The Danger of Drift (Part 3)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth, and you can always go to our website, NoCompromiseRadio .com.

If you want information about the Reformation 2017 trip, it's there.

If you want to find information about evangelical white lies or sexual fidelity or things that go bump in the church, those books, it's there.

If you want to look at Harry's blog, The Greek Expositor, it's there. He has some great articles, by the way.

Everything you need is right there at NoCompromiseRadio .com. It's been a good summer, spending time with the family, and then now it's mid -September real -time back to work.

Been on a variety of different shows these days, In a Revolution, Janet Mefford, Stand Up for Truth.

That's a monthly deal, and I've been glad for that. It seems like it's radio mania.

I'd like to talk to you a little bit today, if I may, if I can. Can I say, you know, when people say that, of course they can.

It's my show. You don't have to listen if you don't want to. Oh, and I did listen to lots of podcasts over the summer.

That's one of my favorite things to do, is ride the bicycle out in the middle of the Redwoods or by the beach or any place.

There's some wonderful -looking, stereotypical New England -style rolling hills that I like to ride through here in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Lots of podcasts. I love listening to podcasts. I do a few things like This American Life podcast,

The Dan Somebody. Who's the Dan guy for the history? Dude, that's how often

I listen to it. I like to listen to Jesse Johnson preach.

Of course, Sinclair Ferguson, Essois Johnson. And what else have

I been doing? Who knows? I have been to Niagara Falls a few times.

I don't know if you've been or not, but it is, and we use this word too often, of course, in our life, but it is truly awesome.

The Canadians have something better than we do, and that is, well,

I'm sure they have many things, but they've got the falls right there. Their side's better than our side, and it would even be more incredible if the water wasn't slowed down.

In the old days, before there was a dam and any way to regulate the water, it was, I don't know how many times faster, but I know it was several times faster, or close, or 1 .2.

But it kept eroding, and then they also had to figure out how to get some power out of the deal.

I'm fascinated by Niagara Falls, and some people have gone over the falls, as you know, by accident.

People try to commit suicide and live. People try to just go over and live and then died. And as I was researching

Niagara Falls, I found people go over the falls in some strange objects. Now, I don't know how the barrel deal started, but that's the one that you think of, strange objects.

Going back even to 1930, July 4th, George Stakakis was working as a chef in Buffalo, and he goes over the falls in a barrel.

And the barrel got stuck behind the water and couldn't be recovered for 18 hours.

He was in the barrel, and he had enough air to last for eight hours.

So he made it, lived through the falls, down the falls, into the falls, and then suffocated in the barrel.

He did bring his pet turtle with him, which was allegedly 150 years old, and it lived.

I guess maybe it breathed some of the air that George could not. Speaking of strange objects, William Red Hill Jr.,

he was actually the son of William Red Hill Sr., 1951, goes over the falls in a craft that he named, auto -named, self -named

The Thing, and it broke on impact and he was killed. 1961,

Nathan Boyer went over the falls in something that he named the plunge -o -sphere.

And it bounced on the rocks and went up, and this guy walked out uninjured in the plunge -o -sphere.

1995, Robert Overacker, over -the -fall -acker, he went over the falls on a jet ski because he wanted to raise awareness, and he wanted to raise awareness for, of course, the homeless people, and he had it set up that he had a jet ski, and then that jet ski would take him over, and as he was pummeling down, he would pull a parachute, and it did not open, and he plunged to his death.

This wasn't with a person in it, but I did find it interesting in 1827, rather,

William Forch bought a schooner named the Michigan, and he put some buffalo on it, bears, raccoons, dog, some people thought maybe there were some fox on there, geese, 15 geese, and an eagle, and he set it off to go down the falls.

This is pre -PETA. This is 1827. They say that the two bears jumped out and swam to Goat Island, and the rest of the animals all died except the goose drifting over the falls.

That is scary. Going over the falls in strange objects,

I wonder if you could pose the question or have the newscast in 2016, several attendees of a local church went over the falls as they lost focus and sight on the

Lord Jesus Christ. There were no survivors. I think a better headline would be, members of the local church, let's use the one that I'm attending,

Bethlehem Bible Church, by the grace of God, paid attention to Jesus the high priest, avoided the precipice by faith, and trusted in the revealed word, and they made it safely home.

Safe, secure, not just the turtle, not just the goose, they made it home.

There's a real neglect, as we have seen in some no -compromise radio shows, of drift.

The idea of Hebrews 2, 1 through 4 is going over the falls.

You don't have to do anything. If you're on that river, I believe it's the Niagara River, and if you're in that river and you, upstream from the falls, don't swim to the side, you're able to.

It's not as if you get into the river and it automatically pulls you over, unless you're close to the edge.

There's a real chance that you could just float away. You don't have to do anything, and that's the writer, the author of Hebrews, wants the people there.

Of course, the context is a lot of people that have Jewish background, and the temple's still up, and they don't like the persecution, they're losing their homes, they haven't yet suffered the point of blood yet.

That would come after Nero, 64 -ish, I believe.

These people could just be careless. These people could just, it's the hazard of inattention.

It's the threat of drift. It's the peril of taking your eyes off of Jesus. And there's lots we can learn from them as we walk our

Christian life by faith. We get there's a danger to blatant sin.

We understand sexual sin, pornography, murder, covetousness, gossip.

But for the writer of Hebrews, he wants to inform the people that there's a serious danger to simple neglect, taking your eyes off of Jesus Christ.

Remember, faith has an object, and we need to have daily reminders that the object of our faith is

Jesus Christ. He is the Great High Priest. Did you know in the book of Hebrews, every single chapter, either explicitly with the word

Great High Priest, with the words Great High Priest, or inferred, sat down at the right hand of the

Father, after making a purification for sins, priestly language, every chapter in Hebrews, that is 13 chapters, contains a statement, implicit or explicit, about Jesus the

High Priest. We need to make sure we don't neglect our great salvation.

I think we all understand, don't we, that if you neglect other things in life, there's trouble.

Why wouldn't there be trouble if we neglected Jesus? And, of course, and I'll talk about this in a minute, but I just feel compelled to say it, if you're a real believer in Christ Jesus, there's no danger of eternal hell.

You're not justified by your faithfulness or anything like that, and there's not a final justification, contrary to what lots of people these days teach.

There is now, therefore, no condemnation in Christ Jesus right now, justified.

Never can be more justified. Never could lose your salvation. But the warning passages serve as a goad not to get close.

Remember the latter end of what this unbelief is. The real issue in Hebrews is unbelief and belief, and so keep believing.

That's the point. But back to what I was saying before, if you neglect your marriage, you know there's going to be trouble.

You can become ruined in your marriage by simple neglect. It's not like you have to go out and commit adultery. You just neglect your spouse.

If you neglect your business, what if you neglect your health? What if you neglect your studies?

What if you neglect your yard? What if you neglect your garden? Again, you don't have to be one of these wild, crazy, extreme sinners, a terrorist, or an abortion doctor, something like that.

Simple neglect. And there's a warning shot, the first of five in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 2 says,

Therefore we must pay much 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, Hebrews 2, 1 -4, that's in the ESV.

I don't think that's the permanent ESV yet, I don't know. I think that was really dumb of them to do as a side note.

I didn't like that. This is the permanent. We're going to declare permanence now. This is, of course,

I know they don't think it's infallible, but this is it. No more amending the text, the translation.

This is it. It's probably why I study and read at home, personally.

The New American Standard. What Bible is this here in front of me? This is the ESV Study Bible. I actually like the

ESV Study Bible. It has some good notes. Like I said before, I was surprised. I didn't think

I was going to like it, but I like a lot of the notes. Drifting, drifting from faith, drifting to unbelief, that's a real warning.

And even for the Christian, little bits of unbelief and doubt can creep in like leaven.

True? Yes, true. The real issue in the book of Hebrews is faith, if you want to have the human response.

Jesus is the superior high priest, that's the theme. Then he wants his listeners and his readers and his hearers to say, well, we're going to believe in that Jesus.

Our response to that truth is faith. And he uses several words, not just faith, but even confidence.

Hebrews 3, 6, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And if we are his house and we are at his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope, 3, 14, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, 4, 16, let us then with confidence draw near, 10, 19, since we have confidence to enter the holy places, 10, 35, do not throw away your confidence.

The people were struggling, remember the audience, some believers, some unbelievers. And he makes the contrast, the author of Hebrews, Hebrews 3, 19, so we see that they were unable to enter because of what?

Unbelief. That's the point. He not only says confidence, but he uses the word faith.

The response to Jesus, the high priest, is faith. Chapter 4, verse 2, for good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith.

Chapter 6, verse 12, imitators of those through faith and impatience inherit the promises.

If I said impatience, I meant patience. Hebrews 10, 22, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith.

Hebrews 10, 38, that my righteous one shall live by faith.

Hebrews 10, 39, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Hebrews 11, 1, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen.

By faith, Hebrews 11, 3, we understand the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of the things that are visible.

And then the whole list of Hebrews 11, by faith able, by faith enoch, without faith it's impossible to please the

Lord, by faith Noah, Abraham, Sarah. These people all died, what?

In faith. And then you've got by faith Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses, Rahab, and many others.

Faith. If you look at Hebrews 12, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Drifting away from the faith. That's the issue.

And our passage that we've been looking at in Hebrews gives three how -tos, or I'm giving those.

How to avoid spiritual drift. Drifting from the faith. I think we've talked about it before in the show, or I've done it on Sunday morning.

I can't remember what I say to whom. Pay close attention to Jesus.

He says that in chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

What have you heard? All of chapter 1. All of the Old Testament passages. Seven statements of fact about Jesus, creator, sustainer, sovereign, substitute, high priest, king.

And then the seven Old Testament passages that speak of Jesus as God and better than angels.

Those things. Pay attention to those things. Then he says, what I've been talking about with his

Niagara Falls deal. Acknowledge that the ultimate drift is unto damnation. Of course

Christians can't lose their salvation. But that's the goad, the prod to propel you to keep your eyes on who

Jesus is. For since the message declared by angels, remember Torah, Old Testament law was delivered by angels as a mediator.

As the mediators. Proved to be reliable in every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution.

How should we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? From the lesser to the greater. Angels that are lesser than Jesus deliver

Mosaic law. There's consequences to breaking the law.

You break the law, it breaks you. Breaking rocks in the hot sun. That's right.

Well then if Jesus comes along, who's better than angels and delivers his word. If you break his word, then there's going to be punishment and retribution.

Justly, correct? How should we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? Something great.

Not necessarily size, but value.

Right? It's a word that talks about size or degree, but it also can mean value.

The value of something. That's what we're after. Degree, rank. Something valuable.

Now we move to chapter 2 verses 3 and 4. If you're drifting, what do you do?

Well, you get your eyes back on Jesus. Remember what's over the edge. And then you say to yourself,

I have to remember the validity of the message. Remember the validity of the message.

Who told you this message? Who's the one that came up with this message? Whose message is this?

And the writer of Hebrews will say the message from Jesus is what you've heard.

And that's the reliable thing. It was declared at first, this is chapter 2 verse 3, by the

Lord. He's talking about Jesus. This is the message. The message of salvation with Jesus as the high priest that Jesus himself declared.

Jesus said it. Reflect upon who gave the message.

Jesus. The Jesus of Hebrews 1. Who's better than the angels? Think about Jesus.

When you're turning your back on Jesus' message given by Jesus, you're turning your back on Jesus.

Don't do that. You're going to float away. If you have doubts about the message of Jesus, you're going to float.

You need to be firm and grounded. When the winds of doubt blow, questions come to your mind, tragedies come, trouble come.

You go back to this passage. You go back to Hebrews, the anchor, and you say, it's true that when

I get my eyes back to Jesus and not on myself, when I realize hell's real, and then

I realize this is a message from Jesus himself, this is a message from Jesus, then that really helps.

You've got a boat and it's not made very well. And this is your life, by the way, from the human perspective.

And there's quite a few little leaks in the boat, little cracks in the boat.

And when the trials come, a lot of water comes gushing in there. When it's peaceful and serene, calm, then nothing happens.

But the storms come. Your boat leaks. And Matthew Henry was right. That's like our minds.

And worldly cares and pleasures, it just starts leaking in. And what do we do? We cannot neglect this great salvation.

With the writer of Hebrews, I really don't think Paul wrote it.

The writer of Hebrews is saying is, don't neglect. So get your eyes back to the message and the validity of the message, the validity even we'll see in a little bit of the

Bible. Is salvation too great to be true? Well, when you begin to doubt and you begin to say to yourself, hmm, then the focus is back on Jesus, who not only gave himself for our sins, but gave us his word, gave us,

I'm writing that down, us his word. He gives and he gives.

Jesus is the one who declared this. And that's the first question you should probably ask yourself. When you're floating away, drifting away, or what the world calls, evangelical world calls backsliding, do

I remember that Jesus the Lord declared this message of great salvation? This is his message.

It was first declared by the Lord. Doesn't that give credibility to the message, weight to the message?

I'm not talking about red -letter Bibles. Only read that because then you have the weight of it.

I'm talking about Jesus on earth, his proclamation of the word of God, the message from God.

He's the one that did it. So if you reject the message from Jesus, the only

Savior, that's not going to help. And by the way, here he's called Lord. He's called

Lord. Did not Hebrews 1, 2 talk about God has spoken in these last days, finally through his son.

If he's spoken finally in his son, this is important. This is not a messenger.

This is not a regular prophet. This is the son. Of course he is a prophet, but the son prophet.

That's why it's bad to turn your back on a message given by Jesus.

Angels, great agents. Jesus, great agent.

But the son, he's not a mediator. He's in fact God himself, right?

That means the message is reliable. That means the message is true. That means when you say, well, what about science?

And what about carbon dating? What about all these things? This is a message announced by God, declared by Jesus.

And if you reject the gospel, you're rejecting Jesus. You reject Jesus. Then over the falls you go.

This is spoken first by the Lord, the Lord of life, the Lord of death.

We're going to pick this up again next time. My name is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. If you want to write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

Or if you want to just write me directly, Mike at nocompromiseradio .com. We like to ask you to tell your friends to listen to No Compromise Radio.

We would encourage that and hope you have been learning about Jesus the High Priest. Think today.

Jesus is my High Priest. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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