Pay Attention! (Hebrews 2:1-4)

[Review] According to Hebrews ch. 1 – Jesus is the greater revelation. He is superior to even angelic beings because he is the unique Son of the triune Godhead (and the angels worship and serve him), because he (as God) is eternal King and Creator. He is Sovereign Lord. à Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard [in the gospel]!

Read Passage & Pray (Here’s your outline for the verses and our discussion today: headings*)

1. We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard in the gospel! (1a)
   1. Pay “much closer” attention – especially, even more (is in the text); and prosecho – be alert for (watching, on guard aware), And consider carefully, continue to believe (holding firmly), continue to give oneself to in devotion
   2. What have we heard? The gospel of Jesus Christ! – “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8) That would have been no benefit had he not also risen from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures. And now seated at the right hand of Majesty on high, he intercedes for his people as our Great High Priest. – The death he died he paid for us. And the life he lives we now live in Him! à That is the gospel. (There may be other facets, but Jesus Christ’s person and work is undoubtedly the core of it. Without him, there is no gospel. There is no rescuing us. There can be no reconciliation to God.) That is the message we have heard and what we are instructed with a severe warning to pay attention to.
2. If we don’t, we drift. (1b) Pay attention… lest we drift from it.
   1. This has definite metaphorical connection to a boat drifting off course. There is a safe harbor up ahead. Do not lose sight of it. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Do not allow yourself to “drift” – be washed away or drift away (to disbelieve gradually or slowly, like being pushed off course by a current) à Try driving a boat and staying on course without paying attention. (or mowing in a straight line if you’re looking back instead of ahead)
   2. We have a definite attention deficit.
      1. These listeners would have been distracted by law and other ‘gospels.’
      2. In the information age, we not only face those same problems, but we are literally inundated with alternatives, distractions, and temptation to sin at our fingertips.
   3. The problem is neglect and the corrective is to pay attention. à Now drifting sounds passive, and it is. All it takes is neglect. (disregard, ignore, to be unconcerned, to not care) But the remedy is active. à I will go hungry from simple neglect. (unless I actively pursue a solution to filling my belly) My hygiene will go to pot by simple neglect. My children will learn to follow their earthly passions by simple neglect from us as their parents. (unless we actively guard and guide them) – To pay attention is to actively pursue knowing this One*

• If we drift (be led into disbelief through neglect of what we have heard, the gospel), there will be just consequences. (2-3a)
  1. Any and all reward or retribution from God is all JUST all the time.
  2. This part of the argument is one from lesser to greater. And since the message declared by the angels proved reliable… that’s the old covenant law given to Moses for the people, that if they kept it they should be blessed by God. (Angels had an important role in bringing God’s law to his people at Mt. Sinai.) And here’s another reason, in answer to our question at the end of last time as to why bring up the Son’s superiority to angels first… it’s b/c of this – continuing how the author started out… the Son is the greater revelation! (1:1-2a)
  3. (the part that follows in ch.2v.2 is that) Greater revelation means greater responsibility.
  4. Neglecting such great salvation… - What’s so great about this salvation? – This should humble us to the core!
     1. No longer under the law of the old covenant – the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2)
     2. But under a new covenant – not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14), [also called] the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2) à Is not Jesus so much better?!!!
  5. Why would God let me drift? – Why does he allow me to sin? à He wants all of me, wants my trusting submission. – Now in truth this is a paltry comparison, but does your wife want you to come to the Broadway musical that you agreed to take her to (bc it is something that she loves) with a bad attitude, just forcing yourself to go through the motions? Or does she want your heart to be in it? (Think she can tell the difference?) – How much MORE does God want us to see him and desire him, to submit to his will for us out of love for him, out of adoration for our Savior and Lord? I believe that God allows us to struggle because he wants us to desire him more than our sin, that we see our continuing desperate need for him beyond just initial rescue from punishment. That is what brings him the most glory! 
     1. But if we prove to be a person who isn’t merely stumbling over sin then getting right with God, but someone who persists in sin to be driven away from him by the current, the consequences of missing the safe harbor of his salvation are forever. (Heb. 12:25)
     2. Conversely, the author of Hebrews encourages true believers in the race of endurance against sin – Heb. 3&4, 7ff.
  6. [And] We are without excuse for our inattentiveness [to the safe harbor of the gospel]. (3b-4) We don’t have any excuse for NOT paying attention! (recall the lesser to greater argument)
     1. Mosaic covenant proved reliable (certain, trustworthy, verified), how much more*! 3 ways:
        1. Declared by the Lord himself: (just one example, Jesus said to Martha in John 11:25-26, just before raising Lazarus from the dead, spoke to her of spiritual resurrection) “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
        2. Attested (confirmed, verified) by those who heard, who were eyewitnesses (the first generation Christians – firmly established by the Apostles, which we even have codified in writing) – that makes the author and others he’s speaking to who truly believe, 2^nd generation Christians – like us! ;-)
        3. Thirdly, God also bore witness (confirming the testimony) of these first Christians with “signs and wonders and various miracles,” casting out demons, miraculous healings, miraculous speaking, even raising people from the dead. – AND by the “gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” Isn’t it just completely amazing that God still confirms the truth of his word this same way still today? How can we explain the change of heart and the growth of skills among God’s people for building the body other than a manifestation of the indwelling Holy Spirit?
        4. So our inattentiveness is inexcusable. To have heard the gospel in His word straight from His lips and historical account, confirmed with all the eyewitness testimony and further expounding on the new covenant (like this letter) and to even BE amongst the body of Christ and see His grace at work in people by the power of His word through His Holy Spirit. To be a part of all that and yet to not be true enough of faith to be really in and stay the course?
     2. Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard [in the gospel]! (v. 1a)
        1. “For the author of Hebrews, either you are holding fast to your confession of faith in Christ and are striving against sin, or you are drifting spiritually and are in danger of frightening judgment. Those are the only options.” (Steve Cole) “True believers may drift and may get entangled in sin. But when they are confronted with the truth, they will turn from their sin and pursue holiness. If they do not turn from it, they have no basis for assurance of salvation. The longer they continue in sin, the more reason they have to question whether their profession of faith was genuine.”
        2. Can true believers apply this passage? We can and we must. If it takes all of me to trust him for salvation then it takes all of me to live for him in submission.  God, by his grace in Christ Jesus, offers not just to spring you out of hell but to give you a new life of freedom TO live for him by walking in the Spirit. à (Ray Stedman) “We can lose so much, even [though we know] Him, unless there is a day-by-day walk with Him. We lose peace and freedom and joy and achievement. We are subjected to temptation, frustration, bewilderment, bafflement, and barrenness without Him. And if we do not go on as Christians, if we do not grow, a serious questions is raised: Have we ever really begun the Christian life? Or is this but a self-deceptive fraud, attempted in order to meet outward standards without any inward change in the heart? [The author] leaves the question hanging in the air, haunting, unavoidable.”
        3. Christian faith is not a flawless life, but it is a fully committed one. – This ship has one safe harbor, and that is Jesus Christ. Losing sight of him is to forsake Christianity altogether.

Transition to Communion:

Let’s sing a song of praise that reminds us of the biblical truth of our need and our Lord’s sovereignty and sufficiency as we shift our minds toward the Lord’s Table. [I’d like to ask the men to come forward at the end of this song.]

Our text today gives us several reminders also true of taking Communion together as God’s people:

1. The Lord’s Table remembrance is of no value to you unless you belong to Him.
2. We need to be honoring him inwardly and not just outwardly. (confessing sin and that he is better than that sin)
3. What Jesus did he did to get all of you. This is a reminder to give him your whole self, just as he gave himself for you.

[distribute elements]

Prayer [1 Cor. 11:23-26]

At the last supper before his betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus gave the Passover bread and wine new significance, commemorating the very real death that he would die and his very own blood that would be shed for sin. When he took the bread and gave thanks for it and broke it, he said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this is remembrance of me.” Let’s eat together now to remember the death he died for us.

After eating he also took the cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Let’s drink together to remember the blood he shed to pay for our sin, and the life he now lives that we may live in him.

[closing benediction]

What Christ did for us and still does for us should humble us to the core. Go now and live this week as to not passively neglect the gospel, but instead to actively pursue the life of holiness that His grace has set you free to live.

Pay Attention! (Hebrews 2:1-4)

We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard in the gospel! (v. 1a)

If we don’t, we drift. (v. 1b)

If we drift, there will be just consequences. (vv. 2-3a)

And we are without excuse for our inattentiveness. (vv. 3b-4)

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard in the gospel!

Christian faith is not a flawless life, but it is a fully committed one.

Take It Home: (Discussion Questions for Discipleship Groups meeting in homes or at church)

• Do you like boats? What have you done on boats? J (We’ll call this an ice-breaker.)
• How do you describe the gospel? What things need to be explained in order for it to be clearly understood and ‘savingly’ received?
• Discuss God’s justice. How can he be just without being a tyrant? (eg. God’s goodness)
• What things in this life tend to lure us away from the gospel truth we have heard? What silences such false allurements?