Would you open up your Bibles to the book of Hebrews?
We're making our way through the book of Hebrews.
We'll be in the book of Hebrews for a few months here.
Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 4.
It's going to start on page 1187 of your pew Bible.
So let me read these four verses.
This is God speaking to us.
Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable,
and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
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,
while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles
and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.
May God bless the hearing of His word.
Imagine you are sitting across from your doctor in his examination room,
and He says to you,
we've got back the results of your blood tests,
and they confirm what I've been telling you for the last three years.
Your lifestyle is compromising your health,
and your life is in danger.
And then He goes on.
If you don't heed my words,
if you don't stake your life on what I'm telling you,
you will have a triple bypass in three years,
and you will be in the ground in seven.
He goes on to say,
you're adrift.
You're neglecting yourself.
And if you don't stop,
it's not going to go well for you.
What would you do?
Would you heed
your doctor's
prescriptive words?
Will you stake your life on what
He is saying?
Will you pay much closer
attention to His words?
The book of Hebrews
is one long exhortation,
and it's an exhortation
again and again
not to drift from Christ,
but to hold fast to Christ
all the way to the end.
And what's interspersed
throughout the book of Hebrews
in a beautiful way
are five warning passages.
And this morning,
we're looking at the first warning passage
in chapter 2, 1 through 4.
And these warning passages
in the book of Hebrews
are warnings against apostasy.
Apostasy is when
someone who has professed
to be a Christian
seemingly changes their mind
and rejects Christ
and the salvation He has accomplished.
So, apostasy is having to do
with those who have
claimed to be Christians
turning from Christ
and rejecting Him.
It's not talking about
a season of doubt.
It's not a season of disobedience
and you're coming back to the Lord.
It's about someone
who has rejected Christ.
Someone who's professed
to be a Christian.
The author of Hebrews
is seeing some kind of
spiritual illness in the church,
the original recipients
of this letter.
And do you know
what he's concerned about?
He's concerned
that he is seeing
early onset apostasy
in the church.
And so, he addresses it.
And in Hebrews 2, 1 through 4,
he diagnoses a problem.
And then he gives a prognosis
of what will happen
if this goes unchecked.
And then he finally,
he gives us a prescription
of what to do.
Of how not to drift.
How not to neglect
this great salvation
of Jesus Christ.
Are you going to listen
to the great healer
of your soul this morning?
Are you going to listen
to the very words of God
that he is addressing to you?
Don't drift from the sun.
Stake your life
on this great salvation
in the sun.
Don't drift from him.
Stake your life on him.
So let's look
at the diagnosis first.
Diagnosis is this idea
of this is what the problem is.
And the diagnosis begins
in chapter 2, verse 1.
Therefore, we must pay
much closer attention
to what we have heard
lest we drift away from it.
That's getting at this sense
of the problem.
Notice, verse 1 starts
with a therefore.
And like any good kind of
student of the Bible,
we ask when we see a therefore,
what's the therefore therefore?
And it's connecting
to the argument
that the writer of Hebrews
has just made
that Jesus is greater,
that the Son is greater
than the prophets.
He's the full and final
revelation of God.
He's greater than the angels
because he is God.
Therefore, we must pay
much closer attention
to what we've heard
about Jesus,
this great salvation,
lest we drift away
from Jesus,
this great salvation.
You know,
when we read those words,
lest we drift away,
we're talking about something
becoming unmoored,
unbound,
disconnected.
And maybe in your mind
when you hear the words
drift away,
they don't strike you
as that concerning.
Maybe you go,
maybe you're like me,
you hear drift away
and you start imagining
floating in a lazy river
up in the dells.
It's kind of drifting.
What you're going to see
in the book of Hebrews
is his use of drift away
is far more serious
than that.
In fact,
if you look down
at verse 3,
he uses a word
in the place of drift away.
How shall we escape
if we neglect
such a great salvation?
This drifting away
from what we've heard
is a kind of
spiritual neglect.
And I hope you're getting
kind of this sense of
this is a serious
spiritual condition.
As we make our way
through the book of Hebrews
and as we start looking,
we'll come across
these other warning passages
and the language shifts.
The language shifts
from drifting away
and neglect
and it moves into
much more weighty language.
It starts to show you
the pastoral concern
this writer has
for this church.
He's concerned
that what he is seeing
and hearing about
is early onset apostasy.
In chapter 3,
verse 12,
he moves from drift,
negligence language
to falling away
from the living God.
in chapter 6,
verses 4 through 6,
he says,
it's impossible
to restore
those who have
fallen away
from Christ.
In chapter 10,
verses 26 through 29,
he talks about
this drift,
this negligence,
this falling away
as trampling
the Son of God
underfoot.
He's speaking of those
who've professed
to be Christians.
in chapter 12,
verse 25,
it's a rejection
of him
who warns
from heaven
who's been exalted
on high
at the right hand,
seated at the right hand
of God.
This drift away language
that we see
in chapter 2,
verse 1 right here,
it may not sound serious
when in fact
it's very serious.
It could be
early onset apostasy.
It could be
the metastasizing
of unbelief.
Maybe you're starting
to ask this question,
well,
how do I know
if I'm drifting away?
How do I know
if I'm neglecting
this great salvation
found in Jesus Christ?
Well,
do you know
how you go to,
theoretically,
you go to your doctor
once a year
for an annual checkup?
Imagine you're sitting
on the examination table.
He pulls out
that little tool
with that little windshield
on it
and it has a little nose
on the end
with a little light on it.
Do you know
what I'm talking about?
He puts it
into your ear
and he's looking
into your ear.
Do you know why?
He's checking
your hearing.
It's a diagnostic.
We can ask
a similar question
diagnostic,
brothers and sisters.
It's not just
are you hearing
God speak
through His Word?
Are you
heeding
His Word?
Are you
obeying
and believing
what He's saying
in His Word?
So it's an ear check.
There's another
kind of check.
Do you remember
you're sitting there
and your doctor
pulls out that
little rubber mallet
and He kind of taps
just below your kneecap?
He's checking
your reflexes?
When you encounter
sin,
what's your reflex?
When you're tempted
to grieve God,
what's your reaction?
Is it like,
ooh,
give me some of that?
Or are you like,
no, no.
this isn't pleasing
in His sight?
What's your knee-jerk reaction
to when tempted
by sin?
There's another
kind of check.
It's the breathing check.
It's when your doctor
pulls out the stethoscope
and he puts it
on your back
and he says,
okay,
take a deep breath,
breathe in,
breathe out.
I was on staff
with Campus Crusade
for Christ
and the founder
of Campus Crusade
is a guy named
Bill Bright
and he taught
all the staff
this idea
of spiritual breathing.
It's where you
inhale God's Word
and you exhale
sin by way
of confession.
When was the last time
as a diagnostic check
on how you are doing,
when was the last time
you confessed sin
on your own
between you
and God
where you said,
Lord,
thank you for making me
aware of that
grievous thing in me.
I confess it to you
as wrong.
You're exhaling toxic air
by way of confession.
Ear check,
knee check,
lung check
and then he takes
that stethoscope
and puts it on your chest
and he's listening.
He's listening for your pulse.
Let me ask you,
Christian,
what is your heart beating for?
Is your heart beating
for God's Son?
If a stethoscope
was put on your heart,
would we hear,
God's Son,
your heart pulses
for the glory
of Jesus?
Or is it
myself,
myself?
These are just diagnostics
to check how we're doing.
We're sitting on the examination,
we're in the examination room
of God
and he's using his word
to get at stuff in us
to see if there's any hint
of us drifting away,
of neglecting him.
It could be early onset apostasy.
So we take the time now
to ask these hard questions.
Do you know
what these hard
kind of questions
are getting at?
What's at the very heart
of these kinds of
drift and negligence?
It's in 312.
Take care, brothers,
lest there be in any of you
an evil,
unbelieving heart
leading you to fall away
from the living God.
These are diagnostics
to check your heart
and the health
of your faith
in Christ.
And expose any kind
of unbelief.
The diagnosis
that this writer
of Hebrews
is showing us
is a kind of unbelief.
It's a drift.
It's a negligence.
And he moves from diagnosis
to prognosis.
A prognosis
is a prediction.
It's a prediction
of what a disease,
of what an injury,
of what a virus
will develop into
if it goes unchecked.
checked.
And the prognosis
that we're given
is in verses
2 through 4
of chapter 2.
It's a prognosis
of unbelief.
What happens
when an unbelieving
heart is unrepentant?
Unrepentant.
And what we see here
is a prognosis
that is not good.
What we have
in 2, 1 through 4
is essentially
a warning.
The writer
of Hebrews
is elegant.
He's sophisticated.
And he argues
with complicated arguments.
And he's going to warn us
this morning
with a kind of an argument
that moves from lesser
to greater.
He's going to go
something like this.
Hey,
if those people
living in the
old covenant
under the law
of Moses,
if when they
rejected
God's word
and they
received
a just
retribution,
how much
more
will
we
who profess
Christ
in the new covenant
not escape
a judgment
if we reject
Christ?
That's going to be
the argument here.
He's moving
from lesser
to greater
and it's a warning.
So let me show you
three elements
in the comparison,
okay?
There's the message.
In chapter
2,
verse 2,
we read,
for since the message
declared by angels
proved to be reliable.
That's the lesser
of the argument.
It's talking about
a message
that was declared
by angels.
What's being referred
to here
is the law
of Moses.
The angels
served as
an intermediary
in bringing forth
the law of Moses.
You can look up
Galatians 3.19.
And so this message,
this law of Moses,
you can sum it up
in the Ten Commandments.
You won't have
any other gods
before you.
Observe the Sabbath,
honor your parents,
don't bear false witness,
don't covet.
The thing about
this message is
it doesn't save.
What the law of Moses
does and does well
is it puts forth
the standard
of God's holiness
and it exposes
our sinfulness.
It shows us
that we fall short.
That's the message.
The lesser message.
The greater message
is in verse 3.
How shall we escape
if we neglect
such a great salvation?
It was declared
at first by the Lord.
It's what we have heard.
It's the message
of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Christ.
It's what he's been saying
all up to this point
that the Son
is greater than the prophets.
In verse 2,
he's the full and final
revelation of God.
He's greater than the angels.
He is God.
He has brought about salvation.
Angels serve him.
He's declared this message.
It's the gospel.
And what we see
going on here
is the gospel
is greater
than the Mosaic law
because the Mosaic law
can't save
whereas the gospel
one believed does save.
The other comparison
is between messengers.
So we have a comparison
between Mosaic law
and gospel
and now we have
a comparison
between the lesser
angels declared
and the new covenant
messenger,
the Lord.
for since the message
declared by angels
proved to be reliable,
these angels
were intermediaries
of the Mosaic law
and it was,
it proved reliable.
It was binding.
It was the truth
of God's word
and that's the lesser
of the messengers,
these angels.
The greater of the messengers
is in verse 3.
How shall we escape
if we neglect
such a great salvation?
It was declared
at first
by the Lord.
And if you look up
at verse 10,
it's the last reference
to the Lord.
You, Lord,
laid the foundation
of the earth
in the beginning.
Do you know
who that's referencing?
The Son, Jesus.
What's being said here
is that
the message
of the gospel,
the messenger,
the first messenger,
the first declarer
of this great salvation
was Jesus himself,
the Son.
The messenger
is the message.
Chapter 1, verse 2,
but in these last days
he has spoken to us
by his Son.
He is the message.
And not only just
Jesus,
I mean,
we see it in
Mark chapter 1,
verses 14 and 15.
Jesus says this.
Now, after John was arrested,
Jesus came into Galilee.
This is the first thing
he says
in the gospel of Mark.
Jesus came into Galilee
proclaiming the gospel
of God
and saying,
the time is fulfilled
and the kingdom of God
is at hand.
Repent and believe
the gospel.
Who was the first
declarer of the gospel?
In the new covenant,
it's Jesus.
But it's not just Jesus.
Look who else
attests
to this salvation.
It was declared
at first
by the Lord
and it was attested
to us
by those who heard.
So,
there's another group
of people
who heard
the Lord Jesus
kind of proclaim
this gospel
and they were ear witnesses
and eyewitnesses
were talking about
the apostles.
And they attested
to this message.
They proclaimed it.
Did you know,
aside from Judas,
10 of the 11 apostles
died martyrs' death
proclaiming
this great salvation
about Jesus?
That Jesus,
the Son,
was fully God,
fully man.
That he died
on the cross
for our sins.
He was raised
on the third day.
He ascended on high
to the right hand of God
where he's reigning on high
and then he will come back
and return
and judge all things.
They died.
It gets at this
attesting to the truthfulness
of the message.
But there's more.
Four.
While God also
bore witness
by signs and wonders
and various miracles
all throughout the gospels,
all throughout the book of Acts,
you see signs
and wonders
and miracles
being done.
All pointing to
the truthfulness
of this great salvation.
in Christ.
It's God
bearing witness
to the gospel.
And we also have
and by gifts
of the Holy Spirit
distributed
according to his will.
The Holy Spirit
in Pentecost,
he came down
and poured out
gifts
upon all of those
who believed in Jesus.
It was the beginning
of the new covenant age
where God's people
themselves
become the priesthood
of all believers.
believers.
It's a new era
bearing witness
to the truthfulness
of this gospel salvation.
Here's what I'm trying
to get at.
the messenger
of the old covenant,
these angels
attesting
to the Mosaic law,
that was good,
it's true,
but it's
this message
of salvation
that was proclaimed
first by Jesus
and then attested
to by the apostles
and was born witness
by God
and the Holy Spirit,
that's better!
That's better!
It's a lesser
to greater argument.
And this is where
it gets to the crux
of the matter.
This is now
where the warning
comes in.
The new covenant
brings a greater
retribution.
This gospel message,
when rejected,
it has a greater
punishment.
It has a greater punishment.
In chapter 2,
verse 2,
we read,
and every transgression
or disobedience
received a just
retribution.
This Mosaic law
that was brought in
by angels,
anyone who transgressed it,
stepped over the line
of God's word,
anyone who disobeyed it,
were unwilling
to listen to God's word.
It brought about
a just punishment.
Just think
of that generation
of Israelites
who wandered
for 40 years
in the wilderness
and were not allowed
into the promised land
because of their unbelief.
A just retribution.
And then we move
into the new covenant.
Verse 3,
if they didn't escape,
how shall we escape
if we neglect
this great salvation?
salvation?
How shall we escape
if we drift
and neglect
this great salvation
in the sun?
If you reject
the great salvation
in the sun,
you will face
the great retribution
of the sun.
That's how serious
this is.
God is not indifferent
to those who have professed
to be followers
of Jesus
and then trample
him underfoot.
It's a warning
of God's impending wrath.
It's a serious business
in the book of Hebrews.
If there are signs
that could be
early onset apostasy,
you must take them seriously.
Now you may be
sitting in your pew
wondering,
hold on Pastor Mike,
I thought that once
you're saved,
you're always saved.
This doesn't sound
like that.
Well, let me just
kind of tweak that
for you.
What the New Testament
actually teaches
is what's called
the perseverance
of the saints.
A saving faith,
a genuine saving faith,
is a persevering faith.
It's what Jesus
talked about
in Matthew 24,
those who endure
to the end
will be saved.
The proof
of the genuineness
of one's faith
is ultimately
demonstrated
in being faithful
to Jesus
all the way
to the end
of your life
or His return.
So you may be
asking this question,
you know what,
I've been hearing
about ex-evangelicals,
it seems like
every three to six months
there's another pastor
who's walked away
from the Christian faith.
What about them?
What do you think
about them,
Pastor Mike?
I've come to the conclusion
that they were likely
not Christians
to begin with.
Because the work
of God's Spirit
in regenerating
someone's heart
in the justifying
grace of God
is irrevocable.
Genuine faith
perseveres
all the way
to the end.
And that's what you're
going to hear
in the book of Hebrews
over and over again.
It's called up
to something.
Now let me just
make one comment here.
If you find yourself
in a situation,
maybe you've grown up
in the church
and you're asking
the question,
do I believe
all this stuff?
Maybe you're reflecting
on some things
and you're like,
have you heard
the word
deconstructing
the faith phrase?
This is a very
helpful book
if you're in that
situation.
It's called
Before You Lose Your Faith.
We've got four other copies
at the Connect Desk
out there.
I read this two years ago.
This would be very helpful
for anyone in the room
who is like,
is this true?
Is this Christianity
thing true?
This is a great book
to read.
Come find me
after the service
if that's you.
Here's what's happening
in 2, 1 through 4.
It's a lesser
to greater argument
warning us
not to drift.
Who likes
greater than,
less than,
or equal to?
I love it
in elementary school.
I loved it!
So you tell me,
who's greater?
The message
of the gospel
or the message
of Moses?
The gospel!
Because the gospel
saves.
Greater than,
less than,
or equal to.
The messenger
of the Lord Jesus Christ
or angels?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
What is the
greater retribution?
Rejection of the son
or rejection of Moses?
It's rejection
of the son.
And so this lesser
to greater argument,
well,
it's a prognosis
of what will happen
if you've professed
Christ
and then you
go full-fledged
apostasy.
Serious business.
the prognosis.
Anybody in the room
looking for a little
hope at this point?
maybe you're sitting
in your pew
like,
good doctor,
would you prescribe
something, please,
by which,
by which I can
assure
myself
that I will not
fall away.
doctor,
Lord Jesus,
would you please
prescribe something
to me
so that I won't
drift,
that I won't
trample you
underfoot,
that I won't
reject you,
that I won't
fall away from you,
would you please
give me something?
And he does.
It's in verse 1.
Therefore,
we must
pay much
closer attention
to what we
have heard.
If
the diagnosis
is drift,
it's neglect,
and with
the possibility
of this
early onset
apostasy,
if that's what
the diagnosis
is,
if it's drifting
from Christ,
do you know
what the
prescription is?
pay much
closer attention
to Christ.
Draw near
to him.
Your great
salvation.
It's drift
prevention.
He is our
drift prevention.
It's the
opposite of
neglect.
It's at the
heart of
holding fast
to Jesus
all the way
to the end.
It's fixing
your eyes
on him,
paying much
closer attention
to him.
Let me
just point
out three
things.
What we
have heard.
We must
pay much
closer attention
to what we
have heard.
The what we
have heard
is the gospel
of Jesus
Christ,
this great
salvation.
He is the
message,
the Son,
the radiance
of God's glory,
the exact
imprint of
God's nature.
He humbled
himself,
taking on
flesh.
He offered
himself on
the cross,
a sacrifice
to pay
for our
sins once
and for
all,
purifying us
from sins.
And then he
sat down at
the right hand
of God.
This is the
gospel.
This is the
good news.
It's like a
priceless diamond.
I just happen
to have a
priceless diamond
with me.
I brought it
here under
lock and
key.
It's worth
trillions.
See that?
Don't rush
the pulpit.
Do you
know what
makes a
diamond
valuable?
It's rare.
It's unique.
It's useful.
It's the
hardest
substance
on earth
naturally.
That's why
you have
diamond-tipped
cutting blades.
And it's
beautiful.
It
refracts
light and
glorious
splendor.
You know,
the gospel of
Jesus Christ
is the
greatest
diamond of
all.
It's
rare.
Who else
do you know
that is totally
God and totally
man and one
person?
That's rare.
It's useful.
Not for
cutting hard
substances.
What the
gospel does,
it delivers us
from our sin.
It rescues
us.
It's the
message of
salvation.
There's
nothing else.
There's no
other name
under heaven
given among
men by
which we
can be
saved.
And it's
beautiful.
The gospel
is beautiful.
It's God's
grace on
display.
Him loving
sinners in
their sin.
What a
beautiful,
beautiful thing.
what this
gospel is,
it calls for
paying careful
attention to
it.
We don't
want to
devalue it.
We don't
want to
neglect it,
drift from
it.
We're to
pay much
closer
attention to
it.
It's the
opposite of
neglect.
It's the
opposite of
drifting away.
Have you
ever seen
a jeweler
examining
diamonds?
Pulls out
that black
monocle
magnifier
and he's
examining
a diamond.
He's looking
at the
clarity of
it.
He's looking
at the
cut on
it.
He's looking
at the
carat
size.
He's looking
at the
color.
And when
they all
match up,
he's like,
wow!
Now,
that's a
diamond.
It's a
beauty.
It's
incredible
worth.
What we're
being called
to do
here,
and paying
close
attention to
the gospel
message,
this great
salvation,
is to make
our hearts
happy in
Jesus.
It's to
treasure him.
It's to
treasure Christ
and what he
has done.
To delight in
him,
to gaze
frequently
in an
unrushed
fashion
upon Christ
and his
finished work.
That's the
glory of
this message.
You know
what?
We live
in a
over-hurried,
over-extended
rush
culture.
And what
we're being
called upon
to is to
gaze upon
the greatness
of our
salvation in
Christ
frequently
in an
unrushed
fashion.
This is the
prescription.
This is what
wards off
drift and
neglect.
You may be
asking,
how do I
do that?
How do I
pay much
more closer
attention to
this message
of salvation?
Well,
you don't
look inside
yourself.
You don't
look for it
in an
experience.
You gaze
upon the
glory of
the Son
in the
pages of
Scripture.
That's
where you
will pay
close attention
to Jesus.
In this
book,
if you
haven't started
reading through
the book of
Hebrews,
I would
encourage you
to for
one reason,
the glory
of the
Son.
Again
and again
we are
given these
glimpses of
the glory
of the
Son.
It is
a,
it makes
your heart
happy in
Jesus.
It will
help you
treasure
Him.
This
morning I
was in
the book
of Revelation.
I had
my socks
blown off
because of
the glory
of Jesus
in chapter
one.
The
Gospels,
these are
glimpse after
glimpse of
the Son
in action
where you
can gaze
upon His
glory and
be amazed.
Treasure
Him.
Pay close
attention to
Him.
What is
He doing?
What is
He saying?
How is
He interacting
with people?
That's
your King.
It's
finding a
time.
It's
finding a
place.
It's
having a
plan and
it's
having a
goal.
And the
goal,
when you
look to
gaze upon
Jesus,
is to
glory in
Jesus,
is to
delight in
Him.
We must
pay careful
attention to
this
gospel message
with which
we've heard
again and
again.
There's
one word
in verse
one I
just want
you to
see.
It's the
word must.
therefore,
we must
pay much
closer
attention.
It's not
a maybe.
It's not
a suggestion.
It's a
must.
Do you
not want
to drift?
Do you
not want
to neglect
this great
salvation in
the sun?
You must
pay much
closer attention
to what we've
heard about
Him.
It's God's
prescription to
ward off
early onset
apostasy.
Do you
know how
to keep
from drifting
from Christ
and neglecting
Him?
Big
daily
doses
of Jesus.
Big
daily
doses
of Jesus.
Don't
drift
from Him.
Stake
your
life
upon Him.
Pay
careful
attention
to Him.
Here you
are
in God's
examination
room.
The
diagnosis
we've seen
this morning
is one of
unbelief.
Drift,
negligence
of the
sun,
moves into
falling away,
trampling
Him underfoot,
rejecting Him
wholesale.
We don't
want that.
The
prognosis
is very
sober.
When
this kind
of drift
and negligence
goes unchecked,
unheeded,
you don't
listen to
the doctor
of your
soul,
there's no
escape from
the wrath
to come.
God
will
come.
And for
those who've
professed
faith in
Christ,
who persist
in their
rejection of
Christ,
they were
likely never
Christians to
begin with.
But the
prescription,
whether you
are a
non-Christian
in the
room,
you need
to treasure
Jesus.
And if
you're a
Christian in
the room,
you need
to treasure
Jesus.
it's to
pay much
closer
attention to
this great
salvation in
the Son that
he, I mean,
we celebrated at
the table this
morning.
He gave
himself for
us.
He died
for you.
Brothers
and sisters,
where are
you at?
will you
heed God's
word?
Will you
stop
drifting
from the
Son and
start staking
your life
on him?
It's what
we call
around here
treasuring
Jesus above
all else.
All the
way,
all the
way,
all the
way to
the
end.
Will you
pray with
me?
Father
God,
would you
pour out
your
spirit
upon
us
that we
would see
the glory
of the
Son
throughout
the pages
of Scripture,
that you
would wow
us,
that we
would
treasure
the gospel
diamond,
and that
we
would
press
on out
of joy
in Jesus,
even if
that means
suffering,
even if
that means
hardship.
God,
unite us
around the
Son.
In your name
we pray.
Amen.
I