I invite you to turn this morning in your Bibles to the letter to the Hebrews. The letter to the Hebrews, you'll find that on page 1,276 in the Pew Bible. We spend a lot of time in James. It's just before James, Hebrews. This is not a beginning of a new series through Hebrews. We're just going to take a visit to chapter 2 today and in December. And today to hear God's urging for us as His people to pay closer attention to the gospel that we have already received. Now we certainly know the word gospel. We use it all the time. Pastor Gordon recently challenged us as to whether we could actually sum up the gospel in a meaningful way. We might not get lost in all the details. We may be able to tell people very simply that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, the gospel. But the question raised by our text this morning is, are we holding fast to the gospel? Are we holding fast to Jesus Christ? Not only when times are tough, but even when times are easy, when life seems routine and just all so regular. The first hearers of this letter, this sermon, sermon letter, were in danger of drifting away from the gospel, from Jesus. The gospel that they had heard and believed and they had begun to feel was remote. It was too intangible, too unrealistic, too impractical for life in this world here and now. It just wasn't enough. Some Jewish Christians missed the old days, the old ways of the temple where they could see and touch and smell and had all that interaction in worship. Some Greek Christians longed for anything new, something improved, more stimulating, more interesting, perhaps even more practical. The simplicity of the gospel had become boring. Does that sound familiar? I'm sad to say that it should. Because this danger of drifting is not just belonging to the readers of this first epistle, the first readers of this epistle. It belongs to the church of all ages. It belongs to us today. Many of us in this room know people that have drifted away. Some have drifted back to old ways and old errors of going back to Rome or going to Eastern Orthodoxy, thinking that something in the ancient ways is somehow better, more stimulating, more something. and there are some that are drifting in the other direction, looking for something new, more exciting, more engaging, more practical, more relevant. This letter, this sermon to the Hebrews is still needed by us today, and we need to hear from this preacher how to guard against drifting away. How to guard against drifting away from this great salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. And so from Hebrews 2, verses 1 through 9 this morning, we will consider such a great salvation under three points. First, we dare not neglect it. We dare not neglect it. Secondly, we do not yet see it fully. We do not yet see it fully. And thirdly, we do already see it truly. Hear now the Word of God from Hebrews 2, beginning at verse 1. Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 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? 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. Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, What is man, that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under His feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not see everything in subjection to Him. But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. And so we hear the Word of God this morning, and we've asked God to bless it to us. Well, we begin in verses 1 through 4 of this chapter with the warning that we dare not neglect such a great salvation. The author begins, therefore, and of course we have to ask, what's that therefore? It's there to bring to mind what he's already proved in chapter 1, and that is this, That the Son of God, through whom God has spoken to us in these last days, has become superior and rules over all creation, even the angels of heaven. The Son of God is superior to the angels. Therefore, he writes, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. There's the exhortation. There's what we're to be doing. We are to pay closer attention to what we've heard. And the question is, well, what have we heard? What have we heard? I will let you tell me after we consider those from whom we've heard it, which come in verses 3 and 4. According to verses 3 and 4, first of all, it was declared at first by the Lord. What we've heard, it was declared at first by the Lord. Well, that should call to mind a lot for us. It should recall to mind a lot that we've been hearing from Mark by Reverend Gordon. According to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, when Jesus began His public ministry, He came into Galilee proclaiming, what? The Gospel of God. And saying, repent and believe the Gospel. The writer says next that it was attested to us by those who heard. It was attested to us by those who heard. According to Acts, chapter 1, before Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised those who had been with Him from the beginning, from the baptism of John, Through his resurrection, he promised to them, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. It has been attested to us by those who heard. And to confirm their message, the writer goes on, God also bore witness. And he did so in two ways. One temporary, one permanent. First, he did by signs and wonders and various miracles. performed by Jesus Himself and by those who bear witness to Him in the apostolic era. We see those miracles recorded for us in the Gospels and in Acts. Signs and wonders and miracles that have ceased now that the Scriptures have been set down for us. But He also bore witness by the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12 that each believer, each one here who's trusting in Christ has been given an apportionment, a distribution, a particular grace to use for the benefit of the body of Christ. And these bear witness to that which we have heard. And these gifts will continue until Christ comes again to gather us together. So, what have we heard? What have we heard from all these witnesses, from the Lord Himself, from those who attest to Him, and from God who bears witness to them both. What have we heard? We've heard the Gospel. The good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces to us such a great salvation. Therefore, back to verse 1, we must pay closer attention to it, to the Gospel, lest we drift away from it and drift away from Jesus. That's the point. There are good things in this world. There are important things, even weighty things that may attract our interest and attention that may demand our interest and attention. But there's nothing better, nothing more important, nothing more weighty than the Gospel. The fact is, when we're not giving close attention to the Gospel that directs us to Jesus Christ alone not only for our justification, our right standing with God, but also our sanctification, our progress in holiness, that we look more like Jesus. If we're not holding fast to Jesus for both of those, we are in danger of being swept away from the gospel and from Jesus himself by something else. And therefore, this reason the preacher warns us in verses 2 and 3, that there's a just retribution, there is a strict justice punishment coming. on those who do not hold fast to Jesus in the gospel. We read about it throughout the Bible. We need to remember that it's true. There is a judgment coming. It seems so far away. But there is a judgment coming. Now, in order to feel the weight of this warning that we have in verses 2 and 3, we need to understand a few things. First, that the message declared to angels has reference to the law given through Moses at Mount Sinai. That's not often how we think about it, but that's how the Bible speaks about it. Stephen, in his speech before he was martyred, referred to the law as delivered by angels. And Paul in Galatians chapter 3 says the law was put into place through angels by an intermediary. That would be Moses. So the angels, they're not highlighted in the account of giving of the law, but they were there, they had a role. And this author, because of his desire to contrast the angels to Jesus, He brings that to our attention. So the law delivered by angels. We also need to remember that the law that was delivered was administered with strict justice. Strict justice is what we want against people that offend us. It's not what we want when we offend people. Strict justice is eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. No pity. Strict justice. That's how the law was administered and so we need to bear in mind that we're talking about the law, the power of the law, the way the law functioned as a way of contrast. So with these in mind, here again this warning, for since the message declared by angels, the law of God proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, just deserts, strict justice. How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? We shall not. There is no escape from the judgment to come apart from holding fast to Jesus, and that means holding fast to the gospel. The preacher is right to say in chapter 10, and you know this saying, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Indeed it is. We dare not neglect such a great salvation. And yet the fact is we so easily do. We so easily do. Why? Why is it so hard to hold fast to the gospel? Well, he offers us some insight here. And this is our second point. It's because we do not yet see it fully. We're finite creatures with finite minds and finite reasoning. finite understanding. And if we can't wrap our mind around something, it doesn't stick very long by nature. According to verse 5, this great salvation belongs to the world to come. A realm beyond our experience. The world to come of which we're speaking. That's his point. He wants us focused on the world to come. This great salvation belongs to the world to come. It's reserved for those who will inherit salvation when it comes. It's what Jesus called the kingdom of God. In one sense, the world to come, the kingdom of God, has already come. It's already present. When Jesus came proclaiming the gospel, he said the kingdom of God is at hand. Where the king is, so is the kingdom. And he left us with this promise that I'm with you always, even to the end of the age, where Jesus is, there is a kingdom. Jesus is with his church. The kingdom of God is present with his people. The world to come is already in hand in Christ. We already participate, even though we can't see it. But in another sense, it's not yet fully manifest. It's not fully present. It's not fully realized. And even though it can be seen by faith, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, even though we, by faith, can see the reality of it, It will not be fully seen until Jesus comes back again to usher it in. On the last day, the consummation of all things, when he comes in power and glory, and all things are set right, then we'll see it, every eye will see it, and every knee will bow. But now, in this present time, in this present world, with its troubles and its pleasures, this present life often feels more real. more pressing, more important than the world to come. Our flesh responds to it, and Satan certainly urges us on. So there are currents at work. The idea here of drifting away is that there are currents running. There are currents pulling at us. There are currents that will carry us away. If we don't pay much more careful attention to the gospel, and to Jesus it proclaims to us. Well, to whom then must we pay closer attention so that these will not draw us away? Well, he makes a point in verse 5. It's not to angels. It's not to angels. As much as we might be fascinated with them, it's not to angels because it's not to angels that God has subjected this world to come. He's not subjected the kingdom of God to angels. He's not subjected our inheritance to angels. They have no authority. They have no right to grant it. They don't have a place. It's not the angel. To whom then? To whom then should we give our attention? And he answers that question with a quotation. A quotation from Scripture. He does not introduce it with chapter and verse. He doesn't tell us where it is. He expects that we'll know. His readers would know. He quotes from the Greek translation of this scripture because it refers specifically to angels, which is the point he's trying to make. But he really implies we ought not be too concerned about where it comes from because he wants us to pay attention to what it says here. What he quotes, he quotes word for word, but what he leaves behind, and he leaves some behind, he leaves behind for a reason, And that's to keep us from going back to what it said about creation. To have us hear what it has to say about the world to come. He wants our attention forward to our inheritance. To receive what we were received from Jesus. He wants us to see in these verses that he's brought forward what they say about Jesus. About our inheritance. His point is that the authority of angels is ultimately inferior. not just to man, but to a particular man, to the Son of Man. And His purpose is to identify the one to whom God has subjected the world to come. The one who does rule over all things. The one who does have the inheritance that we will receive in Him. And He wants us to pay attention to Him. So now we read these verses from verse 6. He wants this thinking forward to the world to come. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man that you care for him? You made him, for a little while, lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything into subjection under his feet. And then he proceeds in verse 8 to explain the truth of this last line. Now in putting everything in subjection to him... He, that is God, left nothing outside His, that is the Son of Man's control. And putting everything in subjection to Him, God did not leave anything out of the control of the Son of Man. The Son of Man is sovereign. The Son of Man rules. This is how things really are right now. This is the truth we have heard. This is the truth to which we must pay closer attention here and now in this world. Our problem is this, again from verse 8, at present, we do not yet see everything and subject him to him. We can't see it. We can't touch it. Therefore, we have a really hard time holding on to it. The world, our flesh, and the devil all seem to be having their own way. Life is hard. Suffering is everywhere. The church seems frail. We feel as though God is absent, unconcerned. We feel like our prayers aren't being answered. at least not in the way that we would like. And because we do not yet see the fullness of this inheritance, the fullness of the world to come, the fullness of this great salvation, we're tempted to walk by sight. What we see, what we feel, what we hear, what we experience. And we tend to drift away after things that feel more tangible, more concrete, more practical, that bring us comfort now, even if it's not comfort forever. that's our problem it is our weakness but the preacher points us to the solution he continues in verse 9 to tell us that even though we do not yet see fully this great salvation we do already see it truly we do already see it truly when we look to the one who has already accomplished it for us he continues in verse 9 but we see him we see him him who for a little while was made lower than the angels namely Jesus crowned with glory and honor notice how the preacher wraps this quotation around Jesus he puts a spotlight on Jesus he's the one who for a little while was made lower than the angels he's the one who is now crowned with glory and honor Jesus We see Him. We see Him. Even though there was a time, a little while, during which He was made lower than the angels, Jesus has since been crowned and remains crowned with glory and honor. Why has He been granted that position? This is the Son of Man. Now, this is God in the flesh. This is a human being, a God-man. Why has He been exalted to this position, he tells us, because of what he's accomplished. What is already done. Because of the suffering of death, so that he might taste death for everyone. Because he came into this world sinners to save. Paul testifies to the same thing in Philippians chapter 2. You probably know that section very well. That sums up the humiliation of Christ and the death on the cross and his exaltation to glory as a result. We confess the same thing nearly every Lord's Day in the evening when we confess the Apostles' Creed. We recount His humiliation and His exaltation. How is it then that His death, 2,000 years ago, becomes death for you and me today? He answers that as well. It's by the grace of God. It's by the grace of God. Christ and all His benefits, including this, that His death is our death. His death to sin is our death to sin. is made ours by the grace of God. His goodness to us that we could never earn. Never earn. The world to come, there's no way for us to gain it apart from Christ giving it to us by the grace of God. By the grace of God through faith in Jesus to whom the world to come has already been subjected. We inherit such a great salvation. Such a great salvation. We dare not neglect it. Even though we do not yet see it fully, we do already see it truly in Jesus. That's the encouragement He gives us today. That's the hope that we have, that we see Jesus. And as we hold fast to Him, we will not drift away. We'll not be carried away. For as long as it takes to wait for Him to come in glory and to reveal the fullness of this kingdom. We see Jesus. Now, in the meantime, at present, we don't yet see everything subject to His feet. But we see Jesus. And where do we see Jesus? Where do we see Jesus, children? We see Jesus in the Gospel. The Gospel that we've heard, declared at first to us by the Lord, attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness. We see Jesus in the Gospel. And therefore, we see Jesus in all the Scripture, because all the Scripture points us to Him. Not only the New Testament, but even the Old from which this quote was taken. We see Jesus in the preaching of the Gospel. We see Jesus in the administration of the sacraments. The Gospel. We see Jesus in the communion of the saints. Each one of us using gifts the Holy Spirit has given us for the sake of the body of Christ. We see the Gospel. We see Jesus in the love that we have for one another, loving one another as He has loved us first. People of God, leave here today knowing that we see Jesus. If we can see nothing else, we can see Jesus. And if we see Jesus, that's enough. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for meeting us today in our need. Finite creatures in a fallen world, easily distracted and led astray and swept away from that which You've given to us in Jesus Christ, our Savior. A great salvation that is ours through faith in Him. A great salvation, Lord, that we're prone to neglect. We thank You for the warning, the reminder that this is of utmost importance in our lives. More urgent than anything on our calendars. More urgent than any other relationship that we have. We pray, Father, that you have appointed us to Jesus, that by your Spirit and through the Gospel, you would keep our eyes fixed on him. That we would encourage one another to keep our eyes fixed on him. And that we as your people would be kept firm and secure in him against all the tides and currents of this present age. We ask this in his name. Amen.