Hebrews: Be Careful with this Dangerous Message
Pre- Service Questions
Is it possible to know if what you believe is a lie? If so, how is that possible? If not, why not?
What proof would you give someone who doesn’t believe in God that your faith is real?
Is it possible for someone who is genuinely a Christian to “drift away” from the faith? Explain your answer.
Do the people that you hang out with notice something different about you? Are you living a life that demonstrates Jesus is real?
Pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal exactly where your heart is with God through the music and the message.
Be Careful with this Dangerous Message
Sometime you can’t really see the dangers around you until it’s almost too late. Many years ago the Army sent me for almost an entire summer to Key West, Florida to learn how to invade a country from the water. I practiced sailing, sea kayaking, scuba diving, swimming, pushing boats out of the back of an airplane and parachuting after them. Before you sit there and think to yourself, “man a whole summer in Key West, Florida that sounds great.” Let me remind you that the military has a way of ruining everything that’s cool. I spent three days in a kayak at sea and when I got out of that kayak I literally bent down and kissed the ground because I was so miserable.
I will never forget one of the events that I did when I was in Key West, Florida. We were doing a long distance swim late at night to practice invading a coast line by sea. There were six of us all tied together so we didn’t get separated by one another. We were dropped off so far away that you couldn’t really see the shore from the boats that put us in the water. It was supposed to take us three hours. I was the guy that was to navigate the team to the shore. I had a compass that I was using to make sure our team made it to the coast. We were swimming for an hour and everything looked like it was going fine. At about an hour and a half into this swim I started to see some lights on the coast and I realized that we were about where we were supposed to be. The guys that were behind me were just mindlessly swimming as I navigated at the lead.
The longer that we swam and the more that I looked at the coast I realized something was wrong. I started to watch those lights drifting to my right. I told the guys that were swimming behind me that they needed to put more effort into the swim because it wasn’t looking good. At two hours those lights were further away then they were supposed to be. I need to tell you that there is this massive international shipping channel just off the coast of Key West. At two and half hours I realized this was not a good situation because we were getting swept out to sea and if we weren’t careful we would find ourselves in that shipping channel. Do you know what happens when you get caught in a massive shipping channel? You get chewed up and spit out. I told the team they better start swimming for their lives because we may not make it to the coast.
There were a number of other teams that were put in the water behind me. The same phenomenon was happening to all of them. The safety boats that were putting us in the water saw what was going on and they were able to pick up all of the other teams. Since my team was so far in front they couldn’t find us. My team and I gave everything that we had to swimming for our safety. We finally made it to the very tip of Key West, Florida. I was in the front of this line holding on as the current was sweeping us out to sea. I knew what was going on but there was nothing I could do about it. All along the Atlantic seaboard there is very strong littoral current that you can’t chart and you can anticipate. No human being was going to be able to out swim it.
When the safety boats finally got to us, they were frantic. They thought my team was going to get lost at sea. They thought all six of my team was going to die out in the water. The current was so strong under the water that none of us could see it until we were in it. We never realized how dangerous the circumstances were until it was almost too late. Thank God the rest of the teams figured it out along the way. They were smarter than I was I guess!
When you look at the first four verses of the book of Hebrews chapter two. The writer of the book of Hebrews is giving us a strong warning. I refer to it today as “Be careful of this dangerous message”. You saw the warning light flashing this morning on the screen. If you’re saying to yourself, “What is a dangerous message when it comes to the Bible?” The writer of the book of Hebrews is saying, “If you’re not careful. If you treat this flippantly or nonchalantly. You will end up drifting somewhere you never anticipated being. And, if you’re not careful, your life will end up somewhere you never expected it to be.”
1. Listen carefully to the message of the Bible.
The first thing that the writer of Hebrews is trying to warn us about is to be careful with the message you hear from the Bible. The expectation is that you and I will understand what the Bible says and more importantly that we will do it. Doing what the Bible says, I believe, is the main warning here when he says listen carefully to the message of the Bible. Let’s look at the first verse from Hebrews chapter two.
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
The word “therefore” is tying it right back to what you read in Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one was describing for us how Jesus is greater than the priests, the prophets, and even the angels. The writer uses a lot of verses at the end of chapter one to describe how much better Jesus is then the angels. Now the writer is giving you a warning. The preacher is taking a side note, like preachers often do. It is really, really important the side note that he is making. In fact, it is a very strong warning. The warning is to pay close attention to what you read in the Bible. The “close attention” that he is referring to is the way you would refer to the captain of a big vessel who is bringing that ship back into port. He could mindlessly operate the vessel in open water for days and weeks but when he is bringing that boat into port he has to be very, very careful. He has to pay very close attention to what he is doing because the most dangerous aspect of getting the boat in and out of the water is bringing it in or out of port. That’s the language that he is using here.
Understand the Bible well enough that you know what it says and that you’re doing what it says. Ladies, he says if you’re not careful it will be like you’re slipping away from what you’ve heard. That term is what you would use for a woman who loses her wedding ring. She doesn’t know where she lost it. She just looks down at her finger one day and realizes the ring is gone. Where did it go? It slipped away from her.
I used the New Living Translation today on purpose. Probably the better way to view this is drifting away, like someone caught in a very dangerous undertow and he or she doesn’t even know it until it is almost too late. They are being swept away by forces that are very strong and they don’t notice it because they weren’t really paying attention. That is the warning that the preacher is giving to us in Hebrews chapter two.
I’m trying today and every Sunday to preach myself out of a job. I’m trying to preach scripture in such a way that you understand it well enough that you don’t need to hear it from me anymore. I want you to be studying it on your own, understanding it on your own and that you’re doing what Scripture says so that you really don’t need to hear it from me anymore. Of course, as soon as the first person surrenders their life to Jesus Christ we start all over around here. That way everyone understands and brings their life under submission to the word of God.
Look at the Next Steps with me. I’m not going to read these for you but I want to explain this to you. Our pastor and I totally believe that just hearing the Bible and not doing what it says is very dangerous. So, we put great effort into giving you some possible responses to what you’ve heard on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night. We don’t want anyone in this room to walk out the doors of this building just hearing the words of the Bible and not doing what it says. That’s the danger that the writer of Hebrews is referring to. If you just hear it and do nothing with it, it’s dangerous! What we really want for all of you and ourselves included is that you carefully and thoughtfully make a commitment to take the next step based on what you’ve heard this morning. We want you to follow through with what God is saying to you not just understand it.
If you’re saying to yourself, “Is the Bible saying that a Christian can drift away from the faith?” No, that is not the statement that the writer is making here. He’s talking about somebody who genuinely knows Jesus Christ and they are drifting away from the way they know they are supposed to be living. Pretty soon they find themselves somewhere they never expected to be and it’s not good. He’s saying he doesn’t want that for you. He wants you to pay careful attention and listen very carefully to the message of the Bible and do what it says.
This is why small groups are such a big deal to us on Sunday mornings and on Wednesday evenings. We have this huge crowd of people who come in and leave and have no one in the world know who knows what’s going on in your life. So, if you want to be anonymous and if your life is heading in a bad direction and you don’t want anybody in the world to know about it, you can be part of the crowd here. You can blend in and nobody will know who you are if that’s what you want. When you are in a small group, when you really start to get real with other people, they have an idea of who you are and of what’s going on in your life. Now they are able to look at you and say, “Hey, I love you and I’m concerned about some things that are going on in your life. Can I pray for you? Can I do anything for you?” That doesn’t happen in the huge crowd that comes in and leaves on a Sunday or a Wednesday. That happens in a small group. If you’re not plugged into a small group please find one that you can join. It is dangerous for us to be isolated on our own but it is even more dangerous not to listen carefully and to respond appropriately to what you hear.
2. Look carefully in the mirror of your heart.
The writer of Hebrews wants us to listen carefully to the message of the Bible but he also wants us to look carefully in the mirror of your heart. Notice what I’m saying ladies. I’m not asking you to look at how your hair looks or what your clothes look like. Guys, I’m not asking you to look at how much you weigh. I’m asking you to focus in on the mirror of your heart. Ask yourself these questions, “How does my heart look right now? What’s going on deep inside of my heart? Does it honor Christ?”
Hebrews 2:2-3a 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?
This message that the preacher is talking about points right back to chapter one and it is really about the law of Moses. He is saying that God has delivered His holy law and in the Old Testament God’s people were expected to live up to that law. Of course, they realized they couldn’t do that on their own and they needed God’s help.
Now we have a problem, if he is referring to the law of Moses, he says this law was delivered by the angels. If you’re thinking to yourself, “I’ve read Exodus and I’ve read Deuteronomy but I haven’t read anywhere that there were angels on the mountain with Moses when God was giving him the ten commandments. Where do these angels come from?” Thousands of years ago by the time the Old Testament was being written and concluded, the ancient rabbis started to teach that the angels were around when Moses was receiving the law from God on Mount Sinai. By the time that you get to the New Testament, Stephen says in Acts 7:53 that the law was ordained by the angels. It didn’t come from the angels, it came from God through the angels to us.
Hebrews is saying that if you understand how important the law of God is and if you understand that the angels themselves have placed emphasis on the law. In the Old Testament you couldn’t get away with deliberately and intentionally disobeying the law of God. Imagine what it is going to be like for those people who deliberately and intentionally disobey Jesus’ words. Jesus is greater than the law. He is greater than the angels. He is greater than the Old Testament. Imagine what it is like for them if they disobey this great salvation.
The word “salvation” shows up more times in the book of Hebrews then in any other book in the New Testament. In fact it is almost more times in Hebrews alone then in all the other books of the New Testament combined. This is the book of salvation! That’s what Hebrews is. The topic of Hebrews is salvation. He says in the Old Testament if you broke the law you received just retribution. You received exactly what you deserved and you received the payment in full. Then he said imagine what happens to the person who neglects Jesus’ words. He didn’t say that you deliberately disobey Jesus. We already know what happens to the person who deliberately disobeys Jesus. He says let me tell you how bad it is going to be for the person who neglects it and acts like it’s not important. He puts them in the exact same category of neglecting and acting like what Jesus said doesn’t really matter. It’s no big deal at the heart and soul level. It really didn’t impact them. It’s just as bad for that person as for the one who deliberately and intentionally disobeys what they’ve heard the Bible teaching.
There are over 120,000 people in our city alone who don’t hate Jesus. He just doesn’t mean anything to them. They could just care less and it’s obvious by their lifestyle. The writer of Hebrews is saying, if you neglect this great salvation it is just as bad as if you totally disobey it. I think this is the reason why John MacArthur said of this passage, “Hell if full of people who didn’t oppose Jesus, they just ignored Him.” What he is saying is that you can’t walk out of this room and wait until tomorrow. You can’t walk out of this room and think you have more time to figure it out later. You don’t have that option! If you neglect Him, if you ignore Him, if you blow it off, it is just as bad as the deliberately and intentionally disobeying it. What he is referring to is the stuff inside of you. He’s not talking about praying, giving money, reading the Bible and going to church. He’s saying focus in on your heart right now. Are you living like Jesus is the center of your world? Or, are you living like you are the center of your world?
There is a song by Grace Potter titled Ragged Company. In this song she describes the condition of her heart. Here is what she says when she looks in the mirror at her heart.
Ragged company lyrics- Grace Potter
O lord I think I’m falling to my disbelief- I’m cursing like a sailor and lying like a thief
It’s hard to heed the calling from the better side of me- When I’m blaming everybody else and no one’s coming clean
O lord can you see my thick skin wearing thin- And the demons of a lesser me are beckoning me in
Those who gathered ’round me – I’m watching them all leave- Cause I am my own ragged company
‘Cause every town’s got a mirror and every mirror still shows me- That I am my own ragged company
And I’m scared to tread the red road that leads to galilee- Cause I am my own ragged company
The truth is, when I asked you look into the mirror at the condition of your heart, I wasn’t asking you to look at your hair, clothes or how much you weigh. I’m asking you to examine the deep stuff of your heart that you know full well and Jesus knows full well. You’re not fooling Him. You could fool everyone else but you’re not fooling Jesus.
I’m afraid that most people when they take that serious authentic look at themselves most tend to error in one of two directions. The first is that we are too easy on ourselves. We look in the mirror and think we are a pretty good person because we are better than that guy who is sitting next to us in church who just had an affair or the woman in church whose life is a mess and she is living in sin. We think we are a pretty good person when we look at them. You’re measuring yourself by the wrong standard. That’s not the tool that God is asking you to measure yourself by. He’s asking you to measure yourself by His Son. We are way too easy on ourselves.
The other side is just as dangerous. We are way too hard on ourselves. We think we’re not good enough and not living up to what God expects of us. So we think we should try harder by reading our Bible more, going to church more often, giving more money and praying harder. I’m going to try to be a better person so that God will love me more. Do you see the danger in this one? You are essentially trying to earn your way into heaven. You’re trying to do something that you can’t do on your own anyway. It is only the Spirit of God living inside of you that molds you and makes you into the image of Jesus. Most of us, if we were honest with ourselves, when we look in the mirror we either measure ourselves by the person next to us and we’re way too easy on our self. Or, we measure our self and we are way too hard on our self and we start trying to do it all on our own. You can’t do it all on your own. You can’t make it on your own. At least when you look in the mirror, be honest with yourself and Jesus about who you are deep down inside of you.
3. Learn carefully from the miracles around you.
I want you to see one last thing from Hebrews chapter two. I want you to learn carefully from the miracles around you. If you don’t think you’ve seen miracles around you, listen to these verses. The “it” that he is referring to is the “great salvation” from the previous verse.
Hebrews 2:3b-4 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.
The writer of the book of Hebrews is saying when you look around you, even if you don’t believe the Gospel message that Jesus redeems sinners, you can see what God is doing around you. Then he lists these four ways that you should be able to see that what is happening around you is proof that Jesus is real. The first is that you see these signs around you. These signs are clear evidence that Jesus is doing something in your life. Next, you should see these wonders around you. Things that you and I can’t take credit for. You see miracles and super natural events that are happening around you. Lastly, you see the gifts that the Holy Spirit has delivered to us. When you take all four of these things together, we should be able to conclusively say that there is no doubt that Jesus is real because when I look around me I see the sign and wonders. I see the miracles. I see the gifts that are work around me.
I’m going to make an aside here. I told you early on that I believe Paul was probably the preacher that was delivering this sermon to the Hebrews but Luke, one of his disciples, probably wrote it. One of the reasons why I believe it was Luke because this phrase “signs and wonders” was used repeatedly in the book of Luke and the book of Acts. He uses that phrase over and over.
What Luke is saying is look around you and it should be conclusive proof that Jesus is real because you can’t fake this kind of stuff. Here’s one of the challenges that I have for us today. Are you living your life in such a way that the people who know you best see something clearly different about you? Are you living you life in such a way that you can’t take the credit for it and other people recognize there’s something really different about you because why would you go to such great lengths to demonstrate that kind of love to me when I can’t pay you back? Why would a church like ours to go downtown inner city Columbus, Georgia and serve food to homeless people on a Saturday. Why would we go to Carver High School and spread from door to door around that region to introduce people to Jesus. When arrived at the high school, one of our groups was approached by someone who said, “Why are you here? It’s not good for you to be here right now. It is very dangerous for you to be here.” Instead of running away they continued to go door-to-door and continued to share Jesus with the neighborhood.
Last week, someone asked me the question, “Why are there so many different religions?” It was a tough question and it would take a lot of history to explain the answer to that. So, I didn’t give the history behind it. I’m sure I caught them off guard when I responded by saying, “I absolutely detest religion. All religions. Including Christianity.” I am absolutely, 100% sure that Jesus hates religion. Religions of all shapes and sizes is essentially man trying to do this check list of things to get into heaven instead of letting the Holy Spirit do something inside of us that we can’t take credit for. He does a miracle inside of us that we can’t explain away. Those around us see there must be something to this Christianity. There must be something about this Jesus because there is no explaining why they are doing this for me. There’s no explanation on why they are being so nice to me.
I want to ask you one more time, are people completely convinced that Jesus is real by the way that you live your life. Do they see something different in you? If not, will you please allow Jesus to do signs and wonders through you that you can’t take credit for but that other people will see and want what you have?
The challenge for us today is to look deep within and to heed this warning. To listen carefully to the message of the Bible. To be very, very concerned about the mirror when you look in it and see the condition of your heart. Lastly, that we would learn carefully from the miracles around us. That we would display Jesus to a city that doesn’t know Him and for the most part doesn’t care about Him.
I have a two-fold challenge for you today. The first part is for those of you who may not know Jesus personally. Today is the day that you totally and completely surrender to Him. The second challenge is for those of us in this room that claim the name of Jesus, that you would live like He is the center of your world and that you would live in such a way that people can’t explain it away.
Post- Service Questions
How could the Jews so quickly, drift away to practicing a religion instead of a relationship with God?
Do you live (notice I didn’t say believe) like the Bible is true?
Be honest- do the people that you hang out with notice something different about you? Are you living a life that demonstrates Jesus is real?
When you look in the mirror are there some things in your heart that you don’t like? Are there some things you know don’t honor Jesus?
Pray for each other, that we would get real with ourselves and get real with God about the way we are living. Pray that we would clean up the things in our lives that don’t honor Jesus. Commit to pray for each other this week, that the Holy Spirit would work in our lives.
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