Hebrews 2:1–4 (ESV): 

This is the first of five major warning passages in the book of Hebrews. 

Read passage. 

1 Therefore 

The author spent chapter 1 (and we spent the past two weeks) building a case for the supremacy and superiority of Christ. 

• Jesus is supreme as divine ruler of the universe

• Jesus is superior to angels, as the mediator of the new and better covenant. 

Now we are going to consider the implications of the fact that Jesus is supreme and superior as it relates to our lives. 

Since Jesus is supreme over all of creation as the God-man, and since He is superior even to the angels who mediated the Old Covenant, therefore… 

we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 

Now, I have to remind you here that the author is writing to Jewish Christian converts during the first century who were facing a unique kind of pressure to abandon Christ and revert back into Old Testament Judaism. 

So when he says, “we” must pay much closer attention… that is who he has in mind, although as we will see, what he is saying applies to you and I as well. 

That term ‘drift’ is a nautical term.  

Here on the North Shore, we understand ocean currents, and we understand how subtle yet powerful drifting can be.  When we are out in the lineup waiting for a wave, do we just sit and stare out to sea? No. We are constantly (almost subconsciously) looking back at the shore, and lining ourselves up with different landmarks, paddling this way and that way, making little adjustments… why? Because if we just sit without paddling, we will drift and before we know it we’ll be out of position.  Sit long enough without doing anything at all, and you could be halfway to Kauai!   

Some important things to note about drifting: 

• It happens subtly, often without us even realizing it.  

• It happens automatically, without any effort at all. 

• We don’t have to try to drift; we have to try NOT to drift. 

So, here the author of Hebrews is warning his audience about the danger of drifting.  

What were they in danger of drifting away from? 

According to the middle part of verse 1, they were in danger of drifting away from what we have heard.  

What had they ‘heard’, that they needed to be careful not to drift from?   

The truth about Jesus Christ. 

It’s what the author had so eloquently outlined for them back in chapter 1. 

• That Jesus is the full and final revelation of God to humanity

• That Jesus is none other than Creator God Himself

• That Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature and upholds the universe by the word of His power. 

• That Jesus came to earth and made purifications for sins once and for all, by dying on the cross and rising from the dead, and is now seated in the position of all power and authority. 

• That Jesus is superior even to angels (as we talked about last week) as the mediator of a new and greater covenant. 

These are the truths that these Hebrew believers are in danger of drifting from.

To put it plainly, they were in danger of drifting from the gospel. 

Let me ask a relatively obvious question… 

Why is it dangerous to drift from the gospel? 

• Because the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Romans 1:16) 

• Because to drift from the gospel of Jesus is to drift away from God.  

• Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)   

• Because to drift from the gospel (in the case of the audience the author is writing to) is to revert back to a works-based system that can never save. 

• Romans 3:20 (ESV): 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

• Salvation cannot be gained through attempting to perfectly obey the law; it can only be gained by grace through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), so to drift from the gospel of Christ is to drift from all hope of salvation. 

Now let me ask a more technical question… 

WHO is in danger of drifting from the gospel?  

The New Testament is crystal clear that once we truly belong to Christ we will always belong to Christ.

True believers don’t drift.  At least, not in a salvific sense.  

We know that the author of Hebrews believes this, because in Hebrews 10:14 he says…   

• Hebrews 10:14 (ESV): 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

• In other words, those who belong to Christ (as evidenced by the ongoing work of sanctification), have been perfected (or justified, or declared righteous) once for all time.  

• Once God moves you into the ‘perfected’ category, it is permanent. 

This is consistent with the teachings about salvation across the New Testament. 

• John 5:24 (ESV): 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

• Philippians 1:6 (ESV): 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

• John 6:39 (ESV): 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

• Ephesians 1:13-14 You were sealed with the Holy Spirit… who is the guarantee of our inheritance.

• Romans 8:30 (ESV): 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

This is a small cross section of the sort of rhetoric we find in the New Testament related to what we would call, the perseverance of the saints.  Or, once-saved-always-saved.  

Once you belong to Christ, you are sealed. Your justification results in sanctification, and your sanctification ends in glorification.  

He who began this work is faithful to complete it. 

Dane C. Ortlund: “The logic of the New Testament letters is that in order for me to get disunited from Christ, Christ himself would have to be de-resurrected.”

So… if true believers are not in danger of drifting, who is? 

The answer becomes clear when we remember who he is writing to. 

He is writing to Jewish converts who had tasted and seen that Jesus is the Messiah, but who were being pressured to turn away from that truth and revert back into full blown Judaism. 

Some of them apparently were not true believers yet.  Perhaps they were teetering on the fence, trying to decide whether they were going to go ‘all in’ with Jesus and remain part of this new covenant community or whether they were going to give in to the pressure and go back to the temple sacrifices, the rituals, the striving to obey the letter of the law, etc.  

Today, this might be similar to those who have been intellectually convinced that Jesus is the way, truth and life… Who have spent time in church… who have tasted of the goodness of God, but who have not fully given their lives to Him.  

In the words of John MacArthur, they are “convinced but not committed”. 

These are the ones in danger of drifting. 

Maybe some here today fall into that category. 

• You’ve been exposed to the gospel

• You’ve participated in Christian community

• You’ve perhaps even come to terms in your own mind that Jesus is God, and that He is the only way of salvation

• But there is hesitation in your heart.  You aren’t sure whether it’s worth it to you to give your life to Him.  

• Maybe it’s peer pressure, or maybe it’s a convenience thing… for whatever reason it just feels TOO COSTLY. 

• So you’re tempted to “turn back”.  You’re tempted to “drift” away from this truth that you’re hearing. 

The author of Hebrews gives a very clear directive for those who are in danger of drifting. It’s the only imperative in our verses today: Pay attention!    

What are we to pay attention to?  

…to what we have heard. 

When you hear the message of Christ, and how he paid for the sins of those who would come to Him in repentance and faith, and when you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you to embrace Jesus as your Lord… Pay attention!  

• Don’t turn away. 

• Don’t go about your business as though you didn’t hear it

• Don’t ignore the seriousness of the gospel call 

And in the following verses we are given several reasons why we must not ignore it…. 

Beginning in verse 2, the author is going to give us an argument from lesser to greater. 

He’s going to show that if those who neglected the lesser covenant received punishment, then those who neglect the greater, new covenant will receive even greater punishment.  

• It’s almost taboo today to give serious warnings about the danger of rejecting Christ.  Modern evangelicalism is much more enamored with messages about how Jesus can make your life better.

• But Jesus loved people enough to warn them about their impending judgment.  We have dozens of those warnings recorded in the gospel accounts. 

• Here the author of Hebrews follows suit, because he loves his audience and wants to warn them. 

His warning to them goes like this… 

Let’s go line by line… 

2 For since the message declared by angels 

That is, the Old Covenant… the law…  

proved to be reliable, 

There was nothing flawed about the old covenant. 

The flaw was in our inability to keep it…  

and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 

And we have SO many examples of this… 

• Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-2)

• Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16:1-35)

• The man who was put to death for breaking the Sabbath by gathering sticks (Numbers 15:32-36)

• Achan who rebelled by keeping things from Jericho that were meant to be devoted to destruction (Joshua 7:1-26)

• Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who rejected Moses’ law died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses… 

More broadly, we know that ALL rebellion against God’s moral law receives the ULTIMATE just retribution… 

• Romans 6:23 … the wages of sin is death… 

IF that old way was reliable in terms of holding humanity accountable for our transgressions… And IF to neglect that covenant meant being placed under wrath and condemnation… 

…THEN… 

3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? 

David Guzik: A greater word brought by a greater Person having greater promises will bring greater condemnation if it is neglected. 

If those under the Old Covenant (the old way of relating to God) were held accountable for their infidelity to it, how much MORE will we be held accountable for drifting from such an infinitely greater covenant inaugurated by Jesus Himself. 

• The Old Covenant was a shadow of what was to come. It was never designed to be permanent. 

• Now we have the final product.  To neglect this is even more severe. 

And then he emphasizes the trustworthiness of this gospel message…  

It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 

In other words, the author of Hebrews had received it directly from those who received it directly from the Lord Himself. There was an unbroken chain of revelation.  The same is true for us. We are hearing the words of the Lord, through the inspired writings of the Holy Spirit.  

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. 

When we read the book of Acts, we see story after story that validate the reality of the gospel by powerful works of God.  

And yes, God still does miracles today. But we don’t rely on present day miracles or subjective religious experiences to validate the gospel; the gospel has already been validated. 

• Notice, the author gives us this validation in past tense: God bore witness… 

• You don’t need to wait for some miracle from God to make your choice; the proof has already been given.  

The gospel has already been confirmed.  

And we know that, because of the various signs, wonders and miracles that we can now read about in the pages of scripture, and by special gifts of the Holy Spirit (like speaking in tongues, prophetic words, healing, and other profound gifts) that bore witness to the reality of it all.  

So this is a trustworthy message.  Therefore it demands our attention.  If we neglect it, we will drift.  If we drift, we will find ourselves without hope. 

Closing

I want to close by speaking directly to those who have been exposed to the gospel of Christ but have not committed to trusting Him as Savior.  

The fact that you are sitting here hearing this right now is a merciful act of God in your life.  

Pay attention!  

Don’t drift away from this great salvation!   

Remember: We don’t need to do anything in order to drift.  

One moment we will be sitting in church, hearing the gospel, participating in Christian community, and perhaps even finding ourselves agreeing with biblical teaching… 

The next we will find ourselves back in the world, rejecting Christ, and worse off than before because now we are accountable for what we know.

Then, before we know it we will be standing before the great King of the Universe to give an account of our lives. 

• Hebrews 9:27 (ESV): …it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

This will all happen automatically unless there is miraculous intervention.  

That intervention is the gospel, working on your heart, drawing you to turn to Jesus, and trust in Jesus.   

The Bible is clear that in that moment when we stand before God to give an account, the only thing that will matter is whether we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ that we receive by faith in what Christ has done for us.

If we turn away from our sin and trust in Him, surrendering to Him completely, we will be saved. 

Here are some encouraging truths the Bible lays out about that…     

• Romans 8:1 There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

• Romans 5:9 (ESV): 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

• Galatians 2:16 (ESV): 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ…

• Philippians 3:9 (ESV): 9 …not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—