Hebrews 2:1-4

Drift Away

Day after day I'm more confused But I look for the light through the pouring rain You know that's a game that I hate to lose Now I'm feeling the straine Aint it a shame? Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul I wanna get lost in your rock and roll And drift away Give me the beat boys and free my soul I wanna get lost in your rock and roll And drift away Beginning to think that I'm wasting time I don't understand the things I do The world outside looks so unkind I'm counting on you To carry me through

(Chorus) Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul I wanna get lost in your rock and roll And drift away Give me the beat boys and free my soul I wanna get lost in your rock and roll And drift away Beginning to think that I'm wasting time I don't understand the things I do The world outside looks so unkind I'm counting on you To carry me through

Beginning to think that I'm wasting time I don't understand the things I do The world outside looks so unkind I'm counting on you To carry me through

(C

And when my mind is free you know melody can move me And when I'm feeling blue the guitar's coming through to soothe me Thanks for the joy that you've given me I want you to know I believe in your song Your rhythm and rhyme and harmony You've helped me along You're making me strong”

Hebrews 2:1 NASB95

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

For this reason..

This introduction points us back to the previous chapter.

He has said all of Chapter 1 to say what He is about to say.

Chapter 1 can be summarized best by the first verses of the book of Hebrews

Hebrews 1:1–3 NASB95

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

And he goes on to describe how Christ is worshipped by angels.

And angels are His servants. Essentially, he makes it his aim to show us that Jesus Christ is who he said he was.

So when we come to verse 1 of chapter 2 and we read for this reason-

It can be said this way:

Because Christ is so much greater and the message of Christ is so much greater...

Remember this is what he begins the book with and this is the overwhelming and overarching theme of the book of Hebrews.

If i were to summarize the book of Hebrews in three words it would be “Christ is better.”

So in light of that.....

He goes on to say that “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard”

Because the content is better, our attention to it must be better.

I think the author of Hebrews here is hinting at the history of unfaithfulness to God’s word in previous generations.

The people of Israel had a habit of this.

Most of the Old Testament is written about their struggles and the judgment God brings against them because of their idolatry and ultimately a lack of regard for God and His Word.

That is what the author of Hebrews is warning against here.

it has been proven that we have several tendencies.

We have a tendency to forget who it is that has given us His Word.

The Garden

We have a tendency to toward lightheartedness about the Word of God.

Do you read this book often?

Is it the overwhelming authority in your life?

Do you feast from it daily?

Make no mistake: A lightheartedness about the Word of God will lead to a lightheartedness about worship.

I believe that the problem with most local bodies

We have a tendency to forget what it is that God has done for us.

This is why our worship lacks fervor and passion.

This is why we struggle and may even hate giving out of what God has given us.

This is why our singing can become routine.

This is why the brokenness over sin is virtually absent in churches today. We don’t see brokenness anymore.

Our tendency is to drift away from the things we have heard.

This is why he calls us back to this…

Listen to what he says here:

Hebrews 2:1 NASB95

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

What we have heard refers to everything he just spoke about in :

It refers to The superior message of Jesus.

It refers to the message the God became flesh and dwelt among us.

It refers to the Gospel.

What is the Gospel?

It is the good news that God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ who is God incarnate to the earth. While on earth, Jesus lived perfectly, never once breaking or diverting from God’s will and never once failed to bring glory to His Father who sent Him. Then, Jesus was crucified at the hands of his own people after being wrongfully charged. On that cross, Jesus, the Son of God, endured an eternity of wrath for all those who will believe in Him. God the Father punished Jesus on the cross instead of me for eternity. Jesus died that day, but three days later, he arose from the dead proving that he had conquered sin, death, and holds the keys to our victory. After raising from the dead, He appeared to many of His disciples, and then he ascended back to the Father where he forever sits as every believers’s advocate, and one day He is coming back to make all that is wrong right, to bring full and final healing to all those who believe in him and to punish all those who oppose Him.

That is the message He has in mind here.

We are to hold this message high.

We are to treasure it,

meditate upon it,

live by it,

and share it faithfully.

We must guard it, live it, breathe it, and preach it. We serve because of it. We live in light of it, and if necessary we die for it. This message is what must inform our worship. It gives life to the dying, and strength to the weary and hope for the broken. We must guard against any addition to it, and rebuke those who seek to subtract from it with the authority of God Himself.

This message is what must inform our worship.

The message of the Gospel cannot become routine. It cannot become something we are carless over.

It gives life to the dying, and strength to the weary.

Hear what He says here and we must obey it!

Because sadly, there is a tendency to drift away from it.

A man named David Gibson recounted what happened to the denomination known as the Mennonites.

“You may have heard the story of the Mennonite Brethren movement. One particular analysis goes like this: the first generation believed and proclaimed the gospel and thought that there were certain social entailments. The next generation assumed the gospel and advocated the entailments. The third generation denied the gospel and all that were left were the entailments.” David Gibson

The First Generation- Believed and Proclaimed

That is, they were faithful to the message. They obeyed God and they faithfully proclaimed His Word.

The Second Generation- Assumed the Gospel and advocate its social action.

That is, They assumed that every one believed the Gospel, and they just worried about helping people and serving.

The Third Generation- Denied the Gospel and all that was left was the social action.

The third generation drifted away from the Gospel altogether, and all that was left is their social action.

Without the Gospel our service means nothing.

Without the Gospel those shoeboxes mean nothing.

Without the Gospel you can feed every hungry in this world, and ultimately you will have a kid who has a full belly and soul that is destined for hell.

The gospepl is why we do the things we do and it drives every function of the church. We cannot assume it.

I believe that we

As I look at the current state of the church in America today , my personal opinion is that we have came through a generation who as a whole have assumed the Gospel.

Churches in general spend more time doing other things than time in the Bible.

The Bible has been neglected for programs and everything else.

Churches and Parents have prioritized everything except church and just have expected our children to grow up in love with Christ and His Word.

We assume that the Gospel is believed when it hasn’t been taught or prioritized.

What that has produced especially in the South is a culture of people who are assumed to be Christians when many of them do not even know how to articulate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And now we are living in a culture, where the churches don’t preach the Gospel whatsoever. The reality of Hell and sin is diminished.

So what do WE do?

The author of Hebrews tells us right here.

We pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away.

As a Church.

In our Sunday Schools

In our Prayer meeting.

In our worship.

As the family

We teach our children to love the Gospel.

Don’t assume that because you bring them to church a few times a month.

Preach the Gospel to them at home.

Live the Gospel in front of them.

Parents, Grandparents, it is your responsibility to teach them.

Do not neglect it in your home.

He gives this warning because there is the possibility of drifting away from it.

He furthers the warning by taking them back to the Old Testament..

Hebrews 2:2 NASB95

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

The Old Testament Law was spoken through angels.

When God gave the Law at Mount Sinai, he gave it through the agency of angels.

This is an argument from the lesser to the Greater.

Basically what he is saying here is this.

The Law of Moses, that which the Old Testament believers were given it served to hold them accountable.

He gave them Laws about sacrifices, Laws about morality, Laws about civility, Ceremonial Laws, Food Laws, Laws upon Laws upon Laws.

And these Laws served two purposes, broadly.

It showed them the Holiness of God.

It showed them that they were disqualified and that they needed an atonement, a sacrifice, and a mediator.

This Law given by angels showed them that EVERY SIN, AND EVERY TRANsGRESSION had to be paid for!!!

Such that no transgression or disobedience received a just penalty.

It served to point to their need for Christ.

Listen to the argument that He is making here now,

If that Law that was delivered by the agency of an angel proved to hold them accountable to their sin, and he did.

The Israelites are to be an example for us.

1 Corinthians 10:1–14 NASB95

For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

1

1 Corinthians 10:1-

Remember how many times the israelites were judged in the Old Testament for their Law Breaking.

How much more will we be held accountable seeing that God Himself has delivered to us the message of salvation.

Listen to what He says in verses 3-4

Hebrews 2:3 NASB95

how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

Hebrews 2:3–4 NASB95

how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Hebrews 2:4 NASB95

God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

The answer here is an overwhelming: We won’t. They didn’t and neither will we, if we neglect this message.

Their children didn’t. They perished. And Ours will perish as well if we neglect this great salvation we have in Christ.

He has delivered this to us Himself.

He has confirmed it through the witness of His apostles and the Holy Spirit that empowered their ministries.

The result of that was the New Testament that we have in our hands today.

We have the benefit of looking to the Lord’s work.

We have the benefit of looking in the Scriptures, looking the Old Testament and seeing their need for a Savior. and then We read in the New Testament of His Birth,His life, of His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and His continued work through the apostles.

The point of the author of Hebrews is making is this.

Too whom much is given, much will be required!!

So what must we do…

We must learn from the Israelites.

Those who had seen the powerful hand of the Lord and yet they turned their back when they got to the Land of Canaan.

We must learn from the Mennonites.

Those who once cherished, then assumed, and have now abandoned.

What must we do?

We must hold the Gospel high.

I love this passage because the application of this passage is the first verse.

Hebrews 2:1 NASB95

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

We can never be too careful.

Never preach it enough.

Never emphasizer it enough.

Paul says this in

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 NASB95

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.