Charles Colson begins his book Who Speaks for God? by telling of a bishop speaking at a homosexual rally in New York in the 80s in which he suggests that any thought that God would judge those practicing homosexuality as those sinning by such an actions comes from “primitive, barbaric passages of the Old Testament.” ¹ Not only did I find that interesting in light of the present situation faced in the church (universal) where once again sin is being ignored, but also because it is a good reminder to us that having a false understanding of God’s nature, character, and ways in our present day will lead to great sin. For this bishop of which Colson spoke was forgetting that God’s holiness is not something that passed away with the arrival of Christ but is true to his nature today as well. Thus, the bishop needed to ask himself how he should respond were he to be judged by the God who judged sins – the God of the Old Testament and the New.

This is a question that the audience of the letter of Hebrews needed to answer as well. For as we saw from our introductory issues regarding this sermon series, this was a people who were tempted to turn away from the faith. They had professed Christ and yet were tempted to say, “That’s enough. I really wasn’t in for all this has brought about [i.e. persecution, ridicule, etc.]. And my life was fine when I thought Jesus was nothing special.” Therefore, the author begins the letter telling them that Christ is the supreme revelation of God. He has spoken by his Son, and his Son is superior even to the angels. Then, for the first time in this letter he exhorts them in the beginning of chapter 2. He writes, “Therefore [showing the link with what they had heard from the content of the first chapter], we should pay close attention to what we have heard lest we drift away” (2:1). But why? Why is drifting away from this profession of Christ and following him as their Lord so important? The author of Hebrews answers with a logical argument that drives them to face the danger of their situation should they drift. I will, therefore, try to outline his argument and then exhort us this morning as well.

The law of God was true and upheld by God

Now, if you are carefully reading this text, this first point should alarm you, for where in the world does this text speak of the law of God, the covenant which Moses received at Mount Sinai? It doesn’t seem to at all. I don’t read the words, “Old Covenant” or “law” at all in this text. However, the readers of the text would have known clearly that he was referring to the law when he wrote, “For if the word declared by the angels was reliable …”

Why would they have known that? Well, it was simply understood in that time that the Law, the Old Testament or Old Covenant given to Moses was delivered by the angels. Thus, we read in Acts 7:38 in Stephen’s sermons that leads to his death, “This [Moses] is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give us.” Then again in Galatians 3:19, a text we read in the service last week, Paul writes, “When then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through the angels by an intermediary.”

Thus, we see that the word (or message) declared by the angels was the Law, the Old Covenant (or Testament) was reliable. It was true and upheld by God. Now, he has just argued about the Son’s superiority to the angels and yet shows that the word declared by them was reliable, true, and upheld by God. But he then goes on from there to a second hinge in his argument.

Every sin committed under the law received just punishment

Again, finishing verse 2 we read, “For since the message declared by the angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution …”

Thus, under the law sin received a just punishment. As an example, in Numbers 15:32-36 we read of the following testimony: “While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.’ And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

With texts like these, it is easy to see why even the bishop speaking at the homosexually rally knew that God judged sin in the Old Covenant. The angels spoke commandments from God and God was not about simply ignoring disobedience among the people. He judged their sins. In fact, in our text we read, “Every sin and disobedience received just punishment” (2:3).

Therefore, the message declared by the angels was true and reliable, and every sin and rejection of that message received a just punishment. And yet the author’s argument goes still further.

The message delivered by Christ (the gospel) is superior even to the message delivered by the angels (the law)

Ignoring the first part of the statement temporarily, we read in verses 3-4, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which was declared at first by the Lord and which was confirmed to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and miracles and various wonders and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will?”

It is clear that the message of salvation, the gospel, the work of Jesus Christ is clearly from God. The gospel, the message that Christ came and lived perfectly, died on the cross (taking God’s wrath for the sins of his people), and rose from the dead so as to declare righteous those who repent of their sins and believe in Him shall have eternal life is indeed a message from God and is superior even to the law. The author of Hebrews makes that clear in showing that it was first declared by the Lord.

That is to say, Jesus (who he has already shown to be God, the Son) spoke this gospel to us. Therefore, it was delivered by one superior to the angels (i.e. Hebrews 1:5-14). Also, it was confirmed by those who heard. That is there were witnesses to Christ’s work and his preaching and the fact that he really did rise from the dead. Then, the message was confirmed as God granted signs and miracles and wonders among the apostles as they preached. Also he gave gifts of the Holy Spirit to show that the message they were preaching was true. So, if the Law was reliable because it was delivered by angels, then the New Covenant (or, more specifically, the gospel) is superior for it clearly was delivered and confirmed by God.

There will be no escape from the punishment those will receive who neglect the salvation offered through this superior message, the gospel

By asking in verse 3, “How shall we escape …” the author is showing that there is no escape. He has already shown that the Law was reliable and every sin under the Law received a just punishment. Then he has shown that the message of Christ (the gospel) is superior, thus, there will be no escape from judgment. Thus, the bishop who thought that God only judged severely those living in the time in which the law was given, needs to see a text like this one. For God’s judgment will be nothing less than inescapable and eternal to those who reject the salvation offered through Jesus Christ. There will no escape from his great wrath poured out on those who do not believe.

“Simple enough,” one might ask, “but how does this text relate to Christians?” Indeed, you might say, “I see how a person who has never placed his faith in Christ needs to hear this text, for it is clearly evangelistic, but the recipients of the letter were professors of Jesus Christ as are most of us today?” If you’ve asked this question, it’s a good one. And yet there is a response.

First, let me point out that you are indeed right in seeing that this should be a very convicting and sobering call to those who have never placed their faith in Christ. For it is indeed a reminder that on that final day in which men will stand before God, there will be no escape from the eternal judgment of hell for those who have rejected Christ.

However, the original recipients of the letter were indeed those who had professed Jesus Christ as Lord and the author includes himself in the exhortation in verse 1, writing, “Therefore we should pay close attention to what we have heard lest we drift away.” Thus, with the fact that the Bible teaches in multiple places and we consequently believe that all those who are truly born again will inherit eternal life, it produces a problem. For if it is true that if one is ever truly saved we cannot lose that or that one who inherits eternal life can do nothing less than live eternally, then how can this exhortation be anything but an empty warning. It would seem to be much like my sister who once threatened her child that unless he got in the car she was going to leave him at the store which was twenty miles away from our house – when he was 2! Her warning was an idle threat. And yet this warning in Hebrews surely must be more than that. So what are we missing?

The missing link between these realities of the doctrine of perseverance and warning texts, such as this one (and those to come) is this: true saints demonstrate that they have truly been born again by persevering in the faith. Or to say it a different way, saints are those who, by nature of their state, persevere. They don’t persevere in the faith so that they might be saved or so as to achieve salvation. Rather, they persevere in the faith because they are saved. They do not drift away so as to ultimately neglect and reject the salvation offered through Jesus Christ. So, what should be the response to Christians to this text?

Our response to this text needs to be to pay close attention to the truth of the gospel and not drift from holding to it [i.e. “to hear and to stand firm”], lest in that final day we find ourselves to be numbered among those who professed Christ and were simply deceived, having never known him

On that final day there will be many who called Jesus their Lord at one time or another and who did many things that looked as if they were indeed serving him, and yet the Lord will respond not by saying, “Yeah, I knew you once, but you messed up and I took the salvation you had away.” No, he will respond according to Matthew 7 by saying, “Depart from me … for I never knew you.” And I want no one here to be among that crowd.

Therefore, texts like this are a sobering and serious call to us who have professed Christ as well. And we need to pay close attention to the gospel that we have heard declared and ponder much on it, on what we believe, on the truth that we have heard lest we drift away from it and neglect so great a salvation.

The original recipients of this letter were tempted to drift away from the faith. They were tempted to walk away and say, “Forget it.” The author of Hebrews writes in these first four verses of the second chapter to tell them, “Listen and think and pay much attention to what I have written thus far, for you need to understand the seriousness of rejecting Christ. You need to understand exactly who it is that you are rejecting and what that will mean. So, do not neglect it, but think on it until your heart is driven to obey Christ and follow him.”

For us this morning, I am not trying to get anyone here to think he or she may not be a believer simply because one has struggled with sin, for even as Christians we will struggle with sin. What I am warning us to do, though, is to think much of the person, work, and message of Christ lest you be tempted to walk away from the truth that you have professed. Maybe you’re one of those who is kind of on the outer edge of the community, if you will. You are not overly involved or accountable. You come at times and miss at others. You talk about Christ and give much impression to others at times that you know him. And yet the temptation simply to drift away slowly and to live to yourself, forgetting the faith, walking away from the Christian life – maybe slowly at first – is there. Then I ask you to fight it, this morning by paying close attention to the gospel message that you have heard.

As we close, consider and pay attention again to the message of Christ. The gospel is from God and those who neglect the salvation offered through Christ will not escape judgment. Consider the gospel, consider your heart and your life and choose afresh to obey this day. Choose to trust Christ in this moment to give you the grace for obedience and labor to believe and obey by his grace. Even as we come to the table, may we first consider and then demonstrate visibly through the receiving of the bread and the juice, that we have heard the message of Christ and we choose to receive it and obey.

May his grace be with us. Amen.

¹Charles Colson, Who Speaks for God? (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1985), 1.

A CALL TO HEAR AND TO STAND FIRM