the end?

III. Find our Identity in Jesus (v. 9-11)

Every day, we must identify with the death, the mission, and the unification of Jesus Christ.

A. His Death (v. 9)

Hebrews 2:9 NKJV

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

When we committed our life to Jesus, we were buried with Him.

This means that we died to ourselves, relinquished our own will, and embraced the life of Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:16 NKJV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

This means that Paul was not ashamed to declare that he has abandoned everything that the world says is powerful in order to embrace the power that comes from God.

1. Humbled

“Lower than the angels”

2. Suffered

“suffering of death”

3. Crowned

“crowned with glory and honor.”

4. Savior

“Taste death for everyone” and this means that we don’t have to.

B. His Mission (v. 10)

Hebrews 2:10 NKJV

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

“bringing many sons to glory.”

The mission of Jesus is the will of the Father, the will of the Father is the reproduction of the Son. The reproduction of the Son is carried out by the Holy Spirit. The message of the Son is carried by God’s people.

Therefore, the mission of Jesus, the will of the Father, is that we get busy doing what God willed for us to do.

Luke 2:49 NKJV

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

Luke 19:10 NKJV

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

That is His mission, and that is to be our mission.

C. His Unification (v. 11)

Hebrews 2:11 NKJV

For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

What Jesus has done is He has united us with the Father.

This is the church. That we are the brethren, and we are one with Jesus Christ.

That is why a person who is not born-again cannot legitimately be a part of a local congregation, because they are not united with Christ, and a house divided against itself cannot stand.

When we drift, it is the Lord Jesus that works to unite us again with the Father.

No one understands the pain of separation from the Father quite like Jesus. In agony, He cried out on the cross because He became sin and was cut off from God.

Hebrews 2:17 NKJV

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

His drive to unify us to God is the overflow of His suffering and separation.

In the same way, our drive to unify others with God ought to be an overflow of our separation from God. Understanding that we were once lost in sin, and that Jesus rescued us.

Conclusion

A. Apathy

Is there apathy in your devotion, in your reflection, in your application?

B. Grace

Do you understand the greatness of God’s grace?

C. Jesus

Do you identify with the death, the mission, and the unification of Jesus?