Staying Spiritually Alert: Cautious Of The Dangers | Weekend Service | Josiah Smith

A message by Pastor Josiah Smith on Hebrews 2:1-4

Compass Bible Church South Valley is located in Kuna, Idaho

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Transcript

Yard Work As A Warning

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Well, yard work season is upon us. And I know there's probably some people in the room that maybe foam at the mouth at the idea of mowing their yard. Um, I'm not one of them. I I'm not necessarily a yard guy. You know this whole there's whole social media channels dedicated to people just mowing their lawns and people watching them do that. I know some of you probably are subscribed to those channels, aren't you? Um there's people that just love it. They love the making making the grass just the right color of green. They love fertilizing, they love leveling, they love de thatching, they love aerating. Um I just it's not for me. Um my mind is set on Christ, right? So no, but really it's not for me. I I I I mow my lawn because um because I have to. It's like a social, it's a social pressure, right? Um I remember a couple weeks ago, we were right in that in-between where it was hot and it was cold, it was hot, and it was cold, and we hadn't quite had that first that first full mow yet. Um, but people on my on my street in my neighborhood, they all started mowing their lawns. And one after another. Mowed, mowed, mowed. And and I was the last one on our street. I remember going on a walk with with McKinsey one evening and just looking at all all the different lawns that were manicured. And I said to her, I brought dishonor upon our family. Um and it's funny because actually right next door to us is someone that's on the HOA board. Uh, literally the neighbor right next to us is on our HOA board. So I I think about that every time I look out my window and I look at my grass. I'm like, is our letter coming in the mail? And uh, but but you know, it's a fact of life that if you're not attentive to your yard, it gets quickly out of control. The grass gets long, the weeds are just everywhere, and they get really tall. And the weeds here in Idaho are different, they're a different breed. They get tall, they're like six feet tall sometimes, it feels like. Uh, and it's it's just ridiculous. If you if you're not attentive to your yard, it will become a disaster quick, right? Tall grass, taller weeds, angry neighbors, HOA presidents, I mean, everyone's after you uh for a nice yard. And if you're not paying attention, it can get get away from you uh pretty quickly. Now, when it comes to the Christian life, uh Hebrews is going to tell us that if we don't pay attention, things are going to rapidly decline. There is just no in-between. There's no uh, I kind of pay attention and I kind of don't. I mean, according to Hebrews 2, uh, we must pay much closer attention lest we drift away, lest things kind of get out of control, lest we lose that sort of spiritual alertness that I think we're we're after in the New Testament, that Paul urges his his uh you know, Timothy and Titus to train themselves for godliness, to be vigilant, to watch out, to work hard, to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. In the Christian life, if we're not paying attention, if we're not being attentive to what God has revealed to us and told us and taught us in his word, there's a danger that we can drift away. And there's a danger that's associated with that. And it may not be taller weeds and angry neighbors, but there's certainly spiritual ramifications for not being alert, for not being attentive. And so what I want to do is as we open up this new series in Hebrews chapter two, I want us to see the encouragement to pay attention and to stay alert. Let's let's look at it together. Hebrews

Reading Hebrews 2:1-4

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chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. It says, 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.

Hebrews Moves From Exposition To Warning

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Now, one of the things that you need to kind of understand about the book of Hebrews is that it is a sermonic letter. It is written, even he, the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 13, I've written you a brief word of exhortation, a brief word of encouragement. And like any sermon, there is a sense of exposition that happens that is usually followed in Hebrews by encouragement or exhortation. So you can think of chapter one of Hebrews as the exposition. As you know that in chapter one, there was not one single imperative, not one. It was seven different quotations from seven different Old Testament passages that the author of Hebrews was using to draw one simple conclusion. Jesus is greater. Jesus is better. Hold fast to Jesus. And so he's been expositing the word and literally going back to the Old Testament and reference after reference, trying to show us, trying to show the Jewish Christians that he's writing to who Jesus is. But as we transition to chapter two, there's a shift, there's a break. It's now less exposition, at least as we think of it in a proper sense, and more encouragement, more exhortation. Do you see that in verse one? Therefore, because of everything that we just said, because of everything that is true about Jesus the King, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. So, in a sense, the author of Hebrews is kind of getting the readers and us by extension to this place of so what? So what? Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. So what? He's the long-awaited king that will one day fully and finally sit on David's throne. So what? He's the king of righteousness who rules with the scepter of uprightness. So what that he never changes. So what that he will conquer all of his enemies, he will have victory. Well, that's verse one. Here's the so what? Therefore, because all of that is true, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. So there's the encouragement, but there's also the warning. If you don't do this, if you don't pay attention, there's the risk that you will drift away from it. And the argument kind of goes like this: since Jesus is greater, he's greater than the angels, that was spoken of at length in chapter one. Since he is the divine son who is the king, we must pay much closer attention to him. We must pay much closer attention to what he said, what he taught, what his life meant. That when he speaks of the gospel as he begins his earthly ministry in the gospel of Mark and says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and believe in the gospel. What did he mean by that? And why is it significant? The author of Hebrew says, we must pay attention. We must understand. Now, the mere fact that there is an encouragement to pay attention implies that there is a struggle to do just that. Think about whether you're you're parenting or just in general with people trying to remind them of something. The more you have to remind someone of something, typically it's because they're not doing the thing that you're reminding them of. Hey, then I tell you, remember, do this. Remember, we talked about this. Remember, uh, there's uh there's a warning given because there is a danger associated with it, and there's an inclination to ignore, to forget, to downplay or reject what we have heard about Jesus. And that's why the author says, do this, pay much closer attention, lest we drift away. And this is a danger that all of us face, this sort of spiritual drift, this spiritual inattentiveness that can so often plague our Christianity, our pursuit of the Lord. And our response to that, as we look at Hebrews chapter 2, this encouragement, after this long exposition of all these different cross-references from various places in the Old Testament, our response should be we need to fight against that temptation. Fight

Fight Spiritual Inattentiveness

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against being spiritually inattentive. That's point number one this morning. Fight against it. Fight against being spiritually inattentive. This is where the author is building to. We must pay much closer attention. He's better, he's greater. Don't do not forget, do not downplay, do not dismiss, do not ignore what you have heard about Jesus. Fight against it, fight against being spiritually inattentive. Now it's true that the amount of attention that you give really to anything, but in this context, the amount of attention, attention that you give to the things that you've heard about Jesus, the things that you've been taught about Jesus, and continue to hear, the amount of attention that you give those things is directly connected to what you believe Jesus is greater than, which is why the author starts that way. He's greater, he's better, he's better than the things that you're clinging to, he's better than the things that you're looking back at. That's the author's argument. Since Jesus is greater, pay much closer attention. Because if your view of Jesus is small, your spiritual inattentiveness will be great. That's the danger that we are seeking to avoid and we're trying to fight against. We're trying to fight against being spiritually inattentive. If our view of Jesus, what he's done, who he is, what he has provided through his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, if our view of Jesus is small, our spiritual inattentiveness will be great. Back when we were in Ohio, my wife and I, we purchased our first home, which was in some ways kind of a fixer upper. And I remember there was our shower was was kind of dated. It had those square green tiles. You guys know what I'm talking about? Square, perfectly square green tiles stacked on top of each other with jagged lines for the grout lines. They were jagged, they weren't straight. Uh, but I remember there was this bottom row of tiles that kind of looked off. Uh the grout line looked like it had kind of eroded away, and actually you could kind of touch it with your toe and it would slightly wiggle. And it I used to remember I I you know at this point, I I didn't really know much about much. I didn't know much about uh building things and showers, but there was no water in our bathroom. There was nothing, it seemed like was leaking. So I I thought, okay, this is not a big deal, not an issue. Until one day I'm sitting on the couch in the living room, and the shower is running, and I hear water not in the shower. And I was like, where's this coming from? So I go to the other bathroom in the house, there's no water. I go to the kitchen, there's no water. I'm like, what where is this water coming from? So so we went down, it's this thing called a basement, right? You guys have those? We don't have those here in Idaho, and I lament that. But we we had a basement. Yeah, so we went downstairs into our basement, and right underneath where the shower was, water was coming through the floor as if there was nothing in its way. Just flowing, flowing, flowing, flowing, hitting the floor. Everything uh clearly we didn't go down there very much, but there's water everywhere, there's mold all under the underside uh of the the the subfloor. Uh that there's just rotting in the in the wood. There's it's just terrible. I mean, it's it's a mess. We had to rip it all out and we had to uh replace the whole thing, and there was water damage that we had to fix and mold that we had to remediate. It was a big problem. But because I thought it seems kind of small, it seems like it's not that big of a deal. I just didn't do anything about it. I just let it go, and it led to something far much greater. If your view of Jesus is small, your spiritual intentiveness will be great. Now I want

Signs Of Inattention In Daily Life

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to give you just a couple of clear categories, hopefully, to think through. What does spiritual inattentiveness look like? What could this look like in your life today? Well, let me give you a couple thoughts to think about and really ways to evaluate whether or not this is true of you. Neglecting, I would say, to spend time in God's word is being spiritually inattentive. Neglecting to spend time in God's word is being spiritually inattentive. It's like you know that you need to do something. You hear the water dripping in the wall, and let you you let it continue. That's the spiritual inattentiveness that we're talking about. Neglecting to spend time in God's word, neglecting to meditate on God's word, to be the blessed man as Psalm 1 describes it, who on his law meditates day and night, who's planted firmly by streams of water. Neglecting to spend time in God's word is being spiritually inattentive. And so if you're asking yourself, okay, what does this look like? Am I being attentive? Am I paying attention? Am I staying spiritually alert? Well, ask yourself, are you consistently in God's word? And if the answer is no, at least you're on your way to maybe the diagnosis diagnosis of spiritual inattentiveness. Because God, the creator of the universe, has spoken. And the things that he has spoken, the things that he has revealed, he has recorded and kept and preserved for us in his word. We must read it. We must study it. We must understand who this God is as he's revealed himself to be in his word. And neglecting to do so is being spiritually inattentive, spiritually naive in some ways. That's one category. Here's another one. Not being reliant on prayer is being spiritually inattentive. Not being reliant on prayer is being spiritually inattentive. Because if we're not praying, we are not aware of how truly desperate we are. How truly needy we are in the sight of the Lord. How often we need to come to Him for help, for strength, for encouragement, for wisdom. And if we're not going and we're not asking, we're not aware of how needy we are of the Lord. And not being reliant on prayer is being spiritually inattentive. And I know that we these things can kind of wax in weigh, right? The the in terms of being in God's word and being in prayer, those are things that we can wrestle with. And so I'm not trying to beat you over the head with these things. I'm just trying to help you give some categories, help give you some categories of what spiritual inattentiveness could potentially look like. If your prayer life is barren, if your time in the word is non-existent, that's a sign of spiritual inattentiveness. You're not paying attention, you're not heeding uh what you know to be true from God's word. We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, Hebrews 2.1 says. So not spending time in God's word, not being reliant on prayer. I would also say not actively engaging in the body is being spiritually inattentive. Paul talks about the purpose of the body in Ephesians chapter 4, where we are with the apostles and the prophets and these gifts that God has given to the church, these offices that are for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry. For what purpose? For the building up of the body of Christ, so that we might all together attain to the fullness of maturity in Christ Jesus. And if we're not engaging in the body, we are being spiritually inattentive. And that's exactly what Paul says as he goes on in Ephesians chapter 4. He says, We do this so that we will no longer be children, tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of doctrine, and being deceived by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Not actively engaging in the body is being spiritually inattentive. We're not paying attention, we're not staying alert, not serving, not fulfilling the one another's, not seeking to be an encouragement, not praying for one another, not carrying one another's burdens. We're not being spiritually attentive if we're neglecting those things. Those are clear commands in the New Testament, and not actively engaging in the body, we run the risk of immaturity and of being deceived, so that we will no longer be children, tossed to and fro. That's why we engage. And if we're not doing that, we're being spiritually inattentive. I would also say if there is an unwillingness, a refusal to confess and deal with your sin, that is also being spiritually inattentive. Colossians chapter 3 says, set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, like your yard, but things that are above, right? Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. He says, Your life is hidden with Christ in God. And because your life is hidden with Christ in God, because you have died in Christ and now you are alive in Christ, what are you to do? Put off the deeds of the flesh, put off sexual immorality, put off slander and lying and pride and arrogance and all of these things, and put on the things of Christ. That's that's the command. And if we're not actively doing this, if we're unwilling to confess and deal with our sin, we're being spiritually inattentive. And we're we're comfortable with things that God hates. He loves righteousness, he hates wickedness. And we ought to be working towards cutting out the sin in our life by the grace of God and the Spirit of God through the Word of God. Be willing and quick to confess and deal with your sin. I would also say not seeking to submit to Christ in all aspects of your life is also being spiritually inattentive. Not seeking to obey, not seeking to say, Lord, you are in charge, you are the king. My life belongs to you. My life is yours. And not seeking to submit to Christ in all aspects of your life. Of course, we're gonna do this imperfectly. Of course, we're gonna struggle with sin. Of course, we're gonna fall and stumble, but not seeking with that desire to please the Lord in all aspects, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God, not seeking to do that as being spiritually inattentive. And Hebrews 2, 1 says, pay much closer attention. Fight against spiritual inattentiveness. This is one

Church Rhythms That Keep Us Alert

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of the reasons, by the way, that our church is structured in the way that it is. I like to call it concentric circles, where things kind of stack on top of other things. So right now in our kids' ministry, they are learning about Hebrews chapter two. That's what they're learning about. And when we do life groups throughout the week and the kids meet for life group kids, what are they discussing? Hebrews chapter two. And what are we discussing? Hebrews chapter two. And we want to study these things together. We want to think about them, meditate on them, discuss them and apply them. We must pay much closer attention. And so that's why we've designed this church the way that we have, so that we can, in these concentric kind of ways, overlap with other things that we're doing. That's why we want to be on the same page in our lamp and light by wording plan. That's why we want to be in life groups together. That's why we want to be discussing the sermon together, why our kids' ministry is on the same page as us. We all want to be thinking about and paying attention to what we are hearing from God's word. That's the design, that's the intention, and that's the hope. And did you notice why he says we must do this in verse one? We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. For what reason? Lest we drift away from it. Pay attention so that we don't drift, so that we don't end up deceived by every wind and wave of doctrine, so that we don't end up uh entangled in sins that we're not seeking to confess and have victory over with the grace of the Lord. We must pay attention, we must fight spiritual inattentiveness so that we don't drift. Drifting is the inevitable result of being spiritually inattentive. Because if we're not actively seeking to pay much closer attention, we will be actively drifting. There is no in-between. There is either you're paying attention and you're striving towards that, stumbling forward, however imperfect that may be. You're paying attention, you're in the right direction, or you're Drifting away. You're drifting towards the things of this world. And how often have we seen people, pastors, ministries, churches that start so strong and yet drift and drift and drift away from what they have heard, from what has been revealed. We must pay attention lest we drift away. This made me think of Proverbs 4, 25 through 27, where it says, let your eyes look directly forward. And your gaze be straight before you. When it comes to your Christian life, that should be your goal. Let your eyes look directly forward. Set your mind on things that are above where Christ is. And your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet. Pay attention. Then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot away from evil. This is the encouragement from Hebrews chapter 2. Pay attention. Remember what has been revealed. Cling closely to the word. Seek to remember who Christ is, that he is the eternal Son of God that took on flesh. He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. He's made purifications for your sin. He's made purification for your sin. And now, because his work is done in that respect, he has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Pay attention. Do not be spiritually inattentive. Fight against that. And he continues to give sort of a logical rationale for that.

Angels The Law And Greater Accountability

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Look at verse 2. We must pay attention lest we drift away. 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? Now, what's this talk about angels in verse two, where he says, Since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable? Well, this is in connection to the Mosaic Covenant. This is the old covenant. And angels are said to have been a part of instituting, uh giving the Mosaic Covenant. Acts chapter 7, verse 53, in Stephen's speech, he says, You who have received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. Paul says in Galatians chapter 3, verse 19, Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. And it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. So what Hebrews is saying is under the old covenant, these angels are testifying of a true word. It was declared by angels, and this message was reliable, was trustworthy, was true. You see that there in verse 3? This message declared by angels, the Mosaic covenant, the law, it proved to be reliable. And under the old covenant, there was a just retribution. There was punishment for disobeying the law delivered by angels. We read about some of that in our Lamp and Light Bible reading plan in Exodus 21 and 22. What do you do? What's the recompense if you harm your neighbor's animal? I mean, it talks about that in Exodus 21. There is a just retribution. You must make that right. You have to make amends. And we see some of those things in the book of Exodus, in Leviticus, and in Deuteronomy. There is punishment. There is a just retribution. There is justice that happens for disobeying, disregarding, setting aside the law and delivered by angels. And this is yet just another way that Jesus is greater. Because if there was a just retribution, if there was punishment under the old covenant, how much more severe is it to disobey what has been delivered by God's Son? That's the argument. If there was a just retribution delivered by angels, how much severe is it to be to disobey what has been delivered by God's Son? That's referring to the new covenant, the new covenant that Jesus secures through his blood. That's what he talks about in the upper room with his disciples. This is the new covenant in my blood. And he sheds his blood on the cross. So under the old covenant, there was punishment associated with disobedience. And there's a warning here. Since the message declared by angels proved to be trustworthy, true, reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? There is a cost associated with ignoring Jesus. There is a cost associated with not paying attention. That's point number two.

The Cost Of Ignoring Jesus

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Recognize the cost of ignoring Jesus. Recognize what the scriptures say is the cost of ignoring Jesus. And to put it very simply, here's the cost. It's eternal separation from God, eternal judgment. That's the cost. Jesus Himself says this. John chapter 12, verse 48. The one who rejects me, Jesus says, and does not receive my words, has a judge. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. Do you see the overlap with John 12, 48 and Hebrews chapter 2? We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, what has been taught, what we have understood to be true about Jesus. John 12.48 says, The one who rejects me and does not receive my words, what has been spoken, has a judge. And the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. So Jesus is saying that those who ignore him, those who do not believe him, those who do not submit to him as their king, who reject his word, they will be judged on the last day. That's the cost associated with ignoring Jesus, those who do not heed his words. Now,

Who Are Hebrews Warnings For

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we need to have kind of a very important sidebar when it comes to the book of Hebrews. And I want you to stay with me because this might get a little bit academic, but it's important for us to understand what's going on here. You might be reading Hebrews chapter 2 and going, Who is this for? And what is the purpose? That's a great question. And if you weren't asking that, you should be asking that. Who is this for? Who is Hebrews? Who are these warnings for? This is the first of five different warning passages throughout the book of Hebrews. In the five different warning passages, think of them as the backbone of the book of Hebrews. They are what ultimately the author is building to. He has this long exposition, seven different cross-references in chapter one, and he culminates to what in chapter two? A warning. Pay attention. Don't drift away. The message declared by angels proved to be reliable. How shall we escape? There's one in Hebrews 2, there's one in Hebrews 3, into Hebrews 4, there's one in Hebrews 6, one in Hebrews 10, one in Hebrews 12. I mean, this is, and you'll you're gonna find the pattern. There's instruction, and then there is a warning or an encouragement. And that is the structure of the book of Hebrews. Now, these are some of the most debated passages in all of the New Testament. And so today, once and for all, we're gonna settle. No, I don't actually believe that. But I want to show you, and I want to tell you like there are some different views, and I want to tell you what they are, and I want to tell you where I land as the pastor of this church. These are not on the screen, so again, we need to listen actively. But what are the different views? View number one these warnings basically are intending to communicate that you can walk away from Christ and lose your salvation. That's one of the things that you're gonna read if you if you open up a certain commentary, lots of commentaries actually, but if you open up commentaries, you're gonna be exposed to this. You can walk away from Christ and lose your salvation. Therefore, pay attention, cling closely to Christ in the drifting away. They would understand is you losing your salvation and uh drifting away into the abyss, so to speak. All right, so that's view number one. You can walk away from Christ and lose your salvation. Here's view number two. No, this one's a little bit more complicated, so stick with me. View number two is that you can be cut out of the covenant if you are non-elect and you apostasize. So this comes from covenant theology. And I don't need to get into all of that today, but you need to understand. I think just as a reference point, think of uh Presbyterian as an example. They would believe in the system of covenant theology, and that's one of the reasons why they baptize infants. So, in their understanding of the covenant, the covenant of grace, as they call it, baptizing an infant places them into that covenant. And so you can be placed into the new covenant, into the covenant, and not be regenerate. That's kind of one of their understandings. So if you are baptized into the covenant and you are not regenerate, you reject Christ, you apostasize, you you you uh walk away from Christ, even though you've been baptized, you can be cut out of the covenant if you are non-elect. That's view number two. View number three is that these warnings are for what I'm just calling almost Christians. People that maybe have grown up in church, people that if you ask them, they could articulate to you what the gospel is. They know who Jesus is, they know what he's done on the cross, but there doesn't seem to be genuine transformation. There's not any fruit uh that's similar to the parable of the soils, uh, where you have people who respond to the gospel in different ways, but there's only one true response that produces fruit a hundredfold. And so uh these warnings are for those people. So they would kind of argue uh that it's a mixed audience, just like in any church, all churches are mixed audiences where there's Christians and there's non-Christians. Some people know they're not Christians, some people are deceived into thinking they are Christians, but nevertheless, uh every church ever is a mixed audience, right? Where we have Christians in the room and non-Christians in the room. That's uh something that is obviously true. And the warnings, they would say, are for the almost Christians, the ones that are in the room, listening to the sermons, going to the life groups, serving in the serving ministries, but they are not Christians, they are not born again. That's who the warnings are for. That's view number three. View number four, the warnings are for genuine Christians. There's some question marks that might come with that. Um, but that's the view. I'll just summarize it that way. The warnings are for genuine Christians. Now let's walk through these. Uh what do each of these means? Let me let me just tell you my established convictions that help me sift through each of these different views. By the way, there's more. There's more views than that. I'm just trying to make it simple. Those are the four perhaps most common views. So here's my established convictions.

Why We Believe God Preserves

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When it comes to salvation, God keeps those whom He saves. I do not believe, and I do not believe that the New Testament teaches in any shape or form that you can lose your salvation. So God keeps those whom He saves. It's not about us holding on to God, it's about God holding on to us. This is what Paul says. He who began a good work in you, he will be faithful to complete it on the day of Jesus Christ. God keeps those whom he saves. It's not about us holding on, it's about God holding on. And uh that rules out view number one. If you can't lose your salvation, then these passages are not intended uh to communicate that to you. That that is the purpose of them. That rules it out. Okay, well, here's my second established conviction. Everyone in the new covenant has been regenerated and has been given the spirit of God. In other words, everyone in the new covenant is truly saved. Because I believe that, I believe that's what Jeremiah 31 says, I will put my spirit within them, is what Jeremiah 31 says in the context of the new covenant. Ezekiel 36, I will remove their heart of stone, I will give them a heart of flesh. I see everyone in the new covenant being a truly born-again Christian who has been given a new heart. Therefore, that rules out view number two. There's no unbelievers in the covenant. There's unbelievers in the covenant community, 100%. There's probably unbelievers in this room right now. But I wouldn't say that you can get baptized into the covenant and then cut back out of it. That doesn't make any sense according to what I see in the scripture. So no, so there's no unbelievers in the covenant that rules out view number three. That leaves view or that that rules out view number two. That leaves view three and view four. View three is almost Christians, view four is Christians. That's basically the summary. And here's what I think makes the most sense. By the way, I I could go either way on these two views. Um, in some sense, I've I've kind of been more in between these two. Um but now I'm sort of leaning towards view number four, and I'll tell you that uh in a second. But here's what I think makes the most sense of the context of Hebrews. The warnings are for true Christians, they're for true, genuine Christians. One of the reasons why, among many, but if you look at verse one, it says, Therefore, we must pay much closer attention. So both the author and the audience are being included in this. And you'd have to make some assumption that the author is not a Christian, or at least that the author believed that he could lose his salvation, which I don't think is tenable based off what the New Testament teaches about salvation. Therefore, we we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. And he goes on to continue to use those kinds of pronouns in these first four verses. So the warnings are for true Christians for the purpose of persevering until the end. For the purpose of just to make it sort of plain, getting across the finish line, running the race with endurance. Well, how does this work? How does all of this work? Now, some of this, of course, is going to get a little complex, uh, but hopefully it's helpful. The

Means And Ends In Perseverance

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scriptures make it clear that God uses means to accomplish his purposes. So we have to make this distinction means and ends. So God has specific determined ends, meaning he wants certain things to happen and they will happen. And he uses specific means to accomplish that determined end. Let me give you a couple of examples of this that you probably know intuitively, but maybe couldn't have articulated in that specific way. God sovereignly saves. Now, whether or not whether what side of the sort of argument you would fall on of Calvinism versus Arminianism, everyone would say God sovereignly saves. It just is a matter of what that means. God sovereignly saves. Salvation is an act of God. Salvation belongs to the Lord. It is God who saves. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. That's Romans 1.16. But so that's the end, right? His end, his purpose is saving people. What is the means by which he uses to accomplish that end? I mean, there are several, but let's keep it simple. Preaching the gospel is one of the means that God uses to accomplish his ends of salvation. This is what Paul talks about in the book of Romans. Faith comes from hearing, hearing through the word of Christ. How will they know if they do not hear? How will they hear if no one is sent? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. That's that whole passage. So the means in this is the preaching of the gospel. So God has chosen sovereignly to save. He will save. His plans and his purposes cannot be thwarted. How does he accomplish that? Through people preaching the gospel. Faith comes from hearing, hearing through the word of Christ. Does that make sense? The distinction of means and ends. Let me give you another example in scripture. God's kingdom, as we're commanded to pray, will come. God's purposes will be accomplished. No purpose of yours, it says, can be thwarted. That's in the book. Um I'm mixing references here, but I think that's in the book of Daniel or Hosea, one of those. Those are very different. But in the Old Testament, somewhere it says that. But my God, God's kingdom will come. That is a certainty. I know that you can do all things, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted. That's the whole idea of what we see of God's sovereignty. Now, in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6, what does he command us to pray? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Is God waiting around for his people to pray that prayer so that he can accomplish his will? No. It's an obvious rhetorical, of course not. God is not bound to his people's prayers. But nevertheless, though that is true, though he can do all things and no purpose of his can be thwarted, Jesus commands us to pray for his will to be done and for his kingdom to come. And we see that the prayers of God's people are one of the means that he uses to accomplish his will, to accomplish his purpose. So in that sense, God's kingdom will come and his will will be done through your prayers, through the prayers of God's people. That's the means that he uses to accomplish it. Now, what does all that have to mean? Have to do with Hebrews chapter 2. God will preserve those whom he saves, he will get them across the finish line. And these warning passages in Hebrews are one of the means he uses to accomplish it. Like prayer to his will, like preaching the gospel to salvation, these warnings are one of the means that he uses to accomplish preserving his people. And those who are in Christ, they heed these warnings by deepening their trust in God and running the race with endurance. Now you might have some questions. If falling away or losing salvation isn't a real possibility, doesn't that make this warning meaningless? Did you some of you think that in this room? That's one of the things that I've tried to think through. If falling away or losing your salvation isn't a real thing, and these are warnings to genuine Christians, how are they warnings at all? If there's no opportunity to lose something, at least in terms of salvific sense, uh what how could this be a warning? Doesn't that make the warnings meaningless? It's somewhat similar to the argument of if Jesus never could have sinned, if it was never a possibility for him to sin, which I believe, I believe in the impeccability of Christ, how could it be said in Hebrews that he is able to sympathize with our weaknesses? If he never could have sinned, how can he sympathize with us who do sin? That's the argument that you'll often hear. And the scriptures have no problems not answering that question and just saying he is able to sympathize with your weaknesses. So I don't think that saying that this does not mean that you can lose your salvation. That does not make the warning meaningless. In fact, I would argue it makes the warning effective because it accomplishes what God intends for it to accomplish. The warnings become effective, they become meaningful because God uses them as a means to get his people to the end. That's what we see in Hebrews. And that's just going to make sense. All of the warning passages, you kind of have to take them as a whole. They sort of mutually interpret one another. And so it'll make more sense as we go along, but we need to understand we're not talking about losing our salvation. The point of Hebrews is not to give you anxiety as to whether or not you're going to do something in the wrong way or at the right or the wrong time and lose your salvation. That's not the point. That's how so many people go about reading Hebrews. It's anxiety-inducing, it's fear-inducing. That's not the point of Hebrews. The point of Hebrews is run the race with endurance. Press on, keep going, run harder, run faster. It's to promote faith, not to promote anxiety or doubt of whether or not you genuinely have faith. That's not the point. And these warnings are given to encourage us. And so for the Christian, the warnings preserve. They help us to persevere until the end. For the non Christian, the warnings reveal their coming judgment. The warnings reveal the reality of what we just said that those who ignore Jesus, they will be fully and finally judged. That's what these warnings do. So for the Christian, they preserve, they help us to persevere. For the non Christian, they reveal. Their coming judgment. They reveal their status before the Lord. But for all, non-Christian and Christian alike, they encourage reflection and extend an invitation to trust the Lord. And that's the point of what we're reading here. We must pay much closer attention lest we drift away. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? Let's finish it here at the last part of verse 3 into verse 4. This message, it is said, it was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard. While God also, he put his stamp of approval on this, bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Now, one

How Fast Drift Can Happen

SPEAKER_00 44:51

of the things that I want you to notice is when Hebrews was written and when this all kind of took place, Jesus's ascension was roughly, uh sometimes it's dated between 30 AD and 33 A.D., around there. Hebrews, most scholars believe, was written around 65 A.D. If you're doing the math, that's a roughly 30-year gap between Jesus ascending and sitting at the right hand of the Father and Hebrews being written, which of course the events preceding the writing of Hebrews happened before the writing of Hebrews. So in only roughly 30 years, in roughly 30 years, they have direct eyewitness accounts, they have seen the miracles God has performed, they have heard these things, they've seen them attested. God bore witness by signs and wonders of various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Though they have all this proof, though they have all of these things, and it's only been 30 years they doubted, they were uncertain, and they were tempted to go back to what Judaism offered. Point number three, beware how quickly spiritual drift happens. Beware how quickly spiritual drift happens. In a span of 30 years, they seemed to have forgotten. These things were attested first by the Lord Himself and His earthly ministry. It was attested again by those who heard his apostles. While God also put his stamp of approval with signs and wonders that authenticated that they are truly apostles that have the message of Christ. And though they have those things, though they have that evidence, they are struggling to believe. Beware how quickly spiritual drift can happen. In a matter of a singular generation, biblically speaking, a generation is roughly 30 years. In just one singular generation, they're struggling to remember, they're struggling to believe, and they're in danger of drifting away. And so he says, pay much closer attention and beware how quickly spiritual drift happens. Now, 30 years, in certain ways, feels like a long time. In other ways, it feels like just yesterday. You know, my dad used to talk about how he would walk uphill in snow both ways to school every morning, and he would he would say that as if like it had happened just yesterday. Of course, everyone says that, but he would say things about his childhood. And it would it would be as if that just happened to him in the moment he was recounting it to me, even though it was 30, 40 years ago. We can have this sense of things being in 30 years, they can feel like so fresh and so uh like they just happened. As an example, see if you can finish this famous line from the O.J. Simpson trial. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. Do you know when that verdict was read? October 3rd, 1995. The verdict of non-guilty was read. And some of you in this room feel like that happened yesterday. That was 30 years ago. And we we still relive these moments, we can still remember these things, and yet in just 30 years, these people are going. I think we should go back to Judaism. I think we should go back to the sacrificial system. I think we should go back to the things that point to Christ. Beware how quickly spiritual drift happens, how easily we forget the things that we have heard of Christ, how easily we drift away from that which is most valuable and most precious. We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. Christ is greater. Christ is more valuable. The encouragement from Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 4 is cling to Christ. Pay attention. Do not neglect what you have heard, because he truly is greater. Let's pray together.

Final Exhortation And Prayer

SPEAKER_00 48:37

God, thank you for this reality. Thank you that even these warnings are used by you as a means to preserve us until the end. God, we're grateful that you uh in your kindness have given us these warnings to reflect and to invite us into trusting you and to promote faith, to promote assurance. God, I pray that we would look at Hebrews 2, 1 through 4, and that we would be filled with just great motivation, great encouragement to keep moving forward, to keep running the race that is set before us. God, looking to Jesus, the founder, the perfecter, the author of our faith. God, I pray that we would truly see Jesus as more precious and as greater than anything that this world has to offer. Help us to cling to him, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.