Hebrews 2:1-4

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To come and preach for us.

Hebrews chapter two, verses one to four. We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, for what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since its message, spoken through angels, was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

Father God, we thank you that you're here with us. We thank you for this beautiful morning. But above all, Lord, we pray that you would show us today what you actually want us to hear. From this passage, Lord, I pray you would take my words and translate them to your meaning. Amen.

So when I was thinking about what to talk about today, it occurred to me that just like writing a coherent talk, many things should be simple, and yet they're actually very complicated and very difficult. So many things sound like they should be dead easy, don't they? Since it's Father's day, let's take being a father as an example of something that's quite simple in theory, but can be quite hard to do in practise. And yes, I know being a mother is even harder, but on Father's day, indulge me, please. So, on the face of it, being a dad should be love your kids.

Give them what they need, not what they actually want. Teach them what they need to know and help them to love God. Sounds simple. And since parenting is one of the most important jobs you can do, you put everything you have into it. Of course.

But do any of us really consider how hard parenting is before you take it on? Maybe us men in particular don't consider the enormity of the task until perhaps we hear our baby's first cry. For me, the reality of being a dad hit me. Just after Phoebe was born, Rachel was wheeled off for an operation and I was left on my own in a small room holding our new daughter, Phoebe. Must have been a couple of hours.

I had never spent any time holding babies, so holding my own daughter was pretty frightening. I didn't know how to dress her, I didn't know how to feed her, nothing. I was just sat there, scared. And I remember looking at this small baby and telling her all the things that I really hoped for her and how much she was loved by us and by God, and how much her mum loved her, even though she wasn't there at that minute. But I was petrified.

So being a good father is not easy. And often our children don't understand that. To be a good father, you will actually say no. All we can hope is that when they grow up, they understand the reason why we said no. Hopefully they'll also think that we weren't boring, that we didn't put work first, we weren't distracted, and that we love them.

But how many times have I snapped at my kids or not given them the attention they deserve because I've had a bad day at work or something else has gone wrong in life that's got me a bit distracted? The fact is that being a parent takes a lot of effort, and it can be such a hard job, it's quite easy to take your eye off the ball. It's quite easy to get sidetracked by something, anything. Dads, I hope you have a great day today and that you are spoilt rotten, or at least maybe get out of a few chores. But as I go on to look at the passage today, the idea that those things that sound simple are actually quite hard to do, that continues in our passage.

As we've heard. The author of the Book of Hebrews, he knew how hard the Hebrews were finding being ChrisTian. He knew they were slipping back into their sort of old Ways of worship under that strong jewish influence. And one of the big points of the book of Hebrews is that contrast between the new Christianity as they saw it and the old ways of Judaism.

The author of Hebrews concludes that obviously Christianity is superior to the old ways of Judaism, but he warns against complacency, and he urges the young church to work on their faith. It's kind of like the author is saying, look, I know it sounds hard. It sounds easy. I beg your pardon? I know it sounds easy, this Christianity thing.

But I also know it's hard. And that's why he packs in his letter to Hebrews with so many reasons why following Jesus is just better than the old ways. So a couple of weeks ago, Ben told us how, in chapter one, the author of Hebrews wants us to know that God has moved from talking to his people through the prophets to talking to them through his son Jesus. And we're told exactly who Jesus is and how he fits into the hierarchy of heaven. The author doesn't want there to be any doubt Jesus is actually the son of God.

He is God. And that becomes important as we move through Hebrews two, because the author doesn't want any of his listeners to think that this is some form of abstract concept. Jesus was, is a real person. And the things that Jesus told us are the truth. They are facts.

They're no longer future predictions delivered by prophets about a God they couldn't see. They're real instructions from Christ on how to live life, from Jesus himself. So we get the point that Jesus is not some abstract concept. He's not a theological idea. He is a real person, somebody we can get to know, somebody we can know.

And as we've heard over the last couple of weeks from Ben, the author wants us to get it, that Jesus is better. Whether it's better than the angels or the prophets or the older way of doing things, Jesus is just better. And in chapter two, the author, now I keep saying the author, because we don't really know who wrote Hebrews. All we know is that it probably wasn't Paul because it's not his style. But anyway, the author moves on to the issue of the new hebrew christian church.

Starting to get a bit fatigued, starting to fade in the face of religious pressure from the establishment, starting to get discouraged, discouraged to lose focus. And he gives the Hebrews this warning not to drift. Verse one, it says, we must pay the most careful attention, therefore, and by the way, the therefore relates to the supremacy of Christ that we established in chapter one. He says, we must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. The point here, the reason why we must pay the most careful attention, is that as the church, we have the advantage of hearing all this via people who were actually there.

We're not like the Old Testament believers who had prophets who said things would happen. But we get it from the horse's mouth. We are in the privileged position of being part of the church which has direct eyewitnesses to Jesus and his preaching. And what he's saying is, with this advantage comes a greater responsibility to react to what we hear. So what is it we've got to not drift away from?

Well, what is it that we've heard? Well, it's the gospel, as verse three puts it. A great salvation, it says. And the author contrasts this with the law given to Moses, which he terms the message spoken by the angels. We're not talking about drifting away from the message of the Bible.

We're talking about not drifting away from the message of the Bible that we've been lucky enough to receive. So our text says. For since the message spoken through the angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation. In other words, if the law of Moses was binding and breaking it led to a fair punishment, how can we hope to get away with breaking the much more important message that is the gospel? The good news given to us directly by Jesus.

Remember that the author is trying to discourage these early christians from reverting back to Judaism. And so he's keen to point out that the gospel preached by Jesus is the real thing. It's the fulfilment of what was hinted and prophesied at in the Old Testament. He's asking why anyone would go back to the old ways when the truth is right here in Jesus.

Our author wants his readers to see the truth of the gospel. Verse four. God also testified to it by signs, wonders, various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. In other words, this gospel as preached by Jesus, who was God, who actually did signs and wonders, and who actually caused the gifts of the Holy Spirit to come on those around him? The author really wants us to get this do you want to only believe the Old Testament stories that are given to us over many generations, or do you want to believe God himself?

Now there are three key things related to this warning, and the first two reflect back on chapter one. We mustn't drift from the gospel and we mustn't drift from the kingdom. But the third thing is that we must take heed of the warning that comes in chapter two, verse three. We're warned not to drift from the gospel of grace. Before Jesus was even born, the angel told Joseph to call their son Jesus.

God saves because he would save people from their sins. Christ is the only one that can save us, has saved us if we accept him through his death on the cross. If we don't drift away from the gospel, then there's the kingdom we mustn't drift from. It's not just that Jesus died for us, that he became our king. As the author quotes psalm 110 in chapter one, God says to Jesus, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for my feet.

We've heard it before. We don't want to be the footstool. We want to live under the reign of Jesus the king, don't we? We want to obey him. There's no alternative.

Either we accept the kingship of Jesus or we don't. There's no halfway house. We're either for him and his kingdom, or we're against him. And then that third part, the warning. Verse three.

How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? Well, unfortunately, we don't. If you ignore salvation and the message of Jesus, there is no escape. And that sounds a bit like the kind of preaching that I don't do, the kind of fire and brimstone stuff. That's not my style.

But the truth is that the gospel still includes the warning that we will be judged, just as the Old Testament did. Jesus New Covenant does not say that everyone is saved because of him. It says that those that repent and believe in him are saved.

Now, back in the first or second century, when this book was written, people were just as sceptical as they are now. And one of the first responses to all of this from the Hebrews was probably to say, go and then prove it. And our author here is actually way ahead of his audience, because this message is going to a people who were doubting whether Christianity was a good thing. It's a bit hard for them. So this message to pay attention to, not drift from Christ.

It needs some cast iron proof. And the letter's author throws in three witnesses to the truth so that he can meet the requirements for establishing truth as was dictated under the law of Moses. The first witness is God himself. Verse three. This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord.

The second witness is the apostles. It was confirmed to us by those who heard him. That's the apostles. Jesus didn't hide what he did, and plenty of people saw and heard what he did. The apostles heard it and passed it on.

They were the eyewitnesses to the story of Christ, to his ministry, his death and his resurrection. And then finally, it talks about the third witness, the Holy Spirit. God also testified to it by signs, wonders, various miracles, and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to carry on his work, to give it an explosion of miraculous signs, healing, speaking in tongues, and so on. And that had previously been predicted by the prophets in the Old Testament.

You might remember at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and many of them started speaking in tongues. Peter quoted the prophet Joel in acts two. He says, in the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. So the author of Hebrews satisfies the law of three pieces of proof of what he says. And what he says is as important to us, as it was to that early church. Don't drift from the gospel. Back then, it was, don't drift back to the old temple worship blindly following priests, thinking sacrificing an animal will do, but believe in the true, redeeming and transformative message of Christ.

Believe in his message of salvation and be reborn. Believe the message told by God who became a man so he could tell us in person that we could be saved. And what an awesome message. We don't just follow ancient texts of prophecy, we follow a living, breathing God who died on the cross for us, for you and me. And that should be really simple, shouldn't it?

But as with everything else in life, sometimes it's really hard. It's easy to drift. We've just come back from Cornwall and we spent a few days messing about in the water. And before you realise, it's quite easy to be drifting along the beach or out to sea. When you're in your boat, you have to be vigilant, or before you know it, you're not where you started or where you want to be.

There are many ways we drift, aren't there? Work's too pressing. I haven't got enough time for God. I can have a good life without God. And of course, there's those false idols that drag us down as a society.

We worship jobs, money, stuff. How often do you say, if only I had a bit better job, or maybe I want a bigger tv? I'm good on tvs. I like bigger tvs, better holidays, bigger house. Maybe that would make me happy.

And there are plenty of people in society, aren't there, that think that way. And often non christians value these things and judge others by them and their success. It's really easy to get caught up in all that stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm not for a minute suggesting that we all should give up our jobs and remove ourselves from the secular world in order to be good christians. The world would be a much worse place if we did.

We've all got room for those things and can strive to do better at whatever we do. But it's when those things squeeze God that the trouble starts. And that's where the drift happens. If we're honest, we all drift at some time or other. Following Jesus is a really simple context concept, but it can be hard, it can be complicated if we let it.

The question, I suppose, is what gives in our lives when the pressures come along, or when good things happen that take our attention even? And when we're surrounded by people that haven't yet met Christ. Are we distracted? To be honest, sometimes we're no different from that early church. We've all got something that can cause us to drift.

The only difficult bit. The challenge is working out what it is and to guard against that happening. Because as a people, we have no excuse. We have heard the gospel and we know what it says. It says, Jesus Christ came into the world to save us, to save you and me, because he loves us.

If we keep that thought in our mind, that should be enough. Because after all, as the author reminds us in Hebrews, Jesus is simply better. Amen.

Thank you.