Sermon Brief
Date Written: June 5, 2006 revised on May 29, 2008
Date last preached: June 01, 2008
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Our Great Savior!
Sermon Title: The Dangers of Christian Drifting!
Sermon Text: Hebrews 2:1-4 READ PASSAGES HERE
So let’s read our passage at this time… read passage here…
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
3 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, 4 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. Heb 2:1-4 (NASB)
Introduction:
In our world today we have ‘warning signs’ posted in almost every area of our lives…
• When we come to a intersection there is a sign to let us know…
• When a stop is coming up there are signs that tell us to stop…
• When we entering the interstate… we have yield signs…
• When dangerous chemicals are present… we see the bio-hazard signs…
• Warning signs that post land are put there to WARN people about trespassing on someone else’s land…
• We have warning labels on our medicines…
• If you smoke, there is a warning label on the side of your cigarettes…
We are a society that is filled with warning signs… but WHY? Why do we have SO many warning signs in our society? It is to keep us safe… or at least TRY to keep us safe…
Well just like the warning signs that we see today on our roads, on our medicine… and on so many other things in our society… God has posted warning signs along the road of life so that the believer can avoid danger…
In fact, the book of Hebrews is filled with some of these ‘danger signs’… in our passage tonight the writer of Hebrews speaks about negligence in our Christian walk…
• In chapter 3 God warns us about disobedience in our walk with Christ…
• In chapter 5 God warns us about deserting our walk with Christ…
• In chapter 10 God warns us about rebelling against Him and in our walk with Christ…
• In chapter 12 God warns us about worldliness and the dangers that lie in clinging to the world…
• In chapter 12 as well God warns us about our unwillingness to hear and listen to God… about us IGNORING God’s call on your life!
But this morning I want us to look at chapter 2:1-4 where the writer of Hebrews thru the inspiration of the H.S. warns believers about drifting away from God…
And in this 1st warning issued the writer says, …so that we do not drift away… the verb ‘drift’ here is the Greek word (par-ah-eh-oh) which is a combination of 2 Greek words… (par-ah) which means from beside or from the side of…And the other Greek word that forms this verb is… (rhe-oh) which means to flow…
Together they form this verb that represents word picture in the mind that seems to be that of allowing the current to carry one away from a fixed point of safety… through carelessness or unconcern…
In other words, we can see that the writer was saying, ‘Because what we have heard is the Gospel of Jesus Christ [and in chapter 1 Jesus is established as far superior to the angels… because we have heard the Gospel of Christ… we need to pay strict attention to it and adhere to its teachings!’
He is inferring here that there were those among the church there who instead of keeping a firm grip on the teaching of truth and holding fast to the Word of God… they had allowed themselves to drift away thru a careless attitude and an apathetic behavior on their part… This apathy and carelessness is reckless for the believer and it reveals a terrible lack of concern about their walk with Christ!
So this morning I want to address 4 specific items that deal with the Christian and the subject of a Christian drifting away from their relationship [that salvation] with God! This morning I want to share with you…
1. The reality that Christians can drift from their walk with Christ!
2. The reason that Christians are drifting from their walk with Christ!
3. The result of any Christian drifting…and finally
4. The remedy FOR Christian drifting…
But to begin with I want us to stay in verse one right now and I want us to take another look at the phrase “…so that we do not drift away…” First of all we need to understand that because the writer has been inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about believers drifting away from Christ…that there must have been an issue or problem with this in that time…Let’s look at…
1. The Reality of Christian Drifting:
a. Drifting can be seen in many Biblical characters…
How many here remember Abraham’s nephew, Lot? When a conflict arose between his servants and Abraham’s servants, Abraham gave Lot the choice… to pick where he wanted to live and the Bible tells us that he pitched his tent toward Sodom.
And we know from reading the rest of the story… First he pitched his tent toward Sodom, as we see in Gen 13, but before long he and his family were living within the walls of the city. However, by Gen 19 we find that Lot allowed the godless nature of that city to influence and envelope his family.
We can see that Samson was totally deceived and drifted in his vows to God when it came to the woman named Delilah…read Judges 16:19
What about King David? He was mesmerized by the beauty of Bathsheeba and drifted away from his walk with the Lord… (2 Samuel 11:2) for a moment’s pleasure David drifted away from God into the troubled and dangerous waters of sin…
Do you remember what Peter said to Jesus? Matt 26:34;75…Peter said he would NEVER deny Him, and even if all others left, he would never leave Him… even if it meant death for him. Peter vowed that he was not going to forsake Jesus. But we know that in a terrifying moment of fear, Peter failed Jesus. We find that when persecution came, Peter not only ran away, but actually denied Jesus 3 times…
We read all thru Scripture and find many stalwarts of the faith who have their own moments of drifting away from their walk with God! I am here to tell ALL of you here this morning that any believer drifting away from their walk with God is not something unheard of!
In fact, it is a real event that happens much more than many of us want to believe. There are many believers who fall prey to ‘drifting’ on a daily basis! So just like ‘spiritual drifting’ was real for the biblical icons like Peter, King David, and Samson in Bible times, we can know that it is just as real today…and because of this…
b. The possibility of drifting is something all Christians must guard against…
We must all guard against drifting away from the safety of God’s Word and teachings. I simply do NOT believe that a true believer, one who has truly been changed by God… intentionally drifts away from his or her walk with God…
But yet, Satan is so sneaky and he creeps up on us in our weakest moments and before we know it, we are drifting! And the sad fact is that many times we will continue to “drift” because we either are too wrapped up in ourselves OR we simply refuse to believe that what we are doing is “drifting us away” from God…
But why do we drift, I want us to take a look at…
2. The Reason for Christian Drifting:
a. Neglect comes from distraction or ‘drifting’ on our part…
We can see from the writer of Hebrew that he diagnoses the cause of ‘spiritual drifting’ as neglect on the part of the believer.
The believers he was writing to were neglecting the salvation experience in Christ and because of this neglect they were drifting away from Christ…
The readers of this letter were NOT giving it their all in their walk with Christ… they were NOT paying attention to their salvation experience and what it meant…
They had joined together in Christ, but they had failed to submit their WHOLE self to Christ. They had held back… they were inattentive to the call of Christ to surrender…
Think about what distraction or ‘drifting’ can do to a relationship! When you get married, everything is rosy and wonderful, but what if the husband begins to ignore the wife… he is NOT attentive to her needs or even to her conversation… eventually it will damage the relationship…
Have you ever heard of a couple getting a divorce and when you ask them what happened they say something like - ‘We just “drifted” apart’
When we are distracted and we begin to drift in our marriage… it is going to fail… and likewise when we get distracted and drift in our walk with Christ it is going to suffer…and our witness will be damaged…but distraction and drifting are not the only culprits…
b. Christian Drifting also comes thru lack of spiritual discipline…
Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Tim 4:14, “…Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you…”
When we become a Christian, it involves a spiritual discipline and unless we exercise that spiritual discipline we are going to drift in our walk…
We cannot neglect the things believers must be doing, things like turning away from evil and sin, reading the Bible, praying, attending worship services, sharing our faith, teaching those who have accepted Christ to grow in Christ… When we neglect these things and we neglect our walk and it is going to suffer!
But what if I DO drift pastor, what then? Well let me share with you…
3. The Result of Christian Drifting:
a. Drifting in the OT led to God discipline…
The writer of Hebrews examines this and he tells us that the tragic result of drifting for the believer is God’s Wrath… God’s Punishment… look at v.2
“…For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty…”
The writer of Hebrews refers to those in the OT who drifted away from the Lord. The expression used in v.2, “…the word spoken thru angels…” refers to those who have been privileged enough to speak with or hear God’s word proclaimed by His messengers…people like the prophets and the patriarchs.
But we know that the children of Israel did not hold to the message that the angels gave through the prophets and patriarchs, and they began to drift away from God’s commandments and ultimately God disciplined them… sometimes very severely!
Here is a biblical truth that all believers need to write on their hearts and remember! Drifting away from God always ends up in discipline for the one who is drifting! So as believers today, we need to understand that…
b. Drifting Christians still bring about God’s discipline…
We can also see the author of Hebrews asking a very distressing question, he says, “…how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” The pronoun that he uses is ‘we’ and this brings ALL believers into this question! What are WE going to do? How are WE going to react? This question the writer asks is SO important that he uses it 2 times in this verse!
Once again, the biblical truth is that God will punish and discipline those who “drift” away! But the question all of you want to know is…“How can we stop ourselves from drifting away from our walk with God?” I want us to take a look at…
4. The Remedy for Christian Drifting:
The writer here in Hebrews was not content to tell us about the reality, reason and result of drifting… it was his desire to share with his readers… the remedy for this troubling thing!
Let’s look back at v.1 one more time “...We must therefore pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away…”
The remedy for drifting painfully obvious – give heed to what you have heard… or in other words… put into practice what God’s Word is teaching you… and to do that you can start by taking a…
a. Look to YOUR first experience with Jesus…
The writer uses the phrase, “we have heard” and that refers us back to our initial experience of salvation…the first time we met Jesus!
A time when Christ came into our hearts and we felt Him begin to cleanse the sin from our heart… but simply looking back is NOT what we need to do…
WE must also…
b. Treat your walk with Christ seriously…
The writer say that we must, “pay more careful attention” to our walk with Christ. We have 2 be concerned about our walk…
i. We have to be concerned about growing in our faith…
ii. We have to be concerned in sharing our faith with others…
When we are concerned about our walk… we focus on Christ… when we focus on Christ we do not drift…
Remember Peter when he got out of the boat to walk on water with Jesus… he was fine until he lost focus and began to “drift”…if we drift away from our walk with Christ, we are going to sink quickly! Our focus must be on Jesus!
Conclusion:
God has placed warning signs in our path? We live in a world of swift and dangerous currents that will pull us under and sweep us away from where we need to be in our walk with Christ. To avoid drifting and being swept away by the evil undercurrent of this world, we must remain vigilant in our walk with Him.
And the way to remain vigilant is to make your relationship with Jesus REAL today, make up your mind to develop your relationship with Him… Focus on Him and you will NOT drift away from Him!
What happens when we neglect to work a garden? Plants get choked off by weeds. What happens when we neglect to water plants? They die. What happens when we neglect to get physical exercise? We develop a “spare tire!”
What happens if we neglect to nourish a baby? They suffer malnutrition and lack of growth. The very same thing happens when we neglect our spiritual development. We lose interest, become unmotivated and ineffective in living the Christian life.
Where are you today? Have you drifted away from that first love you found in Christ? Are you still drifting away from God’s calling on your life? Today I call on all here to come to this altar as Parker comes to lead us… come and allow the Rock of Ages to become the anchor of your life, so that you won’t drift away from God!
Today if you are here and you do not know Christ as your Savior, you are living your life drifting from place to place with your only direction being the current of the world… which has NO direction!
I call on you this morning to surrender to Christ, allow Him to anchor your life so that your drifting days will end, and you will be grounded in the Word of God and in the eternal salvation God’s Word brings…
Come as Parker leads our hymn of commitment… #281 or you can follow along on the screen – Speak to My Heart…come as we begin to sing!
The First Word Of Exhortation: Hebrews 2:1-4
The author turns to words of practical application. If Christ is as splendid as Wisdom Christology proclaimed. If he were the fulfillment of all these scriptures, then the readers need to respond to Christ’s message with increased seriousness. "We must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it."
One could even translate the expression "we must" as "it is God’s will for us." It is God’s will that the readers hold fast to what they have heard. Failure to do so could lead to drifting. The word that our author uses comes from the language of sailing. The ship must be firmly anchored or it will drift in the breeze, lose its mooring, and eventually be destroyed on some rocky shore far from the harbor.
What we have heard was the gospel message, the proclamation of Christ as Messiah and Son of God. Here is the first warning of the book against Jewish Christian readers abandoning, drifting away from, their commitment to Christ. The author’s concern was with spiritual drifting.
His argument builds from chapter one. The Old Testament gives no indication that angels were involved in the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, but by New Testament times many people in Judaism were convinced that angels were the mediators between God and Moses on Mt. Sinai. Paul alludes to this view in Galatians 3:19.
The logic of our author flows like this. If the Law of the Old Testament given by angels who are inferior to the Son provides a quick and just punishment for every violation and sin, how important it must be to give attention to the message incarnate in God’s son.
Our author cannot bring himself to imagine what sort of punishment would swiftly be meted out to those who reject the word of Christ, God’s Son, when the Torah provides such harsh punishment for those who only disobey the message brought by the angels. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? The word "neglect" literally means to become unconcerned.
The application to contemporary Christianity is clear. Lack of concern, apathy, lack of intense commitment is the plague of our churches and our lives. There will come a time in the drifting when it is too late to anchor the soul again. The current will have become swift and our lack of concern will have let us drift past the point of return.
The author is not thinking of our getting to a point that God couldn’t rescue us, but that we get to a point that we are disconnected from Christ and unable to stop the inevitable consequences. Paul suggests in Romans 1:24-28 that God simply lets people go with the current in which they choose to float and drift.
The end results are much worse than being struck with lightening bolts or damned to hell. The results are a life lived without God, redemption, or hope, a life lived with only human carnality and degradation as its resources. The author’s hypothetical question, how shall we escape if we are unconcerned about so great a salvation, has a simple, clear, and tragic answer. We won’t escape.
The final part of Hebrews 2:3 and verse 4 describe the gospel. It was declared first by the Lord Jesus himself; it was affirmed to the readers by those who heard Jesus; its proclamation was accompanied by signs, wonders, powerful miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Such impressive testimony demands respectful obedience. Unconcern that leads to drifting has no excuse.
