“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall 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 bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”
The letter to the Hebrews was probably written to the church in Jerusalem shortly before that city’s fall to Titus of Rome in A.D. 70. The estimated time of writing is about A.D. 65-66.
More important to remember than the date of writing though, is that it was written to Christians. There is much evidence for this, as I will point out as we move through. It was not written to pagans; it was not written to practitioners of Judaism; it was written for the believer, then and now.
I stress this point, because right here in the opening verses of the second chapter, very early in this letter, we find a warning.
There are five warnings to the church throughout the course of this epistle,
and these, as much as the doctrines of love and grace and forgiveness and mercy, must be studied and applied to the life...for they are life-saving.
So let’s move forward with an attitude of surrender to His truth and a willingness to be changed in mind and heart where He sees the need ~ remembering all the while that these are not warnings from a God who wants to find fault, but a God who has forgiven fault, and desires to purge and purify for holiness’ sake.
First of all, zoom in on the first three words of the chapter.
“For this reason...”
Reminding ourselves that the writer himself did not make chapter and verse divisions, we see that with these three words he is now beginning to build upon a foundation he has laid in the opening statements of his epistle.
God has spoken. In times past, He spoke through prophets, by word and miracles, by writings and historical events; “many portions and many ways”.
God has spoken. In His Son. He has sent His ambassadors and His special messengers ~ both human and angelic ~ but now, in what the writer calls the last days, He has sent His own Son, who is better than the prophets, better than the angels.
More, much more than that, He is creator of all things and upholds all things by the word of His power. He is God Himself, whose throne is forever and ever. His reign is in righteousness and will have no end.
The very heavens that His hands made will grow old like a much used garment, and He Himself will roll them up and change them. But He Himself will have no end, and by His atoning work, He has risen to a place of majesty and honor in the heavens, symbolically at the Father’s right hand. In other words, God equal with God.
“For this reason...”
...because Christ is better than the angels, and the message of the gospel is BY Him and FOR Him...
“...we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
There can be no better reason to pay earnest heed to what is being said, than that it is being said by the one Who has provided the salvation we will inherit.
The Holy Spirit, through the writer, is telling us here, that it was very important, even vital, that men listened to the voices of the prophets and the angelic messengers in past times.
He is making it clear to us that every transgression and every act of disobedience against these messengers of God, received a just recompense. They danced to the tune, and they paid the piper.
He tells us that the messages God gave through these agents were ‘unalterable’. ‘Steadfast’. Men who refused to believe; refused to obey, were in effect, kicking against the goad.
Now in case anyone here doesn’t know that that term means, it refers to a pointed stick the farmer would hold in his hand to train an oxen for the plow. When the beast rebelled against the harness and the commands of the farmer directing the plow, and kicked back, he would be kicking against the point of the stick ~ this goad ~ and it would hurt.
Every transgression and disobedience received it’s just recompense.
Now I would not put myself on a level plane with the prophets of old, and certainly not the angels. But since my message is not my own, since the truth I bring you is God’s truth and not my opinion, I would be bold and say that insofar as I am teaching you the unadulterated word of God, you should give heed to my message. If you hear truth from me or anyone else rightly dividing the word of God to you, as the Holy Spirit confirms the truth of His Word to you, you should obey. You should listen carefully, and let the word become flesh in you. Because it is true, listener, that when you hear the spoken word of God, or when you study the written word of God, to go out then and live in disobedience or disbelief of that word will only result in your paying the consequences of disbelief, as did those referred to here in verse 3.
Now I say all that to say this.
If it is so important that when I bring you truth, you pay close attention and internalize that truth, HOW MUCH MORE important, that you pay even closer attention, and give much greater devotion and obedience, to the One who sends the messengers? The One who purchased with His own blood, the salvation of which we speak?
The word of salvation was spoken to us by our Lord. That should be enough. But God confirmed the message to us, in clear and undeniable ways:
1. By Signs and wonders. (Pentecost, the Lord’s works during His earthly ministry, by His appearance to Paul, delivering the apostles miraculously from prison ~ just to list a few)
2. Miracles. (Philip’s transportation to the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot, Peter’s raising of Dorcas from the dead, the healing of a cripple in Lystra by Paul ~ just to list a few)
3. Gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are listed in I Cor. 12, and they were all very active in the ministries of the Apostles and others in the early church (the time that the writer is referring to)
Now in his warning here, the Holy Spirit is addressing two dangers.
In verse 1 He warns us not to drift away from what we have heard, and in verse 3 he warns not to neglect so great a salvation. Let’s look at those one at a time.
What does the term “drift away” infer?
The phrase that was used here would be an appropriate reference to a ship that has come untied from the dock and is drifting away from its moorings.
It would be a graceful, probably silent, slow movement ~ but the ship would be in no less danger of being dashed against the rocks at the shoreline, or hopelessly lost out to sea. “Drifting is the quietest, easiest, most delightful way of dying” -Newell
So when are we most likely to ‘drift away’ from what we have heard?
- Times of prosperity, when we’re comfortable, and worldly things have lured our minds and hearts away from thoughts of the world to come and focused us on the temporal.
A.W. Tozer wrote:
“Christians are so comfortable in this world, that they have no desire to leave it. History reveals that times of suffering for the church have also been times of looking upward. Tribulation has always sobered God’s people, and encouraged them to look for and yearn after the return of their Lord. Our present preoccupation with this world may be a warning of bitter days to come. God will wean us away from the earth some way; the easy way if possible, the hard way if necessary. It’s up to us.”
- On occasion, during times of persecution or trial of circumstances, when we become so focused on the problem that we forget Who is able to keep that which we’ve committed to Him.
“...when the pressure of trial is upon us, the thought of relief is sweet, and we are in danger of seeking relief in our own way. The enemy always has a by-road open to the man of faith. He had an Egypt for Abraham, and a Ziklag for David; and now he has the world, in all its varied forms for us.”
-C.H.M.
It’s a slow and sneaky thing ~ drifting away... but it happens, and we must be warned against it. Often, we must be warned against it by other believers, because by its very quiet and subtle nature, we don’t realize it’s happening to us.
When we hear from the shore, “Your moorings have come loose! You’re drifting! Here; catch this lifeline!” We need to respond quickly and positively and remind ourselves of ‘what we have heard’.
Drifting and Neglecting are related, in that it is the drifting that leads us to neglecting.
You see, drifting can be almost accidental. But when we have drifted away from the word spoken to us ~ and have re-attached ourselves to the world and it’s thinking, the next step is that we neglect this great salvation.
Neglect is willful. Careless. Care - less.
Matt 22:5, same GR word used: “They paid no attention and went their way...”
I want to list for you, some of the ways people neglect their salvation, but then on a more positive note I want to tell you HOW we ‘pay much closer attention’ and get back on solid ground.
Christians ‘neglect’ so great a salvation: (list from W.R. Newell, “Hebrews, Verse by Verse”
1. by ceasing to give attention to the things of the Lord and salvation
-distaste for Bible reading & prayer; willingness to be absent from the
assembly of believers (10:25)
2. absorbed with earthly, selfish interests
3. deadness of heart toward Christ, His sacrifice, the love of God
(remember, this all comes about as a result of drifting)
4. pre-occupation with the affairs and news of this world
rather than the world to come and our coming Lord.
5. Loss of God-consciousness/awareness
6. Putting away the thought of the ‘judgment to come’
7. Living like the ‘beasts that perish’, as though this is all there is.
(Psalm 49:12)
First drifting ~ dangerous, then neglecting ~ sinful.
So how do we ‘pay much closer attention’?
As in the physical world, the prevention is a lot easier than the cure; it’s very simple, really.
1. Increase diligence in meeting with Jesus in the Word and prayer.
2. Meet Him in the Lord’s Supper both physically and spiritually. (That is, by partaking of communion, and also reminding ourselves often - even daily - that He paid our debt and gave us life)
How very often, I have heard Christians (sorry, but all of them Baptists), parrot the phrase, “Once saved, always saved!” When I could tell by the rest of their testimony and even their behavior, that to them the doctrine means a free ’bus ride’ to Heaven.
And oftentimes they are saying it ~ parroting this phrase, when the evidence in their life is that they have drifted far from what they have heard, and are indeed, neglecting their great salvation.
When I was teaching from Hebrews in a Sunday School class, there was a man who, every time I had occasion to teach on one of these warnings, would cry out, “Once saved always saved!” as though he thought that by teaching the warning I was contradicting his belief.
The warnings are written to Christians folks, and therefore we must give heed to them or suffer the consequences.
A very good friend of mine, as we were discussing this very matter, made a statement that I have included in my treasure chest of memorable quotes. He said:
“A lot of Christians are ready to parrot the words, ’once saved, always saved’, but they do not seem to realize that with eternal security comes eternal accountability.”
Christian, I do not contradict all of the many things I have said concerning God’s absolute grace and our eternal right standing with Him through faith in Christ’s shed blood and resurrection, when I say to you that if we name the name of Christ, ... if we say, “I am His and He is my Lord and I will reign with Him forever”, then we have taken on a responsibility to do certain things!
Not to be made right with God, but in order to be a living, functioning part of the organism that is His church!
We have a responsibility before God, to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have a responsibility before God, to set our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith, and follow where He leads. Each one of us! Not just as a congregation; but each one of us as individual parts of the whole.
We have a responsibility to love the brethren and give of ourselves sacrificially and unconditionally to each other. Jesus commanded us to do that!
There are many exhortations in the letters of the New Testament, that we are responsible to know, and to do, as members of God’s eternal family. But we can’t do them if we don’t know them, and we can’t know them if we don’t look for them in God’s Word.
We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we don’t drift away and fall into neglect.
We need to :
Watch our heart
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.
Watch the enemy
I Peter 5:8 says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”
Watch the world
I John 5:19 says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
I quote MacKintosh once more:
“A Christian is one whose sins are forgiven, who possesses eternal life, and knows it; in whom the Holy Ghost dwells; he is accepted in and associated with a risen and glorified Christ; he has broken with the world, is dead to sin and the law, and finds his object and his delight, and his spiritual sustenance, in the Christ who loved him and gave Himself for him, and for whose coming he waits everyday of his life. This...is the New Testament description of a Christian.”
If you have been described here, then the scripture says, pay much closer attention to what you’ve heard, so that you do not drift away from it ~ and by so doing, find yourself neglecting your salvation.
Now I want to spend the last minutes of this sermon focusing on the positive.
Notice please, that the Holy Spirit, even in His warnings to us, gives us encouragement.
Listen again to verse 4:
“God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will”
Earlier we talked about some of the events the writer was referring to in this verse, that were evidences borne to us by God, that what was spoken to us was true and trustworthy.
The signs and wonders ~ the appearance of flames on the apostle’s heads, the sound of a mighty, rushing wind as the Comforter came as promised and filled the believers there; the miracles ~ healing of the lame, raising of the dead, crumbling of prison walls, opening of locked chains; the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Supernatural wisdom and knowledge, magnificent examples of faith, healing, distinguishing of spirits, tongues; all manifestations of the Spirit for the common good.
But under the surface...barely under the surface of this verse, is the implied truth that God has indeed spoken to man this message: “I love you, I want your fellowship, I want your love, and in answer to Isaiah’s prayer, I have rent the Heavens and come down.” (Isaiah 64:1)
From the beginning man has made no effort to find God; to go to God, except by his own methods, thus finding the wrong gods.
Paul rightfully quoted the psalmist: “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless, there is none who does good, there is not even one.”
In contrast, from the beginning, God has spoken. God has spoken good news. He has used every means available, to send the message that He is there to be found and would not cast away any sincere seeker.
He sent men, He sent angels, finally He sent His Son. Then God continued to speak, through signs and wonders, miracles, gifts of the Spirit, ~ bearing witness with His ambassadors first through our Lord and then through those who heard. What did they hear?
~“I am the way and the truth and the life.”
~“...he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life”
~”I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst”
This could go on and on and on...
God has never been silent from the beginning, listener. His word goes forth from Him perpetually, and the message is always, to everyone, “Come. Come. Receive the abundant life that comes from above. Fellowship with Me. Learn of Me. Reign with Me.”
Listen closely. Can you hear the Spirit speaking? Pay close, close attention, and take care not to drift away ~ for there is life, nowhere else.
