The Dangers of Drifting — Hebrews 1-3

0:00 Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be back here with you this morning. It's a while. It's been a good... Probably about two years or so since we've had the privilege of of being here.

0:13 A lot has happened in that time. One of those great things being if you see a little red headed tyrant in a dress running around here screaming, she probably belongs to me. God has been very good to us in the last couple of years. A number of you who remember us have been faithful in praying for my wife for the last several years in regards to her cancer. And she did have her yearly PET scan this past Tuesday to see whether or not the cancer has returned.

0:44 And we currently are waiting on results from that. So we would appreciate your prayers and Lord willing, we'll hear something tomorrow. That would be a best case scenario for us. For those of you in here who have experienced some of those things, you know, that waiting really is a very difficult and anxious time, but we trust the Lord in this. We have no reason to fear anything.

1:09 We know that we serve a gracious, loving, and merciful God. For those of you who don't know me, I currently serve as a chaplain at Haven of Rest Ministries in Akron. Haven of Rest is a homeless shelter. And there I oversee a year long men's residential treatment program. And I've been privileged to be around that ministry now for the last thirteen years.

1:37 I myself went through the program back in 2001 to deal with a serious drug addiction that I had, had the opportunity to receive Christ while I was there to be rooted and grounded. And from there, I left, went to Emmaus Bible College for four years where I had an opportunity to meet my lovely wife. And for the last eight years, going on eight years, we've had the privilege of being back here in Akron serving at Haven of Rest. That being said, over the course of that time, I've had an opportunity to interact with and meet a number of Christians, a number of men and women who will profess to have a love for Jesus Christ. And then all of a sudden, would look up and they would just be gone.

2:27 Have have you have you experienced that? Have you seen that? Was it something that was just common while I was around the rescue mission and the people that we serve? Even at Bible College, you would have young men and women who come to study the word of god, to draw near to god, And all of a sudden you would look up and they have drifted from the faith. I teach a Sunday school class at my local church that a number of the young men and women who come to it are recovering from addiction issues, single mothers, divorce, deep heartaches of life.

5:09 One of the first things we notice there is in chapter two, it starts out for this reason. Some of your other translations may have the word therefore in that place. And what this does is tells us in light of what the writer has said in Hebrews chapter one, these words should carry a heavy meaning with them. And so what is it that the writer has said in chapter one? Let's look at the first eight verses of Hebrews Chapter one, says God, after he spoke long ago to the father and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, he has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.

5:55 He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. And he upholds all things by the word of his power. And when he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels as he was as inherited a more excellent name than they For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son. Today, I have begotten you and again, I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me and when he and and when he again brings the firstborn into world, he says, let all the angels of god worship him and the angels of the angels, he says, who made his angels wins and his ministers a flame of fire but of the son, he says, your throne, oh god, is forever and ever. And the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom.

6:47 And Hebrews Chapter one here. We don't have any commands for the church. We have a simple declaration of what we were doing this morning, right? Of gathering together and of here of the writer of Hebrews declaring who Jesus is, what Jesus has done and stating the fact that something spectacular has happened here with the coming of the son of God as God's final word, not final in the sense that God hasn't spoken since then because we have the rest of the writing of the New Testament. Right.

7:18 But final in the sense that all that God has to say is rooted in and found in and points toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in verse two, it says that God, the son is heir of all things, that he made the world. Verse three says that he is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of God's nature, that he upholds all things by the word of his power, that he has made purification for sins, that he has sat down at the right hand of God's majesty. Verse four says that he is greater than any angel. In verse six, it says, the angels worship him and in verse eight, that he is mighty god and that's the message of chapter one.

8:08 That god has spoken by his son and that this son is creator, sustainer, owner, ruler, and redeemer of this world. There are no commands, only declaration and celebration of the greatness of Jesus, the final word of god and the first thing that I would say about this passage is you and I are privileged people. You know that? I am very thankful this morning that I don't have to worry about Isis coming through here and kidnapping my wife or my children or beheading me for believing in Jesus. I'm very thankful that I don't live in North Korea where I have to worry about being executed for owning a Bible.

9:29 And yet, if we're honest, most of the time, we don't maximize the resources that are available to us, do we? I know that that is a can be an issue in my life that I have to guard myself against is how am I managing my time? In a recent study, Christianity Christianity Today says that the Barnett Group did a study that says 77% of the 77% of Americans believe the nation's morality is headed downhill. I would like to find that 23% that does not think our morality is headed downhill and just have a conversation with them. The survey showed that the Bible is still firmly rooted in American soil.

10:17 The study says that 88% of the people who responded say they own a Bible. 80% think that the Bible is sacred. 61% wish they read the Bible more and that the average household has 4.4 Bibles. I wonder how many Bibles do we have in our homes? I was online looking the other day for most of us who use a Bible app, the YouVersion Bible app, which is probably the most popular Bible app, has now hit about 150,000,000 downloads globally.

10:54 The access that we have to the word of God. And yet a number of us still don't maximize that. Only 57% of people say that they read their Bible four times a year. Excuse me. 57% say they read their Bible four times a year or less.

11:13 Only 26 of Americans say they read their Bible on a regular basis of four times or more per week. And a majority, 60% of those ages 18 to 28 read their Bible less than three times a year, if at all. That's pretty scary numbers there, isn't it? And yet we have to ask, what about me? Am I allowing the word of god to have its influence in my life or am I so busy and so distracted that I am not taking the opportunity that I have to be under the word of god and to allow the word of god to change and transform my heart.

11:57 This survey goes on to say that what keeps most people from reading their Bible is that they are just too busy. Among those who say their Bible reading decreased last year, the number one reason was busyness. 40 of people reported being too busy with life's responsibilities, job, family, etcetera. That's an increase of seven points in just one year. I think about that because my son is now at an age where he's able to become involved in those sports.

12:29 We are just wrapping up the t ball season for him. And so between work and and and and sports for the kids and trying to just be a husband and a father. You know, I have to make sure that I'm prioritizing the word of god in my life to make sure that I'm not drifting from the word of god in order to be the man that god has called me to be. And I would submit to you that we have to find time in our daily lives, in our busy schedules to sit at the feet of God and to read and to pray and to study and to draw close to him. Because the second thing we would notice here is that growing in godliness and avoiding drifting requires attentiveness and action.

13:42 It's day by day routine faithfulness that is exceedingly necessary. And the writer of Hebrews says this a number of times throughout this letter. In Hebrews three one, he says, therefore, brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus. And that's the point of Hebrews two one. Listen to Jesus.

14:06 Consider Jesus. Think about Jesus. Draw closer to Jesus. And that takes action on our part. Hebrews twelve one and two, the writer again says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

14:29 We cannot be passive. We have to be active in that and that's a path, that's a theme that is repeated all throughout the New Testament there, right? What does Paul write in Romans twelve one and two? Therefore, I urge you brethren, by the mercies of god to present your bodies a living sacrifice. Acceptable to god which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of god is.

15:01 That which is good and acceptable and perfect and if we're going to be offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, that is something that we have to do on a day to day basis, correct? That is something that requires action on our part. We cannot passively sit by and allow life to happen because if we are not being transformed by the renewing of our mind, then our culture is going to be conforming us to its image instead. Romans 13 verses 11 through 14, Paul would write, do this knowing the time that is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. Wake up.

16:15 He calls us to a sense of ruthlessness in dealing with the things that are going to hinder our relationship with him. He'll tell us, if your right eye causes you to sin, to do what? Pluck it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, do what? Cut it off.

16:36 Those are things that are active and require an intentionality on our part. We have to know what it is that is in our life that is hindering our relationship with the Lord. We have to be paying attention to those things. It's what the Puritans would talk about whenever they talked about mortification of sin and vivification. Mortification is putting to death that which is below whatever it is in my life that is causing me to sin, that is causing me to stumble, that is causing me to drift away from the Lord.

17:08 I have to deal with that ruthlessly. If I have a sin in my life that that the internet is feeding into, whether that be just online gaming, whether that be pornography, whatever that just idleness and wasting time, I have to deal with that ruthlessly. Right? And we tell the other thing, we talk about vivification. What is it in our lives that stir up our affection for the Lord?

17:37 I know you can't tell it, but I actually do try to go to the gym. One of the things that I am very thankful for today is the podcast. I am thankful that for me, whenever I go to the gym, I am not one of the guys that can be over there and having the loud music in the ears, you know, getting all hyped up or anything. For me, I podcast other godly men's sermons and so I try to redeem that time. I'm in the process of having to write some papers right now and I don't necessarily always make the time to to...

18:11 I'm currently reading through Wayne Grudem systematic theology. And one of the great things is is the complete audio of that is available online for free. And so if I happen to go to the gym, I listen to Wayne Grudem for an hour because those are the things that stir my heart toward Lord... Toward the Lord Jesus. And he points those things in the direction of the Lord Jesus so that I am not as prone to want to drift away from those things.

19:26 It sounds like a man who is prone to drift. Proverbs four twenty three tells us, above all else, what? Guard your heart. So, I have to know what are the things that are drawing my heart away from the lord and and and here's the thing, we're all prone to drift at times, right? Have you ever had that experience where you looked up and you go, what in the world am I doing?

20:03 How did I get here? In my walk with the lord. One of my favorite classic hymns is come thou fount of every blessing. It was written in 1757 by a 22 year old Robert Robinson. And in the hymns lyrics, there's a line that says, Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it.

20:24 Prone to leave the God I love. He goes on to say, here's my heart taken seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Prone to wander. R. Kent Hughes would write that drifting is the church's besetting sin these days.

20:43 As the metaphor suggests, it is not so much intentional as from unconcerned. Christians neglect their anchor Christ and begin to quietly drift away. There's no friction, no dramatic sense of departure, but when the winds of trouble come, the things of Christ are left far behind even out of sight. The writer of Revelation uses different languages but refers to the same thing when he says to the ostensibly healthy Ephesian church. Yet, I hold this against you.

21:42 One of them is a fear of the opinion of others. A fear that may we that we may look like a weird holdover from a bygone era. I think about that today in the context of social media. I think about how in particular that could impact young people. I always hear people say, what I wouldn't give to be 20 years old again.

22:09 You couldn't make me be 20 years old again. First off, I was in prison. So, I definitely don't want to go back to being 20 years old again. But it's in those teenage years and in those early twenty years where you're really trying to shape your identity and find out who exactly you are. And out of a fear of what others may think of us, we neglect in growing in our relationship with the lord and and and hear me on this.

22:38 I know that's a broad statement because I am very thankful that during my time, I know that I shared that the lord has brought three young men into my life, a particular different seasons. Two of em while I was at Emmaus. One of em who is my current boss who I thought were far above in their level of maturity and understanding and growth and knowledge of the lord. One of em was Tony Myers who I heard someone share from Mountain Top Youth Camp here. I know that Tony grew up around there.

23:12 Another is a young man by the name of Reagan Bonaski, who's currently a student at Columbia Seminary. And my friend Jim, who I just thought had a such a wonderful handle on things. And I know that there are guidely young men and women out there, but I also know that there is a tremendous pressure out there from your peers to conform more to what culture says than what the word of God says. Second thing he says here's there's a culture of Christianity that embraces the cool people want Christ, but they want a Christ with a freedom, not with a Christ that calls for obedience. That was one of the big critiques of the whole emerging church several years ago, wasn't it?

23:54 Was more interested in being hip, slick and cool than actually growing for Christ with the whole idea of, hey, let's go hang out at the bar and have a few beers and talk about Jesus. Are we more interested in being cool or are we more interested in being committed? People don't want to come off as judgmental, so they allow sin to go on all around them. I think that is one of the craziest things that I hear people say. Only God can judge me.

24:27 Well, in in the one sense, yes, you you are correct. However, Paul would tell us that judgment begins with the household of god, right? The the the Paul would tell us, listen, if you are naming the name of the lord Jesus Christ, if I have relationship with you, I may not be trying to judge you but the most loving thing that I can do is let you know, you are heading down a dangerous path. I think about that passage in first Corinthians fifteen thirty three. Great passage for young people to memorize.

25:02 Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good character. The flip side of that is the writer of Proverbs will also tell us, faithful are the wounds of a friend. And so if I love that man, if I love that person and I see something going on in their life that is hindering their relationship with the lord, I have an obligation to speak up and say, what are you doing? The flip side of that is I have an obligation to have people in my life who will lovingly pull me aside and say, hey, Jason, what do you think you're doing?

25:43 I have to be just as apt to receive that as I would to share that. There's a mistaken notion that if we're truly gospel centered, we won't talk about rules or imperatives or moral exertion. We're so eager not to confuse with what God has done for us that we don't want to get leery of letting biblical commands lead to uncomfortable conviction of sin. In other words, If there's a mistaken notion that because we believe that we have been forgiven in Christ, we don't need to grow in holiness. How crazy is that?

26:18 There's plenty of commands where we are told to put off the old man and to put on the new man. Right. One of the other factors is holiness is just plain hard work and we're lazy. We like our sins and dying to them is painful and hard, and I don't want to experience those things. And so instead, I simply give up on the sanctification process.

26:44 Why do you still have that anger problem? Well, I've tried to deal with that. It doesn't really work too well. So, you know, I just will deal with it. We sweep it under the rug because dying to sin is hard.

26:56 That's one of the things that we tell men on the resident program that that I oversee. We're trying to get to heart level issues here. We don't want to deal with simple behavior modification. We want to deal with gospel transformation, right? And how much truer in the hearts and the lives of of us as believers?

27:35 Has the wonder that he came to Earth to save us been lost on us? Is this not awesome? If we have lost the wonder of our savior and his salvation, we are probably drifting. I've been around Haven Of Rest for thirteen years. I've known a lot of those same men for about thirteen years and that has its both pros and its cons.

28:01 One of the things is I'm very thankful it allows me to have the freedom to speak some truth into some of these men's lives. It also gives me an opportunity to step back and go, why me, lord? Why me? Because I I know me and I am so thankful that you have called me out of this life. I am so thankful that you have put me into your work.

28:27 And when we start to lose that sense of wonder and that sense of thankfulness in our lives, something isn't quite right. My awareness of the nearness of god has become ancient history. If the intimacy I once knew and enjoyed is now a faint memory, perhaps I am drifting. Perhaps, if the realities of heaven and hell seem distant and unreal. I was sharing a while ago during the break that this has been a very rough month for us at Haven of Rest.

29:03 We have had three people die at our facility this month. We had a 26 year old woman who took her own life. We had a 50 year old man who had a heart attack in our showers and passed away then this past Tuesday, one of the 25 year old young men who had been on my program beat another man to death in the park over a pair of hair clippers. Very real reminders of the importance of the ministry that we are in. But we have the same, we should have those same thoughts whenever we interact with our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers who don't know Christ.

29:48 I'm very thankful. Joseph who's here with me today, his father has been extremely sick. His name is Harry. He'd had a kidney transplant and now his kidneys and his it it went into kidney and heart failure and to top it all off, he has staph infection in his blood as well. But thankfully, several days ago, Joe's sister, Jamie, had an opportunity to lead her dad to to Christ.

30:22 Are the realities of heaven and hell lost on us? Does evangelism have a priority in our lives? If we've lost that sense of urgency of evangelism, perhaps we're drifting as well. Do you fall apart at the first sign of suffering or persecution? Again, we simply think of as we await the results of Angela's test here.

30:50 We are confident because we can rest in the goodness of god. If her cancer has not coming back, praise god for that. If her cancer has come back, we trust god to give us the grace to walk down that road again. I remember being at Emmaus whenever my friend Bryce lost his daughter to cancer and his dad doc, his father-in-law, Doctor Fish, was sharing a chapel message and one of the things that he shared was, it is the things that we learn in the light that get us through the dark. Are we growing in those things?

31:25 Do we have that confidence in the lord? Do we have that nearness with god? Because drifting has very real and potentially very dangerous consequences. Look at those verses again. For if the words spoken through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

31:54 And the author here is about to employ a much more argument. He's going to say in Chapter one, we have already shown that Jesus is much more value than the angels and the message that Jesus brought with him is much greater than that of the law and if the law had these penalties attached to it, how much greater for those who neglect the message of the lord Jesus? Christian touched on a while ago the eternal security of the believer from John 17. So, I do not believe that we can lose our salvation. I do think in this passage here, there are two things that stand out to me.

32:33 Several years ago, I heard a phrase that has kind of stuck with me and it was inoculated to the gospel and and I think about that with the men that I serve and the young people that I see growing up in the church who have opportunities to hear the gospel message. I was sharing a while ago, we have chapel service twice a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year. In addition to that, there's a morning devotion for the guys as well. So some men could potentially be at Haven Of Rest, let's say a year, and have an opportunity to hear the gospel three times a day, seven days a week, three sixty five days a year, and yet still not respond to that. I think again of a Puritan proverb that says, the same ice that the same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay.

33:38 The same gospel that melts this heart of stone of mine hardens the heart of some of these other men here. And they continue to not listen to that word of God. It can continue to neglect that great salvation. For us as believers, though, we can look through and we can see very real consequences for sin in the life of people who profess to be believers all throughout the Bible. I mean, all we need to do, take a look at the life of David.

34:10 Was there serious consequences for David's sin? I think if you were to ask Uriah if there was, he would say most certainly. The child that they that they lost. The fracture of his family. And that's nothing new.

34:26 I mean, it's all throughout the New Testament. I I I think about that with Ananias and Sapphira, right? I I tell people all the time, we mistake this notion of the fear of the lord and frequently, it gets passed on as simply having a reverence for god and and and and hear me, I think that that is true. However, I also think that it's okay to have a healthy fear of god because those men who carried out Ananias and Sapphira, I don't think that was simple reverence for god that they have. I think that was a fear of god.

35:02 So, I'm in a Thursday morning Bible study, Joseph and I. It's a put out by Focus on the Family. It's called CLC, Christian Leadership Concepts. It's a two year commitment for this Bible study and recently, we were going through it and I come across this article by Randy Alcorn, a pastor who talks about the effects of drifting away from the lord and allowing sin to come into life. And he talks about some of the consequences, not necessarily the eternal consequences of that, but even in the here and the now.

35:37 The first one he says is grieving the Lord who redeemed me. First, John, two twenty eight. Now, little children abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from him at his coming. I don't know about you, but that is a very frightening passage for me. The thought of shrinking back from the one who died to redeem me at his coming.

36:16 Dragging his sacred name into the mud. On that day, having to look Jesus, the righteous judge in his face and give an account of my actions. You think about that what Paul would write in second Corinthians five that each one of us must appear before the judgment seat of god of god that we may be recompense for deeds done in the body both good and bad. That we're going to have to give an account of those things. Following in the footsteps of those who have forfeited their ministries would cause me to shudder.

36:53 Inflicting hurt on my wife, Angie. Losing her respect and trust. Hurting Brady and Lindy. Destroying my example and credibility with my kids. Nullifying both present and future efforts to teach them to obey god.

37:14 Causing shame to my family. Losing self respect. And creating a form of guilt that would be hard to shake. Although I may positionally know that I'm forgiven in Christ, when I lay my head down at night, how would I deal with those things? So there are very real consequences to our drifting.

37:38 So, what do we do when we know that we're drifting? First, for those who have never dropped anchor in Christ, I would tell you to confess your sins and trust in the work of the lord Jesus for your eternal salvation. Being in close proximity to the gospel does not save you. Listen to the words of our lord in Luke 13 verses 24 through 29. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many, I tell you, will try to enter and not be able to.

38:15 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, lord, let us in but he will answer to you. I don't know where you come from. Then, you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets but he will simply reply, I don't know where you come from. Go away from me, you evildoers. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets of the kingdom of god, but you yourselves thrown out.

38:47 The time to confess your sins and trust in Jesus is now. Now is today is the day of salvation as a writer of Hebrews would tell us. Perhaps, you know Christ as your savior and you recognize that you're not where you need to be in your relationship with the lord. Join me in Luke chapter 15 for another quick look at a very familiar story for us And the story of the prodigal son. Jesus says, and a man had two sons.

39:21 The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of a state that falls to me. So he divided up his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country and there, he squandered his estate with loose living. Now, when he spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished. So, he went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him out to the fields to feed swine and he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating and no one would give anything to him.

39:58 Here's where we're going to pick up at. Verse 17, he says, but when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread but I'm dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men.

40:22 So, he got up and he came to his father but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and he ran and he embraced him and he kissed him and the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out the best robe and put on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found and they began to celebrate. One of the first things to do is to realize that you're drifting. And you know what?

41:01 Each of us may have blinders in our lives and not see areas where we are drifting away from the lord. It's all the more importance of why god has given us the body of Christ to help us in this walk with him so that if we see an area of life where we're struggling at, that we can have somebody faithfully share that with us to point us back in the right direction and for the son, he says, he came to his senses. He had that moment when he said, what am I doing now? Then, he also made resolution. Verse 18, he says, I will get up and go to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

41:46 There was a resolution and there was a repentance right there. What is it in your heart that you need to resolve to do? To trim back the schedule a little bit, to free up more time for your walk with the lord. Most of us who have the online apps, there are countless numbers of Bible reading plans that we have access to to help point us in those right directions. Perhaps, for some, it means having an accountability person in our lives that we can have real, honest conversations with, who can help hold us accountable?

42:22 What is it that we need to repent of in our lives to help us from drifting and ultimately, we need to return. Come home. Come home. One of the big things that I see that so many who have drifted away from the lord wrestle with is guilt and shame. But the son knew the character of his father and because the son knew the character of his father, he knew that it was safe to come home.

42:54 We serve a gracious, merciful, compassionate lord who wants us back into a right relationship and to be restored to him. So, I encourage you, if you're not where you need to be today, perhaps today would be the day by the grace of god that we would return back into a right relationship with him. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for passages like this here that would both exhort and warn us that would call us to pay careful attention to the things that we have heard and yet lord, we would also acknowledge that it is so easy to drift from you and so we pray that we would have hearts and minds that are set on the lord Jesus that we would remember the author and the perfecter of our faith and that we we would strive to faithfully walk with you and yet we would be reminded that you are a gracious, merciful, and compassionate god and so lord, I pray that if there's some here who have never trusted in the lord Jesus that they would believe on him today and receive forgiveness of sins knowing that it was him who took our sins on him on the cross and paid that penalty for us that we might receive his righteousness and we thank you so much for that.

44:18 We thank you that you are a god who compassionately, mercifully pursues us, who loves us, and who always allows us to come home and to be restored to relationship with you and so, we just commit this day to you now in Christ name. Amen.