Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

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When was the last time you were in danger?

When was the last time you were in real danger?

I doubt any of us have been living on the edge of real danger like people who run with the bulls in Spain—that’s danger!

I guess it depends on what we mean by danger?

There are all kinds of dangers in life.

Some have recently faced the “danger” of dying?

Some of you have been in “danger” of being pulled over by law enforcement because you were speeding?

(Some of you) Some of you have been in “danger” of losing privileges (car, cell phone, or freedom) because you weren’t going to make it home in time for your curfew.

We live in a dangerous world.

Danger is all around us.

Danger is so much of a reality that we have “warning” messages or labels.

· Coffee cups – “Warning: contents are extremely hot”

· Mattress Tags – “Do not remove” (Why?)

· Other Crazy Warnings (Examples)

Warnings are an important part of life.

We need to be warned of danger in our lives.

Sometimes we need to be warned in our walk with God.

Need

What if I told you that you’re in spiritual danger this morning?

Would you believe me?

I’m not trying to scare you, I don’t want to be accused of fear-mongering, and yet I don’t want you to live by the old cliché “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

That looks really as good on a bumper sticker but perhaps there is something more to fear than fear itself.

Part of fearing God is being responsive to the places in His Word that warn us about the “real and present danger” we are in each and every day.

Some of the His most pressing warnings are found in the book of Hebrews.

Preview

Today is week three of our trek through the book of HEBREWS.

In this series were Encountering the Greatness of Jesus.

The book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians.

These people had left behind a life of Judaism for Christianity—embracing the good news of Jesus Christ—and their profession of faith and pursuit of Jesus was not well-received by their fellow Jews or the Roman empire that was ruling their lands and as a result they were persecuted.

Many of them were rejected by their families, lost their possessions and homes, and were faced with physical suffering as well for their stand.

As a result, they were tempted to return to their old way of life to escape persecution and suffering so this letter was written to reveal the greatness (superiority) of Jesus Christ so they would persevere in their faith.

In the opening chapter we’ve discovered that Jesus is greater than the prophets and greater than the angels.

We have dug deep into “who” Jesus is and “why” He is greater than the prophets and the angels as the Son of God.

Up to this point there has only been truth statements, no commands, but today as we pick up in Hebrews Chapter 2 we find the first exhortation that is a warning about “The Danger of Drifting” from the gospel.

If you have your bible (and I hope you do), turn (scroll) to the book of Hebrews.

If you don’t have a Bible we have extras in the pews so feel free to get up and grab one right now so you can follow along.

We find this “Warning” in . . .

(Read 2:1-4)

I) THE DANGER OF DRIFTING

In we find the first of five warning passages in the book.

In Chapter 1 the penman laid the theological foundation of this his exhortation—Jesus’ superiority—by highlighting that Jesus is far greater than the OT prophets and the angels.

In we find the first major “exhortation” in response to the truth in order to challenge the Christians to persevere in the faith.

Now the warning passages in Hebrews are one of the most difficult passages to interpret and apply in the NT.

We have a variety of opinions/interpretations about these passages among good Christians.

A lot of ink has been spilled over these passages in Hebrews.

If you want to dig deeper you can read the book “Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews.”

(Book pic) One of the differences of opinion/interpretation is “who” these warning passages address in the letter.

· Mere Professors (Unbelievers) – warn Jews who made a mere public profession of faith about missing justification by renouncing their interest in Christianity and going back to Judaism – merely “professing Christians” who have never really been converted and therefore the warning passages are a call for them to respond in faith to the gospel.

· Believers: warning of the loss of salvation.

The “loss of salvation” that doesn’t align with the OT image and the whole teaching of the NT.

First, even though the OT people of God were punished for disobeying the Law they never lost their status as God’s people, disobeying the Law didn’t cause them to no longer be His people.

Secondly, the NT repeated highlights the “security” and “assurance” of believers based on God’s promise of salvation and finished work.

(; ; ; ).

· Believers – warns of losing rewards or other benefits because of their drifting, spiritual laziness, and disobedience.

· Believers & unbelievers – the presence of a mixed multitude who were being warned so they would persevere in their faith.

I come to these texts with great humility.

I haven’ mastered these passages.

I’m not dogmatic about my understanding of these important sections up to this point of my study.

I’m a man of “faith seeking understanding” (Anselm).

The meaning of these warning passages has been a subject of much debate by gifted & seasoned biblical scholars.

As we walk through these passages I’m going to do my best to explain what I know and where I stand based on my study, knowing very well that some of you might disagree with me.

I’ll try to highlight other views as we go along.

And while I’m open to robust theological dialogue—discussion these weighty issues at the right time and place is a good thing—and yet I don’t make much time for debate so there will be times we will have to agree to disagree in Christian love and unity.

I believe that the letter was a pastoral exhortation to believers.

I believe these warnings were written to genuine believers as opposed to mere professors of faith.

I do believe there was likely a mixed multitude—some believers and some unbelievers—but predominately genuine Jewish Christians because of the penman’s use of “us” and “we” throughout the letter.

The letter argues that the temptation for the Jewish Christians to forsake their allegiance to Christianity and return to Judaism.

I believe these warning passages are hypothetical arguments that inspire the Jewish Christians to persevere in the faith and not return to Judaism because Jesus is greater than the Old Covenant.

Therefore I’m going to try to have us consider them as genuine warnings for us as well.

The first warning is about “The Danger of Drifting.”

I want us to consider three things from : (1) “A Warning about Drifting from the Gospel (2:1, 3b-4), (2) “The Serious Consequences of Drifting from the Gospel (2:2-3a), (3) The Safeguard against Drifting from the Gospel (2:1).

Let’s take a closer look at this passage together and allow God to speak to us and change our lives.

A) A Warning about Drifting from the Gospel (2:1, 2:3b-4)

We begin with “A Warning about Drifting from the gospel (good news of salvation in Jesus) – “A Warning about Drifting from the Gospel.”

The word “Therefore” highlights the connection of this exhortation to what has already been said in Chapter 1. (“What’s the therefore therefore?”).

The presentation of Jesus’ greatness (superiority) in Chapter 1 leads to a practical exhortation in Chapter 2. Since Jesus is greater than the prophets and the angels “we must pay the most careful attention to what we’ve heard, so that we will not drift away” (2:1).

Notice the penman included himself in the call to action—“we must pay much closer attention to what “we” have heard—which reinforces the idea that this warning was addressed to genuine believers although some of the address likely included others who had not yet put their faith in Jesus.

The exhortation reveals a necessity for the Christian community—“we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard” (2:1)—this was a call to “hold firmly to and continuing to believe” the good news of salvation they had heard proclaimed to them by the apostles.

The Jewish Christians were being challenged “hold fast” and “persevere” in the gospel they had heard, the good news of salvation in Jesus who is greater than the prophets and the angels, and what they had heard and believed was the message of “so great a salvation.”

The penman describes the indescribably “great salvation” (2:3b) that they must cling to and not neglect.

We have three statements that reveal “why” this is “so great salvation” (2:3b).

1) The message of salvation was announced by Jesus (2:3b)

First, the message of God’s salvation was announced by Jesus— This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord (2:3b)—the message of salvation was first proclaimed by Jesus who is greater than the prophets and the angels.

Jesus announced the message of salvation during His earthly ministry ( & ).

Jesus is given the title “Lord” highlighting His divine authority to reveal God’s message of salvation.

2) The message of salvation was confirmed by the apostles (2:4a)

Secondly, the message of God’s great salvation was confirmed by the apostles— this salvation “was confirmed to us by those who heard him” (2:3c)—“those who heard him” refer to the apostle’s who were eyewitnesses of Jesus ministry.

The apostle’s heard Jesus announce the message of salvation and they passed it on to others.

Here we find the strongest argument against Paul as the penman of Hebrews, he puts himself outside of the group of apostles, declaring that they had received the message of salvation from those who heard him (apostles).

The penman highlights that himself and his readers were second generation Christians who had heard this message from the eyewitnesses of Jesus—the apostles had “confirmed” the gospel to them—they proclaimed the truth and reliability of the message for they had heard it from Jesus. the gospel message had been proclaimed to them from the apostles.

3) The message of salvation was authenticated by God’s testimony (2:4b)

Third, the message of salvation was authenticated by God’s testimony.

The message of salvation was announced by Jesus, confirmed by the eyewitness of the apostles, and authenticated by God’s testimony— God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will (2:4)—God joined with the witness of the apostles to confirm the message of salvation.

God bore witness to the truth of the gospel through His supernatural acts.

The language depicts God entering a courtroom as a key witness to confirm the testimony of those who had proclaimed the message of salvation.

God bore witness along with the apostles or confirmed the apostle’s witness (NET).

God confirmed the witness of the apostles with signs, wonders, and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will (2:4).

Over and over in the NT we find supernatural events that took place during the apostle’s ministry to confirm or validate the truth of the gospel (, , , , and ).

And yet this phrase “with signs and wonders” was used in the OT to describe God’s saving work in Exodus of delivering God’s people out of the bondage in Egypt.