Beware the Drift

Our text today comes from Hebrews 2. For the sake of time, I will read only portions of the chapter. I hope you’ll take time later to read it for yourself:

 

(Hebrews 2:1-4, 14-15, 17-18) “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will . . . 14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives . . . 17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

 

My message today focuses on the first four verses. When chapter two starts, “For this reason” (some Bible translations begin the verse with the word, ‘Therefore’ ) the writer is referring to what was written in chapter one – primarily, the declaration that God’s final word to Mankind is through Jesus Christ.

 

It is therefore – or ‘for this reason’ – the reader must pay much closer attention to what they’d heard – so that they not drift away from it.

 

Now, for a moment, please take note: The writer uses the first-person plural in this warning – “So that ‘we’ do not drift.” In other words, the writer places himself in the same category as those who can drift from the truths he is writing to his audience. And why might that be a danger for him? Well, in short, “WE” are all susceptible to drifting from truth. You. Me. Pastors and priests and teachers and choir directors – and every man and woman in the pew. All of us. Which is why WE must each pay much closer attention to the things we’ve heard, and been taught, and have read for ourselves. Repeatedly, Scripture warns us, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

 

Let’s pause a moment and think this point through. There are a dozen reasons a person can drift from what he or she knows is the correct way to live. Disappointment with God over unfilled dreams and expectations; Blaming God for the way life has turned out; Being angry and frustrated with Him because of His insistence that we obey His commandments. Any of those reasons – and more besides – can and often do lead to excuses to stop praying, stop reading the Scriptures, stop going to church. And as I just said, I must be careful myself not to drift because I am just susceptible to drifting like anyone else.

 

Please hear this – and if you’ve been walking with Christ for a long while you know this is true – no one who honestly comes to Christ in the beginning turns from their walk with Christ overnight. It ALWAYS occurs as a slow drift, by degrees, one degree after another. To illustrate this truth, look at the illustration in your handout. I drew a 90-degree angle and next to it an 89-degree angle.

 

The 90-degree angle represents an honest conversion. The man or woman begins in earnest to read their bible, to attend church, to determine to make their lifestyle match what they read in Scripture. But if they stop paying close attention to their walk, they begin to drift. They compromise to fit in. They make excuses that allow them to do what they want to do – even if God’s word calls it sin.

 

At first, they can hardly tell the difference. Eighty-nine degrees at the start seems nearly identical to 90 degrees. But, as the drawing illustrates, extend the 89 degrees a while and the difference between the ‘straight and narrow’ walk with Christ becomes clearer. Extend it six months, a year, five years . . ..

 

And, so, what is the point? “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”  And HOW ought we to pay closer attention? St Paul exhort us: (Colossians 3:1-3) “If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

 

In other words, to avoid drifting, keep seeking Christ daily; Keep setting your mind on Him through daily and frequent prayer, through daily reading and reflecting on His Word. Listen again to the apostle’s words to Timothy which dovetail with the answer to the question about drifting:

 

(2 Timothy 3:14-17) “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

 

I hope you see it’s impossible to get away from the Bible’s exhortation – from Genesis through Revelation: Get into the Word of God. Stay in the Word of God. I’ll revisit this point again later in this message because it simply cannot be overstated.

 

To further drive home this point, I’ll use another illustration to highlight the danger AND THE EASE with which we can slowly drift from the 90-degree path that leads to the Celestial kingdom.

 

Many of us know about eye cataracts from personal experience. We know that they develop slowly over time as the lens of the eye becomes progressively cloudy. Without surgical intervention, cataracts will inevitably lead to blindness.

 

Metaphorically, physical blindness is used by the Biblical writers to illustrate spiritual blindness. For example, God says to Israel through Isaiah: (Isaiah 6:9-10) "Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.”

 

The Lord Jesus told the religious clergy of His day (John 9:39), "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind." And Paul told the Corinthians, (2 Corinthians 4:4) "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

 
And once more, Jesus said of the religious leaders (Matthew 15:14): “Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

 

I’m sure you’ve noticed in your own study of God’s word, the Holy Spirit never softens for anyone His warning of the eternal danger faced by all who drift from the 90-degree path. Whether religious clergy or irreligious pagans, whether kings, warriors, or farmers, whether prosperous or those living in poverty – the Holy Spirit spoke Truth – and continues to speak truth – to everyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear.

 

We also know from personal experience, people can slowly blind themselves into rejecting the lifestyle changes God requires of all men and women, designed to conform us to His unchanging Truth. People can nurture their pride, or their spirit of revenge, or unwillingness to forgive others. They can hold onto impure or immoral thoughts or acts – and a dozen other sins everyone in this room knows by experience to one degree or another.  

 

And it is a self-evident truth: The more often we turn to darkness, the darker our vision becomes. It's really as simple as that. As the prophet Hosea warned: “Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, and they do not know the Lord.” (Hosea 5:4)

 

Surgery is the only definitive treatment to restore sight to those with physical cataracts. Likewise, spiritual cataracts can only be removed by the spiritual Surgeon – the Lord Jesus. And that is why our only hope for definitive treatment of our spiritual cataracts is to come to Him – not once, not a hundred times – but every day, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to us our sometimes nearly imperceptible dimming eyesight. Remember what King David prayed: (Psalm 139:23-24) “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.”

 

How do we obtain healing for our spiritual cataracts? We stop making excuses for keeping our Bibles closed. Listen to the apostle Peter: (1 Peter 2:2) “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

 

A newborn’s persistence in poor feeding is good reason to bring the child to the pediatrician. Infants need to eat, or their health will suffer. Likewise, All Christians of every age and maturity need to feed on the word of God or their spiritual health will suffer. If a Christian persists in his poor feeding on God’s word, it is INEVITABLE that their spiritual health will suffer.

 

I don’t know how to make the urgency of this point clearer.  Salvation itself is a well that is deep and wide and high and never runs dry. When we feed on the word of God, ruminating on it, pondering its message, we grow into more of what salvation is to our lives and our futures.

 

I never cease to be saddened to be reminded how infrequently Christians read the Scriptures or attend a church where the pastor is unashamed to proclaim its entire truth to the congregation week after week. And what is the most oft used excuse people use to avoid opening their bible? They don’t have time to read the bible.

 

But as Fr Jacques Philippe noted about prayer – which works equally well with reading the Scriptures: “No one ever died of hunger because of not having time to eat."

 

And the pages between the covers of our Bibles are a veritable feast. Listen to the psalmist: (Psalm 34:8) “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him!”

Healing spiritual cataracts also requires consistent and thoughtful prayer and gathering with others of like faith. But when we find excuses to avoid time in prayer and attending church services we eventually find ourselves saying things, watching things, listening to things, and participating in things that only a year or two earlier we’d have ardently proclaimed we’d never do such things.

 

To heal the spiritual cataracts we must ask Him to open our eyes that we might clearly see our sins because the more clearly we see our sins, the more clearly we see what those sins have done to ourselves, to others, and to Him, we will better we understand the unfathomable and inexplicable love God has for us.  Romans 5:8 will become even more precious to us: God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

To be healed of spiritual cataracts requires we practice forgiveness toward others. It doesn’t matter if the other person asks for forgiveness. Practice forgiveness anyway. Living with an unwillingness to forgive someone is like drinking poison and hoping the person you don’t like gets sick.

 

Forgiveness is not the same as trust. Forgiveness does not mean you stay in a dangerous situation. It simply means, in the words of an article from the Mayo Clinic: you make a conscious decision “to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. The act that hurt or offended you might always remain a part of your life, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help you focus on other, positive parts of your life.”

 

And, oh, by the way: Why else must we forgive? Because God commands it: (Matthew 6:14-15) “If you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

 

You and I MUST pay close attention to what we have learned by reading, and studying, and hearing the Word of God taught and preached. If we do not pay close attention, we run the very likely risk of drifting far afield from the straight and narrow path that leads to the Celestial City, and we run the risk of progressive spiritual blindness – to such a degree as we have seen many times in past sermons of those in the pews and the pulpits endorsing such sins for which untold millions and millions of men and women will hear the Lord Jesus say, (Matthew 25:41) “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”

 

People can choose to remain in the dark to avoid the light of Truth and the requisite lifestyle changes that conform to Truth. They can choose to nurture their pride, or their spirit of revenge, or unwillingness to forgive others. They can choose to continue to nurse impure or immoral thoughts and acts – and a dozen other sins everyone in this room knows by experience to one degree or another.

 

Or they can choose to turn to the Great Physician for healing. The more often we turn to darkness, the darker our vision becomes. But it is also true, the more we turn to His light, the deeper our love and our willing obedience to His commandments grows.