Introduction

Good morning, go ahead and turn in your bibles to the book of Hebrews.  We are in chapter 2 this morning covering verses 1 to 4.  As we begin, I will mention that I leaned pretty heavily on the outline given in the commentary provided in the bibliography of the notes for this sermon.  I tell you that for a couple reasons.  One, so that you have some degree of assurance that I am not up here making things up on my own.  The interpretation and application I provide is always based on proven and tested ideas.  Ones that have been through the furnace of critical analysis and have shown to be true and beneficial.  I have no desire to come up with a host of novel ideas about the text, I just want to give you what is there.  You will see the justification of that from our text shortly.  

Secondly, I mention the resources to again suggest that you get a copy of some of these for your personal study.  God has blessed us with a wealth of resources to help us mine the depths of the scriptures and to offer us these anchor points in the church that we may collectively stay fixed to the truth that has been set before us.  Far too often when we assume we can come up with a better interpretation or a better application, we begin to drift of course.  So read the bible for yourself, read it for all it’s worth, and keep some resources handy to help with interpretation and application so you stay anchored to the truth.  

That is basically where we are going this morning but let me add a few more comments of introduction.  We very often lament the loss of truth but it becomes ever more evident in election years, doesn’t it.  The outright lies are apparent to be sure but more dangerous are the subtle mischaracterizations of someone or taking things out of context.  These subtle lies are used to reframe the narrative about someone or a given subject and if you do it enough and are persistent at it, you can convince people that someone is the next Hitler, for instance.  

The slow drift is very often the most dangerous sort of deception.  While no candidate is perfect and never will be, one party has, for quite a while, been trying to drift us towards progress (whatever that really means) and the other is trying to conserve the truths we were founded on.  Political or otherwise, are we trying to uphold and conserve truth or are we progressing towards a future of our own design? How we answer that in politics has many temporal implications for our lives to be sure but more than that, how we answer that in relation to Christ and his word has eternal consequences.  

Hear me when I say this, faith in “god” doesn’t save anyone.  Muslims have faith in “god” and are very passionate and active in that faith.  Don’t clip this out of context and slander me on CNN but faith in “christ” doesn’t necessarily save either.  Mormons will confess faith in “christ” but such a faith will not save.  Why? Because the object of our faith and truth about the one in whom we trust is vital.  Imagine getting onto a plane and the pilot has never flown a plane before but you confess your faith in this pilot and trust that he will get you to your destination.  What incredible faith we might say.  But that is a terrible object to trust in.  Faith in a false or bad object, no matter how great your faith is, will still crash you into the side of a mountain.  

We must have faith to save but not just any faith will do.  It must be true faith in the true God, Jesus Christ, everything else progresses us towards destruction.  No other object is worth trusting in because no other object will save you.  Oh, how easy it is to drift from the true object of our faith and exchange him for a lie.  May our God once again anchor us in the truth of Christ this morning. Stand with me as we read Hebrews 2, verses 1-4

2 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 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, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 

Drifting Theology

Our text begins this morning by telling us to pay attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it.  Interestingly enough, I learned this week that this word in Greek translated as drift away is a nautical term.  This is the only time this word is used in the bible and it conveys the idea of a ship slowly drifting off course perhaps because of an absent minded captain.  It can also mean a ship drifting away from shore due to insufficient anchoring.  In either case, you can clearly see what the writer is communicating.  The drift that he is warning us about is just that, a slow, almost unnoticeable veering of course.  

This is a grave warning to us that very few people are actively trying to neglect their salvation and neglect Christ.  Further we don’t have to be active in such an endeavor to find ourselves in positions of neglect or denial.  Just stop paying attention for a few moments and inevitably the drift begins.  Perhaps even more frightening is the reality that far too often the ones drifting have no idea they are drifting until it’s too late.  The bible gives us a handful of examples of this in the New Testament but perhaps the most poignant comes from Paul.  

In Colossians, Paul writes a final word of update about who is with him and mentions, “Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.” Demas is not a person we talk about much but maybe we should.  He was a disciple of Paul and a follower of Christ.  Demas wasn’t just a flash in the pan follower either, as far as we can tell.  He is mentioned as being with Paul in Colossians which was written in 53-55 AD and he was also mentioned as being with Paul in Philemon which was written during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome in 60 AD.  So Demas was with Paul and learned from him and was participating in the ministry of Christ for 7 years.  For at least 7 years this man saw the power of Christ and the goodness of the gospel working to save people.  

So what happened to Demas? In the last letter Paul wrote in our Scriptures, 2 Timothy, he says this, “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Did Demas set out with Paul in the beginning with the intent to ultimately desert him and Christ in the end?  We would have to assume not.  Certainly his deserting of Paul didn’t happen suddenly, right?  He didn’t wake up one morning and just decide you know, I love this present world too much to continue.  It was a slow drift.  I can’t even put into words how tragic this situation is and what a crushing blow it would have been for Paul to experience.  

Equally as tragic is that such occurrences are happening right now, all the time within the visible church.  There is an epidemic of drifting among contemporary Christian music artists such that it is painfully unsurprising when I hear of another Christian artist denouncing their faith.  For a while it seemed like every month we were hearing of another Texas Baptist pastor having forfeited their ministry as a result of drifting into a disqualifying sin.  If you think this can’t happen to you, or assume that you will never drift, please hear the words of Paul.  “12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” 

As we have been discussing in detail on Wednesday nights, if we do not discipline ourselves for Godliness and if we do not practice such discipline continuously, we will find ourselves off course.  So what are we to do? 

Hold the Wheel

Our text gives us two main commands in light of the reality of drifting and each of these commands hit on the two main areas of drifting.  That is drifting from obedience to something else and drifting from truth to a lie.  I will somewhat intermingle these two as we look at these commands because they are in many ways inseparably connected.  The first is that we must hold the wheel.  The beginning of our text commands us to “Pay attention”.  This is actually also a nautical term that means something like “hold the wheel” or “secure the anchor”.  The idea is plain enough.  Keep the line straight and the anchor firmly secure or you will drift off course or out to sea.  C.S. Lewis says it this way, 

“We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in your mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?” In the matter of our belief, as in all other matters, Christianity requires hard work; the New Testament describes the life of faith as a fight, a race, and a field in which a farmer labors. Paul says in various places: “I press on … I follow after … I strive … I fight.”

This of course begs the questions: what exactly are we fighting for and following after and what is this straight line to which we are holding?  Chapter one of Hebrews is a pretty good place to start.  We hold the truth about Christ and his gospel.  His message of salvation for the sinner by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, the real and true Christ alone.  We can argue that we hold on to more than that, and I will make a case for that in just a second but it certainly can’t be any less than that. 

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

      creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

      who was conceived by the Holy Spirit

      and born of the virgin Mary.

      He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

      was crucified, died, and was buried;

      he descended to hell.

      The third day he rose again from the dead.

      He ascended to heaven

      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

      From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the holy catholic* church,

      the communion of saints,

      the forgiveness of sins,

      the resurrection of the body,

      and the life everlasting. Amen.

We must, at a minimum, hold that line.  You might say well that’s an easy line to hold, no problem.  But it is so much more difficult than you might initially suppose.  Did God create the heavens and earth and by extension everything in it or did he only get it started and we have evolved? Is Jesus Christ, the man, really our Lord, Yahweh, the great I am, the one who was, and is and is to come? Surely you don’t think that Jesus was actually conceived by and born from a virgin woman.  You see how in even an otherwise simple statement of orthodox Christianity the drift can begin.   Once it begins, it is very difficult to pull back a drifter.  

Let me be clear about something here.  Salvation is a work solely of God given to us by faith and the justification that follows.  Further, if not for Christ’s continual intercession on our behalf we would all drift away.  In saying everything that I have said and will say this morning, I do not want to put a burden on anyone to save themselves or keep themselves because that would go against the very gospel that we teach.  It is a great joy to us and the best news possible that Christ has saved us by his work and is keeping us by his work.  Praise and thanks be to God for that.  I can’t, however, ignore the commands given to us to pay attention and work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  On that point, allow me to quote two men much, much wiser than me. Martyn Loyd Jones says this, 

“In the matter of our righteousness and justification we can never say too often that we do nothing, we can do nothing, it is entirely the work of Christ. But once we are saved and given this new life, then the progressive work of sanctification does not call for passivity, and we are exhorted to activity.”

and J.C. Ryle

I will never shrink from declaring my belief that there are no “spiritual gains without pains.” I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much holiness who was not diligent about his Bible-reading, his prayers, and the use of his Sundays.

We give thanks to our God this morning for his gracious free gift of salvation and the revelation of the Son which regenerated our dead hearts to life.  It is his work that has saved us and is keeping up but now in light of such an incredible gift as we have been given, we must hear the words of Paul and the author of Hebrews.  We must press on, follow after, strive for, and fight for.  We must hold the wheel on the truth of this amazing grace that has saved us.  

Hold the Truth

There are very few Christians who don’t want to grow in grace and in holiness and don’t earnestly desire to be sanctified, but the means by which we get there is the issue.  The second command that our text gives, related to the first which was hold the wheel, is hold the truth.  Let me first address how sanctification ordinarily does not occur.  Notice I said ordinarily because God does at times, in past, present and future, work in special or particular ways.  Ordinarily though, sanctification  does not occur through emotional experience or secular methods.  I don’t have time this morning to go through all those various ways but many a Christian is enticed into the pursuit of holiness through the learning and practice of various charismatic gifts, the repeated exposure to emotional spiritual experiences, or even the practice of prolonged and repetitive prayer.  

Again, to be sure, God can use any of these kinds of things to sanctify in spite of their otherwise misapplication but more often than not, such are the beginnings of drifting.  What the bible does command us to do is to pay attention to what we have heard.  This is perhaps a less obvious way of saying to prevent drift and to participate in willful and proper sanctification, devote yourself to the diligent study and application of God’s word to your heart.

To support such a statement I will offer to you two verses. 

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8: 31-32

That is to say that if you abide in and cling to the Word, in flesh, and the words given to us by the Word, you prove yourself to be a true disciple of him.  Further, a disciplined abiding in the word will reveal to you the truth about God and such revelation is the only means by which there is any possible freedom.  Such true and lasting freedom can be had and is given through the knowledge of this word, both spoken and in the flesh.  

 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. John 17: 17-18

The prayer of Jesus shortly before he went to the cross promises sanctification  for all those whom he is praying to the father for, namely those for whom the father has given him and those for whom he is going to the cross.  That is, believers.  How is it then that this promised sanctification will be given? Through truth. And where may truth be found? In his word.   

We can search for it in a myriad of other ways but such searching is in vain and such searching is far more dangerous than we imagine.  I have one more quote for you this morning and this one comes from Donald Barnhouse. 

 “It is the Word of God that can establish the Christian and give him strength to overcome the old forces and to live the new. It can never be done in any other way.… You cannot find even one Christian on this earth who has developed into strength of wisdom and witness in the Lord who has attained it by any other means than study and meditation in the Word of God.”

I again say that I have little doubt that many earnestly desire to grow in strength and in wisdom of the things of God but we must never neglect the clear prescribed way in which this strength and wisdom is obtained.  Holding the wheel and holding the truth.  

Conclusion

You may have noticed that to this point in the sermon I have really only covered the first verse of chapter two and there are still 3 other verses.  My conclusion this morning will be slightly different than usual and I will focus the application more broadly as we cover these last few verses.  

2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

If God punishes a failure to comply with, and obedience to, the old covenant, then how much more will he punish those who fail to comply with the new?  We can certainly see, through even a casual reading of the Old Testament, that God punishes failure according to the old covenant, correct? Even a person with only a slight acquaintance with the bible would surely proclaim that the Old Testament God seems very angry towards sinners, and he is.  Has something changed in his disposition towards sin now? 

No, of course not.  What has changed is that he has given us a final and sure way of escaping his judgment.  That is faith in his son, Jesus Christ, the word became flesh.  Far too often, in an attempt to reduce the severity of God and his judgment we put man back under the same bondage that Christ has set us from.  Let me explain.  How often is it said that God is a God of love and one only needs love, that is love to God and love to one another and they will be saved.  For how can God condemn anyone who loves one another.  

If we were diligent about holding the truth that sets us free though we would see that Christ did not relax the condemnation of the law but rather elevates us.  Do you love your brother? Have you ever been angry with them? Then according to Christ you are not only unloving but also a murderer.  “Just love one another” they say but do you have any idea how impossible that is.  Read 1 Corinthians 13. Have you ever been impatient with someone? Have you ever been unkind?  Have you ever envied someone or been rude to them?  If you can answer yes to even one of them, you do not “just love one another.”

If you could ever hope to just love one another you would have to reduce what love actually is to such a sorry and pathetic shell of true love that it would render such a love that you possess worthy only of Hollywood or a soap opera.  Such a love will not save because it can not save.  There is however a love that does save.  A love that was declared before the world began and a love that was given to us in the flesh and attested to by those who heard him.  A love that was confirmed through a message and a very good one, and was validated by signs and wonders.  A love that is further confirmed through various giftings that all serve to point us back to the source of real love.  The God of our salvation.  

It is only in Christ we are saved.  It is only by abiding in and holding fast to his great love, his word made flesh that we will escape the judgment of God.  Do not neglect so great a salvation nor trade it for any other.  Know Christ, trust in him alone and cling to him.  Set your anchor fast to his redeeming work at Calvary.  Hold your wheel straight down the line of his truth.  Pay attention to his good news, meditate on his good word and do not drift from it.  Uncharted waters may seem enticing, novel ideas about love and salvation may tickle your ears but do not listen to the siren song.  Hold the wheel, hold the truth, abide in Christ, and you shall surely sail to glory.  Amen 

Bibliography

Phillips, Richard D. 2006. Hebrews. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)