The Danger of Drifting

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, . . . how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

Hebrews 2:1-3

How do you listen to the word of God? This passage is speaking about the danger of being careless or thoughtless, of being distracted by creation, of being idolatrous and not paying full attention to our Savior, who is our very life.

The author gives his first warning to his readers in this portion of Scripture. Because of persecution, these Hebrew Christians were tempted to turn their backs on Jesus Christ and his glorious salvation. They had fallen from their first love and had become dull in their minds. Having stopped growing spiritually, they were drifting away from God.

The author warns against such backsliding, commanding them: “For this reason we must apply our minds to the fullest extent to what we have heard so that we will not drift away” (author’s translation). Notice, this is written to believers. As Christians, we can hear the word again and again and not perceive it. We can become so accustomed to the word that we fail to truly hear. We must maximally apply our minds to the word of God, just as a driver must pay most careful attention to the road if he wants to arrive at his destination alive. God is speaking, and we must give him our full attention. Moses declared, “Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you” (Deut. 6:3). If we hear carelessly, it will not go well with us.

1. God Gives Reasons

First, the author says, “For this reason.” Ours is a reasonable faith. The Bible is a reasonable book given to us by a reasonable God. It is more reasonable to believe that the infinite, personal God created the world out of nothing than to believe that something came out of nothing on its own. It is reasonable to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because God is able to raise him from the dead. Likewise, it is reasonable to believe that we ourselves will also be raised from the dead.

Throughout the Scriptures, we find the word “therefore.” God delights in giving us reasons. Here the author is saying that God himself is speaking to us; therefore, we must pay full attention. He speaks, not through angels or prophets, but through his eternal Son, who, as we read in Hebrews 1, is the Creator, Upholder, and Heir of all things, the great High Priest of our salvation, the King eternal and the One who is superior to all angels. This Son is speaking to us about our eternal salvation (Heb. 1:14).

Therefore, pay more careful attention! Because it is the power of God unto salvation, the gospel is a matter of life and death. Careless listening leads to drifting into eternal punishment..

2. Pay Full Attention

Second, we are told we must pay full attention to the word. The Greek word is dei, “ought to.” To play golf or not play golf is an optional decision. But whether we should listen carefully to the message of the gospel or not is not optional. We must do so, if we want to arrive in heaven. If we do not pay attention to the word of God in this life, we will end up in hell, like the rich man of Luke 16.

When we gather together, we must focus on him who ought to be the object of our thoughts. We are called to stretch our minds and think, so that we may understand and believe the word of God, for in it the Son of God is speaking about our salvation. Many evangelical churches have forsaken thinking for the sake of entertainment.

The Greek expression in verse one tells us that “we must pay full attention” to the word and do so continuously. Just as we eat food daily, so also we must always be feeding on the spiritual food of God’s word. If we do not pay attention to the doctor, we may die before our time. God, our Great Physician, is addressing us concerning our eternal salvation. We must pay him our fullest attention so that we may not drift away into a miserable eternity in hell.

The parable of the sower speaks about four kinds of listeners to the word of God. The pathway-hearer heard the word but paid no attention to it, and the devil came and took it away from him. He was not saved. The stony-heart-hearer paid superficial attention, but because he did not understand the cost of discipleship, he was rootless. When trials came because of the word, he fell away. He was not saved. Then there was the thorny-heart-hearer. He heard the word, but did not pay full attention to it, failing to understand that the word of God alone can satisfy us fully. His divided heart was deceived by the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, the desire for things other than God, and the pleasures of this life. He became fruitless and was choked to death. He also was not saved. But the good-soil, good-heart man heard the word and gave it his fullest attention. Understanding the word, he treasured it and persevered in obeying it, bringing forth fruit. This man alone was saved.

We must pay maximum attention to the word of God. “Therefore, holy brothers who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest, whom we confess. . . Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 3:1; 12:2). When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we will be transformed: “And we who with unveiled faces all behold the Lord’s glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor. 3:18, author’s translation). The purpose of Christ’s incarnation was not to make us rich, famous, or powerful, but to bring many sons to glory (Heb. 2:10).

Psalm 1 speaks about the blessing of meditating on the law day and night. Therefore, pay full attention when the word is preached. May Christ and his word dwell richly in our hearts so that we may grow in grace and the knowledge of God and be transformed by his truth.

3. The Danger of Drifting

Carelessness costs us dearly. The word of God demands the maximum capacity of our renewed minds. We must never come to church to be entertained or to doze off into a dream world. Church is not an escape from thinking. We must be prepared to think much, that we may know God and be filled with him.

We must pay more careful attention so that we will not drift away. The Greek word pararêô means to float past the harbor, to be carried downstream past the landing place. It is as if the pilot of the ship is either drunk or asleep while the ship is carried away by the current.

Spiritual inattention will set us adrift to hell, even while we think we are on our way to heaven. Pararêô is also used to describe a ring slipping off a finger and being lost forever. There is no standing still in the Christian life. Either we are moving toward God, or we are moving away through inattention and unbelief, only to have Christ tell us on the last day, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.”

The writer of Proverbs exhorts, “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart.” Why should we pay maximum attention? “For they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body” (Prov. 4:20-22).

4. Greater than the Law of Moses

The writer next uses an argument from lesser to greater: “For if the message spoken by angels was binding and every transgression and disobedience received its just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect this great salvation?” (v. 2).

The Septuagint version of Deuteronomy 33:2 and the New Testament (Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19) both indicate that God gave the law to the people of Israel in some sense through the mediation of angels. This law was binding upon the people, and those who violated it suffered just retribution. For example, when Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu violated it, God himself killed them before the altar (Lev. 10). When an arrogant man named Korah rebelled, the earth split open and swallowed him. Not only did God kill Korah, but he also killed 250 leaders allied with him by fire and 14,700 others by a plague (Numbers 16). Another man named Achan disobeyed God’s law, stealing that which belonged to the Lord (Josh. 7). Though he dug a hole in his tent to cover it up, God revealed it, and Achan and his entire family were stoned to death and set on fire. This punishment was just because they did not pay attention to the law of the covenant Lord. If these things happened to those under the law, how can we escape the greater judgment of hell if we ignore, despise, and neglect such a great salvation revealed to us by the Son?

This word “ignore” appears in Matthew 22, which speaks about a great feast given by a great person. Many were invited, but the guests despised the invitation: “But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city” (vv. 5-7). This is a call from heaven. Christ is speaking about our salvation; therefore, we must pay attention.

We learn several things about word sôtêria (salvation) from the book of Hebrews:

1. Jesus is the author of our salvation.
2. This salvation is eternal.
3. Christ accomplished this salvation by his own death. The Son of God died in our place to accomplish this redemption, which he now offers to all people
4. When Jesus comes again, we will enjoy this salvation in its fullest degree.
5. This salvation means death is destroyed for us and we are liberated from our fear of death.
6. This great salvation makes us who were sons of hell into sons of heaven. God’s purpose is to bring many sons to glory.
7. This great salvation is necessary for us to draw near to God in worship and be blessed by him.

The argument, therefore, is that if the message spoken through the angels was binding, how shall we escape if we despise, ignore, and pay no attention to the word of great salvation spoken by the Son? We find a similar argument in Hebrews 10:

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (vv. 26-32). Messengers of the Gospel

Finally, we want to look at the messengers of the gospel. Who is preaching this great salvation to us?

It is not preached to us by angels. Remember, God told Cornelius to call Peter, not an angel, to bring him the gospel (Acts 10:5).

God the Father preaches to us. Verse 2 begins, “For if the message spoken through angels was binding. . . .” God was speaking through the angels. It continues, “and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” Then the New International Version says, “This salvation which was first announced by the Lord,” but it should really be translated, “This salvation which was first announced through the Lord.” (PGM) Who announced it? God the Father. We must pay careful attention because God the Father himself is speaking to us about our own great salvation. Listen to him!

The Lord Jesus preaches to us. In the Greek we read that this message was first announced by the Lord (Kurios), and we are told later that this Kurios is Jesus (v. 9). The message is spoken to us by the One who is superior to all angels, the Creator of the angels. The eternal Son, our Lord, is speaking. We must understand his person, his dignity, his authority, for he is greater than we are. Though he created us and can send us to hell, Jesus Christ now speaks to us in grace and mercy. We must listen to him and pay attention to his word of salvation and forgiveness.

We read about Jesus’ preaching: “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'” (Mark 1:14-15). Peter told the household of Cornelius: “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36).

This salvation was first proclaimed by the Lord, but the majority rejected his word, calling him a blasphemer and crucifying this preacher of good news. “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (John 1:11). Some prostitutes believed him, as did the Samaritan woman, some lepers, blind Bartimaeus, the publican Zacchaeus, the eleven apostles, the seventy, the one hundred and twenty, the five hundred, and others. But the majority were so busy that they paid him no attention. Having ignored this great invitation, they drifted into hell.

The apostles preach to us. “This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him” (v. 3, italics added). The author of this epistle and its readers never heard Jesus speak. That is why the author cannot be an apostle. We can assume, however, that the church of the Hebrews was established by an apostle.

As eyewitnesses of the ministry of Jesus, the apostles attested to his deeds and teachings. When apostles speak by the inspiration of the Spirit, Christ himself is speaking. So the apostles were ambassadors of Christ. The apostle John writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). What did the apostles proclaim? “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” and appeared to many (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25).

The apostles heard the teachings of Christ; they were given the Holy Spirit; they saw the miracles he performed; they heard that he must die to give his life as a ransom for many; they saw him raise the dead; they saw him crucified, dead, and buried; they saw him as the risen one; they saw him ascending into heaven. When the Spirit of God came upon them, they began to go about proclaiming the gospel. When the apostles spoke, Christ himself was speaking, for the word of the apostles is the very word of God.

God the Father “also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Heb. 2:4). Although we must believe the gospel without any miracle, God performed miracles through the apostles to guarantee the authenticity of the word and to encourage us to believe and be saved. The supreme purpose of these miracles is to point us to God’s presence. God the Father validated the apostolic message through miracles, signs, and wonders.

Peter testifies to such miracles: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know” (Acts 2:22). The apostles also performed miracles (cf. Acts 9:32-42; 14:3; 19:11-12; 20:9-10).

The primary purpose of signs, wonders, and various miracles was to authenticate the messenger and the message. Such authentication is not necessary now because we have the complete revelation of the Son in the written word. What about modern miracles? Many result from Satanic powers, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, 9 and throughout the book of Revelation. Some are part of the psychological manipulation by unscrupulous preachers to get money from gullible people.

However, God may perform healings and miracles today. He is quite free and sovereign to do so, not for the authentication of the message, but because he is compassionate. He still hears our prayers and may heal us, in accordance with his sovereign will. If he does not heal us, we have the comfort of knowing that he has given us eternal life and we shall never perish. We do not, however, need any miracles to authenticate that the Bible is the very word of God. God has spoken finally and fully in his Son, and faith comes by hearing this word. It is sheer unbelief that demands signs, wonders, and miracles in addition to the word of God.

The Holy Spirit confirms it. God pours out his Holy Spirit and various gifts when the gospel is preached (Acts 19:1-6; 1 Cor. 12:1-11). Jesus says, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me” (John 15:26). The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are involved in the preaching of the gospel. That is why we must pay full attention.

Pastors now preach the gospel. Since the apostles are dead, who is preaching now? Pastors. They are gifts given by the risen Christ to the church (Eph. 4:11), men appointed by God (1 Cor. 12). They are not angels; they are human beings appointed by Christ. We must not neglect listening to them.

When you listen to a sermon, it is not the angel who is preaching, but the pastor. But through that pastor, God himself is preaching. We must, therefore, pay fullest attention to the gospel word, for it is preached by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and by human beings like me. Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.” God still uses called, appointed, and gifted human beings to preach the gospel. Careless listening will cause us to drift and float to hell like dead fish. Conclusion

In conclusion, let me ask you some questions.

1. Are you habitually listening to the word of God that speaks about this great salvation? Do you pay maximum attention to the word of God when you read it privately? Do you listen carefully when the word is preached in the church? Remember, it is the very word of the triune God. Or do you listen to preachers who will not preach the whole gospel? If so, Jeremiah warns: “The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading” (Lam. 2:14). If a preacher does not speak about sin and its remedy in Christ, then he is a false preacher. A true preacher will preach only the word of God and the whole word of God.
2. Are you drifting away from spiritual things to the deceitfulness of riches, the pleasures of life, and the desire for other things? Are you falling in love with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? If so, watch out!
3. Do you take for granted that you are going to heaven because you were baptized and joined a church? If so, consider carefully the words of Jesus to those who assumed they were saved: “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matt. 7:23). Are you like the first three soils that did not produce any fruit, though they heard the word?
4. Are you like the rich man who expected to go to heaven, yet completely neglected the word and was surprised at the end (Luke 16)? Or are you like the thief on the cross who paid attention to Christ and finally, in his agony and in his pain and in his suffering, confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and fellowshipped with him in paradise the same day (Luke 23:40-43)?

I pray that none of us will drift into hell, but pay maximum attention that we may arrive in heaven to spend eternity with our God. May the word of God’s grace enter into each one of us to heal, save, strengthen, and comfort us this day.

As we put these admonitions into practice, our worship will be acceptable to God, and he will bless us. Then we will go out in joy and be led forth with peace, and the mountains and hills will burst into song before us (Isaiah 55:12).